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

Chapter 97

(Hosanna's POV)

When all of the transfers have been assisted with their firearms, Eric and I jog downstairs to the training room. I see the Dauntless born on the punching bags and Lauren is walking around observing them. "How are they doing?" I ask her.
"Not bad for a first day," she says enthusiastically.
I nod and walk around with Eric. We decide to start at one end and work our way down together. Uriah is first and he's just about perfect in his form. He's decent with the strength of his punches, too. "Uriah, you don't need any help," Eric says walking away.
Uriah grabs the swinging bag and looks to me. "Did Eric just give me a compliment?" he asks me dumbfounded. I smile at him and step away.
Lynn is next. I watch her and notice that she's just about perfect as well. She could use a little more strength to her punches to beat Uriah but she's not bad. "What's with the haircut?" Eric asks her.  I had noticed that she shaved her pretty blonde hair off but I wasn't going to comment. 
She stops and shrugs. "I didn't want the guys to be afraid to fight me," she says.
I wonder why her hair would have anything to do with that but I don't respond. "Your form is good," I tell her. "If you want to be a challenge to the males though, you better hit the weights and get some extra power behind your punches."
She nods taking what I said as constructive criticism and not an insult. "That's what I love about the Dauntless born," I tell Eric as we move on.
He squeezes my side in agreement. "They're definitely our people. The others will come around eventually. It'll take them some time to get used to us all," he says.
"Yeah," I reply.
We walk through and help out the rest.  Marlene is decent.  I adjusted her stance a bit and she needs to use the weights too, but she's doing well.  Angel and Rita are the weakest of the girls but they're still not so bad.  I spend most of my time with them while Eric flies through the males. We meet up close to lunch and dismiss the Dauntless born as the transfers start to file through the training room.  When they're all gone, my brother comes down the stairs. 
"How'd it go?" I ask him as we meet near the door walking toward the cafeteria. 
"Great," he says.  "Maybe next time we should go in the shooting range or work on different firearms."
"That's promising," I respond. 
"How about the Dauntless born?" he asks.
"Most of them are fairly good.  Not much for us to correct.  They need to do weight training and maybe work on some new moves or sparring next time," I say.  "How about your end?" I ask bumping Eric.
"I can't believe Gabe hasn't broken his thumb the way he's been punching," Eric comments.
"Hmm, that's weird," I agree.  He must've had his thumb inside his fist instead of outside. 
"How were the girls?" he asks. 
"Not terrible.  Rita and Angel needed help but they're improving quickly," I say.  He nods.  "It feels weird not getting ready to go to the meeting today, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but they'll do fine without us.  The others all should know how we value initiation and preparing our members for life here.  It's crucial for us," Eric responds and I nod.
We arrive in the cafeteria and I notice most of the initiates are lumped together at a few tables.  A lot of the girls are sitting together socializing.  Marlene and Christina wave at me.  I smile and wave back. 
"They already adore you," Eric whispers in my ear. 
I look up at him.  "The boys seemed pretty happy with you, too," I tell him. 
"Nah," he replies dismissively.  "Everybody hates me."
"No they don't.  You made Uriah's day complimenting him and that Amity boy really likes you," I respond.  I don't care for it when he puts himself down like that.  He's a wonderful person, leader, and trainer.
"Your friend is scared to death of me," he insists.
I frown at that. She does seem to not like the idea that I'm married. I wonder if she actually is afraid of him.
"Maybe I'll talk to her," I say grabbing my tray. I hadn't even noticed what Eric placed on it since I'm in a daze. I follow my husband and brother to the leaders' table and take a seat between them.  I eat my meal quietly.  Eric grabbed me some pumpkin soup and a toasted sandwich.  He knows me so well; it's probably what I would've chosen had I been paying attention. 
Max, Lydia, and Ryan stand up to leave lunch early.  They have to head to the Hub for the city council meeting.  The time has been bumped up to one o'clock as of late because of the length of time it's taken to discuss all the problems coming up.  I stand, hugging Max and kissing his cheek.  "Try to keep your temper in check.  I know how Jeanine and all of the Abnegation annoy you," I tell him. 
"Yeah," he chuckles.  "That's not going to happen."
"I'll keep him in line," Lydia responds linking an arm with him.  I grin at her. 
Ryan kisses Mia goodbye.  He turns to leave and I pat him on the back.  "Good luck, rodent," I tease.  The nickname just stuck a while back and we've been taunting each other ever since. 
"Haha, very funny rabbit," he jokes back leaving with the other two. 
I sit beside Mia as they walk through the cafeteria.  A hush covers the crowd as they all pass by.  "How are you feeling?" I ask my good friend. 
"I'm okay.  I went to the infirmary today.  They put me on something else.  The pills before were making me emotional," she says.
"How about now?" I question.
"I guess we'll see," she shrugs.
"What have they been putting you on?" I inquire.
"They keep switching my pills.  It's always something different," she explains.
"Have they tried the shot?" I ask. 
"No, not yet," she frowns.
"That's what I've been getting and I haven't had any problems.  Maybe you should talk to Dana about that," I say.  She turns her face away from me.  "What's wrong?"
"I have a fear of needles," she admits. 
I furrow my brows, but I recall how nervous she was during the final. She kept turning her head away every time people were getting injected. "What did you do during the second and third stages?" I ask curiously.
"Four and Zeke had to hold me down. During the final, Eric snuck up and injected me quickly from behind," she explains cringing.
"You never told me that," I say to my husband.
He shrugs, "You never asked."
"Maybe you could go to the hospital in Erudite. They might have something else they could try," I offer.
She shrugs, "Maybe if this doesn't work."
"Baby, we better head back," Eric tells me.  I nod and stand.  So does my brother.  Eric grabs our trays. 
"I'll walk with you," Mia says. 
She grabs her tray.  We follow Eric and my brother.  She sets her tray down with the others. 
As we walk away, Tris calls out to me.  I smile and lock arms with my two best friends. 
"Mia, this is my best friend, Tris.  Tris, this is my other best friend, Mia," I introduce them. 
"It's nice to meet you," Tris says.  "Are you a leader?"
"No," Mia answers.  "Ryan is my husband.  He's a leader."
"Oh, is that how you and Hosanna met?" Tris asks.
"Nah, I met her my first day of initiation. We became good friends. I've known Ryan since Candor. He was best friends with my older brother," she explains.
Tris smiles and nods, "That's really nice."
They talk more and I kind of drift off for a moment watching my brother and husband interact ahead of us as we walk down the hallway. I think over the last year, they've become close friends and it makes me so happy. I shake my head and try to focus on my best friends chatting as we approach the training room. I catch Tris asking a question quietly about Eric.
"Um, according to Hosanna, Eric's been in love with her since they were kids, right?" Mia questions tapping me with her elbow.
I smile. "He said he's loved me since my first day of kindergarten. It was his first day of first grade," I explain as we enter the training room doors.
Tris frowns, "Really? You've known him that long?"
"No," I shake my head. "The first time I ever saw him was after his aptitude test."
"Oh," she says surprised. She looks at Eric and Four messing around before the transfers show up. He ruffles my brother's hair and I laugh. He sees Tris beside me and his smile drops. He straightens his shoulders and they prepare for the rest of the transfers to join us.
"He doesn't like me," Tris whispers.
"What?" Mia asks surprised when we stop nearby the doors. 
"That's not true," I protest. "We're just supposed to be more professional in public. It has nothing to do with you. Leaders are required to be... more... serious than everyone else. We handle all the problems in the faction. We're supposed to have an air of authority to our demeanor in front of everyone," I explain.  Mia nods in agreement. 
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," she says deep in thought. "My parents are a little different at home compared to public."
Mia goes to open her mouth but I respond, "Andrew and Natalie Prior."
She smiles, "Your parents are really nice."
Tris smiles, too.
"Wait until initiation is over, you'll see," I say.
"Trying to kiss all the leaders' backsides, Stiff?" I hear Peter taunt when he passes by us.
"I'm not a leader, you idiot," Mia laughs. Her smile drops when she sees his face.
"This is Mia, Ryan's wife. She's one of my friends. Her husband is a leader. Mia, this is Peter. He's Jacob's cousin," I introduce.
He passes by not even caring. "Oh my goodness. He looks and acts just like him," she whispers harshly. "He hasn't tried to touch you, has he?" she asks frowning.
"No, I'd kick his butt and throw him in lockup if he did," I respond.
Mia sighs in relief. "Good," she says hugging me. "I'll see you at dinner.  Bye Tris, it was nice meeting you."
I nod and Tris waves. We proceed further into the room together. "His cousin touched you?" she questions.
I glance at her and she looks worried. "I'll explain later if you want. Please don't say anything to anyone," I ask her. She nods before joining the transfers.
"Hey, are we working on shooting first or what?" I ask my husband as I head up the stairs. 
"Yeah, I'm coming," he says chasing after me.