A/N: Hey guys, I finally have chapter 7 ready! I apologize for the delay since the last chapter! For anyone who is an officer of the law or more knowledged in this area…everything is completely from my imagination, so please forgive me if it isn't accurate!
Peeta Bread
Chapter 7 : Who are You
Peeta: Hello beautiful, finishing up with Haymitch...Should be home in about 2 hours, 3 at the most.
Like a lovesick teenager, Peeta stared at his phone, looking for the wiggling dots that meant Katniss was responding to his text. After a minute, he slipped his phone back into his pocket, figuring she was busy around the house.
"Haymitch, I'm going to head home, I've got a bad feeling." Peeta told Haymitch after half an hour passed with no response from Katniss.
"What's wrong kid?" Haymitch asked with a frown on his face.
"Well, I sent Katniss a text almost an hour ago and I haven't heard from her yet. Don't look at me like that, it's not like that. Something—something's not right, she never just 'not responds'."
"Alright kid, I think we're about done here anyway. Shoot me a text when you get home and let me know everything's okay."
Peeta nodded, racing out the door and into his car. The closer he got to home, the worse the feeling in his stomach got. Forgoing texting, he decided to call her phone. Sometimes she doesn't hear the text message coming in, but her ring tone is loud enough to wake the dead. But her phone went straight to voicemail. Another very unusual occurrence; she never turns her phone completely off.
Peeta pulled into his parking space, slammed his door shut and raced to the front door. When he saw Katniss' keys idly in the lock of the door, the bakery door still unlocked and Katniss' shattered cell phone lying on the ground, his heart nearly exploded from his chest.
"KATNISS? KATNISS? ARE YOU HERE?" Peeta yelled throughout the bakery until he made it up the stairs.
She was gone.
Peeta began to panic as he pulled his phone from his pocket, dropping it once from his shaky hands, and then picked it up again, he called Haymitch.
"Let me guess, she was in the shower? Or no... Washing dishes?" Haymitch quipped.
"Haymitch, she's...she's not here. Something is wrong Haymitch, she would never leave without telling one of us."
"Slow down kid. I'm on my way. Don't touch anything. Start from the beginning and tell me everything you can remember." Haymitch instructed, jumping up from his seat to find his shoes.
Using his back to open the door, Peeta stepped outside. "I...I just...I pulled in and when I got to the front door, I saw Katniss' keys in the lock. The door wasn't locked and her phone...it was lying on the ground, shattered." Peeta explained, feeling a tightness in his chest.
"God-dammit, mother fucker. He got to her."
Peeta could hear Haymitch lower the phone, "Katniss is missing, I'll call you when—"
"I'm coming with you Haymitch." Peeta heard Effie's muffled voice.
"Peeta, Effie and I are on our way." He said, and then the phone went silent.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Before Katniss opened her eyes, she felt groggy, like someone had drugged her. But even after she opened her eyes, everything was still black. "What…" She tried to say, but the gag in her mouth prevented any words from forming.
"Shit, she's waking up." She heard a voice come from close by. She felt a pinch in her arm, and then everything was black again.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"What's going on boss man? Why is the store taped up?" Thresh called Peeta from his cell phone when he got to the bakery that next morning.
"Thresh, shit, I'm sorry. I mean to call you. It's Katniss, she's gone. We think her crazy ex kidnapped her…um—"
"Hot damn! What can I do?"
"Thresh, let me call you back in a minute." Peeta spoke into his phone, ending the call as he tried to listen to Haymitch and Effie's conversation.
"Effie, this is for real, Boggs just informed me that Coin isn't who she has pretended to be. After I told him everything, he listened to the recordings on Katniss' phone, and—"
"What recordings?"
"Oh, uh… apparently they tapped her cell phone in case; but that's beside the point. Coin called Katniss earlier claiming to need her to come down to the station for some questions. Bitch told her we were already here. GODDAMMIT!" Peeta winced back when Haymitch kicked the trashcan over but understood the man's pain.
"Haymitch darling, you must calm down. I know exactly where our darling girl is."
"What do you mean, you know where she is?"
"Well, you see I suspected someone on the force was working for that bastard— Pardon my language, but, well… do you remember the earrings I gave to Katniss a few weeks ago? When she first moved her things into Peeta's house?"
"Yeah, those ridiculously expensive ones I gave you hell for buying?"
"Yes, that is correct. Well, they actually have a tracker in them." Effie pulls out her cell phone and opens an app, and you a faint beeping began, signaling the device searching for something.
"Are you telling me…" Haymitch asked his wife.
"As long as she is still wearing the earrings and they have not placed them onto someone else, she is in some warehouse on the corner of Fifth Street and Mockingjay Circle." Effie explained to the boys.
Haymitch picked his wife up and spun her around, kissing her hard on the lips. "Have I told you how brilliant you are, woman?"
"Haymitch! Manners!" Effie said, blushing when she caught sight of a disheveled Peeta staring at her.
Haymitch went to his car and made a call to have his guys surround the building where Effie's phone said she was at.
The three of them rode over in Haymitch's car. Peeta tried to listen in to the calls Haymitch was getting but found it difficult to understand the "Police Language." Haymitch drove like a madman trying to get to his niece, forcing Peeta to squeeze his eyes shut for the duration of the ride. After twenty minutes of blindly riding in the back seat of Haymitch's truck, trusting in him not to get them killed before they got there, Peeta slid in the seat when Haymitch spun the truck around, headed in the opposite direction.
"Haymitch, where are we—" Peeta asked, just as his phone rang. Not caring about the unknown caller, Peeta pressed "ignore", sending it straight to his voicemail.
"They've got her…Hospital." Peeta inferred that as they were meeting whoever with his Katniss at the hospital.
"Haymitch, what is going on? Did they find her? Is she okay? Did they catch him?"
"When the guys got there, the building was empty, except for her. She's okay, unconscious…That is all I know."
Haymitch, Effie and Peeta met the ambulance at the hospital, and Katniss had already been rushed into surgery. The three paced and worried for five hours before someone came out to talk to them.
"Agent Abernathy?" A doctor came into the waiting room, removing his scrub cap.
"Yeah, that's me." Haymitch informed the man, standing up and walking up to the doctor with Effie and Peeta at his side.
"My name is Dr. Aurelius. Your niece is in critical condition, but I am optimistic about her prognosis. She took a beating, had some internal bleeding, and some broken ribs. She is in the ICU and we are waiting for her to wake up. I'll take you to her, if you'd like to see her, but I must warn you to prepare yourselves. She does not look like her usual self."
The doctor guided them to the ICU, stopping at the entrace. "Family only, I'm sorry sir." The doctor apologized, looking at Peeta."
"He's family." Haymitch growled at the doctor.
When Peeta stepped into the hospital room and laid eyes on Katniss, his heart nearly shattered. He ran up to her side with tears in his eyes. "Oh God Katniss, what did he do to you?" He whispered, placing a light kiss on her forehead.
"I swear to God, I will kill that son of a bitch!" Haymitch hissed through gritted teeth.
The three of them waited by Katniss' bedside throughout the night, no one getting a wink of sleep as they anticipated her waking up, and what she would remember. There were police officers patrolling the hallways and one stationed right outside her room at all times. No one was allowed to leave their station unattended, there was always someone there to take their place when a break was needed.
Finally, just as the sun rose, Peeta felt Katniss squeezing his hand. Her eyes fluttered open and her eyes met the most beautiful pair of blue eyes staring back at her.
"Oh my God, you're okay Katniss." Peeta said, bringing their linked hands to his lips to kiss her hand.
"I'm sorry…who…who are you?"
A/N: Sorry it's so short, but it seemed like a good ending place. And I promise it will not be so long before the next chapter. If you have a second, leave me a little review!