𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛.

●・○・●・○・●

Juniper and the rest of the victors and crew were sent back to Thirteen after The Nut was taken. Katniss was shot, but the bullet didn't even touch her skin, the vest took most of the impact. She was in the hospital.

Juniper felt tapping on her shoulder and she rolled over in the bed and faced Finnick. He was just smiling at her- making her smile back at him questioningly.

"What?" She asked. Finnick shook his head lightly but Juniper rose her eyebrows, wanting to know. He just shrugged. "Tell me!"

"I have nothing to say." He laughs. Juniper rolls her eyes and turns back over, facing away from him. She feels hands grab either side of her waist and pull her backwards so her back is against his body. He burrows his head into the side of her neck. Juniper laughs, raising her hand to resting it on the back of his head.

"You know, I never took you as such a... cuddly person." Juniper admitted, Finnick raised his head and kissed her temple, laying his head back down on the pillow.

"I'm full of surprises."

"I guess so."

The rest of their moments together were short lived when Juniper remembered she told the film crew she would help them with another propo. She groaned, getting up from the bed. She felt cold when she wasn't laying in Finnick's arms. He sat up straight and looked at her getting ready.

"Why do you always leave?" He whined jokingly, but Juniper knew some of it was truthful. Every time she left the room he would get upset in some way.

"So needy." Juniper shook her head, climbing over the end of the bed and facing him, giving him a quick kiss and backing away before his arms reached her again- Finnick frowned. "Don't worry, I still love you."

Finnick's frown grew into a big smile hearing her words. She started saying it a lot more often to him now, which always lit up his day whenever she did. 

"So, where are you going?"

"I told Cressida and Plutarch I'd film another propo with them, just explaining stuff that the Capitol did in Two and to me personally." Juniper shrugged, doing a few arm stretches and backing up to the door.

"Alright." Finnick laid his back down against the bed, but his eyes never left her.

"Do you have something to say to me before I leave?" She wondered, stalling. Finnick looked to the ceiling and narrowed his eyes, he eventually shook his head.

"No, I don't think so."

"Wow." Juniper put her arms on her hips. "Crazy, I think I'll sleep in my own room tonight-"

"Have fun!" Finnick laughed to himself. "I'll see you later, I love you." He gave her a small wave and she returned one, turning and leaving the room. Her face was definitely a bit of light pink, she didn't know if she would ever get used to those words.

Juniper made her way to the Conference room, where she told Cressida she would meet her. They weren't going anywhere special for the propo, probably just above the surface. She exited the elevator and walked into the room. She saw a few of the crew, Coin, Plutarch, Haymitch, and Lilo.

"Lilo!" Juniper smiled, her sister turned and immediately ran to hug her. The two sisters shared a short hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing! I was just telling them what I remember from the Capitol." Lilo admitted quickly, Juniper sensed there was something else and glared down at her sister. "And... I want to become a nurse."

Juniper smiled, putting a hand on her sisters shoulder. "I'm proud of you, I'm sure you'll do great."

"You're not mad?" Lilo said. Juniper looked at her in disbelief.

"No, I would never be mad at that. As long as you're safe." Juniper pointed at her and Lilo nodded, waving to everyone in the room and leaving. Juniper faced the people sitting at the table and sat across from Coin.

"Miss Plinth, glad you could join us." Coin smiled. Juniper gave her a fake smile back, she would never like her voice or her as a person.

"What's the plan today?" Juniper tapped her fingertips against the table. 

"Well, we want to hear your story." Plutarch spoke up after some silence. "Finnick, Cashmere, Katniss, Lilo, Amirah, and just recently Lennox had shared theirs." 

"Oh, alright." Juniper shifted in her seat, thinking back to everything the Capitol had done against her. She wondered what she would mention first and last, what she should leave out. "Would I be able to see the other propos, just to get a sense of what to say?"

Everyone looked at each other and nodded, not seeing the issue.

"Also, we want to get your opinion on something." Coin admitted, making Juniper glance towards her. She was surprised her opinion even mattered to the President at this point.

"We want to show the Districts and the Capitol that the victors here are alright, they are going on with their lives and not suffering." Coin spoke, Juniper rose an eyebrow. "We were wondering if you had any ideas?"

Juniper thought to herself for a few moments, she felt every pair of eyes on her in the room, but she was pretty stuck. She was good at figuring out battle strategies and quick-thinking to get out of bad situations, but she was stumped.

It was a bad idea to put Katniss and Peeta in the same vicinity, so that was a no go. Annie was still a bit shaken up, but she spent most of her time with Lennox and Mags to try and get better. Johanna was still in the hospital, but was going through some training. Cashmere spent most of her day just training, too- or with Lennox.

Now that she thought about it, Lennox and Cashmere seemed to be getting along pretty well which surprised her, but she internally shook her head from what she was thinking. 

"I would suggest just showing that we can move past traumatic things the Capitol put us through with each other, but everyone still seems pretty... traumatized." Juniper said, earning a few head nods. "Some of them have been doing good and spending time with each other, but it's weird to just follow them around with a camera on a normal day. It should be a special event or something."

Juniper gestured towards Plutarch, not really knowing if that gave him an idea of the sort. He went to say something, but shut his mouth and looked to Coin. 

"We'll talk about something and tell you when we think of anything." Plutarch smiled and nodded, Juniper did the same.

The next few minutes were spent watching propos. Juniper had seen some of them before, she was there when Lennox filmed his, which was heartbreaking to see him do. He kept on a strong face, but talked about the relationship that was taken from him and things Snow would have have him do. She had seen Katniss's many times, and saw Lilo's the other day. 

Lilo's was hard to watch, her fear was shown on the screen, too. She had to remember everything that had happened to her mentally. When Coin suggested Lilo speak up about her time in the Capitol, Juniper wanted to fight against it,- but Lilo volunteered to do it.

Finnick's propo was shot during the rescue mission to the Capitol. Juniper knew he was shooting a propo instead of Katniss, but she didn't know what of. She also never asked Finnick what he said in it. 

Juniper wondered if it was better knowing or not knowing.

"You can survive the arena, but the moment you leave, you're a slave." 

"President Snow used to sell me for my body. I wasn't the only one. If a victor is considered desirable, the president gives them as a reward or allows people to buy them for an incredible amount of money."

"If you refuse, he kills someone you love. So you do it."

"I wasn't the only one, but I was the most popular. Perhaps, the most defenseless, because the people I loved were so defenseless."

"To make themselves feel better, my patrons would make presents of money or jewelry, but I found a much more valuable form of payment."

The rest of the propo played, Juniper's hand was covering her mouth and she just stared at the screen in disbelief. She felt tears forming in her eyes, she attempted to blink a few times to get them to go away, but it was a challenge.

Cashmere's propo was the same, she had undergone the same treatment as Finnick. The entire room was pretty silent, nobody knew what to say. But Juniper hated all of the eyes on her. 

A lot of things made a lot more sense now. Finnick's parents, why he strived so much to protect Marina. Everything seemed to click in her head.

Juniper knew every victor had undergone something, she just didn't know... that.

"Miss Plinth?" Coin said, breaking Juniper out of her staring. Juniper looked to Coin and nodded, taking a deep breath and standing.

"Yeah, let's make this quick?" Juniper asked, her voice was quivering but she stayed strong and confident. The film crew led her out of the room and started walking down the hallway to the filming room they used for some of the other propos. 

Juniper felt a hand on her back and flinched, but she saw Haymitch. He gave her a small smile and walked beside her.

"I'm guessing that was your first time hearing some of those things?" Haymitch asked, Juniper nodded her head gently. His hand moved to her shoulder and he pulled her in for a side hug. 

When the arrived to the room, she stood in the small set and began speaking on her experiences, but everything she had heard from Finnick's was stuck in the back of her mind. 

Juniper spoke of Snow forcing her to kill Capitol rebels, attempting to force a marriage upon her, his threatening towards her family. 

Her stomach hurt. She finished her propo, but the walk back to the room was tiring.

Nothing she had heard would change the way she felt about Finnick, she would love him no matter what. It just made her sick to her stomach that he had to endure that and she didn't know, he had to go through that all by himself for so many years. Juniper seemed to realize the small details, the Capitol stylists always putting him on display, the amount of people yearning for him. It all slipped by her before, she even made comments towards him about his Capitol lovers. 

She arrived in front of the door she was looking for and put her hand to the door. Finnick had told her multiple times she didn't need to knock, but this time she did. His voice called from inside and she slowly opened the door.

"You're back!" His face lit up and she smiled at him, but her eyes were stuck to the floor. She went into the room and shut the door behind her and walked to the bed. She took her shoes off and placed them on the floor to the side of the bed. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Juniper rose her eyes from the floor and looked at his face. He seemed a bit worried. "Nothing, nothing. I'm alright." 

Finnick stayed quiet but she sat on her side of the bed. She tucked her feet under the blanket but just sat with her back against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Something's wrong." Finnick sat up himself, sitting next to her. "What happened?"

Juniper stayed quiet, debating on if she should even tell him the new information she had found out, but she didn't want to keep anything from him. She slowly turned her head to him. Finnick noticed her glassy eyes and immediately pulled her in for a hug. The two stayed silent.

Juniper didn't know why she was so upset. It was something that happened to him, not her. But it still hurt her.

"I just filmed my propo." Juniper cleared her throat, Finnick pulled away from her but kept a hand on her back, rubbing it gently. "I saw the others, too."

Finnick seemed to realize what she was hinting towards and his heart sunk slightly, he sighed but gave her a small smile.

"Are you okay?" Juniper's voice cracked asking. "I'm sorry I never asked it before. I never thought about what you went through- and I'm sorry if I-"

Finnick placed a hand on her cheek and leaned forward, kissing her. He stopped her from rambling and their lips molded together perfectly, but it was short lived. He pulled away but his hand remained on her face, his thumb wiping away some of her tears.

"I'm okay, because of you." Finnick said. Juniper looked into his eyes, trying to figure out if he was lying- but he was telling the truth. "Yes, it was hard getting through. It's been my life for years, it's something I'll never forget. But the only reason I've been doing okay is because of you."

Juniper smiled and he laughed a bit, but his face formed back into worry.

"This won't... affect us, right?" He wondered. Juniper immediately shook her head.

"No, no, of course not. I'll love you, always." Juniper's statement caused him to smile, and he wasn't able to get rid of it. "I just want to make sure you're comfortable." 

Finnick's heart melted, he loved her. He loved her so much. He had fallen, hard.

"I love you." Is all Finnick spoke. Finnick wanted to be with her forever. If Finnick wasn't with Juniper, he felt as if all hope for him would be gone.

"I love you, too."

"How are you doing, though?" Finnick asked, tilting his head slightly. "I know doing those videos can bring back some memories."

"I want to be honest with you, not good." Juniper laughed to herself, wiping a tear that fell from her eye. She looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath, looking back down at him. 

"You know about the killings he had me do." Finnick nodded. "He forced me to marry, too. At least, he tried to. He set me up with someone and had us.. be together. He was someone from the Capitol, he wasn't bad. I didn't want to marry him though, that's when Snow killed my abuela." 

Finnick's heart broke a little, remembering the argument they had between the two of them and Lilo before the Reaping for the quell. 

"I'm sorry." Finnick whispered, Juniper shook her head. 

"It's okay." Juniper said, she moved her legs to the side so the dangled off the bed, her toes barely touching the floor. "I just didn't want to marry him. My Mamá always said to marry someone you love, I didn't love him. I thought after that I wouldn't know what true love felt like, I thought nobody would love me, like I missed my only chance. Snow put that into my head."

Juniper smiled to herself and grabbed Finnick's hand, interlocking their fingers.

"But you changed things, I want to be with you forever, Finnick."

Juniper's heart ached- in a good way. She finally believed she had a chance with someone, someone who loved her and she loved them back. Finnick held her hand a bit tighter. Finnick tilted his head slightly and looked to her lips, a breathy laugh escaped from her lips and she leaned forward, kissing him. 

Their hands parted and Juniper moved her hand up to the back of his neck, his hand moved to the back of her head, playing with her hair slightly. Finnick smiled into the kiss and the two of them pulled away slowly, opening their eyes and just keeping their eyes connected.

"June." He whispered. The two seemed to be communicating with their eyes in a way, Juniper wanted him to continue his sentence, but he didn't know if he should. "You're the one I've been waiting for my entire life."

Silence sat between the two. Juniper's lips formed into a smile, she knew what he was going to say. He knew what he wanted to say.

"I want to marry you." 

●・○・●・○・●