Prior Rings

Chapter 5: Tobias - Pittsburgh

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! And thank you to my wonderful beta reader, Rosalie!

To clear up any confusion, this story is not set entirely during the time that Tris and Tobias are apart. It will continue during this time frame for a while longer and then will shift to later and will go through their engagement and wedding. So, there's definitely Fourtris coming. In the meantime, the focus is on the characters' personal growth, on the growth of the new country, and on what's happening around the rings (the second one will be introduced later). :-)

Chapter 5: Tobias – Pittsburgh

We spend the rest of the week preparing for the trip. One of George's friends from the bomb shelter, Alexis, is able to convert my Chicago credits to money that will work in Pittsburgh, and I swap enough to cover anything we can reasonably expect to encounter. But being the deeply cynical person I am, I also buy some jewelry to take along, just in case. It'll give me something to sell or trade if needed.

It's a relief when Alexis offers to lend us a car, too. There are plenty of abandoned ones around the city, but it's a gamble whether any given one would be up to such a long trip, so it's better to have one we know is working well. We also bring extra gas, though it should be safe to refuel along the way this time, without NUSA soldiers waiting to ambush us.

George does well with the therapy session on Monday, or more accurately, Amar responds to it well, relieving the few nagging doubts I had, and I find myself feeling unusually settled that night. For the first time since Uriah's admission, I sleep well, dreaming for some reason about Tris and Anna walking around Pittsburgh handing out rings to the poor.

Kevin and I head out early Tuesday morning, both in surprisingly good moods. I have no illusions that this will be an easy task, but it's been a long time since I've done something that feels so right.

The drive seems to take forever. It's difficult to compare it to the last one, with Tris by my side as we headed into unknown danger, but there's no question that the roads are still in awful condition, and it takes ages to trudge along them. I end up teaching Kevin how to drive as we go, to fill the time and to give me a break from being behind the wheel. He picks it up quickly, which is hardly surprising for a Dauntless-Erudite mix, and he seems to enjoy it.

We talk more than I would have expected as we go, about a wide variety of subjects. It helps, I suppose, that Kevin has spent a decade in Erudite, learning thousands of useless facts – and some interesting ones. I'll never share Caleb's fascination with the water filtration equipment in Amity, but it's somewhat intriguing to hear about how the train lines in Chicago were expanded and reduced over the years and how the trains themselves operate.

We refill the gas tank in Toledo, and I notice that there are still blood stains from where Robert and the NUSA soldiers we killed once lay. Someone obviously retrieved the bodies, since there aren't any bones or decaying forms left behind, and I wonder vaguely who did that – and if it was on Tris' orders. It wouldn't surprise me if she remembered her dead friend, while I left him lying there without a second thought.

After a little debate, we decide to spend the night in a long-abandoned building a few blocks from the gas station. We spread our sleeping bags on the hard floor and then end up sleeping on top of them, since it's too hot for their stifling warmth. It's certainly not comfortable, but I've dealt with far worse, so I don't say anything. Kevin doesn't complain, either. I'm not sure if it's the Dauntless left in him, or if he's thinking about how his former girlfriend was forced to live after he drove her into factionlessness.

We leave before five o'clock the next morning and drive almost straight through, stopping only briefly to eat some of the food we brought with us. Shortly after noon, we reach the hilly terrain outside Pittsburgh. I'm driving at that point, and I think about turning the wheel over to Kevin, but it seems to be mildly easier to face my fears when I'm in control of the car, so I end up staying where I am and focusing on breathing as we cross the peaks.