Thank you to everyone who continues to read and comment on this story. I don't own Divergent and all military-related mistakes are mine. Happy Reading!
There were a few people who I couldn't reply to so I'm going to do it here.
Jojoboo90: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and found it romantic. I think it would be run to roast marshmallows in the desert.
Guest: I'm glad you liked the tattoo idea, it was something that I put a lot of thought into when I was trying to figure out what to give them, and the tattoo itself has a lot of back story involved.
DivergentWitch: As fas as Tris and Tobias attempting to hide their fake marriage from their friend, that will be addressed in a later chapter. I'm not going to ruin it for you, but don't worry it will be brought up in another chapter.
Chapter 35 Life Can't Get Much Better
As Tobias and I drive the Raptor onto the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, after almost a week of Tobias's leave, my eyes glance over to Tobias's face; he looks exhausted. He smiles at me as my mind drifts back to the cross country trip: to all the new places we visited together as he promised. Like Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tobias and I passed through, the desert was beautiful to look at through the windows. In Armarillo, Texas, Tobias surprised me with stopping at a museum in honor of racing horses history. We laced our fingertips together and spent the afternoon meandering around the place learning history.
A smile tugs at my lips as my mind shifts to the night on the Ferris wheel in Oklahoma City, when Tobias kissed me at the top attempting to calm my nerves atop the huge wheel. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tobias and I stood in the center of the universe together, declaring our love for one another. The Saint Louis Gateway Arch quickly fills my mind as my fingers play with the empty keyring awaiting its new house key. The arch was huge up close. Tobias was adamant about getting a picture of me with it. I felt like an ant as I stood by the archway with Tobias staring at it with wonder.
As we drove into Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the final leg of our trip, I spotted an Andy Warhol Museum as we walked down the street, and I dragged Tobias into it. We spent much of the day looking at the paintings inside, picking out our favorites. I purchased a pop art reprint painting to hang on the wall of our new home of butterflies. Later that night, Tobias surprised me by bringing me to my first ever baseball game. My eyes catch on Tobias's baseball hat sitting between us as the memories of how carefree Tobias looked at the game fill my mind, how bright the stadium lights were, how loud the crowds were, and how everything smelled like beer, hot dogs, and popcorn. A brick entryway with a sign above reading: Andrews AFB, Main Gate, sits in front of Tobias and me, and I am brought back to the present from my memories of our trip.
Tobias stops the truck, hands over our IDs, then begins to drive again. Another sign, as soon as Tobias and I start driving down the road can be seen, reading, U.S. Air Force, Andrews Air Force Base, Joint Base Andrews. Suddenly a rather large white and blue airplane is flying over, Tobias grins as I ask in shock, "Holy Crap, Tobias! Did you see that? Was that Air Force One?"
"Yes, but only if the president was on board." His eyes light up as he continues, "Welcome to Andrews, Tris. This base, pilots and provides security to Air Force One, along with some other important things."
"Really?" I ask, the shock evident in my voice, my eyes continue to follow Air Force One in the sky as Tobias says with excitement, "Really."
"Is that what you will be doing? Working with Air Force One?" I ask as Tobias shrugs his shoulders, as he says grinning at me, "Maybe, I won't know until I actually start working here. Although, I know one thing for sure, I will still be a pilot. Are you ready to see our new house?" Tobias turns onto California Avenue, as I answer, "Yes!" Excited by the idea of seeing where Tobias and I will be spending the next few months together. The thought of all that time with him, sends my heart beating quickly. I only hope Tobias and I will be together at the end of his stay at Andrews. As we pull up to a small, white house, a smile tugs at my lips, as I whisper, "It looks perfect," my eyes locked on our new place.
"It looks exactly like the one in Californa, Tris. All the houses on these bases look the same." Tobias grins, as I respond, "How many houses like this have you lived in before?" Tobias smirks, "Enough." I shake my head at him, as I grin, "No, Tobias this one is different." Tobias squints at the white dwelling once again, as he responds, "You're right. This one is different. This one is all ours." As his words hit my ears, I find myself falling even more for him.
Tobias and I walk hand-in-hand up the brick walkway, up the porch steps to the house. As I look at the porch, I can already imagine a porch swing hanging here. Tobias unlocks the door, and as I move to step through the doorway, he tugs me back, a grin on his face, as he lifts me into his arms, He grins, "We are going to start a new tradition together. Every new house we get, I'm going to carry you over the threshold." Together, we step into the new house.
Once inside the house, Tobias gently places me onto my feet as he kisses my lips. Although he was right, the inside has the same exact materials as the last place, the setup is completely different. There is an upstairs and downstairs. The house is empty still, our things aren't scheduled to get to this house until tomorrow at some point. My heart beats quickly as I remember Tobias goes back to work tomorrow, he grins, as he grabs my hand and says, "You want to go explore the base?
I giggle, winking at him, "Of course, Captain Eaton." His fingers gently skate up my sides as he tickles me, as laughter bubbles up, as he whispers against my lips, "That is still the best sound in the world." Tobias pulls me close against him to kiss me.
A giggle erupts from my lips as I laugh, "Too bad, the beard needs to go. I'm really starting to get used to it." Tobias grins, rubbing his prickly face all over my face, as I giggle once again, "Do we need to change before we go exploring?" My mind drifting to what Tobias would look like in his camouflage uniform, longer hair, and a beard. Tobias shakes his head as he answers, "No, I don't want anyone to know who I am today. For today, I just want to be Tobias for one last day with you, and I don't want to be Captain Eaton. Plus, if I put on the uniform, the facial hair and the longer hair needs to go."
"That's unfortunate. I was kind of liking the whole beach bum vibe you have going on especially when your California accent accidentally slips." I smile, teasing him, as I run my fingers through his floppy, messy, brown hair. He laughs as he says, "I'm pretty sure, my bosses in the Air Force, would think of my look right now as anything but cute." He grabs my hand, as we leave the empty house, and begin to wander the streets, learning the new base, getting lost together.
As we explore the base, Tobias points out the different uniforms, and which branch is represented by which uniform. He shows me, Army uniforms, Marine uniforms, Navy uniforms, and of course Air Force uniforms. I mostly see people in Air Force and Navy uniforms. My head spins as we walk through the swells of people in uniforms. Along a street, we find a museum, it displays the different branches of military history during the major wars. There is the evolution of guns, gas masks, and how military dogs have come into play into modern warfare. Tobias and I continue to walk around Andrews, we find one of the base signs and take a selfie in front of it. As we walk back to the house, Tobias's cell phone rings, he answers, "Hello?" He looks skeptical as he replies, "Yes, Sir." He begins to rub the back of his neck as he responds to an unheard question, "Okay, of course, sir." My mind wanders to who he is talking to, and what kind of conversation they are having as he replies once again, "I'm not in uniform, though, and I have my girlfriend with me." He shakes his head, as he rolls his eyes at me, as he answers, "Understood sir, I will be right over." Tobias turns to me, as he says, "That was my Colonel. He needs me to sign some papers, and turn in some papers in order to report tomorrow. Apparently, this can't wait. I'm sorry. Do you mind coming with me?"
"No, Tobias, whatever you need to do is fine with me," I say as I link my fingers with his as we attempt to find the Colonel's office. When we find the Colonel's office, a very intimidating older man is sitting behind a huge oak desk. Tobias knocks on the door, the man says, "Enter," not looking up from his stack of papers. Tobias leaves me outside, sitting in a chair, as Tobias says, "Sir, you wanted to see me."
"Captain Eaton, can you sign these papers. I don't know why your last base didn't have you sign these before you were released on leave. They came from the people in finance." The man says as he pushes a mound of papers towards Tobias, without looking up. Tobias begins to sign the mountain of paperwork, as he places the pen down onto the desk, I hear, "Captain Eaton, shut the door."
Tobias winks, smiling at me, as he shuts the door. Suddenly, I hear stern yelling, which isn't coming from Tobias. "But, sir. . ." There is another burst of yelling, "I don't want to hear it, Captain! You represent the Air Force even when you are on leave, not in uniform. Tell me, does anywhere in the manual talk about the allowance of facial hair or untrimmed hair?" Tobias replies, "Sir if you would allow me to speak."
"No, I don't care or know how things were done on your last base in California, but on this base, you are expected to be well-groomed at all times, even while on leave. Now get out of my office before I write you up!" I hear yelled, as I jump up out of my chair, as Tobias opens the door, his fists are clenched shut. "Let's go!" He says sternly, grabbing my hand, tugging me from the building. Once outside, I say, "Tobias, that guy, he was a jerk." Tobias pulls me further from the building as he turns on me saying, "That jerk, is my commanding officer, and he just reprimanded me like I was a two year old for having facial hair and untrimmed hair. That has never happened before. I should have never gone in there looking like that. I should have known better, I was trained better. At Travis, our commanding officers never cared how we looked during our leave, clearly, here they do." Tobias stops in front of a barbershop, he glances at it, as he continues, "I need to have it cut before tomorrow anyway, I may as well have them shave me too, it will save me some time tonight." I feel my lips frown as I watch all of Tobias's hair hit the floor, behind him. As the chair spins, I feel my heart hammer in my chest, and my breath catches. I forgot how sharp his jawline was hidden beneath his beard, how handsome he was underneath his shaggy hair. I feel my cheeks heat as my mind travels elsewhere as his eyes catch mine in the mirror.
When Tobias and I finally make it home that night, we set up the blow-up mattress in the corner of the living room, after unpacking a few boxes that we unloaded from the truck. The house seems so big and empty without furniture in it. The only things in the house, our suitcases, some pots and pans, and the blow-up-mattress. Tobias smiles as he selects a song from his phone, holds out his hand to me, and says, " Miss Prior, will you have this dance with me?" I smile at him, as I grab ahold of his fingers as he twirls me into his chest. We sway back and forth to the music. The beautiful song fits our situation to perfection. The song is about making the ultimate sacrifice for love, being willing to give everything up for someone you love because you love them that much. Tobias spins me out, as I giggle lightly, and he pulls me back towards him, catching me against his chest, as I stare up into his intense blue eyes, he leans down to kiss me. His soft lips gently press into mine, the pressure intensifies the kiss as he pours his love for me into the kiss. Together, we land onto the air mattress with a thud, both of us fumbling to remove the other's clothes. When his lips leave mine, he whispers against them, "I love you, Tris. I always have and always will. I'll love you until the day that I die. Thank you for staying with me." His lips hover against mine as I murmur, "I will always stay with you, through thick and thin, you are the very best thing to ever happen to me." He smiles, tugging me back down to him, his lips move against mine, as his body hovers over mine, as his fingers move lightly over my skin, sending chills up my skin. As we continue to kiss, we lose ourselves in one another.
"Morning, princess," Tobias whispers, into my ear, moving my hair. My eyes slide open to find him kneeling on the floor, next to the air mattress. I shut my eyes as I grumble, "No, too early!" Tobias laughs gently, kissing me on the forehead, as he says, "I'm leaving for the day, Tris. The movers will be here at some point today. I'm not exactly sure what time, but I will see you tonight. If you need anything call me."
"You got it," I answer as Tobias's lips touch mine. My eyes open to find Tobias standing in his camouflage uniform, he smiles as his eyes connect with mine, as he says, "There as those beautiful eyes, that I love so much." I grumble, replying to him, "Shut up, you kept me up half the night." He grins, kissing my forehead once again, as I feel myself drifting back to sleep.
The moving truck unloads all the furniture and boxes into the living room, that I hadn't seen since California, leaving me to figure out where everything belongs in the new house. As I stand there with all of the boxes, household supplies, and furniture, I come to the awful realization, I have no idea where most of this belongs or even where Tobias wants to put any of this. Most of the boxes I decide to wait until he is home later to tackle, and I move on to the suitcases full of clothing and valuables.
First, I unpack my one suitcase, which is easy. The tricky suitcases are going to be Tobias's, I leave his suitcases for last. I start with his suitcase full of his uniforms, hanging them the way I know he likes them in the closet. When I am halfway through his second suitcase, full of regular clothing, I find a small square, black, velvet box. It looks like a ring box to me. My heart skips a beat as I eye the box laying on top of a dress shirt. A hazy memory forms in my brain from the night in Vegas when we had a marriage ceremony, but no license, of Tobias proposing, mentioning something about having no ring when he asked me that night. I pick up the box as my heart and brain go to war, I sit there holding the box wanting to look inside to see what is inside of it, to see if it really is an engagement ring, to see if Tobias had been wanting to ask me to marry him for longer than one drunken night in Vegas. As I sit there holding the box, staring at it. One part of my brain hopes he doesn't plan on proposing anytime soon. I'm not ready, even though I told him I didn't need a piece of paper, the other part, the stronger part of myself, wants to become Mrs. Eaton for real, but I'm scared what that title will entail. I secretly hope he doesn't wait much longer, without opening the box, I wedge the box between another set of shirts, close the lid of the suitcase, and ignore the rest of his suitcase for the day, leaving it for him to deal with. When Tobias returns that night, he has a smile on his face, as he wraps his arms around me, as he says, "I missed you so much today."
"I missed you too," I say, smiling at him, as he leans down to kiss me, affectionately. As he pulls away, I ask, "How was work today? Did you find out what you would be doing?"
He grins, "Oh, let's not talk about work." I smirk at him, "Why?" Wondering what could have possibly been so bad about his first day on this new base as he says, "Let's just say, they do things here much differently than they did at Travis, and it will take some time to get used to. Not to mention, I saw the Colonel again today, he made a not so nice comment about me finally being in regulations." I giggle as I reply, changing the subject, "Well, then we won't talk about work anymore. I made dinner, but you are going to have to heat it up. I made it hours ago."
"I'm starving. I'm sorry, I'm so late tonight." I shake my head as I shoo him out of the room to get his dinner, admiring his butt in his fatigues. He shoots over his shoulder, "I see you!" I grin at him, "What?" He smirks, "You're checking me out!"
"In your dreams!" I reply, holding a pillow, ready to throw it at him, he laughs, "No, in my dreams you are doing much better things." Curiosity gets the better of me as I ask, "Like what?" He smiles, "Marrying me." I roll my eyes, toss the pillow at him, hitting him square in the chest, as he catches it, I ask, "Didn't we already do that in Vegas?" He smirks, "Yeah, but a real marriage, one with you in a white dress and a proposal. I love you, Tris." He tosses the pillow back at me, as I reply, "I love you."
Tobias returns with his bowl of pasta, and as he stuffs a forkful into his mouth, he asks, "Oh, did I tell you the best part about my job here?" I shake my head, as I say, "No, you didn't, you said you didn't want to discuss work."
Tobias grins, "I get to escort Air Force One whenever it flies anywhere." His eyes light up as gives me his news, as I ask, "Really? I am excited for you."
"Yes, but it will mean I will be away for extended periods of time but think of the stories I will be able to tell you. Think of the places I will get to travel." As Tobias speaks, my heart sinks at his happiness, as I realize how often he will be gone now. Tobias will be gone all the time, but at that moment, I see how happy he looks, I am happy for him. I feel my lips pull into a smile, his happiness contagious, as I hug him close, knowing I want to spend the rest of my life with this man, even if it means he is only home so many days a month.
"I'm happy for you," I say, trying to hold myself together, as he grabs my chin, "Hey! I promise to call you every night, my love. Nothing will happen to me. You will be so busy working once you find a job, you won't even have time to miss me." His lips meet mine sweetly as he rubs, my love tattoo on the underside of my ring finger with his fingertips.
Please review and let me know what you think. What do you think of Tris finding the ring box? If you were Tris would you have looked inside or kept the box closed? Next chapter will be up the weekend of October 12.