Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the delay on this chapter! You can all hate me now if you want. I've been so busy now that school has started and there's no time to sit down and write anymore. But I've had this partly written for weeks now so I thought I'd finally do it. I'm really starting to want this story to finish because soon it will be coming up to a year since I started the whole Grey/Cato duo. At least tell me what you think because we're getting near the home stretch now - there's probably between 5 and 7 chapters left. So if you're still reading, please enjoy! :P

Crowd of Two

Chapter Twenty Seven

Grey's POV

I was undisturbed in District Thirteen for a whole week before I was requested for a meeting with the superiors. As much as I missed Cato – and that was a lot – after a while the orderly routine of the underground district got to me and I found myself slightly relaxing.

Like everyone else there I had my schedule for the day printed on my arm every morning. Wherever I had to report there was always someone I knew from the arena, and I figured that it was to make sure we were happy and that no one had a meltdown. Some nights I certainly felt like it – especially when someone knocked on the door to my room and inquired on whether or not I needed the men's soap – the one that had been untouched so far as there was no one to use it – replenished. On that occasion Titus had somehow known that I was sitting in the bedroom crying into Cato's uniform again and quickly retrieved me to take my mind off of things.

Titus had been my main source of comfort since we had gotten to the district, as Finnick and Haymitch refused to give comfort when it regarded Cato. The only explanation I had gotten was that since Cato was now stuck in the Capitol we might eventually be forced to fight him, and if I still cared I wouldn't be able to handle injuring him. In Haymitch's drunken words, "We don't want to do exactly what the Capitol thinks we are going to do sweetheart: have you burst into tears at the first sight of Cato getting a boo-boo." Although I partly understood his point I was already strung tightly because of not instantly going back to rescue my blonde boyfriend, and the idea of having to desensitise myself to his torture wasn't helpful either.

It was especially apparent since I had just a few days ago found out the gender of our little baby. I was only a couple of months into the pregnancy but using a strange machine that they held over me we could see its tiny body. Almost all of the survivors from the arena – the only exception being the still-sullen and unhelpful Peyton – offered to come with me but in the end I only invited Katniss. It felt wrong for any man other than Cato to find out the gender of the child before he did. But Katniss had become one of my closest friends since arriving at District Thirteen, and ever since her mother and sister had evacuated here – many people of District Twelve had braved the chance of Thirteen existing and escaped their district together when news of the fighting reached them – they had been including me in their family and treating them like one of their own. Everyone seemed to be going easy on me lately, as if I was a fragile thing that could be broken at any second from missing the love of my life. Our baby was going to be a boy.

When the doctor had given me the words "It's a boy" I burst into tears and had to be consoled. I instantly had the image of a small toddler with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. He would run around outside and spend his childhood playing instead of training for a massacre like the one we had been through.

But then will he be lifted up by his loving father – or will his father even be there at all?

I walk the short distance to the office where I had been summoned by those in charge of the District. None of us from the arena had ever met the one at the top – though we had been told that the whole place was ruled by one woman. I have to actually knock at the door to gain admittance, which is odd as usually all of the doors open when you approach – the exception being the living quarters. Someone opens the door from the inside and I walk in.

"Grey? Oh my goodness it's so good to see you. I can't believe you're okay!" Someone runs up to me and pulls me into a hug too close for someone I have just met. But there's a strangely familiar scent coming from the figure and with a start I realise where I know this woman from.

"Mom?"

Holding me tightly at arm's length my mother looks me up and down. I try to piece together the information feeding into my brain but I come up with a blank. The last time I had seen her she had been verging on insanity, obsessively cleaning our home after the departure of my father. Then I go back to District Four and find that she's tried to travel to a district that doesn't exist – but it actually does – and now she is actually in charge of this place?

"Mom?" I repeat again, beginning to wonder if the woman in front of me is indeed my mother. Her hair that always used to be untidy around her shoulders is now pulled up into a tight bun and after she hugs me she stands to attention and becomes a new woman.

"You've grown up so much. I watched as much of the games as I could. I'm sorry we couldn't help your friend - that District Two boy. But I know there are many lovely boys here who aren't quite as… violent." My mouth drops open and my hand instantly moves to Cato's son inside me. I'm shocked at how bluntly ignorant she could be. Mothers are meant to understand these things.

There's an uncomfortable silence where neither of us say anything, until my mother gestures to the seat in front of her and we both sit down at her desk.

"Aren't you wondering how your dear old mother got up to the top of District Thirteen?" She asks cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. I shrug just to humour her, but after her comment about Cato my patience is wearing thin.

"I'm sure you understood the note I left back at our house, but when I first arrived here I was not in a good place. I don't really even remember much about the first few days I spent here. But once I was suitably calm I got called into the office of a woman called Alma Coin. She thought she saw leadership qualities in me, and combined with my knowledge of the career districts – we did live in Four after all – she put me as her sole successor. She was killed the day after you all left the arena."

One of my eyebrows perks slightly at her explanation. It sounds strangely pre-recorded. I instantly feel wary about this Coin woman, even though one would think her death means the end of any control she must have had. I wonder why a military-smart commander would leave my emotionally damaged mother, who had just arrived in the district, as her heir.

"I'm sure she was a good woman." I say with a fake smile on my face. Suddenly I feign a look to my forearm and announce loudly that I'm late for my meeting with Titus. In reality, Titus has a muscle toning session and said he wouldn't have time to see me until the next meal, but my mother doesn't need to know that. I no longer feel comfortable revealing information on my whereabouts to anyone except my closest friends – the ones from the games. My mother waves a friendly dismissal as I hurry from the room and as the door shuts behind me I realise that I didn't even tell my own mother that I was pregnant.

Cato's POV

"I don't know what you're talking about," I repeat coldly as the Peacekeepers crowd me in the darkness. I don't remember much about my capture or the consequential hours following it, but I have a vivid picture of Grey getting escorted out, and knowing that she is safe with the rebel alliance means that I can go down a martyr without having to worry about what they will do to her once I fall.

My cheek aches from being slapped with a glove, but apart from that and the exhaustion I don't feel too damaged. A quick check of my limbs while the main Peacekeeper is droning on about something tells me that everything is attached and accounted for.

There's a long pause and I look up from my 'interrogation chair' to see everyone looking harshly in my direction as if waiting for a reply. I rudely ask, "Huh?" in confusion and it earns me another slap. This one is harder and even sends me falling off the chair, but without speaking or clutching my throbbing nose I silently pull myself back onto the chair.

"I asked," One of the men hisses, "If you know what you have started."

"A rebellion?" I say tiredly, tiring of this game.

"Yes but what in particular did you do?"

"Boys, I really don't get where you are going with this." I drone, trying to spark up some sort of emotion from the Peacekeepers. I can tell that they are growing bored of my ignorance because this time they don't answer with a cryptic puzzle like before .

"In the arena you broke your alliance with Gloss with a salute. That action shows respect and comradery. Friendship between districts? Bah! We can't have that. That makes people want to work together. Your friend has already been significantly punished, but now it's your turn. We have a lot in store for you." I sit up straight in the chair with wide eyes as I suddenly comprehend.

"You killed him didn't you!" I shout out, furious about the loss of another tribute that could have survived if it weren't for the Capitol.

"Indeed," One of the men says, and I am too furious to notice the syringe until it's too late to pull away. I feel the sensation of something being pushed into my neck and I try in vain to scrabble at the needle with my fingers before it can poison me with its contents. Almost instantly the world starts to go out of focus and I have to grab my knees with my hands to stay sitting on the chair.

"Training starts when you wake up, so I hope you get some sleep." Someone teases from far away and it's the last thing I hear before I fall unconscious and the world disappears.