AN: Thank you for the follows and reviews. I really do love hearing your thoughts on this one. Enjoy, and see you again Wednesday.
Eric can tell that Max is pissed at him, and it's all Jeanine's fucking fault. She'd called Max, expressed her unhappiness with Eric's inability to find Tris Prior after her explicit instructions to do so last week.
Jeanine was now certain that she was the one.
She'd demanded that Max and Eric come to Erudite immediately, and once they were finally there she went over her findings regarding Tris. Jeanine had finally admitted that she had been studying all of the city records on one Beatrice Edith Prior, from her birth to now. She had also gotten hold of Tris's initial aptitude test, with its manually entered results. She'd had one of her assistant's question Tori Wu at length, finding the woman to be extremely evasive when it came to explaining the issues with testing the young woman. Jeanine had also known Andrew Prior for most of her life, and when she "accidentally" mentioned to him that his daughter was unofficially missing from Dauntless's training class while quizzing him on anomalies in her medical records, he'd decided to use his power to order a door to door search of his own faction. Anything to find his daughter, especially when his childhood friend Jeanine was kind enough to have put pressure on the city leaders so that his daughter wouldn't be lost in the system.
Jeanine had pressured Max to do the same.
"Jeanine, with all due respect, if we set off this type of invasive search we are sending a very clear message to our faction that would lead them all to believe that she is somewhat more important than others who have chosen to leave our initiation process. Every year, there is at least one initiate who realizes they can't handle our program, and they leave willingly. We don't send out search parties, we respect the decisions they make and we focus on those who stick with the program." Max explained.
"There's not one camera that caught her leaving your faction, which could mean she's still in Dauntless." Jeanine hisses.
"You actually think someone is hiding her? Have you gone mad?" Max asks.
"No. If you believe she's outside of Dauntless, then prove it." She challenges.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me-" Max begins but Jeanine interrupts him.
"Beatrice Prior is a leader's daughter, you of all people should be working round the clock to find her." She replies angrily.
"That shit might have worked on Prior and Kang, but if you're expecting me to not only find this girl, but also hide her from the other factions conducting their own searches I need to know why." Eric replies.
"Byron wants his research completed, and to do that we need someone with a high enough level of divergence. After speaking with Andrew, I strongly believe he and his wife had been hiding her divergence from our city for her entire life. If Abnegation finds her before we do, we'll never have her." Jeanine replies angrily.
"Why is my father obsessed with a divergent? What's in this for him?" Eric finally asks and Jeanine looks towards him, pursing her red lips in a thin line, "Tell me. I'm not going to have my fucking apartment tossed like a common criminal because daddy dearest wants a lab rat. Why is this girl so fucking important?" He presses.
"Max, a little help keeping your junior leader in line." Jeanine barks and Max leans back in his chair and crosses his arms.
"He has valid questions. I'd like those answers too." Max replies evenly.
Jeanine is pissed and both men know it, but she surprises them when she calmly continues, "Byron has a box from the founders of our city. It can only be opened by a person who can pass sims for all five of our factions." She replies, "We've had divergents in here that we believed had an aptitude for all five, but they couldn't do it. Your father believes it's less about having the aptitudes for all, instead it's the overall percentage of divergence in an individual. Hence, the scanner."
"The scanner that's yet to work properly." Eric replies angrily and her eyes jerk to his.
"It works perfectly as long as it's coupled with a new serum that we've developed, but the effectiveness of the serum wears off within seconds, so we have to conduct the test in conjunction with the serum until we perfect this."
"We've never scanned the Prior girl, how are you so sure about her?" Max asks.
"We have another source, that's all I can say for now." Jeanine says evasively.
"Who's the source, and how do you know they're trustworthy?" Max presses.
Jeanine shakes her head, "I've already said too much."
"You've not said nearly enough!" Eric shouts, startling everyone, "What is Byron after?"
"Eric, I don't know. I have no idea what is inside of that box, and your father will not tell me. All I know is that he won't destroy it, nor will he tell us why it's so important, only that it is and that our lives depend on it." Jeanine replies.
She's lying, and he knows it.
"What do you need from us, Jeanine?" Max asks.
"The girl. Without her, or someone exactly like her, we're in danger." Jeanine replies, "I refuse to trust just anyone with her Eric, are you going to be able to find her?"
"Of course I will." He replies.
He'll be damned if he lets Jeanine anywhere near Tris after this revelation. She's showing her hand, and finally exposing that Byron is who's decided that Tris is who he needed. That's all the motivation he needs to take her to his father and be done with this entire mess.
At first, Max was quiet on the train ride home. The two men had stood in relative silence, the only noises were from the train itself as it whipped through their city.
Eric is lost in thought. He's been hiding Tris in his apartment for a little over a month now, and he has to figure out what to do with her before Max forces it to be searched. If she's found inside of his apartment his career is over, and Jeanine will get what she wants anyway.
He's fucked no matter what.
"If we show we're all willing to have our apartments searched it will set a good example for the rest of the faction." Max says, breaking their silence.
"I don't give a fuck about being a good example." Eric replies.
"You need to start. If we're not careful, Kang will end up more involved involved than he already is, and we'll all fucking go down. Is that what you want?" Max spits.
Eric shakes his head, "No, but I have concerns about Jeanine's stability." Eric replies honestly and Max arches his eyebrows at his junior leader.
"How so?"
"First off, she has Kang filing a missing persons report on one fucking initiate. How is that not waving red flags directly in his face?"
Max presses his lips together and sighs before answering, "Tris Prior is a leader's daughter, you already know she's using that angle." Max shakes his head, "What else?"
"Our agreement with her started as helping her with the war. Then it evolved into this divergent shit, which I never understood, then suddenly she said she needed a backup plan with the two Stiffs, and now she's spewing shit about this box. She's holding something back from us about that Stiff. What does she really know about her that's making her this fucking crazy?" Eric replies.
"You're questioning her decisions?" Max asks.
Eric realizes he's on thin ice, and he pivots, "No, but I think my father is forcing her to spread our plans too thin. I've expressed this same concern before, and that's before we ever heard about a fucking box. If this shit goes sideways, do you actually think she and Byron will protect us?" He asks.
Max considers his answer, then he slowly nods his head, "I do."
"And you trust that she's telling us everything about the girl I'm tearing this city apart looking for?" Eric presses.
Max chews the inside of his cheek and shakes his head, "She's hiding something from us about this girl, but I don't know what. She either knows more about her alleged divergence than she's letting on, or she's going to go rogue and use that girl to get to Andrew Prior."
"Isn't Marcus higher ranked than him?" Eric asks and Max closes his eyes briefly.
"Marcus is with us. We don't need leverage for him, but Andrew automatically takes over his post if Marcus is somehow compromised." Max finally admits.
"Why am I just now finding out that we have the actual head city leader on our side?" Eric asks angrily.
"Because I only found out myself today. Your instincts aren't completely wrong when it comes to Jeanine hiding shit from us, but I still believe that she'll honor our deal if she wants us to use our faction to do her dirty work. I can tell you this, if we administer her serum, and she tries to pull some shit, I'll kill her myself. Eric, you and I will have our power, no matter what."
When Max tenses his jaw and looks away, Eric knows it's all the answer he's getting. Max may feel exactly like he does when it comes to Jeanine, but he's not willing to back down until he has the power he wants.
Much like Eric himself.
"I trust you, even if I question them." Eric replies.
"We'll start with the search in my apartment in the morning, then yours. We need our team to trust us." Max orders.
"Yes sir." Eric replies.
He's still not able to reach his father. He's texted, called, tried his assistant and even reluctantly reached out to his mother. The silence from all of them is telling, but Eric refuses to tell him anything about Tris until he speaks to the man himself. However, with his apartment scheduled to be tossed tomorrow, his timeline is short.
When he lets himself into the apartment, he finds her in the kitchen and he wraps his arms around her from behind. She relaxes her body against him as he kisses her neck, and when he drops his forehead to her shoulder she pauses, wondering what's he's been through today.
At night, when he's relaxed enough to sleep, he does this unconsciously. Sometimes, when he thinks she's asleep, he'd pull her close to him just like this and relax against her. She's unsure why he's showing conscious affection to her, but she decides that talking to him while his guard is down is the best course of action.
She carefully moves to where she can face him. She can see the worry etched on his face, and she pulls him into her arms, letting him fully relax against her. They stand there, wrapped around each other, neither saying a word. She begins to rub his shoulders and back and he sighs in her ear before kissing her cheek. He buries his face in her neck and she keeps massaging his tense shoulders.
"You could just turn me in", she says in no more than a whisper, "You've said it before, I have the type of divergence she's been looking for. Maybe if I can do whatever it is that she needs me to do she'll stop putting all of this pressure on you. If you take me to her, she'd likely let you guard me, and maybe once she's done with me she'd assign you to dispose of me. Then we could just hide." She finally says and he shakes his head against her.
"No." He replies quietly.
"You've never told me why." She replies and he sighs again.
"I won't turn you over to Jeanine."
She holds her breath, exhaling slowly, and she braces herself to ask him the next question.
"But there is someone you will turn me over to, isn't there?" She asks, and she can feel the tension radiating off of him.
He wants his father to acknowledge him, to be proud of him, and to put him above Jeanine at least once in his life. He wants to use Tris for his own gain, he wants her to become a lab rat to further his father's plans for divergence, or that fucking box, he doesn't care. He wants that power, and to maybe be Byron's next in line when the dust settles. He's been sure of this the entire time, but right now, he's questioning everything.
"The sex is just a distraction, right? It's something to do with me while you get your plans solidified."
"No." He replies but she presses.
"You can get sex from almost anyone in this faction, and likely most of the city. I saw how women looked at you before this thing started with us. You certainly don't need me to warm your bed."
She's right, he can get sex from someone other than her if he wanted, and he has in the past. He's never had time or patience for anyone to be in his life long-term, and when he's wanted something more than his hand he's had it, but he'd even stopped that when his plans with Max and Jeanine took center stage. He didn't need a woman to be close enough to him to try to change his mind about what his plans were.
"Is this thing with us more than sex, Eric? Is that your conflict?" She asks quietly, "Does this mean something to you?"
"I can't with these questions, Tris." He replies.
"There must be something that keeps me here, but there's also something pulling you towards Jeanine and Max. Do you want to be more than who you are today?"
That power, the recognition, that's what he's always wanted. He needs to be more than a twenty-year-old who had a leadership position made for him to serve the very faction he defected from.
But, at what cost?
"I see your struggle every day. I know they've offered you something, and that for now my offer has been just enough to keep me here with you. It can be more, Eric, we can be more, and you can change your path. You don't have to follow anyone, you have a choice too."
She can tell she has his attention with the way he's almost vibrating with tension under her fingertips.
"Do you want to be here?" He asks quietly.
He won't look at her, and he won't loosen his arms so she can move away from him. He's not ready to hear her answer, but the words came out before he could stop them.
"You don't have me here under lock and key. You've given me a phone, and you're gone enough that I could have left this apartment multiple times already. Every single time I've thought about it, I've chosen you."
"Tris..." He trails off and she presses her lips to his cheek briefly before speaking again.
"What do you want, Eric?"
He buries his face in her neck and she can feel him breathing against her.
"I want you." He whispers against her neck, but he makes no moves to separate them. He simply presses his lips to her neck, kissing her softly.
"Eric, please just answer the question." She says as she kneads his shoulders.
"I just did."
She looks around nervously, trying to take in her surroundings, but realizing that she's in way over her head at this point. She'd pleaded with him the entire trip to tell her what was happening, and the only thing he'd said was that he had no choice but to move her.
She knew her time was up and he was taking her to Jeanine.
He ignored her pleas, he pretended to not feel her physically fighting against him, and when he finally got to the desolate cabin deep in the woods he produces a key and opens the door, shoving her inside. She expects to see Max and Jeanine, but the small cabin is empty. When he turns on the lights, she's surprised to find the place relatively clean, and he can almost feel the questions from the way she's looking at him.
"Not right now." He says without looking at her.
She watches as he checks inside every door, and when he seems satisfied he moves towards her.
"It's clear. You'll stay here. No one has this key except me." He says as he opens cupboards and the small refrigerator, nodding as he checks over the things he finds, "This is fresh, everything here is safe."
"Where are we?" She asks.
"A cabin." He replies without looking at her.
"I know I'm in a cabin. Where are we? What happens next?" She asks.
"You stay here, it's safe." He checks the fireplace and opens the flue, "I need to get some wood."
"Eric, I need to know what's going on." She says nervously. He can hear the unusual shaking timber of her voice, "Please just tell me what's going to happen."
"I don't know." He shakes his head.
"You have no plan?" She asks.
"No." He admits and she takes in a sharp breath.
"You have a choice, Eric, you can stop this. You can stop whatever it is that she has planned. There are people who would help you. I will help you." Tris says and he finally looks at her.
"You think you know everything because of Number Boy's snooping! You have no fucking idea what I'm dealing with. You have no fucking clue, Tris! I can't just stop this, there's nothing I can do to change anything that's going to happen." He shouts at her.
"What's going to happen, Eric?" She asks, wrapping her arms around herself as she shivers.
"I need time, Tris-"
"I've given you time!" She shouts, "I transferred almost three months ago and almost the entire time I've been with you! I've given you everything you've asked for, I've tried not to push you, but I don't want to keep prolonging the inevitable here. If the end always leads to me sitting in a lab in Erudite, or dead, why are we even here?"
"I said give me time!" He shouts at her and she shakes her head.
"I don't know that I can-"
"They're doing door to door searches in Abnegation and Dauntless to look for you. Your father was made aware of your disappearance by Jeanine, and he ordered the search of his faction. Max offered ours up as well. There's a lot going on, more than I can go into right now, but it's dangerous for you to be in any faction. Let's get past these searches, get some of the heat off, and we'll figure it out." Eric explains.
It's more than he usually gives her.
"I'm scared." She finally admits.
"We don't have time for you to be scared." Eric barks back.
He realizes she is truly terrified, and he's not sure what compels him to do so but he reaches out for her and pulls her closer to him. His mouth crashes to hers and he can taste the saltiness of her tears, but she returns his kiss almost violently. It's only a matter of seconds before they're undressed, and their hot skin is sliding together and when she pushes at him he pauses his movements.
"You want me to stop?" He asks her huskily.
"No, I want you to lay on your back so I can fuck you," She replies, breathlessly.
He slides out of her, slowly moving so their positions are flipped and when he's on his back he opens his mouth to speak, but she leans down and kisses him hard as she slides down his length. When she pulls away, she leans back and braces her hands on his upper thighs as she rides him, setting a pace that he's never felt from her. His hands are everywhere, and he desperately wants to pull her down so he can kiss her again but she doesn't let him, so he closes his eyes and loses himself in the way her tight heat surrounds him. When he feels one of her hands cup his balls, he can't help the loud moan, nor the way he chants her name as he loses all control.
"Come for me, Eric." She says as her walls begin to flutter around him.
He roars her name as he's spilling inside of her and she continues her ministrations until he's drained before dropping her tired and sweaty body to his. She feels his fingers tracing down every single vertebrae in her back and then his lips pressing to her damp forehead.
When she was finally somewhat settled, he'd managed to slide out of bed long enough to start a good fire, and before he could get dressed to go back to Dauntless she'd pulled him back to bed with her. It takes her a long time to truly relax, and Eric doesn't care that she uses his body repeatedly until she's exhausted. He holds her against him, letting her sleep for as long as he can. He knows he needs to be back in the faction before Max starts the apartment searches, so he sets an alarm on his phone, and he finally falls asleep.
He tries not to leave her alone for too long, but he'd also explained he had to be careful to avoid drawing suspicion when he supposedly left the faction to specifically look for her. He tried to limit his visits to times he was already scheduled to be outside of Dauntless on the hunt, but waited until it was dark to actually make his way to the hidden cabin.
"Where'd you learn how to play?" He asked her one night over a chess board as he watched her contemplate her next move.
She moves the knight, watching the piece glide effortlessly across the board, "My dad. His chess board was one of the few extravagances we had in the house, he'd brought it with him when he left Erudite."
"I'm surprised you knew his birth faction." Eric remarks, "He told you?"
She shakes her head, "I told you that I wasn't a good Abnegation."
He leans back in his chair and smirks at her, "Oh really?"
"I was curious, so I would go through his office at home when I was there alone. I know my dad came from Erudite, my mom from Dauntless."
"You're shitting me. The three factions you have an aptitude for are the one you were raised in, and the ones your parents were raised in." He shakes his head, "That is really fucking weird."
"Does my divergence bother you?" She asks and his smirk fades.
"Pass."
She averts her eyes to the board, pretending to contemplate her next move but in reality thinking of anything she could ask Eric during this rare downtime with him. The physical side of their arrangement has continued, and they've both enjoyed it immensely, however she's noticed he's let his guard down more often too. The texting used to only be a means to see if she was still at his apartment, now it's actual conversations, albeit brief at times. When she first was hidden away in the cabin, the only thing he seemed to have on his mind when he finally made it through the door was to get her undressed and be buried inside of her as quickly as possible. Now, he plays chess, they make meals together, and he'll even come by just to sleep with his body wrapped around hers. During one of their intimate moments, when his guard was down, he admitted he missed having her in his bed at night when he slept.
It's no longer just sex, but Eric is too stubborn to recognize it. Maybe he truly doesn't care, she's started to believe that he is too far gone in whatever Jeanine and Max have him involved in to actually admit that he cares for her. He's complicated, and seems so able to compartmentalize his true feelings, separating what they are from his task.
She wishes he'd just tell her what his task really is.
"Are you okay?" She asks and his icy grey blue eyes meet hers.
It's a loaded question.
His father continues to ignore him, instead sending his demands through Jeanine. Eric has been lying to the Erudite leader, telling her he's gotten some tips from the factionless that Tris is keeping herself hidden by traveling from camp to camp. Jeanine has ordered more of her followers to chase these dead end leads, where the factionless play along and string them along in order to get food, clothing or any other needed supplies. The last camp asked for weapons, and when he'd told Jeanine and Max they'd decided to consider it if it led to the capture of Tris Prior.
His plans are backfiring, because now with the promise of weapons being dangled like a carrot at a group of people who have no ways of protecting themselves, they've began looking for the girl themselves.
"No." He admits. He's far from okay, he knows his own days are numbered unless he turns her in, and he's running out of time to get his father to actually listen to him, "Are you?"
She's shocked that he asked.
"No." She finally answers and her hazel green eyes meet his briefly before she stands up and heads into the small kitchen area.
He approaches her slowly, and when he winds his arms around her she tenses at his touch. He presses his lips to her neck and she tries to move away from him, causing him to stop.
"What's gotten into you?" He asks angrily as he lets her go.
"What are we doing here?"
"Hiding, like you have for weeks out here." He replies sarcastically and she pulls away from him, turning so she can see him.
"This thing with us, Eric-"
"There is no us, what the fuck are you going on about?" He spits.
She's been ignoring how dangerous he truly is, allowing herself to be distracted by their intimacy. She knows it's more than sex for her, and even though she's believed it was to him as well, she will never mean more to him than whatever he's being offered from Max and Jeanine.
"I don't want to do this anymore. I'm done." She replies.
"Is that your final decision?" He asks lowly.
"Yes." She replies in a shaky voice.
He stares at her, saying nothing, and she watches as the anger passes over his features. He finally walks away, grabbing his bag before heading to the door.
"You'd better run then." He says without turning towards her, and he opens the cabin door and walks into the darkness.