Opening his apartment door, Eric was beyond exhausted. Today he was pulled away from training to go on a special mission, and since he was so nicely "asked" by Max, how on earth could he possibly say no? After dropping his bag on the floor, he went straight to the bathroom to take a well-deserved shower. The bathroom was Eric's favorite place because he knew for a fact that he was alone and had time to think, and for the past couple of weeks thinking was all that Eric did. At 24, Eric felt like it wasn't fair that he sacrificed so much to be where he is today and not feel complete. The loneliness was why he felt so incomplete. His sacrifices were why he was lonely: he sacrificed his birth fraction because he felt like it was holding him back, he sacrificed his possibilities for friendship as an initiate because of the cuts (why be friends with someone who may or may not make it through the Dauntless rituals). Because of those sacrifices, he became cold, distant and ruthless but that combined with his Erudite background made him the leader that he is today: one that meant business and one not to be fucked with. Yes he made some friends but mostly had acquaintances. When it came to the romantic side, well let's just say that it was non-existent. Eric slept around thanks to the Club but he never had a meaningful relationship that could fill the void. The only form of relationship he had was with his friend who also happened to be his fuck buddy Tori. Tori was the best fuck buddy there was: she was beautiful, tough, sexy and most importantly discreet. She would always take Eric as her last client and once the tattoo was done, Eric would relax on the tattoo chair with his dick in her mouth. She was so good at sex, especially at giving head. The truth is Tori loved sex. But Eric wanted more than sex now, and as cool as Tori was he didn't love her and vice versa.

Still in the shower, Eric decides to ignore his hard penis and try to get some shuteye, but if his stiffy was still there by the time he wakes up he'll head straight to Tori's place. He shuts off the water, dries off, goes to bed without any clothes on and prays that he falls asleep quickly because the day was long enough and needed to end. As he was falling asleep, Eric extended his arm to the other side of the bed and noticed that no one was there. "Why is this killing me so much?", he quietly thought, "you would think that after years of being alone, you'd get used to it." He settles down and let sleep come over him.

"The smell of eggs and bacon woke Eric from a deep slumber. As he sits on the bed, he notices movement on his left side and looks to find a little boy no older than 3 with dirty blond hair staring right at him. "Morning daddy! Mommy say breakfast is ready!" A strong sense of love and admiration flows from this boy to Eric and he's instantaneously in parent mode. His inner voice is screaming at him to protect and defend this child at any cost. "Mine" it screams at him. Eric reaches over, grabs him and hugs him so tightly that the little boy starts giggling. "Let's go find mommy and eat!" Eric tells him, to which the little boy yelled "Yay!" As they walk through the corridor to the kitchen, the smell of food hits them so hard that their stomachs start growling, which once more made the little boy giggle. "Mommy!" he yelled, "daddy's stomach and my stomach are talking again!" Eric heard a female laugh, one so enticing that he hurried his steps to the kitchen. Once arrived, he is floored by the woman in front of him: thin with some curves, long blond hair, big brown eyes that match her big smile. Tris Prior was standing in front of him putting food on the plates. Once she was done, she goes to him and kisses him on the lips and takes the little boy from him. "I had to ask my little helper to go get you. You were sleeping for so long I didn't have the heart to wake you" She walks back to the table and puts the boy on a high chair. When he stands there without moving, she goes to him and puts a hand on his forehead "What's wrong? Do you feel sick?" he answers no that he was just a bit tired. At that response all worry left her face and she grabs his hand to direct him to the table. They all talk, laugh and eat. Him, Eric, fearless and ruthless leader of the Dauntless, is relaxed enough to be laughing: he is sitting on the couch with Tris by his side and the boy on the floor playing. Eric is happy. Eric is happy with his wife and son. When the realization hits him, he grabs her and kisses her. That feeling is simply indescribable. When they finally pull apart, she looks at him and whispers, "I love you, you know?"

The alarm went off and took Eric by surprise. He jumped from the bed thinking that he was being attacked. When he grasps that he's in his room, in his apartment, safe, the heart palpitations started slowing down. He goes back to bed only to close his eyes but not fall asleep. His mind was going and he couldn't come back from the dream. That dream stirred emotions that he desperately wanted to feel again. A woman has never said 'I love you' to him before, well except his mother of course, and it felt amazing. That 'I love you' from Tris made him feel whole, less cold and less evil. But out of every girl in Dauntless that he could dream about, why did it have to be Tris? Why the Stiff? This intrigued him to the point that he decided that he would make a conscious effort to get to know Tris Prior.