Always

New Friends (Revised)

A.N. Must read the A.N at the end of the chapter. Really big news!

"He's the one that tried to save me, isn't he?" Peeta asks me once we are settled into bed. I nod my head and let a single tear slide down my face. I turn to face him and his face has a defeated look. "I wish I could remember. I can remember the beginning, the feeling of the whip hitting me, but then every thing went black. I woke back up when I heard you screaming stop." He tells me and his eyes gloss over.

"It isn't your fault." I tell him. "None of this is your fault." He shakes his head.

"What is his name?" He asks me and I stare at him. I sigh and look away. "Katniss, I need to know." He tells me with a pleading tone in his voice.

"Darius, his name is Darius." He nods his head. "From what I've heard, he tried to step in about twenty lashes into  the whipping. But Thread wasn't done with you yet, so he knocked Darius out and that was the last we ever saw of him." I finish and turn my face to his.

"Thank you." He tells me.

"For what? I didn't do anything." He shakes his head and smiles.

"You saved me." He kisses my head and pulls me against him, bidding me goodnight.

Despite Peeta's attempt at making the night appealing, my nightmares still haunt me. Mutilated tongues. Darius's screams that slowly turn into the sound of an infant. Blood dripping from President Snow's puffy lips. Luckily Peeta wakes me up from the nightmares and tries to help me back to sleep. After an hour of lying in bed, I try to slip out of his arms without waking him up.

This would be a challenging task anytime, but apparently his senses are on high alert now that we're in the Capitol and that I'm pregnant. When we first found out about the baby, all I had to do was get up to pee and he would have jolted awake, ready to defend me. My foot has just barely brushed the ground, when I hear a sleepy voice.

"You should be asleep," Peeta murmurs, half-awake.

"I can't," I tell him. "I'm just going to walk around, maybe find something to eat." Hopefully chocolate, that tends to be my favorite.

"No,"Peeta shakes his head slightly, still half-asleep. He grabs my wrist and pulls me back into the bed. He throws his arm around my waist, trapping me against him. "I'm not letting you go," he mumbles, and I can't help but smile a little. "I can't lose you."

His statement tells me he means more than just leaving the bed.

"Why not?" I ask, unable to help myself.

"Because I love you." Peeta holds me even closer. I doubt he's been completely awake during our entire exchange.

I place my head on his chest and listen to him snore, while I watch the time pass by. I don't try to leave again, instead I snuggle deeper against him. Showing him I don't intend on ever leaving.

Breakfast the next morning is full of strategy talk and wild ideas. Haymitch says we have to make allies and new friends. But that's the last thing I plan on doing. When the time for training comes, Effie walks us to the elevator and pushes the button for the floor. Anyone can tell that she's upset she can't walk with us, but she sighs anyways and waves goodbye.

While last year we were the last to arrive, this year we're one of the firsts. Only Brutus and Enobaria are here. Something about Enobaria turns me the wrong way. This really shouldn't surprise me, considering that during Enobaria's games, she ripped out her opponent's neck with her teeth. She became so known for tearing people's necks apart with her teeth, that when she won the games she had them altered. Each tooth ends in a sharp point with a gold cap coming down like a razor. Blame it on the hormones, but I decide to stay a good distance away from her.