:DISCLAIMER:I DO NOT OWN 'THE HUNGER GAMES':

:IT BELONGS TO SUZANNE COLLINS:

THREE

My hands clutch on the thin cloth that covers his back and my head rests on his shoulder. He carries me with his strong arms but he walks with unstable feet. Haymitch reaches the foot of the stairs and slowly, we start to climb to my room.

It was Leevy who heard me screaming in the bakery. She saw Peeta and me both unconscious in our pool of blood. She called for help. Once again, I am in her debt. If she'd never found us there, Peeta and I would've bled dead.

They have sent Peeta back to Thirteen in Dr. Aurelius's care. They don't know when he'll be back. I asked Haymitch when I can visit Peeta and he said that I absolutely cannot visit him or even call him on the phone while he's in Thirteen. He's back in rehabilitation and is under observation. Peeta is, again, out of my reach. They're never going to give him back to me after what he's done to himself. He will never get over the flashbacks. It's going to kill him and when it does, it will also kill me.

I keep my eyes shut as Haymitch carries me up the staircase. We reach the door and he deposits me in my room and places me on my bed. He must think I'm sleeping because he doesn't bother to say goodbye.

"Haymitch, you have to bring him back to me. You have to," I whisper through the silence. I open my eyes and I find Haymitch at the door. He turns to me and sighs. "Get some sleep, sweetheart" he answers and closes the door behind him. Tears fill my eyes. He's not even going to try. Peeta and I are the closest thing he will ever have to family and he's given Peeta away.

I wipe the tears from my eyes on my sleeve. One thing I am ever going to be sure about is my wedding to my Peeta. Nothing will keep me from being with him. The injuries on my hands and legs are finally wearing me down and I close my eyes.

My body craves his touch. It is a restless night as I am left alone to defend myself from the nightmares that consistently come as I close my eyes.

I am in a dark hallway. When I look through to the end of it, I see Peeta. He is handcuffed like the way he was in Thirteen during the rebellion. His hands and feet are bound. He's screaming for me so I run. So, I run as fast as I can towards him. But I can't reach him. He starts crying now.

I see blood on the floor. When I look down, I see that my feet are bleeding. I don't stop running. My heart is racing. The hallway stretches and does not permit me to reach Peeta. My feet trip, and I fall to the ground. When I look back, I find Prim's body. Her face is charred from the explosion. Her gold hair singed. Her head twists and turns to my direction and her eyes open.

Katniss why did you let them take me? Why didn't you save me?

No. No. No. No. I crawl to her and reach for her hand but as soon as I do so, she vanishes. I am left with the ringing of her voice in the air.

Why didn't you save me?

It goes on and on. And as if calling me back to reality, Peeta's voice is louder than ever, asking for me to take him away from this place. I stand up and when I look back towards Peeta's direction, Rue is lying on her side, with the spear through her stomach.

You were too late, Katniss. You were too late to save me.

They're voices pierce through my heart until I cannot take it anymore. I fall and clutch my hands to my ears and close my eyes. Peeta's screams, and Prim and Rue's cries fill the air and bounce through the walls of the dark hall.

I wake up screaming. The sheets of my bed have fallen on the floor. Blood shows on the bandages that wrap around my injuries. I ignore them and run straight through the halls of my house and exit through the back door. I find the only patch of my garden that is tended only by Peeta's hands or mine.

Primrose.

I kneel on the soil and bury my face in the soft petals of the flowers. The scent calms me down. It brings me happy memories of Peeta and Prim. Buttercup's purrs startle me. Buttercup rarely comes home at night. He finds his way back from wherever he chooses to wander off to and stays for a few days and leave again. I stroke his forehead and carry him inside the house. When I enter, I find Haymitch in the kitchen. He's opening and closing drawers and cabinets, grumbling under his breath.

"What are you looking for?" I startle him.

"I need a drink." he says in a gruff voice. "I know you keep some somewhere in here."

I scowl. "Bottom left cabinet near the sink." he quickly retreats from the drawer he's been searching and move to the one I pointed. I know it might not be good for Haymitch to be drinking this early, but I tell him anyway. He brings out about 5 bottles and barbarically starts to empty one. He takes a seat in the living room and raises his feet and places it on the table in front of him.

I set Buttercup on the floor and open one of the cabinets to get a can of soup. I also grab a can of sardines for Buttercup. I open my can of soup and transfer it in a bowl and pop it in the microwave. Then I open the can of sardines and place it on the floor next to Buttercup and he starts to eat it hungrily.

"I'm going to see Peeta whether you like it or not." I say to him as I enter the living room.

"Okay, sweetheart you do that. I'll be here." he raises the bottle he's drinking to me and winks. "What did you do anyway to set him off so much?"

I don't answer.

"Darling, he dug glass through his arms and almost died! Surely you've got something to do with it! What with all the hijacking and all?" I flinch when he says hijacking. The alarm of the microwave sounds and I get up to get my soup. When I pass through Haymitch's seat, he clutches my wrist.

"Let me go!" I say.

"What happened, Katniss." he hisses. Still, I don't speak a word. He tightens his grip on my wrist in impatience.

"I asked him to marry me." Instantly, his hand releases me and the house is filled with his snorts and laughter.

I leave Haymitch and proceed to the kitchen, hot with anger. I take my soup from the microwave and start to eat it. Haymitch staggers to the kitchen, wiping his eyes with the collar of his shirt. Buttercup growls at him, flattening his ears and revealing his claws. Hamitch hears the growls but ignored Buttercup. He looks from me to Buttercup.

"You two related or something?" he says with a laugh.

"Go back to your geese Haymitch." I place my bowl in the sink, losing my appetite for breakfast. I make my way to the staircase to mend my wounds when Haymitch speaks again.

"What did he say?" sounding a bit more serious.

"He said yes." At the same moment I answer, the phone rings. The phone is located in the study room, where it sits on the oak table where President Snow sat. Haymitch and I exchange glances and then we both start to run. Though I know Haymitch isn't fit to be running and make it before I do, I ignore the complains of my injuries and dash to the room.

It might be Peeta. I hope its Peeta.

I make it on the third ring and grab the phone from its cradle. I bring it to my ears.

"Hello? Hello?" I say breathlessly.

"Hello, Katniss?" I hear the voice of a man and it is indisputably Gale's.