"I can't believe you're here." Eric said as he held her against him in the airport.
"Me either." She said and she rubbed her hands up and down his back.
He leaned back and looked at her, smiling briefly before pressing his lips to hers.
"Let me show you my city." He threaded their hands together and led her out of the busy building.
He took her home first, where she was surprised that he had the house to himself. He explained that Uriah and Zeke were holding down the fort at work so he and Tris could have their time together.
She's shown around his home, and he laughs when she tells him how surprised she is that it's so clean for a bachelor's pad. He then takes her to the shop, where she shares hugs with Zeke and Uriah, and is introduced to Ramona, Fernando and Cara, artists, and piercers at his shop. When he introduces her to Thomeka, he explains that the older woman basically helped raise him, and Tris can tell just how much she means to him. The warm hug she receives reminds her of the ones she used to share with her own mother, and she smiles at the woman when they step apart.
Tris is impressed with how they run things, and with the steady stream of business coming through the door. He takes her for Detroit style pizza, which she has to admit is even better than the deep dish from her hometown, and when they get back to his home that night, they spend some time with Uriah and Zeke before heading up to his room.
They know they should talk, but they've missed each other, and they're soon naked and moving against each other. She loves his weight on her, and the feel of his erection against her leg as he kisses her deeply.
"I missed you so much." She tells him as his fingers are inside of her and his mouth on her breast.
"I missed you too." He breathes out as he removes his hand and slides inside of her.
"Eric..." She breathes out as he pounds against her.
The two weeks they've been apart is too much for them. He leans down to kiss her when he slows his movements, and her heels dig into him where her legs are wrapped around him.
"I want to come." He tells her, "Will you touch yourself?"
He leans back and continues to pound into her, and he watches her snake her hand down and rub her clit.
"Let go for me baby." He whispers and she rubs faster, the familiar feel of her muscles tensing around him pulls him over the edge with her, and he collapses against her, kissing her deeply as the two try to calm their racing pulses.
Her head is laying on his chest, and their naked bodies presses together and spent when he brings up their marriage, "I can't believe we got married."
"Neither can I." Tris admits, "Tori freaked out."
"So did Zeke." He sighs, "Uriah is shocked, but he's at least supportive. Zeke was already convinced that we couldn't do a long-distance relationship."
"Do you actually think we can maintain a long-distance marriage?" Tris asks.
"I want to be with you, Tris. We'd already planned on being in a committed relationship before we left Vegas. This is just an added incentive." He chuckled.
She looked up at him, "I don't want it to feel forced."
"Is that how you feel?" He asks sharply.
"No, but we absolutely didn't plan on being married four days after meeting." She points out.
"Yeah, I agree." He twirls her hair around his fingers, "But what if we divorce and then we decide down the line we want to be married?"
"Then we get married." Tris replies softly.
"We're already married. So we divorce, but stay together, and then possibly fall in love and decide to be married down the line? Does that make sense to you?" He asks.
"No." She sighs, "Christina told me that she has my back no matter what, so at least we each have one of our friends in our corners."
"Does this mean we stay married now?" Eric asks.
"Is this your way of getting out of an actual wedding, Mr. Coulter?" Tris grins at him.
"When we decide this is forever, we will have as big of a wedding as you want, Mrs. Coulter." He replies.
"I'm going to remember you said that." She presses a kiss to his chest, "I don't want to get a divorce."
"I don't either." Eric admits.
"What do we do from here?" She asks.
"We stay married. We work on our relationship and we focus on us. If at any point we decide we no longer want to be together, we can divorce then. But, I can tell you now, I don't want a divorce. It's not something I'm even considering." He finally says.
"I feel exactly the same." Tris replies.
"I want to go get rings tomorrow." Eric says and Tris looks up at him with her chin resting on his chest. She's sated, sleepy, and his hand trailing over her back is relaxing her further.
"Rings so everyone knows I'm married?" She smirks at him.
"Rings so everyone knows we're married and that we're both off the market. I want rings for both of us." He replies, "I'm a jealous guy. I admit it. But I want there to be no doubt when someone looks at us that we're married."
"Tattooed one day if we decide this is forever?" She asks.
"Deal."
She crawls up his body and presses her lips to his, and they're soon lost in each other again.
The next day, they buy rings, with him purchasing an engagement ring for her, and a wedding band, and she purchases a wedding band for him.
"Eric, I thought we were only doing wedding bands." She says quietly when she sees the clear diamond solitaire in the ring box.
"I wanted you to have it, to see that this relationship and commitment is serious to me." He replies softly.
"It's beautiful." She smiles at him.
She loves the ring he picked out, and when he slides them on her finger, she does the same with his wedding band.
"Fancy." He says, wiggling his finger so the light bounces off the diamonds that are embedded in his band.
"The same could be said for this." She wiggles hers and watches the light dance across the beautiful clear stones.
"You're important to me." He says softly and she presses her lips to his.
They enjoy their time together, and she even gets to know Uriah and Zeke better. Even though their own hookups didn't lead to anything serious, Uriah can't help but smile at how happy Eric was to have Tris in town.
When the couple had gone to bed for the night, Zeke looked over at his younger brother.
"This is going to end poorly."
Uriah furrowed his brow at his brother and scowled, "Why can't you just let him be happy and figure things out on his own?"
"You know how hard it was for him when Jeanine fucked him over. That ring isn't going to keep that girl loyal to him." Zeke replies.
"You don't even know her." Uriah argues.
"Neither does Eric. Her own friends were concerned about her, they said she falls in love at the drop of a hat." Zeke says.
"So, if she falls in love with Eric, why is that such a bad thing?" Uriah asks.
"Because it's kind of obvious that she doesn't stay in love. I talked to Tori today, and she's just as concerned as I am. Tori reiterated that Tris never seemed to be ready for marriage and would get serious with people real quick and then find a reason to move on. I get that the girl has been through some shitty relationships, but according to Tori she's also had some good ones that she ended because she wasn't ready to settle down. Eric is doomed." Zeke sighs.
"Fuck..." Uriah trails off and he leans back on the couch, "Even with that, we still need to support him and just be there for him if it falls apart."
"It's not just that, Uri. You know I love Eric like a brother, but if this shit ends poorly, they could get bitter and our businesses could get involved." Zeke replies.
"Eric's not bitter, even with the way Jeanine fucked him over he never got vindictive." Uriah says.
"Remember the guy Tori said that Tris dated for six years?" Zeke asks and Uriah nods, "He dumped her after she turned down his proposal. Two days later, she fucked his best friend to get back at him."
Uriah's eyes widen, "Wow. That's just... cold."
"Now do you see why I'm worried? He's our best friend, our brother, and our business partner. Every part of this marriage bullshit worries me." Zeke says, "Tori thinks we should go to a lawyer to protect our assets-"
"Absolutely not. Zeke, do you hear yourself? I get that we don't know the girl, but we know Eric. He's not going to put our business in danger." Uriah says.
"He already did when he got married, Uriah. Look, I get that they're happy now, but that could change at the drop of a hat. I'm not saying we take any type of legal action, we just at least see what our options are in case things get ugly between them."
"Zeke, give them time. If things start to go south, we engage with legal help. If we do this now, and Eric finds out, it'll gut him. We have to support him, he's like our brother, and we love him. Let's show him." Uriah says.
Zeke scrubs a hand across his face and finally meets his little brother's eyes, "Fine. I'll stand down for a month or two and see where things go."
"I don't want you to leave." Eric said as they said their goodbyes at the airport.
"I don't want to leave either." She pulls his face down to hers and kisses him softly, "When do you think you can come out to Chicago?" She asks.
"I'll talk to the team. Uri and Zeke already covered me this weekend, but maybe we can figure something out together. I promise you; I'll find a way." He rests his forehead against hers, "Text me when you get home."
"I will." She says, and the boarding announcement sounds over the speakers, "I've got to go baby."
"You're so beautiful." Eric says before laying one hell of a kiss on her, leaving her breathless when they break apart, "Bye wife."
"Bye husband." She pecks his lips once more before heading through the gate.
"That ring is a hell of a lot more than a conversation. It's a statement." Tori says a few weeks after Tris's return as she cleans her station. Christina sighs and puts down the label maker she was using.
"It could work you know. Just because we didn't find happily ever after in Vegas doesn't mean Tris didn't find hers." Christina argues.
"Okay, what if it does work? What happens to our business if she moves to Detroit? Or Eric's if he moves here? From what Tris told me, that is Eric's family business. He's not going to leave it." Tori replies.
"No, I wouldn't imagine he would," Christina admits, "but Tris bought this shop with part of her inheritance. Sure, she recouped some when we bought our shares from her, but this is her own family legacy now."
"She's also not in love with him, she's in lust. They've known each other for a month at this point, married for three weeks of it, and spent only two days together since being married. He's been putting her off on visiting here." Tori scowls, "Neither of us want her to be hurt, but it's inevitable at this point. She wants a committed relationship with someone who can't even make the time to visit-"
"If that is what you really think, I wish you'd tell me instead of Chris." Tris says from the doorway, surprising Tori, and Christina.
"Tris-"
"He's coming out this weekend, I just got off the phone with him. He's had an artist out with a broken hand, and he needed to get someone hired to help. I understand that because we've had the same struggle here when we have someone go down, but you sure are judging the hell out of Eric for the same thing, Tori." Tris replies.
"I'm worried about you. I think you're going to get hurt in all of this, and I don't want that to happen." Tori replies.
"Neither of us do." Christina agrees.
"You two need to let me decide what is right and wrong in my marriage-"
"Tris, why are you doing this? Is it the breakup with Tobias? Is it Peter getting engaged after you turned him down? Why are you staying married to someone you barely know?" Tori asks.
"Because I want to be in a relationship with him. Did we want to get married? Obviously not after knowing each other for four days. However, we had made plans to have a long-distance relationship no matter what. We're doing that now, and since our drunk asses legally got married, we're starting a relationship as husband and wife. Let me decide what is going to happen, and just be my friend, please?"
"Of course, I will be your friend. As your friend, I will continue to worry, but I'll also stop having conversations about you, without you. Fair enough?" Tori asks.
"I'll take it."
"My pillow smells like you." Eric said during one of their nightly calls.
"This T-shirt smells like you." She says as she pulls the collar to her nose, "I can't wait to see you this weekend."
"Me either. I should be able to leave right after my shift on Thursday. The new kid is holding his own, and Zeke and Uri have me covered all weekend. I can't wait to have my first official Chicago hot dog."
"Just promise me you won't ask for ketchup." She replies.
"I still don't get the issue with me eating ketchup on my hot dog." He chuckles.
"A normal hot dog is fine, but you never eat ketchup on a Chicago dog. It's against the law." She retorts.
"The law? So I'm going to be arrested for eating ketchup?"
"You'll be arrested for requesting it." She replies and he laughs harder.
"Noted."
They talk a little longer and when both are too tired to keep their eyes open they begin their goodbyes.
"Two sleeps and a wake up until you're on your way here." Tris says.
"I can't wait." Eric replies softly.