Erudite's Experiments

In Abnegation

POV Third Person

That evening Natalie sits in front of Andrew in their room, who could tell she was bursting to say something all evening.

"Yes, Natalie?" He asks, actually amused.

"I tested Rosalie."

"What?" He asks, freezing.

"I was her test administer. She remembers me. She remembers her time with us. She wants us both to visit her on Visiting Day."

"I will tolerate Erudite for her." Andrew says, a wide smile on his face.

"Dauntless actually. She's transferring."

"You two really talked, huh?"

"I think it was catching up/wanting to put off the test as long as she could." Natalie says and Andrew chuckles.

"Can you tell me...no. You shouldn't." Andrew says, changing his mind last minute.

"You know I can't, but I wish I could. She is definitely something else though. Andrew, she hugged me like I was a life raft. When I told her you wanted to bring her home she asked why you hadn't. She would have happily come back to Abnegation."

"Goddamn it." He swears, throwing his clothes against the wall, something softer, so as to not wake his other two children. "I knew I couldn't trust Jennine with Rosalie."

"Rosalie said that she needed her mom and that Jennine is not her mom. I honestly think keeping her there was for the best though."

"Natalie?"

"She's in love with Miles Gunner. She's not transferring for the faction."

"Following in her mom's footsteps." He says with a chuckle. "Wait, she's dating?"

"Yes, dear. That's what I said, Veronica and Marcus' boy."

"Legally, technically, it's just Veronica's."

"Do you think Miles or Tobias will see it that way when they find out?"

"No." Andrew admits with a sigh.

"She's escaping Jennine tomorrow. The four of us will go to observe the Choosing Ceremony. It might be best to come clean to the other two at breakfast if they haven't put it together by now themselves." Natalie says and Andrew nods.

"She's okay?"

"Yes, she's okay, and so beautiful." Natalie promises. There's a visible weight lifted off Andrew's shoulders.

"I love Caleb and Beatrice more than I can possibly express-"

"Rosalie is our eldest child. I understand. I will feel more relived once her blood hits those coals tomorrow."

"Me too, Natalie. Me too."

The next morning Andrew and Natalie stop their children as they're cleaning up breakfast.

"I am unaware if you have met a young woman by the name of Rosalie Matthews-Prior in the years you have gone to school together." Andrew starts. The younger two share a look. "You have?"

"She's stood up for us and protected us for years." Caleb says.

"Is she our cousin or something?" Beatrice asks.

"Or something. Caleb, Beatrice, Rosalie is your half-sister. Sixteen years ago Jennine Matthews had made a serum that is an aphrodisiac and a fertility serum. She forced the leaders that were in a meeting with her to participate in the experiment with it. It was a very successful serum. The other women destroyed the embryos, but I refused for my 'trace of the experiment', as Jennine put it, to be destroyed. Your mother and I raised Rosalie until she was two, at which point we were forced to give her back to Jennine. She has been living in Erudite ever since."

"Two years...am I-are we replacements for her?" Beatrice asks worriedly.

"No, Beatrice! Absolutely not. I love all three of you equally. It is just the timing of the conception." Andrew says, hugging his youngest.

"Why are you telling us about Rosalie now? Is she transferring to Abnegation?" Caleb asks, his mother's arms around him. Natalie actually snorts in amusement.

"Not a chance. I'm the one who administered her test yesterday. She put off her test as long as she could by catching up. She's following her boyfriend to Dauntless."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Beatrice asks.

"Extremely. However, your father and I have kept an eye on Rosalie from afar: Candors visibly annoy her as do most Erudites, she's selfless but wouldn't be able to forget herself like you need to in Abnegation, and she's not a pacifist."

"They have peace serum in Amity." Andrew says.

"And that put her in a hospital for a week four years ago. Apparently she's allergic to it." Natalie responds. The other three laugh at that. "No, Dauntless is her best bet, even if you take the boy out of the equation."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Caleb asks.

"I didn't want you to think you were replacements for her and it hurt to talk about her." Andrew says while Beatrice blushes. "It's okay, Beatrice. It was an easy assumption to make."

"Are we going to the Choosing Ceremony today?" Caleb asks and his parents nod.