FORTY FIVE

I SEE YOU

His fingers twisted the rope around itself. He undid it. And twisted it again and again and again. A constant cycle of tying and untying. Each time, a different knot. It soothed him. For some reason, the small piece of rope between his fingers reminded him of his father. His father had been a brave man. A trident fisherman. His mother was potentially even braver- though he never really knew her himself. She died giving birth to his sister. He had only one sister, his grandparents were already dead when he was born and so were his aunts and uncles. For years it was just himself, his sister and his father. Then he was reaped. Just 14 years old, and he was whisked away to the Capitol. Thats where his journey to the point he's at now, began.

As he lies there, turning and turning his rope, his mind wonders to what life would have been like without the games. He would have grown up past the Reaping age. His family would never have been killed by President Snow for Finnick's initial non-compliance. His father would have grown old and died in his own bed, with Finnick at his side. His sister could have become anything she wanted to be, she was so soft and gentle and kind- too precious for the world she was born into. Finnick would have gotten the house, though there wasn't much of it. He would have taken his father's trident, the very same one he still used now, in this reality, and used it to fish. He would have done his best to help feed as many of his neighbours as possible. He probably would have never met Talia. He probably would have married another local girl, the daughter of another fisherman that knew his father. They would have had some children and lived in fear that they would be put in the games. They barely would have survived at times, going hungry some nights. He wondered what Talia's life would be like without the games. She would have been married off to someone in the District for money. Probably Jamie Kiln, her family had always been close to the Bakers. They would have never known that each other existed.

"Finnick?"

His head snaps up and his eyes take a moment to focus. Kalvin was standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, I...My mind wasn't here," Finnick says, shifting his bodyweight- spending so much time in a bed was starting to get uncomfortable.

"Thats okay, would you like to tell me what you were thinking about?" Kalvin asks, he walks over and sits down on the chair beside Finnick's bed. Finnick noticed he was holding a set of clothes- the grey overalls that everyone here wore and a pair of boots.

"I was just thinking about how different my life would have been if I was never Reaped," He shrugs, looking at the rope, "And Talia too,"

"I see...I think everyone often casts their minds to these "what if" scenarios but the only thing you have to remember is that all of this has happened for a reason. It might not feel like it right now, but it'll make sense one day," Kalvin says and Finnick nods. He didn't want to argue with him, though he knew Kalvin was probably right anyway.

"New clothes?" Finnick asks, nodding towards them.

"They're for you," Kalvin says and Finnick gulps, eyebrows raising.

"Really? You're telling me I don't have to wear this hospital gown anymore?"

"Yeah, you can finally put some pants on," Kalvin laughs, putting the clothes on the bedside cabinet.

"Whats funny? Am I distracting?" Finnick smirks, Kalvin chuckles, shaking his head and standing up.

"The most distracting man Panem has ever seen," Kalvin smiles, placing a hand on Finnick's shoulder, "Get yourself dressed, then we're going for a walk,"

"Okay," Finnick says, the hint of his laughter still in his voice. He watches Kalvin leave and then pulls the bedsheets off. He puts the rope down on his pillow and pulls the gown over his head. Underneath he was naked, he looks down at himself, despite his lack of exercise he still looked in shape. He grabs the underwear from the pile and pulls them on before putting on the grey overalls and finally the socks and boots. He straightens out his clothes and picks the rope back up, sliding it into the pocket on his chest.

He approaches the door and puts his hand on the knob. He sucks in a deep breath. It would be strange for him, being allowed out and around District 13. He'd only ever seen the inside of this hospital room.

Kalvin waits outside, he was out of his usual nurses clothes and wearing the exact same thing as Finnick.

"Ready?" He asks and Finnick nods once, trailing behind Kalvin.

People couldn't help but gawp at him as Kalvin lead him out of the medical suite and into an elevator.

"Where are we going?" Finnick asks, watching Kalvin press a button.

"I'm taking you to see Beetee. As much as I didn't want to take you to see weapons on your first time outside the medbay, Beetee insisted," Kalvin says, "Remember, if it gets too much for you, then you tell me, and we will leave immediately,"

"Okay," Finnick says. They arrive, and step out of the elevator. The whole floor stretches out into one big room. People inside are doing various things, crafting weapons, training with weapons, messing around on computers. Kalvin leads Finnick to Beetee's station, where the man is in a wheelchair, leaning over a workbench.

"Beetee," Kalvin says softly so not to alarm him. Beetee looks up and smiles warmly at them both.

"Its good to see you, Finnick, and you too Kalvin," Beetee says. Finnick smiles.

"You too, I'm sorry about your legs," Finnick says, looking again at the wheelchair.

"Its not so bad," Beetee chuckles, "Now I assume you're here to see what I've made you,"

"That would be correct," Finnick says. Beetee wheels himself forwards towards an area containing a lot of different weapons. To the left of the station is something uncompleted, it looks to be some kind of bomb. Then there is a sleek, black bow and two sheaths of arrows- the arrows were indicated by different colours for different functions. Besides that a crossbow with the same style of arrows. And finally, resting in on a stand, a beautiful, handcrafted trident.

"I'm sure you can figure out which ones yours," Beetee laughs. Finnick walks forwards and takes it into his hands. The weight balance is perfect. It feels right in his hands.

"This is perfect," Finnick muses, studying the sharp blades at the end.

"Well, thank you, it look me and the team awhile, but we got there in the end," Beetee says, "I'll keep it here, at least for now, I don't know what your plans are in terms of battle,"

Finnick looks at Kalvin, who looks uneasy with the conversations turning point. "I'm not sure I'll get to fight,"

"I understand," Beetee says. He didn't know the full details of what happened with Finnick, but he knew it was a mental injury rather than a physical one.

"Finnick, I was thinking we could go to the canteen, grab some food?" Kalvin suggests.

"That sounds good," Finnick says. Beetee smiles.

"Don't expect anything too spectacular," Beetee says.

"Anything is better than nothing," Finnick replies.

They say goodbye to Beetee and use the elevator to travel to the cafeteria. Its busy with people, who of course, stare at Finnick as he walks among them. Even here, in District 13, people were in awe of him.

Kalvin tells him to find a seat while he gets them both a tray of food. So he does, sitting near the edge of the large room. It seemed as though the whole District managed to fit in here at once. Kalvin returns with two trays. Both of them had what looked to be an attempt at some kind of lasagne, a pot of grapes, a slice of greyish bread and a cup of water. Finnick had eaten much worse.

"Thank you," Finnick says to Kalvin. Kalvin just nods, already tucking into his meal. Finnick surveys the room. People all dressed in exactly the same, some of them ate alone, some ate with family or friends. Thats when he saw him. Through the sea of people wearing grey, he saw a man in white. Sat eating with other people in grey. He recognised him. His hair was buzzed down to his scalp, which wasn't his usual haircut, but his face. It was definitely him.

"Are you okay?" Kalvin asks.

Finnick gets up from his seat and walks across the cafeteria, ignoring Kalvin's call to come back. Finnick approaches the table and sees more faces he recognises. A petite blonde girl with a child on her lap, who was holding a baby spoon and tipping more of his meal on himself than into his mouth. Opposite her, a tall young man with brown curly hair, he'd grown into his features since Finnick last saw him.

The man he initially saw looks up and see's him stood there, staring at them all. He smiles widely.

"Finnick Odair," He says, standing up, he walks over to him.

"Michael Riverthorn," Finnick replies. The man pulls Finnick into a hug.

"Finnick, you can't just run off-" Kalvin begins but pauses when the two men stop hugging.

"Mickey, this is my friend Kalvin," Finnick says, "Kalvin, this is Mickey Riverthorn, from Dist- from home,"

"Oh, right, nice to meet you," Kalvin says and Mickey shakes his hand.

"Is...Is she here?" Finnick asks, his eyes stinging as tears threatened to spill.

"She's not, Talia doesn't eat with us, she eats with her team...Thats not her choice though, I know she'd rather sit with us," Mickey says, "But she's not here...She normally comes to see us before she goes and eats...I heard they took her to District 4 today,"

"District 4..." Finnick mumbles. He looks down at his feet. He wondered what they were making her do.

"Would you like to join us?" Mickey offers, gesturing to the table.

"If you don't mind?" Finnick asks.

"Of course not, you can sit beside Freddy," Mickey says.

Kalvin nods, watching Finnick sit down beside Freddy before going to fetch their abandoned trays of food.

"I can't believe you've not seen Talia yet," Mickey says, "I think its wrong that you didn't get to see her, even when you were better,"

"My doctors thought it best not to," Finnick sighs, shrugging, "I don't know if they were right, but I can't change the past now,"

Kalvin places Finnick's tray down before taking a seat himself.

"How are you, Penny?" Finnick asks the woman besides Mickey, who was trying to keep Samson from spilling anymore food.

"I'm doing better, I'm eating solids again now, rather than having to have everything through a drip," She says, pointing out the tray in front of her, "Its going slowly, but I know I'll make it,"

"Thats good, I'm glad, and Samson is all okay?" Finnick ask, smiling at the little boy who looked over at him at the mention of his name.

"He's the best little boy, he's always so cheerful...He's what kept me going, you know, when we were trapped," Penny says.

Finnick frowns, "Trapped?"

Kalvin's eyes blow wide- Finnick didn't know Talia's family had been kept in the Capitol. He goes to speak, to turn the conversation down a different path, but she's already spilling the story.

"You know, stuck in the Capitol...They came for us the night Katniss blew the arena to pieces, they took us all, shoved us in vans and took us to the Capitol...Denise and Gregory are still there...In comas...Talia tried to get us all out, but Rossan got shot and Jamie had to drag her out—"

A lump forms in Finnick's throat, "Talia went to the Capitol?"

"She saved us," Mickey says, "She did her best to get us out, mum and dad included, but they were hooked up to all these machines...It was impossible,"

"Finnick-" Kalvin whispers, placing hand on the mans arm.

Finnick shakes his head, "I'm okay,"

"I'm sorry...I thought you would have known," Penny says softly.

"Its okay...I'm okay," Finnick mumbles, he reaches inside his pocket and takes out the rope. He fashions a knot, takes a deep breath and places it down on the table before him. Then he eats his meal in silence.

The hovercraft door opens and the team step out, Talia removes the gun from around her body and places it back on the rack alongside the rest of them.

"If we hurry we might make the last call for dinner," Henry says. Talia wasn't feeling too hungry, but she knows should probably eat. After all, she was eating for two now.

She looks at the crew surrounding her. Jim and his fake leg and eye patch, Alana and her scar, Henry and Jamie were joking with each other. They felt almost like a second family. She wonders if her real family had missed her today, usually she saw them every day for dinner- though she was never allowed to sit with them for long. Freddy was still resentful towards her, he didn't speak a word to her when she would go over to them. He couldn't understand how she had left their parents behind.

Henry and Jamie lead the way to the cafeteria, both of them still laughing and joking about something Talia had no interest in. Alana and Jim were quietly discussing the events of the day. District 4 had been a strange experience. Talia hated seeing her home so ruined and broken, but seeing those people, watching them salute her and cheer for her. It had hit something different in her heart. She was loved, she was looked up to- she was their only hope.

The elevator reaches the cafeteria and Talia pauses once she's out of it, scanning for her family. They were sat at the usual table. Mickey's head lifted and smiled. He sent her a wave and she smiled and waved back. Then her eyes were drawn along the table. Kalvin sat there, eating his food. Her lips fall apart. He was there. He was sat there, his back to her, eating a meal with her family.

She see's Mickey say something across the table and his head turns. Finnick looks right at her. Her eyes water and she begins to cross the canteen towards him. He stands up immediately and rushes towards her, she can't read the expression on his face as he runs to her. She braces herself, and then she's up, in his arms, her body crushed against his, one hand under her thigh as her legs wrap around his waist and the other on the back of her neck, feeling her hair.

"Its you, its really you," He whispers as she sobs. Her hands run through his hair as she holds him.

"I love you, Finnick," She whispers through her tears. He hugs her tighter.

"I love you too, Talia," He says. Finally, he sets her down on her feet and the two of them take a minute to look at each other. He places a hand on her cheek and smiles softly, his eyes full of tears.

"I thought you were dead," He whispers, "I thought you were dead and that I'd lost you forever,"

"I'm here, I'm right here," She says softly, placing her hand over his, "I see you,"

He nods, a tear sliding down his cheek,
"And I see you,"

______________

Yeah boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

i hate that this book is coming to a close. like i love writing Talia and Finnick :((((((

honestly might make another Finnick fic, or at least another THG fic!
Lemme know if you'd read another fic

Thanks for the support as always & i hope you enjoyed this chapter !!!

~cupidlies❤️