Rosemary

1.0

Finnick and I opened the muscles and filleted the fish around sunrise, still damp from our swim last night. After we grabbed breakfast for today, Finnick wove a grass mat and placed it over our two allies to keep them from getting burned. Katniss shook herself awake around mid-morning.

Finnick opened a clam with a rock he found nearby and stuck the insides into his mouth, "There better fresh."

Katniss rubs more medicine on her body and then eats a few muscles with us.

"I should wake Peeta," Katniss murmurs.

"No, wait," says Finnick, "Let's do it all together. Put our faces in front of his."

"What do you say, Rosemary?" Katniss asks, a little too eagerly.

"I say-" pausing for a second, "Let's do it!"

We all position ourselves over Peeta, me on the left, Finnick on the right, and Katniss in the middle. Katniss puts her nose right over Peeta's.

"Peeta, Peeta wake up!" she says in a sing-songy voice.

Peeta's eyes flutter open and he screams when he sees our faces so close, "AHH!"

I fall back on the sand laughing so hard I begin to snort, which makes everyone else begin to giggle harder.

"Is that your real laugh?" Katniss probed, guffawing.

"Yes," I blush, still giggling.

"I think it's cute," Finnick smiles.

"Well thank you," I chuckle.

Suddenly a parachute fell to the ground, landing in Finnicks lap.

"Open it Finn," I say.

Inside the silver box was a greenish colored loaf of bread.

"This will go well with the salmon," Finnick suggests, handing a piece to everyone.

We all enjoy the meal of fish and bread when a scream comes from the other side of the arena. A huge wave comes down the hill taking the screaming girl with it. The cannon fires. Water rises all around us, taking away Finnick's basket and sun covering.

"That's new," Peeta murmurs standing up.

Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I see three figures limp onto the beach, covered in blood. The muttering and cursing sounded familiar. Katniss drew back an arrow.

"Jo?" I ask.

"Rose?" she squints her eyes from across the beach, "Rose!"

I ran to the woman covered in blood, "Oh my god, I'm so glad you're alive. Each time that cannon went off I was worried sick."

"I can't believe you're here!" Johanna exclaims, hugging me.

"Johanna!" Finnick laughs from behind me.

"What happened?" I asked, giving Beetee and Wiress a few hugs too.

"We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lightning, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the force field," Johanna sighed, looking down at the sand, "He wasn't much, but he was from home."

"I'm sorry Jo-"

But I was cut off by Wiress's muttering, "Tik, tok. Tik, tok."

"Yeah, we know. Tick, tok. Nuts is in shock," Johanna rolls her eyes.

Wiress stumbles over to Johanna who harshly pushes her to the ground, "Just stay down, will you?"

"Jo," I frown.

"Hey! Lay off her!" Katniss yells at Johanna.

"Lay off her?" Johanna sneers, stocking up to Katniss and slapping her across the face, "Who do you think got them out of that bleeding jungle for you? You—"

Finnick picked up Johanna and slung her over his shoulder. Finnick repeatedly dunked Johanna in the water over and over again until her curses slowed.

"What did she mean? She got them for me?" Katniss asked Peeta.

Peeta just shrugged. That's when I knew Johanna messed up. She got Beetee and Wiress for Katniss to make her trust her. Katniss may have already picked up on that.

"Hey are you ok?" I ask, checking out the mark Johanna left on Katniss's cheek.

"I'm fine. Thanks Rosemary," she smiles.

"You can just call me Rose or Rosie. Rosemary is a mouthful," I grin.

"Tik, tok," Wiress muttered, walking up to me and putting her hands on my shoulders.

"Yes, tik, tok," I say.

"C'mon, let's get you cleaned off," Katniss grins, taking Wiress's hand and leading her to the water.

Peeta watched Katniss with loving eyes.

"You really love her," I murmur, facing Peeta.

"Of course," he smiled.

"Oh, I never got to congratulate you about the baby," I whisper.

"Oh yeah, well-" he laughs, "It's hard now with the games and all."

"I've always wanted a baby," I mutter.

"You're only nineteen," he replies.

"And you are both seventeen," I remark.

"Touche," he laughs.

"I just want to have someone to hold, and to love in that way," I say softly, "And having Finn be his dad would be even better."

"His?"

"Whenever I picture this fantasy child, I can only ever picture a little boy. I can see him running around the beaches of four being chased by Finnick, or rocked to sleep by the sound of the swaying corn stocks in nine. But I don't see that happening now," I comment, making a swirl pattern in the sand.

"Well, you know, sometimes I feel this child is a blessing and a curse," Peeta adds, "I've always wanted to have a kid, maybe not now, but I'm glad I am having one with the woman I love. If I don't make it out of this arena, I want Katniss too. That's the down side, I won't get to see the kid grow."

All of a sudden, I hear Katniss from in front of me, "Oh my god, Wiress! You're a genius!"

gif of rosemary telling peeta of her fantasy child