My eyes open to the still darkness of the night. I rub them and sit up, getting dizzy in the process. I fell asleep on the couch last night, or this morning? I'm not quite sure what time it is right now, all I can comprehend is that Peeta is still gone. And it's all my fault. I had known this would be his reaction when I told him, but I didn't expect it to be this big. But, then again, he was the one who had begged me in the first place for a child, I grumbled to myself, so why is he upset about something I've told him all along? That I didn't and don't want a child. Plain and simple.

I push myself up off the couch knowing that I have to get on with the day, no matter what time it may be. As I begin to run my bath, my mind fills with questions that I'm not sure could be answered. Where is Peeta? What if he doesn't come back? Does he still love me?

My eyes fall down to the pearl ring on my finger. The same pearl he gave me in the arena fifteen years ago. I push it with my thumb. What if he leaves? I couldn't bear the thought of not waking up next to Peeta again, one night was bad enough.

As the tub finishes filling up, I place one foot in first and slowly bring the other one in. My body aches as I slowly slide down to sit. I wince in pain, but the warm sensation of the water makes me sink deeper down.

My thumb finds my ring once more; I've never played with it so much in the last fifteen years that I've had it. I look down at it, in all its simplicity, it's beautiful and pure. Maybe this is the way Peeta sees me. To be quite honest, I don't know what Peeta sees in me now. Does he see a monster? Or am I still the Katniss he fell in love with?

I close my eyes and lean my head back against the tub, allowing my body to end its fight to stay awake.

Everything around me is black. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, it's a never ending black hole. A pink bassinet sits a few feet away from me; my feet begin to jog towards it, curious to what is inside it.

Once I reach it, I look down to see a little blue eyed baby girl. She cries out for me, I try to pick her up in my arms, but she's being dragged away from me by an invisible force. I begin to run after her. Her cries grow louder and louder and there's nothing I can do to make it stop pulling her away from me.

"Stop," I scream, "Please, please stop!" My breathing grows heavy and my heart races from the speed my legs somehow seem to be achieving. The bassinet comes to a halt and I catch up to it. My arms go out in front of me, scooping up my baby and holding her in my arms. I look around searching for the one person I want most right now, "Peeta," I yell. "Peeta, where are you?" I scream louder, the baby starts to cry in my arms. I bounce up and down hoping to subside her cries while still frantically searching for Peeta. But all I see is darkness.

"He's gone, Katniss," A voice echoes in my head. A voice I know all too well. A voice I haven't heard in fifteen years and had hoped I'd never have to hear again.

"Where is he, Snow?" My teeth grind together, disgusted that I'm even responding to this scum.

"He left you, Katniss." The way he speaks makes it sound like he's smiling. "You lied to him, you hurt him, and you've done so much to him that he cannot even trust you anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"For fifteen years Peeta asked you almost every day for a baby. And then you lie to him, saying that you wanted one." How did he know that? He's been dead for fifteen years. "You lied right to his face and even I know you were happy when you had lost the baby."

I look down at the bundle in my arms, the baby started to feel lighter and lighter, she was being taken from me, "What are you doing?" I cringe, looking up into the darkness, looking up at no one. My baby begins to cry again, her little body slowly turning to ash. "No," I whisper. "No, Snow, please no. Don't take her from me." I scream.

"Oh, Miss Everdeen, when will you ever learn not to lie?" he snickers. A gust of wind blows, taking my baby from my arms, her ashes flying away into the darkness.

"No, no, no, no," I scream. "Please come back, please come back…" I drop to my knees, screaming at the top of my lungs, looking out into the darkness that engulfed my mind and surroundings.

"Katniss," A yelling voice breaks me out of my nightmare. "Are you alright? Wake up, you're having a nightmare." My eyes open to a face I never thought I'd see again. My mouth closes; I realize that the screams in my dream have made their way to the real world.

"Peeta," I whisper under my breath, my voice hoarse. "Peeta, what are you doing here? He said you'd left."

"Who said I'd left, Katniss?" He looks down at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Snow," I pause, searching for the words I cannot find. "He said…you…and she…" I look down and realize I'm still lying in the bathtub. I shiver from the now cold water and the scratches that now cover my body. "What time is it?"

He ignores my rambling, "Here, Katniss," Peeta holds out the towel he's holding in his hand, his arms open wide. "Come here," He grabs me by the waist, pulling me up and out of the water. His warm arms embrace me; I find the comfort I always need after a nightmare.

"Why did you come back?" My teeth chatter. He stays silent as he pulls me in his arms to carry me to our bedroom. I rest my head on his shoulder, and focus on the steady rhythm of his breathing and the sound his feet make as they hit the floor.

Only a moment later, Peeta places me on our bed, my eyes becoming heavier once more even if I may have slept the entire day; I give into them, but promise to only rest them for a moment. There's so much I need to tell him, so much he needs to hear.

"Peeta," I mumble, I can hear him shuffle around, opening drawers and throwign things out. "Peeta," I say again. My eyes open, looking up at the ceiling. I push myself up to see him running around our bedroom, frantically opening drawers, and looking through the clothes in the closet. "Peeta, what's the matter?" I stand up, wrapping the towel tighter around my body. "Peeta, what's going on?" His hands grip the edges of the small dresser; his knuckles start to turn white. He only does this when he's having a flashback.

"Peeta, baby," I walk up behind him and place my hands on his back, rubbing circles with my fingertips. I feel his body tense and then relax under my touch. Over the years, I've learned that this is the best method to calm him down. At first, it wasn't the best idea, I narrowly escaped his grasp many times.

"You're not trying to kill me, real or not real?" he whispers under his breath.

I place my chin on his shoulder and whisper back, "Real,"

He turns around and faces me, the tips of his fingers running across my jawline. In his eyes, I can see that he's thinking hard about something, whether it's if I'm telling the truth or about what happened yesterday. He sighs and places his forehead against mine, "I'm so sorry for everything I said."

I nod, "You had every right to say the things you did,"

"No I didn't." He brings his hands up to my cheeks, "I had no right to tell you the things I did. Nothing was your fault. None of it," He places a gentle kiss on my lips, as if he believes I could break any minute, "I'm sorry I pressured you into having a baby. I've waited fifteen years, I can wait another fifteen," We both chuckle softly.

"I love you," I say against his lips as he places another soft kiss on mine. I shiver slightly, a reminder that I'm only being covered by a towel.

He chuckles, "You really need to put some clothes on."

"I know," I grab an oversized t-shirt of Peeta's and undergarments he happened to pull out for me-the rest of our clothes lying on the floor from his episode. I sigh, looking at the ground, "I'll clean it up tomorrow." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Peeta trying to cover the smirk on his face.

Soon enough, I'm underneath the warm blankets. My mind drifting off into sleep, but still fearing that the dream I had earlier would resurface. I feel Peeta's lips press against my forehead, "Are you awake?" he whispers.

I nod my head.

"Do you want to tell me what your dream was about?" he questions, his hand rubbing my side that sends shivers down my spine.

I shake my head. "Not really,"

He just sighs softly and slowly creeps down deeper under the covers.

Before I get comfortable enough to fall asleep, I ask one last thing, hoping to hear the answer I want to hear, "Will you be here when I wake up?"

"Always," I can't help but wonder if that will always be true.

A/N: Hey everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It may be a little OOC with Katniss and maybe even a little bit of Peeta, but I wanted to show how vulnerable both Katniss and Peeta are and it could lead to major trouble in the end. I'm looking for someone to Beta this story. Is anyone interested? I really need one, just so they can help correct any spelling/grammer/story errors because sometimes I don't catch them.

Xoxo

Acuriouswriter

(Changed my pen name, love, like, hate?)