Thank you all for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it so far! Any comments you may have, both good and bad, are always welcome as they really do encourage me to keep writing (although I'm enjoying this so much I find I can't stop typing away!)

I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.

Chapter Forty-Four

Sleep evades me again and I'm grateful when I see Katniss is getting ready to leave in the very early hours of the morning. She, thankfully, gives Peeta a kiss goodbye and heads off wearing her night vision glasses.

It's not particularly exciting watching her walk towards the Cornucopia and possibly her death but it gives me something to do. She has to wait around for a few hours before it begins to get light and then the ground before the golden horn splits in two. A table with four backpacks, each labelled with a district number, rises from the space and the smallest of the bags has '12' stamped across it. It's so small that I don't doubt for one second that it's not Peeta's medicine.

Suddenly, the girl from 5 darts out of the horn, grabs her backpack and runs back in to the woods. I keep forgetting about her! She's been so quiet and cunning that she's managed to disappear in to the background without me giving her much thought, even her mentor seems to slink in and out of the Control Room without a sound.

I can see the nervousness on Katniss' face and I immediately become anxious. Clove is waiting on the outskirts of the woods whilst Cato searches for Thresh and none of it sits well with me.

Katniss darts out of the woods and Clove is instantly on her tail, throwing a knife but Katniss manages to deflect it with her bow and I manage not to scream. I can hear Satin Banks scream as one of Katniss' arrows pierces her tribute's arm and I have to stop myself from smirking. Now is not the time to be smug, everything could change in a second.

Just as Katniss grabs the medicine one of Clove's knives slices her forehead open just above her eyebrow and blood starts streaming down her face. Clove launches her body at Katniss' and slams her in to the ground.

"No, no, no," I whisper because I don't want anyone else to hear me grieving. I really wish Mags was here right now.

"Where's your boyfriend, District Twelve? Still hanging on?" Clove taunts. This is good, she wants to put on a show, which means Katniss might have a chance to flee.

"He's out there now. Hunting Cato," spits Katniss. "Peeta!" She screams and it's clear this has unnerved Clove for the moment but once she's satisfied they're alone she goes back to mocking Peeta and showing off her knife collection.

"I promised Cato if he let me have you, I'd give the audience a good show." Katniss tries to move but it's no use. "Forget it, District Twelve. We're going to kill you. Just like we did your pathetic little ally…what was her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue? Well, first Rue, then you, and then I think we'll just let nature take care of Lover Boy. How does that sound? Now, where to start?" She examines Katniss' head and face, "I think we'll start with your mouth." Her knife is scarily close against Katniss' skin and I know that I've made an awful mistake. I should have never sent that sleep syrup.

Clove continues to taunt but Katniss is defiant to the end and spits up blood in her face, which only angers Clove more but before she can begin her cruel torture Thresh has appeared out of nowhere and is picking her up. She's screaming like a little girl and I can hear Satin gasping. Thresh throws her on to the ground with a look of pure rage on his face.

"What'd you do to that little girl? You kill her?" Thresh shouts.

"No! No, it wasn't me!" Screams Clove.

"You said her name. I heard you. You kill her? You cut her up like you were going to cut up this girl here?"

"No! No, I-" Clove's eye line drops and she can see that Thresh is holding a small rock in his hand. "Cato! Cato!" She screeches. It's amazing how quickly these Careers go from ruthless killers to scared out of their wits, it just shows how horrific these Games really are. No is truly unafraid of them.

"Clove!" Cato screams in the distance, he's still running around the woods looking for Thresh.

The tribute from 11 doesn't waste any time in bringing the rock down on Clove's skull, I doubt he even cares if she killed Rue or not. He knows she's a Career and Cato is on his way to save her. When he's finished he turns to Katniss, rock raised and her weaponless. I'm not sure if I'd rather see her killed by a Career or the boy from 11. Maybe he'll do it quickly because she's from a neighboring district.

"What'd she mean? About Rue being your ally?"

Katniss quickly spits out her alliance with Rue and how she died and even tells him about how she decorated her with flowers. Uncertainty comes across Thresh's face as he lowers the rock. He knows she's not lying but killing her means one step closer to home.

"Just this one time, I let you go. For the little girl. You and me, we're even then. No more owed. You understand?" Of course she does, she's grown up in the Seam and clearly Thresh understands the value of owing a favour. Cato shouts for Clove and Thresh shouts at Katniss to leave.

She stumbles to her feet with her bow and the medicine and races through the woods as if she's being chased by a pack of wild dogs. She reaches the cave in no time at all, opens the bag on her arm to reveal a syringe and plunges it into Peeta's arm. Only then does she allow herself to black out with blood slowly dripping from her head.

I don't know what to do, neither of them are awake but Katniss' wound is only going to get worse and needs help as soon as possible. This whole thing is getting too much for me, I feel like I'm constantly on the edge of going in to a mental breakdown and trying not to drink too much is becoming more difficult as the days go on.

I stare at the screen for an hour, willing one of them to wake up but nothing happens. Finnick and Mags come to visit and I'm grateful for the distraction.

"I don't know what to do with myself," I confess. "I just wish they'd wake up!"

"I'm sure the worst of it is over," says Mags, "Why don't you go and rest?"

I want to object but my body really could do with some sleep, this whole thing has been exhausting from start to finish and I'll be so glad when it's over. I'm inching closer to getting them home and if I'm going to put all my effort in to the final push I think I owe it to myself to get some rest.

I sleep right through until the following morning and when I go back in to the Control Room I'm glad to see that both of my tributes are awake and Katniss' head has been bandaged. Seeder took over from Mags and Finnick last night and I'm really grateful, it looks like everyone is pulling together to get these kids home.

As I sit down Katniss is retelling the events of yesterday and they're on the verge of another argument when Katniss says that Thresh saved her life because he felt he owed her. They have a few sweet moments together before Peeta urges Katniss to go back to sleep. The Gamemakers have turned on a huge storm and I can't help but wonder if it's because they want to keep Peeta and Katniss in that cave.

Nothing really happens all day, which frustrates me. They're being very sweet with each other but there's no sense that they're two lovers locked in an arena where either, or both of them, could die at any minute.

I have to admit that I zone out at one point as they're being so dull until Peeta says, "I wonder what we'd have to do to get Haymitch to send us some bread."

My head snaps up and I can see a flash of realisation across Katniss' face; she knows what they have to do and until they do I'm not feeding them. The audience demands a show, after all.

"Well, he probably used up a lot of resources helping me knock you out," she says cheekily and I know she's trying to start up some sort of flirtation.

"Yeah, about that. Don't try something like that again."

"Or what?"

"Or…or…just give me a minute."

"What's the problem?" Katniss purrs.

"The problem is we're both still alive. Which only reinforces the idea in your mind that you did the right thing."

"I did do the right thing." This is great, finally some hint that she can't live without him.

"No! Just don't, Katniss! Don't die for me. You won't be doing me any favours. All right?"

"Maybe I did it for myself, Peeta, did you ever think of that?" Yes, keep going! "Maybe you aren't the only one who…who worries about…what it would be like if…"

"If what Katniss?"

She doesn't speak for a moment and I'm almost begging her not to backtrack. "That's exactly the kind of topic Haymitch told me to steer clear of." No, no, no! What is she doing?! She knows I would never say that!

"Then I'll just have to fill in the blanks myself," says Peeta and they kiss but they're not getting any food for that. If Katniss wants help then she needs to play the part more, Peeta is doing all the work while she decides what she feels and none of us have time for that.

The next day is just as boring as yesterday and I'm starting to wonder what else there is I can do. I've set it all up for them and now all they have to do is play along, I'm half tempted to ask Plutarch if he can send me in there so I can yell at them.

However, by midday the audience are readying themselves for bloodshed.

"Come on, Cato!" Yells Gloss from across the room and I look up at the Panem Screen to find that Cato has braved the wheat field and found Thresh.

Cato has his sword ready and Thresh has a long knife, waiting for the attack.

"I know you've got my backpack!" Yells Cato, "I've come to collect it."

To my surprise it's Thresh who runs at Cato and slashes his abdomen but Cato pushes him away before the knife can go any further in to his flesh. The storm only adds to the dramatics. They're both fast and strong so the following battle is bloody but it doesn't take long for Cato to get a bleeding Thresh onto his back and menacingly plunge his sword in to his stomach. I can hear Gloss celebrating and shouting "Now for District Twelve!"

I turn back with a groan to my tributes but it isn't until late afternoon that anything happens. Katniss must realise how tame they're being and asks Peeta to tell her when exactly he fell for her, which may just be the cleverest thing she's done so far. He tells her that on his first day of school his father pointed at Katniss and said that he was going to marry her mother but she ran off with a miner because the birds stop to listen to him sing. I smile at this, Cliff was the epitome of what a man should be, really. I'm also surprised to learn that Peeta has known his connection to Katniss all along, he didn't tell me this during training.

He goes on to say that he heard Katniss singing in school and he fell for her just like his dad had for his mother. This will have the entire Capitol 'awwing' I'm sure.

"You have a…remarkable memory," says Katniss and I'm worried that she's going to ruin the whole thing. She's analysing, again, when what she needs to be doing is reciprocating Peeta's emotions.

"I remember everything about you," says Peeta. "You're the one who wasn't paying attention." I know how that feels, kid. She just ignores what she doesn't want to acknowledge.

"I am now," she says.

"Well, I don't have much competition here."

She pauses a moment. "You don't have much competition anywhere." She leans in and kisses him and I know that we're back on track. We can do this.

I send in a feast of food including Katniss' favourite lamb stew in the hope that she gets the message. This is what she needs to be doing if she wants to win.

"I guess Haymitch finally got tired of watching us starve," says Peeta and my mood quickly falls. As much as I need to lie, I hate doing it.

They begin to eat, which is followed by another sweet moment dotted with a few comic lines that I'm sure will make the highlights show when they win. Peeta has to assure Katniss that he doesn't care what his parents think of her and if they win they'll be living in Victor's Village, anyway. This soon leads on to some light mockery of me, which I'm past caring about now. If it helps them bond then I don't really care,

"How do you think he did it?" Asks Katniss and I'm not sure if I want to listen, anymore. Poking fun at me I can deal with but speculating over my time in the arena is something else. I know that reruns of my Games were very limited due to the way in which I won so I suppose it's only natural that they would wonder but, still, it's not exactly a happy subject.

"He outsmarted the others," Peeta finally says after some thought and then the conversation ends. Good, they shouldn't waste time talking about me.

When the anthem plays and Thresh's face appears, neither Peeta nor Katniss can quite believe it.

"You all right?" Asks Peeta.

"It's just…if we didn't win…I wanted Thresh to. Because he let me go. And because of Rue."

"Yeah, I know. But this means we're one step closer to District Twelve."

He's right. There's only four of them left, now, which means only two more need to die before they can be declared winners. Maybe this our year. Maybe this year I'll be on the winning team, again at long last.