Chapter Text
Peeta grasps her shoulders. He quickly tugs her up into a sitting position, causing Katniss’s head to swim. She’s afraid of blacking out again.
“I was so worried about you,” He says, pulling her into his arms. “You were out for so long, and you were hardly moving. I kept checking to make sure you were still even breathing.”
“Well I’m certainly awake now, I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Katniss mumbles into his shoulder. “Do you know where we are?”
“Not really,” He admits.
”I was starting to think that I’d dreamed the other night with you,” she tells him, her voice just above a whisper. This isn’t an easy thing for her to say. “I convinced myself that I’d made it all up after you disappeared on me again.” Peeta’s body tensed, and she can sense an impending apology from him hanging in the air between them. “And don’t say you’re sorry, please. This isn’t your fault.”
He chuckles against the side of her head. “I mean, I guess I can see why you’d think it was a dream. That night was amazing, wasn’t it?”
Despite the present circumstances, she laughs a little. “The best.”
“Yeah?” He asks like he doesn’t dare to hope.
She buries her head against his chest, feeling oddly shy talking about what happened between them. Her feelings are especially strange considering she’s the one who propositioned him. But that was back when he was just a fantasy and not the reality of the man who currently holds her.
”Good to know,” Peeta adds, the affection evident in his voice.
It frightens Katniss how content she feels right now. Everything about these last few moments feels incongruous with their present circumstances. It feels dangerous. ”So are you going to tell me what happened to you or not?” She asks, eager to change the subject.
“I remember getting up before you that morning. I heard a loud noise coming from your backyard, and I thought someone might have been trying to break into your garage or something, so I went out to see what was happening."
"You should have called the police." Katniss pulls back to look at him. “Or at least woken me up too.”
"Yes, I know that now. Thank you." Peeta says dryly.
That earns him a scowl.
"So when I went outside to see what was going on, they jumped me.” He squeezes her tighter. “Someone stuck a needle in me, and it must’ve been something that knocked me out. When I woke up, I was here.”
“So I didn’t chase you off again?”
”No, are you kidding me? Hell no.” He kisses her hair. “You’re stuck with me now.”
Katniss’s hand wanders to the back of her head, suddenly aware of something sticky at her hairline. “I’m bleeding,” she says when her fingers make contact with the sore spot.
“You were. I think it stopped a while ago. The wound seemed pretty shallow.” His voice is warm in her ear as he strokes her back. It helps to soothe her fragile nerves. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“Peeta,” she confesses quietly, “I was afraid that I was going insane when you disappeared.”
Peeta moves his head, and Katniss immediately feels the sensation when his lips touch her neck. It's just a light touch, but so good she knows that she won’t be the first to pull away. “He tried to make me think I was crazy… god, I hate him.”
“You’re not crazy,” he says, his voice thick. “Katniss I promise you’re not, you're perfect.”
“I’m not perfect, but it’s better with you.” She lays her head on his shoulder, so glad he’s with her. “He...he tried to convince me you weren’t real. Gale, he broke into my house and hit me on the back of the head. I blacked out after.”
Peeta swears under his breath. “Son of a bitch.” He swallows roughly before asking, “How do you feel now?”
Katniss licks her lips, noting how dry and cracked they feel. Her throat is parched. “I’d kill for something to drink.”
He laughs, and relief washes over her for so many reasons.
She chooses to momentarily ignore the voice that whispers, you’re not out of the woods yet. Don’t get ahead of yourself.
She’s just so damn tired of that voice.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Peeta says.
“How do you feel?” she asks as he helps her to her feet. She’s still unsteady, swaying a bit when she lands on the floor.
“I’m fine,” he answers quickly.
Katniss can’t help but notice how his eye twitches a little.
“We need to go now though, okay?” Peeta says. “We can figure everything else out later.”
She nods. “Alright, but how?”
Peeta pulls her toward the door and places his hand on the knob. “The door’s unlocked.”
Katniss stares at him in disbelief.
He shrugs.
“Why would someone do that? That doesn’t make sense.” She has a thought that makes her stomach plummet. “Do you know what’s out there?”
He shakes his head. “I have no idea. I don’t even remember them moving me to this room. Whoever it is that has us, they’ve been shoving needles in my arm at all hours of the day.”
“That sounds awful.”
“I survived. Could have been worse, it’s not like they were torturing me,” Peeta says wryly. “Anyway, when I came to, we were the only ones in the room. I didn’t want to leave you alone, so the only thing I did was open the door to look down the hall a few times. I couldn’t see anything though. It's completely dark out there."
Katniss feels anxiety creeping up through her body, invading her senses. “So we don’t know what we’re getting into when we leave the room?”
Peeta shakes his head. “No, I’m sorry. I wish I had more promising news.”
“At least we’re still alive.” She stretches her hand out to him, trailing her thumb over the long scar that covers the left side of his face, a reminder that this isn’t the first experience with adversity for either of them. His eyes close at the gentle touch of her hand as if letting his guard down a little.
“And I’m glad you’re here with me, no matter what happens out there. Whatever we find, you’ll stay with me?” Katniss whispers, emotion lacing her voice.
Peeta leans forward and cups her cheeks, brushing her lips with his again. “Of course. Always.”
Although she was incapacitated for most of it, the time they’ve spent inside the four walls of this room still feels as though it was a small reprieve from whatever is waiting for them out here. Katniss doubts they’ll be back. Something in her gut tells her they will make it out of this place tonight or die trying.
Hand in hand, they leave the small office, closing the door behind them and coming to an immediate standstill. There doesn’t seem to be a sure way to go, and the darkness of the hallway makes it feel like it stretches out indefinitely. It’s disconcerting.
“Does it have to be so fucking pitch black in here?” Peeta asks, breaking into her inner musing.
Katniss laughs sharply, the sound slightly unhinged. The darkness must be getting to her already. “I think that’s the point. No one’s making this easy on us, are they?”
They’re both quiet.
“What do you think is waiting down there?” he questions her.
“I have no idea.” She’s trying to be brave, but she can’t help it when her voice shakes a bit.
“Let’s go this way then.” Peeta turns to the left, pulling her behind him. “Don’t let go of my hand.”
Katniss isn’t sure how long they’ve been creeping along. She’s growing more disoriented with each passing minute.
She’s been clinging tightly to Peeta, and she can’t help but notice how his hand seems to be growing clammier the further they go. “Are you alright?” Katniss finally asks when his breathing grows so loud she can no longer ignore it.
No answer.
“It’s okay to tell me the truth,” she prods. “We’re in this together, remember?”
“This just reminds me of the fire, of trying to find my way out of the house that night.” He admits quietly. “It was so dark. I... I couldn’t breathe and everything was burning. I was in so much pain. I know it sounds stupid,” his voice is strained, “but I can’t stand the dark now.”
“It’s not stupid. I hate the darkness too. It reminds me of hiding from Grandmother,” she confesses.
“I still have nightmares about the fire,” Peeta adds. “I wake up all the time thinking I’m burning again.”
“And you were alone,” Katniss forces him to come to a stop. “In the dark. Your family was trapped upstairs, right?”
“Yeah.”
She squeezes his hand, rubbing her thumb between over his knuckles. “Peeta, I’m not going to leave you.”
He lets out a breath. “I know. I know you won’t.”
“Okay then. So you’re stuck with me, just so you know.” She tugs his hand again. “Let’s keep going, okay?”
“You’re right. What else can we do?”
The two of them eventually fumble their way to an intersecting corridor and turn, and at the end of the hallway, Katniss can see a far off light coming from the bottom of a doorway.
Her stomach bottoms out at the knowledge that good or bad, it’s something. Some sort of a beacon in the darkness.
But what does it lead to?
Her steps are deliberately light as the two of them head in that direction. Peeta, on the other hand, walks like a baby elephant on the loose. She’s starting to worry that someone will hear them coming. Then what?
Katniss isn’t left to think about it for very long. Peeta chooses that moment to come to an abrupt stop in front of her. She almost runs into him.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“I just, I just-“ she can feel tremors begin in his hand, the grasp of his fingers weakening in hers.
He lets out a strangled groan. “My head...god it’s... killing me.”
Katniss feels a rapid downward tug on her arm, a forewarning before Peeta collapses to the floor, dragging her down with him.
“Peeta!” Katniss whispers sharply. She pulls herself up the best she can and kneels beside him, shaking him when he won’t respond. “Peeta! Peeta!”
His hand twitches in hers once again, as if an electrical current has short-circuited his nervous system. “No, no, no!” He starts screaming, screaming at the top of his damn lungs.
“Peeta, you need to be quiet!“ she warns him frantically, her voice cracking with the strain. “Peeta-”
And then, the lights come on- intense as the fucking midday sun, but with the added sensation of standing two feet away from its surface. It burns down on them from every direction- bright, hot, blinding light.
Katniss squeezes her eyes shut against the assault. She keeps trying to open them, but she can’t see, she can’t see.
Meanwhile, Peeta is in the middle of a seizure on the floor beside her. She climbs over him, shielding his body with her own, trying to protect him from whatever is coming for them.
“Miss me?” A formless voice asks. The sound chills her to the bone, despite the overbearing heat. Like ice water freezing in her veins.
And Peeta is convulsing so hard she can barely hang onto him.
“I see you found your boyfriend, Katniss.”
“What did you do to him?” She holds on to Peeta for dear life, hoping he doesn’t hurt himself.
Gale laughs.
If I could, I’d kill you, Katniss realizes. I wouldn’t hesitate.
“We’ve been doing some drug trials on him. Involuntarily of course. He’s been the perfect guinea pig for us the last few days.” She hears the sound of Gales’s footsteps approach. “He’s taken to the treatment even better than we expected.”
Underneath her, Peeta’s body goes still. Katniss presses her ear against his back to make certain he’s still breathing. She lets out a sigh when she feels his shoulders lift up and down, tangible proof that he’s inhaling and exhaling.
She’s not sure how much longer either of them will be breathing.
“We have lots of things we work on in this location. It’s our newest research facility,” Gale goes on. “Coin Industries is a very lucrative business. I’m the youngest vice president in its history, just so you know.” His voice comes closer. “We’re one of the top pharmaceutical providers in the Northern Hemisphere.”
“Antipsychotic meds are our biggest seller. We’ve done some groundbreaking research on the mind. Fascinating.” At that moment, the intensity of the floodlights goes down to something that feels slightly less like it’s searing the flesh from her body.
“Do you want to know what that got us thinking?” He continues.
I’m sure you’re about to tell me, whether I want to hear it or not.
She looks up at Gale then, the slick son of a bitch that he is.
He leans against the wall, staring her down, a perverse smile twisting his full lips.
Katniss doesn’t want to, but she eventually breaks eye contact; the memories of what happened the last time he got this close to her causing equal parts fear and fury to course through her veins. She feels like she’s about to be sick.
Gale’s voice is soft, menacing when he speaks. “I realized that all of that research going into healing the mind could be used to break it just as easily.”
“So we decided to weaponize it. And it’s turned out to be a very lucrative business, war I mean.” he continues. “World leaders are willing to pay Coin Industries top dollar for the ability to turn the dregs of their society into weapons of destruction. We can solve two problems for them, nice and neat.”
“We create soldiers who can both destroy and be destroyed with no tangible loss to their nation. A mindless, unstoppable army that will work for them with just a few injections of TJ-1 each.”
Peeta begins to stir beneath her.
“Thanks to some ground-breaking tech we acquired with the Beetee/Wiress merger, along with some backing from Snow Corp, I finally had everything in place to begin testing things out on Mr. Mellark.”
Katniss feels Peeta struggling to get up.
She’s paralyzed with fear of what’s coming.
“And let me tell you, your boyfriend was the perfect specimen.”
“You see, someone who has already been exposed to a horrific tragedy, like Mr. Mellark here, will exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder on their own. Since that baseline of fear is already established, it only makes the job of the psychosis-inducing drugs that much easier.”
Gale laughs. “Subjects like him are so much more pliable, so much more breakable. Their minds are already soft and weak. Like yours.”
A deep growl comes from beneath her. It rolls up from Peeta’s chest. His entire body hums with the force of it.
Katniss twists her neck to look at his face. Peeta’s lips are moving, shaping words she can’t make out, but still, the noise comes from within.
“I have an idea!” Gale continues, and Katniss looks up to see that his eyes gleam with excitement, “How about instead of just telling you what our new drugs can do, I show you instead. How does that sound?”
Time grinds to a halt as the two of them stare each other down.
“You should’ve chosen me,” Gale says, his voice cold and devoid of human emotion. “This would have been so much easier.”
“I handpicked you for myself. I saw you next door, and it was like fate put you there just for me.”
If that’s true than fate sure is an asshole, she thinks.
”I watched you. Once I did a thorough search of your medical records, I was sure that you were the one for me. So pretty, so broken. You would have been exactly what I wanted, once I was done with you.”
A thousand pinpricks run down her back. She’s sure he’s telling the truth.
Katniss thinks about the things Gale would have seen in her medical history, intensely private things he has no right to know about her. The overnight hospital stay after her mother discovered she’d been cutting herself and years of therapy and medications after her mother died. Not to mention her sexual and reproductive history. There’s nothing in her medical past she’s ashamed of, but that isn't the point; it doesn’t prevent Katniss from feeling grossly violated.
“You should have been grateful,” he continues.
Katniss stares at his soulless face. He’s a monster, she realizes. A fucking psychopath.
“Too late now though. That time has passed, that ship has sailed.” Gale shrugs. “So let’s go this route instead, shall we?”
She waits.
He smirks at her. “Mockingjay,” he says.
Katniss finds herself soaring through the air. Her head hits the wall and stars dance behind her eyes. Her whole body feels numb for just a moment, but much too quickly that feeling is gone and replaced with pain spreading through her limbs.
And then there’s a heavy weight on top of her, holding her down.
Katniss opens her eyes.
It’s Peeta. He hovers over her on his knees, his hands holding down both of her arms.
She knows that she’s trapped, there’s no way she can get away from him. He’s too strong.
“Mockingjay,” Gale says again.
Peeta stares down at her, his expression curiously blank. “Peeta,” she whispers, feeling panic set in. “Peeta, stay with me.”
“Mockingjay,” Gale says, this time with a twinge of anger.
Peeta closes his eyes and shakes his head. He won’t look at her. His hands continue to grip her arms, strong and powerful, tight like a vise. He could crush her like this.
“Peeta, please.” He opens his eyes again.
Distantly, Katniss hears shouting, the sounds of metal doors being forced open. Gunfire. I wonder if someone is coming to get us? They must’ve followed Gale here. And then, I think it’s going to be too late.
She stares up at Peeta. His pupils are blown so wide there is little of the blue left to be seen, and in the center of his forehead a vein bulges out from the strain. Katniss studies the blood vessel, momentarily detached from reality. She watches how it pulses like the soft spot on a newborn baby’s head. And then time freezes, holding indefinitely. I’ll never have my own baby, she distantly thinks as the only man she ever loved looms above her, fighting against himself to keep from killing her.
“I’ll just have to do it-“ Gale begins, but he’s cut off when Peeta leaps off of her, lunging for the other man instead. Out of her peripheral vision, she notices something shiny flying out of Gale’s hand. A pistol.
Katniss pulls herself upright, crawling backward to prop herself against the wall as the two men slam into the ground, landing with Peeta on top.
They continue grappling, and it's difficult to determine who has the advantage. Peeta is more muscular, stronger, but Gale is long and rangy. He keeps wrapping his arms and legs around Peeta, trapping him.
I need to get that, Katniss realizes as she stares at the gun laying on the carpeted hallway floor. Gale will use it if he gets to it first. She begins to crawl across the room on her hands and knees, inching slowly toward the discarded weapon. Her vision is too blurry, her body too shaky to pull herself up off the ground.
While she makes her way across the room, the two of them tumble back and forth, first one of them seems to have the advantage and then the other one. Gale, then Peeta, then Gale again. But just as Katniss gets her hands wrapped around the grip of the gun, Peeta’s drug-induced rage and superior strength finally win out. He gets his arms underneath Gale’s body, flipping him onto his back and pinning him in a submission hold.
From where she now sits against the wall, her knees spread and the weapon clasped in her hands, Katniss can see that Peeta’s eyes are wild. “Say it,” he growls, his face inches from Gales, “say it again you son of a bitch.”
Gale spits in his face. “Fuck you,” he snarls.
Peeta’s face turns purple with rage. “Say it again!”
“Peeta, no don’t. Peeta don’t.” Katniss cries out as she watches his large hands slide from Gale’s upper arms and close around his throat, his shoulders shaking from the tension of keeping himself from choking the life out of Gale. “You’re better than that, you’re better than him. Don’t do it, please don’t do it.”
“Go ahead and kill me, you fucking freak show.” Gale taunts, and his voice is slightly garbled because of the fingers wrapped around his neck. “Show me that we broke you. Do it.”
“Don’t do it, he’s not worth it.” Katniss‘s voice cracks as she begs him.
“He hurt you,” Peeta mutters. “I’m not going to let anyone else get away with hurting you, not ever again.”
They’re caught at an impasse, no one willing to make a move one way or the other.
Don’t do it, you’re too good for this. Please don’t. Katniss thinks as she stares at the back of Peeta’s head.
“Easy, I’ve got you covered!” Katniss slumps against the wall at the sounds of footfalls and the familiar voice.
Haymitch.
Better yet, it’s not just Haymitch. She looks up to see on his left is a middle-aged man, large and muscular with a haircut that screams military. On Haymitch’s right are two tall, athletic-looking women who are so remarkably similar that they must be twins. Best of all, the four of them are armed.
It’s over, she thinks.
“Boggs, would you mind helping Peet up?” Haymitch asks. “Leegs- you two ladies got Hawthorne covered?”
With a handful of curt nods, everyone moves into action. Peeta is surprisingly quiet as Boggs helps him to his feet. He looks drained from the effort. Katniss can see that his legs are trembling and his body sways as he attempts to right himself.
She can't help but wonder if Peeta has any regrets about not killing Gale while he had the chance.
The Leegs each grab one of Gale’s arms and pull him to his feet. Once he’s also on his feet, one Leeg holds her weapon trained on his chest, the green glow of the tracer light visible over his heart, while the other twin handcuffs him.
But as they each take a side to escort him out Katniss is shocked to see that his face is cool, triumphant. Gale looks so unconcerned with what’s just happened to him it frightens her. It’s obvious that he still thinks he’s won.
Katniss stays crouched on the floor, the cold metal of the pistol resting in her hands while she takes in the action.
The weight of the gun reminds her of a man she used to know.
A redhead. He was a cop. They dated for a few months, and he used to take her to the shooting range sometimes. He’d been impressed by her shooting ability.
"You're telling me that you've never shot a gun before?"
"Nope," she'd grinned. "Beginners luck, I guess."
“You’re a natural shot, you know that? A real modern-day Annie Oakley. You could easily hit a man right between the eyes every time. You never miss.” He’d pulled a face. “Remind me to never cross you, would you?”
They’d both laughed at the joke.
The Leegs hold Gale, ready to lead him away. Probably to a holding cell at the police station, where he’ll call his high-priced attorney who will post bail for him faster than she can blink. And then there will be a long, drawn-out trial at the end of which there will be no satisfaction. Gale will walk because he has money and influence. It’s a winning combination every time.
And she can see it in her mind as if it’s already happened.
Katniss takes a deep breath. Makes a decision. She stands to her feet, gun in hand.
Nobody’s paying attention to her right now anyway.
She clicks the safety off and raises the pistol into position. “Gale,” she says calmly.
He looks up at her. His eyes startle and his mouth is just beginning to open in protest, but he never gets the chance to speak.
Katniss aims. Pulls the trigger- one, two, three times.
She never misses.
No one is laughing this time.
Warmth spreads through her body as Peeta pulls her closer, and she practically hums as he wraps his arms around her. He presses his lips to her neck, his breathing rapid, his mouth open and hot against her sensitive skin.
Katniss squirms, thinking about what he can do with that wet, silky tongue of his. As if he’s read her mind, Peeta runs the tip of it down her neck. She shivers at the sensation. He switches back to kisses trailed slowly, slowly back up again. The light touch is starting to frustrate her.
“Peeta-” she starts, but then one hand leaves her waist and slips up the front of her body. Katniss stops protesting when he reaches her breast and gives it a soft squeeze.
He rubs his thumb across her cotton-covered nipple. “Oh, don’t stop doing that,” she whimpers, the sensation going straight to her core.
He teases her with his lips, kissing her once, twice, three times with a light brush, a whisper of his skin on hers.
She keeps trying to get closer, to go deeper, but every time she does he moves away. “Peeta, kiss me dammit.”
“That’s all you had to say,” he murmurs against her mouth.
Katniss nips at his lips.
He kisses her hotly while she runs her hands over every inch of him that she can reach. Up to his arms, over his shoulders, his chest, his back, his waist. She can’t wait to get him naked so she can see him again.
His hands drop to her hips, grasping the waistband of her skirt and tugging it down her legs.
Peeta groans at the sight of her naked lower half. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”
“I wanted to be ready for you,” Katniss all but purrs as she reaches for the button of his pants. She unfastens them and pushes the material down his hips.
Once the material reaches his thighs he shucks them off, incredibly aroused and highly impatient all of a sudden. He kisses her deeper.
Katniss smirks as she pulls away from him. He’s as turned on by this as she is. She lets her fingers trail down and wrap around him.
Peeta leans his forehead against her shoulder as she strokes him, swearing softly into her shoulder.
“Are you ready for me?” she teases, “it feels like it.”
Peeta nods against her lips as he removes her hand. And then she’s shrieking with laughter as he bends over and picks her up. He carries her, bridal-style, across the room to the king-size bed. He stops just long enough to drop her on top of it with a rough laugh before climbing in after her.
They remove the rest of their clothing, slowing down just enough to caress each other’s old hurts, their touches soft and promising of better things to come than what the past has done to the pair of them.
Peeta lays back against the pillow and Katniss climbs on top of him, straddling his waist and sliding down his hardness slowly, until their hips are flush.
She’s aware that this will probably be hard and fast. Her body is already tingling at the feel of him deep inside, even before she starts to move.
He arches up into her as she sets a rapid pace, his hands cupping her ass to urge her on as she begins to climax. She continues to ride him harder, faster, and when she speaks, he gets dragged under the wave of pleasure with her.
“That didn’t take long,” he gasps once he manages to open his eyes again.
She bites her lip, trying not to laugh.
He’s barely holding back his own. “Not that I’m complaining, but wow.”
She touches his face.
He smiles up at her.
Katniss leans forward far enough that he slips from her body as she kisses him. Peeta kisses her back, lazily slow and deep. Relaxed.
She slides off his chest and snuggles up to his side. “I think we got the point across.”
Peeta peeks one eye open, turning his head to look at her. “I think you’re right.”
They do laugh at that.
They lay in silence on the bed for a few minutes, Peeta gently rubbing the tips of his fingers across her back. “Are we heading home?” he asks.
Katniss hasn’t stayed at Grandmother’s house since the “incident,” the general term Haymitch uses to refer to their abduction and later recovery by the private security firm. She’s only been back inside the house once, just long enough to gather some personal items before leaving again with Peeta.
Coincidentally, everyone present for the rescue operation corroborated her claim of self-defense. Every report mentioned how fortunate it was that Katniss was able to stop Gale before he got to her; especially since Haymitch, Boggs, Leeg One, and Leeg Two hadn’t arrived on the scene yet and Peeta had been too incapacitated to help.
There was also the silly little fact that the security cameras inside the building seemed to have stopped working that night.
Technology, right? What are you gonna do?
When Haymitch drove her and Peeta to his apartment after they were released from the hospital, he may have casually mentioned he knew some good IT guys.
“Ones of a criminal persuasion,” he muttered. “And they owed me a favor anyway.”
Haymitch went on to tell them how his firm had already hired a private investigator to keep an eye on Coin Industries, Gale Hawthorne specifically, for some time.
Heavensbee, Abernathy, and Odair have spent years building a case against the drug giant.
Startling claims were made by a horde of former employees- chemists, engineers, zoologists, and research scientists, they all insisted things were going on inside the complex of the pharmaceutical giant that was much worse than your average, run-of-the-mill unethical business practices.
Most notably, the affidavits from former lab workers about mutated animals specifically being bred for their aggressive behaviors.
Coin Industries was playing God.
“Mutts”, is what the lab workers called them. Scary shit from what little I saw in the reports. Apes, birds, and other...things. They'll all have to be destroyed.” Haymitch had relayed to them as he pulled up to the curb in front of Peeta’s apartment that night. He stared out the window, letting the car idle for a minute. “Sweetheart, you did what you had to do. That bastard had it coming, and the world is a much better place without Gale Hawthorne in it.”
Katniss thinks about the hellish events of that night as she ponders Peeta’s question. She sits up. “Not yet, let's go try out the shower. I’m sure the towels are perfection.”
“Sounds good.” he leans over and kisses her again before standing up. “Do you want me to get the water going?”
Katniss nods. “That would be perfect.”
It turns out the house is furnished top to bottom with expensive, modern pieces, many of which they decide to “try” out before leaving.
The entire place is a shining testament to luxury, to excess. If she were to wager a guess, Katniss would say that its owner had hired an interior designer to decorate the place. The whole thing is rather pretentious, but she doesn’t care.
The owner certainly doesn’t care anymore.
He’s been six feet underground for weeks.
Katniss’s phone rings the next day. The name Haymitch Abernathy lights up the display.
“Hey,” she answers casually, straightening against the back of the couch and setting her glass down. “What’s up?”
Peeta looks at her questioningly.
“Haymitch” she mouths to him.
He nods and gets up to take their pizza box to the kitchen.
They've been waiting to hear from him.
Haymitch clears his throat. “Just wanted to call and let you know the strangest thing happened last night. Someone broke into Hawthorne’s house and set fire to it. The whole thing burned to the ground. Crazy huh?”
“No kidding. What is that neighborhood coming to?” Katniss tries to conceal the humor in her voice. She’s not entirely sure it works. “It’s a good thing I’m out of there. I wouldn’t feel safe in Grandmother’s house with an arsonist on the loose.”
Peeta peeks his head around the corner. He shakes his head at her before heading back into the kitchen to give her some privacy.
“Hmm, yeah. Good thing.” Haymitch sighs. “Well, I just wanted to let you know in case you hadn’t heard yet. I don’t think there was any damage done to your place. How’s that coming along for you guys?”
Katniss stretches. “We decided to hire a renovation company to come in and take care of everything. Neither of us wanted to go back inside the house.”
“I can understand that.” It’s silent for a minute. “Well, that’s all I needed so I’ll let you go now. Goodnight Sweetheart.”
“Goodnight Haymitch. Sweet dreams.”
He snorts. “Yeah, you too. And I’m sure they will be.”