Hola friends of the world, welcome to this little filler chapter. I'm still trying to wrap my head around an idea – I have one, kinda sorta, but am still trying to work out the kinks. So thank you thank you thank you for sticking with me.

On another note – yesterday was my 20th birthday. 20. I legit thought I just turned 12 but nope, I'm 20. Wowowowowow – Sorry, I just had to throw that in here 'cause I'm still shocked at how quickly time is flying.

Also, a very merry and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it! I am so so so so so thankful for each and every one of you!

Let me know if you have any suggestions!

And, as always, please please please review! Love you all. :)

Disclaimer: I may be 20, but there is no way I'm intellectually, academically, or emotionally mature enough to have written and published the Divergent Trilogy. Nopety, nope, nope.

#

Tris hasn't said a word since dinner.

It had been relatively normal at first, much to Tobias's surprise. He didn't know much of family dinners and conversations with parents, but he expected there to be some awkward and daunting conversations.

Most of it had been centered around Theo, though, and while the small baby had been on the verge of a historical tantrum when Tris had come home, the two new faces and cooing voices had lulled him into a sort of stunned stupor.

"He has your eyes," Natalie says with a smile, and Tobias offers one back, not missing the way Tris's father shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

Natalie laughs, "He has your entire face."

"Personality's all Tris," Tobias murmurs, smiling affectionately at his son. "Stubborn little guy."

"Marcus is probably happy – trademark Eaton eyes passed down three generations now."

Tobias knows Andrew has no malicious intent, but the way he speaks so firmly lets both Tris and Tobias know that he's strongly against the image-destroying articles Erudite had been publishing about Marcus.

"Marcus is part of the reason Tobias is still in that brace, Dad." Tris says softly, breaking her streak of silence she had maintained throughout the entire dinner. Her gaze is streamed downward and Tobias turns to look at her with a small frown etched deep into his face.

Andrew's own face, however, remains stern and unwavering.

"Tobias said it was a train crash."

"It was - ," Tobias starts, but Tris's eyes flash.

"Tobias doesn't have to justify the how's and why's of his broken leg just so you don't have to feel guilty about being all chummy with Marcus when you meet him for Sunday lunch."

"That is not how you speak to your father, Beatrice," Andrew starts, voice remaining cool and controlled.

Tris slaps her hand down on the table, jolting Theo from his groggy state and instigating a fresh round of tears. She pulls him to her chest.

"Just because you work with him doesn't mean he can't be that – that awful and sick and abusive piece of - ,"

"Those articles Erudite published aren't completely true," Tobias interrupts. Tris turns at him wide eyed and stunned. She's about to give him a good pinch because of course what the articles are saying are true, but she's even more shocked to see that his eyes are nearly black as he stares ahead at her father.

"He didn't just teach me a few lessons with a slap – didn't just make me tough for my own good."

Andrew's gaze falters at Tobias's clenched jaw.

"He left me locked in the upstairs closet for days at a time with no food, no water. If I didn't make his dinner right or if I was late from school – hell, if I even breathed funny, he'd whip me until I was beggingfor him to just kill me. I was seven when he first broke my ribs, twelve when he twisted my hand so hard it snapped." Tobias eyes soften as his eyes land on Tris's. "A faction leader's son transferring may have looked bad for him, but I wasn't really concerned about his reputation.

Tobias's eyes slowly move to Theo, and even though his mind and heart are racing from thinking about his life in Abnegation, the way his son looks at him so innocently reels in his need to burst.

"I just had to get the hell outta there," he whispers, more to himself than anyone else.

The room is silent – all stiff movements and averted glances – and Theo's stream of wails fills the air. Tobias gets ups and wraps his son in his arms before leaning down and pressing a kiss to Tris's hair.

"I'll put him down," he murmurs, and with one last glance towards Tris's parents, he's out the door and down the hall.

Tris sits silently, her jaw clenched tight and eyes stinging with unshed tears. She doesn't know whether she wants to yell or cry and that mixed with all of the heightened emotions has her staring blankly at the wooden table.

"I didn't know."

It's not the words that cause Tris's eyes to flash up at her father. It's the way they are said, soft and shaky, almost as if on the verge of tears himself, and suddenly Tris is six again seeing her dad cry for the first time after finding a factionless member dead from the cold.

"Beatrice, I – I didn't," he shakes his head, swallowing hard. "I know that's no excuse, but – God, honey, I'm sorry."

While Tris had built up the ability to hold a grudge for weeks thanks to Uriah and Zeke, that resolve is completely shattered at seeing the broken look in her father's eye. She's up and in his arms in a second, and the two of them sigh in unspoken relief.

"He's a good man, Dad." She pulls away from him, and her breath catches because she never thought she'd have the opportunity to see him again. "He saved my life, when I first came here. During initiation. A couple of other initiates attacked me and were so close to throwing me into the Chasm and I thought I was going to die and he saved me. He didn't have to do that – shouldn't have. But he did. He's one of the best people I know."

Both Andrew and Natalie's faces twist from fear of the fact that they had almost lost their daughter to gratitude as Tobias walks back into the room. He raises his eyebrows at the scene, so different from how he left it, before coming to a stop next to Tris.

"Tobias, I-,"

"It's fine. Really, you couldn't have known."

"I shouldn't have -,"

"Really, Andrew. I know how it looks. Trust me, Marcus is a convincing man."

"We really do appreciate this, bringing us here." Natalie's voice is soft and warm and Tobias can't help the small smile that spreads across his face when he sees Tris in her features. "How about we start over. Andrew and I will clear the table, I'll make some tea. We can talk."

"I'd like that," Tris says softly, leaning back slightly into Tobias. She offers a small nod and heads to the living room, Tobias doing the same, but as soon as the two of them are alone, Tris's face pulls into a frown. Tobias can see the way she chews her bottom lip – he can see the way her hands clench and unclench at the air around her waist – and so he pulls her into him before she can think herself into an angry rant.

"I didn't want to start a fight with them."

"They're not mad at you Tris," he murmurs, rocking them both back and forth. "These faction uprisings are spooking everything. Your father was just trying to make sense of it all - ,"

"He shouldn't have believed any of that."

"Tris," Tobias pulls away, grabbing her face between his hands. "I'm not just Marcus's son to him. For all he cares, I'm the one who made transferring from Abnegation to Duantless look like a good idea. And then he comes here, and he finds out you married that same idiot, married, and we have a baby, and there's unrest throughout Chicago?"

Tris frowns. "It's just the way he said it – with the whole 'Eaton eyes' thing. Everything good about Theo came from you, Tobias. Not that asshole."

Tobias can feel his heart swell three times its size as he stares at Tris's pout and furrowed eyebrows. He can't remember having anyone so willing to defend him – so insistent on preserving him – and he shakes his head before grabbing her face in his hand.

"Everything good about Theo came from you."

Tris smiles before burying her face into Tobias.

"Thank you," she whispers. It's almost inaudible, but Tobias can feel the words against his chest. She pulls her head from under his chin. "I mean it Tobias. Thank you for bringing them, you don't know how much I appreciate it – I, I," She settles for a small shake of her head before pressing her lips to his shoulder.

"You seem sad," Tobias murmurs. It's not a question, and the way Tris folds in on herself makes Tobias wish he'd never said anything at all.

"'M not sad," Tobias can hear her voice shake, "I just – it," Tris pauses, taking a deep breath. Tobias pulls them over to the window seat and smooths his hand over Tris's hair.

She sighs.

"It just makes everything so real, you know?" She looks up at him, and for a second Tobias thinks she looks like a kid, all wide-eyed innocence and concern. "They have a grandkid – grandkids," she whispers to herself. "It's all so, so permanent now. And the factions, the uprisings, the war – you heard my parents. It's not just Dauntless, Tobias. Abnegation is falling apart and Erudite? I don't even want to know how Dad even got into their boundaries without getting arrested. How are we supposed to – how do we do this with a war and…" Tris trails off, her hand falling on the small bump under her shirt.

Tobias waits patiently. He's had enough practice with Tris to know not to say anything until she's done with verbalizing – she won't hear anything he says anyways – so he just waits until her words fade to mumbling.

"I don't wanna tell them about the baby – not yet," Tris looks up at him again, but this time with tears in her eyes, and Tobias swears he can feel his heart breaking into a million pieces. "I just want something to be true for only us, just for a little while longer."

"Whatever you want, Tris," Tobias murmur into her hair. Tris leans against him, a deep breath leaving her body, and Tobias does the only thing he can do by holding her. He feels utterly useless, but, then again, he could never really know just how comforted Tris was from just the feel of his harms and the steady thump of his heart.

He doesn't like the way her frown stays etched on her face when he draws away though, and she yelps with surprise when he pulls her to her feet.

"Come here, you'll want to see this."

Tris tilts her head at the giddy smile that has suddenly spread across his face.

She follows behind him, her hand grasped tightly in his, as he pulls them towards Theo's room. Tris can hear her son before she sees him though, and she feels her chest tighten as a smile as wide as Tobias's marks its way on her face.

"Da, da, da, da, da, dadada."

"Oh my god Tobias, of course he learns that first," Tris says with an incredulous laugh.

Theo's eyes widen with delight when he sees his parents, and he reaches his arms out.

"Dadadadada."

Tobias lets out a bark of laughter.

"Looks like we're both Dada," he says as Theo continues his small babble, bright eyes shifting back and forth between mother and father.

Tris grins back, "Let's hope not, otherwise he's not going to be getting any food."

#

Tobias watches the moon long after Tris falls asleep, his hand running up and down her back in long strides. They had sat in the small window seat in the living room long after Andrew and Natalie had gone to sleep, talking about nothing and everything. Any other day he would carry her back to bed, but his leg had been putting a damper in all things he deemed normal for the past few months, so he settles for the small crook by the window that they have made their own.

He presses his lips to Tris's hair, his fingers slowly tracing patterns up and down the length of her arm. His injured leg lays straight out, just barely touching the wall at the other end, and Tris's own legs are curled slightly to allow her to face the window.

The two of them have always shown their love for each other through touch – despite their upbringing in Abnegation attempting to pull that instinct out of them.

But the way Tris blatantly pulls Tobias close – the way she shadows his movements and holds his other arm firmly between her own tells Tobias that it's more than just love that Tris is showing.

She's scared – hell, he's just as petrified – and the way she practically pulls him around her like a shield only makes Tobias hold her even tighter. He lets out a sigh into her hair before closing his own eyes, letting the moonlight streaming in from the window coax him into a troubled slumber.

#

Tobias wakes only seconds after Tris. He doesn't know if it's because of the early morning sun settling on his face or because of the screaming baby, but he does know that it's the screaming baby that gets him and Tris up and alert within seconds.

Before they can move, though, Tris's mother is rounding the corner with a calm and wide-eyed Theo, Andrew closely behind, and Tobias nearly has a heart attack before remembering the night before and the arrival of Tris's parents.

Tris lets herself fall back against Tobias's chest for a second or so before detangling herself from him and gently taking Theo from her mother, cooing at the small baby before disappearing into their room to feed him.

Tobias stays in the window seat, not fully ready to move his leg and feel just how bad him sleeping there was for his injured body part. He groans as he pulls both his legs over the edge and into an upright sitting position and he thinks he almost sees stars when he puts his weight on it, but the pain is gone in an instant when he hears banging on the front door.

He sends a warning glance to Andrew, jaw set and eyes firm, and waits until they're both in their room before opening the door. Dauntless hadn't explicitly said anything about other faction members entering the compound, but the fact that he and Tris were both Abnegation transfers probably wouldn't sit well with most.

He lets out a breath of relief when he realizes it's just Eric.

"Cars leave in 30, back stairway is debugged for the next 40 minutes, but be quick."

Tobias nods and quietly thanks Eric before heading to find Andrew and Natalie.

They're sat on the spare room's bed – freshly made, of course – deep in conversation when he walks in.

Tobias clears his throat, "Sorry, we have to head out soon, before the compound wakes up." He hates how short this visit has to be – hates the tears from Tris that he knows will come the minute they step out the door – but it's the safest way.

Andrew walks up to Tobias, and for a second all Tobias can think of is Marcus and the way he used to saunter towards him before pulling out his belt. He's stock still when a pair of arms wrap around him for a brief second, and the whole action is over before Tobias fully realizes that it's a hug.

"Thank you, Tobias. Truly," Andrew squeezes Tobias's shoulder, and even though they're about the same height, he can't help but feel like a little boy, filled with joy and content at Tris's father's words. "This means the world to us, to Tris."

Tobias offers a thin smile, still uncertain about exactly how to feel with this newfound relationship with Tris's parents, and Andrew matches the action with a small smile of his own.

Tris rounds the corner with a bittersweet expression etched on her face, and Tobias knows that she knows that their impromptu reunion was over.

Theo turns in her arms as Natalie coos at him, and Tris hands over the squabbling baby before wrapping herself under Tobias's arm. Tobias turns them away from her parents for a second, allowing them a final goodbye with their grandson.

"Time to go?"

It comes out soft and almost childlike, the lilt in her voice flickering just slightly. Tobias squeezes her arm tightly as he gives a slight nod.

"Time to go," he affirms.

There isn't really much more that is said after that, apart from the few exchanges of "love you" and hopeful "see you soon's". Tris doesn't want them to leave – hell, they don't want to either. But the way Tobias's eyes keep flashing towards the clock – the way his whole body is tense as they exit through the door – sets a wave of worry rippling through Tris.

She grabs his arm just as he's about to shut the door, and the insistence in Tris's eyes makes him do a double take.

"Please," she whispers, eyes wide and grip strong. "Please be safe."

"There's nothing to worry - ,"

"Tobias, please."

"Of course." He leans down and presses his lips against her hair, his eyes falling shut when he feels the familiar press of her own lips against his chest. "I'll see you soon."

I know, I know – very short. But, I'm quickly figuring out that short and sweet = more frequent posts, while long and arduous = very infrequent posts. Balance – it's something that I am still learning my dudes. Hope you enjoyed, I know it's not all plot twisty or action filled so I apologize.

Also, sorry for any errors, I did not proof-read this bad boy.

Anywho, please review! And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

LOVE YOU ALL! :)