ACK! I made a mistake as far as the plot goes in the last version of this! I'm sorry! So I'm replacing it with this, and I apologize for not thinking that through. Thanks to Analyn Lana Ruse and AnnieSometimes for catching it! All of this is the same until Peeta's realization, which I totally messed up…but anyway! As always, thank you for the reviews, and, as always, please keep them coming! I quite like them. To say the least(:

Somewhere in between unconsciousness and wakefulness, it registers in me that this is all I've been doing. I sleep, and I wake up, and I hope I won't die. I sleep, and I wake up, and I hope Katniss will make it home.

Is this all that will happen to me for the rest of my life? It could be all of two days.

Who knew I could think so deeply while I'm still half asleep?

I really wake up to a slight nudge on the shoulder from Katniss. The world around us that is our cave slides into focus, but I center in on her face. The thought of losing her overwhelms me for the umpteenth time, and I gently pull her down for a kiss.

She leans back up, tweaking my nose and saying, "We're wasting hunting time."

"I wouldn't call it wasting," I reply, stretching and yawning as I sit up. "So do we hunt on empty stomachs to give us an edge?"

"Not us," Katniss declares, grinning. "We stuff ourselves to give us staying power."

"Count me in!" I'm assuming that by "stuffing ourselves," we'll eat enough that it keeps our stomachs at bay, because really stuffing ourselves here is literally impossible. But she splits the entire thing and gives me half, and I stare at it, completely bewildered. "All this?"

"We'll earn it back today," she assures me, digging in, and I follow suit. It occurs to me that the last time I ate this much was in the Capital, and I look up to see Katniss licking gravy off of her fingers, abandoning everything that Effie tried to nail into our brains about good manners. I grin as she laughs, "I can feel Effie Trinket shuddering at my manners."

I decide to mess with Effie. I wonder what she's been thinking about us lately; she's probably been declaring to everyone in her silly voice that she knew we would win, she just knew it! "Hey, Effie, watch this!" I throw my fork over my shoulder and lift my plate up so that I can literally (and loudly) lick it clean. I put it down and blow a kiss to her. "We miss you, Effie!"

I've never seen Katniss laugh so hard. She tries to muffle my voice with her hand over my mouth, but she's giggling too much. "St-stop! Cato could be right outside our cave!"

I pull her hand away from my face and state for the entire world to hear, "What do I care? I've got you to protect me now!" I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her into a hug that she attempts to worm out of.

"Come on!" she protests just as I kiss her again and finally succeeds in wriggling away.

We pack up everything into the backpack, and with each thing I put away, my nerves up a notch. The cave has been a home to us for the past few days; leaving it feels like leaving all safety. Now, we are out in the open, me with a lame leg, and Cato determined to kill us. But there's no delaying it. It's doubtful that Foxface and Cato would kill each other simultaneously, leaving us laughing about manners in our cave and suddenly finding that we've won. We can't stay in our oasis in the Games forever.

I take the knife that Katniss hands me, balancing it in my hand for a minute to get a sense of it, then slip it into my belt. She fingers her quiver of arrows nervously, and I know she's thinking that she's lost too many to feel comfortable. "He'll be hunting us by now," I say, unable to maintain an attitude that's unrealistically optimistic. "Cato isn't one to wait for his prey to wander by."

"If he's wounded…" she starts, trying to keep some sense of hopefulness.

I cut her off. "It won't matter. If he can move, he's coming."

She seems to accept that reluctantly, but she knows I'm right. We replenish our water supply at the river and she checks snares, but to no avail. "If we want food, we better head back up to my old hunting grounds," she decides, and even though I know she's more at home in the woods than anywhere, it's uncomfortable for me to consider going somewhere unfamiliar.

"Your call. Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Keep an eye out," she suggests. "Stay on the rocks as much as possible, no sense in leaving him tracks to follow. And listen for both of us."

I nod and prepare myself for this. Why does the arena have to be based on hunting? Why couldn't the Games just be a huge baking contest?

We follow the rocks until we reach the dense tree lines. I'm pulling my leg along as quietly as I can, until suddenly Katniss whips around, looking as though she's trying to contain frustration. "What?"

"You've got to move more quietly," she hisses. It's not my fault, I think, but I don't say anything. "Forget about Cato, you're chasing off every rabbit in a ten-mile radius."

I feel my eyebrows rise in disbelief, though it's genuine surprise, not anger. "Really? Sorry, I didn't know."

We keep going, and I'm beginning to feel pretty good about myself and how quiet I am until she turns around in exasperation again. "Can you take your boots off?"

"Here?" Yes, that sounds logical, Katniss. I'll just take off my shoes and walk around, and then if my feet get hurt, I won't be able to walk at all. Yeah, I'll do that right away.

"Yes," she replies, failing to wipe the annoyance off of her face. "I will, too. That way we'll both be quieter."

I decide just to go with it. She knows what she's doing, right? I hope so.

We continue on in our bare feet for a while, and Katniss shoots nothing. I begin to realize that what she was saying has some truth to it; what sounds normal, even quiet to me, is like an elephant next to the steps she takes. It sounds more like she's gliding, because there's really no sound at all coming from her. I try to mimic her movements, but it doesn't really help me. Eventually I suggest, "Katniss, we need to split up. I know I'm chasing away game."

"Only because your leg's hurt," she tries to insist, but I see through the lie again, as usual.

I don't argue. "I know. So, why don't you go on? Show me some plants to gather and that way we'll both be useful."

"Not if Cato comes and kills you," she replies unhelpfully, but she looks extremely relieved at my suggestion. I laugh.

"Look, I can handle Cato. I fought him before, didn't I?"

She bites back a response, and, in a forcedly sweet tone, suggests, "What if you climbed up in a tree and acted as lookout while I hunted?"

I can't stop myself from imitating her almost sweet voice. "What if you show me what's edible around here and go get us some meat? Just don't go far, in case you need help."

She doesn't like it, but shows me roots that I can dig and teaches me a signal to whistle so that each of us knows that the other is okay. She leaves the backpack with me and, though I don't hear her, I look up and she's gone.

Every few minutes we whistle back and forth, and it's a reassuring sound. It gives me a promise that she's still here, that the cannon won't blow for her any time soon. I dig up the roots and look around a bit more, thinking that surely there is something else edible around here that doesn't require shooting. I whistle once more and begin to stride around, examining the plants. I spot a promising-looking bush of berries by the stream and make my way over to them, thinking about how maybe we won't be too hungry tonight. I pick several and consider tasting some, but I decide that it would take the taste of the rich Capital food out of my mouth, so I refrain from it. I hurry back to the pack and place the berries on a sheet of plastic, and then go off again to pick some more.

I'm shocked when I return again to find an outraged Katniss and end up flinging the berries behind me in surprise as she turns her bow on me, not knowing that it's me instead of Cato. "What are you doing?" she half screams. "You're supposed to be here, not running around in the woods!"

"I found some berries by the stream," I say lamely, and wish I hadn't thrown my evidence back into the bushes in fright.

"I whistled. Why didn't you whistle back?" Talk about moody.

"I didn't hear. The water's too loud, I guess." I stride over to her and steady her shaking body with my hands on her shoulders, concern etching itself on my face.

"I thought Cato killed you!" I appreciate your concern, love, but I don't let that sort of thing happen, remember? I'm here to protect you.

"No, I'm fine." I hug her gently, but she stiffens. "Katniss?"

She pulls away from me, fuming. "If two people agree on a signal, they stay in range. Because if one of them doesn't answer, they're in trouble, all right?"

I let her rant. I feel bad about walking to the stream, but I can't undo it now. "All right!"

"All right. Because that's what happened with Rue, and I watched her die!"

That hits me like a slap in the face. I think of all the fear I caused her, all the worry, all the painful memories. I'm sorry, Katniss. I really am.

She turns away and takes a long swig of water, calming herself down and, I can tell, trying not to scream again. "And you ate without me!"

I actually step back in surprise. "What? No, I didn't."

"Oh, and I suppose the apples ate the cheese," she snaps sarcastically.

"I don't know what ate the cheese, but it wasn't me," I say as calmly as I can, but my temper is rising. I could understand why she was angry about the whistling, but this? I didn't eat anything, and even if I did, what does it matter to her? "I've been down by the stream collecting berries. Would you care for some?" I finish, picking some up from the sheet of plastic.

She's cooled down a little and walks over to me, examining the berries and taking a few into her hand. Realization seems to hit her full blast just as the cannon booms.

She whips around, as if I might have died spontaneously, but I give her a look of confusion. The helicopter appears, and I see it take away a small body.

Foxface. And she wouldn't have died spontaneously.

I pull her towards a tree. "Climb," I tell her, kneeling to give her a boost up. "He'll be here in a second. We'll stand a better chance fighting him from above."

She freezes up again and turns around, her expression impossible to read. "No, Peeta, she's your kill, not Cato's."

"What?" I'm completely confused. "I haven't even seen her since the first day. How could I have killed her?"

She simply holds out the berries to me. I feel my eyebrows disappear into my hair as I stare at them, bemused.

She begins to explain. These berries are deadly, she says, and her father told her never to eat them. But I didn't know that, and I would have eaten them,-and the thought that I almost did haunts me-so Foxface thought she could trust them.

I think about what she said earlier. My kill. Of course, I killed the girl earlier in the Games, but that felt different. I felt like I had been helping her, and it must have been an easier death than a long, drawn out one. It had been quick, and easy. It had seemed the kinder thing to do.

But this? This time, I had really killed someone, taken a life that wasn't mine to take. I was the difference between her seeing her family again, and, without even making a choice, it was my fault that they would only ever see her again in their dreams.

And even if Katniss and I didn't win, I had wanted Foxface to. She really deserved it, especially considering that the alternative was Cato. I promise myself in that moment that, even though Foxface and I were never allies, I won't ever let Cato win. She could have beaten him if it came down to it, and I had taken her away from her chances.

And I begin to wonder something. I've called her Foxface since I've been with Katniss, and before that I only pictured her, not associating a name with her. But surely she had one.

I feel sick to realize that I'll never know it.

[New A/N: Thanks again! And sorry for any confusion that might have caused!] And that is the end of that chapter. Quick question! I was originally just going to stop at this point, because I'm not all that great at writing about action stuff, like the Cornucopia bit at the end…but I will if you all really want me to. I warn you, it won't be very good, but I'll try if it comes to it! Review pretty please! And let me know what you think about this, and the existence of future chapters. Thanks lovely people!(: I like you all!