Mockingjay - Peeta Mellark (3)

}11{ - Fresh Roses

He sat under the safety light in his space, knotting his rope, not even pretending to rest.

As Livia whispered her discovery of Snow's plan to break her, it dawned on her.

This strategy was very old news to Finnick.

It was what broke him.

"I'm sorry. That I didn't warn you somehow." he told her.

Suddenly, a memory surfaced.

She strapped to her bed, mad with rage and grief after the rescue.

Finnick was trying to console her about Peeta.

"They'll figure out he doesn't know anything pretty fast. And they won't kill him if they think they can use him against you."

"You did warn me, though. On the hovercraft. Only when you said they'd use Peeta against me, I thought you meant like bait. To lure me into the Capitol somehow." Livia said.

"I shouldn't have said even that. It was too late for it to be of any help to you. Since I hadn't warned you before the Quarter Quell, I should've shut up about how Snow operates", Finnick yanked on the end of his rope, and an intricate knot became a straight line again, "It's just that I didn't understand when I met you. After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act. We all expected you'd continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta hit the force field and nearly died that I-"

Finnick hesitated.

Livia thought back to the arena.

How she sobbed when Finnick revived Peeta.

The quizzical look on Finnick's face.

The way he excused her behavior, blaming it on the- very theoretical at the time- pregnancy, "That you what?"

"That I knew I'd misjudged you. That you do love him- anyone paying attention could see how much you care about him." He said gently.

Anyone?

On Snow's visit before the Victory Tour, he challenged her to erase any doubts of her love for Peeta.

"Convince me."

It seemed, under that hot pink sky with Peeta's life in limbo, she finally did.

And in doing so, she gave him the weapon he needed to break her.

Finnick and Livia sat for a long time in silence, watching the knots bloom and vanish, before she could ask, "How do you bear it?"

Finnick looked at her in disbelief.

"I don't, Livia! Obviously, I don't. I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking", But something in Livia's expression stopped him, "Better not to give in to it. It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart."

Well, he must know.

Livia took a deep breath, forcing herself back into one piece.