Prior Rings

Chapter 47: Anna - New Beginnings

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and to my wonderful beta reader, Rosalie! This is a short chapter, but hopefully a worthwhile one.

Chapter 47: Anna — New Beginnings (later the same day that Abigail is born, August 15, ten years after Tris and Tobias first met; Tris is 26 and Tobias is 28)

We have been in the waiting room for a very long time when Tobias finally comes in. He looks exhausted, and yet more exhilarated than I have ever seen him. Smiling widely, he announces to the crowded room that Abigail was born healthy and perfect at five pounds, fourteen ounces.

A collective cheer goes through the room, which is packed with the entire Kaizen faction and a number of their friends, as well as all of their remaining relatives.

"Tris did it without painkillers," he adds, shaking his head a little in obvious awe. I raise my eyebrows, and judging by the others' expressions, I'm not the only one surprised by the statement.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," Christina tells Uriah firmly. "Just so you know, when the time comes." Her fiancé chuckles.

"I went with the epidural," I freely admit. It's been some forty-five years since then, but I'm sure that the pain of childbirth hasn't changed during those decades. Still, it shouldn't surprise me that Tris managed a feat I couldn't — my granddaughter truly has amazing personal strength.

"I got one, too," Shauna says with a small laugh, "and I'm paralyzed through part of that area." As the others look at her, she shrugs. "The top part still has full feeling, and that's where the contractions occur."

"Anyway," Caleb states loudly, clearly uncomfortable with this subject, "when can we see them?"

"Now," Tobias answers, though he holds his hands up as if he's anticipating a mad rush towards the door. "But only a few people at a time." His gaze moves around the room before he says, "Mom, Anna, and Caleb, you're first." I can't help the smile that rises on my face at the privilege. It means so much to have family again, after close to two decades of being just me.

Tris is sitting up in the hospital bed when we enter the room, looking even more drained than her husband but wearing the same expression of joy. She smiles at us before turning her gaze to the reason we're all here. Cradled in her arms is the bundle of blankets that contains my great-granddaughter.

We gather around, each of us looking at the other two, silently offering them the opportunity to hold the baby first. And abruptly I realize that every single person in this room spent years in Abnegation. It draws a soft chuckle out of me, but we'll never get anything done if we keep waiting for each other.

"Evelyn," I say, gesturing her forward respectfully, "I believe the grandmother should have first priority."

She looks more than a little surprised, and honored — an expression that makes me all the gladder to have given her this chance. I know that she has struggled to develop a relationship with her children, after not being there for them when they were younger, and I suspect that she will never feel like she's fully part of the family. I can't remedy that for her, but I can at least do this.

She's clearly nervous as she steps closer, her gaze fixed on her grandchild. "She has your eyes," she whispers, glancing quickly at Tobias as if to confirm it, and he smiles just a little as he nods. "And your hair." Her fingers brush lightly over it.

"You can hold her if you'd like," Tris says gently, extending her arms, and Evelyn carefully takes Abigail, cradling the infant against her chest as she stares at her.

"Oh, she's beautiful." The admission is the softest I've ever heard Evelyn speak, and I watch as her eyes fill with tears — whether of joy or of sorrow at past wrongs, I don't know.