My hands hit the ground first, but I wasn't strong enough to stop my face from following. With my nose stuck to the ground, I found it very hard to breathe. I moaned loudly in pain and also in an attempt to get Finnick to stop running.

"Ivy! Oh God, what happened? Are you hurt? Did you get hit? Did you hurt the baby?" Finnick said, rushing back to my side to help me up. I wanted to shout enough about the baby, but I couldn't. This fake pregnancy might be the one thing keeping me alive. If I get enough sympathy, I could get sponsors. Also, if the Capitol killed me now, I could only imagine how much anger there would be amongst the citizens.

"I just fell. I'm tired," I said simply, taking in a deep breath. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I spoke. Finnick bit his lip.

"Yeah. Yeah, you know, we should take a break." He sat down next to me, his back against a slim tree trunk, and sighed in relief. "We've been running all day anyways. You know…"

I blocked out his voice. My eyes closed. My hands wrapped around myself, and I curled up into myself so I couldn't see anything. My eyes hid in my knees.

Peeta.

I was suddenly so furious that I couldn't breathe normally. I felt like hitting something, anything. Where was Peeta? I had finally sorted out everything with him, finally gotten on the same page with him, only to have him ripped away from me. And for what? Some stupid plan? Haymitch should know that if he intends to go through with his plan of getting me out, I would only go if Peeta came to.

"I was surprised, you know?" Finnick laughed, not having noticed me ignoring him this whole time. I shoved my head further between my legs, trying to hide. "Ivy?"

I couldn't answer. I had started to cry, and though I knew Finnick, I didn't know him well enough to want him to see me cry.

"Ivy, look at me."

My shoulders began to shake.

"Or just listen, that's okay too. We are going to meet up with Peeta. He hasn't died yet."

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and suddenly I heard a scream. It was me. I was screaming. I was sobbing.

"Finn…Finnick," I cried. I couldn't even see him through my tears. My nose was running, but I didn't do anything about it. "Finnick, I just got out. I was out. I was done. I'm… I can't be… This isn't fair!"

My shoulders continued to shake as my sobs continued. Finnick didn't say a word. His arm went around my shoulder, and he gently held me like that for a minute before talking.

"She cries a lot too."

I looked up, finally wiping my nose on my sleeve.

"I can handle a lot of things, Ivy," Finnick sighed. He turned to me, sadness in his own beautiful, green eyes, "But one thing I can't handle is when someone I care about cries."

Standing up, he offered me his hand. I took it immediately and allowed him to pull me up.

"Can we just walk?" I asked, smoothing out my jumpsuit.

He smirked, "Sure, if the running is too much for you." I rolled my eyes and let Finnick take the lead.

"So, back in 4, what did you do?"

Finnick raised his eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"Did you have a job?"

"I was a victor and a mentor," he answered.

"Other than that? Any hobbies?"

"Why so curious?" Finnick said with a sly grin. I blushed, though I knew I shouldn't have. He was just toying with me. It wasn't as if I was attracted to him in any way. He was too pretty and too confident. Peeta was modest and humble and handsome. Thinking about Peeta made my eyes well up again, so I quickly answered Finnick to get him off my mind.

"If I'm going to have to spend a whole day walking, it is not going to be in awkward silence," I answered smoothly. I heard Finnick take a heavy breath as he pushed braches out of his way and stepped over bushes, always waiting for me to overstep the obstacles before moving on.

"I liked to swim and fish."

"How obvious," I sighed, not pleased with his answer.

He glared at me in a friendly way. "What about you? Hobbies?"

"I play the piano." For some reason, I stood taller when I said this. It was never something I bragged about, not something that I would necessarily proud of. But saying it now was somehow wonderful, like it made me more real than I felt at the moment.

I realized that the Capitol citizens probably liked this little game Finnick and I were playing, learning about each other. Teaching the citizens about us.

"I should have guessed," he chuckled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked defensively.

"Nothing, nothing." Another chuckle escaped his lips. "I write."

"Write what?"

He stopped, slowly turned around, and gave me a look that begged me not to ask that.

"Write what?" I asked again, a smile on my lips. My cheeks felt stiff from all the tears that had dried on them, but I still smiled. Smiling during the Hunger Games was a small rebellion in itself.

"Poetry."

I laughed and passed Finnick as I did. I continued what he had been doing.

"Why is that so funny?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just never expected Finnick Odair to be the sensitive type that lies in the sand with the wind blowing through his styled hair as he writes rhyming poems about the water," I said dramatically.

Finnick laughed, "For your information, they don't have to rhyme."

I continued as if he hadn't said anything, "Water is clear, and water is flowy. Water is…"

"And they aren't about water either," he laughed. "They're about…"

I didn't hear what Finnick wrote about because at that moment, something shocked me and threw me back into a tree. Everything went black.

I woke up to the most embarrassing and awkward situation I have ever been in. My eyes opened to see Finnick's lips on mine. Startled, I pushed his shoulders up and off me.

"Oh, thank God. You're alive," he sighed.

"What…? What was that?" I asked, still lying down. I gestured frantically to my mouth.

"Trust me, it was weird for me too. CPR. I saved you."

I sat up on my elbows. "It's the Hunger Games. Why didn't you just let me die?"

"I couldn't let my most valuable ally die right in front of my eyes, now could I?" he asked, tilting his head in a sarcastic way. I rolled my eyes, and slowly got to my feet.

"Well then, what hit me?"

Finnick walked forward to where I had been hit. He squinted into what appeared to be nothing. Suddenly his hands shot behind him at me. "Stand back." I scrambled to my feet and hid behind a tree. He picked up a stick from the ground and threw it forward. It was flung back at me, charred.

"What is that?" I gasped.

"A force field. We made it to the edge of the arena."

We both let the thought sink in for a while before I piped up. "Maybe we should make…"

"Camp!" Finnick finished for me. "Yeah, let's… set up…" he stammered, seeing as though we didn't have any belongings besides weapons.

"Maybe, I could weave some mats to sleep on… and you could search for water?" I suggested.

"Now that you mention it, I am a bit thirsty." He began to walk off. "Don't go anywhere. And take it easy. You've fallen down twice now, and you don't…"

"Want to hurt my baby," I said, with a fake, sweet smile. "Yeah, I know." I absentmindedly rubbed at my stomach, hoping that it made it look a little bit more real. Then, Finnick was gone.

I took thick leaves and began to weave them together in an attempt to make something comfier than the jungle floor to sleep on. I was failing miserably.

Peeta probably knows how to do this right. But then again, Peeta knows basically everything.

I set down what I was working on and looked up at the sky, evening fading into the night fast. I had gotten past the crying stage, now came the worry. Where was he right now? What was he doing right now? Was he thinking about me? Was he looking at the new stars in the sky? Were we both looking at the same star, the little red one off to the side of the moon? Maybe he was…

"No luck with the water."

My head jerked around to see Finnick looking defeated.

"I couldn't find any water," he repeated, looking ashamed.

"I couldn't weave any mats, so I think we're both okay," I laughed. Finnick rubbed his hands together and came to sit next to me on the ground. It was too hot for a fire, so we just sat in the darkness. I grew tired fast, my eyelids threatening to close at any second.

"After they show us who died, you can go to sleep, and I'll take first watch," Finnick offered. "I know you want to make sure you don't see his face up there."

I tried to smile at him, but the worry was etched in my face. I spoke slowly, "I thought he and I would be together in this."

"And you guys will. Just give it a day," Finnick said just as the anthem began to blare.

First, the Panem seal. Then, the faces.

The male from 5's face was up there first. So, all the victors from 1-4 had survived. I noticed Finnick give a sigh of relief at not seeing Mags' face. I wondered if we would meet up with her later too, or if Finnick was just letting her have her chances. Haymitch must've told him to protect me at any cost if it made him leave Mags behind at the Cornucopia. My anger with Haymitch just kept growing.

Then came the male from 6. Following him came Woof and Cecelia from 8, meaning Johanna and her district partner had survived as well. I wondered if she was with Peeta right now. Haymitch said to trust Finnick and Johanna, so she must be with Peeta. Though I wished Peeta wasn't stuck with a girl who had no qualms with being naked whenever and wherever, I was glad I wasn't stuck with her.

I tried to ignore the pang in my chest for Peeta as the pictures appeared slowly in the sky. Both victors from 9 were killed, as was the female from 10. My eyes started to close against my will. I was so tired from the day of running and walking and almost dying. I rubbed my eyes with my fingers, trying to keep them open for just a couple more minutes.

Then there was Seeder from 11's face.

I bit my lip. District 12 was next. Peeta could be next. Through the blur my half closed eyes, I saw the picture change.

I stopped.

Blonde hair. I saw blonde hair.

"Finnick!" I grasped at Finnick's arm.

"Ivy, what?"

"He's… Peeta… why is he up there? I see him! He can't be dead! He's… he's dead," I spoke quickly and softly. Tears poured out of my eyes again.

Peeta was dead? He couldn't be. Something was wrong. They were lying; they were messing with me. But there was Peeta's face, smiling at me.

"What? No, Ivy. Look, it's just the Panem seal," he pointed. He touched my face, trying to gently force my eyes in the direction of the sky.

I blinked hard twice, trying hard to focus on what was in front of me. The Panem seal?

"But… it was Peeta… I swear I saw…"

"Only 8 died today, Ivy. Not Peeta. You're just tired. I'm taking first watch."

"But…"

"Go to sleep, Ivy. We're finding Peeta tomorrow."

Peeta, I thought in my head. The tiredness caused my body to collapse on itself. I fell asleep full of happiness that Peeta was still alive, and full of confusion as to why Finnick looked so rigid all of a sudden.

* A/N Thank you all so much for all the reviews, favorites, follows, and PMs! I was on vacation and in a show and couldn't update really at all, but it was great to see that I still had people interested! I'm very sorry for lack of updating and for the terribleness of this chapter. But thanks again for still reading on! Have a great day/night! And leave a review if you want! :D *