Fighting To Come Home Chapter 2
They had arrived back at the base in the middle of the night; Katniss was exhausted so instead of calling home she followed Johanna back to their shared apartment and fell asleep in her still bloody uniform. The next day Katniss showered and had her shoulder cleaned again, which caused her to say every curse she knew at the medic in her head. After wards she stood by the phone in Haymitch's office that he was allowing her to use to call home.
"Hurry it up sweetheart, you've got an hour before were needed in command" Haymatich said from the door way.
Katniss took a deep breath and picked up the phone calling her mother and Prim first. The phone only rang once before her frantic mother answered the phone. "Hello, Katniss is that you".
"Yes mom it's me" Katniss said.
Her mother sighed and said "Oh thank God. Are you okay sweetie?"
"I'm fine mom; did Haymitch tell you exactly what happened?" Katniss asked
"No he just told me that you were shot while in duty but that you were alive. He didn't say how bad it was, or anything. We've been worried sick, sitting by the phone waiting for you to call, Prim and I took the day off work, and Peeta's been here ever since I called refusing to leave".
Katniss closed her eyes and said "I'm so sorry, I don't know why Haymitch called you, we were still in the field, he should have waited until we got back to base".
"It's fine Katniss. Can you tell me what happened?" Her mom asked.
Katniss sighed "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes I want to know what caused my daughter to be shot?" her mother said slightly angry.
Katniss sighed and said "Well I can't tell you what we were doing but we were on our mission like you knew about, Finnick and I along with another guy were scouted on a rough top when we started getting fired on, I was getting ready to take down an enemy when I noticed that he was targeted on Finnick. The shot would have killed him and even if I did shot him Finnick still would have been killed, so I ran at him and tackled him, the enemy fired and hit me in the shoulder. The same one I was first shot in, the bullet went straight through so I have stitches on both sides, luckily the bullet didn't cause any damp, I just have to get it cleaned every day, and continue to wear it in a brace for two weeks. So I'm perfectly fine".
She heard her mom sigh deeply; she could tell she was trying to fight back tears, "I'm so glad you're okay Katniss. Why did you do that? Why did you take that bullet for Finnick?"
"He has a wife and kids mom, I know it would be hard to lose me for you and Prim and Peeta but he has a family that needs him, I couldn't take a father away from his kids" Katniss said fighting back tears.
"Oh sweetie, you're so brave so kind, I don't know what I did to deserve a wonderful daughter like you Katniss. I'm not mad at what you did, I'm diffidently not happy about it but I am so glad you're okay" Her mom said no longer fighting tears.
"Thank you mom, I love you" Katniss said.
"I love you to sweetie. Peeta is asleep on the couch would you like me to wake him up so that you two can talk?" her mom asked.
"Please, I only have thirty minutes before I have to go" she replied.
"Okay just a minute, call me when you can be safe I love you" her mom said.
"Love you to" Katniss waiting for Peeta to come on the phone which made her heart beat quicken, she hadn't heard his voice in so long.
She didn't have to wait long before his beautiful voice came through the phone "Katniss, oh God, are you okay? Katniss what happened?" Peeta rushed out.
Hearing his voice made every fear she had come forward she started crying laying her head on the table, instantly Peeta tried to comfort her through the phone "Katniss baby don't cry, it's okay baby, don't cry".
"I… I'm so sorry Peeta. I didn't mean to get hurt I just had to protect Finnick, his family needs him. I'm so sorry Peeta, I love you so much" Katniss said.
Peeta sighed and said "It's okay baby I love you to, there's nothing to be sorry for. Why don't you start from the beginning and tell me what happened?"
Katniss took a calming breath and retold him the story, Peeta was silent for a while so hesitantly Katniss asked "Peeta, are you still there?"
"Yeah I'm here Katniss. I… I just can't believe you did that, I mean think what losing you would do to your mother, and Prim, and me, Katniss I would be nothing without you".
"I know Peeta but I couldn't let Finnick's kids lose their father, I know what it's like to lose a parent and I don't wish that on anyone. He deserves to see his kids grow up Peeta" Katniss said strongly.
"And you deserve the chance to have a family Katniss" Peeta said angrily.
"And I can still have that chance, I'm perfectly fine Peeta" Katniss back just as angry.
"You could have died Katniss" Peeta yelled into the phone.
"I could have died even if I didn't save Finnick. You don't understand Peeta, Finnick is more than a friend to me he's like a brother; he would have done the same thing for me, just like Johanna would. Once you fight and bleed with these people they become more than friends. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let Finnick or Johanna die knowing I could have tried to prevent it" Katniss said breathing heavily afterwards.
Peeta sighed and said "I know I don't understand and I probably never will. But for God's sake Katniss I thought I lost you, and then you tell me the reason why you were shot was because you tried to save someone else's life, it just made me so angry. You didn't even think about what losing you would mean to me".
Katniss took another calming breath and replied "I'm sorry Peeta, but if I had to choose to do it all over again, I would do the exact same thing. No children need to grow up without their parents".
"I don't know what to say to you anymore. It's like you refuse to think about your mom, Prim, and me and what losing you would do to us. I'm glad you're okay Katniss, and that Finnick is to, but I have to go, I need to be at the bakery soon. I love you Katniss, I'll talk to you later" Peeta said sadly.
Before he could hang up Katniss stopped him "Your being unreasonable Peeta. It's my life and if I choose to end it by saving one of my best friends so that he could see his kids grow up then you just need to except that. I love you to Peeta I'll call you next week" and with that she angrily hung up the phone. She laid her head on the desk and closed her eyes; she and Peeta had never fought like this. She felt horrible, she felt angry, and sad all at the same time. She didn't understand why Peeta couldn't see her reasoning, she knew it would practically kill Peeta to lose her, just like it would her to lose him but he also knew that her job was extremely dangerous.
Before she could get further into her thoughts Johanna came through the door "Come on brainless we need to be in command".
Katniss nodded her head and stood up from the desk walking towards Johanna. "Hey you alright Katniss?" Johanna asked.
"I'll tell you after command alright Jo" Katniss said heading towards command.
"Okay" silently the two friends walked towards command were Katniss was extremely grateful for the distraction.