Pyre

Epilogue 1

3 years later

TOBIAS POV

Tris is more serene in her sleep these days than she used to be. There was a time when she would shift often, disturbed by nightmares until they inevitably pulled her into the real world with thrashing and tears.

She still has traumatic dreams sometimes, but they are few and far between. Her frequent panic attacks subsided sometime within the last three years when a great calm began to settle over the city. Maybe time really was the alleviation she needed, or maybe she just got better at concealing her reactions to agonizing memories. Like me.

I smile when my movement of sitting on the bed drags her from sleep with a perturbed groan. With my hand on the curve of her hip, I murmur, "Good morning."

A brief whine escapes her as she squints against the brightness of the room. Then her hand moves to mine, tightening. It still takes a moment for her to work a tired grin onto her face.

"I have to go to the Hub," I tell her. "Zeke left his hard drive here, and he needs it for a presentation."

"Of course he did," Tris huffs with amusement.

"I thought I'd take Emberly with me. Get her out for a bit," I say. "You can rest."

She furrows her eyebrows. "Are you sure it's safe?"

While the city has been cleaned up quite a bit, there is still political turmoil that has escalated as of late. It worries her more than it worries me, but I think that has more to do with the natural overprotective instincts that come with pregnancy.

"It's Saturday. Not enough people are working in the Hub for them to gather a crowd outside," I reason. "Besides, there will be Dauntless security there."

She nods, exhaling in acceptance. "Okay."

Her uncomfortable shifting clues me in, and I let my hand drift to put pressure on her back and relieve some of the ache. She hums sleepily.

"And seriously rest while we're gone, please?" I say with exasperation. It has been impossible to get her to stay down these last several months. "You're still technically high risk."

The due date is approaching fast, within the next couple of weeks. And while the doctors have assured us that everything should go smoothly, it continually makes me nervous that there could be complications.

It was a miracle that we are having a son in the first place. We had made appointments with specialized Erudite doctors thinking that we would have a year or several before they could figure out a way around Tris's supposed infertility. Well, we certainly had not expected that despite the damage that the bullet in her side caused, she was definitely able to have kids. It came as quite the surprise early on.

The doctors have kept a close watch on the two of them, and they have not caught any issues. We have been assured that both of them are healthy. And while that is obviously good news, it does not stem my anxiety on the matter.

Probably has something to do with the underlying fact that Evelyn had supposedly died in childbirth. I try not to dwell on the thought.

"Trust me, I'm sleeping as long as possible," Tris says. "You two have fun."

I press a lingering kiss to her temple before I leave the room. I find Emberly on the floor of the living room, fiddling with the shoelaces on her tiny boots in a hopeless attempt at tying them. Her face is scrunched in concentration, her tongue sticking out.

With a soft laugh, I kneel down to help her. "I can do it," I say. "Let me help you."

She pouts but lets me take over, despite the fact that she is too young to learn anyway. It has become more apparent lately that she is very independent and prefers to do things on her own if she can. Most of the time very uncoordinatedly.