The Hunger Games: Heirs

Chapter Five

Katniss is lying in bed with her head on Peeta's chest while he strokes her hair. She holds his hand in both of hers. Pretending to forgive someone is a difficult goal, especially when they are as good-hearted as Peeta. Fortunately, Katniss has the sense to go through with it, when Peeta suddenly enters a flashback from when he was hijacked.

Peeta reaches over to grab something, anything, to keep him from enduring the horrifying memories he is sure will follow. His hand catches on the crystal vase beside their bed. With the importance of not hurting Katniss or his children proving an excellent motivation, he shatters the vase by bringing it down hard on his forehead. Katniss wakes to the sound and he tells her to run, to protect the kids. She doesn't understand the sight of him digging his fingers into the shards of what was once the ornate vase, covered in water, and flowers strewn about him, at least, not until his eyes change color, his face puts on a look of extreme hatred, and he reaches for her throat.

Katniss gasps when she realizes of Peeta's flashback, then jumps out of what would have been a chokehold had her reaction been a half second later. Sprinting to the door, she pulls it shut quietly but quickly, and presses the button to lock her and Peeta inside the room. Katniss looks over at him in a sense of alarm. He is struggling to hold on to reality, his face mashed into the pillow. After the longest seven minutes of Katniss' life, he lets out a deep breath and rolls onto his back. Katniss lets out a small shriek when she sees how covered in blood his face is, thinking he did this with his own fingernails, like Katniss did to Haymitch after the Quarter Quell, until she sees the shards of vase on his pillow, now red with Peeta's blood. She pulls him out of bed and into a long hug, refusing to let go until the question dawns on her:

"Do you remember when the last time you...went... mutt was?" Peeta replies instantly, not knowing how much his response will disintegrate her relief.

"Oh, that's easy. It was five years ago, the last time Gale called you."