Oh my gosh, you all are so amazing.
The support I am getting from you guys truly blows me away. Every time I get a review it just makes me so happy.
To the reviewer that told me to give myself a pat on the back: I did!
So let's try to shoot for 112! I know you all can do it!
Much Love,
DedicatedWallflower
Cato leans down to my ear "let's take a little drive" he whispers. He leads me to a red pickup truck and helps me into the passenger seat.
We are blatantly ignoring all rules the school has set up, but I cannot seem to bring myself to care.
He rolls down the windows, and we sit in silence. The silence doesn't bother me at all, it's actually helping me sort things out in my head and calm down. These are the times that punches don't work.
He only speaks when we pull off the road, and into a small field "I hope you like water" he grins mischievously at my startled face.
I see our destination clear as day in front of us; it's a lake, in the middle of the field for all to see. I can't help but smile back with wide eyes as he hops out and opens my door for me.
He can see I am distracted by the sea of wheat and tall grass, blowing together in the wind to make billowing waves. He smiles and throws me over his shoulder laughing like a maniac. It feels good to hear someone else laugh, soon I'm laughing too as we fall to the ground near the edge of the lake.
"So, you want to know what happened to me don't you." I ask when I've finally calmed down from my hysterics of laughter.
"Yeah, but I have explaining to do first" he says looking down at his hands "You're probably wondering why you. Honestly I can't explain it either, but I just knew you were different. I could see past the happy girl you put off for everyone at school. I can see your brokenness. I just I knew there was something that was different. I had to try again. I watched my brother get shot right in front of me, so I can relate to whatever you have to say. I just clammed up, stopped talking, stopped at life. You though, you're better than me, you kept going" he throws the little shards of grass, that he has been furiously picking, out of his hands and looks out into the endless horizon.
I breathe, inhaling in the sickly sweet hospital air in a big gasp.
The first thing I notice is the constant droning of the machines, the beeping I giving me an even worse headache to top off the one I already have. My whole body aches, I feel as though I've been run over by a bus multiple times.
"Cato" I whisper, the words sticking on my dry tongue and cracked lips.
"Kat, can you hear me, can you squeeze my hand?" his voice sounds really far away as he places his hand in mine.
It takes all of my energy to let out a little weak squeeze to his warm hand.
"Good Kat, keep hanging on baby" he whispers as I black out again.
Then I black out again. The second time I wake up, the machines are gone and only a sole IV remains in my arm. I must be getting better if that is the case.
"Katniss, are you awake?" Cato whispers and I open my eyes only to be blinded by the white light of the hospital room.
"How long have I been out" I whisper groggily, trying to sit up but about halfway there, I fall back to the pillow, Cato catches my head and lays me back down gently.
"Three days, four hours, and twenty three minutes" he whispers placing a gentle kiss on the top of my throbbing head.
"You stayed" I whisper shifting around on my bed uncomfortably until Cato gently adjusts me until I am comfortable again.
"Every second" he whispers and then as if reading my thoughts adds "Prim has been staying with Rue, don't worry, Mrs. Terner has been taking good care of her" his smile makes me so much more comforted and I melt into the arms still around me.
"Cato" I whisper after a second.
"Yeah, Kat"
"Thank you, for everything" I try to smile pulling him closer to me.
"No Katniss thank you" he responds even in the worst of times, he makes me feel so very safe.
TWO MONTHS LATER- (sorry for the time skip, there wouldn't be a lot of action in the time period that Katniss is getting better)
Gale has disappeared, no one has heard or seen anything from him since the night he dropped me, it's been two months now, and every one of my dreams seems to be centered around my dramatic fall. At least now I have Cato to protect me through the night. He hasn't left my side since the incident and I'm starting to think he never will. Every night, he lies on the floor next to me, only to find that by morning, I have crawled down into the safety of his arms.
We have our own little routine, he cooks and I go to the gym in the mornings, he goes to school and I box some more, he makes sure to get Prim to school every morning. The school agreed to let me take my course work home due to the pressing circumstances. The police call once at least every day, one detective, something Enobaria, doesn't stop calling. She is determined to get me to press charges against Gale. I wouldn't be surprised if she already has him in the slammer, and that's where he has disappeared to. I do my course work and then box even more. Haymitch has vowed to stay sober enough to teach me if I promise I can win at least three out of five fights. Piece of cake.
Cato hates coming down to the Hob to watch me practice spar with Jo's fighters. He says he can't stand seeing people hit me, he says he'd rather pretend that the occasional black eye I get, or the inner bruises I get, that hurt so bad I can barely stand, are from something else, like me walking into a post.
Prim thinks we are going to get married and live happily ever after. Every day she comes home with a picture of a dress, or a cake she has found on some new Pin sight on the internet. How she finds internet access is another mystery to me. Cato and I laugh it off, but on the inside I know he is thinking the same thing as I am, what are we going to do in the future, it isn't that far away.
"Cato, put me down" I gasp as he runs into the water with me bouncing along on his broad shoulder. We both go tumbling into the watery abyss. I stand up glaring at him as my clothes stick to my body like a body suit.
"What, is the wicked witch going to melt?" he mocks scooping up a big handful of water in his large hands before dumping it on my head. I'm about to shriek or kick him back but I realize how close we are together.
His eyes shine in the sun and his solid abs poke through his shirt. The moment feels so right but I can't bring myself to draw him near to me. In this moment I want him so bad, I want to cling to him and never let him go, after all he is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
He's the first one to make a move, his arms snake around my body, pulling me towards him until we are stomach to stomach. He smiles a bit before leaning his head down slowly. The second our lips crash together, I get a gentle stirring in the pit of my stomach.
I have never felt anything like it before in my life; everything around me seems to fade into a foggy world, unlike the one that now dominates my reality. Everything feels so right, I feel so right in his arms, like nothing in the word can stop me. My fist kiss and I already feel like I could go much farther. Thank God we both have morals.
As I finally pull away to stare into his blue eyes, I can feel a blush creeping onto my face "Not bad for your first" he smiles tugging me into a hug.
I look to the ground, not wanting him to see the rosy pink of my heated cheeks. But nevertheless, he pulls my head back up towards him by my chin and pants a small peck in my lips. "Cooking?" he asks with a small smile.
"Cooking' I agree as we race back to the truck.
Every now and then, on days like these, Cato and I drive out to the lake where we first talked. It makes us both feel a little saner.
As we near the apartments I can't help but feel excited, we have the house to ourselves tonight. As much as I love Prim, her endless easy chatter can sometimes just be too much.
I go and shower while he gets the kitchen ready for my first cooking lesson.
When I come back, in one of his big t-shirts I like to sleep in, he has everything ready.
A big skillet with some sort of diced meat sits on the stovetop already cooking and he hands me a spatula. 'Here, just stir it up and kind of chop it as you go, I'm going to cut some veggies ok?" he smiles.
I smile back like I know what I'm doing but in reality, I'm about as good as a moose trying to play croquet¹. He notices me struggling and comes to stand beside me, pressing his front to my back; he grabs my arms in his. "Like this" he whispers softly in my ear, guiding my hand with his.
We cook the rest of the dinner like this; it seems to be the most effective way to teach me after all.
As we sit down to eat, there is a loud crash and a rock with paper attached to it comes hurtling through our window narrowly missing my head.
"I'm going to kill that" Cato's words are drowned out by the pounding of my head as he runs past me out the door.
I know what I have to do know. It's gone too far. I can't let Gale control my life any longer. My heart beats fast as I follow Cato out the door, cellphone in hand. I'm dialing the number of the person that I know can help, Detective Enobaria. This ends now.
"Hello, Katniss are you ok?" she asks worriedly I can hear her shuffling around things in the office.
"Yeah, he's back. I need help now. Please come quick, I'm scared" I whisper into the phone, my hands shaking as I speak. The light shirt from Cato doesn't protect well from the chilly night wind either.
'Alright Brutus and I are on your way to your apartment sweetie, hang in there until we get there alright" she responds.
"Kat" Cato comes sprinting towards me, scooping me up and rushing me inside. He locks all the doors and holds me protectively in his arms until we can hear the sirens outside.
This fight between Gale and I has to end soon, and I never lose a fight. I don't plan on starting now.
So I know I said that you would find out the reason, but that will have to come next chapter, after all I gave you an extra-long chapter tonight!
So let's get to 112!