Hi readers! Hope you like this chapter, it's a cruel twist. Merry Christmas everyone!

Katniss's POV:

I swallow painfully as Gale's eyes widen and he yells at me.

"Did he do this to you?!" He looks madder than I've ever seen him, and I can't think of what to say. I'm far too distracted by the dozens of things going on around me. I stare down at the bruises on my upper arms, my own body seeming so foreign to me.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see the curtain in the office flutter and I know that Peeta has seen the whole thing. I make a move to go to him, to tell him that it wasn't his fault, but to my surprise Gale beats me to it.

Well, he beats me to the door.

I watch in horror as Gale flings open the front door, banging it against the adjacent wall. Peeta is standing a few feet away, his blue eyes flashing.

"Get out here!" Gale screams, and I flinch.

Gale reaches forward and grabs the shoulder of the Boy with the Bread and shoves him out the door and towards me. Peeta manages to turn around just in time to duck away from Gale's fist as it flies through the air.

"GALE!" I yelp, stepping quickly towards them. Both of them ignore me for once, and Gale's fist flies forward again, this time connecting with Peeta's jaw. Peeta glances up just once, and it's enough for me to see that his eyes have changed, that he's losing himself again.

I dive forward again, and somehow I am able to shove Gale out of the way and into the bushes that line the porch. Gale may have a lot of weight and strength on me, but I'm much quicker.

I turn back to Peeta, who, in just a split second, has gone so completely off the edge of a flashback it's hard to recognize him. He tackles me to the ground before I can think, and pins me there. I ignore to acknowledge the pain that comes with the impact, focused on only one thing.

"Peeta, Peeta just listen to me. It's alright. It's not real, whatever you're seeing. You had a flashback, like last night."

Gale is on his feet by now and is moving swiftly towards Peeta, his intentions clear. I twist my head to meet his eyes.

"Gale. Stay where you are. Trust me." He stands in awe at me. I twist back to look at Peeta.

"Peeta, the edges are blurry, right? It's not real."

"Mutt!" he snarls.

"Shh, Peeta no. I'm here, and I love you and I didn't kill anyone on purpose. Come back to me, please."

Gale's jaw has practically hit the floor, and he spits at the dirt.

Peeta cocks his head slightly and slowly comes back to me. The muscles in his body finally relax, and he loosens his grip on me. When his eyes are at last their beautiful clear blue, they fill with tears.

"I'm so sorry," he sputters out, but I just shake my head.

After getting up and helping me to my feet, the two of us finally look at Gale.

"I think we need to talk. All of us." I lead them silently to the kitchen, praying they won't start hitting each other on the way there. Peeta is rubbing his jaw and wincing.

After we each take a seat, Gale starts talking angrily.

"What the hell was that? You could've killed her!"

Peeta hung his head in his hands, and I wanted so badly to comfort him. But I knew that now was not the time.

"That was a flashback. He has them from time to time because of the tracker jacker venom the Capitol injected. The bruises you saw were from a flashback he had last night."

"And you're okay with this?!" He is stunned by the calm in my voice.

"It's not his fault. He can't help it. It doesn't happen a lot, and it's usually never that bad."

"And you're okay with hurting her like that?!" Gale snaps, turning to Peeta, who picks his head up.

"No, I'm not okay with it." Peeta's voice is low, dangerous, but when he turns to me it softens.

"I'm no good for you Katniss, I can't keep hurting you like this. I don't want you to live here anymore." His words were lined with pain, and stung like I had just been slapped. This was never something I would've seen coming.

How could he be doing this to me? He had to be joking. This couldn't be happening. My half-fixed world couldn't be shattering again in just one night.

"No! I can't…get better, not without you." Peeta bit his lip and shook his head, refusing to budge.

"He's right Katniss," interjects Gale, "It isn't safe." I shoot him a dark look, and I don't care at all about the pain underneath his silver eyes. I go to snap at him, to tell him he has no business here, but Peeta speaks first.

"It doesn't have to be forever, just until I can get myself under control completely," he says, and I realize that for some bizarre reason they are working together on this one. Why?

"You can move back into your house," suggests Gale gently, his voice now at such odds with his voice before, "I can stay there with you, so you won't be alone." Peeta shot him a hard look, but said nothing.

"You can't make me go," my voice is low and determined. But so is Peeta's.

"I'm not letting you stay here anymore Katniss."

I can't think of anything to say; after all, it was his house to begin with, and I never had any business here. It had been a strange arrangement from the start.

In my chest I can feel my heart crack just slightly, and I hate this feeling.

I hate that I let myself hope that things were getting better.

I hate the control Peeta has over my feelings.

I hate what he's doing.

I hate Peeta.

How could he do this to me?

Sorry, but things will get better very soon! Please leave a review! Also, please please please check out my other story "In Too Deep." It would mean a lot!

The next chapter will be posted in just a few minutes since it's already written, consider it your Christmas present ; )