Chapter 17

Previously

"Katniss Everdeen. I love you so much. I feel like you're my other half. I don't think I can picture my life without you. I promise to try my best every day to make you as happy as can be. I promise to love you till it hurts and then some. I promise that I will support you. I promise to support your dreams. I promise to get you everything in you heart's desire. I promise to tell you how absolutely stunning and beautiful you are every chance I get. I promise to make you feel loved every day of your life for as long as we live. I promise to never leave you. I promise. Katniss Everdeen. Will you accept my promise ring along with my promises to you?" I gasped with tears running down my face.

I nodded my head frantically. "Of course, Finnick. I accept your promise ring." He smiled, slid the ring on my finger and stood up to kiss me with so much love and passion, my knees almost gave way. We both smiled into the kiss and I deepened it by grabbing the short hairs on the back of his head and pulled him closer to me.

What a night.

Finnick's P.O.V.

She said yes! She took my promise ring! She took it! She accepted all my promises! And I intend to keep them. We are now back in my truck going home. I'm holding her hand while she sings Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. I love her voice.

It sounds angelic. So beautiful. Every part of her. Scars and everything. I bring her hand to my lips and place a tender loving kiss on the top of her hand. She smiles over to me, and sings along with Justin. I smile back quickly and put my eyes back onto the road. We drive for about another mile and then we see something on the side of the road, limping. "Finn."

"I know. I see it too. I think it's a dog." I say squinting my eyes slightly.

"Pull over." I look at her like she's crazy. She is but still. What if the dog is rabid? Has the mange? Vicious?

"But-"

"Pull this damn truck over right now. I mean it Finnick! That dog is hurt and I'm going to help it." She glares at me and in hindsight, I should have known I wasn't winning this battle. I huff and slow down closer to the dog.

"Stay right here. I'm going to go make sure that it won't bite you, when you go all medic Kat on it." She glares at me and I take that as my cue to quickly get out of the truck, before I spontaneously combust into flames from her glare. I walk over to the dog slowly. Still not sure if it's out for my blood or not.

As I get closer, I can get a better look at it and see that it has scars on it. It looks kinda like a rottweiler. Thinking it's a rottweiler, I go even slower and coo at the dog. It's previous owner probably had this dog either in fight s or was abused because there's blood on it. Open wounds. The dog recoils, scared when I reach out to touch it. Definitely abused. "It's okay. It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. Come her girl. Come see. It's okay." I hear Kat get out of the truck and walk over. I look up to her when the dog does. She has some leftover sandwiches from our date in her hand.

My girl is a genius. "Come see. Look, I've got food." She waves a sandwich out in front of the dog. The dog looks betweens me and Kat a few times before slowly limping towards us. It looks scared shitless. I would be to if I were it. I mean it's obviously been abused, that much clear. And here we are complete strangers, offering food. This dog's trust has been badly damaged and broken. I wouldn't be surprised if it never trusted again.

Slowly but surely, it gets to us, limp by limp. It seems to be his right hind leg. While looking at his leg, I found out that he is in fact a boy. Kat feeds him the other sandwich and I look at Kat, and instantly know that we just became the new owners of this lovely doggy.

"Alright, but you're training him." She smiles impossibly big, it looks like it hurts. "But we need to get her to the vet first. It looks like his previous owners weren't really nice." She nods and I tell her to go and spread out a blanket out on the back seat. She does so, while I talk to our new puppy dog. "Well, looks like you're going to be very spoiled. Especially when Lilly and Dylan see you. But we need a name for you. You tell me what you like." I think for a second and start listing off names for him to respond to. "Okay, I'm gonna list off names. How about, Jackson?" Nope. "Okay, let's see, D.O.G.?" uhuh. "Dash?" Nope. "Alex?" Uhuh. "Bruno?" Nothing. "Blue?" Nada. "Flash?" Damn. "Mason?" Still no. "Okay, let's go to 'Star Wars'. Luke?" No. "Wokkie?" Nope. "R2D2?" That would have been a good one. "Jedi?" Nothing yet. "How about my favorite? Darth Vader?" Damn. I thought that one would have got him. "Okay, what about Knick Knack?" He perks up at that. "You like that? Knick Knack?" His ears perk again and I think we found his name. "Hey Kat! He wants his name to be Knick Knack! I didn't pick it! He did!"

"Well now we don't have to call him dog anymore. Okay. I've got the backseat set up. Come bring him here. I'm riding in the back with him." I gently pick up a whimpering Knick Kanck, and walk him over to the truck.

"I know boy. I know you're hurt. But I gotta get you i the truck. Be patient. It's going to be A-Okay." I set him down on the blanket in the backseat and help Kat into the seat next to him. I give her a quick kiss and walk over to the driver's side after closing her door. I climb into the truck and make my way down the road once again.

We get to the only Vet shop down here, Pollux's Vet Care, well the only one open at eleven o clock at night. I tell Kat to go in and start to fill out whatever paperwork they have for us, and carefully lift Knick Knack out of the backseat. Kat holds open the front door for me and I walk through to see a doctor waiting for me.

"We found him limping on the side of the road and stopped to see how hurt he was. There was no collar or anything, but you can tell that she was hurt by someone. I doubt they fought with this dog, but I think they may have abused it. We didn't want to keep calling dog so we started listing off names and he picked Knick Knack." I tell the doctor as we walk Knick Knack to an exam room. "I have a feeling that Katniss will want to take care of him when he gets out of here. Rottweilers are her favorite breed of dog. Mine too. And she's always wanted one. So do you think that when he gets out, that we can keep him?"

"I think you should be able too. We'll give him too you, but I have to get papers for him and there will be a fee. Plus this bill of health could be around sixty dollars. Are you sure?" He questions me.

"I could never break Kat's heart, so yeah. I'm positive." He smiles and tells me that he'll get the papers ready. "Can Katniss come back here?"

"Sure son. You may need her to help you with the paper work. Oh! And this dog doesn't look that old. Only about six to ten months old."

"So he's still a puppy?"

"Yes, that will also make training easier." I nod.

"Okay. Thanks, I'll go get Katniss." He nods and I walk down the hallway to go get Katniss. I spot Katniss and see her sitting down in a chair with a clipboard in one hand, and a pen in the other. "Hey, Princess."

"Hey, Finn." she says not lifting her head from the board.

"You want to know something?"

"What?" she lifts her head to look at me.

"Kick Knack is only about six to ten months old. And the doctor said that we could have him." Her face breaks out into the biggest smile yet.

She throws her arms around my neck and whispers into my neck,"Thank you Finn. You are the best."

"You're welcome Princess. I'd do anything for you. You know that."

"I know. But you're still the best. I love you." She whispers into my ear.

I smile and say wholeheartedly,"As I love you. Now, come one. Let's go see Knick Knack." I pull away from her and pull her up. She grabs the clipboard and we make our way back to the exam room. When we get in there Knick Knack has white gauze around him hind leg, and some type of shiny gel on his other wounds.

"His back leg had a bullet in it. His other wounds were jagged, probably cut open by a serrated kitchen knife. I put neosporine on them and I wrapped his leg. I'll give you gauze and some neosporine to take with you when you take him home. He is able to walk, but only for short periods. But what he will need is love and attention." We both nod and Kat tells him that he will most likely be spoiled by our younger siblings. I nod at what just said. The doctor just chuckles and hands us some papers. "These are the adoption papers that you need to fill out. I'll be back with the bill of everything."

"Thank you." Katniss and I chorused out. "Okay, let's get this out of the way." Kat tells me. I nod and we begin to fill out the papers. Halfway through and the doctor comes back.

"Here is the bill. All it was, was an exam, gauze, and neosporine. So I just tied in the thirty dollars with the adoption fee. Cheaper this way. Think of it as a thank you for bringing him in and taking care of him on free will. So once you finish filling everything out, you can bring him home." We say thank you and he walks out the door.

I look down at the bill and it says, $79.64. I take my wallet out and get the money out. It's not much considering my parents are pretty much filthy rich. Kat takes her wallet out and I take her hand and pull the wallet away. "You're not paying a single cent on Knick Knack. He is my gift to you. I know how much you love Rottweilers and I think we can bring him to camp with us." Her smile looks like it hurts when I say the last part.

"You are really amazing. You know that?" She asked me leaning forward.

"Not as amazing as you." I mumble as our lips meet in a loving kiss. Kissing her is like flying to the moon; amazing. She is my gravity. It's very intense. She is the center of my universe.

We pull apart and finish the forms. The secretary behind the desk files everything while trying to flirt with me. I didn't notice till Katniss said something to me.

"Hey. Don't touch what's not yours." She says as she slams her right hand down on the desk. The one with her promise ring on it. She put it there so that people won't start rumors that we're married or something absurd like she's pregnant. Just less drama.

"He's not complaining. Must not be doing your job." The secretary says.

I lean down so that my mouth is by her ear, and say loud enough so that the secretary can hear,"Just don't kill her. We have no where to put the body." We both share an evil smirk, while the secretary pales. We turn back to the paled secretary and I say,"I was trying to be nice. Can we have our receipt?"

She nods and hands me the papers. We got back the adoption papers and receipt. I pick up Knick Knack and we go out to the truck. "Did you see her face? She looked terrified!" My Princess asks as we get into the truck, Knick Knack secured in the back.

"I know. Hey, Princess?" I ask.

"Yeah?" She asks looking at me.

"I love you." She smiles and leans in quickly and pecks me.

"I love you too, Finny. And you too, Knick Knack!" She calls out to Knick Knack who raises his head at the mention of his name. I chuckle and turn on the truck, making my way back home.

Marvel's P.O.V.

"JUMP! Jump! Jump! Jump!" We all slur out to Gloss who is on top of the banister, about to jump onto a mattress and pillow pile.

"I'm gonna jump!" He yells out to us!

"DON'T JUMP, IDIOT!" A very familiar voice yells out. It's very pretty. It's sounds like my favorite voice.

Katniss.

I turn around swiftly, losing my balance and falling.

I am officially declaring myself, drunk off my ass. "Yes we all know. You all are drunk off your asses." Finnick says putting something big down. I wonder what that is. "It is mine and Katniss' new puppy dog, Knick Knack." Am I saying everything out loud? "Yes. Why yes you are."

"Oh."I slur out. "What kind is it?" I ask.

"Why does it matter now? You won't remember in the morning. I'll tell you all about him in the morning. Now let's get all of you drunk asses out of my hallway and into a bed." He says helping me up off of the floor. We stagger up the stairs and into a room. I strip out of my clothes, including boxers, and hop into the bed. "I really didn't need to see that."

"Hey, Finnick?" I slur out in a serious voice. I have to make him promise me this.

"What, Marvel?" He asks annoyance.

"Promise me something." I am really drunk off my ass.

"Prom-promise me th-that you'll keep her happy." His face turns serious. "If I don't make her happy, then I want you to make her as happy as can be. Please."

"I promise, Marvel. I promise you just like I promised her. Goodnight." He says and walks out. I snuggle into the comforter and sleep, my mind focusing on a faceless figure as it had for the past few weeks.

Finnick's P.O.V.

I just stand there, outside of the room that I put Marvel in. I just promised him the same thing I promised my Princess. Wha did he mean 'If I can't have her then I want you to make her as happy as can be.' Does that mean he still likes my Princess? Does that mean he might make a move on my Princess? No, it's Marvel, my best-friend. He wouldn't try to take my girl. Would he? They did date behind everyones back. But that doesn't mean he'll do anything...will he?

I walk back into the living room, where Cato is passed out on the couch and Clove is wrapped in his arms. Gloss is hanging off of the recliner, Johanna is giggling in her sleep on top of the coffee table, Ember is curled in a ball on the ground in the middle of the room. Katniss is laying blankets on all of them. I love that about her, always caring. She finishes and walks up to me.

"Can we put a cot down in our room for Knick Knack. We need to get him a bed and food and a food bowl, and a collar and a leash and a water bowl and a-" I cut her off with a quick kiss.

"We'll go to the pet store tomorrow. After school. Wich we have to go to. Now, come on. We have to go to sleep, Princess." I say as I put my arm behind her leg and my other arm underneath her arms. I pick her up, putting a loving quick kiss on her lips. "I'll get Knick Knack while you're in the shower."

"Darn." She sighs dramatically.

"What?" I ask arching my eyebrow.

"I was hoping you could take one with me." I laugh and look her up and down in my arms.

"We'll see about that." I say with a smirk.

Today was good.