Hey readers, both old and new! Hope you're all enjoying the story!

As always, a massive thank you to my beta reader ct522 who was amazing with this chapter- as usual!

A big thank you to rhianon, kitkatlogan and The Lady Osipria for the reviews! I love hearing that you guys are enjoying the story! As always, any comments you guys have are appreciated greatly, I'm always open to ways to improve the story, and of course its always amazing to hear when people enjoy it.

I hope you're all seeing where i'm going with Peeta and Katniss, as I hope you've noticed - Peeta is much less hijacked than in the book.

Disclaimer - all the characters etc belong to Suzanne Collins not myself.

Happy reading!

In the haze of morphling I encountered many memories of people leading up to the war. Gale coming to see me before I left for my first Games, Finnick saving Peeta's life in the Quarter Quell, Johanna's cries to me in the hospital ward. I also encountered some happier memories with Peeta; the nights we'd spent together on the train, when he'd stayed with me after I'd injured my heel back in District Twelve. I remembered that he'd whispered something to me, something that I'd never been able to catch and was now haunting my dream. It was as though I knew the word, buried somewhere in my sub-consciousness but I couldn't quite bring it to the forefront of my mind.

As I began to surface through the fog of memories and back into the sterile hospital room I realised I'd been brought back to District Thirteen. I barely have time to adjust to my surroundings before the curtain surrounding my bed is whipped back revealing Johanna.

"I thought I heard you wake up," she smirked before closing the curtain behind her. "The doctors don't know you're awake yet. I insisted on having the bed next to yours, and who's going to argue with me really." She laughed curtly before taking a seat on the end of my bed.

"Why would you want to have the bed next to mine?" I asked suspiciously, I knew there had to be a reason, although Johanna was much more pleasant to me these days – she probably still wouldn't have thought of me as a close friend. With an expert hand she quickly detaches the morphling drip from my arm and plugs it into the socket attached to hers.

"They've been cutting down my supply," she shrugged and I just rolled my eyes in response.

"So that's why I've suddenly gained a new best friend." I muttered sarcastically, Johanna smirked for a moment in response before her expression dulled slightly.

"When you have memories like I do, slipping into a morphling coma is the only way to cope." She responds, matter-of-factly. I cringed slightly, remembering how she'd described her memories of Peeta's cries in the cell next to hers. If I had to listen to that every night I'd probably plug ten morphling drips into my arms. "Besides, Katniss," Johanna piped up, interrupting my thoughts, "it's not the only reason. I was actually concerned."

I frowned at her, finding that hard to believe. Things between Johanna and I had always been a bit cold and hostile. "Why would you be concerned? You've always hated me."

Johanna erupted into a full blown belly laugh at this. "Oh Katniss, you really don't know me do you. I don't hate you, I just found you a bit hard to swallow at first." I looked at her questioningly and she just made a noise of exasperation. "Well can you blame me, with your tacky romantic drama and your defender-of-the-helpless act."

"Then what made you change your mind?" I asked, as far as I knew nothing could have changed to make her develop a new opinion of me.

"It wasn't an act, though, was it; you do want to help people?" She looked me in the eye and smiled lightly. "Plus I always thought you were just playing Peeta – which I hated since I actually think he's a nice guy. But then you came to see me in the hospital, and I saw the look in your eyes. You do actually care."

After she's finished I find there are no words to say. Of course I cared about the war, and Peeta. But the way she said it insinuated that it wasn't that I just cared about what happened to Peeta, it was that there was something more – and I knew I couldn't argue with her as Johanna would see straight through me.

"Speaking of Peeta," Johanna suddenly jumped up off the bed and detached the morphling from her arm. "He's just outside that curtain," she motioned her head towards the split in the curtain where she'd entered before winking exaggeratedly at me.

I felt my body involuntarily tense at this, if Johanna was telling the truth the boy who wanted me dead was only separated from me by a sheet of cloth. Strangely at the same time my heart seemed to summersault, of course I wanted to see him. I'd thought of him so much during my time in District Two, I just wanted to look into those blue eyes and see if he was coming back to me.

"He's been waiting to see you," she added, seeming to get impatient at my lack of enthusiasm. "He's even been putting up with my company so he can stay by you. He's been here all day; he was convinced you were going to wake up."

"Should he be here?" I murmured, unable to detach my eyes from the crack in the curtains – if I could just get a glimpse of him.

"Probably not," Johanna laughed loudly. "But I think Dr Aurelius likes to bend the rules for Peeta a bit, plus Haymitch is here too." I instantly feel safer knowing Haymitch was around. He may be a drunk but I knew he could throw his weight around if Peeta did attack me again.

"Well, is he going to come in?" I ask hesitantly, not understanding the delay.

"Oh yeah" Johanna waved a hand at me, "I just insisted I had to come in first or he couldn't see you." She chuckled again before darting through the curtains.

The moments before Peeta walked through the curtain seemed to drag like everything had begun to move in slow motion. My heart begun hammering in my chest and I was pretty sure anyone within a ten mile radius would be able to hear its juddering rhythm. I had to work hard to control my breathing as it came in loud gasps every time I tried to calm myself. I couldn't tell if this anxiety was due to fear of Peeta, or the excitement of seeing any progress he could have made. After what felt like a life time a mop of blonde hair appeared through the curtain. I saw Peeta's head quickly dart around my small enclosure before the rest of him followed into the room. For a moment he stood looking at the ground with his hands stuffed deep in his pockets. He was swaying side to side and looked almost nervous; I'd never seen Peeta nervous. He'd always been so confident, it was one of the things I found most endearing about him. I suddenly noticed his hands were shaking in his pockets and from the protruding veins in his arms – I could tell he had his fists clenches tightly. It was then I realised it wasn't nerves he was feeling, it was a mixture of anxiety and anger – the same emotions brought on by his episodes. I wanted to call his name but I was afraid to startle him so instead I left him for moment to calm himself, giving him the chance to prove he could manage to be around me.

Slowly he seemed to come round before he let out a loud sigh. I was rewarded for my patience when he finally lifted his head and those bright blue eyes met mine. They were so much brighter than before and no longer seemed as plagued by the black orbs which had ruled them. Peeta himself looked healthier, he had more colour in his cheeks and his hair seemed to have thickened out slightly. The cuts which had covered his body before had healed considerably and the only noticeable marks were any scars which he had gained during his time in the Quarter Quell and the Capitol. Peeta's eyes searched me for a long time before a small smile formed on his lips, it was barely noticeable but my heart skipped a beat. It had been so long since I'd seen him smile at me. His whole face was much softer than before and I felt I could burst out into tears out of sheer happiness that Peeta was in fact coming back to me – no matter how long it could take.

"Hey," Peeta managed to muster the courage to break the silence and I felt a warm spread across my whole body. The way he said it was so casual, no hidden agendas or malice in his voice.

"Hi," I replied, feeling a smile creep over my lips, the expression felt foreign to me and I realised it had been such a long time since I had smiled so genuinely. "What are you doing here?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me. Before I left District Thirteen I'd been under strict orders to stay away from Peeta unless he asked for me, and he only had once. Now he was voluntarily standing beside my hospital bed.

"I told you to stay safe," he answered simply, but I felt the concern behind his voice. He slowly began to make his way towards my bedside.

"Well, I never was very good at listening to you." I joked, to which I even earned a small chuckle from him.

"I do remember that about you," he spoke softly as if he was drifting into thought. For a moment I had almost forgotten that Peeta's real memories of me were very few and far between. The thought dampened my mood slightly, would we ever get a real reunion?

"How have you been?" I asked, wanting to know from his point of view how his progress was going.

"It's weird hearing you say that," he sighed and I looked at him for an explanation, "that you'd ask about me, when you're in hospital. That's nothing like how the Capitol portrayed you to me."

"Well the Capitol doesn't really like me very much," I answered light heartedly, trying not to let Peeta's suspicions of me darken our conversation. "I thought about you all the time while I was away, I wanted to know how you were doing."

"I thought about you too, well I didn't really have a choice with all the videos I was shown of you." He laughed lightly before he moved on to tell me about what footage they'd shown him and conversations him and Delly had had about life before the Games. "The only problem is that sometimes when I have some memories about you, nobody knows the answer." He sighed, and I instantly felt guilty for leaving.

"Well, you can always ask me. I won't leave you again, not if you need me." As soon as I said it I knew I'd keep to my promise. Now I'd been shown there was promise for Peeta, I wasn't going to force myself away from him.

"Why did you go?" He looked genuinely intrigued; obviously I'd been sending him mixed signals about how involved I wanted to be in his recovery.

"Truthfully, I didn't think you wanted me around. The only way I could think to help you was to make Snow pay for what he's done. I won't give up until that man gets what he deserves." Peeta looked at me expressionless as I spoke. It killed me to see him so undecided on what side he was on. The old Peeta would have done anything to fight against the Capitol, and in his own way he'd already rebelled against them. This Peeta had no fight left in him.

Peeta seemed as though he was about to say something else until we were interrupted by voices the other side of the Curtain.

"You shouldn't go in there," I could tell from the gruff tone it was Haymitch.

"I can do what I like old man, she's my friend." Before I had chance to react Gale burst through the curtain. Judging by Peeta's expression, his arrival had taken him by surprise. "What are you doing here?" Gale asked staring directly at Peeta.

"Gale its fine," I interjected, noticing Peeta's face seemed to have drained of all colour and he had clenched his fists tightly.

"He could hurt you again Katniss!" He cried, moving to step in between us. I shot up on the bed as far as I could, holding out a hand to keep Gale away from Peeta.

"You'll only make him worse," I explained before directing my attention back to Peeta. "Are you alright?" I asked. His whole body had tensed and his arms were shaking violently. I realised he was on the edge of having an episode and I needed to act fast if I was going to bring him back. I quickly took one of his clenched fists in my hand and held it tight. "Peeta, its okay I'm here. No one is going to hurt you, it's not real." I reeled off as many calming things that I could think of as I traced small circles on the back of his hand with my thumb. I moved closer to him so there was barely any distance between us, I heard an objection from Gale but ignored him. "Stay with me," I whispered.

Peeta's shaking suddenly started to subside and he closed his eyes as if trying to focus on something within his mind. He began to take deep breaths and his whole body became slack. Gale suddenly rushed forward to catch Peeta as he lost his footing. Peeta slowly opened his eyes to look at me; they weren't as bright as before and seemed to have lost the energy within them.

"Always," he whispered back. I stared at him for a moment not quite understanding what he was saying until the memory rushed back to me. It was the answer to the dream I had been having, the promise Peeta had made to me back when I'd been bed ridden in District Twelve.

"You remember," I murmured, hoping that it hadn't just been a coincidence. Gale was staring between us both perplexed as he helped Peeta steady his feet.

"You hurt your foot, "he looked at me for confirmation and I nodded eagerly.

"You promised to stay with me, always." I added hastily, wanting him to remember his promise. He smiled sadly at me before his body began to sag again.

"Katniss, I need to take him back to his room." Gale interjected, "he's lost all his energy during that episode." He called Haymitch as he slung one of Peeta's arms over his neck, before helping Haymitch to do the same with Peeta's other arm. I stared after them as Peeta was dragged away from me, instantly feeling empty after they left. I felt a longing for Peeta's company even worse than before, I'd been shown a glimpse of the old Peeta and now I just craved him more than ever. I was going to do anything I could to help get my baker's boy back.

I was kept in the hospital under observation for two more days. I almost had to contain my excitement when I was finally discharged. Those couple of days had been full of emptiness and agony. My only companion was Johanna when she nipped through our dividing curtain, even if it was only to help herself to some of my morphling supply. Even though I needed it myself to subdue the pain I still allowed her to help herself, after what she'd done for me in the Quarter Quell and how she'd helped me find Peeta – I felt I owed her. I hadn't seen Peeta since I'd first woken in the hospital. Haymitch had been to visit me one of the days and explained that after it was revealed Peeta had an episode out of the doctor's care his movements were heavily monitored. I felt guilty for his lockdown, but there was nothing I could do about it whilst stuck in a hospital bed.

Before leaving the hospital ward I popped through the curtain to say goodbye to Johanna- and to sneak her the remainder of my morphling bag which I had detached and hidden before the nurses came to discharge me. When I popped my head through the curtain I noticed she already had company – Finnick was sat next to her happily talking her head off about something. I quickly said hello to the two of them before handing Johanna the bag, she had taken the bag from me with greedy hands before stuffing it under her pillow.

"Thanks Katniss," her eyes glinted with excitement; Johanna would feed off any kind of rebellion that was handed to her.

"Don't mention it," I shrugged off her thanks before gathering my things and stuffing them into a bag I'd been brought to take my belongings back to my cabin. I then redirected my attention to Finnick, I hadn't spoken to him since my search for Peeta and I felt a bit guilty for it. "How've you been Finnick?" I asked him.

He beamed up at me. " Actually, I have some news. I've already told Johanna and I was going to come over to your bed in a minute." From the enormous smile on his face I could tell it was something he was excited about. "Anne and I are getting married."

"Finnick, that's amazing," I smiled genuinely at him. I'd never been one to get overly excited about weddings, but I knew how much Annie meant to Finnick – and considering weeks ago he'd been trapped in the hospital ward going insane because she was missing. It was nice to see that people could make it through this war. "I'm really happy for you guys."

"Thanks Katniss," Finnick nodded towards me, ignoring Johanna as she made some over dramatic gagging noise at all the niceness. "Anyway, I'm not the only one with good news. I've heard about Peeta's progress." Finnick smirked at me, once again making the link between him and Annie, and me and Peeta – like our relationships were the same. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"He's been doing well yes; he's actually been visiting Johanna quite a lot as well." I added, trying to downplay anything Finnick was insinuating. Now it was Johanna's turn to roll her eyes.

"Speaking of Peeta actually, I've been thinking of asking him to do the wedding cake. I know he's a good baker, and I figured it might help him return to some kind of normal routine." Finnick looked at me, as if for approval.

"That's a great idea," I nodded eagerly. I knew how Peeta loved to bake; it was the thing which had always defined him. While he was in district Thirteen it was like he had been missing something which wouldn't allow his memories to connect. Hopefully introducing him to something he'd loved before would help stir older memories. Suddenly I felt I wanted to help with the wedding, it was something to look forward to, and maybe an occasion for Peeta to come out and socialise with people. "Finnick, does Annie have a dress?" I asked.

"Well, that's a problem we've come across actually. They do have some dresses here which have been shown to Annie, but to be honest they're too plain for her." He sighed sadly; obviously the perfect turn of events would be the two of them having their wedding back in their home district, with their own traditions. "Plus Plutarch's been hinting that the wedding's going to be filmed and he wants something a bit more flamboyant. Why what were you thinking?"

"I have all those dresses Cinna made me," I sighed deeply, thinking of my stylist – who had become such a close friend and life line. "I never even got chance to wear some of them. If Cinna can't be here to enjoy the day himself, his work should make an appearance."

"I think Annie would really like that; during your first Games Annie had just loved his work." Finnick gave me a small smile, obviously realising my pain at the mention of my lost friend.

"Looks like I'll be making a visit back to Twelve then." I gave Finnick my most convincing smile. As much as I wanted to go back and see what Twelve was like now, the thought of it filled me with dread. All the destruction there could be traced back to my actions. But I had to face it; otherwise I'd never get closure.