I was in the midst of feeding Jasper some food while everyone else lounged around the building we were taking cover in, windows blown in and rubble strewn over the floor, while some furniture stayed intact, with enough space for us all to sit on chairs and benches and to sleep when we Jasper perked up, hearing something that we couldn't, barking at the noise, and walking away from me and towards the entrance, the rest of the squad looking towards the border collie with their nerves spiked, wondering what he could be barking at. Then we heard the familiar sound of an engine running, and the sound of rubber rolling along the desolate streets of the Capitol.

"Is that Peacekeepers?"

We all started walking over to the entrance, weapons in hand to approach the truck while Jackson radioed over to check we were safe, "451 to base. We've got a truck coming in from the south. Over."

She must've got a reply and quickly called to us, "Stand down, everyone.
It's friendly."

Gale, Boggs, Katniss, Finnick and I all went up the steps while two men jumped out, going round to open the doors at the back of the truck. I gasped when I saw who had jumped out and shuffled over slowly, muttering to himself. As he got closer Katniss pulled back her bow string, pointing it directly at Peeta as Gale yelled for him to stop where he was. While the others looked to Boggs to see what we were going to do, I nudged Katniss' bow out the way to walk over to him, muttering to himself.

"Y/n back away!" Gale yelled. Peeta looked up, slightly scared, due to the many pairs of eyes burning into him.

"Hi," He breathed out, and I responded with my own greeting before he pulled me into a hug, like I was his lifeline and continued muttering the same thing over and over, 'I am Peeta Mellark. I'm from District 12.'

I returned the hug, rocking the scared boy back and forth to comfort him, shielding him from the hostility being thrown his way by Gale and Katniss. I heard Boggs order Jackson to cuff Peeta, and her approaching footsteps. Pulling away from the hug, I set and gentle kiss on his cheek, muttering small words of comfort to him, and then standing beside him when Jackson reached us, Peeta placing his wrists out slightly towards the Lieutenant as she placed the fabric cuffs on him.

"Soldier, this is just a precaution till we can get everything straightened out. Yeah?" Peeta nodded ever so slightly, and I rubbed his back, leading him into the building that Katniss had stormed back into. And while I had a calm exterior, on the inside I was pissed that Coin had sent Peeta here when he was clearly not emotionally or mentally ready to be in a war zone and could attack Katniss again. Gale had went in after and a few of the others had disappeared back inside. Finnick came and fell in line on the other side of Peeta as we walked down the steps.

"Thank you," Peeta mumbled, as I showed him to where I had claimed a spot.

"For what?" I asked, as I sorted out a few things in my bag.

"For everything."

"Y/l/n, meeting, now," Jackson called me over, the majority of the group staying sitting around the room.

I came to lean against a wall near to Boggs and Jackson, Jasper staying with Peeta, resting his head on his knee, a habit the dog always did when he was around Peeta, to make sure he wasn't in anyone's way but able to comfort the bakers boy after everything he went through.

"They want us to add him to the propo. Show that he's on our side now," Boggs stated, explaining Coin's plan, "We'll move forward a few blocks tomorrow and shoot the new footage."

"He's not in control of himself," Gale muttered, raising the issue of the elephant in the room.

"I say we schedule an around-the-clock watch on him," Jackson stated, looking to Boggs and then back to me, knowing that I would be able to confirm if it was a good idea after spending hours with Peeta's doctors and using my knowledge as a nurse and as his friend to help suggest ideas with them, "The Leegs till 1700, Homes and Mitchell till 1900."

"Sounds good," I nodded, "Finnick and I will be by his side during the day."

"Give me a watch."

I turned to look at Katniss, "Is that a good idea, for either of you?"

"And if it really came down to it, you think you could shoot him?" Jackson asked.

"I wouldn't be shooting Peeta," Katniss stated, without missing a beat, and Peeta stared at her from the other side of the room, Finnick's face hardening at the comment, "I'd be killing a Capitol mutt."

"Katniss."

"I'm not sure that kind of a comment recommends you for the job, either, soldier," Jackson said, and I agreed with her.

"Put her in the rotation," Boggs commanded, walking out with Katniss following.

I looked at Jackson and she gave me a look of disbelief, before heading over to her area. I walked away, back to Peeta, Jasper and Finnick, plopping myself down in front of Peeta on the floor, having placed a spare jacket on the floor to stop getting dust on my clothes. I noticed he was more closed off here than he was back in 13, and it wasn't difficult to sense his unease.

"You're not a mutt, Peeta," I told him, leaning my head against one of his thighs, "Your old self is returning, you're getting there with which memories are false and which are real, you do have moments where remnants of what Snow did to you shows itself, but you have being making progress. I have hope, and so should you."

He was silent for a moment, and Finnick nodded at the person opposite him, letting the baker know that he agreed with me, and Peeta mumbled another thank you, leaning down to plant a kiss on my head and Jasper came and rested in my lap.

*****

I was curled up on the floor, jacket on the floor, Peeta having moved to a spot where he could sleep, my head resting against his thigh again, in and out of a light sleep, before hearing his voice, speaking to whoever was on watch.

"We've been here before, you know."

"What?" Ah, that's who's watch it is.

"That look. I've seen that look," Peeta stated, staying quiet, trying not to wake anyone else up, "You're trying to decide whether or not you should kill me."

"I never wanted to kill you," Katniss disagreed, "And that's not what I'm doing."

"I saw it with my own eyes. In the first Games."

"In the first Games, I thought you were trying to help the Careers kill me," Katniss defended herself, and to be honest, in a situation like that, you probably would have thought that he was trying to kill you, "After that, I always saw you... as an ally."

"Friend, lover... Victor... fiancé," His voice got progressively louder as he continued listing words, "...enemy, target, mutt. And now ally? Yeah, I'll add that to the list of words I use to try to figure you out."

I had practically fallen back asleep at this point, wanting to let them talk in private, but had jolted awake when Peeta snapped at her. Looking around groggily, I saw a few others were waking up and Katniss looking at Peeta.

He placed his hands on my shoulders as best he could with his cuffed wrists, "I'm sorry. I just can't tell what's real and what's made up anymore."

"Then ask. It's what Annie does," Finnick cut in from where he had been sleeping, sitting up slightly.

"Ask who?"

"Us. We're your unit now," Jackson said, giving him a reassuring nod.

He paused for a moment, before speaking, "Your favorite color is green. Is that real?"

"Yeah. That's real," Katniss replied, "Yours is orange. Not bright orange.
Soft, like the sunset. And you love watching the sunset."

"Thank you."

"You're a painter. You're a baker. You always sleep with the windows open.
You never take sugar in your tea. You always double-knot your shoelaces," Katniss continued, remembering all of her friends habits and hobbies, quickly getting overwhelmed, and standing up, "You were right. I can't do this."

We watched as she walked away, sitting herself down by Gale and leaning back against the wall. Peeta turned back to Jackson, Finnick and I.

"I would take you to watch the sunset every other Saturday. Real or not real?" Peeta asked me.

"Real. We would only do it every other week because Snow was watching you, but you absolutely adored every moment, in awe of how beautiful the oranges in the sky were... You always said those were some of your favorite memories," I reminisced, a smile coming to my face at the memories, standing up and sitting beside Peeta, who nudged me with his shoulder, and let me rest my head on it.

"My favorite recipe was the y/f/t (your favourite treat) I would bake, real or not real?"

"Yeah, that's real," I nodded.

"Why?"

"I don't know, you never told me."

"He told me," Finnick piped up, "During the games. He told me it's because he would bake them when you were sad, and it would cheer you up. He told me that it was his favorite recipe because it was your favorite."

"Yeah... I remember that... We were on the beach, after the monkeys."

"That's right," Finnick nodded. Peeta smiled slightly, looking to me.

"Get some sleep, y/n/n," He mumbled, "I'll talk with Finnick."

"You sure?" I asked him, and he held out one of his hands slightly, and I interlaced my hand with his, the cuff getting in the way slight.

"I'm sure."

*****

The unit gathered around Boggs as we waited to get on with the day, "Listen up."

He turned around with a mag in his hand, looking at all of us before stopping to look at Peeta, "Mag's empty. It's only for the propo."

He handed Peeta the gun, and pulled out the holo, "Let's move. We're headed five blocks north."

I grabbed Jasper's lead and tightened my grip on my bow, walking alongside Holmes, Finnick and Peeta in front of us, where Finnick was helping Peeta learn a speech for the propo, the blonde from 4 grinning when the latter got it right.

We walked for a few minutes, pausing every now and then, Boggs requesting to let Japser see if he could sense anything, to which most of the time, he didn't, until we started walking down some steps to a courtyard.

"Boggs. This is a good spot," Cressida stated, her directing attitude taking over, "Through there, in the courtyard."

"Okay, let us clear it," Boggs nodded, and we followed him until the holo started beeping, signalling for us to stop, "Got a pod. Split. Take cover."

We all split off, somehow I got separated from Peeta and Finnick and taking cover next to Katniss, getting the special ear protectors for Jasper out of my bag that Beetee had made and putting them on, holding him close as we waited for Boggs to set off the trap, "Stay back."

Suddenly, loud bangs sounded through the air rapidly, and I cringed away, burying one side of my head into Jasper's fur, one of my hands going to the exposed ear and trying to block out the deafening sounds of machine guns, the bullets breaking the walls we were hiding behind.

"All clear," Boggs clear voice rang out once the sounds finished as suddenly as they had started, "Gale, Homes, with me. Leegs, take the wings."

As the 5 soldiers made their way down the path I felt Jasper tense up, and he barked, walking away and almost making me fall over since I had his leash in my hands. He barked towards something that was obviously in the court yard, and I knew instantly that something was wrong.

"Boggs! There's a pod-"

A massive explosion from the courtyard made the ground shake. As the dust cleared, I saw Boggs on the ground, and so did Katniss, who screamed his name and broke position. Jasper continued barking at something, but I didn't know what.

Holmes, Gale and Katniss all knelt by Boggs, the latter talking to him while the former desperately tried to stem the bleeding coming from Boggs' legs, which had been blown off in the explosion. I stifled a sob, as I saw Gale tell Holmes that it was no use, he was gone. Boggs was a friendly face throughout everything in 13, he was kind and smart. Perfect for his job. And now he was gone. Jasper let out a loud bark once again.

"Guys, watch out for any pods down there!" I yelled, wiping away a small tear. But one of the Leeg sisters didn't listen, rushing over to help her injured sister, stopping when something shifted under her foot.

The area then started to be closed off, and I sighed, "Oh for goodness sake."

Somebody yelled for everyone to run, and we did so, our legs taking us as fast as we could, I let Jasper run on ahead, so I wouldn't slow him down. In the chaos of everything, I felt myself be pushed by something, making me trip and fall. I turned around to see Peeta attacking Katniss, a body strung up in the air, covered in whatever black liquid we were running from. Katniss had been knocked into me, and I scrambled up to try and help her but got pulled away by Castor.

"Go! Someone else will handle it! Go help the Leeg!" He ushered me towards the building, someone shooting the glass to let us inside.

"Get inside! Everybody, inside! Go!
Upstairs! Go! Hurry up! Move!"

"Go! Go!"

I ran in the middle of the group, Jasper already having bolted up the stairs.

"Move! Keep moving! Keep moving to the top! Go!"

But we couldn't, they had destroyed the stairs. As soon as the injured Leeg sister had been placed on the ground, I started assessing her.

The oil started to slow down as I looked at the Leeg's injury, Holmes injecting Peeta with a sedative to calm him down, and Jackson trying to contact base. I made a quick scan of the room to check where Jasper was, and found him sitting at Pollux's feet.

"Hey, we better move. If Peacekeepers didn't know where we were, they do now," Finnick stated, his voice shaking slightly from everything that just happened.

"Those surveillance cameras caught us."

"451 to base. Come in."

"How we doing?" I asked the Leeg sister, who just groaned as response, "Eyes open, soldier, you gotta stay awake."

"This is a bad spot. We need to move now," Gale reminded us.

"451 to base. Over," Jackson tried again, "I can't get a signal. But I can get us back to base. Everdeen, give me the Holo."

Katniss didn't make a move to hand it over, still stating at it intently, "Everdeen, what did I just say? The Holo. Come on, let's go."

"Boggs gave it to me."

"What are you talking about?"

"He did. He transferred security clearance to her," Holmes defended her, "I saw him."

"And why would he do that?"

"I'm on special orders from Coin," Katniss said, and I paused for a moment, locking eyes with Castor who must've also sensed the lie.

"To do what?"

"To assassinate President Snow."

"I don't believe that for one second," Jackson replied, shaking her head. I tried to put as much pressure on Leeg 2's wound but there wasn't much else I could do at this moment, "As your new unit commander, I order you to transfer security clearance to me now."

"I can't do that."

Jackson pulled her gun on Katniss, and Jasper growled at her.

"Let's not lose our heads here," Gale stated, raising his crossbow at Jackson, Leeg 1 drawing on Gale while Holmes pointed his pistol at the her.

"I'm not asking you again, Everdeen.
Give me that Holo," Jackson ordered, her voice dangerously calm.

"She's telling the truth."

I turned to look at Cressida, having secured some gauze to Leeg 2's leg with some bandages to keep pressure on it.

"Plutarch wants it televised. He thinks if we could film the Mockingjay
assassinating Snow, it'll make The Capitol surrender before the casualties get too high."

I used a small rag I had in pocket to wipe my hands of any of the blood left on my hands from helping the Leeg sister.

"While we're arguing, there's 100 Peacekeepers on their way here," Gale stated, annoyance and a slight hint of fear in his voice.

"Boggs promised me that when the time came, you would help me," Katniss said.

Jackson hesitated, before reholstering her gun and sighing, "All right, soldier, Holo's yours."

Gale wondered over to the stairs and stepped onto the oil, before moving his foot again, analysing the blackened ground in front of him, "I don't think we're gonna leave any footprints. We should move now. And those cameras outside should be covered up by the oil."

"She can't move forward like this," I spoke up, "Her leg is too bad. We have to evacuate her. I'm sorry."

Leeg 1 went and kneeled down on the other side of her sister, "I'll stay with her."

"As soon as we make contact, we will send somebody back. I promise you," Jackson promised.

"I'll stay too," I said, "I've got medical training, I can look after her if it gets worse."

"No," Finnick shook his head from where he was standing near Peeta, who was drowsily leaning against the wall, "We can't lose another person, we need as many people with the squad as possible."

"He's right," Leeg 1 nodded, "I have enough basic training to look after her until support arrives."

I sighed, "Okay."

"All right, everybody, move out. Let's go!"

Everyone started moving, and Gale called back to Finnick, "Let's get him up."

"Can you walk?" Finnick asked Peeta, as he dragged him off the wall.

We all made our way outside, walking across the once green courtyard over to another building, tucked away in a corner, the building where the Leeg's were taking cover still visible from the luxurious Capitol home we were about to break into.

Making our way up the stairs, we came to an expensive looking living room, nothing like I'd ever seen before. We rushed to close the curtains while we all took a moment to look round the room. We then heard the sound of engines, and peeked through the curtains, looking as they positioned themselves to fire at the buildings the Leeg's were in... Where I could've been.