Note: Sorry it took so long! I've been really busy this weekend, and this is an extremely long chapter. Make sure you review!
I raised my bow and knocked an arrow, aiming for a small rabbit about fifteen yards away. I shifted my weight so I was balanced on my toes. The branch I was in let out a small groan, and I saw the rabbit lift its head curiously, but by the time it registered that it should run away, my arrow had already pierced its skill. It was a clean kill; right between the eyes. I gathered my catch and headed through the woods. I walked down a familiar road to the Victor's Village. I waved at Greasy Sae as I saw her handing out food from her own restaurant. I walked into the house and took off my muddy hunting boots. I smelled fresh bread from the kitchen, and just as a I looked up Peeta was there, smiling at me. He gave me a peck on the lips.
"So hunting went well?" He asked, pointing to my bag and grinning. He was so handsome, even after all this time.
"It went very well. I caught a rabbit, maybe we can cook it for dinner—" He kissed me again on the lips, this time deeper and stronger. I dropped my game bag and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me in closer to him I felt butterflies in my stomach as our tongues twirled around each other. "I love you Mrs. Mellark." He said as he pulled away from me and pressed his forehead into mine. I loved him too, so much. That was why I had married him after all.
"Mommy's back!" I heard a small voice from the top of the stairs. A little boy ran and hugged my legs. Holding on as tight as he could. "I missed you." He closed his eyes tight and I knelt around to wrap my arms around my son. "I missed you too." I kissed the top of his head. I nearly fell over as another tinier set of arms wrapped themselves around my neck.
"I missed her more!" The little girl said angrily. Her brother frowned at her. "Mom, I went to school again today to drop Tommy off!" She said excitedly. "Then we went to visit Grandma and Aunt Primrose at the medicine place! She let me mix up this weird medicine that she says heals people's wounds. I also…" Katniss. I heard a voice whisper. My daughter's words began to slip away, becoming more and more muted. Her mouth kept moving, and I could see her beautiful blonde curls bouncing as she talked, but I couldn't make out what she was saying. Katniss. I heard the voice say again. I looked up at Peeta because I thought it was his voice, but he was smiling down at our daughter, laughing at a certain part of her story. I couldn't hear it, but I saw his chest rising and falling. "Katniss." The voice became more and more real. "Katniss!" My kids faded away and so did Peeta, then the image of my house shattered, and I woke with a start.
Where was I? How did I get here? What did they tell me to do again, recount my memories? My name is Katniss Everdeen. I thought. I'm seventeen years old. I grew up in the Seam with my sister Primrose and my mother. She was reaped for the hunger games, but I volunteered. I met and fell in love with my fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. We both survived and came back home only to be thrown back into the Quarter Quell. I came out alive, but Peeta was captured. I moved to district thirteen to join the rebellion. Peeta is safe now and he's here. "Katniss. Are you alright?" His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. The events of last night flooded back into my eyes, and I smiled at him.
I kissed him on the lips. "I'm wonderful actually. How are you?"
A toothy grin spread across his face. "Wonderful doesn't begin to describe it." His face got serious for a moment. "Were you having a nightmare? You weren't thrashing around or anything, but you looked confused when you woke up."
"I…I wasn't having a nightmare. It was a dream. A really good dream." I looked down at his bare chest, trying to remember the last time I had a dream. It was before the first hunger games. It was about my father being alive again. It had been so long since I had felt peaceful and happy enough to have a dream.
"Well…I'm glad. Maybe now the nightmares will be replaced by pleasant dreams. Hopefully of me." His smile drove me crazy.
I moved up and kissed him, smiling into his lips. I realized we were still both naked, but that only made me smile more. I wanted last night to happen again. His hands reached down to touch my hips, and I moaned into his mouth. He rolled over on top of me and ran his hands down my side, slipping his finger inside of me. He teased me, slowly running his fingers along the outside of me, grinning each time I moaned or my legs involuntarily switched.
"Please." I heard myself beg. "I want you." He climbed on top of me and positioned himself to enter me. Then I heard a banging on the door.
"Mellark!" I heard Finnick's voice booming from the other side of the door. "Are you up? Guys have combat training today. Starts in ten minutes so you'd better get your ass moving or you're gonna have to run laps!"
"Yeah…Yeah I'm up. I'll uhhh…." He looked back up and down my body, seemingly contemplating whether sex was worth pissing off Commander Jacobs and having to run fifty laps. "I'll be right there."
I heard Finnick's footsteps grow faint as he walked down the hallway. Peeta rolled off of me and lay on his back. I propped myself up on one elbow. "You should probably go." I said. "We have all the time in the world for this, but you really don't want to piss off Jacobs."
He nodded in agreement but said, "this is the hardest decision I'll ever make. Leaving a naked you in my bed to go possibly get my ass beaten by a bunch of guys. What sick world do we live in?" When I laughed and pushed on his shoulder he kissed me, then groaned and got out of bed. He threw on a tshirt and running/sparring shorts. He gave me a peck on the forehead. "I don't think you train today." He said. "So just…don't move. And stay naked!" He shut the door before I could argue and I heard him disappear as well. I giggled and laid back down on my side. I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep, hoping to dream again.
When I woke up, light was streaming through the little window in the door that lead out to the hallway. I rolled over onto my back and sighed. I kept my eyes closed, enjoying this peaceful moment. I looked at the clock on the wall and realized that I had managed to sleep until 2:30. Physical/combat training starts at nine o'clock, so Peeta had been gone for a while. I threw the covers off of myself and got redressed in the clothes I had on yesterday. I frowned as I realized that they were what we wore during missions only, which meant that if I passed anyone on the way to my room, they would realize I hadn't changed since we had gotten back. I blushed at the thought, but then I realized I didn't care. Peeta and I were together, so eventually this was going to happen. I often slept in his room, but everyone knew that we were only sleeping, well, until last night.
I walked out of his door and quietly closed it. I walked slowly towards the living room to walk back to the women's compartments. I kept my gaze straight ahead, but I heard a voice say, "long night I see?" I looked up and saw Johanna at the kitchen table cooking something. She smirked at me laughed.
I just ignored her and went towards my room. I headed to the shower, and turned the water on to its highest setting. Despite the fact that I had had access to running hot water for over a year, I still never stopped taking advantage of it. When I stepped into the shower, I looked down and realized that my legs were partially covered in blood. Of course they would be. I hadn't even thought about that. Peeta's sheets probably would be too, so I made a reminder to change them myself before the housekeepers came. I realized for the first time that I ached. Maybe Peeta and I had been a little too vigorous for our first time because by the time I was done in the shower, walking around was a little bit painful. When I got out of the shower I realized I was ravenous. I hadn't eaten since before the morning of the mission, so I hurried back to my room and got dressed.
When I headed back to the kitchen, Johanna was still there cooking. I tried to ignore her as I reached into the fridge to grab left over stew. "So I guess you and Mellark were celebrating the mission in your own way last night?" She said.
I started to mumble a denial, forgetting my plan of confidence and uncaring, but she stopped me. "Look Katniss, I'm not here to judge you. You and Peeta love each other, there's nothing wrong with doing whatever you're doing, but obviously I'm gonna make fun of you because that's just who I am." She finished with a confident smirk.
"Did you guys…uhm…hear us?" I asked thinking about it for the first time.
"No no no." She answered quickly. "We didn't come back until almost four. The only reason I know is because Finnick checked in Peeta's room to make sure you guys were ok, and you could tell that you were both naked."
I felt relief at first because this way of them finding out was slightly less embarrassing, but then I remembered the door slam which I thought was them coming back. That had definitely been before four, because I had looked at the clock right before we fell asleep and it was only one-thirty. "Johanna…did someone come back to the apartment for something?"
"Nope. Furman, Finnick, Craig, myself and even Commander Jacobs never left the dance club until we came back for good." They had installed a "dance club" in thirteen as a way for people to blow off steam and forget about the war. There was no alcohol of course, but it was still fun and people went there all the time to celebrate.
"I heard the door open and close before I went to sleep." I said, confused. "Someone had to have come back." Maybe she had missed someone leaving because they needed to change clothes or something.
She looked back down at her food and frowned. "No, I'm pretty sure everyone was there…no wait! I know who it probably was." Her face turned white, like she was coming to some sort of awful realization. I tried to think about what it could be. Why would she be scared? No one on the team cared if Peeta and I were together. No one except…my heart dropped into my stomach. I put my hand up to my mouth and felt all of the breath go out of my lungs. I knew what she was going to say before she even spoke the words.
"Gale came to the dance club at around two. He caused quite the scene. He tried to get in, but the men at the door wouldn't let him. He raged at them and started yelling, saying he just needed to blow off some steam. He broke a chair against a wall, so they escorted him out. He was so angry. It was odd, but I forgot about it until now."
"So you're saying," I choked out, "that he was here. He was in this apartment all night until he left to go to the club He was here during…while…he heard…" I started to panic. "And where is he now?"
"Well, he wasn't in his room this morning. I was up when they all went to training, and Finnick said something about Gale not being there when he tried to wake him up. He must've gone somewhere. I'm sure Jacobs would've been here looking for him if he wasn't at training though. Maybe you should…" But I was out the door before she could finish her sentence. I sprinted through the halls and through the doors. I punched in the code to go down the elevator. I needed to see Peeta. I needed to make sure that Gale hadn't killed him. If I hadn't seen what I did with the flash grenade, I would think that Peeta was safe with Commander Jacobs, but I knew that nothing could protect you from someone you thought was your ally. I needed to warn Peeta. He was already asleep, so he probably thought nothing of Gale.
When I got to the bottom floor, the elevator door opened and I ran out into the training area. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Peeta in the ring, looking exhausted but smiling, sparring against Finnick. I walked over to where they were training. I saw that Furman was running laps around the track. That meant he had lost a sparring match. A chill ran down my back as a saw Gale. His was watching the match, his back facing towards me as I slowed down to a quick walk. I heard a grunt and a painful yell, and I saw Peeta pin Finnick to the ground. Finnick tried to hold on for a few seconds, but he tapped out. Peeta let him go and got up, laughing. I was relieved to see that other than the normal sparring wear and tear, he seemed unhurt. Finnick got up and put his hands on his knees. "Well, well, well girly," Commander Jacobs said to him roughly, "looks like you let little Mellark here beat the shit out of you." He called Peeta "little Mellark" sometimes because he was at least a head shorter than all of the guys in the squad, but he was one of the best fighters because he was so quick.
Finnick nodded and looked up seeming to notice me. "Katniss?" I saw Commander Jacobs, Peeta, and unfortunately Gale's heads whip around. "What're you doing here? You have the day off. Or did you forget?"
"O. Uhmm…" I realized that I hadn't thought of an explanation in my haste to reach Peeta. "Well, I just needed to ask Commander Jacobs if I missed a uhm…debriefing from the mission." I looked at their faces. Peeta had a huge grin on his face as he looked at me. Finnick was puzzled, but nodded anyway. Jacobs was angry, as usual. His expression never changed. The last face I looked at was Gale's. As I looked into his eyes, I saw a deep burning anger hidden behind the cold mask he was wearing for the others. His normal brown eyes were deep black with loathing, and I knew everything I feared was true. Gale had been there, and he had heard us. This wasn't my Gale. The guy from the woods who hated the Capitol and fought fiercely to feed my family when I was away. This was the Gale who had loved me and lost me. I could see in his face that he would never forgive me, that we would never be friends again. I had offended and betrayed him by loving someone else. I couldn't help it. Tears came to my eyes as I realized that my Gale, my friend, was gone. This man in front of me was unpredictable, and I worried for Peeta's safety and my own.
"Well…there is no debriefing Everdeen." The Commander looked back at the ring. "Odair! Ten miles around the track for barely even putting up a fight. Everdeen here could probably do better than you." Finnick swung himself under the ropes and jogged to the starting line of the track. "Well Mellark, you're almost done with your gauntlet. Hawthorne!" He shouted at Gale, whose eyes turned away from me. "You're up, let's see if you can beat fancy feet over here. No mercy right!" He clapped Gale on the shoulder as Gale ducked under the ropes. Jacobs was joking, but he didn't realize how true his statement was.
I walked over to Peeta's end of the ring where he was getting a drink. "Hey…" I started, but Peeta kissed me, interrupting my thought. I almost gave in, but I pulled back from him. "Peeta…Gale heard us last night. He was there the whole time." I saw him stare at us from across the ring. "He's going to hurt you. He's—"
"Katniss!" Peeta said, interrupting my hysteria. "I can handle myself. Besides, we've been training together all morning, and he hasn't tried anything. Maybe he didn't hear, and maybe if he did he doesn't care, and finally realized he'll never have you and accepted it. I can fight him Katniss. I'm better than him. Besides, Jacobs won't let him kill me." He laughed, but turned his head as the door from the elevator opened. In stepped my number one fan, President Coin.
"Commander!" She said in a cold, unfeeling voice. "I need to speak with you." I thought she would come over to him, but when she stayed where she was, he seemed to realize that the President moves for no one, and headed over to her.
"You boys play nice." He yelled over his shoulder. I had felt safe with Jacobs there. He wouldn't let Gale seriously injure Peeta, but now he was fifty yards away, distracted by Coin. I turned my head and looked around. Finnick and Furman were running together, even farther away on the other end of the building. I looked back to Peeta, but he was already headed to the center of the ring to spar Gale. I stepped down from side of the ring and backed up. I would try to help Peeta if anything happened, but there was no way I was stronger than Gale.
Peeta held his hand out for Gale to shake. "Good luck man. Fair fight." Peeta said with a small smile.
"Wipe that stupid smile off your face Mellark." Gale said with a snarl. "Because if you don't, I'm gonna do it for you." He turned around to head back to his side of the ring and so did Peeta. I saw a moment of worry in Peeta's eyes, but his confidence in his fighting abilities seemed to win over as he turned to face Gale.
They circled each other for a few moments, both deciding when to strike. Peeta swung first, but Gale blocked it and tried to counter. Peeta was too fast though and side stepped him, landing his own counter kick into Gale's side. Gale stumbled a little, but shook his head. He lashed out at Peeta, but his anger was making him careless. Peeta side stepped this one even more easily, and kicked at Gale's leg, knocking him to the ground. Then he landed another shot to the back of Gale's head, stunning him. Gale got back up, but every time he swung at Peeta, he ended up getting kicked or punched or he almost got locked. The last time he was hit, he kneeled on the ground and I didn't think he would stand. I was relieved, thinking that his best chance at Peeta was over. Peeta's was a better fighter, I should've had more confidence in him.
"Just give up man." Peeta said, slightly out of breath, sweat dripping down his brow. "It's just not your day. Why are you fighting me so hard? It's just training Gale." He walked over and tried to help Gale up, but Gale pushed him away.
"Alright look Gale! I've had enough." Peeta said angrily. Gale was struggling, but managed to stand up. "I know this is about me and Katniss. I know it isn't just a training match for you. You want to kill me. You want to rip my head off because you know she loves me and only me, and she will never have feelings like that for you."
"I know you fucked her last night Peeta, trust me I heard." Gale said gasping for breath. "But eventually she will come to her senses and be away from you. She loves me Peeta. Maybe she hasn't said it out loud, but she does. She thinks about me all the time I'm sure. She would never say it to you because she's probably afraid to admit the powerful thing we have together! She wants me. I know it."
Peeta looked like he was about to explode. I realized that Gale was living in a delusion. He truly believed that I loved him and not Peeta. He thought we would be together. I stepped up to say something, but Peeta spoke first. "Well it sure wasn't you she was begging for last night. It wasn't your name she was moaning, and it never will be Hawthorne. So accept it. I know you really want to kill me Gale, but you should realize that even if I was dead, she would never want you." I was shocked by the bluntness of Peeta's statement, but my gasp seemed to remind Gale that I was standing there.
He looked at me, and I finally opened my mouth. "He's right Gale. I love him and only him, and I always will. You and I were friends, we can still be friends, but that's all it will ever be…" I stopped talking because he was no longer paying attention. He turned his attention towards Peeta, who was still smiling at me. "Peeta look—" I shouted out to him, trying to warn him, but by the time he turned his head and tried to block, it was too late. Gale kicked him as hard as he could right between the legs. Peeta doubled over in pain and rolled on the ground groaning. That was one of the first rules of sparring in the ring. No eye gouging and no "crotch shots" as Jacobs called them. You can't recover from that, and the cup they wore couldn't protect from a hit like that. I thought Gale would leave, but he kept walking towards Peeta. He wound up and kicked him again, this time in the back. Peeta had enough sense to slightly cover his head, so Gale kicked him in the stomach.
"Stop it!" I heard myself yell. "Someone stop him!" I saw Peeta attempt to tap on the floor, hoping to shake some sense into Gale's head, but Gale ignored him. He picked Peeta up and slammed him to the ground. He started punching him. In the head, the stomach, the sides. Then, he got him in a choke hold. Peeta was somehow still conscious, so I watched as he grasped for breath and furiously pounded the floor. "Help!" I yelled out. I jumped into the ring and tried to pull Gale off of Peeta, or at least loosen his grip, but anger made him even stronger, and he lashed out his foot, kicking me in the stomach and knocking me back. Tears welled in my eyes as I saw the life drain out of Peeta, this morning I had seen our future together, but that would never happen. We would never get married, we would never have children. I reached out for Peeta, but someone else got to him first.
Commander Jacobs yelled as he pulled Gale off of Peeta. Gale might have rage strength, but no one alive was stronger than the Commander. He picked Gale up and shoved him against the ropes. "You wanna play dirty?" He yelled in Gale's face. He punched Gale in the stomach and Gale doubled over. He kneed him hard in the face and Gale fell to the ground. "If you wanna fight dirty, you'll fight me." He held Gale up by his shirt and looked like he was going to hit him again, but a voice stopped his fist mid air.
"That's enough." Coin said as she stepped under the ropes. Jacobs considered his options for a moment, but lowered his fist. "Let him go Commander." I had never loved Jacobs more in that moment, and I had never hated Coin more. I wanted Jacobs to hurt Gale for hurting Peeta.
"Then you take him with you." Jacobs said, shoving Gale towards Coin. "I tried suspension, but that doesn't work. You take him. Use him as personal guard, send him to serve food, have him wipe your ass for all I care, but I will not have this insolent…boy…in my squad." Coin looked like she would protest, but even she seemed afraid of the coldness in his voice. It was the same voice he had used after the flashbang incident, multiplied by a hundred. Coin led Gale out of the ring and to the elevator. He passed out as they reached the door, and Coin had her guards carry him through the elevator. Coin shot Jacobs one more cold look, then turned and headed out.