Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

"Peeta…your leg" she says and she feels stupid because of course he knows. That's why he is sitting against the closet doors with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Yeah" he tells her opening his eyes and trying to mask the pain he is probably just starting to feel now with a weak smile. Adrenaline can be a bitch in these kinds of situations not allowing you to feel anything for a while and then bringing the pain back full force.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asks and with quick big steps she kneels next to him to inspect his leg. There's a small circle in the leg of his pants that's covered in blood. A bullet shot. She tries to move the denim to have a better look at the wound but he hisses in pain and she removes her hands afraid of hurting him. This is bad.

"I wasn't sure" he tells her and she believes him. "Besides…I had to get you out of there" he gives her a small smile. It hurts her. He got shot because of her, because she froze and he took time to cover her. It might as well have been her who took the shot but he protected her.

It's as if he knows that she is blaming herself because places a hand on her elbow.

"This wasn't your fault Katniss" he tells her and she wants to cry.

She shakes her head. Of course it was her fault! Obviously he won't blame her but she knows. It strikes her now how bad their situation is. There's not only the fact that there's a killer on the loose but Peeta is shot and he is bleeding. It's not spurting kind of bleeding which is the worst, it's slowly trailing kind of bleeding that while is good because it means no artery has been damaged doesn't help under these circumstances because there's nothing here to stop the bleeding.

"We have to get you out of here…" she tells him and stands up fast. She can't risk him losing too much blood or he might get into shock and things can turn only for the worse. She can't risk losing him. It strikes her how ironic life is and how she thought just a couple of days ago that she would never tell him how she felt about him.

"No" he tells her reaching for her hand which seems to aggravate his pain. "I didn't take us out of there for you to go out again…"

"Peeta…we have to get you out! Look at your leg!" she tells him trying to control the desperate tone that's lacing her voice. He looks at his leg as she tells him but shrugs it off as if it is nothing. As if the nonstop trickle that looks bigger as the time passes isn't something to worry about.

"It will be okay. I'm fine." He says dismissively.

"We have to get you out! You are bleeding and a doctor needs to look at that Peeta" she insists but he's is having none of that. He pulls at her arm like asking her to sit down.

"It's fine! We have to wait until the police get in and someone gets Cato. It's too dangerous to go out and run into him or something. We have to wait. Please?" he asks and she can't help but relent to those puppy eyes.

She wishes she was stronger and bigger so she could get him up and out of there. She knows that waiting is not the best thing they can do but frankly if he doesn't want to move she can't do anything. It worries her even more thinking that the reason he doesn't want to get up is because he can't get up. She's scared. She doesn't want him to die. And she is even more scared for the fact that the idea of that happening is crossing her mind.

"It will be fine" he tells her as he takes her hand and intertwines his fingers with hers. She blushes but at the moment her focus is kept on the trail of blood.

She feels stupid that it only comes to her right now that she has a tank top under her sweatshirt. She releases his hand and stands up. If they are going to wait here the least she can do is stem the flow of blood so she takes her sweatshirt off.

"What are you doing?" he asks his cheeks flushed. She thinks it is a good sign that he can still flush.

"If we are waiting I have to stem the blood flow. I can't have you losing too much blood, you can go into shock" she tells him and he nods. She applies pressure and he grits his teeth. She takes the long sleeves and ties them around his leg, right under the knee in a secure knot and with the rest of the sleeves she makes a sort of bandage on the wound.

She looks at him and he looks in pain and his skin looks shiny with a layer of sweat covering it and that's not a good sign. She knows it. Her eyes fill with tears. She doesn't want him to die.

"It's okay Katniss" he tells her in a pained voice.

She's not sure if he is trying to convince her or to convince himself. She doesn't believe that everything will be alright the way things are right now.

She takes his hand again and he intertwines his fingers with hers. They have to be okay. They have to get out of there fine. He has to get out of there fine.

It's been a couple of minutes with them in relative silence. She doesn't think it's a good idea have him talking and wasting his energy. Her phone buzzes inside her pocket and her eyes widen. She didn't even remember she still had it with her. She takes it out and sees a message. She remembers immediately that while she still has texts to send she can't call anybody with that piece of crap because she spent all her minutes talking to Annie the other day.

"Are you okay?", her eyes widen. It's Gale. And he must be fine if he is texting her.

"I'm fine", she texts him back and then she looks at Peeta. "It's Gale" she tells him and she sees some sort of relief fill his features. Even in the state he is in he is still worried about Gale.

"He's okay?" he asks.

"I think so" she answers.

"Where are you? I was worried about you. You weren't in the hallway anymore? I'm freaking out Katniss I've been texting Peeta but he doesn't answer. Is he with you?" the next message reads and she looks at Peeta.

"Yes" she sends back.

"He's been texting you but you never answered he is worried about you" she tells Peeta and he shakes his head.

"Tell him I'm okay" he tells her and she looks up to see his face. He looks kind of pale and a little tired but other than that he seems okay. Okay for a guy with a bullet on his leg.

"Of course I won't do that" she tells him scowling.

"If you tell him the truth he is going to get out of wherever he is safe and he'll try to get here…it's dangerous" he tells her and she can't keep her eyes off of him. She can't believe what she's hearing…If she was him she would be dying for someone to come and help her. He might as well be dying in her incompetent hands right now. She had heard before many times how Gale used to say that Peeta was too kind and too selfless for his own good. She knows now it is true since he is trying to protect Gale rather than have him here helping him.

What is she supposed to do?!

She places the cell phone next to her and sits more comfortably next to him. His injured leg is right next to her and she can smell the blood but she tries to think about other things in order to keep her mind off of it.

"I'm sorry" she tells him.

"For what?" he asks her.

"I froze…You got shot because you were trying to protect me…because I froze…" she tells him slowly as her face burns with shame.

"Hey" he tells her squeezing her hand. She blushes as she remembers that they are holding hands. "I wanted to protect you…this isn't your fault…just something that happened" he tells her and she shakes her head. How can he say that it isn't her fault is beyond her!

They spend a few more minutes; she's not sure how many, in silence until she feels his head resting on her shoulder.

"Peeta?" she calls his name.

"Mmmhmmm" is his answer.

"Peeta…don't fall asleep" she tells him as she looks sideways trying to get a glimpse of his face. He seems to be drifting off. If there's something that she can't let happen is him falling asleep.

"Why not?" he asks but he sounds tired and upon closer inspection, meaning her hand on his cheek she realizes that he feels sort of clammy.

"You can't" she tells him and he seems to wake up a little. In all honesty she has no idea if not falling asleep is the right thing in cases of blood loss but she can't let him fall asleep just in case. She wishes Prim was there so she could ask her…she takes her cell phone feeling really stupid and sends her little sister a text. She can't tell Gale but she sure as hell can tell her little sister to call 911 and tell them that Peeta is shot and that they need help.

"Okay" he says and opens his eyes.

Her phone vibrates again in her pocket. Two texts. One Prim. One Gale.

"Is he okay?" Gale asks and she looks at Peeta with his pale face and clammy skin. No, she wants to tell him but Peeta is right. If Gale knows that Peeta's been shot he's going to try to help. They can't risk Gale's life like that. They just can't. They can't lose him. But then again she's thinking that she can't lose Peeta either. If he dies here, because of saving her, she's not sure she will be able to live with herself. "Is he okay? Tell me!" demands the next text and she just looks at Peeta.

She decides to open her sister's text.

"I'm glad you're okay. I already call. School is on lockdown. Make a tourniquet that will give you some time. You need to get him out of there" it reads and her eyes fill with tears because she knows. "Don't let too much time pass. Is he awake? How is his breathing? Is he clammy?" reads the other message. She looks at Peeta.

"Tourniquet done! His breathing: normal. He is awake. He is clammy." She answers and goes back to Gale's message.

"Gale again?" Peeta asks, he probably noticed her looking intently at the text message.

"He is demanding to know if you are okay" she tells him.

"Then tell him I am" he tells her and winces as he fidgets a little to get more comfortable. His head is still resting on her shoulder.

"I can't" she tells him and looks at him. "If I do and something happens…he's never going to forgive me" He nods, he knows it's the truth.

"But if something happens to him…I will never forgive myself" Peeta tells her. "He's…I can't risk him…not to save me" he tells her. "Besides I'm not sure what he could do to help" he chuckles and for the life of her she doesn't understand what is so funny.

"I just…" she looks at the phone in her hand. She won't answer. She won't lie to him because he won't forgive her if she does.

"He's my best friend since we were seven" He informs her. "He's been protecting me ever since…this is my chance to protect him" he tells her seriously.

"Peeta…" she starts.

"It wasn't my fault" he tells her and she looks at him confused. She has no idea what he is talking about. "The thing was about to break and I just…It wasn't my fault…but she didn't care…It broke and it send the just finished cakes to the floor…she got so mad…" he says and sighs. "I never saw her get that mad before…so I knew that this beating was going to be worse than the other ones…She took the rolling pin…" he says and pauses.

"A rolling pin?!" she exclaims in a whisper. He nods. She pales. She's known that his mother hits him but not with what and it breaks her all the more to know.

She looks at his face that is pretty close to her resting on her shoulder. It unnerves her, the eerily calm that it shows while telling the story like this is a normal thing. His face has a look far off as if he is reliving the moment that makes her want to shake him and keep him from thinking about it. It is not a secret in town how much of a witch Peeta's mom is. The bruises that constantly adorn his face, arms or other parts of his body clearly come from her. He never tells anyone anything but everyone knows. No one does anything about it. Well, no one but Gale.

"She hit me in the face first" he says and touches his face. "But she was too mad…so she started hitting wherever she could…I fell to the floor…I tried to cover myself but it only made it worse…she started kicking…Rye got into the kitchen right in that moment and got in the middle…I never thanked him for it…he probably saved me from dying right there" he says.

"You are going to thank him then when we get out" she chokes out. There's still so much that he has to do, there's still so much.

"He told me to get up and get out…I managed to run a bit…but it hurt too much…and I fell in the yard right next to the bush"

"Where I found you"

"Yeah…I was terrified…She came out and started kicking me. When she left and I opened my eyes you were there and then you brought Gale and I got even more scared because he was older and he was always scowling and I thought he hated me" he laughs and I laugh along. We were seven and Gale was eight. We were just kids but Peeta is right…Gale always had an aura around him, that terrified everyone.

"But he didn't" in the middle of the terrible story and the laughs we are sharing I can only think that this is good…if he is talking to me he won't fall asleep.

"He did not…I was gasping for air…I couldn't breathe…he kneeled next to me and asked me if I was okay…I could only nod frantically he took me in his arms and you were there too…I didn't want him to kill me…his mom came out because he called her and when she saw me she got scared…I thought I was going to die…she completely freaked out" he laughs again and she shakes her head.

"You looked pretty bad" she tells him.

"You remember?" he asks. She only nods. "I didn't think you did" he tells her and keeps going with his story. "His mom picked me up and called your mom…"

"Who freaked out too" she says and he laughs.

"Yeah…Gale's dad wasn't home but yours was so they asked him to take me to the hospital"

"Gale seemed worried he never got worried about anything…you could barely breathe"

"Two broken ribs…and who knows what else…I don't remember much…Just that you sang to me" she blushes. She never repeats that part of the story to anyone not even to herself because she feels sort of ashamed. She doesn't sing that much and when she does she doesn't like people hearing her. She always keeps that part of the story vague.

"You heard me?" she asks and her blush turns redder if it's possible at this new piece of information.

She sang to him because it seemed to relax him. She can only remember how weak and fragile he seemed in that moment and as she looks at him now she realizes that that's just how he looks in this moment.

"The most beautiful thing I have ever heard" he says and smiles wistfully.

"Shut up" she tells him and swats his arm.

"Really…I never thanked you for that did I?" he asks.

"You didn't have to…you don't have to…"

"After that…Gale never left me alone again. He made sure to be with me as long as he could in order to keep mom at bay…I would still get hit…but less regularly because I would always be at his house or he would be at the bakery…He's protected me for so long Katniss…I have to do it for him now" he tells her and she understands. Of course she does.

"I understand…I won't tell him anything okay?"

"Thank you for the singing" he says again and she blushes. He chuckles. She thinks that sometimes he likes to see her blush and he does things on purpose to see her blush.

"You are welcome" she answers. He straightens up against the cabinets.

"That wasn't the first time I heard you sing, you know?" he tells her and she is shocked.

She is about to ask him when did he hear her sing before that when the door is opened in a swift movement and they both freeze. If it is possible Peeta turns paler.

She stands up as frozen as she feels and against Peeta's wishes because he is pulling her hand with the little strength he's got she picks up a piece of wood and walks to the corner where she can still be concealed but she can see who is there.

The only thing that crosses her mind is that she won't let anyone hurt him anymore.

No one will touch him again. He is not alone. Never again.

AN. When I started writing this story I really liked it! If at least one person liked it too, it would be worth it! So thank you guys for your favorite or follow! I really really appreciate it and don't worry as long as there is someone reading I will keep posting! As I said the story is mostly completed so don't worry about me leaving you hanging! Thanks again guys for taking the time to leave a review or a favorite! That's what keeps me going!