A/N: I'm pumping out these chapters because honestly now you're really going to start to get into the backstories of these boys and a lot of the previous stuff is gonna slowly make sense. Cato starts.

"You're telling me? It felt like that meeting lasted an entire year." ~

"Oh!" I turn my whole body to face him. "How did that go?" ~

"Oh, you know...fighting and stuff. It's cool." I know I have to tell him the details...but I don't want to. ~

"Cato..." I know he's holding things back from me, and I give him a look that conveys our previous promise- 'no more lies'. And that included secrets. ~

"They want to send us straight to District Two," I say, breaking eye contact with him. He knows that would be the worst place for me. ~

I furrow my eyebrows worriedly. "That's suicide," I whisper. ~

"I'll be f...I know it is." I kiss the top of his head. "It's alright." ~

"No, no, it's not...they have to know that!" I cry out in a whisper. "Coin has to know nothing will work like that." ~

"She already doesn't like me." Really, it seems like she doesn't like anyone. Just me especially. "There's no way I can change her mind...she said we might go to Four...but that they were hoping for Two. It'll be okay!" ~

No. It won't. But I don't know what to say. But now, I hold him. And I cry quietly. ~

"Shh...I'll come back. I said I would, didn't I? I don't leave anything unfinished." I have to come back. There's no other way this can turn out. "And we aren't finished here." ~

"But you can't help that." I bury my head in his shoulder. ~

"But I can do everything it takes to come back home to you. Besides, you never know...maybe they'll be more worried about protecting their precious Capitol and won't have many people in Two." It's a possibility. ~

"We can only hope...right?" I realize I'm holding him very tightly, so I loosen my grasp a bit. ~

"Whatever the situation is, I promise I'll get back to you some way." For the first time during this conversation, I can finally feel the circulation in my arm coming back. "Do you believe in me, Peeta?" ~

"More than anything. You're...the only thing I believe in right now." ~

"Does this mean I earned all my trust back from a week and a half ago?" I smile. Wow, we were only reunited not even two weeks ago and we've gotten into multiple fights already. And almost had sex about five times. And he said we didn't rush this relationship at all. ~

"I have to trust you, love..." I take his hands in mine and sigh. "In love, there's got to be trust. You made a mistake...and in the end, now, we could end up better off, because of it. Everyone could." ~

"See! I knew what I was doing, by not telling you!" And through all of this, the sad feelings, his soaked face-I'm laughing. "I knew what I was doing. Say it. Say I was right!" ~

"Nope." I jokingly 'zip' my lips together, mocking a lock and key and tossing the air key away from the bed, shaking my head with a smile. ~

"Say that I was right!" ~

I keep my mouth clamped shut and shake my head with an innocent face. ~

"I will leave you if you don't admit I was right!" Except, I don't think this threat phases him anymore. Months ago, it probably would've worked. But not now. ~

I pause for a moment, but then I cross my arms and call his bluff, smiling. I know he wouldn't. We're forever. ~

I give him the most stubborn look I can manage and roll off the bed onto the floor, leaving him behind. Then, I put on my pants and my shirt. Sleep probably won't be comfortable in this, but I really don't feel like changing into better clothes later, so I'll have to go through the night in this. And to top it all off, I go over to the other bed and crawl under the covers there. "We're done," I say, smiling to myself. ~

I sit up a bit and watch him go to the other bed. But he's done this before. Tried to get me to crack. Now it's on. So I put on my saddest puppy face, wide eyes, trembling lip, pout and all as I hold my arms out towards him and make grabby hands. ~

"I'm serious, Peeta." He's such a bad faker when he's around me. "If you're going to be like that...we're over." ~

I don't know if it's that I've had such a long, exhausting day, the fact that he's leaving in less than a week, or that at that moment, every fight we've ever had rushes into my head at once, but for some reason, I just begin sobbing. It's not fake. But it's completely sudden. So I curl myself into a ball under the blankets of the bed on my own in an attempt to calm myself down. It doesn't really work, because now all I can think about is my first afternoon in Two. The day Cato came home from the Victory Tour. Our first night here. ~

"Stop crying," I scoff. But it continues, and somehow, I know he isn't faking it this time. "Peeta...? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." I rush over to our bed and kneel at the side of it. "Shh...really, stop crying. Please." ~

"You were right, you were right.." I cry, remaining completely covered by the blanket. "I just don't want to ever fight again. Real or stupid fake..." I want to say it's because we may not have much time, but I think that's implied. I think it's hit me that there's a good chance that I may never see him again when this week's up. "Oh god, you can't go...Please don't leave me..." I continue to sob, shaking as I hold myself beneath the covers. ~

"I don't want to leave you!" Great, this is my fault. I've probably made him cry more in the past half year than he's ever cried in his entire life before the Hunger Games. That's a terrible thing. "Please, for me...just stop crying. I hate seeing you like this." ~

I attempt to find an edge to the sheet and poke my head out from it, my eyes swollen and my face wet with tears. "It's not your fault...It's them. It's all them. I wish you could just stay here with me..." ~

"I wish I could, too, but it can't be like that!" I take a dry corner of the sheet and carefully wipe his face with it. "I signed up for this when I volunteered for the Games, pretty much." ~

"You could've lived," I whisper. ~

"I wouldn't have met you. And without you," I brush the stray hairs out of his face, "there is no life." His sad, blue eyes just keep staring at me and I can't take the pain anymore. The only thing that ever makes me feel better is remembering that we have each other, and I'm sure it's the same thing for him, so I lean forward and kiss him. Differently, this time. Not a quick one. Not a passionate, intense one that almost leads to sex. No tongue. Just a sincerely innocent kiss that happens to last for maybe thirty seconds, or if I go by my own judgement, a lifetime. "No life to live." ~

I want the kiss to last forever...but it cannot, and like it, neither can my mind stop thinking about the "what if"'s for forever. "But if I just never told you, then you could've just won...you wouldn't have fallen for me, and I wouldn't have 'died' from those berries, came to Two... You would've had everything you'd always wanted." Now he'll have to die because of me. Never go home again because of me. I know he says that there was no life to live without me...but he would've never known. I couldn't have foreseen this when I confessed to him. Was it really so terrible to love this way? Was this some sick form of punishment we were both receiving for this love? ~

"But you made my life worthwhile, however short it ends up being..." It better not be a short life. "Don't tell me you're regretting this, Peeta..." I'm glad we met. Apparently, that's changed. ~

"No!" I immediately say to him. "I would never regret us...not for a moment." It's true... He's the world to me. "I just..sometimes I have these horrible, guilty thoughts that you'd have been better off...without me. That it was selfish to put my feelings out there, in the arena, in a situation like ours." Also true. Though I'm so happy I did, sometimes my mind convinces me that it was a bad thing that I did. ~

"I wouldn't have been better off, though...these few months together have made me happier than I ever would've been in an entire life without you. Remember the heartless killer you first met at the Games? Never existed. So it's not like I particularly would've enjoyed killing people and having to live my whole life regretting even volunteering like that...that wasn't me, remember?" My life without getting to know him would've ended up just as meaningless and dull as it was before the Hunger Games. "But now I have a purpose in life, finally, besides being born to please the Capitol. I was sent here to give you all the love you deserved but have been deprived of your entire life. It would've been wrong for you to not let your feelings out in the arena...you could've died at any moment, so you gave yourself that slim chance to at least find someone who treated you as an equal. Not even a friend or an acquaintance. Just an equal. But you found me, by chance, and I'm much more than that. You get everything you deserve now and you shouldn't have to feel guilty about it, because I'm on the same page as you. You gave me everything." I have to look away from him for a moment to keep myself from crying, because I know that he still wishes that he'd died for real or never even said a word to me, and that he thinks he's selfish. But like I said, he's not. "You're the most selfless person I've ever met and ever will meet, Peeta. You shouldn't feel bad for making me fall for you...you didn't make me, anyway. I think it was just meant to happen. And either way, I'm glad it did...you were worth the effort." ~

I bite my bottom lip gently and put my hand on his cheek to try to get him to face me again. "Please...please don't look away." I whisper. "Some things are just meant to be... And I think you're right. I think we're one of them." I continue to the back of his head. "You just...you deserve a long, happy, loved life with me. And they're taking that away from us, too. As much as they did before...I could never forgive them for any of this. I would only thank them. Just once. Because if I hadn't gotten Reaped...I never would have met you." I always try to find the bright side in things, no matter how terrible it may sound. "I fell for you almost immediately, and knew it would hurt if I said something. After all...we all know what happens in the Games. Only one person comes out. And yet...There was this aching feeling in my chest that told me that I had to at least try. Try to talk to you. Find out the man behind the mask." ~

"They're not going to take that away from us," I say, still not looking at him. "I swear, Peeta. I'm going to come back home, and I'm going to fuck you senseless, and I'm going to fucking marry you if it's the last thing I ever do." ~

"But..." I begin. "You can't swear on something that's out of your control." ~

"Every time I promised you something, it would come true." Finally, I turn to look him in the eye. "And I promise you that I'll make it back. I'm the most lethal person my age from District Two. That has to mean something. Don't believe me? I'll say it again. I promise." ~

I don't break eye contact with him. Not even for a moment. But tears begin gathering in my eyes, both at the prospect of his promise being kept and broken. And I nod. "I'll wait here for you." I smile a bit. "And I won't just mope around..." I laugh, choking a bit at the tears that are threatening to fall. "I'll keep working and airing things. So you'll still be able to see me." ~

"And you'll still be able to see me, I think. You know, cameras in the Capitol and stuff." I laugh, but notice that he's about to start crying again. "Please don't cry again, Peeta...I haven't left yet." ~

"Yeah...I hope so." I laugh again. "I just think that if I cry a lot now, I won't sob my eyes out like an idiot when I have to say goodbye to you in front of everyone." He looks a bit confused. "I mean, we'll have our time... but you know they're going to want a public goodbye in front of the cameras." Because it's perfect. The man leading the physical front and the man leading the mental front of this revolution. If one dies in the field, then it gives them an emotional call to anyone who ever wished Cato and I could be together. If he returns home, then we lasted and won. Portia put the idea in my head earlier, and I know that's what's going to happen. ~

"Okay..." So much for a private goodbye. That'll be awkward. "Just...try saving the tears for when I'm actually gone." I smile. "I mean gone a in fighting, not gone as in...dead. Because I won't let that happen. It's all in my control, no matter what you say. They've already used me in their Games once. It's against the rules to use me again, you know." I stand up and sit on the edge of the bed, still never breaking eye contact. "They'll never have is beat, Peeta. I swear." ~

"I know...I will, trust me. I won't lie, I'm probably going to be a wreck for a few days. But...then I'll get up and do things and wait for the day you get back. I've...realized something, being here. That there are people here who've had things just as bad, if not worse than us or me or everyone else. And even when I'm hurting, or in pain, I have to be strong. Not just for me. But for them." I think about Annie. I don't know her story, but I know we're very alike in all of this. I take his hand. "I know they won't. And I'll never forget that." ~

"And for me. You're being strong for me, too." He's right. Others around here will be hurt, too, if a loved one dies. But then I remember that if I die, suicidal Peeta will return. "Remember our deal. Live out the three months after to see if you can manage." ~

"I promised I'd be strong for you." I pause, really assessing myself to see if I can hold on to what I'm going to say. Because it'll be hard. "If...you don't come back...I'll last longer than those three months. I'll see this war through...to the end. Until the Capitol that took you from me is gone." I squeeze his hand tightly. "That's my promise." After the war...I hadn't even thought about what it'd be like afterwards without Cato. With him, we'd get to live our lives together, finally. But without...I don't know. It's something so horrible, I can't even imagine it. My mind couldn't come up with something that terrible. ~

"I mean, not that you'll have to worry about it." After saying it so many times, I started to believe it myself. I can feel it inside; I'll get back to him. "I'll see you again soon." ~

The ends of my lips shape into a smile. "That you will. And when you do...we'll be able to stay together. For good." ~

"That, dear, is correct." ~

"I'd expect nothing less, love." ~

"Good." I smile. "So it's a date." ~

"It's a date." I confirm. "And," I remind him. "There will be cake." ~

"Oh my god." I start laughing. He's ridiculous. "I'm starting to think you love cake more than me." ~

"But..." I pout. "The cake is for you." ~

"No," I lean to the side and kiss him, "it's for both of us." ~

I roll my eyes. "Fine." I kiss back. "But I'm not having any until you get here." ~

"Oh geez, please don't end up like my mom. Keeping a cake in the fridge, saving it for me for god knows how long! But I still get to feed you the first piece, right?" ~

"But see, when I make cakes, they could last in a fridge forever and taste just as good as if it were one day-though it's always better right out of the oven." I laugh. "Of course you do!" ~

"Good!" I collapse on top of him and roll to the side, giving him space and air to breathe. "Perfect...just like you." Months and months and I'm still laying these lines on him. Oh well. ~

"You're such a cheese." I laugh. "We should be getting to bed, though..." I glance at the clock. It's already 100. "Yeah, uh, I think our...escapade...took a bit longer than we thought." I say, nodding for him to look at the clock, too. ~

Breakfast starts in six hours. Oops. "I guess we should." Really not wanting to sleep in these pants, I get up momentarily just to take them off. When I decide that I'm comfortable, I lay back down next to him. "See you in the morning." ~

I go and kiss his cheek before cuddling up against him. "Good night, love...Sweet dreams." I yawn and drift into sleep. ~

"Night..." I wrap my arms around his already sleeping body and close my eyes. "Nothing but sweet dreams for you." ~

A/N: It seems to me like so many of these chapters end in sleep. Ah well! xx Review!