Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 49

When the nurse comes into Tris' room to let Four know that visiting hours were over, he didn't respond."Sir, you will have to come back tomorrow. Visiting hours are over.""I'm not going anywhere," Four responds coldly.The nurse huffs and leaves the room, she returns with Tris' doctor. "Sir, visiting hours are over," the nurse repeats."I told you, I'm not leaving her. So unless you are going to drag me out of here, I'm not leaving.""Miss Reed, we're going to be moving you to your room now. Your... friend can go along with you to your private room," the doctor says.The nurse glares at the doctor and grumbles as she calls for an orderly to move Tris to her private room. The doctor moves over to Tris and Four, "Some people only see the rules, they don't know that sometimes you have to give leeway to loved ones." He checks her monitors and looks at her head, "How are you feeling?""I'm okay. My head hurts a little and I'm a little hungry.""I'll have crackers and clear liquids taken to your room. If you can hold that down for the night, I'll allow something a little more substantial for breakfast." He writes the orders on her chart as the orderly enters the room and begins to move monitors and IVs around so that he can move her."I'll check in on you tomorrow morning to see how you are doing.""Thank you doctor," Four says."You are welcome, Mr. Eaton.""Wait, how...?""I'm a college football fan. I thought for sure you would get drafted into the NFL. Anyway, have a good night."The orderly moves Tris through the halls to the elevator. Once in the elevator the orderly says, "You played a fantastic game in the Orange Bowl. I thought you guys were robbed. You really were a great football player.""Thank you," Four says.They get to Tris' room. The orderly sets everything up and wishes the pair goodnight."No wonder they let you stay, everyone knows who you are," Tris smirks."I guess it's good to be recognized sometimes.""Thank you for staying with me tonight."He slides the food that was brought in for her in front of her, chicken broth, ginger ale, and crackers."Eat a little," he says and he kisses her cheek.The orderly comes back in with another bed, "I thought you'd need to get some sleep at some point.""Thank you very much," Four says."Would you mind signing this for me?" he hands Four a small football. "My step-son is a high school junior who plays football. He's a huge fan. He would be so excited to have this.""Absolutely, but it's not going to be worth anything.""It's not about that. He envied you. Especially after they reported about your childhood and what you had gone through to get to where you were. It's inspiring. His father was kind of bad to him and his mother. Not as bad as what you endured, but bad enough. Anyway, he's a fan."Four signs the football, "If he ever wants someone to workout with, tell him to give me a call." He adds his phone number to the football as well."Thank you, that's amazing."The orderly shakes his hand and hurries out the door smiling.Four moves the bed so it is right next to Tris' bed. He moves her tray from her lap since she is finished eating then he moves over to the bed and climbs in."You know, that was really nice.""What?""Offering to workout with some random kid.""It's really no big deal," Four tells her."Yes it is Tobias."He leans over her and kisses her cheek again, "Get some sleep."She smiles and closes her eyes. "Goodnight Tobias.""Goodnight."~oOo~Natalie and Bud return to the hospital first thing in the morning to find Tris and Four sound asleep in her room. They are on separate beds but they are holding hands in their sleep."Should we wake them?" Natalie asks."No need, I'm awake," Tris says smiling. "The nurses were already in here to check on me and to tell me that they would be bringing breakfast soon." She shifts and her movement wakes Four."Are you okay?" then he looks up and sees Natalie and Bud standing at the bottom of their beds."How did you get them to let you spend the night and get you a bed?" Bud asks."Apparently he's some kind of celebrity around here. The doctor knew who he was and so did the orderly," Tris explains."It's really no big deal," Four says."It is really cool," Tris says. "The orderly even asked for his autograph for his son. I've seen how people act with you on campus, I've never noticed it outside of school before.""Anyway, we talked to the doctor this morning and he says she has to stay for a couple days to monitor her. But they believe that she is going to be fine," Four explains"What about the memory loss?" Natalie asks."I remember a little more about yesterday," she looks at Four and smirks. "But I still don't remember going to the party."Four looks at her surprised, he didn't think she remembered the time they had spent alone together yesterday. But that smirk tells him otherwise.Natalie and Bud take a seat on the bed next to her. Bud turns his attention to Four. "We're here, you should go home and get a shower. Let her coach know what happened and that she won't be playing softball for a while and let your friends know how she's doing and what room she's in. I tried to call Zia this morning, but it went to voicemail."Four nods, he kisses Tris on her hand, "I'll be back later.""Alright," she smiles.He says goodbye to the others and is out the door.~oOo~Four enters his apartment to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen. When he enters, he expects to see Zeke, but instead Zia and Marlene are in there cooking."What are you two doing?" Four asks them."We figured you would be coming home at some point so we thought that we would make breakfast for all of us," Zia explains.Zeke and Uriah follow the smells to the kitchen and find Four and the girls talking. Uriah pulls Marlene into a hug, "You are going to spoil me.""It wasn't me, this was Zia. She's a fantastic cook. I just did what she told me and tried to stay out of her way.""That's my girl," Uriah says. "At least you can help cook. That's more than some girls."Marlene hits him in the head, "I'm just not good at breakfast food.""Well, it's done. We should eat," Zia says smiling.They move into the living room/dining room area and sit at the small table and begin to eat."So how is Tris, Four? They said she has some memory loss? Will she remember us if we go visit her?" Marlene asks. She's been worried that Tris wouldn't remember her."Yeah, it's short term memory loss. She remembers everything up to before the party last night.""She doesn't remember who hit her?""She doesn't remember that or that Eric was there either. Part of me hopes that she can forget that part. She had nightmares for a long time after the kidnapping. I'd hate for them to come back because she saw him again.""I'm surprised you came home," says Zeke. "I thought for sure I'd be bringing you clothes there.""Natalie and Bud arrived and they wanted some time with their daughter. They told me I should go home to get a shower, so here I am. Thanks for making breakfast ladies, it is great.""This was all Zia, honestly.""It was no big deal, really. I grew up in a pretty big family and Sunday breakfast was something we did every week. It was the one meal that my mother insisted that we all be present for.""How big is your family?" Marlene asks. She wants to get to know Zia better, and this seems like a prime opportunity."Well, I'm the oldest of four kids. I have two younger brothers and a younger sister. We grew up with just our mom. We were all busy with sports and music. We were all always going in different directions for practices, games and competitions. But Sunday mornings were usually free from those things so my mom decided that we would sit together for one meal a week. At first we all complained, we'd rather sleep but she was unrelenting. It turned out to be great thought. We would talk about things we did that week and how things were going with us. It made us all very close.""Are you still close to your family?" asks Uriah. "It's just Zeke and me, so a big family sounds interesting.""Yeah, my sister, Zienna is 19, she goes to National Louis University downtown Chicago. She's going to be a teacher. My brother Ryker is 17, he's a senior and my other brother Wyatt is 15 and is a sophomore in high school. They still do Sunday breakfast every week, but Zienna and I don't always get there unfortunately. We try to get there at least once a month and I make it a point to talk to my brothers frequently so I know what's going on with them. None of you have larger families?""Four's an only child, Tris has an older brother, I have Uriah obviously, and Marlene's an only child.""Believe me, Marcus had not business bringing any other children into this world," Four mumbles.They continue to talk about families as they eat their breakfast."This is fantastic, Zia. Thank you. I'm going to get a shower and get back to the hospital. Can someone make a plate for me to take to Tris?" Four asks."I'll take care of it," Zia says as she's cleaning up the table. Zeke stands and helps her to clear the table."Should we go back with him?" Zeke asks."She's in her own room now so we probably could," Marlene says. "I want to go before my game today anyway."

~oOo~

Natalie sits on the side of Tris' bed while Bud stands next to them.The doctor enters the room smiling, "Well Tris, good news. Everything looks good. The swelling in your brain has gone down completely and the bleeding has stopped.""Why don't I remember being at that party then?""Well the brain is a fragile thing. While there is no lasting damage to your brain and it will heal completely over time, there is still some damage. That is why concussions are serious brain injuries and we can never take them for granted.""What about my leg. How long am I going to be out for softball.""Tris, your softball season for this fall is over. Even if it weren't for your leg, the injury to your brain is that serious that I wouldn't release you to play again for about six months.""That's the spring!" exclaims Tris with frustration."I'm sorry Tris. But we can't take a chance on you getting hit in the head somehow. Take the time and heal. You will be ready for spring training, I promise."Tris looks at the doctor completely frustrated as he walks out of the room."Out for a whole season? If I ever find out who did this to me, I'm going to beat the hell out of her!"