Prior Rings

Chapter 54: Caleb - Waiting

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and to my wonderful beta reader, Rosalie! The good news is that I've finished writing "Prior Rings," and Rosalie has finished proof-reading it for me. I just need to do the final tweaks and post the chapters, so I think I'll be able to post every other day until it's done. The bad news is that this chapter doesn't really answer the cliffhanger. Sorry...

WARNING: If you're in the late stages of a pregnancy, please be careful reading this chapter. If you're the type to internalize what you read easily, I would recommend waiting until after your delivery.

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Chapter 54: Caleb – Waiting

(Tris is 30, Caleb is 31, Tobias is almost 33, Abigail is 4 3/4, and Eli was just born)

There are advantages to dating a doctor. Cara knows which of the practitioners are the best, and which ones to avoid. She can also get news whenever we need it. So, even though I know that Beatrice is in excellent hands today, I still ask Cara to check on her when I start to feel antsy at how long the surgery has lasted.

What I don't expect is for her to return, some twenty minutes later, leading a pale and utterly shell-shocked Tobias. She shakes her head quickly as we all rise and start toward them, and I can feel the fear and tension in the air when she leads him past us, gently seating him in one of the waiting room chairs. He's visibly shaking.

She turns to Zeke, murmuring, "Get Kevin." He hesitates only a second, his eyes begging for more information, before he nods. His expression is determined when he heads out.

Cara takes my arm, leading me to the side of the room, and Anna and Evelyn slip into place beside me, obviously as anxious to hear what's going on as I am. Suddenly, I'm glad that our other family and friends aren't waiting here right now – particularly Abigail.

"Eli was delivered fine," Cara says softly, her tone the soothing one of a doctor who's had to deliver difficult news before. "But Tris started hemorrhaging badly afterwards. They're trying to stop the bleeding."

"Trying?" Anna asks, the word strangled. "Just how much danger is she in, Cara?"

"It's...." Cara shakes her head a little, and I know she's struggling with the line between her personal feelings for her friend and her professional knowledge. "It's hard to say." She looks down, her expression answering more than her words. It makes my heart beat harder and my palms start to sweat.

I understand what she doesn't want to state aloud. It's very rare for women to die in childbirth these days – at least when they deliver in a good hospital instead of on the streets the way the factionless used to. But this is one of the conditions when it happens.

That's not something I want to admit, either, so instead I tell them, "Beatrice is strong." She's small, too, which means she doesn't have as much blood to lose as most people, but I choose to ignore that for the moment. "And she has the best obstetrician in the city." I bite my lip, wanting to reassure them that everything will be fine but unable to form the words through my own worry.

Pulling away a little, I turn my attention to Tobias. He's sitting forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees and his head hanging down, unsupported. I've never seen him look so defeated.

Except that's not quite true.... The memory comes to me unbidden, increasing my anxiety even more. A very long time ago, in the bomb shelter, he practiced doing a broadcast by showing me how he felt when they were executing Beatrice. He was in a cell in this very building, helpless, as he thought the woman he loved was dying.