A/N: Okay, I'm officially wowed. Between the three sites where I've been posting this story, I received some 75 requests for an epilogue. Thank you all so much for the support and reviews! You inspired me to write out the scene I had in mind, so here you go... It's short, but hopefully you'll agree that it wraps up the story nicely.

Chapter 22: Tris – Epilogue

Tobias' arms catch her the moment she walks in the front door, his breath a hot whisper in her ear. "Get changed quickly. We're going out."

She furrows her brow at him uncertainly. It's a weeknight – an unusual time to get a babysitter and go on a date – and she can't think of any event they'd be celebrating tonight. It's not an anniversary of anything she can remember offhand.

"Why?"

"You don't know?" He makes a credible attempt to look hurt before giving up and smirking slyly. "I guess you'll have to see if you can figure it out."

Rolling her eyes, she starts for the stairs, hearing the kids' voices from the family room as she passes by just out of their sight. Evelyn's playful tone answers them, and she knows that her mother-in-law is already here to watch them.

"Casual clothes," Tobias calls after her.

She wracks her brain as she changes out of her office attire, trying to remember what today is. But September doesn't hold a lot of anniversaries for them – just their "second first kiss," and they celebrated the ten-year anniversary of that in their bedroom two weeks ago, after the kids went to sleep for the night. Theoretically, September twenty-fourth could be the day they conceived Abigail, since they're not entirely sure when that happened, but it seems unlikely that Tobias has suddenly picked today to honor that.

By the time she's heading downstairs, wearing jeans and a sweater, she's decided that her husband is pulling her leg. He probably wants to discuss a promotion at work or some other opportunity like that.

"Mommy!" Eli calls excitedly the moment she enters the family room. He tries to run for her, but Tobias scoops him up as he passes, holding the giggling toddler high in the air. It's a ploy to give Abigail a chance to greet their mother first, since she's been sensitive about that lately, but it makes Eli laugh anyway.

Abigail is talking a mile a minute as she latches onto Tris' legs. At four, she's already over half her mother's height, but that's nothing compared to Eli's growth curve. Despite not being quite two yet, he's practically as tall as his sister, and he towers over the other kids in his daycare room. He definitely inherited his father's height.

And his strength, too, judging by the way he barrels into them the moment Tobias sets him back down on the floor. "Mommy, Mommy," he exclaims, grinning through his partially-toothed mouth. "Gamma's here." He turns to point at Evelyn, who is smiling at the semi-wrestling match taking place in front of her. "We paying piates."

"Pirates?" Tris gasps, acting as if her children don't play that game at every opportunity. "Is Grandma your prisoner?"

"No, Mommy," Abigail whispers conspiratorially. "Grandma is the pirate. She's going to make us walk the plank."

Her words seem to jog Eli's memory, and he races to retrieve his toy sword, brandishing it at his grandmother. "You alk the pank," he commands in his most intimidating voice, "not us." Tris can only shake her head. Sometimes, Eli is such a boy.

Not that Abigail is any better, she concludes, as her daughter tugs repeatedly on her hand, trying to pull her into the fray while suggesting more and more extreme versions of what they can do to escape their would-be captor. Her ideas are heavily based on "Peter Pan," since that's her favorite movie these days, but she seems to be pulling in pieces from her current bedtime story, "My Father's Dragon," too.

"It sounds like you're in for quite the evening," Tris mutters to Evelyn half-apologetically, as the kids begin jumping from one imaginary alligator's back to another. But her mother-in-law just chuckles. She was only able to be around for half of Tobias' childhood, and that was harshly ruled by Marcus, so she absolutely loves being with her grandchildren like this – watching them and playing games with them and knowing that their lives are full of everything she could ever want for them.

That certainly makes it easier for Tris and Tobias to say their goodbyes and slip out into the cool September air. The days are still long, so they have a couple of hours of sunlight left even by the time they arrive at their destination – which seems to be Navy Pier.

They chat about nothing in particular while they grab some food and wander along the pier, watching the water and the tourists and remembering other times they've been here.

There are lines for the games, so they opt to skip those, deciding to return with the kids on another day instead. But they do take a boat ride, enjoying the view and the wind and the chance to simply be close to each other.

"So, how was work?" Tris asks, still convinced that Tobias' goal tonight is to discuss something from there.

"Pretty typical," he answers, resting his elbows on the railing and leaning close to her, "except that Amar decided the trainers should spend more time with the developers. He thinks it will help us make the product more user-friendly." His shoulder lifts. "I suppose it might, if we can get past the attitude on both sides."

Tris nods sagely. "We try to do that, too. It does help in the long run." She nudges his arm companionably. "Just remember that the end-users are the ones who actually use the product, so it has to work for them. The trainers are usually a good judge of that."

He gives a non-committal grunt. "Yeah, but they could be a lot less blunt about it."

That makes her laugh, and she leans further into him, deciding to focus on the city that's passing in front of them. Whatever today is about, it doesn't seem to be work after all, so she's back to guessing.

Slowly, memory by memory, she goes through their years together over the course of the boat ride. She starts when was just sixteen and picks back up at twenty-six, but no matter how many events she remembers, this date still doesn't ring any bells.

She's more confused than ever by the time they're off the boat and Tobias is taking her hand and leading her toward the Ferris wheel. Both of their first kisses occurred there, but neither on this particular day. And with Tobias' fear of heights, they've only ever ridden it those two times.

"What am I missing?" she asks, her brows pulled together quizzically. "What is today?"

"It'll come to you." The answer would be downright infuriating if it weren't accompanied by that particularly impish grin – the one that he used to reserve just for her but that he now bestows more freely. She knows that it's a sign of how much he loves his life these days, and it's impossible to be annoyed when she sees it.

To her surprise, he even manages to hang onto that smile once they're up in the air. Their hands are linked, and his gaze stays mostly on her instead of their surroundings, but he still looks remarkably relaxed for someone facing a long-term fear.

"Are you not afraid of heights anymore?" she asks curiously.

"Doesn't seem like it." He leans close, the fingers of his free hand brushing tendrils of her hair behind her ear. She's been letting it grow out again, now that Eli is old enough not to grab it so much. "I think our previous trips up here cured me."

Her own lips lift at that, before she presses them to his. After all, it's an old habit to kiss while on the Ferris wheel. "Good," she quips after a moment, "because I've been wanting to go bungee jumping. Are you game for that?"

A low chuckle rumbles through his throat. "Sure, no problem. We'll take the kids, too. They'd love it."

That draws an answering laugh from her, her mind conjuring up a vivid image of Eli bouncing wildly up and down from a bridge, waving his toy sword at Abigail as she points out alligators in the river below them. "Maybe in ten or twenty years."

"Good call." There's a mischievous glint in Tobias' eyes, and she finally gives up on guessing the reason for this impromptu date.

"Okay, spill," she insists, leveling her gaze at him. "Nothing much happened on September twenty-fourth, and you know it, so why are we up here?"

For several seconds, he debates answering, before his lips curve upwards. "You're assuming that it's about the date, but it's not." His fingers tighten around hers. "It's about the passage of time." He lets that hang in the air for a moment before adding, "As of today, we have been back together for longer than we were apart."

The statement stops her, sending her mind spinning again through the years of their relationship. Their lives have been so full, between getting married and moving into a larger home and having two incredible children. And on top of that, they've built a relationship with Evelyn, rebuilt one with Andrew, and strengthened their ties to the rest of their family and friends. It feels like so much longer than ten years have passed, and it stuns her to realize that it's barely been as long as they were apart.

"Were you really away for that long?" she whispers, trying to remember details from that decade and finding very little that seems important now.

"Yeah." He squeezes her hand, drawing her gaze back to his. "Going by the biggest stretch – the time between kisses."

That elicits another small laugh from her. There are many ways to count the days, after all, depending on whether you start from when he left for college or when he wrote that letter or when she read it. But they're now past even the longest of those measures.

"Tris, I just…. I want to thank you for giving me a second chance." His thumb moves lightly back and forth over her wedding band and engagement ring. "When I returned to Chicago, it was largely for you. I knew I wanted to try again, but I didn't dare hope that you'd agree." He lifts her left hand, pressing a kiss to those rings. "But for some reason that I'll never fully understand, you did. You accepted me, and you found a way to forgive me and to love me again, and you completely changed my life." His deep blue eyes hold hers intensely. "I owe everything to you, Tris. Everything that matters to me. And I can never tell you enough how much I love you."

For a long moment, she simply stares back, lost in his gaze and in the emotions swirling through her. His words are as true for her as they are for him, but as she thinks back on it, she's not entirely sure why she gave him that chance so long ago. Certainly, a large part of her argued against it at the time, reinforced by Christina's strong dislike of anything Tobias. But she ignored all that and went forward anyway.

It was because of him, she finally realizes. She didn't decide based on memories or feelings or logic. No, something in her knew him – the true essence of who he is – and chose to trust him no matter what.

"You were worth it," she answers softly. "You've always been worth it, Tobias." She lifts her head, bringing her lips to his in a long, slow kiss. "And you know what," she adds when they eventually pull apart, "you always will be worth it."

He's grinning again, that same smile of absolute joy, as he rests his forehead on hers, finishing the ride in silence. There's no need for conversation in this moment, filled as they both are with emotions that are too large to verbalize. They just know that what exists between them – their particular combination of love and trust and hope and life – is something that most people only dream of finding.

She couldn't ask for a better reality.

A/N: Thank you so much to BK2U, who acted as my wonderful beta reader for this story! She helped me catch a number of habits I had gotten into that were becoming repetitive, and I feel like my writing is stronger for being made aware of those. Thank you also to all of you who have reviewed, favorited, and/or followed this story, particularly those of you who took the time to review every chapter! That level of support makes a huge difference for fanfiction writers, since it's the only "payment" we receive, and it encourages us to write and helps us improve our skills.

With that in mind, please take a moment to let me know what you thought of this ending. I have no immediate plans to write more "Divergent" fanfics, but if a lot of you ask, you never know. :-)