Puzzle Pieces • Finnick Odair

C H A P T E R 1 8

She woke to a knock on her bedroom door that morning, a smile on her lips as she remembered how content she had felt with Finnick on the beach. She climbed out of bed walking over to the door and opened it to find her brother. Before she could speak, he beat her to it, "you have a visitor."

"Oh yeah, who?" She asked, noticing the seriousness in his tone.

"President Snow." He sounded worried. Confused.

Silence.

"Where's Kylo?" Jessica questioned.

"My room, why?" Jacob replied.

"Go sit with him, keep him distracted, wipe the worry off your face, I'll come get you once he's gone."

He looks conflicted but nods anyway.

She walks downstairs, seeing two peacekeepers guarding the office. They give her a tight nod before opening the double doors. She finds Snow sitting at the desk waiting for her, a picture frame of her, her brothers and her parents down by the beach in his hand. "What a lovely family. Shame to hear about your parents. You have my late condolences."

"Thank you," She gives him a small, polite smile.

"Please, please. Have a seat, make your self comfortable. It is your home after all."

She takes a seat opposite him, on the other side of the desk, almost like an interview, "I'd tell you to make yourself at home but, it seems you already have."

He chuckles, the sound makes her sick, "as much as I really do love talking with you, dear, I have come for a reason, I have come with a," he pauses, "proposition."

The teen stays silent, causing him to continue. "It's no surprise that the people of the Capitol have taken a liking to you, some more than others. You are a remarkable woman, Miss Miller. I have been getting many... requests for you. I would like to propose an idea. You, will come down to the Capitol when asked for, and... entertain one of my.. friends. In exchange for money, of course."

"Entertain how?" She knew how, she was just hoping she was wrong.

"Whatever they pay for. A date for the day, the evening, the night. You will, of course, stay in the finest hotel, all expenses paid. What do you say?"

"I have a feeling I don't actually have a choice."

"I did ask, didn't I?" He says with a sadistic smile.

"If I say no?"

He turns on the hologram recording next to him. It's a live camera, in her house. There are no cameras in her house, she knows this for a fact. From the angle, she assumes it's a camera on one of the peacekeepers' helmets. She feels sick at the sight. It's a live video of her brothers door, closed like she told him, two peacekeepers stand outside of it, guns ready to shoot on command, as one peacekeeper records. "You say no, your brothers suffer the consequence."

So this is what Finnick was talking about, she thinks.

"Do we have a deal? Or do they need to pay the price for your mistakes?"

"Okay," she manages to put on her strong face and answer, voice wavering unnoticeably, "we have a deal."

"Wise decision, Miss Miller," he smiles again, "I'll be in touch soon, after your tour, of course. No need to pack, you will be given whatever you need upon arrival. I have at least 4 customers as of this seconds, more coming in each day. How thrilling."

He leaves the house swiftly, followed by his arms of peacekeepers.

She tells her brothers they can come out and proceeds to tell them she has to go back to the Capitol tomorrow. She sent Kylo to the living room to watch tv. When Jake asked how long for, she replied that she wasn't sure but not to worry, she'd be safe.

Once he saw President Snow and his peacekeepers leave the Victors Village out of his window, Finnick rushed over, not bothering to knock. He passed Jacob and offered him a smile. Jacob smiled back, hoping that whatever Jessica was really going into the Capitol for, Finnick could help her with.

"Where is-"

He's cut off by a door closing upstairs. The two give each other an understanding nod as Finnick heads upstairs towards the closed door at the end of the hall.

He knocks softly on her door, "hey Princess, can I come in?" He waits for a response, "Jessie?" When nothing but silence follows, he goes in, closing the bedroom door behind him. He finds the room empty until he sees the bathroom door open. He walks over and leans against the doorframe, seeing her stood in front of the mirror drying her face from the water she had splashed it with.

"What did Snow want?" He knew what, but he hoped against it.

She didn't reply, just shaking her head slightly, instead rummaging around the cupboards looking for something. Finnick knew what she was doing. She was distracting herself so she wouldn't have to talk. Jessica was always strong. She always put on a strong face, held back her tears and kept her voice strong, never wavering.

"Hey," he walks into the bathroom and kneels on the floor next to her where she was sitting looking at the different bottles and containers. Lifting a bottle of conditioner, a tub of moisturiser, she inspected the labels, clenching her jaw to stop her chin and lower lip shaking, "hey, stop. Look at me."

He grabs her wrists gently pulling them out of the cupboard. He brings her hands closer, placing them in his lap. He brought a hand up to her chin, tilting her head to face him. What he sees makes his heart break. The tears in her sodalite blue ocean eyes making them look like the sea under the night sky of her black pupil. The way her usually strong face looked so broken.

He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his strong arms around her small figure as she let her tears silently fall, he used one arm to hold her against him, tightly enough to comfort her, as his other hand stroked her hair, his chin resting on her head.

He wanted nothing more than to tell her everything would be okay. That they'd figure it out. That Snow couldn't hurt her; that he was bluffing. But he couldn't. He couldn't tell her any of that. He couldn't say 'it'll be okay' because, as much as he hoped it would, he couldn't possibly know.

So instead, he sat and held her. No words were exchanged, they didn't have to be, the silence was more than okay.

After an hour, Finnick left Jessica to get ready for bed as he went downstairs and out to his house to get a pair of shorts to sleep in.

When he got back, he found the house quiet. Putting two and two together, he worked out her brothers had already gone to bed. He closed and locked the front door before heading upstairs straight to Jessica's room.

He went in, closing the door behind himself and found Jessica already in bed. He changed into his shorts in the bathroom before walking round the bed and climbing in next to her. It felt right. Her natural scent was stronger in her room, in her bed, with Jessica right next to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her closer. They both slept soundly that night. Nightmare free.

She woke with her head lay on Finnicks chest, his arm around her waist. She managed to wriggle her way out of his grasp before he woke and headed to the bathroom. Little did she know, Finnick was already awake and had been for the past 10 minutes. He hadn't wanted to get up yet, taking advantage of every second of time he got with her before she had to leave for Snow's... job.

When she came out of the bathroom to see Finnick waiting for her before leaving, he smiled at her, "it will be okay, trust me."

She nods, trusting him with her life.

He left the room but, before the door closes, she calls after him, "Finn," he smiles at the nickname before poking his head around the door nonchalantly, "thank you."

He sent her a genuine smile, "anytime."

AN: this might be the longest chapter I've ever wrote, 1400+ words, I LOVE it, I really love Finnick and Jessica.
It's like 11pm rn so I'm gonna go to bed, more updates tomorrow.