A Different Divergent Tale (Eric and Tris)

Chapter 46 (Eric's POV)

As I assist our new staff in the surveillance conference room, I can't stop my mind from wandering back to Tris. I hope everything is going alright with her.  I know she was nervous about her meeting with Four, as if she was only doing it to be helpful.  I hope this helps rather than hindering his progress. 
I shake my head and focus on the task at hand, checking over each person's progress. Jax has taught them well. I deal with all the questions and tell them what to look for, which lines of code to avoid, and so on. We finish up after a couple hours. I look to my watch as I exit the control room and sigh sadly.  She's probably napping by now. 
I arrive at the office level and open my door to Tris laying on the sofa.  I step over quietly and see she's holding up a packet.  She turns the page, then another.  I grin.  She's awake.  But a thought occurs to me—maybe she's done growing for a while.  I frown at that.
"How are you feeling?" I ask softly. 
She focuses her attention on me, setting the packet down on herself and looking over her shoulder at me.  She's smiling. 
"I'm good," she replies. 
She sits up and sets the papers aside on the coffee table.  I slide beside her onto the couch. 
"Not tired?" I inquire pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. 
"Oddly, no," she shrugs. 
"How'd your meeting go?" I inquire. 
She shrugs again but her expression changes.  She doesn't appear too happy. 
"That bad?" I ask.  I stroke her cheek with the back of my hand.  She closes her eyes and leans into the gesture. 
"It was pretty unpleasant at first.  I even got up to leave," she admits and I'm disappointed that Four really can't control himself.  
"What'd he do?" I ask. 
She sighs.  "He kept saying rude things about you," she admits. 
"Yeah," I nod.  I know he doesn't like me.  I really don't know why.  "What'd he say?"
She closes her eyes for a moment and then looks to me meeting mine.  I stare at her light blue eyes.  I'm hypnotized by her beauty.  "He says he's waiting for this to end.  He thinks I'll go back to him," she divulges. 
I look away upset.  Why is he being such a jerk? He had his opportunity and he royally screwed up. She caresses my jaw and I realize I'm grinding my teeth.  I relax my jaw at her touch and turn back to her. 
"I told him that even if we weren't together, I'd never go back to him," she says. 
"What'd he say to that?" I inquire. 
She shakes her head.  "We had to work on his kindness," she tells me.  "I got up to leave because he ignores what I say.  Lara even told him he hurt me by ignoring me and acting like my words don't matter.  He had to practice saying nice things."
I nod in understanding. 
"The rest of the time seemed to help.  He's improving, I think.  At a snail's pace, though," she says and I laugh. 
"So... how's your training going?" I inquire motioning to the stack. 
"I'll probably be done with this paperwork by next week, although we're taking Tuesday and Thursday off, so it might be longer," she says. 
"Yeah," I nod.  "I figured you'd be done soon.  We'll probably go to Candor sometime next week, too."
She nods as well. 
"What's the plan for Amity tomorrow?" she asks leaning her head on my chest and looking up at me.
"Whatever you want," I shrug. "We'll talk with Johanna initially. But beyond that, we can do anything. You can talk to her more, the members there, tour the area, anything really. We can come back early if you want."
"Anything I want?" she questions raising her eyebrows. I grin. I think she has something in mind.
"What do you want to do?" I ask.
"Well... I'm kind of curious about the products they produce," she says.
"Like what?" I inquire.
"Hmm, let's see... well, they manufacture all of the art in the city. I know they make the cheese and I'm curious about the other products. I'd like to see some of the greenhouses and fields.  I want to visit the animals, but I'll admit, I don't think I could stomach the slaughterhouse. I'd like to see where they raise the fish..." she tells me.
"So... you want to stay all day?" I inquire.
"If we could," she grins.
"I didn't even realize they did all of that. I thought the food was produced in Factionless," I say. "I didn't know about the art before either."
"Factionless cans and freezes products. Amity handles the majority of the skilled labor," she informs me.
"Huh," I reply surprised. "I thought they just raised animals and produce."
"Nope," she responds shaking her head. "They do that and more."
"How do you know all of this?" I inquire.
"Because I've been to Factionless and seen some of what they do," she shrugs. "My mom helps to feed them. My dad organizes the Factionless workforce. He also deals with the factory and machine upkeep, the bus and train upkeep... He's next in line for head of Abnegation, though, so he does a bit more than what I'm familiar with."
I grin and lean in kissing her.  She responds to me.  When we slowly break away, I realize it's getting late.  "I should probably see what's on my desk," I frown. 
"There's a census on there.  You may want to fill that out today for sure," she says pointing to my inbox.  I nod. 
"Did you get one already, too?" I inquire. 
"I turned it in," she nods in affirmation. 
"Alright," I say kissing her soft lips once more.  I see a reflection from her necklace catch my eye when I go to stand.  I reach out and touch the cross grasping it.  I recall in her religion, that this is a symbol of torture and I find that confusing.  I release her necklace, kissing her cheek before I rise.  She closes her eyes and doesn't open them as I get up. 
I stride over to my desk and take a seat.  I see her eyes are still closed and she looks to be concentrating.  I pull out the stack from my inbox.  I get to work organizing the pile in order of completion.  I work on the first item that needs my immediate attention. I notice Tris set her packet down and pick up another.
"Sweetheart?" I say.
She hums a reply and looks to me.
"Could you give this to Wendy for me?" I ask.
"Sure," she grins getting up. "I definitely need to stretch my legs."  She comes over around my desk taking the paper from my hand. She kisses me and leaves. I sigh watching her retreating figure.
I focus on the census and work on bubbling everything in with a pencil. It reminds me of our tests in school. As I fill it in, it feels kind of different from reading it for our faction—it's more personal now. I fill out all of the basics like name, address, gender.  It asks about my physical appearance.  That part is easy.  It asks more about living situations, job, pay, rent... I fill all of that out.  I continue on with household information, that I'm technically single—not married, but dating.  It asks about intentions, if I plan on getting married or having children. I smile at that as Tris walks back in. With her, that's a definite yes. I can't help the thought of what she told me before, about her being geared to be a housewife. She said she'd want to settle down and start a family if she found the right guy. I really hope that's me. I fill in the rest and I set it aside. I work on the other forms from my inbox, then my email. I respond to it all. I glance over to Tris to see her setting another packet down that she's completed. I look to my watch and notice it's close enough to dinnertime to stop.
"You want me to check those and we can be done?" I offer.
"Sure. I could be done for the day," she grins.
I rise from my seat, stride over to her and sit beside her. I pick up the top packet and begin reading her answers. Her thoughts really are incredibly geared to leadership here. I guess we both kind of are since we grew up in households with the common society issues frequently discussed. It was just typical breakfast conversation for me. I'm sure it was the same at her house with a faction leader. I flip through the next, then the next. I work my way through her whole stack.
"Do you have any questions for me?" I ask when I'm done.
She shakes her head. But it looks like she's holding back. "Is there something else on your mind?" I say gently stroking her cheek.
She looks deeply into my eyes. "Can I ask you something personal?" she whispers.
"Always," I say just as softly.
"What made you decide to come with us next Sunday?" she breathes.
I recall my conversation with Jude and realize I ought to give her a better first explanation than I did him. I really don't want her to have the wrong impression. "I'm curious," I shrug. "I find it all kind of fascinating. It's like a mystery to me. I'm very interested in the historical aspects and my experiences have been something I can't quite explain. I also grew up with Jeanine saying one thing but the more I read, I find I agree with what I'm discovering more than what I've been told by her." I pause and meet her eyes again. "If this is important to you, I want to understand you more."
She smiles almost disbelievingly at me. "So you're seeking?" she inquires.
"I guess you could say that," I nod.
She smiles and wraps her arms around me. She kisses me and I kiss her back. I feel like I definitely said the right thing—that she's happy with my response. We part and stare into each other's eyes for some time.  She appears ecstatic. 
I realize how important her religion really is to her.  I've got to make a serious effort to understand it, then.  If it's this crucial, I ought to treat it as such as well. 
We put our paperwork away—hers in her office, mine distributed around to the staff. 
"Wendy?" I ask her at her desk.  She looks like she's getting ready to leave soon. 
"Yes?" she replies. 
"Where do you want the census?" I question. 
"I'll take it," she says standing and reaching out for it.  I watch as she puts it into a machine and it scans my submission.  When it's finished, she places the completed form in a box with some others. 
"Last one for the office," she grins. 
"Really?" I ask surprised. 
"Well, I'm taking mine home for Craig and me to fill out.  He'll be turning it in through the security department but I'm the only one in the office that's married," she explains.  I nod remembering that all married couples' forms will be submitted through the husband's work to make sure we're not wasting forms or counting families twice—one per household.  There were whole sections I skipped over since I have no spouse or dependents.  I'm hoping for the next census, that that will change. 
The rest of leadership gathers in the hallway and we head down the elevator together.  I feel a squeeze at my hand.  "Can we take the stairs?" Tris whispers to me. 
"Are you up for it?" I ask.  She nods.  "Okay," I agree. 
We walk down the stairs with the others.  I still have her walk along the inside wall and keep two points of contact at all times.  I'm actually glad that she's not really afraid of the stairs.  I was kind of worried that she was getting new fears but she seems to be fine.  We stride through the Pit.  Everyone stops and stares as we move through the crowd.  They're all on their way into the cafeteria to hear the announcement.  We separate from the crowd taking the alternate entrance for leadership.  I look down at Tris.  She has a serious expression on her face. 
"Who's making the announcement?" Ryan asks as we walk through the side hallway. 
"I will," Jude says.  "It'll probably be my last," he says and that thought makes me sad.  I glance back to Tris and she appears confused.  I almost don't want to tell her what's going on. 
We climb the stairs and head straight for the double doors. 
"You know what you're going to say?" Max pauses at the door, confirming with Jude. 
"I'm good," he nods grinning. 
"Okay," Max replies opening the door with a slam.  We all step in and follow him to the railing.  The crowd quiets expectantly.  I stand behind Tris holding her to my chest with my arms on either side of her.  I've got a good grip on her in case she gets faint again.  She looks up to me gratefully.  I see Four staring at us together with a hard expression but I don't care.  The rest of the faction notices us together and actually are pointing and smiling.  Ryan is to my right, Jude to my left.  Max and Lydia are on his opposite side. 
"Dauntless," Jude says raising his hands.  I smirk at how his voice still carries across the expanse.  Everyone is absolutely silent in respect of our oldest leader—the head of Dauntless.  "Today, as you may have heard, we have begun a census.  You all will be receiving a form from your employers.  Each household will fill out one form.  That means married couples fill out one, single people fill out one.  Even if you have a roommate, you each fill out one.  The form is self-explanatory.  If you do have questions, direct them to your employers.  If employers have questions, direct them to leadership's staff.  We have two weeks from today to have all forms turned in.  There have been some distributed already throughout the faction, some already completed.  More will be disbursed as soon as possible.  As soon as you receive your forms, fill it out and return it.  Do not delay.  You are expected to complete it in a timely manner.  Understood?"  He finishes and the faction claps in a rhythm.  Clap, clap, clap, clap...
We make our way down the staircase and are served as the claps die down.  Tris is beside Jude, I'm next to Ryan still.  I glance beside me and Ryan looks upset. 
"Everything okay?" I ask nudging him. 
He shakes his head.  "I'm... I'm just not ready for him to go," he tells me. 
"Yeah, me either," I agree patting his back. 
"Eric?" Tris asks me. 
"Yeah, sweetheart," I say giving her my full attention. 
"What's this?" she asks. 
I look down at her plate and mine.  "Pork chops," I say.  "That's some sort of noodle dish."  I don't bother to point out the green beans. 
"How do you eat this?" she asks. 
I pour the barbecue sauce on mine, while encouraging her to try hers.  "That's a barbecue sauce and that one," I say sticking my fork in it.  "That's a steak sauce.  We had that the night your rank was announced."
"Oh, I never had that," she says. 
"What'd you have?" I ask surprised.  That's the best meal of the year. 
"Chicken, peas, and bread," she shrugs. 
I cough surprised.  "We had steak and you took the chicken?"
She shrugs again.  "I was nervous.  I was afraid I wouldn't make it.  I just grabbed my dinner without thinking it through."
I nod in understanding.  "Next time I'll help you select a good steak," I insist. 
"What's that?" she asks. 
"The best cut of beef you'll ever have," I grin. 
"I do like beef," she says. 
I grin and cut into my porterhouse cut pork chop.  I notice hers is a center cut, I think.  It's smaller and probably why they chose that one for her.  She watches me and does the same but she dips her bite into one sauce.  I see her smiling as she chews.  I kind of sit back and watch as she eats her next bite.  She dips this one in the steak sauce.  She looks to me surprised. 
"I like this one better," she tells me. 
"I didn't get that but the barbecue sauce is fine," I shrug. 
She offers her cup to me and I decline it.  I've had it before and I don't mind.  Plus, I like watching her enjoy new foods.  She twirls a piece of her noodles and eats it.  I decide to leave her be and eat my food.  I glance over to Jude, though.  I really don't want him to leave either.  I know it's the proper succession but sometimes I feel like our system stinks.  I don't want him dead or left to Factionless.  I didn't care so much for Egan... but Jude?  I'm not looking forward to this.  He told me before that he has a plan.  I hope it's a good plan.  I turn back to my food and attempt to push my concerns away. 
We finish our meals and I escort Tris home.  She already looks really tired.  "You okay?" I ask worriedly. 
"I think I'm about ready for bed," she says softly. 
"What about your pill?" I remind her. 
"I don't know.  I don't think I can stay up for two more hours," she tells me.  "Maybe I'll just take it early or set my alarm to wake me up then."
"Okay," I nod.  I know she doesn't want me in her bedroom anymore.  I'm kind of sad about that but I'll respect her wishes—anything she wants she can have. 
I kiss her at her doorway and say goodnight.  I hear her click her lock into place when she closes the door.  I sigh sadly, already missing her.  I step to my apartment and lock up as well.  I decide to get ready for bed and then come back out to my living room.  I see a stack of books on my coffee table.  I remember reading with her today.  I recall her talking about yokes and I'm incredibly curious about what she was looking into.  I decide to open the same book and look up yokes in the concordance.  There's so many listings but I figure I'm not going anywhere.  There is a lot about farming and various uses for the yoke.  I read each and every one.  I see the one we read together and I smile, thinking how admirable and kind her God is.  I turn to several more reading similar things to what I've already read. I turn to one in 2 Corinthians and I stop abruptly, staring at the words I just read on the page. 

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" 2 Corinthians 6:14 NIV

I close my eyes and sigh.  I know she was reading this.  She's just too nice to say something to me.  I realize I am an unbeliever.  She told me before—that she didn't want to condemn me.  But she explained everything to me to help me understand. 
I recall Christina asking if I was saved from the Pit of Hell.  She told me all I had to do was ask God for help and repent when I had wrong thoughts.
I was always afraid of death before.  It even is one of my top fears in my fear landscape.  But as I talk to Tris more about her beliefs and religion, I find that it's not as scary as I thought—or at least her side of things.  The other sounds far worse than I could imagine.  That Pit does not sound anything like ours here—a fun shopping haven. 
I flip to the concordance and find hell.  I read a few things mentioning the word hell and condemnation.  I flip to 2 Peter 2 and read a little more, discovering that even angels that sin are sent to hell, put in chains awaiting punishment.  I read a little more there about societies' punishment and some righteous people being saved.  I look to Luke 12:5 to read that I should fear the one who has authority to throw me in hell.  That definitely makes me fear her God.  She said he's the creator of all things. 
I feel drawn to the Bible with the timeline in it, like a pull. I remember she said that's the Holy Spirit, the comforter. I set the Bible down in my hands and reach for the other to find out what I'm being led to. I flip through it and discover all sorts of interesting things—maps with paths marked, archeological finds such as stone tablets and pottery, pictures of mountains and other locations. I start to focus on the words and realize there are sections from several books split up on the same page. I hold my place and look to the cover, realizing that this is a chronological study Bible. I smile and turn back to where I was, flipping a little further. I find a master index and a dictionary in the back—surprisingly, there's a substantial amount of reference of these in the back. I flip before that to find Revelation, the last book within here. I turn to the end to find a Christian resource. I feel like this is what I should be looking at, like that pull was leading me to this. I read the information about how to become a Christian. I laugh, not in mockery but surprise. I read on and realize this is geared toward Christians speaking about their faith to unbelievers. It reads that I was created by a loving God, that I have great value. It speaks on what the world believes, and what others believe—that life began as an ooze in a pond and evolved from there. I've actually read books on that. I even remember Jeanine saying where people came from doesn't matter—that we're here now. It's funny, how that's the only thing she's not interested in investigating.
I shake my head and continue on with the information about how the world believes we live, we die and while we're here we should grasp for all we can get in life. That does sound like Jeanine and several others. It goes on to explain that the Christian perspective varies in that humans are not accidents—we were created by a loving God for a purpose, that we can find ultimate fulfillment in a relationship with him. I smile and think this does sound really nice—not so scary or weird. I continue on reading about sin and who Jesus Christ is.
I pause and really think it over. This whole Christianity thing really sounds nice—nothing like what I'd heard. They don't seem crazy—it sounds loving, kind, compassionate, and decent. This is actually the best thing I've ever heard within the walls of our city. I think back to the map of the other book, wondering if that's actually the name of our city. I feel like I can actually find truths within these pages and it's incredibly comforting.
I realize how late it is, how I've been searching through these books for hours. I set them down and think Tris might come back and read them tomorrow morning so I leave them out. I get up and head to bed with the most serene feeling I've ever felt—even compared to my time with Tris which I find odd. I've always felt like she was the best thing to ever happen to me. She is but I'm not going to complain about how at ease I feel right now. I place my things down on my nightstand, charging my phone and setting my alarm earlier than usual for our trip to Amity in the morning. I turn my lamp off and drift off to the most peaceful rest I've ever experienced.