Catching Fire: Peeta's Story....

Chapter 45:

Chapter 45:

We walk together down to our room, hands-intertwined as Katniss lays her head on my arm. Tomorrow's the "coaching day", so I think we need to get some sleep, by-ourselves. But before I can say good-bye, she wraps her arms around me and rests her head against my chest. My hands slide up her back and my cheek leans against her hair. "I'm sorry if I made things worse," she says.

 "No worse than I did. Why did you do it anyway?" I say.

"I don't know. To show them I'm more than just a piece of there Games?" She says. I laugh a little, remembering the night before the Games last year. We were on the roof, neither of us able to sleep. I had said something of the sort then, but I don't think she had understood what I meant. Now she does.

"Me too," I tell her. "And I'm not saying I'm not going to try. To try to get you home, I mean. But if I'm perfectly honest about it...."

"If you're perfectly honest about it, you think President Snow had probably given them direct orders to make sure we die in the arena anyway," she says.

"It crossed my mind," I say. We stand there thinking, I rub her back up and down, gripping her tighter as she pulls into me, probably thinking the worst. "But even if that happens, at least everyone will know we went out fighting, right?" I say.

"Everyone will," she says, blanking out again. 

Then she comes too, "So what should we do with our last few days?"

"I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you!" I reply.

"Come on, then," She says, pulling me into her room.

It feels like such a luxury, sleeping with Katniss. I didn't realize until now how starved I've been for human closeness. For the feel of her beside me in the darkness. I wish she hadn't wasted the past couple of nights shutting me out. We sink into each other, holding each other as if for dear life. When I open my eyes again, I'm blinded by sunlight coming through the windows.

"No nightmares," I say.

"No nightmares," She confirms. "You?"

"None. I'd forgotten what a real nights sleep felt like," I say.

We lie there, then remember today is the "coaching day", when all of a sudden the red-headed Avox comes in and hands us a note, that pretty much says that Haymitch and Effie think we can handle our-selves in public!

"Really? Do you know what this means? We'll have the whole day to ourselves."