ANOTHER CHANCE (Divergent Story : After Allegiant)

CHAPTER 16 : Meeting

Tris P.O.V.

I wake up to the gentle hand of Tobias shaking me awake. “Tris, we need to get ready to leave.” he whispers in my ear. I turn to face him and he is holding me in his arms, he makes me feel so safe, safer than I have felt in a very long time.

“Okay,” I tell him, while giving him a kiss on the cheek. I really want to kiss him, but my breath doesn't smell to good, since I just woke up. I get up, stretch and go to the bathroom to finish up. I get dressed once I am done and head to the kitchen where he is busy getting breakfast ready. He is already dressed for the day.

“I am not going to be at work the whole day, just want to work on a few things and take you to Johanna. She didn’t believe me at first when I told her about you, but she said she will help us. I am expecting Matthew’s call this morning about the judge and machine as well. So hopefully by this afternoon , we will know what is going on. In the meantime, I am not letting you out of my sight until you are better to look after yourself and we have the Bureau pay for what they have done.” he tell me.

I just nod my head, trying to take everything in that they may actually pay for what they did to me and our son. We finish up and head out the apartment, him locking everything behind him. He takes my hand in his and we head into the streets of Chicago. I am still in awe about everything and how it changed in the time that I was locked up outside the gates. As we walk, Tobias points to a few things here and there and tells me what they are.

Once we get to his building, he swipes a card, greets two security officers and introduces me to them. We head up the stairs and he explains what an elevator is. I immediately understand why he doesn’t use it and prefers the stairs. Once we get to his office, someone greets him while coming around the corner into his doorway.

“Hi Tobais,” he says before looking at me. Tobias must see this because he says, “Hi James. Tris, this is James, James, Tris.”

“Hello,” James greets me, shaking my hand. “Hi,” I say, looking at James. I then turn my head to Tobias, but I can still feel James staring at me. This is making me very uncomfortable. “I am going to ask you to cover for me again for a few days, I am going to see Johanna in a few minutes. I need to talk to her, but I am confident that you can handle everything. I will let you know when I will be back fully.” he tell James. I guess they do the same kind of work as they cover for each other.

“Sure, no problem.” James tell Tobias before leaving. Tobias takes my hand and leads me up another floor. We head to a large door with a girl sitting behind a desk. She lifts her head with a huge grin on her face and says, “Tobias, how are you?”

I can feel Tobias’ hand grip mine firmly before answering, “I am good thanks. Just here to see Johanna again.” As he says this, I can see her eyes drift to Tobias’ and my hands. “Sorry, Mabel this is Tris. Tris, this is Mabel, she is Johanna’s secretary.”

I can see Mabel doesn’t like me much, but I am still polite in saying, “Hello, nice to meet you.”

Mabel just looks at me and says through clenched teeth while trying to seems polite, “Hi, you too.” She then goes to the phone and dials. “Tobias here to see you Miss Reyes.” After a second she puts the phone down and says, “You can go through”

As we leave I see she is shooting daggers at me. What is her problem? I have never met her before, so why doesn’t she like me? I forget this as we enter past the doors and into an office. I see Johanna stare at me as if she can’t believe her eyes. She stands up and walks around her desk, before taking me in her arms and giving me a hug.

“I can’t believe you are standing before me, Tris. Four told me that you were alive, but seeing you is a whole different story.” she tells me while still holding my shoulders. She releases me and we make our way to the chairs in front of her desk.

“Nice to see you again Johanna,” I say. Johanna just stares at Tobias, trying to communicate to him wordlessly. I stare at them for a few second before Tobias looks down at his hands.

“I know,” he answers. I have no idea why though. He must have seen something in Johanna’s eyes and answered her.

 She answers with a huge smile on her face, “I am happy for you though. I knew it was hard, but I am happy you get a second chance.” Ah, I get it now, they are talking about me returning. I don’t interrupt, just sit there and stare down at my hands now.  I don’t know how long though, because I am interrupted from my thinking with Tobias calling my name.

“Sorry,” I mumble before looking at him and Johanna again.

“What did you say?” I ask, looking at Tobias and then Johanna, not knowing who spoke to me first.

“I asked if you are okay,” Tobias says and I nod my head yes. “Just thinking, sorry.” I tell him.

“Okay, so Luther contacted me, said Matthew asked him and he is on board. But personally, I think he is doing this for two reasons, to get further in his career with such a case and it sounded like he doesn’t like the Bureau. But either way, I don’t care, as long as we make them pay for this.” Johanna tells me and Tobias.

Just then her phone ring and she answers. She listens for a few second and gives the phone to Tobias while saying, “Matthew”

“Hi Matthew, how did you know I was here?” he asks and listens for Matthews answer. “Ah ok, anyway, what is the update, could you get an appointment?” Tobias asks Matthew.

“Okay, so soon?” Tobias asks, surprise on his face. “Sure, I will tell them, yeah thanks again. I will get Zeke or Amar to help. Thanks again…… I will tell her. Bye.” he says and hangs up the phone.

“Well, that is a surprise, the appointment in tomorrow….” but before he can finish, Johanna interrupts him. “So soon?”

“Yeah, they had an opening. It is either tomorrow or in 3 months.” He says looking at me. I just nod my head telling him tomorrow is okay. So tomorrow I will have to relive everything that they did to me. God, that is going to be hard. I suddenly feel sick to my stomach at the thought. I can see Tobias looking at me.

He turns his head to Johanna and tell her that we are leaving and that they will be at the court room tomorrow for the meeting. I greet her and feel Tobias place his arm around me and lead me to the door. “Are you okay?” he whispers in my ear.

I just look at him, not knowing what he sees on my face, but he nods his head in understanding and leads me to the office Mabel sits in. As we enter, she gives Tobias a friendly smile and glares at me. As we pass, I ask him what her problem is with me. He sighs and answers me as we reach the steps. “She has a crush on me, and I have made it seem that I didn’t notice. I have never felt anything for her, and I think her seeing you with me, makes her not like you.”

I nod in understanding. I still can’t believe that he hasn’t found someone else in my absence. How can someone as kind and caring like Tobias not find love in the 3 years of my absence? He must really have been lonely in that time.

Before I know what I am doing, I ask him, “Tobias, why haven’t you moved on with someone yet? It has been 3 year and I can’t understand why you are still alone.”

We stop and he turns to me, we are outside the building now. He grabs my arms gently and looks at me with such mixed emotions in his eyes. “It took me two and a half years to get over you, to get the courage to scatter your ashes. And after that I felt like I will not be able to feel for someone again like I felt for you. Christina tried to get me to date girls, and I tried, but truth be told, they weren’t you. I always compared them with you, how you looked, what you would do and in the end I decided that it was unfair for them and me to think like that, so I decided not to try. If it should happen, then it will, but I would not force myself to be with someone.”

I look at him, feeling tears drop onto my cheeks. “Lets go home,” I tell him softly.

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Here is a longer chapter for you. I will only update the end on next week again, I am going on a short holiday. Enjoy

Diane