He squinted against the light above, his eyes burning and head pounding. Every sound hurt until an angel's voice reached him. "Good to see you awake. We were starting to wonder if you were going to make it." She wasn't familiar, but should she be? He racked his brain for any memory of that specific voice, but he found nothing.
Pain shot through him when he tried to move, and Finnick could not stop a groan. She pressed him into the mattress, and he did not have the strength to stop her. "You aren't ready for that yet. I'll go get the doctor, and the two of you can talk about this." She was gone before he could ask for her name, and though he tried to use the bright light above like a life vest to cling to reality, but before the woman returned with the doctor, he had slipped under the waves again.
Start with what you know is real. "My name is Finnick Odair. I'm twenty-four years old. I was in the Hunger Games twice." The doctor took down careful notes, nodding as he went. "I need to find Annie."
"It will most likely be a few days before we can find your friend," he said, "but I'll see what we can do. We'll get you back where you belong, don't worry about that."
Two days passed, then three. He asked the nurses every time they passed his bedside, and they all had the same answer for him. There were hundreds or thousands of patients across the Capitol waiting to find loved ones, and the communication systems were still a mess. They would find Annie eventually, but he had to wait like everybody else. Being a Victor would win him no privileges under this new system.
His hands shook when he tried to tie knots, and his thoughts never stayed with him for long. Finnick worried sometimes that he was losing his mind, but even those concerns were quickly washed away. He told one of the nurses – or at least he thought he did, but it's hard to remember – that he had problems staying awake while in District Thirteen, but they still worry about his sleeping habits. The needle in his arm and the constant supply of drugs didn't help. Morning, night, and any time in between, the only thing he could think about for very long was Annie. His fingers fumbled through another would get back to her. He would.
A sour taste crept into her mouth as she looked at her breakfast. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of the bread, but Annie forced herself to take a delicate little bite anyway. Cautiously, she swallowed, but today, her stomach was having none of it. No more of that, then. "You, my friend, need to decide if you want me to eat everything or nothing at all. You can't have it both ways."
Perhaps, there will come a day when she doesn't wait for his response. At least this morning, the phone chose to break the constant silence. She waddled more than walked over to where it hanged on the wall. "Annie Odair speaking." After eight months, the name still felt foreign.
"Ma'am, I'm calling about a Mr. Finnick Odair. Is he a relative of yours?"
Her eyes widened. She couldn't breathe. This wasn't possible.
"Ms. Odair? Are you still there?"
Annie shook her head. "Yes, yes of course." Don't get your hopes up.
"He's here, and we were wondering if there is someone in your family who could come and stay with him in the hospital for the next few weeks until he's ready to go home."
She had always thought the ladies in the Capitol's soap operas that fainted when they heard big news were rather silly, but Annie's vision narrowed for an instant and her knees began to give out beneath her. She forced herself to sit down. "Say that again," she demanded.
"Finnick is alive, and he is here in the Capitol. We would appreciate someone to stay here and keep him company until he's well."
"Th-thank you, thank you so much!" She was crying, and the man probably couldn't understand a word she was saying, but she hoped he could sense the emotion behind her words. "I'll be there as soon as I can." She didn't bother to hang up the phone, instead letting it drop to the kitchen counter as she hurried upstairs to pack. If she remembered correctly, the one Capitol-bound train of the day left in a bit over an hour, and she was going to be onboard.
"Are you sure you should be traveling alone in your condition, ma'am?" The woman at the ticket office did not accept the coins she offered. "Do you have someone who can go along with you?"
She fumed. "My husband is in the Capitol, and he needs me. I swear, if you make me miss a single moment with him –"
The woman shushed her. "Now, dear, that's just the hormones talking. Why don't you call a friend and have them come with you? There's no reason to get upset."
"I am not upset. I get upset when I spill something, or forget an important date, or when I have the wonderful pregnancy joy of going through every emotion I have ever had and a few that I never knew existed in the space of ten minutes. No, I am furious, and it's not your damn hormones. Give me a ticket now." It was more a growl than anything else, but Annie was far past the point of caring. She shoved her money at the woman, and after staring at her hand for a moment, she hesitantly offered the ticket. Annie snatched it from her hands.
"You be careful now, and don't push yourself too hard, you hear?"
She didn't turn back to wave goodbye as the train came into the station.
The first hour was fine. The second hour, she started to wonder if she should have made this trip alone. By the third, she was certain she should have waited.
"You just need to stay in there for a few more hours," she whispered. The child didn't listen, and another contraction hit. Annie moved her pillow beneath her hips. Perhaps gravity could help her.
Apparently not. She groaned and reached for the button next to her bed. Though she heard a buzzing, there was no answer. She should have expected that. Under the new president, Avox servants would no longer be forced to attend to passengers' every need, and while she agreed that it was the right thing to do, today, Annie could really use their help. "Somebody? Please, come help me!"
No answer. Why had she paid for a private compartment again? This would be so much simpler if –
She heard footsteps outside in the hallway. "Please, somebody! I need help!"
The door opened, revealing the woman standing behind it. "What's wrong?"
"I think I'm going into labor. Please, find someone who can help."
The woman's eyes flicked over her, and before Annie could ask anything more, she was sprinting down the hallway.
"No, I don't have any idea. I'm not a doctor." He paused. "Fine, then. They want to talk to you." The attendant passed her the phone.
"Hello?"
"You think you're going into labor, yes?"
Would they have called you if I wasn't? No, it was best to stay pleasant. "Yes."
"How long have you been having these pains?"
"About four hours." Eternity.
She heard the doctor mumble something, but Annie couldn't make out exactly what he'd said. "Just try to keep him in for a while, alright? We'll have a team at the train station to take you to the hospital right away."
Another groan cut off their conversation, and though Annie wanted nothing more than to see Finnick again, she knew that other matters would have to be settled first.
"When can I leave?"
"Mrs. Odair, you gave birth less than thirty-six hours ago. You aren't ready to leave the hospital yet." The nurse did not look up from his clipboard.
"He's here too. You don't have to let me leave, just roll me down there." She hadn't stopped asking them for this since she arrived. Eventually, they would have to break down.
Perhaps now was her chance. The nurse's shoulders slumped. He set down his clipboard and looked at her. "Please realize that I don't have the authority to say whether or not you're ready to go, but I'll put in a good word for you with the doctor."
"That's all I can ask. Thank you very much."
"Annie, we really are all very happy for you. I wish you the best of luck."
She smiled at him. "Keep an eye on Ronan for me while I'm gone."
"Looking for a babysitter already, eh?"
"You bet."
She didn't know quite what she'd been expecting, but this wasn't it. Annie had the aide wheel her in closer to the bed where he slept. Scars crisscrossed every inch of his exposed skin, and a set of bags stood next to the bed, each releasing a steady flow of drugs into his bed. He seemed smaller now, but she supposed that months of comas would do that to a person.
He was more beautiful than ever. Annie reached out a hand to gently stroke what remained of his bronze hair. "I'm glad to see you again," she whispered. She pressed her lips to his temple, and for the first time in months, she was home.
This time, he had no doubt that it was an angel that spoke to him. Finnick ignored the pain as he moved his hand up to stroke her cheek. "Hello, love," she said, kissing his palm.
"Annie." He smiled for the first time in months. "You're here."
"It would seem that way, yes."
His smile grew. "Come on, get up here." His arm rested on her shoulders, but it wasn't enough. He needed her the same way he needed air or water, just to stay alive.
"I can't, love."
No. There's someone else, or she's hurt, or…
"I'm actually supposed to be downstairs right now."
"Who hurt you?" Who do I need to kill?
She shook her head and nuzzled what little she could reach of his arm from her position. "No, nobody hurt me." Annie paused for a moment to think. "Finnick, when we go back to Four, it won't be just the two of us anymore."
He raised one eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. "Ronan is nineteen inches, six pounds and three ounces, and thirty-eight hours old."
It took him a moment to understand what she had just said, but when he did, his breath caught in his chest. Her eyes looked steadily into his as she waited for his reaction. "That… that's incredible." He leaned in to kiss her lips, and he could feel her smiling against his lips. "I… wow."
"That's how I feel, too." They sat there, doing nothing but smiling at each other for a long moment before she giggled.
"What is it? What's so funny?" He couldn't help but laugh along.
Annie shook her head, and a few loose strands bounced around her face. "The two of us make such a sorry sight right now."
"I think you make an absolutely gorgeous sight."
"You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself." She kissed him again and again, and when the nurse returned to collect her again, she found them still entwined in the others' arms.