Roles Reversed (Divergent No War)

Chapter 7 (Tris)

"Hey, Orion," Tobias says in a gentle voice. "I'm your dad."

My heart just melts at the sound of it. I didn't even have to be the one to tell Ri.

"I can't believe how fast Ri accepted you," I say after leaving Ri's room. "He's usually so shy around new people."

Tobias shrugs. "Maybe he just knew." He pauses with a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not used to people being called by nick names."

I give off a quiet laugh. "Of course not, it's considered selfish to want to be called by anything other than the name your parents gave you. I mostly call him Ri or Rion. He only ever hears his full first name when he's getting into something that he shouldn't, and if I have to repeat it, I use his middle name too."

I can see that he's confused. "Middle name?"

"I keep forgetting how little you know about Dauntless," I say, shaking my head. "A middle name is the name given between your first and last name. Abnegation mostly deems that an unnecessary extravagance. Although I would have thought you would know about middle names at least since you have one."

An even more confused look crosses Tobias's face. "I've never heard anyone call me by anything other than my first and last name."

That confuses me. Why give someone a middle name if you aren't going to use it. I walk over to where I keep Orion's birth certificate and pull it out to hand to Tobias. Before I give it to him, though, I feel I should explain the last name.

"How much do you know about Marcus's past?" I ask him.

"Absolutely nothing," he replies. "I don't even know if he was or wasn't born Abnegation."

I sigh. Of course Marcus wouldn't tell him about Dauntless.

"Marcus was born Dauntless. He has a twin sister named Emma who is still here, and a step- sister named Hana, and, surprisingly, your grandfather is still alive too."

"How do you know all this?" he asks me.

"As soon as Zeke's mother found out where I transferred from, she asked if I knew you. I've actually met your entire Dauntless family. They all adore Rion."

"I have family here?" The question sounds more like a rhetorical one as if he's trying to confirm it in his own mind.

"Yes," I reply patiently. "Your grandfather, James, and your Aunts, Emma and Hana. Zeke and Uriah are Hana's sons, and Emma has two children. Her son, Arthur, transferred to Amity last year, and her daughter, Morgan, chooses in another three years."

His eyes grow wide with shock, but I don't think he plans on saying anything else. I decide that it's best to hand him Rion's birth certificate now.

The paper being held out in front of his face startles Tobias at first before he realizes that he's meant to take it.

I can't fully discern the expression on his face as he reads over the birth certificate, but I do see him run his hand across Orion's birth date.

"It's like his birthday predicted my fears," he says as he continues to read it.

I think about what he said, and realize he's right. "Yeah, June fourth. Six Four. That's actually kind of funny that his birthday has our Dauntless names." I laugh a little. "It has our birthdays on it too."

"I saw that," he comments. "Along with our full names. Did you know my middle name when you named him?"

"No." I laugh before a slight scowl replaces it. "Nor did I know Zeke's until after as well."

He is confused by my scowl. "What does Zeke's middle name have to do with it?"

"Ezekiel Orion Pedrad," I say simply. "I was ready to kill him when Hana announced that I gave Ri his Uncle Zeke's middle name as his first name. I had only planned on giving him his great-grandfather's name as a middle name, not naming him after Zeke."

He laughs at me. "You're so worked up over Zeke not telling you his middle name."

I don't say anything because I'm waiting for him to say something about the last name.

"Orion James," Tobias says. "Why Eaton, though?"

Thankfully his tone is simply confusion and not the anger I expected.

"Honestly, when I first found out that I was pregnant, I originally planned on giving him my last name, but then I met your extended Dauntless family and thought to myself about the fact that the name would die with Marcus then. I felt that James deserved for the name to live on through you and Ri. Caleb can keep the Prior name in existence, but if you and I were to get married, and you took my name, Marcus would be the last one with it. The name would end with nothing but disgrace. I hoped that you and Ri could bring some sort of honor back to the name."

He is quiet for a while after my explanation.

"You aren't mad, are you?" I ask him.

He sighs. "No, Beatrice, I'm not mad. I don't know exactly what I feel, but I'm definitely not mad."

I groan in irritation when he says my full first name. "I'll let that slide since that's what you're used to calling me, but don't call me Beatrice anymore. My friends call me Tris."

"Sorry," he apologizes quickly. The way he does gives me the impression that Zeke warned him about the name.

"Zeke told you what I did, didn't he?" I ask with a smirk.

Tobias looks at me, but this time with awe. "How did you do it?" he asks. "Zeke is so much bigger than you, but he said that he struggled to walk for a week."

I laugh at the incredulous tone of his voice. "Size isn't everything, Tobias."

We talk a while longer as I explain about my time in Dauntless. He refuses to tell me about the last two years in Abnegation, but I understand why. I already have an idea as to what Marcus did.

At around one thirty in the morning, I suggest that we go to bed since I get up at five to pass Ri off to Shauna before heading to the training room.

"Why so early?" Tobias asks yawning. "The initates don't have to be there until eight."

"I don't exactly get the time to exercise while I'm training initates," I explain as I climb into bed. I pat the spot next to me, inviting him to sleep in my bed. "I have to keep in shape somehow. Anyways, it'll give me a chance to train you individually, that is if you want to get up that early everyday."

He seems to ponder on it as he uncertainly slips under the covers next to me. He mumbles something that sounds like an affirmative before drifting off to sleep.