This story came to me during finals week. I couldn't study until I wrote it down so it is a bit of a rough draft. It will be a one-shot for now, if I get a big response perhaps I will elaborate on the story, more of the before scene. Please let me know what you think! It was suppose to be a M, but I think I toned it down enough for it to be a T so more of you can enjoy =)

Happy reading!

Just As the Moon Pulls the Tides

"I am going to kill her, Finnick, and I want you to know that there is nothing you can do about it and that it is entirely your fault."

That is when the rumbling started and the damn began to crack. All I could do was stand there helplessly staring at the screen as Annie tired so desperately to get away from the flood waters. I stood there and watched my new found love get swept away by the waves. She never resurfaced…

"Ahugh!"

I woke up tangled in my sheets panting as if I had just ran ten miles, my body glistening with sweat in my moonlight room. I wiped my hands over my face trying to regain my composer and rid myself of the nightmare.

It was our second night back in District 4 after returning from the 70th Hunger Games. The past two days have been hectic to say the least. Annie, Mag, and I partook in all the victor festivities, and let me tell you there were a lot prepared for our return. It took us nearly two hours just to get through the receiving line waiting for us when we got off the train. No one ever travels except those involved in the Games so no one understands how badly you just want to go home and relax after traveling. But we battled through; we shook hands, smiled, and waved with all those gathered and showed our gratitude for the festivities. District Four is no stranger to victors, but we are still not as use to the concept as District One and Two are so there is always a big to do and lots of celebrating. On top of that we managed to move Annie and her family into their new house on Victor Island.

It almost felt unreal. Everything seemed so surreal and disconnected. It was as if I was going to wake up and it would all be gone. I would wake up in the Capitol in some woman's bed as a way to mourn the passing of yet another tribute and another person I'd held dear. But it was real. I was home and Annie was alive, for now…

I looked at my clock and saw that it read 1:25am. I'd only had 45 minutes of shut eye and it did nothing to relax me or ebb the exhaustion. That seems to be permanent. My nightmares have gotten worse since my feelings for Annie surfaced. Annie made me feel again, she made me human…

I need to see her.

It was then that I kick the sweat tainted covers away from my body and leapt out of bed. I was in such a hurry I did not even bother grabbing any clothing. I walked down the stairs and out the door in my boxers with just one thought in mind and one care in the world. Annie.

Within seconds of stepping out in the salty sea air I was underneath Annie's window, her house was right next to mine, a new perk of living on Victor's Island, and in my opinion the best.

I began throwing small seashells at her window; I knew which window was Annie's because I specifically chose that bedroom for her. It was a corner room with two windows, one facing the private beach of Victor's Island and the other facing… Well my window.

"Annie" I called up in a hushed voice as I threw three more consecutive seashells.

I waited two more minutes before repeating these actions. Call, throw, and wait. Call, throw, and wait. It was after the sixth attempt and nearly twenty minutes of trying to awake her that I abandoned hope and started towards the water. There was one other thing aside from Annie that calmed me down and that was the sea. So I walked the path from Annie's to the beach barefoot, enjoying the cool sand between my toes.

It seems weird to think that three weeks ago the sea was the only thing in the world that calmed me, but that in itself is symbolic of what Annie is to me. Annie is hope. Annie is a new future. Annie is proof that things can change and good can come out of bad. For so long I had forgotten to hope and to love.

Two things I loved and needed to breathe: Annie and the sea.

That is when I saw it. Annie in the sea…

I stopped dead in my tracks mesmerized by the sight before me. Forty feet away from me was the edge of the ocean and fifteen feet beyond that was Annie. She had just broke the surface of the water, her head was tilted back, her face open to the night's sky, her hands did a sweeping motion from her forehead into her hair and ending up at her shoulders where they remained as she bobbed in the water looking out into the vast ocean. The moon and the stars worshipped her and bathed her body in an angelic glow. She was radiant and the water glistened off her body. It was beauty in its purest form.

I started towards the water again, holding my breath. Just as the moon pulled the tides, Annie pulled me towards her.

As I walked closer and watched entranced, a larger wave approached Annie. She elaborately leaped over the wave and let out a small giggle. She was so innocent it squeezed Finnick's heart. She jumped over the next wave too even though it was not as big. It was then I noticed that Annie was not wearing anything. Her silhouette shone through when her top half broke the surface to jump the wave. I stopped again now only a few feet from the wet sand when I noticed her clothes piled to the right.

I remember now how she told me that one time on the roof how she would sneak out and go skinny dipping whenever she had too much on her mind or just couldn't sleep. I frowned, she will be having a lot of those nights from here on out.

My thoughts started to stray to the nightmares that plagued my every nights. The pain, the blood, the tears, the death… I shook my head of those thoughts and replaced them with Annie, my new future and hope.

It was then that I made a decision. Whether it be a good one or not, you can decide. I took my boxers off and left them haphazardly next to her pile and drove straight into the water.

"Finnick!" Annie exclaims as I resurface next to her. She covers her chest in a self-conscious manner, "Wha…What are you doing here?" She stammered.

"I was standing outside your window." I said matter-of-factly, "I needed to see you."

"I, um, couldn't sleep." She replied.

I nodded, "I forgot about your ritual and came down here just to clear my head, and let's just say there was not much clearing taking place when I noticed you." I stared at her hands over her chest pointedly and she blushed, "You don't mind my joining you do you?"

She hesitated for a moment and she sank lower into the water so all that was showing was her neck and head. I then felt her hand brush against my arm, "I don't mind." She breathed.

"How are you?" I whispered catching her hand and squeezing it.

Annie took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes tightly. She remained like that for several minutes still and quiet, willing the world away. I thought I had completely lost her again, but she managed to open her eyes and shake her head.

"Oh Annie!" I choked out grabbing for her and holding her tight in my embrace.

It was then that she began to sob, "I wish I had died, Finnick. I cannot live with these thoughts and terrors. I just cannot live like this. I can't live here. I just can't."

"Shh, don't you dare say that!" I said firmly slightly angered by her statement, she needed to live and she needed to live here with me otherwise I, in turn, would die, "You can do this. We can do this!" I held her some more stroking her wet hair and whispering to her, "I am going to help you through this like I helped you survive."

Annie sighed and squeezed me tight. Her tears began to fade away, for now, and her breathing slowed to normal, her breath leaving goose bumps on my neck. She was so close! I needed a distraction so I began to speak again still stroking her hair.

"You know when you were reaped and we had our first moments alone together? You said something along those very same lines. You said, and I quote, 'I can't do this! How do they expect me to do this? There is no way! And I sure as hell am not gonna win!' Well guess what, Annie? You did win because that's who you are; you are an amazing and beautiful woman who is meant to defy all the odds no matter what they are. So you can do this and you did live, and I thank whatever God there is for it every day!"

Annie pulled away and stared blankly into my eyes after I said this, her face bore no expression and I started to feel as if I had done or said something to cause her to relapse again. Maybe it was the harshness and urgency in my voice. I started to panic and feel guilty.

"An-"

Her lips stole her name from mine before I could finish saying it.

Our first and only kiss up until now had been the night before the games and it was soft and sweet. Lasted no more than a few seconds, closed mouthed and innocent. This kiss was anything but. Annie had thrown her arms around my neck, pressed her naked chest hard to mine, and before I had known what was happening her tongue was sweeping across my bottom lip.

I groaned and opened my mouth to her; my brain had finally caught up with her actions and I was now on full alert with full participation. All hands on deck! Literally and figuratively I suppose.

My hands moved from her hair where they had been this entire time down to her sides where I began to methodically slide them up and down, from her hip bone up to the bottom of her rib cage and back down, from her hip bone up to the top of her rib cage leaving a whisper of a touch on her breast and back down, from her hip bone up to the bottom of her breasts ghosting over my target and back down again, from her hip bone taking a slow and torturous ascend to her breast where they would remain this time.

Annie breathed in sharply and pulled away from my lips. She leaned her head back opening her face up to the moon leaving shadows on her face, but I could still see the ecstasy on her face as she bit her bottom lip as I softly kneaded her mounds in my hands and pinched her taking extra care to be gentle and loving. This was about Annie, not me.

"Annie." I whisper a little short of breath, "I love you."

It was the first time I had uttered those words to anyone, and even though some might think it was too soon to say because I'd only known Annie for a short period of time it felt right and true. I was just suddenly over come with a desperate urge to tell her why bother waiting? Our connection was so much deeper than anything I could ever imagine and my feelings were stronger than lust or just any old fling. You could not break or take what Annie and I had been through together, it was special, and I knew in my heart people looked all their lives for what Annie and I have had in just these past four weeks.

Annie slowly lowered her head from the sky to gaze at me, this time I did see an expression though. She was looking at me with such wonder and I could see the look of pure joy there too. Her eyes twinkled like the stars above us and a smile slowly crept up on her lips.

"I love you too, Finnick." She took her hands and massaged my chest for a moment as she continued to stare into my eyes. I smiled back at her and we kissed lightly, like our first kiss up on the roof. "If I am to carrying on and live my life, I am glad to have you by my side." She kissed me once more lingering a little bit longer before untangling herself from my grasp.

"Let's go." She said reaching out for me, "I can face the night now."