AN: Thanks to those who have reviewed, followed and favourited. I love sharing this with you all :)
Chapter 36
The Thursday of the following week found Tris and Uriah traipsing around Geneva, doing some sight seeing.
"Tough job we have," Uriah murmured, as they walked along the Quai Ami Chessex on the shore of Lake Geneva, headed from Montreux to Chillon Castle.
"Well, it does have its perks," Tris agreed. "I mean, this is all very nice and enjoyable, but I think I'd rather be back home. A mission like this, where there is so much time between each significant stage of the mission is kind of painful. It's like we're in constant limbo."
"But it's a pretty nice limbo," Uriah retorted.
"You're not wearing $10,000 worth of clothing," Tris countered wryly. "I'm hoping Evelyn calls to set up meeting with us to give us some news soon. If I call I'm going to look desperate. I have to stay casual, and like she's not the main reason we're in Switzerland."
They had been mindful of staying busy, sight seeing, in case Evelyn had her people monitoring them, to make sure they really were who they said they were.
On Monday and Tuesday Tris and Uriah had gone skiing at Saint-Ceruge, both happy to have learned how to ski as children. They had enjoyed the athletic day, in beautiful, ideal weather for skiing.
Wednesday had found Tris and Uriah in Lyon, under the pretence of Tris spending the day at a salon for pampering. Tris did go to a salon, to keep up their cover, and she complained bitterly about it all the way to Lyon. However she was suspiciously complaint free when she met up with Uriah to head to the General Secretariat to meet with Richard Noble to update him on their progress.
They had walked from the salon, stopping at the car for Tris to change coats and put on a wig, in case Evelyn had anyone watching them. Uriah had put on a hat and scarf to change is appearance a little as well.
Richard had been happy with the progress they had made, and Tris was to check in with him again as soon as she had met up with Evelyn again and had progress to report.
On Thursday they had headed for Geneva, then ended up back at Montreux and decided to walk down to ChillonCastle, a place that had been recommended to them by several locals.
"It's kind of on the cool side of things," Tris said, putting her gloved hands into her coat pockets.
"The app on my cell says its 25°F," Uriah told her. "And I don't want to hear you complaining, you're wearing about 12 layers! I've just got jeans, a jumper and an overcoat on!"
"You could've dressed more warmly," Tris retorted. "If you have to put as much time into planning an outfit as I do, you at least make sure you're going to be warm enough."
Tris was wearing a comfortable pair of black Saint Lauren jeans, a black and white sequin knitted Oscar de la Renta sweater (with a white t shirt underneath), and a berry coloured coat. The low Rag & Bone ankle boots she wore were the same shade of purple. A white scarf, beret, and black gloves were added to complete the look, and for warmth.
"If Evelyn doesn't call you before the end of the week, what are you going to do?" Uriah asked. "Drop by her mansion under the pretense of having lost your favourite lipstick?"
"Maybe we could orchestrate a run in with her," Tris mused. "But it's not like we'll just be able to 'bump into' her at the local grocery store. We could have someone locate her by tracking her cell, I suppose, or hack her itinerary, then go from there. But I'm really just hoping she calls."
Tris and Uriah were halfway through their 50 minute guided of Chillon Castle when Tris's cell began to buzz.
She stepped away from the tour group and answered.
"Hello Beatrice, this is Evelyn Geisert," said Evelyn.
"Hi Evelyn, it's so lovely of you to call," Tris said in a hushed tone. "And please, call me Tris. Excuse my whispering, but Uriah and I are with a tour in Chillon Castle."
"Oh, I'm so sorry to interrupt, Chillon Castle is absolutely beautiful," Evelyn replied. "I will be brief, and let you return to your tour."
"It's no trouble at all," Tris said in a cheerful whisper. "Have you some good news for us?"
"I think so," Evelyn replied. "Would you still like to meet to discuss our efforts in locating the item your mother wants?"
"Oh yes," Tris said eagerly.
"Wonderful. I have taken the liberty of making arrangements for us already," Evelyn said. "My husband and I have a box at the Palais Garnier in France, and there is a ballet playing there tomorrow night. We would love for you to join us, and for dinner beforehand. We have also booked a suite for you at the Shangri-La in Paris. I did not book a flight for you, as I assume you will take you own jet?"
"Oh, that sounds simply delightful," Tris exclaimed, deliberately not lowering her voice. This earned her glares from the other tourists, and she giggled guiltily. "I don't think the other tourists are very fond of me."
"People are predisposed to dislike Americans," Evelyn said with a laugh. "They don't know we're not all bad. Anyway, I shall have an itinerary delivered to your hotel in Lausanne, where your mother's assistant said you're staying. It should be there by the time you return from Montreux."
"Thank you, so much, Evelyn," Tris said in a warm whisper.
"I shall see you and your husband tomorrow," Evelyn said politely. "Enjoy your afternoon."
Tris ended the call and rejoined Uriah.
"My 'Mother' must be offering her ridiculous amounts of money to find that item," Tris whispered to Uriah. "Evelyn's idea of meeting up is to attend the ballet in Paris together tomorrow night. She's sending our itinerary to our hotel for tomorrow."
"Why do I feel like this means another evening in a tux?" Uriah said with a grimace.
"Because, contrary to popular opinion, you're not as dumb as you look," Tris retorted teasingly. "Now, we should shut up before these people turn into an angry mob and dump us in the lake."
Tris and Uriah finished their tour, and then caught a bus back to Montreux, not wanting to spend 40 minutes walking back in the late afternoon.
When Tris and Uriah returned to the hotel, the concierge met them with a fat envelope, addressed in elegant cursive to Mr and Mrs Murray.
"Are we going to Paris for a week, or the evening?" Uriah asked, taking the package, as they headed up to their suite.
"Just the night, as far as I know," Tris replied. "You can open it and have a look through. I need to make sure our plane is available for us tomorrow at Geneva."
Tris made a call and ensured their plane would be available to fly them to Paris the next afternoon.
She left her room and went into the sitting room where she found Uriah looking at a pile of pamphlets splayed out across the table.
"Information on the Eiffel Terrace Duplex Suite at the Shangri-La, Sleeping Beauty at the Palais Garnier – performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, the menu for La Tour D'Argent," Tris read, looking the pamphlets over. "Oh the life of the rich and glamorous. I suppose I had better start packing my suitcase right away."
"Be a good wifey and pack mine too, would you?" Uriah asked roguishly.
"Fine, but you can take care of ordering me some room service for dinner. Plus, you're sleeping on the couch tonight," Tris retorted playfully. "But seriously, can you please order some dinner for me? Packing is going to be a bit of an ordeal. If you could have something delivered around 7, that would be great."
"Sure," Uriah agreed. "I'll put some clothes on my bed, and you can make sure they're packed so they won't crease. I'll hit gym for a bit and be back by 7 when the food arrives."
Tris set to tackling her wardrobe, putting Gossip Girl on in the background, hoping to pick up a few more mannerisms and ideas for outfits as she packed.
By 7 she had quite a harrowed expression on her face, but she and Uriah were both packed, and the food had arrived.
"I'm eating this, taking a long, hot bubble bath, and then I'm calling Four. I haven't spoken to him since last week!" Tris exclaimed, as they sat down to their food.
"Why haven't you spoken to him since then? I called Mar on Sunday," Uriah asked curiously.
"I was up to ears in reports and making plans and looking at logistics," Tris replied. "I've been too tired in the evening since then, and in our mornings Four is asleep, obviously."
Uriah nodded, looking sympathetic, his mouth full of steak.
"So, we'll need to leave here by 11.30 – 12.00 tomorrow, we're flying out about 1.00, because we'll need plenty of time to get from the airport to the hotel and to get ready for dinner and the ballet," Tris mused. "Evelyn's note said there would be a car for us at the airport to take us to the hotel. They'll also send a car for us to the hotel."
"Well la di da," Uriah said dryly. "I can't say I'm looking forward to spending an evening with that woman."
"And you don't even know the half of it," Tris said grimly. "I'll have to chatter on incessantly to her and you'll just get to grunt at intervals with Simon."
"Oh well, I'll just enjoy the expensive wine they're paying for and ignore him. You can explain that I'm preoccupied by a business problem back home," Uriah suggested. "Are you at all worried at Evelyn wanting to spend so much time with us?"
"Well, not really," Tris replied. "I mean, we've done nothing to indicate we're anything other than a happy-go-lucky young couple from the USA, with plenty of money to burn on our love for art. She probably does want to make sure we're not going to rat her out, or that we pose no threat, so tomorrow evening probably is a test. We're going to pass it, okay?"
"So I guess that means you'll be putting on quite the show, spending another night dressed in a much loathed evening gown, pretending you love life, art and Evelyn," Uriah said with a fiendish grin.
Tris poked her tongue out at him and turned her attention to her soup.
After a relaxing bubble bath Tris pulled on a pair of silk pyjamas and crawled into her enormous, very comfortable bed, snuggling into the pillows. Ever since she'd first worn one of the sets of silk pyjamas Marlene had packed a week ago, she had worn a pair to bed every night. She was hooked, but she'd completely deny it if anyone asked her.
"Hi Four," Tris said, when Four picked up.
"Hey you," he said in a friendly tone, lightening the weight on Tris's heart.
"How are you?" she asked. "I miss you. I really wish you were here."
"I'm doing okay," Four replied. "I have to tell you though, quite a group of people put in quite an effort to put me into a good mood on Saturday last week. I may have been a little moody and sulky up until then."
Tris giggled, and then sighed. "What did they do?"
"Your best friend and her partner in crime, Marlene, might have turned the pool into a bubble bath," Four said, grinning. "Someone may have found blow-up toys and water guns to add to the general hilarity that ensued."
"Oh, I can't believe I missed that!" Tris exclaimed, giggling. "Please tell me we can do that again when I get home!"
"I'm going to have to guess that would be a no," Four replied, chuckling. "Harrison may have let our mess and colossal waste of water and detergent slide, but I believe he mentioned that it had better be the only time he sees an Olympic pool turned into a bubble bath."
"Please tell me there are at least photos!" Tris begged. "What wouldn't I give to be back with you all, getting up to mischief."
"You're not enjoying yourself?" Four asked curiously.
"Well, there are enjoyable parts and not so enjoyable parts about this mission," Tris replied evasively. "But nothing that equals being with you, and the others."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere, I'll be here, waiting for you when you return," Four said softly. "Any idea when that might be?"
"I have no idea, there are a lot of variables that come in to play to determine that," Tris replied sadly. "Tell me what else has been going on? I don't want to come back and find out I've missed heaps of important things!"
"Well, Christina got a hair cut," Four said, after thinking for a moment. "Marlene may have slipped something into Peter's drink at dinner, and that night snuck into his room and applied copious quantities of make-up to his face. If I speak the truth, there are accompanying photos, to be used as blackmail if the little prick acts up again."
Tris laughed, rolling around in her bed with mirth.
"Oh, what else?" she asked, catching her breath.
"I thought about visiting my father in gaol," Four said sombrely.
This caused Tris to stop grinning and sit quite still.
"So, did you?" she asked tentatively.
"No," Four replied quickly. "It would've been a stupid move. I would have only gone to taunt him, and then I'd want to beat him up, and he'd probably want to know how I ended up with access to see him, and what would I be testifying to at the trial, et cetera. Too messy and not worth the trouble."
"Makes sense to me," she agreed gently. "If I wanted to beat someone up, but couldn't, I'd print out a picture of their face and stick it to a target, and shoot at it for target practice. Or if I was feeling really vengeful I would insert them into one of our practice simulations and fight them and shoot them, a lot."
"I'll keep that in mind," Four said with a wry chuckle. "Who caused you to come up with that idea?"
"Oh, any number of people," Tris said airily. "Peter, Eric, Molly, Jeanine, Marcus…"
Evelyn.
"Makes sense," Four replied, trailing off, thinking about the awful things Tris had experienced at their hands.
Tris too was lost in thought, thinking about the awful things Four's parents had done to him, some of them things he didn't even know about, and the she couldn't tell him. She stifled a yawn, and blinked sleepily.
"You're tired, I should let you get to sleep," Four said gently.
"Thanks," Tris replied. "I wish I could talk more, but I've got a big day tomorrow. I'll try to give you a call before too long."
"Be safe, sleep well," Four said quietly. "I love you."
"You too," Tris mumbled sleepily, and hung up.
A minute later, she was sound asleep.
Four was still sitting at his desk, trying to figure out if she'd meant 'Be safe', 'Sleep well' or 'I love you' when she'd mumbled 'You too' before hanging up. It was very hard to say, seeing as the seemed to be half asleep at the time. But her maybe her guard was down, so she had meant that she loved him. Four thought over it for a few minutes more, and then gave it up as a bad job. It didn't matter if she had meant 'I love you', he was going to wait for her to tell him that she loved him. Saying 'You too' was not the same thing at all. She would say it to him, he just had to give her time.
Tris was standing in outside a small holding cell, her hands clutched around the bars that kept her out. She pulled on them in vain, crying out, "Stop! You're hurting him! Stop! He's a good person! He never did anything to hurt either of you!"
"Shut up, you stupid little bitch," Marcus spat. "You're the reason I'm in gaol."
"You're trying to put me in gaol, is that any way to treat your boyfriend's parents?" Evelyn sneered.
"You can't know that! You can't be here! Tobias doesn't know you're not dead!" Tris exclaimed wildly, shaking the bars more, kicking at them too.
"But you know, and you haven't told him," Evelyn taunted. "This is your punishment, his pain."
Marcus whipped Four across the back, Four crying out in pain. Evelyn grinned sadistically, a shadow in the back of her eyes.
"He's your son, haven't you hurt him enough?" Tris pleaded in absolute agony.
"Only you hold the key to stopping his pain," Evelyn told her coolly. "Do you love him enough to figure out how to save him?"
Four looked up at her then, his eyes meeting hers, pleading with her, the words, "Please" forming on his lips, sweat dripping off his face.
"I can't get through," Tris sobbed, banging her fits against the iron, ignoring the pain.
"You stupid girl," Evelyn said harshly, as Marcus jabbed a hot poker into Four's side. "Marcus is going to kill him, all because you don't care enough, because you're not brave enough."
"But I do care, and I am brave, I'm Dauntless," Tris cried. "Tobias, I don't know what to do!"
"That's not enough!" Four suddenly exclaimed hoarsely.
"But it is, I love you!" Tris exclaimed, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Suddenly the bars fell, away, Marcus and Evelyn vanished and Tris ran to Four, wrapping her arms around him. Evelyn had been right. It was love that was holding her back, she had to tell Four she loved him before it was too late.
Tris woke up in a cold sweat, trembling.
She looked at the clock. It was 6am. She wasn't going back to sleep, so she got up and headed to the gym. She needed to calm down and get her head in the game. She couldn't obsess over her dream, she needed to clear her head. The next 24 hours were crucial for their mission.
AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the Fourtris :) (If you didn't realise it, the dream at the end of was kind of like a fear simulation from Divergent.)
Also, I just got back from finally seeing Divergent! Yay!
I should have another chapter ready in the next couple of days.
Please review :)