Tobias' POV

I'm glad Tris and I talked. And I'm happy we finally confessed our feelings to the other. I love her and I can finally tell her that. And the best part: she loves me back. After we left the café I drove her home and we decided to go out for a picnic, just like we did for our first date. I'm currently sitting in my truck waiting for her to come out. The grin on my face hasn't faded since we were in the café. I look toward her front door and there she is coming out, a backpack on her left shoulder and a huge smile on her face. She opens the door to the backseat and throws the backpack inside and then takes her place in the front sitting next to me. Before she buckles up she kisses me forcefully and with passion and I feel myself melt under her touch.

"Let's go" she commands.

"Let's go" I imitate her. We drive for a while until we reach a special place where dad and I used to go fishing. I always loved it here. It's quiet and peaceful. I lay down the blanket and Tris brings both the picnic basket and her backpack. She sits down next to me and smiles.

"I brought you something" she says. She rummages through her backpack and pulls out a big book. She hands it to me and I open it. I now realize it's a photo album.

"What's this?" I ask amused.

"My life" she says serious, but a smile grazes her delicate face.

"Literally?" I ask and she nods.

"There are pictures in there from every expedition I went on. From small family hiking trips to the Himalayas." I look at the first picture and see Mr. Prior and a little girl on his shoulders. Tris. They are smiling and Tris looks happier than I've ever seen her.

One by one Tris tells me the story behind every picture, from happy to sad to exciting and frightening, she tells me everything. She tells me how it felt like to climb all these mountains, what she feared, what she hoped. She told me that when her oxygen tank runs low she keeps herself focused and awake by singing. When I asked her how she is doing that she said she wasn't actually singing, but doing it in her head. Her "I'm out of oxygen song" is "Take my breath away". I laughed, but she assured me this song, silly as it may seem, saved her a few times. She goes on and tells me about the times when she thought she would die and the times she wanted to give up. Scott or someone else motivated her and she continued. She tells me about the times when she was the one trying to motivate someone and that someone wouldn't try to get up. Leaving that person behind hurt her more than she admitted at first and she confesses to having nightmares because of it. And then she gets to May 10th. Everest.

"I was among the first to reach the summit. It was one p.m. when I got there and I was so happy I made it. I radio called base camp and asked Amanda, one of my friends who stayed behind to coordinate things from down there, to call my parents. It was my mom's birthday and I wanted to say hi. By the time Amanda was able to establish a connection to my folks several others reached the top, including Scott and two other of my friends, who didn't make it. When I told my parents where I was they freaked out and I already knew I was in trouble. I mean deep trouble" she says with a chuckle, but she averts her gaze. I know she wants to tell me something bad. I know that she lost friends there, but it seems to me there's something else.

"What are you not telling me?" I ask her tentatively, cupping her face in my palm and turning her head so that she faces me. Tears have gathered in her eyes and threaten to spill.

"There are certain rules we must obey, otherwise our lives are in danger" she continues vaguely. I let her take deep breaths to calm herself. This must be harder than I thought.

"You don't have to tell me if you aren't ready" I reassure her.

"I want to tell you." She closes her eyes and takes another deep breath. "When climbing 8000-ers like Everest you have to make sure you stay on schedule. This applies to every climb, but more so over there. When climbing Everest you need to make sure that you reach the summit before two p.m. That's your maximum point. If you don't start your descent by two p.m. you might not make it to the first camp and implicitly to safety. Around 1:40 p.m. most of us left the summit, but Rob was still heading up with one of his clients who refused to turn around. I tried to convince them to return, but the client wouldn't listen. I even told Rob to leave him" she says and I look at her with wide eyes. She looks down, ashamed.

"I know it sounds awful, but I had to. What they were doing was utter suicide. And I was right. Rob refused to leave his client there alone and I reluctantly left. I told him goodbye and I think we both knew it was for good. I still hoped otherwise, though" she says looking at me again and I see tears rolling down her cheeks. I wipe them away with my thumbs and she gives me a cracked smile.

"I continued walking but I felt tired and sleepy. I checked my oxygen tank and it was running low. I could get a new tank when I reached the camp, but I was still so far away. I focused on breathing and started repeating Take My Breath Away" she says with a chuckle. Her expression changes quickly, however. "But then something happened, something bad. Tobias, you have to promise me not to say anything" she says looking at me with despair in her eyes. I nod, although I'm not sure if I want to hear this or if I could keep it secret if it's really as serious as it sounds. "Mom and dad can never know. The only other person who knows the truth is Scott and I'm sure he will never tell this to anyone" she says. I nod again, hoping she will trust me with whatever she wants to keep from her parents.

"On my way to the camp I looked down into the valley and saw a huge storm approach. I knew I was too far away from the camp and needed to seek shelter, but between a low oxygen tank and a rapidly approaching blizzard I had no idea what to do. I was alone. Even if I would have used my radio to ask for help no one would have made it in time to me with a tank and I doubt anyone would have ventured up there, into the kill zone, during a blizzard. I took refuge in a small cave like ice formation. The cave was north orientated and thankfully the wind blew south-east. I wasn't directly hit, but I could feel the temperature dropping. The wind was too strong for me to leave the safety of my refuge, but I knew that staying there would eventually kill me. I was never so frightened in my life. I was sure I was going to die. There was no chance anyone could have reached me and helped me down. I don't particularly believe in God, but while I was curling into this small ball I started praying, asking a deity I don't believe in to please spare my life. To please let me see my family one more time. To please just let me go home. I felt like crying but I was starting to get dehydrated. I kept rubbing my gloved hands together, creating friction and keeping them warm. I moved my toes as much as I could to keep the blood circulation going. I so badly wanted to just close my eyes, take a nap, fall asleep, forget everything, but doing so would have meant I was going to die. It meant not returning to my family, ever. No one comes up there to retrieve corpses. That would be insane and dangerous. I waited for a while and then started to walk again. It was impossible to see much ahead of you so I took literally baby steps. I slipped several times and almost fell down to my death. By late afternoon I finally reached the camp. One guide from a separate expedition was there helping climbers. I noticed not a hundred meters from the camp three people lying down. I went to check on them, but they were gone. Ironic, isn't it? So close to safety and yet they died, while I walked for hours through the blizzard and made it" she says with a sarcastic laugh, but her eyes tell a different story. They are sad, haunted.

"I rested for the night, drinking as much hot tea as I could, keeping me warm and alive. As soon as day break came I continued. Two people from the other expedition came with me. They were amateurs and while I couldn't help anyone else I was glad I could help them. I felt useful. We reached base camp around one p.m. Amanda and the doctor immediately took care of us, making sure we still had all fingers and all toes attached to us" she says with a chuckle. I try to smile, but the lump in my throat and the hole in my stomach make me feel sick and nervous. "The good doc gave me a strong sedative to keep me from going back, after I heard that one of my friends was still alive and needed help. I thrashed and fought them, but the sedative soon knocked me out. I wanted to open my eyes. I wanted to put on my gear and go back up on the mountain to save Rob and Mikey both. They were my friends and I felt like I betrayed them by choosing my life over theirs. Scott just arrived when I fell unconscious and I didn't wake up until the next afternoon. By then two of my friends and four tourists were gone. Scott was there watching over me the whole time I was asleep and held me while I was mourning our friends' deaths. It was devastating, Tobias" she says and her tears come so quickly that I just let them fall.

I pull her close to me and envelope her in my embrace. I don't know how to help her, how to comfort her. She nearly died, oh God, and then she lost two of her friends. How can she do this? How can she put herself in so much danger? Is it really worth it? Should I say something? Should I voice my concerns? I'm sure she knows all this. But obviously she doesn't care for her own safety if she keeps going back. But what if I asked her to not go anymore? Would she listen? Would she stay put? Or would she hate me for even bringing it up? It's something she loves. And I don't think I've earned the right to ask something like this.

A/N: What do you think of Tris' confession?

What will Tobias do?

Will he ask her to stay with him and not return on a mountain expedition?

Or will he keep his fears and concerns to himself?

Will the fear of losing her compel him to join her on her expeditions?

Is he going to open up to her about his past or will he reconsider his own confession for another, less emotional time?

Stay with me and find out.

Reviews always welcomed.