Chapter 11

Katniss' POVWhen I wake up, I have trouble remembering where I am.I look around to see white walls, dark-wood flooring, a dresser, a mirror, three doors and The Machine. Now I remember where I am.

I lift my head up from Peeta's chest, rubbing my eyes. This is the first night in a long time where I haven't had any nightmares. Well, that's not comepletely true. I did come here because of the nightmares. But still.

I can feel turning, so I say: "Morning."

"Wha--?" Peeta blinks with his eyes, then rubbing them. He squints at me, when he finally opens his eye--

"WHAT?! OH SHIT! ARGH!!"

Out of shock, I fall down from the bed, landing on the hard, cold floor. I land on my tailbone.

"Ouch," I mumble, rubbbing my butt.

I look up at a startled Peeta. He probably also forgot that I was in here. But it doesn't matter that he got scared when he saw me. Because I can still feel his arm around me. I have him wrapped around my little finger, and I'm not letting loose any time soon.

Peeta's POVI'm confused. Why exactly was she in my bed? Right now she is laying on the floor, after I practically pushed her off. By accident, that is.

She is smiling to herself in a weird way, not looking at anything in particular. Just staring at nothing. That girl is so undreadable. I mean, what is our relationship even? I know that I am hijacked, and I will never recover fully, but I did love her once. Do I still love her? Is that why first instinct is always to protect her, just like she told me on the mission:

"Real. Because that's what you and I do, protect each other."

Is that what's happening right now? No matter how much of an enemy I see her has, I still protect her when she's vulnerable. I'll always do that. Always.

The word makes me freeze, and I think that I might have said it out loud, because Katniss turns to me, saying: "What?"

"Oh nothing," I say in a sleepy, raspy morning voice. "Sorry I practically shoved you off the bed."

"Don't worry about it. I think I fell, actually.You scared me when you screamed."

"Yeah," I chuckle. "You scared me too."

I don't receive and answer, just a light giggle that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Is this what she used to make me feel like all the time? God, I was cheesy.It's quite sad when you think about it. If a person who didn't know who I was, saw me in the streets, they would have never guessed that I am a total sofite. Or was, at least.

Katniss invites herself back into bed, and once again I swing my arm around her. I might not know where"um I stand with her, and she knows that I could turn into a mutt anytime, so it's her own fault if something happens, but I realize that I actually like having my arm around her. It gives me some sort of comfort.

---

The door flies up, and we get so startled that Katniss falls out of the bed again.

"Hello Peeta! How are y--" Effie stops when she sees Katniss stand up. "-ou, my dear," she finishes, almost whispering.

She straightens, and look at both us.

"I guess I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone, now that both of you are here," she tells us.

"We have some good and weird news on the program today, so we'd love for you two to join Haymitch, Plutarch, Beetee and I, at breakfast today," she almost squeals, clapping her hands together.

"Where is Gale? Has he left yet?" Katniss asks. She sounds very annoyed when she says Gale's name.

"Um.. No, I don't think so, but after today, I'm sure he'll leave on his own. He won't have anymore business to take care of here, not after today," she smiles.

"Now, who's hungry?!"

---

We enter a gigantic dininf room The floor and walls are made out of white marble. There is like 32 feet from the floor to the ceiling. To support the heavy weight of the marble ceiling, is four gigantic poles. They're made out of pure gold and have diamonds and rhinestones running all the way up and down the poles. In the middle of the room is a long dining table, out of mahogany, I think. And so are the chairs. Effie must be thrilled. Over the table is a big chandelier dangling with all it's diamonds. The dining room is actually pretty empty, come to think of it. It's just those gigantic poles that does the magic.

"Oh, isn't this dining table lovely? All mahogany! And so are the chairs! Oh, so lovely," Effie chimes.

"Katniss, by the way, the table has never done you any harm. Don't stab it. Deal?" She continues, trying to make a joke, reffering to the first time we were headed for the Games.

But all it reminds me of, is how frightened I was. And I can feel Katniss becoming uncomfortable too.

"Deal," she answers quietly.

Once we have sat down, we greet everyone and begin to eat. I realize that Dr. Aurelius is here. He is looking at me."We have both some good and weird news on the program today," Effie's high-pitched voice echoes in my head. Am I the weird news? And why didn't Effie mention Dr. Aurelius when she told us who we were going to join us for breakfast?

"Dr. Aurelius! Why are you here?" Effie asks, answering my question with hers. She didn't know that he was going to be here. An alarm immediately goes off inside of me. I grab the bottom of the table, digging my nails into it.

I freeze, and then relax a little when I feel Katniss' hand on my shoulder, who's sitting next to me. She sends me a concerned look and I just send her a smile and whisper:

"I'm fine now. Thanks," trying to shrug it off. She shouldn't worry about me. But she still does, and I can tell that she's still worrying.

I don't know what makes me do it, but right here, in the middle of all the adults, I place my hand on her thigh, nudging it, telling her that I really am okay. If these adults weren't so caught up in their own conversations, I wouldn't have done it, since it would have let to many questions, but in the moment it just feels so natural and like the right thing to do, so I do it

For a nano second she sends me a confused glare, but then she just sends me an amazing smile that just makes my whole body light up. I don't think I've ever seen her smile like this, so much, and it makes my heart jump. The fact that she sends methat smile, after all she's been through is one of the best gifts that I could ever recieve.

And I am supposed to hate her?Ha, forget it.

---

Plutarch stands up, picks up his spoon and bangs lightly on his crystal glass.The loud conversations dies and everyone gives their attention to Plutarch.

"Okay, so I have gathered you all today, to bring some news down upon you all. There has been a drastic change recently, and nothing is really going as planned."Both Effie and Katniss gasps. Effie over exaggerates though.

"Now, just because it isn't planned, doesn't mean that it isn't a bad thing." Once again Effie gasps. I know what she's thinking: If it isn't planned, it is a bad thing.

"Cut the bullshit Plutarch, tell us. Or, at least tell Katniss and Peeta. They deserve to know," Haymitch growls loudly.

"Language!" Effie exclaims.

"I am getting to that, Haymitch," Plutarch answers, ignoring Effie's comment, and so does everyone else. As usual.

"Okay, so we have some special news and some good news. To tell the good news, I have brought Dr. Aurelius."

I relax completely, realizing that I have had my hand on Katniss' thigh this whole time. I move it a bit, making Katniss smile to me. She knew that I had forgotten about it, and she liked it being there, so she didn't say anything.What is happening?

Now Aurelius stands up, smiling to everyone.

"Hello. I am here to tell everyone about some good news involving mr. Peeta here," He says, making a gesture towards me. Katniss grabs my hand, resting on her thigh, and nudges it with her thumb. Startled over what just happened, I don't react and just let her do her thing.

"Okay, so Peeta has been doing an amazing inprovement in his hijacked state of mind. It's quite amazing. I have never seen anyone recover so quickly from hijacking. It is actually pretty rare that people even recover. Let's give a round og applause for mr. Peeta Mellark!"

Everyone starts to clap, and Katniss lets go of my hand, joining them. I smile polietly and nod, overwhelmed by the news. I just had two breakdowns. They probably just want me out of here.

Dr. Aurelius sits down again, and Plutarch stands up again.

"Okay, moving on to more special kind of news," Plutarch says. "Since Peeta has recovered enough to be on his own now, he can go home. Back to D12. And, well since Haymitch is his mentor, he'll follow along. Now for Katniss," he pauses, and I catch a quick glimpse at Katniss, and she is trying to hide the fear for what is going to happen to her. And I think that we're both thinking the same thing: Was she only kept alive to cure me? Is she going to get punished now for what she did to Coin?

"Because of what Katniss has recently done to our Presidents, The Capitol doesn't really trust her around Paylor. She is being sent home too."

A warm wave of happiness rushes through me, knowing that Katniss is coming home to District 12 with me.

"You three will leave at 5pm tomorrow morning, where the hovercraft will be waiting for you," Plutarch explains. "That was everything. See you all later."

I am the first one to be out of the door.

---

I pace back and fourth around in my room, trying to understand what happened in the dining room.Why did I feel a tingling feeling when Katniss touched me, and butterflies in my stomach when she gave me that smile.Oh, that beautiful smile.I stop up.Am I in love with Katniss Everdeen?