Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

When I wake up, the first thing I see is a huge dark rock above me. I realize that I must be in some kind of cave. The next thing I'm aware of is that my head is propped up slightly, and a hand is gently running its way over my hair. "Hey," Peeta says, from above me, "it's good to see your eyes again."

"Peeta?" I ask. My voice sounds hoarse and weak. Peeta slides out from under my head, replacing his lap with a wadded up article of clothing, and then holds a water bottle up to my lips. "Did you purify it?" I choke out.

"Yes," he tells me, with a smile.

I drink quickly, finishing off the bottle. It makes me feel about a thousand times better and I manage to sit up and lean against the cave wall. My stings still hurt, but not nearly as badly as they did at first.

"I guess we're allies now?" I say.

Peeta smiles. "We've always been allies."

I feel myself smiling back.

"You must be hungry," he says, "I saved you the crackers." He roots around in my bag and then quickly hands me the small package of food.

"Thanks," I say, "I can go hunting soon, too."

Peeta sits down next to me, his side turned to the wall of the cave that my back is leaning against. "No hurry," he says.

I open the package and eat one cracker, then I ask him, "What happened?"

Peeta smiles. "Well," he says, "I was reaped and you volunteered for Hunger Games -"

"I remember that," I say, smirking, "what about after the nest fell?"

"They all got stung," Peeta says, his smile fading. "We ran to the lake to get rid of the tracker jackers -"

"Why didn't you just take off sooner, like I tried to tell you to?" I snap, remembering how frustrated I was when he started to ignore my waving. He should have gotten farther away, to make sure he didn't get stung.

"Like I could have left you there!" Peeta says, "up a tree, with five of the most dangerous tributes at your feet."

I shake my head. "Yeah," I admit, "I guess it all worked out for the best." I eat another cracker.

"It did," Peeta assures me. "And I didn't think I could ditch them yet. I knew they were still a threat to you and I had to pretend to still be allied with them, so I ran to the lake with Cato and Marvel and Clove. I figured they would stay there, but Cato followed me when I came back. I couldn't believe you hadn't gotten out of there yet and I tried to get you to move. Do you remember that?"

I nod, trying not to dwell, for the moment, on how determined he's been all along to keep me alive, even at great risk to himself. "I had to get the bow."

"Well, when you finally started to leave, Cato got back. He must have been stung more than once and he was in bad shape. Too far gone to try throwing his spear, I guess, so he just came at me, and…well, you saw I had a spear, too." He looks almost pained as he pauses and stares down at his hands. "He tried to cut my leg, I think, but I was faster and got away from him. When he missed me, he kind of staggered and leaned forward and I…stabbed him through the chest. Then I went to get you and eventually found this place," Peeta says.

"You killed Cato?" I ask, wide-eyed and incredulous.

Peeta's eyes meet mine and he gives me a good-natured smirk. "Don't sound so shocked," he says, "you wouldn't have thought I could handle Cato?"

No. I definitely wouldn't have thought he could. I remember how the tracker jacker venom affected me and I know that's the only reason Peeta won the fight. Cato must have been losing control over his mind and body as the venom made its way into his bloodstream. Of course Peeta, who wasn't even stung once, had a huge advantage. "I…well, I don't know," I say, "I thought he was the most dangerous one."

Peeta nods and acknowledges, "He was very strong."

"So are you," I say, reaching out and taking Peeta's hand. But it isn't enough, not after what he's done for me, so I reach both arms out toward him

He leans forward and hugs me gently for a few seconds, then we both let go and Peeta's smiling again. "What was that for?" he asks.

"Saving me," I say.

"You saved me, too," Peeta says.

"Did I?"

"Sure, just by dropping the nest. I don't know how much longer they were going to keep me around and I couldn't exactly run away from them," Peeta explains. "And I really appreciate that you woke me up and warned me." He smiles.

"Of course I warned you," I say quickly.

"You got us both out of a bad situation," Peeta continues.

I realize he's right, that our escape was a team effort, and I eat another cracker.

Peeta's smile starts to fade while we're both silent.

Once I've swallowed my cracker, I ask, "You okay?"

"I will be," Peeta says, "I just…keep seeing Cato."

He's upset over having to kill someone; I can understand that. I realize that I was responsible for the deaths of the girls from One and Four, but whatever Peeta did to Cato must have felt worse than dropping that nest did for me.

I nod, and try to sound consoling as I say, "It must have been awful."

"I'm glad I did it for you, though," Peeta says, "it made it a little easier. Easier than if I'd only killed him in defense of myself. I just couldn't let him get to you."

Well, I'm glad I'm able to console him in this, if no other, way. I eye Peeta up and down. "Were you hurt at all?"

"No," he says, "like I said, Cato wasn't in much condition to fight and the tracker jackers didn't get me either, so I'm fine. Just hungry. You, on the other hand…" he reaches out and brushes a few stray hairs off of my forehead.

That's a relief, hearing he's not wounded. I can still hardly believe that he went up against Cato and lived to tell about it. A thought occurs to me. If I didn't know I could trust Peeta, I might not have warned him before dropping the nest, and then where would we be? I was pretty shocked to find out he'd teamed up with the Careers and for just a moment I felt unsure of him. It's so hard to trust, in a situation like that. But then I thought again of our last conversation on the roof. He seemed so sincere and really does seem to care about me a lot. I'm so glad I was smart enough to trust him, no matter how confusing his actions were.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to team up with the Careers? That was really dangerous," I say.

"This whole thing is dangerous," Peeta reminds me, "I thought you'd try to stop me and we'd just end up arguing during the little time we had left. And there wouldn't have been any point, my mind was made up."

"It was dangerous," I repeat. I want to be angry with him for keeping this from me, but everything has worked out all right so far. He was right to team up with them, it's kept us both alive. There's a nagging voice inside me, reminding me that we can't both stay that way. In some ways, things are harder now. What if, somehow, we are the last two? I remind myself of the remaining Career tributes and Thresh. They're all very powerful. Strangely, this consoles me; how could Peeta and I be the final two, with them to contend with? I allow myself to be happy to be with him again and try not to think about what's going to happen in the future.

"Did you and Haymitch work it out, that you would team up with the Careers?" I ask.

"Yes," Peeta says, "I told him that I would do whatever it takes to help you and we decided together that that would be the best way. I know I would have just slowed you down if we'd been together from the beginning. You couldn't have slept up in a tree if I'd been with you." Right. I still find it unnerving that his sole plan in the Games seems to have been keeping me alive. I don't want to think about it.

I reach out to touch Peeta's face, but he catches my hand and kisses it. I've seen my father do this with my mother and wonder where Peeta picked it up. Surely his father and witch of a mother wouldn't display affection like this. Almost immediately after he's taken my hand in one of his, and pressed the back of it against his cheek, there's a loud clanging sound at the mouth of the cave. Peeta goes to investigate, taking the knife with him, but he returns with a pot of broth.

"Look what Haymitch sent you," Peeta says, smiling at me. He sits beside me again, and insists that I eat the whole pot.

As he feeds me, I can't help remembering the first time we spoke. I think we were eleven years-old.

I'd forgotten my lunch at home, and Madge would have shared hers with me, like she had before, but she was home sick that week. I was sitting by myself, my stomach growling, just waiting for lunchtime to be over so I could go back to class and then get home. I had the end of my braid in my hands and was fidgeting with it, just for something to do.

I saw a shadow on the table in front of me and looked up. Peeta was standing there, his blue eyes wide and a nervous smile on his face. "Hi," he said.

"Hello," I said.

"Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Oh," I said, surprised, "um, go ahead."

Peeta's smile grew and he took a seat across from me. "Did you forget your lunch?" he asked.

I nodded, then looked at Peeta's hands for the first time, and saw that he was holding a small loaf of bread. He held it out toward me. "It's a couple of days old, but not bad," he said.

"Oh, I'm all right," I said, "it's yours."

"I'm not hungry," he said.

"You must be." I couldn't believe him. Why would he do this?

"There's plenty for both of us, then," he said kindly. It wasn't true, though. The small loaf wasn't really big enough to share. He broke it, then held half out toward me.

I continued to hesitate, while I stared at the bread, but then I looked at Peeta's face again and he looked so kind and sincere that I found myself reaching out and taking the proffered bread. I started to eat and it was very good, hearty and filled with raisins and nuts. It didn't take long to finish the bread, but I was surprised that Peeta stayed with me while we both silently ate our halves.

"See you," Peeta said, then quickly stood up and left. That was when I realized I didn't even thank him. But I never forgot his kindness.

Now, in the cave, with the last of the broth gone, I smile at him and say, "Always feeding me."

Peeta seems to think for a moment, then says, "You remember that? I thought you didn't know I existed, until a few weeks ago."

I shake my head. "Of course I remember it. And…thank you."

"Didn't you thank me before?" Peeta asks, smiling.

"No," I say, "I didn't. You stood up and left and then I felt bad about not getting the chance," I say. I'm surprised he doesn't remember, but I guess he was too nice to focus on my blunder.

"You're welcome, then."

We're silent for a few seconds, as we stare at each other. I decide that we need to talk again, so that I don't think about him too much. I let myself can't get attached. "So, who's left?"

"Marvel from One and Clove from Two. They had the boy from three with them also. They had him reactivate some of the mines around the plates and that's how they keep their food guarded."

"I didn't know those things could be reactivated," I say, "he must be smart."

"District Three," Peeta reminds me, "electronics."

I nod. "Okay, so the three of them, Foxface…"

Peeta gives me a quizzical look and one side of his mouth raises in an amused smile. "Foxface?"

"Oh," I say, "the girl from Five. Don't you think she looks like a fox?"

"I guess," Peeta says, still smiling, then he adds, "Thresh and Rue are both still alive."

"Eight of us," I say. I know it won't help to talk like this, especially with the sponsors, but I speak without thinking. "I bet Thresh will win now, along with Cato I would have said he was the strongest one."

"Hey," Peeta says good-naturedly, "what about me? I got rid of Cato."

I smile, humoring him. "You're right. I bet you'll win."

Peeta shakes his head. "No, I'm going to make sure that you do."

I want to tell him to stop saying things like this, but I decide to just ignore the remark.

"Marvel's not to be overlooked," Peeta says, backtracking to our discussion of the remaining tributes. "Especially since he's from One, we know he'll have good sponsors. And Clove, she could be dangerous. But I bet we can count on them to kill the boy from Three. And I don't think Rue or the girl from Five got any weapons."

"Okay, so three really dangerous opponents."

"Right."

I remember Rue warning me about the nest. I can't help feeling glad that she's still alive; I feel like I owe her something and I wish I could have a chance to repay her somehow. I'd be willing to take her on as an ally, because obviously she's smart enough to still be alive, and she's so young. I hope she's not too scared out there, but how could she not be scared? She must be terrified. I don't know where she is, though, and can't exactly go looking. I remind myself that having another ally would only make this harder. It's bad enough to have one person, Peeta, who I couldn't kill. Of course, I wouldn't be able to kill Rue anyway, but I don't want to like her too much, either.

Suddenly, we hear the blaring sound of the anthem. Peeta and I go to the opening of the cave and hear an announcement from Claudius Templesmith. Then he says it a second time. It's a good thing, too, because otherwise I wouldn't have believed it.

Two tributes from the same district can win as a team? It takes a few seconds for the news to sink in. I can hardly believe what it could mean for Peeta and I. It's shocking and astounding that this would happen. The whole point of the Games is for twenty-three people to die. It's unbelievable that they would let two of us live.

Peeta and I retreat back into the cave once the announcement is over. I look up at him, with wide eyes. He smiles, and I think to myself that I've never seen anyone look so happy. "Katniss," he says, stepping toward me and wrapping his arms around me tightly. I hug him back and feel my feet lifted off the ground. "It's for us," Peeta continues, "they did it for us."

I can't believe it. I know the Games are far from over, but I can't help feeling happy. I begin to embrace the possibility of Peeta and I both making it out of the arena alive. Going home to District Twelve, with Peeta, and picking up where we left off before this whole thing happened. But…will I really be able to do that? Just go home, and pretend that everything is okay, after all of this? I don't know.

Peeta sets me down and then distracts me by bringing up the second part of the announcement. I was so shocked by the rule change that I couldn't even think about the other thing we were told. It seemed so insignificant. "We're not going to the feast," he says flatly.

"Of course not," I agree. Supposedly, there is something there that we need, but I can't think of a single thing that would make attending the feast worthwhile. It's not surprising that they would want to drive us together like this, I bet nothing has happened at all since I dropped the nest. I also wonder if the feast is aimed at someone in particular. Are other tributes having a harder time than Peeta and I? Do they desperately need something? I hope so. I hope this feast will drive them together so they can fight amongst themselves. "I wonder what'll be there, though."

Peeta shrugs, smiling. He leans forward and gives me quick kiss on the forehead. "We have everything we need."

He's right. We have the sleeping bag, weapons, shelter, my ability to hunt, and our alliance, which will never be broken. I don't know what else we could hope for at this point.

Still, I keep thinking about the feast. I assume there will be deaths tomorrow morning, when it's to be held. I wonder who will be left afterwards, for Peeta and I to face.