Happy Sunday! My hubby and I were celebrating our anniversary this weekend so I'm late posting. I'm so glad ya'll liked the last chapter. Thank you for all your reviews and love. Hope you enjoy this one too! Love ya'll!


Max had hardly slept that night after Hana left, tossing and turning thinking about Natalie and the last night they spent together. It had been emotional and filled with love and now knowing that they created a life together made it even more special. Maybe he was never able to move on after he thought she was dead because deep down inside he knew she was alive.

He rolled over and looked at the clock on his bedside table. 5:50 am... The sun would be up soon, so he got up to get dressed. He grabs the backpack he and Hana packed the night before and he makes his way to the garage, speaking to a few people who were up and milling around the compound. His mind races as he drives toward Abnegation and the Factionless section. The same questions that had plagued him all night continued to run through his head. Did Natalie want to see him? Did she still love him? Why didn't she try to contact him when she was made factionless? Why didn't she want him to know about his daughter?

There was a meeting point for all Dauntless patrols just outside Factionless and it wasn't uncommon for Dauntless to park their vehicles there. He blows out a breath as he closes the door to the truck as a nervous feeling runs through him. Even if she didn't want anything to do with him, he just needed to see if she was alright with his own eyes.

He pulls his hood over his head, not wanting to draw attention to himself as he moved quietly through the factionless section. He looked around the corner, following the directions Tris laid out for him. It was so early that there weren't many people out and about. It was warm so there were still people sleeping in archways in some sections. It had been many years since he set foot in Factionless, probably since before he was named the head leader of Dauntless.

He sees the door that Tris noted in her map and hears a noise, he quickly reaches behind his back for his gun, ready to draw if necessary. An old woman shuffles along not looking at him, kicking an empty can with her foot. He puts his gun back in his waistband feeling the cool metal against his back. He knocks twice and twists the doorknob and pushes.

He's met with the door flinging open and the barrel of a gun pointed straight at his face. He quickly raises his hands in the air.

"Whoa, take it easy," he says quickly as he steps inside.

"Max?" Natalie whispers.

She had been asleep when she heard the door handle jiggle and then the knock. She had fallen asleep the night before, feeling lonely. She'd gotten used to Caleb and Tris visiting and since it was Choosing Day, she wasn't sure when she would see her babies again. And now she was so confused at the love of her life standing in front of her.

"Nat" Max smiles, it felt like a rug had been pulled from underneath him seeing her standing in front of him.

"What are you doing, how did you know I was here," She asks still confused as they circle each other slowly.

"You mind putting the gun down?" He chuckles.

Natalie shakes her head pulling herself together and running to close the door and then placing the gun on the table. Then she throws herself into Max's arms as he drops his backpack on the floor.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why?" he asks, holding her tight, burying his face in her hair.

"I didn't want this for you Max" she cries, tears rolling down her face.

"I love you so much," Max says now crying too. "Every day I thought you were dead, it's been…"

Natalie feels like her heart is going to burst at his admission. All this time and he still loved her. The feeling of being in his arms again, she never wanted to let him go.

"I'm sorry, I just, I'm so sorry. I love you too Max,"

"Nat, is she really mine? Tris…" Max asks pulling back his tears to look into her face. She was still so beautiful. The years in the factionless had made her thinner than he remembered. She was older, just like him, but she was still her.

"Yes, she's ours Max" Natalie smiles as more tears fall. "She found you?"

"Yes, she did. God, Nat, I've only held her in my arms once and she's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. We did that?"

"Yes, we did, she's so much like you" Natalie brings her hand to cup his face.

They stay embraced holding each other and crying for a while longer. There were so many emotions running through Max, he wasn't sure how to process them all.

"How?" Is all he says as Natalie pulls away and Max wipes her tears away.

Natalie sighs and motions for him to sit down and she moves to make them some tea. Max doesn't push her to talk, he simply watches her work, content with seeing her for right now but wanting to pull her back into his arms.

"After you came to Abnegation, things went back to normal, until about a month later when I started feeling sick...I had no idea what was going on. Andrew had convinced me that I was the reason we hadn't had a child yet. He hadn't touched me in months. When the midwife confirmed I was pregnant..." Natalie explains as she sets the mugs of tea in front of them.

She smiles as she looks down at her mug as she sits in the chair across from him. He reaches across the table and places a hand over hers. She looks up to see the love in his eyes and opens her hand. Max immediately grabs her hand.

"I thought about trying to get him to sleep with me to pass the baby off as his, but I just couldn't do it, it was like you were imprinted on me. When I told him I was pregnant, I was scared, I'd never seen him so calm. He didn't fly off the handle or hit me, he just nodded and got up and left. He came back a few hours later and never said anything. We just kind of existed like we had been until I gave birth"

"Did he know it was me?" Max asks curiously, leaning back and letting go of her hand to sip his tea.

"He never said, but it was the look in his eye that made me think he just assumed it was...I don't know. Then about six months after Tris was born, he came home from work one day and backhanded me while I was washing dishes. Caleb was in his highchair and Tris was in the bassinet. He stuck me with a needle when I woke up, we were in a car, and he pulled me out in the factionless section. It was raining and he just left me..."

Natalie gets quiet for a minute; she wipes a tear away quickly. She hated Andrew, but the memory of that day would always be hard for her, having to leave her children.

"I would have done something Nat..." Max says in almost a whisper.

"I know...but I couldn't risk it...he threatened to take away my memories...he could have hurt you, hurt Tris and Caleb, he's more manipulative than you know Max," she told him, her eyes full of regret.

Max sighs. They couldn't change the past, but the question was what was going to happen now.

"I never stopped loving you"

Natalie smiles, after all these years, Max still made her heart flutter.

"I should have never left..." Natalie tells him.

Max gets up slowly and stands in front of her. He pulls her up and into his arms. Natalie feels her heart racing as he looks at her. He slowly leans down and kisses her fully and with so much tenderness. Natalie moans in response and Max hoists her up causing Natalie to gasp. She instantly wrapped her legs around his waist. He walks them to the small bed in the corner of the room and lays them down. They lose themselves kissing and caressing. Natalie couldn't believe how strong and muscular Max still was at 40 as she ran her hands up his shirt to feel his muscles. He lifts his arms above his head, and she works his shirt up so they can pull it off.

"Max" she smiles running her hands over the winged tattoo she remembered from their last night together but noticing the words Always and Forever that had been added right below.

"Always and Forever," he tells her. She grabs him and pulls him down to her.

"Don't hide from me" he tells her sincerely after they roll over as he pulls the red amity shirt over her head, and she instantly covers herself.

"I'm not how you remember," Natalie tells him shyly. She was thin, too thin from the small food rations. Her skin was rougher, without all the things she was used to even in Abnegation to keep it soft.

"You are exactly how I remember," he tells her peppering each word with a kiss to her neck as he moved her hands away. "And you are every bit as beautiful"

Natalie groans and topples down on top of him ready to lose herself to him. Max makes sure he kisses every part of her body, wanting to convey how much he loved her, and how beautiful she was. Natalie relished the attention. The few lovers she had over the years in the factionless section had only been to satisfy her physical needs. There was never the emotional connection she had with Max.

"Am I dreaming?" Max whispers as he braces himself above her and settles between her legs.

"No, Baby... you aren't" She reassures him, biting her lip as she reaches between them, grabbing him to line him up with her center.

Max leans down and kisses her as he pushes inside her. Both groan at being connected again.

"I missed you so much" Natalie whispers as Max moves slowly inside her.

"God, I've missed you too" Max admits.

The sex doesn't last long but it was just as emotional as the night in Abnegation they convinced their daughter. Natalie grips Max's shoulders and calls out his name when she climaxes, Max following right behind her. Max lays on top of her catching his breath as Natalie holds him tight never wanting to let go.


"How is that still amazing?" Natalie grins as she breathes heavily and Max smiles big leaning on his side wedged against the wall and her.

He runs his hands over her arms as she tightens the sheet around her.

"Because it's us." He whispers and leans down to kiss her softly.

"Nat…I would have left for us to be together, that's what I wanted," he tells her after a few minutes.

"It's not what I wanted for you." She argues.

Max groans in frustration at how stubborn she was.

"I don't get a say in my own life, I can make my own decisions Nat"

"Yes, you do, but this life is hard Max, harder than I could have ever imagined. And look what you've been able to accomplish, you're the leader of Dauntless…I was just so I don't know…"

"I can still leave Nat, I'm not going to be able to stay in Dauntless forever, you know that," he says quietly. He'd always thought he'd make the jump when he had to make the choice after he thought she was dead, but now, this was what he had planned for them.

"Max, you have to think of more than just us now. You have a daughter who you just met, and she needs you" Natalie tells him as she grabs her shirt to pull on.

Max sighs again. He didn't want to give up getting to know his daughter, being able to spend every day with her, and making up for the 18 years he missed with her.

"How's Hana? I'm shocked she didn't come with you if she knows I'm still alive"

Max chuckles as he pulls Natalie close to him.

"I had to practically tie her to a chair to keep her from coming. Knowing you are alive…she's missed you so much, especially with Zeke already out of the house and Uriah choosing"

Natalie smiles at learning the name of her sister's youngest son. She wondered whether they favored Hana or Reggie. If they were rambunctious just like Max and Reggie had been when they were younger.

"She and Reggie must be so proud"

Max winces realizing that she didn't know.

"What's wrong?" She could tell his demeanor had changed based on her last comment.

"Reggie died 10 years ago" Max had a hard time talking about Reggie with anyone but Hana. He was more than his best friend; they were like brothers. After Natalie, losing Reggie had made

"No, how?" Natalie cries sitting up and putting her hand on her chest. She and her sister had watched their mother spiral when their father was killed. And she wasn't there for her. Reggie, Max, and Hana had all been thick as thieves until Natalie and Max fell apart when they were seventeen. You never saw one without the other. Reggie and Max were as close as brothers.

"Factionless set off a bomb on the train tracks coming from Amity to get to a load of supplies. He was in charge of overseeing that shipment"

"No…No…" Natalie cries getting up and pacing in the small area in front of the bed covering her face with her hands. She knew exactly what that train explosion was and when it happened. It was a learning curve for the Factionless leaders who wanted to take a stand at getting more resources. The crackdown on the Factionless by Dauntless after the accident which resulted in the loss of 10 Dauntless soldiers made Natalie and the others realize they were better off stealing supplies under cover. The train accident had brought too much attention.

"It damn near killed Hana, the boys were so young. I actually moved in with them for about six months to help out after the accident. Hana had a hard time working through her grief the first few months"

"I'm so sorry, I had no idea, I didn't mean for it to happen, I would have never…" She sobs uncontrollably now.

"Nat, what do you mean?"

Natalie stops for a moment and looks up at the ceiling trying to gather her thoughts.

"Max, I need to know I can trust you…" She wipes her face moving to sit next to him on the bed and grabbing his hand.

"Of course, you can trust me" Max looks at her and sighs.

"I need you to listen and not react. There are things happening and I need us to be honest with each other to keep Tris and Caleb safe."

He nodded in agreement and squeezed her hand.

"The first six or seven years I was factionless it was hard, lonely. I kept to myself, here in this place I fixed up. That year, the same thing that Andrew did to me, Marcus did to his wife Evelyn"

"Wait, Four, I mean Tobias' mother is alive too?" Max asks, connecting the dots. Every piece of new information about the two men running Abnegation makes him sick to his stomach and filled with rage. He breathes deep through his nose to remain calm since he promised he wouldn't react.

Natalie nods and takes a deep breath.

"Evelyn started getting people to talk, lean on each other, more than ever and we started wanting to fight back against the factions, have more than the scraps been given out, to matter. Evelyn had a group of people she trusted to make plans…. And that train attack…"

"You helped plan it…"

Natalie feels the tears fall again as she nods her head.

"I didn't want to take such a drastic approach but the others, they didn't care if they hurt anyone else but the supplies it was a calculated move"

She hangs her head again ashamed of her role in the accident that took her sister's husband.

"She's never going to forgive me" Natalie sobs and Max wraps his arms around her.

"Nat, we've all done things that we regret, you didn't act alone, you said you opposed the plan in the first place. I know Hana better than anyone and the only person I know more forgiving is you"

"Max there's so much more you don't know…" She protests as he leaves a kiss on her forehead.

"Yeah, there's a lot you don't know too. Tris and Four told me about Erudite and your warning"

"Four?" she asks, noticing he used that name earlier.

"Tobias changed his name to Four when he got to Dauntless. So, you know that Tris and Four have been trying to gather information to take down Andrew and Marcus? They know they are working with Erudite"

"What?" Natalie groans. "What are they thinking?"

"That someone has to stop Marcus and Andrew and they are probably connected to why there have been disappearances in the Factionless. I'm going to put him down Nat, one way or the other. For what he did to you, Caleb, and Tris"

"I thought maybe he would have let someone else adopt them, especially since everyone thought I was dead or remarried, I never thought he would beat them too, especially since I went along with everything..." She chokes on the last part.

Max kisses her again full of passion. She held on to him just like he did her. He holds her for a few minutes, not speaking.

"Max, how much do you know about what Erudite is up to?" Natalie asks, turning to look at him.

Max takes a deep breath, now it was his turn to confess his sins.

"I know that Erudite has been looking to experiment on the divergent. Because I've been helping Jeanine Matthews"

Natalie's eyes go wide, and she scoots back a little from him.

"Please let me explain," He asks grabbing her hand.

Max launches into the story that Jeanine fed him and what she wanted. He tells her how he agreed to give up the names of the suspected divergent for the experiments so he could protect against the Factionless threat Jeanie had information on.

Natalie throws her head back when he finishes. This was a mess. Who could they trust? There was no way Jeanine was telling Max the truth about her experiments.

"For the record, I haven't given her anything else, she wanted to place an Erudite transfer into leadership in Dauntless, and I refused. She knows more than she's letting on for sure"

"Yeah, and she seems to be making deals, who knows what she's told Candor or Amity"

"Do you think she'll try to strike a deal with the Factionless? Does she know you all are working together?"

"I don't know, I think she knows we have a high number of divergent, but we don't know what she wants with them.

"If it's for this serum she's working on, she's probably going to double-cross one of us if not all of us"

"We've been finding bodies of Factionless who were divergent. The last ones I knew from when we were younger before I transferred. His name was Brody."

"Brody…I think I remember him. He challenged Reggie and me to that push contest in the Pit when we were what fifteen?"

"Yeah, he failed initiation. There were a few who were Abnegation too. If Jeanie is rounding up divergent to experiment on, we've got to do something, she's killing people"

Natalie had a look of fear and worry in her eyes that Max didn't see too often in her.

"I promise, I'm not going play into Jeanine's plan anymore, I know I have to take responsibility for how I helped her, but I feel like we need to play along, find out what she's planning"

"Max, I believe that you were doing what you thought was best to protect your faction and the city with what Jeanine was feeding you, but this is bigger than that. Tris is divergent, Max…so is Caleb and so am I and so is Hana"

Max feels his eyes go wide.

"Oh God, Hana never told me…I…"

Max puts his head in his hands. He'd been so foolish, thinking that the divergent were expendable, and now all the people he cared about most in this world could be in danger.

He looks up at Nat and pulls her close to him again.

"I promise you; I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you. I'll take Jeanie out with my bare hands if I have to if she tries to hurt any of you"

Natalie nods in agreement. She would lay down her life if she had to in order to keep Hana, Tris, and Caleb safe.

"We need to find out more, I think the kids know more than they have told us about what's going on in Abnegation. "

"Yeah, I think you're right. I know I will see Caleb as soon as he can get away."

"I need to get back soon" Max sighs looking down at his watch with a sigh. He didn't want to leave her.

"I understand" After all these years apart, she felt anxiety well up in her at the thought of him leaving her.

"I'll be back soon" He promised after pulling on his shirt and leaning down to kiss her seeing the worry on her face. "Be careful"

She smiles and wraps her arms around him savoring the last few minutes.

"I want you to take this radio in case you need anything, Chanel 2. I'll be here as soon as I can" He pulls out a small handheld radio out of his small backpack.

"Max…You can't…" She argues as he places the radio in her hands.

"Take it, Nat," He pushes the radio back toward her. "Hana put a few things in here too. I'll bring some more when I come back"

"No more secrets," he tells her.

"No more secrets" she repeats as he leans down to give her another kiss trying to hide her hesitation. If Dauntless was going to be facing an attack coming from the Factionless and Erudite, she was going to have to tell him and soon.