"Give Me Love Like Never Before, 'Cause Lately I've Been Craving More. And It's Been A While But I Still Feel The Same, Maybe I Should Let You Go. Give A Little Time To Me, Or Burn This Out. All I Want Is The Taste That Your Lips Allow." – Ed Sheeran; Give Me Love.

I couldn't remember the last time I had been lucid. Minutes, hours, days, weeks, had all combined into one, and I couldn't tell how long I had been here. Strapped to this chair, the sharp tip of a needle digging into my skin, draw blood over and over. A repeated cycle, one that felt never ending, one that would never stop.

I was kept unconscious at all times, and whenever I was close to coming around, I'd feel the dampness in a cloth as it was placed on my face, pressed into my skin harshly and giving me no choice but to inhale the scent there.

My wrists were sore from being bound for so long; back aching from laying on that same cold metal lab table. Figures constantly blurred around me, their voices muffled as they moved swiftly around the room.

If it stayed this way, my mind in a haze and pain numbed, not able to conjure a decent thought or acceptable sentence, it wouldn't have been as bad. I didn't have the strength nor the sense to think of what was going on outside, let alone in the same room.

I dreamt a lot. I dreamt of Cato, of Ivy, of a little person padding around bare foot, a mess of golden hair atop of their head, a small childlike giggle escaping their lips. I dreamt that I was smiling, the blue of Cato's eyes warm and soft, reminding me of the ocean at a sunset, the wave's soft and inviting. I dreamt I extended my arms, attempting to move and to grab onto the child who was so clearly Cato's and mine, turn them around so that their face would be as beautiful and as soft as I imagined.

But I never could, it was as if I were glued to the spot, within reaching distance of everyone, my fingers just brushing. And then, just as the little one would yell out my name, 'mama' and my heart would warm to the point where it felt as light as a feather, they would turn around.

And it would be over. I would never see their face, never know whether I had a little boy or girl, and it would torture me, mock me, be on constant repeat and never allow me to see their face.

"Nothing? Absolutely no trace or sign of anything?"

I would have turned my head, the voice was clearer than anything I had experienced in the last few weeks, only unconsciousness was still wrapped around me in a tight hold. Softly releasing its grip, taking its time as if reluctant to do so, almost like a child being told they couldn't keep a toy.

"No sir, her blood is completely normal. There's not even a hint of abnormality in her genes."

A long deep breath taken in, and then out, and I had no idea from who. I fought to open my eyes, only it felt as they were glued shut, sewn together on top of that to make sure they would never be opened again without excruciating.

I felt myself being lifted, roughly, hands grabbing onto my forearms and being yanked off the table. Darkness would sweep in, claiming me for what felt like hours, only it could have only been mere minutes for the wind was knocked out of me and my eyes snapped open.

I was thrown back onto hard concrete, a hand roughly grabbing onto my hair, now tangled and matted with sweat. My head was forced into freezing cold water, taking me by surprise and causing me to gasp, the liquid flowing into my mouth and destroying any chance I would have had of holding my breath. The rough hand that gripped onto my hair pushed me deeper, and I could do nothing but try to squirm.

What felt like an eternity later I was dragged back by my hair, being thrown to the floor, spluttering out water from my airways and grasping for air as if it were slipping away from me. My hands were bound in front of me, hair plastered to my face and obscuring my vision as I lay there. The room was dark, which was as much as I could gather, and as I continued to cough up the water sound become a lot clearer to my ears.

There was a ringing at first, as if an explosion had just gone off nearby and had left them in that state, but then I pushed further, the distant sound of screams echoing through the halls, male screams.

Peeta.

It was the first time I had thought of him, probably the first time in weeks, and with the guilt that settled through fear. What had they been doing to him? Had they hurt him? Almost kill him? Would they kill him?

Would they kill me?

It was a stupid question of course, because they no doubt would, when I had either given the information they had wanted or had failed to fess up. They would do it. Snow was never one for mercy, you didn't have to personally know him to understand that, it was in his nature to be cruel.

"I so hoped to avoid this scenario Miss Willows, though it seems Doctor Shaw had no success in extricating your spectacular abilities himself. Which, to my regret, leaves me in this situation."

"I can't give you what you want," I gasped out, already guessing where this conversation was going, and I was never one to beat around the bush, "I don't know anything. My father never told me how it worked."

A flick of his hand caused my head to be forced back into the bucket once more, the freezing cold water invading my sinuses once more, prickling at my skin. My head forcibly kept there for several moments, and then pulled back up, the hand gripped within the wet strands of my hair tightened. I coughed up the water once again, my lungs struggling for air, as if hands gripping onto nothing to climb out of a steep hole.

"You will do well to not interrupt again."

He doesn't wait for me to reply, not that I would have, which he most likely knew. I have the urge to rub a fist into my eye, rid the water that obscured my vision there.

"Your resistance and loyalty is admirable Miss Willows, and I would be lying if I did not expect you to put up quite the fight. However, times have changed since your Games, and I do think now – more than ever – you have a value far more important than that of the rebellion."

Moisture erupted from my eyes, and not because of being drowned in a bucket of freezing cold water. The slipped out from beneath my eyelids and down my cheeks before I could even realise, and this did not but please him, a satisfied expression crossing his face.

"Contrary to popular belief, Miss Willows, I am not as stone hearted as Panem likes to assume. I understand the value of children, and after suffering such a loss as you did during the Games, I should hope you aim to not make the same mistake."

I hated him; I hated him so much that I didn't know where that hate began or ended. He was right; of course he was right, I should have known not to make the mistake. Only I had, and I ended up here, I had no one to blame but myself, my own stupidity had gotten me here.

"That being said, the love for my country over weighs the sympathy of your condition. I have worked harder than any citizen of Panem can imagine, I have established order, and I will stop at nothing to maintain it."

"You also established oppression, starvation, and justified the killing of thousands of children as a form of entertainment to keep that order."

I expected to be dunked back into the bucket for that comment; instead I earned a blow to my cheek, sending me to the ground face first. I barely heard the Peace Keeper's vulgar comment, and that I should not speak unless asked to again.

My cheek stung from the impact of his large fist, and I lay there on the dirty ground, panting as Snow goes on, his tone becoming darker.

"I will ask you once more Miss Willows, give me what I want, or suffer another great loss."

A long pause of silence engulfs the room, and I grit my teeth to keep me from screaming out in anguish. A sob pushes through, breaking my silence as another one follows swiftly after, and I shake my head, burying it into the concrete ground and scraping the skin.

"I- I can't … I don't know."

I wasn't even given a reply, for the monster simply turned his back on me and stalked out of the room. Several more Peace Keepers filed into the room, and I closed my eyes as the sobbing continued, curling myself in a ball and wrapping my arms protectively around my stomach.

It didn't last long, I was yanked up by my arms once more, my wrists being chained together and raised above my head, and it was only then I took the time to fully look around the room. My eyes sweeping over the racks above our heads, several chains hanging from them. This was a torture chamber.

The chain made a clinking sound as I was raised up, barely able to stand on my feet, I didn't even have time to register any more thoughts when I received a blow to the side of my head, a bat being held in the culprits hands.

I even heard a chuckle at one point, and my skin prickled with dread as strings of 'please' and 'no's' escaped from my lips in one, for I knew what would come next. The new blow was aimed just below my torso, being delivering onto my side, inches away from my bump.

This repeated for several days.

I awoke, disorientated and in pain, a scream on my lips as I was once again in the cold harsh light of a lab room. Only the scream is barely audible, my voice gone and throat dry and scratched beyond believe, lips chapped and craving for water.

I'm no longer tied to the table like a science project, even in my state I could tell, my wrists were no longer bound and I lay on my side. The thought of what I could possibly look like now, black and blue, several ribs broken, is unappealing to me. My hand slowly, lazily, moves to my stomach, touching it softly.

I don't even notice the hand brushing the hair away from my face, smoothing it back and tucking it behind my ears. When I did, I barely have the strength to push it away, let alone let out a yell of protest.

I was so tired, so, so, so tired.

"I'm sorry," the voice muttered, and I register the familiarity of it, the soft tone that made you think they lacked confidence when they spoke, "Hold on, they're coming. They are."

Doctor Shaw? I could almost sigh in relief, knowing that he was in on this, he must be.

"They're coming for you Faith … hold on."

I imagined the faces in my head; Cato, Finnick, Katniss, Haymitch.

They're coming. Not long now. I could hold on. I could.

The pain was what startled me from my slumber, a shooting pain that surfaces from nowhere, continuing on for several moments before dying down. My eyes dart open to it, and I find that I can't move my hand to sooth the pain in my lower abdomen.

They're bound once more, and I can't think of anything, I can't move my lips to utter a word, I can't form an intelligent thought about what's going on, I can't even decipher what the pain means.

Another several minutes later, this time hitting harder than the last, and all I can think is of how much it hurts. I can't even remember where I am, nothing but bright lights above my head fills my vision, almost blinding me. Like when you first wake up in the morning and someone draws the curtains open before your eyes are ready to adjust, it felt like that replaying over and over.

I can't tell how long I lay there for, a shooting pain attacking every other moment, it's hard to keep my eyes open, and I'm so tempted to close them again and fall back asleep. Sleep is all I want. All I need.

Every time I tried, every time it gripped onto me and pulled me in, my eyes drooping once more, willing to fall back into a slumber, the pain would hit again. It's as if it almost knows when I'm about to fall asleep, and is adamant in not letting me. It's a nuisance, and leaves me permanently stuck in the state between lucidity and drowsiness.

I can barely register the sound of the door smashing open, almost as if earmuffs are muting out the sound, and my eyes flicker open the slightest bit. The distant sound of a wailing alarm going off, and muffled shouting and bullets resonate through the entire room, yet all I can do is lay there, feeling but not really thinking of the severity of the pain in my stomach. I feel my body shift, though not of my own accord, I feel the bounds around my wrists loosen.

I had gone so long without feeling the warmth of being in another's embrace, that it was now foreign to me, soft gentle coaxing touches were now unfamiliar. I felt arms hook under my knees, and another beneath my back, pulling me off the tray and into warmth. It had been so long since warmth.

"Faith Willows? Hey! Come on, wake up."

The voice was unfamiliar and deep, gruff and slightly out of breath, as if the person it belonged to had been running. I felt myself being shaken within the stranger's arms, and my eyes opened for just a fraction. The face above me was a blur, a mixture of tanned skin and russet hair, but none of the features stood out to me, nothing felt familiar. Attempting to form words was futile, for my mouth to could barely open before it fell shut.

"Shit … Okay," I heard fumbling, and a few seconds later the sound of static met my ears, "This is Hawthorne, I have one of them, Faith Willows. Doctor Shaw and I are heading back."

Another moment of silence, followed by some more static.

"Roger that. Obtaining Mellark now, rendezvous by the Hovercraft."

"We must hurry, the alarms will go off soon."

"I need a moment, she's completely out of it! I gotta give her an adrenaline shot."

"What? But she's pregnant; the side effects could be damaging, not to mention they've pumped her with various other dru-."

The boy seemed to ignore the Doctor, and what came after was a blur of pain, relief and a force of energy so strong that it had hit me like a Capitol train. I let out something between a scream and a gasp, my eyes bursting open and an gasping for air, almost as if an explosion had occurred inside me. It woke me up, completely, the drowsiness gone.

"It's all good, I got you."

I felt arms around my shoulders, helping me sit up.

"Mr Hawthorne.."

"I got it Shaw, I got it." The boy looked at me sternly, while I sat there still gasping for air in his lungs, "I would stop to introduce myself but we don't have th-"

The blaring of alarms burst into my eardrums, the headache that was still present worsened, only I was so alert. More lucid than I had been in days, weeks, months. I didn't even know how long I had been here for. I watched as the panic flashed through the boys eyes, but only momentarily, his jaw setting.

"That's our que."

He lifted me up by the elbows, placing an arm around his shoulder as he attempted to help me steady my feet. I was wobbly, barely able to put one foot in front of the other, almost like I had forgotten. He practically dragged me out of the lab, Doctor Shaw just ahead of us, directing us down hallways as alarms continued to blare. I felt utterly useless; I should have been able to do something useful. Unable to use his rifle, the boy kept it slung across the back of his shoulder, opting to use his hand gun with his free hand.

Bullets resonated through the entire complex, ones retaliating, shouting happening throughout the entire place. Soldiers joined us as we continued down a selection of halls, and I had lost track of where we were, the place being a maze. All in the same uniform as the boy helping me, but moved past him, taking aim on peacekeepers and keeping lockout.

I had just started feeling useful on my feet again, my pace picking up and allowing the both of us to move faster, my legs still felt like jelly. But at least the exercise no longer felt foreign.

Until an excruciating pain shot through my abdomen, one that must have been dulled down to aches while I was drugged, one that now cause so much agony I halted in my steps. I stumbled, screaming out in pain and startling the boy, releasing my arm from around his shoulder as I fell to my knees. It continued for far longer than I would have liked, tears springing from my eyelids as he looked at me in shock, but again only lasting for a brief moment. It had halted Doctor Shaw in his running, returning back to us as the boy leaned down.

He supported my weight as I leaned against him, Doctor Shaw coming to stand in front of us.

"What's happening?!"

Shaw's mouth opened to reply, frown lines etched deeply into his forehead, before I released another scream, only this one was for more than the pain being caused. For the white lab shorts I had been dressed it now, slowly, become a scarlet red. Seeping down the inside of my thighs. I let out a choked sob, gripping onto the boys arm in desperation and pain.

"I'm losing her."

I hadn't heard my own voice in so long that it felt so foreign, my throat dry, and it now sounded deeper, gravelly. Clear that I had used it in so long.

"No, you're not." The boy said sternly, once again pulling me to my feet, his arm gripping my waist tighter than before.

"We must hurry, we need to get her on a hover craft as soon as possible."

I didn't think it was possible for the Doctor to sound more urgent than he already had, but before he had sounded slightly panicked. Now, he sounded professional, firm, as if he were in his element. He sounded organised.

"I know it hurts, but you gotta' run."

I gave no reply to the boy as I begun running with him once more, the pain dulling slightly, but I knew it wouldn't be long when another shot of it returned, I just hoped we were closer to the hovercraft. My free hand rested just beneath my stomach, supporting the bulge, fear coursing through my veins. If there was a god up there, if there was any sort of high power that watched and answered prayers, then I begged now that to save my girl. Punish me, do anything to me, but save her, give her chance. She deserved a chance.

"I can't lose her," I choked out, the tears falling freely as we turned another plain white corner onto another hall, peacekeepers bodies lay still on the floor, "I can't."

"You're not going to."

For someone who didn't even know me, or I him, this bronze haired soldier would be forever etched into my mind.

At the end of the hall we reached several darkly dressed soldiers, all running and pouring into a single door, some remaining by it with their rifles raised, eyes trained. Yelling was at an all-time high here, and as we passed the door I realised it was a fire escape, sets and sets of stairs, more shouting, more bullets, the loud sound of boots smacking against stone steps as the fled to the upper levels.

"Mellark?" The boy asked a solider, who stood by the door, receiving a nod in reply, he went on.

So many steps. So many and so little time.

I screamed again, and this time the boy was prepared for my knees to buckle as he held onto me with both arms, steadying me. More blood came this down, running down both legs and dripping onto the floor, I could barely feel horrified through all the pain.

"Ma-mak-make it stop!"

"We need to get her on the hovercraft!"

My vision blurred, the tears falling, the gates open as I sobbed loudly, agonising screams mixed within as the shouting continued. I couldn't move. But I had to. I needed to so bad. But I couldn't.

"She will lose the child if we do not seek medical attention immediately. She must go under procedure, she must have a caesarean."

"She can't move!"

The shouting continued, and all the while I gripped onto the boy soldier's uniform tightly, clenching and screaming as the cramps overcame me.

"Go ahead without me! Get everything ready. We'll be there."

I heard more boots smacking, soldiers passing us without much thought, there was so much chaos going on.

"Faith? Look at me- Faith! Look. At. Me."

My green eyes clashed with his dark brown, so much determination and controlled anger held back behind them, but not anger towards me.

"I'm going to lose her." I sobbed out.

"No, you're not. Because I'm gonna get you up, and we're gonna run up those stairs. And you're gonna have a beautiful little girl in your hands after all of this shit is done with."

"You swear it?"

"I swear it."

I couldn't tell exactly what it was that made me believe him so much, but the amount of conviction in his voice had to be a start, he was trustable by nature, he was assertive, and he was precise. I allowed myself to be pulled up on my feet once more, the pain unbearable, the tears still streaming, but I had to move. We began clambering up the stairs, his speed never failing, his stamina at a high, god knew how much training he did when not fighting to be able to last thing long. I gripped onto him with hand once again, the other now coated with my own blood.

Gun shots echoed from the doorway where he had once stood, the shouting now panicked as our men were so clearly outnumbered there. We halted in our steps for a moment, and the gunshots ceased, unfamiliar voices now yelling, ordering for us to be followed and all killed. I didn't even have to look at the boy soldier as he sped up once more, my bare feet feeling sore, tripping over myself on the steps constantly as he attempted to both support me and get us to the top. I had never realised the complex I had been held in was practically a tower, the lengths the rebels must have gone to, to break into this place was mind blowing.

I was gasping for air, my usual unnatural energy and stamina were nowhere to be seen, my body was in a unbelievably unfit shape, and I had no idea what Snow could have possibly done to me while I had been unconscious. I tried to stop, tried to catch my breath, chest and throat burning, pain in my abdomen and blood soaking my legs, all too much, only the boy soldier didn't allow it. He urged me on, reminding me why I couldn't stop.

I knew when the next shot was coming, almost as if it were building up, beginning from the bottom and charging itself to hit full force. And this time, despite knowing it was coming, I screamed louder than I would have liked to admit, I screamed as a burst of blood flowed out, I screamed as my legs crumpled once more. I felt the breeze from the roof; we hadn't even been that far, a couple of more steps, I could do it.

"Hang on."

The boy soldier completely took me within his arms then, lifting me from the ground despite being so out of breath himself, I saw a blur of grey metal, I saw soldiers flying around as they hurried to the hover craft.

"I can't lose her." I repeated once more, my head lulling back, my voice coming out as a cracked whisper. I couldn't handle the pain anymore, I could take the feeling anymore.

"Don't pass out. I need you to stay awake."

My vision blurred as I stared up at the sky, it was pitch black, night. Yet in my head, I had imagined it was day, but then again I hadn't been keeping track.

"Save her," I managed to force out, only to my ears it sounded more like mumbling, my eyes dropped, vision darkening. The voice of the boy soldiers urgency for me to remain awake faded away.

Okay, so I had someone who reviewed every story of mine demanding for a chapter to this, and I will kindly ask for you not to do that again. I'm not updating this because I don't want to, because believe me, I do. But I have a busy live at the moment, I'm working two jobs, and the reason why it's easier to update my new ff is because it's only 2, 000 words per chapter, whereas this has to be above 4,000. Also, I am demotivated with Diamond, it's difficult to write chapters for a story you're not feeling. Please do not nag me when I haven't updated in a while. I know it's irritating, I'm irritated at myself, because I do want to be able to post a chapter every few days or week, but that's not the case. Nevertheless the story won't be going on for much longer.

I updated this because another, more recent reviewer, urged me to finish this chapter with their kind words. So thank you, new reader. Also I'm sorry if this message has annoyed anyone else, I genuinely do appreciate how far you've stuck with this story, and I know it must be frustrating that I don't update. This story WILL eventually finish. I don't know how many times I must say that. But it will.

My jobs, and my original novel, are my priority for the moment. This chapter probably has several mistakes within it, and I apologise for that, but frankly I needed to get it out so you had something. I'm sorry it's another cliff hanger. The next few chapters will be in Cato's point of view, I hope you like those.

Again, please do not clog up my e-mails with reviews on multiple stories requesting for an update on a single one. I know how bad this chapter must be, and I apologise for it, I really do. Until next time. X