Author's Note: AP Week has finally commenced! Hurrah! Seriously, writing this stuff and fangirling over Alexander Ludwig (I know, I'm embarrassing but it's better than my Zac Efron stage in 5th grade) is saving me. And I'm only taking one AP this year. I'm taking five next year…how am I going to survive….

A huge shout out to EVERYONE who commented/reviewed/favorite/storyalerted! If you guys have any tips or suggestions, hit me upppp (:

Like always, read and review! Comments are very much appreciated :)

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Katniss sat on the rooftop, thinking. Pondering what her beloved sister might be doing right now—sleeping? Playing with that damned cat of hers? Waiting for her to come home? And what was Gale doing right now? Maybe he had forgotten all about her—maybe he got wrapped up in all the attention the girls at school gave him. Maybe he wasn't taking care of her family like he had promised. Maybe—

Katniss's thoughts froze as she heard someone open the sliding door to the rooftop. She prayed it was an Avox, just checking in on her. But she could hear footsteps, and she instantly knew who it was. Anyone else would've called out, tried to figure out who the small figure sitting in a ball-like shape on the rooftop was.

Please leave, Katniss thought, closing her eyes. Please just leave. Go back to your floor and leave me alone.

"Hey, Catnip," she heard the familiar voice say softly.

She didn't budge. Maybe she stopped breathing for a while. Who did he think he was, anyways? Messing with her head like that the day before they would all enter the arena and fight to the death. Their deaths. It hadn't struck her until now that when it came down to it, if they were the last two, one of them would end up killing each other. That was how the Games worked. One of them would die.

She swore that she could feel him breathing down her neck, a little sensual, a little terrifying. Typical Cato. "I'm sorry, Katniss. I—I can't even imagine what you're going through right now. If I'd known that you would volunteer, I wouldn't have. No, no, I would've prevented it from happening. I hate the fact that you're in this Katniss, I hate the fact that we're in this," she heard him say.

There was an awkward pause between the two, her continuing to stare out into the bright city lights of the Capitol, him doing—well, who the hell knows what he was doing. She could feel the tears prickling at her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. She wanted him hug him so badly, to turn around and bury her head into his chest, and for him to hug her back and calm her down with his soothing voice. She wanted to tell him she was sorry, for ignoring him and putting a wall up around herself, one that he couldn't get through even if he tried. But she couldn't. Not now. Not this close to the Games, not when she had promised Prim that she would come home. For Prim.

"You looked beautiful during your interview, Kat," he continued, as she let out a small cry. She wasn't weeping or laughing, it was a sound of—utter confusion, but he knew he was getting to her now, and he knew he could break through the wall. "You did. And when Peeta declared his love for you, I—I was so jealous that he could be with someone as amazing as you."

That part was true, at least. Every time he saw Peeta and Katniss talk, he felt a twinge of jealousy. That Peeta could be close to her now, while he couldn't. It hurt. After Peeta had declared his love for Katniss, he wanted nothing more than to beat the kid up into a pulp and finish him off during the bloodbath. But he realized soon that with Peeta, Katniss was safer. She had two tributes—three, if you counted Clove—willing to die protecting her. Clove had convinced Cato to go up to the rooftop and visit Katniss, because everyone knew she was there. Don't let her go before you get to say goodbye, she had told him

"And I know you're trying to build up this wall around yourself, Katniss," he said, his voice threatening to give his emotions away. "You do it when you're scared, when you're terrified and when you're uncertain. You block the people you love out, and I guess it's pretty flattering for you to have blocked me out. But you don't have to carry all of this weight on your shoulders…I wish we could go back, Kat, go back to District Twelve and lay in the meadow and not care about anything. I wish that you didn't have to be here, that the closest you would have to be to the Games would be watching it on a TV screen. Katniss, I—"

His next words were never uttered as Katniss finally broke and buried herself into his chest, as he felt hot tears seep through his thin cotton shirt. He stroked her hair, which felt like silk to his fingertips, as she cried and cried all her emotions out. He could her flowery, yet earthy smell, and she could smell his musky but fresh scent. Even when her eyes were empty of tears, she still clung onto him, never wanting to let him go as he held her and planted soft kisses on her head. She didn't want to ever let him go—never again.

Finally, she raised her head a little and looked into his piercing blue eyes. They weren't cold anymore—they were a brilliant sapphire blue. She closed her eyes and did the unthinkable.

She kissed him.

It felt right in so many ways, and it felt wrong in so many ways. As their mouths and tongues moved with each other in sync, Katniss felt herself drifting away from the thoughts she was having about Prim and her mother and Gale. There was only her and Cato there. At the same time, she knew what Haymitch had told her. That she and Peeta had to pull off the star-crossed lovers act if she wanted to go back home to District 12. But Cato—it just felt so right.

Cato broke off the kiss unexpectedly, causing Katniss to become very confused, very quickly.

"What I came to tell you, Katniss," Cato started, looking right into her grey eyes. "Was that I—I love you, Katniss. Ever since I was little, I always knew it. And I always hoped that you felt the same way, and well, I guess that kiss was enough."

Katniss grinned, the first time she had truly smiled since she had left her family and friends in 12. "I love you too, cocky Cato."

Cato's face beamed, but his happiness was quickly replaced by a sad, melancholy smile. "I know. But, tomorrow—"

Katniss nodded. She knew what he meant. They'd have to go their separate ways, and possibly even kill each other. They couldn't let anyone know about their little secret, if she wanted to fulfill her promise to Prim and get back home. She had to pretend she was in love with Prim, and he had to bring back that sexy, dazzling Cato charm and arrogance that Capitol women fell so easily in love with. One of them had to—

"No!" Katniss cried, burying her face in Cato's neck, the truth finally sinking in. "You can't die, you just can't."

Cato pulled her off and stroked her face lovingly. "I have to protect you, Catnip."

Katniss shook her head. "You've wanted this forever, Cato."

"Your family, Katniss. Prim."

Katniss sighed and pulled Cato closer to her. "I don't want you to leave me."

Cato chuckled. "How about we stop talking about this? Just—enjoy the night."

Katniss nodded.

Enjoy the night.

Their last night.

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Cato tiptoed back to his room on the floor reserved for District 2 tributes, checking his watch. Two o'clock, he thought. Katniss had just now fallen asleep and after carrying her back to her room, he had decided that he probably needed some rest, too.

"How'd your meeting with Lover Girl go?" a sarcastic voice asked as his hand reached for the doorknob. "Took a while."

Cato faced to meet Clove, his smile genuine. "Awesome."

Clove sighed. "You didn't tell her that you loved her, did you, Cato?"

Cato shrugged, his mind still in a slight daze. "And what if I did?"

Clove shook her head. She actually felt sympathetic for the girl now, to be in such a predicament. "You know you're going to kill her, right, Cato?"

"What do you mean? I'm protecting her."

"No," Clove said, a hint of sadness clouding her usually sarcastic voice. "If you die, she'll be heartbroken. She won't know what to do with herself, Cato."

Cato, realizing that this was the truth, signaled Clove to go away with a flick of his wrist and shut himself in his room.

Either way, Katniss would die.

Effie Trinket's shrill voice haunted him as he tried to get some sleep. "And may the odds be ever in your favor."