The Heiress {Finnick Odair}

Peeta's Push

Amara removed her hand from Peeta's shoulder when she realized the camera would shine on them in a few moments. Peeta tensed up slightly, but Caesar didn't seem to notice.

"There has been rampant speculation about what really happened in the Quarter Quell. Here to shed a little light on the subject for us, is the very special guest. please welcome Mr. Peeta Mellark."

The secondary camera was focused on them. The first thing she noticed was that with the lighting and makeup, no one on the other side of the camera would be able to tell how poorly he was doing.

"Peeta, a lot of people feel as though they are in the dark," Caesar continued.

"Yeah, I know how they feel."

"Now set the stage for us: talk us through what really happened on that final and controversial night."

"Well first off, you have to understand that when you're in the games, you only get one wish, and it's very costly."

"It costs you your life," Caesar assumed, but Peeta was already shaking his head.

"I think it costs more than your life," he insisted. Caesar looked surprised at that.

"How do you mean? What's more than your life?"

"Well I mean to murder innocent people... that costs everything that you are, so you hold onto that one wish, and that night, my wish was to save Katniss. You know, I should have just run off with her earlier in the day like she wanted."

"But you didn't," Caesar interjected. "Why? Were you caught up in Beetee's plan?"

Peeta sighed like he was exasperated from the question alone. He sighed like it was a question he'd been forced to answer too many times.

"No, I was caught up trying to play allies, and then they separated us, and that's when I lost her. And then the lightning hit, and the whole force field around the arena just blew out."

"Yes, but Peeta, Katniss is the one who blew it out."

"No," Peeta denied instantly.

"You saw the footage," Caesar tried to say, but Peeta was having none of it.

"No, she didn't know what she was doing. Neither of us knew there was a bigger plan going on. We had no idea," he seemed to get angry at just the accusation. He leaned forward in his chair, and Amara put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He instantly relaxed at her touch.

"You had no idea?"

"No," Peeta said, but he was much calmer that time.

"Well, Peeta, there are many who find this suspicious to say the least. It seems as though she was part of a rebel plan." Caesar raised his hands in the air like he was not the one accusing her of this, but simply sharing the information.

Amara felt him tense up again.

"What, do you think it was part of her plan to be almost killed by Johanna? Or part of the plan to be paralyzed by lightning? No, we were not part of any rebel plan. We had no idea what was going on."

Amara began rubbing his shoulder with her thumb, and Peeta grabbed her hand, and squeezed it once when the camera panned back to Caesar. A silent thank you.

"Alright," Caesar said, his hands outstretched like Peeta might attack him. "I believe you, Peeta Mellark. Thank you. I was going to ask you to speak about the unrest, but...I think you might be too upset."

When Peeta insisted he wasn't, Amara felt slightly nauseous. She removed her hand as he adjusted himself to lean forward. He looked right into the center of the camera, as if he were talking to the rebels themselves.