Hey, readers here is the next chapter in the story. I hope you all enjoy it. As always, I don't own Divergent and all military-related mistakes are mine. Happy Reading!

Chapter 27 Hold On

"Tobias!" I scream, "Tobias!" I yell again, shaking him desperately, trying to wake him. Nothing. No movement from him at all. My eyes burn as I feel a sting in my left upper arm. "Tobias, please, wake up!" I sob as I rock his pale, cool body back and forth. His eyes slowly open, his dark blue eyes, heavy looking and tired meet mine. He attempts to get up from laying on the floor as I say "Don't get up!" I push him gently back into laying position, I continue, "Let me call someone to help us. I know Stephen has to still be up."

"Tris, I feel so weak and tired. I feel so cold." He says weakly as I begin to panic. In my mind, I struggle to maintain my nursing side of my brain, and not see my boyfriend laying in front of me, fighting to maintain his consciousness. I quickly check his pulse, it is fast, not normal, and thready. I pull his bloodstained shirt up, the bandage is saturated with blood. I rip it off quickly, to find half of his stitches ripped open from Peter's brutality with blood gushing out of the open wound. Without thinking, I rip the bottom of my dress, grab the bottle of water from the workbench, saturate the ripped fabric, and pack his wound with the fabric of the dress to try to stop the bleeding. "Stay with me, Tobias!" I plead, tears rushing to my eyes, as I put pressure on the wound, my eyes searching for my cellphone. When I can't find it with my eyes, I grab his hand from next to me, and say "Hold this tightly, that is an order, Tobias!" He smiles slightly at me as I run, trying to find my cellphone. I can't find it anywhere. " Talk to me, Tobias!" I command him, as I run around the house, looking for my cell. It's gone. Someone must have taken it. Giving up, hoping that Stephen heard the gunshots, I run back to the scene of the crime as I snap at Tobias again, "Stay with me!"

"Mmm. Trying." He whispers, a slight smile tugs at his lips as I kneel next to him, his eyes meeting mine, then his eyes shut, his head falls back onto the cement floor losing consciousness again. My heart leaps into my throat as I check his neck for a pulse. There is none. "Tobias! Tobias!" I scream, trying to wake him, but he doesn't move or wake up as I begin to pound on his chest, trying to get his heart beating again. "Damn you! You do not get to die on me! Do you hear me! I love you! You don't get to give up! Not after everything we have been through tonight! You need to hold on!" I scream at him as I continue to pound on his chest using my body for leverage to pump his heart for him. Warm blood trickles down my arm from the bullet wound from Drew's gun, I ignore it, only thinking about Tobias's wellbeing at the moment. Tears swam in my eyes as I try to hold myself together, trying to keep his heart beating. My arms hurt from the exertion of pounding on his chest, my lungs fill rapidly with air from the effort, and my mind numbs as I continue to work like a well-oiled machine, trying to keep Tobias alive. My arms tremble with every motion I make, and I feel on the verge of collapse. The only thing pushing me is Tobias's lifeless body, hanging in the balance between life and death, and I'm the only one keeping him from dying.

"I'm sorry, Tobias," I whisper, crying as my arms give out, and I fall on top of him, out of breath, out of strength for a second. Suddenly I hear, "Tris!" yelled into the house. I know that voice, Stephen! Stephen quickly finds me attempting to resuscitate Tobias. Stephen jumps in as my arms give out again. Stephen and I work smoothly together, working to keep Tobias from the brink of death as I ask, "Do you have your cell on you? I can't find mine anywhere."

"I already called an ambulance. I called them as soon as I heard the gunshots."

"What is taking them so long?" I snap at him.

"It hasn't been that long, Tris. It has maybe only been a minute or two, tops." Stephen says out of breath, his voice steady, calm as he stops, and I give two breaths into Tobias's mouth. After what feels like a million years, the paramedics arrive and take over for us. They use a defibrillator, a machine that delivers an electrical shock to the heart, and Tobias gets his pulse back, much to my relief.

Stephen asks if I want him to go to the hospital with us, but I shake my head no. He has already done more than he knows for me tonight, and Mattie is at home waiting for him. I can't ask him to leave his daughter alone, to come to sit with me in the hospital.

Once Tobias and I get to the hospital, it is a flurry of activity. Tobias is rushed to surgery, given emergency blood and fluids. I sit in the waiting room with Tobias's blood still covering my hands and dress. Blood drips down my arm from the bullet nicking my arm. The hard truth hits me that he almost died because of me. I need to let him go, but I'm too selfish too. I want to curse out this hospital for not keeping a better eye on Tobias, and for letting Peter take off with Tobias in the first place. Doctors continue to come out and give updates to other families, but no one comes out to see me. My heart sinks with every passing minute, wondering if the next doctor that exits the door will be to see me, to deliver bad news to me about Tobias. The pixie haircut nurse sees me, sitting with blood covering my arms and hands. She walks over to me, and shyly says, "Tris, come with me. We will get you cleaned up." My eyes move to the OR door, and she whispers, "He is still in surgery. He is still alive and fighting, thanks to you and your quick thinking." She holds her hand out to me as I grab ahold of it, tears in my eyes, and follow her through a twisting hallway into a busy ER.

"Go sit in that room." She says, pointing to a room in the corner. I follow her instructions. She returns quickly with a pair of scrubs and another doctor to look at my arm. The doctor is quiet as he sutures my arm, I ask the question that has been plaguing my mind since I have come back to this hospital, "How did anyone not know that Four was missing? How did you all not notice that the person who was walking around as Four looked really good considering he just had surgery a few hours ago?"

"It's not as simple as that, Tris."

"Explain, because as I see it. You didn't pay close enough attention to Four and let a crazy man walk out of here with him?"

"Four signed himself out of the hospital, and he said he was having someone come pick him up to take him to get better care."

"Can I see the papers that Four signed?" I ask, my heart dropping wondering if Peter made Tobias sign himself out of the hospital.

"Sure, give me a little bit to dig up the papers." She smiles at me as she pulls the door closed, leaving me with a basin of warm water, soap, and a washcloth. As I pull the ruined dress off my body, my mind flits to Chris. She is going to kill me for ruining her dress. The blood and the water mix in the basin creating designs, my mind turning over what the nurse told me about what Tobias did. I keep coming back to the same question, why? As I am putting on the light blue scrub shirt, a knock sounds on the outside of the door. "Come in." I snap, wondering who it is.

The nurse returns with papers in hand, "Here," she says as she hands me a stack of paperwork that Tobias signed when he signed himself out against medical advice. My eyes go directly to the signature line. It looks like his signature, but it looks rushed. I feel frustrated as I look at these papers. I crinkle his signature paper into my hand as I walk back out into the waiting room for the OR. I continue to stare at his signature for the next six hours, trying to puzzle out his motive behind doing this.

My eyes bounce between the signature sheet and the clock, wanting to know his rationale behind his actions. If he had stayed in the hospital, Peter wouldn't have gotten to him so easily. He wouldn't be on a surgical table fighting for his life.

As I am tugging at my hair, I hear, "Tris?" Come from a tired looking surgeon.

"Here," I say as I jump out of the chair, knocking it over. Relief and fear mix in my chest.

"Can you come with me please." Her voice gives nothing away about Tobias's condition; if he is alive or not. I get up for the first time in over six hours since sitting down from cleaning up in the ER, only to realize that I am still holding onto the ruined, bloody dress that Christina sent me.

"Tobias?" I ask my voice breaking, my hands flying out to touch her elbow before we go any further down the hallway. Tears burn my eyes as I blink to try to keep them contained.

"Captain Eaton is okay. For a while, it was touch and go in there. He lost a lot of blood. His blood pressure dropped while in surgery due to internal bleeding, and he almost coded once again, but we got him back. His liver required extensive repair due to the trauma. His liver laceration went from a three to a four. More of his liver was involved with the laceration than originally and it went deep. His spleen had to be removed as well. The next few hours will be the most critical. We will be watching his vitals carefully for the next several hours, and someone will be in to draw labs every six hours. I placed a drain to help remove the extra blood from his abdomen, which should be removed in a couple of days, depending on the amount it puts out. Barring any complications, he should be able to go home in about a week or so." She says smiling at me. "With all things considering, Captain Eaton is lucky to be alive. He is lucky that you were there with him, and that you thought quickly like you did, to pack his wound. Otherwise, we might be having a very different conversation." As the doctor is turning back around to leave, I ask, "Wait?"

"Yeah."

"Can he still fly?"

"Of course, but he won't be going up in a plane for quite some time." She smiles at me. "Do you want to see him?"

"Yes!" As we are walking down a long sterile looking corridor, she says, "He will be sleeping for a few more hours from the surgery, but feel free to talk to him. He can hear you."

"Thank you so much for everything that you have done, for saving him," I whisper to her as she leaves me standing in front of a room with a glass door that reads Intensive Care Unit room number ten.

Thoughts? Opinions? And you all thoughts that I was going to kill Tobias off. He is safe for now. Oh, you all have such little faith in me...lol.. Please review and let me know what you thought about this last chapter. What do you think is going to happen when Tobias finally wakes up? Next chapter will be up on the weekend of May 25.