Second Chances (Eric and Tris)

Uncovering Truths: Part 24

A sharp ringing of Eric's phone woke them both up the next morning. Eric detangled himself from Tris as he reached over to answer it. Tris lifted her head as she felt Eric stiffen. After barely saying 2 words, Eric hung up the phone and stared at the ceiling.

"What is it?" Tris asked.

"They found some footage that had been erased from the other night from the prisoners cell ward." Tris held her breath, but Eric did not continue. With a deep sigh, he got out of bed. "Come on. We gotta go. Max wants us all there to review it."

"What was on it, Eric?" Eric just stared at Tris solemnly for a moment. Then shook his head.

"Four. He was in the cell less than 10 minutes before the prisoner killed himself." Eric pulled on his pants and a shirt. Tossing Tris her clothes, he said "Come on. Don't want to keep the boss waiting..." Tris, with a pit in her stomach, got dressed as quickly as possible. She noticed that Eric seemed to be throwing her questioning glances when he thought she wasn't looking. They walked out the door and Tris locked it behind her. As they started to walk, Tris grabbed Eric's hand. She saw his eyebrows shoot up as he looked at her, clearly surprised by her public display of affection towards him. She just smiled as Eric laced his fingers through hers. After a few more silent moments, Tris couldn't stand it any longer.

"So you want to tell me what is on your mind?"

"What do you mean?"

"You keep looking at me like you expect me to run away or explode or something. What's the deal?"

Eric shrugged. "Just not sure how you are taking the news about Four is all." Eric said, trying to sound nonchalant.

Tris sighed. "Look Eric, I am not going to say that this news does not affect me. It does. It makes me sick to think that someone I trusted for so long might have something to do with this. However, I meant what I said. If Four is involved with these factionless, then he needs to be stopped. It is dangerous and not right." Eric's mouth curved slightly at her words. He did not respond with words, but squeezed her hand as they entered the pit. They made their way across the floor towards the elevators. Eric noticed the number of people that were there for breakfast already and that they were stopping to look at him and Tris...'well, cats out of the bag now.' Eric thought. Tris did not seem at all bothered by the attention, in fact, she didn't even seem to notice.

As they entered Max's office, the quiet talking came to a sudden halt. Everyone looked at Tris. Rolling her eyes, Tris spoke up. "I get it! You all are wondering if I should even be here, given what is on the film, however, if Four has done something wrong, then I will not treat it any different than if it was any other dauntless member." Eric nodded. Max seemed to accept her words and he motioned for them to move on. Tris and Eric sat down just as Max brought up the screen with the footage.

"Jeremy, why don't you tell us what you found." Everyone's gaze shifted to the young man at the end of the table. Jeremy leaned forward.

"So after Eric left for the night yesterday, I got to thinking. What if there was no obvious footage, then we were missing something. Every cell has cameras as well as the hallway. There had to be some kind evidence of SOMEONE going in the cell since Eric last went in." Eric leaned towards Jeremy, with his elbows on the table.

"We have already thought of that and we looked at everything we could think of. What are you saying?"

"Well, I kinda took a page out of your book, boss." Jeremy said, nodding to Eric. "Last year, you were suspicious of something and you showed me how to find deleted files." Eric hung his head and shook it slowly. "Seeing where I am going with this?" Jeremy asked. Eric nodded.