Hi everyone! Can I say I am out of words to express my gratitude for last chapter's response? Because I am! Speechless! There is nothing that makes me happier about writing than to know that it is making someone else in the world happy and entertaining them. I picture your smiles and it fuels me to write even if it means losing my hours of sleep. Enjoy!

Chapter 16

Black hair.

I see black hair… shiny black hair.

It is flowing in the air, coming out of a loose braid.

She is running through the woods… this little girl.

Is it me?

I can't see her face. All I can see is her skinny little body and her braid flowing behind her.

But she is paler than I am, though not much.

Her feet stumble as she makes her way through the thick woods. These woods are nothing like home. They are greener and full of hanging vines, and roots everywhere.

She runs fast and I am proud of her.

She is running very fast…

Oh no! She is being chased by dogs!

They are catching up to her and they are… could they?

They are forming into mutts!

Run, little girl! Run little pale Katniss!

I try to reach out to her to help her but I am nothing but an observer even though I can see them very close by.

Why can't I help her? I want to help her so badly! NO! Don't get her! She's just a little girl! She can't outrun them!

I reach out to her but there is a glass between us as she moves forward as fast as her legs can take her.

I punch and kick at the glass to get to her, to defend her from the mutts, to save her if I can, but the glass won't budge.

I am so desperate to save her I could sacrifice my life for her and this surprises me. Who is this little girl I want to save so bad that I have forgotten about Prim?

I yell out to her but she can't hear me and just as the mutts reach her and she collapses to the ground I fall back in resignation. When I am far enough I can see I was watching everything from a… TV screen?

Is this the Hunger Games? They couldn't be! She is too young!

I watch as she crawls and struggles to get away but they are eating at her feet. I hear her little cries as she gives up and turns on her back.

I see her face transformed in pain as she sobs in pain.

But then she opens her eyes.

Her blue eyes!

Peeta's blue eyes!

What? This makes no sense!

She looks straight at me as she cries.

"Mommy! Don't let them eat me, mommy! Mommy, help me! Oh, it hurts me so much! Why are you letting them hurt me, mommy? Why? Don't you love me? Why didn't you save me? …Why didn't you save me, mommy?" she cries out between sobs as tears run down her face and mine.

Her eyes close and I am now beside her.

How did I get here?

I hold her cold little hand, even paler now than before and her voice still rings in my ear as she begs me to save her, as I watched helplessly as my baby girl was killed.

I wake in sobs and my arms search desperately for Peeta as they always do now when I have nightmares but they find nothing.

I look and search but my bed is empty. Where is Peeta?

I need for him to tell me that it's ok, that was only a bad dream. Except I know even Peeta can't make this nightmare go away. Because I know it could very well become a reality soon.

And so I wrap myself in the covers and sit against the wall as I try to regain composure and, after a while, I do.

I get dressed and come out to the dining room.

When I get there, I find only one chair is occupied. I realize it is past ten in the morning so everyone would have been out of bed and fulfilling their duties by now. Except for Haymitch.

He gives me one raised eyebrow as he dips his bread into his mug.

"Good morning, sunshine" he tells me with an expression that shows worry and caution at the same time.

I take a seat with a safe distance between us and ask the server for some hot chocolate and biscuits.

He serves me and I start eating away even though without much appetite. I can still see the bloody dead girl from my nightmare.

Haymitch eyes me curiously. I want to ask him where everyone is but it looks like he is going to tell me, anyways.

"So, you aren't going to ask me about the whereabouts of your sweetheart?" he asks me as he puts some bread in his mouth and leans back in his chair to look at me, expectantly.

I shrug to try to seem uninterested. He can tell me if he wants.

"He's already getting his hands busy at the observation room. I went and took him earlier before the Games began to show him the ropes and what to do. You're going to replace him at eight tonight. Sorry sweetheart, you got the nightshift" he tells me.

So that's where he was this morning.

"Quite a surprise the two of you gave me when I walked in your room this morning" he says casually and I almost choke on my hot chocolate. I go into a coughing fit as the Avox girl comes to pat my back.

He did what this morning?

He looks at me suspiciously trying to decide if I am faking or not but as soon as I control the cough I find my words.

"You walked into my room without being let in?!" I growl at him as I stand up in my chair.

"Yes, I did, as no one was answering and Peeta's room was empty and there was a Hunger Games about to start without a mentor for the District 12 tributes. Yes I did walk into your room and I am glad I did. Just when exactly were either of you gonna tell me you were sleeping together?!" he snaps at me. I feel like telling him we have been sleeping together for a long time but I know he is not referring to actual sleep. He must have found us without clothes as we fell asleep that way last night. My face turns red as the memories flash back. Before I can say anything he goes on. "What the hell were you thinking?! That boy has feelings for you, you know!" he spits at me as points a finger to me. He is standing up as well now too. "Do you have any idea what you can be doing to that poor boy!? Huh? Do you, Katniss? DO YOU!?" he screams at me.

I can tell now that Peeta didn't explain anything to him. I know I had no choice. I had to do it for my family. I had to keep them safe. But, even knowing this, Haymitch's words make me feel worthless. As if I had played with his feelings. I grit my teeth as I summon the courage to tell him what I am so afraid to say. I am afraid because Snow's threats are so fresh in my mind and, remembering that, if we don't give them a baby they will hurt my mom and Prim and Peeta's family, tugs at me emotions.

I think he can see my struggle because his face softens and then becomes terrified.

"No" he simply says but I can barely nod. "Katniss?" he turns his head sideways. He walks over to me and grabs my shoulders and shakes me. "Katniss?!"

I shake out of his hold and push him away.

"Yes!" I finally find my words. "Yes, he did. It is exactly what you think it is".

He breathes out heavily and brings his hands to his forehead and they drag down his wrinkled face.

"I don't know why I am surprised" he says as he leans against the table and looks down. He lifts his gaze to meet my face that is as emotionless as I can muster. "When exactly did this happen and why am I now finding out?" he asks trying to contain his anger.

"Last night" I state. "He came and told us. You knew this was going to happen, Haymitch" I say remembering how he told us in the Victory Tour that for the rest of our lives the Capitol would control us and make us get married and have children. We all knew this from the beginning. I had just tried to forget it until I had to face it.

He shakes his head. "Not this soon" he says and he looks genuinely sorry.

I am done feeling sorry for myself. My head is full of thoughts of that little girl in my dreams and how I am going to make sure this particular dream never comes true.

"When can I know if it worked?" I ask Haymitch.

He shuts his eyes again as if fighting a strong headache and I don't doubt he is. He rubs his temples and finally looks up again. He throws his hands in the air.

"What do I know? Go to the lab, I guess, and ask them what you can do" he suggests as he goes back to his chair and slumps on it. He drops his head on the table and lets out a loud sigh.

I wait a few seconds and leave.

I take the elevator all the way down to the labs. I am determined to find out what I can.

As the elevator doors open, it occurs to me I don't know what I am going to do or ask.

I see lab coats walking back and forth behind large glass walls. Some are also sitting and some are handling machinery.

I see a girl sitting at a desk right by the wall with a small hole in the glass.

I walk over to her and she looks up at me.

"How can I know if I am pregnant?" I ask bluntly and I can tell I have taken her by surprise.

She looks at me curiously and it dawns on me I must look very grave for a woman who is inquiring about pregnancy.

I laugh nervously to look like I'm happily hoping for a baby.

Truly I am hoping for a one, just not happily.

"Ah, yes. Um, when do you think you might have conceived?" she asks me.

I want to ask her why she needs to know this because being that Peeta and I are a married couple I don't know what I am supposed to say.

"Uh… I stopped taking my birth control a couple of days ago" I say hoping this is the right thing to say.

"Alright, well, in any case, it is too soon for your body to tell if you have conceived or not. To know for sure I would say come check in a week" she smiles.

A week? I have to go another week without knowing if my family will be safe or not?

"Isn't there a faster way of knowing?" I beg sweetly, trying to pull off the teenager-hoping-to-be-pregnant look.

"I am afraid not. Your body doesn't give us anything until then, you will just test negative" she says. "You can always keep trying in the meantime, just in case" she suggests.

I think not.

I thank her and walk back to the elevator and back to my room where I try to get some sleep to be awake tonight to watch for our tributes.

But I cannot conquer the thoughts in my mind to leave me. Just when I think I am going to fall asleep the little girl from my dream comes to my mind and I wake. She wanders through my mind and I spend the rest of the way in this struggle.

At around seven Haymitch comes to get me.

He takes me to the observation room as he asks me what I found out and I tell him.

I can't believe I have seven more days ahead of me, wondering if this little girl is real yet or not, wondering if I have saved Prim and my mother and Gale and Peeta's family, wondering if we will have to do this again, how will I do it?

Haymitch's words from this morning come back to mind and for the first time today I give some thought to Peeta. What has he been like?

Haymitch leaves me at the door and walks away. I stand there for a few minutes, trying to figure out how to face Peeta.

Images of last night come back to me. I hear myself calling his name, scratching his back, holding him close, sweetly kissing him afterwards, falling asleep on his naked body... I remember his eyes, the way they looked last night, his heavy breathing on my neck, the smile that remained on his lips long after he had fallen asleep.

What has this done to Peeta? What will I find on the other side of this door?

I summon the courage and open the door. He looks back at me as he turns around on his chair.

"Hey" he says with a half-smile.

I say nothing and he just turns around eventually, looking at the various screens ahead of him. To one side, I see Azalea from different angles as she walks through a vast forest uphill. To the other side, I see Gerrit skinning a strange creature. Then in the middle there is a screen with names and numbers I don't understand. I look at the clock and see it isn't too far from eight and Peeta must go get some sleep. I walk over to him.

"So what do I do?" I ask looking at the various screens.

"Uh, there isn't much to do" he says as he scratches the back of his head. "They don't have many sponsors or much money, barely any, so it's not like we can be of much help right now, unless they do something to catch the Capitol's eyes" he explains to me and I remember what our strategy to stay alive cost us when we were in the Games. "Azalea ran as soon as the sixty seconds were out, didn't grab a thing. But Gerrit fought and killed District 8's boy tribute and took a backpack and a sack with some supplies in it and ran. He ran into Azalea later that day and threw the sack at her. She grabbed it and ran. She seemed surprised to see him do that but he just took off in the other direction before she could do or say anything. When she opened it, she found an empty bottle and a little bread, together with some rope. Gerrit's pack had more supplies than that. There was a very small knife that you see him using now on that… thing, whatever it is. And he's got an empty bottle too and some crackers along with a sleeping bag. Apart from that, nothing else has happened. Careers are the usual Districts, of course." He thinks very hard as he tells me all the dead tributes he can remember. District 11, 6, 8, and 3 are gone altogether. District 5 girl, both from 7, the boy from 9 and the girl from 10 and the Careers are all alive.

I just nod at all of this and try to forget we are talking about real children who have died today. He tells me about the arena. It is a forest, much like the kind we saw in District 11 as we were entering it. But almost half is random open plains here and there. He hasn't seen any streams yet or lakes, and that's all he knows so far.

Neither one of us talks as we look at the screens.

He finally turns to me and asks me what I know he was hoping I'd say on my own.

"Did you find out anything?" he asks.

I shake my head without meeting his eyes but I don't need to look at him to see the hope in his eyes.

"Seven days" I reply and after a minute I say the one thing I don't want to but I know I have to. For our loved ones, I have to put myself aside and say it. "We can keep trying in the meantime, it's what she said" I say looking at the floor and swallow hard.

Peeta just shakes his head.

"We'll wait" he says and I hope he can't tell how relieved and guilty I feel. My stomach is turning as my body is in conflict with its emotions because I can't decide what this pang in my gut is.

Peeta stands to leave and I resist reaching out to him, to beg him to stay with me, so I don't have to be alone in this room, with all these screens and my thoughts.

And just before he walks out he turns around and looks at me. I feel a wave of relief as he turns around and comes back to me with hesitant steps.

"If… If you want any help I can…"

"Stay" I blurt out. "For a little bit" I add.

He gives me a soft smile and nods.

He sits down and scoots to the side as much as he can but barely enough for me to fit and opens his arms.

I sit by him and lay my head on his chest as he starts talking away about all the different names and numbers on the screen and what they mean but I don't pay attention. I just listen to the soothing sound of his voice as I drift into sleep.

Please, leave me a little thought from you! So highly appreciated!