This is a short Finnick and Annie one shot. It happened out of the blue. This is one of the few things I've written that isn't Jasper and Alice, so I would love to know what you think. I saw Catching Fire and was inspired. I've always loved them. c:

I raced up to Annie's room and couldn't walk fast enough. Trying to keep my composure was becoming a hopeless cause. Very few people knew we were together and it was so important to keep that way. Half worried and half the consuming need to see her in front of me, I practically burst through the door of her room in the hotel.

When I saw her my breath got caught in my throat. "Annie." I said, relieved. I had been away for too long this time. One too many nightmares of losing her and I was a mess. I was always a mess.

When she looked up, I saw her eyes sparkling, as if they were welling up with tears. I immediately saw that she didn't look as relieved to see me as I thought she would, I was so jittery I felt like I was about to explode.

"Annie." I said again, as if just her name was medicine. Walking over to the edge of the bed she sat on, I got down on my knees so that my face would be level with her's. I held her face in my hands, trying to search her eyes for what was wrong. It was only then I realized how perfect the room looked, that the bed she sat on hadn't been used. Who knows how long she had sat there just starting at the wall in front of her.

This wasn't shock and she wasn't having a regular episode. On the contrary, she looked straight at me. When she was having an episode, her eyes would glaze over, looking passed me and everything else. When that happened I would have to coax her back to reality and watch her find her place again. I was lost on what to do, I was so happy to see her that I could hardly think straight.

"Annie, what is it?"

She didn't respond. I felt such a block from her, like she couldn't hear me.

Her hands laid idly together on her lap. I took them and placed them gently on my shoulders. With a mixture of panic and determination, I stood up and I lifted her up off the bed with me. I felt her gasp against my neck, taken off guard by how close she was to me now. I turned us around, so I was now sitting on the bed, and she was sitting on my lap. I held her face in my hands, which she responded too. She closed her eyes and leaned closer. But as if she had done something wrong, she pulled away again.

"Baby?"

She looked away from this time. Her bright green eyes darted, trying to avoid my gaze. My mind racked with possibilities, all of them making me more upset. My hands absent-mindedly rubbed her back, trying to soothe her about a problem that I knew nothing about.

She looked as if she were in pain, like the words that wouldn't come out would do more harm than good. Although I knew nothing she said would change my mind about her, she seemed to think other wise.

Finally though, she swallowed hard and her voice shook with what bravery she had tried to bottle up for who knows how long.

"I'm becoming...attached to you, Finnick."

I didn't know what to say, except that I'd forgotten how much I loved her voice.

"Attached?" I said in a whisper. To me, that was a good thing. As much as I wanted to say that I felt the same way, I could tell something was wrong. She said it like it was a weakness, a problem that she couldn't fix.

"I don't want you to be with me if I'm not what you had in mind. If...if I'm more than you bargained for. I need to know right now."

She looked scared, literally petrified to hear the truth. The truth I knew every time I looked at her, that we were meant to be together.

Her voice lifted, she spoke faster now. "I see you in the Capitol. I know you're doing what you have too. Those other women...they adore you. They would treat you better than I'm able too. And...you wouldn't be in danger anymore."

How could I prove to her that wasn't what I cared about? The other women were nothing compared to her and so was the Capitol. Damn the Capitol and the Games. Damn it all except her.

"I can't get closer to you until I know you understand this. You don't have to be with me because you feel guilty. I can make it alone, I can." She insisted. "I just need you to know..." She closed her eyes and shook her head, as if she wasn't making sense. I knew exactly what she meant. I just knew that none of it mattered more than her.

I met her lips in a second, she retracted since I caught her off guard, but she leaned forward almost instantly. She was always so gentle, I could feel her relax into our kiss. Her hands ran across my arms and mine across her back and down her waist. This, this was why. Because the only reason she melted into my kiss was because I felt like I was on fire every time she even glanced at me.

I pulled away, my breathing quickening. I locked eyes with her, my forehead pressed to her's. I needed her to understand this.

"You are what I want, what I need. All of those nights when I have nightmares, you bring me back. Forget attached, Annie. You're the only reason I've made it this far."

She was really crying now. Annie ran her fingers through my hair and touched my face as if she couldn't believe I was right in front of her.

"I can't be a burden, not to you."

"You aren't." I vowed, gripping her tighter.

She nodded, trying to keep her composure.

I kissed her neck, making her shiver. "Quite the opposite actually."

She laughed at my breath tickling her neck, sniffling back what tears were left. God, I missed her. I couldn't help but smile as I kissed her again and again. We laughed at each other and held one another until we fell asleep. The only way either of us could get any real rest.

The nightmares still happened, of course. We would wake up in cold sweats and screaming for each other. Neither of us ever left the Games. The scars that are left became permanent in every way. Something else was permanent though, Annie's patience, her sincerity. Those arms that enveloped me when I couldn't hold on anymore. She was my rock as much as I was her's.

And nothing, not Snow's imprisonment, the faces who worshiped me in the Capitol, or the things that haunt me are worth Annie. Her face in the middle of the night, resting in the crook of my neck. That comfort is something I cherish, and what I had become unknowingly so secure in. Life was full of possibilities, but I only needed one constant.

"I love you." I whispered to her, knowing she had fallen asleep. And finally feeling her presence beside me after so long, I closed my eyes.

What do you think? There isn't a lot said about their relationship, so being independent about their past is something different for me. I hope I did it some justice.