Tortured but Together (A Hunger Games Fanfiction) [UNDER EDITING]

Chapter Twenty-Three

A/N: Usual PSA that the Hunger Games characters belong to Suzanne Collins and not to me. With that out of the way, enjoy!

(Peeta POV)
I hate being locked out of Katniss' room, especially when I can hear her screaming for me. Then, she suddenly goes quiet, and that's when I get truly nervous. Just as I'm about to open the door, I hear someone clear their throat right in front of me.

"Mr. Mellark, I thought I told you to keep Miss Everdeen under control," he says in a dangerously soft voice.

"I'm trying to help her stay calm. It's clear that she's exhausted, if we could just postpone the first session till tomorrow then things would go much better." Then, a little bit quieter, I add "I hate having to lie to her for you, it makes me feel like I'm betraying her, but I feel even worse if I'm not even there at all. The fact is, I can't help her if I'm not with her, it doesn't work like that."

"Mr. Mellark, this is my show, and you play by my rules. You do remember that much, correct?"

I nod. He doesn't mean that as a question, he means it as a warning. "I just...I don't want to see her get hurt again. And I'm just...I'm concerned that if I'm not there then she won't have anyone who she's willing to talk to about anything. What if she has a nightmare? What if she calls out for me and I'm not there?" I say all of this as calmly as I can, but my voice cracks a little, I can't stand the thought of something bad happening to Katniss, I can't stand the thought of losing her again.

"You surprise me sometimes Mr. Mellark, and that isn't a common thing. I'm not often surprised. However your devotion to your dear Miss Everdeen makes for quite a touching story. So, with that said, I'll give you another chance. She has a week before she has to be ready to do a television interview with Flickerman, see that she's ready for it." With that, he turns around sharply and walks out.

Once he's out of sight, I gently unlock and open the door to Katniss' room. When I walk in, what I see disturbs me. Katniss is pinned down on the hospital bed with an oxygen mask on, and more than 20 tubes and IV's pumping different things into her body.

One of the doctors is standing near the door, and I decide to approach her first. When I've walked over, I can see that it's Chantelle. She is not making a good impression on me; I glare at her. "What exactly are you doing to Katniss? She's restrained, and it looks like your Capitol doctors are using her as some sort of lab rat. This doesn't look like treatment to me, it looks like exploitation." I would be shouting, but I don't want to wake up Katniss and cause her to start panicking.

"We're doing our examinations, and we're actually quite busy, so if you could step out until we tell you that you can come back in, that would be much appreciated."

"I'm not going anywhere," I say coldly. "You're going to take out those tubes, you're going to undo those restraints, and you're not going to interfere with Katniss and I spending time together."

"And why would we do that, Mr. Mellark?"

"Because otherwise, I will raise hell. But if you stop your little experiments now, if you release those restraints and never use them again, and if you stop trying to interfere with the two of us spending time together then I won't say a word. And this whole thing stays between us." I meet her stare, unwilling to break it, I will not let her intimidate me.

She sighs. "The man is right, ladies and gentlemen," she says, gesturing to the doctors by Katniss' bedside. "It'll be easier to make sure that Katniss falls into line if we have Peeta on our side."

In response, the doctors pull out all the tubes and IV's except one. When I stare at them, they just tell me it's a painkiller. At this point, I decide not to push the issue, better not push my luck any farther than I already have.

The restraints release from Katniss' wrists, and after a couple of minutes, she starts to wake up. The second I see her eyes open, I'm walking over to her bedside. "Hey Katniss, how are you feeling," I ask gently.

"My head hurts a lot but otherwise I think I'm ok. Although I am a little confused, could you tell me what's happening again, Peeta?"

I nod, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Well, right now we're in the Capitol. You hurt your head earlier today and so they had to give you surgery, that's probably why your head hurts, and it's definitely why it's bandaged up. I'm here, I'll look out for you until you're back on your feet."

She gives me a small grin, but I can still tell that she's in a decent amount of pain. "But it's not like my legs or feet are broken, I can stand just fine." Attempting to prove this, she gets up out of her bed and stands, but almost the moment she's fully standing up, she starts to fall over. I quickly grab onto her and help ease her back into her hospital bed. At that point, she starts crying. "I hate being weak...I feel like I'm useless now...I can't even stand on my own..."

Sliding into her hospital bed next to her, I scoot over until I'm right up against her. Our sides are touching, and while we sit there, she ends up being quiet for several minutes. After a while though, she decides to break the uncomfortable silence. "You love me, right? I'm not remembering that wrong?"

"You're not remembering it wrong Kat, I do love you. I love you more than anything or anyone else in the whole world," I say softly, wrapping my arm around her. "You're everything to me," I say smiling, and I'm unable to stop a small tear from slipping out. Katniss really is still in there, the real Katniss; now I just have to help her remember, without President Snow catching on. Unable to stop it from happening, a few more tears slip out.

"It's alright to cry, Peeta. I cry sometimes too. Like when I have nightmares of losing my mom or Prim or you. But you know what I do to help myself feel better? I sing a little lullaby that my father taught me when I was young."

Lullaby? Is this the song about the meadow? She told me that she sang it to her friend Rue to make her death less scary. But I suppose that that's the point of that lullaby, to help comfort people who are truly in distress.

As I'm thinking this, she starts to sing, and yet again I'm surprised by just how beautiful and sweet her voice is. I could listen to her sing for hours, days even, and I would never get tired of it. She makes it so that I can settle my head in her lap and so that's what I do. And while she plays with my hair absentmindedly, she sings to me.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow.
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow.
Lay down your head, and close your eyes.
And when they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, and here it's warm.
Here the daisies guard you from every harm.
Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true.
Here is the place where I love you.

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away.
A cloak of green, a moon beam ray.
Forget your woes, and let your troubles lay.
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.

Here it's safe, and here it's warm.
Here the daisies guard you from every harm.
Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true.
Here is the place where I love you."

She finishes up the song, and I'm almost sad to hear her stop singing. She once told me that when she sang, the birds were quiet, and I believe that now more than ever. "You remember the lullaby," I whisper softly.

She nods, a thoughtful look passing over her face for a brief moment. "It's an important song, because every word of it is true. One day we'll find our meadow Peeta, I just know it. Now come on and get some sleep, you're safe here with me." I feel bad that she's the one comforting me, since she is the one that's injured after all, but at this point I'm so tired from lack of sleep that I don't have it in me to argue. Just a few minutes later, I'm asleep, and this time, the nightmares don't haunt me like they usually do.

P.S. I wanted to use that song because I felt like it went with the mood, however it is not my original song, it belongs to Suzanne Collins and the Hunger Games franchise. Also, I'm curious to see what you guys think of the story so far! Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments, I love hearing opinions from my readers!! That being said, bye until next chapter!!