Wednesday

Sunrise the next morning found Cato standing silently in Clove's room, watching her sleep. He had already removed any weapons she could easily access and was trying to decide exactly how he wanted to do this. He smirked as he bent down, grabbed the side of the mattress, and quickly lifted it until he heard a thump on the other side of the bed. Cato let the mattress fall back on the frame and watched as Clove tried to untangle herself from her blanket and sheets. If he wasn't so pissed off, he would have been laughing at her. As it was, he took a mental picture and made a note to laugh later.

"God, what the fuck is wrong with you, Cato?" Clove yelled at him.

"Hmm…What's wrong with me? Let's ponder the possibilities for a moment, shall we. Could it be that I'm pissed you didn't listen to me and that I thought it would be better to throw you out of bed then get punished for killing another tribute before the Games?" Cato asked her rhetorically. He stalked closer to her as he spoke and was only able to keep from hurting her by reminding him self that he still needed something from her.

Clove had finally freed herself from her bedding and was standing up, looking at him with wide, innocent eyes. If Cato didn't know her better he would actually believe that she didn't know what he was talking about. Fortunately for him (or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it) he knew her well enough to know when she was trying to bullshit someone. Cato was a little insulted that she thought she could play him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Clove responded while crossing her arms defensively over her chest and jutting her chin in the air. "All I've been doing is training. How would you even know if I had been doing something? You have been avoiding me since the second day of training and disappearing the last two nights as soon dinner was over. There's no way you can know for sure what I did, which I'm not saying that I did anything."

"I don't give a flying fuck what you're trying to say now. I know you and Glimmer have been talking to other tributes about possible alliances and threatening others when I told you to let it be for now. We don't know enough about them to know if they'd make a good alliance, but you didn't fucking listen. And not only did you ignore what I said, but you had the nerve to use me as a threat to them. What gives you the right to speak for me? You're pathetic."

"How would you know we brought you up? We only did that with…" Clove's expression went from pissed to suspicious in seconds. "How would you know what we said to that bitch from 12? Are you talking to her? Have you lost your mind, what do you think your parents are going to say? Even if you're just using her for whatever reason, you're going to piss off the whole District."

"Since when do I care what other people think? I've always done what I wanted and that's not going to change now. Now I want Katniss and I won't settle for anything less. I don't care what anyone else thinks, especially you. But, since you did fuck with Katniss and cost me a day with her there is something you're going to have to do so I won't kill you first in the Games." Cato's tone clearly said that there would be no refusing or negotiation. She was going to do what he said or within five short days she wouldn't be doing anything ever again.

Clove let out a deep sigh and waited for Cato to tell her what she had to do.

Cato impatiently rode the elevator up to the 12th floor. He needed to let Katniss know about his plan for Glimmer so she didn't get upset and he also got the added benefit of seeing her alone before they were surrounded by the other tributes. When the elevator finally arrived he decided to wait outside the door to her room since he could hear them getting ready to leave.

Haymitch was the first out of the door and when he noticed Cato, he nodded to him in greeting. Following Haymitch was District 12's shockingly bright escort. Katniss was behind her with that Peeta kid being the last out. Peeta got a slightly confused look when he saw Katniss smiling, which quickly turned in to irritation when he saw that she was smiling for Cato.

After she told the group that she would meet them downstairs, she walked over to him, but stopped a couple of feet away. Well, that certainly wouldn't do. Cato's hands shot out quickly, grabbing her, and switching their positions so Katniss' back was pressed against the wall and Cato's body was pressed against hers. He loved the blush that rapidly spread over her cheek's since it reminded him that she was inexperienced and he would be the only person to touch her like this. Cato ran his hands down her sides and let them settle on her hips, using his grip to pull their lower bodies closer together and lowered his head until their lips met. The kiss started off soft and gentle, a simple greeting, but Cato wanted more of her, he would always want more of her, so the kiss quickly escalated and Katniss wrapped her arms around his neck. He pressed her against the wall harder and moved his hands to her ass to lift her up a little so he didn't have to bend so far to reach her. Cato wanted her so bad, but he knew she wasn't ready yet and with that thought, he slowly pulled away from her. He brought his hand up to cup her face and Katniss leaned into his touch. Cato smiled gently at her. Her face was still slightly pink and she seemed to be trying to calm her breathing.

"Good morning," Cato finally broke the silence between them. "Did you sleep okay?"

For some reason, Katniss' cheeks turned a darker pink; she cleared her throat and stopped making eye contact with him. When she never responded, Cato spoke again.

"Are you okay? Why are you blushing?"

Katniss mumbled a response, but she spoke so low that he couldn't understand her and asked her to repeat it.

"I said I slept fine, but I kept having these dreams and I never dream."

"Dreams? What kind of dreams? Was I in your dreams?" Cato asked, once again showing his self-centeredness. He really hoped she had dreamt of him, it would certainly suggest that he was getting closer to having her.

"You might have been there," She answered while she let her hands rest on his biceps and bit her bottom lip. "It's not important though, just forget about it. So, not that I'm complaining, but did you need something or did you just want to see me before training started?"

"I do have something to talk to you about, but I'll probably keep coming here every morning when you don't spend the night with me. I don't like being away from you for too long."

Katniss smiled up at him and moved her hands from around his arms to the sides of his waist and gripped his t-shirt.

"Okay, so what did you need to talk to me about?" Katniss asked him.

Explaining his plan to Katniss only took a couple of minutes since the brilliance of it was in the simplicity. Cato kissed her again before they got on the elevator and he held her close to him while they went down to the training room. Cato knew he should tell her about his other plan, but he didn't think she'd let him follow through with it if she knew. He decided to embrace the philosophy that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission.

Cato scanned the training area as soon as he walked in. He smiled when he saw Katniss and that Peeta kid helping Rue at one of the stations. Maybe the boy wasn't so bad after all. He spotted Glimmer over in the corner, trying to improve her dismal archery skills. Cato looked around the room for Clove. When he made eye contact he nodded his head towards Marvel, letting her know to get him over there as soon as Cato had distracted Glimmer.

Cato made his way over to her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her to stand in front of him while he leaned back on the wall. He smirked when he saw her running her eyes over his body and he saw the lust blossoming in her eyes. She was clearly willing to do anything he asked even after all the shit Cato had said to her before he started ignoring her. She was truly pathetic and he thanked God that he had found Katniss so he wouldn't have to associate with girls like Glimmer anymore. He didn't want to waste his time talking to her and he really wanted her to stop touching him, so he immediately executed his plan when he saw that Marvel was close enough to hear them. It's not like anything he said could possibly offend her.

"So, Glimmer," Cato started while he pulled her closer to him, "I was thinking that we could fuck to relieve some of the stress during training. That is, as long as you're not already with someone. I've noticed you spend a lot of time with your partner."

Cato had to work very hard to keep the disgusted look off his face when she pressed her body against his and rested her hands on her chest.

"Please, Cato, like I would ever be with someone like Marvel," Glimmer stated with an exaggerated eye roll. "I just want him to believe he has a chance so he'll protect me in the Games. He's too stupid to realize that someone like me would never be with someone like him. I just want to ensure that I survive for the longest time possible and I know he's willing to die to try and save me."

Glimmer was so focused on running her hands over his chest that she didn't notice that Cato hadn't looked at her while she bragged about her idiotic plan. No, he was watching Marvel's reaction to her words and it was easy to see that he was pissed off and embarrassed that he fell for her crap. Cato might feel bad about how easy it was to set up her death if she hadn't fucked with Katniss. He could tell by the look in Marvel's eyes that he wanted to kill Glimmer now and he was sure Marvel would spend his time hunting her down. Clove and Glimmer's interference had cost him precious time with Katniss, so Cato felt nothing but satisfaction that his simple plan was so easy to pull off.

"To be clear, you're willing to have sex with me even though you know that, most likely, I'll be the one to kill you?" Cato wanted to make sure there was no way Glimmer could try to say it was all a misunderstanding when Marvel confronted her.

"I'm more than willing to let you do whatever you want to me. We could sneak off now, if you want."

Jesus, this girl had some problems. What kind of person was happy to fuck the person who would be killing them in less than a week? Well, after eyeing Marvel again the odds of him being the one to kill Glimmer were going down. Unless he cared enough to kill Marvel so he could kill her, which he didn't. If the rage in the kids' eyes were any indication she might not even walk out of the training room today. Cato figured he made his point, there was no way Glimmer would be able to smooth things out with Marvel now and, frankly, he was tired of her touching him.

"On second thought, I don't think this is going to work so well after all. I think you'll have more than enough on your plate as it is," Cato said, nodding his head to Marvel so Glimmer would turn around and see him. "I don't think the odds are in your favor this time."

Cato walked away as Marvel made his way towards Glimmer. He didn't care enough to listen, so he began his training and only looked back when he heard Glimmer yelling for Marvel to come back and that she was sorry. Cato could check one item off of his to do list for the day, now he just had to wait for lunch so Clove could do her other assignment.

The rest of the morning seemed to pass at a snails pace, but finally lunch time came. Cato looked for Clove and saw that she was already making her way to the male tribute from 7, so he quickly made his way to the restroom so no one would know he was still there. He made sure that Clove and the male tribute from 7 were the only ones there before he left the restroom and approached them. 7 looked up with a terrified expression on his face as soon as he saw Cato walking over to him. Cato took Clove's place and continued to advance on him until the boy was backed up against the wall.

"We need to talk," Cato stated while 7 looked around the room frantically, hoping someone would come to his rescue. When he realized they were alone, he swallowed audibly, which made Cato smirk.

"I didn't do anything," 7 stuttered out.

"I didn't say you did, but you must have done something judging by your shitty poker face. So, why don't you tell me what you think I wanted to talk to you about and I'll let you know when you get it right," Cato took a step back so he wasn't crowding the kid and crossed his arms over his chest waiting for 7 to spill.

After dinner Cato made the familiar trip outside to meet Katniss. He didn't really have any particular plans; he just wanted to spend time with her and get to know her better. When Cato walked outside he saw Katniss sitting on the same bench she was sitting on the first night he saw her. This time she was wearing a pair of pink, cotton pajama shorts and a tight, black, long sleeved t-shirt. While pink didn't match up with what he knew of Katniss' personality he couldn't help but think of how good she looked.

"Katniss," Cato spoke her name to let her know he was here so he hopefully didn't scare her again and knew he was successful when she didn't jump, just turned around and walked over to him. He immediately knew something was wrong and he hoped she wasn't upset with him. She stopped a couple of feet from him with her arms crossed over her chest and looked up at him.

"Was there anything you wanted to tell me that you might have left out this morning?" Katniss asked.

Shit, she found out. Did she see them or did someone tell her? That wasn't really important right now; he needed to know what she knew so he didn't confess to anything he didn't have to.

"Like what?" he questioned, trying to remain calm and sound confused while his internal monologue was anything but quiet.

"I saw the boy from 7 this afternoon and could easily see the bruise forming along his jaw. I heard him tell his partner he fell, but I don't believe that; do you?"

Cato chose to remain silent, still waiting to find out what she knew. Katniss dropped her arms to her sides and let out a frustrated breath before she began to pace slowly.

"I told you that I handled it. Why did you have to do anything? What would happen if you got caught?" Cato noticed that her voice wavered slightly towards the end of her questions. Was she already worrying about his safety?

"I wasn't going to get caught, I made sure of that, and I know you said that you took care of it, but you shouldn't have had to. I should have done something when I walked in on it, but I didn't want to in front of everyont. I wanted to make sure that he knew not to come near you again or he'd have to deal with me too. You're not on your own anymore; I know you're used to taking care of yourself and your family, but I want to take care of you and your family." Cato had made his way over to her and pulled her into his arms while he was talking. He could tell she didn't like the thought of relying on anyone and decided that was an argument that could wait for now. Cato knew that once she found out about everything he learned from 7 she wouldn't be upset with him anymore.

"And I didn't do it just for you. Granted, that was the reason I confronted him, but since I didn't tell him what it was about he started listing off different things he had done. I didn't punch him because of you, I punched him because he admitted he had been threatening Rue and pushing her around," Cato saw her eyes narrow and knew he was off the hook. "I also talked to Rue and made her promise to tell me if anyone else gave her problems."

Cato hadn't realized that any of the tributes had seen him helping Rue from time to time during training, but apparently they had. He was going to have to keep a closer eye on Rue to make sure no one else gave her problems. Cato hadn't wanted anyone to know he was helping her so they wouldn't think he was going soft, but if it came down to losing his intimidation points or keeping Rue safe for as long as he could, well, he'd just have to remind the others that no matter how he acted with Rue (or Katniss for that matter) he was still a Career who had no qualms about killing them.

He turned his attention back to Katniss when he felt her run her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck. Cato looked down at her and saw something in her eyes that made it impossible for him not to kiss her. He pulled her closer to his body and lowered his head so he could take her lips in a passionate kiss, which she eagerly returned. When Cato finally pulled back they were both panting and Katniss' eyes were shining bright with lust.

"I still don't like that you said anything to him about me and I want you to let me fight my own battles, but I can let this time go since you were standing up for Rue too."

It was clear to Cato that he was going to have to ease Katniss into the idea of him being there for her. That was fine, he knew he could get her where he wanted her he would just have to up his game.

They moved over to one of the love seats and fell into an easy conversation. Katniss opened up more about her family and Cato was grateful she trusted him more. She told him about her childhood and her relationship with her dad before he died. Cato tightened his hold on her when she talked about how they almost starved after his death until she learned to hunt. He knew that most Districts didn't have it as easy as 2 did, but he couldn't believe the Capitol would let people starve. The Capitol and President Snow maintained its rule with fear, he understood that, but wasn't losing 23 kids a year to the Games enough to keep everyone in line? Even though he hated how the Capitol treated everyone, he couldn't wish the Games away completely or he never would have found Katniss.

They had kept talking about their families and their lives back in their home Districts until most of the lights in the hotel were out and Katniss was shivering from the cold.

"Well, I supposed I should get you upstairs, it is getting pretty late," Cato stood and held his hand out to help Katniss up. After he pulled her to her feet, he gave her a quick kiss, took her hand, and began to walk towards the door until his arm was tugged back and he realized she hadn't moved. "What? What's wrong?" Cato asked while he brought his hands up to cup her face.

"Nothings wrong, I just don't want to leave you," She replied and quickly lowered her gaze to the floor as if she was afraid he'd reject her.

When would she realize he'd give her anything she wanted? All she had to do was ask and he'd move heaven and earth for her. Cato pulled her to him and started running his hands up and down her arms trying to warm her up a little. If she didn't want to leave him, the only solution he could see was her coming back to his room. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too opposed to the idea since he had wanted her with him since he saw her and now that she voiced her agreement he was pretty much set on the idea of it happening tonight.

"How about you come back to my room with me?" He tried to make it seem like he just thought of it, but knew he didn't pull it off when all she did was look at him suspiciously. "We don't have to do anything, we can just sleep, but this way I can keep you with me."

"Just sleep-nothing else?" Katniss questioned him.

"Yes," Cato was quick to reassure her. Yes, he wouldn't try anything tonight, tomorrow night however he made no promises. When she nodded her head he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Cato took her hand again and led her to the elevator, then hit the button for his floor.

Cato dug out a t-shirt for Katniss to sleep in and sent her in the direction of his bathroom. He thought about how she would look in his clothes when he changed into a plain t-shirt and his boxers. Cato led Katniss to his bed when she came out of the bathroom. Once they were both settled in, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Cato turned her slightly and gave her a slow sweet kiss, being careful not to push for more, before he pulled her against his chest with his her head resting on his arm while the other was wrapped around her. He held her to him tightly like he was afraid he might lose her during the night and listening to her steady breathing to lull him to sleep.

A/N: I am so sorry about the long wait, but I lost track of time with finals, graduation, my birthday, and family visiting. Then I took a long vacation and didn't bring my laptop with me and I didn't realize how long it had been since I last updated. I can't promise this, but I'd like to start updating weekly again. I will promise that I will complete this story (up to the day before the Games), because I hate it when stories I read aren't completed. I haven't come up with a plan for the Games, so I don't know if there will be a sequel for the actual competition or not.

Quick note about the next chapter-when I upload Chapter 9 I will be uploading corrected versions of the other chapters (nothing major, just changing the order of some things, but mainly grammar errors). I don't know if it will send out an alert for each chapter that I change, but if it does just ignore them. There are no changes that really affect the overall story, so you don't need to read them, but you certainly can if you want to. I also want to change the name of the story, but I'm struggling to come up with something I like-so if you have a suggestion let me know.

As always, thanks to those who added the story to their favorites or story alerts and my eternal gratitude to those who reviewed. It's all greatly appreciated. And I apologize again for the extreme wait for this chapter.

I do not own the Hunger Games and this is unbeta'd.