Thank you to all those who favorited this story, have put it on alert, or have reviewed it. The fact that anyone at all is reading this warms my heart. I created the first word document for this story on my computer on February 19, 2013, and it had been swirling around in my head and in my notebook for a few weeks prior to that. That's how long this story has been in the works. I never thought I would have the courage to post it, and now that it's out there and people are reading and enjoying it fills me with joy. So thank you, readers. You make me very happy. Have some more April and Cato banter!

Disclaimer: Sadly, Suzanne Collins owns the Hunger Games and everything involved with it, but I own my characters. So, don't steal them. Please? Thank you.

And when the daylight comes I'll have to go
But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close
Cause in the daylight we'll be on our own
But tonight I need to hold you so close

Chapter 7: Caught

Warmth surrounded me as I felt the first edges of sleep begin to fall away from me. The warmth begged me to stay under, but there was something else pushing for my body to wake up. Snuggling deeper into the blankets that were wrapped around me, I realized that one of the blankets was stiff and draped over my waist. Rolling over, I tried to figure out what was wrong with the blanket and came smack into something harder. There was a pull around my waist, bringing me closer to the solid mass beside me. I tried to wiggle myself out of whatever it was, but it just tightened around me, holding me in place.

Someone was suddenly speaking, startling me for a moment before I realized it was Cato. "Would you stop moving, April? I'm trying to sleep," he mumbled into my hair.

I immediately stiffened. All of the memories from last night rushed back quickly. Though I'd stopped things before they had gotten too far, Cato and I had let our teenage hormones take over for a while. Opening my eyes, I was met with Cato's toned chest, sunlight just filtering in through the windows and casting a faint orange glow over us. I glanced down and saw that his arm was wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me in place, with no intention of letting me go.

I put my hands on his chest to try to push myself away and give myself room. "Cato, it was not my intention to stay here the entire night." I looked over him and saw that it was a little after five in the morning. The sun was coming up, and if I didn't leave, I was going to get caught sneaking back into my room. Cato pushed me back down on the bed before pulling me back to his chest. "I need to get back to my floor so no one freaks out."

He groaned, still keeping his eyes closed. "I don't think you understand just how comfortable I am right now, and if you don't go back to sleep, you might just regret it."

I tried to push away again, but he wasn't having any of it. "Cato, please let me get up. I don't want to get an earful from Merrick."

He scoffed. "Your brother can get his panties out of a wad." He opened his eyes to look at me, a smirk splayed across his face. "And you can get your panties out of a wad as well," he said, his hand drifting from my waist and over my underwear clad ass.

I was suddenly very embarrassed by what had happened and jumped back, successfully getting out of his grip. I gathered up my shorts, hastily pulling them up my legs. "If anyone asks, this never happened. Got it?"

Cato rolled his eyes, sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from them. "Are you gonna make me pinky swear?" He asked in a mimicking voice, and I retaliated by sticking my tongue out at him.

I started to look around the room for my shoes, frantically searching for any sign of them in the room. In the corners, behind furniture, even the blankets that covered Cato's bed, but I couldn't find them anywhere. I had just bent down to look under the bed when I realized that I'd left them in my room before even going up to the roof to relax. "Well," I said, standing up, dusting my shorts off, "last night was fun, but it probably shouldn't happen again."

"Probably? We didn't even get to the fun part last night," Cato countered as I continued toward his door. At least he was staying on the bed and not trying to pull me back into it.

"You tongue was practically down my throat for three hours. Among other places." Expertly, I added in my head. God, kissing him had been like coming up for fresh air in the sea of Hunger Games madness that was trying to drown me. "It was fun."

Cato reclined back against the pillows on his bed, raising his arms above his head and locking his fingers together behind it. "You'll come back for more," he said, his voice sure.

I smirked, unable to resist the banter we could get going between us, even though I really needed to leave. "In your dreams," I said, opening his bedroom door, but not making the move to leave just yet. Despite my attempt to tell myself otherwise, there was an attraction between us. There was no denying it. That didn't mean it was a good thing, but it didn't stop us from this, from flirting with each other at inopportune times.

The smile, the one that I had seen from the night before, crept up his lips. I wanted to see that smile more often. "Every night." His eyebrow cocked up as he winked.

I rolled my eyes playfully, but secretly reveled in the idea of being in his thoughts that often, even in his subconscious. "Goodbye, Cato. I'll see you in training." Backing out of the room, I grabbed the knob and pulled the door shut quietly.

Moving slowly through the apartment, I kept quiet as I listened for anyone that might be awake, but the only sound was the distant sound of running water, presumably from a shower, coming from Cato's room as I moved away from it. All the lights in the open area of the apartment were still off, so I concluded that I was in the clear. My feet moved quickly across the floor until I was out the door and in the elevator. One down, one to go.

It had always amused me how when someone tried to be quiet, every noise they made seemed amplified, until I was the one trying to be quiet. The click of the door to the apartment shutting seemed to echo through the rooms, and I cringed at the thought of someone hearing. The speech that Merrick would likely give if he were to catch me was already playing in my head, his voice stern and upset. The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint my brother, especially if it was something that could cost me the Games. I had one foot in the living area when I heard a cough, my back stiffening immediately.

"How did dipping your feet go?" Xerxes asked, and relief consumed my entire being as I turned toward his voice.

There was no point in lying to him; he wasn't my brother. Though, I didn't know how he would react to the situation. Going in blind was worse than expecting a rant from Merrick. "Swimmingly," I said, a sheepish half smile, half cringe moving over my face as I walked toward him. I wasn't going to get to my room before talking to him. "Does Merrick know I didn't come back?"

Xerxes shook his head, moving over on the couch and patting the cushion, silently asking for me to sit with him. I obliged. "He retired to bed shortly after you left. Do I need to ask what kept you? It wasn't something terrible, was it?"

"Define terrible." Regret washed over me as soon as the words left my lips; it made what happened the previous night sound worse than it had been. The thought of explaining where I had been all night wasn't something I had been looking forward to doing with anyone, hoping desperately that I could have made it through without getting caught. Lifting my hand, I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "It really wasn't terrible. It was probably stupid, though."

"And why would anything you do be stupid?" Xerxes asked. The stark contrast in his reaction to how my brother would have was refreshing. It was nice to have someone look at my decisions as my own, even if they were considered questionable.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for any time of scolding I might receive, even if Xerxes was kinder when it came to my choices than Merrick was. "I spent the night with the boy from District Two. Cato," I said, looking up at him, surprised there was no shame in my voice. Before I even realized it, there was a smile tugging at my lips.

Xerxes seemed to study me for a moment before humming in affirmation. "The boy you were flirting with at the Parade," he said easily, sitting up a little straighter. "And do you feel something for this boy?"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the direction our talk was taking. It felt like one of the nights I would stay over at Nixie's house and gossip about what boy she thought might be cute. My heart squeezed in my chest at the thought, but I quickly pushed it away. It wasn't the time for reminiscing. "I don't really know how I feel about him, other than the fact that he can be infuriatingly arrogant sometimes," I said. My mind drifted to the times that I had been allowed to see past the brutality. Cato's smile was an infectious one. "But there is this pull that I feel toward him that I can't explain." It was a pull that nagged at me any time we were around each other, and I wasn't sure what to do about it, or even if I should do anything about it. "Which doesn't really matter. If I want to go home, he has to die in the next couple of weeks."

"Despite your situation, it does matter what you feel about this boy. You're worried getting attached to this boy will ruin your chances at winning," he said, as if he were reading my mind. It wasn't a good thing that I seemed so transparent to everyone. "You're worried that he'll distract you. More importantly, you're worried getting attached will make it harder to kill him."

"If I even have to be the one to do that," I supplied, trying to convince myself that it wouldn't come to that, but I wasn't so sure. Cato was one of the strongest tributes to be Reaped, and it would take something extraordinary to take him down before the final four. "But you're right."

"I think you underestimate your instinct to do anything to live over anything else." Xerxes words were comforting, and I was glad that he seemed to know exactly what I needed. "You might be surprised with how things turn out. Just don't overthink it. You have more things to worry about. Like training, which you need to be getting ready for," he added, glancing at his watch.

I stood up from the couch, pushing out a sigh of relief as I looked down at Xerxes. His talk had helped some, but it didn't stop what I had with Cato from looming over my head. "Thanks, Xerxes," I said with a small smile. I opened my mouth to speak again before he held up his hand.

"We'll keep your little outing last night between us," he supplied with a knowing grin. "There's no need to make your brother even more stressed than he already is."

Nodding quickly, I gave him a thank you before making my way down the hall to my room. I couldn't let the connection I shared with Cato bother me or get to me any longer. My sole focus was on my training, even though I would likely be spending part of it with him and the other Careers, just to see if the alliance could work. Stepping into the shower, I washed away all worries about the previous night, deciding I would look at it like a brand new day.

The knife flew from my hand, sticking right into the center of the target. I couldn't help but smile at myself as I threw the next knife, hitting the next target square in the chest again. There were a few times where my aim would be slightly off but still hitting close enough to the target that I was pleased with the throw. It was so much better than how I had been throwing in training the day before. It felt like each throw was getting easier, and I was thankful for Cato's help in remembering my training.

We hadn't spoken to each other, but Cato had given me a small nod before we were all dismissed to whatever station we felt like working at. I had yet to decide if I wanted to join the rest of the Careers, but if I wanted to make it to the end of the Games and have a chance at winning, it seemed like the best option. Each one of them was a force to be reckoned with, and using them like my brother used the Career pack in his Games would keep me alive long enough before I got to them too.

After another throw, the trainer at the station told me that I should move on to a different station. Weapons weren't the only important thing, as Atala had said the first day, so I found the empty plant identification station and began to look through what plants were poisonous and which were safe to eat. I was already efficient with water plants that I might find in the arena, but I needed to be confident in identifying all of them. The list of plants was long but skipping over water plants shortened it a bit. By the time I had read through the list once, I heard someone walk up behind me.

"Why are you wasting your time over here?" Cato asked, stepping up next to me. I wondered how long it would take him to talk to me.

I smiled to myself as I walked over to the touch screen, selecting plants that I thought were edible. "You won't be saying that when I stop you from eating something dangerous."

Cato leaned against the table and turned toward me, crossing his arms over his chest. "Does that mean you're joining our alliance?" He seemed genuinely happy to hear that, and it made me think of my talk with Xerxes. I needed to focus on myself and not whatever pull I felt toward Cato.

"I'm thinking about it. There's still the fact that half of your alliance doesn't like me," I said, nodding over my shoulder without stopping the movement of my hands over the pictures of the plants. I didn't need to look to know that if Cato was standing next to me, the other three tributes were watching the exchange.

"Half?" He asked, and I wondered how he could be oblivious to Glimmer's icy stare.

"Do I need to spell it out for you? Glimmer doesn't like the fact that you pay more attention to me than you do to her," I said, looking up at him with a quirk of my eyebrow. I pressed the button of a plant I thought was safe to eat, but it flashed red before disappearing. Cursing myself, I tried to pay more attention to the screen than the boy next to me. "I thought it was obvious."

"And I thought I was making it obvious to her that I have no interest in her," Cato countered.

"Which is exactly why she doesn't like me," I said with a shake of my head. The screen flashed white when I had finished identifying all of the safe plants, and besides the one mistake, I had managed to do pretty well. Half the plants on the screen had been found in water anyway. When nothing came back up, I turned to Cato, mirroring his stance when my arms over my chest. "You obviously don't know much about girls."

"I know enough about them to know how much I affect you," Cato said, taking a step closer into my personal space. I couldn't exactly deny that he affected me. After our talk that morning, it seemed we both understood that there was something between us. It was just hard to know how to go about it when we were in a life and death situation. "If I were to suddenly start flirting with her, would you get jealous?"

The idea of Cato flirting with Glimmer sent a small pang of jealous through me, one that I had no right to feel. Just because there was something I saw in him and, from what I had gathered from our interactions, he in me didn't mean there was anything substantial to it. He could flirt with who he wanted to. I hoped I masked my face enough for both of us to believe that I didn't care. "I'm not the jealous type," I said with a shrug.

Cato looked me up and down, studying me for a few moments. It was absolutely unnerving that someone I had just met could see right through my disguise. The small quirk of his lips told me that my ruse hadn't worked. "I didn't think you were," he said, going along with it. "I'll see you at lunch."

"I never said I was eating with you guys," I said, just as I turned away. I was going to study over the plants once more before lunch, and then I would find something else to focus on afterward.

"Hey, where's my knife?" Cato asked loudly, and at first, I thought he was asking me, but when I turned back, he was confronting the boy from District Six.

He held up his hands to show that he indeed didn't have anything. "I didn't touch your knife," he said defensively.

I could already see Cato getting angry and knew it wasn't going to end well. Moving quickly away from the plant station, I walked as quickly as I could across the gym just as Cato pushed the kid in the chest, accusing him again of stealing the knife he was using. His temper is worse than mine. I was in front of Cato in a second, pushing him away from the boy. Cato could have torn him to bits if he wanted to. "Stop," I yelled at Cato, motioning for the other boy to get away. "Save it."

"I'll finish you right now, kid," Cato growled quietly, trying to push past me, but I kept moving with him.

"Cato, stop!" I yelled again, finally getting his attention. The guards were more than ready to step in if I couldn't control him, and he was starting to cause scene. Looking so unstable in front of the Gamemakers was not a good move. "Not here."

"Right." He took a couple of deep breaths, looking down at me before looking back to the boy behind me. I deserved a gift basket from District Six after saving their tribute. "I'll wait for the arena," he said to the boy. "You're the first one I get, so watch your back."

"Let's break for lunch!" Atala yelled to all of us, and that was probably the best idea for everyone. It would give everyone time to calm down before getting back into training.

I parted from Cato, not saying another word to him as I walked into the cafeteria to get my food. When I turned back to the room, Marvel and Glimmer were both glaring at me as Cato and Clove talked amongst themselves. It was easy to see that I still wasn't welcome there. Spotting Katniss and Peeta at another table, I walked over to them, hoping that I had made a good enough impression the day before.

"Can I sit with you guys again?" I asked, with a polite smile. "Unless I'm intruding."

"Not at all," Katniss said, moving over to make room for me. I hated to say that I was really beginning to like the two of them. It just made things that much harder.

Katniss was talking about a time she was chased by a bear when Peeta looked over at me. "What happened to your face?" He asked.

I had almost completely forgotten about the cut on my face from Marvel's punch the previous day. The medicine Xerxes had given me had made it completely painless. "I cut myself shaving," I joked, deciding I didn't need to advertise my rivalry with the District One tributes.

Katniss and Peeta mostly regaled me with stories from their district; I hadn't heard much about District Twelve other than it was mostly known for exporting coal to the other districts. The forest was as much Katniss's home as the ocean was to me, and I could tell that she missed it. When they asked me if I knew my district partner very well, I looked up to see Crest sitting at a table with the tributes from District Three, which wasn't surprising since he spent his time with them on the train as we watched the other districts get reaped. It seemed our act of pretend to be indifferent to each other was working, so I lied and told them that the day of the Reaping was the first day that we had met.

Getting to know them more and more was making the Hunger Games that much worse of an experience. Neither of them deserved to die. But I knew that if I couldn't be in an alliance with the Careers, Katniss and Peeta were my back up plan. Reading people was something I considered myself proficient in, and they both seemed trustworthy enough. I wouldn't be constantly worried about them stabbing me in the back like I would with Marvel and Glimmer.

After lunch, there weren't any incidents between Cato or any of the other tributes. I decided to take a chance in the sparring ring with a Capitol trainer. Growing up with two brothers, we would wrestle each other from time to time, but it was nothing like actual fighting. Most of the time, she had me on my ass in seconds, but I learned a lot from her techniques. I would at least be able to hold my own against someone my own size.

A few hours after lunch, we were dismissed. With one day left of training before our individual scoring sessions, I knew it was time to reign in my focus. I needed to be remembered.

CATO OC CATO OC CATO OC CATO OC CATO

Thank you guys so much for reading and your continued support. I really can't stress enough that if you take the time to read the story, please take just an extra minute to review. I am writing this story for my own enjoyment, but it would be nice to know if you're enjoying it or if there was something I could do better. The next chapter won't be out for a couple of days because I have to work a full twelve hour shift tomorrow. Expect it on Tuesday! Again, thank you!