We Are Free ~Clato~ (3 Of 3)

Chapter 68: Cato

"What should we do?" Peeta asks once away from Coin's office. I shrug plainly and his eyes light up. "You wanna go sword-fight? I haven't lost my touch yet" he says jokingly. I nod and we walk in silence to the Training Facility.

"Okay Lover Boy, bring it on" I growl jokingly. We each heft a fake foam sword and circle each other slowly. He looks at me thoughtfully, most likely calculating his movements. I take this time to make a few quick advances, just to throw him off a little. He struggles to back up but eventually regains his balance.

I lunge at him and thrust my blade into his chest but he manages to parry at the last second. He pushes me back with the force of his parry and I can just barely stay on my feet. I try to think but sword-fighting is the only time I think to much. Ideas and plans fill my mind.

'What if Clove is pregnant? How are you going to father a kid, you're barely mature yourself' I shake the thoughts from my mind and try to focus "he's lunging a lot, tiring himself out, just wait and attack" I think to myself and nod.

Peeta continuously lunges and slashes but to no avail. I dodge and parry each attack until he's dripping sweat and I feel rejuvenated. I circle him slowly, trying to seem tired and lunge quickly. I slash at his leg, even with a foam sword it can hurt. He falls to his knees and I place the tip of my foam sword under his chin.

"Surrender, or die" I say jokingly. He shakes his head and I jab the foam sword into his neck. He fakes a gag as the sword bounces away and he laughs defiantly.

"That was fun" I say helping him up. I may not like him but he's still an ally. Clove my lover, Katniss is my friend but Peeta, for now, is just an ally. Being a Career, I was taught to think like this, minus the lover part. But what if Clove is really pregnant? I shake away the thought again and sigh.

"Should we go check on them?" I ask carefully and he shakes his head, with sadness? We sit across from each other and drink our waters quietly.

"So you and Clove are married?" Peeta says interrupting the silence. I nod proudly and we share a very brief laugh.

"Now we're both married. Speaking of which, how are you two doing, since you were brain-washed and all?" I ask cautiously, it could be a touchy subject. He looks around, as if someone's watching and smiles.

"We're good. I feel like I actually love her again" he says awkwardly "If and when the war is over, we're going to try for kids" he says excitedly.  He's being brave, I'll give him that. Trying for a kid right after a major and stressful war, brave, with a hint of stupid. I nod thoughtfully and stand up.

"We should get going" I say already heading down the hall. Peeta trails behind me and we arrive at Coin's office silently.

"Don't tell either one of them, anything" I hear Clove say through the door. I look at Peeta carefully and he shrugs. The door opens and we back up, so we don't look as eavesdropping-y. Clove smiles at me and hugs me tightly.

'Should I ask her?' I ask myself but I shake my head. Who knows what it could be, I don't want to push her even more. She was taken by the Capitol, forced into sex slavery, raped multiple times then rescued by 13. She was brain-washed into thinking I was evil, sent off for propos and kidnapped again. There she was almost raped again, but luckily not. If she wants to talk, she will, if not, then okay.

"I'm tired" Clove says faking a yawn. I smile and kiss her quickly. We walk off while Katniss and Peeta stay behind. We walk in sweet silence until we get to our room. I pull her sweetly onto our bed and hold her close.

"Are you okay?" I ask carefully and she tries for a smile. She snuggles into me but stays quiet. "You want to go eat?" I ask, trying to change the subject. She nods playfully and I lift her sweetly.

"Ow" she says quietly. She looks almost embarrassed and blushes "Sorry, girl problems" she says still blushing light red. I nod and set her down.

"If you promise to stay here and not let anyone in, I'll go get us an in-room meal" I say jokingly and she nods excitedly. I close the door behind me, and wait for the automatic click that means it's locked.

As I'm waiting for the cooks to bring me some to-go sloppy joes I start to think about Clove. Lady problems? If she were pregnant she wouldn't be able to tell yet, would she? She didn't lie about her anti-baby pills either, or did she?

"Here you go, I hope Clove gets better" the blonde cook says sweetly. She looks like if Glimmer survived and then aged 20 years. She has cascading blonde waves and bright green eyes, like Glimmer's. But she looks around 40, so definitely not Glimmer. I thank her quickly and walk to our room.

"Clove I brought-" I stop in my tracks and see Peeta with her, alone. I glare at him but manage to keep calm, well kind of. I walk as calmly as I can over to Clove and hold her close.

"What are you doing here?" I say in a low voice. Peeta smiles awkwardly and puts his hands up in defeat. He laughs lightly and Clove looks at him carefully.

"I was talking to Clove about re-proposing to Katniss" Peeta says, wait is he blushing? I nod, still bitterly and look down at Clove. She doesn't look hurt, afraid or like she's lying so I let it slide.

"Clove I brought you sloppy joes and some weird pink drink" I say, trying to ignore Peeta so he'll go away. It works and we sit on the bed to eat our gourmet weird stuff. I walk quickly to relieve myself and wash my hands with lemon soap.

"I love you" she says kissing me sweetly. She blushes and takes a sip of the strawberry soda drink. Once we're done, I pull Clove down with me and hold her close. I give her a few pecks on the cheeks and stop in front of her beautiful lips. She has such perfect, soft, pink lips. She has lips that men would kill for, which is why I feel the need to protect her. I can't let anyone take her from me, as territorial as that sounds.

"You want to talk about the plans to kill Snow" I say into her hair and she nods. She turns over to face me and smiles.

"I get to slit his throat then Katniss shoots him in the heart. He has the options to kill himself but we all know that won't happen" she adds jokingly. I smile at her and roll onto her. She squeal lightly and I kiss her sweetly, until she pulls away to breathe. I place my hands on her waist and pull her to me suddenly.

"Good night" I say even though it's probably only around 4 in the after-noon. Clove curls into me and lays her soft hands on my chest. I breathe in deeply and we fall asleep slowly, together, how it should always be.