Since You Been Gone

Chapter 13

Tris P.O.V.

The doorbell rings and Lucas is already up in seconds. A minute or two later Lucas has walked into the kitchen with Tobias trailing behind him looking both confident and nervous. Lucas and Tobias both sit down at the counter and look at the open bottom drawer of our freezer where I'm digging though to find something decent. The only things I can find, though, are frozen girl scout cookies, popsicles, and random appetizers that I fix for Lucas and I to snack on.

"Hey, Tris. How are you doing?" Tobias asks. I turn around and sigh but manage a smile. I turn around quickly and begin to pack the freezer of the contents that are all over the kitchen floor.

"I would be better if I could find some actual food. Looks like I'm cooking tonight," I say. He chuckles. I turn around again to look at Lucas. "Lucas, why don't you go play in your room for a little while? I'm sure you could introduce Mr. Four to the toys he hasn't met yet," I say. Lucas quickly nods and hops down from his seat and grabs Tobias's hand and leads him to his room. Once I have put everything from the freezer back into its original location, I pull out a box of noodles and turn on the warm water. I brake up the noodles and put them in the pot as the water begins to boil.

"Do you need some help?" a deep voice says from behind me. I turn to see Tobias leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. I place my hands on the island and smirk a little before looking down at the instructions on the counter on how to make the sauce.

"You don't need to. I can do this," I say although it is more to boost my confidence than to make him actually believe it. He stands a little straighter and walks over to the refrigerator where he removes some of the ingredients required to make the sauce.

"I can help. I used to make spaghetti all the time if you remember," he says. I mumble something like a yes and before I know it he is going through my cabinets to find things to cook with that I didn't even realize I had in my home. "Plus, I would like eat a half edible meal," he says with a chuckle. I gasp and throw the dish rag on the counter at him.

"Take that back! I can fix spaghetti!" I say. He arches his eyebrows up in a questioning way. A humorous smile is apparent on his face. "I can fix the spaghetti! Just not the sauce," I admit. He chuckles and puts several ingredients into the pan on stove.

"He's a great kid," Tobias after a few minutes. As I look at him I see an expression on his face that almost hurts to see. He seems so dispirited, but not at me or Lucas, at himself. The look on his face makes me wonder how much he has really missed being in both of our lives.

"I know. He's a lot like you," I say. I look at him out of the corner of my eyes and give him a gentle smile before turning around and looking in the refrigerator for thee ingredients to make salads. I also find two bowls from the cabinets, one for me and one for Tobias since Lucas does not eat salad.

"Tris, are you sure you are ready to tell him?" he asks. I just kind of shrug because I honestly don't know anymore. When he showed up a few weeks ago I know, for sure, that it would be a no. A few weeks ago I would have told him that our son will never know who he truly is. Now, though, things have started to change. He seems really determined to be in Lucas's life. Everything is clouding my judgment. I also believe I could be letting my personal feeling towards Tobias could be causing me not to see what is best for Lucas.

"I honestly don't know anymore. Everything is so confusing and I don't know. . . Somewhere deep down inside of me I feel like this is the right thing to do but there is something between that part of me and the part of me that is deciding to say all of this that is telling myself to not do it," I explain. I run a hand through my hair, brushing it through the short, blonde locks. His eyes study me for a minute and I can see the puzzle pieces clicking together inside his head.

"Tris, I  can tell that you still don't completely trust me but I want what is best for Lucas. I thought us going our separate ways would be for the best. I thought you would be fine in New York with a child. I also thought we could be great parents. You've definitely proved that you are a good mother, the best anyone could ask for. Now it's my turn. I want to see if I really have what it takes to be a father," he says. My eyes well up with tears and I quickly brush them out of the corner of me eye and nod.

"You're right. I think it's time that Lucas knows his father," I say.

§§§

"So, Lucas, Mr. Four and I wanted to tell you something," I say after about 10 minutes of chatting about little nothings. Lucas looks up from his plate of little cut up pieces of spaghetti He has sauce all over his face. I hand him a napkin and he quickly wipes it off.

"What is it?" Lucas asks, an eager look on his face. I look over to Tobias for guidance but he nods at me telling me to continue. I inhale a deep breath and quickly count up to ten in my head  before releasing it. A lump forms in my throat but I push it back down.

"Lucas, Mr. Four is actually your daddy," I say.

Late update! I'm really sorry about that. I just had a hard time writing this. I'm not really sure yet what's gonna happen in the next chapter because I'm honestly not sure of Lucas's reaction yet. I'm also going to try to write another chapter today but I can't make any promises because I also have another story I need to work on. Please comment and vote!

Disclaimer: Veronica Roth owns Divergent. I am not Veronica Roth so I do not own Divergent.