A/N: Thanks for reading! Again, part of this is straight from Canon, just a different viewpoint. The scene and a few lines are directly taken from Suzanne Collins' work.

Auugghhh. My back feels like it's on fire. Mrs. Everdeen and Prim are hovering over me to tend to me, removing the bandages from my torn skin. Each movement of the bandage against my skin feels like a knife dragging me from my stupor. I clench my teeth against the pain, pinching my eyes shut at each new shot of agony.

Katniss' tense voice reaches through my foggy mind. "Can't you give him another shot?"

Her mom answers, something about snow coat. Excruciating pain shoots through me as she lays a cloth across my back. The sweet smell of the medicine fills the air around me as it's scooped onto the cloth on my back. It's a strange feeling at first, almost pins and needles, but soon the cold is soothing my flayed nerves. I sigh with the relief of it, my body immediately relaxing, drifting back toward oblivion.

Katniss and her mother continue talking over me. Something about my treatment. Questions. An apology. It's her mom's words that plant themselves in my mind though. She says, "when someone they love is in pain." She's talking about me, and Katniss. Someone they love.

Katniss kissed me. Here, last night. After they gave me the medicine that saved me from that agonizing pain, numbing me. But I still felt her touch - her fingers as they traced across my face. The feathery lightness of them on my lips. She whispered something, and then she kissed me. I couldn't have missed that no matter what they'd given me. I had to see her. I forced myself through the drug-induced haze pulling at me to reach her. My Catnip. She'd said she was leaving, but here she was, at my side. Kissing me. I told her I thought she'd have been gone ... not that I had hoped she'd stay. But she said she was staying, right here. What did she say? That she would stay right here and cause all kinds of trouble. She sounded like my old Catnip then. Like it was just the two of us against the world.

I was already slipping away into this unfeeling haze, my pain fading into nothing. But now I carried her words with me, and the feeling of her lips on mine. There could be no better medicine, no better reason to fight.

Does Katniss love me? I hope so, but she's gone silent. Her mother's words linger in the air as her hands move methodically across my back, but I can scarcely feel it through the snow coat. When Katniss' next words ask about Peeta, my thoughts come crashing down around me. I mentally groan and glare, though I don't have the energy or ability to do either now. Usually I'd have some sarcastic comment ready but my brain doesn't seem to be working right now; in reality I'm barely aware of what's going on around me, other than the feel of my skin and their words that reach into my foggy mind. Instead I slip back into the fog. Nothing happens to pull me out again.

I remember our fight yesterday, and the emotional swings it caused. First thinking she wanted to run away with me, then learning her plan was about running away but not about me. The news about the uprising in district 8. The very idea of an uprising sparking my thoughts of action, wondering what I could do, forming plans, debating which miners I could trust.

I should have been more careful, but how could I have expected a new Head Peacekeeper? I was already thinking about rebellion. It's as if somehow the powers above sensed revolution at hand and sent my punishment. I remember the charge against me. What could I do but claim the damn turkey came into the district on its own? I was lucky I'd left the rabbits at home, so I could pull even that off. I remember the lash of the whip. How many times? I lost count before I blacked out from the pain. I'll have to find out - what happened.

The next time I surface, only Prim is in the room. She's sitting on a stool off to the side of the table I'm stretched across.

"Hey, Prim," I say. My head is clearer now that the medicine is truly wearing off, but the snow coat has cooled and numbed my back.

"How are you feeling?" she asks me from her seat, her little brow knitted in concern.

"Better. I can't really feel anything," I tell her.

She gives me a worried smile, and says, "That's good, the snow coat should numb everything."

"Thanks," I sigh. Prim nods solemnly. I feel like I've been to hell and back, but it's only strengthened my resolve. If there's a rebellion, we have to fight, don't we? When I look at Prim ... or think of Rory, or Vick, or Posy. I'd give anything to keep them safe. Will Katniss fight then? For them?

I can't help myself. "Where's Katniss?" I ask.

"Upstairs, I think. Mom's ordered her to rest."

My heart beat picks up immediately. "Is she hurt?"

Prim looks at me, confused. Then she answers quietly, "She'll be alright. She took a lash to her cheek. Trying to stop it. But mostly she's just worried about you."

She stepped in front of the whip for me? Oh, Hell. I know I'd have done it for her. But she shouldn't put herself in danger like that.

I try to bring my hands up to be able to shift my position on the table, but my arms are stiff and pain shoots from my shoulders at even the slight movement I manage.

"Stop!" Prim demands, rushing to the table as I groan in pain. "You don't want to make it worse. The wounds on your back are still too fresh."

With a sigh I let my arms fall back where they were, allowing the pain to recede again.

"What about my family?" I ask Prim.

"Your mom was here last night. She had to go home though. It's a good thing too, the storm's gotten a lot worse."

"Snowstorm? How bad is it?"

"It's really bad, looks like a blizzard out there," she tells me.

"Guess you're stuck with me then," I say.

"You're not going anywhere," Prim answers decisively. "Not for awhile. But you'll be alright, mom knows what she's doing. And Katniss sent some food home with your mom. They'll be okay."

"I hope so," I tell her. "I don't think I'll be hunting again any time soon."

"No," she says quietly, her voice almost a whisper. "I guess not."

I'm already feeling tired again, or maybe I never truly woke up. I let myself drift back into oblivion, trusting my body to the Everdeens. Maybe I can talk to Katniss later. I wonder if she'll really be willing to start a rebellion. Could we do it? Could it work? All I know is we have to try.