Christina is keeping Tyler and Tessa company in the waiting room while I sit on the cold metal table in a sterile examination room waiting on an infirmary nurse to take my blood pressure. I know they are short staffed since Erin and Dr. Young's arrests earlier this month so I don't know how long I'll have to wait. I hope I don't make us late for lunch. I do make a mental note of at least two jobs that will be on the available list for the initiates this year.
"Hi, Tris," Marlene says as she comes through the door into the spacious room. This is the first time I've actually seen her working as a nurse. She looks super cute in her bright orange scrubs.
"Hey, Marlene! How long have you been working here? I thought you still had more training to do at the hospital downtown?" She was only supposed to have six months of training but midway through her course load, protocols were changed, and nurses must now train for 12 months instead of 6.
"Dr. Parrish called the hospital a couple weeks ago and asked the instructors to release me," she says. "Apparently my grades were good enough by the old standards to let me start work early. I'm pretty thrilled about it. You and Four need to come to the cafeteria more often, and then you would have heard my news."
"You're absolutely right but it's been so difficult lately," I say. "We'll try harder to get down for at least lunches. As a matter of fact we'll be joining you today."
"That's great," she says. "Uriah will love to see Tyler."
"I hope he doesn't feed him too much cake," I say and we both laugh. I don't know who loves cake more, Uriah or Tyler. "I'm really glad you're here fulltime now. In case you don't know, I need my blood pressure checked for Isobel."
"Yeah, I read it in your chart," she says. "She also called in some additional tests early yesterday morning as well so not only do I need to do a blood pressure check, I need urine and blood samples." I know my face falls with this unwelcome news.
"Do you have any idea why?" I ask, somewhat concerned.
"No, I'm afraid I don't," she says. First, she takes my blood pressure, which she says is on the high side of normal. Next, she takes three vials of blood. I'm glad that it's a short walk to the cafeteria because I've already been dizzy this morning and don't need blood loss to make me pass out or something. Lastly, she gives me a specimen cup and lets me go to the bathroom. I come out after I finish and hand her the little plastic cup.
"Do you know when I'll get the results back?" I ask. "Do I have to wait for my next appointment?"
"How does she usually notify you of your results?" Marlene asks as she puts a seal on the specimen jar and sits it next to the three vials of blood.
"When I go to the clinic, she calls," I say. "When I come here, they're instantaneous."
"Well I don't see why these results would be any different than the ones you get when you're at the clinic but she didn't give me any other instructions I'm afraid."
"Okay," I say, nervously twisting my wedding rings again and again. She reaches out and places her hand over mine, and I look up at her.
"Try not to worry about things, Tris," she says.
"I know. It's not good for the baby," I sigh.
"It's not good for you either," she says patting my shoulder. "You're free to go. I'll see you in the cafeteria as soon as I get your samples to the lab." I get off the examination table and feel a bit woozy. Marlene notices, and puts her arm through mine and walks me to the waiting room, talking animatedly about the Candor or Dauntless game Saturday night. I had almost forgotten about that. Her excitement is contagious though, and now I can't wait. I thank her for walking with me, and she tells me to be careful on my short journey to the cafeteria.
"Hey, Marlene," Christina says. "Nice scrubs."
"Thanks, Christina," she says looking down like she forgot what she's wearing.
"See you at lunch?"
"Yep," she says. "I'll be there soon. See you guys later." She turns and goes back into the depths of the infirmary, and Christina, the kids, and I head for lunch. Tyler woke up while I was at my appointment and holds my hand while we make our way across the floor of the Pit to the cafeteria. We sit down at the empty table since we're the first to arrive.
"What do you want to eat, Tyler?" I ask. He doesn't have to think long about it.
"Mac and cheese," he says. I nod and get him a plate of macaroni and cheese, mixed vegetables, and fruit salad.
"If you eat everything on your plate, you can have a slice of cake before we leave," I tell him. He looks at the somewhat full plate in front of him, back up at me, and then he digs in. "Slow down. You don't want to make yourself sick." Funny, I said the exact same thing to Tessa earlier.
"Do I need to plan a Dauntless Welcome Party for after initiation?" Christina asks. "I kind of forgot about it."
"Yeah," I say with an apologetic look. I think Tobias and I forgot, too, with everything else that's been going on. "Four and I want to make it a tradition. We can put the plans together and have maintenance set everything up and the chefs cater the event. Would that be too much for you to do?"
"No, it should be easy," she says. "I have a binder at home with all kinds of ideas. Last year I had, what, a week to throw it together? Think of what I can do with all the time I have this year."
"Hey, beautiful," I hear Will say. Christina and I look his way and watch our guys walk across the cafeteria toward us. My stomach tightens with desire as I take in Tobias in his tight faded black jeans, black and red striped formfitting t-shirt, and black combat boots. God, I could take him right here in the middle of our table but that would be awkward for all of us.
"What's the blush for?" he quietly asks after a quick kiss. He slides in beside me, and I lie my head on his shoulder for a moment.
"I don't know what's wrong with me but I hope you don't fall asleep on me again tonight," I softly say where only he can hear me. "I can't seem to get enough of you, of us." I feel a growl resonate through his chest but don't hear him make a sound.
"I've noticed," he says against my ear. "You've been keeping me quite busy lately."
"Me?" I ask a little louder than I mean to, hoping none of our friends is interested in our hushed conversation but see that they're all looking at us. Tobias stares them down and they look away.
"Yes, you," he says.
"You're the one who woke me up last night."
"I promise I won't fall asleep on you again tonight," he says. "We could sneak off right now if you want to."
"Four!" I say looking him in the eye. He's absolutely serious right now. I hear Tessa start to cry and know she must be hungry. "We can't do that."
"It was just a thought," he says giving me a lingering kiss.
"Hey you two, get a room," Zeke teases and I go crimson from head to toe. Tobias gives his best friend one of his scary Four looks but Zeke just grins and rolls his eyes. He loves teasing my husband. I get up and carefully take Tessa out of the stroller. Liam is lying next to her, and I don't want her to wake him up.
"Hey, little one," I say. "Are you hungry?" I cover us up and put her to my breast so she can nurse while we're having lunch. Tobias gets us each a plate of hamburgers, spring salad, mixed vegetables, and melon balls. My plate has twice the fruit on it than anyone else's because the sweet melon is so good this time of year. I can't get enough of it. Tobias brings me home container after container of it, and we have it in the refrigerator and freezer. I guess I could say that I'm craving it.
"Mommy, can I have cake with Wiah?" Tyler asks. I look at his plate, and he has a bite or two of vegetables left but he ate everything else. I meet his eyes, and he's practically begging me.
"Yeah, you can have cake with Uriah," I say. "You did a good job with lunch. I'm proud of you." He carefully hugs me knowing that I'm still feeding Tessa and thanks me. He walks around the table and Uriah picks him up, and they go to the dessert counter and decide on small slivers of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and vanilla cake with strawberry puree filling with strawberry frosting. I shake my head and roll my eyes at Uriah. He looks at me like, what?
"Is everyone ready for the Candor or Dauntless party Saturday night?" Zeke asks enthusiastically. "Hell, I can't think of the last time we all had a night out together. It's been ages. I for one am stoked about it."
I honestly don't think that Tyler is paying any attention to anything going on at the table because of the three small slivers of cake in front of him but just in case, Tobias says, "Language, Uncle Zeke."
"Oh! Sorry, Four," he says as he glances at Tyler. "Uriah, Marlene, Shauna, and I have all been working really hard on making sure that Saturday night is fun for everyone. There are so many people invited that we decided to have it in the auditorium." This gets everyone's attention.
"Auditorium?" Lynn, Ciara, and Kirsten say at the same time.
"Yep," Marlene says.
"How many people did you invite?" Will asks. I know that he and Christina are still having second thoughts about leaving Liam with a sitter so soon but they finally committed last week to attending and promised they wouldn't back out.
"A lot," Uriah says. "It's going to be the biggest C or D Party this place has ever seen."
"Who authorized that?" Tobias asks in Four mode.
"Tori and Harrison," Zeke says with a shit eating grin on his face. "Of course, I had to invite them and their guests, too, but I thought it was well worth it. Everyone is going to have a blast. I promise."
"I for one am looking forward to it," Kirsten says. "It's been too long since I've had a really good time."
"Me too," Ella says. They look at each other and grin.
"What's that look for?" I ask them. They stare at each other for another moment and nod.
"We have dates," Kirsten happily announces to the table. This is bigger news than the party being held in a public space. We haven't seen them with anyone since Dante and Samuel's executions nearly seven months ago.
"Wow," Ciara says. "You guys are dating? Why didn't you tell me?"
"We wanted it to be a surprise but we're too excited to wait anymore," Ella says. "We met some good guys this time. Their names are Stefan and Trevor Butler. They're brothers. We met at the club almost four weeks ago. Stefan asked me to dance, and we hit it off immediately. He's so sweet. Trevor introduced himself to Kirsten while Stefan and I were on the dancefloor, and although we decided to take things slowly, we've been hanging out most evenings since. It's nice to be happy again."
"That's why I never catch you guys at home anymore," Ciara says, pouting somewhat.
"We're sorry we didn't say anything, Cici," Ella says. "We wanted to make sure that there really was something there. We both got played big time in our past relationships, and we never want that to happen again." I understand their hesitation. We watched them both travel to hell and back over Dante and Samuel's betrayal.
"What do they do?" Shauna asks.
"They're both gunsmiths," Kirsten says.
"I'm happy for you," Christina and Marlene say at the exact same time and they laugh.
"So am I," I say joining the laughter. "I can't wait to meet them."
"I think I know who they are," Zeke says, looking deep in thought. "Fraternal twins a year or two older than us, right?"
"They just turned 22 about a month ago," Kirsten says. Zeke was close.
"I remember them from upper levels," Zeke says. "Nice guys. Good Dauntless members. Excellent weapon makers."
"Can I have moe cake, Mommy?" Tyler asks while everyone is congratulating Kirsten and Ella.
"I don't think so, buddy," Tobias says. "You've had more than enough cake to last you an entire week." Like clockwork, he shoves out his bottom lip, and he starts pouting.
"I ask Mommy, not you," he says, with the biggest frown I've ever seen on his face. The entire table goes silent. Did he just talk back to his father? I know my mouth must be hanging open right now.
"What did you just say?" Tobias asks, sounding too much like Four for my liking. I put my hand on his leg, and when he glances my way, I give him a warning look. This isn't an initiate or a wayward Dauntless member he's talking to, this is our two-year-old son. "You don't get to speak to me like that, Tyler." Thankfully, his tone has softened.
"What do you say to Daddy?" I look at Tyler, and he drops his head.
"I want moe cake," he sulks. Damn! What's gotten into him?
"I think someone needs to go home and sit in the timeout chair and then take a nap," Tobias says getting up from the table. Without a word he picks up Tyler, and we watch as he carries him out of the cafeteria.
"I'm really sorry, Tris," Uriah says.
"It's not your fault, Uriah," I say. "I think he's getting more comfortable with Four and me and knows that he won't be sent to live with his biological father or taken away from us if he misbehaves so now he's testing our boundaries and our patience."
"Has he been doing this long?" Shauna asks.
"The past couple weeks," I say. "We had to go out and by a timeout chair. It's never been as bad as it was just now though." Tessa pulls away from my breast, and I straighten my clothes and burp her. I check to see if she's still hungry but she seems sated now so I decide that it's time to go home and see how Tobias is dealing with Tyler. "I better go. I probably should have left with them."
"I'll walk with you," Christina says. We say goodbye to all our friends and head out of the cafeteria.
"So how's the wedding planning coming?" I ask once we're on the path home.
"Slow," she sighs. "I have quite a few ideas about what I want but I haven't been able to do anything about them since Liam was born. I just haven't had the time."
"I'm not half as good at party planning as you are but why don't you let me help you," I say. "Not only am I your matron of honor and I'm supposed to help, but I owe you one. You planned my entire wedding and made it one of the most magical days of my life. I can help you, Christina. I want to help."
"Are you going to have time for that with Four, the kids, and initiation?" she asks.
"Are you going to have time to plan a wedding and take care of Will, Liam, initiation, and planning the Dauntless Welcome Party?" I ask raising an eyebrow.
"Thank you so much, Tris. You have no idea how much I appreciate you doing this for me," she says with a relieved sigh.
"It'll be fun, and it will give us time to spend together," I say. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too," she says. We take Liam and Tessa out of the stroller and leave it at the base of the stairs that lead up to our apartments.
"Do you want to come over and talk about wedding plans?" I ask as we trudge up the stairs.
"What about Tyler?" she says, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"He'll be fine," I say. "He just needs another nap and less cake in the future." I open the door, and he's sitting on the timeout chair in front of the wall of windows. He doesn't look up when we come in, he just sits there looking miserable. Tobias is in the kitchen busying himself. I think he gets that from his Abnegation upbringing. "Make yourself comfortable, Christina." She sits in her favorite chair holding Liam as I put Tessa in her swing.
"Is everything okay?" I ask Tobias. He turns around and doesn't look very happy.
"Can I talk to you upstairs?" he says.
"Sure," I say. We head to the staircase. "We'll be right down." Christina nods our way. We head into our bedroom and Tobias closes the door behind us.
"Do you have something to say to me?" he asks. I know I look confused because I don't know what he's alluding to.
"I don't think so," I say.
"What was that look for in the cafeteria?" he asks, sounding irritated. I sigh.
"Tobias, how do I say this?" I start pacing knowing this probably isn't going to go over very well. "I don't want you talking to the kids like 'Four'. It isn't necessary."
"You don't think he needed disciplined for talking back to me," he says dumbfounded, mouth agape.
"Of course, he needs to be disciplined for that," I say. "It was totally uncalled for but I don't want you talking to him like you don't care ... kind of like you're doing to me right now." He turns around and runs his hand through his hair then turns back to me.
"I don't think I understand," he says, thankfully sounding more like himself. "You know that I love you and the kids more than anything."
"I know you do," I say. "But when you let Four take over, you shut your emotions off to protect yourself and you don't need to protect yourself from me and the kids, Tobias. It appears that you don't even realize you're doing it but we're not initiates who need whipped into shape, and we're not Dauntless members who did something wrong. We're your family."
"I'm sorry," he says, pulling me into his arms. He holds me close to him, rubbing one hand up and down my back and cradling my head with the other. "You're right. I didn't know I was doing it. I guess I have to work on it."
"What are we going to do about him?" I say.
"I don't know," he sighs. "He's never done anything like that before. I didn't like it."
"Neither did I," I say. "Did you talk to him about it on the way home?"
"No, I was too angry. I didn't want to yell and scare him," he says. "I brought him in here and sat him down and told him he couldn't get up until one of us said he could. We should go back downstairs." I lean back and look up at him. We gaze into each other's eyes for a moment then he captures my mouth with a hungry urgency and kisses me with vigor. I pull away winded and stare up into his handsome face. He kisses my neck, and I have to push him away. I can't allow this to go any further.
"Tobias, we need to deal with Tyler," I say.
"I know. I'm sorry. I got a bit carried away," he says up against my ear. I shake my head, clearing it and turn and walk down the hall. I can feel him right behind me as I descend the stairs.
"He's looked like that since we got home," Tobias whispers. I glance in Tyler's direction and see tears swimming in his eyes while he pouts. I quickly turn away from him. I've seen that face many times, and it breaks my heart every time.
After Tobias and I sit down on the couch I say, "Tyler, will you please come here?" He slowly gets up from the chair and comes and stands in front of me. "Will you please explain why you talked back to Daddy at lunch?" He looks up at me through his lashes and shrugs. I look at Tobias, and we're both at a loss. "When Daddy or I tell you to do something, we expect you to do it with no questions and no backtalk. Do you understand me, young man?"
"Yes, Mommy," he says. "I just wanted moe cake."
"Did you think I was going to reward your bad behavior with more cake after you talked back to Daddy?" I ask. I know he's young but he's an extremely smart boy. I need to make him understand that this behavior is unacceptable. He just looks at me.
"I don't know," he says.
"No cake for the next four days," I say. I started to say a week but we're having a picnic with my parents, Caleb, and Cara on Sunday and we're bringing cake. I know what would happen, we'd give into him and that would set a bad example. "That is your punishment." His eyes widen, and he bursts out in tears. Tobias gets up without a word and takes him to his room for a nap. I'm wiping the few escaped tears from my eyes when he comes back down.
"You did very well," he says. "I'm proud of you."
"I know he's just testing us but I don't like it," I murmur.
"No parent does, love," he says. "I'm sorry to leave you alone with this but I've got to go. There's so much to do before next week. I'll see you later." He kisses my forehead then turns toward the door. "You guys have a great afternoon."
"I'm sorry about that, Christina. Something to look forward to in the future, huh?" I say with a nervous chuckle after Tobias leaves. I'm worried about my son. I get up and take Tessa out of her swing. If I can't hold Tyler right now, I'm going to hold his sister. "Let's talk about your wedding. We can make a list of what needs to be done." We spend the next two hours talking about the wedding party, dresses, shoes, hairstyles, makeup, flowers, linens, place settings, decorations, caterers, menus, cakes, music, photographers, invitations, potential venues, and honeymoon destinations.
"The very first thing you and Will need to decide on is a date," I say. "Have you talked about it yet?"
"Yeah but we keep going back and forth on whether to have it sooner or later," she says. "He wants to wait until next spring, and I want to have it as soon as possible."
"Why does he want to wait?" I ask.
"He wants us to take our time, not rush in to anything. It's not like we haven't already had a baby," she says shaking her head. "I really don't understand. I just want to be Mrs. William Drake as soon as possible so we can be a real family. Do you think this is a sign of a problem?"
"First of all, the three of you are a real family. Don't think otherwise. Families come in all different shapes and sizes," I say somewhat sternly but then I soften up. "Secondly, I can tell that Will absolutely adores you. Don't think anything different, okay? Under normal circumstances, I would have taken more time marrying Four but then I wouldn't have my kids."
"You're probably right," she says. I'm on the floor changing Tessa's dirty diaper when there's a knock on the door.
"Can you get that for me?" I ask knowing that I can't just bound up off the floor like I used to.
"Just a minute!" she calls out. She manages to get out of the club chair without waking Liam and answers the door. "What are you doing here?" This captures my attention. Who in the world is she talking to?
"I'm looking for ... Four," says a voice I recognize immediately. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and shake my head. What in the world does he want? I get up off the floor with some difficulty and walk over to Christina. Just on the other side of the threshold is my father-in-law.