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Katniss shifted between pacing her bedroom and forcing herself to sit on the bed beside Haymitch. He didn’t stop her, Haymitch knew her mind was trying to make peace that she was probably losing both Gale and Peeta tonight. Snow played them again, and she had no way to protect them this time.
She slid back down onto the bed, this time burying her head in her hands. Haymitch watched her with a tight frown. He could hear her crying, but it wasn’t like he expected her to be very open about the weakness she had when it came to the boy.
“You want me to get Prim, Sweetheart?” he probed, trying to gauge how she was doing.
Katniss didn’t move or speak. The last thing she wanted was to worry her family anymore. They already watched her have to be dragged from the control room to where she and Haymitch were now.
Haymitch muttered, “A ‘no thank you’ would be nice at least.”
She threw him a glare through blurry, tear-filled eyes, and Haymitch raised his hands in surrender.
“Is there anything I can do?” Haymitch asked, gentler. Before Katniss could spit back a snarky response, he added, “Within my actual abilities.”
Katniss pressed her lips tighter together. All she wanted was Peeta and Gale back. Haymitch extended an arm and pulled her closer to him – a gesture that Katniss was not used to with her mentor.
“We don’t know anything yet, Katniss.” He whispered above her head.
“He knows they are there.”
“Doesn’t mean they didn’t get out first.” Haymitch reminded her. Katniss shifted but didn’t argue. She didn’t feel like starting another fight with Haymitch right now. It wasn’t like it was really his fault Peeta was there in the first place.
“I just don’t want to hold onto hope again.” She muttered, closing her eyes for a moment.
“I know, kid, I know” patting her arm, Haymitch let out a frustrated sigh.
They stayed like this for thirty minutes before noise suddenly picked up from outside the room. Katniss was still far off in her head, staring aimlessly at a wall. Haymitch, though, picked up that something was happening.
“Stay here a minute, will you?” He pulled away, standing as Katniss nodded to him. Though, he wasn’t sure if she even heard him. Haymitch peaked outside the door and say groups of people rushing towards the hanger. He didn’t get much of a chance to listen before Finnick practically slammed into him.
“Where’s Katniss?” He was breathing heavily, his eyes wide. Haymitch opened the door further to reveal a now-listening Katniss. Her brow was furrowed when she saw Finnick’s face, “They made it back. They’re all back.”
Katniss was up and out of the door before she could hear anything else. She took off down the halls with the crowds, pushing through until she saw Prim. Her sister grabbed her arm as soon as she saw Katniss.
“Come, they brought everyone to the med bay!” Prim tugged her sister further, quickly passing the crowds until they reached the med bay doors. Before she even entered, Katniss spotted Gale.
He was standing outside the bay as a nurse tended to a rip in his arm.
“Gale.” Her voice shook as she ran up to him. He breathed a sigh of relief seeing her and reached out to wrap his arms around her. “You made it.”
“Not easily.” Gale sounded exhausted, “We were totally ambushed when we got there.”
“Snow knew.” Katniss added, pulling back.
Gale gave a wry laugh, “No kidding.”
“I thought I lost you both.”
Gale held a tight smile, then looked over to the med bay, “He’s somewhere in there. We got them all out.”
Katniss’ gaze lingered on the door for a moment before hugging Gale once more. Finnick had finally caught up and slipped through the doors before she did.
They both scanned the room, looking for any sign of their respective person. Finnick locked onto a form before she did.
“Annie!”
“Finnick!”
The red-headed girl pushed away the nurses surrounding her and graciously welcomed Finnick into an embrace. He was trembling. Katniss realized he probably thought the same thing she did. Johanna was by Annie, scowling but not arguing with them. She looked rough – really rough. She seemed just as surprised to see Katniss as Katniss was to see the state she was in.
Katniss’ worry resurfaced when she couldn’t find Peeta’s face anywhere. She spun around aimlessly, trying to catch any sigh of the blond head. One of the nurses noticed her distress.
“Miss Everdeen?” She prompted, stopping Katniss in her tracks, “Mr. Mellark is in the smaller room down there.”
She pointed to a smaller room than the open cots surrounding them. The door was open, and she could see nurses moving in and out of it. Katniss looked back to thank the nurse, but words failed her.
Understanding, the nurse ran her hand across Katniss’ arm with a smile before leaving her.
Quickly crossing to the room, Katniss felt like her world had gone silent. Her heart was beating so loudly as she stopped in the doorway. Nurses were crowded around a slouched figure on a padded table. Her heart shattered at the sight.
It was Peeta. Her Peeta.
But he was broken, bruised, and looked almost like a corpse. She took a step into the room, catching a nurse’s attention.
“Oh, ma’am we need you to stay outside.” She called to Katniss, who hardly even registered she was being spoken to.
She couldn’t get over how empty Peeta looked. This was the worst she’d ever seen him. Katniss wasn’t fully convinced he was alive still. The nurse, growing frustrated, moved towards her.
“Miss Everdeen, please wait outside.”
Peeta moved. His head snapped up at the words, his bloodied lips parting. Neither of them knew was to do now that they had caught the other eyes. He was looking at her like she wasn’t real; like she was something his mind had made up. His brow faltered between confusion and shock.
Katniss couldn’t move. The nurse was still standing between them, a tight frown on her face.
“Can’t you give them just a moment?” Haymitch’s growly tone shot out from behind her, “The boy isn’t going anywhere.”
Reluctantly the nurses moved away from Peeta, giving both of them a clear view of the other. Neither of them moved any; they just kept scanning over the other with their eyes. Haymitch stood guard at the door, watching Peeta more than Katniss now.
“Peeta…” Katniss finally whispered out, hardly audible to those around her. Her legs found themselves again, and she slowly moved up to him. There were tears sparking at the corners of his eyes. One of them slipped down his cheek, and almost as if she needed to prove this wasn’t another nightmare, she reached a hand out to wipe it off of his cheek.
The shaky exhale from Peeta said that he needed to know this was real too, “Katniss.”
His arms wrapped around her neck, and Katniss flung her over his shoulder as they pulled each other as close as humanly possible. Both of them shook violently as the emotions started to rush out of them both.
“You’re here.” Her fingers shook as the raked through his disheveled hair, “You’re really here.”
“I thought you were dead. They told me you were dead.” Peeta’s voice was high, shaky as he spoke into her neck. His hands grasped over her back, trying to make sure she was still real.
“I’m alive. I’m okay.” She held him closer, breathing in the scent of him. For once, she really meant it. He was back – she was okay. Someone tried to get her back off for a second, but neither of them heard anything. Haymitch quickly escorted that nurse out of the space entirely.
Katniss pulled back, her hands cupping Peeta’s face as her eyes traced over every cut and bruise, “Oh, Peeta. What did they do to you?”
He shook his head, his throat bobbing as he tried and failed to hold back more tears, “It doesn’t matter now.”
She stared at him for a moment before her body moved faster than her mind as she pulled him into a kiss. He didn’t fight it or stop in shock. His hands found her face as he melted into her lips. Katniss felt that same spark she felt at the beach, but this time stronger. Her own words came back to her. She needed him.
Haymitch whistled from behind them, causing Katniss to pull away to shoot his a very annoyed scowl. Peeta laughed, his hands finding her hair to fiddle with it, “Hey, Haymitch.”
“I’m glad you’re okay, kid. Had us worried for a bit there.”
The angry nurse from earlier stepped forward again, “Miss Everdeen we really need to get to work to stabilize him—”
“I’m not leaving.” Katniss interrupted, shooting the nurse a scary serious face. The nurse let out a frustrated sigh.
“As long as you stay out of the way, that’s fine.”
Katniss sat next to Peeta, holding his hand tightly as the nurses work on hooking him up to different IV lines and machines. Katniss wasn’t comfortable watching them do all this, but she knew Peeta needed it for now. The finally moved the table out and moved Peeta to a small cot.
Haymitch checked back in periodically, making sure that Peeta was doing okay and that Katniss hadn’t killed any of the nurses yet. He would stay for a few minutes, but not say much of anything. None of them said much of anything until the nurses cleared out, giving them all ample instructions on making sure Peeta got rest.
“I’m sorry, Peeta,” Katniss said as soon as they were alone. Peeta’s brow scrunched up.
“For what?”
She couldn’t look him in the eye as she spoke, “For leaving you. For letting you out of my sight for a second. If I hadn’t then –”
“Then maybe the plan wouldn’t have worked. Maybe we wouldn’t have escaped at all.” Peeta cut in, turned her chin up where he could see her eyes. His voice was soft despite everything, “Katniss, there’s no point in lingering on what’s happened. We’re here and we’re alive. I couldn’t think of anything better.”
Katniss scowled at his optimism, “I could.”
“Hey—” Peeta shot back gently.
“You could use to be a bit more grateful, Sweetheart. If I recall you were about to pace a ravine in the floor when you thought, you lost them.” Haymitch budded in.
“Haymitch, look at what they did to him!” Katniss snapped. Peeta squeezed her hand.
“Kat, I’m okay, really. I back with my family.” He smiled at her, but Katniss felt a pit drop in her stomach. His family. The bombing. She looked to Haymitch for help, who also picked up the wording. Peeta looked between them for a moment before a sad smile crossed his lips.
“It’s okay, I know. Snow showed me videos of the bombs when they were torturing me. I was talking about you two.”
Katniss’ frown set on her face further, “I’m so sorry, Peeta.”
“I’ll miss them, but I meant what I said at the beach. They didn’t need me.” His thumb ran over her rough knuckles, “That’s not who I held out for.”
“If you kiss again, I’ll throw up.” Katniss threw a nearby towel at Haymitch, earning a deep chuckled from their mentor, “I figure I should tell your mom and sister you won’t be joining them tonight?”
“Will you?” Katniss asked, her grip on Peeta’s hand tightening for a moment.
“No problem, Sweetheart. You two don’t need to be alone right now.” Haymitch walked up and rested his hand on Peeta’s shoulder. He then moved to Katniss and gave her a hug. Katniss froze, not expecting it. She let it happen, though. Somewhere in her, she knew she needed a hug.
“I’ll check in on you two in the morning, okay?”
“Goodnight, Haymitch.” Peeta smiled as Haymitch walked out, closing the door where a small crack remained open.
Peeta finally fell back onto the bed, the crash finally hitting him. Katniss wasn’t sure what to do now, so she sat holding his hand while making sure he kept breathing until Peeta peaked an eye open. A small chuckle left his lips.
Katniss frowned, “What?”
“You can lay down, Katniss. I’m not going to break.” Peeta moved over, taking his hand back from hers to pat the cot. She let out a breath, shifting to where she could lay down curled up by his chest.
“If you get uncomfortable, just tell me to move.” She noted, flatting a hand out on his chest just under her chin.
“Trust me, I’m very comfortable right now.”
Katniss threw him a playful glare before closing her eyes. She hadn’t realized how tired she was. Then again, she hadn’t gotten a whole night of sleep since she got to Thirteen.
What she found this time was that sleep came easy, and for the first time since before the Quell, both of them had a full night of dreamless sleep.