From Here On Out

fifty

"With you right here, Your hand in mine"

Four Months Ago

Tris could feel her baby girl kicking wildly inside her, and every time she did so it made her smile. She would meet her soon, her baby girl. They hadn't chosen a name yet, but Tris had an idea she really liked. And planned to run it by Tobias soon.

"Do you like it?" Tris asked her baby as she slid her hand over her growing belly.

"Melody Hope?" Her daughter kicked at her hand, and Tris took that as her answer.

"Melody for your father's love for music and the way it saved his life. And Hope because that's what's gotten us through so much. Hope that we would be together, hope that we would have you one day and hope that we would have a beautiful life together."

"I think it's perfect." Tris looks up at her husband who stands in the doorway to the bedroom.

"Really?" She asks and he walks towards her.

"Melody Hope Eaton," Tobias smiles, placing a kiss to Tris's forehead. "I think it has a pretty nice ring to it."

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Present Day

"I don't know what you want Melody." Tris says softly as she rocks the screaming infant back and forth in her arms. One week with her, and although she loved her more than life... it had been hell. Melody had barely stopped crying since they got her home. Tris was exhausted, she hadn't slept and was going mad not knowing what to do to help her child.

Tobias had taken a lot of the night shifts being up with Melody, knowing Tris needed to get some rest but Tris couldn't sleep knowing she couldn't stop her baby girl from crying the way she did. Sometimes it almost seemed like Tobias was a better parent than she was, and maybe he was. He could get her to sleep, to calm down and stop her crying. Tris couldn't.

The front door opens and Tobias is instantly greeted by the sound of a crying infant. Walking into the living room where it looked like a bomb of baby things went off, he sees his exhausted wife close to tears herself.

"Hey," He said and walks quickly to her. "Hand her to me baby, you need to sit down." Her legs looked like they were going to give out at any moment.

Tris nodded and handed Melody over to Tobias, and collapsed to the floor.

Tobias rocked the infant but she still wouldn't stop, so carrying her to her room he sets her in her crib. Grabbing hold of his guitar that he had left in her room from the night before, he begins to strum the familiar cords of a song he had sung many times this week to his daughter.

"Still those blessings seem to find me through the curse, this time I'll learn."

"So from here on out, I'm turning around. Parting ways with the man I used to be, and I'm making you a promise. I'm gonna make it count, from here on out."

His fingers slowly stop strumming as she stares down at his baby girl fast asleep in her crib, with the bunny he gave her beside her.

Hearing sniffling, he looks up to see Tris standing in the doorway.

"You're so good with her," She shakes her head, and he can see the tears that she's cried stained on her cheeks. "better than me."

"Don't say that." Placing his guitar off to the side, he stands and moves with her back out into the living room.

"It's true Tobias, you have a gift with her that I don't. I can't get her to sleep, to stop crying. I'm a horrible mother."

Tobias lifts her chin up so she meets his eyes, and he's staring into her flooded blue grey eyes. "You are not a horrible mother Beatrice, you are not."

He knows she dislikes the use of her full name, but when he uses it she knows he's serious.

"You're a new mother, and all new parents struggle. I'm sure when she gets older you'll be better with her then, than I will. You are an amazing mother Tris, but the beginning is always going to be hard."

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?" Tris asks, wiping away her tears.

Tobias moves his hand knowing she'll keep looking at him, and shrugs. "Maybe. But I'm not lying to you. I'm trying to get you to see the amazing, beautiful mother that stands in front of me."

"How do you do that?"

Tobias raises his brow in confusion at her, "Do what?"

"Make me feel better just by looking at me that way."

"What way would that be?" Tobias asks her.

"Like I'm the most beautiful person in the world," Tris says and looks up at her husband. "even though I'm covered in baby spit and I look like I haven't taken a shower in weeks."

"Because you are." Tobias doesn't say anything more than those three words, and to Tris those three words are enough.

Pulling her into his chest for a hug, Tris feels better just by the soft comfort of her husband. She never imagined herself here with Tobias, but now that she is she can't picture being anywhere else.

"Melody is asleep, I'll sit in her room in case she wakes. Why don't you go take that shower." He doesn't say it in a rude manner, he says it in a kind one. A tone that knows she wants just five minutes to herself without falling apart, and Tobias wants to give her that.

"You know I love you?" Tris asks, pulling away from the warm embrace.

Tobias's lips curve into a soft smirk, "I may have an idea." Tris smiles and begins to head off to go shower, but Tobias speaks up before she disappears past the corner.

"You know I love you too?"

This time it's Tris who smiles to herself, "I may have an idea."

A/N: Just a filler chapter, there may be more time lapses coming up, in order to get to some more story line.