Today, the initiates had to fight, and Tris was paired with Peter.

She lost.

I left in the middle of the fight, not able to bear watching her get beat up like that.

Eric has scheduled a game of Capture the Flag in the evening, and right now, that's what I'm waiting anxiously for.  I want to see Tris, I want her to be on my team. 

A few moments later, after most of the initiates are gathered in the Pit, we run out to board the train.

I almost miss the handle thinking about Tris, and how she's feeling, and where she must be.  

When I finally make it up and into the train, Eric gives me a suspicious look.  I give him half a smile, desperately trying to reassure him that I'm not slacking - which technically, I'm not, but still.

"Four, since it seems like you have a hangover, why don't you check to see if one of the initiates is lagging behind." He tells me.

Great, he thinks I'm drunk.  I think.  Well, better than having him think I care for the stiff.

Which I do.

Obeying Eric's orders, I walk, well fake stumble, to the door of the train and look back towards the Dauntless Compound.

And there she is.

At first, I blink rapidly, thinking that somehow I really am drunk, but when I open my eyes again, she's still there, running like the wind, her hair flowing gracefully behind her in a blond wave.  She really is beautiful.

When she gets slightly closer to our train car, I extend my arm to help her onto the train.  She takes it, and when she's into the car, she thanks me and then her friends - the Candor and the Erudite transfer - overwhelm her with questions: 'Tris, you're here?'  and 'I thought you were out'.  

I wince at that, but decide to let it go.  If she was out before, she's not now, and that's all that matters.

When I turn back around, I catch sight of Eric approaching her.

I observe intently, straining to hear their words.

"Who let you out?" He asks her.  So he's the one who kicked her out.

She hesitates for a second.  "I did."

My spirits immediately lift.  That's my girl.

I shake my head, not believing what I just thought.

"Oh." Eric looks at her like he's been slapped, and I almost laugh.  He then walks away.

Then Tris looks at me.

She has to turn her head, but when she does, our eyes meet, and I give her a small smile.  That's the least I could offer her for her Dauntlessness.

She's more Dauntless than you were when you were in initiation.  A voice that sounds like my father's tells me.  I shake him off.

So what.  You don't know how hard it was, coping with an abusive father, now do you?

That shuts him up.

"Four and I will be team captains." Eric glances at me.  "You go first."

I think about this a moment.

Should I pick Tris?  Will Eric think something of it?

I have to take that risk.

"I'll take the Stiff."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her look at me.  I feel like looking at her to let her know that I'm sorry for calling her that, but Eric would definitely get suspicious then, so I stand there.

"Oh, picking the weak ones so you'll have someone to blame when you lose?" Eric taunts.

I grin slightly.  "Something like that."

+++

We arrive at the Pier a lot sooner than I excepted, but that's not exactly a problem.  Me and my team walk to our positions and start discussing a plan.

In five minutes, we still haven't come up with a plan.  That's when I notice Tris walking to the Ferris Wheel.

Instinct tells me to get up, and I do.

When I am at the foot of the Ferris Wheel ladder, I call up to her.  

"You're not going to jump are you?"

She starts a bit, surprised to hear my voice, and looks down at me.  She looks even more radiant up there, lit by the faint moonlight.

"I'm trying to get a better vantage point." I smile when she says this.

"Very smart of you." Without remembering to think about it, I start up the ladder after Tris.

She gradually gets higher and higher, and I follow her, not thinking.

I start to sweat.

"This is high enough." I say to her, stopping.

"We're not high enough yet." She tells me, and I struggle to not look down.

"You're afraid of heights." 

I jump a little, surprised she caught on.

"Everyone's afraid of something."

"I didn't think you were afraid of anything." She laughs a little as she says this.

I laugh with her, but inside I'm sorry I made her feel like I was invincible.

We go a little higher.  I am closer to her now.

And then she slips.

The moment I catch on to what's happening, I reach out to steady her. 

It is only after I steady her that I realize my hand is touching the soft skin on her side.

After she's back balanced, I take my hands off of her.  She doesn't need to know yet.

She insists that we keep going, and with hesitation - but mostly because I want to be there if she falls - I follow her.

Soon we are at the top of the rusty Ferris Wheel, and she finally stops.

"Are you human, Tris?" I ask her, my breaths coming out ragged.

She looks surprised that I called her by her name, but the surprise is almost immediately replaced by triumph.

She points to something behind me and I turn to it.

There's the other team's flag.

I could hug her.  She's so smart in so many ways.

But I'm not ready to admit it yet.

So we simply climb back down the Ferris Wheel in silence.

We alert the rest of our team of the other team's flag location and start off toward it.

I purposely tell Tris to stay next to me.  I can better make sure she doesn't get shot with one of the darts that imitate the pain of a real gunshot for all of two minutes.

The other team see's us sooner rather than later, and Tris is separated from me.  I am tempted to look for her, but then Eric's trying to disarm me, and I don't have time.

I jump into action, pushing Eric off of me so that we are both holding each other at gunpoint.

A second later, he shoots and dives behind a dumpster.  I barely have time to dodge it before another bullet comes whizzing towards me.  I jump behind the dumpster and wait until I believe that I have caught Eric off guard peek out, and shoot.  

I hear a scream and know that he's down, then I run the other way, thinking about Tris.

How is she doing?  I ask myself even though I don't know the answer.

Just then, she is thrusting the flag out in the open for all of us to see.

She's - we've - won.