fourtris oneshots

notes pt. 2

A small figure climbed slowly into the bed as Tobias opened his eyes. The little boy was crying, tears running down his face as he started to shake his mother away. "Mommy," he cried. "Mommy, Liam had bad dream."

Tobias sat up, startling the already crying child before he started to cry harder. "Liam, are you okay, buddy?" Tobias asked, reaching a hand out. But once the child squirmed away, laying down on his back next to Tris, Tobias pulled that hand to him again.

The child, only Liam, hasen't exactly been as accepting as Tobias hoped of in the last month.

His wife awoke only a few seconds later, her eyes furrowing as she leaned herself on an elbow. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"Bad dream," the boy cried. "Man came took you and Lily away."

"Are you okay?" Tris sat up and pulled their child into her lap. "Is your sister still asleep?"

"Yes," the two year old moved a tiny hand to his mother's face. "I don't you and Lily taken away. I want you."

"Liam, your sister and I are right here," Tris reached forward to wipe the tears from her son's face. "Do you want to sleep here?"

"Sissy in bed." Liam's blonde hair draped around his chubby cheeks. His eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"Okay, stay here and I will go get her--"

"Don't leave," Liam raised his voice, glancing to Tobias with wide eyes before looking back to Tris. "I go you."

"Just stay with daddy, okay? I'll go get your sister."

The boy--his child--started to shake harder as Tris left the room. His glance to Tobias was full of fear until his eyes trailed back to the door, waiting for Tris. Liam played with his hands tightly. His body jumped into the air once Tobias laid a hand on his back.

Cries were falling through his lips seconds later and Tobias took his hand back right away. His eyes were wide and he hated--he hated that his own son was afraid of him. When his father started to abuse him when he was younger, all Tobias wanted when he moved out was to treat his son the way he wished to be treated. Going off to war, walking back into this child's life . . .

The amount of attention his own wife had been giving Tobias when he got back had probably seemed more than the amount Tris was showing their son. How their daughter had become attached to Tobias a week after dispatch--

Tobias sunk back to the bed in a realization that haunted him, and would continue to haunt him for the rest of his life. His son had a nightmare just the same night of a man taking Tris and his sister away from him.

Tobias was the man.

He glanced to the ceiling and then back to his crying son. Honestly, he didn't know what to do. Liam did not want comfort from his father, and Tris was in the other room, getting Lily. There was no doubt that they would have a fight tomorrow while Lily and Liam were at their grandparents house. They had set the time to reconcile for the first time since he got back, and though he had been itching to kiss her until they were both breathless . . . Something in him knew that would not be the case.

Tris's eyes were wide as she entered the room again, holding Lily in her arms. She rushed to the bed, passing the girl to Tobias and picking up their son into her arms. Her worried eyes did not hold anger, but worry as she looked at both her husband and child.

Almost an hour and a half later, Tobias softly took his daughter's hand that was holding his shirt away and moved her more comfortably on the bed. As he stepped back, he pulled the covers up around Tris and their children, walking closer to the door.