Mockingjay: Broken Wings

by Jamie Sommers

A/U Katniss and Peeta are married, expecting a baby. Peeta's unsure of Katniss after the things he's seen while being held prisoner. Is she still trustworthy? With a traitor in the rebellion who can Katniss turn to? Haymitch, after all the secrets he's kept? Gale, who's loyalty lies with President Coin? Or will Peeta open up his heart to her again? Sequel to CF: Rekindling

21. War, Terrible War

Mockingjay: Broken Wings

By: Jamie Sommers

Chapter Twenty: War, Terrible War

Previously Katniss gave birth and went to the Capitol as part of the Star Squad with Gale leaving Peeta behind to take care of their baby Maysilee who was almost three months early. She convince Effie to fail the test everyone had to pass in order to take care of Peeta and their daughter. At the end of the last Chapter Peeta was having a difficult time surviving in Thirteen without Katniss and wound up on a hovercraft to the Capitol by order of Coin. Gale was given an order prior to leaving the Capitol by Coin and a testing of the P Zero X chemical compound had been run. Everything is finally coming full circle and the war is finally beginning. Katniss is on a mission to kill Snow in order to ensure the safety of her family, and Peeta will do anything to protect the ones he loves. What will happen now that he's made it to the Capitol? How will Katniss react once she finds out he's there? And what did Coin ask Gale to do? Is Peeta safe?

Thanks to all of you that have rallied around me during the whole hate mail thing. In case you don't know I received a bunch of emails and PM's from people that want a Gale/Katniss love fic (you think they'd get it by now) and when you write a story like this and get about ten reviews saying great chapter and twenty PM's saying I hate your story, you tend to believe the hate. I know I get a lot of love, and I do...I DO get a lot of love and I am more than thankful for it, but I was feeling the hate and it was hurting. So thank you to those of you that took the time to send out the love and made me feel amazing and alive and vibrant and wonderful. If you're wondering if that's why I didn't post an update, no. That is not why. I didn't post an update because my diabetes took a turn for the worst and it was a bad few weeks plus when it got better I had to go on vacation to Vegas. Now that I'm back I cannot wait to get back into the groove of things. For those of you that are keeping up with Outtakes, yes I am still writing it, but there are very few chapters of Outtakes compared to this story and I don't want that one to end before this one does. For those of you that are following Road to Recovery...again, Chapter Six has been sent off to the Beta and I love it! I soooooooo love that chapter! I think I have fallen in love with that story because it is a K/P falling in love story. Does that make sense? Anyway, if you haven't read it, I have changed it from a rated T version to a rated M version and pretty much decided to completely rewrite the entire thing so I hope you like it.

Feel like taking a peek inside the world of...

Mockingjay: Broken Wings

Katniss unfolded the picture she kept in her back pocket and traced the images with her fingertip.

"What are you looking at?" Gale asked Katniss.

"A picture Peeta gave to me before I left," she aimed the sketch of her holding Maysilee's tiny body in a soft pink blanket towards Gale.

Gale dug in his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, shoving it towards Katniss. "He gave me that before I left." It was a sketch of Posy, Vick and Rory with big smiles on their faces. Behind them were a bunch of kids running and playing in Twelve's Town Square.

"That was the first Parcel Day," Katniss remembered standing next to Peeta while the cameras filmed the people of her district receiving their extra food and oil as reward for her and Peeta winning the Games. "When did he give you this?"

"After he said goodbye to you," Gale sat back and leaned on his hands. "I stepped into the Hangar and there you two were, clinging to each other...kissing each other and I tried to pull myself away from it, but I couldn't." He let out a little chuckle. "None of us could." Mitchell, Homes and Jackson had rounded the corner with him. "We all just stood there, not saying a word and just stared at the two of you." Gale lifted his eyes to hers. "During your first Games I was so pissed and hurt that I never saw it. During your second Games I was condemning Peeta for getting you pregnant and I missed it completely, and there were other times when I saw it, but my heart was still under repair so it still hurt."

"Saw what?" Katniss asked with intensity in her eyes.

"What the whole country saw during your first Games." He gave her a little grin. "I saw why the whole world fell in love with the Star-Crossed-Lovers." He paused. "I've never seen two people love each other like that. Not even my mom and dad. I mean, they loved each other, but the two of you...it's like the cameras didn't exist. Like none of us existed." Gale could feel a little tug at his heart. "Watching the two of you say goodbye to each other did something to me...made me think about this war, and what we're fighting for." He looked at the sketch of Katniss and Maysilee. "And in that moment I finally saw what everyone else in the world saw." He met Katniss' curious stare. "Hope. I saw hope." He gave the sketch of his siblings another look.

"They died?" Gale couldn't believe what Beetee was telling him. "All of them?"

"Within forty-eight hours of being exposed to the chemical compound." Beetee took a sip of his coffee. "Let's look on the bright side of things here, Gale. The chemicals were contained, and the only ones that suffered were holographic representations of human beings. All of us that worked with the chemical, or may have been exposed to it took preventative medications. No harm. No foul." Beetee began pouring over a computer screen with their testing results.

"Why did we even bother using the chemicals?" Gale had fought with Beetee about it in the beginning. "I still say we should have used a representation of the chemical compound."

"We never would have known if we hadn't used the actual substance," Beetee said with a tone of frustration. "We still have the bomb," he turned his gaze to Gale. "It may not take out as many as we hoped, but it will cause a great deal of damage to our enemy."

"The bomb?" Gale began thinking about what he created alongside of Beetee. "Do you think we should even... Those soldiers in that holographic projection...there was a reason you used actual people we knew as the templates for those holograms, isn't there?"

"Yes," Beetee stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know what it's like to see a friend die. Wiress was a cherished friend of mine, and seeing her die so violently had made more of an impact on me than I had expected. I wanted you to have a taste of that. Give you an idea what it would be like if we were the cause of their deaths." Beetee sipped at his mug. "I realize that these men and women may not be close friends of yours Gale, but you've gotten to know them...fought alongside of them, and now you know if we had sent real people in, they'd be dead. You must be able to live with that fact before we continue."

"Continue?" Gale didn't want to work on the chemical aspect of this bomb any longer. "I don't know if I can."

"I've spoken with President Coin, and she agrees with me, that we should forgo the chemical component and concentrate on the actual explosive aspect of the bomb."

Gale was silent for a few moments. "Beetee, I'm not sure if I can keep doing this." Watching a replay of Justus, Boggs and Lavinia die during the holographic testing bothered him more than he cared to admit.

"I understand." Beetee stood. "You'll understand if I revoke your security clearance."

"Yeah," Gale left his computer pad on the counter top and made to leave. On his way out he noticed Johanna Mason staring him down like she knew something. "Problem, Mason?"

"You tell me, ass wipe."

"No," he brushed past her. "I don't have any problems I can't handle."

"Sure about that?" Johanna followed him out. "I saw that shit you two did. Killing all those people. You proud of yourself?" Johanna jumped on the elevator with Gale. "I know Beetee couldn't give a rat's ass, but what about you? For some reason Katniss seems to think you're a good guy, but me? I haven't seen that guy at all. The only thing I see is a drone. A murderous drone. Kind of like Snow's Peacekeepers, only not as nicely dressed." Johanna leaned back against the wall. "That's the problem with this war, you know. No one thinks for themselves. Shit, that's why Katniss and Peeta are so damn popular. They're doing what everyone else is afraid to do. They're standing on their own two feet and questioning everyone. Snow...Coin..." she faced Gale. "They've got a mind of their own, and they're not afraid to use it. What about you, ass wipe? Gonna listen to your own mind, or are you going to continue shoving your nose up Coin's ass and being her bitch?" Gale could feel her condemning stare boring through him.

Gale stood wordlessly against the wall of the elevator until Johanna was about to step off. "What about you, Mason?"

"Me?" She faced him with her feet straddling the doorway.

"Got a mind of your own?"

"Yeah, right." She stepped out of the elevator completely. "I'm just another one of the drones, ass wipe. Following orders and trying to keep my head down. Hoping the lesser of two evils wins this war. See ya around, brain fart."

"Thought I was ass wipe," he mumbled to himself before calling out, "It's Gale. Not ass..." the doors closed, "...wipe," he mumbled. 'Sure about that?' He asked himself. 'Think about what you told Coin you'd do when you go to the Capitol.' Gale blew out a breath trying not to let his self-discovery turn him against the only president he ever respected. He had spent his entire life hating the Capitol. Hating Snow, and now he had someone to look up to, and no one, not even Katniss was going to take that away from him. 'You'll do what your president asks of you,' he told himself. 'Coin wants you to create this bomb, you create it. She wants you to kill someone, you kill them. You kill whoever she wants.' The burst of cold air from the elevator doors opening up on the hospital level smacked him in the face. He looked at the buttons on the elevator's control panel in question, not remembering pushing the button for this floor. The button for the floor he wanted to go to was still lit. He lifted his head and stared down the hall, making out the top of Katniss' head through the glass in the swinging doors. He stepped into the hall, wondering how she was doing and stepped back when he saw her crying against Peeta's shoulder. They were talking with a doctor Gale had never met. He waited for them to empty from the hallway before entering the hospital and looking through the window of the nursery. "Geez," he ran a hand over his scalp when he saw the two babies behind the glass. The boy, Gale figured, was average size. The girl however looked like one of the expensive dolls Katniss had gotten for his little sister Posy after the Games for her birthday. He stepped back when he noticed Katniss and Peeta entering the room covered from head to toe in the same white colored clothing the doctors wore before going into surgery. He worried for a minute that the baby would have to be operated on again until they sat next to each other and the doctor handed them the doll. Though their entire faces were covered with the exception of their eyes, he could tell they were smiling and crying at the same time. Peeta looped an arm around Katniss' shoulder while she held the baby and was handed a microscopic sized bottle.

"Hey, Gale," Prim called out to him. "Guess you heard the good news."

"What news?" He could barely pull his eyes away from the scene before him.

"Maysilee has been breathing on her own for a week now, and last night she yanked out the feeding tube."

"Geez," Gale was terrified when Prim told him that.

"No," she held a hand up to him and smiled. "That's actually a good thing. Well," her nose crinkled, "not really a good thing, but it's good that she started to cry immediately after and made a little sucking motion with her mouth. They're trying to feed her with a bottle now." Prim rested her palms against the edge of the glass. "Come here, you can see better." She waved him over.

"I don't want to intrude." Seeing Katniss in the role of wife was hard enough. He couldn't imagine seeing her as an actual mother.

"Don't be stupid," Prim tugged him closer. "Trust me; they won't even know we're here. They're pretty accustomed to cameras by now. Haymitch tells me all the time to remind my sister to take her mic off before she and Peeta get carried away," Prim giggled. "Last time he said that in front of Effie and she had a fit." Gale lifted the corner of his mouth in a grin, allowing Prim to navigate him closer to the nursery window. "She put on her lemony face," Prim scrunched her face up in imitation, "then pointed a finger at him and screamed, 'You are a despicable human being Haymitch Abernathy. A vile little man. You should know better than to talk to a child her age about such things'" Prim let out a laugh. "I didn't want to remind Effie that she was the one that pulled my name out of the reaping ball a couple years ago." Prim looped her arm through Gale's. "We've sort of moved past that now."

"How?" Gale hadn't meant to ask. It just came out.

"It wasn't her fault she pulled my name out," Prim gave Gale a look like he was insane. "Effie had it just as bad as we did if you think about it. She was a product of her upbringing."

"She didn't have it as bad as we did, Prim," Gale smirked.

"Take out the fancy clothes and food, and what does that leave?" Prim tilted her head to the side. "It leaves a woman bound by the laws of the Capitol to do her job or suffer the consequences. Ever stop and think about what those consequences might be, Gale? Did you ever think to yourself what kind of trouble Effie might have gotten into for sending that medication to you after you got whipped? No one ever said what you went through was easy, but your beating was a one time thing. One time. If Effie had gotten caught for helping you" Prim gave her head a little shake, "one beating would have been a welcomed treat. Look at Justus. His wife turned him into an Avox to save him. To save him!" Prim let out a burst of air, and said with a hint of pride, "The only difference between those of us in the districts and Effie Trinket is that Effie learned how to use her job and those Capitol laws to our benefit."

"I'll admit she did some things to help out with the rebellion, but..."

"Not just the rebellion," Prim crinkled her brow. "Gale, how much do you know about Effie? And I'm not talking about what you've seen on television or rumors. I mean, how much do you really know about Effie Trinket, the person?"

All he knew was what Katniss had told him and what Coin had alluded to. "Not much."

Prim gave one last look through the glass, "You and I need to have a talk." She stuck her hand in Gale's and led him away. "Come on. You can have dinner with me tonight."

Gale stole a quick peek at Katniss and Peeta and saw his mask covered lips pressing against Katniss' as she held the baby. "Where we going?"

"Stopping by the kitchen to get our trays, then I'm giving you a history lesson."

Gale was in complete shock when Prim walked into the kitchen, stuck her arm into the wall, motioned for Gale to do the same and was rewarded with two trays of covered food for transport. "You can just take food from the kitchen?" He asked her.

"I'm considered a medic which gives me certain privileges. One of which is bringing food out of the kitchen and down to the hospital." She walked a few steps backward then turned, "but that's not where we're going." She led him through several corridors, down some stairs and across the residence to another elevator Gale had never seen before. "This leads to Historic Hall. Effie's been working with the history teachers here on organizing it, and three times a week she takes a group of us down here to teach us about all sorts of things."

"Like what?"

"Haven't Rory and Vick told you about this?"

He had no clue what Prim was talking about. His brothers never mentioned spending time with Effie Trinket. "No."

"In that case," Prim stacked her tray on top of Gale's and punched a code into the control panel of the elevator, "you'll get a firsthand glimpse into the life of Effie Trinket." Gale's breath caught in his throat when he stepped out of the elevator and saw a giant room that looked like a museum and library. "Welcome to our nation's history." She made a sweeping gesture around the room.

"Holy shit. Look at all of this stuff."

"This way," Prim walked towards a cornered off area with tables and chairs. "You're not allowed to eat or drink near any of that stuff," she motioned towards the books and works of art. "Effie set it up so we could bring lunch down here instead of having to cut the school day in half and interrupt our lessons."

Gale couldn't imagine sitting in a classroom the entire day and not leaving for lunch. It had been the highlight of his day when he went to school with the exception of the end of the day. Though he didn't have an overabundance of friends, he just enjoyed the break from classes. "Bet Vick and Rory had a fit when they were forced to stay down here during lunch."

"It was their idea," Prim said over a bite of a small roll. "They had been in cahoots with a few of the other students and Bing before bringing it up to Effie."

"My brothers wanted to stay in class?"

"Your brothers wish they could have Effie as a teacher for every subject we have. Rory said it was the only time he ever felt like he was actually learning something." They ate the rest of their meal in silence, hurrying through it. "You about ready to see some history?"

"Yup," Gale had no clue what any of this had to do with Effie. "So why does Effie teach you about this stuff?"

"Her father was a historian. Worked for the Capitol. She said he was the one that taught her about history and five languages other than English." Prim walked him towards a painting. "She said the only thing her father loved more than his country was his country's history, and even though he knew how the world worked before the Capitol came into power, he still dedicated his life to President Snow." Gale let out a sniff of disgusted air. "'My father was a brilliant historian,'" Prim stood up straight and spoke with a fake Capitol accent causing Gale to let out a little chuckle at her Effie impersonation. "'Sadly, my father was also killed by the very government he dedicated his life to. I did not know this until just recently, but that makes no difference.'" Prim held up a finger and took on an expression like Effie's. "'It is our responsibility to question, children. I may be old enough to be your mother, but I will never be too old to question my father's blindness, or my mother's for that matter. They did what their president ordered no matter how barbaric when it should have been the president protecting those very children…he should have been asking what he could have done for my parents instead of the other way around.'"

"Did she expect Snow to bow down to her mother and father or something?"

"Nope," Prim dragged her hand across some ropes and walked towards the library portion of the room. "She said that the president should be working for us to make this a better nation and asking the people of the country what he could do to make it a better place." Prim looked upwards towards a shelf with thickly bound books lined up. "It's up there," she pointed at one titled American History. "Could you get that one down, please?"

"Sure," Gale reached up easily and pulled the book down. "Why's it feel so weird?"

"It has a preservative coating it so we can keep reading it without causing damage to it." Prim flipped through the pages. "Here it is," she pointed to something and said, "Read that out loud."

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little. Franklin D. Roosevelt." Gale looked down at Prim and continued to read, "The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds. William James."

Prim took the book from him and turned a few pages. "This one's my favorite. It's from a former president named John F. Kennedy." She handed the book to Gale.

He read what she pointed out, "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."

"Children, it is your responsibility, as the future leaders of this country, to do as much as you can for it now, and one of the things you must do is take in as much knowledge as possible. Find out what your passion in life is, and never stop reaching for that passion until you have achieved your dreams." Prim turned on the balls of her heels away from Gale.

He began flipping through the book and scanning the different quotes. "Who said that one?"

"Did you like it?" Prim smiled.

"Not only do I like it, I agree with it completely. Sounds like the kind of president I could have gotten behind." Gale closed up the book and put it back on the shelf.

"That one was, Effie Trinket." Gale's jaw dropped. He slowly turned towards Prim who gave him a very smug look. "Kind of makes you rethink the woman you saw pull out names from a glass ball, huh?"

Gale spent his dinner as well as Reflection down there with Prim, barely making it back to his quarters in time to bathe. "Hey," he lay in bed next to his brothers. They still shared a room, but they each had their own bed now. "Why didn't you two tell me you've been taking classes with Effie Trinket?"

"Um..." Vick scratched at his head.

"Uh..." Rory cleared his throat.

"I'm waiting," Gale rolled to his side and faced them. He could make out Vick's gulp even in the dark bedroom. "One of you better start talking before I make you both sorry."

"Well, she...uh...thing is..." Vick stammered.

"I'll tell him, Vick." Rory sat up and faced Gale. "All you ever do is talk about how much you hate the Capitol and the people in it. We've all seen the way you glare at the ones that escaped to Thirteen, and that's fine and all, but Effie...she's not like the rest of them, Gale. She's different."

Vick sat up and started to add his two cents. "We knew you really hated her especially, and when we told mom about it she said it would probably be for the best if we kept you in the dark about our new teacher."

"What makes you think I hate her any more than I hate the rest of those Capitol snobs?"

"The way you look at her," Rory said.

"The way you pretty much growl at her every time she sits at our table during meals," Vick added.

"Not to mention the way you talk about her." Rory got an edge to his voice, "Like she did something to you personally."

"She did. She pulled out Prim's name," saying it out loud sounded weak, even for Gale.

"Well, Prim's forgiven her... Hell, Peeta's been adopted by her!" Rory said in a louder tone. "Even Katniss can see that Effie isn't what we thought she was."

"Did you say she adopted Peeta?" Gale sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah, we had a little party for them;" Vick moved next to Rory and said, "Remember how surprised she was?"

"She started crying," Rory had a look on his face like he was pleased. "We really surprised her that day."

"I know," Vick's smile matched Rory. "You should have been there. Katniss and Peeta were."

"Even Haymitch showed up for it," Rory added. "We had it in Historic Hall and Peeta's dad smuggled down some of the leftover cake from Finnick and Annie's wedding. It was pretty great."

"She adopted Peeta?" Gale repeated to himself in a hushed tone. "Why?"

"Gee, Gale. You know what Peeta's mom did to him," Vick gave Gale a strange look. "Peeta never had a mom like we did. You know...one that loved him, and took care of him when he was sick and stuff like a real mother does." Vick ran a finger under his nose. "Peeta said that Effie's been his mother her whole life, it just took them a few years to find each other."

"Yeah, but he's too old to be adopted," Gale argued lamely.

"I don't think it really matters to either one of them," Rory said. "They're really happy about it."

"Then why didn't they tell anybody?"

"Cause they signed the papers the same day as the wedding, and Effie didn't want to overshadow it or anything." Vick answered. "It would have too. Can you imagine the kind of propos Plutarch would have been running? Former tribute adopted by his escort," Vick shook his head. "Gotta feel bad for them sometimes. Not getting any privacy and all." Vick continued while facing Gale.

"Yeah," Gale lay back down on his bed taking all of this in.

"You mad at us for not telling you, Gale?" Rory asked. "Cause if you are, I should probably tell you the rest so you can be mad at me all at once." Gale leaned up on his elbow to face his brother. "Effie told me to find my passion, said it was our responsibility to spend our life working at a job that made us happy, and anyways...she's...uh...she's sort of teaching me a language called French."

"I don't get it. You want to spend your life speaking another language?" Gale scowled at his brother.

"No," he let out a little laugh. "I want to teach. And not just the stuff from the history books either. I want to teach people about our past and bring back things like languages. She's got Justus and Lavinia teaching me sign language, and they said I was a natural at it." For the first time in Gale's life he heard something completely unfamiliar to him in Rory's voice. He heard hope. "She's pretty awesome if you give her a chance."

"What's she got you wanting to be?" He asked Vick.

"Um...there's a piano down there and she's teaching me how to play it."

"Effie Trinket can play the piano? Christ, is there anything she doesn't do?" Gale sunk back against his mattress.

"Yeah," both Vick and Rory let out chuckles before Rory answered. "She can't cook to save her life."

"Good to know she's got some flaws," Gale's sarcastic remark had him smiling at his brothers. 'Prim was right. I have no idea who Effie Trinket is,' he thought to himself as he rolled to his side and stared at the bare wall. 'So what are you going to do?' he asked himself. 'You're going to follow your orders,' a part of his brain told him following Coin's orders was what he was supposed to do as a soldier, but another part of him screamed out, 'Johanna Mason was right. You are a drone.' He bunched his fists under his head and went to sleep.

The day he left for the Capitol and saw Katniss and Peeta saying goodbye to each other he looked at them not as the girl he loved and the guy that stole her away, but as parents trying to make a better world for their newborn baby girl. He told himself to ignore his thoughts. He couldn't afford to personalize the war, but that was all out the window when he watched them perform their little ritual.

"One," Jackson said from her spot next to Gale while Peeta ran his hand down Katniss' braid.

"Two," the Leegs said in unison when Katniss pressed her hand against Peeta's chest.

"Three," Gale watched with the rest of their squad as Katniss and Peeta shared a tearful goodbye kiss.

Something caught Gale's attention from the corner of his eye. Justus was signing something to Lavinia.

"Anyone know what he just said?" Homes asked quietly.

"He said," the sound of Boggs' voice behind them had them all turning, "Let's go win this thing so those two never have to count to three again."

The group of them headed towards the hovercraft. Justus and Lavinia stopped to say a quick goodbye to Peeta, and Gale was going to be happy with a simple handshake, but Peeta stopped him. "Here," he pulled something from inside of his pocket and handed it to Gale. "I know you don't need any help finding hate to fuel your fire. I think we've all got that."

"Some of us more than others," Gale added.

"I thought maybe if you found yourself having to make a decision like you did in Two you could try using my motivation instead."

Gale finally looked down at the sketch Peeta handed him of his siblings. He had never seen them look so happy. "My brothers and sister are your motivation for this war?"

"No." Peeta shook his head and stuck out his hand. "Love is." He paused before adding, "Watch yourself out there."

Gale shook Peeta's hand. "I'll watch her back."

"I know you will."

Gale stared out the window as Peeta started a slow jog parallel to the hovercraft which quickly turned into a frantic race down the tarmac. His knees and elbows were pumping as tears glistened again his cheeks. He could hear one of the camera crew asking, "Were you able to get a close-up of his face? That's going to make a hell of a propos." Gale turned to see what Katniss' reaction was, but she was just staring up at the ceiling, gripping her Mockingjay pin and moving her lips.

"Anyway... When you got on board the hovercraft, Peeta handed this sketch to me and told me if I ever needed motivation for coming back a victor I should look at this." Gale folded the sketch back up and shoved it in his pocket.

"He told me to remember what it felt like to hold banana nut," Katniss pressed her palm against the sketch before putting it back in her pocket and pulling out another one. "He sketched this in case he got sent here and I had to deliver without him," she showed Gale the image of Peeta smiling at her. For some reason he hadn't captured the sparkle in his eyes that she always saw.

"Hey Catnip, if I asked you why you're here fighting this war, what would you say your motivation is? Love or hate?"

Katniss rested back on her hands. "Both I guess."

"You can only pick one."

She pulled out the pictures and stared at them for a minute or two before answering Gale. "Hate." She stared into the distance, and then looked back at the sketch. "I love them so much Gale." She turned to him. "So damn much that I have to let my hate of Snow motivate me, because if I did nothing but think about them…I'd leave. I would get on the next hovercraft back to Thirteen and I wouldn't look back. That's the only thing keeping me here."

"Then why do you look like you're not buying what you're selling?"

Katniss was quiet for a couple of seconds. "Shut up," there was no malevolence behind the words. "Just…" her voice got softer as she picked up a rock and threw it across the tracks. "Truth is...I love them more than I hate the president."

"Which one?" Gale joked.

He was taken aback when he saw the glare in her eyes and heard the deadly tone in her voice, "Both."

…..

…..

…..

…..

Since leaving Thirteen Katniss felt empty and hollow inside. She kept close to Gale during their time off camera, hoping their friendship would somehow fill the void within her, and failed to provide Cressida with anything spectacular during the filming of the propos. Since her squad was meant to provide inspiration for the rebels across the country, the most dangerous thing any of them were allowed to do was shoot at targets and stand watch for four hour shifts. Each squad pretty much kept to their own little group until they were sent into battle. In the three days Katniss had been at the Capitol she watched groups of six and eight leave and wounded come back. All of them had horror stories of various pods, weapons created by the Gamemakers, strategically placed throughout the streets of the Capitol, that released various forms of torture once they were tripped, or Peacekeepers with weapons that took out entire squads with one shot. Anger quickly became Katniss' best friend when her squad got orders to film a propos of her retelling some of the tales instead of being called for duty. They had a mission prior to their leaving Thirteen; they were supposed to take out a bunker that housed Peacekeepers. Upon arrival they quickly learned that the bunker had been destroyed days before they got to the Capitol.

"I don't get why they prepped us for a mission that had already been completed," Katniss sat at the edge of the train track her District Twelve Tribute Train pulled into for both of her games and threw a stone across it. "You'd think they'd want to use their best soldiers for something other than television spots," she continued to grumble.

"Coin must have her reasons, Catnip," Gale sat fairly close to her and tossed a stone trying to get it further down the track than Katniss'. Their game continued as they lifted their eyes towards the landing hovercraft.

"Great. More troops to go into battle while we stay here and put on a show." Katniss blew out a disgruntled sigh and dug a piece of paper out of her back pocket, unfolded it and stared at the sketch Peeta had given her. "Doesn't really matter anyway," she spoke her thoughts out loud.

"Why doesn't it matter?" Gale asked with a boyish grin on his face.

"Huh?"

"I'm wondering why it doesn't matter that our squad hasn't been called into battle," Gale leaned closer to her. "Is it because you're not planning on going with us?"

Katniss' face turned to stone as did her voice, "What gives you that impression?"

Gale let out a loud burst of laughter. "Come on, Catnip. I've known you since we were kids. You think I don't know you want to go off on your own so you can kill Snow?" He continued to laugh as Katniss glared at him. "My only question is do you want me to go with you? I'd be happy to have your back."

"You'd do that? Disobey orders so I can kill Snow?" It was the first sign of her old friend Gale she had seen in quite some time.

"Sure I would. I want the guy dead just as much as you do." Gale threw his rock and watched it bounce down the tracks. "I'm not sure how you're going to get your hands on one of those holo emitters, but we'll figure out something."

"No," The sound of Peeta's voice had them both whipping their heads around. "Katniss and I will figure out something, but thanks for the offer, Gale."

"Peeta!" Katniss gasped and scrambled to her feet. "What…why…" she couldn't believe her eyes. Seeing him standing there was like taking a punch to the gut. "You…you shouldn't be here," she reached out a tentative hand to touch his chest as though she had to make sure he was really there. "No," she shook her head and began a little pace as Gale got to his feet. "No, no, no, no, NO!" She pounded her fists against her thighs and squared off her shoulders. "You are not supposed to be here!"

"I'm fine, Katniss. Banana nut? Oh, she's fine too. Dr. Fletcher is planning on taking the bandages off of her eyes later in the day, but he says she's doing really well considering how much she's been through." Peeta gave her a damning look then turned to Gale. "Would you please excuse us? I'd like a minute alone with my wife."

"Catnip?" Gale wanted to check with her to make sure she wanted to be left alone, but Katniss was still pacing and talking to herself, ignoring Peeta's remarks.

"Never mind," Peeta took hold of Katniss hand and pulled her towards the edge of the station, away from all the piercing stares and nosy people.

"You need to leave. Get back on that damn hovercraft and go back to Thirteen," she ranted as she dragged her feet behind Peeta. "We agreed that you would stay with Maysilee and I would come here."

"No," Peeta stopped and pointed a finger at her, "you agreed to that. I never did. Now you can either stop fighting with me and walk, or I'll throw you over my shoulder and carry you away from all of these people."

"You wouldn't dare," she glared at him with a dangerous warning written across her face.

"Watch me," he glared back. "You've got to the count of three. One," he stepped closer to her. "Two," he hefted his pack on one of his shoulders.

"Don't you dare try to…"

"Three!" He reached out and grabbed her, throwing her fighting form over his shoulder and ignoring her howls.

"Put me down! Right now! Damn you Peeta!" Katniss pummeled her fists into his behind as he walked. "You're hurting me!"

"I am not you big baby! Now quiet down before they start recording us and everyone in the damn country knows that you're a rotten wife!"

"I am not!" His accusation caused a knot to form in her stomach. "You think I'm a rotten wife?" She stopped fighting him and hung over his shoulder.

"Yes. Now shut up," he placed her on her feet when they got to the edge of camp. "A good wife would have thrown her arms around her husband's neck and kissed him hello," he gave her a hint of a grin letting her know he didn't mean it when he insulted her.

Her brow furrowed, her lips grew tight and her jaw stiffened. "And a good husband would have kept his word and stayed with our daughter," she threw back at him.

"Yup, I'm a horrible husband," he pulled her into his arms and released a deep breath into her hair. "I had to come." His grip on her gradually got tighter as he explained why he left Maysilee. "I missed you so much, Katniss. I haven't been able to function without you."

Katniss tried to listen to him with deaf ears, not wanting his emotional confession to tug at her heart, but it was useless. The more he spoke about how lost he was without her, the more she knew how much they needed each other. "Stop," her limp arms hung down at her sides. "Please stop saying these things to me." All she wanted to do was push him away and force him to go back to Thirteen. "Why would you come here? Don't you kn…"

"Mellark," Boggs' stiff tone interrupted Katniss. "You shouldn't be here. You haven't gone through any training for this."

"That's what I'm trying to tell him," Katniss turned out of Peeta's embrace. "Send him back," she could hear the pleading in her voice and hated it.

"I have to make a call." Boggs pointed at Peeta. "Stay here."

Peeta waited until Boggs left before saying, "It won't do him any good. Coin sent me herself." Katniss felt her spine tingle when he said that. "She said your propos needed some heating up." Peeta dropped his bag to his feet. "Personally, I liked the boring propos. It meant you were staying out of trouble and you were still alive."

"Peeta," she said with a warning.

"Don't Peeta me, Katniss." Anger filled his voice as the past three days without her spilled out. "Tell me you were fine without me. Tell me you didn't feel lost…like a part of you was missing while we were apart." She closed her eyes and swallowed the huge lump in her throat. "Tell me," his thick voice got lower and more forceful, "you never wished for me to be here…for me to be by your side. That you never thought to yourself at any point in time, 'I need Peeta,' because that's all I did while you were gone." The undeniable anguish flowing through him poured out not only in his words, but his eyes…his body language…his heart, and caused Katniss to stiffen her upper lip in defense. "All I did was sit there next to our daughter and listen to that voice in my head saying over and over again, 'I need Katniss.'" Peeta's entire face morphed into one of devastation when Katniss turned away from him and failed to say anything. "Are you seriously doing this, Katniss?" He spun her around by her shoulders so she'd face him, but she refused to lift her eyes to his. "You think I'm going to leave because you're pissed? Because you're scared of me being killed?" She whipped her face towards his. "Oh, now I've got your attention, huh?"

The muscles in Katniss' eye began to twitch and the throbbing pressure of a headache began to pulse in her temple. She pinched that spot at the bridge of her nose and instantly thought of President Snow performing that same action in her study back in District Twelve before the Victory Tour. She was petrified Snow was going to kill Peeta back then. That he was going to kill everyone she loved, but Peeta stood by her…never let her down even after she forced him into a marriage proposal he knew she didn't want. 'He's always there for you, Katniss,' a tiny voice said in the back of her mind. 'It's what you two do.' The twitch in her eye traveled down to her tightened jaw. "We protect each other," she said quietly.

"Yeah. We do," Peeta wasn't sure what she would do or why she said what she did. "So…now what because I'm not leaving Katniss?"

"We'll see," though something inside of her wanted him to stay, she prayed that Boggs got permission to send him back to Thirteen, but by the look on his face as he got closer to them Katniss could tell things hadn't gone their way.

"I don't think I've ever seen that guy look angry before," Peeta noticed Katniss was focused on the squad leader heading in their direction. "I could have told him that it was useless. Coin sent me here herself. " Peeta repeated his earlier words over his shoulder.

Katniss threw a deadly glare in his direction just as Boggs' joined them. "Well, what did they say?"

"Looks like you're staying with us for the duration of this thing," Boggs' tone was harsh as he spoke to Peeta.

"Did I do something to piss you off?" Peeta asked him.

"No soldier," Boggs' had an instant look of regret on his face.

"Then why are you so angry that I'm here?"

"Maybe because you should be in Thirteen taking care of our daughter," Katniss snapped at him.

"Or maybe it's because he knows that Coin sent me here hoping the Capitol would trigger my flashbacks and I'd lose it on you?" Peeta snapped back before turning to Boggs. "I'm guessing she's hoping that I'll lose my mind completely now that I'm not taking those shots and maybe…" he shrugged in a smart alack way, "…maybe I'll kill her myself?" He gestured towards Katniss. "Am I wrong?"

Katniss jaw dropped to the ground. "What?" She knit her brows together. "Why would you think that? I mean I know she hates me for some reason but…"

"Because," Boggs interrupted, "if he kills you, then we kill him, and both of you do the last thing you could possibly do to help this war."

It was as though Katniss had finally caught on to Coin agreeing so quickly allowing her into training after giving birth. "We become martyrs."

"You got it," Peeta said it like he knew all along what the plan had been. "I'm sure Plutarch would make our death out to be great losses to the nation…tell the rebels they need to win this war for our daughter…hell he's probably got a camera crew ready to film her while she's lying in the hospital."

"Don't say that!" Katniss didn't want to hear him talk about them filming their daughter or leaving her alone in the world.

Peeta wrapped his hands around the fists she formed and said, "There's just one thing Coin didn't count on."

"And what's that?" Katniss said with fury in her voice. "You shooting one of those damn star things from your gauntlet into my brain on live television?"

"No," Peeta forced her to look at him by holding her chin in his hand. "This," he pulled her head to his and planted a hard kiss against her shocked lips. "I love you," he barked. "You think I'm going to forget that in the middle of a flashback? Well think again. It's not going to happen. I haven't hurt you yet and I don't plan on starting now, and if they come back, which I'm sure they will, you'll help me through it, right?" Katniss stared at him and took in what he said. "Right!?" Peeta asked again.

"Uh…right," she tried to put everything in perspective. She studied his expression. The way his square jaw clenched with tension…his flaring nostrils…tight lips… His eyes on the other hand read fear. "What are you afraid of?" The anger in her voice was replaced with curiosity.

"I'm afraid you believe what Coin believes. What he believes," Peeta flashed a look in Boggs' direction. "What they all believe," he gestured towards the rest of their squad. "They've all seen me explode…take my anger out on you…on Gale. They know how bad I've gotten, and they're all thinking I'm going to fall victim to Snow's torture." His entire face now showed what Katniss saw in his eyes. "That you're going to fall victim to me."

"Well they're wrong," Katniss stepped closer to him and cradled his cheek in her hand. "You won't hurt me." She ducked her head down for a second and said, "But I can't promise I won't hurt you. I am so pissed that you're here."

"Be as pissed as you want," Peeta decided he wasn't going to let her sour demeanor get the best of him. He couldn't afford to have any ill feelings towards her while in the Capitol or Coin might just get her way. "I'm not going anywhere," he gripped the hand that was against his cheek and pressed a kiss into the palm of it then threaded his fingers through hers. "We're a team Katniss."

"We always were, Peeta," her automatic response came out, but that didn't stop her from hating the way he chipped away at her resolve. More than that, she hated how right he had been when he called her out on her needing him. Regret mixed with a touch of frustration filled her eyes as she clung tightly to the hand that was holding hers. "Why the hell does Coin hate us so much? All we want is to go home and raise banana nut," she faced Boggs. "What did we ever do to her?"

"It's not so much what you've done, but what you might do," Boggs answered.

"Okay, what might we do?" Peeta wrapped his arm around Katniss waist.

"Is she afraid I'll kill her?" There was a hint of truth behind Katniss' question that frightened Peeta.

"No." Boggs ignored Katniss' idle threat. "When this war is all over there will be an election. A president will have to be put into office, and if I asked you two who it is you'd like to see running this country could you honestly say that you'd throw your support behind President Coin?" Neither Katniss nor Peeta answered. "That's why." Boggs said regretfully.

"Because we wouldn't be cheering her on?" Katniss blew out a disgusted breath. "Who gives a crap what we think?"

"The entire nation," Peeta answered. "Son of a bitch," he said quietly under his breath.

Hearing Peeta swear caused Katniss to worry for a second that he might be having a flashback. "What's wrong?"

"Don't you see, Katniss?" Peeta asked her. "This whole country has been sitting on the edge of their seats, glued to every single occurrence in our lives since we became the Star-Crossed-Lovers. Even after we left the Capitol…Haymitch told me that your Mockingjay pin became all the rage at the Capitol…that my sketch…that logo on our training uniform of our tokens swept through, not only the Capitol, but the entire nation. Hell, it was the damn symbol on those banners."

"Still is," Boggs' added.

"There," he pointed towards Boggs. "See? Whether we want to believe it or not the people in this nation actually give a damn about us…about what we think. If we don't support Coin, and I know for a fact I'd never give her mine…"

"Neither would I," Katniss added.

"Exactly." Peeta's shoulders slumped. "She wouldn't get elected. No one would vote her into office."

"That's why she needs to get rid of you two," Boggs gave them a shake of his head. "You are two out of the three most powerful people in this country right now, and if you're not going to help her, you're going to hurt her."

"Geez," Katniss couldn't believe that she and Peeta held so much power. "I'm assuming Snow is the third most powerful person?"

"No," Peeta let out a sigh, ran his hand through his hair and felt a ball of rage forming in his stomach. "No, Katniss. That would be my mother."

"Effie?" Katniss began shaking her head. "Wh…why?"

"If you could throw your support behind one person in this world to run this country, who would it be?" Peeta asked her.

"Oh my God," Katniss' entire world was suddenly collapsing around her. "Do you think she's going to try and kill her while she's watching over Maysilee?"

"No," Peeta had a feeling he knew exactly how Coin was planning for all of them to die. "Wouldn't surprise me in the least if she got sent here like I did." He turned his focus onto the squad he was supposed to be a part of. "So who do you think they are?" His attention went back to Katniss. "Our murderers?"

Katniss couldn't face her squad without feeling betrayal. "I don't know."

"If I were you, I wouldn't trust any of them," Boggs avoided looking at the group as well.

"We can trust Gale," Katniss was certain that was one of the only people she could put her trust in other than Finnick and Peeta.

"What makes you think that?" Peeta didn't trust Gale as far as he could throw him. "That guy has been up Coin's butt since arriving in Thirteen. Isn't that one of the main reasons you two have been arguing?"

"He would never kill me…or you," Katniss was sure of it.

"What about Effie Trinket?" Boggs asked knowingly. "Hawthorne has never been a fan of the Capitol rebels. Can you say with one hundred percent certainty that he wouldn't harm Trinket?"

Katniss' mouth began to move up and down like a fish out of water. "I…uh…uh…"

"Fortunately Trinket isn't here," Boggs quickly filled the void in conversation.

"Yet," Peeta threw in.

"Until she shows up, let's try and keep you two safe," Boggs said. "I'll go let the rest of our squad know we have a new member. I suggest you two set up camp away from the rest of us."

"Won't that look suspicious?" Peeta could sense that he was going to have a long night ahead of him helping Katniss come to terms with the possibility of Gale's betrayal.

"I'll tell them you wanted some privacy. You're not the only married couple stationed here." Boggs gave the surroundings a quick survey and pointed to an area away from everyone else, yet still close enough to keep watch over. "Out there should be fine. Don't worry about your shift tonight," he addressed Katniss. "I'll get it covered."

Katniss nodded absently. "Thanks."

"Hey," Peeta placed a hand on his arm. "Why are you doing this? You're Coin's number one man. Why don't you want us dead too?"

"I could give you an entire list of reasons why I'm fighting in this war, but the one thing it boils down to is…I have two kids." Boggs' stiff posture relaxed. "I never want them to go through what you two did in that arena. Coin has been a voice for the rebels for as long as I can remember, and every year when Reaping Day came along, she'd get us all riled up…get the rebels across the country in a huff over the children about to be slaughtered." He faced Katniss. "I knew what she did the second she announced you had a miscarriage. I didn't know that the doctor didn't follow through on the orders, but I knew what Coin's plan was. She actually told me afterward as though she were proud of it. It made me sick." He faced Peeta and said, "You want to know why I don't want you dead? Because you've both earned your right to live. You deserve to go back to your district and grow old…have a bunch of babies if you want. What you don't deserve is to have two presidents throwing you back into an arena, plotting your demise all because you want to live a normal life. Hell, that's the entire purpose of this thing isn't it?"

"I sure as hell hope so," Peeta said. "I'd hate to think the only reason we're all here fighting was so we could get a female version of Snow leading our county."

"Me too Mellark. Me too," the concern in Boggs' voice had both Katniss and Peeta worrying for what lay ahead.

…..

…..

…..

…..

…..

"Madam President," Haymitch could hear the strain in Plutarch's voice the second he entered the room. "This country recognizes her as the Mockingjay. They want to see her in her uniform, not dressed like an average soldier."

"Katniss Everdeen is an average soldier. Her role as the Mockingjay is no longer needed. What we need now is for the people of this nation to see all of our soldiers as heroes. Not just one girl," Coin argued back.

"Katniss Mellark," Haymitch's tone was tight as was his jaw, "will never be just an average soldier, and if you're under the impression that the people in this country are going to accept her as just some girl, you're deceiving yourself, ma'am."

"Haymitch," Plutarch let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you're here. Will you please explain to her that we cannot continue to allow Katniss to blend in with the rest of her squad? She must stand out!"

"She's already doing that with the long braid running down the side of her head," Coin snapped. "She should have had her head shaved along with everyone else." Coin pointed to the large screen against the wall in the Command Center and said, "You have an entire squad full of faces Plutarch. Use them. Gale Hawthorne is quite photogenic, and he is not using his position for personal gain like our Mockingjay and our Jabberjay."

Haymitch casually made his was to Plutarch's side. "You're telling us you want Katniss' role to be just a soldier, and that's all well and good, but what I'm trying to understand here is...if you didn't want the Mockingjay to spread her wings out there why'd ya send in the Jabberjay?" Haymitch had his suspicions; Effie had been warning him of Coin's motivations long before he got to Thirteen. "You put those two together on screen, and it won't matter what the hell they're wearing. They could be in loin cloths and fig leaves, and this country wouldn't give a shit. They'd still be glued to the Star-Crossed-Lovers. So why send Peeta in if you didn't want them to do what they're good at?"

Coin's entire face turned to stone. "There is one thing Plutarch and I have agreed upon. These propos need some heat and since we're not ready for them to complete their mission yet, we'll need Peeta there to provide some...spark."

"Spark?" Haymitch asked with a questioning brow. "Because watching one of the soldiers stepping on a mine filled with poisonous darts and dying wasn't..." he lifted his hands a bit and wiggled his fingers as he sarcastically asked, "...sparkly enough for the two of you?"

Coin slowly turned her attention towards Haymitch. "Their squadron needed a replacement after Soldier Leeg was killed, and Peeta is the only one other than the three of us, and Effie Trinket, who knows what the plans are for the Star Squad." She gave Haymitch a slight tilt of the head asking, "Would you rather I had sent Miss. Trinket?"

It was no secret that Haymitch and Effie's relationship had changed from escort and mentor to something more, and Coin hadn't been too thrilled with it. "Effie failed her test. She's not going anywhere."

"Peeta never even took the test," Plutarch's observation was said in passing, but it got Haymitch's brain to start thinking like the boy's mentor again. "He barely had any preparations for the invasion."

"Peeta knows what to expect," Coin faced the television screen that had a feed of Katniss and Gale taking some shots with their bow and arrows at some squirrels scurrying up a tree. "He's been in battle before not to mention he is a victor."

"Yeah, and he almost died," the light went off in Haymitch's head. 'She wants them dead,' he ran his hand down his worried face. 'Son of a bitch, those kids are sitting targets,' his mind began to race as Plutarch and Coin continued their disagreement. 'Think Haymitch,' his head was yelling at him. 'Think.' "Has Peeta gotten there yet?"

"His craft is ten minutes out," Plutarch answered.

"I gotta go take care of a few things...check on Johanna," Haymitch made a slight motion with his head for Plutarch to follow him out. "Be back later."

"Don't bother," Coin began pouring over some computer printouts her staff laid out for her across the large meeting table. "There's nothing here we need you for."

Haymitch's evil glare was thrown at Coin's back before heading out. He stood by the elevator, waiting for Plutarch to escape the Command Center, in order to get some answers to his questions. Since the guy didn't come out before the elevator arrived, Haymitch headed towards Johanna's hospital room hoping it would be empty. "Johanna?" Haymitch called out before entering the room completely and got no response. "Johanna?" The room was bare and her bathroom had a pile of dirty, wet towels on the floor. Haymitch took a seat on the doctor's rolling stool and began rehashing all of Coin's actions in his mind from the moment Katniss and Peeta entered his life. 'She wanted them in the arena instead of rescuing them while they were somewhat safe in Twelve. She ordered the abortion of Maysilee. She wanted to send Katniss out to film some propos while she was pregnant only a couple of hundred miles away from the Capitol. She sent Peeta out to Two while he was still trying to recover from his hijacking...'

"Haymitch?" Plutarch closed the door behind him.

"She wants them dead," he got up, stood toe to toe with Plutarch and stared him down. "Tell me you didn't know about that. Tell me you didn't recognize that she has been trying to kill those two from day one."

Plutarch kept his composure. "I've had my suspicions for quite some time now."

"And you're okay with this?" Haymitch let out a disgusted snort and threw his hand in the air. "Of course you are. You're a friggin' Gamemaker."

Both of their heads turned towards the door when they heard the hinges squeak. "I'm here," Effie stepped into the room. Took a slow survey of Haymitch and Plutarch and asked, "Why did you request my presence, Plutarch?"

"You told her to meet us here?" Haymitch wondered why. "You think she doesn't know what Coin's up to? Hell, she's the one that's been trying to convince me since she joined the damn rebellion."

"Haymitch calm down." Plutarch motioned towards the hospital bed. "Why don't we all take a seat and we can try and address this problem like a group of level headed adults?"

Haymitch took a seat, but held onto his deadly glare. "Okay, so we know she wants them dead and we know she won't let me go to the Capitol."

"Me either," Plutarch stole a peek at Effie. "That leaves you. The only problem I see with you going back is," the former Head Gamemaker gave his head a disheartening shake, "how do we keep you alive?"

"Yes, that could be a problem considering neither the rebels nor the Capitol truly want me on their side," Effie attempted to gauge Haymitch's reaction by the bright red color that flushed through his entire face.

"You think the rebels want to kill you?" Haymitch worried aloud. "You think Coin may have gotten some of them to...what? Kill you or something?"

"Of course I do. Do you take me for a total imbecile? She has wanted Katniss and Peeta dead for quite some time now, which, if you recall, is what I had said to you back at the Capitol," Effie said with pursed lips. "Haymitch, my dear. Our president wants me dead just as much, if not more than, our kids. She is intimidated by anyone that can pose a threat to her leadership, and that is exactly what my darling children and I have done. Our mere presence is a threat to her political future." She gave her foot a little tap and asked him through squinted lids, "If you knew she wanted Katniss and Peeta dead, why did you agree to send them to the Capitol? Why didn't you try to keep them here so we could protect them?"

"If those two had to cower from everyone that wanted them dead, we'd be watching a Victory Tour on television with Finnick Odair as the star of the show." Haymitch released a frustrated breath. "What the hell are you gonna do once you get there, cause if what you say is true, I'm pretty sure Coin's got a price on your head and we all know Snow does?"

"Won't they both be disappointed when I return safe from harm with our darling kids in tow?" Effie gave him a pleased with herself smile. "As far as what I have planned once I get there… You are the mentor, are you not?" She quirked her brow at him.

Haymitch made a slight growling noise at her and addressed Plutarch. "When can we get her to the Capitol?"

"I will suggest that we send in a shuttle for the wounded once nightfall hits. Cressida tells me they are becoming overwhelmed with injured men and women. I will suggest that we send Effie in as a guard, and let slip at how shameful it is that Effie is unable to fight along with the other soldiers." Plutarch gave Effie's leg a little pat. "Coin will most certainly insist that you stay, and if she doesn't..."

"If she doesn't I shall sneak away," Effie gave each of them a little nod. "I shall need one of those holographic panels, Plutarch."

"I'll get one from Special Weaponry. You and I can take a stroll down there before I speak with Coin, Haymitch."

"Sounds good," he agreed.

"Now we must speak about what it is I will be doing once I'm in the Capitol." Effie stood up and did her little walk. "I have been thinking, half of Katniss and Peeta's squad originate from Thirteen, but two of them are my fellow Capitol neighbors. What if I..." Effie laid out her plan to which Plutarch added a few things and Haymitch argued the entire time against.

"It's a sound plan," Plutarch began punching a few buttons on his computer screen. "My sources said that Boggs made a call to Coin in regards to Peeta's presence. They made a recording of the call without Coin's knowledge." Plutarch's fingers flew across the computer screen until the sound of Boggs and Coin filtered out of it.

"President Coin, the boy is still trying to recuperate from his hijacking," Boggs sounded tense.

"He did a more than adequate job while he was in Two, I'm sure he'll be fine," Coin said flatly.

"He wasn't tortured in District Two." Boggs' voice began to have a hard and angry edge to it. "We both heard what Dr. Brown and Beetee said about sending Peeta here. Both of them thought he'd suffer a great setback and be plagued with violent flashbacks. You remember what he did to soldier Hawthorne with just his fists. Can you imagine what might happen while he's in that Jabberjay uniform? He could kill Hawthorne. Hell, he could kill Katniss." There was a few seconds of silence. "Ma'am it is my recommendation that Soldier Peeta Mellark be sent back to Thirteen. As a matter of fact, it's my opinion that both Mellarks be sent back to Thirteen as quickly as possible. We don't need either one of them to win this thing."

"Are you finished Commander?" The deviousness in Coin's voice had Effie, Haymitch and Plutarch exchanging concerned looks. "Good," Coin didn't wait for Boggs to answer her. "I am only keeping the promise I made when agreeing to both Katniss and Peeta's demands prior to their becoming the Mockingjay and Jabberjay. They asked to kill President Snow."

"Yes, but ma'am..."

"That's all Commander," Coin snapped. "Katniss and Peeta Mellark are your responsibilities now. If you are unable to keep our Jabberjay from killing our Mockingjay then I suggest you put him to rest. Now that I think of it, you have made a very good argument. Peeta cannot be trusted. Whether he is here or at the Capitol there is always the chance that he'll have a flashback and take an innocent life. I would hate to bring him back here and have him kill that baby while suffering from one."

"My word," Effie gasped and her fingers flew to her throat.

"Shall I request a different leader for your squad Commander," Coin asked. "Or are you able to do your patriotic duty to the rebellion?"

"No ma'am. There is no need to send a replacement in for me. I understand what it is I need to do for the rebel's benefit," Boggs answered her with an emotionless reply.

"Excellent. If that's all, I have work to do, and I'm sure you're going to be quite busy now that Peeta has been sent there."

"Boggs, out." The phone clicked before Coin could dismiss her first in command.

"Do you think he'll do it?" Effie worried aloud.

"I don't know," Haymitch hoped Boggs wouldn't kill the boy.

"We can't wait till the middle of the night to send you in." Plutarch got to his feet. "We need to get you there as soon as possible, Effie."

"Are we all in agreement?" Effie took Haymitch's hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. "I need to know that you're okay with this, Haymitch."

"I'm not exactly okay with it, but it's the way it's gotta be." He flipped his hand over and threaded his fingers through Effie's. "We might as well get this show on the road now 'cause if we wait much longer...shit," Haymitch wished he could go to the Capitol himself and pull Katniss and Peeta out of battle. "We're right back where we started. All of us trying to figure out how to get Katniss and Peeta out of the Games alive."

"I'm afraid so," Plutarch's head hung down a bit.

"Yes, but this time we've got more than just a few sponsors on our side. We've got an army of rebels," Effie's attempt at sounding bright fell flat.

"Some of them may have orders to kill them. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Coin has already arranged for it," Plutarch said. "It is truly unfortunate when the enemy is hidden amongst your allies."

Haymitch thought of Peeta joining up with the Careers and pulling the wool over their eyes in order to save Katniss' life. "Any idea who might be willing to pull the trigger on Katniss or Peeta?"

"No," Plutarch shook his head.

"Gentlemen," Effie stood up and began doing her tiny pace. "We need to stop thinking about our enemies and start thinking about the members of our alliance. Who can we trust? Gale will never kill Katniss, but he might kill Peeta." Effie gave her head a little shake. "No, if he wanted to kill Peeta he could have easily done that while they were in Two together. Besides, Katniss would never forgive him for doing such a thing. Gale is an ally," Effie lifted her face to the men then went back to her dissection of Katniss' squad. "Lavinia and Justus are dedicated to our little birds. They too can be considered trustworthy. We know Finnick is on our side. As for Boggs..." Effie pursed her lips a bit. "After that phone call, I believe he is an ally."

"Are you kidding me?" Haymitch didn't buy that for a second. "That's Coin's number one man."

"Yes it is," Effie grinned a little. "And from the tone of his voice, her number one man isn't a very big supporter of Coin's decisions."

"How do you know this, Effie?" Plutarch knitted his brows together. "At the end he sounded as though he would follow through with the not so direct order of killing Peeta at the slightest sign of trouble."

"I trained under Boggs. He's either an exceptional liar, or he's as concerned for our kids as we are." Effie went on to explain. "The day Katniss came into training I mentioned that she had been seen going back inside, and wondered if that meant she had given up. A little while later I noticed Boggs getting into a very heated discussion with the trainer for Katniss' class. At the end of the day he called me aside and told me to do whatever I could to keep her and Peeta in Thirteen. He didn't expound on his reasoning, but there was no mistaking the concern written all over his face."

"I hope you're right Effie," Haymitch said.

"As for the rest of the squad," Effie gave her head a little shake, "I have worked with Jackson. She is a difficult person to read. The sisters Leeg, they were nice enough individuals, and I believe they may be trustworthy as well, if only because I overheard them talking amongst themselves many times about Maysilee's health. They appeared to be genuinely concerned for the baby. They even asked me to pass on their well wishes when Maysilee was brought in for her second surgery." Effie tapped at the floor with the tip of her shoe. "My gut tells me that they're on our side."

"If that's true then we're down an ally." Haymitch noticed Effie's questioning expression. "The one they call Leeg 2 stepped on an unmarked pod full of poisonous darts. One got her in the brain. She was dead before she hit the ground." Normally Effie knew things before Haymitch did so he asked, "Didn't Peeta tell you that? Coin said it was one of the reasons she sent Peeta in."

"Peeta told me that a member of Katniss' squad had been killed, but Maysilee's physician entered the hospital room, and I forgot to ask who it was after Dr. Fletcher left." Effie's fingertips went to her throat. "I'm sorry to hear of her death. She was a lovely girl."

"Who else is with Katniss and Peeta's squad?" Haymitch asked Plutarch.

"There are two other men, Mitchell and Homes. I know absolutely nothing about those two men," Plutarch said with disappointment. "They aren't really known for their conversational skills."

"Neither one of them is married," Effie stated. "They share their meals together in silence, as well as their jobs. There is a three year difference in their ages, and they love to shoot."

"How the hell do you know all that?" Haymitch twisted his face a bit.

"While I was on the gun range I was trained alongside of them. They can shoot a petal off of a daisy, and are quite loyal to President Coin." Effie started her pace again. "Mitchell and Homes are definitely not our allies. As far as the rest of the rebel soldiers at the Capitol, my feelings are, they shouldn't be our primary concern. If Coin wants to kill Katniss and Peeta, she's going to make sure their murderers are close to them. It won't be some random killing either. They'll have to make it look like it happened during a battle." Effie turned to Plutarch and said, "You must be on your way back to the Command Center. We cannot allow Coin to find out about any of this, so might I suggest you stop by the physician's station and ask them something...oh, I don't know," she tossed a hand up in the air as a thought struck her. "I have a brilliant idea. How quickly can you take and develop a photo?"

"Minutes," Plutarch stated.

"Wonderful," Effie threaded her arm through Plutarch's. "We'll need to find Primrose. Haymitch," she spoke over her shoulder, "you should go down to Special Weaponry and socialize with Beetee. We don't want anyone finding out what you and Plutarch are up to while you're both down there. I shall see you later. Come now, Plutarch. We have work to do."

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The temperature at the Capitol was quite chilly. Effie tugged on the tight fitting gloves, gave the gun tucked into her holster a little pat, felt blindly around the back of her waistline for the small gun strapped at the base of her spine and gave it a little rub, bent over to tighten her boot strings and made sure the gun on one ankle was secure and the knife hiding in the back of her boot was covered and out of sight. The bear spray tucked away between the cleavage of her breasts was strong enough to knock a giant black bear to his knees, and would most certainly cause a severe amount of damage to her enemy with just one pump, the pins she had holding the bun up at the base of her neck were exceptional lock picks, and the pack of gum she kept in her shoulder pocket wasn't the sugary treat it appeared to be. Beetee had provided Effie with more weapons than she could possibly imagine. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the hovercraft's window, adjusted the straps over her shoulders and grinned a little when she thought of the rifle Beetee had given to her.

"Effie, I am so glad you're finally going to be able to use this." Effie always found Beetee to be a strange little man, but the day he handed her the rifle and all of its accessories, she realized exactly how brilliant a man he was. "It's actually the prototype for a weapon made for the Peacekeepers, but there were too many flaws with the original design and manufacturing the guns was considered much too costly." Beetee let out a little laugh. "They had no idea about the uprisings back then. If they had I'm sure they would have made the investment into the weapon and armed all of their soldiers with it."

"What does it do?" Effie ran her hand over the pack that resembled the thing Katniss' arrows were stored in when she went hunting. "And why do you have an arrow holder on it?"

"A quiver," Beetee corrected Effie.

"Yes, well...I never really knew what those things were called."

"This is not the same as a quiver. This pack holds many different tools." Beetee handed her a lightweight rifle. "When I started working on this, it was meant for one of the sharp shooters. A man named Mitchell. He's in the same squad as Katniss."

"Yes, I am aware of who he is," Effie also knew he was the best shot in Thirteen. "Why didn't you give it to him?"

"The day I saw you on the gun range shooting at the moving targets, I knew this weapon was made for you." Beetee helped her to strap on the sleek black pack. "You see, every victor has their weapon of choice. In my opinion, it chooses them. Peeta is exceptional in hand to hand combat and with a knife; no one can out shoot Katniss when it comes to a bow and arrows. Finnick's trident...well, we can all agree that the two of them go hand in hand, and Johanna's axes. Shame she won't have the opportunity to use them in battle." Beetee gave his head a little shake before continuing. "In my opinion, the gun has chosen you Miss. Trinket."

Effie lifted the rifle, checked to see if the safety was on and said, "Does this not have a safety button?"

"It doesn't need one. No one can shoot it but you, and the only way that will happen is if you want it to." Beetee slipped something into her hand. "Slip this over your ear."

The black earpiece looked different than most. "What will it do?" Effie asked as she slid the headband over the top of her head and plugged the earpiece in.

"Come with me," Beetee led her to the training room in Special Weaponry. "Take aim at anything you like. I'll be behind the protective glass." Effie moved the barrel of the rifle around deciding on which of the targets she was going to shoot at when Beetee's voice came over the loud speaker. "It's time to wake up your weapon Miss. Trinket. Say, it's a big day."

Effie waited a moment then said quietly, "It's a big day." A thin microphone slid out of the head piece as did a lens that flipped over her eye, magnifying her range; the headpiece grew tighter, molding to her scalp as something attached itself to two different spots on her scalp. "My word," Effie gasped as the gun no longer felt cold and hard in her hands, but light and full of power. Her eyes darted around the room and before she could squeeze the trigger, Effie planned out her shots mentally. Without squeezing her trigger finger she took aim on each of the targets, blowing them into smithereens. "Beetee," she gasped out. "It knows what I want to shoot at."

"Yes it does," Beetee said with excitement in his voice. "Do you feel the way the headgear has banded to your skull?"

"Yes. It has gotten a little snugger, but Beetee, it's odd. I can see the targets behind me," She slowly turned around in a circle. I can see…everything."

"The rifle becomes one with your neuropathways. All you have to do is think about your target and where you want to shoot it. If you want to deliver a kill shot, it will do so automatically. If you simply want to wound your enemy, that can be done as well. There is just one thing. The weapon will only work for you, and you must have your finger on the trigger. Though the headgear is one with your mind, the rifle must be able to scan your DNA. It's a safety feature in case someone gets a hold of it."

"My word, that's brilliant," Effie breathed out in shock. "What else does it do?" She turned to face him through the glass.

"Plenty." Beetee showed her the accessories she carried in the backpack. "Slide that rifle in there and think about what it is you need to use it for. If you want to capture a prisoner of war, it has a net attachment; it shoots traditional bullets, lasers, poisonous darts and a few other surprises." As long as you keep it in its case on your back, it will remain charged. Now you don't have much time to train with it, so I will suggest that we get in at least an hour or two before your craft leaves."

Effie held her rifle across the front of her person, hefted her backpack full of supplies over her shoulder and headed out onto the concrete walkway of the train station. Tents were pitched all around the area, with the exception of the tracks themselves which were bare. The landing hovercraft had caused almost all the soldiers to look in her direction. Heads poked out from tents, out of sleeping bags, from behind metal cans with small fires in them, and one hand waved to her from across the train station. 'Finnick,' Effie was happy to see a familiar face and she made her way towards the man that disgusted her once upon a time. "Hello there," she greeted him with a smile.

"Effie," Finnick reached out and took her in a hug. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you here. Annie is probably breathing a sigh of relief now that she knows you're here to keep me safe."

"Your wife asked me to give you this," Effie reached up on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Please save your response for when you go home to her, and may I say, congratulations. I think you and Annie are going to make wonderful parents."

"She told you, huh?" Finnick had pride written all over his face.

"Yes she did."

"How's she doing? She doesn't have morning sickness does she? Katniss went through hell with that and I'd hate for Annie to have to suffer through that without me near."

"She's actually doing quite well. She hasn't had any nausea or vomiting, but she is sleeping a little more than usual. Johanna, Prim and Evelyn have been keeping her quite busy, and when they're not available, Peeta's father Bing has taken to bringing her into the kitchen with him and having her help with the baking. Even Sae has grown quite fond of her."

"Good," relief washed through Finnick. "I'm glad she's got people looking out for her."

"Finnick, our little family will always watch out for one of its own," Effie gave his arm a little squeeze. "Now, where are my darling son and his wife?"

"They're in that tent," Finnick motioned with his chin. "You might want to make sure you don't go barging in or anything," his shoulders began to shake with laughter. "They haven't seen each other for a while."

"Oh my word, Finnick Odair," Effie scolded him. "Will you never change?"

"Lord, I hope not." He walked towards the tent Katniss and Peeta had been hiding in for the past few hours. "Hey lovebirds," Finnick pounded on the ground with his boot. "You've got company." He waited a few seconds before putting his face against the zipper that kept the tent closed. "Hey! Wake the hell up!" He started chuckling when he heard the shuffling and grumbling noises coming from within.

"What the hell do you want, Finnick?" Katniss barked.

"You've got a visitor."

"Tell them to go the hell away," Katniss' voice grew louder. "We're off duty till morning and we want to be left alone."

"Katniss, it could be important," Peeta reasoned. "Move..."

"I can't move. Your leg is…ouch!"

Effie began to giggle as she listened to them bickering.

"Hand me my shirt," Peeta made a grunting noise. "Do you have to be such a..."

"Such a what?" The tent started moving. "You're going to knock this damn thing down," Katniss' laughter filtered out. "Here...not that one."

"Christ, this is yours." Peeta chuckled. "What do you think?"

"I think I like you in skin tight clothes," Katniss started laughing again. "You're going to rip my buttons off of there. Here…put this on."

"Put your shirt back on, and…damn it, Katniss. Those are my pants."

"I noticed. They're kind of big on me." Both Katniss and Peeta started laughing.

"For criminy's sake you two," Effie couldn't hide the humor in her voice. "Will you hurry up and come out here."

"Mom?" Peeta's head ducked out of the tent's entrance within seconds. "What...aw shit."

"Manners young man," Effie chided him.

"Sorry. Um, can you give us a minute? We were sort of…uh… asleep."

"Yes, I'm sure you were," Effie gave him a slight, "tut tut tut," and a wag of her finger.

"Geez Finnick," Katniss' head popped out below Peeta's. "Couldn't you have told me it was Effie?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Finnick's laugh joined Effie's. "Come on. We'll go wait over here so these two can get their crap together."

"It looks like we're getting visitors," Effie looked past Boggs and saw Justus and Lavinia headed their way too. "Wonderful. A reunion."

"Yup. Looks like the gang's all here," Finnick smirked. "I'm not sure how Boggs is going to feel about you being here. He was pretty pissed off when Coin sent Peeta in."

"Well, Coin didn't send me in. I volunteered. I couldn't let all of you do all the work now could I?" Effie took the few steps towards Boggs and reached out a hand. "Hello Commander. It's lovely to see you again."

"Miss. Trinket," Boggs never called her soldier for some reason. He reached his hand out to shake Effie's and asked, "What brings you to the Capitol?"

"Oh, I think you know Commander." Effie gave him a look that clearly confirmed all of their worst fears. After a minute or two, Peeta tumbled out of his tent with Katniss trailing behind, braiding her hair.

"Mom," Peeta took her in a hug. "I was hoping you wouldn't be sent here."

"I volunteered." Effie gave Katniss a stern look. "My children are here, and I could not in good conscience stay behind. There are plenty of people looking after Maysilee back in Thirteen. Why Johanna will only allow Haymitch in the room if he's shaved and watches his language."

"They let Johanna in there?" Katniss furrowed her brow. "It's a sterile room."

"It also seems to be the motivation our Miss. Mason needed to face her fear of water." Effie smiled proudly. She gave the people around her a once over thinking that these were the only ones in the entire city she could trust, but she was still somewhat unsure of Boggs. "It is late, and I must get some rest. Commander Boggs, I am to pass on a message to you from Plutarch. He would like the Star Squad to get ready for some new propos." She faced Katniss and Peeta. "You two did enough …heating up earlier," Effie's eyes rolled upward and her lips pursed. "I was not too pleased with what I heard."

"Sorry mom. Katniss didn't realize she still had that microphone attached to her clothes," Peeta said sheepishly.

"Yes, well…I think we should remember, these cameramen and women have no morals when it comes to airing everyone's private lives, so let us all be a bit more cautious, hmmm?"

"Sorry Effie," Katniss ducked her head behind Peeta's shoulder.

"That's enough of that. Now give us a hug and kiss," she reached out to Katniss. "Maysilee's bandages came off this afternoon." Effie pulled a small picture out of her pocket. "I brought this for Peeta's locket, but I thought the two of you would like to take a peek."

Katniss held the picture between the palms of her hands and lifted it towards Peeta so they could look at it together. Though the photo was small there was no mistaking the bright blue eyes staring up at the camera. The loud gasp Katniss let out brought on a big smile from the parents. "I knew it. She's got your eyes," Katniss pressed a kiss against Peeta's cheek.

"Yeah," he smiled proudly. "She does."

"I thought that might give you two a bit of inspiration. Now, go back to bed, and get some rest. I know what Plutarch has planned for a propos and it is going to be a long day."

As Katniss and Peeta made their way back into their tent, Katniss sent Boggs a concerned look, but the leader of her squad just gave her a little nod of his head as if telling her, he'd take care of Effie Trinket.

In the morning, when the Star Squad gathered around the fire pit with their pathetic breakfast rations three people were suspiciously missing. Justus, Lavinia and Effie. When Katniss and Peeta asked where they were Boggs informed them, "Trinket was sent here to complete a special mission. Don't plan on seeing them again. Look around ladies and gentlemen, this is your squad."

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The tent was pitched, and Peeta was exhausted. He slowly took off his boots and set them to the side, carefully put away his Jabberjay uniform and switched into the regular uniforms the soldiers were wearing around their squad. Men and women alike looked interchangeable with the exception of him and Katniss. They seemed to be the only people with hair left in the entire army. 'Well, we'll stand out in a crowd,' he thought to himself. 'Definitely easy targets.' He let his head drop back for all of ten seconds before working up the strength to get up and stretch. It was chow time, the last meal for the night, and then he was determined to hit the sack. Katniss was still upset with him for showing up and after all that talk about who they could and couldn't trust within their unit, she grew angrier and more upset about his opinion of Gale. He popped the upper half of his body out of his tent and saw Finnick standing several yards away moving his head from side to side. "You on duty?" Peeta stepped out of the tent and made his way towards his former ally.

"Yeah. I get to stand here all night and listen to you and Katniss argue," he gave Peeta a slight grin. "Do me a favor; don't get her worked up into frenzy tonight. I'm not in the mood to shoot you." Finnick let out a chuckle, but Peeta's face drained of blood. "Hey, I'm just kidding."

"Not funny, Finnick." Peeta had to wonder if Boggs was right and no one in their squad could be trusted. "Why would you say something like that to me?"

Finnick checked around to make sure no one was listening. "Boggs' second in command, Jackson. She pulled us all aside while you and Katniss were over here and wanted to make sure none of us had a problem with killing you."

"What?" Peeta's brows shot to the top of his head.

"They're all afraid you're going to lose it and try to kill Katniss, or Gale or someone," Finnick gave him a little shrug. "I told them that I was more than willing to do my part for the war." He stepped closer to Peeta. "The way I figure it, if I let one of them stand guard; you probably wouldn't make it till morning."

"What did Katniss say about that?"

"Katniss doesn't know, but I think Gale might have told her because she looks pretty pissed off," Finnick gestured with his chin towards a fuming Katniss heading his way with a bowl of something. "You might want to check on her."

"Yeah, I'm planning on it." Peeta stepped away then turned over his shoulder, "Try not to kill me, okay?"

"That's the plan," Finnick gave him a wink.

"Hey," Peeta walked up to Katniss and took the bowl she shoved in his direction. "You can either eat it here or with them," She thumbed behind her towards the squad. "I'm eating in the tent." She stormed off and didn't say another word to him.

"Guess I'm eating in the tent too." He popped his head in and saw her sitting in the middle of the shelter with her head hanging down. "Hey," with his bowl forgotten and pushed towards the side where hers was sitting, he knelt in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lifted up her red rimmed eyes and got to her knees, pulling him against her. "Just tell me you love me."

"Okay," Peeta pulled back a little and stared into her eyes. "I love you, baby."

The little squeak and sigh that came from her plus the hard kiss she pressed against his lips was not what he was expecting. "I love you too, Peeta. I'm so sorry about all of this. I shouldn't have just left you and Maysilee, I should have let you go through training with us or...or...maybe I should have just stayed back there, but I couldn't." She yanked him tighter to her chest. "Say it again. Just like you did. Say it."

"Um...okay," He looked straight into her eyes. "I love you, baby."

"Oh Peeta," the soft side of her came as a bit of a shock.

"Okay, that is not what I was expecting." He stroked a long piece of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"What were you expecting?"

"Oh, I don't know. A little fire in your eyes. Or maybe that feisty girl that drives me nuts." He sat back on his haunches and held her hands in his. "You hate it when I call you pet names."

"Well I like that one, okay?" She started to sniffle.

"Wow, you must really hate me right now if you're so mad you can't even fight with me."

"I'm not mad at you anymore," she lifted her eyes to his. "I know why you're here, and if I were the one you left behind, I don't think I would've been able to wait over eighty-six hours to see you."

Peeta started to laugh. "How did you know how many hours we were apart?"

Katniss turned her face to the side as a blush crept up her cheeks. "I...I just do, okay."

"Eighty-six hours and twenty-five minutes to be exact." Peeta gave her a soft grin to which she responded in kind. "Okay, what do you say we eat this," he reached over for the bowl of... "What the hell is this?"

"Gale and I shot some squirrels this morning and they made a stew or something out of it." Katniss reached for her bowl. "I think I might have been able to do better than this."

"Well, eat it. We need to keep up our strength."

They ate as quickly as they could, tried not to make too many faces at the disgusting flavor of the food, then went back to talking. "Peeta, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know why you're here." She pulled out the sketch of the baby. "It's because we'd do anything for her."

"That's one of the reasons I'm here, but the other one is you, Katniss." He gave the picture a quick look, tucked it safely away in her back pocket then lay down on the sleeping bag. "Come here," he held his arm out for her to curl into. "I consider myself a pretty strong guy, but when it comes to you and banana nut...Katniss, I'm worthless. I can't seem to function if I think the baby's hurting or if you're away from me. It's like my brain stops working completely."

"Yeah, I get that. I had no choice but to concentrate on how much I hated the president, because if I thought of how much I loved you two I would have found a way back to Thirteen so I could be there with you both." She rolled over to face him. "I really am glad you're here with me. I needed you more than you could even imagine."

"Now that's nice to hear," he stroked his hand over the side of her head. "You must be tired. Should we try to get some sleep?"

Katniss leaned over him and placed a kiss against the corner of his lip. "We haven't seen each other in days, and you want to go to sleep?"

"Not really," he chuckled, "but I figured we could use the rest. We're both kind of tired."

"Tired, Mellark. Not dead." Katniss threw her leg over his lap. "First I want you to tell me all about Maysilee. Does she miss me? Has she grown? How much is she eating?"

"She misses you all the time. Dr. Fletcher won't take the bandages off her eyes until late today, but I know...I just know, she's been looking for her mommy. Oh, and I swear Katniss. She grows more and more every single day. She's so beautiful. That gorgeous head of dark curls and those pink puffy lips..." he let out a sigh. "She's up to an ounce per feeding now, but they're increasing her intake tomorrow. I bet by the time we see her again, she's going to be just as big as Adam, who has become her best friend you know."

"He has," Katniss grinned.

"The day you left, we couldn't get her to stop fussing, and Regina was having the same problem with Adam, so we put them in the isolettes next to each other and it was like..." Peeta got a far off look in his eyes. "I don't know, Katniss. Like they knew each other or something. Within seconds they stopped fussing and both of them went to sleep." Peeta began taking her hair out of the braid. "I only wish I could have slept. All I did was stare at her and...it was horrible. I felt this huge hole right in the center of my being. Like someone stuck their hand inside of me and just..."

"Ripped out your heart?" Katniss started unbuttoning his uniform shirt. "Yeah, I know the feeling. I just kept moving my lips and talking to you, but everyone kept looking at me like I was crazy."

"I was doing the same thing and Regina actually asked Dr. Brown to come in and talk to me." They both let out a little laugh. "Why can't they understand that's how we feel each other near?"

Katniss spread his shirt open and pressed her lips against his heart. "They don't know Peeta. No one will ever understand that part of us."

"As long as we know...right?"

"Right," their words were put to silence by a long awaited kiss. "Don't let me leave you again, Peeta. I know I'm a horrible person, and that I'll try to do something stupid like push you away because I think that's the best thing for you, but don't let me."

"As long as you promise to tell me why it's okay for me to call you baby now. What's up with that?" Peeta gave her a cheeky grin.

"It makes me think of how good of a team we were during labor. You were right there with me. Never once left my side. Never let my bad moods get the best of you, and every time you called me that, I thought in the back of my mind, 'we're going to have one soon.'" She cradled his cheek. "You said it with so much love, Peeta. So, no...I don't mind if you call me that. It just reminds me how strong we are together and how very much you love me."

Peeta could feel his heart swelling. "I do love you."

"You forgot to say baby," she leaned down and trailed kisses up and down his neck. "Take advantage of it, Peeta. I might change my mind."

"Mmm, I like what you're doing there...baby," he smiled in her ear.

"I like what you're doing with your hands," she whispered back and gave him more room to maneuver them between their bodies.

Neither one of them had been too sure how long they were doing what came naturally until the sound of Gale's voice echoed through the tent. "Uh...Catnip! Hey!"

"WHAT!?" Obviously she was not too pleased with him at the moment.

"Your microphone is on."

Peeta's brows shot up as he pat her back through her opened shirt. "Where is it?"

"I don't...oh shit," she felt the tiny device attached to the underside of her bra strap. "I forgot they put it on me earlier to do a...damn it! I can't get it off!"

"Come here," Peeta sat up and fumbled with it not able to get it off. "Is there an off button or something?"

"I don't know."

"Give me this damn thing," He yanked her undergarment off and threw it out of the tent. "There! Got any other devices attached to your clothing I don't know about?"

"No," She answered sheepishly.

"Good. Me either." He crawled his way back to their sleeping bag. "Now where were we?"

"I forget," she glared out the closed tent at the microphone that was surely being brought back to the film crew.

"I think I was saying something like, I love you...baby," he gave her a crooked grin.

"Could be," She arched her brow at him and they both began to chuckle at the ridiculousness of the situation.

They had expected to wake up in the morning with the break of dawn. Not before midnight by the sound of Effie Trinket's distinctive laugh.

In a way Peeta was relieved to see Effie, knowing she was out of Coin's clutches back in Thirteen gave him a sense of security knowing that he could protect her now that she was close by, but it was Katniss' reaction to seeing her that had him worried. "She's going to be fine now that we can keep an eye on her Katniss. Quit worrying so much."

"You don't get it, Peeta," she sat in the middle of their tent hugging her knees. "You were right before. There was something wrong and…and I didn't know how to tell you."

"Then tell me now," he sat in front of her rubbing her arms which felt like ice. "Katniss, what is it?"

She ran her hand down the braid she had formed with shaky fingers. "Promise me you'll hear me out before you do anything stupid, okay?"

"Okay," there was a sense of worry hidden in the word.

"Earlier when I went for dinner…"

"Hey Catnip," Gale stood behind her as she looked disgustingly at the monstrosity Homes had created as a meal. "It won't be ready for a little while, why don't we stand downwind from it?"

"Good idea." Katniss followed Gale away from the group. "If we can't stand the smell of that stuff how the hell are we supposed to eat it?"

"Pinch your nose closed," Gale laughed. "So…what's up with Peeta being here, and why was Boggs so mad about it?"

"He thinks being at the Capitol might trigger some severe flashbacks."

"Yeah," Gale gave her a sheepish look. "Everyone in the squad does. Jackson ordered all of us to keep our weapons at the ready just in case."

Katniss snapped her head up, "He's not going to hurt me."

"You sure of that?" Gale didn't look convinced.

"As sure as when I told him you would never hurt Effie Trinket," Katniss saw the flash of panic in Gale's eyes and said, "Oh my God. He was right. It's you…you're the one."

"What's me?" Gale avoided looking directly at her.

"Gale you look at me right now and tell me for a fact that you wouldn't kill Effie." Katniss waited and watched Gale's face as it went through a gamut of emotions. "You wouldn't, would you?" She pulled him as far away from prying eyes and ears and she could. "Gale, don't lie to me. I need to know what's going on."

"Look, it doesn't matter anymore anyway. Effie's not here, and as long as Peeta's okay, then he should be fine too."

"Christ," She turned around and faced her back to the crowd. "Who is it, Gale? Who's supposed to kill Peeta?"

"No one, Catnip." He placed a hand on her shoulder which she shrugged off. "We were given an order prior to Peeta coming here. None of us thought he'd show up, but now that he has…well…Coin's thinking is pretty similar to Boggs'. If Peeta loses it and tried to hurt you, or one of us, then we have been given permission to take him out for the good of the squad."

Katniss turned on her heels to face him. "How am I supposed to kill Snow if all I can do is sit here and worry about someone killing Peeta?"

"You want me to kill him for you now? Then you wouldn't have to worry anymore," Gale said it as though it would be as easy as tying a shoe.

"NO!" Katniss grit her teeth. "No one is going to hurt him. You have to help me Gale. Help me to figure out a way to get the squad to trust him. He won't hurt anyone. I swear it."

Gale shrugged a shoulder. "It doesn't help any that you have him hiding out in that tent away from everyone."

"We haven't seen each other for a while. We wanted some time alone," she repeated what Boggs had told her earlier. "And what about Effie?" She delved into Gale's eyes. "Did she say the same about her too?"

"Uh…not exactly," Gale ran a hand through his short and stubbly hair. "Coin asked me to…uh…well she wants me to um…"

"She asked you to kill her." Katniss said flatly.

"Yeah."

"And you agreed to it?" Katniss stared at the man standing in front of her with eyes full of hate.

"At first, but then…I changed my mind."

"Did you tell Coin?"

"Of course not," Gale yanked her a little farther away. "Look, everything will be fine as long as she doesn't show up."

"But what if she does, and Peeta's pretty sure she will."

"Then I'm supposed to make it look like someone from the Capitol killed her," Gale said with a hint of sorrow in his voice. "You gotta understand, Catnip. I agreed to do this before I really knew everything that Effie Trinket has done. Not only for the rebellion, but for the future of this nation. I…I guess I never really gave her a chance, and I'm still not sure I can trust her, but for some reason my entire family does, so…I told Coin I'd do it because I knew if I didn't, someone else would be standing here in my place and wouldn't have any qualms about it."

"So you're saying you won't hurt her?"

"I won't, but I can't promise someone else won't." Gale turned towards Mitchell who was calling out to them. "Dinner is served. Why don't you bring a bowl in to Peeta and I'll tell everyone that you guys need to talk some stuff through or something."

"Fine," Katniss stormed towards the group that was getting ready to fill their bowls with food, but was pulled aside by Cressida who fitted her with a microphone and did a quick interview on how she felt now that Peeta was by her side in the Capitol. "I'm thrilled he's here. That means our daughter is doing well, and that my husband and I can fight side by side for our daughter's rights to live in a free country. Now if you don't mind, we're hungry and tired, and we'd like to call it a night."

"You see, Peeta. You were right about Gale. He's supposed to kill Effie."

"But he promised you he wouldn't right?" Peeta wondered where his mother was at that very minute. she had walked off with Boggs, Justus and Lavinia.

"Yeah," but Katniss refrained from saying she wasn't sure anymore if she could believe him.

"Then let's give him the benefit of the doubt. If Gale were going to hurt her, he would have never confessed that to you." Peeta pulled her in for a hug. "We've got only a few more hours before we have to film that stupid propos, so let's try and get some sleep. I'm pretty sure Boggs is keeping her safe. God knows Justus and Lavinia would never hurt her."

"That's true," Katniss felt the churning in her stomach and didn't know if she'd be able to get any rest. "Okay, let's lie down and see if we can get some sleep."

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Plutarch's brief meeting with Haymitch occurred in the dark hallways of the hospital. "Are you certain no one will find us here?" Plutarch asked.

"Positive," Haymitch ducked his head around the corner and saw Prim staring through the window at her niece. "We've got a helluva lookout working for us. Now tell me what's going on."

Plutarch lowered his voice as quietly as possible, "Effie is gone. She, Justus and Lavinia took off in the middle of the night and are on their way towards the tunnels."

"We sure about this? Those tunnels could have been booby trapped just like the whole damn Capitol." Haymitch wasn't feeling too good about Effie heading off on her own with the aid of Justus and Lavinia as backup.

"Trust me Haymitch. When we designed the pods, no one thought of placing them through the tunnels. Outside of a few elite guards on Snow's staff, and those of us that were considered worthy of escaping, no one knows of those tunnels. And from what I understand, the Peacekeepers that were put to sleep with the gas we dispersed throughout their ventilation system were all...Snow made sure they never woke up."

"So who knows about his escape route?" Haymitch leaned closer to Plutarch.

"A few of the elite squad. Some of the officials," Plutarch's entire face grew dastardly, "Effie Trinket and Justus Valero."

"And he still doesn't know that Justus is alive, right?"

"Right, but let's face it Haymitch, rumors do tend to fly," Plutarch's all too pleased expression turned to concern. "Boggs has sent us an encrypted message that the three of them got out of camp three hours prior to first call. If anyone asks, he's telling them that they're on a special mission and no one knows of it."

"Great, but how did our..." Haymitch hemmed and hawed.

"Our little birds take it?" Plutarch finished for him. "Not too well, but Boggs got them under control. They're all about to head to the Block for our first real propos."

"What's wrong, that shit you aired between Katniss and Peeta last night didn't spice things up enough for you?" Haymitch glared dangerously at Plutarch.

"Relax old friend. This is a war, and everyone loves to be reminded why it is we are all fighting."

"Then maybe you should start showing them pictures of starving children and not listening in to Katniss and Peeta's private...conversations."

Plutarch let out a loud belly laugh. "Oh that girl is priceless. Complaining one minute that she's stuck wearing recording instrumentation and supplying us with a lifetime of...action the next."

"Watch it, Plutarch." Haymitch gave him one more glare before heading in a different direction. "I'll see you in a couple of minutes. Gonna go check on Maysilee before I head up to see what you've got in store for them this morning on the Block."

"Oh," Plutarch waved a hand at Haymitch. "It'll be safe. Perhaps if we get a few more shots like these, we'll be able to bring them home sooner rather than later."

"Yeah. Sure. Why did I actually want to be sober for this shit," Haymitch mumbled to himself as he walked up to Prim. "How's she doing?" Haymitch peered through the window and took notice of Johanna sitting next to the little clear crib the baby was lying in and Regina sitting beside the clear crib that was pushed up against Maysilee's.

"She did a lot of whining last night," Prim ran her hands over her braids in a nervous fashion. "Regina said that Adam couldn't sleep either, so she brought him down here and once they heard each other they both drifted off to sleep."

"Two peas in a pod, huh?" Haymitch tucked his hand inside of his pants pocket wondering if either of the children would ever see their parents again. "They're getting ready to film the propos at the Capitol. Your mom and Peeta's dad got permission to watch the live footage. They around here?"

"They've already headed up to the Command Center." Prim turned towards Haymitch. "I'm going with you."

"Now wait a second kid, I didn't get authorization for you to see this..."

"You said it would be safe," Prim stood as tall and determined as her older sister. "If it's safe then there's no reason why I can't watch it." She stuck her hand out and grabbed Haymitch's. "Shall we?"

"Damn girl, you've been hanging around with Effie for too damn long." Haymitch conceded to Prim's request and brought her with him into the Command Center. He noticed the looks from several of the soldiers and one deadly glare from President Coin. "Girl's old enough to be thrown into an arena. She's old enough to watch the live filming. Now let's get started."

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Cressida stood at the corner of the block they had secured for the filming of the propos. "It's very simple. Boggs has the map of the area showing where the pods are, and which ones are life threatening. It is of utmost importance that we avoid those."

Peeta stared at one of the cameramen closely. "You...you're an Avox, right?" From the moment he found out that Effie had gone off on a special mission that morning he had been on edge. "I can tell by the way you swallow."

"Peeta," Katniss reached out to run a hand over his shoulder. "You okay?"

"NO!" He snapped at her. Any minute now Snow's men could come ambush them and bring him in for more of the same torture he had suffered through before.

"I'm here, Peeta. I'll protect you." Katniss ran her hand down his arm and felt the bumps of the weapons hiding within his uniform. "Don't turn your gauntlets on until you're filming on your own, okay?"

"I know what to do, Katniss," he snapped at her. "I've been given my orders."

The entire group formed around them as Cressida and the camera crew prepared for the first shot. "Jackson," Cressida called out, "you'll be taking target on that tiny stone at the end of that clothing store's garden. See the black edges?"

"Yeah," Jackson answered.

"That will release a small explosion, and all those little flowers, notice how brightly they're blooming right before winter?" Cressida arched her brow. "Well those will release a gas. It's a sleeping gas, so make sure you're wearing your gas mask."

The group of soldiers in the Star Squad stood off camera and began making jokes with one another about the absurdity of what they were doing that day.

"Okay, Jackson, let's run this one time without you taking aim," Cressida called out to her. "Your line is, 'There's something off about that garden up ahead.' Now take your place."

"When I was being held captive, they tortured that Peacekeeper from Twelve." Peeta walked away from the group and began talking aloud to himself. "He used to take care of us when we were at the Capitol," he faced Katniss and the squad slowly gathered around him. "I watched him as they skinned parts of his body. They cut off a few of his fingers and toes," the calm tone in Peeta's voice actually frightened Katniss to the core. "He tried to scream, but all that would come out was some sort of sick grunting sound." Peeta lifted his face to Katniss. "Real or not real?"

The entire squad stared at him completely dumbfounded. Over breakfast they had all helped him with his real or not real game, explaining to him that some things that happened in the arena were real, but others were implanted by Snow.

"Peeta," Katniss said softly.

"Real or not real!? Someone answer me!"

"From what information we gathered after Effie Trinket came to Thirteen," Boggs stepped forward. "We believe it was real."

"Real," he hung his head down and ran his hands through his hair. "Katniss?"

"I'm here," she reached for one of his covered hands. "It's going to be okay, Peeta."

"Yeah. Easy for you to say. You're not the one fighting this shit," he said between gritted teeth and Katniss could tell that all the progress they had made back in Thirteen was quickly out the window.

"All you have to do is look at me," she cupped his cheek as the others focused on Jackson's lame attempt at acting out her scene. "We can go back to the tent if you want. We'll just figure out something else to use as a propos featuring you and me."

"No," he shook his head and stared into oblivion. "Something inside of me knew it was real."

"How?"

"There was nothing...shiny about it." Peeta lifted his eyes towards the rest of the squad. "I don't trust Mitchell or Homes." He gripped Katniss by the upper arms. "You stay away from them. You hear me? Don't turn your back on them for one second."

"I won't." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Let's get this over and done with so we can get the hell out of here and kill Snow. I'm tired of being the star of this damn show."

"You and me both." Peeta pressed his locket against her pin, flipped it open and looked at the picture Effie had brought for him. After a few deep breaths he said, "Okay...I'm better now."

"Good because it's our turn to go blow up a fake tree," Katniss giggled. "Apparently there's slime inside of it that causes you to be stuck like a mouse in a glue trap."

"Katniss, I don't think we should be doing that. The last thing we need is to be sitting ducks for Coin's assassination squad." Peeta forced himself to keep his eyes level with hers. Looking out onto the block the rebels had secured for the filming of the propos, the large candy colored buildings towering above them, and the large man made waterfall that led into their dam had his skin crawling as images he had never seen before started to threaten his sanity. "Katniss," He yanked her into his arms. "I'm scared."

"Of what?" Her eyes were darting between his. "Tell me and we'll work it through."

"Coin…she knew what she was doing when she sent me back here, Katniss. There's something wrong. I…I can't put my finger on it."

"Cressida," Katniss called out and got the director's attention. "Peeta and I need a quick break. We'll be right back."

"Take as much time as you need," the roll of the director's eyes told Katniss that she wasn't the worst actor in the bunch and Cressida had a lot of work to do. "Be back in an hour, okay?"

"Sure." Katniss held onto Peeta's hand and cornered him against the side of a building that no one was near. "Peeta, how did you know Darius' torture was real?"

His body slunk down the side of the building until he was sitting with his knees bent in front of him. "I…I just did, but I wasn't quite sure, you know. It's like I needed somebody to reassure me."

"You said it wasn't shiny. What did you mean?" Katniss sat next to him and wrapped her arms around her up drawn knees.

"When I see things now…memories of my life, there are differences." He had never felt so vulnerable regardless of whether or not he was surrounded by soldiers that were stocked with more weapons than he could possibly imagine. "I need to hold you." Peeta was coming to some very painful conclusions and it was going to be hard to explain to Katniss.

"Stretch your legs out," she straddled his lap and rested her hands against his shoulders. "Now tell me everything."

"Like you've been telling me everything?" He snapped without meaning to. "Sorry. I'm…" his head fell onto her shoulder. "I'm so damn sorry for all of this Katniss."

"Peeta, do you think maybe there's something else bothering you?" She pressed a kiss against his temple and grazed her lips slowly down the side of his face until they landed on his lips. "You're not wearing a microphone are you?" She arched a brow in jest.

"No," he finally let out a chuckle. "I told them to keep those things off of us. They want to record me, use the mics on the cameras like everyone else does."

"Good. That's what I told them too, and I said if I found one stuck to an item of my clothes without my knowledge I was going to shove it up Cressida's ass."

"Well, that should make for some unique sound bites," Peeta laughed a little and began feeling more like himself again.

"What do you say you explain what's happening so we can deal with it now before it gets out of hand?"

Peeta ran his gauntlet covered hands over her cheeks. "Do these hurt?"

"Nuh uh. They're pretty soft."

Peeta closed his eyes and thought of all the things they had been going through since the very beginning, and how horrible things had been for him since she left him to go to the Capitol. "The only time I've felt like myself since arriving here is when we locked ourselves inside of our tent. I didn't feel like something terrible was about to happen, but today…waking up and finding out that my mom took off with Justus and Lavinia for some secret mission," he gave her a look that clearly stated he didn't believe it for one minute. "And now this propos." Peeta watched as one of the not so harmful pods had been released and Gale rolled across the ground, took a few shots at something, and stood up when Cressida screamed out cut. "Doesn't this feel…off to you, Katniss? Like it's staged?"

"It is," she deadpanned. "We needed to bring heat to the propos, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, but this… Don't tell me Snow doesn't know we're here doing this." Peeta's eyes lifted upward. "I feel like he's been watching us this whole time."

"Good. Let him come," Katniss stiffened her spine. "Then we can drag his sorry ass back to Thirteen in a body bag."

Peeta tried to smile at her. "Sounds good."

"Now tell me about the shiny stuff." Katniss had been waiting for this explanation.

"When I see a memory, like one of you and Gale in the woods kissing," Katniss waited for him to explode, but he kept his cool. "Everything looks normal except for one thing. Gale. He doesn't look like the rest of the scenery, and he sure as hell doesn't sketch," Peeta remembered looking over the woods in Twelve and drawing the different colors of it. "That's how I know that memory was implanted. Gale is almost…glowing. There's this orange and green shimmer that radiates from him. Like some sort of aura. And when I think of the time you pushed me away during that kiss in the woods," he lifted a hand to keep her silent before she started to insist that it wasn't him she pushed away. "I can see this golden light shining from every part of my body. I saw your hands run through my hair and then whip back, and when you did that, it was like rays of bright light encapsulated my entire being." He held onto her hands. "It wasn't me you pushed away. It was Gale. I know that now." He began to shake his head back and forth. "This morning I saw you walking through the center of District Twelve while the firebombs were being dropped. You were pointing at the bakery and a bomb blew it to pieces."

"Oh my God, Peeta," Katniss gasped.

"You were floating through the district like a glistening bright light." Peeta pulled her closer to him. "You were shiny. You were…not real."

Katniss felt a pang of regret fill her entire system. "Those bastards. I'll kill them for what they did to you."

"You don't have to." Peeta lifted himself up and held out a hand to her. "I'm pretty sure my mother is on her way to do that right now."

"Peeta?" Katniss spoke in a hushed tone so only he could hear. "Do you think she went to find Snow?"

"I know she did," Peeta glanced towards the Star Squad's leader, "and I think I know why." He blew out a deep breath, feeling much better after getting all of that off of his chest. "Okay, give me a kiss baby," he said with a hint of teasing in a hushed voice. "Let's go show these amateurs how to film a propos."

Katniss leaned into his kiss and said in her best seductive voice, "If you call me baby in front of these people, you're going to wish it was one of Coin's men that got their hands on you."

"Yes ma'am," He chuckled.

"Ma'am." She gave herself a little nod. "I can live with that in public."

"Good lord, how many times are you going to say the damn line Homes," Boggs yelled out at him with humor in his voice, something the squad hadn't really experienced much of as of late. "Just say, 'I think I got him sir.'" Boggs shook his head in shame as he headed towards Katniss and Peeta. "And you thought you were a disgrace on camera. Plutarch is probably regretting his choices by now."

"Thank God," Cressida directed Katniss and Peeta to their marks. "If you two could just battle it out with the pod we're about to blow up. It's a heat seeking net. We have a fire pit hidden behind that rock out there so it'll go for that, but we'll need you to pretend like it's trying to capture one of your squad members.

"Sure," Peeta secured his gloves and whispered the new command he and Beetee had come up with to turn it on, "Are you ready, Peeta?" The gauntlets turned on the second he got the command out.

"Great," Cressida began taking him towards his mark.

"Good morning," Katniss said to her bow.

"Morning," Boggs answered.

Katniss let out a tinkle of laughter. "That's how I turn this thing on." She pulled her bow up and pulled a regular arrow out to aim at a few of the block's more unnoticeable targets.

"Listen," Boggs guided her a few steps away. "I don't want you and Peeta going after Effie. She and Justus are the only ones that have intimate details of the tunnels that lead to Snow. Plutarch, Haymitch and I have discussed a way for her to get in there and try to kidnap Snow. Once they get him, Effie's planning on taking him somewhere none of the rebels know about. She wouldn't let me in on it, but Haymitch and Plutarch know about the place…they even hinted that Peeta might…" The sound of a click had both Katniss and Boggs' eyes growing to twice their size. "Shit."

"We need to jump Boggs," Katniss recognized the sound of the mine that he had inadvertently triggered. "On the count of three, we jump. Ready? One! Two!" Katniss felt herself being simultaneously yanked and pushed as far away as possible from the explosion that left Boggs lying in a puddle of his own blood.

Thank you to S and A my betas and so much more. They are amazing people and deserve mega amounts of kudos!