To Save a City (Divergent/Eric) 2 of 3 COH Series

Chapter 10

(Hosanna's POV)

I'm walking to the control room to begin training Ellen, Nathan, and Neil. Eric said I should start today with them while he talks with Jax. He just wanted to finalize a few of the arrangements for Amity. He said it'd be more productive this way. I agree. There was no need for both of us to meet with Jax.
I enter the control room to be greeted by Zeke.
"Hey, what are you doing here today?" he asks.
"Hi, I'm going to train your new members, well, and Neil, too. You and Chris can handle the surveillance while I work with them," I say.
"Aren't you sounding all authoritative, new leader?" Zeke jokes.
I laugh. "Thanks," I grin. "Back to work," I order nudging his side.
He laughs. Before he sits back at his station, I say, "Zeke, do you mind if I ask a couple friends of mine to your party?"
"No, ask away," he tells me. "Your friends are pretty awesome."
"Thanks," I reply.
I walk over to Ellen and have a seat next to her. "Hey, are you ready to start training?" I question.
"Today?" she questions looking excited.
I nod. "Now, actually," I tell her. "Go get your man, I'll grab 'mister I can't take a hint.'"
She walks over to Neil while I take a deep breath and approach Nathan.
"Nathan, we're starting your computer security training today," I inform him in the most professional voice I can manage.
He turns to me smiling. "You're going to be training me?" he says licking his lips and looking me up and down.
"First of all, I am your leader and you will respect me. You will not look at me like that. I have a boyfriend and not now, nor will it ever be you," I say irritated. "Secondly, yes I will be training you. Follow me."
I turn around and start walking, but stop short when I feel his eyes on me. I look to see my suspicions are correct; he's staring at my bottom.  I wave my hand in his face. "Did you forget the respect part, not to mention don't look at me like that?" I ask.
His eyes meet mine for the first time ever. "Sorry," he shrugs. "Old habits are hard to break."
"I suggest you try harder," I say firmly.
He nods keeping eye contact with me.
We walk over to a small conference room off to the side of the control room. Ellen and Neil join us. "All right, everyone have a seat," I say.
All three of them sit around the table each at a computer but Nathan sits closest to me. I sigh before sitting down.
"I want all of you to understand how classified this information will be that I am sharing with you. You are under no circumstances to share any of this information with any other people. If someone approaches you about learning this type of security, you will send them directly to a leader. The other leaders and I will decide whether that person will receive training or not. You will all report any information you come across directly to leadership. Is that understood?" I ask.
"Yes," they all respond.
"Okay everyone, turn on your computer. Let's start with the basics," I say.
We spend hours going through some of the security codes and meanings. Throughout the training session today, Nathan by far had the most questions. He grazed my hand a couple of times and I'm not sure if it was intentional or accidental, so I just moved my hand away. His tattoo of an eye on his hand especially creeps me out—it looks real and monstrous. But he continually struggled so I feel like I spent most of the time dealing with him. I kept having to lean over to see what he was talking about. I'm glad that Ellen and Neil both caught on so well though. That made my day go easier. We're currently wrapping up this session and we'll work again on it sometime next week.
"Hosanna, can I ask you a question?" Ellen says.
"Sure. You two can be done," I say dismissing the boys.
Ellen opens her screen back up. "What's this?" she asks.
Oh, no. She really does understand everything. That's the code for the Bureau. I can't lie to her and I know I'm being watched. "For now, disregard that," I say. "Are you going to Zeke's party tonight?"
She looks confused but answers my question. "Yeah, Neil and I will be there," she responds.
"Good, I hope to see you there," I say hugging her.
I bury my face in her hair and whisper as quietly as I can. "I'll explain later, I promise. But you have to trust me. Don't tell Neil about that," I say.
I back away from her to see her staring off into the distance. "So, I'll meet you at the party?" I say trying to get her to meet my eyes.
She eventually does. "Yeah. I'll see you there," she whispers.
I close down my computer and leave, hoping I can trust my cousin with my life. She's so smart and I clearly can't keep making up excuses. I'll just have to hope she loves me enough to believe me and not betray me.
I exit the control room and head down from the Pire to the nursery. Since I still have a little time, I might catch them before their shift is over. I've got some friends to visit and maybe some babies to play with. I approach the doorway to see Abby running around playing with the toddlers in the main area. I step over the gate.
"Hosanna? It's so good to see you," Abby says coming up to me and hugging me.
"It's good to see you, too," I respond. I peer down to see half of the toddlers clinging to our legs. I laugh.
"So, how do you like your job?" I ask.
"I love it," she tells me smiling.
"I'm glad," I say looking around for Julia.
"Julia is working with the babies right now," she informs me.
I let go of her and walk with a toddler stuck to each of my legs. They giggle as I step.
I peek my head in through the doorway. Julia is currently rocking a baby in the corner. I smile. I miss that.
"Hi," I whisper.
She turns her head to see me. Standing up she places Layla back in her crib asleep.
She walks over to me. "Hi Hosanna. How is everything?" she asks quietly.
"Good. I wanted to know if you two were busy tonight," I inquire.
"We don't really have any plans. Is there something you need?" Julia asks.
"I just wanted to invite you to a party tonight. It's at Zeke's place. Would you want to come?" I question.
Julia looks shocked but Abby smiles. "Are we invited?" Julia asks.
"Of course you are. I just spoke with Zeke after lunch," I say.
"Really?" Julia grins disbelievingly.
"Yeah, of course," I tell her smiling.
"That sounds great," Abby says excitedly.
"Do you both have anything to wear?" I ask.
They look to each other and shake their heads.
"Well, do you want to come over to my place and get ready? You can borrow anything you want," I offer.
"Okay," Julia says happily.
"Will you both be down at dinner soon?" I ask.
"Yeah, our shift will end in a couple of minutes," they inform me.
"Alright. Let's leave together after dinner and I'll take you up to my place," I say.
They both nod. I start to walk away but Julia calls me back.
"Yeah?" I say.
"Will Eric really kill me if I feed Chloe prunes?" she asks.
I look at her with furrowed brows. "What?" I ask completely confused.
She beckons me to come look at Chloe's chart. It reads:

'If you feed this baby prunes again, I will kill you! —Eric.'

I laugh trying hard not to wake the babies.  I step out of the room cracking up.  I start to cry from laughing so hard.  When I finally calm down, I see Abby and Julia watching me, trying not to laugh themselves.
"No, he won't kill you.  He was here when she got really sick.  I told him to write down to feed her bananas and prunes together.  He came up with that on his own," I say still trying to maintain a straight face. 
They both chuckle a little.  "So, things are going well with you and Eric?" Abby asks hesitantly.
"Yeah, things are great," I grin thinking about how he told me that he'd wait for me last night.  I can't keep the huge smile off my face. 
"He does seem a lot nicer with you than he was in training," Julia comments.
I shrug, "He was almost always nice to me."
"You're very lucky," Abby says.
"Well, maybe we can find someone perfect for you, too," I tell her.

*****Thanks for reading. What'd you think?*****

Words of Wisdom:
People often want things they can't have or that are beyond their reach.  You see something tempting and you've just got to have it.  Hosanna has repeatedly rejected Nathan, yet he keeps coming back—trying to weasel his way in.  It's as if he doesn't listen.  He sees her as an object he has to taste, something so tempting he just can't resist.  We're all human and we all fall short but we must do our best to resist temptation and do what's right. 

""You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.""
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭5:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

"The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself.""
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13:9‬ ‭NIV‬‬