Sorry everybody! I accidentally posted the unedited version yesterday. Heres the edited chapter. Thanks to my beta for not only being a great editor but also point out I posted the wrong doc. I would just be a fanfic laughing stock without you, ffwonderstruckflightrisk. Thanks!
Peeta's POV
I woke up with the light of day shining in through the tinted window. I was lying on my side with Katniss's legs wrapped around my waist. I was still inside of her. Her hair was fanned out in all directions with her face plastered into the pillow. She was beautiful, but most importantly she was safe. I was speechless after last night's love making. I was not planning to sleep with her after her ordeal. When she woke up however, I could tell there was something off about her. She was manic in her thoughts and movements. I was worried they had forced doses of heroine or devil's blood into her system. There was so much time between when she was taken from me and when I found her again. I did not know what had occurred. She didn't look as though she had been raped. I shudder at what may have happened if I had arrived five minutes later.
She was so determined to have sex with me; I didn't want to get her upset by turning her down. I had seen some scary things when you denied people what they wished for while they were doped out of their minds. When she described them giving her a happy face, I was angry as hell. When my anger at those sickos subsided, I felt ashamed that I hadn't been there for her. Finally I realized I was just lucky I had found her and gotten her back before it was too late. I was extremely lucky that they decided to give her ecstasy. In the vast array of drugs they could have given her, I was thankful it was only ecstasy.
While it was not physically addictive, the drug was exceedingly popular amongst the girls in my old circles. They would take two smileys and down it with a glass of champagne. It would take about an hour or two for the drugs to take effect, but by that time they had already secured themselves multiple partners for the night. On E, people were euphoric. They felt immortal and invincible. They usually laughed, danced, and fucked longer. They would scream about how much they loved their partners and how good they felt on top of them. I have to admit when Katniss started screaming that she loved me I really wanted to believe her, but I had to remind myself it was just a side effect of the drug. Ecstasy was the perfect drug to help people forget about how miserable they were. Its probably why its one of the oldest drugs left on the market. Why fix what was never broken?
I ran my fingers softly through her hair, thinking about how screwed up and dramatic Katniss's life had been since she got here. I was definitely to blame for a lot of it, but hopefully I could make it up to her with where we were going. I just hoped the girls didn't both go stir crazy before we got there.
The off road option we chose to get to the safe house was the best route for not getting tracked but we had to go through some sketchy parts of the Country to get there. The trip would probably take a week or so and I doubt there would be many safe places to stop. I also didn't look forward to telling the girls that its probably going to be about 72 hours before we can stop. By the afternoon, we will pass into Washington County where Rue was born. I doubt she would recognize it. However, I wondered if I should mention it. She never talked much about her childhood but I could tell it wasn't a happy one.
I could hear Rue quietly banging around in the open kitchen area humming some soft tune to herself. The partition was still up so I knew she wouldn't know I was awake yet. I thought about Katniss's two very vocal orgasms and the rather large part I played in them. I hoped Rue wouldn't be to upset when we finally got up. I also hoped she wouldn't tease Katniss about it. Katniss wouldn't take well to the teasing. She would be more likely to get extremely embarrassed or do something extreme like never sleep with me again. Shit. I don't know if I could stop touching her at this point. I prayed that Rue wouldn't say anything to Katniss. Just to make sure though maybe I should get up and thank her in advance for not saying anything.
I started to ease myself away from Katniss when she began to stir beside me. I didn't know what to do so I just froze. Her eyes blinked open and she just sat there looking at me for a few minutes. Her grey eyes were unreadable. I gave her a small awkward smile and realized this was the first time we had ever woken up together. She yawned and gave me a sleepy grin back.
"Good Morning. Do you want breakfast, beautiful?" I asked her quietly. Truth be told I really wanted to say, 'Can I force feed you three stacks of pancakes because I'm pretty sure no one ever remembered to feed you especially yourself.' But, I thought this was more neutral. She shook her head no. Closing her eyes again and digging further into the sheets, clearly settling back in for more sleep.
"What if I brought it to you in bed? You haven't eaten anything in over a day. Would you do eat a little something for me?" She opened her sleepy eyes again and scrunched her nose like the thought of food was repulsive but then let out a sigh and a little nod of confirmation.
She was letting me take care of her. This made me really happy. I gave her a big, wet sounding kiss on her cheek and she giggled pushing my face away a little. I gave her another little peck on the lips and left the bed to put on some clothes.
Shit my clothes! I didn't bring anything into the bedroom area to change into. I looked around for last nights pair of boxer briefs and my tuxedo pants. Rue will just have to get over seeing me shirtless. I located both in a pile at the foot of the bed. As I put on my boxer briefs, I could feel Katniss's eyes on me. I turned around to see her giving me an appreciative look. When she caught my eyes, she shut hers quickly, but nothing could stop the blush from appearing on her cheeks. I was so happy to have her with me and so relieved that she was safe...for the moment at least.
I realized last night when I was mingling in the ballroom that I wouldn't have had the confidence to play the part of my old self if it wasn't for her. I had been so devastated at the loss of my leg and so willing to believe those who told me how gruesome it had made me. I never thought logically about the accident. Truth be told, I tried to never think about that night. Of all the tragedies that happened that night, losing my leg was nothing in comparison.
Katniss helped me realize I was the same person if not a better person than I was before the accident. The truth is no one in the ballroom even realized I had a fake leg. Those who knew me before continued to treat me the same as they always had. In their minds, the past two years had never happened. No one asked where I went. They were probably too high to notice, but regardless my disappearance went unnoticed. I was never one to numb the pain with drugs or liquor. If I had, I probably would have overdosed a long time ago. Instead, I had thrown my frustrations into painting and baking. When that wasn't enough, I worked out my body until the point of physical exhaustion. Anything was better than having to face the monster, I had thought I became. After Katniss reassured me that I wasn't a monster, she allowed me to come to terms with my self-doubt and insecurities. She had saved me that day. It was only fitting that as an outcome of that I was able to save her in return.
I finished buttoning my pants and walked outside of the bedroom. Rue humming as she madpancakes. A big smile spread on my face realizing how happy and carefree she looked.I don't think I had ever seen Rue look carefree before. Probably because until today she hadn't been. None of us have been. She looked up from the frying pan to see me smiling at her. She smiled back automatically and started giggling.
"I know why your smiling!" She was just trying to get me to blush. She succeeded.
I laughed along with her, "No, that's not why I'm smiling. I'm smiling because I've never seen you this happy."
"What's not to be happy about? We've escaped the witch's lair!"
She twirled in a little circle throwing her arms up in the air. Happiness was an amazing look for Rue. I noticed her wearing a set of long sleeved pajamas with snowflakes on them. Besides for the rags Rue had come to us in, I had only ever seen her in her work uniform. Dancing in her PJ's, I realized how much of a kid she was. That was another crime I could throw at my mothers feet: attempted robbery of little Rues childhood. It was good to see that she didn't succeed.
"Now would you care for some freedom pancakes this morning?"
I laughed at the fact that she called them freedom pancakes. Maybe next year at this time we'd celebrate with freedom pancakes again, like a holiday.
"Yeah, definitely. I'm just going change to grab a change of clothes for Katniss and myself, and maybe check the monitors to make sure we're on course."
"We put your stuff in the front closet. When I realized Katniss didn't have any clothes, I took all the stuff Glimmer said was 'so last season' and brought it for her."
"Perfect, thanks Rue!"
I walked to the front of our van taking towards where Thresh and Rue had stored our clothing. I pulled out a long sleeve shirt and sweats for me and a pink sleeveless dress and black zip-up hoodie for Katniss. I didn't know if it was to her taste but I was sure she'd just be happy it fit her.
Before I made my way back to the main room ,I took a quick peak at the navigation reading. It seemed to have snowed in the middle of the night and the readings were saying we should not continue on the off road track. It wanted to take us on the main road, straight through Washington County. We had made a lot of progress over night. Unfortunately, because of the snowstorm and allowing autopilot to run unchecked, we would have to stop for fuel sometime today or we would break down and be stuck in the wilderness until the sun was strong enough to recharge us. In a snowstorm, that recharge could take up to a week. We didn't have enough food to last us that long. I needed to make a decision fast, but without any electronics I wouldn't be able to know where it was safest to stop. I would have to talk to Rue. I just hoped the conversation wasn't going to be to difficult for her to have. I told the autopilot to reroute us giving me an hour to come up with a game plan for our unexpected pit stop.
I came back into the main room to see Rue still whistling away. I didn't want to break her happy spirit so I kept walking towards the bedroom. The bad news could wait a few more minutes. I opened the panel to see Katniss looking at me.
"Hey sleepy head. I have a surprise for you. Real clothes! They look like they could fit you even."
She laughed softly, "Oh, thank you. You shouldn't have. Here I was thinking I'd have to stay in bed all day to keep warm in nothing but your T-shirt."
"Now that idea has merit regardless of if your wearing clothes" She laughed.
"Unfortunately there's been a slight change in plans. We're going to have to make a little stop. Its snowed a lot last night and we are running out juice to quickly. We're going to need to stop in another city to pick up enough supplies."
"What's this city like?"
I hesitated, "Why don't you get dressed and I'll introduce you to Rue. I'll explain everything to both of you over breakfast."
I went to the bathroom to wash my face and change into my new clothes. I was hoping this stop wouldn't be a big deal. I hoped Rue would have enough knowledge of the area so that I wouldn't be putting any of us in harms way. I didn't know much about Washington County but I knew it wasn't somewhere you wanted to spend to much time in.
I came out of the bathroom and saw Katniss dressed in the pink dress and black hoodie. She had put her hair into a side braid and secured it with a thin strip of the fabric we had made her toga from last night. She was sitting on the edge of the bed. I held my hand out to her, ready to escort her to breakfast. Instead of taking my hand, she moved her body against mine and embraced me softly. She wrapped her arms around my waist and put her head in the crook of my neck. I would never get used to the feel of her body next to mine.
"Thank you again. For last night...for everything." She whispered quietly. I could tell she wanted to say more but didn't know how. That was just fine with me, I knew what she meant because I felt it too.
"Anytime. I mean that. Now lets get you some food in your system, kay? Rue made pancakes!"
I opened up the panel leading us into the main room. Rue was already sitting in the breakfast booth sipping a fruit smoothie from a straw.
"I never got to drink a whole one of these before! They're amazing! I'm already on my second glass. You guys take some. I made a whole pitcher full." I was happy to see Rue enjoying herself and dreaded having to break the news to her. Just as I was about to introduce her to Katniss, I realized Katniss stood frozen where she was staring at Rue.
"You, you…were the one who..." Katniss stuttered out quietly
Rue looked up at her sadness playing in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm the one who had to dress you for the governors ball. I didn't want to do it, but if I refused or tried to get Peeta while Mrs. Mellark was around she would have either have beaten or killed both of us. I'm really sorry. I ran and got Peeta the minute you left! I knew how much he cared about you and that he'd get you back. I'm Rue by the way."
"Hi, I'm Katniss" She looked pensive, but I could see her slowly start putting the pieces together. Instead of saying anything, she sat down at the table and poured herself some fruit smoothie. I wasn't going to be the one to push reliving the events from last night if no one else wanted to talk about it. So I just grabbed a whole stack of pancakes and started putting globs of butter and syrup on it. I was famished. We ate in silence, only making small talk. Katniss loved the smoothies just like Rue did. Between the three of us, we managed to polish off 5 stacks of pancakes and 2 pitchers of fruit smoothies. It was delicious.
We lingered at the table and I figured I had pushed off the subject for long enough, "Rue, we're going to need to make a pit stop." Rue seemed surprised at this and then looked at Katniss. Her face dawned with understanding and she nodded quickly.
"Of course, Peeta. I completely understand. I didn't see any of it anywhere before we left your room. I thought I'd take some from Glimmer, but she gets the shot."
Katniss and I immediately looked confused,
"What didn't you see in my room Rue?"
"Well, birth control obviously."
This stunned both Katniss and me. I started breathing kind of fast. When Rue realized that wasn't what our pit stop was for, she looked mortified.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean too... I just assumed..,because you know the sheets and the sounds last night and… I'm going to shut up."
All of us were beat red at this point and I figured I may as well get it out in the open so we could move on.
"That's not why we're stopping Rue. But before we get to that, thank you for saying something. It honestly didn't cross my mind. Umm… Katniss?"
She shot me a look that said, 'I was a virgin you idiot, do you really think I know anything about birth control?' She bit her lip and took a deep breathe.
"What were you saying about Glimmer's shots, Rue?"
"Oh, I went to go look for birth control to take from her stash but she gets the shots every month instead."
"So they give birth control in shots?"
Rue nodded her head slowly. "All kinds of ways. Everyone takes it here. They even have ones for men." Well, that was news to me. Whenever I had been with anyone, they had always been taken care of and I had never asked.
"It's okay, I think,.I think they gave me a shot like that before I came here. I'll have to check in the documents to be sure though." With that seemingly settled, I awkwardly went back to our earlier conversation.
"Okay, we'll check that. The snow from last night made the car use a lot more energy maintain the same speed. We're not going to have enough power if we don't stop and pick up some more fuel. Solar charging is out of the question right now because the snow is suppose to get worse the next couple of days. The only place where we can stop is..."
"Washington County," Rue said quietly
"How did you know?"
"Because when I was 12 years old, I walked these same hills to get to the city. It was 100 miles. I was always hungry and tired. I took shelter in the rock formations we've been passing for the past half an hour. I won't forget these rocks until the day I die"
I can't imagine what it must have been like for a twelve year old to leave everything they knew to be hungry and tired at the chance of a better life.
"Anyway, we're in luck the man who used to give me some of his leftover food and supplies has a shop not far from here. He owns the fuel station and sells snacks and essentials inside. He's good people even if he is a drunk. He won't make trouble for us if we're paying customers."
"Well, I guess that settles that then. What's his name?" I asked as Rue went to stop the navigation.
"Its Abernathy, Haymitch Abernathy."
"Well, it looks like we're going to be paying a quick visit to Mr. Abernathy."
