PPOV

Just close your eyes, the sun is going down.

I hear the words as they drift into my semi-consciousness. It's Katniss's voice, the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. The voice that makes the birds stop to listen. The voice I've been in love with since I was five years old.

You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now.

That sounds nice, because the entire left side of my body is throbbing something fierce right now.

Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.

"Katniss," I mumble. My eyes are still closed, but I can feel her presence next to me.

She squeezes my hand. "I'm here."

I try opening my eyes for a second, but the lights in the room are harsh so I snap them shut with a gasp. "Too bright!"

I hear the flick of a light switch. The hospital must be the only place in Thirteen with lights you can turn on and off at will. "Try again," she says.

My eyes blink open in the softer light and I turn my head to see her face. She looks tired. And angry. And sad. But she's still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. "Hey," I croak out.

Her lower lip starts to quiver. "Hey. How're you feeling?"

I try shifting on the bed, but my prosthetic leg is off so I can't get any leverage and the movement sends shivers of pain lancing through the left side of my body. "Lousy. What happened to me?"

"You were shot, Peeta!" Katniss cries. "In District 2. Someone shot you twice! If Portia hadn't designed your uniform with those extra armor pieces then you'd be lying here dead right now!"

I close my eyes and inhale deeply, sending another jagged bolt of pain through my body. "Well, then I'm really glad that she did."

"This isn't funny, Peeta!" Katniss says severely. "None of this is funny at all!"

"All right, all right," I say softly. I blink and look at her more closely. "Where's the baby?"

Katniss slumps into her chair. "Prim took him about thirty minutes ago, after the doctors took out your chest tube and lowered your dose of morphling. She thought we'd want to be alone when you woke up."

I try and tighten my grip on her hand. "That was nice of her." I shift a little more, wincing against the pain. "Katniss-"

"No," she says, shaking her head. "I don't want to talk about it right now. Just rest. Please, for right now just rest."

I nod my head and close my eyes again. "Okay. Okay." I feel her lips on my cheek and she lays her head down next to mine, resuming her soft singing. I can feel the smile on my face as I fall back asleep.

The next time I wake up Katniss is sitting on the chair feeding Sage. Her head is leaning back against the back of the chair and her eyes are closed. Through my pain-filled haze the baby looks almost twice as big as he was the last time I saw him. "He's gotten so big!" I say in amazement.

Katniss sits up and opens her eyes as she looks down at our son. "Well, he eats so often I'm not surprised he's growing so fast. I've already had to adjust how I fold his diapers, and he's outgrown one of the little shirts that Hazelle gave us already."

I feel a lump forming in my throat at how much I've already missed. "Katniss," I say softly. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been here."

Katniss moves Sage up to her shoulder so she can burp him. "I'm not mad at you," she says. "I think I might've been a little bit, but I'm not anymore." I hear Sage burp loudly and Katniss chuckles before moving him to her other side. She gets him latched on and her face turns serious again. "But I don't think I can do this anymore, Peeta. I just can't take you being away from us. I just can't do it. I think we've done enough. All the districts are working together now, and there's just the Capitol left. We can let the professional soldiers take over from here."

She's right. We have done the job we were assigned to do. "Okay," I say. "We can tell Coin and Boggs since all the districts are unified now that our job is finished."

Katniss looks relieved, reaching for my hand. "Thank you."

You'd think with three broken ribs that I'd be allowed to lie around for a few days, but the doctors make me sit up and start moving around two days later. Katniss spends the first night here in the hospital with me, sleeping on the chair next to my bed, but neither she nor Sage sleep very well so I send them back to our quarters the next night. Katniss leaves reluctantly, afraid to leave me alone, and is back in my hospital room with Sage before breakfast time the next day.

We're both finishing our meals when Rye and Gale knock on the door. "Katniss," Gale says. "We need to talk to Peeta for a few minutes. In private."

Katniss's silvery eyes narrow as Rye looks over at Gale. "She's his wife, Gale. She's got a right to know the truth just as much as he does."

"A right to know what?" I ask as I reach for my wife's hand. "Just spit it out, Katniss isn't going anywhere right now."

Gale glares between Katniss and me a couple times. "Fine. I have three things to tell you. Number one," and he turns to look at me. "The camera crew's gonna be down here in an hour to film you. We need to make sure the districts know that you survived the shots you took."

That doesn't sound too awful. "All right."

"Two. As soon as the camera crew is finished you need to come with us for a briefing in Command."

"But he can barely move without severe pain right now!" Katniss exclaims.

"The doctors have some local anesthetic injections they can give him for the pain, Katniss," Rye says. "I've already asked about that."

"Fine," I say. "What's the third thing?"

Gale looks sheepishly between Katniss and me. "This isn't going to easy for either of you to hear."

"Gale, just tell them. They need to know before this meeting," Rye pleads.

Gale exhales loudly and looks down at the floor. "Fine," he says, looking back at me. "After you were shot there in the Square, Boggs fired at the guy who shot you and wounded him. Rye rushed down to move you out of the line of fire while Boggs and I both tried to get the shooter to tell us why he targeted you specifically-"

"What do you mean, he targeted Peeta specifically?" Katniss asks, interrupting Gale. "I thought Peeta was just caught up in some cross fire or something."

Rye shakes his head. "No. The person who shot Peeta was aiming directly for him. He even shot at two of the District 2 citizens first, I think trying to draw our attention away from Peeta."

I feel my blood chill in my veins. Katniss tightens her fingers around my hand. "Do you know who it was?" she asks softly.

"It was a rebel solider," Rye says, spitting the words out. "Boggs and Gale tried to get him to talk. They asked him why in the hell he would try to kill you, but before they could get him to answer, he bit into a secret pocket on the shoulder of his uniform and chomped right into some kind of suicide pill. The only thing they managed to get out of him before he choked to death, was "watch out for her, because she has spies everywhere"."

My mind is swirling. Surely this man misspoke, right? He was most likely some sort of Capitol spy who'd stolen a rebel uniform and was sent by President Snow to kill me. "He probably meant to say 'he', right?" I ask my brother. "I mean, surely he was sent from the Capitol to try and kill me. I'm sure Snow's not too happy with what we've been doing here."

Gale shakes his head. "I disagree," he says firmly. "There was no way I misunderstood him. The shooter specifically said 'she'."

"If he wasn't talking about Snow, or someone else in the Capitol, then who do you think he was talking about?" Katniss demands.

Gale glances nervously around the room. "Um, now that I think about it, I think we should talk about this more another time." He deliberately looks into each corner of the room. "Somewhere else."

Katniss's eyes are as wide as saucers as she follows Gale's gaze. If someone is spying on our conversation I'm sure they've realized now that we're on to them. Katniss always was a terrible actress. I squeeze her hand and her cheek falls against Sage's blond head. "After the meeting maybe?" I ask Rye.

Rye nods.

Katniss scowls. "Then I'm coming to that too," she says firmly.

"You weren't invited," Gale says. "And I don't think Coin will want you there."

"Then that's too bad for Coin," Katniss retorts. "Because I'm going. Peeta and I have some things to tell her."

"Not now, though," I say gently as I rub circles with my thumb on her hand. Then I look up at Gale. "Let's get this over with."

The camera crew shows up right on time to film me in my hospital bed. I'm able to sit up and congratulate the districts on their successful battle for unity. Then I warn the Capitol to expect our armies soon.

After that the doctors come in to administer the pain-killing injections, which hurt even worse going in than my broken ribs, but then numb the area to the point where I have to be careful not to brush my arm too hard across the bandages and possibly misalign the broken pieces of bone. Katniss allows me to hold Sage for a few minutes once I'm completely numbed up. She places him in my right arm and his slate-grey eyes stare up at me, like he's trying to figure out who I am. It's heart-wrenching. Especially since I was practically the only person holding him for the first couple days of his life.

I look over at Katniss. "I'm not leaving you two anymore." I look back down at my son and kiss his forehead. "He doesn't even remember me. That's not okay with me, Katniss. I'm not going to leave you anymore. I don't want my son to have to get to know me all over again every time I come back."

"I don't want that either," Katniss says. Gale appears in the doorway then, ready to escort us to Command. Katniss picks the baby back up and slides him into the wrap so she can attach my prosthesis and help me stand up. "So let's go and tell them that."

Coin's eyes narrow and her lips purse when she sees Katniss walk into Command next to Gale and me. "I don't recall you being invited to this briefing, Miss Everdeen," she says coldly.

"That's not my name," Katniss replies, her voice just as cold. "And I'm here with my husband, whether you like it or not."

Coin glares at her but doesn't say anything as Plutarch, Boggs, Rye, Madge, Beetee, Finnick, Johanna, and the camera crew filter into the room.

"All right," Coin begins. "Now that District 2 has allied with us, were taking a short break to regroup and get our forces ready for the Capitol invasion. We are currently working on fortifying our supply lines and reorganizing our troops. Commander Paylor estimates that it will be four weeks before our invasion force is ready." She nods at Plutarch to continue.

"Right now the Capitol is completely cut off from its enemies, but that also means it's cut off from its supply lines as well," he says with that ever-present smirk on his face. "The city might be able to scrape along for a while, but you can be sure that they do not have adequate supplies stockpiled to sustain their population for very long. So if we wait for a little while, there may not be that much fighting before it's all over."

"That's a good thing though, right?" Rye asks from his seat next to his wife. "I mean, you don't want people to have to fight, and possibly die, if they don't have to. Right?"

Coin smiles slightly at him, like she's amused. "Yes, that's correct. But it is still a war, and most likely people will die. But that's not why I called you here." Her cold grey eyes meet my own. "I've called you here to discuss your assignments for when our forces are ready to invade."

"Peeta and I want to talk about that also," Katniss says, her voice low and even as Sage is sleeping against her chest.

Coin raises her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yes," I say. "I can't imagine how I'll be of much use for the Capitol invasion. I'm not really a soldier, I'm not that great with a gun or a rifle, and since I've completed my task of unifying the districts, it doesn't seem necessary for me to have to go to the Capitol at all."

Coin leans back in her chair and smirks. "Oh you think so? You think your Mockingjay duties are complete just because you were injured? Well, I say no. I say that we still require your, leadership, as the figurehead of this revolution."

"But-" Katniss starts to say, but she's interrupted by Plutarch.

"We're putting together a separate group, a Star Squad, if you will. It will be the on-screen faces of the revolution. It'll be behind the front lines by a couple of days, so it won't be as dangerous as real combat. It will be composed of Peeta, Finnick, Gale, Johanna, Rye, and a few other soldiers with Boggs as the commanding officer."

"Now wait just a minute!" Gale says angrily. "I've trained for combat, and now you're telling me I won't be in actual combat?"

"You'll do whatever's asked of you," Boggs says. "Is that understood, Solider Hawthorne?"

Gale immediately looks chagrined. "Yes sir."

"But if you have people who actually want to fight then why do you need me?" I say.

"Because you're the person everyone's come to know as the leader of the revolution," Plutarch says. "It would look rather odd now if you weren't part of the forces in the Capitol after everything you've accomplished up to this point."

"I don't care if it looks odd," Katniss says, a little louder now. "Peeta's done enough, and he's been hurt multiple times. Who is really going to care about watching TV when we're fighting a war?"

"Propaganda is an important part of any war," Plutarch says. "History tells us that. Morale can be greatly influenced in either direction by one simple news story, or the playing of a certain song. Why do you think that hundreds of years ago people used to send music and movie stars to visit the troops fighting in the various wars? It was to cheer them up. To improve morale along the front lines. That's what Peeta will be doing. He and Finnick and Johanna are our celebrities."

My heart is thumping as I look around the room. Johanna is smirking. Finnick looks determined. Gale still looks mad. I can understand what Plutarch is saying, and understand how it is important. But I can't leave my family again. "No. I won't do it," I say. "If Finnick and Johanna want to, then fine. But I've done enough. I want to stay here with my family."

Spots of pink appear on Coin's hollow cheeks as she looks at me. "I don't recall giving you a choice in this manner. You and Miss Everdeen both agreed to become our Mockingjays several months ago, and I still require your services. So, Mr. Mellark, if you refuse, then I will have no choice but to send Miss Everd-, that is, your wife, out to the Capitol in your place. In fact, it might be better if she were to go, since the people are used to you now. She could have an even greater effect on rallying the troops since she hasn't been seen for a while. And we'd no longer have to be concerned with concealing a pregnancy."

Panic flashes through me, causing me to gasp. This is like the Quell announcement all over again. "You wouldn't do that!" I say, horrified. "She can't leave the baby, and you know it!"

"Do I?" Coin retorts. "There's not a single thing your wife does for that child that can't be accomplished by someone else."

"She's his mother!" I yell. "It's absolutely ridiculous to think that she can be replaced like that!" I look over at Katniss. She looks terrified, her arms wrapped around our sleeping son like she's afraid he'll be snatched away from her. Hot tears sting my eyes as I squeeze her arm in reassurance.

"Katniss won't be going anywhere," I say through gritted teeth. "So if that's how it's gonna be, I guess you're stuck with me."

"Peeta, no!" Katniss cries. "You said you'd stay with us! You said you wouldn't leave us again!" She turns to look at Coin. "Why does he have to go? He's done so much for you already! Are you trying to get him killed?"

"You'll all receive word tomorrow morning on when you're to begin training," Coin says, ignoring Katniss's pleas. "That concludes this briefing." She stands up from her chair and exits the room with Plutarch as the rest of the people remain behind with stunned looks on their faces.

"Peeta," Beetee says quietly. "I know this must be hard on you both, but you should know-"

I raise my hand to cut him off. "Don't. There's nothing anyone could say right now that could make this any better."

Beetee sighs, nodding his head. He wheels himself out of the room, followed by everyone else, until Katniss and I are the only ones left. As soon as I meet her eyes she starts to cry.

"Peeta, she's trying to get you killed!" she sobs, her arms still locked around our baby as he sleeps against her. "She doesn't care at all about us. She only cares about winning this war, no matter what the costs!"

I get slowly to my feet so I can help her stand up. "Shh," I say as I wrap my right arm around her. My left side is still mostly numb, but I can feel some pain starting to return under the bandaged area. "I couldn't let her send you away. Sage needs you."

"We both need you!" she says. Her tears are wetting through my shirt. "I can't bear the thought of losing you."

"You're not going to lose me," I say quietly, even as our earlier conversation with my brother and Gale comes to mind. "Rye will make sure nothing happens to me."

"There's no way you can be sure of that," Katniss sniffs into my chest. I try to wrap my left arm around her and jump from the pain as her body hits my bandages. Katniss immediately moves away, scrubbing the tears from her face. "We should get you back to the hospital."

We make it back to my hospital room as the last of the numbness wears off, and I have to clench my teeth against the pain as Katniss helps me lay back down on the bed. Prim comes in with some pain pills for me to take and says that I can be discharged later this afternoon, if I promise to follow the physical therapist's instructions on what I should and shouldn't be doing while my ribs heal back together.

I look at Katniss, who's resumed her position on the chair after changing Sage's diaper. The pain pills have made me feel both tired and loopy, like I've had a couple gulps of Haymitch's white liquor. I watch as she latches Sage onto her breast with what I'm sure is a stupid-looking grin on my face.

Katniss glances down on me, no doubt feeling my gaze upon her. "What?"

I chuckle, as much as I can without breathing too deep. "I was just thinking. If you'd told me two years ago that I'd get to see you sitting here, feeding our baby while I lie here drugged up on pain meds and trying to catch a glimpse of your boob, I probably would've laughed. Or cried. One of the two at least. Or maybe both. Probably both."

Katniss raises her eyebrows and shakes her head, but there's a hint of a smile on her beautiful full lips. "Go to sleep, Peeta. You're loopy."

"Yeah, I think so," I mumble as I close my eyes. "But I still love you."

She reaches forward to brush my hair off my forehead. "I love you too. Now go to sleep."

"Hmph," I say. "Did ya hear that? Katniss says she loves me. Better tell that to the Hawthorne guy..."

It's after lunchtime by the time I wake up. Katniss helps me sit up so I can eat, and the physical therapist comes in my room once I'm done. He gives me exercises to do and tells me that I should be up and about as normally as possible to make sure the healing bones get enough blood circulation. Then he helps the doctors re-bandage my side. The bruising under the bandages is quite impressive, covering my entire side from my abs to my pectoral muscle and all shades of black, blue, and purple. They wrap the bandage around me so tight that it's hard to breathe and then discharge me, giving me some more of the pain pills in a little bottle for me to take as I need them.

Katniss holds my arm as we walk slowly back to our compartment. She helps me onto the couch and we cuddle for a while, trying to forget about this Capitol mission looming over our heads. Trying to forget about spies, and presidents, and wars. We play with the baby and look through my family's recipe book. She points out a few things that she wants me to make for her once we get our bakery built back in Twelve. All three of us take a short nap before dinner. It's a nice afternoon and evening, even with the pain and shortness of breath from my broken ribs.

Katniss has just managed to help me up onto the bed for lights out time when there's a knock at the door. "Who is it?" Katniss calls out.

"It's Boggs. I need to talk to you both."

Katniss tightens her grip on Sage as she unlocks the door. Boggs steps into the room, looking around awkwardly for a few seconds before walking over to me lying on the bed.

"I'm sorry to bother you," he says quietly. "But there's something you both need to hear." He reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a small, square-shaped device, pressing a button and holding it up for my inspection. "You've seen one of these before, correct?"

I feel a lump forming in my throat as I study the device in his hand. It's nearly identical to the "music chip" that Haymitch had back before the Quell started. The kind of music chip that disables any bugs in a room for three minutes.

"Yes," I answer. "But why do you have one? Unless...". I push myself painfully up onto my elbow. "Are you trying to tell me that we're in danger? That my wife and son are in danger here?"

I hear Katniss gasp. "What do you mean?"

Boggs stares at me for a few seconds. "I wish I could tell you no," he says. "But I can't do that." There's an angry edge to his deep voice that I've never heard before. "Here's what I do know. The president doesn't like either one of you. She feels threatened by you both, and she doesn't like feeling threatened by anyone."

"So she tried to have Peeta killed in District 2?!" Katniss exclaims. "That rebel who shot him was acting on her orders?"

Boggs nods. "It looks that way. I didn't want to believe it at first, but there's been evidence accumulating for months now."

"But why?" I ask. "She must know that neither of us plan to stay here after the war! All we want is to go home!"

"You managed to unify all of the districts, Peeta. Something that was once considered impossible, yet you did it. You forced her to rescue Annie from the Capitol. Like it or not, you have a lot of influence over the people right now. And you don't think that she might be worried about how much influence you'll have once this war is over? They've promised a free election once we've taken down the Capitol."

"But Katniss and I just want to go home!" I repeat. "Neither of us want to be a leader."

"Yes, but everyone will ask who you would support. People value your opinions. Would you support President Coin? If your immediate answer isn't yes, then she considers you a threat."

"So she'd kill Peeta to get him out of the way?" Katniss asks.

"She doesn't need either of you as rallying points anymore. And if Peeta was killed, she could use his death as a new way to add fire to the rebellion."

"Then Peeta shouldn't be going to the Capitol!" Katniss says. "He doesn't want to go!"

"He could very well be in more danger if he stays," Boggs replies. "Right now you both are easier to protect if you're apart."

"But-" Katniss starts.

"Katniss, please understand. I'm not going to let anything happen to Peeta," Boggs interrupts. He turns to look straight at me. "You have my word that I will guard your life with my own, the entire time we're in the Capitol."

"But what about Katniss and Sage?" I say. "No one will be here to guard them except for Haymitch and Beetee!"

"I'm having two of my most trusted soldiers stay behind to guard Katniss and the baby. They will have made-up medical reasons for not going to the Capitol. And they will make sure that Katniss and Sage are kept safe."

"Why would you do that?" Katniss asks. "You don't owe us anything."

"Because it's the right thing to do," Boggs replies. "And because you've earned it."

"And you're absolutely sure you can trust these soldiers of yours to watch Katniss and Sage?" I ask him. "Because there's no way I'm leaving unless I know they'll be absolutely safe. I don't care what Coin says."

"I'd trust these soldiers with my own life," Boggs says. "They will be perfectly safe. Beetee and Haymitch have already been briefed on the situation as well, so they will be keeping their eyes open for any suspicious activity and will report it to me immediately."

Katniss nods, standing next to the bed with Sage in her arms and a stunned look on her face. "Thank you, Boggs, for telling us."

Boggs glances up at the clock and turns off his signal jammer. "You will start training for our Capitol invasion in four days," he says. "Rest and heal until then. The training will be intense, more intense than you're used to. And there will be a lot of meetings to discuss strategies in between the training sessions, so enjoy these next few days with your family. Because once we begin, we won't stop until the war is over."

I look at him, at this man who's just promised to guard my life with his own, to protect my wife and child even more than his own family, and nod.

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

I wanted to say thank you to all of you who keep reading and commenting on this story! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate each and every one of your comments and follows. Thank you so much! Please don't hesitate to keep the reviews coming! :)