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The occurrences of his last moments in the arena were still jumbled thoughts when Peeta first woke up. Instead of that garish pink sky, he found himself staring up at the ceiling of a strange room, in a strange bed, yet the only thing he could think of was where Katniss was. It was still painful to move but he ignored the dull ache in his chest and, well, entire body. By now, he was used to it.

He had not been allowed to see her for the first few days, constantly kept in bed and shut in whenever he tried. No information. No explanations. All he was told was she was alive and they were in District 13, of all places... something he was still trying to comprehend.

It took a few days for him to finally escape from the room he was sure would slowly turn him insane if he stayed there a moment longer. Down the hall, wandering aimlessly with no real direction, until he found the room that belonged to Katniss, a number heard in hushed whispers when he pretended to be asleep.

He knocked at first out of instinct, hand going for the doorknob he wasn't entirely positive would be unlocked.

This was it.

She tensed to fight, looking for something, anything to defend herself.

...before realizing how ridiculous it would be for an attacker to knock. She was safe here. Safe enough. Pushing herself up she opened her mouth to call them in. Only a croak came out at the first try, and she grabbed a glass of water, taking a drink, before trying again.

"Come in."

The door pushed open far too easily and he had a second to marvel in the lack of security over someone he had been kept away from so strictly... before he saw her.

They weren't lying then... she really was alive.

Startled confusion was replaced by relief (despite the nagging wariness within) and he closed the door behind him, a warm smile and sigh following. "Katniss..."

He still had no idea what they were doing here or why, but none of that seemed as important in this very moment as making sure she was okay.

Seeing him had an instant effect on her.

It didn't really matter where they were or how. Peeta was here. They weren't telling her a story to keep her calm, he was here and in one piece. Pushing back the blankets, she struggled out of the bed and stumbled across the cold tile floor to him.

It was the first time she'd gotten up out of the bed and her body wasn't happy with her, but luckily she reached Peeta before the room started to spin too much.

"Whoa-" He stepped forward immediately, meeting her halfway as his arms instantly wrapped around her, both to steady and to hug at once. He was just as glad to see her alive and well- well... well enough to get up and move, at least. He wouldn't let go, not now.

He hoped - no, knew... Katniss was probably just as out of the loop as he was about their current situation but he could not say as much for anyone else. Even though they were safe, what about the others? What happened in the arena? Was there no victor? No, maybe there was never going to be one at all.

"Katniss..." he repeated, still not letting go. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

Her head injury did not like the sudden vertical position, and she pressed her face against Peeta's shoulder until the queasy feeling faded away.

"I'm...yeah pretty much." She said softly, into the material of the hospital gown. "Johanna got me in the side of the head and cut up my arm..." She held up the bandaged arm for him, before leaning back to look him over. "What about you? Are you ok?"

He frowned at that information, trying to formulate a logical explanation but all that did was cause his head to pound even worse.

Yet he didn't falter in another smile to cover his own pain, his arms sliding down but still not letting go completely, almost afraid to. "I feel a bit weak but nothing that I can't handle. I'm pretty sure we've been in here longer than we think..."

"Yeah. I know they're not telling us everything." And what she had been told had infuriated her.

Which may be why they had stopped telling her things. Which had only served to piss her off more.

She leaned against him again, listening to his heart beat, just holding him tightly. Letting herself adjust to the fact that he was here, real and solid.

But they were alive and for now, he was just glad for that. It didn't stop Peeta from wondering about the others though, if they were here as well or even well enough to be walking around like they were. The lack of information was beyond frustrating and unfair. What right did they have?

As Katniss leaned in, his arms only tightened around her again, cheek pressed against her temple. "Maybe we should sit down for now. You were kinda... wobbly there."

She nodded, letting herself return to the moment. "Let's..."

The moment where she was wearing not a whole lot. And neither was Peeta, she was willing to bet by the long bare legs sticking out from under his hospital gown. She flushed, knotting her hands in his gown and walking awkwardly backward toward the bed. She had panties under her gown but...she didn't want to risk him not having underwear.

"Here, sit."

Hospital gowns were really awkward, weren't they?

He followed her until able to sit on the edge of her bed, propping himself up until his legs were dangling, body turned toward her. The frail, slow movements were worrying him.

"They wouldn't let me see you but I don't understand why," he spoke with a frown. "You shouldn't be... isolated." He didn't enjoy it himself either but he was trying not to show it, needing to be... strong.

She didn't think she should be isolated either.

But then again, the people she wanted to see were in this room. She still wasn't please Haymitch had used them as his pawns. And no one else, even those who should have, had stayed longer then a fleeting moment. It had been building up bitterness in Katniss, the way they whispered, the things they weren't telling her. She reached out, finding his hand on the bed.

"I would say we should compare notes but..." She didn't really have any notes.

"I think they'd be pretty similar," he spoke with a smile though there was a hint of his own bitterness there.

His hand didn't let go of hers and as he tried to get through the lingering fuzziness of his memories, he leaned just slightly against her. "I haven't seen any of the others yet... We might be the only ones here." Though he truly hoped that wasn't true. It wasn't fair to sacrifice the others just for their sake. Even he shouldn't be here right now, should he?

"I've seen Haymitch. And Prim." She had a feeling the brief glimpse of the latter was just to keep her from breaking out of here, hospital gown and all. Not that she had a feeling she'd get very far, but someone knew she would try if she didn't know Prim was alright.

Someone who was probably the former. Damn him.

"Then your mother is probably here as well." With a sigh, Peeta closed his eyes, brows furrowed as he tried to think. He wondered if his own parents were here for whatever reason, still unaware of the news from outside. Why were they in 13 in the first place? Was it too dangerous to return home?

A moment later however he was looking at Katniss and smiling lightly again. "We'll get out of here soon, I'm sure of it. We're not prisoners after all." Or at least he hoped they weren't. Katniss and he were as clueless as could come about the situation. Or maybe he was putting too much faith in others right now.

"Yeah, I hope not." She wasn't entirely sure about that. Still, if Peeta had gotten in here, they weren't under heavy guard.

Or they wanted to let them talk to each other.

"We're under ground. Can you feel it?"

He nods slowly. "I don't like it. It feels like... the air's too stale or something."

Neither of them were used to living so deep underground and both were fortunate (or unfortunate?) enough not to have to work in the mines. "I can't imagine how these people have had to live like this for so long."

But at least we're still alive.

She nodded. Really, she didn't know if she could live underground. Everything about it makes her want to turn the other way and get out.

Instead she wraps her fingers around Peeta's and leans against him.

"We could just try our luck?"

He smiles at the feeling of her fingers intertwining with his, holding on with a slight squeeze of his own. "It's worked for us so far."

"Actually, I think luck has been pretty again us so far."

Reaped, twice. Their lives plotted out by Snow. And now caught in a rebellion.

And probably lucky if this was the most they had to do with it. She didn't really disagree with Gale about the government around them. But to actually be the one to change things? She just wanted to get by.

"I was thinking more that... we're still alive, despite being tributes twice. I count that as pretty damn lucky." Though he could really only thank Katniss for his own life at the moment. Without her during their first Games, he would have definitely died. Everyone knew that.

She pressed her lips together. That was actually...a fairly good point.

"I guess you're right." Leave it to Peeta to find a positive spin on all this. An, arguably, fairly big one. Her hand clenched around his, suddenly to tight, as her brain decided to dance close to the 'what if...' edge. What if they hadn't both made it out? This time or the first?

"We have...each other."

His other hand came to rest onto hers that was clasping so tight, knowing... understanding what was going through her head right now. After all was said and done, there were still the consequences to face out there, above ground. He would make sure she wouldn't ever have to face them alone.

"We will get through all of this. Together. I promise."

Tucking her feet up under her, she let her head lean on his shoulder.

Her brain was still a mess. But for the first time she started to put together pieces, trying to figure things out. Feel them out, get a hold of them. She started listing what they knew out loud so she didn't get tangled up in it.

"Haymitch is here. They stole us out of the arena. And my mother and Prim are here. So they got them out of 13. This all had to happen live on television.

He listens quietly as Katniss lists off the facts - at least, what they've been allowed to know so far. There were deeper questions underlying this situation though that they had to find out as soon as possible, and most of them in his head began with Why...

"Thirteen exists," he added, which was still a shocking realization to himself. "We need to find out more. Maybe if we can find Haymitch?" Surely he wouldn't leave them in the dark forever.

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Peeta's ttly rocking panties under his gown, isn't he?

oh yes, hot pink and everything

Hot, dude.

all for you bb

Re: all for you bb

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If only you knew the other option Katniss.

Yay for AUs ;;

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