(A/N: Okay, so I just wanted to thank you all for the reviews so far! I can't tell you how much they mean to me; I'm new to fanfiction and it's really great to be able to write and know that people do like it and want to read it. Thank you so much!)

It's so dark. I try to see, see anything, but there's nothing. Nothing but endless black eternity.

Something seems to light up, but it's very faint. I blink, but my eyelids weigh several tons and I've only confused myself more.

Finally, after what feels like several centuries, my eyes open and stay open as everything begins to focus. The memories flood back as I stare around the cave, remembering Katniss and what she did to me. No, what she did for me.

And then I see her. "Katniss!" I gasp, though I know she can't hear me. I'm pulling myself out of the sleeping bag when I realize that I don't need to drag myself. The bag has been unzipped, and there's an enormous needle that's been jabbed into my skin. Funny, I thought I'd never be happy to see a needle like that. I yank it out, but don't take the time to examine my arm. It's then that I realized that my leg feels unbelievably light, free.

I kneel next to Katniss, shocked and thoroughly terrified. I realize immediately that she's still alive; if she hadn't been, the helicopter would have taken her away by now. I know it's up to me to keep her here with me, it's up to me to save her life. But how can I? She's been lying in a pool of her own blood for who knows how long. I'm not a healer at all, and that gash over her eyebrow looks so dangerous that I wonder if I should trust myself to patch it up. I decide that if she bleeds anymore, she'll die from the loss of blood, so I tie a bandage as tightly as I dare around her head. She doesn't move.

I moan quietly, because I'm so scared of doing something wrong. She seems to be worn out, the only real injury I can find is the slice above her eyebrow. The bandage is already turning red; I untie it and staunch the flow until it slows down, then take a clean bandage and tie it around her head. I take her boots and socks outside, as they're soaked through, and I figure they'll dry faster outside. I tuck her into the sleeping bag, trying to make her as comfortable as possible, but I can't know whether she's really aware of anything. "Katniss, please wake up," I whisper, caressing her face and tucking her hair behind her ear. But I know that there's nothing I can do but wait.

I lean up against the wall of the cave, staring at her helplessly. There's nothing I can do for her right now, it would be foolish to try anything. Eventually I realize that if I stare at her any longer, I'll break down, and that's really something I'd like to keep off of television. So my focus shifts to my leg. I realize that it's not completely healed; in fact, if it hadn't looked so bad before, I would have been concerned about it. But the swelling has stopped, and I can tell that the blood poisoning is gone. I can't believe that I can be relieved at a time like this, but I am. The blood poisoning is what would have done me in; now that it's gone, I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I'll be limping if we walk around much, but limping is nothing next to dragging it after me, a useless limb.

I stare at her again for a while, willing her to wake up, willing her to tell me she's alright. I realize that I need to give myself what I gave her earlier. A distraction. I find the stash of groosling and it's only after I finish the first piece that I realize I'm ravenous. Soon, two other pieces are gone, and I'm left staring at the last bit of our food, only now grasping the fact that I just ate most of our food supply. I promise myself that I'll help make up for it later, and suddenly I hear the anthem, loud enough to give me a start. I limp to the entrance the cave, peering at the sky, wondering if I'll see any faces.

Only one. It's Clove. I sigh, relieved. Though the others are dangerous, to say the least, there was something about Clove that bothered me, something that led me to believe that there was more to her than it seemed. I'm abruptly angry at myself, because I realize that I'm glorifying the death of someone. I realize that it's not Clove that is (or was) my enemy; it's the Capital. Without the Capital, all of this pain would be gone. I experience another strange emotion just as I'm thinking this; I pity them. There's some good reason, I know there is, but I can't think of it. It's then that it occurs to me that I'm about to drop on the spot, and fall asleep. I resolve to figure out the way my mind works in the morning.

Despite the fact that I just woke up after having been knocked out by sleep syrup, I return to Katniss and curl up next to her, kissing her gently on the forehead just before letting myself drift off.

I wake up to the sound of soft rain outside, but I've no idea what time it is. I check on Katniss again and change her bandage even though it's really not bloody (though I'm afraid of an infection), then lean up against the side of the cave again, waiting for her to wake up. As I build something like a canopy of Katniss to stop the rain from sneaking into the cave, I think about the strange thoughts that I had had last night, the thoughts of Clove not being my enemy. What was I thinking? Of course she was my enemy! She was out to kill me, she almost killed Katniss. But I think about it more, and remember what I had thought was my enemy instead. It was the Capital. And as I stare into the face of a dying girl, I think about why she is here. If Prim's name hadn't been chosen, she would be safe at home. But if the Hunger Games never existed, there would be none of these deaths, there would be no children raised, learning to kill.

I wish I could make a difference. Just as I wished that day-how long ago was that? A week or two ago?-on the roof, I want to be more than just a part of this. I'm not just going to be entertainment for them. And as I tuck stubborn hair behind Katniss' ear yet again, I vow that I will get her out of here alive.

Just as I've collected my thoughts, Katniss begins to moan slightly. I give a start and notice her eyelids fluttering slightly. "Katniss? Are you alright?" She sighs slightly, as if relieved, but only half conscious. "Katniss? Katniss, can you hear me?"

Her eyes open and seem to focus on me, emotions that I can't identify rushing through her. She looks as if she realizes something. "Peeta."

Something in me flutters at the sound of my name. "Hey. Good to see your eyes again," I tell her, and I mean it. Try as I might, I could never remember exactly that shade of grey.

"How long have I been out?"

"Not sure. I woke up yesterday evening and you were lying next to me in a very scary pool of blood. I think it's stopped finally, but I wouldn't sit up or anything," I advise, grabbing the water to give her. She drinks it gratefully, and though I don't know much about healing, I know that we need to keep her hydrated and with food in her stomach.

Her eyes light up as she notices something. "You're better!"

"Much better. Whatever you shot into my arm did the trick," I say, smiling. I neglect to mention that she drugged me, ran off, and almost got herself killed just to get me medicine. "By this morning, almost all the swelling in my leg was gone."

"Did you eat?"

I blush a little bit, angry with myself for being so eager with the food. "I'm sorry to say I gobbled down three pieces of that groosling before I realized it might have to last a while," I confess. "Don't worry, I'm back on a strict diet."

"No, it's good. You need to eat. I'll go hunting soon."

It takes a lot of willpower to keep myself from raising my eyebrows skeptically. "Not too soon, all right? You just let me take care of you for a while."

To my relief, she hardly protests, and lets me go so far as feeding her, like she did to me. "Your boots and socks are still damp and the weather's not helping much," I tell her, at which point the thunder decides to support my point, quickly followed by a short and sudden illumination of the cave from the lightning. "I wonder what brought on this storm? I mean, who's the target?" I ask, though I don't think she knows the answer.

"Cato and Thresh," she replies immediately. "Foxface will be in her den somewhere"-I chuckle inwardly at the thought of her in a fox den-"and Clove…she cut me and then…" she seems unwilling to finish.

"I know Clove's dead. I saw it in the sky last night," I finish for her quickly, and then something occurs to me. "Did you kill her?"

"No," she confirms. "Thresh broke her skull with a rock."

The vivid mental image that pops into my head is by no means necessary. I push it away uncomfortably. "Lucky he didn't catch you, too."

She seems to pale a little bit. "He did. But he let me go," she tells me, much to my confusion, and then launches into a story that seems to begin when she teamed up with the young tribute, Rue, that I only catch snippets of, but I get enough to understand one thing.

"He let you go because he didn't want to owe you anything?" I ask incredulously. I'm glad he did, but it seems like it would make much more sense for him to eliminate more competition while he had Katniss so close with him.

"Yes. I don't expect you to understand it," she says, leaving me feeling slightly inferior. "You've always had enough. But if you lived in the Seam, I wouldn't have to explain."

"And don't try. Obviously I'm too dim to get it."

"It's like the bread. How I never seem to get over owing you for that," she says, completely catching me off guard.

"The bread?" There has been an awful lot to do with bread in my life, it's hard to narrow down to one event. Then I remember clearly, as if it had been days ago instead of years. "What? From when we were kids? I think we can let that go. I mean, you just brought me back from the dead."

"But you didn't know me," she protests, and I bite back a laugh. She thinks I didn't know her? "We had never even spoken. Besides, it's the first gift that's always the hardest to pay back. I wouldn't even have been here to do it if you hadn't helped me then. Why did you, anyway?"

"Why?" What does she mean, why? Didn't she hear me tell the world that I'm in love with her before the Games began? "You know why," to a painful-looking head shake. "Haymitch said you would take a lot of convincing."

"Haymitch?" she repeats, looking completely flabbergasted. "What's he got to do with it?"

"Nothing," I cover quickly, not wishing to delve into how deep we had talked before the Games. I change the subject. "So, Cato and Thresh, huh? I guess it's too much to hope that they'll simultaneously destroy each other?"

She looks a little sickened and disturbed by the thought. "I think we would like Thresh," she says, to my surprise. "I think he'd be our friend back in District 12."

I hate to be the one to point out that unfortunately we can't be friends with him, that he won't let her off the hook again. I try to say it gently, but it comes out sounding more grim. "Then let's hope Cato kills him, so we don't have to."

Katniss winces suddenly, tears forming in her eyes, and I seize the opportunity to ask her if she's in pain. "I want to go home, Peeta," she whispers, the tears spilling out of her eyes.

"You will. I promise," I tell her. If it's the last thing I do, I'll get you out of here alive. I kiss her gently, the only comforting thing that I can give her.

"I want to go home now." If I could send you home now, I would do it before you knew it. I promise, Katniss, I would.

"Tell you what. You go back to sleep and dream of home," I suggest, hoping that she doesn't dream of a destructed District 12 like I did. "And you'll be there for real before you know it. Okay?"

"Okay," she murmurs. "Wake me if you need me to keep watch…"

"I'm good and rested, thanks to you and Haymitch. Besides, who knows how long this will last?"

She drifts off again, and I reflect on what we said. What stands out to me the most is that she remembers the bread, remembers it and feels like she's in my debt. I wonder if she thinks that I shouldn't have taken the beating for her, but then, I knew that the scars on my cheek would heal. I knew that she was close to the end, I saw her fall after looking through our trash, I wondered if she would get up. I hadn't thought twice about dropping the bread in the fire on purpose, and the slash on my cheek only barely stung next to the prospect of losing her. I'm convinced that at any point in my life, I would have dropped it, taken the beating, and saved her, and she should never feel like she was in my debt.

Now I wish it was as easy to save her life as it had been then.