She hears a knocking at her front door and tenses up. Only Bonnie uses the front door, and it's hard to talk with her. She opens the door like one would rip off a bandage to find Finnick Odair on the other side. He's a picture of ease as the soft breeze tousles his hair.

"Morning, sunshine." He greets as he lets himself in.

She rolls her eyes, "Come in."

He smirks at her as he stops in the living room.

"It's too early to practice speeches." She shuts the front door.

"We can do that later. I'm here about this fire hazard." He moves in a slow circle, surrounded by boxes and furniture. He stops when he's facing her.

Her arms are still tired from yesterday, "Bonnie and I went crazy when I first got back. It was easier to pretend then."

He doesn't falter, "Why don't we start by putting the outside furniture outside."

Caroline watches as he leaves the room with a chair.

"Oh, look, a bench swing." Finnick feigns excitement.

She helps him carry it out back. He picks up on her tiredness and does most of the heavy lifting while she packs the original linens and dishes to donate later.

Caroline is placing her last box on the front porch when she notices a figure walking toward her. She blinks a few times, eyes adjusting to the bright midday sun. It's Bonnie. She takes a deep breath. She hasn't been able to let Bonnie in, afraid of the monster she's become.

Bonnie looks surprised to see Caroline's front porch littered with boxes. "Doing some cleaning?"

Caroline pauses, "Sort of. I'm finally updating the house."

"Oh?" Bonnie's eyebrows raise. "Kai and I could have helped." Bonnie's voice is small.

Finnick pops his head out before Caroline can say anything, "I'll be back." He winks at the girls before disappearing.

Caroline turns, but he's already gone. Caroline turns back to Bonnie, seeing the ah-ha moment that flashes across her face. "He's been mentoring me, preparing for the tour and the games."

"What about school?" Bonnie asks as she takes in the previous information.

Caroline pauses, "I'm not sure, but I can't go back."

Usually, Bonnie stays and updates Caroline about their friends, but today she seems tired. "I'll let you get back to it. See you tomorrow?" Bonnie's eyes are light with hope.

Caroline wishes Bonnie would lose hope for her already; there's nothing left of her. She died with Stefan. "Yeah." Caroline tries to offer a small smile as Bonnie waves.

After a deep breath, Caroline pushes down her self-pity and goes back inside. She has to throw a load of laundry on and then figure out how to get her donation boxes to her mom. Caroline throws a quick load of laundry on and then heads to her study. She stares at the phone for ten minutes, trying to find the words to say to her mom. Finnick steps in, pulling her out of her head. She notices that he's changed into board shorts and a t-shirt.

He hands her a sandwich, "Hey, I just put the swing up. There's nothing left to do."

He sits across from her and begins to eat. She's not really hungry, "I have to call my mom; she'll know the best way to distribute the donations."

"Don't say donations. Tell the operator you have a delivery for your mom." Finnick instructors.

She opens her mouth to ask why, but he stops her by tapping his ear and twirling his finger around the room. They're listening.

Finnick finishes his sandwich by the time she hangs up the phone. "Don't overthink things, Sunshine." He stands and motions to her food, "Now hurry up the ocean's calling."

Caroline closes her eyes and takes a few breaths to calm herself. After yesterday morning, it was only a matter of time before Finnick made her go back into the ocean.


Caroline glances at herself in the mirror as she leaves her closet. She stops; the girl looking back at her is unrecognizable. Her bones are visible, and her eyes have bags under them. She's empty. Caroline changes into her wet suit; she doesn't want to give Finnick another reason to bring her food.

He looks lost in thought while editing her speech at the kitchen table. He looks up when she enters. There is a question in his eyes about her choice of swimwear, but he doesn't voice it. "Took you long enough."

She can't think of a witty response as she tries to calm her beating heart. If he notices, he doesn't say anything. She offers him a shaky smile, and they head to shore.

Finnick's already treading water when Caroline's toes touch the wet sand. "What does this have to do with mentor training?"

He motions for her to come closer. She rolls her eyes, trying to hide her fear behind annoyance. She stops when the waves touch her shoulders. Finnick takes a few strokes and is in her personal space. He leans in like he has the most important secret to tell. "Not everyone can swim."

This time the eye roll isn't fake.

He swims away, "No, seriously, my second year mentoring, we had a 13-year-old, and he did not know how to swim."

"He lived in four and didn't know how to swim?" Caroline is shocked.

He nods, "Yeah. He didn't have a fear of the water; he was just embarrassed. I'm not sure how he got that far."

"Did you teach him?" She doesn't remember that from the games.

Finnick is floating on his back now. "We were discreet about it, only using the pool at night. We didn't want the other tributes to know."

"The training center has a pool?" She feels like they missed out.

"Yeah, in the basement," Finnick says like it's common knowledge.

She splashes some water on him, and he disappears beneath the water before surfacing. He shakes the water from his face causing her to lean away. "Why didn't we know that?"

Finnick looks at her like she's grown a second head. "You can swim." He gestures to her.

Caroline looks down and realizes that she's treading water. She looks over her shoulder; they're probably 100 meters from shore. "Did you plan this?"

He shakes his head, "No. It kind of happened."

Panic doesn't fill her, and part of her wants to dive down; it's only 9 meters to the floor. Physically, this is easy, but mentally she's scared. Finnick watches, letting her move at her own pace. The water is calm and clear as the sun beats down on them. She looks at Finnick one last time before closing her eyes. She dives down. With her eyes closed, she can almost pretend she's not underwater. Then panic floods through her causing her to trash around, and bubbles surround her. she can't see anything. She looks down and finds Lennon's face staring back at her, reaching for her. Then she feels Finnick. He brings her to the surface, wrapping his arms around her and bringing her back to his chest. "Shh, you're going to bring us both down."

His voice calms her, bringing her back. She floats on her back, and he silently brings them to shore. She pulls away when she realizes what he's doing. He lets her and stops.

"Again." She says.

"This isn't something you can force." He warns.

She wants to see Lennon again. "One more time."

He gives in, "Fine. But let's go closer to shore. I don't want you to drown me."

They stop when Finnick's feet touch. Caroline still has a good 7 inches before her feet reach. She looks down; the water here is murky. "Let me stay down for a little longer this time."

He doesn't question her.

She sits cross-legged on the sea floor with her back to him. She opens her eyes, feeling the panic bubble up as she looks for Lennon. Caroline feels something wrap around her wrist, and she begins to scream. Finnick follows her instructions and waits before pulling her up.

She grips his bicep for dear life as she gasps for dear breath. To his credit, he doesn't try and comfort her. She lays her head on his shoulder, feeling him stiffen and relax. Caroline pulls away and heads back to shore. It's not fair to make him her lifeline; he's done more than enough. "Thank you." She mumbles.

She turns to him and finds an easy smile on his face. "I'm impressed."

He walks her back to her house. "Rest. I'll be by later for speech preparation."


Finnick knocks on her door four hours later with burritos. "I swung by the market before heading over."

"Can we talk about District 11?" She skips the hello, noticing that he's ignoring their earlier conversation. And she's grateful for that.

"Let's go for a walk." Finnick sidesteps the question.

She sits further in her chair before following him. She doesn't have the energy to argue with him. He leads them to the cliffs closest to her house. It looks like a rock face from far away, but once they get closer, she realizes there's a small path to the top. When her feet leave the sand and touch the rock, her right elbow aches as she thinks about her fall in the arena. She has her right hand on the rock face as she silently follows Finnick. There are maybe 8 inches until the edge. If she were to slip, she wouldn't survive; many rocks reach out from the ocean, with many more hidden beneath the surface.

Finnick abruptly stops, and she runs into him. He reaches out his left arm to keep her from falling. "Sorry." He mumbles. Finnick searches around; for what she's unsure of, but he finds it as he steps off the path. He motions for her to follow, and she takes a tentative step. There's no path; it's just rocks and edges with a few plants clinging for life. She keeps her eyes on the ground, careful not to fall. They probably have a couple of hours until sunset, and she doesn't want to make the journey in the dark.

"Can you jump?" He looks over his shoulder.

She looks up and finds him standing on the edge of a cliff. There's a two-foot jump between him and the edge on the other side. She looks down and realizes they're about 300 meters from the water. She shrugs in answer, not trusting her voice to stay confident.

He grins at her before running and jumping. He lands softly on the other side. "Your turn." The challenge drips from his voice.

She runs and leaps after him. Unfortunately, she psyched herself out and slowed down before jumping. Luckily, Finnick grabs her outstretched hand and pulls her to him. She lands face-first into his chest. He takes a step back. "You okay?" His hand is still holding her arm.

She pulls away from him. "Please tell me there's a different way down."

He smiles as he shakes his head. He leads them into a cave and sits down. It takes Caroline's eyes a few moments to adjust, and she sits near him. "Why the hike?" She asks as he hands her a burrito.

"These grew cold." He says.

"Thank you for," She shakes her burrito.

He nods, "They can't hear you here, so you can say whatever you want."

She looks at him, "What about the ocean? Can they hear us if we're in the water?"

"Near the shore, they can if the water and wind are calm. We'd have to swim further than we did today to be sure they can't hear us." He responds.

She shutters at the thought of being that far from shore.

He waves his hand, "So ask away."

Caroline fiddles with her burrito, suddenly at a loss for words. Ever since she was little, it was instilled in her to watch what she said. "How do I face District 11?" After seeing Lennon in the water today, she's afraid to see Thorn.

"It's not your fault." He doesn't answer the question. There probably isn't an answer.

Caroline looks away from him. "She begged for her life, Finnick." Her eyes begin to water.

"Hey," His voice sounds like he's afraid she'll break. He can't break what's already broken.

Finnick slides closer to her. He doesn't touch her, but she can feel the heat radiating off him. "She attacked you. It was self-defense."

She shakes her head. "I could have left her there; she wouldn't have followed me."

"You don't know that." Finnick answers. "You probably saved her from a more painful death. She wasn't going to make it." His voice is back to its usual tone.

"The Capitol might have forced us into the arena, but no one forced me to take four lives." Caroline tucks her knees under her chin and wraps her arms around her legs.

"You face the family with your humanity. Don't apologize for directly killing her; the Capitol won't like that. Honor her life." He answers her original question.

She looks at him. "I don't even hate the Capitol. I hate myself for becoming a killer."

A/N Please leave a review and let me know what you think.

A la prochaine!