Puzzle Pieces • Finnick Odair

C H A P T E R 7 3

As the sky went dark, the squad settled to rest.

Peeta was sound asleep with his cuffs restricting any hand movement, Katniss was opposite him watching carefully, Finnick lay with Jessica, who was in a sitting position, near the pair of star crossed lovers, Leah was curled up fast asleep at the end of the bench and the rest spread out throughout the ground floor of the building.

Jessica was on watch so she awake. Finnick, on the other hand, was in and out of consciousness. He was mostly asleep but found himself waking every now and then, looking up at Jessica to check she was okay. They sat on a long bench, leaning against a wall. Finnick was sprawled along the bench, lay flat, with his head in his wife's lap as she stroked her fingers through his blonde hair, her gaze switching between Katniss, Peeta and him.

She felt his head lift and look up at her as he stirred out of sleep again, "go back to sleep, Finn, I'm okay," she reassured him with a gentle kiss to his forehead. He rested his head down, signing, as he shifted his weight slightly to get comfortable again.

"We've been here before, you know," Peeta spoke to Katniss out of nowhere.

"What?" She asked in a surprisingly soft tone.

"That look," he nodded his head at her, "I've seen that look." He sat up. "You're trying to decide whether or not you should kill me."

"I never wanted to kill you," Katniss replies.

Jessica's posture straightened slightly, enough to be prepared to get up and calm Peeta down quickly but not enough to wake Finnick.

"And that's not what I'm doing," Katniss continued, looking away.

"I saw it with my own eyes in the first games," Peeta explains, on edge.

"In the first games, I thought you were trying to help the Careers kill me," Katniss defends herself. "After that, I always saw you as an ally."

"Friend, lover, Victor, fiancée, enemy, target, mutt, and now, ally?" Peeta's voice raised slightly. "Yeah, I'll add that to the list of words I use to try figure you out."

As the volume of his voice heightened slightly, Finnick lifted his head right before he was about to fall asleep. Katniss felt her nerves rise though they quickly went away as Jessica spoke in a soft yet warning tone, "Peeta, breathe."

He takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry," Peeta apologies to Katniss, "I just can't tell what's real and what's made up anymore."

"Then ask," Finnick says in his sleepy morning voice.

"Just like we used to, Peeta," Jessica adds with an encouraging smile.

"Ask who?" Peeta replies.

"Us," Lieutenant Jackson sits up, "we're your unit now."

"And your friends," Jessica says making Peeta look at her, "always," she reassures him.

There's a moment of silence as they let Peeta think. Finnick absentmindedly takes Jessica's hand, placing it in his lap, and tracing circles on it. He didn't have a rope and usually he'd plait Jessica's hair when anxious but it was already in a tight braid and it wouldn't be very convenient for her to get in a fight with her hair blocking her view.

"Your favourite colour is green," Peeta says, somewhere between a statement and a question. "Is that real?"

"Yeah, that's real," Katniss answers in a quiet voice. "Yours is orange, like that mantra Jess tells you," she sees the realisation in his eyes and smiles gratefully at Jessica. "Not bright orange. Soft, like the sunset."

Peeta thanks her.

"You're a painter and a baker, they're also in the mantra," she pauses, thinking of some that aren't in the mantra. "You always sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. You always double knot your shoelaces. You were right." Katniss stands, taking her bow with her, "I can't do this," she goes to sit with Gale.

"Try get some more sleep, Peetabread," Jessica smiles, earning one in return. Though it was a weak smile, it was still a smile. The purple bruises had vanished from under his eyes. He looked noticeably better.

Jessica sits back again, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. Finnick went back to his previous position, laying his head in her lap, still holding her hand in his, tracing her wedding/engagement ring gently with his finger. She smiled to herself as she watched him, looking between her blue and silver infinity ring and his blue and silver wave ring.

AN: cute little chapter w Jess and Finn