Part II: The Victor

I didn't listen when they said I couldn't go on the plane. It wasn't an option. I need to see her, and that's the fastest way. In the end, they gave up trying to persuade me to stay on land. So now, I sit on the plane, seeing the arena below me, all the water that was supposed to kill Annie. Well, that backfired, didn't it? I can't stop myself smiling. My heart is beating like I've never felt before, just thinking that I can see her again soon. Really soon.

And she's there. She's sitting on that rock. She's looking up at the plane. My heart actually skips a beat. I see the ladder go down from the plane, and I can feel the cold sweep in from the open door, but I don't care.

I see her stare at the ladder, but she does something else before she grabs the ladder. She's putting my necklace back on. I can actually feel tears on my face as she does it. I'm just… I'm just so glad she's alive. It seems to take a lifetime for them to take the tracker out of her arm at the top of the ladder, before they stand back and let her into the plane. I grab her before she's even had a chance to look around, I can't help it.

'I love you, Annie.' I tell her, I just had to say it. I wanted to say it. 'I love you so much.' I gently push her hair off her face as her eyes finally find mine. She's still in shock, it's still taking a while to register that no one else is trying to kill her.

She eventually breaks a smile, although she's still crying, but I think I am, too.

'I love you, too.' She whispers. This lovely moment is ruined when a pained look appears on her face. 'I think I hurt my leg.' She says quietly, before she collapses. I can't even do anything, before the medical staff on the plane have injected her with something and placed on their medical table on the other side of the plane. They did it in a flash, I barely saw it happen.

I pull myself together and get up off the floor, slowly walking over to them. I don't get too close, I don't want to get in their way.

'What's wrong with her?' I ask to no one in particular. I saw her in a little bit of pain when she was climbing onto the rock, but it didn't seem major, I just presumed it was exhaustion.

'Fracture,' one of the doctors tells me briefly. 'it's not serious.' And that's where that conversation ends. I just go and sit down back at the other end of the plane and wait. There's nothing else I can do. They draw the curtain shut in front of her and that's it.

It's going to be Caesar's show tonight. His victory show. It will be the second time I've done it. I did it once when I won, and never expected to do it again, but given the circumstances this time, I have to. I don't mind, I'd rather do it than see her up there on her own. But ever since this all began, I knew if she won I'd be up there as well, and especially after I made all those promises while we were trying to get sponsors. I feel a twinge of guilt about that now, actually, because they'll all be expecting a proper blast of romance on the show. And I haven't even kissed properly yet. I've kissed on her cheek. Great. I don't want my first kiss with Annie to be on national television! It's a private thing, that should be conducted in a private manner. But that's what they'll expect. I probably ought to start coming up with excuses and plans now, in preparation.

As soon as we land I get dragged away by Nikita. She was actually waiting on the landing field, waiting. I wish her obligations would end after the Games do. But no, she has the stick around and 'help'.

'Finnick, you should not have gone on that plane.' She scolds me, as soon as the sound of the engines is far enough away. I cast a glance back at the plane as they're bringing Annie off on a stretcher because she's still unconscious.

'Yeah, I know.' I reply flatly, and only because it's what she wants to hear.

'You've missed out on so much of the preparations for Caesar's show tonight,' she continues animatedly as we enter the Training Centre. 'and Ricardo's been out of his mind wondering what to do when you weren't there for the fitting-'

'I doubt that highly.' I interrupt her. Ricardo doesn't get 'out of his mind'. He doesn't panic.

Nikita gives me a stern look before she carries on. 'You need to see him anyway. And you also need to see,' she takes her PDA out of her handbag and scans through it. 'Ashleigh, the producer for Caesar's show.'

'Right.' I agree with as little enthusiasm as possible.

'You do know how rare it is for the mentor to appear on the Victory show, don't you?' Nikita asks me, half excitedly, half disappointedly.

I nod. 'Yeah. I know.'

Nikita sighs in frustration, as we get closer to the main block of offices. I take it I have my meeting with Ashleigh first, then. Ricardo can't have been as worried as she made out. Nikita deposits me at Ashleigh's office door, and scuttles off down the corridor, to bother someone else, no doubt. I watch her go before I knock on the door.

'Come in!' I hear a voice call from behind the door. I push it open, and see the light and airy office of Ashleigh Varner. She's typing away at a computer, and only looks up after a few minutes. 'Oh, take a seat, please.' She addresses me and takes her attention away from the computer screen.

I do as she says and sit down in the chair the other side of her desk.

'Okay,' she starts, typing a few things on her computer before turning back to me. It doesn't seem very polite, but I'm not going to comment. 'right. We need to discuss the format of tonight's show.' She says simply.

'Oh… sure.' I answer, not really sure how she expected me to respond to that.

'You see,' she continues, leaning past the computer and closer to me. Oh, don't start, please. She's fluttering her eye lashes and everything, why do people do this? 'with Annie's… state, at the moment, we need to be careful how we go about this. Don't want anything untoward to happen.'

I observe her for a moment. 'No, we wouldn't.' I agree finally.

'And as you know, you're going to be on the show, so that's the first precaution we're taking. However, we would normally show clips from the Games during the interview…'

'Yeah, you can't do that now.' I tell her in a bored tone. Surely that's obvious? 'Besides, it's not as if that's the talking point with Annie, is it?' I turn the questions back to her. 'It's all going to be about Annie and myself, isn't it?'

She clears her throat and sits back in her chair. 'Yes. I suppose it is.' She says stiffly. I want to smirk at her, but I don't. 'Well, how about...' She taps a few keys and surveys the screen before speaking. 'You go out first and talk about some clips?'

'What? How's that going to work? I wasn't there… it won't make sense.' I answer slowly. How on earth is she in this job?

She shakes her head. 'No, you're right. We'll just have to play a few clips before you both go out, maybe let Caesar talk it through for a while… then bring you two out and talk about something else.'

That seems logical, so I just sit there and say nothing else. The less I say to this woman, the better.

'You realise how rare this is, don't you?' Ashleigh says, raising and eyebrow. 'For a mentor to appear on the Victory Show?'

'I do, thank you.' I say flatly, that's two people who've told me that. Maybe I should start a tally.

'Then you'll realise that we need to make it seem like a good thing that you're there.' She says with an agitated sigh. I don't even reply, I just sit there and watch her. I can tell she's annoyed that I've made her job difficult for her but I don't care, she should be adaptable – it's her job, after all.

'We're just going to really have to play the whole love angle on it all, make it seem like we thought that's what the audience wants.' She says after a while of tapping away at the keyboard.

'I thought that was what they wanted.' I say coldly. She looks up at me through her eyelashes and simply shrugs. I just want to leave now.

'I think people wanted to talk about the Games.'

Now it's my turn to take control. I lean forwards and try to make her look me in the eyes. I hate to use this tactic, but it will work. 'Look, Ashleigh, if you want someone to sit and talk about tactics and whatever from the Games, I'll do that, okay? I'll sit there and tell them all how horrible it all was to watch and how skilled some tributes were, then you can bring Annie out, okay?'

'That's very good of you-'

'Great. Sorted, then. See you later.' And I get up and walk out without letting her say another word. I hear her sigh before I shut the door behind me. I'm just glad to get out of that office! I don't care if I have to sit and discuss the Games, so long as Annie doesn't, that's all that matters. And she's safe now, she's alive and I can make sure she stays that way, so I've really got nothing to worry about. This is all just things I have to get through before we can just go home. I can keep scratching them off the list and then we can get back to District Four.

Next thing to do: visit Ricardo. His studios are in the next building so it doesn't take too long to get there. I run into a few people on the way and get the typical 'congratulations' stuff. It's not like I won again! But still, I suppose there isn't a set phrase for 'glad your girlfriend wasn't killed'. I open the door to Ricardo's studio and feel glad of the cool atmosphere in there. He's got candles lit around the room and is just leaning against a chair looking through a portfolio. He looks up and smiles at me. Once he's done the hugs and pleasantries, he's back to business.

'Alright, so I've got her dress all good and ready to go, just need to make some final fitting adjustments and it's ready.' He tells me, sweeping the portfolio out of my sight – this dress is evidently another surprise. And then the door opens.

It's like I've forgotten what she looks like in the short time I've not seen here. The helicopter was different, she was different. I was so wrapped up in making sure I told her I loved her that I didn't really take in what she looked like. I've forgotten just how beautiful she is, her dark hair and pale skin, her sparkling green eyes. It's impossible to even comprehend how beautiful she really is, and yet when I actually look really, there's something new behind her eyes. The Games have changed her. But she doesn't look scared in here, I don't know if that's because she trusts Ricardo and myself, or whether she's just holding it together to save face on television.

She got her dark hair loosely tied back, evidently by the prep team, and her leg seems fine now. There's a bandage over her ankle but that's it. She smiles at me but I'm not even sure I've got the ability to smile back. I try but I have no idea what I actually did.

Ricardo looks at me and just waits for the penny to drop. 'Oh… you want me to go, right?' I ask sheepishly.

He nods and hands me a clothes bag on a hanger. 'Your suit.' He says simply.

'Thanks.' I tell him and for a moment I just stare at Annie. She doesn't even look back at me, her mind's completely elsewhere. I want to say something to her but for some reason I can't even find the words. It feels very different from before. So I just mutter something incoherent and leave.

Once I've got changed into Ricardo's, by all means wonderful, suit, the rest of my day is spent backstage being run through the ropes of what's happening. I think they've forgotten that I have done this before. I was a Victor once.

It's about half an hour before the show's due to start when the curtain backstage is pulled back for Annie to join me in waiting. Her hair's been curled and frames her pale face. She's been given a blue theme again, but this time it's a long dress with netting that comes down to the floor. The bottom half and light blue with flecks of white and silver, giving her an icy glow. The top half of the dress is fitted and brighter blue with blue glittering studs adored on it to make it look more ocean like. She looks stunning. I get up from the bench and offer her my arm to help her walk across the room. She takes my hand and just laughs quietly.

'I can't walk in the shoes.' She says with a small smile. 'You can't even see the shoes.'

I smile at her and sit her down on the bench next to me. She sighs and smiles, a real smile this time. I want to say all kinds of things to her but I just can't find the words. I don't want to launch into a big, deep topic if she's not ready for it. But I have to say something.

I go to say something but Annie just shakes her head. 'I know.' She says to me, the smile still playing on her lips. I nod as she slips her hand through mine. 'I told them I want to do the whole show.'

'What?' I choke out, that's the last thing I expected to hear. 'Annie… I don't think that's a good idea, I mean you… I just think…' I can't find a way to say it without telling her I think she's too weak to do that!

'It'll be fine.' She says confidently. 'I've only got to keep it together for one night. After that I don't need to talk about it until the Victory Tour and even then I can be vague about it.'

'Okay.' I sigh. 'If you're sure about it, I don't suppose there's any way I can talk you out of it.' She shakes her head.

'Besides, they'll only want to talk about the Games in relation to us.' She says casually. Even the word 'us' sends a spike through my gut. It shouldn't frighten me but it does. Especially knowing that Johanna's going to be in the audience.

'About that…' I try and find the right words again but she's really got me beat. 'I just want to say… I mean, I think…' She knows what I'm trying to say, or at least I think she does. She raises an eyebrow at me as if to say just do it. I know she probably means say it but I can't. I don't want to. I want to show her. So I kiss her. For real this time. I don't think about doing it and then chicken out, I actually do it. I can't even begin to try and comprehend the feeling, it's like putting smoke in a bottle and then letting it out, free to dance around the air. It's like lying on a beach and just letting the tide catch up with you. It's finding a whole new emotion you never even knew you could feel.

I pull away from her and she just looks up at me with those big green eyes. She smiles at me and it's the happiest I've seen her since before the Games.

'What was that for?' She asks, the smile blazing on her face.

'For two reasons. Firstly, because I love you.' I tell her honestly. 'And secondly, because I didn't want the first time I kissed you to be in front of millions of people. It somehow feels impersonal.' I say with a smirk.

'True.' She replies, her smile showing no signs of retracting. I put my arm around her and we just sit like that until I hear the theme music from Caesar's show. I'm worried for her but the time for worry has long passed now – there's nothing I can do to save her from the images she's about to witness yet again.