Divergent | No War

78 - Genetics

Tris
My bare toes hit the tiled ground. I don't want to wake up the others. Matthew told me to meet him at 9 am in the gen lab. I don't really want Tobias to know that I'll meet him. I don't even know why but I have a feeling that he will stop me from getting to know more about my gens.
I slip on a random shirt and my pants. I tip toe over to the door. Uri snores in his sleep and I shoot a look back at Tobias. He rolls over and covers himself with the blanket, only his foot is sticking out.
I feel little Jordan moving and place a hand over my stomach. Smiling I softly stroke it and then exit the huge room that is our temporary living space. I miss my big apartment that I shared with Tobias. We had so much space to ourself but I am still happy that we are in the bureau. They want to change the world for the better and so do I.
Deep in thoughts I walk down the hallways and somehow still find my way to the laboratory. Matthew is already waiting for me. "Hey there." He greets me. "Morning. How are you?"
Exchanging a few politnesses we enter the lab. "So, i'll just need a bit of your blood and then we can go eat breakfast while we wait." I grin. "Awesome. Sounds like a plan."
Again I feel Jordan moving a lot and hold a hand over my stomach. "Do you want to sit down?" Matthew asks and I nod. "Okay, this will hurt a bit." He warns while he unpacks the needle. I shrug. "I think by now i can handle a bit of pain." He nods. "Of course you can."
He pokes the needle into my arm and draws some blood. Only a few seconds later he withdraws it and holds the phiole with my blood against the light. The dark red colour astonishes me once again. I kind of like the colour. It might be weird but its odly mesmerizing.
Matthew transfers the phiole into a machine and starts pressing some buttons. "Just a second. I need to set everything." I nod. "Yup, sure."
A few minutes later he straightens and grins at me. "All done. We can go." I nod and get up.
Matthew slides hos card through the slot and the door slides open.
Still talking we reach the cafeteria. It's already pretty full, everyone is getting ready for a work day. Matthew and I stand in the line and I look at all the food. I am so hungry. I could eat a whole cake. I choose scrambled eggs, a muffin and a Tea.
Matt and i sit down and start eating. Somehow the conversation leads to me asking, "Do you have a girlfriend at the moment?" He looks at the table. "No." He lifts his eyes and stares into thin air. "No i don't... not anymore." I feel sorry for him. Their break up can't have been long ago. It still affects him a lot. "Oh, i am sorry. Why did you two break up, if you don't mind me asking." He shakes his head, "we didn't exactly..." "Tris!" He gets interrupted by Tobias voice. I turn away from Matthew and smile at the approaching Tobias. His hair is still messy from sleep and since he hasn't shaved in a few days a bit of a beard covers his chin. I like that. "Morning." I say and he leans down to give me a quick peck on the lips. "Good Morning Tobias." Matthew greats and takes a bite from his bread. Tobias nods at him. "Morning." Then he turns back to me. "Where have you been?" I shrug. "I just wanted to get breakfast and met Matthew here." Matthew doesn't say anything and so Tobias leaves to get himself something to eat.
"Why didn't you tell him?" Matthew asks whispering. I shrug. "I don't really know actually. I just think he wouldn't support this. Can you send him away somehow?" He nods. "I'll try." I smile.

After breakfast Matthew asks Tobias to get some weird chemical from the other side of the compound and so he buys us some time to look at the results.
He opens the machine and gets out the blood, then he starts the monitor. I watch my DNA spread out in front of me on the monitor. I can't really make anything off the things I see. I only learned so much in school and that knowledge doesn't suffice. "What am i looking at?" I ask, turning to Matthew. He is still typing on the computer but now looks up. "So this is your DNA." He clicks a button and the picture changes. Now I don't understand anything anymore. "And this is the inner part of your DNA. The different acids and proteins. And this..." the picture changes again. "this is the remarkable thing about you." I now notice that he cut out a part of one of the DNA strings. "So this is the picture of a GD and this is a picture of my DNA. As you can see there are differences between the GDs and mine, but if you were a normal GP like me your and my DNA should look the same. But it doesn't." I frown, not really knowing what he is implying. "Okay... and what does that mean?" He grins widely. "Wait a second." He slams the keys and a fourth image pops up while the ones from himself and the GD get smaller. The new one is similar to mine. "So this is the DNA of a person before the genetic modifications." Slowly I start to understand. "That means..." "that means you are purer than pure. You are like the people before the genetic modifications and that means you are the only one who is really pure!" I still don't really understand and despite his excitement he tries to explain it. "Okay, so you were tested positively for three factions, right?" "Yes..." "Erudite, Dauntless and Abnegation." I nod, becoming slightly impatient, "yes." "And that is exactly what we were trying to achieve. No one back then had every character trait but they had more than one and more than two, they had three." I slowly start to understand. "That means... Because i am tested positively for three factions I am..." "yes. You are not a normal Divergent! I have to send this to David and everyone else!" "Send what to David and everyone else?", Tobias voice suddenly asks from the door. Apparently Matthew left it open. Matthew looks at me and i nod, its too late to keep this from Tobias. Matthew starts explaining everything to him and i just watch his reaction. He seems to get it faster than me. He nods along Matts explanations and when he finished he looks at me. "So... Tris is... special. Not a normal Divergent." "She is not like anyone else in this whole compound. Not like anyone else in America, supposedly. Of course we can't test everyone and that's why we can't be sure, but we sometimes to tests all around the country, that means that we can be pretty sure." Tobias shoots me a look and I know that he just doesn't say anything because Matthew is here. "And what does that mean for her?" Matthew shrugs. "I don't really know. Since nothing like that ever happened before I can't really say. We'll probably have to do some test on her and also..." "but she is pregnant. You won't inject her with weird stuff!" Matthew eyes my slightly swollen stomach and I lay an arm around it. "We will take that into Account." Tobias presses his lips together so that they are turning white but doesn't say anything.
I am the first one to break the silence, "We can discuss that later. Matthew do you need anything else?" He examines his finger nails and then looks up. "Could I maybe run a few tests on you as well, Tobias?" I shoot him a look but suprisingly Tobias agrees. I am glad, because that pushes the argument we will surely have further into the future. Maybe Tobias calmed down a bit by then.
He takes some blood from Tobias as well and puts it in the same machine. He sets it up and then leans back. Awkward silence fills the room. I examine my fingernails, Matthew stares into his coffee cup. Then he gets up. "Hey, I'll get myself some more coffee. Anyone want any?"  We both shake our heads and then Matthew leaves the room.
We are silent for a bit longer then Tobias asks, "Why did you lie?" I sigh and push a stray of my hair behind my ear. "I don't know. I just... I really don't know, and I am sorry." He shakes his head. "There has to be a reason. What was going through your mind? Don't you trust me? Did you want to talk to Matthew? I just want to understand." I ruffle through hair - something I adapted from him - and then shake my head again. "I said i don't know. And you know I trust you more than anyone else. I just thought that you might not want it..." he interrupts me, "and so you just lied? We are supposed to be a team... but we can't be if you keep stuff from me." "I said i am sorry." "It's not just that... do you really want to allow him to run tests on you? Like injecting you with stuff and everything... No one can say how it will affect the baby or you. You barely know these people, how can you trust them with the health of the baby and you?" "Calm down, I didn't even agree yet! I am still thinking about it! I don't trust anyone but Matthew. If he says it will be taken into account, it will. I am sure."
Now he ruffles his hair but before he can say anything else the door opens and Matthew gets in, following him is a girl I already noticed the day of our arrival. She smiles. "Hey, I am Nita." She is pretty. Tobias only nods into her direction and I smile weakly.
Matthew looks between Tobias and me and awkwardly steps in. I almost have to laugh because he is so awkward, but then I notice Tobias stare on him and feel myself getting angry. It wasn't Matthews fault. I cross my arms infront of my chest and just stare at my shoes.
Nita and Matthew both start working on something. We sit like that until the machine beeps.
Matthew clicks on his computer and the results pop up on the monitor facing Tobias and me. Again both Tobias and I both don't really get what is shown but Matthew gets all excited. "Okay so this is exactly what I expected!" Tobias frowns and snaps, "can I also have an explanation?" Matthew nods, "of course, so again those are your DNA strings, but when we compare them with the ones from a GP we find differences which shouldn't be" he lets the DNA of a GP pop up. "And if we compare them with Tris's" my DNA image pops up "it's also different. So what's different about you?" Tobias taps his foot annoyed but also nervous. He glances at me and I want to squeeze his arm or support him but it doesn't feel right so I don't. He looks away again. Now Matthew deletes all the other pictures from the screen but Tobias DNA. "You have a specific gen defect that makes it look like you are a Divergent from the outside but you aren't from your genetics." I shoot a look at Tobias and he frowns, "so... I am not a GP... I am damaged..." Matthew nods slowly, "yes. From your genetics you are but from your behavior you aren't. You are just nearly as rare as Tris from your DNA." Now the image of the DNA of a GD pops up. It matches Tobias's.
Tobias ruffles his hair and sighs. Then he stands up and walks towards the door. I know that he wants some space now. "I... just have to think about that..." he opens the door and then he is gone. Suddenly Nita gets up and walks out as well. I frown. Does she want to talk to Tobias or does she just have to do something else? Matthew sighs. "Maybe today wasn't the best day for those news..." I shake my head. "No day would be perfect for news like that. It's not your fault." He nods and then suddenly his expression changes. He frowns and looks at me. "What?" He looks at a specific spot in a corner and when I turn I see a small camera. "Nothing, just thought that I forgot to get something from the lab. We are done here. You want to join me?" He stands behind his computer and scribbles something on a piece of paper, then he straightens and smiles. "Let's go." I just nod, still mildly confused.
I follow him around the long hallways when he suddenly stops and enters a door. I just follow him inside.
It seems to be his apartment. It mainly is messy. There a papers, charts and picture of DNA strings laying everywhere. On his bed, on his table, in the kitchen, even in the sink... I have to smile. "Sorry for the mess." He says and try's to clear a space for me to sit. Now I fully laugh and thank him before I sit down. "So what was this about?" I ask after he freed a chair for him. "So... I never told you about what happened to my girlfriend." I nod. "Okay, go ahead." Does he just want moral support now? I doubt it. "As you know i am GP and she was a GD." I shrug. He nods. "Well the leaders here don't take it that easily. They wanted us to split up, we refused. Obviously. They insisted." I interrupt him. "Why? Why did they want that?" He closes his eyes for a few seconds and then says, "because i am pure and she wasn't. They don't want GPs and GDs to be together because they want to breed pure baby's. And if you mix GDs and GPs the outcome won't be purer." It clicks in my mind. "Why did you say... wasn't?" He takes a deep breath. "Because she is dead." I gasp and cover my mouth. "What? How did she die?" "Pretty much a year ago we found her, dead in her apartment. The doctors said it was a stroke, but that doesn't make any sense. Not at all, she was sportive and never showed any signs, her family had no history of strokes it was all very weird. Till now I haven't found out what she really died off. Could have been anything. I honestly think she was given some kind of medicine to clot the blood so that she would either get a heart attack or a stroke." I rub my forehead. "But... how do you know that the leaders did that? I am sorry but I can't really believe that they would kill someone just so they won't reproduce someone with whom they don't want them to." Matthew nods. "I didn't expect you to believe it. Anyways, I have to hand in yours and Tobias results, from then on everyone will now that he is a GD and they will start trying to split you two apart, don't let them succeed."