This is kind of a filler "lets get some real talking emotional things out of the way" chapter. Also, it's been a bit since I've been to DC so excuse me if I get some things wrong. I'm thinking there will be five of these after all and a epilogue to go with it, so six total. Enjoy!

I wake up the next morning to the sound of the boys downstairs being loud as fuck. My head is pounding and I feel like I have to puke and it has nothing to do with my alcohol intake from last night. I reach for my phone and am not surprised that the guy I shamelessly ground myself all over last night has texted me, asking if I would like to grab coffee at some point this week. I don't respond. He seemed nice enough, but the least fair thing in the world I could do to him would be to date him and not really want him. The boy I want is down the hall, angry with me for using him and my heart is so heavy I roll over in bed instead of going downstairs to see my guests, my best friends. I don't think I could look any of them in the eye this morning anyways. Especially not him.

So instead I opt to go back to sleep, even if it is 10 in the morning. I don't have work today so fuck it. Just fuck it all.

I hear a knock at my door sometime later and groan out something around the lines of "lemme alone" before whoever it is barges in. Flopping down on the bed next to me is Finnick, a look of concern on his face.

"What Finn?"

"Kat, why are you still asleep? It's like 11 in the morning. And we're only here for a few days."

I mumble something incoherent and roll over to face away from him, but he isn't having any of that. Rolling me back over he forces me to look at him.

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that Peeta went out to "explore the town" at like 9 this morning and hasn't come back yet?"

Ouch. That hurts. He doesn't know DC at all but he would rather go out than stay in a house with me. But then again, he'd rather fuck me than be in a relationship with me so I guess that's to be expected.

"He shouldn't have come Finn." It's all I can muster and I see the pity in Finnick's eyes. I hate being pitied. I sit up quickly taking him by surprise and I feel the anger that has been bubbling beneath the surface for almost a solid year come up like word vomit. (Yeah, like in Mean Girls. Just like that.)

"I can't see him anymore Finnick. I just, I can't. How the fuck am I ever going to get over someone who doesn't want me and I'm still for some reason in love with if I don't' ever get any distance from him? And I set out last night to show him, to show him that….. I don't know, he wanted me as badly as I wanted him ,and he did but I fucked it up because of course using him just makes me feel like shit, which isn't surprising because letting myself get used didn't feel great either. Just so fucked up. You and Gale know Finn, you know, and you still brought him here. Why? Why would you do that to me?"

I am yelling at this point, not caring if everyone in a ten-mile radius hears me. Finnick looks at me in shock first and then in the most annoying way possible he smirks at me.

"Gale and I know, Katniss sure. But we also know that you aren't going to get over him just by moving away from him. I don't know. I guess we were hoping that maybe you would see him and realize how ridiculous this whole situation is."

And now I'm fucking livid.

"Oh so I'm the one being ridiculous? Finnick I told him, okay? I fucking told him how I felt about him and he walked away. And it hurts. It hurts every single goddamn day and apparently I'm a masochist because I fucked him last night anyways, hoping that maybe it would help or some shit and it didn't and now he can't even stand to be in the same house as me."

At this point I'm shaking so badly from the anger I'm finally letting loose that I can barely stand but I do so anyways. Taking a deep breath I head towards my bathroom, but before I can get there Finnick has thrown me over his shoulder and is heading towards my door. He stops for a moment to rummage through my dresser, picking out some clothes before heading for the stairs.

"FInnick WHAT THE FUCK PUT ME DOWN."

I can hear him chuckle as I begin to pound my fists on his back.

"Nope not happening. You need some best friend time. Gale and I would have never lived through our early twenties without you there to pick us up time and time again so this time you are going to let us take care of you. Starting now."

He sits me down on one of my barstools and I sigh in defeat. Grinning because he knows he's won, he hands me the clothes he grabbed out of my dresser, a simple pair of jeans, a t shirt and underwear.

"Now, get dressed and we are going to get out of this house. Fuck Peeta. He's acting like a prick. I get that. So we are going to forget about him and go out and do something. And it will be fun."

Gale is standing at the oven making grilled sandwiches and grins at me.

"Yep, Finn's right. It's going to be fun so get that look of your face Catnip or I'll start pulling out pictures from when we were kids."

That threat always puts my ass in gear. My mom thought bowl cuts were a uni-sex haircut so I'm fairly desperate to not let those pictures be seen, and in moments I'm changed and my hair is freshly braided. Gale plops a sandwich down on my plate and grins at me before placing a kiss on the top of my head.

"Eat up, we have some sightseeing to do!" Finnick whoops somewhere in the living room at Gale's proclamation and I feel myself begin to slightly relax. This could be good for me. At the very least I'll get some good exercise in.

After a few hours of sightseeing, food trucks, and a very thorough examination and tour of the Spy museum at Finnick's insistence, we make our way home to get ready to go out to eat. I feel more or so like myself again, my smiles coming more easily and my laughter not forced. These boys always know how to snap me out of a funk.

When we arrive home to get ready and find that Peeta still isn't there however, my funk is immediately brought back on.

"Wonder where he is?" Finnick wonders out loud as he adjusts his tie. Both he and Gale look dashing in their suits, and I must say I look nice in the understated black floor length dress I have chosen for dinner. The boys have picked one of the most expensive restaurants in town for dinner, a place called Fiola or something that Finn says is "all the rave online", and they apparently made reservations the moment they found out I'd be moving here. I wasn't even surprised as this, but what is surprising is that Peeta would miss it since he is the foodie out of all of us. Sighing I collect my things and am met by curious stares from Finnick and Gale.

"I know where he is. I'll get him and meet you guys there okay? Give me his suit."

Without asking any questions they hand me a dry cleaning bag that contains Peeta's suit inside and I quickly hail a taxi to take me to where I know him to be.

"Take me to the Hirshhorn please."

The cabbie nods immediately and we take off. Luckily I live in a great location in the actual DC area so it doesn't take long to arrive. I ask him to wait at least twenty minutes for me and by some miracle he agrees. I take off towards the entrance but stop short when I see the gardens. I decide to look there first, and find him quickly, staring at the famous Rodin cast in the garden.

I walk up behind him quietly, until I am standing next to him but he remains silent.

"They look like they're in so much pain don't they?"

His voice jars me out of the silence we have been standing in since I arrived and I look at his face to follow his gaze.

"Yeah well they thought they were going to be executed. They were sacrificing themselves for their city because their king was a dick. I guess pain and anguish is part of the deal."

I shrug and he turns to look at me quickly, probably astonished I even know what the statue is about. I'm not an art person but I do love these gardens so I know what lies in them. I shrug as nonchalantly as possible at his shock and he returns his gaze to the statue.

"Sometimes history's best heroes are the ones willing to sacrifice themselves for the ones they love I guess."

This time I turn to look at him.

"Yeah well not always. Sometimes it was their stupidity in the first place that makes them have to sacrifice themselves."

"So you don't think they were heroes?"

This time I turn to face him.

"I think if it hadn't been for one man's stupidity they wouldn't have needed to do what they did. That doesn't mean they aren't heroes. But then again I don't really have much of a grasp on the Hundred Years War."

After a beat I sigh.

"Peeta, Finnick and Gale are waiting for us at this fancy restaurant. I have your suit in the cab. Come on."

I turn to walk away, assuming he's following when I hear him call out my name.

"Katniss, wait."

I turn around and see he hasn't moved from his spot, only turning to face where I've been headed back out towards the cab.

"God damn it, what Peeta?" I ask as I make my way back towards him.

"Is that what you were doing last night? Doing what you thought you needed to do because of my stupidity?"

I falter for a moment, and turn my eyes back onto the statue. The faces of the men match the way I feel most of the time as of late, feelings of anguish, of imperative doom. (Okay so I'm being dramatic, sue me.)

"I did what I did last night because I'm an ass, okay? I'm sorry I used you. It made me feel like shit. It won't happen again all right? I thought maybe I would prove something to you or some shit like that but this isn't some fucking movie where the characters end up happily ever after. I know that. Or the sensible part of me does at least. Can we just go eat now?"

I try and hide the way my voice cracks and for a long moment he just looks at me, not responding before he nods his head once.

"Yeah. Lead the way."

We leave the garden without another word, and I bite my tongue to keep from crying.