Two weeks had passed and there was very little change in Annie. At all.

So little in fact that she was still holed up in the examination room like some kind of caged animal. We all tried to go about our lives, the work we had laid out in front of us to rebuild our worlds. But that was easier said than done. I spent most nights laying asleep in the chair next to her until Johanna finally convinced me I'd be better off at home. And it didn't make any difference to Annie anyway. She regarded me much in the same way that she regarded the nurses and medics. There was no familiarity, no warmth. In fact I think I just confused her more because I would look at her like I was begging her to remember me and she could sense that something wasn't right. But I couldn't give up on her. And I couldn't allow myself to be far away in the event that something changed and she decided she needed me.

But this particular day I had left Annie, against my better judgement, to be in attendance for a round table meeting of the surviving tributes. The plan was to organize a public event to rally support and create unity, and Plutarch insisted I go to not only send a sign of a unified team but to speak for Annie as well.

I sat at the table, Annie's empty chair next to me, and hated myself for finding a kind of reprieve from the constant worry and care. Annie was in a place where someone, other than me, could look after her and keep her safe. I had sat, lost in my thoughts, for a long while before Johanna interrupted them, crashing into a seat beside me.

"Jesus, Finnick, you look like shit."

I turned to her and smirked, "Always such sweet things to say to me, Johanna."

Moments later Plutarch, Haymitch and Katniss arrived. I watched as she took her seat at the head of the table directly across from me. She was still very uneasy with the idea of being a leader, but she was as determined as the rest of us to make things work. I noticed her eyes scan the table and hover on the empty chairs that flanked Johanna and I: Annie's to my right, and Peeta's to Johanna's left. I followed her gaze and allowed myself to wonder where Peeta would be. Johanna chuckled to herself and then turned to me, over her shoulder.

"He's babysitting your wife, I assumed you knew."

Bullshit. I could tell from her tone she knew I didn't know. My jaw clenched. I wasn't sure why but it made me angry. I fought against it for a minute but realized my head was too cloudy to concentrate on much else.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm sorry..."

I was already standing and leaving the table as I asked permission and I know Katniss did not approve. Her eyes watched me as I left the room and shortly after I made it to the hallway, I heard her do the same.

"Finnick, wait. We need you here."

I stopped for a moment and let her catch up to me before turning around.

"I need to be with Annie."

She inhaled and her shoulders dropped.

"Finnick, she'll be fine...there are plenty..."

"Peeta. Is that who you mean? Peeta is missing your congregation to be with her. Why shouldn't I?"

I could tell as soon as I said it that she had no idea that's where he was. And it didn't sit any better with her than it did with me.

"I'm coming with you." She was already walking towards me as she spoke, her voice more unsure than her actions were. I put my hands up and stopped her.

"This is your meeting. You called it. I'll check on them and come back."

She listened to my words without looking a me, and then let her eyes fall towards the ground as she weakly nodded yes. I let her go and left her standing in the hallway as I headed down to Annie's room.

I moved as fast as my legs would carry me, unsure of why I was going...what I would find...or what I would do about it. By the time I reached the medical lab where they were still observing Annie, Beetee was hard at work looking over charts and something unusual was different about him as I approached. He almost...smiled.

"Ahh, Finnick. You're back. I expected the meeting would last much longer. I'm sorry to have missed it but I do have news. Good news."

"Good. That's good." I replied to him flatly, trying to feign excitement.

"I think that we can release Annie. Send her home."

I perked up immediately, "What?! That's great. I think it will really help."

Beetee smiled and nodded and for the first time I allowed myself to turn to observe her. There was Peeta. Sitting beside her in her hospital bed, her knees drawn up and tucked into her as Peeta read to her. She smiled and talked to him, as much at ease as her current situation would allow. It broke my heart and filled me with a heat of jealousy that I couldn't explain.

I walked towards the sliding door to her room and let myself in.

"Finnick, hey..." Peeta sat up a bit in bed as he greeted me and Annie followed out of courtesy. I tried to smile warmly at them both before gently asking Peeta to leave.

"Peeta would you give us a second please?"

Peeta just nodded and closed his book as he shuffled past me and shared an awkward glance. I inched closer to the bed until I sat on the edge of it.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her, trying to keep things as simple as possible.

"I'm well," she answered as she smiled, "how are you?"

I wanted so badly to take her hand in mine but she still seemed cool to me and never seemed to acknowledge any kind of memory of a relationship with me so her doctors had advised me against it.

"Beetee said you can go home today. Get you out of here and back to somewhere you can just relax...and get better..."

She was scanning the room as I spoke, looking for something maybe. I furrowed my brow and watched her.

"What is it, Annie?" I asked with a genuine curiousity of where her mind was taking her. She sat up slightly and wrang her hands together.

"Will I go home with you? Or do I stay somewhere else...with someone...I didn't know...Peeta maybe..."

I felt my fingers curl in the sheets of her bed and grab onto it to steady myself. I glanced towards the walls wondering if anyone was watching. I was never sure how to answer her questions, but the constant bruising my ego was taking from her was starting to wear me down.

"You're home is with me, Annie." My voice was more pleading than I expected it to be, and I watched her face for any kind of recognition, but found none. She shifted in her bed and tangled her fingers together under the sheets.

"And you're my husband..." She whispered softly, staring at me like she was trying to remember. She squinted her eyes and bit her lip, "why don't I remember that, Finnick. Why don't I remember you?" She started slowly cry as she spoke and I immediately regretted pushing her. But at the same time, she was talking to me more than she had been. I wanted so badly to scoop her into my arms and hold her, but I forced myself to be still.

"You will, Annie. This will pass."

She lifted her head and sniffled in to stifle her cries. She pulled her hands from the sheets and I glanced at them, noticing she was tying knots in the belt of her gown. Over and over. The fabric was wrinkled from how often she had done it. She was in there, somewhere, my Annie was in there.

"The knots. Why do you tie them..."

I inquired innocently hoping that maybe it would stir a memory of our District, or the times we spent teaching each other or using them to calm ourselves. She looked down at her fingers as if she didn't even realize she had been doing it.

"I...I don't know. Peeta says..."

"I don't care what Peeta says."

I interrupted her and it shocked her. She stopped abruptly, and I regretted it. But hell, I had been warned time and time again not to push her or to create memories or to force her to try...and Peeta is spending all his time in here wooing her and telling her why she does things? Where is the fairness in that?

The door slid open behind me and I heard the wheel of Beetee's chair.

"Finnick, that's enough."

He left the door open and I saw Johanna standing in the hallway with Peeta, her arms crossed in defiance...watching as Beetee came in towards me.

"Let him fucking try, Beetee, this is bullshit!" Annie and I both watched her...and Beetee...and Peeta.

"Finnick, we have decided it's best that Annie go with Peeta. We have been monitoring her and he has a positive effect, triggering some regrowth. For whatever reason, she is not responding to you and we are worried it may actually make things worse."

I felt my heart race as he spoke. How did he get to make these calls? She was my wife.

Plutarch came through the door, Katniss in tow. I was starting to lose my patience. And I knew this wouldn't end well.

"Oh. So we cancelled a meeting about saving the world so that we could all be here to tell me how to take care of my fucking wife?"

"Finnick, calm down," Plutarch moved further into the room and positioned himself in front of the rest of the crowd, that now included several medics, "you're scaring her. And you want to know why she doesn't want to go with you?"

I don't know if it was exhaustion, frustration, guilt...probably all three. But I lunged at him. I felt like he was setting me up to fail. And while I felt bad for losing my cool, it wasn't like I had been making it a habit. I had been swallowing my feelings for weeks and I was done.

I grabbed him at the shoulders and he barely flinched. Katniss ran towards him from behind and put herself between us, her hands on my chest, saying my name quickly over and over.

"Finnick, don't do this. I know it's hard. I know. I've been there. Don't let this happen."

I watched her as she spoke, and allowed myself to take a deep breath and nod yes. I took my hands from Plutarch and stepped back. I turned towards Annie who had risen from her bed and stood behind it, backing away from me like I had, in fact, scared her.

"Annie...I'm..."

I hated seeing her afraid. Always had. But now she was afraid of me. And that stung even worse.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Annie, enough of this! You're not some wounded bird! You need to fight. God, you lay here all day like a fucking baby letting these pieces of shit take care of you..."

Johanna was seething and pushed past me as she moved towards Annie. No one stopped her. Clearly I wasn't the only one who had had enough of this situation. I didn't like seeing her verbally attack Annie, who was haphazardly tying knots, but maybe it would work. I'd try anything.

"Snap out of it, Annie Cresta. I know you're in there. Don't you fucking turn on Finnick, you have no idea what he has done for you..."

Several voices, including my own, attempted to get her to stop but she just got louder...spoke faster...burned hotter.

"Look at him! You're going to destroy him. He spent years of his life getting fucked by these Capitol pricks so that you could live..."

Ok, now I wasn't sure I could let this keep going.

"Alright Johanna, enough..." I shouted towards her. She was teetering on embarrassing me in front of the only family I had and I had already had about enough of that.

"You survived those hunger games because he was working his ass off, literally, to get you the things you needed...don't pretend like you don't remember any of that...it's pathetic..."

Katniss begged her to stop but Johanna didn't even hear us. Just moved closer to Annie, yelling at her almost face to face.

"You sit in here and eat and read fairy tales with Peeta. You don't want to remember because it's hard. Well guess what, sweetheart, the rest of us fucking have to. Finnick. He fucking has to. Your selfish decision to do this killed his fucking son, and you don't have to deal with that...he does."

"ENOUGH!" Plutarch shouted and the medics descended on Johanna, pulling her kicking and screaming frame out of the room. She looked at me apologetically as she passed me, and then the room fell silent.

I think everyone was in shock, no one more than me. Katniss moved towards Annie and tried to help her to bed.

"Is...is that true? Did I have a baby?"

Annie's broken voice was soft but we all heard it. She was pleading with Katniss to give her something real. Katniss looked at Beetee who shook his head no and Katniss eased Annie onto her cot, smiling.

"It's ok now, Annie. Johanna is just worried. She wants you to get better. We all do."

Annie looked past Katniss towards me and her eyes were pleading.

"Is that true, Finnick...the things she said...did we...have a son?"

I didn't think before I answered.

"No."

My voice was cold. My body was cold. I turned from her and left the room. I didn't know where I was going, or why. But I started to run there. I took off down a hall, running until I found a small hallway with a few doors. I slipped into it and stood, catching my breath. I heard Katniss calling for me in the distance. I hid against the dark wall and wept.

I had lost Annie. If she was still in there she was in no rush to come out.

And Johanna knew I had a son. Why hadn't they told me?

My head was spinning and I started to lose track of what was real, who I could trust and where I could hide.

And that was just the beginning.