Author's note: So sorry I disappeared! Despite my absence, I do want to finish this story and will hopefully be updating more regularly until it's done. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Seventeen

Tris's POV:

I awake slowly with a lingering sense of happiness, the last vestiges of a dream slowly dissipating. I can't remember what it was exactly, but Tobias was there and we were in a place filled with light. For some reason this makes me think of my new fear of darkness – which suffices to quickly dispel the happy feelings and fully wake me up. I sigh. This is the new me I have to get used to, I guess.

With a stretch I get up and begin my day. It's comforting that I have reclaimed so much of my independence: I get up, clean myself, brush my teeth and get dressed all by myself. Such mundane things still feel like victories compared to the state of total helplessness I was in mere weeks ago.

By the time I am done, a nurse is entering the room to bring me breakfast. I eat quickly and leave the room straight after finishing. With less than two hours to go until physical therapy and the meeting taking place tonight, it feels like there is no time to waste.

In the past few days the hospital has allowed me quite a lot of freedom, as long as I am in my room on time for meals and show up for physical therapy. Of course, I always have Ivana, Christina and seemingly permanent sore muscles to remind me of those sessions, so I'm hardly able to forget about them.

Almost everything is ready for tonight. Everyone has been invited, Tobias has heard several people's thoughts. Many are planning on coming, even changing their work schedules to make it fit. At five this evening some of us will meet up to plan the last details and set up the space. I only have this one thing left to do.

Finally, after walking across the compound, entering a large, squat gray building and climbing up a flight of stairs, I find the right place. I knock lightly on a heavy-looking wooden door. "Come in," a cool female voice calls from inside the room. I turn the knob and enter.

A woman looks up from her work at her desk. "Hello, Miss Prior. You're here to see David?"

"Good morning. Yes, I would like to see him if he has time." I tell his secretary. She is sitting behind a wide desk. Next to it is the door to David's office.

"You're in luck. He's just got an important phone call right now, but he should be done shortly and his next appointment isn't until after lunch. If you just take a seat, I'll let him know you're here. I'm sure he'll see you as soon as he can."

I nod with a polite "Thank you," and take a seat in one of the few chairs against the wall opposite to her desk. There's a large potted plant in the corner. I absently take one of its leaves in my hand and play with it, thinking of what I'm going to say. Somehow I can't quite focus though; my thoughts keep returning to Tobias. I know he won't approve, but I can't let that stop me. Lately I have come to realize that the beauty of what we have is that we both respect each other so much – we can accept what is important to the other, even if we don't agree with it. This is something we had to work hard to achieve, but I do believe that it's a part of what makes us us. Tobias will understand.

These are the things I tell myself while I wait. By the time David's secretary calls me in a few minutes later, I still don't know exactly what I'm going to say. I get up and walk towards his office, hesitating slightly with my hand on the doorknob. Then I enter the room.

He sits behind his desk, his eyes trained on the computer screen in front of him, several orderly stacks of papers surrounding him. He types something quickly into his computer and then looks up at me, a broad smile filling half his face.

"Miss Prior! It is so good to see you out and about and doing so well!"

David gets up from his seat behind his desk and crosses the room to greet me with an enthusiastic handshake. I manage to shake his hand with some semblance of normalcy, if only just barely. This whole time I had been thinking about what I might say, how I should say it and what Tobias would think – I didn't for a second think of how I would feel about being in David's presence again. It's the first time I'm seeing him since he nearly took my life away (or actually did take my life away) and I'm clearly not prepared for what this will do to me.

I pull my hand from his grip as quickly as I can, already feeling the sweat building in my palms. As I try to surreptitiously wipe them on my pants, I can feel my pulse quickening, my breathing becoming uneven. Every cell in my body is screaming at me to run or to take on a defensive stance – or better yet – to attack. This man shot me three times! He cold-bloodedly looked me in the eye and shot me! How can I stand here in his polished office and have a conversation with him?

David has been speaking the past few seconds while I've been grappling with the hate, anger, fear and confusion coursing through me. "… have been getting regular updates from the doctors, of course. We were all very anxious about you. I don't remember what happened, you know, but from what I hear, you were quite the hero." At this, he absently touches his head near his temple, as if that simple act could help retrieve some lost memory. The moment fades and he looks up at me again with a smile. "In any case, I think I can safely say that everyone is very happy that you are well."

His moment of loss calms me slightly. He doesn't remember anything. Even if someone were to tell him of his actions or were to show him a video of it, he still wouldn't understand, because now he thinks so differently from how he then thought. He no longer believes in what led him to do the things he did. This man before me is David, but it also isn't, in a way. Not that David. Isn't that what I told Tobias? There's no use hating that man because that man is gone. We got rid of him as well as if we had killed him.

Holding on to these thoughts helps steady me. David is looking at me expectantly now, as if waiting for me to say something, but I don't trust myself to speak yet. So I just a force a smile onto my face. This seems to be enough because he then says, "I'm glad you've come to visit me. Please, have a seat." He gestures towards a comfortable-looking leather couch in a corner of the room where a few seats are arranged in a semi-circle around a small table. I sit down there and he sits down in a plush chair across from the couch.

"How are you, Miss Prior?" David asks.

I wipe my palms again and finally speak, "I'm fine, David. I'm doing physical therapy and it's going well."

He nods and asks, "Will there be any more surgeries needed?"

I hesitate. "Maybe. It's not certain yet. But first I need to build up my strength."

Again, David nods knowingly. I wonder what he thinks of my injuries. But luckily, I don't have to find out because his next question is, "Please don't think it's all just business with me, but I was wondering if there is anything I can help you with. While I'm very pleased you are here, I imagine there is something specific you wanted to talk to me about?"

I'm relieved at his words because it means we won't have to continue with the niceties. "No, David, you're right. I did come here for a reason."

All the uncertainty has left me now. I know why I am here and what I have to do. So I tell him about the conditions in the city, though I imagine he probably knows more than I do, I tell him about how difficult it has been to help the city, about the chaos and the destruction. I tell him about the incoming refugees fleeing the city, about how I worry what will happen when this trickle of people becomes a flood, about how unprepared we are to deal with this world. I tell him about the conversations Tobias has been having with the people of Chicago and about how worried and scared they are. I tell him about the meeting we have planned. The entire time David listens very attentively. He seems to be just as worried as I am.

"So, what I have come to ask you is this: we need help. This experiment won't be able to transition into something else without help from the outside, from the people who put us in there. But to just barge in there with troops and guns and then toss everyone out would also be a mistake. Not only would it lead to a lot of unnecessary violence, but it would confirm everyone's fears that something terrible awaits them outside those fences. And most of those people will never make be miserable out here. They aren't prepared for this world. If this is to go well, change has to happen from within. A lot of people in Chicago are already ready for change. They just need some help. The city needs stability so that the elections can finally take place, but it shouldn't be imposed on them from the outside by a world they never even knew existed."

At this, David finally stirs from his brooding and says, "But, how? How can we help stabilize the city without it seeming like a foreign force is just taking it over?"

"The meeting," I answer. "The meeting will be crucial. The people who are out here have something they've never had before. Freedom. Let them use it. Let them speak, let them share their thoughts, let them come up with ideas and make decisions. And then, support them. Whatever structures it may need, whatever… money, give it to them."

David sits back and rubs his chin, seemingly deep in thought. "Hmm, yes, that does make sense, Miss Prior. I just don't know if it's possible. Out here, you see, it is very difficult to make decisions and implement them quickly. It takes time to create new structures and put them in place so they are working." Silence surrounds us. I wonder if I should say something, but David seems to be so lost in his thoughts, I decide not to interrupt him. I'll just have to see where they lead.

Finally, after what feels like a long time, he looks at me again. "When is this meeting taking place?"