When There Are 25- A Clato Story

The announcement

We break through the tree line and are heading towards the Cornucopia when loud explosions shake the earth beneath our feet. The explosion blows us off our feet and Cato moves to cover my body with his. When the explosions stop, we stand up to assess the damage.

Our entire supplies pile is blown to bits. We see a body that looks unconscious. Cato stomps towards the person, and if sensing him coming nearer, he starts to wake up. The boy stands up and I realize it's Thomas. He seems to realize Cato's anger is directed at him and he tries to make a run for it, but it's futile. Cato catches him and wraps his arms around his neck before twisting. A horrible crack fills the arena and Thomas's body falls to the ground. Cato's anger barely seems to decrease.

"Baby," I whisper, hesitantly coming closer. His face greatly softens at my voice. He visibly tries to calm down, seemingly noticing my hesitance.

"Shh, it's ok," I whisper soothingly, moving to lay my hands on his chest.

"No, it's not!" He roars. I jump back in fear and wrap my arms protectively around my stomach. "He may have ruined your chances of going home. I don't know how to hunt, I don't know how else to keep you and our baby alive," he says, his voice much softer now, almost cracking.

I walk towards him and move to hug him, when he steps away. I look at him, hurt, before he explains. "You were scared of me, Clo. You thought I'd hurt you, I saw you try to shield the baby. If the mother of my child can be so scared of me..." he whispers, trailing off.

I don't know what to say and just stand there. "I'm a monster," I hear Cato say softly, tears clear in his voice. I look up to see tears streaming silently down his face.

"Cato..." I start. "You're not a monster," I state.

"You ran away from me in the beginning of the games all because I was jealous. You thought I'd hurt you and our baby because someone blew up our supplies," he says. "I'm not fit to be a father," he whispers, brokenly.

"Cato, you will be an amazing father. You never got angry like this before the games. The games are just putting you on edge. Every time I got scared was because your sadness caused your rage. We just need to get out of here and everything will be better. I'm no stranger to violence, Cato, look at the home I grew up in. Two violent victors as my parents and training to be a killer. My parents are very dangerous people, but they're amazing parents. You're so similar to my father, he only gets angry when something threatens me or my mother. That is the type of father you will be, perfect and protective," I say, coming closer to him.

"He is extremely protective," Cato jokes, the tears having stopped. He turns to me and says, "I've been pushed into enough walls to know."

"Is that what those noises were?" I ask jokingly. "You like walls too though, Cato. More like you like punching holes in them."

Cato laughs and nods. "I love you, never forget that," he says, pulling me to his chest.

"I love you to the moon and back," I say with a teasing smile, knowing it will cheer him up a little bit.

"So cheesy," he laughs, shaking his head at me.

"Together or not at all, Darling," I say, reciting our saying.

"Together or not at all," he repeats, leaning his forehead against mine.

"Let's go back to the forest, our camp is toast," I say. He nods and we start trekking back the way we came.

We find a large tree and I motion for him to climb it. He gives me a look of doubt before climbing. I stand there on the ground, looking up at him. Let's hope he doesn't fall.

He makes it about 25 feet in the air before deciding he doesn't want to go any further. I scramble up after him and sit on the same firm branch as him. He hangs his legs off of the branch and I sit facing him with my legs hanging off too.

"I think we're going to fall," I say, looking down nervously.

"Maybe," he agrees, before he gets an idea. He pulls out some rope and ties himself to the tree. He then motions for me to come closer, and I do. He wraps his arms around my waist to keep me steady. "Better?" He asks.

"Much, just don't let me fall," I say, not really worried.

"Never," he says with a smile, pulling me closer to him and kissing my head.

"Attention, tributes," A voice starts. "The rules have been changed so that 2 victors may be crowned if they originate from the same district. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor."

I turn to Cato and he is already leaning down towards me. His lips crash against mine as he carefully picks me up and brings his legs back onto the branch. He sets me back down in his lap and continues to kiss me. I tangle my fingers in his sandy blonde hair and he tangled his in my almost black hair.

I slide even closer to him and lean an arm against the tree as I keep one hand in his hair. He moves one hand down to touch my stomach which makes me smile against his lips. His hand keeps wandering, to my chest, down my legs, up my back, and finally to my butt. I squeal against his lips as he rests a hand on my butt. He smirks into the kiss and I decided to get him back. I rip open his jacket and put my hand under his shirt. I trace his abs with my fingers and he moans against my lips. I pull my hand out from under his shirt to trace the muscles in his arms. I squeeze his bicep and in response he squeezes my butt. I pull away from him to glare at him before smashing my lips back to his. He moves his hands back to my waist and holds me as close to him as possible with my baby bump in between us. I gasp suddenly and pull away.

"What's wrong?" Cato says worriedly.

In response, I lift my shirt a little and take his hand. I place his hand on my bare stomach and he looks confused for a moment before my stomach moves very noticeably. It's the first time the baby, or babies, as Cato likes to think have moved. Sure, I've felt little kicks, but never full moving, almost like rolling around. Cato's face lights up and he grins at me like a child.

"Oh my god, Clove," he says in amazement, his eyes glued to my bare stomach.

"I know, I know. It feels so weird," I giggle, loving the feeling of my baby moving.

"It's so obvious now that you're pregnant, I'm sorry for not picking up on it. I should have noticed," he says sadly.

"Hey, we talked about this. I hid it from you, if anyone's at fault here, it's me. I went out of my way to hide it, bigger shirts, wearing a ton of bulky sweatshirts, changing in the bathroom, leaving lights off, when we would..." I say, trailing off. I don't want my parents hearing this.

"I'm sorry, Clo. I'm sorry it didn't feel like you could tell me," Cato whispers guiltily, refusing to meet my eyes.

"It's ok, babe," I say in an attempt to assure him. "Everything's ok." He looks up at me, finally allowing his eyes to lock with mine. "I'm tired," I say, in an attempt to distract him from his guilt.

He nods and gets out another rope and ties it around my waist and around the trunk of the tree and around me again, he ties it tightly, so I am tied against his chest, not that I mind. He wraps his arms around me and I rest my hands on my stomach before letting sleep take me.