(Peeta POV)

"Katniss. . ." I say her name slowly, the word still feels foreign in my mouth. I look around her messy room and I wonder if she's always been this messy. The pearl I gave her in the Quarter Quell sits on her dresser.

The Quarter Quell. Where she tried to kill me.

A voice calls my name but I'm too far gone.

"She's a mutt! She'll kill us all!" I run at her but our usually drunken mentor tries to stop me. Tries. I tackle him to the ground and a punch to the nose puts him out of commission. I causally stroll over to the quivering mutt in the closet. I pick her up and throw her back to the ground. I sit and pin her down and hold her hands above her head. She starts to plead with me.

"Not real Peeta. It's not real."

"Be quiet!" My hands hesitate to kill her. Why? She's a mutt, she needs to die!

"Peeta, no!" Haymitch has gotten over his bloody face and pulls me off of the mutt-no- Katniss. The next thing I know I'm tied to a chair and Katniss is running from room like her life depends on it, which in one sense, it does.

"Where are your meds?" Haymitch puts his face close to mine and I squirm uncomfortably.

"I don't want them," he's going to poison me just like the Capitol did. No, I won't let him.

"Where. Are. They?" I twist my head around, straining in the chair. The good part of me wrestles with the bad.

"Bathroom," I spit out. He hurries out and I try to escape but with no luck. He comes back with a needle filled with a clear liquid, he's going to poison me! He must sense my fear as he explains what he's doing.

"It isn't venom, it's from Dr. Aurelius, do you remember? It's to help calm you down." I nod slightly and he jabs the needle into my arm. I don't feel the once familiar burn that signals I've been injected with tracker jacker venom so I relax slightly. He immediately unties me and helps me stumble over to the bed. I fall down onto it, already feeling tired and confused.

There's a knock on the door and she walks in.

"Can I see him?" Haymitch turns to me but I'm too tired to reply. They must take this as a yes and Katniss slowly walks over and sits on the edge of the bed but looks ready to run if necessary. I don't think that will happen as keeping my eyes open is a struggle right now. She runs a hand through my hair and, surprisingly, I find myself leaning into her touch.

"Your name is Peeta Mellark, you live in district 12. You've been in love with me since you were 5. You've saved my life countless times. The Capitol tried to take you from me but you didn't let them, you fought them off like you need to now. Come back to me."

That's when everything comes back to me. The bread, the pearl. The kiss.

"Always," I manage to say before my eyes slip shut.