"Katniss?" She froze.

It was him.

"It's really you!" Cato gasped and closed the distance between them.

Gathering Katniss in his arms, he relished in the fact that she made him feel like he was finally home again. Like he could breathe. Like he was going to be okay now.

"Umm, excuse me…?" Katniss asked politely.

She stood ramrod straight in his arms, hers were dangling uselessly at her sides. She wasn't allowed to touch him. She wouldn't let herself, because she knew that if she did…she'd melt and give in. Everything leading up to this moment would be for nothing. She had to exert an enormous amount of control.

It hadn't registered to Cato yet that she was unresponsive, he was just happy to have her back. But all too soon, he started to realize that she hadn't buried her face in his neck like she usually did and her arms hadn't moved an inch. Pulling back to question her he was surprised to see a confused look on her face.

"Katniss?" he asked quietly.

"Uh yes," she answered and extracted herself from his embrace, "and you must be Cato, this year's victor?" she politely extended her hand as an introduction.

Cato looked at her and her hand with a bewildered expression and ignored the expected handshake.

He gestured to himself, "It's me Kat, it's me."

"Yes Cato it's you…I watched the games this year. I know who you are." She laughed then as if that was the obvious and only reason she knew of him.

His brows furrowed, "No, Katniss it's me! We've met before, District 2 remember?"

Katniss covered her mouth in mock surprise, "Oh! You're from back home! Well then it's really nice to meet you. Were we friends?" She asked animatedly.

Cato didn't understand what was wrong with her. It was him and he was more than a hundred percent sure that she was Katniss. Why was she acting so weird? He voiced his thoughts.

"Oh forgive my manners, I don't remember much these days. Ever since my accident in the games I don't recall anything other than waking up in the hospital and being told I won the Hunger Games." She explained saying word for word what she and Finnick had rehearsed.

"So you don't remember me…at all?" Cato's face was crestfallen.

It made her feel so guilty to cause him this much pain that was written clearly in the hard line of his jaw and in his ice blue eyes. She was going to have to break his heart—again.

"No, sorry." She forced a smile to grace her face trying to mask the grimace of pain that came from her own heart breaking. Could Cato see the pain in her eyes as well? Did he figure out that she was lying he used to be able to?

"Oh," He said dejectedly, "I'm sorry to hear that. Have a good evening Katniss."

The answer was no, he was too blinded by the pain. Katniss stared at his retreating back until he disappeared into the crowd of capitolites. She let out a shaky breath that she didn't know she was holding and she instantly regretted it. She felt like she was breathing in razor blades and suddenly her face crumpled in pain. She felt like she was choking and for the first time since the last night of the games, she sobbed.

After a while she had calmed down and was now making her way to the restroom to assess the damage. Her reflection in the mirror looked exactly as she felt, ruined. Her cheeks were red and blotchy and her eyes looked a bit puffy. Quickly reapplying the makeup that she had previously cried off, she let out a calming breath and left in search of Finnick.

She stiffened when she felt someone grabbing her arm but she relaxed when she saw that it was the man she was looking for.

"You alright? I saw him walk out there." Finnick asked worriedly. He didn't mind her breakdowns but he knew that she wouldn't be too happy with herself if she had one in public.

Katniss nodded, "I'm fine. It was just harder than I thought it would be."

"Well hopefully you can hide your distaste for this party for just a little while longer. Snow wants me to make an announcement." He sounded nervous.

She furrowed her eyebrows, "What announcement?"

He sighed and started pulling her towards the center of the room, "Just trust me."

Katniss allowed him to pull her along. As the crowd parted for them to stand in a comfortable circle her eyes met President Snow's. He smiled at her and she became wary. Snow only smiled at people's suffering. What was going on?

"Excuse me! Can I have everyone's attention please?" Finnick called loudly. The band stopped playing and all chatter ceased. He faced her then and held both of her hands in his.

"Now I know that I haven't known you long, and I know that you're still trying to adjust…."

No, no, no. This wasn't happening. She thought, he couldn't be serious….

"But these past few weeks have been amazing with you and I want even more amazing weeks with you..."

She looked at Snow and recognized the evil smirk he wore. He was behind this.

"It was love at first sight for me, Kat. I literally had no choice but to love you."

Katniss looked at Finnick then. The capitolites that didn't know any better laughed at his joke, but she knew that it was a play on words. He really didn't have a choice.

"So…if you'll have me," Finnick went down on one knee, "Will you marry me?"

Everyone gasped as she looked around numbly. Her eyes met Snow's again and he raised an eyebrow, a warning.

Her gray eyes met his green ones. She nodded and managed a small smile.

"Yes."

Finnick smiled convincingly as she answered, but she could still see the tightening of his eyes. He produced an engagement ring from his pocket and slid it onto her finger.

The crowd began to clap and cheer as Snow made his way towards them.

"Well, that was lovely. Three months should be long enough to plan the wedding of the century wouldn't you both agree?" He said as he reached them.

Finnick swallowed hard, but nodded.

Snow smiled, "Good, and…congratulations." He promptly walked away disappearing into the party that resumed into its full swing.

Katniss couldn't move. Too many bombs were dropped on her today and she felt as if one more would make her explode. Her gaze was empty as she stared off into the crowd. She snapped out of her daze when Finnick walked into her line of sight.

He placed his hands on her shoulders reassuringly, "It's over for now. We just have to find a way out of this before the wedding. I'm sorry if came as such a shock but I couldn't think of any way to buy you time."

Katniss raised an eyebrow, "Time for what?"

"Time for you and Cato. I know you miss him Kat. Use these three months to be with him. Think of it as an early wedding present." He joked.

She shook her head, "No, I can't. It's best that Snow doesn't find out about him and our history. My deal with him is bad enough…"

Finnick's grip on her tightened, "Katniss don't waste this. Think about it, we can all keep it a secret!"

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if we got discovered? It's not just him and our families that would be in trouble. You, Finnick, you would be in trouble too. I can't have that many people take the fall for me because I want to be selfish and have things the way they were before." She explained.

He sighed but released her, "Fine. No more depressed Katniss though all right? You're the one making yourself upset."

She rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay. Agreed."

Finnick grinned, "Good. Now come on, you owe me a dance…fiancé."

He offered her his arm. Katniss smacked him and smiled sligtly but hooked her arm with his and allowed him to lead the way.

Whew, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry for the hiatus but I lost inspiration for a while. BUT I will try my best to finish the story while I still have the motivation to :D. I feel bad for leaving all you guys hanging so I hope this chapter makes up for everything. Fingers crossed.

P.S.

If I have any Vampire Academy fans that follow this story, I got some news for you guys. Some time this week I will be posting a new VA story with a Romitri pairing so look out for that ;).

Til next time.

~Alis-May