When We Fall~Finnick Odair {Book 3}

Chapter Twelve

•••

"No, I have to see Finnick," Autumn spoke as she tried to get off the bed. The doctor refused to let her move, sticking needles in her arm.

Autumn watched as Katniss ran into the room, searching around frantically. She first saw Autumn, her eyes widening in horror at the sight of how much she had changed. Autumn began to panic, thinking that's how Finnick would see her. But all of her worries dissolved when the bronze haired boy ran in the door.

His head turned as his eyes darted around the room, searching for Autumn. When he finally laid his eyes on her, calm and excitement washed over him all at once.

"Autumn?" He began walking forward, thrown off by how different she looked, although he had been expecting it. "Autumn!" He yelled, breaking into a sprint as he pushed past multiple doctors.

"Finnick!" Autumn yelled back, taking the needles out of her arm, much to the dismay of the doctors around her. She hopped off of the medical bed and used all of her strength to run to him, jumping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist.

It was as if time stopped and began for the first time. Finnick spun her around, both of them unable to hold in their tears of joy. Finnick stumbled backwards into the wall, hitting it with his back. But he didn't care.

Autumn took her head off of his shoulder from the hug and looked him in the eye, cupping his face in her hands. She smiled through her tears, pressing her lips to his.

Finnick accepted the kiss happily. It felt like they were kissing for the first time with both a kindness but also a hunger to have each other back and make up for lost time.

The moment was unexplainable. Finnick and Autumn could not even fathom how much love and joy they both shared in this moment, simply happy to be back in each other's arms once again.

They broke apart from the kiss, pressing their foreheads to each other's, their eyes closed as they felt the moment.

"I love you," Finnick whispered.

"I love you," Autumn replied, pressing another kiss to his lips.

A week ago, Autumn believed this moment to be only in her daydreams and her imagination. But it was here. She was reunited with Finnick. She was saved from the Capitol. She was home.

•••

Much to Autumn's dismay, she was forced to spend the night in the medical wing of District Thirteen. She was supposed to stay longer, but she had convinced the doctors that she was well enough.

The negotiation between Autumn and the doctors was that she would stay hooked up to the nutrients machine all night as long as she didn't have to stay in this place another day.

They agreed, but told her she had to be careful and couldn't do too much physical activity yet until she had gotten some meat back on her bones.

Autumn had heard what happened to Peeta. She knew the Capitol was messing with their heads, but she never thought they could change Peeta completely.

Autumn knew they did that to Peeta simply to get back at Katniss. She also knew that if Finnick had threatened the Capitol as much as she had, Autumn would've been in the same place as Peeta.

"Hey, hey Finnick," Autumn whispered as she poked his cheek from where he was sitting next to her hospital bed.

To get her to sleep, the doctors put Autumn on a medicine that made her very drowsy. But the problem with Autumn is that she gets very goofy and, according to Finnick, acts intoxicated when she's tired.

His tired eyes opened, looking at Autumn's smiling face in front of him. Finnick was unable to keep the smile off of his face as he stared at her, squeezing her hand on his due to the fact that he hadn't let go of her hand since they had been reunited hours before.

"Do you need something?" Finnick smirked. She shook her head. "Do you want something?" She nodded. "What do you want?"

"I want you to snuggle with me," she told him. Finnick's smile turned into an amused smirk as he stared at her.

"The doctors wouldn't like that," Finnick told her, leaning forward so that their faces were inches apart.

Autumn closed the space between him, kissing his mouth. She could feel his smile as their lips moved in sync. Autumn pulled away with a serious look, one eyebrow quirked upwards.

"Since when did you care about rules?" She asked him. He raised his eyebrows for a second, admitting that she made a good point. He then nodded, getting out of his seat and walking around to the other side of the hospital bed. He lifted the covers, letting Autumn scoot over before climbing into the bed next to her.

Autumn cuddled up against Finnick's, her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her as close to him as possible. For a moment, Autumn forgot that she was in a District Thirteen hospital. She forgot about the bruises and scars on her body or the needles in her arm. And the only thing she thought about was how warm Finnick was and how much she loved him.