Almost to Katniss! I know that putting Ollie with Stosh was predictable but Stosh was the built up love interest. We didn't meet Cruz until the second book and he has always been a bit mysterious. Just a little explanation.
Ollie
The rest of the day would have gone better if we were scheduled to go back to District 15 before dinner. Today was our assigned day to see Sage and even though we saw him during filming, we were still able to go back. I wouldn't miss a visit with Sage, especially an extra one, but I didn't want to be in the same building as Cruz. I didn't want Stosh to be in the same building as Cruz.
I had called Dr. Weaver and gotten us both excused from activities for the day. The emotion in my voice convinced him immediately, although he probably assumed I was upset over seeing Sage last night. I didn't want to take advantage of Dr. Weaver, I wouldn't be lying to him about going to see Sage again.
Stosh spent the first part of the morning pacing in front of the couch where I sat, trying to decide if he would ignore Cruz or kill him. I tried to listen to him, seem interest, but his rants were pointless. I knew Stosh wouldn't kill anyone, at least, not Cruz. He may have killed Garth for kidnapping me.
The uncomfortable part came mid-afternoon when Stosh asked me to tell him exactly what happened when I went to see Cruz.
I shook my head. "No way. I'm not telling you that."
Stosh sighed. "Ollie, please. I need you to tell me."
"So you can torture yourself? I don't think so."
"Please." His voice was whispered pleading.
I gave in but decided to keep out the details of the incident. I started with how I ran into Cruz in the hall and injured my nose. I talked a little bit about our conversation leading up to sleeping together.
"What an ass." Stosh growled.
"Stosh!" I was surprised he cut in like that.
"He took advantage of you in a compromised emotional state. He knew exactly what he was doing. I don't buy the emotional connection crap."
I shrugged. "Who knows? I regret everything that happened last night more than anything else in my life. I'm so sorry Stosh. Can we stop talking about this now?"
He stood from the couch. "We are no where near done with this. I'm going to get ready."
I moaned. Stosh had every right to drill me on this for the rest of our lives if he wanted to. That didn't make it any easier. Had Cruz taken advantage of me? Or had he genuinely been as emotionally caught up as I was?
I sighed and leaned my head up against the couch, running over Cruz's words.
"You owe it to yourself to be happy, no matter what that should be. Even if you chose neither of us and run away, just do it before we all end up in a mess of broken hearts."
Cruz felt something for me, I knew it, but I wasn't about to tell Stosh that. I stood and stretched. I was still wrapping in the blankets, my naked body covered in small pieces of lint. I walked into the bathroom to get dressed. Stosh was still in the shower; steam lingered out over the glass doors. I picked out the usual daily clothes and headed to the mirror, taking in the matted hair on my head. I brushed through is the best I could and braided it down my back. I was completely ready by the time Stosh stepped from the shower and began dressing himself.
"We should head down to the hangar soon." He said as he pulled his pants on.
I leaned up against the bathroom wall and met his gaze. His dark eyes were hard; he was rightfully feeling very angry. "Stosh, I need you to promise me something."
He didn't even need to ask. "Sorry Ollie, you have no say over this."
I sighed and followed him from the bathroom. We grabbed our coats off the hook by the door and headed out into the hall. Willow and Coda were having a discussion outside our room.
"Oh!" I jumped a little when I saw them. I had completely forgotten that they were going with us today. "Hey…"
Inside I was screaming. This was the last thing I needed. Willow would be so disappointed.
Stosh pull on a friendly smile. "Ready to go? We're excited to meet that like Basil of yours." Willow and Coda delivered a little girl. We had yet to see her but from what we heard she had a full head over blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
Stosh and Coda fell into step, talking about random musings. Willow slowed her pace to match mine and linked her arm through mine. "Bad day Ollie?"
I laughed nervously. "Something like that"
We walked in silence behind the boys. A guard let us into the hall that led to the hangar and we met the pilot in the doorway.
"Oh no…" I breathed. It was the same pilot that brought me back this morning.
"Well hello again miss. It isn't often I transport the same person twice in one day. I almost feel like we're friends." He gave me a friendly smile and led us across the hangar to the waiting hovercraft.
Willow and Coda shot me a confused look and I just shrugged as if I had no idea what he was talking about. Stosh continued to look forward.
Once inside the hovercraft Coda and Willow took to conversing between themselves. The tension between Stosh and I was very obvious. This morning I had hopes we could work through this but as the day went on he grew more and more angry. He stared out the windows, which were dark from the tunnels, and his hands were fists at his sides.
When the hovercraft landed in District 15 I forced Stosh to take my hand. His muscles were tense but he still held onto me. I hoped it would keep him from taking off down the hall at random. To my surprise he headed straight for the nursery. Sage was in a different room now so we stopped briefly to meet Basil.
"She's beautiful." I whispered. Touching the blond tuft of hair on her head.
"Thanks." Willow smiled.
"We think we'll keep her." Coda said.
Of course, none of us could really keep our babies until we were twenty-one, but we would do what we could with what we were given. We left the nursery and headed to the room next door. Sage was sitting in a bouncy chair, kicking his feet. A dozen other babies were in the room as well.
I walked over and picked him out of his chair. "Hey big boy. Daddy and mommy are here to see you."
He looked up at me and cooed. His dark hair was still long even though the nannies said it might fall out. I pressed my nose into it, taking in his smell.
"He has gotten so big Stosh." Silence. "Stosh?"
I looked behind me and noticed he was gone. My heart stopped in my chest. I ran over to the nearest nanny. "Have you see Stosh?"
"The tall boy with the dark hair? He headed down the hall a moment ago, toward the maternity ward."
"Oh no." I gasped. I handed Sage over to her. "I'll be right back."
I stepped into the hall and walked with a quick pace. Several nurses passed me in the hall so I was trying to act calm, but then I heard yelling up again. I broke into a run and slid around the corner. The hall opened up to a large rectangular space that housed the elevators. Stosh had Cruz pressed up against the wall.
"If you ever touch her again, I'll kill you." Stosh spat at him.
Cruz's muscles were tense and he held the front of Stosh's shirt, but he was smirking. "I will if she asks me too."
"Well she won't." Stosh growled. "You took advantage of a young girl in a poor emotional state. You're sick."
I felt frozen, watching the argument take place.
Cruz held his hands up, a smirk still on his face. "I doubt Ollie felt like she was being taken advantage of. At least, that is the impression I got when she was screaming my name."
My mouth hung open but I barely had time to react. Stosh gave Cruz a right hook to the face. Cruz recovered and threw a punch at Stosh, hitting him in the jaw. Stosh lunged forward and the two boys fell to the floor. They were a blur of gold and black as they rolled around throwing punches.
A few nurses and nannies had gathered to watch the commotion and they all stepped backward. One was on the phone calling for security. The guards would be here soon but I felt like I needed to do something.
I rushed forward, trying to get my hand on one of them. "Stop it!" I screamed. "STOP!" I gave up and threw random kicks in, anything to make them stop. Nothing was working. I was just short of throwing myself on top of them when the guards ran into the hall. The immediately had the boys separate. Cruz was glaring at Stosh, his nose bloody and a cut on his forehead. Stosh continued to yell profanities at Cruz, his eye was already started to swell shut and his shirt was ripped, but he seemed okay other than that. For all the scuffling they were doing on the floor I would have thought they would have looked worse off.
The guard dragged them off in separate directions and I stood there, not sure what to do. A hand touched my shoulder from behind and I turned to see Willow standing behind me. Coda was nearby; I assumed they had seen the whole thing.
I burst into tears and buried my head into her shoulder. "It'll be okay Ollie." She shushed me. She and Coda led me back to the hangar and we boarded the hovercraft, waiting to depart.
I sat down and continued to sob. "I'm…sorry…I…cut…your…visit…short." I cried.
Willow shook her head. "It's okay Ollie, really. Any time we get with Basil is enough; we just wanted to make sure you were okay. We saw you hurrying down the hall and knew something was wrong."
I nodded but I couldn't talk anymore. The sobs were rocking my body. I had really messed things up now. Stosh was probably too angry to ever talk to me again, Cruz would definitely not be talking to me, and for all I knew both were being dragged from District 15 now and off to the Capitol.
I curled up in a ball on the seat, Willow and Coda sat on the other side of the hovercraft to give me some space. I felt the familiar life of the hovercraft and the twisting and turning as it moved through the tunnels. By the time we got to District 14 the sobs had forced me into near hysteria. I saw Coda and Willow looking at me, their faces full of worry. The pilot was on the phone in the main cabin, watching me. It wasn't long before two males from the Med Unit came and stuck a syringe into my arm. I suddenly felt dizzy and light. One of the men helped me lean back onto the chair and then I blacked out.
When I woke I was lying in the bed back in our room. It had grown dark outside which meant I had been out for a little while. I groaned as I sat up, my head was pounding. The room was dark except for the glow from the fire.
A dark form sat on the couch, facing the fire. "Stosh?" I questioned. I couldn't see much of his features or form from here.
The figure stood and walked toward me. My breath caught in my throat, as he got closer. "Cruz?"
"Hey Ollie." He sat on the edge of the bed and I crept back from him.
He laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not here to seduce you. I'm here to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?" I asked.
He nodded. "I'm being relieved of my duties."
I sighed. "I'm so sorry Cruz. It's all my fault."
He leaned toward me and placed a hand on my arm. I wanted to pull away but I didn't. "It isn't your fault, Ollie. I should have let you go in the beginning. I knew what I was getting into when I took you into that exam room last night. If anyone is to blame, it should be me."
I was glad the room was dark because I could feel tears forming in my eyes again. How I had any left after this afternoon was a mystery to me.
"He loves you a lot you know." He sighed.
"I know." I whispered back and then added, "I love him too."
"Look Ollie, I need to say this. I truly do care for you and I wasn't trying to take advantage of you last night. I need you to know that. Our short lived flings have been full of excitement and electricity but I don't think we could ever really be together."
I nodded my head and swallowed at the lump in my throat. "Where will you go?"
"Back to District 12." He replied. "I'm going to help set up a medical center there. Hopefully we can still be friends."
I smiled and placed my hand over his. "I would like that."
"Good bye Ollie." He stood and stepped backward.
"See you around Cruz." I smiled.
He left the room and I let out a sigh of relief. A few moments later a different form entered the room. I recognized him immediately and jumped up, running into his arms. "Stosh!" I breathed.
He had to have seen Cruz. He was probably waiting outside while he said goodbye.
"Careful Ollie. I'm a little sore." I felt him wince.
I pushed myself back. "Sorry. I'm just so glad to see you. I was afraid they would send you away."
He placed his hand on my cheek. "Not this time, Ollie."
I pressed my face into his chest, gentler this time, and he wrapped his arms around me. He lowered his lips to my head and slowly leaned down, kissing my ear, my cheek, and then my lips.
The kiss was gentle and sweet, but I felt urgency behind it. I pushed back for a moment.
"Stosh, are you sure we should do this now? I don't want to do this because of a rebound or to heal your wounded pride."
He kissed my again, his lips lingering against mine. "I do have some pride to heal. But I'm ready to get out of this place."
I understood what he meant. The sooner we conceived a second child, the sooner we could leave. I pressed my lips back to his and let him lift me off the floor and walk me to the bed. He set me down and lowered himself on top of me, the curves of our bodies aligning.
His lips move to my neck and I closed my eyes. "Let's get out of here." I whispered.
