The Heiress {Finnick Odair}

New Games and Old Memories

"So is this how you dress in Four?" Amara smirked as they walked into her apartment.

The two caused quite a stir when they walked from the Tribute Center to Amara's apartment. It seemed the Capitol wasn't ready to see the two in their getup walking down the street hand-in-hand.

She knew Caesar would have a field day with this, and part of Amara (a rather large part) hoped that it would be enough to cancel the games.

"Are you hoping I'll say yes?" Finnick smirked, and Amara took a step back to study him.

"I'm hoping that you'll say no simply so I won't have to send Adrien to beat up every woman who's ever seen you like this."

Neither of them mentioned that the only people who had seen him like this were here in the Capitol. Neither wanted to.

Finnick smirked and yanked her closer to him. His lips grazed her ear as he leaned down.

"Don't worry, I'm all yours," he said, mirroring her words from not long ago. Amara blushed at how close his bare chest was to her, but it was the small trinket hanging around his neck that caught her eye.

She reached up and touched the small rose necklace.

"You're wearing it," she said quietly. He stepped away from her and picked it up to look at it.

"I've worn it everyday for the last ten years," he admitted. The only time he ever took it off was before he went to a party and that was because he couldn't risk someone stealing it.

"I didn't think you would since your stylist is very picky," she said, and Finnick snorted.

"Reiner wouldn't dare," he said. "He knows how important it is to me."

She toyed with her own rose necklace.

"And now we're matching," she said. Finnick nodded briefly before leaning down to kiss her. She sighed against his lips, and in that moment, everything was perfect.

"Are you going to keep ogling me or can I change?" Finnick whispered against her mouth. "It's cold in here."

Amara giggled and shoved him toward the bathroom.

"Yes and please shower. I need to wash my hands from how much oil they lathered you with."

**

Finnick spent all his time in the training ring with Mags. He knew that the best way to support Katniss was to let her come to him. If he cornered her again like he did at the parade, he wasn't sure she could handle it. That, and Peeta might skin him alive.

The two spent a lot of time at the survival aspect. Today wasn't about making allies among themselves- it was about scoping out the newbies. Finnick already knew that he and Mags would be partnering with Ezra and Johanna. All they really had to do was convince District Twelve to join them.

So, Finnick kept his distance.

He spoke to her once to show her how to tie a noose, but that was it. In the end, it was Mags who won Katniss over. It seemed she was taken by Mags volunteering for Annie. Unfortunately, it seemed they would have their work cut out for them after Katniss agreed to teach Mags to shoot a bow.

When the Careers saw Katniss with the bow in hand, they were addicted. They wanted her.

In the end, Katniss refused to partner with anyone but Peeta.

"What are we going to do if she tries to kill us in that arena?" Ezra asked with a scoff.

"We can't kill her," Johanna said. "So we make ourselves indispensible."

"It's true," Finnick agreed. "She might not want allies right now, but as soon as those arrows are flying, she'll change her mind."

Ezra wasn't so sure.

Finnick spent all his time during the day with Mags training to stay alive long enough to be rescued. The two talked strategy after training sessions, and when Mags and Adrien were done for the night, he crept out of his living quarters to go see Amara.

The first time Penny saw him, she burst into tears. Now, her eyes got watery, but she managed to keep it together.

It didn't take long for routine to settle in. Amara would be ready with a steaming cup of tea, and the two would curl up in each other's arms. Sometimes he would read to her, sometimes she would sing for him, and sometimes they would talk about everything under the sun.

"Do you ever think it's strange that we've been friends for ten years and still find things to talk about that we haven't before?" Amara asked on the last evening before the Caesar Flickerman interviews.

"Considering how much time we don't spend together, yes."

"Tell me a truth," she said. It was a game the two started playing, and the two had only grown closer because of it. He tapped on his glass while he was thinking.

"I still have nightmares from what happened in the games," he said quietly. She looked over at him.

"After all this time?" she asked, and he nodded.

"It doesn't really leave you," he said. "It gets better, but it never leaves. It's why we're all so angry to be thrown back in. We were promised a life of peace and now we're forced to kill one another again."

"I'm sorry," she said because she knew it was all she could really say. Finnick looked like he was lost in a memory for a moment before he blinked it away.

"Tell me a truth," he said. Amara hummed as she thought.

"I haven't spoken to my parents in three years," she admitted. He looked over at her, surprised. They didn't talk about her parents often. She shrugged, but he could see the layer of tears brimming her eyes. "They spend all of their time with Snow or Celeste, and I can't be around either of them so I just stopped trying."

"Do you think that relationship will ever be repaired?" Finnick asked, and Amara just shrugged again.

"Not like this. I would need to fire Celeste and reveal how horrible she is, and Snow would need to be dead."

"Snow dying is the solution to your family problems?" he joked, but she nodded.

"The world can only be safe when Snow is dead," she said quietly.

"You didn't used to think that way," he pointed out.

"I didn't know you then," she said. "It wasn't until I really got to know you and the other victors that I realized how horrible it all was."

"I suppose if you never grew in the last decade, we would have bigger things to worry about," he said.

"Can you imagine dating fourteen-year-old me?"

"I did when I was fourteen," he said. "I knew you were going to be important to me very quickly."

"I don't think I could pinpoint the exact moment when I fell in love with you. I think it happened very slowly and then all it once. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. I was a goner for you."

"If you told that girl that went into the flower shop to buy a red rose and make a friend where we would be in ten years, do you think you would have believed her?"

Amara grinned up at Finnick. "Not a chance. I was determined to befriend you, and that was all I wanted," she kissed him. "And I'm so thrilled to be proven wrong."