The journey to the Pit floor turns out to be a long one. We are stopped at every turn by Dauntless members wanting to catch a glimpse of our little peanut who is fast asleep against my chest or asking for an update on Tori's whereabouts. We tried to keep her disappearance under wraps but after 24 hours, rumors are running rampant. I can tell that Tobias is anxious to talk to Mrs. Wheeler but he's doing his duty flawlessly and amicably talks with each person who approaches. We finally get to the daycare center nearly a full hour later.
"Where's Mrs. Wheeler?" Tobias asks the moment we cross the threshold into the daycare center. One of the other teachers stands before us somewhat flustered.
"She's not on the schedule today," she stammers.
"Call her," he firmly says. "Now. I want her in my office in one hour."
"Yes, sir," she says. "I'll do it as soon as I get Tessa down for her nap."
"We won't be dropping the kids off today," he says. Oh! This is news to me. "One hour. Come on, guys." I look down at Tyler, and he smiles up at me. After we walk back onto the Pit floor, Tobias stops me and quietly says, "I'm sorry, love. I just couldn't leave them there."
"I understand. I didn't want to leave them either," I say. "What are we going to do with them?"
"We'll bring them to work with us for today," he says. "Peanut will sleep most of the time, Tessa looks about ready for a nap, and Tyler can draw. How does that sound, Buddy?" He smiles up at him.
"And our meeting?" I ask.
"I'll ask Avery to watch the kids, and we'll take our meeting in your office. Av is running diagnostics on your computer this morning."
"Alright," I say. "Good plan. After our meeting, I'm going to call Christina and talk to her about a nanny. I've been procrastinating."
"We," I say.
"We've been procrastinating."
"Daddy, can you give me a wide?" Tyler asks. "My legs are tiwed."
"They are?" he asks with an easy smile on his face for our son. I hold out my hands and he gently puts Tessa in my arms. I balance her on my hip as he puts Tyler on his shoulders. It's moments like this I realize we are truly outnumbered. Tessa smiles then leans over and looks at Peanut. Please don't start, little one. I watch as she reaches out and touches her sister's face. For a split second I'm concerned that she'll hit her or scratch her, which reminds me I need to trim her nails again very soon, but she just looks at her and starts babbling.
"You love your sister don't you, little one?" I ask as I kiss her cheek, which makes her laugh. "Do you still think my kisses are silly?"
"Daddy doesn't," Tobias quietly says under his breath and I'm not sure if I was meant to hear or not. I look up at him and wink when I catch his eye and his cheeks turn a pale shade of rose. He looks good with extra color. Flashes of my dream play in my mind, and my bad mood threatens to return so I instead look down at my girls, one asleep against my chest and the other yawning as she lays her head against my shoulder, and I know I'm blessed. The next two weeks won't be easy but it will be worth it in the end.
Our return trip to the Pire doesn't take half the time our first one did, probably because of the scowl on Tobias' face. No one dares to look at him let alone speak to him. As irritated as I am with the daycare director, I wouldn't wish the wrath of Four on anyone. When we enter his office, Tobias puts Tyler on his feet and takes Tessa from me and lays her on her back in the travel sleeper then I put Teagan right next to her. I momentarily wonder if Peanut will always be smaller. Tobias excuses himself to go talk to Avery as I dig out some blank sheets of paper and colored pencils from a drawer in one of the filing cabinets. I have Tyler kneel in a chair at the corner of the desk so he can draw, which he loves to do.
A thought crosses my mind, and I go to the files. I'd really like to kick whoever trashed them because what I'm looking for is not going to be easy to find. My mind wanders to a motive for ransacking his office as I pull Mrs. Wheeler's personnel record out of the file drawer. Fortunately, as I flip through the file it looks to be complete. After closing the drawer, I check on the kids then sit on the end of the couch with my legs tucked underneath me.
"Does that lip taste good?" Tobias asks as he comes through the door. I give him a confused look, and he chuckles lightly. "You're gnawing on your bottom lip, love. You don't do that very often."
"I didn't realize," I say, raising my hand to touch my lip, which is now quite tender. "I'm looking at Mrs. Wheeler's file."
"Good thinking," he says. "Have you learned anything useful?" I pat the seat next to me, and he sits down, puts his arm around me, and looks at the file over my shoulder.
"Gloria Wheeler is a rare transfer from Amity," I say reading aloud from the file folder in my hands. "She was last in her initiation class with poor marks across the board." I look up from the paperwork. "If she had jumped into Dauntless last year instead of 25 years ago, she never would have made it." I momentarily wonder what caused her to join Dauntless as I move further into her file. "She's married to a Stuart Wheeler. He's been a fence guard his entire career. They've been married 24 years, no children. She's worked in the daycare center since initiation ended and was promoted to director 12 years ago. This is what disturbs me." I shuffle the papers to find what I'm looking for. "There have been numerous complaints about the daycare ever since she took over."
"How many is numerous?" he asks, the concern in his voice audible. I tally them quickly.
"I estimate at least 50 per year," I say. "Over 12 years that's 600 complaints. And if I'm reading this correctly, multiple complaints from the same person have only been counted as one complaint. Right here is half-a-dozen grievances from the same family." He takes the file out of my hand and reads over the multitude of allegations. Thankfully, there are no claims of abuse or neglect but it seems like a bullying atmosphere has been tolerated for far too long. From what I saw, previous leadership shrugged it off as the quintessential "Dauntless will be Dauntless" attitude. They even encouraged it. That needs to stop right here and now.
"I can't believe this has been going on for this long," he says after skimming the file, frustrated and rightfully upset. "Why didn't I ever look at this?" He gets up and makes a notation at his desk. "Every daycare employee needs vetted. I don't care how long they've worked there. If their attitudes and actions aren't in line with the Dauntless we've built, there are openings at the fence, and they'll be transferred there. And this isn't just about Tyler, Tessa, and Peanut either. It's about all the children. It's no wonder so many families have went to the nanny service in the city."
"I agree," I say.
"Can I have a dwink?" Tyler asks.
"Sure," Tobias says as he gets up. He gets a small bottle of milk out of his mini fridge, pours it in the sippy cup he gets out of the diaper bag, and hands it to Tyler.
"Thanks, Daddy," he says. He gets down off his chair and crawls up on my lap. After chugging the milk, he struggles with his eyelids for a time and they win out in the end. Wow! All three kids napping at the same time. I think it's a miracle.
"He loves being able to spend extra time with you," Tobias says.
"I know," I say. "I love it, too." I stroke his hair and hear his breathing change, knowing he's now sound asleep. "The mom in me wants to stay home with him and the girls so much," I kiss his head, "the Dauntless in me wants to make this the best faction in the city, and the woman in me just wants unlimited time alone with you." I reach up and caress his stubbled chin. "Do you ever feel that way?"
"All the time," he says.
"It's nice to know I'm not alone," I say.
"You're never alone," he says. As he leans in to kiss me, a timid knock sounds in the room. He sighs then gets up to answer the door as I get up and gently lay Tyler on the couch. It's cool in the office today so I cover him with one of the girls' baby blankets from the diaper bag. Tobias excuses himself, comes back with Avery then we lead Mrs. Wheeler into my office.
"Please sit down, Mrs. Wheeler," I say, motioning to the grouping of furniture in the corner of my office. She sits down in the black leather chair then Tobias and I sit on the matching loveseat opposite her. "May I call you Gloria?"
"Of course," she says, sounding somewhat surprised I know her first name. Tobias tosses her file on the small coffee table that's sitting between us. Her name is printed in big, black, bold letters, which makes it hard to miss.
"I'm sure you're wondering why we have asked you here this morning," he says.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," she says. Her voice is steady and clear but I can hear her nervousness.
"We would like to talk to you about a couple situations in the daycare center that we were just made aware of," I say.
"Firstly, we would like to talk to you about Tyler and Bobby," Tobias says. She flinches just a little at the mention of our son's nemesis. She obviously knows what we're talking about and was hoping to avoid this conversation. "This morning, Tyler told his mother and me something that disturbed me greatly. Apparently, Bobby has been telling him that we don't love him as much as his baby sister and that the reason he has to go to daycare is because we don't want him at home but that isn't what disturbs me the most. He told us he came to you and told you what Bobby has been doing just like protocol dictates but that you didn't believe him. My son has never lied to me so I doubt that he would act totally out of character in your presence and lie to you. Do you care to explain yourself?"
"Tyler did come to me but I haven't seen Bobby bothering him," she says.
"If I remember correctly, you hadn't seen Bobby bothering him the first time either," I say.
"I can't investigate each and every claim that is brought to my attention," she says, getting a tad but defensive and a nearly inaudible gasp leaves my lips.
"And why not?" I ask, trying to remain calm. "Isn't that your job?" She looks at me and doesn't say a word, obviously tongue tied. "If a child, any child, were to come to me with a concern whether it is real or imagined, it's my duty as an adult to look into it. I know you probably see a lot of pettiness between the children in your charge but kids swiping toys or boys pulling girls' ponytails pale in comparison to one child continually making another think he is unloved … or at least it should."
"Tyler didn't tell me exactly what Bobby said," she finally says. "He only told me that he was being mean."
"That's exactly what he told me after I asked why he didn't want to go to daycare today," Tobias says being deceptively calm. I look up at him and notice that the edges of his ears are a pale crimson color. I have only seen this a handful of times in the past year, and I know it's not good. I'd rather deal with erupting Four than slow-simmering Tobias. "But I didn't let it go at that. 'Being mean,'" he puts air quotes around the words, "can mean anything. After a little prodding, he told us what's been going on for one goddamn month." By the time he's done, he's bellowing at the top of his lungs, and Mrs. Wheeler pales drastically. I notice two Dauntless guards stop in their tracks in the hallway outside my office and gawk at us through the clear glass wall. I give them a withering look and they scurry off. "One month, Mrs. Wheeler. It's no wonder he doesn't feel comfortable there anymore.
"I want a meeting with Bobby's parents, preferably today. He's been traumatized by this boy's persistent hateful spewing for far too long. He thinks his mother and I love the new baby more than him, which is totally absurd, and he thinks this only because of Bobby. I gave you a chance to handle it like protocol dictates but I'm far from satisfied, which brings us to the second topic we need to discuss, your job performance. Your job is hanging by a thread. I should have done my due diligence before I entrusted the care of my children with you." He leans up and taps the folder he threw down earlier. "I looked at your file and am appalled by the number of complaints against you. Would you like to take a guess at the number?" She sits staring at him, not saying a word. "No? Over 600. How you still have a job is beyond me. The trend I see in here of sweeping problems under the rug won't be tolerated anymore. These are our children, the future of Dauntless. They deserve to be supervised by the very best, and I'm not convinced that's you. We are a new Dauntless and bullying will not be tolerated.
"Tris, Will, and I will be putting a committee together for the express purpose of evaluating you and your staff. I have not read through their files but it will be done soon. Each of you will be interviewed at length. If it is determined that any staff member is not qualified to be in their current position, they will be transferred to the fence." This gets a reaction from her.
"You would put more than 20 people's careers on the line because your son can't take a little teasing?" I feel the atmosphere in the room change. I put my hand on Tobias' knee and squeeze in the hopes it will keep him rooted in place. I really don't need him killing her, although I would happily help him bury the body. I can't believe she just said that. I lean forward and look her directly in the eyes.
"How would you feel if you had someone telling you on a daily basis that your wonderful, perfect husband doesn't love you anymore, that he is having an affair with someone who could have been your twin when you were 16 and wants a divorce? You would probably dismiss it at first but then after being repeatedly assailed with the information day in and day out, a nagging whisper in the back of your mind starts saying to you, 'What if it's true?' Then you start believing it. It's human nature. Now put yourself in the shoes of a 2-year-old. What Bobby is telling him is not simple teasing, Gloria. It borders on mental torture. He thinks his father and I don't love him, that we don't want him. I still don't know why this boy is doing this. How can you think anything else is more important than investigating a claim like that?"
"I have an explanation for my behavior but it will just sound like an excuse," she says. It's hard to describe her demeanor at the moment. I don't know how she is doing it but she's remorseful yet defiant at the same time.
"Go on," I say.
"When I took over the daycare center nearly 13 years ago, I was given strict instructions to not baby the children," she says. "Max said the previous manager had been softening the children for years and that's why there were so many defectors to other factions. He told me it was my duty to prepare the next generation of Dauntless members for the harsh realities of real life. I learned early on that you don't argue with your leaders. Like you, they threatened me with working at the fence so I did as I was told. I never encouraged the bad behavior but I didn't stop it either. I guess after 12 years of looking the other way that I've stopped seeing it all together." I look up at Tobias and see a change in his demeanor. I believe it matches mine. The intense anger is gone, and it's been replaced by an understanding.
"We can't fault you for following the orders that were given to you," Tobias tells her. "A good Dauntless soldier does as they are instructed whether they agree with the directive or not. I'm sure Tris will agree when I say that we're going to wipe the slate clean and only look at your performance from here on out. That being said, changes have to be made. Daycare should be a safe environment for every child. We'll still set up the committee to oversee operations and if performance doesn't improve, changes in personnel will have to be made. And we can't reward bad behavior with promotions. Therefore, the fence is the only alternative."
"I understand," she says.
"Like we said earlier, we want a meeting with Bobby's parents. Please set it up for after closing at the daycare center this evening," I say. "What are their names?" We need to check out their files.
"Dale and Jennifer Chaucer," she says. Tobias' brows furrow.
"Dale Chaucer? Why is that name familiar?" he mumbles to himself under his breath.
"We will be in contact with you when the committee has been selected," I say, getting to my feet. "That will be all." After Tobias gets to his feet, Mrs. Wheeler follows. Just as she is getting ready to leave she turns back towards us.
"I'm truly sorry for what Tyler is going through, and I regret that I played a part in it," she says. "We love what your leadership has done for Dauntless. I just wish the old habits were easier to break. I'll see you in my office at 6 p.m.?"
"Yes," Tobias says.
"Thank you for giving me a chance to explain," she says then turns and leaves before we can say anymore.
"I'm still pissed but now I'm angry at a dead man," Tobias says. "What the hell were they thinking?"
"They were doing what Erudite wanted so the old leaders weren't thinking for themselves but it is disturbing to hear that their plan was set into motion so long ago," I say. "That kind of damage is going to be hard to repair but at least most members are willing to try to restore our faction to what it once was." I look up at him, and he looks slightly confused. "What's wrong?"
"Dale Chaucer," he says, rubbing his chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I've heard that name or seen it somewhere recently but I can't remember where."
"Do you know him?" I ask.
"Not that I know of," he says. "We better get back to the kids. I think I hear Peanut." When I listen carefully, I hear her cries coming through his closed office door. He opens it for me and Avery is sitting in his chair trying to calm her down.
"Oh, good! You're back," she says.
"I'm sorry," I say as I take my hungry baby from her. "That took longer than we expected. I'm surprised that Tyler and Tessa aren't awake."
"She just started crying," she says as I sit on the end of the couch. I get Peanut situated in the sling and start to nurse her. Tyler now looks warm so I take the blanket and cover her head. "I've been through all the computers and no virus or spyware was left behind but in each office that was broken into the computers were logged onto and files were accessed. I made a list of the files from each computer."
"Can you tell whose log in information was used to access the computers?" Tobias asks.
"Yeah," she says as she hands him a sheet of paper. "It was Tori's."