A/N: I'm thinking about writing a prequel fic that's a Finnick POV of what his history with Annie, Johanna and all of this stuff, before Katniss comes along. Would anyone be interested in reading that?

Also here's a timeline of the mentors, it might be useful. The only ones that are canon are Chaff, Haymitch, Finnick, Annie and Katniss.

Chaff- 45th HG

Haymitch- 50th HG

Blight- 62nd HG

Finnick- 65th HG

Johanna- 66th HG

Gloss- 67th HG

Cashmere- 68th HG

Annie- 70th HG

Katniss- 74th HG

Warning. Part of this chapter is M

I wake up with a headache, and a bad recollection of last night's events. Me breaking down, Finnick breaking down. Everything just being really bad. It's nine o'clock, and I need to get myself ready. The live broadcast begins at ten, so I have an hour to get dressed, do my makeup, eat breakfast, and make my way to the lobby so I can get to the mentor's lounge. Finnick's still asleep and snoring softly. I carefully slide out of bed, as to not wake him, and change into a good outfit. There are no more appointments until Gale and Alyssa both die, so I don't need to act as seductive as usual. But I still have to dress the part. I put on a pale purple dress that is very low cut. My bra is almost visible. Thankfully, it goes down to my knees so it's not too revealing. I attempt to comb through my messy hair, but I give up after a little bit. I must of tossed and turned a bit last night, I can't even comb my fingers through my hair without running into a dozen knots. I only put on a little eye makeup and a clear lip gloss. It's nine-thirty. The limo will be here in fifteen minutes. I guess there's no time for breakfast. I wake Finnick up gently, but it never really works out. You don't wake a victor, or try to scare them. It ends up badly. Finnick jumps up, looking poised to kill. He relaxes when he sees me.

"Sorry. I thought it... wasn't you." Finnick mumbles, before getting dressed. I contemplate leaving the room to let him get changed in privacy, but I realized that there is no privacy between us. I don't feel shy seeing him naked any more. I used to hide in the other room when my mother would have a naked patient, but now it doesn't even faze me. It's just a body. And besides, he is my boyfriend. Haymitch is waiting at for us, looking pretty impatient.

"Nice sex hair, sweetheart." Haymitch greets me. I turn beet red. I know my hair is tangled, but I didn't think it would look like that. I ignore the comment, and we take the elevator down. All of the other mentors are downstairs, spare the mentors from Districts 6, 9, and 10.

"Score, man. She's really something." Gloss high-fives Finnick, clearly under the impression that we had sex, as well. Finnick wraps his hand around my waist, protectively. My attention is drawn to Cashmere and the mentor from 2, who are arguing very loudly. I assume it's about their tributes.

"I don't know who the hell told you to let them in with our kids! They can't move as a group." The mentor from 2 yells. I can tell she's talking about the Career pack.

"I didn't say anything about it, either way." Cashmere defends herself. "Besides, they're just kids. If they want to make friends, even if it's temporary, let them."

"They're a threat." She spits.

Cashmere rolls her eyes. "Oh really? I never would have guessed. Anyone who's still alive is a threat. You're not the only one who wants their kids to win." I look at Haymitch, confused. He shakes his head at me, meaning he's as clueless as I am. The other mentors show up, and we all get in the limo to head towards the mentor's lounge.

Last night, nothing really happened that I don't already know about. Caesar and Claudius talk a little about the alliances formed: the Career pack (they don't call it that)and the tributes from 11 with the girl from 5. Then, they quickly switch over to something dramatic that's happening live. The girl from 7 runs into the the girl from 5 and the two from 11. I can tell the girl from 7 is terrified. The boy from 11 awkwardly tries to stab her, but he misses. The girl from 11 frowns, saying she doesn't want to kill people. But the boy doesn't care, and after a while, manages to stab her a few times in the stomach, killing her. I look over at Johanna. Her expression is unreadable. I can't tell if she's sad, bored, or just was expecting this. Blight stands up to call the girl's parents. "I was surprised she lasted that long." Johanna shrugged. "If you can't kill you can't win." They cut to the Career pack. The girl from 3 is swiftly killed by the girl from 1. She looks the least bit interested in being her, but damn, she can kill. Dahlia and Alyssa look fine, almost happy. I smile at Finnick, feeling relieved. They run into the smaller alliance. Alyssa swiftly shoots an arrow into the girl from 5's heart. Cato's brother wastes no time using his sword on the boy from 11, and the boy from 4 snaps the girl from 11's neck. I have a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. From the looks on all of their faces, I can tell that I'm watching a pack of 6 killers. They're laughing and high-fiving each other as the canons go off. There's 6 of them in one alliance, and there's only 8 left. I can tell who their next targets are.

I stand up, and rush to the bathroom. I'm standing over the toilet, dry heaving for a while. I don't vomit, but I feel physically sick. Someone comes up behind me, and braids my hair out of my face.

I turn around and see Cashmere. She's looking at me with one of those motherly sympathetic smiles. She offers me her hand and helps me up. I stand up a little to quickly, and almost fall over again, but luckily Cashmere catches me. "Let's get you some water." She says, slowly walking me to a table in the mentors lounge. Cashmere hands me a glass of ice water with thinly sliced lemon and chunks of other fruits I don't recognize floating in the water. "It's the best I could do." She apologizes. Nothing about the Capitol is plain. I thank her anyways, and after slowly sipping the drink, I feel a little bit better. "We should get back in there." Cashmere walks into the lounge, and I follow right behind her.

Haymitch calls me over when he sees me. "Sweetheart. Get your self over here. I hurry over, and he points to the television. The Careers are having some sort of heated argument. Cato's brother angrily puts the boy from 4 in a headlock, and snaps his neck, bringing the boy to the ground. Mags makes a noise of shock, and Finnick says something but I don't hear it. The camera zooms in on Dahlia. She looks terrified. Alyssa's face is neutral and impassive. Dahlia whispers something to Alyssa, and Alyssa nods, before turning to face Dahlia. They both giggle, and then Dahlia nods at her.

Alyssa smirks. I realize when she's made that face before: when I was teaching her how to act seductive. I turn to Finnick and widen my eyes. That's my face, I mouth to him. I have a terrible feeling about this. Alyssa pulls Cato's brother away to talk to him. She takes her hair out of it's ponytail and runs her fingers through it, while staring at him. "You know," she raises her eyebrows, speaking in just above a whisper, "there's only seven of us left. And the last thing we need is another victor from District 1. You wanna help me finish them off?" Alyssa whispering in his ear, and I can see how affected he his by it. "Besides," she says, pulling on the collar of his shirt to bring him closer, "I know a great way we can celebrate the final five." She leans in very close, and I think Alyssa's about to kiss him, but pulls away at the last minute.

"Holy shit." Johanna says. "She's almost as good as you and Odair."

"I-I- I'm just as confused as everyone else is." I say defensively.

"I've seen so many strategies played out in the Games, but this has to be a first." Haymitch downs a glass of some clear drink, that can't be water.

I shush both of them, and watch what plays out. Cato's brother goes and kills the boy from 1, but won't kill the girl for whatever reason. When Alyssa confronts him about it, Cato's brother then gets pissed, and proceeds to end the alliance. They all go their separate ways, and Alyssa and Dahlia walk into the woods before Alyssa suggests that they break off their alliance. "I just don't want it to come down to us having to kill each other."

Dahlia nods. "That's a really good idea. And- if you win, can you tell my brother I love him? And tell your mentor - Katniss - to take care of him."

Alyssa smiles sadly at her. "Of course." She hugs Dahlia, before giving Dahlia something from her bag. It's a trident, that expanded from the size of my fist to at least a foot and a half. "Go get them. You can do this." The trident has to be made of some type of steel, and I didn't even see it in the Cornucopia. Then again, I was focusing on Gale. They go their separate ways, and Finnick squeezes my hand reassuringly. We'll be there to pick up the pieces of each other. They cut to Cato's brother, who's camped out by the Cornucopia. Alyssa is in the forest. The girl from 1 is somewhere in the grassland. Dahlia's headed towards the stream. Gale and the boy from 7 must be by the mountain.. which I assume is a volcano. I know the Gamemakers won't erupt it unless they have good reason to, and right now they don't.

I run up to Haymitch, and use the Sponsor computer. I scroll down the list of things I can send to Gale. I decide on a few rolls of bread similar to the ones we ate the day of the reaping of my Games, and a canteen filled with mint tea. There's a small space to include a small phrase. I simply write 'Don't give up. - Catnip'. While I'm almost positive Gale won't be coming back, he needs to fight until the last minute if he wants a real chance. "He needed to know that we didn't forget about him." I explain to Haymitch. Just because the cameras haven't been on him doesn't mean he wasn't suffering.

The rest of the day is fairly boring by the Capitol's standards, with no more deaths. When Gale receives his parachute, he takes the note, and crumples it up in a ball, stomping on it with his foot. I assume he's mad at me. He drinks some of the tea, and half of one of the rolls, before climbing up a tree, and resting. "Someone's being a bit dramatic." Johanna mumbles. The gesture will not go unnoticed by sponsors, mentors, and viewers at home. I ignore her and curl up into Finnick's lap. Every second that goes by, we grow closer to Gale and Dahlia's imminent death.

"Wanna go grab some food?" I ask Finnick. "I can't watch this anymore." He agrees, and asks a few others. Cashmere, Gloss,m and Blight decide to join us. An inebriated Haymitch wants to, but I convince Chaff to make him stay here. Johanna wants to keep an eye on her tribute. And Mags asks us to bring her something back.

We walk to a small "themed" restaurant based on District 4. They serve seafood. The Capitol has many themed places like that, to give the 'district experience'. The whole idea of it kind of disgusts me. They just want the good parts of the districts, not the poverty, or the Reaping, or the manual labor. I ignore my feelings, and sit down at the table in between Finnick and Gloss. I always found seafood to be something interesting. Before the Games, I've only ever eaten the food I could hunt, and when I was lucky, I had a selection to choose from. But the idea of legally being able to catch your own food makes it so appealing to me. Finnick's told me a lot about the times he's caught dinner. I order a white creamy soup. They call it clam chowder. Finnick says he likes it when the weather gets colder. It warms up my insides, and it reminds me of Greasy Sae's wild dog stew. It was my personal favorite, but honestly I was happy with any type of food. I still am. While I'm dining on exquisite food, children in District 12 are starving. I force myself to finish the bowl. Throwing out food is never okay. But the people here do it without a second thought. Gloss talking to me draws me back into reality. "So, Katniss. Is Finnick really as good in between the sheets as he claims he is?"

Cashmere rolls her eyes, "We're eating, for crying out loud!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I raise an eyebrow at him flirtatiously. I'm totally committed to Finnick. There's not a doubt in my mind about that. But I need to be known as a flirt. I whisper something irrelevant in Finnick's ear. But it serves it's purpose.

"Ask her again tomorrow morning." Blight laughs. He's pretty cool. I decide I like them. We joke around for a little bit, before heading back. Cashmere suggests that since there's no plans for tonight, we all go down to her and Gloss' floor to play some games and drink. I accept graciously. I'm not addicted to alcohol, but it definitely numbs the pain, and takes my mind off things.

There's a bit of a crowd at Cashmere and Gloss' apartment. All of the younger mentors, plus Haymitch and Chaff are there. Blight makes some drinks, but its useless. Haymitch and Johanna like drinking out of the bottle. Once every has a drink or two, we all sit down on the floor. Cashmere suggests a game she used to play in school called truth. It seems kind of dumb, really. You're asked a question and you have to answer truthfully. But I don't protest. It seems like a good way to get to know people.

Finnick goes first. He picks truth, and Gloss asks him how many people if he's had sex with more than twenty people. He ponders it for a minute, before answering, "Yeah."

Cashmere rolls her eyes. "He's Finnick Odair, for crying out loud. What did you expect?"

"Fair enough. Katniss, you go." Johanna changes the topic. I pick truth as well.

"Don't get mad at me, I've been dying to know this for a while. When you had the romance with the boy from your district, did you actually like him, or did you fake it?" A mentor from 6 asks me. She stares at me, trying to see how I'll react.

Peeta. Talk about rubbing salt in a wound. "Well, it's complicated." I look to Haymitch for support, but he's wasted. "At first I was just going along for it, but by the time I found him by the lake, I knew I had feelings for him." I say, not giving anything away.

We play for a little. It's not that bad. I found out that Cashmere used to have a crush on Finnick, The mentor from 6 doesn't know how to start a fire, Gloss thinks President Snow is a secret pervert, Blight's mother doesn't talk to him anymore because he killed a girl during his games, and Johanna doesn't like to sleep with the lights off.

Around eleven, everyone heads into the elevator to go back to their rooms. Before Finnick gets off the elevator, he lowers his voice to a whisper. "Stay with me tonight?" He asks. I take his hand and get off the elevator. I look around but don't see Mags. "She went home. Her daughter is having her baby." I frown, I didn't get to say goodbye.

I go into Finnick's room and rummage through his drawers until I find something I can sleep in. I end up borrowing one of his tee-shirts. It's long and baggy on me. I've been losing weight and sleep. The next time my prep team sees me, they'll freak out over my tired eyes, terrible posture, and frowning face. I just can't be happy when I know that they're still fighting, still alive. I just want to sleep and wake up when they have a winner. Finnick wraps his arms around my waist from behind me, and kisses my neck. "Hey, it's gonna be okay." He tells me. I'm not sure who's Finnick's trying to convince - me or himself. I want to believe him.

I turn around, and bury my head in the crook of his neck. He smells like the ocean and Capitol lotions and something distinctly Finnick. We're in an embrace for no reason for a few minutes. "Finnick?" I ask him, lifting my head up. "Would you do something for me?"

Finnick sits down on the edge of bed, and holds my hands in his. "Of course." I believe him. "What did you have in mind?" Suddenly he jumps up, remembering something. "Hold that thought. I didn't give you a tour of my bedroom. This is where the magic happens." He winks at me. I giggle a little.

"That was an amazing tour." I shake my head, smiling at him. "But seriously. I need to ask you to do something." Finnick walks across the room to sit down next to me, but ends up tripping on my heels, which I carelessly kicked off into a corner, and falls on top of me. He kisses me. He lingers by my lips, before I pull him into another kiss. His touch is intoxicating, and addictive. I can't get enough. I feel the same hunger that I felt for Peeta when we were kissing in the cave during our Games. I want more. "Make love to me?" I ask him.

Finnick rolls off me, and picks me up, so he's holding me bridal style. "You don't have to ask twice." I'm on the bed and he kisses me. But for some reason, these kisses feel different. There less romantic, and more passionate. I like them. My hands hold onto his soft, bronze hair. Our clothes are somewhere- I don't even know where I threw my underclothes. And honestly, I don't really care. For a moment, we just hold each other, feeling even closer than I thought was possible. I'm truly naked in front of Finnick. And that has nothing to do with our state of undress. It's just me and him, and our raw emotions.

He doesn't waste any time bringing our lips back together, laying back next to be in the bed. Finnick flips me over so that he's on top of me, kissing down my neck. "I'm so lucky to have you to myself." Finnick grins, but then his smile falters for a minute. "Are you sure you want to do this? We can wait a little. There's really no rush. If you're not ready..." He trails off.

"I want this." I smile reassuringly at him. "I want you." I lift my neck up to kiss him sweetly.

"That's all I need to here. God, you're so beautiful," Finnick says in between kisses. He makes his way down to my breasts and lightly sucks on my nipple. The sensation is so unknown. I blush, realizing how inexperienced I am compared to him. I elicit a small moan. I arch my back, and my breath catches in my throat. It's never felt this good before. Finnick's hands travel down my stomach, and cup my center. He hesitates for a moment before gently pushing my legs apart. Finnick runs a finger down my slit, and I shiver. "Tell me if you want to stop."

"Make love to me?" I ask again, kissing him. Finnick looks me in the eyes, and he slowly thrusts into me. It feels so much different and at least a thousand times better than with the men in the Capitol or my awkward first time. The first time Finnick and I had sex, it was clumsy and painful, we didn't even know each other. And with my wealthy Capitol dates, I usually just try to close my eyes, and think of something else. But right now, it's just me and him, and this.

His thrusts are slow and rhythmic. I lift my hips to match his motions. Everything that can't bear to be said out loud is being said right now. I scratch my long, painted nails down Finnick's tanned back. He spreads my legs further, and his lips find my own, suppressing what would have probably been an embarrassingly loud moan.

We move a little faster. I notice that the headboard is hitting the wall. Thump. Thump. Thump. I don't really care. I drag one of my hand down his back, the other's in his hair. Finnick looks in my eyes again. I don't know how I should feel. I wish my mind would shut up, and I could just feel. I realize how much of the same person we really are. I wonder if me and Finnick would have made a good couple if we hadn't been scarred by our games. But then I would probably be with be Peeta. Or even Gale. Katniss Everdeen, this is not the time to think of Peeta. I wonder if Finnick thinks of Annie. Finnick changes his angle, and I lift my head up to be more receptive, and grasp his lips with a searing kiss. I move my head, and Finnick takes the opportunity to suck on my pulse point. I wrap my legs around his waist, and I think I hear him gasp Annie. It doesn't bother me as much as it should. I whisper some combination of Finnick and Peeta's names, and I clench around him. Suddenly my world is just a rush of light and I feel tingly and warm in my whole body, from my head to the tips of my toes.

Finnick holds me in his arms for a minute, before pulling out of me. I lay my head on his chest, and he tells me, "You know that was the first time I've done that." I look at him quizzically. "I've had sex before, you'd know that. But this was the first time I actually made love to someone. It was... nice."

"It was mine too." I smile at him, looking up and kissing him softly. I pull the blanket over us, and curl up into Finnick's chest. What we have is something special. I think that things might actually be okay. Eventually. Even though our relationship is meaningful to both us, and we both care about each other, I know that we're both still caught up in the ones we can't have. "We should do that again sometime." I fall asleep content, but wishing the lips on my forehead belonged to the baker's boy. And I know Finnick is wishing that his first real time was with the poor, mad girl back home.

A/N: Well that was bittersweet. School's started for me, and I'm talking a few AP courses. Sadly, homework has to come first. That probably means weekly updates for a little.

Sorry if the smut scene wasn't very... smutty. Its more emotions than actions. This story is officially M.

Again, reviews = love. The absolute best feeling in the world is checking my emails the morning after I post a new chapter, and seeing my inbox get filled with reviews. Thanks for reading!~