+++Hey, sorry for not updating sooner. But the last chapter, I said that she forgave Gale easily, just forget that never happened, +++++++++
Katniss' POV
I wake up in a plain white room. I figure it's a new hospital room in the capitol. I faintly remember seeing Gale, Haymitch, Johanna, and Finnick in my dream. I never dream about them. The only time I see Haymitch and Gale is in the videos the capitol shows me for my daily treatment. But in my dream it was me being rescued by the rebels. Was it true?
At that moment Gale walks in. He looks rough. I guess that answers my question about being rescued. Unless, he's trying to kill me. Yeah, I was better off with the capitol, where I could starve to death in safety basically.
Gale quickly walks over to me and tries to pull me into a hug. His arms wrap tightly around me. I squirm trying to get free, but his arms are to strong, so I do the only thing I know how to do in this situation, scream. "HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME. PLEASE HELP ME. SOMEONE HELP PLEASE." I scream, Gale backs away and his facial expression is confused wondering what the hell just happened.
Several guards, Haymitch, Finnick, and I think Johanna rush inside the room. They all have the same confused look Gale has. "Catnip, it's just me, Gale." He says, I feel guilty for screaming like that, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to kill, but one can never be too careful,especially on what I learned about Haymitch. It turns out Haymitch had tried to kill me in my sleep, not just once or twice, but three times. A part of me wants to break down crying and apologize for screaming like that, but another part doesn't because he was going to kill me right?
"Sweetheart, it's just Gale." Haymitch says, his voice is calm and soothing. He reaches his arm out to touch my shoulder.
I quickly swat it away, remembering all of the videos the capitol showed me containing a variety of different people who are important to me. I'm so confused, I don't know who I can trust. You think you know a guy, but after the capitol showed me all of the videos, it made me second guess on who I can trust. "I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to gain my trust, then, then you all will kill me. When I'll least expect it." I say at them.
I look over in the corner and I see Finnick and Johanna. Them. I think I can trust them. I look over at them and plead to them with my eyes. "Haymitch, Gale, let us see her. And we'll see how she reacts with us." Finnick steps up and says. Gale and Haymitch are reluctant at first, but then agree and step out of the room.
Both Finnick and Johanna walk over to my hospital bed. "They're going to kill me. You have to get me out of here, away from them." I say. I can feel a tear slide down my face. I'm now trembling with fear.
"They're not going to hurt you. I can promise you that." Finnick reasures. I shake my head. I show him some of the scars that I have because of both of them. And I tell him the videos I was shown of them two.
"Don't worry. When we get back to 13, which shouldn't be too much longer. And you can see Peeta. He sure has missed you, part of the reason why you were rescued was because of him always bugging us about it, and I thought you could get pretty annoying sometimes." Johanna chips in.
Peeta? No, I can't see Peeta. I furiously shake my head. Johanna and Finnick stare at me with blank faces. "Peeta is the one who made up the plan to kill me. They're going to kill me. Peeta even killed our daughter. I can't see him because then for sure he'll kill me. Please, don't let him near me. Or my family, or Gale's, or Peeta, or Peeta's family (a/n Peeta's family is still alive right now). Please." I plead.
Finnick is about to respond before a mechanical voice comes on instead. "Attention, we are landing in District 13 right now." I look at him, I hope he can help me. I need someone who I can trust.
"Lets go." He says. Finnick takes my hand and then walks me to the entrance of the hovercraft. I slowly walk, mainly because I don't have a lot of strength to walk fast. When the door opens I see some people. Including Peeta, and a little girl? Is she mine? No, I'm sure Peeta gave up hope on me and then found someone else. It wouldn't surprise me, he deserved someone so much better anyway...
The way Peeta's eyes light up when he sees me is unreal. He hands the girl to my sister? It looks like Prim, I think it's her. Peeta comes up to me to hug me, but Finnick quickly stops him and whispers something in his ear. Peeta nods, Finnick takes my arm and leads me down a hallway. Turn after turn and elevator after elevator he leads me to a large lobby. It doesn't take someone smart to know that this is a hospital. "Finnick." I whisper, "Why am I hear."
Finnick thinks about it for a minute, which normally means that they're trying to hid something. "To run tests on you to make sure you're okay from the capitol." He says. He sits me down on a chair and he sits next to me. I eye Peeta carefully when he sits a few chairs away from me. "Katniss Mellark." A doctor says.
"Who's Katniss Mellark." I whisper a little too loudly to Finnick. This makes Peeta pipe up his head and closely listen to our conversation.
"He's your husband, and Briar's daddy." Finnick whispers back, "What did they do to you in the capitol?"
I decide not to question him because he'll go into a deeper conversation, and I decide not to answer the question because I don't want to go back into my memory and relive those days in hell.
The doctor comes to get me and tries to take me into a room, I keep eyeing her carefully, but she seems all too familiar. She's my mom. One of the videos the capitol showed me was slowly and brutally murdering my father, I love my father so much but she had to take him away from me, I don't want her to do the same to me... "SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME. PLEASE HELP. I DON'T WANT HER TO KILL ME LIKE SHE DID MY FATHER." I scream this, many nurses appear in the hallways, I remember hearing murmuring before I feel something pointy penetrate my skin and everything goes black.
I wake up surrounded by nurses, I stare into their eyes and they stare into mine. "Ms. Everdeen, where are you?" One asks.
I'm in the capitol. No, wait. I was rescued because I remember seeing Peeta with a little girl. "I'm in District 13." I state plainly.
"Very good." Another says. "Now, what's your husbands name and your daughter's name?"
A daughter? So was that girl Peeta holding mine? No, because President Snow said that he killed her. But he also said that he killed Peeta. And I'm pretty sure I saw Peeta. Maybe she is my daughter... she looked like me.
"I don't have a husband." I say flatly, "But I do have a daughter, her name is Briar? That's what I wast told." It's all coming back to me slowly, well this is progress. The doctors don't say anything about me saying I don't have a husband, but I fall back asleep, I don't trust some people here in District 13, but I can trust some, and I think the doctors, besides my mom, are one of them.
When I wake up, I adjust to the light, I think I've been moved to another room. I see a familiar figure in the room sitting on a chair. "Katniss, you're awake." It says.
"Peeta?" I ask. I think it's Peeta. It looks like Peeta.
"Yes, Katniss, it's me." He says and strides over to my bed rest in attempt to hug me.
It's all happening so fast. Peeta's walking over to hug me, it's too late to flee the room, so my only self defense is to curl up in a ball and hope for the best, maybe he could make this death fast so I'll suffer less pain. Peeta wraps his arms around me tightly, "Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me." I mumble and I can feel the tears flow down my checks.
"Hurt you? Katniss I would never hurt you." Peeta says. I look into his crystal blue eyes, I want to believe him, but I've seen video footage of him hurting me. I don't know why, but I let him hug me. I cry into his shoulder.
Peeta holds me loner and then pulls away. He looks at my wrists seeing my cutting scars. "Katniss, why would you do this to yourself?" He asks his eyes full of concern and worry.
"I felt so bad and I remember learning about people using razors to relieve pain, and then it just felt so right." I stopped crying a while ago, but the tears come right back up.
"Oh Katniss," Peeta says and pulls me into a tight hug. I continue to cry into his chest and he just holds me, "Katniss, you have to promise me something." He says. I look up at him and see that he has been crying a little too, I nod for him to continue, "You can't keep cutting yourself. You may not think anyone needs you, but I do. So does Briar. She needs you. She hasn't even seen her mom in a months, which is basically her whole life."
A guard comes in and tells Peeta that he must leave, I don't understand why but when I look at my wrist that has a wristband 'mentally disoriented' it said. I repeated it to myself several times. These doctors in the hospital now lost all of my trust, do they not realize that words hurt? Mentally Disoriented? I can read, I'm not that stupid, or at least as stupid as they think I am.
The days pass by slowly, I have the same routine. I get my food, Peeta tries to visit me as much as possible, film some propos for the war, shown real footage of my Games, try to trust Gale, Haymitch, and my family again. Until one day, exactly two months after I was rescued, I worked up the nerve and asked Peeta something. It took me months for the nerves, but it's now or never.
"Peeta?" I ask, he looks up from reading something President Coin gave him. I've met her a few times, but to me personally, I think that she could almost be worse than Snow if given the chance.
"Yeah?" He asks.
"Our daughter, can I see her?" I ask, I'm mumbling the words. I don't think I should be embarrassed about this, but I haven't seen her since she was only a few hours old, and is she's five months right?
Peeta is speechless about this, "Umm, I'll have to talk to the doctors about this, but we'll see what we can do." Peeta says. At first when I asked them, they said no, when I asked them for a second time, they said no, the third time, they still said no, but on the fourth time, they said yes, but I had to learn to trust again. First it was learning trust with Haymitch, I learned to trust him, it took me a while, but I learned how to. Prim and Gale didn't take long at all. But my mother, it took the longest, I guess because it was because the video I was shown of her was the worst and most painful.
It took about a month to gain control over myself, and at this point Briar was about six months old. Peeta told me she hasn't said her first word yet and she's started to crawl. I cannot thank Peeta enough for taking care of Briar when I couldn't. But a part of me feels incredibly guilty because Briar grew up without her mother for six months, her whole life basically.
Peeta, Haymitch, doctors and guards come in my room. Peeta is holding Briar and I am taken back with how much she looks like me. She has my olive skin, my hair, her hair is turning slightly curly, and according to Peeta she also has my stubborn personality.
Peeta walks over to me and carefully places Briar in my lap. Briar looks at me in the eyes and then starts to look back at Peeta and begins to cry. Peeta rushes to her side and picks her up to comfort her. "What did I do wrong?" I ask. I can't believe the first time holding Briar in about six months she cried and didn't want me.
"You did nothing wrong Katniss." A doctor says, "She just doesn't know you. Studies show when a baby is in it's mother's womb, their mother's heartbeat comforts them, I'm think if you start to breastfeed her, she might learn that you are her mother. Right now, she thinks Peeta is her mother because he's the one who has been taking care of her."
I just nod, hoping that he's right.
Peeta's POV
I remember seeing Katniss for the first time when she first stepped out of the hovercraft. She was so skinny, like it was months ago since her last meal, I wanted to go up to her, but when Finnick whispered in my ear 'We don't know how she'll react with you, she thought Haymitch and Gale were going to kill her' I knew they must have done something to her in the capitol. It was hard seeing her in the mental state she was in. Briar grew every day, much like Katniss, she was stubborn, but believe it or not, she is something like me. I think.
When I first approached Katniss, it broke my heart hearing her beg me not to hurt her. And I lost it when I saw the cuts on her wrist, I made her get help. It turns out that she also had cuts on her thighs and hips, I asked her why she did this, and she said it was to relieve some pain. It shattered my heart when she said this is how she released pain. I'm sure that the cuts must have been really painful, so I wonder how much pain the capitol put me through.
When she was here for a few months, she asked me if she could see Briar, it took us a while before we could convince the doctors to let us, but once we did, we made an agreement that she would have to learn how to trust Haymitch, Gale, Prim, and her mother again. It took her about a month, and you could see in her eyes how determined she was to get better and visit her daughter.
And after all of her hard work, it was finally time that she could see Briar. I walked in the room with Haymitch, doctors and guards and of coarse Briar. Katniss was anxious to hold her, but when she did Briar started to cry and Briar looked back at me for me to pick her up.
"What did I do wrong?" Katniss asked clearly heartbroken about Briar.
"You did nothing wrong Katniss." A doctor says, "She just doesn't know you. Studies show when a baby is in it's mother's womb, their mother's heartbeat comforts them, I'm think if you start to breastfeed her, she might learn that you are her mother. Right now, she thinks Peeta is her mother because he's the one who has been taking care of her."
I took Briar back to our apartment, I gave her a bath in the sink and when I was redressing her, I decided that I would talk to her like I normally do. "Briar, that lady was your mama." I say.
Briar looks up at me with her large gray eyes. "Mama?" She asked. Her first word. Her very first word and it was 'mama', a women she barely even knows.
I decided to act like it was no big deal and continue talking, "Yes, Mama, she was very sad and you make her very happy." I say. She doesn't reply, not that I expected her too, but she thinks about it. I make a mental note to tell Katniss that Briar looks like her when she thinks.
At one of Briar's recent doctors appointments, the doctor told me that I should have Briar start sleeping in her own crib, but Katniss still is held in the hospital, and I just can't seam to let Briar go if Katniss isn't next to me in bed. Briar started to sleep through the whole night. I fell asleep with Briar in my arms.
The next morning I find Finnick and Haymitch in my kitchen cooking me breakfast. I don't know why because no one has cooked me breakfast before, except Katniss, but she burnt everything so that doesn't count. I left Briar sleeping in her bed because I don't want to wake her from a peaceful sleep. "What are you guys doing in here?" I ask.
"Well, I just decided to accompany Finnick." Says Haymitch and lays his feet on the couch.
"I'm getting married to Annie on Saturday and I was wondering if you wanted to be my Best Man and Katniss could be the Maid of Honor and Briar would be the Flower Girl." I grinned at this thought. Annie was a girl who also won the Games, but became mentally insane after them. During her Games, she won because the Arena exploded or something and she happened to be the best swimmer, but she also hit her head on rocks causing her to hallucinate really bad and suffer some brain damage. She zones in and out of this world very often and no one questions it. When Finnick was first reunited with her, he would never let go of her hand. It's like if he did, he'll die or she'd be taken from him and never return, and in a way, I'm sure Finnick is one of the only people keeping her somewhat sane. It's amazing on how Finnick loves Annie so much even though she's gone mad. He doesn't love any of the capitol lovers, but some poor mad girl back from his home district.
I grin at this news and graciously accept the offers for all three of us. I hope Katniss and I could get remarried. On today's visit with Katniss, I decided I could bring Briar with me. When I walk in the room with Briar, Katniss' face lights up. I haven't fed her this morning and the doctor shows Katniss how to breastfed Briar, at first Briar was reluctant to latch on, but she did.
While Briar was feeding, I sat next to Katniss and had my arm around her shoulder. "Finnick and Annie are getting married this weekend. And were wondering if you wanted to be the Maid of Honor and Briar to be the Flower Girl. I'm already the Best Man." Katniss nods her head eagerly and I lean in to kiss her, this is our first kiss since sometime during the Quell, and I miss her lips. How soft and gentle they are. We may not be the perfect family, but we're working on it.