Prompt: AU where Finnick is a therapist and Annie is his patient, and they fall in love.

Finnick scrunched up a useless memo he had received that morning, reminding everyone that pre-opened bottles and cans were not to be left in the staff room fridge due to health and safety guidelines, and threw it in the bin, while making a mental note to retrieve his half-empty bottle of cola from the fridge at lunchtime. He checked his inbox – no new emails apart from the fourth one from Dr Maria Thomson that week (it was only Wednesday) inviting him out to dinner on Friday night after they had both finished work. Screwing up his face as though there was an unpleasant smell in the room, he swiftly clicked 'delete'. He couldn't deny that Dr Thomson was a nice woman, and perhaps he'd consider going out for dinner with her, if only she wasn't so desperate, and he didn't already have feelings for someone else.

He opened his diary to see when his next appointment was. He'd had a fairly quiet morning, with only an hour's session with old Mrs Crotchet as soon as he'd arrived at work. The authorities had heard word that she was keeping thirty three cats hauled up all day and night in her little cottage, and they had informed animal protective services who had been round to collect the cats and take them to a shelter a fortnight ago. Old Mrs Crotchet was devastated. She kept referring to the cats as her babies, and often cried to Finnick that she didn't know what she'd do now that they had been taken away from her. While feeling some degree of sympathy towards the lonely old woman, Finnick couldn't wait to see the back of her.

His next session was due to start in five minutes. It was with Annie Cresta, a girl only a couple of years younger than him, who had recently witnessed a brutal stabbing and was suffering from a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Finnick's heartbeat quickened. This always happened before a session with Annie. Whether it was the image of the horrific attack she had seen that caused the tightening in his chest, or the fact that he could no longer pretend to himself that he didn't feel something he shouldn't for Annie, he couldn't tell. Perhaps it was a bit of both. The phone on his desk started ringing. He cleared his throat and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Dr Odair, your 11 o'clock appointment is here."

"Send her in, Kate."

"Yes, sir."

He hung up the phone and exhaled sharply. He retrieved Annie's file that was significantly thicker than any of the others in his cabinet, picked up a pen and made his way over to the two plush black leather armchairs by the glistening floor-to-ceiling windows. Separating the armchairs was a small mahogany coffee table, and on the coffee table lay a small potted plant and a box of tissues. There was a knock on the office door.

"Come in." Finnick called.

The door slowly opened and Annie entered the room hesitantly with a shy expression on her pale face.

"Come in, Annie." Finnick smiled, beckoning her over to the armchair opposite him.

Annie made her way across the room. Her long red hair cascaded down in beautiful curls to her waist. She was wearing a sea green dress and dainty flat shoes the same colour of green. Finnick began to feel very warm under his suit jacket. He had to loosen his tie to allow the cool air into his lungs. Annie sat down on the chair across from Finnick. Finnick leaned over to shake her hand. He cursed himself inside his head and gritted his teeth after realising that his palm was sweaty. Annie didn't react, though. Such a lovely girl, he thought.

"Nice to see you again, Annie."

"You too, Dr Odair."

"How have you been feeling since our last session?"

Finnick positioned the pen in his hand, ready to take notes on what Annie was saying.

"Okay, I guess..." Annie started off in a weak, quiet voice while playing with her hands. "My family are very overbearing. They want to make sure I'm okay and they keep asking me if I want to go out and do something and they're always pestering me to eat and reminding me that it's fine to feel upset. But... I just want them to leave me alone."

Finnick scribbled down what Annie had just said in shorthand.

"What about your friends?" he asked.

"They don't really know how to act around me. I've hardly heard from any of them since... since it happened. My family care too much and my friends don't care enough."

"Do you have a partner?"

"No."

Finnick's heartbeat quickened again. He paused his note-taking.

"What?" said Annie.

Finnick struggled to find the right words. "Nothing," he smiled eventually. "I just find it difficult to believe that a pretty girl like you doesn't have a boyfriend."

As soon as he said it, he regretted it. What the fuck are you thinking? She's your patient and she trusts you.

"I'm sorry, I..." he began. "That was totally inappropriate of me, I..."

But Annie just giggled. "It's okay, Dr Odair. I appreciate the compliment."

Finnick blushed. "Please accept my sincerest apologies, Annie, that was extremely unprofessional. It won't happen again."

"Okay." Annie smiled.

Finnick took a deep breath and focused his attention back on Annie's notes.

"So, uh... these nightmares you told me about? Do you still have them?"

The light disappeared from Annie's shiny emerald eyes within a second. Her smile faded. Her shoulders hunched.

"Yeah..." she almost whispered.

"Are they as bad as before?" Finnick proceeded with a soft tone of voice, sensing that this was a difficult topic for Annie.

She nodded and gulped. She looked away from Finnick and out of the vast windows to the city below.

"I see it... I see the little boy being stabbed..." Annie's eyes began to water as Finnick took more notes. "I try to scream but no sound comes out... I try to run but it's like my legs are glued to the ground... I try to help him..." Tears escaped from Annie's eyes and ran down her cheeks. She lifted her right hand and placed it on her left forearm. Finnick squinted his eyebrows as he tried to figure out what she was doing. Suddenly, Annie ran her fingernails down her forearm, leaving four great red lines imprinted on her porcelain skin. "I try to help him but I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't!" She repeated the scratching motion every time the words "I cant" came out of her mouth.

"Annie!" Finnick threw his notes onto the floor and jumped off his seat. In less than a second he was kneeling in front of Annie, grabbing her right hand in his right hand, and her left hand in his left hand. His expression was panicked. Annie cried even harder when she looked into his eyes.

"It's okay, Annie, you're here with me," he soothed. He gently placed Annie's hands on her lap, reached behind him for a tissue and handed it to her. She took it and started dabbing the tears from her face. Finnick slowly stood up and placed his hand on her shoulder.

He panted, and reminded himself that it was okay to touch his patients if they posed a threat to themselves.

"Would you like some water?" he asked Annie, strongly fighting the urge not to place his hand on her head and stroke her hair.

"Yes please," she said in a small voice.

Finnick filled up a plastic cup from the water cooler in the corner of his office, and placed it down on the coffee table in front of Annie.

"There you go," he whispered.

"Thanks," Annie whispered back.

Finnick returned to his seat. "We don't have to carry on right away, Annie. You can take a minute."

Annie nodded and began to drink the water.

Finnick closed his eyes. He had touched one of his patients. He had touched her. He wasn't supposed to do that. But she was hurting herself. There were set boundaries between doctor and patient, and he had crossed them. She didn't mind, though.

He felt so conflicted. He had only just graduated – this was his first job as a therapist, and it had taken him ages to get it. He didn't want to ruin his chance by breaking one of the most important rules of medicine. But Annie did something to him, something that he couldn't explain. It was a feeling he had never experienced before.

At first he simply thought she was beautiful. But throughout their sessions together, as Finnick learned more and more about Annie, her life, her past, he realised that the attraction wasn't just physical. But he also knew that it could never be. Finnick was in a position of trust, and if he abused that trust, not only could he end up fired from his dream job, he could end up in prison, and would never be able to work in the medical field again. He looked at the vulnerable girl with the tear-stained face in front of him, and was hit with a fresh wave of adrenaline. Maybe she's worth it.

"I'm sorry, Dr Odair," Annie sniffed. "I never meant for any of that to happen," she shook her head. "God, I'm so embarrassed. What must you think of me?"

Finnick leaned forward. He smiled warmly, and spoke in a deep, calming voice. "Call me Finnick," he said. "And I think you're amazing."