Katniss had slept soundly through the rest of the night, cuddled up against Johanna, who could only stay awake a little bit longer. It got to the point where she couldn't fight off sleep anymore. But it was a sound night. The first one she'd had since before the Quarter Quell. Well, in years, actually. She wasn't visited by any of her loved ones, and though it left an empty feeling in her heart when she woke, that feeling didn't last long.

It was probably due to the fact that she woke up face to face with Finnick, Plutarch, and the Head Doctor. She was a little groggy, having just woken up, and was confused to find the three of them staring at her as she woke up. She forgot momentarily that she had fallen asleep in Katniss's bed until the girl woke up, and detached herself from Johanna's body. The two girls had a moment where they looked each other in confusion. Katniss backed away, as if she was scared.

"What's going on, ladies?" Finnick said. It was obvious he was trying to fight back a laugh.

Johanna was frowning, and pulled herself out of Katniss's bed and grumpily walked over to her own, ignoring Finnick's question.

Katniss piped up, "I was having nightmares, Johanna calmed me down and then I guess I fell asleep."

"Nightmares?" Plutarch raised an eyebrow.

"I get them sometimes too." Johanna said, still not making eye contact with anybody, "Of the Games, of my family, of the... torture." Everybody falls silent as she says this, "So yeah, I helped her out. Big deal."

It was unintentionally coming off as if Johanna didn't want people to know that she had been nice to Katniss, which was good. Because it would be fine with her if that's what people were thinking. Except for Finnick, she knew very well something else was going through his mind.

"Yeah, I get them too." Finnick muttered.

"Well, that's a shame. Maybe we can get some medicine to help with it," The Head Doctor said.

"That would be nice!" Johanna said in a snarky tone, but she was always that way with her doctor, "I really don't want to wake up to her screaming in the middle of the night. I had enough of that already..." She trailed off, and instead went to her drawer to get herself a fresh hospital gown. She changed in front of the entire room, but not that it mattered... most of them were already used to seeing her like this.

"So what are you guys doing in here?" Katniss changed the topic. Johanna was grateful for that. She'd have to thank her later, but right now the Doctor was checking her over.

"Well I thought I could accompany you on your walk today." Plutarch said as Katniss was getting into a warmer robe.

Finnick plopped himself down in a chair and rolled closer to Johanna, "I came to talk to my good friend, of course!" He said, giving her a wink. Johanna rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

Within five minutes, Finnick and Johanna were left alone in the room. "I thought you didn't like being away from Annie." Johanna said, almost in a snarky tone. She was trying to avoid having him bring up what he saw this morning.

"I don't, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to come say hi once in a while. I think Annie wouldn't mind if you visited her too." Finnick said with a shrug.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm in a hospital. They don't let me leave here unattended." Johanna said shrewdly.

Finnick smiled at her, "I bet you're in no rush to get out."

"Why would you say that?" Johanna stared at him coldly, as if she were daring him to say it outloud.

Finnick took the dare head on, "Because you get to spend more time with her."

Johanna groaned, and threw her pillow at Finnick. He knocked it away, laughing at her discomfort. "I swear, I'm going to go find an axe somewhere in this building and lodge it right into your pretty little face!"

"Ahhh you wouldn't do that to me!" He said playfully. He tossed the pillow back at her, and she was too weak to dodge it, so it hit her in the face and she landed on her bed again.

"Try me." She muttered.

"But Annie might not want to marry me if I have an axe in my face..."

Johanna laughed softly, "How do you know Annie would want to marry you anyway?"

"Because I asked her."

Johanna's eyes widened as she sat up straight, looking over at Finnick. He was beaming, and none of it was superficial. It was all real joy. Finnick was going to get married. Johanna didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry with joy for the man who was probably her best friend. Her brother, as he'd said earlier.

"You're getting married?" She asked, her voice light with joy.

"I'm getting married!" He responded, almost in disbelief. Johanna threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He kissed her on the cheek, "I want you to be there."

"Are you kidding me?!" Johanna laughed, "I wouldn't miss it for anything!"

"Maybe Katniss could be your date!" He joked, and Johanna pushed him away.

"Don't make me think about finding that axe again!"

"Are you going to Finnick and Annie's wedding?" Katniss asked as she sat in her bed. Johanna was up and pacing the floor, after receiving her dose of morphling for the day. It was the one part of the day where her body wasn't completely in pain, so she wanted to make use of this.

"Of course. I'm sure you'll be there." Johanna said, trying not to look Katniss in the eye right now. Talking about a wedding with her was just weird, and Finnick's jokes were fresh on her mind.

Katniss nodded, "The camera crew will be there too. But even if it wasn't for a propo I would show up. I'm happy for them."

"Someone deserves to be happy." Johanna agreed.

After a short moment of silence, Katniss spoke up again, "I'm going to be gone for a couple of days." Johanna didn't like hearing that very much. She had already realized that being separated from Katniss was something pretty agonizing and it wasn't a feeling she liked. She still couldn't pinpoint the reason for this, or for any of her feelings at all when it came to the young woman. But hearing this didn't sit well with her. Katniss must have seen the distress on Johanna's face, because she quickly continued, "I want you to come with me though."

Johanna looked at her. She'd stopped pacing around now, and just stood still. "Where are you even going?"

"Home." Katniss said, a look of disdain in her eyes, "I'm going to twelve. Annie's coming. We're going to pick out a dress from my collection."

"I don't know," Johanna shrugged, "I doubt I'd even be authorized to go." She didn't know why she was saying this. She wanted to go. Maybe it was because she didn't want Katniss to know how much she really wanted to go.

She had her back turned to Katniss now, but it only took moments until the smaller girl had wrapped her arms around Johanna's waist from behind. She could feel the pressure of Katniss's body, and she found herself lacing her fingers through Katniss's, holding her hands tight.

"The doctor doesn't seem to like you much," Katniss muttered, "Maybe he's looking for an excuse to get a few days away from you."

Johanna smiled, despite the fact that it could be taken as an insult, "I'll ask for permission then."

"I didn't know you were one to ask someone for their permission." Katniss joked.

"I don't really feel like being sedated when I argue with them."

Johanna had thrown a fit when she wasn't authorized to go on the trip with Katniss, but had to cool herself down as she remembered that she had been caught in bed with Katniss not too long ago, and that was still fresh on some people's minds. Plutarch had assured her that he wouldn't tell people she was such a "softy" and Finnick had told them she was only a softy when it came to Katniss, and that sounded pretty suspicious. At least to anybody in the know. It was rather embarssing for Jo, though.

So, with all of that, she found it easy to cool herself down in front of others, so they didn't start to think something was up. Instead, she went back to her room and let off steam there.

The next two days were utterly agonizing for her, as she was constantly watching the door, waiting for someone to burst in and bring her news of how Katniss's ship went down, or some catastrophe like that. But there was none. In fact, the only person who visited her that brought her up was Finnick, who was anxious about having Annie be so far away from him. He spent most of his time in the room with Johanna. He even spent one night sleeping on her bed, while she slept on Katniss's bed. She wouldn't admit to anybody that she only did so because it still smelled a little bit like her. She didn't want that to come off as creepy. She was relieved to hear that Katniss and Annie had returned safely.

Not only that, but Katniss had been thoughtful enough to bring her back a gift.

"What's this?" Johanna asked, looking down at the covered box. It was pretty late into the night, and she knew that they weren't going to be bothered until the morning. That's probably why Katniss waited until now to give her the gift.

"Open it!" Katniss said, watching with anticipation.

Johanna started to open the box. She pulled out a deep blue strapless velvet dress. A smile immediately played on her lips. She clearly remembered telling Katniss how she wanted to rip this particular dress right off of her. Back then, she had only meant it as really liking this particular dress. But now, there were many types of clothing Johanna wanted to rip right off of the other girl, for various reasons... some she felt inappropriate to say.

Okay, Johanna knew she couldn't be thinking like that. Especially in the midst of the rebellion as they were, and with how important Katniss was to them and how she needed to be with Peeta... Johanna was just going to get herself hurt. But it was hard not to think like that, especially with the way Katniss looked at her sometimes, how she was looking at her now. Johanna still believed that her mind was playing tricks on her.

But she was actually very surprised that Katniss remembered this dress and that conversation at all. "Thank you," she finally said.

"I thought you could wear it to the wedding. It'll look great on you." Katniss was smiling up at her, in a way that just softened her up. She couldn't be snarky or rude right now. Even if she did want to make a joke. But her abraisive attitude was wiped right under the rug with that smile. But she knew she couldn't do what she wanted so badly to do right now. She pushed those feelings aside.

"Thank you, I will." Johanna smiled, and set the dress down on the chair, returning to her own bed.

Katniss frowned, "Wait. That's it? So you're just going to bed?"

"Well, what do you want me to do Katniss?" Johanna said, pulling the sheets over her legs.

"I thought maybe bringing that dress here for you would have earned me a kiss. At least."

Johanna laughed quietly to herself, "You want me to kiss you?"

Katniss was crossing her arms, looking slightly embarassed, "Why are you acting so surprised?" Johanna thought about that for a moment. Maybe she was surprised because they never actually spoke about it. They just, did it. Katniss was looking at the wall now as she spoke, "I... I like... ugh. I like kissing you, okay?" Katniss practically groaned.

"Then what are you still doing over there?" Johanna asked, a hint of playfulness in her voice. Katniss hobbled over in pain, a reminder to Johanna that they still needed to be somewhat gentle with each other because they were both still recovering. Johanna heeded that reminder at first, gently taking Katniss's head in between her hands and kissing her softly. But then the passion between them only grew, and Johanna forgot to be gentle as she forced the other girl down on her bed. There were pangs of pain throughout her body every so often that reminded her that she wasn't okay. But every second with Katniss was worth it.

This was more than just another kiss. They were good at just kissing, or holding hands, and sometimes even just holding each other though that last one was rare. But this was different, and Johanna could feel a fire burning through her entire body as her lips trailed down Katniss's jawline to her neck. She had to force herself to stop when she realized how much pain Katniss was in from her wounds. She was a little frustrated at first, but Katniss didn't leave her bed.

At first Johanna thought maybe it was because she was too weak to get up. But when Katniss snuggled up close to Johanna that night, she let herself believe, for the first time, that maybe it could actually mean a little bit more.