Author's Note: Boy! It's been a while since I've updated this story. I do apologize for being one of those asshole author's who leaves their fans hanging. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will soon begin working on the next. I hope you check back or subscribe to the story to alert you of when the next chapter is added because I don't want to make any promises. The one promise I will make is, I will finish writing this story. I promise I won't leave you guys hanging.
As always, read, review and most importantly enjoy. Thanks.
Peeta awoke to the sound of an insistent beeping. His eyes shot open and he felt scared waking up in a brightly lit room filled with a bright fluorescent lighting that kept him from seeing much of his surroundings.
"Peeta?"
Hearing his brother's voice was an instant relief. Peeta wearily turned his head and was greeted with a half worried and weary smile from Noah.
It took him a few more shaky moments to gather his bearings and remember where he was, what put him there and question what would happen now. Outside of his room doctors and nurses were making their rounds while inside he could see he was draped in a gown and covered to his waist in a scratchy blanket. His head felt constricted, Peeta lifted his right arm up to his head before a sudden jolt of pain ran through his entire body, stemming from his shoulder.
"Fuck!" he groaned in an agonizing and weak voice as the pain began blossoming from his shoulder and through his body.
"You can't move, You've dislocated your shoulder," Noah said sternly, sitting up from his chair by Peeta's bed and carefully resting a steady hand on the throbbing injury. He resisted the urge to take a firm hold of his brother and embrace him as he watched him sweat and writhe in pain. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I just got hit by a car," Peeta muttered as he started to adjust to his surroundings and feel the full extent of his injuries. His left leg ached dully and he supposed the pain killers he could feel in his system were helping him not to feel the intense pain that was probably there.
Noah stood from the chair and reached over his brother's frame for the morphine button that dispensed a small amount of the drug in an effort to stop the pain as he began noticing sweat forming on Peeta's forehead. He crossed his arms as he released the device and stood over the bed. "I'm so happy you're okay, Peeta."
He could feel his swollen jaw, his left eye refused to open as widely as his right. Even without access to his reflection, Peeta could tell his surface injuries looked bad. "Is it bad? I mean, am I going to be here for a while?"
Noah shook his head quickly, "No. I'll let the doctor talk to you, but it's mainly just your leg- it's broken, and your arm. They ran some tests, some x-ray's and nothing came up. You had a concussion and you're head got cut up pretty badly, the doctor's were concerned you may have had some head trauma, but you don't. You're just going to need a lot of rest."
Peeta sighed in relief, "Well, that's good then." He quickly noticed his brother's expression and was surprised to see that he didn't completely agree. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just that…" Noah stopped and resumed his position in the seat by the bed. "When I got that call, shit-when I heard what had happened…"
Noah's calm resolve broke down. He used a hand to shield his face as he gently started to sob. Peeta watched on in despair as he realized it wasn't only the physical injuries that had affected them both.
"I'm okay," Peeta said quietly, wanting so badly to reach for his brother's hand and reassure him, tempted to suffer through the pain for the sake of calming his most terrifying fears. He wondered if words would be enough. "I'm so sorry to have made you think that, Noah."
Noah wiped away his tears and moved forward, upset to see such sadness in the foggy blue eyes that had began to fill with tears. "I don't want to lose you too, okay? You're the only family I have left," he said softly, taking his brother's hand into his own.
Peeta nodded and smiled before a thought occurred to him. "Who did this?"
"We don't know," he replied bitterly, releasing his brother's hand and sighing, "Finnick said they drove off right after."
"You talked to Finnick?" Peeta asked as he felt the wave of pain killers gently ease their way through his body, doing little to keep the pain in his heart at bay.
Noah shrugged, "Everything that happened tonight."
"I didn't mean to," he sighed, "I mean, I wasn't planning it-"
"-What are you talking about?" The older man asked, confused as he put together the pieces of his brother's words.
Peeta was quiet. The sound of his heart monitor filled the room once again as silence fell and his guilty silence said more than words could.
"You slept together, didn't you?" Noah asked with disappointment in his voice.
His eyes remained downward, afraid to make eye contact and see his brother's judgemental expression, "All I ever wanted was him to tell me he loved me," Peeta sighed, "I would lose so much time thinking about him, about us. I didn't think he was capable of it."
"And now that he is?" Noah asked with slight apprehension in his voice.
"I don't know," Peeta confessed in a choked voice, "Do you hate him?'
Noah shook his head, "He protected you, he looked after you when you needed it… but he hurt you too."
Peeta nodded solemnly, "Where's Cato?" he asked as his guilt began catching up with him and the knowledge that his thoughts hadn't returned to Cato weighed heavily on his heart.
"I haven't called him yet," the older man sighed, tired and exhausted, "Do you want me to right now?"
"Yeah," he replied feeling a wave of regret pass over him. "Can you come right back though?" The thought of laying alone in a hospital bed was far too unsettling.
Noah smiled warmly before reaching his arm out and gently wrapping it around his younger brothers neck as best he could without causing pain. "Don't ever scare me like that again, okay?"
Peeta nodded again, smiling softly for good measure.
Peeta was surprised to find a half smile appearing on his face as Finnick entered the room. He wasn't sure which one of them was in worse shape, himself or the man who gingerly entered the room, still shaken with tired lines appearing heavily beneath his eyes. Blue eyes immediately spotted what was surely stains of his own blood in droplets and smears along Finnick's grey shirt. He noticed the way the taller man closed what appeared to be his brother's jacket as their eyes met. From that moment on, he wasn't sure what to say. When that realization came to mind the smile quickly vanished from his face.
Finnick approached slowly, his green eyes as concerned as ever as they scanned the small, frail frame that lied broken and bruised in the hospital bed. He wanted more than anything to do something that would make it all better again, knowing there was nothing. Peeta's broken bones were symbolic of everything they had and lost.
"I'm so happy you're okay," Finnick said softly as he resisted the urge to touch him.
Peeta sighed, "I'm happy you were there… The doctor's told me if you weren't it could have been a lot worse."
Finnick remained tight lipped as his mounting guilt boiled to the surface, "I don't think there's any other way we could do more to screw this up," he sighed, "Our presence in each other's lives is nothing but destructive."
"I know," he said in agreement, surprised but not shocked that his accident hadn't changed where they stood. "So what happens now?"
He slowly walked over to the side of the bed, his sad green eyes staring down into the beautiful blue ones that gazed at him with the same wondrous looked only reserved for him, a look that would one day be cast upon another man. As he crossed the room, Peeta noticed there was nothing hesitant about the way he walked, his demeanour seemed more controlled as if Finnick knew exactly what he was doing. Peeta's lips formed a sad smile. Whatever residual sadness he had left filled his heart as the man's fingertips gently stroked along his cheek lovingly, full of care before his hand warmly caressed his bruised jaw ever so softly.
"Take care of yourself, Peeta," Finnick mumbled as a half smile graced his lips. He could feel the way the younger man pressed his cheek into the warm touch of his hand. He knew the simplest, caring touch proved to be most intimate for the young man he'd had the pleasure of falling in love with.
Blue eyes closed as Finnick's lips grazed against his own. What was meant to be nothing more than a chaste kiss quickly turned into something more as he felt Peeta part his lips ever so slightly, allowing his bottom lip to rest between both of Finnick's. He let out a deep sigh as their lips parted and Finnick rose over him once again.
"You can't stay a little longer?" Peeta asked, resisting the urge to let out a deep yawn and suppress the urge to sleep that had found him once again.
Finnick shook his head slowly, "I think it's best I take off now." He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, an involuntary reaction that came with his hesitance to leave the room and the man that occupied it. He wanted to make a promise that he would call, check in, inquire about his well being, but he couldn't. They both knew such a promise would be futile. Finnick would never keep it, and if he did, Peeta would not answer.
Finnick found himself surprised at the lack of emotion he was feeling. He wasn't devastated, not even upset. At this stage it felt like lingering around for even longer than he had be would be simply delaying the inevitable. Although he wanted nothing more than to sit by the young man's side, take his hand into his own and tell him all the things he'd held in for so long, there really was no longer a point to it.
For that moment he was okay with it. As he studied the wounded face of the man he loved, he knew that in a short while depression, anger and crippling emotion would come and find him like they had done so many times in the past. He would deal with those emotions in due time. He knew he'd always have the memories of what they had, all the while knowing they would never be enough.
"I'm sorry for what I said," Finnick said quietly, his voice laced with remorse as his hands stuffed into his pockets. "I need you to know that. I take it all back."
He felt a surge of worry jolt his system, enough to make his fingers twitch. "When you said you loved me?"
"No," he replied reassuringly as his hand travelled from his pocket up to Peeta's hair, gently brushing the blonde locks with his fingers as his other hand rested on the side of the bed. "All those horrible things I said to you before. I will never regret telling you how I feel. I'm just sorry I didn't get my timing right."
Peeta smiled, his half lidded blue eyes felt heavy while the pain in his shoulder subsided with what felt like Finnick's soft touch. He knew he would dearly miss that feeling. "So am I."
Finnick nodded with a sigh, "Get some sleep."
"Okay," he replied softly. Feeling his eyes closed felt terrific, he could feel himself falling asleep almost instantly.
The older man pulled his hand back to himself where it resumed it's place in his pocket. He took a moment to watch the young man sleep, envying his temporary peace, blissfully unaware of the pain they would both soon have to endure. He considered stealing himself one last kiss, but thought better of it. When Peeta would wake another man would be taking care of him, protecting his heart, keeping him safe. It seemed that Finnick had failed at that job on every level.
He didn't spare any more glances, instead he simply put his head down and turned for the door only to find it opening itself as he rested his hand on the knob to pull it open.
With a look of concern in his eyes, Cato entered the small hospital room, his eyes locked onto Finnick's for a split second before pushing past the man and heading straight for Peeta's bed.
"Is he asleep?" Cato asked quietly as he stood over the small frame in the bed, his hand gently inspecting the bandaged back of the blonde man's head.
"Y-Yeah," Finnick stuttered, feeling his anger rise at the immediate presence of the man he wished would have stayed lost. "Did Noah fill you in?"
"Yeah," he replied, his eyes never leaving Peeta's closed ones. "The cops are talking to Noah now."
His last sentence took Finnick off guard. Confused, he let his hand drop from the door handle and took a step closer to the taller man. "Did Noah ask for me?"
Cato turned and looked at the confused dark haired man, his eyebrows furrowed, wearing a similar look of confusion as the one he was looking into. "No. Why would he have?"
Finnick gaped for a moment, realizing that apparently Noah hadn't quite filled him in on the entire night's events. Such thoughts were secondary to him though, his main priority was speaking to the police and providing as much detail as he could to help punish those responsible. He turned and moved for the door.
"Whose blood is that?" Cato's steady but slightly angered voice asked, "One your shirt?"
He blew off the question as he pulled the door open and roughly closed it behind him. As he put more distance between himself and the two men in the room, he could feel his anger begin to wane for the moment.