Warning: Beating, mild rape scene (Literally two sentences describing it)
Katniss Everdeen treaded quickly through the darkened streets to her apartment. It was late enough at night. This part of Manhattan wasn't safe at any time of day, especially after dark, and was particularly dangerous for a woman who lived alone. Katniss was well aware of this, but she was broke and the rent was cheap. Plus, the commute wasn't all that bad. It was Saturday night, or early Sunday morning rather, and Katniss had off the next day, and she was thankful for that. After twelve hour shifts three days in a row, it was needed.
The typical streetwalkers, drug dealers, and gang members lined the alleyways and back roads. Plenty were hidden under burned out street lamps, entryways into unoccupied stores. Katniss' friend Gale had taught her how to get away from these people when they approached her, he said to give them her purse and run, and which places to avoid altogether. Gale usually walked her home, in fact. But tonight was the only night in the week that he worked into the morning and she had off. He lived on the same floor as her though, and he always checked in on Katniss when he got home. He did have a key after all.
She pulled her coat across her chest. It was November, but there was an undeniable chill in the dry air. Plus, her knit sweater and jeans didn't do much to ward of the cold. Her brisk pace brought her closer and closer to the apartment. In fact, she was just a block away when the man approached her.
His tall, wide frame towered over her small, thin one. He had blond hair, and would probably be considered good looking by most, but the first that crossed Katniss' mind was monstrous. He appeared cocky, and his eyes had a dangerous glint in them. "Hey, baby," He cooed, placing a firm grip on her shoulder.
"If you want my money, just take it. I don't have time for this, not this late at night," Katniss said coldly. In her mind, she was rehearsing the tips Gale had given her, especially if he tried to hurt her. Give him the money. The eyes, the balls, the nose were all good targets. Don't let him get your wrists.
He laughed, but his voiced lacked any warmth. "Nah, that's not what I want." His grip on her shoulder tightened when she tried to shake his hand off. Katniss got the worst kind of chills as he whispered, "What I want is you." Oh, Was all Katniss' mind could muster in that moment. Rapes weren't an uncommon occurrence in the neighborhood, Katniss could name a few woman whom she knew in passing that were victims of the act. But she never expected this for her. Being mugged, yes, but raped? For some reason she never even thought of the danger the act posed on her, even living in this neighborhood. But as one calloused hand was placed on her shoulder and the other was trailing up and down her left arm, the threat was all too real.
"I'm alright for now," She said evenly. Katniss was surprised that her voice didn't quiver in the slightest.
His laugh was airier than the one before. "Alright, alright. You're not the only girl out so late." And just like that, he let her go. Katniss was so shocked that he let off, just like that, that she stood, gaping at him for a few moments before practically running to her apartment. In all of her giddiness in being freed, Katniss didn't notice the figure following her.
He waited until he could see that the bitch was no longer on the first floor through the locked, glass front door. How dare she, how dare that stupid piece of trash refuse him. He had let her go at first, sure, but that was his plan. He had learned that by giving them hope, they were easier to crush.
He back peddled a few feet so he could see the sign he was looking for, his green light to proceed. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes, soft yellow light poured from two windows on the third floor, specifically the east side of the building. As luck would have it, he would have no need to break into a side door. The window was right next to the fire escape.
Katniss practically flung herself on the couch after leaving her compulsory voice mail for Gale after telling him she was home, and safe. He was probably still working, even though almost two in the morning by now. She knew that when she would tell Gale about her run in with this stranger, he wouldn't let her walk home alone for a long time. If he would have to work, she'd imagine he'd arrange for an escort. Yes, Gale was quite overprotective of her, and she him. But they were practically all the other had. Both lost their fathers at a young, both had to look after their families at tender ages. Both knew that if they hadn't had the other, they would have gotten into some bad stuff.
Katniss had a weight on her shoulder at fourteen- her mother had to go away for a few months, it wasn't until later she learned that her mother had in-patient depression treatment, but when her mother finally left, it was more of a relief than anything. Before her mother had checked herself in, all she did was sit on the couch all day, staring into space. Katniss forged her mother's signature on things for hers and Prim's school, learned how to do bills, took condolence calls. But, there was only so much a teenager could do- they were threatened with eviction, swimming in debt, and on top of that, Katniss had to tend to her sister, Primrose. She did her best making the both of them look presentable (subsequently keeping the foster home threat a minimal), but with their water, electricity and cable shut off, there was only so much she could do.
It was a Tuesday in March; Katniss had no money, and hadn't eaten anything substantial for weeks. The last things she and Prim had eaten for the past week were the chicken fingers and drink the schools supplied for the kids who didn't bring lunch.. She was wandering allies, looking for garbage cans in the snow with edible food, streets with money, anything. She was in the loading area behind a few stores, the scent of breads had lured Katniss in. She searched the garbage can for any edible breads, but before she could, a woman came outside and screamed at her, a stupid brat, to stay out of her trash. In her dazed state, Katniss recognized the woman as Mrs. Mellark, a boy in her class' mother. She was quite a witch, and would snap at the children when she was a lunch mother, and was always curt when Katniss would stop in the bakery with her father. She never really knew Peeta, they had spoken scare of two words to each other in all of their years in school together. He seemed nice enough, but was always surrounded by a large group of kids, who always appeared to be laughing when Peeta spoke. Katniss was something of a loner in school, so it made sense that they never really got to know each other.
In those next moments, though, he was her savior. He had come out to ask his mother what the problem was when he saw Katniss. She shuffled him back inside, but not before he shared a pointed look with her, his blue orbs burning into her gray ones. She felt so dejected after this encounter that she slumped next to the garbage cans and let the teas fall freely down her face. She had failed. Her house was falling apart, her mother was on the crazy train, and her sister and herself were emaciated. There was no hope, nothing left to live for. For more than a fleeting moment, she wondered if she would die there in the snow, like the scum of the earth.
Something happened that she didn't expect. There was shouting, which she barely registered, footsteps she didn't hear, and a blurry Peeta Mellark standing over her. She hadn't noticed the pure hurt in his eyes until she recalled the event later on. He wasn't hurt because of his mother, physically yes, but not emotionally at the moment. No, he was hurting for her. He was feeling her, a concept completely foreign to Katniss. She didn't realize her was handing her a large white bag until he gently touched her shoulder.
"Katniss," He breathed. She looked up at him, so helpless, so fragile, and in that moment she saw something in him that stirred something she no longer thought possible; hope. He was the epitome of hope, and he would remain something like a beacon of life later on in her mind: something that represented pure goodness.
"Thank you," She whispered quietly, and took off, not before noticing a dandelion; the first of spring. When she got home, she opened the bag to find four loaves of nutty, raisiny bread, and a neat twenty bill tucked in the bottom. It was later that night that she called her Aunt Twill to come and help the situation at home. She helped with the bills, got her mother admitted, and after that night she went out to look for work, when she found Gale Hawthorne. He was trying to help provide for his family too, and though in the beginning he always complained of what a nuisance she was, he let her stick around and do odd jobs with her. They had a bond ever since.
Katniss was snapped out of her reverie to the sound of broken glass. It was quite loud, quite clear, and obviously very near. She turned around to see a dark figure climbing in her window, and froze in fear. Two things in one night, how lucky could this girl get? Whoever this person was, he couldn't see she was home. She darted under the dining room table, the only place to hide. The figure paced around the apartment, searching for something specific. She wondered what it was he was looking for. In her frozen state, Katniss imagined being able to reach one of the cutting knives in her kitchen. If he found her, she needed to protect herself. She just had to. Her breathing was low, even, unperceivable. Maybe she would be safe. Katniss' breathing hitched when two legs appeared in front of her. Would he see her? She had so many questions, fears. Adrenaline was pulsing through her veins. She could feel her heartbeat. Her knees were numb against the old white carpet. It may have been moments or years, she didn't know, but slowly, so slowly, this man lowered himself to her level. She felt faint.
It was he. The man from before, the one who came onto her. How had he followed her? Had she really been so daft as not to see that he had followed her? He got into her apartment, how was she so incompetent? These thoughts were wiped clean from her mind when he spoke. "See, I realized that I just couldn't stay away. You seemed like a spitfire, and I like that." He gave her cool, confident grin.
"Sounds about right," Katniss whispered, voice calm. She then proceeded to punch him in the face. He looked more enraged than hurt by the act, Katniss' hand probably had the worse of the two injuries, and while one hand touched his wound, the other grabbed her wrist.
"Bitch. Seems I was right about you, girl on fire." He pulled her out from under the table roughly, and grabbed her other wrist. "I don't like being told no. Now, you do what I tell you, and you might actually live." The targets, the targets, think Katniss Katniss thought desperately. Eyes, nose, balls. She couldn't do much with her hands, but her knees were free at the moment.
"I don't take orders well," She explained, and spit on his face. The rage was a wildfire in his eyes, and it travelled to his body. He let go of his grip on one wrist to reach into the back pocket of his jeans. Katniss froze when she saw the serrated knife. He stabbed her left side, right in the rib cage. With all of the strength she could muster, she kneed him, right where it would hurt. He doubled over for a moment, releasing his grip on her, just long enough for her to roll over, get her carpet bloodied from the gushing blood from her front, and run to her bedroom. He wasn't far behind as she leapt into the room. She didn't even have time to shut the door when he struck her down.
"You dirty slut. I offer you myself, and you think you can pick and choose what you can do with me? And when I give you a second chance, you say no? It's such a shame you have to die, you're a pretty thing." Katniss was sobbing now, her head pounding from the impact of being hit, and her side was still bleeding out. Her vision was dotted with black and red. She couldn't think straight. Katniss could only make out every other curse he yelled at her. She could barely feel the punches he was throwing. The knife dug into her thigh, but she didn't notice. She was fading as he entered her. Was she naked,
Through her sobs, as he relentlessly forced himself in and out, his hands pressing hard on her upper arm, she asked a question. "Can I at least know your name?" She didn't know where her request came from, but the answer would fall on soon dead ears anyways. Would they clean her body up before Prim saw her?
"I don't see how it matters since you'll be dead by the time I'm done. But Cato." She didn't have the strength to nod, and as he was leaving, she lost consciousness.
Special Agent Johanna Mason of the Special Victims Unit paced around the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital as her partner, Special Agent Peeta Mellark sat in the gray chair, waiting for news on the victim. An neighbor had said they heard a ruckus next door, suspected foul play, and the police and ambulance arrived to an apartment filled with the stench of iron, the stain of blood on the carpet, broken glass everywhere, and an unconscious young woman, almost dead on the floor. The SVU were called in when during the protocol checkup of the victim, nurses found sexual fluids, and because of her physical state, foul play had been suspected. For the first day, it was unknown if this woman would survive, but she finally stabilized and was in rocky condition.
A name hadn't been found yet, but was being looked into. Johanna answered her phone immediately when she saw Captain Abernathy was on. "We've got a name for the victim," Haymitch informed.
"Yeah?" Johanna asked impatiently.
"Tell the hospital the victim's Katniss Everdeen, she has a sister, Primrose Everdeen to inform, and a man, Gale Hawthorne was at the apartment. He's demanding to see her." Haymitch hung up on her before Johanna could respond. Haymitch was invstigating the crime scene, looking for any signs of an identity. He found it, and a one Gale Hawthorne was waiting outside the apartment for the Captain, demanding the location of his Katniss, damn it. Captain obliged, but made a note in his head to question the kid later.
"We've got a name," Johanna told Peeta. He looked up at her expectantly. "Katniss Everdeen."
Peeta hadn't become friends with Katniss after the bread, as much as he wished for that to happen. At the end of each day, after all of their classes were over, Peeta would go by Katniss' locker and "accidentally" drop some change; a five, a ten, maybe a dollar. She almost always was the one to pick the money up, and sometimes Peeta even slipped a twenty in her locker, just for her. He would walk a few paces behind her after school, to all the way to the elementary school where her sister Primrose was, just to make sure she was safe. He was delighted as she became noticeably less skeletal, ecstatic when she appeared to be a normal weight, and heartbroken when he saw her walk out of school everyday with Gale Hawthorne, a boy in his brother's grade. He had no right to be, he barely knew Katniss, but it still hurt nonetheless. He had been in love with her since kindergarten, not him.
After high school, Peeta saw Katniss exactly twice. Once was a few months after graduation, when they briefly said hello, and the other was two years ago, in a grocery store. Both were in a rush and neither had time to get past preliminary pleasantries, but the thought of how stunning she was crossed him more often than he cared to count. More often than any of his recent girlfriends would want to know either.
"I know her," Peeta informed Johanna in a quiet voice. Not Katniss, Katniss doesn't deserve this Peeta thought desperately. He wished he could make all of the pain he knew she would be feeling go away. "Not well, but still." Johanna nodded empathetically, or with as much empathy as she could manage. It did suck, Johanna had to admit that. She couldn't imagine working with a rape victim whom she knew. It just didn't sit right.
Katniss' nurse came to them a few hours later. "She's awake, but a male nurse came in to change her fluids and she lost it. I think it would be a good idea for only Detective Mason to go in." Peeta and Johanna nodded simultaneously. This had happened before; woman would be so afraid that what their attacker did would happen to them if they so much as spoke to any man. Those were rough cases.
Johanna stared at the woman who was attempting to curl herself up in a ball on the hospital bed. She had black and purple and yellowing bruises up and down her arms, on her collarbone area, her face. Her arms were so bruised she could barely make out any unscathed skin. Johanna was informed that the woman had three broken ribs. It was a brutal case, more so than usual.
"Hey Katniss, I'm Special Agent Johanna Mason. I'm here to help you. " The woman nodded slightly, her wild gray eyes calming a bit, but they darted around the room before settling on a far away spot. Her black hair was dry and unkempt, but that was the last thing on anyone's mind. "You don't have to worry about any stupid boys right now, it's just you and me." Johanna paused a moment to see how Katniss was handling her words. Nothing too bad so far, she seemed receptive. "Now, I'm going to need you to tell me something, anything, from that night." Katniss adamantly shook her head no.
After an hour of attempting to coax something more than a solid "no" – which was an accomplishment- Johanna came out of the room. "She's barely speaking- and whatever she's saying isn't helping. I think we should come back in the morning." Peeta was saddened by Johanna's report of Katniss, but nodded anyways. Sometimes time did the trick.
Overnight, Gale visited Katniss, who barely could get through the "Hello's" and "I'm glad you're here's". When Prim came, after taking the next flight in from Creighton, where she was studying to become a doctor, Katniss was embarrassed. Embarrassed her sister had to see her like this, embarrassed she wasn't strong enough to keep that Cato away, embarrassed that she wasn't smart enough. When the woman, Johanna visited her again, she only said she wasn't able to talk. Nothing more, nothing less. She thought she had gotten through the day until another man walked in.
She froze when she saw the blond hair, flashbacks of Cato flooded her. But when she saw his blue eyes, those same orbs that hurt for her that day, she relaxed. Peeta! Her heart practically cried. Of course Peeta would be here for her, he had saved her once before, so why not now? "Peeta!" She cried hoarsely, before blushing at how excited she sounded.
"Hi Katniss." And there it was, that same pain he felt for her that day, it was in his eyes again. He pulled a chair up next to her bed. "Is it okay if I talk to you for a little?" She nodded slowly, relieved for a change. Everyone else wanted her to talk, but Peeta just wanted her to listen. Listening she could manage. He told her about what he had been up to, stories of him and his brothers at the bakery, how he admired Prim and her ability to get a full ride for college. Katniss was noticeably relaxed by the time he finished speaking. "I need you to do a huge favor for me, okay? If there's anything you can tell me, anything at all, I need to know. I want to help you." Unlike all of the nurses, police, and even friends and family who had told her those same words, Katniss actually believed them coming from him.
"He was tall, really tall and muscular." Katniss cleared her throat a little, so that her voice wouldn't crack. Peeta was writing down every word, as though his life depended on it. "He had blond hair, it was almost white, but it was shorter than yours. And blue eyes, but they were so… so much colder than yours. His name was Cato," Katniss finished in a whisper. "I think I'm tired."
"It's okay Katniss, you did beautifully. Thank you so much, you were a huge help." Peeta made a move to stand up, but Katniss grabbed his hand and clutched it desperately.
"Don't leave me," Katniss begged. He had come to save her, he needed to protect her from Cato, Cato couldn't get her again.
"I have to give my notes to my friend, Johanna, but I'll be right back. I promise." She nodded, believing him. Outside Johanna greeted him with a "Well?". "I've got a name and physical description." He handed her the notes.
"Well this shouldn't be too hard, there aren't many Catos running around." Peeta nodded and explained that he might be able to coax a bit more out of Katniss.
When he walked back into the room, Katniss practically leapt to him. "You came back," She said quietly, giddily. "Peeta, can you stay with me tonight? To protect me?"
He knew what the Captain would say to this, but that didn't stop the yes that came from his lips. As she began to drift, he heard her mumble something along the lines of "I knew you'd stay with me" and his thoughts came through his lips as he whispered "Always." He'd always protect her, always stay with her. Maybe she wasn't okay right now, maybe she wouldn't be for a long time, but for now he could keep her safe, and that was good enough for him.
A/N: What do you think? I don't know if it's a one shot or not, but I'd love to hear what you guys think it should be! Please, tell me:)