A True Pearl

Thank You to Marie for beta-ing.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favored/alerted me and my story. I wish everybody would review; they make me want to type faster. The people who do review thank you so much =)

All I need 22-Thank you and I'll update when I can, like I am now.

PeetaMyLove- haha but yeah it's something that we do once a year and we are suppose to leave in a few days. Thanks for reviewing.

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Chapter 3

I awoke with a jump. I looked down and saw that I was covered in sweat. That dream it just couldn't be real. Could it? No, Annie no. You are supposed to hate the guy, remember?

'That's not what your heart says.'

'Oh, hush you. Who were those people anyways?'

'All in good time'

'You couldn't have been more vague.'

When I got downstairs, I saw my mom asleep in hospital bed. I twinge of pain hit me. It was almost the end of the year and my mom was just lying around waiting for her time. Nothing is ever fair. I looked over to the counter and saw breakfast waiting on me. That's my dad. He has a hard time paying the bills with only one parent working, so he will work double shifts. I barely ever get to see him because of this, so he will leave me small things here and there to let me know he is still and caring for me. I quickly ate breakfast and headed out. I met up with the girls to walk to school. I mostly stayed quiet, listening to them talking about all the newest gossip. There were things about Finnick here and there. I tried to tune those parts out since I knew they weren't true, and I knew if I said something they would hound me till they got the answers out of me. Then the whole school would hear about it; those girls weren't known for keeping their mouths closed.

School was its normal boring self. Sometimes Finnick and I ran into each other in the hall and talk, but not for long. Ever afternoon we met in the cave like we promised each other. It wasn't anything special, a damp and cold cave, but it was nice to us. We almost got caught talking in the halls one times by one of his many, many stalkers. We would catch each other's eyes in the cafeteria and he would give me a wink, and it made me giggle. Delaney, Harper, and Mya would give me 'crazy' looks while some of the other girls caught it would give me a death glare.

This dragged on for a few weeks. It seemed that Finnick's life kept getting busier. He hardly ever showed up anymore and he missed a lot of school. I would guess that he was on a fishing trip, but there was one problem: it was the middle of the winter. So where was he?

One morning I was walking down the stairs and I saw Dad taking care of Mom. He seemed to be home more these days, since business was extremely slow because of the cold. I walked over to the counter to make myself breakfast, and as I look up I saw the look in my dad's eyes and got a little guarded. He looked like he was dying on the inside.

"Annie, I'm going to need you to stay home today."

"Why? It's almost time for finals and I have to…" I stopped myself before he could find out that Finnick and I were talking again.

"You have to what? Never mind, it doesn't matter. You need to stay home. Your mom is getting worse and I need help around the house. You can make the work up later," he said with finality.

"Yes, Father," I said while talking the list of chores he gave me to do.

The same thing happened for the next few days. Either cleaning the house, cooking for the family, or tending to my mom for when my dad had to run errands. I wasn't allowed to leave the house, unless I had to take out the garbage.

The next day I was finally able to go back to school. I had a massive pile up of work to catch up on and when the girls saw me they got excited and hounded me with questions. When I told them where I was they immediately shut up. Finnick was still a no-show. I was really getting worried at this point. He has never missed this much at one time before.

We only had a day left till our winter break. This is the best time of the year, because we are a wealthy district along with One and Two. They will usually send us a little money to help us during this time and in return, we help them make the games more 'interesting'. I hate it, but this pact was made before I was born. Some people said it's because of an old American tradition but nobody really goes much further into that knowing so little about that civilization. Nobody knows much about it, because to the Capitol, knowledge about the past is dangerous.


I got up the next morning a little bit too lazily. It was below freezing outside and it was just so warm inside my bed, I didn't want to leave. I slowly walked down the stairs to see if my dad needed my help. He didn't which shocked me a little. So, since I wasn't needed I left the house to go walk around the town.

All the doors and shutters were closed in hopes of keeping the cold out. I walked down to the dock to see if there was any activity. As I got there I saw exactly what I expected: nothing.

I sat down on the pier to take a breather. The scenery was amazing. The water was calm and not moving, nothing unusual about that, No, it was something in the atmosphere. It felt more…welcoming. I looked around to see what was different and suddenly I saw it. Finnick's boat was docked right where it should be. I stared at it for a few minutes before the revelation hit me.

Finnick was home.

I ran to the boat. Nobody was there, but I could tell it wasn't that long ago till he left. I ran to the beach in hopes that he would be at the cave.

When I got there I looked towards the cave and I saw a light flickering. I felt something growing inside of me. I got excited and I flew towards the cave. When I got there what I saw shocked me.

Finnick wasn't there. The light was just a candle that was about to burn out. Someone was here. I looked to see what the light was shining at and there was writing on the wall. I read it before the light went out.

'Annie,

I tried to see you today, but it's late and I must go home to my father. Please me here tomorrow at 3:30. I got some things to tell and show you. In hopes to see you soon,

Finny'

So he was here and I missed him. Dammit! I hope he is going to explain where he has been this whole time. But what would he need to show me? I blew out the candle and left the cave heading home hoping tomorrow would come rapidly.

When I got up the next day I saw if my dad needed help with the chores. He only had a small list for me to do. 'Thank God.' When I got done he asked if I could help for dinner, I obediently obliged. It was a little after 2 when we were done. I told my dad that me and Delaney were meeting up and I needed to go get ready. He let me go, saying I helped him enough today.

When I left the house it was a little after 3. I started to run to the cave. As I got to the beach I skidded with a stop. I looked towards the cave and saw that it had a festive look to it. It looked inviting so I jogged over there.

When I walked in I gasped. It was beautiful. A few candles here and there, on a boulder there was some food and hot chocolate, which was extremely expensive. What is going on?

Suddenly Finnick stepped out of the shadows and into my sights. He looked scruffy and had bags under eyes.

"Hey Annie." He said nonchalantly.

"Hey Finnick. Where have you been?" I asked straight to the point.

He chuckled. "Same old Annie as always. I can't really tell you where I've been."

"Why not? You have been gone all this time and you can't give me an answer!" I exclaimed.

"I swore to my dad I wouldn't. But I didn't ask you to come down here today so we could fight."

"Then what may I ask did you bring me down here for?" I was really getting angry and I think he could tell.

"To celebrate." He said simply.

"Celebrate what? There isn't anything to celebrate."

"Well we could celebrate many things. For example just the mere fact that we are alive." I scoffed at that knowing so many people would disagree with him. He ignored me and continued "us being friends or we could just celebrate Christmas." What the heck was he talking about?

"What the heck is Christmas, Finnick?"

"It was a holiday back when this was North America on exactly this day, December 25th. It was a time of giving and receiving gifts. It was the day that their Savior, some believed, was born. Or it was just a story for little kids. Santa Claus, or St. Nick, who was a fat guy that would go into people's homes and leave gifts for kids. "

"Is that all?" I asked bewildered.

"No, there's more I just don't want to spend all our time on this subject."

"Well how about a different subject like where you learned this information." I said while grabbing me a piece of bread to eat.

"I can't talk about that either. I'm sorry."

"Okay well what do you want to do now?"

He gestured to the food. "We could eat; we don't want it to go to waste."

While we were eating I felt his eyes on me. I looked up and saw I was right. "What's wrong?"

"I missed you a lot on our…" He had a hard time trying to find a word. "Business trip. So while we were gone I got you a gift, well actually I made it. I couldn't wait to give it to you and I thought it was a perfect idea to give it to you as a Christmas gift. So I had to wait." He reached in his pocket and pulled out something. It was a silver chain with a pearl on it. "Merry Christmas, Annie."

I raised my eyebrows a little but I didn't say anything. "Finnick, it's beautiful. But, you know we're not allowed to keep pearls from our district."

"I didn't get it from here." He told me secretly. "Please take it, you can hide it but I want you to take it. Please?"

I took it from his hand and held the pearl gently from my fingers. "Beautiful," I whispered.

"Yes, you are," Finnick said to me.

"Finnick," I said blushing madly, "Please, no flattery. You know how I feel about you."

He looked deflated. "I know but I was telling the truth. I got that pearl for a reason. I got it because I think you're pure and beautiful. Inside and out. No ifs, ands, or buts."

"Well…I…umm." Great, I was stuttering now.

"See you don't even disagree." Heat rose in my cheeks. He laughed when he noticed.

"I was trying to tell you that this gift is thoughtful, but I don't have anything to give you for this…Christmas."

"I could probably think of something." He said while scooting closer to me.

"Finnick…" I warned.

"Just a teensy little kiss, it won't mean anything. Just a kiss I swear. Please." He looked at me pleadingly. I tried to look away because I knew if I looked into those eyes I wouldn't be able to say no.

I looked at him and crossed my arms. "Fine." He pumped a fist into the air like a little kid. "But just this once and it won't mean anything." But that's what the problem was. It wouldn't mean just anything to me.

He leaned over to me. I could feel his hot breath on my face. He licked his lips and I saw his eyes travel to my lips. I did the same and whispered to him, "Merry Christmas." I crashed my lips on his.

The kiss was amazing. Our lips moved in sync and I could tell I was about to run out of breath. We broke away and looked at each other. We were both panting from being out of breath. When my breathing caught back up with me, I just looked into his eyes I didn't know what quite to say yet.

"That was…" Finnick it seemed didn't know either.

"Yeah…" I Just let it trail it was obvious both of us didn't know what to say. "Just remember what we agreed to before this."

"About that, Annie. Well, I think that we should-"

"No, Finnick. I don't want to start anything." I stopped him before he could start something that would end in pain.

"Okay Annie. Anything you want. But one day, I will earn your trust and you will see what I mean."

"Whatever. Good night Finnick, I got to go." He stood up with me.

"Good night Annie. I'll see you another day. I can't come back here till next term, so I hope you have a good time." He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Good-bye, Annie".

I watched him run out of my sight, then I turned around and blew out the candles and left. This has been the weirdest day, and I had a feeling that it wasn't the end of it. When I got home the lights were already off. My mom had already fallen asleep and my dad was right beside her. When I closed the door he woke up.

"Annie…" He mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah it's me Dad. Sorry I'm home late, but me and Delaney were having problems with one of the math problems."

"Okay Annie, just don't do it again." I agreed and walked up to my room. I looked at my bed and immediately fatigue set in on me. I went to my bathroom to take a shower then switched into my Pjs. As soon as my head hit the pillow I passed out.


When my vision came back, I was walking down a very dim hallway. I felt sick to my stomach and I didn't know why. I started to run to try to find someone, anyone. The lights started to get brighter and I started to slow down. When I came to my destination, I stopped. It was a hospital wing. When I walked in a woman saw me and recognized me. She had light blonde hair and blue colored eyes. She was small and tiny. Her face, that was once beautiful, had years of stress that worn down her beauty. She hurried over to me.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Odair," she said to me.

Did I hear her correctly? Did she just call me Mrs. Odair? Something was definitely wrong with this lady. Wait, think Annie. What happened in your last dream? You were at a wedding, and you were saying vows and Finnick was there and...

Oh. My. God. Did I seriously marry him? No, something is wrong with these dreams. Wait...I just ate something bad. Yeah, that's it I just ate something bad I told myself. I'll just play along with her to see what happens.

"Yes, Mrs.…Everdeen?" I looked at her name tag to get her name.

"We are going to move into this room right here, okay?" She said while ushering me into a room.

She handed me a hospital robe to put on. When I had it on she turned around. She got me to sit on a bed, a cold bed at that.

"I'll be right back; I just need to get a few things first."

I nodded my head and she went away. All of this was creeping me out and it didn't help when she brought in a monitor. She got me to lift the robe up to above my belly. I obeyed despite the strangeness. She put some cold gel on my belly and rubbed it around. She put a device on my stomach and moved it around.

"So, Annie, have you told Finnick yet?" She asked me curiously.

"Told him what?" I asked completely oblivious.

"About the baby, of course!" She said, laughing.

"Umm...no I haven't. Should I?" Oh crap. What is happening?

"Well I think you should. I think something big is about to happen. Katniss hardly talks to us anymore, and she is even ignoring Prim! And Plutarch keeps avoiding me. If he thinks he is going to do something with my baby without telling me, he has another thing coming." She was really getting fired up.

"Umm, not to be rude...but what does this has to do with a baby?" I asked truly confused.

"Well if it has anything to do with the war, you know that Finnick is going to get involved. You need to tell him about y'alls baby. Why are you waiting? You know he's going to be ecstatic."

Holy shit! This lady is trying to say I'm pregnant and with Finnick's kid. Now I know I ate something bad. Whatever, I'll still go with it. "Oh yeah about that…I was going to tell him tonight after this appointment." Why not have fun with it? "I'm even to going to have a little dinner ready; you know, make it all romantic."

"That's sweet. You and Finnick deserve everything. Especially with what he had to go through to keep his loved ones alive." I am really getting tired of this lady talking nonsense. I have to leave this place.

"I got to go," I said trying to get up.

"Wait, you haven't seen the picture yet! It's coming up now." Just as she said that a picture came up of a round tubby little creature.

"Is that…" I said, now breathless.

"Yes, that is your child." I tuned her out. I looked at the picture of the chubby kid that was mine. It was so hard to believe that this thing was in me.

"What is its gender?" I asked, quite abruptly.

"The gender? Well let's see here." She started to scrutinize the photo. "Oh, here we go." She pointed to a part on the body that definitely didn't belong to a female. She looked at me with a huge smile. "Congratulations, it's a boy!"

I got extremely happy, I didn't know why, but this little creature inside of me would change my life, I could already tell. This was going to be a very interesting ride to see what these dreams are trying to tell me.


Author's note- Again please review I want at least 10 reviews for this chapter. When we get back from Wisconsin I will update as quick as I can. My birthday will be the 8th of January though and that is also the day me and my boyfriend will be dating for 3 months, weird right? But anyway I got AP classes next semester so... It should be interesting for me. Wish me luck! I love all you guys and I wish all of y'all a Merry Christmas and a happy new years, since I won't update till after the new years.