Alive

Six

Tris's POV

The next day I wake up to Tobias changing his grey t-shirt to a black one. His muscles look the same as they did two years ago. If not, bigger.

"Tobias." I call out.

He turns to me just as he finishes pulling down his fresh t-shirt. He smiles slightly and walks over to me.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" He asks gently.

"Tired. Sore. Hungry. Upset. You know, the usual."

"Does your belly still hurt?"

I nod.

"Is it supposed to hurt for this long after giving birth?"

"I don't know. It hurt for a while last time as well. It's probably because I haven't been eating much or something. It didn't help that everyone kept hugging me and Beatrice kicked me yesterday." I tell him, trying not to cry.

"Do you want me to get you something to eat?"

I nod.

"What do you want?"

"French toast, please."

"Okay. You wanna go and sit in the front room?"

I nod and he helps me up, leading me to the front room.

My parents and Uriah are watching the TV, sitting on the large sofa. I join them, sitting between my parents whilst Tobias makes breakfast.

We eat breakfast in silence, not an awkward silence though, a silence when we don't really know what to say but it's comfortable.

When we are done Tobias goes to wash the dishes but I need to talk to him. I push myself up and walk to the kitchen, my hand resting on my sore stomach.

"Tobias." He looks at me, I'm standing in the door frame.

"Tris, you should be resting." He dries his hands and comes over to me, sitting me down on a chair at the kitchen table.

He sits in the chair next to me.

"When you're done washing up could you call everyone round again? Tell them I'm going to tell them everything."

"Tris, you don't have to do that unless you want to."

"I need to, Tobias. If I don't I probably won't be able to tell them, ever. I probably won't be able to hold Beatrice. I'll keep getting upset over things that don't sound upsetting to them because they don't understand. I need to tell them, Tobias. And I need to get it over with because if I don't do it now then they will never know and they'll keep doing things to make me upset without realising it. Knowing Christina she'll probably ask if we've had sex or whatever since I got back, or if we're planning on having children. Zeke will probably do the same. Cara will keep bothering me about Beatrice. Caleb will probably join her. I just need to do this, now."

"Are you sure?"

"I need to do this."

"Okay. I'll call them after I'm done. What time do you want them to come round?"

"About one."

"Okay. Do you want me to tell Caleb and Cara not to bring Beatrice?"

"Uh... y-no."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, they can bring Beatrice. Maybe the more time I spend with her the sooner I'll be able to hold her. I'm going to go and get ready."

He nods and helps me stand. I walk to our bedroom, holding my stomach again.

I shower, wash, brush my teeth and get dressed into some underwear, a bra, some black leggings, and one of Tobias' long sleeved shirts, which is also black. My hair has grown back over the last two years so I brush the knots out of it and tie it into a ponytail. I spray on some deodorant and leave the room, my parents and Uriah are still watching TV.