the only person in the entirety of District Thirteen that Peeta Mellark wants to speak to. The idea of Katniss being near his room made him uncomfortable and anybody else who came in simply tried to convince him that Katniss was not a bad person — all except one.

Elena has been about real and comforting conversation since he'd arrived, he isn't ready to give that up. So, every morning and then every night before bed, Elena goes and visits the blue eyed blonde and talks with him for an hour or two. Its about many different things — her home in four, his in twelve or any other topic that comes to light.

"Jay managed to find some chocolate for me today," Elena says to Peeta who smiles softly at her. "He wasn't supposed to give it to me but he didn't really seem to care,"

"I have almost forgotten what chocolate tastes like," Peeta responds quietly which causes her lips to quirk up into a smile.

"It's a good thing I saved you some then isn't it?" Elena speaks and she notices his face light up slightly in a happiness that is very rare for him these days.

Elena puts her hand in her pocket and pulls out a wrapped chocolate bar and breaks some off the end. She puts it to his lips and smiles when he eagerly eats it, enjoying the treat which are not seen much at all anymore. She feeds him the remainder of the treat before scrunching up the wrapper and shoving it back into her jacket pocket.

"How has your day been?" Elena asks when he has finished eating. "Haymitch said you were a lot better this morning,"

"I feel better. I'm glad you came early today, I can't deal with their empty words any longer," Peeta responds quietly. The boy has begun to physically heal - his bruises are losing their colour and the cuts are beginning to heal up, but it's evident that the psychological wounds will stick for the rest of his life. "They keep telling me about Katniss and I—"

"Hey, don't worry about that whilst I'm here okay. I'm not going to force you to talk about anything you don't want to,"

"Okay,"

As usual, a group of onlookers stand on the other side of the glass watching the interactions take place. Despite the fact it's evident that Peeta is perfectly content with Elena's presence, some of them have a hard time believing that he still won't be set off. All visits, no matter who is making them, must be under supervision and it irks Elena slightly. She wishes that her and Peeta could have some sort of privacy when they talk — so that they aren't taking note of every word he speaks. She doesn't trust they won't use it to manipulate him in the future.

"They want me to watch my games," Peeta comments suddenly and Elena lifts her eyes from their connected hands to look into his. "They think it will help with whatever has been done to my memories of Kat– of her. I don't want to do it,"

"Then you shouldn't have to. Tell them no Peeta, despite what they may think, you're a person and you have free will. They cannot make you do anything and if they do, I'll kick their asses for you," Elena speaks the last part with a small smile which he returns.

"I might have to take you up on that. Haymitch has been visiting more and I-I feel as if it's their objective to manipulate me into doing those things. S-she hasn't come to visit since I attacked her last time,"

"They're trying to give you some space from her. She won't come back until you're ready to see her,"

Katniss watches on the other side with pursed lips and her arms crossed over her chest. The fact he's so easy going with others, more specifically the blonde from District Four, causes her a great unease. That's her friend, once her lover, the boy who she was willing to die for in the previous games and now he's either scared of her or hates her.

Jace lays a gentle hand on her shoulder which causes her eyes to move to him. A sad smile appears upon his face as he tries to think of the right thing to say to her — if there even is one. Haymitch has been trying his hardest to assure her and yet it hasn't worked, why would his words.

"Her time is almost up," The District Twelve mentor says to the blonde's brother who nods his head. "We will have to talk to Coin about longer visits, she's doing Peeta more good than any medical treatment we've tried. She has to understand that," Haymitch concludes.

"I hate having to tell her she has to leave, she gives me those stupid sad eyes," Jace chuckles softly. "It'll be a lot better once he's allowed out of this room,"

"Hopefully it won't be too long," Katniss croaks as she watches Elena laugh at something. "Maybe she could stay with Elena, it'll do him well,"

"Staying with her? Yeah, fat chance," Jace scoffs.

Katniss rolls her eyes at him with the smallest hint of a smile on her face, the most she's been able to craft recently.

"Alright, it's time,"

Jace sighs and opens up the door which causes the two blondes to look over, frowns instantly taking over their features. Jace hates this part the most, Elena has always had trouble connecting with people and the fact he has to pull her away from somebody she is so close with - it hurts him too.

Elena looks back to Peeta and leans over, kissing his cheek gently before gently pushing some stray hair out of his face.

"I'll see you later, okay?" Elena's voice is soft and comforting as she speaks to him.

"Yeah,"

She goes to get up when his free hand reaches out and gently tugs her back. Elena looks down at him as he raises as much as he can, brushing his lips against her's lightly — this brings a blush to her cheeks. Jace leans against the doorframe and smiles at the two of them. Elena walks over to him, her face as red as a tomato as she replays what just happened over and over in her mind.

"Cute," Jace teases and she shoves him, the redness still on full display in her cheeks — seemingly not going anywhere anytime soon.

Thank you for stopping by! I'm sorry for the boring chapter but I wanted to do something a little different before we dive straight into part two.

Also, thank you all so much for 1k votes and over 16k reads on this story! Your support means so much!

Hope you enjoyed!