AN: Hello lovely readers, thanks for all of the continued love! Glad you enjoyed the last chapter, I got so many reviews so quickly that I'm putting this chapter up now :) Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 29
The next morning Tris awoke wrapped securely in Four's arms.
The sensation would have been a very pleasant one, except for the fact that her injured arm was throbbing intensely, and her stomach was grumbling too. She realised they had fallen asleep the afternoon before, and had missed dinner entirely, and slept through to the next morning.
"Four," she said softly, prodding him in the shoulder.
"What?" he said quickly, becoming alert almost instantly. "Are you okay?"
"I just need you to let go of me, I need to get some painkillers, and some food," Tris said, wincing as she spoke.
"Right," Four said, getting up as quickly as he could without causing her more pain. "Will you let me take a look at your dressing? It should be checked."
"Okay," Tris agreed quietly. "I'll get my shirt off if you can get me something for the pain? And maybe something to eat?"
Four returned quickly with painkillers and a blueberry muffin.
He took one look at Tris's shoulder, and the red staining on her bandage and declared, "Okay, we're going up to the infirmary. I want the doctor to look at that. Staining is never good, especially in a shoulder wound."
Tris opened her mouth to argue, and then thought better of it. Her arm really was sore, and the better medical attention she got, the sooner it would be mended and she would be out in the field.
"Let's going, but I'm walking!" Tris declared. "And I want that muffin, I'm starving."
"You're cute when you make demands," Four said in amusement. "You can walk, but please at least put one of my shirts on. They'll be huge on you, so they'll be easy to get off over your shoulder, without causing you too much trouble and pain."
Tris agreed easily enough, because what girl refuses the offer of wearing her boyfriend's clothes?
Up in the infirmary the doctor on duty inspected and redressed Tris's wound, warning her to keep it as still as possible and putting it in a sling to help the cause.
"If you move it around too much, it will put more strain on the stitches, and possibly tear the wound further, which will extend the healing process," the doctor explained. "You should have most movement back in a couple of weeks. You were lucky that the bullet missed your bones, but it did hit a couple of key vessels, which is why you lost so much blood. The damaged muscles also need time to heal, so try to stay quiet, and come back if there's any pain that can't be dulled by these painkillers."
Tris and Four left, heading to the dining hall, ready to join the others for breakfast.
"I guess you'll be cutting my food," Tris said, trying not to grumble. "And serving it, and carrying it. But so long as I get to eat it, I guess I'll survive."
"That's the goal," Four teased. "Survival."
Tris chuckled, then sobered and said, "So, I know that I had surgery on Friday to repair the damage in my shoulder, but no one has actually told me how long I was under for. Did I say stupid things will I was high on morphine or anaesthetic? Was it a complicated procedure? I haven't thought to ask until now. I figure I'll get questions at breakfast, so I'd kind of like to be able to answer them."
"You were under for a couple of hours, and no, you were very quiet while you were hopped up on your meds, it was a pretty deep sedation," Four said. "No humorous 'high on morphine' stories for you."
"There's always next time," Tris said serenely, her eyes dancing, as they entered the dining hall.
"I'd rather there wasn't a next time," Four said pointedly, as he began to serve breakfast for them both.
The hall full of agents had grown gradually more and more silent since they had entered, with people looking curiously at them.
Tris eventually noticed the silence and nudged Four, who smiled reassuringly at her.
"I guess your speech made quite the impact yesterday, and you were already a bit of a celebrity," Four said casually. "It will wear off before too long. They'll go back to work tomorrow, and soon be absorbed by their working weeks. Let's go sit with your friends."
They headed over to wear Marlene, Uriah, Christina, Lynn and Will were sitting and joined them, Four waving his friends over to join them. During this time, the other agents in the hall gradually began to resume their breakfast as normal, voices filling the hall.
Lauren quickly took a seat on the other side of Four, whispering something in his ear, which caused him to pale and stiffen.
Four then gave Tris's hand a squeeze, then leaned down, gently placed a hand on her cheek, then whispered in her ear, saying, "They weren't looking at me. Lauren's just told me someone spotted that photo of me in the paper, with the article on Marcus."
At these words, Tris turned quickly to look at him, sympathy in her eyes. Sympathy, but never pity.
"So, you guys have been oddly silent," Tris said, breaking the silence. "I guess there are a few questions you'd like to ask. Why don't you just get started, get it all out of the way?"
Marlene, looking like she was ready to burst, immediately blurted, "Is Four really Senator Eaton's son? And did you both really work on the mission that resulted in his arrest?"
"I am his son, and we really were responsible, along with Lauren and Zeke, for his arrest. It was one of the most satisfying missions on my career," Four said seriously. "Biologically I am his son, but he never really was my father. I'm here because of him, in spite of him. That's all I'm going to say on it, and I hope you'll respect my privacy. I don't care if you share that information with other agents, it will just save me from answering the same questions ninety-three times."
The table sat in stunned silence, for even though they had heard the rumours the evening before, and that morning, it was something else to have them confirmed, straight from the horse's mouth.
"Any questions for me?" Tris asked lightly, trying to draw the attention off Four. "I was shot by Eric you know, trying to save the Vice President and Max, because th Deputy NSA turned out to be a vengeful crazy lady."
"Please tell me you at least injured Eric for what he did," Uriah said seriously. "That guy deserves whatever is coming to him."
"How is your arm?" Christina asked from Tris's other side, concern etched all over her face. "Will it be okay?"
"Doctor said I should have a lot of movement back after a couple of weeks, the bullet missed the bones," Tris shared. "So, I'm not exactly going to be doing much for the next couple of weeks. Oh, especially as I'm actually going home for a week, in a week."
"You're getting to go home for a visit?" Lynn asked excitedly. "You lucky thing."
"Lynn, she's been shot!" Shauna chastised. "That's nothing to envy."
Lynn looked ready to bicker with her sister, but they were stopped by Will asking, "Is there anything any of you can tell us about what changes are going to be announced today?"
"We really don't know anymore than you do," Lauren said, answering so Four and Tris didn't have to. "Harrison is taking care of sorting those things out with the Director. I could make guesses, but I don't know anything for sure."
Breakfast continued, drawing on for quite a long time as they spent more time than eating, having more than enough to discuss from the drama over the last couple of days. As it was Sunday, that had the leisure to spend as much time over discussing things at length as they wanted.
The day was spent much in this manner, until Zeke, Four, Tris and Lauren were all required to meet with Harrison late in the afternoon.
They were all briefed on the upcoming changes and were shown the email that would be sent out as soon as their meeting was over.
Harrison dismissed them, and they had just enough time to rejoin their friends before everyone's cells buzzed with a new email, the email announcing and detailing the changes.
"Congratulations guys," Will said, having read through the email first. "You all deserve it."
"Way to go, bro!" Uriah said, slapping Zeke on the shoulder.
"It's awful that Max is dead, but you guys all deserve this," Marlene added. "You're going to do great."
Four and Lauren had been given additional leadership responsibilities. Harrison's role had been broken up and shared between the two of them, so they could continue being involved with their existing roles, but so that Harrison's role could be filled by people with enough experience and ability. Harrison of course had been promoted to fill the gap left by Max's death.
Zeke had been given Eric's position, giving him a position with more authority and leadership, as well as maintaining his field agent position.
There was no change to Tris's role, she would still be working with Lauren, training in her chosen role, for of course she hadn't received enough training to be promoted yet. She had been invited to the meeting, owing to her role in the tumultuous events over the past few days. Regardless of her experience, she also still had high clearance, and her training included being involved important decisions such as the changes that had just been made.
"So, how many people do you think are going to give Four a hard time over his promotion because he's Marcus Eaton's son?" Lynn asked bluntly.
"None, I should hope!" Tris said hotly. "This has nothing to do with Senator Eaton, Four earned this promotion, and people around here should give him the respect he deserves."
"Theoretically, you're right, Tris," Lauren said gently. "But unfortunately, you're going to have at least a couple of people who aren't going to be pleased about it."
"Well, they can go and shove their opinions where the sun doesn't shine," Tris said with a scowl.
"Well, I'll be warning people to be on their best behaviour when you're around," Marlene teased. "Sure, you won't be able to physically cause them any harm with that shoulder of yours, but damn can you do a good glare."
This only caused Tris to scowl some more, before she saw the funny side, and joined in with the laughter of the others.
Over the next few days, both Four and Tris encountered a variety of mixed reactions to Four, concerning the fact that he was Tobias Eaton, son of Marcus Eaton, on top of the news of his promotion. As Lauren had predicted, there were at least a couple of people who shot several glares and dirty looks in Four's direction, but fear of his seniority and his generally imposing persona meant that the worst he had received were looks.
The pair of them received more than their fair of curious stares, and there were more than their fair share of people whispering about them. They tried not to let it bother them, but by Thursday, Tris had just about reached the end of her patience. Her shoulder was an additional factor that was causing her irritation, so her tolerance levels had too much to cope with.
"I'm over this!" she snapped to Four, as they left the dining room on Thursday night. "You'd think they could just move on. They've got work to do, we've all got important jobs to do. Up until now everyone has had the utmost respect for you. Why should it waver because some bastard turns out to be your father?"
"You think you're so important, you and your holier than thou boyfriend," Peter sneered, coming up behind them in the hall. "You slept your way to where you are, and he's just the son of a corrupt senator, who probably blackmailed his way to the top."
Tris stifled a groan. What with fact that Peter had lost his bulling buddies, and she had been so busy being successful, and then shot and dealing with the general upheaval in the compound, she had pretty much forgotten about Peter. At least temporarily. But it appeared he wasn't going to let her forget about him for long.
"You really don't want to pick a fight with us," Tris said warningly, her eyes hard.
"That's right, make threats," Peter sneered. "Go on Tobias, back your girlfriend up, threaten me, make Daddy proud."
"I don't care what you think of me, or of Tris, or how we achieved our positions, but you will keep your mouth shut," Four began menacingly. "And it would do you well to remember that we are both senior to you, and that your job here is not a right, but a privilege. If you go too far, you won't get a second chance, you'll be out of here."
"You're not God, and you're not the boss of Dauntless," Peter taunted, though he looked a little shaken. He clearly hadn't completely thought through taking on Four and Tris, and in public, for they had quickly gathered quite an audience of people who had left the dining hall.
"I know I am not God, I never pretended to be," Four said coolly. "If you would like to continue this discussion with Harrison, and the Director of Dauntless I'd be more than happy to facilitate that. I'm sure they'd be interested to hear about your misdemeanours, which stretch back to your days as a recruit. If not, I suggest you shut your mouth, and pay both of us the respect we're due. You will not try to spread ill will against us by mouthing off to us in public. We both worked hard to be here, and we are loyal to Dauntless, and valuable to the organisation. I don't think anyone could say the same of you."
With those words, Peter had had enough, and slunk off, irritated and justly humiliated.
The crowd that had gathered also dispersed quickly.
"You may have got rid of him for now, but it will only make him hate us more, and he'll still have it in for us in the long run," Tris said to Four, taking his hand with her good one. "I'm glad you said those things though, and I'm glad there were witnesses. Maybe this will be enough to get them to start to leave us alone."
"If not, hopefully Kim Kardashian does something idiotic enough to grab their attention and distract them," Four joked.
"Well, that is pretty much a guaranteed eventuality, which is strangely comforting," Tris said dryly. "I hate to leave you to deal with all of this next week. I can stay if you want?"
"No, you should go, you deserve a good rest at home," Four said firmly. "Besides, I really do think that they will start to stop talking about you, and me, and us, after this. I'll get back to work, and things will start to go back to normal, or as normal as things get around here."
"I kind of wish I was having Thanksgiving here," Tris said wistfully. "After Halloween, I'm actually looking forward to more Dauntless holidays, they're kind of exciting. Not quite on a Harry Potter level, but as good as you can get without magic."
"There'll be other Thanksgivings," Four reassured her, as they reached his room, having headed back there by wordless agreement. "Besides, we'll have Christmas here, and you'll get to get all dressed up for the Snowflake Ball. Plus, I'm really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with you, and meeting your parents."
"Oh, that," Tris said shyly. "I guess that won't be too bad at all."
AN: Thanks for reading! Up next, we return to Tris's childhood home, and you know what that means :)
Please review :)