A Different Divergent: A Better Tomorrow

~thirty-six~

Chapter 36

I momentarily wonder how Tobias and I got to the little farm on the outskirts of Amity, which has become one of my favorite places on earth but quickly dismiss the thought. I don't care how we got here, I'm just happy to be lying in his strong, loving arms under the stately oak tree by the crystal clear blue pond. We're wrapped around each other, laughing, talking, and simply enjoying each other's company. He's caressing my hair and kissing my temple, telling me everything is going to be alright. Why is he saying that?

"Please open your eyes, love," he pleads. I wonder why he sounds so sad. "Come back to me, Beatrice Grace." I drag my heavy eyelids open and confusion muddles my already foggy brain. My beloved Amity farm slips away only to be replaced by sterile white walls of a dreary infirmary examination room. I sigh. It was just a dream; a lovely dream but a dream nonetheless. I turn my aching head to find Tobias' red-rimmed eyes gazing down at me.

"Hi," I mutter. "What's wrong, baby?" I reach up to caress his sad face but stop when I see the IV in the back of my hand. "What's going on, Tobias? Why am I here? Am I sick?" He leans over and gently presses his lips to my forehead.

"I have been so worried about you, Tris," he says, obviously distraught. "You collapsed at home this morning ... yesterday morning. You don't remember?" I try to think back but my mind is flooded with images of making love at the farm and I smile. "Why are you smiling? I've been worried sick. It's almost 3 in the morning. You've been unconscious for hours."

"Were we at Amity?" I ask, bewildered. "I remember making love." The small smile turning up my lips evaporates when I take in his expression. He's staring at me quite alarmed.

"That was two weeks ago, love," he slowly whispers. Two weeks? My heart starts pounding heavily in my chest as evident by the EKG that I must be hooked to. The steady beeping has risen to a high-pitched scream. I've been unconscious for two weeks? No, he just said I collapsed this morning.

"We made love, though, didn't we?" That seems pretty clear even though I swear we were under the oak tree by the pond.

"Yeah," he says sounding somewhat relieved. "Last night and again this morning." He wraps his arm around the top of my head and plays with my hair while he laces our fingers together.

"I must be mixing my dream with reality," I say with a yawn. "I was having the most wonderful dream right before I woke up. We were by the pond in each other's arms then I opened my eyes ... and I was here." I hear the disappointment in my voice. "Why am I here? You haven't told me." I take a mental inventory of my body and besides extreme fatigue and a dull, throbbing headache, nothing is wrong that I can determine.

"I need to tell a nurse you woke up so they can page Zander," he says.

"What aren't you telling me?" I ask.

"I'll tell you everything when I get back," he says. "I promise but I need to let the staff know that you woke up."

"Okay," I say. "Hurry back." I'm watching him walk toward the door when Marlene walks in dressed in black scrubs with a stethoscope draped around her neck.

"Oh good, you're awake," she says, sounding relieved. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused. I wish someone would tell me why I'm here," I say. Marlene and Tobias share a worried glance, and I can't help but wonder what it's about. "My head hurts, and I'm so tired even though Four says I've been asleep all day. What's wrong with me?"

"Your blood pressure has been dangerously elevated all day," she says as she presses a button on a machine next to my bed. The blood pressure cuff that's already wrapped around my upper arm tightens until it's almost painful then gradually starts releasing. I hadn't even noticed that I was attached to it until she turned it on. "I don't have any other details I'm afraid." She notes the reading from the machine in my chart. "Your numbers are still elevated."