Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games because if I did Jay would exist!

He stood there staring at me, frozen unable to say anything. He looked at Coin and then back at me confusion spread across his face. After a while he got his voice back and whispered,
'Are you real?' Tears clouded my eyes as I thought to when I saw Haymitch in back in the Capitol and I thought he was a trick come to hurt me. I nodded and bit my lip. Katniss stood up from her seat beside him and stared at me.
'Prove it.'
'What?' I said confused, she walked close to me sizing me up.
'Prove it.' I sighed and tried to think of something that would prove I was the real me, only one thing came into my mind that no one else could possibly know.
'Finnick has a teddy bear named Mr. Snuggles that he thinks no one knows about and keeps hidden under his bed but I found him one day when we were training and I went and hid in his room.' Finnick's jaw dropped and Katniss raised her eyebrows and glanced at Finnick to see if I was telling the truth. He ran forward and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug, forcing all the air from my lungs.
'I thought I lost you.' He whispered in my ear.
'I'm so sorry; I didn't want to get your hopes up. I thought they would kill me. I didn't want you to lose me twice.' He squeezes me harder and I can feel his tears against my skin, everyone in the room is silent as he clings to me, I think they're still in shock.

When he finally let me go I was addressed by the rest of the people in the room.
'How do we know she can be trusted?' Said a man with deep blue eyes. 'She's been locked up just liked Peeta, who knows what they did to her. She could be trained to kill anyone of us.'
'I understand you not trusting her but she has told us her side of the story and Plutarch assures me that she hasn't undergone the same treatment as Peeta.'
'Still how can you be sure?' Said someone I couldn't see.
'Let me tell you what they did to me in there. They strapped me down and shocked me within an inch of my life and when that didn't work, they beat me. Then we they realised I didn't care what they did to me they brought in my best friend and made me watch while they beat him to death. I have spent the last year of my life living in hell and you think that I'm working for them? You can't be serious.' I brought my fist down on the wooden table in front of me cracking in straight down the middle. I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room not caring where I went.

I was almost to the end of the hall when I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I spun around and punched them straight in the face. Gale went sprawling backwards on the floor, blood gushing from his nose.
'Seriously, whenever I'm around you it's like you're trying to kill me.' I rolled my eyes at him and continued walking. 'So what, you're just going to punch me in the face and then leave me here.'
'Looks like it.' I called back to him and kept walking. He got up, blood still dripping from his nose.
'Why the hell are you mad at me?' I spun around to face him and he backed up as I glared at him.
'BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST LIKE THEM! YOU DON'T TRUST ME! I'M JUST SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T MATTER TO ANYONE, NO ONE CARES WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH! YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT YOURSELVES AND THE RISK A TRAUMATISED GIRL PRESENTS TO YOUR FUCKING MESSED UP WAY OF LIFE! YOU'RE JUST LIKE THEM, YOU FOLLOW THEIR ORDERS AND YOU ALL THINK THAT YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD! THAT AND PRESERVING YOUR LITTLE UNDERGROUND PISS HOLE! THREE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN MY LIFE ARE DEAD AND YOU DON'T EVEN CARE!' I shoved him to the ground and ran off tears pouring down my face. I ran into my room and slammed the door shot sinking to the floor with my back against the wood sobbing my eyes out.

'Jay, let me in.' I heard Finnick's voice outside the door and I took a deep breath wiping the tears from my cheeks before letting him in.
'Hi.'
'Hi.' He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. 'They're all jerks; I know you're not a threat. I'm just so glad you're safe. You, Annie and I we can be a family again.' I couldn't help myself; I started crying again into his chest knowing that we could never be a family again now that Mags and Toby were gone. He picked me up in his arms and set me down on the bed. I curled up into him sobbing.
'It's going to be okay, I promise.'
'They... They... They killed Toby Finnick. I saw them, he was so scared. A...And Mags, Thresh.'
'Shh, it's okay. We'll get through this. I'm going to make sure we all stay together okay.'
'Did you see what they did to Peeta? My Peeta.'
'Since when are you and Peeta friends?'
'I was with him. In the cell. He's my friend and now he's almost gone too.' He hugged me tighter and we lay there for hours just like we used before all of this happened.

I woke up to a tapping on the door, Finnick was asleep next to me, I sighed rolling out of bed and swinging the door open. Gale stood leaning against the frame, his nose swollen and bandaged.
'What do you want?'
'To say sorry, although I shouldn't have too because I've been nothing but nice to you and you attacked me every chance you've gotten.'
'Says the man who covered me in a blanket and carried me around like I was a sack of potatoes.'
'Look I really am sorry, for what they did to you, for what they did to your friends but you can't take it out on me. I don't think you're dangerous unless you want to be, you only hurt people who you think deserve it. Mainly me but let's just ignore that fact for now. You need to show them that you can be trusted instead of assaulting everyone who disagrees with you.'
'It worked before. Kept me alive.' He sighed,
'This isn't a war zone anymore, and you're safe. You don't need to be afraid of anyone anymore.'
'I'm only ever afraid when some is hurting some I care about. I don't give a rat's arse about myself.'
'You are one of the strangest people I have ever met. I'm going down to work with Beetee, do you wanna come? It'll make it easier to keep an eye on you.' I nod my head,
'I have to tell Finnick though.'

'Finnick, Finnick wake up.' I whispered lightly shaking him on the shoulder, he moaned and rolled over in bed but he didn't wake up. 'Finnick, Finnick. FINNICK! WAKE UP!' I jumped up and down on the bed next to him. He fell out of the bed and landed with a crash on the floor.
'What the hell!' He looked up at me pissed but I put on my pouty face and he sighed. 'You know I can't even be mad at you anymore now that I know you're okay. I'm afraid if I do something will happen and it'll be the last thing you hear.'
'Don't be such a drag Finnick. I just woke you up to tell Gale invited me to go watch him and Beetee work and I didn't want you to freak out if I was gone when you woke up.'
'Have fun. But not too much fun, I like Gale but if he tries anything funny he'll have to answer to me.' I rolled my eyes at him,
'As if, if you hadn't noticed me and Gale aren't the best of friends. He only asked me to go because I'm his job.'
'Still if he tries anything you tell me.' He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, once again forcing the air from my lungs. 'This time you come back.' I nodded and wiped the tears from my eyes.

Gale was waiting for me outside,
'Ready to go?' I nod and he turns leading me down the hall to a research room in one of the lower corridors.

'I'm so glad you're okay.' I turn around and see Beetee smiling at me, he's in a wheelchair but otherwise he seemed fine. He was beaming at me and I bent over to give him a hug.

'I'm glad you're okay; they made me watch the games. I was so worried about you guys.'
'Would you like to see what I'm working on?' I nodded and he wheeled over to a large desk covered in blue prints and began showing me various things, weapons, traps they were all so high tech and interesting looking. I picked up one of the ones closest to me and realised it looked very familiar.
'Ah yes, recognise it do you? It's your suit from the Hunger Games; I've been trying to figure that one out for a while now. Bullet proofing is easy but it's the weight that I'm having trouble with. The one in the games was as light as a feather; I need to figure out what material they used. You don't still have yours do you?' Beetee asked.
'No they took it, along with everything else I owned.'
'I didn't think you would.'

I'm sitting there watching them work for a while when Katniss comes in, her throat looks bruised and I can't help but feel that Peeta was responsible. She looks over the blueprints their working on.
'What are these?' She asks hoarsely, attracting their attention.
'Katniss, you've found us out,' says Beetee cheerfully.
'What? Is this a secret?'
'Not really. But I've felt a little guilty about it. Stealing Gale away from you so much,' Beetee admits. I raise my eyebrows and look at the pair, Gale is purposefully avoiding eye contact and I realise that maybe there was something going on between the two. Gale saw me staring at shot me a look, I gave him a smirk seeing as he just confirmed my suspicions.
'I hope you've been putting his time to good use.' Katniss replies,
'Come and see.' Beetee replies, waving her over to a computer screen to show her what they've been working on, elaborate traps in order to leave a person helpless.
'That seems to be crossing some kind of line, So anything goes?' Katniss says after looking at the designs, in my opinion they're brilliant but then again I don't care what it takes to destroy the Capitol. Beetee and Gale stare at her, I see a harshness in Gale's eyes that reminds me of myself.
'I guess there isn't a rule book for what might be unacceptable to do to another human being.' She continues.
'Sure there is. Beetee and I have been following the same rule book President Snow used when he hijacked Peeta,' says Gale. I flinch and Katniss storms out of the room. I take a deep breath to stop myself from crying, Gale looks at me and realises what he's done. 'I'm sorry Jay, I didn't mean it. It's just I needed to make her see how important this is.' I nod and jump from my seat and walk outside.

'Jay, just the person we need.' Haymitch was standing in the corridor next Katniss. 'We're going to Peeta, try some stuff out and since you're the only person who can be in the same room as him without him trying to kill them you might be helpful.'
'It's not going to hurt him is it.'
'No but it might help us get him back.'
'I'd do anything to get him back.' I followed him and Katniss, she looked like she was going to be sick, she kept playing with the braid in her hair. Haymitch stared straight ahead and tried not to look at us, I knew they were just as upset as I was. When we entered the room a girl ran up to Katniss and began talking really fast about District 13. After she was finished talking to Katniss and ran up to me,
'Hi, I'm Delly Cartwright from District 12. I saw you in the Hunger Games with Katniss, I'm sorry about your boyfriend he seemed really nice. Do you like it here in 13, I think it's brilliant.' I just stood there staring at her as she rambled on; it actually started to freak me out. I wasn't good with people especially not bubbly people. Haymitch stood next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
'We should get started.' Delly smiled and nodded and followed Haymitch and Katniss into the observation room. I walked slowly behind them not wanting to see what would happen.

He's in the position when I last saw him lying on his bed his arms strapped down; he looked peaceful in a way. When Delly opened the door, his eyes widened in alarm as she walked in and smiled and he immediately began to look confused.
'Peeta? It's Delly. From home.'
'Delly?' He looked less confused and props himself up on his elbows. 'Delly. It's you.'
'Yes!' she says letting out a sigh of relief that he recognised her. 'How do you feel?'
'Awful. Where are we? What's happened?' Haymitch and Katniss start having a conversation about Peeta but I zone them out and lean my forehead against the glad focusing on him.
'Well…we're in District Thirteen. We live here now,'
'That's what those people have been saying. But it makes no sense. Why aren't we home?' He looks sad and confused which immediately makes me feel sad looking at him.
'There was…an accident. I miss home badly, too. I was only just thinking about those chalk drawings we used to do on the paving stones. Yours were so wonderful. Remember when you made each one a different animal?'
'Yeah. Pigs and cats and things, you said…about an accident?'
'It was bad. No one…could stay,' she was cracking and I could see it, she needed to keep him focused, he was getting off track. 'But I know you're going to like it here, Peeta. The people have been really nice to us. There's always food and clean clothes, and school's much more interesting,' she continues trying to draw his attention back.
'Why hasn't my family come to see me?'
'They can't.' I can see tears forming in her eyes as her voice gets shaky. 'A lot of people didn't get out of Twelve. So we'll need to make a new life here. I'm sure they could use a good baker. Do you remember when your father used to let us make dough girls and boys?'
'There was a fire,' Peeta says as his eyes grow wide in realisation.
'Yes,' she whispers.
'Twelve burned down, didn't it? Because of her,' says Peeta angrily. 'Because of Katniss!" He starts pulling on his restraints trying to get free.
'Oh, no, Peeta. It wasn't her fault,' She starting to look really sacred, her face has gone completely pale.
'Did she tell you that?' he hisses at her angrily, his eyes full of hatred.
'Get her out of there,' says Plutarch he turns to me and nods. 'You're on.'

I run in and he's screaming at her at the top of his lungs as she backs slowly towards the door.
'Because she's lying! She's a liar! You can't believe anything she says! She's some kind of mutt the Capitol created to use against the rest of us! Don't trust her, Delly, I did, and she tried to kill me. She killed my friends. My family. Don't even go near her! She's a mutt! A mutt! She's a stinking mutt!' Someone pulls Delly out the door and I drop down beside his bed.

'Look at me. Look at me Peeta.' I held his face in my hands and he stopped pulling on the restraints. 'Look I'm fine, no one hurt me okay. I went out there and no one hurt me. See I'm fine, please calm down.' He stares at me and his eyes soften becoming full of sadness instead of hate.
'She... She killed them. She's a mutt.' He whispered.
'No Peeta she isn't. She loves you remember. I know it'll take some time but eventually you'll see. You just have to trust me, you do trust me don't you?'
'I trust you.' I smile at him and he manages to smile back.
'Good, then for me please don't fight them. Just trust me and everything will be okay I promise.'