Guys I am sososososoo sorry I couldn't update until now! I've been really busy this week with homework and stuff, so I've only just finished it. I've been writing it whenever I could this week, so I'm sorry if it sucks… But feel free to review!

Chapter 4

CATO

I slowly open my eyes, at first startled by the small body lying next to me. Her head is on my chest, and my arms are around her delicate frame. Her breath is coming slow and smoothly, and her mouth is twitched up in the hint of a smile. She just looks so damn beautiful. A wide smile spreads across my face as I remember the events of last night, and how she ended up in my arms this morning.

"Clove, please don't go back to your dad. I don't want him to ever hurt you again. Ever." I was completely serious with this statement. I'm sure she felt my arms tighten around her as I thought about her in pain. If he ever hurt her again, I'm pretty sure that I would personally see to his bloody death.

"Cato, I'm alright, I swear. I just wanted to get out of there." She said as she took in a shaky breath. "I can take care of myself." Damn Clove and her pride. She is just so stubborn.

"Anyways," She continued, "I should probably get back soon because I don't want him to be angry with me for sneaking out…especially to visit you." I felt a pang in my chest as I thought about her dad hitting her again.

"No Clove. I'm not letting you go back there." I stated firmly. When I saw her hard expression, I knew that I had to elaborate. "It's not safe for you." Or me, I added in my head, "Please, please just stay here tonight." I begged, as her face softened slightly.

"I don't know Cato…Are you sure that would be alright?" She spoke, slowly warming to the idea. "I mean would your parents be ok with it? And also there isn't anywhere for me to sleep…" At that I gave her a sly grin and a wink. "Of course my parents are ok with it Clover, and you can sleep right here." I said, smirking at the shocked look on her face.

"Oh." She managed to get out, and before it vanished, I caught the blush creeping up her cheeks and the happiness that flitted past her eyes.

She had fallen asleep, tucked into my arms, and now here she lay beside me, with the morning light streaming down on her beautiful face. She looks so peaceful when she sleeps, I realize with a smile, and gently lean down and kiss her forehead. If she were awake, I wouldn't have dared to it, knowing that a knife would have been flung at me before I could even apologize, but it just looked so tempting. I decide that I might as well head downstairs and let her continue to sleep, because it looks like she really needs her rest. But as I begin to gently remove my arms from around her, she snuggles into me deeper, before slowly opening her eyes.

"Hi" She says timidly, and I can't help but laugh at her newfound shyness. "You know, you're cute in the morning Clover." I wink at her, and grin as she scowls. "Anyways," I continue, hoping to once again see her beautiful smile, "today's Saturday, which means there isn't any training." She gives me a look that has 'no shit' written all over it. I continue on, ignoring her. "So I thought that you might not want to spend the day at home with your family for some odd reason, and I thought that maybe you might want to spend the day with me." I say, hoping to sound confident, but really inside I'm just praying that she will say yes. "Well if I don't have any other options…then I guess. Only if you're forcing me." She grins, making my heart do an excited leap. "Oh believe me knives, you don't have any say in the matter." I joke as she rolls her eyes at me. I then grab her hand, and pull her up from the bed, then downstairs.

CLOVE

As he grabs my hand, my heart begins to pound in my chest. He pulls me downstairs, not even giving me a chance to think about what had happened last night, and how I had ended up sleeping in his bed. Not that I hadn't enjoyed it though to be honest. I'm rushed into the kitchen, where Cato promptly sits me down on a stool, before telling me to close my eyes. I do so, and I can hear him moving around in the kitchen, a few cupboards being closed and after roughly 2 minutes, he grabs my hand and pulls me up.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" I ask, in a slightly annoyed tone and not being able to use my most important sense in terms of defense. "Nope." Cato says smugly, enjoying my irritancy at him. And then because he obviously doesn't trust the fact that I won't peek, he wraps a fabric around my eyes and I curse inwardly. He pulls me through the kitchen, and then comes to a stop, opening what I think is the back door of his house. "Watch your step," He warns, as there is a drop as we go outside. "Cato," I start, "Why are we going outside?" He lets out a light laugh, which sends shivers done my spine even though it's warm outside. "You'll see..." He says slyly. The way that the words roll off his tongue sounds beautiful in the calm outside.

I can feel a light breeze blowing onto my body, and let out an involuntary shiver. Cato notices, and puts his arm around me comfortingly. As his muscular arm touches my shoulder, goose bumps form down my entire arm, making me annoyed at my bodily functions. I pretend to be annoyed, and shake it off telling him that I'm not a baby, wishing that I could see the way that his eyes twinkled at my annoyance.

Finally, he pulls me to a stop, where I can feel the grass underneath my feet and sun beaming down on my body. "We're here" Cato starts, as he unwraps the fabric from my eyes, reluctantly dropping my hand in the process, "you can open your eyes now Clover."

I do so, and I'm shocked by my surroundings. I'd never been in this area of District 2 before. We're standing in a small open grassy area, surrounded by trees, with the faint rustle of water coming from nearby. There is no way for anyone to hear us out hear, let alone see us. "Cato, where are we?" I question, completely confused as to why we're here. "We're in a place that I've been coming for years…whenever I just need to think," He says, and I see a muscle twitch in his jaw. "I practice here too," He continues, as if to show his strength, "It's a great place for throwing a few spears." I nod, and then continue to look around in wonder. "Anyways, that's not why we're here." Cato says, and I see him pull a small basket from behind him and I have no idea how I hadn't seen it before. "I brought us food…we could have a picnic?" He suggests sounding somewhat unsure, as if he'd never done this before, which, come to think of it, is probably true.

I reassure him by grabbing his hand and squeezing it, feeling a new feeling of warmth spread through my body. I decide to enjoy the feeling, even though my brain is screaming at me to let go, saying that I can't feel for anyone, ever. I ignore it, going with my heart, thinking that if I'm going to enter the Hunger Games soon anyways, I may as well have experienced some form of pleasure before being forced to kill people. I mean I don't want to be a monster.

Cato looks down at me and smiles, making my insides burst. "So, want to talk about last night?" He questions, a cocky grin taking place of the other. "Ummm…" I start, unsure myself of what I was thinking. "Well…I felt like I needed to get out of the house away from…" A flicker of resentment and pain flashes across his face, as he interrupts. "Shit Clove I'm so sorry, I completely forgot! Are you ok?" The look on his face is purely worry, and I laugh to myself, while slightly embarrassed, at the thought of him only remembering the fact that I crawled into his bed last night. "I'm fine Cato. Don't worry. I just wanted to get out of there before he could hurt me again. And I felt like your house would be the only place I could be safe at." As I say this, his worried face turns into a genuine smile, as he replies sounding relieved, "Don't worry Clover, I'll always be there to protect you."

I hope you guys liked it! Sorry if you didn't… But please please pleasee review! I'll love you forever (and I might just upload the next chapter faster if you do…) I'll try to upload chapter 5 as soon as I can