They wake with a start at the knock at the door. It echoes through the house violently.
It's moments like this when they both forget that there's no President Snow or capitol or cameras. They jump out of their skin. Peeta clings to Katniss, hovering over her body possessively.
She stares up at him; her face is very pale, over the violent banging sounds against their front door.
Until they hear a gruff voice holler, "get some clothes on and answer the door, you stupid kids."
Peeta's shoulders relax and his body sinks down to brush against hers. She bites back a smile at the feel of it, but helps him with his shirt and belt before pulling a shirt back on. He stumbles tiredly to the door, pulling it open with his bare foot tapping against the floor.
Haymitch stands there, already in the stance of the bearer of bad news. He looks tensed to run off the porch when Katniss arrives behind Peeta's shoulder, cocking an eyebrow suspiciously.
"You're never up this early."
"I received a call. From your other boyfriend."
She flinches and her nostrils flare. Peeta bites down the rising feeling of pride that brings.
"He says he wants to check in again. As a follow-up."
They both looked thoroughly stunned.
Katniss snaps out of it first.
"That's not up to him, if he comes back here…"
"He's not coming."
Haymitch holds up a hand and her snarling ceases. She stares at him sullenly.
"He's sending your mother."
And at the mention of her mother, she falls into her role of a child. She stands there, wide eyed and small.
"I told him it was a shitty idea, but she's on a train already. She'll be here in a tonight."
She makes a noise in the back of her throat somewhere between a hiccup and a whimper.
Peeta's hand slides to her lower back and pulls her to his side. She stares at the porch floor.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
"I just got off the phone. He said he hasn't been able to reach yours."
Katniss remembers the loose plaster around the hole in the walls, with sawed up wires.
"Thanks for coming right over Haymitch, why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night?"
Their mentor's eyes say he really, really did not want to witness any of this, but Peeta's eyes burn more furiously than he has seen in years, so the gruff man nodded slowly.
"See you kids then." He stumbles down the steps, then turns over his shoulder.
"You've handled much worse than this kid." He nods up at Katniss. "You won't mess up these next few days."
He retreats to his house, having tainted all the air at theirs.
Peeta wraps a cautious arm around her shoulder, and she bursts into tears.
"I don't want her here. I don't want her near me."
"She's your mom, Katniss"
"That means nothing. She doesn't care about me."
"She cares enough to come all this way. That says something."
She takes a deep, calming breath through her nose but it doesn't work.
"Gale is a dead man." She says, and means it.
He sighs, rubbing her back a little. "We're going to be okay. Let's just get this over with."
They prepare the house. They get something to pass for dinner ready. Tension fills the air. Peeta's eyes are dark, and the environment around them is toxic from dread.
The hours drag, but suddenly its afternoon and the evening is just around the corner.
Katniss doesn't speak, but every once in a while he hears her sniffle. It makes his heart sink. He feels helpless.
When he drops the bowl of dough, the last thing on her mind is his fits.
Her head snaps up and he's twitching violently, gasping. His eyes flicker over hers. She reaches for him cautiously. He seizes away from her and runs to one of the back rooms and locks the door behind him. She goes to the door and pounds on it, screaming his name.
Tears fall freely now.
She hears crashes and things breaking. She knows there's nothing in there of value, old furnishings of the house they don't use and other junk from their past. But she hears things being thrown and yelling and large, terrifying thudding sounds.
It occurs to her that he's hurting himself.
She pounds furiously on the door.
"Peeta, stop." She shrieks. "Let me in. it's going to be okay."
She slams her entire body into the door, repeatedly, until she knows bruises will bloom up and down her side. But she breaks the door open, and that's what matters.
She races to his side, and he's still swinging at her, with broken glass all over the floor and furniture tipped over. His arm is bloody.
She holds him down and sings; her voice breaking and flat. She doesn't know what else to do. He curses her and shakes and cries.
She strokes her hand over his face.
"I love you, I love you, I love you." she murmurs in enough times to make the words sound like gibberish to her.
His body slows it movements, but he's still having a fit, worse than she's seen in a while.
She almost doesn't hear the faint, timid knock at the door. She runs to it.
She doesn't expect to see Prim's eyes when she opens the door. Older and more tired, but blue and sparkling.
She tries to hold back tears.
"I need your help." She admits, forgetting this damn charade and grabbing her hand.
She leads her to Peeta, who is screaming and writhing on the floor.
Her mother stares down at Peeta, stunned.
Katniss wrenches his arms put of the way, holding him down. She tries to be gentle with his bleeding arm. She settles her weight on his chest, trying to calm him down.
And she looks up hopelessly at her mother, begging for her to help when her life fell to crisis, like she's never done before.
Her mother put down her bag and settles by her side.