Divergent Faction High

Chapter 52 (Tobias POV)

Tris's treatment starts today. I don't know what they'll do, but anything to get Tris back on her feet will ease me.

I go to the hospital early in the morning, and get stopped by a woman before I enter her room.

"Are you apart of Beatrice's family?" The familiar nurse asks.

"I'm all she has. Her father is gone, her mothers life is hanging on a thread, and her brother betrayed her. Please, let me see my girlfriend. She needs me."

"Okay, you may see Ms. Prior." She says.

I walk in and see Tris, scribbling in a notebook and ripping the piece of paper out and tossing it on the floor.

"Hey baby. Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replies a little too quickly. She takes the notebook and puts it underneath the hospital bed.

What's she hiding from me?

"Tris, please don't lie to me. I know that I don't deserve the luxury of having you, but tell me what's wrong."

"I'm just upset."

"About...?"

She stays silent, and I think about the argument we had before she left the hospital.

She's upset because of me.

"No, I'm not upset because of you." Tris says. I need to quit this new habit of thinking aloud.

"What're you upset about? Tell me baby, I'll be a better boyfriend."

"You're already a good boyfriend. You've been my only boyfriend, ever, and I know another man won't satisfy me like you do. I'm just upset at myself."

"Why?"

"I almost, selfishly took my life, and almost took myself away from you. I would've let you wallow in nostalgia and desolation, all for what?! Because we had a small argument? I'm ridiculous! I'm ugly. What I said to you about Marcus and your mother was totally not right and I sincerely apologize for my words, and I completely understand if you don't see me the same as you used to. It's just-, I can't!" She says, her tears flooding her eyes and she covers her face with her hands.

She thinks I'm going to...break up with her?

"Tris, baby. None of those things are true. I got over the comment that you made about Marcus and Evelyn because of you. You made me stronger than that, and I just shamelessly shunned you. Sometimes I forget that I can hurt you, that you are capable of being hurt. You're not ridiculous. You're ridiculously gorgeous, dazzling. I still see you. I still see that blonde haired, blue eyed beauty I saw when we first met, you're still that bubbly personality. Your smile. In fact, I do see you differently now. I see you as someone I can't live without, someone who makes the world stop. I'll do anything to stop the pain that you're feeling. What can I do? What can I do to help you? I'll do anything, therapists or psychologists, anything! What do you need?" I say. I take her hands off of her face and cup her face in my hands.

"What do I need?" She repeats me.

"Yes, what do you need?" I ask.

She moves her face closer to mine, so close that if I move the slightest, our lips would be together.

"You." She whispers against my mouth.

I smash my lips to hers, and she moans into my mouth. Her lips intoxicate me. Her hands fall to my waist and slowly slip underneath my shirt, and the feeling of her hands causes me to gasp. Heavy breathing flows in between our mouths whenever we pause to catch our breath.

I could overdose on just being near Tris. This feeling it's indescribable.

I know, I sound like a broken record.

Tris pulls away and steadies herself by placing her hands on my upper arms. She licks her lips and her breaths are shaky.

"I wish the world would just stop so we could do that. Y'know, without anything else interrupting our peace. I wish we were alone." She says, her breath fans my face and I smile.

"I know. I almost always wish that." I say with a cheeky grin.

"But, knowing how everything is currently, that won't happen." She says sadly.

"Sooner or later that'll happen." I say, insinuating my proposal at the end of our high school graduation.

"What do you mean?" She asks, tilting her head.

The door opens, and it's the same man who told Tris about her condition and what side effects might happen.

"Hello." Tris says.

"Ms. Prior," he smiles and nods. "nice to see you're awake. I have more information and of course the treatment plan."

"Okay, what's gonna happen to me?"

"Well, with the amount of paracetamol you took, you're experiencing hepatotoxicity, which is basically toxin or drug induced liver disease."

"Was I experiencing side effects of the hepatotoxicity?" Tris asks, looking wide eyed at the doctor.

"Yes, you had been vomiting and had abdominal pain in your information. Also, whenever you had food brought to you, you weren't eating it. Appetite loss is also a sign of hepatotoxicity."

"What's paracetamol?" I ask, having trouble pronouncing it.

"Basically a more medical name for acetaminophen. It's just an over the counter pain reliever and fever reducer. The initial treatment for this is gastrointestinal decontamination, the paracetamol absorption from the gastrointestinal tract is complete within two hours under normal circumstances."

"Is that's what's going to happen?" Tris asks, fear covering her pale face.

"Yes, don't worry. We have some of the best doctors who are going to perform the procedure."

"When's it happening?" I ask.

"In the next hour and a half."

Tris makes a quiet shriek and I hold her hand tightly, to reassure her that everything's going to work out and be okay. The doctor soon leaves the room and it's just me and Tris.

"I'm scared. What if the surgery doesn't work out? What if I die?" She asks frantically.

"Tris, I know that everything's going to be fine. Just think of the necklace that I gave you as a good luck charm."

She looks down at her neck and smiles.

"It is like a good luck charm isn't it?" She chuckles.

"Of course. Tris, I have almost lost you too many times, and I don't want that to be a reality. So please, don't psych yourself out about the surgery. Okay?"

"Okay."

This has to work. It will work.

It can.

I can believe it.