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Jeanine wasn't one to lose control, she thought emotions showed weakness but right now she was so angry she wanted to smash every piece of equipment in her lab.
"Why did we trust them with this?" She yells in frustration.
Eric had just delivered the news that Myra was dead, and Edward was in critical condition after being stabbed in the eye.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted him and that foolish girl" Jeanine seethes.
"Isn't he your nephew?" Cara asks. She had gotten used to Jeanine's lack of display of emotion, she thought it made her a better researcher. Deep in the back of her mind, it scared her a bit, especially now that Myra was dead, and Edward was useless.
"Family is a distraction" Jeanine reminds her.
"Do you think they know that Eric is working for you?"
"I'm not sure, Edward was poised to rank first which would have given us access to the areas only leadership is allowed in. Eric was able to successfully plant a bug in the leaders' conference room, but we still don't know what conversations are happening in the private spaces. We can't be sure that Myra or Edward didn't mention Eric's name."
"At this point does it matter? We have the Factionless on the hook now, we have manpower. We just have to start testing to find the divergent and start administering the serum," Cara points out.
"Max is still a problem don't underestimate him" Jeanine warns as she goes back to typing on her computer.
Cara felt a chill run up her spine. Jeanine didn't just want to control the council; she wanted complete control over the city in every aspect. She would try to crush Dauntless because Max wouldn't bend to her will. And if the other factions resisted, she would crush them too, now the question was would anything be left standing in Chicago when she was done?
Marlene rolls over and punches her pillow. She couldn't get comfortable, for some reason sleep was escaping her. Today hadn't been bad, she just missed so much about being able to let her hair down and relax. The only time she could be herself was when she was with Caleb. Susan and Miranda had spent their entire life learning how to cook, clean, and sew, things that weren't important in Dauntless. Sure, there were people who had those skills, but never having her mother around she didn't have anyone to show her. Her cooking was getting much better, and that was thanks to Caleb taking his time to help her with each meal they were assigned to prepare together. Today Ms. Haskins attempted to show her how to sew, and she struggled. Mrs. Haskins assured her that she would get better with practice. She didn't know why it felt like Susan was annoyed that Miranda and Mrs. Haskins were spending so much time trying to help her.
Susan lets out a snore and Marlene rolls her eyes gently getting out of bed. She tiptoes out of the room, closing the door gently. She quietly pulls out the tea kettle to heat some water and she grabs the shirt she was practicing her stitching on earlier. She could see how Dauntless could be wasteful, just throwing out things when they had a hole instead of learning how to properly patch them.
She looks up when she hears a noise and smiles when she sees Caleb leaning against the door frame.
"What are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same thing"
"Couldn't sleep, thought I would try and practice" she says holding up the needle and thread and shirt in her hands.
Caleb nods and goes over to the stove turning the burner off as the tea kettle whistles. He pours two cups of tea and brings them over to the table where Marlene was sitting.
"Thank you…So why can't you sleep?" Marlene probes.
"I don't know, I guess my mind wouldn't turn off to go to sleep" Caleb shrugs.
He wanted to tell her, he was thinking about his mother, about his sister, how much he was concerned about not letting his father know he was on to him. He keeps quiet though, in truth that's why he couldn't sleep. He wanted to be completely honest with her even though they had only known each other for six weeks. The kisses they had shared, the talks when they walked through the factionless section, the time spent cooking together, he'd never felt like this before.
Marlene nods, a little disappointed but she realizes everything he's been taught growing up in Abnegation was to hold back and suppress his emotions. She takes a sip of her tea and then goes back to sewing but then quickly puts the things back down on the table wanting to say what was on her mind.
"Caleb, I think I love you," she tells him boldly.
"You think you love me" he whispers biting his lip with a smile.
"Well, yeah, I mean, I know we haven't known each other long but, yes I'm falling in love with you" She stammers but then finishes with confidence.
"I've never felt like I do when I'm with you Mar, I...I love you too," Caleb tells her grabbing her hand.
Marlene smiles and Caleb tugs her hand, she gets up and sits on his lap. He pulls her down to kiss her. Their lips move slowly against each other. Caleb lets his hands run over her and Marlene moans softly. She moves to straddle his lap and she feels him against her through his sleep pants. She grinds instinctively against him, and his hands roam a bit grazing her breasts through her thin nightgown and then down her shapely behind.
"We're going to get in trouble" Marlene giggles against his lips pulling away. "You're making it very hard to take things slow"
"I know, I know" he concedes stealing one more kiss. "Maybe I need to go take a shower"
"Now I'll never get to sleep" Marlene groans leaning her forehead against his feeling the ache between her thighs. The little game they had been playing teasing each other since Visiting Day was starting to get to her.
"Me either," he chuckles in agreement as Marlene slides off his lap.
They both can't stop smiling as Caleb puts up the tea kettle and Marlene puts away her sewing for the next day.
"I love you," he whispers to her before they exit the kitchen.
"I love you too" she whispers with a smile before giving him one last kiss.
When she climbs back into bed, she traces her lips with her fingers remembering the feel of his lips on her. Maybe she was supposed to come to Abnegation to find him.
Max rubs his hand over his face as he crawls into bed. He was tired. He was mentally exhausted. The events of the Erudite transfers had bothered him more than he let on. Suicides happened in Dauntless, and deaths happened. But it was something about when the young died, that hit him harder. He lies in bed staring at the ceiling. He hated that he had to hide the fact that he was Tris' father. She'd looked shaken up and all he wanted to do was hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay.
Just then he hears Natalie's voice come through the radio. He'd been keeping it beside the bed every night out of habit, unsure if she needed anything.
"Max?"
Max scrabbles and sits up grabbing the radio.
"Nat, Baby what's wrong?" His heart beating wildly.
"Nothing's wrong…I just wanted to say I miss you" She giggled hearing the panic in his voice.
Max feels relieved and then lets out a laugh, hearing the playfulness in her voice.
"I miss you too. I'll see you as soon as I can, things have just been busy here,"
Natalie sighs and holds the radio to her chest. Max had an entire faction to run, and he was planning to fight a war. She knew he could just drop everything to come to see her just because she felt lonely.
"I know, How's our girl?"
Max leans back against the pillows, sadness washing over him. Was this what he and Natalie's relationship would be like if he chose to stay in Dauntless?
"She's hanging in there; I know she misses you too" He'd explain more when they were together about what was happening, not wanting to worry her now.
"I wish I was there with you," Natalie says after a moment. Max can hear the sadness in her voice.
"Me too. Nat… I love you"
"I love you too Max, Good Night"
"Always and Forever, good night, Baby"
He sets the radio back on the nightstand and rolls on his side imagining that Natalie was lying on the empty side of the bed. He was going to find a way for them to be together no matter what.
Max decides after the events of Myra's death and Edward's injury, to give the initiates the day off as was custom if someone died during initiation. It happened, sometimes people couldn't take the pressure, usually in stage two. He figured that would keep the rumors down about Myra's rantings. Stacy seemed to think she was in shock because of what she had done to her boyfriend and her ramblings meant nothing.
Zeke, Uriah, and Max hop out of the truck and sling their weapons over their shoulders. They did this often since Reggie died. It was their time to talk and ask all the questions they didn't want to ask Hana. He figured since Uriah had the day off from initiation, no one would notice if they snuck off for a while to do some shooting. Tris was spending the day with Hana, so it gave the guys a chance to get out for a bit.
Max had done his best to guide Zeke and Uriah as they grew up without Reggie. He'd set up this shooting range in an abandoned building near the Dauntless compound that a few others used for target practice.
'Uncle Max, can I ask you something…" Zeke speaks up as Uriah takes aim at the target he was shooting.
"Always, what's on your mind?" Max asks. "Good shot Uriah, load again, and this time I want you to take two steps to the right shoot and then two steps to the left and then shoot. Get comfortable having to move while shooting"
Uriah nods and reloads to do as he is instructed.
"Have you ever dated an older woman?" Zeke asks as Max keeps his eyes on Uriah, but he raises his eyebrows in intrigue before turning to look at Zeke.
"And what's brought this on?"
"I'm just testing the waters with someone new, but I don't think she's taking me seriously because I'm younger than her"
"Well, I have dated an older woman, but I think at the time we didn't work out because she wanted things from me that I wasn't willing to give…"
"Like kids?" Zeke probes as Uriah comes over after finishing all the bullets he had loaded.
"Yeah, and she wanted a real commitment I wasn't willing to give her"
"Because you were in love with Aunt Natalie?" Uriah reasons and Max nods with a smile.
"How much older are we talking?" Uriah asks, curious now. He and Zeke usually told each other everything so he knew Zeke would have told him eventually.
"8 or 9 years…" Zeke admits. He didn't really care, Tori was amazing and the more he talked to her, the more he wanted to get to know her.
"That's a big difference…and how do you feel about settling down if that's what she wants"
Zeke shrugs, he hadn't thought that far yet but for some reason the idea didn't scare him at all.
"I know I want something different, something real. It's not hard to get girls to have sex, that's always been easy. I hate all the bullshit when other guys challenge you because they want the same girl and all the girls I've been with want me to prove how much I want them, and I end up fighting my way out. It's like it's the same thing over and over again"
"I think you are wise beyond your years Zeke; your Aunt Natalie might not have left for Abnegation if I could have gotten my head out of my ass sooner to know that's what I was doing," Max tells him placing a strong hand on his shoulder and squeezing.
"I know what you mean, Zeke, I think I met the girl who's my person and she's not into me" Uriah sighs.
"Christina?" Zeke asks and Uriah nods. Zeke knew his brother was into her from the party and the night they went ziplining, he couldn't take his eyes off her.
"I'll tell you two what I've learned from being a basic lifelong bachelor with a lot of failed relationships. If you really care about both of these women, they want to know that you respect them and will be honest with them. You have to make them a priority and listen to them. Good relationships have to have communication."
"Who's your new love interest, Zeke?" Uriah asks as Zeke loads his gun and walks to take aim.
"Let's just say she's very creative and keeps to herself" Uriah furrows his eyebrows and scrunches his nose as he tries to decipher his brother's clues.
"That's it? Come on you guessed mine" Uriah whines.
"Yeah, guessed, you didn't tell me" Zeke yells before unloading on the target.
Max chuckles at the back and forth. As much as both Zeke and Uriah had a reputation as jokesters, he'd seen both of them mature in the past year. He wasn't sure if it was the war that was coming or just them getting older, but they were more focused and coming into their own as young men. It made him proud, and he knows it made Hana proud too.
"Where did you get roses from?" Shauna asks Zeke as he leans against the door of her office near the kitchen.
"Got Jason to bring me some back from Amity when he was doing the pickup today in exchange for some of my newest moonshine."
"And who are they for?" Shauna tries to quell the ache in her chest. Seeing Zeke how Zeke was smiling to himself as he looked at the roses.
"Tori" Zeke grins. It felt good to say it out loud. He knows he would tell Four now that Shauna knew.
"Tori? Tori Wu, who works in the tattoo parlor?" Shauna confirms, the shock evident in her voice.
"The one and only…"
"Isn't she a little old for you?" Shauna asks, trying not to sound desperate.
"I happen to think she's mature and I like her a lot, we haven't had a real date yet, but I plan on remedying that soon."
"Oh…" Shauna tried to keep it together and not let her disappointment show.
"Don't be like that. Tori's a great person. I thought you'd be happy I'm not running around chasing after the same old girls you're always complaining about"
"Yeah, you're right. If she makes you happy, I'm happy for you" Shauna plasters on a fake smile.
"Hey if you have any extra oranges this week, let me know, I'm working on this strawberry orange flavor"
"Sure, as long as I'm still your official taste tester"
"Have I ever told you that you're the best?" He grins and leans down to give her a playful kiss on the cheek.
Shauna wipes away a tear as soon as he turns and walks out the door. She had to find a way to let Zeke go, but she didn't know how.
"Keep it covered up for the next two weeks and put some of this salve on it once a day" Tori instructs the man in her tattoo chair as Zeke comes in with several to-go bags from the dining hall.
"I didn't think I was starting the next section of your sleeve this week," Tori asks as the customer gets out of her chair.
"No, you weren't but I didn't see you at dinner, so I figured you were working and brought you something to eat"
Tori tries to fight a smile. She had to give it to Zeke, he was laying it on thick. She wondered if he put this much effort into the other girls he went after.
"How did you know what I would like?" She challenges.
"I didn't, so I got one of everything" Zeke shrugs bringing the bags over and setting them on the desk she used to sketch designs.
Tori's eyes about pop out of her head when she sees the red roses he pulls from the bags, knowing there weren't very many in the actual city.
"I got these for you too" Zeke smiles handing her the three roses he'd commandeered.
"How…" Tori stammers taking them and placing them to her nose and closing her eyes to take in the smell.
"I have my ways. Catch you later" He gives her a wink as he walks backward heading to the door.
Tori is speechless sitting there for a moment. When she regains her senses, she shakes her head and smiles taking another smell of the roses.
