Thank you to all my readers even those who don't like me. You all have been wonderful and your reviews have made me smile. However, I have decided to discontinue posting unedited musings on FFN. I write for fun and for stress relief so when it no longer is that, my philosophy is to move on. I will post musings occasionally on Tumblr and will probably migrate them over to Archive of Our Own. My FFN account will only be for completed stories so they will probably be farther in-between posts.

For anyone disappointed in this experiment, I'm truly sorry and I realize it was probably a mistake to post anything unedited. I drew attention I didn't intend and for that, I apologize.

This musing is related to Waking Up in Dauntless in a potential post-Allegiant film fic that it would be nice to write one day. I am NOT a scientist so the science is probably wrong. If you are and find the idea intriguing, I'd love for you to contact me with some ideas. Again, I emphasize this is unedited so if there are errors, take heart, it's the last one.

xXx

"So Providence wants some proof, some reassurance that investing resources in Chicago will be worthwhile in the end. If Tris is the only pure example we can provide, they are not willing to invest in what they consider a failed experiment." Tobias finished his briefing to the Council and, as he'd expected, he was met with frowns from around the table.

"I resent having to prove anything to them," Jack said, frowning. "It was their administrator that created this situation."

"I don't see why we need them." Evelyn was resentful and she crossed her arms across her chest, her body language combative. "We are self-sustaining. We have no need for these bureaucratic overseers."

Tobias looked at his mother out of the corner of his eye. "We are 200 years behind them in technology. We may be able to take care of ourselves but we can't fend off the Bureau alone. And to be perfectly honest, we could use their technology." Evelyn frowned at him. Tobias met her gaze evenly, the staring contest only broken when Caleb cleared his throat.

"I think we do have something we can tell Providence," he said. All eyes turned to him and the petite blonde next to him. "Cara has been working to understand the genetic research we downloaded before we sent the ship back." Caleb nudged Cara gently. "Tell them, Cara."

Cara tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and cleared her throat nervously. "I think David has been looking at the DNA the wrong way," she said haltingly. "That is, I think he misinterpreted the results. He, like Jeanine, was so concentrated on proving his own pet theory that he missed what the data was actually telling him."

"What do you mean?" Johanna asked.

"I think he overlooked the significance of Tobias Eaton's genetic results." She typed into the computer and on the screen, two different sets to gene sequences appeared. "Here are their two gene sequences. The left side is Tris, the right, Tobias. As you can see here," Cara pointed, "their results look nearly identical in most places. But, this section," Cara zoomed in on a portion of the picture, "is a particular portion of the sequence that I believe is relevant to divergence. I compared this to the other divergents Jeanine tested. They all look the same. These genes are what determine what we consider to be divergence, or more specifically, serum resistance. They are what the Bureau looked for first to determine if an individual was pure or healed." Cara shook her head, her voice becoming more confident as she talked about her theory. "But I think this sequence is only what causes divergents to be serum resistant and it doesn't have another meaning."

"But I'm not," Tobias blurted out. Tris squeezed his hand and started to protest but he cut her off. "I'm not serum resistant. I wasn't able to break out of Jeanine's enhanced serum."

Cara spoke before Tris could, "You would have eventually."

Tobias shook his head. "No, Tris broke me out."

"Actually she didn't," Cara's voice was gentle, not wanting to seem as though she was insulting Tris. "She merely provided you with a tether to reality; a touchstone, if you will. Her voice was what cut through the simulation so that you could bring yourself out, but she wouldn't have been able to do that unless you weren't genetically predisposed to resistance. If it were as simple as talking someone out of it, she would have been able to break my brother out. But she couldn't," Cara said quietly as she took a ragged breath. "That's because Will wasn't genetically predisposed to resistance."

There was silence in the room. Tris squirmed in her chair, uncomfortable, until Tobias squeezed her hand. She looked up at him and he brought their joined hands to his lips, his eyes telling her he was here for her; she wasn't alone.

Cara shook her head slightly, pushing away unhappy memories. In some ways, she carried as much guilt as Tris; after all, Cara herself had worked with Jeanine on the serum before she knew what Jeanine's intentions were. "Anyway, I think the Bureau was so busy concentrating on an absolutely unchanged genetic code that they missed this." She typed a moment and the picture zoomed in on a portion of Tobias' genetic sequence. "I think they thought these portions here and here were evidence of genetic damage because it is different than Tris', probably different from all other genes they considered pure." She pulled up another sequence. "For comparison, these are old gene sequences, ones genetically manipulated during the Era of Eugenics. I found them in the archives where the Ritter tape was kept. See how different they are from Tris'? But, they are also different from Tobias'. I found this mutation from Tobias in the other divergents Jeanine tested. These genes are not manipulated, nor did they go back to what they were before; they've changed. I think they've evolved. I'm willing to bet we will see some kind of adaptation in every serum resistant person."

It was Tris who broke the silence that had fallen in the room. "What does that mean?"

Cara took another deep breath. "It means Tobias, and others like him, have adapted to the combination of pure and manipulated genes he inherited." She gestured to Tris. "Tris is genetic good luck. At some point, a child will happen to inherit pure genes from both parents and wind up genetically pure. That's simple probability because during the Age of Eugenics, people didn't change every single gene in every single person. But it is too random to fully duplicate or anticipate. The DNA code is far too complex. Tobias is much more likely to be what the Founders expected. Genes don't "heal" and go back. They move forward. Just like they have in Tobias."

She looked around the room at the stunned group. "We can tell Providence we have seen a change in people in Chicago. The experiment was a success." Cara looked directly at Tobias. "You're the future, Tobias. The next step in human evolution."