Finnick and Annie

Marry Me

"We should go before they strap me down to a bed and feed me through a tube," she whispered in my ear. The crowd was beginning to disperse and now that the chaos was subsiding, the doctors would surely focus their attention on Annie.

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," I suggested, eyeing her carefully. She glared at me. "Or we can just come back tomorrow..." I held her hand and led her towards the elevator. We managed to flee the hospital wing unnoticed but we did get a few stares as we made our way to my compartment.

"Welcome to my humble abode," I chuckled.

"I actually think my cell back in the Capitol was cozier," she teased. I eyed her warily. "Stop, Finnick."

"What?" I asked, taken aback.

"You're doing it again."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said honestly.

"Treating me like I'm going to snap any second... I just want to be with you again."

"And we are, Annie. Finally. And I'm damn glad about it but you can't stop me for worrying. It's all I've been able to do for months!" I confessed, looking down at my blistered hands.

"Well, you don't have to. I'm fine. I'm alive. Isn't that all that matters?"

"No," I whispered. I pulled on the edge of the thin sheet and dropped it to the ground. She hurried to cover herself up but I'd seen enough. Annie had always been very slim but her ribs and hipbones stuck out more prominently. Her whole body was peppered with dark bruises and a few scars.

"It's really not that bad... you should've seen the things they did to Peeta and Johanna," she whimpered. She had a point. I'd expected her to be in a much worse condition, but something still bothered me and I couldn't figure out what it was.

"The bruises look old," I pointed out.

"Yeah, they really didn't bother with me much towards the end."

"Why, Annie?" I insisted.

"Stop," she pleaded.

She wiped her tears with her trembling hands as her body shook with sobs. "I'm sorry," I sighed as I yanked the covers off my bed to drape them around her bony shoulders. "I'm so sorry."

I picked her up and set her on the mattress. It was small and uncomfortable compared to the bed we shared back in District Four, but that just forced us to be closer, and that was exactly what we needed. We cried tears of pain and joy. I unleashed the sobs I'd forced myself to hold back all those weeks and the feelings I'd been trying to keep at bay by tying knots.

Annie wept and trembled and covered her ears with her hands the way I'd seen her do countless times. I rubbed her back and stroked her hair. I pressed feather-light kisses to her cheeks, and her nose, her forehead and her lips. I muttered reassuringly. I whispered that I loved her. I talked to her about the stars and the sea and how we'd get to see them soon. Eventually, as always, the waves of hysteria subsided, and the sobbing faded into a stream of quiet sniffles.

"Annie? Are you asleep?" I whispered. No response. I climbed out of bed carefully but her hand gripped my wrist.

"Finnick?"

"Yeah. Hey, I'm here, Sweetheart," I sighed. "I thought you were sleeping. I was just going to get you some clothes."

"He took my clothes." Her voice was flat but something about her eyes pained me. They were sad and broken as they'd been when she'd left the arena.

"I... I know."

"No. He took my clothes, Finnick. All of it. Slowly."

"Annie..." My voice broke. "Who?"

"The peacekeeper. Then he pushed me against the bed. He told me if I didn't cooperate he'd get it on tape and send it to you."

That's why the bruises looked old. They'd done to her the thing they knew would hurt me the most. They'd broken her and left her to wallow in her own insanity. Snow was going to pay for that.

"Finnick? I shouldn't have told you," she sighed. " But you wanted to know..."

"Why are you acting so normal?" I asked, then immediately regretted my word choice, but she just smiled sadly.

"Because I've done nothing but cry and stare at white walls for weeks. I thought I'd never see you again. Don't get me wrong, I am far from okay, even by my standards... but right now I'm just too fucking happy to see you to be thinking about anything else. And I'd really appreciate it if you could do the same thing!" She laughed, a short hysterical laugh, and then quickly covered her lips with her hand, embarrassed. Before I could open my mouth to apologize she interrupted. "You drive me crazy, Odair."

I met her eyes briefly and we both busted out laughing. The situation was so hysterically fucked up we couldn't help but make a joke of it. Yes, Annie was unstable, and scarred both physically and emotionally, and so was I. And while people always stared and talked behind our backs about how crazy she was, none of them really knew her.

Snow tried to push us past our breaking points but we were already broken. We'd been broken before, and yet together we were whole. Annie was still the woman I adored. So what if she was crazy sometimes? So what if they'd hurt her again? She'd recover like she had before, we both would. She was still my Annie, making jokes at her own expense to cheer me up.

"I love you so much," I whispered, getting back in bed with her,

"I love you more," she giggled.

"No. I do. I'm sorry about what they did to you."

"We'll get through this. Together. And I definitely love you more."

"As we always have. And that's not true. I love you more. Distance makes the heart grow fonder," I added.

"We were both away from each other," she laughed. "You're so dumb."

"Then what does that make you?" I smirked.

"Mrs. Dumb."

"We're not married," I pointed out.

"True. But we will be some day." I smiled at the certainty in her voice.

"Oh yeah?"

"Finnick Odair. You are cocky, you're a slob, you tell terrible jokes and you smell like fish most of the time."

"Ah, of course. How could you not marry me?" I rolled my eyes. She smiled and pressed a soft kiss to my neck.

"Yeah. And you're so clueless sometimes. And you snore really loudly when you're tired."

"You're too sweet," I said. "I seriously hope there's a point to all this abuse. You're hurting my self-esteem."

"It could use some hurting," she giggled. "But I do have a point."

"Let's hear it then," I smiled.

"I wouldn't have put up with all of your crap for so long if I weren't determined to spend the rest of my life with you," she said triumphantly.

I turned my face towards hers. Her green eyes were inches from my own. I pulled back and pushed a strand of her disheveled hair behind her ear. I traced my calloused fingers down her jaw and brushed them across her lips. I pressed my lips against hers and whispered, "Marry me."