Cecil groaned softly as he opened his eyes, his back feeling very stiff. He slowly sat up and smiled when he saw that Renata's eyes were peacefully closed, her breaths quiet and even. His joints crackled as he stood up and brushed back her hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead before quietly leaving the room and going into the kitchen.

"Good morning," he murmured to his wife, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"How late did you stay up?" Leona asked as he went to make himself a cup of coffee. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Of course I slept. I don't know how long I was up, but I wanted to make sure she got back to sleep and stayed asleep," he replied, furrowing his brow.

"That's nice, because your real daughter didn't fall back asleep for hours because she was so afraid." She looked up at him, her lips in a hard line. "It's not always going to be like this, is it? You will remember that you have an actual family that needs you?" She swallowed as he sat down beside her, clutching to his coffee mug. "I'm just worried that you'll focus so much on Renata that you won't make time for your sons, your daughter…for me," she said softly, reaching out to stroke his tanned cheek.

Cecil let out a quiet breath, looking into his wife's green eyes. "You and the kids, as always, have been my number one priority. It's been one day, I'm not going to forget about you lot. Why don't you give Rini a chance? She likes you, you could attempt to be decent to her…" He took a drink of his coffee and then set it down. "We're all she has for a family, Lee, don't you see that by now? I do, and the kids do too." He stood up and kissed the top of her head. "Be kind to her when she wakes up, but hopefully I'll be back by then…"

Leona blinked, watching him walk towards the door. "And where are you going?" She went to him, crossing her arms as he bent down to tie his shoes.

"I'm going to find Finnick Odair."

Finnick yawned as he guided the boat back towards his dock. He had slept well, not as much as he had hoped, but he figured that with time that it would improve. The morning was already warm as he made it back to shore, and he could hear the horns from fishing boats heading out to sea. A light breeze tickled the skin of his bare back as he wandered up to the back door of his house, and he furrowed his brow when he heard knocking from the front of the house.

Sans the knocking, the house was eerily quiet and the air smelled stale. He pursed his lips and finally made it to the door, raising his eyebrows curiously as he saw Cecil standing on the other side.

"Good morning, Finnick," he smiled, his face weathered from many years at sea. His eyes had dark circles under them and Finnick almost immediately knew what had attributed to them.

"You look like you had a rough night. Come on in." Finnick left the doorway to go open some of the windows to get some air flowing through. "Make yourself at home." He motioned to the overstuffed furniture in the den. "What happened?"

Cecil settled into an armchair, running his hand over the soft fabric. "Renata started screaming in her sleep, woke up half the district, I think…" He sighed and wiped his sleep-deprived eyes. "When I finally got her to stop, she said that she'd stopped having nightmares."

The young man nodded slowly, crossing his arms over his chest. "She didn't wake up at all on the train ride home."

"You were in bed with her, then?"

Finnick froze, blinking. "I…what? Yeah, I mean…we slept in the same bed." He felt his cheeks flush at the look that Cecil was giving him. He'd never dealt with a protective parent before. It was quite a new experience. "I didn't…nothing happened, I promise," he mumbled, scratching at his head.

"Yes, well," Cecil cleared his throat and shifted in discomfort. "You seemed to be doing something that helped to distract her. You have any idea what that was?"

"Don't shake her awake," he said after a moment of awkward silence. "That'll make it worse…" He leaned against the wall and thought a moment. What was it about him that put her at ease? "Touch her face," he said softly, looking over at Cecil. "Reassure her that she's safe, you have to talk in her ear so she can hear you. And make sure she has enough blankets to keep her warm, but don't tuck them around her or anything. She needs to be warm, but not suffocated." The two men stared at one another for a long moment and Finnick felt the heat rush to his cheeks when Cecil sighed and shook his head.

"What if that doesn't work? Is she going to be like this all the time?" he asked, standing up from the chair.

"She isn't going to magically be better. It takes time for a wound to heal, and she's hurt pretty damn deep."

Cecil sighed and nodded, shifting from one foot to the other. "I suppose I should get home. Thanks for seeing me, Finnick." The floorboards squeaked quietly as he crossed the floor and exited the still-open door, leaving Finnick alone in the empty house.

Finnick sighed and he closed his eyes for a moment, resting his head against the wall. Things still didn't feel like they were back to normal. Things may have looked the same, but they felt more different than ever.

"Daddy! We get to move in our new house!" Aria exclaimed upon seeing her father enter the front door. She held a small sack of things on her back and a stuffed bear in her arms, a look of excitement on her face. She squealed when he picked her up and held her close as he walked further into the house, finding a squad of three Peacekeepers standing around in the kitchen all holding cups of freshly brewed coffee.

"Hello," Cecil smiled and nodded at them, feeling a little uncomfortable with having them in his house, with his wife and children. They looked nice enough, anyhow.

"Cecil, there you are," Leona gasped, walking in and looking a little frazzled. "We're packing up clothing and other things; they said the house would already have the necessities in it…" She trailed off and looked to one of the men in uniform as if to clarify.

"The house will have most everything you need, and if it doesn't then you may request to have something and you'll receive it." He smiled at her and nodded. "Thank you for the coffee."

She smiled back, taking his empty cup and putting it in the sink. "This feels so strange, we've lived here since we were married." She looked around the small house, sighing to herself.

Cecil set Aria down and gently took his wife's hand, leading her out of the kitchen. "Hey," he whispered and looked into her eyes, seeing how apprehensive she looked. "Wherever you are is home to me." He tilted her chin up and stroked her cheek with his thumb, smiling when she smiled.

"Right," she whispered back and closed her eyes when he leaned in and kissed her. "This is a good thing."

"It's a wonderful thing," he smiled sweetly and looked up when the floor creaked. "Hey there, Rini. How are you feeling?"

Her cheeks were flushed, having just silently stood by during their rare moment of tenderness. "Better, I think," she answered with a small smile and she clutched a couple of blankets to her chest. "Where were you this morning?"

"Oh, me? I went and scoped out which house we'd be moving into," Cecil smiled and waved his hand like it was nothing important. He smiled at his wife and gave her cheek a little pat before she went to put away more things to take to the new house.

"You didn't really have much here to pack," Leona said softly, looking at the young girl. "You took what you had to the other house?"

Renata nodded, and she furrowed her brow in confusion when Leona took the blankets from her arms. "I can get those, Leona, it's no trouble."

"Don't you want to see if you've left anything behind? You can take Aria along to help you if you like," she smiled, which looked a bit odd directed at her.

"Oh…well, alright. I had almost forgotten about it." Now that she was thinking about it, there were a couple things she wanted.

"Aria, do you want to go help Rini?" Leona smiled down at her daughter, who gasped and nodded eagerly. "We'll be here when you get back. We can't leave without you."

"Come on, Rini!" Aria grabbed her hand tugged her towards the door, so excited to be a helper.

Renata nearly jumped out of her skin when she opened the door and Finnick stood on the other side, looking equally surprised. "Oh!"

Finnick smiled and he leaned in the doorway, blocking her way. "Hello. And hello to you, little lady. What's your name?"

Aria hid behind Renata's legs and blinked up at the man. "Aria," she whispered and then looked down at her feet bashfully.

"That's beautiful," he chuckled and looked at Renata. "Where do you think you're going?"

"None of my things are here, so Aria and I were going to see if it was all still at the other house. Would you like to come with?" she added at the last second, looking up at him hopefully. "What are you doing here in the first place?"

He grinned sheepishly, "I'm here to see you, of course. What else?" He smiled bigger when Renata's cheeks flushed slightly.

"This is where you lived, Rini?" Aria asked, letting go of her hand as they made it inside the small place.

"Yep. Here is it…" Her footsteps creaked on the floor and she was amazed at how unchanged the place looked. She walked into the kitchen and saw that there were still unwashed dishes in the sink, and from the smell, there was spoiled food somewhere.

"You lived here alone?" Finnick murmured from behind her, wrinkling his nose at the smell. "Why?"

Renata shrugged as she continued walking the house, hearing Finnick following her. She found Aria sitting on her unmade bed, and the little girl gasped when she was caught playing with a doll.

"I'm sorry! I found it!"

"Don't be sorry," she smiled and patted her cheek. "You can have it if you want. That was mine when I was your age." She looked around the room, seeing her gray dress lying on the floor. It felt like she was in a dream. She walked over to her dresser, glancing into the mirror at her reflection. She still looked polished, with not one blemish on her face. That eye still gave her the creeps and she looked down at the contents on top of the dresser, gently stroking the handle of a brush.

"What's that?" Finnick asked, standing beside her and leaving Aria alone to happily play with her new toy.

"This was my mother's," Renata answered, picking it up. "My dad said that she would sit in front of the mirror every night and brush her hair one hundred times. And he'd sit and watch her and she'd ask him how it looked. He would always say the same thing: that she was the most beautiful lady he'd ever seen…he liked talking about her," she added quietly, looking at her reflection and running the brush through her tangled hair.

"What happened to her?" he asked quietly, watching the reflection of her face.

She pursed her lips and carefully set the brush down. "She died after she had me, dad said that the doctor couldn't save her…It was because of me that she was dead."

"Rini, you can't believe that."

She shrugged and looked up at him, those sea green eyes such a comfort to look into. "That's what he believed."

"He's gone too?" Finnick guessed, reaching out to fix a strand of her hair. His heart fluttered when he brushed his fingers against her cheek and she nuzzled her face against his touch, her tired eyes closing.

"Yeah."

He swallowed and stared at her lovely face for a quiet moment. "Mine too. And it's my fault that my mom's gone."

Renata opened her eyes and blinked at him questioningly.

"I didn't want to leave home, and they killed her because I refused to listen," he whispered, the pain evident in his voice. "Now she's gone and…I have no one."

"We could have each other," she said quietly, looking up into his eyes. "I mean…we could look out for one another, couldn't we?" She suddenly became aware of how nice his hand felt against her cheek and she blushed, pulling away. "It isn't bad to say you need help. I'll be the first to admit it."

Finnick smiled and he nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Alright. You and I, we're responsible for one another now." He looked down when he felt a tug at his pants and he smiled down at Aria.

"I'm hungry," she whined quietly, her lower lip jutting out. "Can we go now?"

Renata laughed and she nodded, picking up the comb and the few other possessions she cared about, holding them close as they left the house.

"Are you falling asleep?" Finnick asked quietly, his laugh making her open her eyes and blink a few times.

"I'm fine," she murmured, but couldn't fight the yawn that escaped her.

The new, big house was quiet now after all of the ruckus from getting settled in and acquainted with their new surroundings. Her bedroom was on the second floor and at the back of the house, where she could see the ocean when she looked out her window. The warm breeze drifting through the window brushed her cheeks and lightly blew her hair around. She slumped against Finnick's side and mumbled something quietly, her eyes struggling to stay open.

"What? I didn't quite catch that," he chuckled and held her close to him, looking down at her exhausted face. "Don't fight it, go to sleep…"

"No," Renata managed to say a bit stronger, her eyes still closed.

"Why?"

She shifted against his body and looked up at him, the light from the moon catching in her blue eyes. "You'll leave if I sleep."

He pursed his lips together and was quiet for a moment. "I don't have to," he finally said, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. "Do you want me to stay?"

"You know I do," she said in a tiny voice.

"Then all you had to do was ask, Rini." His lips pressed against her forehead and she whimpered quietly as he lifted her up from the floor and carried her to her spacious bed. As he lay down, she pressed against him and sighed in relief. "Are you comfortable?" he asked after a moment, but there was no reply. He smiled and gently petted her hair, finding himself drifting off at the peacefulness of it all.

The floorboards outside of Renata's bedroom squeaked quietly as Cecil stopped outside it and looked in at the two entangled in each other. He smiled and sighed quietly, meeting Finnick's eyes before they shut and he drifted off to sleep as well.

"Sweet dreams," he murmured, quietly shutting the door.

yay chapter two! a lighthearted chapter for the most part :) I'd sleep better too if Finnick was in my bed if you know what i mean huhhuhuhhh sorry anyway yes! You know the deal, please let me know what you think and hey, even what you might like to see happen in further chapters! Maybe i'll take some things into consideration! Thank yew!

-Kelsey :3