With Dauntless Abandon

Chapter 27

Rememberthis: your mom is the most beautiful woman on the planet. She's thesassiest, strongest, most badass girl you know. And, out of all thegirls there are in the world, she loves you best."

~~~

Whenhe sees his sister, Caleb's face lights up with a wide smile. "Tris!"She gives him a tired smile of her own, sitting down across from him.She's not even done sitting when the questions start. "Is he homeyet? What's he look like? How are you? Do you have pictures? What didthe doctors say? Does he cry a lot? Are you sleeping okay? You lookexhausted."

"Geethanks," Tris says, watching him practically bounce in his seat."I'm sleeping fine... as fine as possible, anyway. Four's with himnow, since he doesn't have his class until later. But I have to gethome before he has to leave..."

"Zeke?"

"Workingon the shop. He's got a lot of good ideas, a great business model. Ijust hope he doesn't get tangled up in any shady businesses."

"Whatdo you mean?"

"Well,He and Uri learned unofficially about cars because some oftheir friends used to do underground racing. But Uri went to techschool and got certified and everything, so his business was legit. Ijust hope Zeke keeps it that way."

"Ahh.Nah, I think Zeke is done with all aspects of that life. He'll keepit simple." Caleb smiles reassuringly. "Well let me see, dammit!"

Trislaughs and pulls a small pile of printed photos out of her backpocket. "You're so impatient."

"Iwant to see my nephew, leave me alone." The first photo is of justthe baby, his bright eyes staring curiously toward the camera. A tinyyellow hat is on his head, and he's wearing yellow, gray, and bluepajamas that feature a whale applique emblazoned across his tinychest. Caleb smiles widely. The blue of the soft fabric makes hiseyes look incandescent.

Thenext photo is different. It's clear that this photo was taken in thehospital. The baby has a white diaper and a white onesie, and a whitehat. His face is pressed firmly into Four's chest, his tiny fistslooking like they would clutch at his father's shirt if he could—orif he knew how. Four holds him tightly, looking down at him with amixture of love and anxiety. There's a tiny tube stretching fromsomewhere off-camera to the little one's face.

Trisbears a similar expression in the next photo. Her smile is strainedas she holds the baby close. His head is covered in a tiny white hatagain, but this time he wears nothing except the diaper, which dwarfshim to the point where he looks kind of like an ant.

Helaughs at a photo with Zeke making a face while changing a diaper,and there's one one with all four of them together. His favorite isone of Tris kissing the baby's feet. Tris giggles with him over eachone, telling him story after story of little Uriah Caleb, his journeyin the hospital and all that madness that has happened since he wasreleased.

There'sa photo of them at home. The baby lays snugly in Tris's arms, and shesmiles beautifully at him. Four is next to her, his arms wrappedaround her and his lips pressed to her temple. "You... you make abeautiful family," Caleb says quietly. "I can't believe it, youknow?"

"OhI know," Tris laughs. "It's kind of surreal. But... We're happy.Tobias has been amazing. He's working so hard with classes during theday and working at night, and now the baby... but he does it allwithout complaint. He is... he's been so strong."

"Sohave you, Bee. You're stronger than anybody I know."

~~~

WhenFour arrives at home to change for work, he's surprised by the quiet."Anyone home? Hello?"