After we arrive at the train station, a guard directs us into a car. All four of us climb in and shut the door. I look at Effie. Her face is bright red and she looks upset.
"What's wrong with you?" Haymitch asks her
"What's wrong with me? Aren't you all simply taken aback by that welcome I mean, they could have at least taken down the sign, we all know you two are no longer tributes, no one is, so why is that dreadful sign even hanging up in the first-"
"Effie, you need to calm down" Peeta says. "It's okay. They probably just were too busy preparing for our arrival, and they forgot to take it down." He reassures her.
"Well yes, I suppose you're right." She breathes. "I just don't think it's the proper way to treat victors such as yourselves." she says with a nod at the three of us.
Haymitch begins to ask something about the spiky necklace she's wearing, when Peeta nudges me and points to something. I look out the window and see a tall gray building. The tribute center.
"It's the tribute center..." I say with a questioning look at him. He just nods and squeezes my hand. I look at him again.
"Peeta? Peeta? What's wrong" Now he's taking deep breaths and squeezing his eyes shut. Then I remember. The tribute center is where Peeta was kept after the Quarter Quell. The tribute center is where he was tortured.
"Oh Peeta" I whisper and take his other hand. He keeps breathing heavily and gritting his teeth together when Effie decides now would be a good time to go over the schedule. Haymitch tries to listen to her, as do I, but we're both more focused on the fact that Peeta sounds like he's going lose it.
I lift my eyes, which had been focused on Peeta's hands squeezing mine, to meet Haymitch's.
"Flashback" He mouths to me, and I have sudden re considerations on whether or not this trip was the best idea. Obviously Peeta is alright with seeing me, but he hasn't been back to the Capitol since I was supposed to kill Snow.
After a while, Peeta's breathing returns to normal and his eyes open. He looks tired.
"You okay?" I ask and push his damp hair off of his forehead.
"I think so. I haven't had a flashback that bad in a long time"
"Was it the tribute center?"
"I don't know, but the flashback was the day where they took me from the arena. I was knocked out and I woke up, but they wouldn't tell me anything. I kept asking for you, and they told me if I told them about the rebel plan, then they would tell me where you were. But I obviously didn't know anything about the plan, so they never told me where you were. I thought they had killed you. Until Beetee broke through with that video of you, what was it called?"
"A propo"
"Yeah, the propo of you. Anyway, that's why I warned you about the bombs, because I knew you were alive, and that I needed to save you, even if it meant risking my life."
Everyone in the car is hanging onto Peeta's every word.
"Because that's what you and I do..." I start
"protect each other" he finishes. I put my head on his shoulder.
I look at Haymitch and Effie, forgetting they were in the car with us.
Effie's crying, and Haymitch looks like he's about to vomit on both of us.
"Quit it with the lovey dovey stuff" he says, but we know he's joking.
Effie's still crying. I reach out and take one of Effie's hands, and Peeta does the same. We sit there together until the car comes to a stop. I look out the window. We're at Snow's mansion.
After we walk up the steps to the house, we ring the doorbell. We're greeted by Paylor. "Hello. Katniss, Peeta." she says with a nod at us. "So glad you could join us"
Peeta and I walk inside hand and hand, leaving Effie and Haymitch at the front door. I hear voices drifting from a room down the hallway. As we get closer, I hear Plutarch's voice talking about some sort of lunch banquet. "I am hungry" Peeta says, as we round the corner and walk through the doorway, into a dining room. No one notices us at first, but Annie, who's holding a baby, calls out our names in her soft voice.
"Katniss! Peeta!" She says, and puts the baby in some sort of seat that's next to her chair. She races up to us, and hugs me, then Peeta. "Hi!" Peeta says, and we walk with her over to the table, where we are greeted by everyone else.
"I guess we're the last ones to arrive!" Peeta says as I hear someone behind us call my name.
"Beetee!" I practically yell, and lean down to hug him. Beetee's the one who thought up the plan to rescue Peeta. "Hello Peeta" he says.
"Hello." Peeta responds.
We both smile at Enobaria, who smiles in return with her sharpened teeth. We aren't too friendly with her.
We walk over to Plutarch. He rises from his chair and shakes Peeta's hand. "Long time no see" He says to both of us.
"How are things?" Peeta asks
"Things are better. Things are better than they have been in a long time." he says.
We cross the room and go back to Annie, who introduces us to her baby.
"His name is Finn" she says quietly, because all of us are thinking about Finnick.
"He's beautiful Annie, he really is" Peeta says, and she nods.
"Do you want to hold him Katniss?" she asks
"I'm not really good with babies Annie, I would probably do something wrong"
"Are you sure?" she questions.
"Okay, just for a little while" I agree, and take the baby from her. "Are you okay if I go over there?" she says and points to where Beetee is. I nod and sit down in her chair. "Hi Finn, hi baby boy" I coo as I bounce Finn up and down on my knee. Peeta reaches out and tickles him, which makes him laugh.
Peeta keeps making silly faces at Finn, when Johanna comes into the room. She walks over to us.
"Well, well, well, look who already popped one out" she says with an approving nod. "Well done" she says, but Peeta shakes his head. "He's not ours Johanna. He's Annie's and Fin-"
"I know, you don't have to say it" she says and stalks away from us. "Don't you just love her?" Peeta says, and I laugh. Annie comes back over and the three of us sit and talk, until Haymitch and Effie decide to grace us with their presence.
"Where have you two been?" Peeta asks.
"We were just looking around the mansion. Paylor showed us around. She said she would be here in a minute." Haymitch says, and sure enough, a few minutes later, Paylor walks through the door.
She and Plutarch walk to the front of the room.
"Hello everyone!" she says. "Welcome back. Thank you all for joining us. I know Plutarch and myself are very happy that you all could come and visit us. Now, let's get down to business shall we? Many of you may or may not have heard a story on the news about the 7 of you having to be the jury for a trial, but I am here to assure you all, that is not the case. None of you have to decide if anyone will go to jail. I wouldn't make any of you do that."
I look over at Haymitch, and breathe a sigh of relief. He smiles at me. "Something tells me he had a lot to do with that decision" Peeta whispers to me, and I nod.
"Now. I know you all have been informed that you are here to vote on Panem's new government, so that's what we're going to do. If anyone has any opinions to give, raise your hand and I'll call on you so you can speak. No talking over anyone or interrupting. Any questions?" she looks around the room.
"Good. Okay. To start, we're writing a new treaty of treason, but we want to make sure it includes things that will remind us of our past, and protect us from things like The Hunger Games happening again in the future. Any ideas on what we should add?"
Beetee raises his hand. "I propose that we include how we were forced and terrorized into partaking in the games. I also propose that we make some sort of rule list, laws if you will, that everyone has to follow, people in the Districts and in the Capitol."
"Good idea" Paylor says, as she takes out a clipboard and pen which she hands to Effie. "Can you take notes?" she asks her, and of course, Effie is happy to oblige.
"Now where were we, the rules. What rules should we have to follow?"
Beetee raises his hand again. "Everyone should be treated fairly. No more poor districts and wealthier districts. I can understand if the Capitol is richer, but the districts should all be the same."
"Alright, good" Paylor says. Annie raises her hand.
"I think we should make a rule saying that all crimes will be punished the same, no matter where you live. For example, if I live in District 12 and I steal some bread, I should get put in jail for a month, and if I live in District 5 or any other district and I steal some bread, I should get put in jail for a month as well. That way everything is equal"
"Good idea Annie" Paylor says.
We all bounce around ideas for a couple of hours, adding and subtracting from our list, when I have an idea. I forget that I'm supposed to raise my hand, and immediately start talking. Paylor, who was speaking, silences herself and gives me her full attention.
"I think we need to have a system in place to help those in need. Everyone has more than they could ever want in the Capitol, but in the districts? People are still starving, people are still hungry. And it's not a fun way to live, trust me, I know. We could do something like give them food bags, or money to buy food. It would be like parcel day, but every month. We need to treat the people that live in this country the way we would treat each other. Does anyone remember the reason that we even had a war in the first place? Because people were angry at the government for not taking care of them! Sure, all of us were unfortunate enough to have to participate in the games, but to some people, dying in the arena was a better alternative than continuing life in the districts. If we want to keep the citizens of Panem on our side, we better do everything we can to treat them right, because Snow sure as hell didn't. We need to show them that we do care about them, that we want to help them..." I can't think of anything else to say, and everyone is staring at me, wide eyed.
Peeta speaks up. "She's right. People used to say, 'District 12, where you can starve to death in safety'."
Paylor looks at all of us for a moment, before saying "Katniss, that is brilliant. All in favor of Katniss' plan raise your hand" and one by one, every one in the room raises their hand.
Paylor nods her head. "It's settled then."
She tell us that we are all free to go and do whatever we want for the rest of the day, and that we should all meet back here tomorrow morning.
She leaves with Plutarch.
Those of us remaining sit there and stare at each other for moment, before Johanna breaks the silence.
"I don't even know what there is to really do here. Honestly, the only times I've been here it's been for the Games, or to be tortured by Snow."
"I don't think any of us really associate the Capitol with the word fun" Peeta says with a laugh.
"Well, good thing I had planned a schedule out just in case" Effie says, and I look at Peeta and roll my eyes.
"Effie, what joyous activities do you have planned for us this time?" Haymitch questions
"Well there's a couple museums downtown, and there's this fabulous-"
I tune her out and look across the table. Johanna and Enobaria are laughing hysterically about something. Probably Effie.
Eventually we all decide to just let Beetee show us around the Mansion. The parts I remember are mostly closets and little compact spaces where I used to hide.
Beetee leads us through a maze of rooms, most of which have silly names like "The Thinking Room" and "The Quiet Room". Peeta and I hang back, and separate ourselves from everyone else.
Halfway through our tour, we stop for lunch. We sit all together at a large oak table. After lunch, we all kind of mingle and talk for a while. In all reality, I just talk to Annie and Beetee.
Peeta is over socializing with Johanna and Enobaria, and Beetee keeps talking about finding some communications guy, so Annie and I find a quiet corner and sit and talk while she feeds Finn.
"So how are you and Peeta?" she asks
"We're fine. After he got back from the Capitol things picked up right where they left off" I reply, but I'm pretty sure she knows I'm lying.
"How are you really?" she says
"Do you really want to know?" I ask
"Only if you want to tell me" she responds. And I do want to tell her, but I think saying the words out loud would make them real. That Peeta and I hadn't spoken with each other for months, or even seen each other. That neither of us are better, and there's a good chance that neither of us will even get better.
"Things haven't been...the best between us" I tell her. "After Peeta got home from the Capitol, we kind of shut ourselves away from each other. Two days ago when we started getting ready to come here was the first time I had seen him in months. I love him Annie, I really do. I don't know what happened. He seems alright with everything, and we kind of started off badly but we're a little better now. Before I was afraid to hold his hand, because I was afraid that he would try to hurt me again, but he won't. I know that now."
She silently nods her head at me.
"Do you want to know what happened when Finnick first met me?"
"What?"
"I was having an episode, a really bad one. Now they aren't bad, but for years after my games I could barely go outside. Anyway. Finnick had just been in the Capitol I guess, because he was on his way back from the train station when he saw me huddled on the side of the road with my hands over my ears. He didn't ask any questions, he just sat with me until it was over. Then he asked to walk me home. I let him, and he showed up at my house the next day, asking me if I wanted to go swimming with him. Sometimes love is seeing someone else at their worst, and loving them at their worst, before loving them at their best. That's the easy part"
I take her hand. I notice she's got tears in her eyes. "Katniss, don't let him go. For me. For Finnick" She says, and I nod.
"I won't" I whisper.