A/N: Sorry for the wait! Here's chapter twenty two! (:

Chapter Twenty Two

The next person to arrive shocked Katniss to her very core.

She had just woken up after having been sedated to find herself lying on the floor where she had fell. Madge was definitely right about the lack of infimaries anyway. Gloss lay where he had been put when he arrived, Cashmere draped over him and creating a protective shield over his wounded body as she slept. Her hand still hadn't let go.

Finding herself in desperate need of air, Katniss left the Justice Building and stood on the platform. After the arrival of Cashmere and Gloss, the square had been closed off and emptied of citizens. Law abiders would normally be monitoring the area twenty four seven but there where brief moments during switching shifts were there would be no one around.

Evening was falling, a single streak of red strobing across the sky and the edges of the clouds tinted with gold. The air was fresh and clean. Katniss breathed it in greedily, banishing the haze the sedative had left in her mind away. She refused to think about what had happened earlier. About the torture. She couldn't pass out again. Madge was right, she had to build up a tolerance for this sort of thing. No matter how much it pained her, she was going to have to learn to accept Peeta was going to get hurt.

She cursed as a pang punched her gut and tears sprung forward. She just couldn't take something like that on board as if it was normal. She wished she was hard as nails like Madge, she wished she was strong enough to be able to handle it all but she wasn't. She just wasn't. They should have chose someone else to be the Mockingjay, not her.

She was useless.

"Katniss?"

That voice. Katniss spun around to find the last person she'd ever expect to see standing at the bottom of the steps by the platform of the Justice Building. She hadn't seen her in so long. It felt like centuries ago when it really was only a few weeks. It made her want to burst into hysterical tears and yell angrily at her all at the same time.

Primrose ran up the steps and battered Katniss with a hug. Katniss accepted it numbly, unable to believe her sister was here. "Prim?" she choked. "What are you doing here?"

"Joining the rebellion, obviously," Prim laughed, tightening her arms around her big sister. Her clothes were torn and her skin was dirty. She must have ran here all the way from District 5.

"Did you come on your own?" Katniss asked in disbelief.

"Mom wouldn't come with me," Prim replied, finally releasing Katniss from their embrace. "But I knew I had to come. I've missed you so much Katniss! I can't believe you started this! It's amazing!"

Shaking her head, Katniss couldn't comprehend that her sister was living and breathing and standing right in front of her. "Prim, it's dangerous here," she said. "You could have been killed if you'd gotten caught moving inbetween Districts, what were you thinking?!"

Prim folded her arms indignantly. "I wanted to join the fight," she said. "I wasn't going to just stand by in the sidelines and watch you do everything." She puffed out her chest to make herself seem bigger than she really was. "And don't tell me I shouldn't be here because I'm too young. I managed to get here from 5 on my own, didn't I?"

"That's not the point Prim!" Katniss exclaimed hysterically.

She suddenly remembered that they were still standing outside and that the law abiders could be returning at any moment. Mentally drained, she grabbed her little sister's elbow and dragged her into the Justice Building. Cashmere was still sleeping ontop of her brother, who still showed no signs of waking up any time soon himself. The inside of the building was relatively empty. Katniss assumed that all the soliders and techintions were upstairs. Even Beetee's computer was unattended.

"This isn't a game," she hissed. "We're dealing with something serious here. Real soliders, not little action figures. Proper weapons, not rubber toys. You could get hurt, Prim. I can't let you get hurt, you have to know that."

Prim's eyebrows were furrowed together angrily. Katniss knew she hated it when people thought she was too young to do things. But this wasn't a joke. This was a civil war. Primrose dug her fingernails into her arms and make an irritated sound at the back of her throat. "Who was the blond boy?" she asked, her voice low.

Katniss' heart skipped a beat and she straightened up. "What?"

"You're in love, aren't you?" her little sister accused, blue eyes narrowing. "That's the only reason you're doing this. For him."

"I'm not in love," Katniss denied. "He was Effie's slave and we became friends." Prim rose her eyebrows, not believing a word of it. "Close friends," Katniss added as an afterthought. "I want him safe."

Primrose held her gaze, eyes as cold as ice. Katniss knew that she wasn't thick and didn't believe that Peeta and herself were just friends. She knew there was something deeper than that. How could everyone tell? All the cameras ever got on film was Peeta being taken and Katniss' speech afterwards. How could they have contracted so much from that?

"I'm doing it for daddy."

Prim had spoken so quietly that her lips barely moved. Even just the sound of the word 'daddy' made tears of regret spring to Katniss' eyes. All her life she'd denied ever having missed the man in the slightest, knowing that missing someone was a weakness. Back when their dad had died, Katniss knew that she couldn't show weakness. Especially around Prim and her mother. She had to be the strong one from then on out.

"For dad?" she asked.

Primrose nodded. "I want justice for his death. Just because I was little doesn't mean I don't remember him," she said, fists shaking. "You have your reasons for starting this war. I have my reasons for joining it. Love is pretty much stupid anyway, I don't know how you could let your guard down so easily. Relative love, I get. Because it's unconditional. But I don't think I'll ever understand how a person could get so attatched to another-"

She was cut off as Rory hurried down the stairs, his feet thumping against each step. He paused as he saw the two sister's standing there and a faint tint of pink rose into his cheeks. "Don't mind me," he said. "Just been sent to check on Cash and Gloss."

Katniss nodded and turned back to her sister, who wasn't looking at her anymore.

Primrose watched, in an almost trance like state, as Rory made his way over to Cashmere and got down onto his knees beside the sleeping relatives. His eyebrows drew together in confusion as he contemplated what he was supposed to be doing to check up on them both. Katniss opened her mouth to speak but was interuppted by Prim.

"Do you need help?" she asked, walking away from Katniss and standing by Gloss' feet. "I'm a junior first aider."

Katniss almost rolled her eyes on instinct. Primrose took pride in the title their mother had given her and took the job very seriously. Rory looked up at Prim and smiled. "Sure," he said. Primrose jumped at the chance and sat down beside him by Cashmere and Gloss, conversation with Katniss long forgotten. "I have to complete a check up on them both because he was shot and she could be going into shock."

"Oh, that's easy to do," Primrose said. She started helping him take the sibling's pulses and check their heartbeats and eyes. Rory watched her, fascinated, and Katniss couldn't help but notice the way he was looking at her sister. His grey eyes were shining with adoration as he watched her work, flicking every now and then to study her face.

"So, are you a rebel?" he asked her.

"Yup," Primrose said, dusting her hands off and standing up. "They're fine, by the way. Just need more rest."

Rory nodded. "What district are you from?" he enquired.

"12," Prim said. "I'm the Mockingjay's sister," she added proudly after a moment's afterthought. Her eyes, too, shone. Not because of the overhead lights. No, this was a spark of something. A sparkle of something Katniss had never seen in her sister's eyes before.

"Wow," Rory said. "Impressive family."

"Ha, you'd think," Prim chuckled. "So, what about you? Are you from here?"

"Yeah," Rory answered. "I was born here. My mom bought me back from the Capitol two weeks ago."

Primrose winced. "I'm sorry you had to experience inside there," she said.

Rory shrugged. "It's alright. I was born on the basis of 'tomorrow will be kinder'. You just need to hang on that extra day and you'll finally break free. Like I did." He sheepishly put his hands into his pockets, blood rushing to his cheeks. Was he blushing?

Katniss, deciding that she should leave them alone to do what they were doing, started to head across the reception area to one of the offices. She wanted to have a look at some of the slave's papers. See if she could find out more about what had happened in years previous, way back before she was even born.

When they thought she was out of earshot, Prim and Rory started to speak in hushed voices. Katniss would have kept walking if she hadn't have heard her name mixed in amongst the whispered tones. She stopped and backed up behind the staircase so that her sister and Rory couldn't see her listening in.

"I honestly can't answer that for you, I'm sorry," Primrose sighed. "I wish I could. Even I don't know and I'm her sister. Up until now she's never showed any need for affection or kindness. Now she's in love? I don't know, it sounds fishy."

"Everyone is as hard as rock until they find the one person who can break their exterior," Rory pointed out.

"Do you know him? The blond man, I mean? I've never seen him before in my entire life until his capture was broadcast on live t.v," Prim said. "I want to know who he is and how he is the only person who has been able to break through into my sister while so many others have failed . . . I want to know who he is so I can thank him."

Rory shrugged, brushing some hair out of his eyes. "His name's Peeta Mellark. He's somewhat of a legend back in the Compound. He had been known for preaching about justice and human rights and peace among everyone. I'd never heard his teaching myself but I'd heard a lot about them. Apparently he used to get into a lot of trouble with the drivers but he didn't care because he's never going to be statisfied until everything's fair."

Prim blew a raspberry. "Well that sounds just swell and all but what about him? As a person? Is he kind? Mean? Angry? Happy? What's his favourite colour? Food? Does he have siblings? I want to know what kind of person my brother in law is going to be."

Katniss pulled a face. Brother in law. Jeez, Prim was already planning their wedding.

There was a long pause as Rory struggled to find an answer to Prim's questions. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "I don't know what sort of person he is."

Prim's demeanour slouched. "Well, does anyone else know?"

Shaking his head, Rory said, "I don't think so."

"That . . . that sucks . . ."

Katniss then realized: She knew nothing either. What was Peeta's favourite colour? What was his favourite food? What sort of person was he? Try as she might, Katniss couldn't bring anything to mind. For some reason all she could remember was what he had said to her when she'd tried to apologize to him.

Maybe you can buy me a coffee next time we see each other.

Katniss was now desperate to buy him this coffee. In that moment there was nothing else she wanted more than to be able to break Peeta out of the Capitol and buy him a goddamn coffee. It may have been a joke but she could now read further into the statement. He said it because he knew there was no way she could do it without getting into trouble. He knew no one would ever be able to express him the smallest of kind gestures as buying him a coffee as casually as two citizens would in a local cafe.

Katniss felt a new resolve as she turned on her heel and marched towards the office to rifle through the records.

She was going to get him back.

She was going to buy him a coffee.

Even if it killed her.

A/N: Please R&R with your thoughts! :D