Katniss's POV

I sat on the plush leather seat inside of a standard black car. I was gripping Peeta's hand in mine as I tried to keep my breathing regular. The baby was being really active today. The moving and kicking did nothing to calm my nerves. We had just pulled up behind the courthouse and I could see the back door that we would soon be going through.

"Now don't go shitting your panties on me," Clove said from the front seat looking at Peeta and I through the rearview mirror. She was working on a little monitor in the front seat of her car. She had the hacker she had found in her apartment working on getting audio of the courtroom. We would not go in until Peeta's mother was on the stand and smearing our name. She needed to lie thinking we could not contradict her before we made our move.

I felt Peeta rubbing his thumb over my hand and I caught his eye with mine. We were clearly both nervous. Peeta was about to say something when a static noise filled the car followed by the sound of Cato speaking. He was answering a question for his lawyer in front of the court room. After he finished speaking, the lawyer thanked him and told the judge he had no further questions. I had really picked up a lot of American during the nine months or so I had been here. I wasn't yet fluent so I was happy to hear the translator speaking English quietly as well. The only other person who knew what we had planned was the lawyer Clove had hired to represent us. We heard them call Peeta's mom up to the witness stand and take the oath. As she was reciting the oath, I heard Clove snort from the front seat.

"Fucking ridiculous," I heard her mutter under her breathe. We listened to the interview. I was able to follow along word for word thanks to the English translator.

Judge: "The prosecution may proceed with questioning the defendant."

Defense: "Thank you your honor. Mrs. Mellark, please tell the court of the conversation you had with your son via cell chip on the night he purchased the slave in Panem."

Prosecutor: "Objection! Please have that stricken from the record. Cato Mellark was not the purchaser of the slave. The title of purchaser may only be used when describing the owner of the commodity for trade. As the commodity was American Dollars wired from Peeta Mellark's account the title of purchaser remains with Peeta Mellark."

Judge: "So stricken. Defense, please rephrase your question."

Defense: "Mrs. Mellark please tell the court of the conversation you had with your son via cell chip on the night he was in Panem looking over the slave merchandise formally known as Katniss Everdeen."

Edith Mellark: " I received a call from my son around 11:30pm that night. He and my son Damien had been in Panem on business looking at some investment opportunities for our company. A colleague of his had invited him to the slave auction-"

Defense: "Objection! Speculation! The accused is not answering the defense's questions rather she speculating of what she believed occurred that night."

Judge: "Sustained. Please continue Mrs. Mellark with the cell conversation."

Edith Mellark: "Very well. My son called and said he had found a girl who would be very useful for our family. He said she could work for the business and when she was not needed she could live with my son Peeta. He told me the cost was a million dollars and I gladly agreed to sign off on the wire transfer."

Defense. "Mrs. Mellark, please tell the court why you felt Cato had made the suggestion that the slave live with your son Peeta."

Edith Mellark: "My son, Peeta, had lost his close friend a couple years when an explosion went off in our personal pharmacy in our summer home. He had been depressed and solitary since, refusing to see his old friends and even his family."

We heard Peeta's mother let out a little whimper of sadness that I could tell was not sincere before she continued.

"He never left his suite in our family home and refused to see us or come down stairs to have family meals with us. My son, Cato, was trying to lift his spirits by providing my son some female companionship. He saw it as a gift for Peeta."

Defense: "If the slave was intended as a gift then why was she paid for from Peeta Mellark's trust account?"

Edith Mellark: "That had been my idea to give the boy some much needed responsibility. Almost like a puppy. If we had just given the girl to him, he would have either refused the gift or tired of her after a few days. By having the girl as his property, an investment, I thought it would make him change his ways. Little did I know how obsessive Peeta would become of the thing so much so that he refused to let her serve her purpose in the first place."

Defense: "And what purpose was the slave supposed to serve first and foremost Mrs. Mellark?"

Edith Mellark: "To work for the family business, of course. We did not simply invest a million dollars for my son to have someone to play with. If that were the case we would have just paid one of our servants or a prostitute for that matter!"

I felt Peeta squeezing my hand tight trying to control his anger at his mother's ridiculous words. Clove shot him a look and said, "Patience. She's about to fuck up you'll see."

Defense: "Thank you Mrs. Mellark, the defense rests your honor."

Prosecutor: "Mrs. Mellark, was your son made aware of the arrangement before you gave him the girl?"

Mrs. Mellark: "In what way?"

Prosecutor: "Was your son Peeta informed verbally or in writing of his purchase of the slave Katniss Everdeen before she was deposited in his suite? Was he made aware of her alleged dual purpose of serving him as well as the family business?"

Edith Mellark: "The slave was intended to be a surprise for my son at first. We deposited her in his bedroom as a gift and my son Damien explained all about the girl to him."

Prosecutor: "Did you ever ask your son Damien if he had told Peeta of the dual purpose the girl would play in the household?"

Edith Mellark: "My son Damien is a drug addict and he and I are not on a speaking basis. My son would know better of what was said between them or you could always check the security tapes I'm sure. Why bother even asking for our answers when you can cross reference the word for word conversations hmm?"

I heard Clove laugh from the front seat. "Nothing better then angry Edith in the morning."

Prosecutor: "Did you inform Peeta you took the girl from his apartment on the night of the Governors ball?"

Edith Mellark: "I was busy getting dressed but I had my son Cato inform the slave that she would be coming to work with us."

Prosecutor: "By inform are you referring to when Cato said and I quote, 'Time for work, bitch'?"

Edith Mellark: "Precisely."

Prosecutor: "And did the slave accompany Cato willingly?"

Edith Mellark: "Yes, of course. I spoke to her myself while my servant Rue dressed her for the evening."

Prosecution: "I find that strange considering the victim recounts being suffocated with a towel drenched in Ether and forcibly removed from the apartment."

Edith Mellark: "It's lies, I tell you. I saw the girl myself she was fine. Happy even to be away from the attentions of Peeta!"

"That's our cue! Let's go you two. It's showtime!"

Peeta's POV

We heard the trial continue through our cell chip pieces as we entered the labyrinth of hallways in the back of the courthouse.

Defense: "Objection, your honor! Secondhand accounts may not be used in court and since neither Peeta Mellark nor the slave Katniss Everdeen have testified or even appeared in court. The accounts are nothing but false accusations against my client."

Prosecutor: "As you are aware your honor, my clients lives are in jeopardy. You have agreed to accept their testimony via live video feed from their undisclosed location."

Judge: "While I have agreed to listen to your client's testimony via live video feed, it was also with the understanding that if your clients do not appear in court via video today the case would have to be suspended due to lack of evidence. I would have no choice, but to release the accused."

Prosecutor: "My clients are ready to appear via video feed to testify your honor. No further questions to the accused needed at this time your honor."

Judge: "Very well then. Please call up your client."

Prosecutor: "Yes your honor. Please present the monitor."

"What's happening?" I said to Clove when she stopped in the hallway in front of an unmarked door.

"They're dialing the number to your house that Cato magically cracked yesterday," Clove said to me with a wink. "Cato's guys are about to cut the power to your safe house and Edith is going to comment that there are fail-safe lines that will never have technical difficulties. Any technical difficulty excuse the prosecution would try to use would be overruled. The defense would make a motion to suspend the case due to lack of testimony and your failure to appear in court. She would use the fail-safe line as evidence that you were careless about the case and should be held accountable. They think they win and then it's show time."

We listened enraptured as the conversation played out exactly the way Clove said it would. Clove looked at me and asked, "Your silver tongue warmed up, Lover boy?" I nodded at her and gave Katniss's hand a little squeeze with mine. We were definitely both still nervous. She had a few beads of sweat on her forehead that I watched her wipe off with her sleeve.

"You okay?" I asked her

She looked up and smiled, "Yeah I'm just a little out of breath. It's hard walking all that way carrying another person." She told me as she gently rubbed her stomach. I kissed her forehead quickly and concentrated back on the trial.

Judge: That is the third attempt you have made to try and get through to your clients. If we do not hear from them today, I will be forced to grant the defense's motion for suspension of the case.

We could hear the crowd in the court room make shocked and angry exclamations.

Judge: "I will give them one more minute before I make the ruling."

I grabbed Katniss's hand and threw open the door to the courtroom. It made a loud bang and everyone's attention turned to us.

"Apologies for the delay your honor, but we are here and ready to testify!" I shouted so the entire room could here me.

"Impossible!" My mother stood up angrily from the defenses table. She was angry and clearly had been taken by surprise. Cato looked like he had been hit over the head with a metal rod. Good.

The courtroom went into pandemonium seeing me and Katniss in person. People were snapping pictures of us and asking for our autographs. I even saw a member of the jury smile and she recorded us on her monitor. We walked quickly holding hands to take our seats at the prosecutor's table next to our lawyer, Glorian Taylor. The judge was yelling for order and demanding the crowd settle down. My mother was screaming at her lawyer who was shuffling through her papers clearly taken aback at having to actually question me and Katniss. I leaned over and spoke to my lawyer while security was busy hushing the crowd.

"Don't stop me unless I do something that's going to hurt the case," She nodded at me and I stood up on my seat in the courtroom.

"Your honor, I apologize for our tardiness. We had every intention of appearing via live web cam, but were forced to escape our home late last night upon the breach of the restraining order placed on my mother Edith Mellark and my brother Cato Mellark. The restraining order clearly states that neither Edith or Cato Mellark may come with 100 yards of our residence or person. The order states that they may not hire an outside party to come within 100 yards of our residence or person. The reason we are here your honor is because an unnamed source was kind enough to alert us of the breach within the order. The reason the live video feed went unanswered is because the hired third party of Cato Mellark physically cut the generator wires to the entire residence."

"That's a lie! We haven't breached any contract! They are lying your honor!" My mother screamed out against me. Everyone in the crowd continued to shout louder trying to figure out what was going on. My announcement to the room was clearly unorthodox.

"Order! Order in the court! Mr. Mellark get down from that chair this is not a circus! If I do not have silence, I will hold those responsible in contempt! Do I make myself clear?" The judge yelled at the room.

Not surprisingly everyone managed to quiet down enough for the Judge to continue to speak.

"Now, do you have any evidence of the breach in the restraining order, Mr. Mellark?"

"Yes, your honor. Officer Conlin Finnler will be sending over a full report to your monitor shortly. Upon hearing from a source that we were in danger, a call was made to Officer Finnler's precinct to patrol the area. I received word before entering that they have caught the gentleman," I replied back to her unwaveringly. It was easy to speak with confidence when all you were doing was telling the truth.

"Why do you think it was us? Crime is known to be rampant and vandalism happens on a daily basis! That doesn't make it that we broke the contract," my mother said with a false air of confidence to the judge.

"What Mrs. Mellark says is true. Having the perpetrators in custody does not prove that the Mellark's were behind the attack." My mother looked smug.

"However, the timing is very coincidental considering that without your video testimony the case would enter a forced suspension. We will continue with the trial as we wait for further investigation. Mr. Mellark, I believe you were just being called to the stand." The judge said to me.

"Your Honor my client requests for his slave to accompany him to the stand." Our lawyer said to the judge. The judge raised her eyebrows at our request, but allowed it nonetheless. I gave Katniss's hand another little squeeze and we walked to the witness stand. I took a deep breath and recited the oath of honesty because Katniss was considered property she was not asked to recite the oath. All that would hopefully change if slaves were freed after the vote in two days time.

The posecution approached us and asked me plainly. "Are you aware of how many times your brother Cato Mellark raped your slave during the first 3 days of your ownership?"

I went cold and my heart started beating extremely fast. What the fuck was she talking? What was she talking about? He didn't, did he? Why wouldn't Katniss have told me. I yelled before I thought better of it,

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"