Chapter 3: Peacekeepers Made Vulnerable

Gale's POV

Mid-day is the hardest time at the mine.

Ironically, it is the moment of the day where most miners get their break. A few precious minutes returning to the surface. The hard part about it is adjusting to the light of day, and to breathing air that is slightly but critically of better quality than the air we breathe deep below the earth.

That is where I find myself today, just coming out of a portable restroom facility. I still have a few more minutes before I have to return to the elevators, so I decide to eat my packed lunch. After a time, Peacekeeper Purnia joins me.

"How many times have I told you: don't eat with soot still on your fingers?" she demands.

I shrug and audaciously take another bite out of my sandwich. I actually love tormenting her like this. Besides, Peacekeeper though she might be, she can't tell me what to do on something as trivial as this.

"You're not my mother." Then: "Why do you care so much about my health, anyway? I'm just a miner to you."

Purnia seems taken aback by the question, and remains mute. Though I don't expect an answer, I oddly find myself still waiting for one, when suddenly -

KABOOM. The blast blows apart a key section of the mine, and overturns the picnic table Purnia and I are seated at. We are both thrown clear, landing with me on top of her. A compromising position, indeed.

I am just recovering from my shock and climbing off the ginger female, when another ginger Peacekeeper comes running up. Darius. And following him is Katniss.

"Are you guys all right?" Darius demands, brushing off a part of my uniform.

"Fine, I'm fine," I say, glancing back towards the emergency teams rushing for the mines.

Purnia springs into action. "Hawthorne, come help me. Darius, go report to the Justice Building. I think we have this covered. I'll radio if the situation changes."

As I head off, I look back to see Darius gesturing for Katniss to follow him...

Katniss's POV

"Katniss, come with me," Darius tells me earnestly.

Eyebrow raised in interest, I follow after the handsome Peacekeeper, away from the mines and back into the Seam. Then into Town and finally to the Peacekeepers' Barracks. From there, Darius radios in to report the mine explosion. Then, he ushers me into a simple abode. With a start, I take in Darius's room for the first time.

A bed is pushed against one far wall. Against the opposite wall is a countertop and shelves, a rusty oven. A table and two wooden chairs sit in the middle. Darius bustles about, opening the cabinets a little too fast, so that a clay bowl falls and shatters against the floor. From the way I see Darius's hands shake, he seems to be nervous about something.

"Darius...?" I ask tentatively, starting to feel a little uneasy myself, though why I don't know.

"Please, call me 'Dar,'" Darius insists, his voice a little raspy.

I eye him. "OK..." as he gestures me to sit and then takes a seat across from me.

"Katniss," he begins. "I have seen these last few weeks how hard you have to work to feed your family. How poor you and your mother and sister still are. It concerns me greatly." He suddenly takes my hand in his. "You must also know how I have feelings for you. Strong feelings. You are an attractive young woman, and not just because you are beautiful."

My mouth falls open in disbelief. I have never had any man - never mind a Peacekeeper! - tell me I was pretty or in any other way desirable. And I have never thought that of myself either. I'm all skin and bones, one might even say gaunt. Small breasts. And I personally feel my womanhood leaves much to be desired. The intensity of Darius's gaze makes me glance away.

"I'm a bit... uh... flattered," I admit. And in a tiny way, I am. A flattery that comes from being strange and new. I have never had a boy or a man like me before.

Darius smiles, encouraged. "I want to take care of you. However I can. Though you have made it clear you are more than capable of taking care of yourself, it isn't enough, I feel. I can provide for you. And your family."

I raise my eyes back to his. "How? Peacekeepers aren't allowed to marry."

"Not privates like me, no. But those who climb the ranks..." He blushes. "I am hoping if I work hard enough for a few years, I could be promoted to Cray's position someday. Then, I would have the means and legal leeway to take a wife. Until then, I was hoping... if you would be my companion."

Now I nearly fall out of my chair. "You're proposing to me. You're asking me to marry you." It is a statement, not a question. The principles that I have laid out for myself should be telling me to shoot this down immediately, but I have to admire his gall.

"Not yet. We wouldn't get married just yet. I would wait to be promoted - and from what I have heard from command, there's a good chance I will be eventually. Until then... you would live here. With me. Not have to take out tesserae. My commission stipend would provide for you."

Flushing, I pull my hand away and settle it into my lap, where my eyes now rest. "What about... Mother? Prim?"

"Well, they would come live with us," Darius replies, as if that is obvious. "My stipend would more than cover for them too." I feel him lean closer. "I'm not asking for anything from you right now. Not sex or even physical affection. If that came later after we were married, it would come later. Just... a companion." I feel him take my hand again. "Will you consider it?"

I stare up into his face. Darius is offering to give me financial security - to lift me and my family out of poverty - for the foreseeable future. And for nothing in return from me... at least, not yet.

The prudent side of me should hate the deal, if not outright reject it, if for no other reason than the trade is completely one-sided. I know a fair trade when I see one, and this one is anything but fair. I hate owing someone, especially when there is no reasonable means to pay someone back. But what could I pay Darius with? Game? The Barracks are stocked with plenty of that already. No... sex? Despite his insistence that I need not sleep with him or pleasure him, going to his bed every night could be sufficient payment. But there is the issue of my vow to never marry or even engage carnally with anyone. I am doubtful I could get over those fears.

Nevertheless, I find myself croaking out, "I will consider it."

Darius beams. "I'd very much like to kiss you. If you'll allow it."

I gulp. "Didn't you just say no physical affection?" But before he can answer, I find myself shrugging and glancing up to look him in the face. "All right. I'll allow it."

Darius eye's soften. Wordlessly, he scoots forward and takes my face in his hands, his fingers warming my cheeks. He bends towards me. The prey within me is screaming for me to flee, and yet I am powerless to stop this. And a part of me, faint but just detectable, does not want it to stop. Awkwardly, I lean in towards Darius, my fingers finding purchase and fisting in his hair. My eyes flutter shut as I feel his breath on my face. I wonder how it would feel to kiss him... what his lips taste like...

Before I can feel Darius's mouth seal over mine, there is a pounding at the door. A pause as neither of us moves, and for one mad moment, I predict that Darius will just grab me and suck my face to get his kiss in before answering. But no, he is sighing in exasperation as he rises from his chair, his heat leaving me as he goes to answer the door. My eyes fluttering open, standing stock still in shock that a man nearly kissed me, I vaguely register Gale's voice on the other side of the door.

"Come on, Catnip. Your mother's worried. We're going home." I rise to my feet at Gale's order, passing by a disappointed looking Darius. A sympathetic part of me considers boldly kissing him goodbye, but I elect to just squeezing his hand instead. If I did just kiss Darius out of the blue, I fear how Gale might react.

And it turns out my fears are well founded, as we set off in the early evening for home.

"What the hell were you doing with him?" Gale demands.

"He invited me in for a bite to eat," I snap back, eyebrow raised at his displeasure.

"Are you sure your tongue and throat weren't on the menu?" Gale sneers. "I know he wants to kiss you senseless."

"Maybe he does, and what's wrong with that?" I prissily retort. "I'm sure Darius is a fine man to kiss."

Gale gawks at me. "'What's wrong with that?' Catnip, you've never wanted to kiss a man in your life, much less marry one! I know you! Does he? Does he even care about you at all?"

"Yes," I round on him. "He asked me to come live with him. Mother and Prim, too."

"And you're sure that's all? Or does he want a Toasting and you in his bed in the bargain?"

I throw up my hands. "I don't know what Darius wants!" even though that is kind of a lie. "And I can kiss whomever I damn well please! Who I see or live with or even kiss shouldn't be any of your business!"

"It's completely my business!" Gale gallingly shouts me down. "He's a Peacekeeper!"

"And unlike you, he's a real man!" And I turn on my heel and march for home, leaving Gale stunned in my wake.