I apologize for not posting this weekend, but my parents decided it would be a good idea to paint the wall...where the Internet is pluged in. Suffice it to say that I was without Internet for more of the weekend than I would have liked.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I am not Suzanne Collins. If I was, why would I be writing a fanfiction about my own series? I'm just playing around in her sandbox for a while.

The world has ended, so why are the doctors still working? Well,why am I alive for that reason?

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and it's Prim. My little duck wraps an arm around him and says, "It's going to be okay, Katniss, look."

I glance over and am rewarded with the sight of a moving line on the heart monitor.

I exhale a breath I didn't even know I was holding. "Thank you, Prim," I say, giving her a hug. "Do you want to stay?" I know how much she and Peeta became friends while I was still in the arena.

"Well—" She hesitates.

"It's fine," I say calmly, And Prim manages a watery smile.

"This coming from the girl who doesn't follow her schedule," chirps Rye.

"Oh, shut up, Rye," I tell him, "you don't follow it sometimes anyway either."

Two weeks later, I visit Peeta everyday. He survived the operation, but he's now in a coma. Well, it's better than him being dead, is what I tell myself everyday.

Prim comes with me sometimes, or maybe a member of Peeta's family. Even Haymitch came once.

I bring stories of my District 13 life, or maybe Command. Prim brings stories of the hospital, where she's training to be a nurse. Chris brings stories of the kitchens along with his father, and Rye brings stories of the pranks he's pulled. We're all surprised he hasn't got caught yet.

On this particular day, I just go by myself. I bring an orange wildflower I found while hunting. Without Gale.

Gale's been mad at me since the day Peeta "died". He thinks Peeta's more important. I tried to tell him that he was my best friend, and Peeta wasn't replacing him but to no avail. He's avoided me all these weeks.

So I go hunting by myself now.

I put it in a cup I borrowed from the kitchen.

"Hi, Peeta." I say quietly.

"How are you? I've been good, but I miss you. I wish you'd come back. Sometimes, I wonder why. The food keeps getting worse, all the guards are mad at me, Coin wants me to turn into a robot and do her bidding….the usual.

"I brought you a flower today, I found it while I was out hunting. It's your favorite colour of orange. I put it right by your bed, so when you wake up, you can see it."

Is it real or not real? I can almost hear Peeta talking back to me.

I pick up his nearly lifeless hand. "I want you to come back, Peeta. Please? You'll come see Prim, and she has learned so much! And Rye's pulled a bajillion new pranks…..and still has not gotten caught. And Chris and your dad? And Haymitch? They all miss you. Especially me." I pause before adding, "Come back to me, I want to see your paintings, and watch you doodle in your sketchbook."

With that, I get up and leave.

And on the way out, I run smack dab into…a length of rope? I pick myself up off the floor and say, "Hello, Finnick."

He looks over at me with his green eyes. "Oh, hi, Katniss," he says, "how are you?"

"I'm good, what about you?"

'I don't know." He rapidly knots and unknots the rope, making nooses, fishermans knots, whatever he could do. "I'm worried about Annie, I don't know where she is,"

"Oh," I say. "Annie…Cresta?"

"Yeah," he says with obvious relief, "her. She's…she's….I love her, Katniss!"

"Okay…"I say, feeling ridiculously like a therapist, "Well, I'm sure we can fix that."

"Oh, okay good," he replies.

"Hey Finnick, wanna go see Peeta?" I ask.

"Sure, where is he?"

"Well…he's actually in a coma."I proceed to explain Peeta's predicament to Finnick and lead him over to the room where Peeta is.

"He's not going to respond or anything, but it's nice to talk to him," I explain. "You can come talk to him anytime you want."

As I close the door, I see Finnick talking and knotting his rope rapidly at the same time.

I head back to my mother's compartment. I'm temporarily living with them because it's just too depressing in my and Peeta's room without him there.

But I never make it to their room.

"Sweetheart, they want us in Command," says Haymitch irritatedly, "I've been looking for you for half and hour."

"Really?" I ask, checking my arm. Sure enough, in the ugly purple ink, it says, 15:00 Command.

"Yes!" Haymitch practically yells, grabbing my arm and dragging me down to the high-tech room where they hold Command.

It looks like we're the last to arrive. There's a lot of people I don't know in the room, but some I do know. Plutarch. His assistant, Fulvia. Gale. President Coin. Chris and Rye, even. And then a woman with a shaved head and green vine tattoos. A man with so many piercings I can't count them. Two identical-looking young men with…..cameras?

"Katniss," the president says welcomingly. Although her tone suggests she's appy to see me, I can see otherwise in her eyes. I've hunted too long. I can read her like a book. Haymitch told me that she wants me out of the way, and Peeta as well. She senses we're a threat to her leadership, apparently.

"We've decided to shoot your first propo. You'll be going to District Eight." She explains.

Plutarch takes over. "There was lots of bombing this morning there," he says, "so you'll be going to visit the wounded. We have your Mockingjay outfit ready downstairs. They have a bow for you in the armoury, so you need to collect that as well. Soldier Hawthorne, and Soldiers Mellark will be going with you as well, for your safety." He gestures to Gale, Rye, and Chris.

"This is Cressida," he waves to the woman with the vine tattoos, "and her assistant Messalla." The guy with the piercings waves to me. "And then the cameramen, Pollux and Castor." They both give me a small wave. "They'll be going with you to Eight, too, to film you interacting with the injured people of Eight."

Haymitch gives a slight cough. "Oh, yes," Plutarch adds hastily, "Haymitch will be in a hovercraft above Eight. You'll be in conatact the entire time, with this," He holds up a small earpiece, and I reluctantly take it.

Fulvia grabs my arm, and she and Plutarch steer me to an elevator. Plutarch consults a number written on his hand. 3908.

The elevator goes down, down, deeper than I've ever been in 13.

Finally, we get to the right floor. A guard stands in front of the corridor we need to go into.

"No citizens allowed," he says in a gruff voice.

"Are—are you sure?" Plutarch asks. "That's the compartment we need—3908."

"No citizens allowed," the guard repeats, a little more forcefully this time.

But then I hear the softest whimper, like Prim when she had had a bad nightmare when she was younger.

So without thinking, I punch the guard in the face and dart down the hall. I push open the swinging door of where the whimper came from, and stop in surprise.

It's my prep team.

Hee, hee, hee. Well, you all know what happens next, don't you? I'm really just on a roll for these lovely cliffies...it's been what? 3, 4 in a row?

Summary for this chapter: Peeta becomes an inanimte therapist, Finnick makes his first show-stopping apperance, Katniss goes to a meeting and learns of her mission, and becomes very violent.

Also, thank you for all of the reviews! I've been so busy this last week I haven't had time to reply to them, but I want to let you know they are appreciated! I think the review count has doubled these last few chapters...keep that going!

Oh, yes, one more thing: I am now on Spring Break! So hopefully I'll be posting twice a week now for the next couple of weeks. Um...I think that's it!

Don't forget to click the little "Review" button!

~~FuzzySocksAndWriting