Who else is super excited for Veronica Roth's new book that comes out January 17,2017? I know I am!!

Chapter 27 - She's Awake

Tobias

The investigation formally began two days ago. The idea between just Erudite and Dauntless had been confirmed and is to remain as secret as possible from even the members of those factions.

Not only people in Abnegation, Amity or Candor are kept in the dark about this. Only people in Dauntless or Erudite that have a role in the investigation are to know about it. This keeps the word of this from spreading like wild fire all through Chicago.

Once information is gained, only then will it be given to people who may need it.

People like trusted doctors.

We've decided on calling the group the IB group: short for Investigate Building. This way, we can talk about it with others around and not raise too much suspicion.

I wish that I could focus on just the investigation, but much more is on my mind right now.

I thought about it when I walked Indy yesterday morning.

All day while I was at work in my office inside of the Main Building.

Especially while I sat through the second official IB meeting.

I've got to go see Tris.

+    +    +

I feel like I am all too comfortable with going through the motions of leaving... Packing and dropping off Indy and his stuff at my mother's, getting on the train, getting off the train in Erudite and then navigating my way through the hospital to the ICU section where Tris's room is at.

I knock on the door that leads to the little hallway of computers before the door to her room. Her nurse, Julie opens it and smiles when she recognizes me and motions for me to enter. I walk into the small room, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to keep the walls from closing in on me because of my claustrophobia.

"You can go in. Not much has really changed since you've left. Dr. Scott may be in to see her within an hour or two though so just be prepared for that."

I thank her and go into the somewhat larger room with very dimmed lights. Up against the back wall is the hospital bed where the small, skinny, pale blonde lies.

She looks exactly the same from when I left her; like she hasn't moved a hair in the two weeks I've been gone.

If I didn't know better, I would've thought she was asleep.

But I remind myself that she's in a coma, and that her chances of waking are slim.

But that doesn't keep my heart from dropping when I rub my thumb over her cheek and her eyes don't open.

I sit with her for hours, just talking about everything.

'Attention all visitors. Visiting hours are now closed for today. We kindly ask that all people visiting leave the hospital. Visiting hours begin again tomorrow morning at nine. Have a good evening.' A female voice says through the loudspeaker.

"Just hang in there, Tris. I'm going to find some way to help you out if this mess, I promise. Please just hang in there while I do so, okay? I love you, so so much."

I make my way down to the waiting room, clearly being in no rush.

I just have to see her one more time. I can't go back to Dauntless just yet. I want to stay here and just escape all of the drama going on back home by staying and holding her warm, frail hand, and telling her all about everything.

I figure that I'll sleep here like I did for a few weeks once she came back. Then, I'll wake up tomorrow and go visit with her again, and then, just maybe, I'll go back home.

I ease myself into one of the small, cushioned blue chairs and make myself as comfortable as I can. But just as I close my eyes, I hear a familiar voice call my name.

"Four?"

I turn in my seat to see Cara looking at me from across the room.

"What are you doing here?" She asks.

"I came to come see Tris."

"But visiting hours are over. They don't start up again until nine tomorrow morning."

"I know."

"Aren't you going to go back home for the night?"

"I'd rather not."

"So you're going to sleep in the waiting room?"

"Yeah."

There's a strange second of silence between the two of us.

"No you're not." She says and I give her a puzzled look.

"Come back with me to my apartment. We have an extra bedroom, you know. We usually eat late, so why not just join us for supper at least. Then you can come back down here again in the morning."

I shake my head. "Thanks for the offer Cara. I really do appreciate it, but I can't just throw myself into your life like that. I'll be fine here. But thank you though. Tell Caleb and little Beatrice I say hi though."

"I wasn't asking, Tobias. Come on now. Let's go."

I raise my eyebrow at her when she calls me by my name. I did tell everyone after we had spread Tris's fake ashes that they could call me by my real name, figuring that Tris was the only one that would ever call me by it, so it would've died along with her, but it never really stuck.

"Cara--"

"Nope. Come on. It's the least I can do."

"What did I ever do for you?" I ask.

Our eyes meet and I notice how her and her brother Will have the exact same eyes. Between Caleb and her, it's truly amazing, and almost strange that their daughter doesn't have green eyes.

"I may have only gotten back two months ago, but I know a little bit about what has gone on, and I also know that you had a very big and positive impact on that rescue. If you guys didn't come when you did, well, who knows where any of us would be, and who knows if I would've ever even of gotten to hold my daughter. Please, just come stay with us. It really is no hassle."

I hesitate before replaying, "I guess so." I stand up and follow her out of the waiting room.

We go outside of the hospital building and walk across the road to another building, the freezing January breeze putting goose bumps on my bare arms. The snow from a few days ago still covers half of the sidewalks and roads and salt crunches under my feet as I walk.

Unlike Dauntless where almost everything is underground and hallways connect everything, people have to walk from building to building and go outside to get to them in Erudite. It's strange.

I hold the door for her when we enter what must be a housing building.

"How long have you been back at work?" I ask her. "I figured that between the stress of coming back to Chicago along with the maternity leave for having Beatrice, well, wouldn't they give you more than two months off?"

She chuckles, "No. I wasn't officially back at work yet. I just wanted to go and visit some people I haven't seen since I got back yet."

"Oh. That's good."

We enter an elevator and she presses the number eleven on the numbered buttons along the wall. The door closes and I pray that this doesn't take too long; my claustrophobia instantly making the elevator seem to shrink smaller and smaller.

And the eleventh floor? I mentally tell myself to not look out of any windows, then I'll be fine.

"Are you okay?" I feel Cara looking at me.

Well, I tried to hide it.

"Cla--" my voice struggles to actually speak. "Claustrophobic."

"You should've told me. We could've taken the stairs. I wouldn't have minded."

"It's fine." I gasp out in an exhale.

Once we leave the elevator, I follow her down a few hallways until she stops at the one door and uses her key to unlock it.

"I texted Caleb on the way here to let him know you're coming, so don't think that he'll be alarmed in any way." She smiles.

After hanging out for a little while and talking, we all sit around the table in their kitchen for a meal of chicken and pasta with a green vegetable. It looks like an abnegation meal, but boy does it taste much better than one.

After dinner, Beatrice starts to cry from her room where I assume that she was napping. Caleb gets up to go get her but Cara stops him. "She's probably hungry. I'll get her." She says simply and then goes into the room, closing the door again behind her.

"How are your parents doing?" I ask Caleb.

Last I had heard, Mr. Prior was basically fine, but Mrs. Prior was in pretty rough shape. I know that she was in a wheelchair when they had went to see Tris in the ICU and I had let them spend more time with her instead of me.

"My father is alright, and my mother is hanging in there; their words exactly." He chuckles. "My mother finally got to leave the hospital last week, buts she's still uneasy on her feet. She has ended up with a lot more, internal problems than most people that were rescued."

"By internal, do you mean...?"

"She was, sexually abused a lot by David in that place. She birthed three premature babies, none of which had lived, in the terrible conditions. Since those organs were so damaged and really couldn't be fixed too much other than removing some and stitching others, it still is pretty hard for her to walk and move, but she's getting better. They sent her back to Abnegation with a wheelchair, but she'll eventually heal better and walk fine I'm sure."

I nod, unsure of what to say. I hear the door open behind me, and in walks Cara with little Beatrice in her arms.

"Want to hold her?" She asks but is already basically putting her in my arms.

Once in my arms, I notice that she's gotten a lot bigger than when I met her a little over two months ago. Back then, she was still a tiny newborn. She still has those features of Tris though. I run my thumb over her tiny nose and cheek.

We all sit around talking for hours, and I hold Beatrice the whole time. Every now and then she lifts her hand up to try and grab my nose or face in some way. Cara says that I'm lucky I don't have long hair that she can reach, or else she grab onto that too.

I can tell she's speaking from personal experience when she tells me that...

A little while later, it's getting pretty late and Beatrice starts to get fussy, so Caleb takes her from my arms and goes to put her to bed. Meanwhile, Cara takes to showing me where the bathroom is and where the extra bedroom where I'll sleep is.

"Caleb and I probably won't go to bed for a little while, so don't feel like you need to go to bed right now." She says walking towards the kitchen.

"That's okay. I've had a pretty long day. I'm just going to go to bed. Thank you again for your hospitality, I really appreciate it."

"It's nothing, Four. Good night." She smiles at me and I smile back, entering the room and closing the door behind me.

I don't really bother checking anything out, but I just pull back the light blue comforter with white sheets under it and crawl into the bed, letting my long day leave me.

+   +   +

I hear people shuffling around in another room, along with a baby's cries when I wake up. At first, I thought it was that that woke me up, but I look over at the end table next to the bed to see that my phone is making noise and a number is popped up on the screen.

Who calls someone at two thirty in the morning?

I groggily say a hello when I pick up the phone.

"Hi. Sorry to bother you, but this is Dr. Scott. Is Four there?"

My heart races, anticipating bad news.

"This is he." I say now awake and feeling like I could bolt out of this room and down to the hospital right now.

I sit up and hang my feet off of the bed.

"She woke up about twenty minutes ago. She is no longer in a coma."

"What?"

"Tris is awake, Four."