That's What Happened
Three hours passed. Jeanetty and Finnick sat with Katniss in Finnick' s quarters, which were closest to Medical. Haymitch stood watch outside Medical, waiting for some sign the rescue team had returned. Boggs turned the corner and nodded to him. He ran back to Finnick' s quarters. He opened the door and stuck his head in. "They're back."
The quartet of Victors hurried back to Medical and burst through the doors. The first bed had doctors and nurses surrounding it. "I don't want that!" A doctor was pushed away as Katniss and Jeanetty ran to it. Johanna sat on the bed removing every piece of equipment from her person. She only smirked at Katniss before turning to Jeanetty
"Jo." Jeanetty helped her friend remove the last of the medical equipment before standing back tearily.
Johanna ran her hand over her bald head. "You don't have to stand so far away, Jean."
Jeanetty sat on the bed close to her friend. "I can't say anything."
"You could start with 'you look like shit'."
"You'd counter with 'what else is new'."
"Then you'd give some weird bullshit story that would leave me in tears."
"I recently gave birth to a full grown hippo." Both women laughed a little. "What the hell happened in the Capitol, Jo?"
There was a commotion from one of the rooms. "That happened."
Jeanetty jumped up and ran for one of the examination rooms. She opened the door in time to see Boggs knock Peeta out with a prep tray. She scrambled to the young man's side. "Peeta! What happened?" She looked up to Haymitch.
"He took one look at her and attacked," he responded, righting himself to a semi standing position, panting heavily.
She helped the doctors and nurses load both of the 'Star-Crossed Lovers' onto gurneys before going to Haymitch's side. "Are you okay?"
"A little banged up. I'll be fine." He kissed her forehead. "You keep company with Johanna. I'll tell Plutarch what happened. Maybe he can shed some light onto this."
Jeanetty returned to Johanna and listened as the younger woman slowly recounted her time in the arena. She asked no questions but gave answers when Johanna noticed the ring on her hand. "But that was before everything was shot to shit. Before we didn't save you."
"Don't get all weepy on me now."
"I'm trying," Jeanetty said whipping at her cheeks. "I know the object was Katniss, but we got Beetee and Finnick, too. Why couldn't we get you?" Johanna didn't say a word but wrapped her arms around her older friend.
That's how Prim found them half an hour later. "Plutarch wants to talk to us."
Johanna shooed them away. When they entered Katniss's room, Haymitch, Beetee, and Boggs were there as well. Katniss was sitting up against against the back of her bed. Perm went to her sister's side as Jeanetty went to Haymitch. No one said anything until Plutarch tiredly stood in the doorway.
He sat down with a sigh and rubbed his hand over his face. "It's called 'hijacking'. We don't know how long the Capitol's been doing this to Peeta."
"It's fear conditioning," Beetee continued. "Enhanced with tracker jacker venom. "He looked to Katniss. "You were stung your first Games, remember? The venom puts the subject in a dissociative state. And then they torture him. With shocks and beatings, and strip down his identity. And then all of that suffering and fear is redirected. Associated with other memories or a person."
"They can change his memories of Katniss," Prim asked quietly.
Beetee nodded. "To make her seem life threatening."
"They turned him into a weapon, Katniss," Haymitch explained to the confused looking girl.
"To kill you," Jeanetty added softly.
"But you can reverse it," Prim questioned.
"Fear is the most difficult thing to overcome. We're programmed to remember fear the best."
"It's new terrain," Plutarch said. "But we've pu together a team. I'm optimistic."
Katniss looked unconvinced.
The next day Coin held an assembly, declaring the Victors held captive freed and revealing the next step in the plan on the Capitol. Jeanetty and Haymitch stayed in Medical with Johanna.
A few days later Katniss' neck brace was removed and Plutarch showed her to an observation room with Jeanetty and Haymitch. They watched as Prim entered Peeta's room and spoke with him. When he began vocally lashing out at her, Jeanetty wrapped an arm around Katniss.
"Katniss?" Plutarch looked to the young woman. "This is just a conditioned response. It's not him."
"No, it's not him," she agreed absently as she continued to listen to Peeta call her a Capitol Mutt. She left quickly, presumably to go see Coin.
Jeanetty turned to Haymitch. "What can we do for her?"
"All we can do is hope he'll get better with time, which I have no doubts he will," he said placing an arm around her shoulder.
She watched as Peeta was sedated by a doctor. "Perhaps you should go see him," Plutarch said slowly.
"No." Her response was sharp and fast. "If he wants me he'll say so."
Plutarch only nodded as he made his exit. She sighed and Haymitch pulled her closer. "He will get better. You need to stop worrying about him, and start worrying about what your gonna wear to your own wedding."
She turned her he'd to him. "What?"
"I've talked to Finnick and we agreed that you ladies need a few weeks to sort out the details. We're gonna do this jointly."
"Are you saying you want this to happen sooner than later?"
"I'm saying it's been over 20 years since you survived the Games and came into my home. This is our time to grab our happiness, and I'm not letting you say otherwise." They chuckled together. "And as soon as we're pronounced man and wife, I'm goning to make sure no one sees us until I'm certain that you and I are gonna live through this war."
"What about Katniss? Peeta? We can't disappear into 13 while they still need our help."
"Then we'll tell the Everdeens' how to find us, but not Plutarch."
She laughed. "Definitely not Plutarch."