This is a continuation of Perfection in the Form of Topiary, We Owe it to Ourselves to Try and This is the Way You Left Me.

Present

"Here," Finnick says as he hands me a paper cup of hot coffee. Annie can hardly feel the heat radiating from the steaming cup. This time, unlike many before, Tim Horton's decided to double cup her coffee. The one day she wouldn't have minded the heat, they do dual cup. Annie cannot blame them for filling the minimal requirements of their job. Those people work awful, long hours for only small paycheck.

"Thank you," she smiles at him as a yawn pulls itself from between her lips. It is eight o'clock on a particularly dark Saturday morning. Annie sitting in the front seat of Finnick's car with Noah and Rosy fully awake in the back seat.

"Annie, Annie, Annie! Ican'twaittoshowyouhowgoodIamatsw imming! Dad said I'm like a little fish. Rosy likes to make the fish bubbles for me. Just small ones. Cato's Mom doesn't like it when we make big ones." Noah says, now bouncing in his seat.

"If you don't calm down, you won't get to show Annie how well you swim at all," Finnick warns, his eyes staring at Noah intently through the review mirror. Noah makes a zipping motion over his mouth and places the 'key' in his jacket pocket. Neither Noah nor Rosy say a word until they arrive at Cato's home.

Cato's mum was the one to buzz them up into the building. When they reach the penthouse suite, Cato's mum – Mrs. Bosch – greets Finnick and the children warmly with smiles and hugs. Her eyes land on Annie last, a mix of bewilderment swirled within them as her lip curled under itself in distaste.

"Ms Cresta. Finnick didn't mention you would be sitting on the lesson this morning," Mrs. Bosch says, crossing her arms over her fairly exposed chest. She steps off to the side, leaving the path into her home clear. Annie remains in her spot. "Well, are you coming or not?" Mrs. Bosch spits out as her eyes narrow. Annie tries her best not to giggle. This is exactly what Finnick predicted would happen.

"She's just going to stare at me the whole time with those hungry, cougar eyes of hers," he casually tells her. "If you come with me, she won't have an excuse to come down and 'supervise'."

"I don't know. I don't want to be unwelcome..."

There is a long pause.

"She's the one intruding if anything."

"I don't know…"

"Annie, you are the first woman I have ever had to beg to come watch me swim."

"Can you at least ask her if it's alright?"

Finnick sighs, "And how am I going to explain why you want to come with us, hm? Lara isn't inhospitable; if you show up unannounced she won't say no. She's too pretentious to tarnish her reputation by being rude."

"If you insist…"

"I'm sure you look fantastic in a bathing suit."

"Cato, walk please. You could slip and fall," Annie's voice gently reminds the first grader as his feet carry him quickly across tile outside the pool. His pace slows down only a margin as he throws his towel by the wall and sits down in front of it.

Finnick is already swimming, doing a large number of laps before the rest of the children finished getting ready. It is as if he is some sort of water creature with the way he pushes and pulls through the waves. His strokes are quick and even as they carry him from the deep end, back to the shallow. He curls up against the wall before his feet spring him back into the water with a splash.

"Dad's almost done. I counted one time and he does ten laps before he makes his really super cool dive." Noah's excitement from the car ride is still present as he grins. The smile takes up most of his round face. Annie ruffles the boy's hair as she fixates herself onto her man in the water.

His back muscles twitch as he lifts himself from the pool with ease. The diving board is not particularly high, Finnick, however, does not seem to mind as he climbs the steps and bounces on the board gently. His eyes become distant as they stare idly into the deep water, the board still shifting under his feet. With a shake of his head, he looks up her, sending her a nearly unnoticeable wink before he launches his body into the air. He summersaults once before arching into a perfect nose dive. He cuts through the water without a splash.

Annie can hear the gasps come from Clove and Rosy as they clap and shout out how cool Noah's dad is. All Annie can do is blink. Over and over again. Words are not able to form in her mind.

"How was that, Annie?" Finnick asks as he walks towards her.

He's standing right in front of her, yet, she cannot see him. Her brain replays the event over again in a closed circuit loop. It was the most magnificent thing she had ever seen.

"Earth to Ms Cresta?" He waves his hand in front of her face.

"I think you broke her," Rosy points out, gently poking Annie's sides.

"I'm not broken. I'm just …" Outstanded? Thrilled? In utter catatonic shock? Annie could see how he had earned that scholarship.

"I'm glad to know Ms Cresta likes my technique too," Finnick smiles. "Do I get a sticker for doing a good job?"

"Sure, whatever you like," she blinks her way back into reality. Annie tries her best not to kiss that teasing smirk off his face. If she were not under the watchful eye of untrusting children, she would have given into her urge.

"I'll hold you too that," his smirk does not fade as he made his way over to the children. He gives them careful instructions on the day's lessons of putting their face in the water and using the flutter board to practise their kicking. Cato hangs on Finnick's every word, more so than he did with Ms Trinket last school year.

Clove, however, is the first to jump in once Finnick hands out the foam boards. Bouncing up and down in the shallow water she waits patiently as the rest of her classmates join her. One by one the kids slides into the pool until only Noah is left standing poolside.

"Are you not going in?" Annie asks, gently. Noah does not say anything. He only looks up at her with his big eyes, laced with uncertainty as he clenches the flutter board to his body. His reclusive side taking full form for the first time since Annie began to see him outside of school.

"Don't worry about him; he takes a little warming up. Once we start he'll join us," Finnick calls over, his smile still present. "He gets it from his mom. She was a very … cautious person."

Noah's face brightens unexpectedly, "I get it from my mom?" His feet pad over quickly as his grip loosens on the blue foam in his hands.

"Sure do, buddy. Ready to come in now?" Finnick squirts the tiniest bit of pool water out at his son through the space in his teeth. Noah giggles and nods while he jumps into his father's waiting arms. Annie feels her chest grow warm as she watches Finnick spin the boy around before placing him gently into the water. It is also the last time Finnick pays any special attention to his son. He equally distributes his time so each child gets the same amount of practise in the sixty-minute lesson.

Everyone struggled with a different aspect. Clove cannot make large enough bubbles; Cato cannot bob; Noah cannot hold his breath for more than five counts; and lastly, petite Rosy cannot kick hard enough. She can only propel herself at half the speed in which the other kids can. Any individual would grow flustered with the diverse set of complications, but Finnick takes it in stride and patience, leaving Annie thoroughly impressed.

"C'mon Rosy, kick so hard that Annie can feel your splashing by the wall," he calls, trying to get Rosy to smile. Her own frustration beginning to get the better of her.

"You can do it, Rosy," Clove's tiny voice screams out at her friend. "Kick harder!" But she cannot do it, no matter how much she moves her legs; they will not create a splash. No smile appears across her face once she meets up with the rest of the group. Only a pair of red cheeks and shiny eyes greet them.

"Ugh. You're such a cry baby. Grow up," Cato says, floating on his back. Before Finnick can open his mouth to reprimand the boy for being unfair, Clove smacks him upside the head with her flutter board. The boy lurches forward, arms and legs flailing as he dips under the water. Annie runs towards them in horror as Cato does not surface. She is ready to jump in and lift him up and out but Cato is already in Finnick's arms.

He hands Cato to Annie, who checks for a pulse on his cool, slippery skin. The blood is flowing but she cannot hear him breathing. Finnick hoists himself out of the water as practised hands clamp his nose and he push air into Cato's water-filled lungs.

Annie turns towards Clove, who is now the one with tears in her eyes and a dripping nose. Lifting the young girl out of the pool, Annie holds her close.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to really hurt him. I just wanted to stop him from being mean." Clove sniffles.

"I know, shh, he's going to be okay," Annie coos, giving her a final squeeze before helping Noah and Rosy out of the pool as well. They hover around Finnick as he pushes a final breath into Cato before the boy comes to life again. His body is shivering as he welcomes the towel Annie wraps him in.

"I want my mommy," Cato whimpers into her chest.

"I'll go get her," Finnick says, avoiding eye contact with the group. Wrapping his towel around his waist and slipping into his sandals he disappears into the change room.

The room is quiet, save for Cato and Clove's sniffling noses. Noah and Rosy do not move as their bodies, also, shiver from the cold air.

"How many times have Ms Trinket and I asked you to keep your hands to yourself, Clove?" Annie begins, her hands still rubbing circles into Cato's back.

Clove looks up under her eyelashes, sheepishly, "Too many."

"I would say so," Annie sighs. "The swimming pool is definitely not a place to push, shove or hit. If you were closer to the shallow head, Cato might have hit his head. He might have had to go to the hospital." The fear in Clove's eyes grew substantially as her eyes began to tear once more.

Lara Bosch is the first person through the main entrance doors followed by her husband and Clove's mother. Cato squirms out of Annie's arms and runs into his mother's and father's who hold onto their only son tightly. Clove's mother comes up to Annie, offering her a wary grin before sternly turning to her daughter.

"This just needed to happen before Christmas, didn't it?" Clove's mother mutters. Annie watches the woman drags her daughter into the change room. "You just had to go off and do something stupid. I knew this was a bad idea but your father never listens to me that fool."

"Thank you, for being here with them, Ms Cresta," Mr. Bosch steals her attention back to the situation at hand. He has let go of his son as Lara picks him up and carries him out of the pool area. "We will definitely be taking a break for a while but when we're ready to have Cato start lessons again, will you be here?"

Annie blinks, "But I-"

"Of course Ms Cresta will come back with us. I couldn't have done this without her," Finnick takes the offer for her, shaking Mr. Bosch's hand while offering him a gentle smile.

"I'll give you a call in the new year then. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." Mr. Bosch wishes them, before following his wife and son out the door.

Noah and Rosy are huddled together by the wall, their toes scrunched up against the slippery tile, when Annie approaches them. "We should get going, hm?"

"Is my dad going to be okay?" Noah asks, his gaze focusing past Annie. She turns around to see Finnick had not followed her. Instead, he stands there, one hand in his hair another running down his face. Annie has no idea if he was going to be okay, well not yet anyways.

"How about we bring out stuff here, get changed and hopefully, by then, he'll be better," she answers. The kids nod and scurry into the change room to grab their backpacks. She fully turns to Finnick now, his whole body hunching over itself as he falls to the floor into a ball. The heels of his hands digging into his temples.

"Finnick…"

"He could have died."

"It was an accident."

"Do you have any idea how many times that little…little… girl uses the frickin' flutter board to hit him?! I keep telling her not to, but she frickin' does it anyways! She almost killed him today!"

"I know I-"

"Before Christmas! If he had hit his head on the tile they would have …" a crazed look appears vividly in his eyes as he tugs at bunches of his hair.

"But he didn't. You saved his life," Annie runs her hands through his hair and down his face. Cupping his cheeks in her hands, she pulls his face up and plants a short, sweet kiss on his lips. He kisses her back with more fervour.

"I can't imagine losing Noah, Annie." He wraps his arms around her waist and holds onto her tightly. "I just can't. He's the single most important person in my life."

The concentrated smell of chlorine fills her nose as she nuzzles her cheek against his head.

"I wouldn't know what I'd do with myself if I lost him, Annie."

"You aren't going to lose him. No one is going to take Noah away from you," she kisses the top of his head. No one had a right to take Noah away from Finnick.