"I promise"
With that the scene finishes and Cato turns the TV off. He turns back to face me and I see that the fire in his eyes has decreased but is still there. Tears stream down my face. How could he? He says he loves me and then he does that! Who makes someone they love watch their own sister die?!
"Why?" I ask "Why did you make me watch that?" I look up at him through the tears that continue to fall, much to my distaste. Cato's look softens slightly.
"I needed you to see it." He states "Your own sister could see how much I love you. I promised her that I'd love you and protect you and I will."
"I don't need protecting, I can take care of myself." Cato laughs.
"Really? You kind of needed me to step in when your Dad was here, Didn't you?!" I glare at him and he laughs again. "I'm always right Clover." I turn my gaze away and wipe my cheeks and eyes.
"I'm sorry Clover. I just needed you to see it." I cautiously turn around to face him again and find that his eyes are soft and gentle. You can work anything out from Cato, by looking at his eyes. He takes a hand and uses it to caress my cheek. I feel a few more tears trickle out of my eyes and Cato kisses them away. The feeling of his warm, soft lips on my face is rather weird but at that moment in time it was a shard of comfort in a whirlwind of hurt. He holds me to his chest and a strangled sob escapes my lips followed by hot, fat tears that dribble down my face. He whispers soothing things to me and kissing the top of my head. His large but gentle hands carefully wipe away the tears from my face.
"Are you tired?" Cato asks and I just nod. He picks me up in his arms and carries me, bridal to the bedroom. He softly lays me down onto the bed and I snuggle into the warmth of the bed.
"Clover, you need to get dressed." Cato laughs.
"I don't want to." I whine.
"Well, if you wanted me to do it for you, all you had to do was ask." I sit up instantly.
"WHAT!" I screech and Cato laughs even more. I grumpily get changed and look at myself in the mirror. The girl I see looks broken. I feel broken. It makes me feel so weak and pathetic. Before I know what I'm doing my fist connects with the mirror. Hard. A sharp throbbing pain fizzes around my hand and Cato rushes in.
"Clove!" He explains shakily. I realise that my hands bleeding a lot. "You're so stupid." He washes my hand and removes a shard of glass that had wedged itself into my hand. He disinfects the wound and bandages it up. He leads me to bed and holds me to him.
"Don't you ever do anything like that again! What were you even doing?" I shrug and Cato subconsciously pulls me closer to him, protectively. He doesn't even show signs of sleep as he waits for me to fall asleep. Guess he still doesn't trust me after last night. Ouch.
Dream
I stand by the cornucopia as Callie finally finishes killing 12. She stands up and Cato comes into view , sword hanging from his belt.
"You took your time." Muses Callie. Cato draws his sword.
"Shut UP!" He says and stabs her in the heart.
"Callie!" I scream and try to run to her. An invisible forcefield stops me though. Cato looks up.
"Hello Clover. 2 Furnham sisters killed by the same guy, on the same day, with the same sword." He cackles and drives the sword through the forcefield and towards me.
I wake up sweating with the odd tear on my face.
"Shh. It's alright. It was just a nightmare." Cato whispers to me, running his fingers through my hair in an attempt to calm me down. I eventually feel myself drifting off to sleep.
When I wake in the morning Cato has an arm draped protectively around me. I roll my eyes and notice that he's still snoring lightly. Gawd damn it. I begin to untangle myself from him but he seems to have developed sharper senses since returning from the arena.
"Clove." He mumbles "What are you doing?" I sigh and lean back into the bed as his arms tighten around me.
"You weren't trying to escape again, were you?" He asks his gaze fixing on me and turning stoney.
"No." I say simply and he holds me to his chest.
"And seeing as you woke me up last night I at least deserve to know what your nightmare was about." Cato says.
"Why do you want to know? And what do you think it was about?" I snap and Cato glares at me.
"Because you woke me up and you were yelling in your sleep." He replies.
"What was I saying." I add cautiously.
"First of all it was Callie's name. And then it was mine." I tense slightly. Damn. I sigh and give in because I don't want him to do anything to me.
"You killed Callie and then you killed me." I say "And you seemed to enjoy it." I try to sound as if I couldn't care less but my voice cracks as I mention Callie's name. I miss her so freaking much.
"Clove, I'd never do anything to hurt you." Cato says and I push myself away from him.
"You already did." I hiss. I sit on the bed and hear him storm out of the room. Then I hear a key in the lock. He locked me in? Who the hell does he think he is? I go and shower and then put on the same outfit that isn't my training outfit that I've been wearing. It's all I've got. Then, as I'm brushing my hair Cato comes back in. He's holding a letter in his hand. He looks up at me.
"Tomorrow we're going to the Capitol to announce our you have to pretend to be in love with me." My jaw drops open. "Otherwise your husband is going to have to sleep with other woman." He rakes a hand through his hair and I can tell that it bothers him. I shrug and Cato looks at my outfit.
"We start planning the wedding in," He checks his watch "2 hours. Our wedding planner comes from the Capitol. So she'll want you to look nice." I scowl.
"This is all I've got."
"Then I suppose we've got to go shopping." He leads me out of the house, holding my hand tightly and talks and we walk, wait scratch that, he pulls me along after him.
"You have to be on your best behaviour, OK? And nobody is to know that you don't like me like that...yet. And you do NOT want to know what would happen if you don't do this." I shudder and Cato leads us into a store. In less than an hour we have got me a new wardrobe. When we get back I shower again and dress in a green pinafore. My shoes are black and patent and I have white ankle socks. Cato's insisted that I play the innocent, cute, fallen in love act. I brush my hair and put on minimal make-up. When i come down cato looks at me and smiles.
"You look nice Clover." I shrug and walk over to the couch. Where I am with this boy, god knows? Then there's a knock at the door and it's Cato's family as both parents have insisted on assisting with the planning.
"Good morning, Cato. Hows my angel holding up without his mummy." Cato rolls his eyes.
"Muuuuum." The blonde woman flicks her hair and laughs.
"There you are son. You've got quite the catch, haven't y'" A brunette guy comments as he ruffled Cato's hair. Cato gives an awkward crooked smile and I flush.
"Catoooooooooooooo!" Yells a little kid, flinging themself so hard at Cato that he nearly falls over.
"Hey Lola. Did you miss me?" The little kid, who turns out to be a 9 year old version of Cato's mother nods.
"Who's this?" She asks, pointing at me.
"This is Clove. The girl I''m going to marry." Lola smiles at me before cocking her head in recognition.
"Isn't she the girl you pointed at and told me that you thought she was pretty." Cato blushes and scratches the back of his neck.
"How do you even...remember that?" He mumbles as Lola laughs. Then my parents arrive and try (and fail) to act as if they're perfect parents. When the wedding planner finally arrives she is a right nutcase. In the 5 hours of 'planning' all we do is decide that we'll marry on June 21st (in 3 weeks) and that all of 2 and a total of 100+ people from the Capitol will be guests. It's decided that we'll have a meadow fairytale wedding and that it'll be televised for all of Panem to see. No pressure.
