The next day was uneventful, and the other six that followed. It was a week after he visited her bedside that Reyna finally relented to Johanna's persistent pleading for her to give Finnick a chance.

He was elated at the fact that she would allow him anywhere near her, but also insanely nervous. He ran a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth in his room. "Remember what Haymitch told you, Finnick. No sudden movements, soft voice, stay relaxed. Hands on your legs to show you're unarmed, lean back so you don't look ready to attack. Just tell her about when you were younger." The young man muttered to himself.

The trip to her room was a blur, and suddenly he was taking a deep breath and mustering the courage to knock on her door. "It's me, Finnick."

The woman took a deep breath herself, looking at the rope in her hands. "C-Come in."

Finnick opened the door slowly and closed it with a soft click, making sure to leave his front exposed as he did so. Then he pulled the chair a bit away from the bed sat down in it, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

"Reyna, you don't have to talk to me if you're not–" He started quietly.

"Teach me." She said suddenly, looking up from the rope.

"What?" He asked, bewildered.

"Teach me how to tie knots. Please." A look of confusion crossed her face. "I-I think I remember, you used to know all these different kinds. Did you?"

It took longer to answer than usual, he was so busy reeling his thoughts back in. "Yeah, my dad taught me. Of course I'll show you how." He started to inch his chair closer, but faltered. "Is this alright?"

"I'm drugged up quite a lot, actually." She sent him a loose smile, but the way her shoulders were hunched, her hands dug into her palms under the sheets and the strain of her smile made him stop.

"Which makes it remarkable that you're even awake. Maybe... Maybe we should do this slow and steady. I want to make you happy, Reyna. I want you to feel safe around me. It doesn't matter how long that takes. I'll wait."

She looked up at him with surprise written all over her face. "Everyone seems to want me to be better as soon as I wake up every day. They want the old me back, but-" Her face twisted up into a grimace. "How can I go back to being that person after what they did?"

Finnick took the risk of scooting a little closer. "I can't make you be happy, and there's really nothing I can do to help, but I'm still going to try, if you'll let me. Even if your version of happiness exists without me, if you're content, I'll let you go."

Reyna nodded, giving a ghost of a smile. "Thank you."

A couple of hours later, Johanna walked in with a tray of food and a glass of water. Finnick and Reyna were laughing, their hands only a few inches away on the bed. They turned to their  friend, still smiling wide. "Hey, Jo." Reyna greeted her. The words looked a little forced, but she was getting somewhat better.

Johanna smirked. "Hey, little miss sunshine. How're you holding up?"

"Could be better." She replied with a dry smile. "Finn was just telling me about the time I made a fool of my teacher on my first day of school."

"Oh?"

Finnick chuckled. "Well, it went like this..."

He was in the middle of telling another story about Oliver when Reyna snored softly. He and Johanna looked over at her sleeping soundly, then shared a look. Finnick gently laid a blanket over her, then picked up her tray and slipped outside with Jo. They looked back to their sleeping friend one last time, then parted ways.

For the next two weeks, Finnick came by every day he was summoned. He would tell stories or play cards with her, sneak in good food or the cat, and maybe every once in a while teach her how to tie a knot. She would latch onto his every word, and sometimes it took a little while for things to click into place, but she always remembered somewhat.

Reyna was making huge progress, and only once or twice did she flinch or panic. After a while she was ready to go to the gym. She wanted to. The other trainees were instructed to steer clear of her, which was absolutely wonderful, in her opinion. Other people just gave her pitying looks, asked if she wanted to talk about her problems, like just saying them out loud could make them vanish. Yeah, right.

She was a f*cking POW (prisoner of war), and they wanted her to feel good about her life? When she was in the Capitol, she didn't even have her own mind. They tried to change her into something she wasn't, like hacking her memories and personality away. It was all trying to mend, but the scars would never leave.

Her days and nights alike were haunted by pain and Coriolanus Snow and his wicked laugh. The smell of roses and death, sizzling agony and then she would wake up to a pair of panicked sea green eyes that belonged to someone she didn't even want to think about. It always made her head hurt to try to unravel the tight knot of emotions that was Finnick Odair.

She destroyed a punching bag after about five days. Everyone in the vicinity looked at her like she was a monster, but put enough anger and Capitol enhancement serum in someone and they can do almost anything. People went to great measures to avoid her after the incident, but the rumors about her spread like wildfire. She was secretly a mutt, she had to be, or maybe a robot sent to spy on them all.

Jo, Katniss, and Peeta were the three Reyna would spar with on the really bad days. She refused to fight Finnick. Nobody said it, but everyone knew that it was because of what the Capitol rendition of him had done.

The biggest leap she made though, was more like flying over the Grand Canyon.

Monsters chasing, shadows in the darkness with unseen fangs dripping with bloodlust, hot breath on her heels as she ran. Always, she ran. Until she got to a door at the end of a hallway, salvation at last. It slammed shut behind her, the lock clicking into place. Her respite was brief, because right in front of her stood Snow, sipping from a glass filled with blood.

His lips and teeth were red, far too red as he sneered. Her family and Finnick's, Mags, the woman and her two children that were shot, Will, Thomas the baker's son, the morphling who died for Peeta, and lastly herself, bloody and broken, stepped from the darkness and stood beside Snow. All of the people she failed, lifeless and ashen.

"You failed us. You let us die." They accused, whispering but impossibly loud. It brought her to her knees with her hands over her ears. "YOU LET US DIE AND YOU DIDN'T CARE!"

Then she woke up in a cold sweat, like every night before. Only this time, her bedside chair was occupied by a certain snoring Victor from District 4. He must not have been sleeping very soundly though, because he opened his eyes when she shot up in her bed.

In an instant, he was next to her, because he knew what it was like to have to face your demons alone, and he wouldn't let them consume her. She turned and started full-on sobbing into his chest, her fingers slack against his shirt. He was at first taken aback, but gently, slowly wrapped his arms around her shaking form. "Shhh, I got you, Reyna. You're safe now. Shhhh, you're safe with me." He murmured, rubbing her back softly.

He rocked her softly until her sobs turned into hiccups, then into soft breathing. "Stay. Please." She said, barely more than a whisper.

Finnick kissed the top of her head. "Of course."

And that was the best sleep either of them had gotten in a long, long while.

A/N: Yay, I updated after about two and a half months! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because it was a long time coming. I made it somewhat longer to compensate for the crazy hiatus. Please tell me how you felt about it, it really helps to know! Also, for the record, I have absolutely no excuse except that I sprained by ankle really badly, and even then I've been sitting on my butt for about a month, so I'm not sure why I didn't write this. But today a friend gave me the inspritation to write! Be sure to thank her, she's Dr4gongiirl. Also, check out my Loki fic, Misfit Prince! Hope you enjoyed this one, and I'll definitely be updating somewhat more often now that it's summer!