AN: Thank you so much for the reviews. I love getting you feedback. Enjoy and see you Wednesday.

It was her father who talked her into staying in Chicago.

He'd called her the day after seeing Peter, and he finally said everything she needed to hear. Andrew Prior loved his daughter, but he was a man with faults, and he was finally able to admit them to her. He and his wife were devastated when they learned that Caleb was working with Jeanine Matthews and Byron Coulter. He and Natalie Prior had raised strong and independent children, who weren't afraid to flap their wings and fly away from the faction that didn't fit their wants and needs. Andrew, as the city's newly minted head leader, was reeling from the responsibility that had been forced upon him when Marcus Eaton was found guilty of conspiracy to commit crimes against the government. Especially when his first act as head leader was to oversee a sentence for war criminals that included Caleb Prior. He had to vote to memory wipe his own son, then immediately listen to the testimony of a young Dauntless leader who admitted to not only initially cooperating with Jeanine, Byron and Max, but also testified to defiling his own daughter, where consent was questionable at best.

When Andrew had listened to Eric Coulter admit that he had requested sexual favors in exchange for his protection of Tris's secrets, he saw red. He admitted to letting the anger, stress and overall hurt he was dealing with cause him to question his place in this city, but when it came to sentencing Eric he did what he felt was necessary.

"Beatrice, I know you believe it was bias that made me make the decision I did, however I felt it was the appropriate sentence for a man who admitted to wanting the power he was promised, and had no regrets about following the oath he had taken." Andrew said.

"What if he was capable of change and you singlehandedly took that chance from him?" She argued.

"What if he wasn't, and the lure of power pulled him into the dark again? What if when it did, he dragged you down with him?"

She had no answer for that.

Tris loved Eric deeply, she believed him when he told her he didn't want to be who he was before, but she needed more time to truly get to know him before leaving everything and everyone behind, and she knew she wouldn't get it. Her father never pressed her to find out where she was or what she'd been doing, he'd simply told her he would do everything he could to protect her, but if she didn't go back to her faction he'd have no choice but to have her made factionless.

Tris wanted a relationship with her parents, and she wanted to be in Chicago with the friends who had sacrificed their own freedom to protect her when the war was on the verge of being started. If she left Chicago, she'd no longer be allowed back, and if things with Eric didn't work out she'd be completely alone.

Her decision was clear, but it was never going to be easy.

When Eric left to get more wood, she left the cabin and made her way to the coordinates she had agreed to meet her father at, and after two days back in Abnegation with her parents she was finally ready to go back to Dauntless.

Tris never told Eric goodbye.

Four had finally gone out to the cabin to check for Eric, and he'd found it empty. An envelope with Tris's name was taped to the door, and he'd brought it back to Dauntless with him. When she read his words, she couldn't help but cry, because he actually understood her decision even if she never talked to him about it. He told her that he loved her, and that wouldn't ever change, and that he would make his way out to Portland and start a life there, and that if she ever changed her mind to send him a message, and he'd left a phone number.

I'll always have a place in my life for you, but I will wait until you contact me again.

She never expected it from him.

Tris and Peter finally had a longer overdue serious conversation, where Tris apologized profusely for lying to him and cheating on him. She told him she needed to focus on herself, and that even though she didn't leave Chicago for Eric it didn't mean she was choosing to stay for Peter. For the first time since leaving Abnegation, Tris chose herself, and her best friends were incredibly proud of her.

She had to have a heart to heart with Harrison, who'd given her a chance to return to the faction and dedicate herself to the city without judging her. Eric was the elephant in the room, the rumors had swirled that Tris had left to be with him, but there was no proof to substantiate the whispers. Peter proved to be a man of his word, and he never exposed Tris's secrets.

She returned to her job in the control room, and back to her apartment furnished with Eric's things, and she tried to focus on simply putting one foot in front of the other. She'd finally sent Eric a text her second week back in the faction, telling him she was sorry, and surprisingly he kept the tone of the letter he left and told her that he truly understood.

E: I'd been gone for months, and came back to rekindle a relationship that had started under duress. You were right for not coming with me.

T: I feel like we needed to actually know each other, without the stress of running from Jeanine. How are you really?

He'd told her he was doing well. He'd made it safely to Portland, where his friends Matt and Nita welcomed him and gave him a place to stay. He was living in their guest room, he'd gotten a job as a patrol officer, and he was officially in a training program.

T: So, you're an initiate?

E: I can almost see you smiling. You're smiling, aren't you?

T: Guilty :)

They talked all the time, sometimes on the phone, somethings through texting and he promised her he would get a video capable phone as soon as he was on his feet. His main goal was getting an apartment of his own, with at least one extra bedroom in case she ever wanted to visit him. Tris had shared with him that Chicago was in discussions to open their fence, their city was already in regular trades with Milwaukee and Detroit, and if they truly opened the borders it would allow her the opportunity to travel without being considered a traitor to her city.

It felt good to be building an actual friendship with Eric.

She'd been back for almost two months when she could no longer deny she was having every classic symptom of pregnancy, and during a whispered conversation with Lauren while they were working a shift together she was finally convinced to take a test.

The positive result shook her to her core. She could hear Lauren's comforting words, but her mind was somewhere else completely. While Lauren asked her if she was going to talk to Peter, Tris already knew that he couldn't be the father. She and Peter always used condoms, and even though they weren't foolproof she was also on prevention serum and she'd had her menstrual cycle after her last encounter with Peter, and it was finished before she and Eric had spent that week together in the cabin.

This baby was Eric's.

She didn't tell Lauren, but she did ask her to keep it to herself until she was ready to talk about it. She should have known better, if a divergent like Eric could beat memory serum, why the hell did the two of them rely on the prevention serum to prevent pregnancy? She always used condoms with her other partners, the only person she was reckless with was him.

Even though it was the worst possible timing, she never was afraid of having a child with him. Except now they were hundreds of miles away from each other, and no one knew she'd been with him while she was out of the faction.

Except Peter.

They had a standing weekly dinner, strictly as friends, and when he'd shown up that Wednesday as normal he could tell she had something on her mind. She'd already hurt him so much, and she tried her hardest to avoid his questions, but she finally blurted out the truth and he immediately asked if it was his. When she told him it was likely Eric's, and explained the timing, he'd simply sat back in his chair and nodded his head.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked.

She shook her head, "No. You've already done so much for me, and I've done nothing but hurt you. I just needed you to know, and even with the timing we can still get the testing done to see if it's yours."

"If it's mine would you keep it?"

"It's a decision I'd want to make with you." She replied.

"If it's not mine you realize I'll still be here, right?" He replied.

"Peter-"

"I love you. I know things aren't perfect, but I'm here and if you want to keep the baby I'll still be here."

"I lied to you. I cheated-"

"I know, and I've also watched you beat yourself up over it the entire time you've been back. You're punishing yourself for something I've already forgiven you for. You love him, and like I said your entire relationship with him was filled with trauma. You two went through some shit. I don't expect you to just forget it or him. You continue to punish yourself for all of it, and I won't lie it fucking hurt when you went to him, but I know if you ever do give our relationship another chance it'll be when you're ready to love me too."

"I don't think you should wait for that. I love Eric and I know that when the time is right he and I will be together again." Tris had argued.

"What if that never happens, Tris? Are you going to leave Chicago to be with him? Because even if we open our fence, he's still not allowed inside of it." Peter replied.

It was a harsh reminder of her situation, one she wasn't ready to face. She'd asked him to leave after that, and he did. He'd promised to continue to give her time and space, and she thanked him for his friendship. She wasn't leading him on, if anything she was telling him to move on, but he had decided that she was worth waiting for. And even if they did decide to just be friends, he would still be there for her child.

An in-utero paternity test confirmed that Peter was not her child's father, so she knew without a doubt it was Eric's. She was now almost twelve weeks pregnant, and she'd finally found the courage to tell Eric about it.

"It's mine, right?" He'd asked. They were on their first video call, but she still couldn't read his expression.

"Yes. I already thought it was based on timing, but Peter went through with a DNA test and we proved it wasn't his." Tris answered.

"You're keeping it?" He asks, betraying no emotion.

"I'm far enough along that my only other choice is adoption." Tris replied honestly.

"How are we going to do this, Tris? You're hundreds of miles away from me, and now you're having my kid. How is any of this going to work?" He asked.

"I don't know. It's not like I planned this, Eric." She replied angrily.

"I know, neither of us did."

"You don't have to do anything-" she began but he interrupted her.

"There's not much that scares me, but the day I was arrested, then when I was memory wiped, I was fucking terrified. I thought my entire life was over, and then I started remembering you and the life we'd started building. I remembered talking about our future, with kids, marriage, everything I thought I'd never want. I fucked it all up, and now you're going to have our child without me." He replies.

"They're close to opening our walls, I can come out and visit you without losing my place in the city." She says and he shakes his head.

"That's all I'll ever get though. I'll see you and our child through short visits."

"Eric, we have to figure us out first. I finally have my parents back in my life, I have my friends, my life is here. I can't risk losing everything I have here when I have no idea if you and I can make it. We're having a baby, and now more than ever we need to get a solid foundation down because we have to raise a child. I'm willing to put the work in, are you Eric?"

She watches him through the camera, seeing him scrub a hand across his hair and then down his face, "You know I'll put the work in. I want to be in our kid's life. I want this to work."

"Okay, that's a start. The rest we'll figure out."

She'd thought she'd been hiding her pregnancy well, but during a visit in Abnegation her mother had asked her flat out if she was with child. Tris wanted to deny it, but her mother knew her well, and she'd finally gotten her daughter to open up about everything that was on her mind. Natalie had assumed her child was fathered by Peter, but when Tris finally admitted she'd been with Eric again and that he was the father Natalie had been shocked.

Tris finally explained what had really happened to bring her and her father back together, that Peter had inadvertently uncovered a lie in their relationship during a conversation with Andrew, and when he found out she wasn't really in Abnegation Andrew had finally called her.

Not only had they talked, he had also agreed to cover for Tris, and turned the other cheek when Eric was sneaking back out of the faction. Tris and Eric had both kept up the agreements they'd made with Andrew, they had ended their relationship and stayed away from each other and as far as he was concerned life was going to move on.

Tris could feel her father's eyes on her the entire time, and although he had an unreadable expression she could only imagine how upset he was with her.

"What are your plans for this child?" Andrew asked and Tris's teary eyes met her father's stern ones.

"Eric and I are trying to figure out co-parenting. It's been difficult with him being so far away, but we've talked about it and he's been there for as much as he can." Tris answers carefully.

"The two of you are still in contact?" Natalie asked and Tris nodded. She doesn't miss the glance her parents share and she looks down at the table, "How far along are you?"

"Seventeen weeks now." Tris says quietly, "The only people who know that Eric is my baby's father, besides Eric and me, are you two and Peter. Everyone else assumes it's Peter's and neither of us have corrected them. It's not fair to him, and he's finally ready to move on but he feels like he can't. I have to keep my phone on and out of sight at all of my doctor's appointments just so Eric hear what happens during the visit and can keep up with his own child. I just… I don't know how he and I will do this."

Natalie glances at Andrew again and nods her head once and he sighs heavily, "You're sure?" He asks his wife.

"He's the father of our grandchild." She replies.

Tris looks between her parents and her father finally speaks, "Eric reached out to me two weeks ago, asking for a chance to come back to the city. I had no idea that it was because you were with child, and I've not been very receptive to his requests."

"That's when I finally told him I was pregnant." Tris says quietly.

"I see." Andrew replies, "I will bring him here, and he can stay with your mother and me. I need to see if he's truly changed, Beatrice. I know you've observed his change, but for me to believe it I will need to see it."

Tris threw her arms around her parents, and for the first time since leaving Abnegation she feels like she has her family back.

Eric immediately agreed to come back, and he also agreed to follow all of the rules that Andrew and Natalie imposed. He knew it was incredibly difficult for Andrew to offer an olive branch and he was determined to show the Prior's how committed he was to changing.

Almost two weeks after learning their daughter was pregnant it was Andrew who flew out to Portland to pick Eric up. He had cleared his plans with all members of leadership, and he had their full support since they had all voted to keep Eric in the city. Their flight back to Chicago was filled with necessary conversation, and one of the first things Eric had done was apologize to Andrew for the callous way he'd once treated his daughter.

It was a start.

The rest of the trip was quiet, and when they arrived back in Chicago he silently followed Andrew into a car and the Abnegation man scrolled through a tablet while the driver pulled off.

"That's different." Eric commented and Andrew looked over at him, "The tablet. Marcus wouldn't dare use the technology."

"No, he wouldn't, but I think that was more so his illegal activities couldn't be tracked and less about the selfishness of having technology."

"More than likely." Eric replied quietly.

"Had you not met Beatrice, would you have gone through with the plans?" Andrew asks and Eric sighs.

"The person I was then, yes." He admitted.

"Do you still have no regrets regarding that oath you took?"

"I regret everything. I now know that this entire city was built on power and greed. I was a willing participant in all of it, but Tris showed me there was a better way."

"You certainly didn't treat her that way when you met her." He replies sternly.

"I'm no longer the same person I was when I met her." He replies.

"I suppose you'll have to show me."

Andrew and Natalie had prepared Tris's childhood bedroom as a guest room for Eric, and he'd been living with them for almost four weeks. He spent his days working as an assistant to Andrew, scheduling his meetings, filing paperwork and tending to the email box that other factions used to communicate with Abnegation in general. Andrew was still careful to ensure Eric had no access to sensitive information, and when he was needed out of his office Eric would volunteer with Natalie at The Hub, handing out food and necessary supplies to the factionless.

It was humbling work for the former leader, and even with the comments and strange looks he received, he was polite and a hard worker. They'd been hesitant to have Tris come over for dinner or visits until they could get a feel for how Eric would handle things, so for almost a month they'd not been able to visit with their daughter.

So far, he was doing well, and neither Natalie nor Andrew had any complaints about his behavior or work ethic. Every evening when they were passing his room to go to their bedroom, they'd hear him quietly talking to Tris on his phone. They couldn't deny that Eric was changing, and that he was fully committed to their daughter and the child she was carrying.

One evening Andrew and Eric had returned home from work to find Tris setting the dinner table while her mother took a roast out of the oven. Eric had rushed to her and she threw her arms around him. Natalie smiled softly at her husband and Andrew nodded at her.

Eric put both of his hands on her belly and rested his forehead against hers.

"You're beautiful." He said quietly and Tris smiled at him.

"We should go wash up." Andrew says to Eric and Eric kisses Tris's forehead before he follows the older man upstairs.

Dinner is delicious, and the conversation flows easily. Tris knew from her daily calls with Eric that things were going well for him in Abnegation, and when she'd finally been invited to visit after he'd been back for almost a month she knew a corner had finally been turned.

Tris and Natalie retreat to the kitchen and Andrew takes his glasses off and polishes them with a napkin.

"I had a meeting with Jack Kang today, and I officially filed the necessary paperwork to allow you back into the city on a more permanent basis." He said casually and Eric openly gapes at him, "We've had nothing but good reviews regarding your stay in Milwaukee before your trial, Detroit after and Portland since regaining your memories. You've done a good job here, Eric."

"Thank you, sir. I can assure you that I won't let you down."

"I'm sure you won't, especially since you'll still be living here." Andrew replies, casually taking a sip of his coffee.

Tris and Natalie can both see the twinkle in his eye, "Dad, stop it." Tris says as she loops her arms around Eric from behind his chair, "He's kidding, Eric. You're coming back to Dauntless with me tonight, if you're willing."

Eric looks up at her smiling face, "I'm absolutely willing."

Eric returned to Dauntless, and to his surprise people actually applauded when they saw him walk in.

"What the fuck?" Eric whispered and she threaded her fingers with his.

"No one wanted you kicked out of the city except my father." Tris replied.

"And maybe him." Eric said as Peter approached them.

"You're back." Peter says and Tris frowns at him.

"I already told you he was coming back." Tris replies.

"It's just an observation." Peter says as he cuts his eyes at Eric.

"Can we talk?" Eric asks and Peter raises his eyebrows and nods. Eric squeezes Tris's hand before walking away.

Peter walks towards the chasm and leans against the rail and Eric puts some space between them and finally speaks.

"There's a lot I need to say to you, but I want to start by thanking you. What you've done for Tris, being there, protecting her, and even loving her, all of it. She told me you were even willing to step up and be a father if I couldn't figure my shit out. I also owe you an apology, for sleeping with her when I knew the two of you together. You're a solid guy, and I'm an asshole." Eric looks down at the ground briefly and when he looks up Peter is staring at the swirling water.

"She was never going to love me the way she loves you. I knew it, she told me all the time and I didn't listen to her," He shakes his head and looks over at Eric, "Yeah, you are an asshole. You may have finally figured your shit out, and I hope it's for good because that girl deserves the fucking world. You're going to be a father, but you need to remember that Tris doesn't need either one of us, so if she is inviting you in you'd better appreciate it every day. She was ready to do this whole thing by herself had you not wanted this with her."

"How the fuck did anyone think I wouldn't want to raise my own kid?" Eric asked angrily.

"Because up until a month ago when Andrew Prior picked you up from wherever the fuck you were hiding, everyone in this city thought that baby was mine. It should have been mine, had you not lured my girlfriend out in a storm and fucked her." Peter replies and Eric moves closer to him.

"I apologized. It's all you're going to get, because it was fucked up, but I don't regret any of it." Eric replies before pushing off of the railing and walking away.

"How'd it go?" Tris asks him when he joins her group of friends.

"As well as you can imagine." Eric replied sarcastically and Tris shook her head.

"What happened?"

"He wants to be with you and raise my kid. That sums it up." Eric says and he shifts nervously as they make their way to the leadership wing to meet with Harrison and Four.

"What I did to him was horrible, I cheated on him, I led him on-"

"He told me that he's known the entire time that you weren't going to love him. He said you told him repeatedly and he wouldn't listen. It doesn't make it easier, because you're not the type of woman someone just gets over." Eric admits, "I also knew the two of you were together and didn't back off. We're both at fault for that, and now we've both apologized for it."

Four is leaning in the doorway when Eric and Tris arrive and he shakes Eric's hand, "Welcome back," He looks over at Tris, "Lauren is at the apartment with everyone. I can bring him back when we're done here."

Tris glances over at Eric and he squeezes her hand quickly before following Four into the office. He glances over his shoulder at her and smiles at her briefly before the door closes.

"Eric, welcome back. We've got the official word from Andrew, and Jack has filed a copy of his decision in your file. We just needed to level set so we can get you on the ground running." Harrison says as he gestures towards the chairs in front of his desk and Eric and Four sit down, "Four is your sponsor, much like Amar was in Milwaukee, so you'll need to work with him for anything you feel you need to do outside of the faction. It's just a probationary period, it's what would have happened had you not been wiped."

Eric nods, "Got it."

"We realize that Tris is going on six months pregnant, so any emergency situation regarding her we can circumvent the pass, however you can't just come and go the way she does as far as visiting family. We understand your mother is still in Erudite, so once you've got your feet under you for a bit we'll work on getting you access to her." Harrison adds.

"Can she visit here?" Eric asks.

Harrison glances at Four, "That's on him. He's your sponsor."

Eric's jaw tenses and he grinds his teeth, "Will it be an issue?"

"No issues. Any visits from your mother or Tris's parents are authorized." Four answers, "We have a guest quarters for you temporarily, we didn't want to assume that you would live with Tris."

"She and I haven't had that conservation yet." Eric replies.

"You've got time. We also have a couple of options for work, Tori has offered up a tattoo apprenticeship, we have the control room, or internal security. Once you're off probation you'll qualify for patrols but for now we need to keep you inside."

"Let me talk to Tris. If she doesn't have an issue with us working together, the control room would be my first choice."

"Fair enough. Eric, people appreciate what you did," Harrison says and Eric furrows his brow, "Had you not turned on them the war would have happened and we'd have lost a lot of innocent people. I also know you struggled with the decisions you made back then. I believe that you've changed, and had Four, Latasha and Veronica not believed the same you'd not be here right now. Don't let us down."

"I won't." Eric says and when he's dismissed he walks with Four towards the leadership apartments. The two walk silently for a bit before Four breaks it.

"I'm not putting a tracker on you. I want you to know that I do trust you." He says and Eric stops walking and stares at him.

"I've never given you any reason to trust me in this faction."

Four shakes his head, "No, you didn't when we were here together. But, what you did in Milwaukee was solid."

"Thank you for going to Jack." Eric says, surprising Four.

"How do you know about that?" Four asks.

"Tris. I guess Lauren eventually told her. I had a feeling you'd done something, because they all knew I was divergent but I still got a version of the serum I could beat. I don't know why you did it, but I'm damn thankful. I have a chance to know my kid now because of you. I have Tris back. Thank you." Eric offers Four and he shakes it.

"Remember that the next time I piss you off." Four smirks and Eric laughs.

"No promises."