Divergent Short Stories (Eric & Tris Fanfics)

Chapter 3

I wake in the night to add more logs and stoke the fire. The temperature has dropped substantially. I found a weather measurement device beside the sofa on a side table earlier and I get it out. It has internal temperature here and outside. Inside is 66*F which isn't bad considering—cold but not dangerously so. Outside is shocking. It really does say -30*F. A thought occurs to me though... it's going to get colder during this week. I set the temperature gauge down beside my bed and climb back in.
"What time is it?" she asks me groggily.
"Almost one," I reply.
"What was that?" she points to the instrument beside my bed.
I grasp it and hand it to her. She rubs her eyes and rolls over before taking it from me. She holds it up in the dim light from the fireplace.
"Wow," is all she says before handing it back.
I set it aside and lay down on my left side. The Stiff is facing me now. Her eyes are opened and she's watching me.
"Not tired?" I ask.
"I am," she responds and rolls over with her back to me once more.
I close my eyes and drift off easily again.
I wake and it's cold once more. I check the time and it's three in the morning. I add a few logs to the fire and make sure they catch well before climbing back into bed. I check the measurement. It's 64*F in here and -45*F outside. I sigh and lay my head down. I'm about to drift off when I hear the Stiff shivering. I don't even ask for permission and scoot closer to her. I get under her blanket and put mine over both of us. I pull her closer to me. She's trembling but I think she's still asleep. After a couple minutes, her chattering teeth and shivering subsides. I get comfortable. Being this close to her I can smell the scent of her hair and it's more than intoxicating—it's completely addictive. I admire how incredible it is to have her in my arms. I try to stay awake watching her but the pull of sleep is too strong.
I wake to a jolt. It's cold down here and the fire has nearly gone out. The Stiff slides out from under my arm and gets up. She heads to the bathroom and I close my eyes again. I wake to her building up the fire. It must be morning. I don't care. I'm exhausted so I go back to sleep. When I wake again I'm completely sprawled over the Stiff's side and it smells like she made something incredible for breakfast. I rise and use the restroom. I'm contemplating on showering but she knocks on the door.
"I made breakfast if you're hungry," she says through the door.
I open the door absolutely famished. She seems surprised but smiles and walks back to the kitchen. I follow to see if there's anything I can do. I glance at the table and it's already set with some food on it. She has a cutting board with slices of bread—a fresh loaf she must've baked. That's impressive.
"It's ready," she tells me.
"You really made all of this by yourself?" I question.
"You stayed up all night taking care of the fire," she shrugs. "It's the least I could do."
I smirk at that and sit down. She made scrambled eggs with vegetables—it looks like mushrooms, spinach, and red pepper. Some were dried, some frozen but I'm not complaining. She made what looks like thick cut bacon and a loaf of bread. There's a jar of jam set out, too.
"Do you want some coffee?" she asks me.
I raise my eyebrow in surprise that she seriously made all this.
"Sure," I nod.
She pours me a cup.
"We've got dry milk or almond milk in cartons if you want some," she offers.
"What are you having, Stiff?" I question.
"Whichever you are?" she laughs lightly.
I decide on the almond milk. That powdered milk tastes like cardboard but it is better than nothing. When given the choice I'd choose the former. I open up the container and pour some in my cup. I add a teaspoon of sugar and she adds two. I stir mine in and sip it. I sigh. That's definitely something I needed today and hers is better than the cafeteria's. I try the food she made and it's pretty good. We chat over breakfast. She tells me she started thawing a turkey breast overnight for dinner. She's hoping it'll be ready to roast by tonight.
"That sounds good," I mention. "Anything I can help make?"
"Sure, we can cook together," she nods.
She talks a bit more about meals. She's already planning a few things out. I mention showers and that we should probably wash our clothes. She nods at that. I decide she can shower first while I clean up from breakfast. When she walks off, I slice another piece of that bread. It's incredible. I clean up the dishes but notice how frigid the water temperature is. I actually warm up some of it in the kettle and pour it over the dishes. That works better. I dry them and put them away when the Stiff emerges from the shower.
"I'll wash my laundry," she says.
I suggest she warm some water first.
"Yeah, the shower wasn't very warm," she nods.
"Fabulous," I mumble.
I suck it up and grab some extra clothes. I get everything ready seeing there's only the bare minimum—soap and shampoo, plain at that, but it's better than nothing. I was sweating substantially last night when we moved everything but it was definitely too cold to be showering before going to bed or I might've been the one shivering. I think about it, though. She's really thin... maybe she's anemic. She had beef and spinach so her iron should be good—I would think. She just gets cold easily.
I jump in the shower and it is quite frigid. I definitely needed that, though. Spending the night with her is not helping this attraction of mine. She doesn't seem interested in me so it's best not to get too attached. This is just a survival situation—not having her stay with me, live with me, or even date me. This is so we survive through this circumstance we've been thrown into together and nothing more.
I climb out when I'm clean and dry off. I throw on the mended clothes we have and comb my hair. I come out ready to do laundry... but I see her huddled in front of the fire with both blankets wrapped around her. She's shivering again and her lips are blue.
"Come here," I say. I toss my clothes aside and reach for her.
"Hmm?" she asks surprised.
I sit down behind her and remove the blankets. Her shivering increases.
"Eric? What are you doing?" she asks.
"Helping to get you warm," I reply pulling her onto my lap and wrapping the blankets around the both of us.
"You're cold, too," she points out.
"I'll warm up in a minute," I tell her.
She's sat on my lap with my arms around her. I move her hair to her right side and tuck my head beside her neck. Her breathing is deep. I know I'm freaking her out but she needs to get to a safer temperature. She eventually calms. We both start warming up after a few minutes. I'm trying to keep my cool. I'm not doing this to force myself on her, just to keep her safe and healthy. I glance at her to see her lips are no longer blue. Her cheeks are flushed, though. She is embarrassed. She did that the first time I spoke to her during her initiation. She turned her head away from me and didn't reply. I nuzzle my face further into her shoulder and she sighs.
"I think I'm okay," she tells me.
I hum a reply.
"Is this what happened last night?" she asks in a whisper.
"You were shivering," I admit.
"Thank you," she says softly.
"No problem, Stiff," I whisper. 
She shudders and I pull her closer.  "You sure you're not cold?" I mumble. 
"Yeah, I think I'm good," she says climbing up. 
I already miss her. 
I sigh and rise up as well.  I put a kettle on the stovetop and then a pot.  I see she's stringing up a clothesline and tying if off.  Her skill with knots is impressive.  I'm not that good.  It must be from working under Jax.  I've heard he's a stickler for such things—survival skills, knot tying, and so on.  I kind of wish I'd gotten that kind of training and attention... but I guess my path was different. 
When the water's warm, we wash our own clothes by hand side by side.  I handle mine and she takes care of hers.  I wring mine out with no problem but she needs some help with a few of her things.  I assist and she gives me a genuine smile—not forced at all. 
I begin to hang mine up and she starts on hers.  She's blushing again.  She's not comfortable hanging her underwear up around me.  It's obvious. 
"It's no big deal, Stiff," I insist gruffly.
She nods but she's still embarrassed. 
When we finish, I decide to ask, "So, are we making another loaf of that bread?"
She looks at me surprised that I was serious.  She grins and nods.  We go toward the kitchen and she shows me how to make it.  I've actually never done this before.  She ties a towel around her waist and an apron around me.  I smirk at her actually wrapping her arms around me to help.  She must think I've never really done much in the kitchen before.  But I seriously don't mind at all.  She shows me what we need to make the bread—flour, yeast, and warm water. 
"That's incredibly simple," I mention. 
"It is," she nods. 
"Abnegation recipe?" I question. 
She nods again.  "My mom's.  It's the one food I liked there.  I've made better ones in Dauntless, though—adding butter, sugar, salt... one had honey and oats.  Oh, we should have oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow," she suggests excitedly. 
"Sounds good to me," I reply. 
We warm up some water and measure out the other two ingredients stirring them together.  When the water is warm, not hot, she has me mix them together.  It's like a sticky mess.  We incorporate more flour and then begin to knead it.  She actually has to show me, putting her hands on mine and guiding me as she stands behind me.  I try not to read anything into it but I do get the hang of implementing this motion quickly.  I'm shocked at how well this is coming together by the end.  We let it rise in a covered bowl somewhat near the fire. I wash my hands and so does Tris. I notice that her nails look purple since we used the cold tap water. I grasp her hand in mine.
"Are you that cold?" I ask concerned.
"Usually," she shrugs.
"Do you get enough iron?" I question.
"I think so," she blinks.
"Go see Dana when we get back," I tell her holding her hand between both of mine.
"Okay," she whispers softly.
After a moment, I check her fingers again. It looks better.
"The other," I say releasing that hand and motioning for the opposite. She surrenders her hand to me and I warm that one up as well.
We decide to start thawing some meat for lunch.  She insists on tacos.  I have no problem with that. 
I stoke the fire a bit and we agree to relax for a while. She picks up our beds though, folding the blankets up while I replace the cushions on the furniture. We sit down while the meat thaws. I read a miscellaneous survival book as she reads the same thick volume from yesterday.  She's been back and forth between cookbooks and that.
"What are you reading?" I ask her curiously. 
She looks up at me in surprise. She blinks and shows me the cover—The Bible. She really is religious. Tyler is an atheist... so I see what she means about how they have nothing in common. I nod since she's watching me and she goes back to her book. I turn back to mine but I ponder on what this means—how serious she is about her religion...
The day goes by quickly. Most of our laundry dries fairly rapidly but the thicker articles take a little longer—the sweaters, sweatshirts, pants, and so on. We enjoy our lunch that we prepare together—her showing me how to make tortillas from scratch, which is not as difficult as one would think.  We bake the bread and eat our lunch.  We lounge around kind of bored for a good portion of the day. We end up scouring the storage room some more finding helpful and entertaining things.  I discover a set of cards in there and I teach her some games. She picks it up fast and becomes a decent competitor. I thought the same about her initiation.
We break to make dinner—roasted turkey breast, mashed potatoes, and stewed vegetables. My repertoire is growing and the meals are incredible. After the cleanup, we sit together on the sofa playing games, telling jokes, and clowning around.  I'm constantly smiling.  She yawns though. 
"Tired?" I ask. 
She nods. 
"You can go first," I motion to the bathroom. 
She nods and agrees. 
I check the temperature outside since the sun has set hours ago.  It's almost -100*F and I gape at it for a moment.  I shake out of it quickly when I see her shivering and notice that it's 52*F in here.  We had our blankets around us sitting on the sofa close together. 
"Maybe you should wear your thermals to bed," I suggest. 
"That's a good idea," she nods. 
She grabs them and I walk off prepping some hot water bottles I'd found.  She'll need that tonight.  I go to warm up some water for that and even for some chamomile tea before bed to help.  I notice that the water is just trickling.  The pipes are freezing.  I fill up everything with the drums in the back but leave the water running from the faucet.  Maybe that'll keep them from bursting.  I decide since it's so cold and it may continue dropping that I'll keep a bin of ready food near us in bed—jerky, trail mix, apples, dried and canned food... etc.  I fill a few bins with that and then fill several crates with wood to bring out.  I stack them out of the way but nearby.  I also decide to fill several jugs with water and keep those at reach just in case. 
When Tris emerges, she goes right over to the furniture and begins setting up like last night.  I use the facilities hoping the toilet doesn't freeze but there's a large bucket with a lid just in case.  I brush my teeth and change into some thermals that were in the storage room before layering on my shirt, sweater, and a sweatshirt.  I come out to her already shivering under the blankets.  I fill the hot water bottles and hand one to her.
"What's this?" she asks. 
I lift up her blankets and place it behind her back.  I go to step away and she nods. 
"That helps," she says softly. 
I nod in reply.  I stoke the fire and add a couple more logs before I pour us each a cup of tea.  I have her sit up and drink. 
"Thank you," she tells me. 
"Anytime, Stiff," I tell her.  I sip my tea quickly and take her cup when she's done.  I'm anxious to climb into bed since even I'm chilled.  As I walk back from the sink, I see her checking the temperature gauge.  She's gaping at it.  I take it from her.  Instead of a reading for outside, there's several dashes.  But the one down here says 49*F.  It's dropping.  I set it aside and climb into bed putting that hot water bottle on the small of my back.  I lay down on my left side as usual and get comfortable.  Tris actually rolls over and moves closer to me wrapping her arms around me. 
"You don't mind, do you?" she says burying her face against my chest. 
"No.  I don't mind," I respond in a whisper. 
I sigh in contentment and enjoy the moment, my heart beating faster at the contact.  I calm eventually and drift off far too quickly to savor the moment... but my dreams are pleasant.