Fortune's Fool

Annie had only been to one funeral before in her entire life.

Her paternal grandfather had died the summer before second grade, but for almost her whole life he had been fighting a losing battle against two packs a day-and even three after her grandmother was diagnosed of Alzheimer's and eventually died of complications to a surgery. Annie had loathed going to her grandpa's house, because it always smelled like smoke and not like old people candy and laundry detergent like her mom's parents, and his fingers were stained and his teeth were yellow and his eyes were reddened and he had this horrible cough that made him seize in pain as his lungs tried and failed to give out and the air was so heavy with sadness. And he would reach out and stroke her face with those skeletal, stained fingers and smile at her with those yellow teeth as if she was the most wonderful thing in the world while those tubes that were stuck in his nose pumped oxygen into his deflated lungs that barely worked.

Annie had thought that if death had a face it would have been like her sunken, old, suffering grandfather.

He died on a nice summer day in July when he had a stroke, and in the days that followed everyone dressed in black and Annie could recall seeing her Dad cry for the first time (the next time she would see him cry was over a hospital bed as she awoke from her overdose) as he sat on his bed and tears dripped from his nose. And Annie stood next to her mother at the funeral and held her mother's hand as she was practically dragged up to the casket and she saw the body, and even though her grandfather was dead her mother kept referring to the corpse in the wooden box as her grandfather and she just wanted to scream that the thing in the box wasn't that person because even if he had scared her with the rattling cough, she knew that at least he could smile and know every answer on jeopardy and reminisce about how he had met her Grandmother at the lake and the way her dark hair shone in the midsummer sun. But the thing in the basket wasn't alive, it was a dead thing and Annie hated it because it dared to look like her grandfather, a person who Annie had loved and who was gone forever. Annie absolutely hated it, despised it, loathed it.

And then her mother had told her to reach out and give her grandfather one last touch on the hand and Annie cried and told her mom she didn't want to do it and begged her to let Annie leave and never look at the thing again. Her mother had gotten upset because she thought Annie was being very disrespectful and Annie had to reach out and touch the hand of the dead cold horrible rotting disgustingdisgustingdisgusting thing that wasn't her grandfather anymore-!

And then Annie threw up helplessly all over her hands and the floor and the image was forever burned into her head and branded into the back of her eyelids of her bile coating her fingers and her grandfather's corpse's fingers touching her hands and that coldness and stillness that was death that was forever burned into her psyche. She had touched death and disease and now was forever tainted by it.

During those few years leading to her diagnosis and ever since then she had never looked at her hands the same way again.

Dr. Aurelius told her that she had been traumatized when she was very young, and that disposition on top of that trauma and the repetitious thinking that something was wrong with her had a hand in what triggered her OCD a few years later.

All Annie knew was that sometimes she could hear her grandfather's helpless rattling cough in her dreams.

11:34.

She placed her papers on her teacher's desk, causing the Professor to look up, smile, and wish her a happy summer vacation. She had just finished her multivariable calculus final, and had just finished double checking it. As far as she knew, she had gotten all the answers correct. However it wasn't until she had left the room that the sweeping sensation of relief finally overcame her. A tidal wave of happiness overcame her, and she was just about skipping down the hallway because she was done for four whole months, nor more labs, nor more papers, she was done!

Annie had just left the building when she caught sight of Peeta Mellark walking along the sidewalk. She gave him a tentative wave, only to be returned by him walking right up to her and giving her a smile.

"Hey Annie, you just finish?" Peeta asked, and Annie nodded.

"Yeah, my calculus final. Are you done?"

"Nah, I've got one more paper to turn in tonight. I've heard from Finnick that you're really good when it comes to grammar. Could I inconvenience you for a little bit and could you go over my paper before I turn it in?" Peeta asked politely, and Annie smiled.

"Of course. Could we do it in the dining hall? I'm starving."

"Yeah of course." Peeta said and they began to walk to the dining hall. "So what are you going to be up to during break?"

"My internship mostly." Annie explained, "What about you?"

"Oh, I'll be working at the bakery. Make sure to come by and visit sometimes." Peeta told her and she smiled.

"I don't think I could go without the bake goods for too long." Annie admitted before saying, "So…are you going to be seeing Katniss over vacation?"

"Katniss?" Peeta half-squeaked, his face flushing pink.

"Yeah. Katniss." Annie said, and Peeta shook his head.

"I don't know…I have no clue where I stand with her."

"What do you mean by that?" Annie asked him and Peeta kicked a pebble on the sidewalk.

"I don't know. When I ask her to go somewhere with me, she does. It's just that I don't think she thinks of it as me asking her out. It always feels like I'm friendzoned with her, even though I'm pretty sure that I'm being horrifically obvious." Peeta admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, "Do you have any girl wisdom you could spare on me, Annie?"

"It's not girl wisdom as much as it is Katniss wisdom." Annie said, "Katniss is a great person. But she's really dense. And I don't mean that as if saying she's dumb or something, it's just that she's always very concerned about a lot of other things and so sometimes she gets stuck in this very narrow view of the world of "this is what I need to do and this is how it needs to get done". Subtly escapes her, she sees things at face value and doesn't look deeper. So what you need to do is be really clear with her, and spell out your feelings. Otherwise she's not going to get it."

"I'm such a coward, though. And she's pretty intimidating because she's so intense. Do you think that if I just told her, she wouldn't freak out?"

"If you start going too fast and corner her you sure as hell will freak her out. Tell her your feelings, and let her stew over it." Annie said, "But Katniss likes you. And you're a great guy, Peeta. If anyone in this universe can make Katniss Everdeen happy, it'd be you."

"Thank you." Peeta said, with a smile.

"No problem." Annie said, as they approached the dining hall.

Annie bought a can of apple juice, not disinfecting the lip of the can because she had been working so hard with Dr. Aurelius, before opening it and beginning to unpack her lunch from her lunch box carefully. Everything else was in carefully labeled Tupperware containers, sealed and cleaned. A small salad with lettuce, tomato, carrots, and cucumbers, a container of creamy Caesar dressing came out first, Wheat Thins, hummus, and of course carefully washed and cut apples and a small container of Jiff to go peanut butter for dessert. She took out the salad first, pealing the lid off the container before taking the lid off the salad dressing and pouring the dressing over the salad, rotating around four times before wiping clean the side of the container and closing it, placing it back in her bag as she set the first napkin aside to be thrown out later. She took her stash of plastic utensils out of the box in her bag, placing a fork, spoon, and knife on a napkin beside her and slowly began to eat as Peeta booted up his laptop. As soon as Peeta had done so, she began to read through his paper, which was focused on the subject of role of women during World War 2, making sure to correct any grammatical mistakes as she went.

For the rest of lunch Annie ate and chatted with Peeta, happy to help out Peeta as well as to continue to talk about the activities they were going to do over the break. By the end of lunch, Annie promised to visit Peeta at the bakery, and went on her merry way.

1:56.

She was nearly at her car by the time her phone buzzed.

Annie looked at the phone, only to see Finnick's name lighting up the screen. She picked up the phone and cradled it between her shoulder and ear as she opened up the trunk.

"Hey, what's up Finn?" Annie asked, as she loaded her stuff in the trunk.

"Hey Annie. Just want to let you know that everything went through and I'm staying in the apartment this summer." Finnick explained to her and Annie smiled.

"That's awesome!" Annie said, "So you're staying this summer with Mags and I."

"Yeah. I mean, I'll go down in July to see my family. But, I'll be up here with you for most of vacation so I'm pretty pumped about that."

"So how was your history final?"

"It went awesome. Thanks so much for helping me study. How did your final go by the way?"

"I survived and I'm talking to you aren't I?" Annie joked, "No but it went good. I was done pretty early and helped out Peeta with his paper. By the way, is he going to be staying at the apartment this summer with you?"

"He'll be visiting a lot. Just to make sure I don't burn down the building I'm pretty sure."

"I'll have to make sure that he has a nice apartment to visit." Annie said, "So what's going on tonight with you?"

"One last hurrah with the boys." Finnick said, "What about you?"

"Nothing really." Annie said, "I'm just going to be chilling, and recovering from finals."

"Alright, go get some sleep, okay?"

"Will do. Don't go too hard."

"I won't promise anything." Finnick laughed, "Talk to you later."

"Alright, talk to you later. Bye."

Annie let her phone drop into her cup holder.

Annie was someone who wouldn't describe herself as sexual.

The fact of the matter was that she had some issues getting in the mood, though sometimes attributed to her medications, it was mostly just due to her personality. Sex was not really essential to her everyday life. Something she accredited to as the reason she had chosen to live a celibate lifestyle before Finnick came into the picture for about three years after her very unsatisfactory stint as a party girl in sophomore year. It wasn't that she thought the act was gross, because it was a part of human nature and there really wasn't anything that weird about it, it was just that she had a certain level of uncomfortableness due to her own issues with her body. Sweat and her other body fluids were distasteful, and she didn't particularly like other people's private parts and fluids either. It was good as long as it lasted and then the battery of things she had to do to clean herself off left a bad taste in her mouth. And that wasn't even considering the sorts of diseases or other side effects such as pregnancy that could arise from the act. All in all, in Annie's point of view, sex was more trouble than it was worth most of the time.

Her sister, who was going into the medical field at one point had gone to the trouble to diagnose Annie as an asexual after she had explained why she didn't find the idea of clubbing to look for boys appealing after Cora had tried to persuade her to go to the clubs with her and her friends. Annie had thought on it for a little bit, but had ultimately decided that wasn't really the case because it wasn't as if she was adverse to sex or didn't like sex or didn't want sex in a relationship. But the idea of having sex with someone who she didn't trust or know anything about was what was actually nauseating to her. It was at that point that she had done a little bit of research and had decided that she comfortably fit into the category of demisexuality, meaning that the person being identified as a demisexual does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection to another person, more commonly in the form of a romantic relationship but not just limited to such. In her own mind, as she had been only honestly sexually attracted to probably two people in her entire life, one of them being Finnick and the other being her first boyfriend, this made the most sense. And she really didn't feel like she was missing out on much.

On the other hand, Finnick had to be possibly the most virile person she had ever met. His sexual exploits were something of a legend on the campus, a streak of broken hearts and a web of affairs that could only be compared to that of adult entertainment books or HBO shows. People had been constantly telling her that it was that nature of Finnick's that would get them in trouble, and that it was only a matter of time before Finnick bored of her and went back to his old days of "pussy-slaying" as Johanna had so eloquently called it. And though there was truth in the matter of Finnick's sexual appetite, as it was just as voracious as people made it out to be, he just liked sex and it was as simple as that and there was certainly nothing wrong with it in Annie's opinion because she was currently having the best sex of her entire life.

It was those very unsexy thoughts that were banging around in her skull as Finnick's lips melded to hers, his body pressing oh so wonderfully against her as his tongue swirled with hers in her mouth and the hardness of his pants pressed against the part of her that was just dying for attention. She stroked the back of his neck causing him to shiver before pulled her mouth away from his mouth and kissed his jaw.

"Oh God, Annie." He groaned, his hips jerking against her. "You're so hot."

"Finnick…" She sighed in pleasure grinding against him because the only thing separating them was the fabric of her underwear and his pants, opening her legs further. "Please."

"You don't have to ask me twice." Finnick said reaching down to pull off his pants.

Unfortunately it was at that exact moment that she heard the very distracting noise of Finnick's phone begin to vibrate on the bedside table and just kept going. Finnick groaned and reached out to grab it before whatever sort of heat between them actively dissipated.

8:14.

"Fuck." He groaned obviously irked, "It's my mom."

"You can't ignore it." Annie said, sitting up, and Finnick rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I can and will." Finnick said, "If it's important she'll leave a message."

"Is that what you think when I call you?" Annie asked, quirking an eyebrow, and obviously Finnick's sense of danger warned him of impending doom because he quickly sat cross legged on the bed and crankily picked up the phone,

"Mom, is there any other time you could possibly call me back?" Finnick demanded, "No, I'm not at practice or lift-well, it doesn't matter because I was in the middle of something. Yeah, well that's great. Congratulations. Wait, what?"

Finnick blinked as if in disbelief before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well what else do you want me to say? No, I'm not just going to drop everything to go to this dumb thing. Yes, I think it's dumb. Bite me." Finnick scoffed and got up and began pacing, "No Mom, I didn't mean to be disrespectful it's just can't you at least be a little considerate? I'm training for the damn Olympics and it's not like you ever carve out any time in your 'busy schedule' for me! Yes, I'm still pissed about what you pulled with my championship meet! Why should I…I'm your son that's why! I think I'm allowed to have hurt feelings, and it was more for Grandma's sake then mine. Yes-wait. Yes, I still have a girlfriend and she is here and for your information she has a name and it's-Yes it's the same one I've been dating since last winter. Mom, I told you this when I came home for spring…well, let me at least ask her before you decide everything on your own like you always do. Fine…uh-huh. Bye Lynn."

Finnick hung up the phone and released a noise of pure frustration before slamming his phone down on the bedside table.

"What was that about?" Annie asked, confused and alarmed.

"My mother." Finnick spat each word out like poison, steam nearly coming out of his ears.

"Did she want something?"

"Yes, like always. My mom doesn't do social calls." Finnick explained with a huff before falling backwards onto the bed with a groan. "Do you like Broadway?"

"You mean musicals?" Annie asked confused at how the question had anything to do with his mother.

"Yeah."

"I like musicals." Annie told him before she frowned, "Why?"

"Because my family is coming to visit. And I figure since my sisters are going to be there, we could go see The Lion King or whatever else is playing that weekend in the at the Capitol Theater House." Finnick sighed, "My mom's got a thing in New York, and since Mags and I live on the way, they're coming to visit."

"That sounds like a social call to me." Annie said as she lay down next to him.

"It's going to be all business, trust me." Finnick said quietly.

"Is your dad coming up too?"

"Ha! Right. My parents don't come within a twenty mile radius of each other when they can help it. The last time they were in the same house together was Easter, and they stayed in different rooms." Finnick said, the bitterness in his voice almost palatable as he whispered, "I hate them."

"Finnick…" Annie said, surprised and alarmed and he just continued to look away.

"You don't know how miserable they've made me over the years. It's actually terrible." Finnick said before chuckling, "I'm pretty awful, aren't I? I've got everything, and I still hate them."

"You're the furthest thing from awful." Annie told him gently. "I can tell it hurts you."

"Annie, I'm so sorry. I've got issues." Finnick groaned, covering his face with his hands, "And enough baggage to send you running to the hills."

"Oh please. Like I don't have enough problems." Annie said reaching over to pinch his cheek. "It'll all work out fine, Finnick."

"I really hope so." Finnick admitted, "I hope you're right. I don't think I can take anymore family drama."

"Well the good news is that my mom has been nagging me about meeting your parents. This will at least make her happy." Annie said and Finnick laughed.

"And if things go the way I think they will, this will also be the last time your mom wants to see my mom." Finnick chuckled and Annie rolled her eyes.

Finnick's mom definitely couldn't be that bad.

When the day of reckoning grew closer, Finnick got more and more irritable.

Honestly, Annie had never seen Finnick in a bad mood before, so it was rather jarring and concerning. Most of the time when things bothered him, he kept it to himself, so to see his irritation leaking out was strange. He never took it out on anyone else, just himself. Staying at practice to do sprints just a little longer, or smack the pillow, or biting his nails. On the day his mother was set to arrive, Annie could just about see rain clouds gathering over his curls.

On the day of Finnick texted her to let her know that his mom and family had arrived safely, but had been oddly silent to her for the rest of the night. The next day, was a blue day so she dressed in a blue shirtdress and gladiator sandals and braided her hair. First impressions were important after all, and she would like Finnick's mother to think of Annie as put together.

Annie drove over to Mags' house, driving the speed limit and making sure to obey traffic laws and parking on the curb besides Mags' driveway because the only thing she could manage to do after she tapped the wheel of her car with her foot and made sure to lock it was to ogle at a gorgeous black Escalade, one of those cars that was worth about a whole year at college, that was sitting outside of Mags' humble home. Annie knew Finnick's family had money, after all Mags had a live in helper, and Finnick had a near endless supply of funds dumping into his account, but still it was perhaps the most expensive looking car she had ever seen in her whole life.

Unsure of what to expect, Annie rang the doorbell.

9:14.

The door opened quickly, revealing Finnick who had two delicate little girls glued to his legs. Both with strawberry blonde curls and little smiles, one of them a bit littler then the other. Immediately Finnick gave her a tired smile and reached out to press a chaste kiss to her lips.

"Hey, Brooke, Adrienne. I would like you to meet a very special person." Finnick introduced to the two little girls, "This is Annie."

"You look like Jane from Tarzan!" The elder one, Brooke exclaimed. She wore a pair of jeans and a purple shirt with a dinosaur on it and had her curled hair back in a ponytail. Adrienne just stuck her thumb in her mouth and hid behind Finnick shyly.

"Hello." Annie croaked, and then immediately cleared her throat, embarrassed before she bent down and held up the bag of things she had brought. "I didn't know if you liked puzzles, but these are my favorite ones and brought some other things too. I thought we could do some together."

"Isn't that good, Adrienne? You love puzzles." Finnick asked and Adrienne nodded excitedly before they took the bag and walked down the hall, before she felt Finnick's hand touch hers and clench it. "Thank god you're here."

"Is everything okay?" Annie asked as they walked down the hall together.

"Just dandy." Finnick murmured, "I love you."

"Love you too." Annie said, mentally preparing herself for whatever was to come.

The living room and kitchen of Mags' house occupied by two adults. The man was well groomed and mild looking. The woman was elegant and sat the table sipping coffee. Annie immediately knew that this was Finnick's mother, based solely on her beauty and her air of professionalism. She looked up as Annie entered the room and she could feel Finnick's hand grip her.

"Mom, this is Annie." Finnick said, before his mother got up and smiled. It wasn't exactly a warm smile, but rather pensive. She held out her hand and Annie's skin crawled because Annie couldn't touch Finnick's mother's hand with her disgusting dirty ones.

"It's nice to meet you, Annie." Finnick's mom said, "You can call me Lynn."

"Mom." Finnick said warningly and immediately she retracted her hand.

"Right, forgive me. My son told me of your…limits." Lynn said uncomfortably, clearing her throat. "Well, please join us. Would you like some coffee perhaps?"

"No thank you, I've already had some this morning." Annie declined politely. "It's very nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you. I read your articles that were published in Capitol Science."

"You did?" Lynn said surprised, "Science is something you are interested in then?"

"I'm not as much a biology person as I am a math person, but I'm majoring in engineering and interning with Hovercraft Inc."

"Aeronautical engineering then?" Lynn said, "Yes, I believe Finn mentioned something about that. Well, it always pleases me to hear about young women taking initiative and going into science professions, I have a fund-"

"Mom, she's my girlfriend, not a potential sponsor." Finnick chimed in and Kyle, or the man Annie presumed to be Kyle, Finnick's step-father sighed,

"Finn, do not try to provoke your mother."

"And you stop acting like my father." Finnick growled and Kyle sighed.

"It's that combative nature of yours when criticized that causes arguments, Finn." Kyle said and Finnick's face went red.

"Stop shrinking me, Dr. Turner."

"Finn Nicholas." Lynn said warningly before saying, "Well, I'm just happy that your choice in girls isn't lacking like it usually is."

Finnick flinched and Annie gaped, and Finnick opened his mouth to fire back before Brooke ran into the room.

"Ms. Annie, can you still come and play puzzles with us?" She asked shyly and Annie smiled and bent down, thankful for the much needed distraction from the horrifying conversation.

"It's just Annie, and I would be glad to." Annie said and walked behind Brooke and gave Finnick a look, only to have him motion her ahead.

Adrienne and Brooke were doing one of the picture puzzles she had brought, and were both rather good at it. Annie helped them along until a picture of the ocean was put together and the little girls decided to go through the bag for other things. The next thing they pulled out was a Rubik's cube and she smiled.

"Oh, nice choice." She said, offering her hand. "Give it here."

"What's that?" Brooke asked and Annie began to scramble the colors.

"A different sort of puzzle. I can do these pretty quick, want to see?" Annie offered and the two little girls nodded vigorously before Annie turned her eyes towards the cube. Puzzles were easy for her, always had been. Annie had always been good at seeing patterns and visualizing solutions, so by the time she got going she could already see it. Leftrightleftleftleftbluegreenyellowwhitewhitebluegreenredrednoleftright-

She held up the completed cube, and both of the girls squealed in delight.

9:47.

"Woah." Finnick's voice came from the door, "Annie, you finished that in like thirty seconds! That's awesome!"

Annie flushed and looked down at the finished cube in her hands and said,

"Well, I've practiced before."

"Every day I learn something new and awesome about you." Finnick said with a smile, sitting down next to her, before Adrienne jumped on him making him lift her up and kiss her, causing the little girl to giggle in delight. "I bet Annie didn't tell you the key to why she's so cool."

"Why?" Brooke asked conspiratorially.

"Because Annie's magic." Finnick said and both the little girls' eyes widened.

"Annie, you're magic?" Adrienne asked and Annie couldn't help but laugh.

"No, your brother is just being very silly. Like always." Annie explained, and she wanted to reach out and touch the little girl's curls and braid her hair just like her sister used to. But she couldn't because the idea of touching Finnick's little sister with hands like hers made her feel sick so she kept her hands on her lap.

"I want to go get my toys I brought! Can we play with those?" Brooke asked and Finnick smiled,

"Of course, go get them then." Finnick said and both girls ran out of the room and Annie immediately leaned against Finnick, placing her hand on his and interweaving their fingers.

"Dr. Turner?" Annie asked and Finnick sighed.

"He's a psychiatrist." Finnick said, "He used to be my childhood psychiatrist. I used to throw some pretty bad temper tantrums and parents thought it would help. That's where my mom met him. He was the guy she cheated on my dad with."

"Finnick…" Annie said gently and he gave a weird smile.

"I was the one who caught them too. It was pretty bad. I came home early from practice, and caught them making out, nearly naked and all. It screwed me up really bad, not just because she was cheating on my dad because their marriage had been on the rocks for a long time, but because I thought it was my fault. I think the worst part of it was that my mom begged me not to tell my dad about it, and I just couldn't stand it. I used to be really close to her, and I was so betrayed. I knew my family sucked, but it was like hitting the all-time low. And I was going through a lot of other stuff and that was really the last thing I needed." Finnick explained before saying, "You must think I'm really bitter to still be mad about it."

"No. I just think you're someone who was hurt badly." Annie told him gently, "Are you still mad at your mother?"

"Not as much anymore." Finnick said, "I mean, I did get two little sisters out of it who I love. But our relationship has never been the same, as you can see."

"Finny! I can't reach my teddy!" Adrienne's voice called from the other room and Annie smiled.

"You might want to go help them Finny." Annie teased and Finnick chuckled and leaned in to kiss her.

"You're going to pay for that later." He warned jokingly before going off to help his sisters.

The two days that Finnick's family visited were interesting to say the least.

The first day after all of the introductions were complete and the girls had settled they went to the Capitol Theater to see The Lion King. Brooke and Adrienne both very much enjoyed it, as well as Annie because she hadn't been to a musical for many years but the rest of the party was oddly tense. And that after they had dinner at Annie's house. Finnick's mother and stepfather were both charismatic just like Finnick, so her family liked them. It also helped their case that they had two adorable girls that her parents could fawn over. But Finnick mostly stayed quiet and to himself, and Annie was sure that she was the only one who can see it. Just seeing him almost shrink and look extremely uncomfortable at every comment, made her glad that his parents were only staying for another day.

It was the next day that everything came to a head. Finnick was helping out Mags and Kyle was with the girls, leaving Lynn and Annie alone in the kitchen. Annie was perfectly fine in silence, with an untouched cup of coffee because she hadn't seen Finnick's mother prepare it or seen it get washed and she was only okay with it if she could see it happening or if she trusted the person making her whatever was to be consumed and she didn't trust Finnick's mother, that calculating look and her imposing tone of voice that sent shivers down her spine but immediately Lynn began to speak.

"So, Finnick mentioned something about you having an anxiety disorder. Is it self-diagnosed?" Lynn asked, and Annie felt herself prickle at her tone. It as if she was suggesting that her disease was something made up before hearing what it was about, and coming to conculsions about her before getting to know her. And making assumption was something Annie absolutely could not stand because it so often became the cause of great misunderstandings.

"I've been diagnosed since 5th grade and undergoing treatment." Annie explained, not sure if there was a more awkward conversation to be having with your boyfriend's mother.

"For which one, might I ask?"

"OCD." Annie answered quietly.

11:01.

Three. A bad odd prime number and certainly it couldn't get worse than that, she thought distressed. How on Earth was she supposed to salvage the conversation now?

"Ah, I see. Your idiosyncrasies do make sense then." Lynn said and Annie immediately felt her brain going into over drive because she hadn't done anything that abnormal, but at that point her judgment must have been skewed because she hadn't lived in the realm of normal for a long time, and what were the idiosyncrasies that Lynn was talking about? "Well, I suppose genius does come with its caveats."

"Genius?" Annie asked confused and Lynn rolled her eyes.

"I did do some primary research. I wasn't going to come here without knowing the facts." Lynn said before continuing, "As of the moment you are the summa cum laude of your class, taking some of the most difficult sciences and excelling in all of them."

"I am definitely not a genius." Annie said with a sigh, "Or at least I do not view myself as such."

"In any case, you do realize I have to wonder why you are in a relationship with my son." Lynn concluded and Annie blinked.

"What? Why I'm in a relationship with him? Because I like him." Annie answered honestly.

"You two are very different. My son is an idealist with a dream…well, a career in sports isn't a tangible career path. I told him it was fine to continue swimming in college, but to focus his energies on a career path that would suit someone in our family. Instead he decides to make his major in education. An honorable profession yes, but not a profitable one you see. And he mostly just getting that degree for show and will go on to train. My ex-husband lets him get away with anything, even funding this excursion to spite me and my wishes. But I've made Finnick aware that after senior year if he decides to continue ahead with this fanciful idea of his that he'll be an Olympic swimmer, then I'll cut him off. So, I warn you now. If you are just with my son for the money, I would just break up with him now and save yourself the hassle." Lynn told her and Annie was absolutely outraged because this was Finnick's dream. What Finnick ate, slept, and breathed every day. The dream of going to the Olympics and winning the gold medal, and his mother wanted to take that away from him, but instead of screaming at her and yelling all Annie did was look her in the eye.

"You don't need to worry about Finnick and his funds. I'll be happy to support Finnick and his dream."

"You can't be serious." Lynn said and Annie just stared her down.

"Finnick's dream is important to me, and after college I already have employment as an engineer as promised at Hovercraft Inc. which is a well-known establishment. As an engineer, I'll certainly have the means to help Finnick. So if you wish, go forward with your plans, because unlike you I'll continue to support my commitment."

"You are a young woman with a lot of promise. You should not be holding yourself back-"

"I am not being held back. Finnick's dream is something important to the both of us. And I'd like you to start treating it as such."

"You need to-"

The door from Mags' room suddenly opened and Annie looked only to see Finnick with a strange look on his face standing in the hall.

"Finn!" Lynn said, surprised and horrified before Finnick marched into the kitchen, grabbed Annie by the hand and began yanking her out the door and down the hall, past Mags who gave a knowing sort of look and went back into the kitchen to talk to Finnick's nearly hysterical sounding mother.

"Finnick! Finnick, stop!" Annie said, before he yanked her into the bedroom and slammed the door shut, before grabbing her and pulling her into a tight hug.

"Annie!" He half-sobbed, crushing her in his strong embrace.

"Finnick." Annie said, touching his back. "Finnick, you're holding me too tight."

"Thank you." Finnick sobbed against her hair, "Thank you, Annie. Thank you so much."

"I haven't done anything." Annie said gently.

"You've done everything." Finnick said, before whispering again and again between desperate kisses, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you, Annie."

"I love you too, Finnick." Annie said softly.

Finnick immediately pulled her into a soul-scorching kiss. So achingly desperate and needy that her knees went weak and all Annie could do was clutch onto him as he continued to totally ravage her mouth before he reached down underneath her skirt to press his fingers in, causing her to gasp loudly and clench her teeth as his fingers curled inside of her and brushed the place that made her toes curl.

"You're already wet." Finnick observed as she shivered and gasped.

"Your family is outside the door!" Annie said worriedly and Finnick gave a feral laugh.

"Right now, I really give no fucks about that. The love of my life just verbally bitch slapped my mom and you've got me totally giddy." Finnick chuckled as his fingers continued to move and his free hand opened her blouse so he could get his mouth on her breast. "God, Annie. Marry me!"

"What?" Annie demanded as unzipped his pants and gave him a squeeze, making him grunt before he pulled his mouth from her and gave her a grin.

"I would totally marry you right now."

"No way in hell." Annie said, feeling her skin flush as he kissed up her chest, and pulled down her panties. At that point she was absolutely soaked and she had about a million things on her mind because she needed to wash off after sex and she didn't have anything to change into but it felt so goddamn good that she didn't even want to stop. "My dad would filet you."

"Then how about in two years?" Finnick asked as he hoisted her up, her back against the door. "Can I put it in?"

"I'm on the pill, yeah I'm safe. But why in-ugh!" She began to ask before Finnick began to slide into place. "Finnick!"

Sh!" Finnick half-giggled before smiling at her goofily. "In two years, that's when I'll win my gold medal. As soon as I do, I'll run right over to you, get down on one knee and pop the question. In two years, will you marry me?"

"You-you can't ask me that!" Annie said between gasps as Finnick began to thrust furiously inside of her, as Annie wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck as he grabbed her ass and furiously pounded her into a giant blob of mush as he changed the angle just right. "There's…there's too much time…oh God right there!"

"Shit!" He growled out between clenched teeth, "Shit Annie, not so tight!"

"Finnick, I love you." She said between hitched gasped as he continued to thrust in, catching his mouth and swirling her tongue with his as she felt him grown larger inside of her.

"I love you too, Annie. So much. In two years, please Annie." He begged her before dropping her and turning her so he was going at it with from behind. The sound of him smacking against her was loud and she was sure his family could hear it but she didn't care because Finnick's mouth was tugging on her ear and kissing her neck.

"Yes! Yes, in two years. In two years, Finnick." Annie said before she felt Finnick reach down to rub her clit, making her thrust back against his hips.

"Shit! Annie, I'm coming! Can I come inside?" He groaned and she gasped as he continued to drive her against the door.

"Yes! Please, please Finnick!" She begged before she felt Finnick put his hands on her hips and ram inside with such force that it jolted her before she felt warmth flood her insides and electricity shoot through her veins as suddenly she lacked all the bones in her body.

"Oh God…" He groaned as he thrusted shallowly through the aftershocks, rocking her to the rhythm before half collapsing on her back. By the time both of them had caught their breath Annie turned as Finnick pulled out of her and gave her a smile. "So…are you still up for marrying me in two years, or was that spur of the moment?"

"Go shove a sock in it O'Daire." Annie said, lightly punching his arm before motioning to her complete disarray. "I don't have anything to shower with here."

"I've got extra sweatpants and tee-shirts. And Mags has got shampoo and stuff." Finnick said before Annie sighed as she felt Finnick's seed drip down her thighs and Finnick just looked hypnotized. "Shit, that's like super hot."

Annie was about to punch him again when they heard a voice outside the door.

"Finn Nicholas O'Daire Jr., you come out here." His mother said, and Annie motioned desperately as he pulled up his boxers, and zipped up his pants and Annie ducked behind the wall as he went out and closed the door, trying to reposition her bra and rebutton her blouse but it was no use because onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, she needed to go home and then she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she would wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dried from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs.

"Finn, listen I didn't mean-" Lynn cut off quickly before sucking in a deep breath, "What on Earth were you doing in there?!"

"Besides the point." Finnick pointed out, "Mom. I know that swimming isn't what you want. But honestly I don't really care about what you want. This is my life, and my decisions. If you only want to criticize me, then please don't bother contacting me. And feel free to stop paying for my education. I'll manage fine."

"But Finn, be reasonable." His mother pleaded but Finnick sighed.

"I am being reasonable. I love you, but it's got to stop." Finnick said, "It's just got to."

"And what about that girl?"

"That girl is someone I love who supports my dream and I support hers."

"And you think she can fix you, Finn? Is that what this is about? She's broken and you're broken and you'll just help each other. Finn I know-"

"Please stop making assumptions." Finnick said firmly, "Now, I would like you to leave."

"But-"

"Please, Mom." Finn said.

That was the end of the conversation. Only an hour after that Finnick's family left, after Finnick had kissed both Adrienne and Brooke goodbye and gave his step-father a tentative hand shake while his mother and him shared a look before they drove off towards New York. Mags eloquently reached over and smacked Finnick upside the head causing Finnick to jerk.

"What was that for?" He demanded, rubbing his head and Mags just put her hand on her hip.

"You know what that's for!" Mags said before looking at Annie, "And you too. Make sure whatever mess you made in my guest bedroom is cleaned up."

"Yes Grandma." Finnick said strangely nonplussed as Annie spluttered and put her head in her hands because she just couldn't take the embarrassment because Mags knew that they had sex and it was downright horrifying.

"Kill me. Just put me out of my misery." Annie announced and Finnick put an arm around her waist.

"All in all, that was a pretty good visit." Finnick said and stared at him with a gaping mouth.

"You're kidding right?"

"Mom got mad at me, check. Hung out with my sisters, check. Had furious animal sex in my Grandma's house, check. I would say that it was a job well done on both our parts. Normally at least three things get set on fire and I attempt to drown myself in the sink." Finnick teased and she jabbed him in the ribs before marching into the house.

"I'm never talking to you again!"

"You might have to, we're getting married in two years!"

"Yeah. Right!" Annie called back, "Don't forget its two years away! I might dump your ass for a sexy British guy or run off to the Caiman Islands."

"Well, at least it would be a good story." Finnick said with a bright smile.

Annie had forgotten how well a smile suited him, and decided that in two years what Finnick was purposing might be a good plan.

I SHIP ANNEETA FRIENDSHIP SO HARD I HELLICARRIER IT MOFOS.

GET ON MY LEVEL.

I hate work. It's so adult-y and it sucks out the inspiration from my bones and makes me late with my updates.

But at least I'm done for the summer, so hopefully before I go back for school I'll get another chapter up.

So like you may have guessed, there's going to be a time skip. Approximately two years, in the future, so during and after Finnick and Annie's senior year. Which is when in the timeline of the story the 2016 Olympic Trials in Omaha and the 2016 Rio Olympics will take place.

THE MORE YOU KNOW

So yeah, so how about that sexy character background? There is nothing sexier than good exposition am I right?

What's coming next is hopefully my LS 100th reviewer request story so be on the lookout!

Anyways yeah, thanks for all the love and support! And until next time~OMGitsgreen