Eaton

26. The Aftermath: Tobias

*A few months later*

Tobias p.o.v.

I glance in the mirror and practice my line for what seems to be the millionth time today. Okay, come on. He won't hurt you, most he'll do is yell at you and send you back to your room. That's not so bad right?

Compared to before, that's almost a treat.

After the fight with Will my father became more relaxed with my punishments. Granted, he still took out the belt once or twice afterwards but generally he's become much calmer. Nowadays his discipline consists of doing the dishes (which, for anybody keeping score, I still do on a daily basis, but hey), or missing out on a dinner or two. I never poke the bear of course, I always obey him, with the slight exception of the 'no calls from school' rule, (it's not my fault we have an Eric). Generally though I just do what he says. I stopped calling him 'sir' after a couple of weeks too. It kind of just happened, I called him 'Dad' accidentally and he let it slide. Then I did it again and again. The only time I ever call him 'sir' is when he's pissed off. Other than that, the term is dead in this house. 

On that note, there's still the lingering fear. No matter how lenient my father may have become over time though, I am still wary around him. I'm convinced that I will do something one of these days to push him past the breaking point and back to being the old Marcus. Or maybe one day he'll just wake up and go back without any prompting. He'll just get tired of being decent and decide it was better when he just beat me. That thought terrifies me.

I'm not sure if he knows about Zeke and Shauna. I, personally, have never brought the subject up. I mean maybe to him it's just given that I have friends, or maybe it's not a matter important enough to bother him. He's a busy man. He definitely doesn't know about Tris, and that's what I'm about to go ask him right now. 

Okay, try it one last time then go.

'Dad, can I go out with Tris?'

That's a disaster waiting to happen. He'll say no, I'm sure. He'll say I'm ridiculous and send me to my room. Go Tobias. He won't hit you. Go.

I take a deep breath and head out the door. 

I walk into the kitchen to see my father reading through some papers. He looks up when I walk in and puts the papers aside.

"Tobias, switch the kettle on. Can you make me a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah sure"

As I wait for the kettle to boil I start going over the plan again. It's a bad idea. It's a terrible idea. So terrible it just might work. Okay, Tobias, calm down. Worst that can happen is he says no. That doesn't matter. You can still go out with Tris if that happens; you just have to be more discreet. Okay come on, it'll be fine. You won't know till you ask.

"Um, Dad?"

He looks up from his papers and gestures for me to go on. 

"Can I ask you a question?" He nods. Now or never.

"Um well you know, Tri- Beatrice Prior, Andrew's daughter?"

"Yes. She's short isn't she? With the blonde hair, the one that's always talking out of turn?"

"Uh yeah, she's blonde. I was just um wondering if I could maybe get your permission to askheroutonadate"

I say the last part in one motion, hoping, momentarily, that he doesn't understand what I'm saying. I wince when he gets up from his seat and, out of blind habit, back up towards the kitchen counter.

"You want to go out with Beatrice Prior?"

I couldn't tell if he was angry or just asking for clarity. His tone betrayed nothing. So, just to be on the safe side...

"Yes, sir" I answer in a small voice, not wanting him to hear me. Not completely. 

He's still Marcus. The same Marcus who could at any minute snap and go back to the same man who would yell at me, and hit me for the slightest reason. I was more comfortable around him, that much was true, but I still maintained a level of caution. Sometimes it wasn't even consciously. I guess I've just grown to be wary around him. 

He walks closer to me and I tense. This is it. The breaking point. When he's about two inches away from my face, I close my eyes. He's going to hit me. I know it.

"Move."

"What?" I dare open my eyes and see my father in front of me. He doesn't look angry. Just mildly irritated.

"Move, you're in the way. I can't get to the cupboards."

Oh, right. The coffee.

"Oh, right, sorry." I move out of the way and stumble towards the table. God, Tobias! Get a grip!

He makes the coffee as I wait. He does everything slowly, intentionally dragging things out. Maybe I should just apologize and leave. Just pretend this never happened and go on with my perfectly peaceful life. Well, mostly.

Finally after an eternity he turns around, mug in hand and a slight smirk. I have never seen my father smirk. I didn't even know his face could do that. I mean, with the lines on it you'd think all he ever did was frown, which to be honest sums up most of his life.

"So you like Beatrice?"

"Uhh, yeah"

He takes a sip of his coffee and looks at me. This is a new version of my father. He is going to interrogate me, I can tell from his look. But I'm not all that worried anymore. It doesn't look like I'm in trouble. 

"How old is she?"

"15, as of last week." We went to the park and I bought ice cream for her. I told Marcus I needed a new binder then took out the one I had kept pristine from the desk drawer. It was great. She laughed so much that she had to sit down by the lake to catch her breath.

"So she's two years younger than you, Have you asked her father for permission?"

I didn't even know I had to. People still do that? I thought they did that in like the sixties or something.

"Uh no. I didn't think I had to. Do I?"

He finishes off his mug and places it in the sink. I'll have to clean it later.

"Of course you do. You always ask the father. Especially Beatrice's father. I don't want you screwing things up and then having him come vent to me. If you do this, you do it with his permission."

If I do this.

"So does that mean that I can do this?"

"You may go out with her only if you get Andrew's permission. For my part, it's a yes."

I want to fly. No I want to run to the end of the world and back. I should probably calm down.

"Thanks"

"Right, clean this up. Don't get into any trouble with her father, clear?"

"Yes"

"Good."

He goes back to reading the papers while I clean up the kitchen. I'm not even bothered by the fact that he literally put nothing away. I have his permission that's all that counts. It's all straight up from here. Right? I mean, the hardest part is over, right ?

Sometimes I think Will is right about me. I'm too paranoid.

A/N

Okay everyone, so as most of you may guess, this story is coming to a close. I've still got a few chapters coming up and an epilogue but, um... yeah. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Also, this chapter is the first in the aftermath series which basically sums up how everyone is doing after the grand climactic change.

After these the epilogue comes.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter and I hope all of you are enjoying summer (Shoutout to anyone in England right now... you guys should've heard our news yesterday. The anchorman was so bewildered at how the English 'Could possibly have warmer weather than us')