Note: This is a repost of A Life Worth Living. I apologize for the inconvenience to those who were following.

I will continue to write new stories but they will be out of chronological order...hence the new title.

Timeline based on age: Jo is 25, Eric is 28.

Things had died down since the beginning of stage two and I welcomed the lull. The brutality in stage one ushered in a daily appearance of initiates bruised and bleeding to the infirmary. It was hard to watch but we all went through the same merciless initiation. He called it "tough love." Despite my distaste for these tactics, I knew better than to defy him. I could only offer the initiates a few words of encouragement and happy healing before they were off to battle their next opponent. He broke them and I bandaged them. It was just the way things were.

With the extra time today, my 2nd year medic trainee and I were finally able to inventory the new shipment of supplies that arrived a few nights prior. We were deep in concentration when I was taken completely by surprise from a feather light stroking of a finger down my neck. Startled, I nearly dumped a box of antibiotic cream on the floor. Exhaling loudly, "What the hell? What are you doing here?!" My trainee stared at me in shock for my insubordinate exclamation but quickly turned back to the job at hand to avoid the wrath of the Dauntless leader.

I turned to see him smirking at me with glint of delight in his eyes. "What? I can't see my wife?"

He had a point but this was highly unusual for him. He never paid a visit to the infirmary unless there was an emergency. So for him to be here in a playful mood was unnerving me. "Something up?" I asked in an even voice.

"We have to go to school to speak with the head educator."

I furrowed my eyes in confusion. "Why, what for?" I could feel my stomach start to turn in dread. Nothing good ever came from meeting the head educator from what I could remember.

"He got into a fight." Eric's voice was deadly calm compared to my shrill and panicked rant. "What?! What happened? He's only 6 years old. Is he okay? Is he hurt?"

"He's fine. The school disciplinarian wanted to see a copy of the surveillance video for confirmation. He did nothing wrong. He was actually standing up for someone." Eric smiled in amusement. "Who?"

"A little Abnegation girl." My eyes widened in surprise but I couldn't help returning the smile. I remembered the day Eric stood up to a group of Candor boys who had taken joy in harassing me. It was unheard of for an Erudite to protect an Abnegation but it happened.

"Like father like son," I murmured.

He smiled and kissed me softly on the lips. "Meet me at the tracks in 5 minutes. I'll go grab the video."

Eric was rarely ever affectionate in public. I could count the number of times we showed any amount of PDA and usually it stemmed from his jealous rage. We mainly kept behind closed doors. It wasn't very Dauntless; much more Abnegation but it helped maintain his no nonsense hardass reputation. But this moment was different. He was glowing with pride for his son and he didn't care. As the door of the infirmary closed behind him, I could feel the curiosity from my trainee wafting off her in waves. I decided to freely let her speak. "Stop hiding behind your hair. Out with it."

She looked at me incredulously. I wasn't sure if she knew what to say or if she couldn't decide what to say first. She opened and closed her mouth several times before commenting in awe, "I've never seen him smile before."

I chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Better keep that to yourself."