Author's note- Sorry for the wait guys. I wont be surprised if I lost some of you guys…..but I promise I will finish the story. So here is the next chapter. Reviews are awesome guys.

Chapter 36

A few days later, I'm woken by knocking. I have not had solid sleep since Annie came home to me. Her sleep is always disturbed and I refuse to allow myself the indulgence of sedatives. My mind needs to be sharp for her.

I slip out of bed quietly because except for the steady rise and fall of her chest, Annie is still and I don't want to wake her. Padding to the door, I open it and find Katniss in the hallway. I have been so taken with Annie that I have forgotten about Katniss almost entirely.

And Johanna. I should visit her when I get the chance. She has no one else but me here.

"Katniss!"

Her eyes are wide as I make a gesture for her to enter, but she remains still. "Uh, Finnick." She points at me, but I don't understand what she's trying to tell me until I look down.

I'm naked. Right. I cover myself with my hands and then back towards the bedroom where I slip on a pair of pants and then return to my friend. She's entered the compartment and is looking blankly at the bare wall.

"How is Annie?" she asks and it thrills me to hear Annie's name.

"Brilliant!"

She shoots me a look. "Well, not…not brilliant, but…" I don't finish. I suspect Katniss is going through something similar with Peeta. Perhaps that's why she's here; for support. "How's Peeta?"

I should visit him as well. From the things Annie says, he'll need quite a bit of support himself.

Katniss fidgets as she tells me about his hands at her neck; how he's been hijacked for lack of a better term. My heart feels heavy. What she says is everything I feared for Annie before she came back. I worried that she wouldn't remember me or would hate me.

It worked out for me, but not for Katniss. Peeta's mind is not his own and now she is saying that she's leaving for a bit. She's going to two, I think. I want to talk her out of it. I want her to stay because it's the only way Peeta will get better and together, we can help our three friends heal.

I want to say that to her, but I can't. Annie begins screaming in her sleep and I'm torn between my need to comfort her and my desire to help Katniss.

"Go, Finnick. It's your Annie. It's not like…it's not like I won't be back."

Katniss promptly leaves and I slip back into bed to hold my girl.

Over the course of a week, I help Annie as best I can and I visit Johanna. She's such a strong person, but looks like a little girl who is lost. She won't accept pity, so I give her none. Instead, I fill her in on my breakdown, on the bombing, and the propos. I debrief her in a way that no one else will because they are worried about her fragility.

Frail and fragile. It is clear no one here knows Johanna.

I attempt to visit with Peeta, but they won't let me. Annie wants to, but I won't let her. There is no telling what could happen with two slightly insane people in a room together. There would be no balance. No anchor.

I watch on television a while later as Katniss is shot. Annie goes into hysterics and must be sedated. She spends two nights back in the hospital ward which allows me to be comforted when I see Katniss alive and well, but sedated in a bed down the hall.

All of the people I love, except for Haymitch, are in these beds, but even he is a constant in the hospital. He barely leaves. Sometimes he's so agitated, I wish they'd give him a little sedative himself. Or perhaps some of his white liquor.

Annie is allowed to leave the hospital, and once she is convinced that Katniss is alive, she is distant and mumbles about the sea and how all the beauty is lost. She says that the birds are dead and will never fly again. She talks about broken wings and wills that aren't her own.

The things she says are disturbing. I fear for what she's endured and yet am too much of a coward to ask outright.

I have not given up on her. I will never give up on her.

I take her to Special Weaponry and we spend time alone in the little meadow filled with hummingbirds and butterflies. This calms her, but she keeps asking about the sea. She wants to return and feels ill at ease here.

I take her to the room I found a little while ago. It's not the sea, but a relatively large lake. We strip down and swim. She finally laughs even though she says she misses the salt.

We race and when I catch her, I grab her around the waist and bring her to me. "I love you," I whisper against her neck.

She clings to me and tells me how much she loves me. Her legs wrap around me and I am filled with joy so intense it takes my breath away. We are free for now and I'm allowed to do what I wish with her. "Marry me, Annie."

She pulls back to look into my eyes and I see her expression. Annie already knows what it takes my soggy mind a few moments to process. Even if the rebels lose and the Capitol and Snow gain control again, we will be killed. There will be no forced servitude for us. I won't be a whore; I'll just be dead, and so will she.

It no longer matters. There are no appearances to keep up. All of Panem can know that I love this woman. All of Panem can know that I've always loved her.

Her smile tells me yes, but I want to hear it. "Will you be my wife?"

"Yes. Finnick," she says, giving me chills by the way she uses my name, "of course I'll be your wife. Will you be my husband?"

"Yes," I answer as I squeeze her to me.

"And protect all the birds?"

"Yes. I'll protect them."

We make love in the man-made lake. We make love on the grassy shores. Once we return to our quarters, we make love all night and do not sleep. I am not careful and there is a thrill of hope that perhaps I can be a husband and a father now.

I tell Johanna and Haymitch as soon as I can. Johanna is happy for us, although there is that familiar glint of sadness in her eyes because what I have now was stolen from her. Haymitch is very happy for us in his subdued way.

"Tell Plutarch," I say because I dislike talking to the former Gamemaker. "I want it to be a show. As much glitz and glamour as we can manage. I want all of Panem to know I love her. I want everyone to see it. I want Snow to know that he's only made us stronger."

I spend every moment of the next few days holed up in my quarters with Annie. She dances because she's happy and I dance with her.