I am sorry this chapter took a little longer to get out. If you forgive me I promise this chapter will be good! Oh wait… Hehehe never mind. Happy reading to all!

oOo

We laid there in bed for a while, curled around each other, sharing occasional kisses and sometimes words. It was about 5:30 when dinner arrived for Katniss. She picked at the food as usual, without eating much more than a few bites. After the tray was replaced back in the shiny box thing in the wall, we lazily killed time until Primrose and Ms. Everdeen arrived at 6:45. When they did, it was a big, awkward tear-fest. At first Katniss just cried into her mothers' arms, as her mother cried into Kat's hair, and Prim just stood nearby, eyes shining with near-tears.

Once Ms. Everdeen pulled away, she held her daughters' shoulders. "I am so sorry, Katniss, for not being there for you. I feel so terrible for abandoning you at the peak stressful time in your life."

"You shouldn't feel bad, Mother." Katniss wiped her eyes on the hem of her white shirt. "I'm sure there was a perfectly acceptable reason for you not being here the very second I was stuffed into this loony bin." She smiled through the wetness on her face.

"If there is anything, anything, I can do for you…" Ms. Everdeen folded Katniss into her arms once again and beckoned for Prim to join as well. "But we're all here now. And I am going to do everything in my power to have it stay that was as often as possible around my new job."

"Okay… I guess it does get really lonely here without any—" But Katniss's words were interrupted by a brisk knock on the door. All four of us frowned.

Before any one of us could say anything else, the door opened and in came the exact doctor I talked to a few hours ago. He nodded in my direction. Then he shook hands with everyone else in turn. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Everdeen, Miss Everdeen, Mrs. Mellark. I am Katniss' main psychological health practitioner. Or, as you would understand it, the doctor who is in charge of the evaluation of Katniss' mental condition." He held up a professional-looking clipboard. "If I may, can I take this time to discuss with everyone the results of the tests that came in?"

Katniss nodded uncertainly and took my hand discreetly.

"There aren't really chair around here, so…" The doctor laughed awkwardly, but then cleared his throat. "Well, all of her results are in, and I cannot say all of them look good."

Prim, Katniss, Ms. Everdeen, and I all sucked in our breaths.

"There was only one test result that really got me worried." He rubbed his temples. I hated when doctors did that. "See, there is this one tiny little nerve in your brain. 90% of the time it isn't affected by any of your daily activity, and so people go on forgetting about it, but that extra 10% could be very life-changing."

No one spoke, moved or even breathed.

"When the stress level in a persons' brain reaches a point where it affects that little nerve, things go haywire in that persons' body."

Ms. Everdeen took a breath and spoke up. "What are the-the symptoms, if you could call it that?"

The doctor sighed slightly. "In this case 'symptoms' might not be the right word. When stress is at its peak, things are almost certain to happen. Like, for example, pregnant women." Weird example, but okay. "When they are in their third trimester, they throw up, they are grouchy, they get stomach pains, they get hungry, they get more tired, and stuff like that. When the nerve I'm talking about get's too stressed, things like that happen. The person begins to experience some side-effects. Mood swings, noticeable increase or decrease in appetite, or night terrors. But the side-effect we doctors have to watch out for is the severe hallucination. However rare that certain result may be, its effects could be brutally traumatizing, harmful to your mentality, and overall devastating. And judging by the results of our tests, there has been some definite indication of the damaging hallucinations going on."

Both Katniss and I froze where we were sitting. Katniss has been hallucinating a lot lately, and it has been getting worse and worse, so does that mean she is in danger? I pulled her closer to my side. "How…How devastating? Is it fixable? Is there anything we could do right away? I don't want Katniss' brain to be messed up…"

The doctor looked sympathetic. "She would have to undergo treatments back in the lab as soon as possible if we want this to be stopped properly and efficiently. We will have to reverse action in her brain until we get to the peak, when the doctors will re-wire the nerve back to its original state."

"That doesn't sound very safe." Ms. Everdeen looked extremely worried for her eldest daughters' wellbeing. She reached out and gripped Katniss' free hand. "What are the risks of doing that?"

"Well, during the process of annulling, the active part of her mind might reverse with it and not remember anything that happened from the peak of the stressed nerve to now. That would probably be the worst case scenario."

Worst case scenario? He could say that again. I trembled from head to toe just imagining what it would be like if Katniss' memory were to be erased. Some of the most stressful times for us were also the best. I thought of all of the things we have done, have talked about. Tender moments we have shared in the middle of the night when Katniss couldn't sleep. Times when she cried over all that had been lost and I held her in my arms, dreading the moment I had to let go. My mind flashed back to the day Gale has died, when Katniss came out of the shower in my T-shirt and we curled up on the bed.

"Just out of curiosity, what happens now?"

Katniss looked at me with a strange puzzled look on. "What?"

"I don't know…" Feeling were welling up inside of me, I wasn't sure which one I should feel. "He just played a big part in your life, and you were so close to him. I hate to see you so devastated, but from a wound this big, do you think it will ever heal?"

She blinked, making a little flicker of shadow dance across her cheekbones. "I don't know. As much as I am ashamed to admit it, as I sat there on the floor watching him die, I realized something. I did love him, but it took a tragedy for me to recognize that and so I don't know if I can ever go back."

Maybe that was true, but did she really have to say it that way? All my life I had envied Gale for being such a big part of Katniss' life, thinking that she would eventually love him like he did her. But every "I love you" we had exchanged in the past year felt so real. Now, I just wondered if my feelings had been taken granted for. I'll always love Katniss, but with a wound to deal with this big, who knows if she could ever love me back as much as I had hoped? I looked away from her, so she wouldn't see me hurt.

"Peeta, you don't understand! You have no idea what we have been through together. I am not saying that I love him more than you and would have chosen him over you. I—"

As she talked, I shook my head slightly to myself, hoping she wouldn't see.

She did. "I am not joking, Peeta!" I felt her fingers slide under my chin and force me to look at her. "How could I possibly live without you? You're acting as though I don't love you, but I do!" Her voice cracked. "I do."

I finally met my own eyes with her shining silver ones, the very same pair I had fallen in love with. They were full of devotion and misunderstanding, but something else stirred deep inside those fathomless gray eyes of hers. Katniss was looking at me with pure love and need, so tender I couldn't help but sigh. With one hand I tucked a piece of black hair that had falling charmingly over one of her eyes. "…I love you, too."

I curled my arm even more securely around Katniss' waist and looked at the doctor. "Is there another way? Could you possibly reverse the damage without putting Katniss at risk?"

He shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Mellark. But I can assure you that actually damaging her mind would be very rare, and she would be in amazingly good hands."

No, no, no. I couldn't let her go through this. She's my Katniss, and I can't risk her getting hurt like this. If something happened to her it would be my entire fault…

"Peeta," Katniss' soft voice broke through my enraged silence. I looked down at her. "I want to do the tests."

"No!" My reaction was immediate. "Katniss, I won't let you take that risk! More than just a few months of our lives are at stake here!"

But the doctor cleared his throat, interrupting us. "If it would be best, I could give you a few days to work it out and come up with an answer."

Katniss looked as if she was going to hiss and arch her back. "The last time someone said that my baby daughter got kidnapped and murdered. How do I know you won't do the tests on me anyways just because you want to?"

"Mrs. Mellark, Dr. Longarden is currently in a high grade prison along with the Capitol spies for the next twenty years because of what he had done. No other doctors were involved with that. I can give you my solemn word no one will lay a single finger on you unless you wish them to, drugged up or not." The doctor smiled benevolently. "If time is what you desire, we have a lot of that. No one is in any rush."

Katniss hesitated, and I resisted the urge to butt in. This was Katniss decision, not mine.

Finally, she nodded her head. "I am going to need a while to decide, doctor. If…that's okay with you."

"Of course." He straightened up and proceeded to shake Ms. Everdeens' hand again. "It was a pleasure meeting all of you today. Just let me know when you are ready, Katniss." And with that final word, he walked out.

It seemed as though all of the breath that had been held was let out in one long, gusty sigh. I let go of Katniss' hand just in time for her mother and Prim to wrap their arms around her again.

Ms. Everdeen stroked her daughters' hair. "I am so sorry you are going through all of this, Katniss. If I had a choice I would take it all away from you and put it on me instead."

"No, Mother." Katniss drew away. "This entire ordeal is meant to make me stronger, and when it is over I'll be able to lead a normal life. Don't feel sorry for me." She cast a short glance over at me and I knew both of us were thinking about our 'normal life fantasy'.

Catching our exchanged fleeting looks, Katniss' mother smiled sadly. "You two want to be alone, I can tell."

"No, no!" Katniss blushed and waved her hands around as if to stop her mother and Prim from leaving. "It's all right. We can wait—really!"

Ms. Everdeen smiled. "It's all right. But…If I could talk to Peeta for a moment, would that be alright?" She looked at me for my permission.

I nodded. "Um…Sure." After casting a quick glance at Katniss, who looked confused, I followed her mother out the door.

While Primrose kept on walking through the halls, Ms. Everdeen and I paused right outside Katniss' door.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, already feeling immensely awkward.

"Nothing is wrong, Peeta, it's just…" She hesitated. "Ever since Katniss was born, I had always been the one she most depended on. Not just for food, obviously, but for other things. I always tucked her in bed at night, kissed her bruises when she feel down to make them feel better, hugged her when she woke up with a nightmare. But things have changed now."

I didn't interrupt, to see where things were going.

"It is no longer me whom she depends on. It's you." I could see the slight admiration in her soft blue eyes.

"Me?" I was momentarily baffled.

"Yes, you. Now it is you whom she is reliant on. Katniss has grown out of the stage where a little kiss from her mother can make a rainy day grow brighter. I see the way she looks at you, as if she is looking for something in your eyes that she has yet to find. There is a connection that is so subtle, yet obvious at the same time. When she is frightened she holds onto your hand. Not mine. I know this may be an odd way of putting it, but I am putting you in charge of her now."

I blinked. On some far away level I understood what she was saying, but it still puzzled me slightly.

"This may be in the wrong order, or not even the right way of putting it, but I am going to give you two my blessing on a new, happier life together. I am grateful you are there for her where I can't be, Peeta. I will always consider you a son to me." Ms. Everdeen sniffed once, and then put her arms around me.

After hesitating slightly, I hugged her back. "Thank you."

"Make her happy, Peeta." She pulled away and began walking in the opposite direction. "Now I better go before I start crying." And she briskly walked off.

I didn't waste time standing outside Katniss' room. I opened her door and walked up to her, my body still slightly awkward from the hug her mother and I shared.

"What did she want to t—" But her words were lost against my mouth as I kissed her. When we broke apart, Katniss blinked dizzily. "Now, why did you do that?" Her voice wasn't demanding or rude at all. Just curious and wavering a bit.

"Because you're all mine."