Happy Sunday! Thank you for my faithful few still reading and leaving reviews. I love ya'll!


"Where are we going?" Tris asks eagerly as Max drives the truck toward the shooting range he normally took Uriah and Zeke too.

"It's a place I set up for your cousins to spend time with them and work on their shooting skills. I thought we could spend some time here too, get to know each other better" Max tells her.

He'd been nervous about his plan, not sure what she liked and what they would bond over. It was easy with Zeke and Uriah; they enjoyed doing the same things he did. He had no idea what to do with a girl though. Hana had advised him to just trust his instincts and ask Tris what she liked.

"Yes," Tris says excitedly, looking out the window of the cab trying to get a better look. Max lets out a sigh of relief as he parks the truck.

They grabbed the weapons and climbed to the target practice area. Tris sees the worn targets similar to the ones they used the first week of training.

"Show me what you got," Max tells her handing her a rifle.

Tris does well, hitting the target, and keeping it in the center for the first four shots she makes.

"Good now, see if you can hit those same holes, you made again" Max instructs as she reloads.

Max watches as Tris becomes frustrated, unable to hit the target in the exact same spot again.

"It takes practice, you'll get better at it," Max chuckles as he picks up a rile and hits another target and then the exact same one again.

He laughs when he sees his daughter's eyes go wide when he accomplishes his task.

"Who taught you how to shoot?" Max asks as he pulls out a handgun to allow her to see the difference.

"Mom, she started my training for initiation. She had me shoot at old cans in an abandoned building." Tris tells him as she gets a feel for the smaller gun.

"Try this closer target" Max points. Tris handles the smaller gun better than the rifle and hits the same hole after a few tries.

"That's my girl," Max says proudly.

"Daddy, when can I see Mom again? I miss her" Tris sighs putting her gun down on an old crate in the shooting area.

"I know you miss her; Let's give it a few weeks. I've been spacing out my visits, making sure never to go on the same day or at the same time of day in case anyone is watching. We don't want to anyone find out. She needs the other factionless to trust her too right now"

Tris sighs and nods. She thought it would be easier now that initiation was over, but her father had a point.

"I know this isn't the same, but I hope this will help" Max reaches into the backpack he brought and clicks on the radio.

"Nat, come in, Are you there?" Max calls.

"Hi Baby, how are you?" Natalie responds after a minute.

"I'm fine, I have someone here who wants to talk to you"

"Hi Mommy," Tris says cheerfully leaning into the radio.

"Hi, Baby Girl! Oh, how are you? How is initiation going? I miss you so much"

"I ranked first! Can you believe it?" Tris tells her taking the radio from Max and walking around the rooftop as she talked to her mother.

Max smiled watching his daughter and how her face lit up and she smiled big.

"I'll see you soon Baby, I love you," Max tells Natalie when Tris comes back over and hands him the radio back.

"I love you too," Natalie tells him.

Tris gives him a hug and they stay like that for a few minutes.

"Daddy, Can I ask you a question?" Tris asks when they pull apart.

"Always"

"I want to change my name…would you be okay if I changed my last name. I'm not a Prior and I think I should have your last name"

It catches Max off guard, and he feels tears well up in his eyes. It never failed him that his daughter had made him feel like a big baby anytime they connected over something. He'd never thought after all his years without a family that he could feel the things he felt as soon as he met his daughter. He was proud of Uriah and Zeke, he loved them, but this was different.

"Damn, I think I might have only cried a few times in my life before this year and you break me every time" Max shakes his head with a laugh.

Tris grins and hugs him again. She was happy she and her father could get along so easily. It was a breath of fresh air for her.

"I'll call over to Candor and see what we need to do to change your name, but I'm damned proud you want to be a St. James.

Max had Tris work with handguns, and they continue shooting with Max asking his daughter questions about things she liked, things she wanted to try.

"Today was fun, can we do this again soon?" Tris asks as they start to pack up their weapons.

"Anytime you want Baby Girl"

"Max come in" Harrison calls over the radio Max had on his hip that was used to communicate only with the other Dauntless leaders.

"What's up, Harrison?" Max asks as he quickly pulls the radio out to respond.

'There's a situation in Abnegation, we need to head over there"

"Copy that, be back to the compound in about 20 minutes, Meet me in the parking garage."

"What's going on?" Tris asks.

'Not sure yet, Let's get back so I can find out"


Max hops out of the Dauntless vehicle as Harrison pulls to a stop. Victora would normally handle all faction relations visits but since all they knew was it involved a high-ranking council member Max and Harrison wanted to accompany her. He would have liked to bring Tobias with him as part of his leadership training, but he knew Marcus would be involved so he asked Zeke to accompany them since it was an issue with another faction.

"Marcus" Max says evenly. Knowing what he knew now made it difficult to be cordial to him even though he never really cared for him.

"Max, thank you and Dauntless for responding so quickly."

"It's our job" Max replies with a nod. He notices a young man standing behind Marcus and Andrew. He remembers from Choosing Day that he's Natalie's son Caleb. He turns his attention to the man standing next to him.

"Andrew" Max says gruffly. The name tastes like rancid food on his tongue as he looked Andrew Prior.

Max and Andrew only communicated, when necessary, at council meetings given their history but now knowing that Natalie was alive, and he had abused his daughter Max wanted to rip his head off. Zeke notices Max ball his fists up and steps up, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Max" Andrew says coldly.

"Can we get to what the problem is?" Max snaps eying Andrew up and down.

"We have a senior council member, Jacob Eversley, who has been murdered," Marcus says flatly.

Victoria, Harrison, Zeke, and Max all look at one another in shock. Murders usually happened in Erudite and Candor, but never in Amity or Abnegation. Any Abnegation members who had been murdered had been in the Factionless section and it had been at least 10 years since the last occurrence.

"Show us where," Harrison asks.

The group follows them past the gathering hall, the donation center, and down the row of houses. All the Abnegation members they pass keep their heads down or nod in passing showing no signs of curiosity at the Dauntless members.

Max feels a complexity of emotions as he remembers the last time he was inside of an Abnegation house. The night he and Natalie conceived their daughter. He shakes his head and clears those thoughts as they approach a house. He steps through the doorway and sees Jacob sitting at his table, his breakfast in front of him on the table. His head was slumped down in his chest and two bullet wounds. The blood seeped through his grey shirt.

"Does he have a family?" Max asks squatting down in front of the body to get a closer look.

"No sir, I was sent to see what was wrong when he didn't show up for the meeting scheduled this morning" Caleb speaks up.

"What time did you get here?" Harrison asks, surveying the room.

"A little after 10, we had been waiting since 9" Caleb informs them.

"Uncle Max" Zeke whispers as he looks at the table. Jacob had a small bowl of oatmeal that was only half eaten and a cup of coffee. There was a copy of the news report about Divergent on the table.

"I'd like to take a look around to make sure we don't miss anything, but it looks like this killer was pretty smart," Harrison explains as he looks around the room.

"Andrew, Marcus, I'd encourage you to be careful, if this was someone sending a message we don't know if they are coming back, we can post guards to patrol the Abnegation sector for the time being if we need to" Max informs them. "Victoria, can you get statements from Marcus, Andrew, and this young man, we need to report this at the next council meeting."

"Thank you, Max, I don't know why anyone would target Jacob this way, maybe this was just a random Factionless attack" Andrew interjects. He saw the way Max looked at the newspaper, Jeanine was sending a message loud and clear.

"No, this wasn't a robbery, this was an assassination. What cause would the factionless have? There's nothing disturbed in the house, a burglar would have tossed the house looking for anything of value." Harrison reasons.

"If you wouldn't mind showing us to your offices to take the statements, Max and Harrison will finish up here and take pictures to document the crime scene. I'd also like any account of any encounters that might stand out as hostile against Mr. Eversley." Victoria says moving towards the front door.

"Are you implying that one of our own did this?" Andrew snaps.

"That would be the point of the investigation, wouldn't it? We will hand off any suspects to Candor to be tried as part of the law…Or has the process been changed and I've not been made aware…" Max argues and steps closer to Andrew.

"No, we will follow the process and let Dauntless do their job" Marcus interjects seeing the tension rise. "Would you please follow me to our offices? Caleb, please stay here and escort our guests to follow us. Can you see if your fiancée will prepare lunch for our guests as it looks like this will take a while?"

"Yes sir, I will be right back," Caleb says with a bow.

"I'm going to check out upstairs" Harrison announces.

"Do you think this was Erudite?" Zeke whispers now that they were finally alone.

"It has to be, Max confirms looking at the body again.

When Caleb comes back, he stops and looks at Zeke and Max.

"Caleb, it's nice to formally meet you, I'd like to introduce you to your cousin Ezekiel, Your Aunt Hana is his mother," Max tells him. "Caleb is Natalie's son"

"Pleased to meet you," Caleb says bowing his head.

"Everyone calls me Zeke; Nice to meet you; Tris had told me a lot about you" Zeke extends his hand and Caleb takes it.

"Are you Tris' father?" Caleb asks. He never really put the pieces together before but now it all made sense. Max nods in response.

"You have a fiancée? Congratulations" Zeke offers. It was strange how his entire life, his family had been Max, Hana, and Uriah since his father died and now it had expanded to new people that he wanted to get to know.

"Yes, my fiancée transferred from Dauntless, Mom said I was supposed to find you if something ever happened…," Caleb whispers and he, Max, and Zeke all look upstairs to make sure Harrison is still inspecting the bedrooms.

"Good, I'm going to work something out so we can all speak again. Is there a reason anyone would do this"

"I've told Mom everything but now that I'll be working in the office with them, I might hear more. They have complained about Jeanine getting greedy…"

Just as Caleb is about to elaborate more Harrison comes down the stairs.

"Thank you for waiting Caleb, you can take us to join the others now" Max states and Caleb nods in understanding.


"I can't believe I'm doing this" Tori mumbles to herself as she takes one last pass with the straightening iron to smooth her hair. She'd even gone to the boutique and bought a new outfit for her first date with Zeke.

She looks in the mirror making sure her hair was straight and that the dark eyeliner and eye shadow made her eyes pop. She had drawn a line to make her slanted eyes that she inherited from her grandmother more pronounced. The curly hair and slight tan of her skin had come from her grandfather. She could barely remember him, he died when she was six, but she remembers his big smile and his hugs. Zeke had that same honey skin tone.

There's a knock at the door and Tori takes a deep breath before walking over to open the door.

"More roses?" She squeaks as Zeke hands her two white roses.

"I'm glad you like them" he chuckles as Tori takes them and steps aside so he can come in.

"This probably isn't as fancy as your leader apartment" She teases as she goes to grab a glass to put her flowers in wanting them to last as long as possible.

"You have a two-bedroom?" Zeke asks curiously, looking at the hallway. Usually, roommates or families had multi-room apartments. He and Uriah were thinking about getting a two-bedroom once he completed initiation. Zeke was proud of his younger brother for finishing second in his class just as he did to make him eligible for a leader in training position.

"I uh, used to have a roommate," Tori tells him quickly hoping that he wouldn't ask any more questions.

"You look amazing," Zeke tells her noticing her skirt was short in the front and long in the back paired with a black spaghetti strap top, black leggings, and black flats.

"Thanks," she says quietly grabbing her keys and ushering him out of the door. "So do you"

Tori feels her face flush and she bites her lip telling herself to calm down. It wasn't a lie though. Zeke's form-fitting black shirt pulled tight across his chest, he was handsome, confident, and cocky but not in the obnoxious way that some Dauntless could be.

They walk through the pit and Zeke uses a key to unlock the staircase above the net.

"I haven't been up here since initiation," Tori says looking around, memories of that day come back to her. She had been shaking like a leaf when Amar stood next to her and told her it was going to be okay. He jumped first and she followed right behind him.

"Oh, Zeke this is so sweet" Tori gasps when she sees the blanket and picnic basket spread out in the middle of the roof.

Zeke grabs her hand and leads her to the blanket where they sit down, and he felt relieved that she liked what he planned out. He'd thought long and hard and realized anything he would have normally done would be out the window. He thought about asking Shauna, but she'd been running off every time he sat down that week.

"So, tell me how you learned to be so thoughtful?" Tori asks as she grabs a strawberry from the bowl Zeke set in front of him.

"I guess my mom, my dad died when I was ten. Uncle Max stepped in, but Mom has always made sure to keep us grounded and use manners that kind of thing. I don't know how in the world she's Dauntless born" Zeke chuckles popping a grape into his mouth.

"I don't think I realized you and Max were related"

"We're not actually, he and my dad were best friends. My mom had a sister he dated when they were teenagers, so he's always been family. He's the best though, I've learned so much from him. He's the one who encouraged me to work in Faction Relations."

They talk and laugh with Tori sharing crazy tattoo stories about people who come into the tattoo parlor and her love for pranks.

"You are worse than me and Uriah" Zeke gasps grabbing his chest in fake outrage as she tells him of the pranks she and George used to play in Erudite.

Tori giggles and looks down at the blanket, her smile fading. He didn't know George other than he worked as part of the operations team doing the job Shauna had now in organizing deliveries and menus for the kitchen.

Zeke scoots the contents of the picnic basket aside and lays down on the blanket and opens his arm for Tori to lie down with him. It was a clear night with no clouds in the sky and the stars shone brightly.

"One of my favorite books when I was a kid, was about long ago before the war when they would make up stories about the stars and I started to make up my own" Tori comments enjoying the scent Zeke was wearing as she leaned against his chest.

"Okay, what about that one," Zeke asks pointing to a cluster of stars.

"That's Orion, he was a hunter, you can always find him by looking at the three stars that make his belt. And his dog, the bright star named Sirius" Zeke follows the tip of her finger as she talks. "I liked to think he lived in Amity, roaming the countryside with Sirius, gathering food for the village"

Zeke listens, impressed at her creativity.

"Maybe we can do this again and you can tell me some more stories," Zeke says when she rests her head on his chest, hearing the rumble as he spoke and ran his fingertips lightly over her back.

Tori leans up on her elbow and looks down at him. She lowers her face to his, hovering as she flicked her eyes to his lips and then back up to his eyes. He was letting her take the lead, and she liked that. She leans all the way in now, brushing her lips against his. Zeke snakes his hand up to her face and around the back of her head, cradling her head as they kissed softly and slowly.

Zeke smiles when Tori finally pulls away. "You are so beautiful, inside and out" he whispers.

Tori leans down and gives him another quick kiss, erupting into a fit of laughter when Zeke tickles her sides.

She lays back down against him using his arm as a pillow to look back up at the sky.

"Now tell me about what those are" He was pointing to what he thought was as Tori snuggles a little closer to him.

"That's Taurus the bull, see how Orion can shoot his bow to him" Tori explains, and Zeke listens while they look up at the sky.

It has been a long day dealing with the murder in Abnegation, but tonight, this was all Zeke wanted.


Jeanine leans back in her chair and smiles at the latest research results that Cara had just handed to her.

"I have to admit I thought Eric was being a bit aggressive with his plan, but Andrew and Marcus have already called to set up a meeting"

"The Factionless are willing to negotiate but only the leader Evelyn, she's calling the shots," Cara informs her as she nervously turns the pen in her hands sitting across from Jeanine.

"Hmmmm that can work in our favor as long as she doesn't get too greedy. If she does, Eric can eliminate her too. Pay a visit to her, see what she's asking for, and take Eric with you"

"I'll report back as soon as we've met with her" Cara informs her.

Jeanine nods and Cara then excuses herself to continue working on her next version of the serum. Her hands shake as she makes her way out of the office. As time went on Jeanine became more ruthless. She had relegated in her mind that losing people in experiments was a part of research but now that Jeanine and Eric were outright murdering people, she felt sick to her stomach. What would happen to her if she were no longer useful to Jeanine?

She walks into the lap and accesses her computer. She grabs a flash drive and starts to copy all of the files she had on developing the serum. She looks over her shoulder as the files are copied. She had to find a way out.


Andrew paces in front of the fireplace in Marcus' living room. He'd never thought Jeanine would be so bold as to

"You said you could handle Jeanine, Andrew" Marcus snaps from where he was standing in the dining room.

"I told you everything, I warned you she was demanding more, you're just as responsible as I am" Andrew fires back.

Marcus takes a deep breath and focuses before continuing. One thing he had learned over the years about Andrew was he needed to spiral for a few minutes before he could focus and move calmly.

"Andrew take a deep breath" Marcus instructs.

Andrew stops and puts his hands on his hips and breathes deeply through his nostrils.

"If Jeanine is going to turn on us, then we need other allies," Marcus tells him calmly.

"Allies, who? Candor? What can Jack Kang do for us?"

Marcus agreed, Candor and Amity weren't allies, Dauntless was their only hope.

"You can't be serious" Andrew scoffs when Marcus only nods his head.

"Who else will be able to give us protection and now is the perfect time," Marcus argues.

"Max will never agree."

"Then we have work to do to convince him," Marcus says matter of factly.

Andrew sighs. Today was evidence of the tension between him and Max. And now that Tobias and Beatrice were in Dauntless, Andrew had to reason that Max would be coming for him and Marcus soon rather than later. He needed something on him to guarantee his protection. A grin comes across his face realizing this might be easier than he anticipated.