Author's Note: Wow. Thank you guys for the awesome responses. Yes, I will try to explain more as each chapter progresses. I hope you are enjoying it, and will enjoy this next chapter as well. I think my summary for it needs a little work, so I'll try to improve that tonight. Thanks for your support!

CHAPTER TWO

When I woke up, Haymitch and some strange man whom I had never seen before were standing over me. I blinked the bleary sleep from my eyes and tried to regain my bearings. I then remembered the night before. I remembered falling asleep in Peeta's arms for the first time in far too long. I remembered how right before I dozed off, I dared do to something I had never done before, and I draped my leg over his. I remembered him holding me closer to him and burying his lips in my tangled hair, plaiting one last kiss before we dozed off. Then everything was blank.

I turned to try to see Peeta, but a searing pain ripped through my shoulder. I couldn't help but cry out in pain, and then I noticed the white bandage wrapped around my shoulder-blade. What had happened last night? And was Peeta hurt too?

"Lay back," Haymitch shoved my 'good' shoulder so I was laying back against my pillows, "You need to rest. You've lost quite a bit of blood – nothing fatal, obviously, but enough to make you pretty weak. You've been asleep for almost the whole day, but you need to rest more. What were you thinking pulling a stupid stunt like that, Katniss?" His voice was harsh and rubbed my eyes with the back of my 'good' hand.

"I-I don't know…"

"The boy," the man said, "The boy you were with. Haymitch has informed me of the situation. Apparently the boy…."

"He has a name," I bit the words sharply.

"Peeta," the man corrected himself, and for some reason him saying Peeta's name still didn't make things any better. Fear coursed through me as the man continued, "My name is Saeant. I am the local medic that the Capitol has brought in for the district. Haymitch called me right away when he found you…"

"Found me?"

"Girl, you were lying there gushing blood and Peeta was on top of you with a knife."

"What?" I couldn't believe it – I wouldn't believe it. Not after how perfect things had been last night. It just wasn't possible. He couldn't have slipped.

"It's been okay," Haymitch continues as I rub my temple trying to sort these words that I don't understand, "You and him. You two have been almost good. I've let you be alone with him to read by the fire, or help each other in the kitchen with the kitchen staff. But girl, what you did last night is inexcusable. He could have killed you. Do you realize that? At least during the day, I can sort of keep an eye on you two – and if you hollered, I'd get to you in time. But what were you thinking last night? Why did you have him sleep with you?"

The words "because I can't sleep without him," though unspoken, clung in the air like a fog. Haymitch growls something inaudible and shakes his head with frustration. I lightly run my fingertips across the bandage on my shoulder.

"He slipped last night," Saeant explains, "He awoke and went to the kitchen to grab a knife…he's still hardwired to kill you, Miss Katniss."

"No," I shake my head, not wanting to hear these words, "No. We were fine last night. We were…happy together. We even laughed together. He…he kissed my hair," I blush every shade of red with that exposure, but I still can't believe that what they're telling me has actually happened, "He didn't. I know he didn't."

"You blacked out," Haymitch explains, "Katniss, I don't want you alone with him when the servants or I am not around. This is dangerous. You're playing with fire here."

"It's worth the burn," the words spill out harshly and Haymitch looks as though I had just slapped him. He shakes his head again and runs a hand through his mop of blond strings.

"I have him in his room now," Haymitch explains again, "He's handcuffed…"

"No!"

"He begged me to, sweetheart," Haymitch sighs and I don't like the image in my head of Peeta with metal bracelets shackling him, "He is really shaken up about what he did. When he came out of the slip…he tried to turn the blade on himself. I don't know what the Capitol was thinking, sending us those knives. I'll request some Faux Blades be sent in…"

Faux Blades were specially engineered knives that would cut anything – except human flesh. It would kill Peeta to know we had to resort to those. Those were the ones used in sanitariums.

"When I can see him?" I request, thinking of that damned image of Peeta alone in his room, his wrists bound in cuffs, scared of everything that moved practically. It wasn't fair. None of this was his fault. He wasn't insane. He wasn't a mutant or an animal – he was Peeta. My Peeta. It wasn't as if he wanted to hurt me. But it was programmed in him to do so. He didn't really have much control over it. I began to swell with hatred – a renewed hatred – for what had been done to him several months prior. It wasn't fair. They had destroyed him. They had destroyed us.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Haymitch stares down at the burgundy carpeting of the floor with intent interest, "He…he is pretty shaken up, girl. He asked that he be kept away from you."

"For how long?" My voice suddenly took on a sense of urgency. When could I see him? When could I hold him in my arms again and see that smile of his again and hear that laugh?

"As long as possible. He requested that he eat his meals in his room, and not have any contact with you, girl. He said in three months when you two are to return to the Capitol for the ambassadors conference, then he will just have to make do with that – but for now, he wants no contact."

"But…that's not fair!" My voice comes out as a whine, and I hate myself for it.

"Katniss, they're his wishes – his requests. He is scared of slipping again, sweetheart. He is scared of doing something to hurt you again. He is trying to protect you."

"Always trying to protect me," I hiss, rolling my head back against my pillow, "Why?"

"You know why," Haymitch meets my eyes and raises a brow. And it's true – I do know why. Because even though his brain had been so horrendously altered, he still loved me. He was programmed to hurt me, and hurting me had destroyed him so badly that he had almost turned the knife on himself. I close my eyes and try to let everything sink in. My shoulder scorches and I wish this was some sort of horrible bad dream I'd awaken from. I'd awaken and Peeta would be holding me. He'd whisper to me that everything is alright, and hold me tighter as I fell back asleep in his arms. But I didn't wake up. Instead, Saeant moved to lift my bandage.

"We have to apply more ointment on the wound," he explains, "I've showed Haymitch how to do this, so he'll be able to when I leave you. It'll sting quite a bit, I'm afraid."

The bandage is removed and I don't look as salve is rubbed against the wound. It stings so fiercely and I want to cry out but I don't. I tell myself this pain is nothing. This pain is nothing compared to the pain I will be facing the next three months – the next three months without Peeta.

After the salve is applied, the medic leaves and Haymitch tells me to get some rest. He says that in the morning, someone will be in to bring me some steamed oats with milk in honey. He turns off my light and I stare at the clock on the stand next to my bed. It's eight at night. How am I expected to fall back asleep?

Despite the pain, I grab a pillow and the down blanket from my bed and tiptoe down the hallway to Peeta's bedroom. Haymitch's door is shut and there's a small light pouring from the crack of the threshold. He's probably in for the night. I place the pillow next to Peeta's door and lay down, adjusting the blanket over me. It's the closest I'll come to sleeping by his side ever again, I fear. As I lay there, I reach out and place my palm against his door. I want to say something but the words just won't come.

Eventually, I close my eyes and am able to drift into an uncomfortable sleep.