Thank you so much for reading and commenting! I will say there are going to be some characters that follow their normal arc and many who don't so don't. I'm having fun with this one and have enjoyed reimagining relationships and personalities in this story. Love Ya'll and see you next Sunday.


16 years ago.

Natalie stands at the kitchen counter heating up Caleb's bottle while he gurgled happily from his bassinet on the table nearby.

Andrew had left that morning for a two-day trip to Amity with Marcus and a few other council members. Each year the factions hosted a gathering of leaders outside of the monthly meetings held at the hub. The leaders felt like it was good for each of the faction leaders to see the working operations of each faction and to help make better decisions. Abnegation still had the final judgment, but the goodwill gesture kept the peace. Because Amity was so far from Abnegation, the trip required a two-night stay, which Andrew was not happy about.

Honestly, Natalie was relieved not to have him critiquing her every move, reminding her how much pressure she was under and that she needed to be the perfect Abnegation wife every second of the day. She was also nursing a bruise on her cheek that needed to fade before questions were asked.

Natalie hears a knock on the back door, and she furrows her eyebrows. No one came to the backdoor unless it was Evelyn when she needed help bandaging up a wound from Marcus. She gasps when she opens the door and sees who is standing in the shadows.

"Max, what are you doing here? Are you insane?" She hisses with her eyes wide and her heart racing.

"I had to see you, Nat, I just had to…" He begs as she pulls him quickly into the house and looks to see if there was anyone looking.

"No one saw me" he reassures her.

Max knew he was taking a risk coming to Abnegation. He had debated all week if he was doing the right thing. He could be considered a faction traitor if he was caught but Natalie was worth the risk.

"Are you sure?" she sighs closing the door and Max nods.

"How did you know where to find me?"

"I watched you walk here last week from the factionless section while supervising a patrol. I knew the Abnegation leaders went to Amity this week"

He stops and looks at the bruise on her cheek in the dim light of the room.

"What happened?" Max asks, tipping her face to get a better look.

"Nothing" she sighs looking down at the ground. She was frustrated every time Andrew raised his hand to her. This time it had been because she questioned him in front of Evelyn and Marcus. She's learned over the years what set him off, but she has been careless this time.

"Did he do this?" Max snaps.

"Leave it alone, Max, please" she begs knowing how the Dauntless handled conflict and Max was Dauntless through and through.

"I'll make sure he pays for this Nat…"

The sound of Caleb crying interrupts Max's speech. His eyes go wide as Natalie rushes over to the bassinet.

"I'm sorry sweet boy, I know you're hungry. Mama's coming,"

"You have a baby?" Max asks with his eyes wide. It had only been a few months since he saw her at the council meeting. There was no way she had been pregnant with a baby this small.

"This is Caleb," she says as she gives him the bottle and he greedily suckles. "We adopted him"

Max smiles, she could see how lovingly she looked down at the baby in her arms.

"How old is he?" Max asks as Natalie moves to sit in one of the kitchen chairs while holding Caleb's bottle for him.

"About 8 weeks. I found him, wrapped in a blanket in a barrel one afternoon while I was looking for a place to set up a food distribution center in the Factionless section. He spent two weeks in the hospital but he's a fighter" Natalie says proudly as she looks down at him, changing her voice at the last sentence. She chuckles when Caleb kicks his legs as she continues to coo at him.

"Motherhood looks good on you" Max leans against the wall in the kitchen watching her.

"What are you doing here?" Natalie asks him again.

Max is quiet for a few minutes just watching her. When she looks up and locks eyes with him, he realizes he never answered her question.

"Nat, I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. I just...I still love you"

Natalie puts Caleb over her shoulder, rubbing his back gently to burp him. She doesn't say anything and neither does Max, she cleans up the baby's spit up and lays him back down in the bassinet. She leans against the kitchen counter and grips the edge tightly.

"What am I supposed to do with that Max?"

He sighs and wipes a hand over his face. He wasn't thinking clearly but he knew what he wanted, and it was her.

"I'm so sorry Nat. I should have stopped you, got you to stay. I pushed you away being stupid…" Max stops and clears his throat, feeling his voice crack at the feelings well up inside of him"

Natalie paces a few steps, nervous energy welling up inside her. She'd read Max's letter so many times over the years. She'd made a mistake, but there was nothing that she could do now. Andrew had a hold on her that she would never be able to get out of.

"We were young, everything isn't on you Max. I was stubborn and I believed everything Andrew told me…It's just… I have to live with the choice I made."

He moves in front of her looking deep into her eyes. Natalie can feel her heart race as she took him in. He was more muscular than she remembered but still as handsome as he had always been with his tawny skin and light brown eyes. She could see a tattoo peaking beneath his black shirt. He was still taller than her so the closer he got she followed his eyes looking up at him.

Max slowly moves a hand that slides down her body ghosting over her breasts and then resting on her hip and then the other cupping her face.

"Max" she whispers, her body trembling.

"Tell me you don't still love me" he whispers running his thumb over her cheek.

"I can't" her voice betrays her, letting out her innermost thoughts.

Max bends his head and gives her a soft kiss that quickly ignites a fire between them. He swipes his tongue across her bottom lip, and he pushes inside, exploring her mouth in a deep sensual kiss with his hands moving across her body. Natalie moans as she moves her hands around his neck. They had been seventeen the last time they kissed, and this was all-consuming.

"Come with me so we can be together" He whispers pulling back and looking into her eyes.

"How? I can't go back to Dauntless" She sighs tears forming in her eyes and looks down. How she wished that she'd chosen differently and never left.

"We become Factionless"

He'd thought about it. It would be hard, but he knew from so many years of learning the areas where the Factionless lived, there were areas of the city where he could make them a livable home, store up supplies, and learn to grow things so they weren't dependent on Abnegation for handouts.

"You do that for me?" Natalie looks back up at him, seeing the devotion in his eyes as he nods.

For a few fleeting moments, her heart tells her to follow him, but Caleb gurgles bringing her back to reality.

"I can't leave him" She whispers looking over toward the bassinet.

"We won't, we'll take him with us" Max vows seeing how attached Natalie was to the infant.

Natalie draws in another sharp breath. The fact that Max would do that robbed her of all rational thought. She stands on her tiptoes and presses her mouth to his and they kiss more hurriedly this time.

Max is shocked when Natalie quickly pushes him away walking to the other side of the kitchen. She had to put some space between them to think.

"I can't do this Max, I took this baby in to give him a chance at life, to not be Factionless. I…" she sobs, tears falling down her face. If it wasn't for that baby, she would follow Max. She regretted walking away from him when they were younger.

Max looks up at the ceiling and nods. She had a pure heart; it was one of the things that made her so amazing. And knowing that she would sacrifice her happiness for this baby, made him love her even more.

"I understand," he says quietly.

What he does next surprises Natalie. He walks over to Caleb's bassinet and picks him up and holds him in his arms.

"You are one lucky little guy; do you know that? Your Mamma, she's going to take good care of you, and give you all the love in the world" Max coos.

Natalie walks over and kisses Max on the cheek. He looked so comfortable with the baby; it made her heart clench. This was the life she was supposed to have. She was going to do what she needed to do for Caleb, but she needed to close this door with Max.

"Want to help me put him down for the night?" She asks.

"Yeah, that would be nice"

They spend the next 30 minutes giving the baby a bath. It was so natural, it made Natalie's heart want to tell him to forget what she said earlier, they could make anything work as long as they were together.

"How do you know how to put on a diaper?" Natalie teases as she watches Max expertly wrangle the squirming baby. Andrew tried once and didn't have the patience.

"Hana…" he tells her softly.

Natalie feels her eyes burn and her chest tightens at the thought of her sister.

"She has a baby…?" she asks as Max hands Caleb to her so she can rock him to sleep.

"Yeah, a little boy, his name's Ezekiel. Reg and I have been calling him Zeke and Hana's annoyed," Max chuckles at the last part.

Natalie quickly wipes a tear away.

"I miss her so much," she says looking down at her baby boy who was already fast asleep.

Max could hear the heartache in her voice. She gets up and places him in his crib, leaning down to kiss his head gently.

"She misses you too. She's pregnant again, but not that far along. She and Reggie are over the moon," He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out an envelope addressed to Natalie. "She wanted me to give this to you"

Natalie takes the letter, her hands trembling. She turns it over in her hands and sticks it in the pocket of her dress.

"Will you stay with me until...?" she asks looking up at him. If she was going to give up running away with him, she wanted this.

"Until the sun comes up on Friday," he says quietly. He never wanted to leave her, but he needed to while it was still dark out to avoid being seen. They had two days until the leaders would make their way back from Amity.

She grabs his hand and stops to gently close the door to the nursery. She leads him across the hall to her bedroom.

"I love you," he tells her. He cups her face, looking into her eyes. He pulls the pins out of her hair, letting her curls fall freely.

"I love you too, make love to me, Max" she whispers. If this was all they had, nothing else mattered.

Natalie had never felt more loved as Max worshipped her body. Sex with Andrew was mechanical, with his Erudite upbringing and now trying to indoctrinate himself with Abnegation principles, there wasn't pleasure. He hadn't touched her in months, and she felt her body trembling with need. There was something about being near Max that brought out her Dauntless side. Everything they were doing went against everything Abnegation taught. Tonight, she remembered who she really was. Max takes his time kissing every inch of her body, savoring every sigh and moan he elicits from her. He massages her breast as his tongue and mouth worked her until she saw stars and he chuckled as he held her hips down while she squeezed her thighs around his head when she climaxes.

Natalie bites her lip and smiles as Max removes his boxers and grabs her legs to pull her down to where he wanted her.

"I love you, Nat" Max whispers as he pushed inside her, feeling how tight she was.

"I love you more" Natalie gasps. It has been so long, too long.

Max tried to move slowly and lovingly but Natalie egged him on but the way she gave herself to him, told him that's what she wanted, she wanted to remember this night every time she lay down in this bed. It doesn't take long before Natalie called out Max's name clutching him tightly. Max shouldn't have gotten as much pleasure as he did from marking himself inside her in the bed she shared with her husband. He looked into her eyes as he trembled, letting go and gripping the headboard as he spilled his seed inside her.

"Ugh, I would kill for a piece of chocolate cake" Natalie chuckles as Max nibbles on her jaw.

After two rounds they were both sated and lying together unable to take their hands off each other.

"Hmmm, you're still my favorite dessert," he teases running her hands across her stomach.

Just then Caleb starts to cry, and Natalie gives Max a quick kiss as she prepares to get up.

"He's probably hungry again. I'm glad I made extra bottles earlier"

"I got him," Max tells her sliding out of bed to pull on his pants.

Natalie lays back admiring him as he walked away, smiling when she hears him soothing Caleb as he changed his diaper and then walking downstairs to the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of formula. She's about to change her mind, and tell Max she'll go with him, let him be the father Caleb deserved, let him love her the way she wanted to be loved but she stops herself. She'd left Dauntless making a hasty decision, she wouldn't do it again. She had to stay in Abnegation.

While he's tending to Caleb, Natalie gets out of bed and throws on her nightgown, moving to sit at the desk in the bedroom. She takes out a piece of paper and writes a letter to her sister. What she wouldn't give to see her sister again.

The next morning Natalie draws the curtains and makes them breakfast. Max plays with Caleb while she does the dishes. They laughed, as Max told her about him and Reggie learning how to change a diaper. The day was perfect.

Around lunchtime, a knock comes at the door and Max quickly moves out of sight.

"Evelyn... Is everything okay?" Natalie asks as she quickly peaks her head out of the door to see her friend with her son Tobias on her hip.

"Yes, I thought you would want to get out since we are free for the next day anyway..."

"Umm, I'm fine, I just want to enjoy this time to myself" Natalie lies.

Evelyn narrows her eyes at Natalie as she jiggles Tobias. She knew Natalie could only let her hair down with her, and she jumped at the chance to get out of the house.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing...I'll see you soon, promise" Natalie smiles and then slips back inside closing the door.

She waits a few minutes and then looks out the window to see Evelyn walking down the street.

Max comes back into the living room and it's a realization that this was too risky. Tonight would be their last night together.

After dinner, they lay on the bed with Caleb between them and each laying on their side. Caleb laughed and kicked his legs as Max tickled his stomach. Natalie rested her head in her hand, propped up on her elbow. She wanted to keep this memory of Max and Caleb in her mind, and she tried to commit everything to memory. She knew there wasn't much time left for them to spend together as Max needed to leave in the cover of the night.

They make love once more slowly savoring the last hour they would have together. Natalie feels tears well up in her eyes as she watches Max get dressed. They don't say a word as they make their way down the narrow stairs to the back door.

Max grabs her and pulls her to him, leaving a soft tender kiss on her lips. He didn't want to let her go. He knew that she wanted him to move on, and forget about her, but he never would.

"We can't do this again, Max, it's too risky," Natalie tells him, needing to say it out loud to make herself believe it.

Max rests his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and savoring their last few moments together.

"Promise me you'll move on Max; you have to forget about me. Find you some brave Dauntless woman, have some kids…"

"I'll never forget about you Nat, ever…You'll always be here" he tells her grabbing her hand and placing it over his heart.

Natalie takes her hand from his chest and cups his face smiling at him. He turns his head and kisses her palm.

"Promise me, you'll find me if you need help. I'll do whatever I need to make sure he doesn't lay a hand on you again" Max vows.

She nods, tears falling as he backs away and walks toward the back door.

"Give this to my sister and tell her I love her," Natalie says as she pulls out the letter she wrote earlier to Hana.

Max takes the letter and nods and opens the door. He stops and closes it, turning to kiss Natalie one last time so passionately her knees weak. He pulls back, taking one last look and running his thumb over her cheek gently.

"Always and Forever," she tells him with a sad smile.

"Always and Forever" he repeats. He steps out the door looking to his left and right before moving silently into the still dark and quiet streets of Abnegation.


Present Day

Jeanine looks at the computer screen in front of her. The brain scans were improving, and she smiled knowing that finally, she was having a breakthrough.

She nods her head to one of the research assistants who presses a button. They were in an observation lab and the doors opened to two cells into the larger one that could be viewed through the observation window.

"George, eliminate the target" The research assistant speaks through a call button.

George moves forward ready to strike. His opponent, a factionless man of similar stature looks around unsure of what was happening as George advances. Without hesitation, George begins his attack. The fight doesn't last long, as George delivers blow after blow until the other man was bloody and unconscious.

Jeanine nods again and the research assistant presses the button again.

"Well done, George, you may return to your quarters"

George nods, not looking down at the crumpled body on the floor next to him. There's a buzzer and the door to his quarters opens again and he enters.

"Please get his vitals and I want a blood draw to check the serum levels" Jeanine instructs. Her assistant nods and goes to carry out the request.

Jeanine looks over her notes on her tablet in front of her. Finally, all the hard work she'd put into place over the last five years yielded successful results. In six months, she'd successfully created a super soldier in George Wu. The stem cells she collected from Divergent had successfully enhanced the serum she previously created and bonded with his cells. He had increased body and muscle mass, was lethal in a fight, and responded to voice commands as well as digital commands for the chip implanted in his arm. The only problem she had was, the serum had not had lasting effects on non-divergent.

"Looks like I'll have to make my army out of divergent soldiers" she murmurs to herself looking at the results again and pleased with the outcomes.

She'd played with long-range transmitters so that she could utilize Dauntless since they were already trained but Max hadn't fully bought into her idea yet only giving her five divergent to experiment on. She had hoped that he would have aligned herself with him and bought into her vision. But this was better, she didn't have to keep feeding him false lies and promises like she did Andrew and Marcus who believed the divergent she experimented on going to conform to one faction with serum. Andrew had been hesitant at first, but she swayed him, happily inviting him into her bed, which he gladly accepted along with the belief that she would keep quiet about the true reason Marcus rose to power as long as they helped feed her research pool of divergent.

She could take on Dauntless and Abnegation and it wouldn't be an issue and when she was ready, no one would see it coming.

If she should create an unstoppable force that was under her command, she wouldn't need to align with the other factions, she could take what she wanted.


Tobias looks at his watch and shuts off his computer. He did need to leave. The weeks since entering the Leadership Training Program had been as bad as he anticipated. He had a spacious apartment; he was learning so much. The only thing he was nervous about was at some point he was going to have to deal with his father. But for right now, he needed to solidify himself as a leader in Dauntless and learn all that he could.

He heads to the dining hall, grabs a quick dinner with Zeke and Shauna, and then heads to meet Amar and Tori.

Amar looks cautiously in the hallway as he lets Tobias into the tattoo shop and quickly closes the door behind him, locking it. Tobias grabs a chair and sits next to Tori. In the months since George had disappeared, she hadn't been herself. Amar and Tobias tried their best to look after her but both of them were worried about her.

There were only a few people Tobias trusted in Dauntless, Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, and Zeke's mother Hana by extension. Tori and Amar were the other two. They welcomed him and helped him adjust to his new life. At Amar's insistence, only he and Tori knew that Tobias was divergent and now it seemed more important than ever.

"Another missing person report was filed today," Tobias tells Amar as Tori brings him a cup of tea. It was strange, there were certain things he missed about Abnegation, the quiet moments he had with a cup of tea being one of them.

"Who?"

"Sarah Phillips got separated from her patrol in the factionless section. The team found her weapon and jacket but nothing else. Harrison is going to do a sweep of the section again"

"That's what five now?" Amar says, turning the information in his head.

"Do we know if she was divergent?" Tori asks, looking up for her cup of tea.

"Yeah, she was, she was in one of the first classes of initiates I had, she and George were in the same year," Amar tells them quietly of the Dauntless born.

Tori grimaced, George had transferred from Erudite, and Tori followed him two years later. She remembered Sarah, she and George had been friendly.

Tobias sighs. Amar had been an instructor for the past six years; he had seen everyone one of the people who'd gone missing's simulations during initiation. Whoever was singling them out, had to have access to that data. Tobias had reasoned it was someone in leadership, much like Andrew and Marcus and Max was his primary suspect, he just needed to be sure.

"Keep an eye out Four, we need to know what Max knows," Amar tells him.

"You too, you have a target on your back too" Tobias reminds him. Amar, being the long-standing instructor, could be seen as a threat because he had access to simulation data, and he was also divergent.