Chapter 10

Katniss' POV

I can see the outline of 4 people, through a clearing in the trees in front of us, as my vision clears and the figures walk at a pace around the corner I see Annie, Delly, Madge and Johanna. All their eyes seem to lock on me at once and when they do, they start running.

I turn back to Finnick who is still staring down Peeta with a stern but inquisitive look, my eyes drift to Peeta who seems to be frozen in Finnick's gaze, he mouth is hanging agape and he is slurring words "I-I-I..." he is saying over and over again. Finnick is becoming impatient "well?" he says while flickering his eyes from Peeta to me and back again, I don't reply straight away as I want to avoid telling him instead I look back towards the girls who are growing ever closer and sigh. I meet Finnick's eyes and I can tell Peeta's eyes are on me as well "I'll explain later" is all I can manage to say. I can tell Finnick is annoyed because his fists go into balls but he only keeps them there for a moment before he loosens them again and lets them fall to his sides.

"Katniss, oh my gosh, Katniss!" I hear from behind me "Katniss, Katniss, are you alright?" says another, I turn around and am greeted with Delly throwing herself on me to give me a hug, she drops to her knees and surrounds me with her arms however in the process she manages to knee me, accidentally, right where that man lodged his foot into my ribs, I let out a yelp and fall backwards hitting my head on the ground Delly quickly scrambles off me saying "Katniss, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" I sit up and while rubbing the spot where my head made contact with the floor "y-yeah" I say while still trying to get my bearings.

"Katniss, what happened?" I hear a sympathetic voice ask me and I turn to see Annie staring at me "oh I erm I tripped on a stupid twig" I roll my eyes and let out unconvincing laugh. I look at Finnick who is giving me a confused glare, I give him a pleading look not to tell them and his face lifts and he must understand because he nods and after he does I instantly feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

We are all silent for a while and I begin to feel uncomfortable with them all looking down on me so I decide to try and stand up. As soon as Peeta sees me move he is up on his feet and has an arm extended for me to take I put my hand in his and push myself off the floor his free hand surrounds my waist steadying me. Once I'm up he releases my hand but still keeps his arm around me for support which I am grateful for because even though I have regained a lot of my strength my legs still feel weak and are shaking.

Peeta obviously senses my uneasiness "why don't you guys go back? I'm going to take Katniss home" he says nicely they all nod and we say out goodbyes before me and Peeta turn to leave. Peeta doesn't take his arm away from me the entire time we walk to Haymitch's, we walk most of the way in silence but occasionally I break the silence to say sorry for walking so slow or for tripping when my legs nearly give way but each time he is there to hold me up.

We get back to Haymitch's and unsurprisingly he is in exactly the same place where I left him, passed out on the sofa. I lean slightly out of Peeta's hold and rip the note off his forehead, he lets out a little moan but doesn't wake up. Peeta leads me upstairs and sets me down on my bed, he tells me to lie down and after much persuading I do and as soon as my head touches the pillow I can feel my eyes dropping, Peeta sees this and slightly smiles before saying "I'm going to go-" Go? Go? I think to myself something inside of me doesn't want him to go, a part of me feels safe which him and before I can control that part I blurt out "no please don't, please, stay with me?" he is a bit sceptical at first but he finally says "always".

I wake up what it probably a few hours later, which I can tell from the position of the sun, from a dreamless sleep to find Peeta at the foot of my bed he stayed I think he actually stayed the thought brings a cheesy smile to my face and I have to bite my lip to stop it.

"Hey" he says in a comforting tone, I move to I am sat up resting against the headboard my side is still quite sore so I let out a few moans in the process, I look back up at Peeta and see concern in his eyes "I'm fine, honestly" I say but he eyes me unconvincingly.

"So.." he says while looking around the room, his eyes stop at my dresser and he says "who are they?" I turn my head to find a picture in a gold painted frame the picture shows my mum in a pink dress which flows down to just below her knee holding a little bundle of blankets with little blonde tuffs of hair sticking out the top, my dad's beside her wearing a pair of dark blue jeans with a chequered shirt, he has his arm around my mother's shoulder and has the other arm around a five year old me, I am wearing a light blue dress which flows down to just about the knee with my hair in its signature braid.

Floods of memories invade my brain, some happy, some sad. I remember the day my mother brought that bundle of blankets home, she was so fragile, so tiny. My mother asked me if I wanted to hold her, she said her name was Primrose, but I resisted I was too afraid I would hurt her so instead I sat next to my mother on the sofa and stroked baby Primrose's face. I remember the feeling I had when her petite fingers delicately wrapped around mine, I felt warm, happy and also protective of her.

I snap out of my daze and feel a single tear fall onto my check, I wipe it away swiftly so that Peeta doesn't notice. I reach for my dresser and pick up the photo, my fingers trace around the edge of the frame "t-they're my family" I say realising I haven't answered Peeta's question, after I answer I feel a strange feeling a happy feeling, happy that I've told someone and in that moment I feel like I can trust Peeta, in that moment I decide to tell Peeta what he wants to know, so I decide to tell him...everything.

I let out a sigh and place the picture frame back on the side, I turn to Peeta and see his eyes full of questions. "Do you want to know?" I ask him, he shuffles a bit and scrunches his face up seeming confused "what?" he says and I roll my eyes "do you want to know-" I pause before continuing "do you want to know, what happened?" I say quietly as my eyes drift down to my arm and back up again and his eyes widen "Katniss, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" he says with a sad smile "it's okay, but, I just need to ask can I trust you?" he nods enthusiastically which makes me chuckle "well then, you may want to get comfy then, it's a long story".

A/N - hope you are all enjoying the story! Please Review, I would just like to make you aware I start school again soon so I won't be updating as often sorry!

-WordsOfWonder