WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE THIRD BOOK! Do not read if you have not read Mockingjay.

Cato moaned as he opened his eyes tiredly. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was begging Katniss to shoot him and end his misery. If he was still alive, then that obviously hadn't happened. What had happened then?

Where was Katniss?

…On second thought, where was the arena? Where the heck was he?

He sat up and winced at the pain in his body. He glanced around and noticed that there was an older woman who was crouching in front of a fire nearby.

She turned and set pale blue eyes on him, making him uncomfortable. Her dark hair was streaked with gray, but she didn't look old. In fact, she looked to be only in her mid-forties.

"Where am I?" Cato croaked. He licked his dry and chapped lips, trying to figure out where he was by his surroundings.

The woman smiled and stood up. She moved with a grace that made Cato wonder what District she had come from.

"You are in the woods outside of District 13," she replied softly. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've gone to hell and back," Cato answered. He groaned as he shifted on the bed he was on. The woman held out a well-manicured hand.

"Stop moving," she commanded. "You just healed, but you will open your wounds if you push it."

"What happened?" Cato inquired, leaning back against the pillows. "And who are you anyways?"

"My name is Nina Serafina. I saved you before the Capitol could get to you."

"What happened to me though?"

Nina smiled a little sadly. "The mutts nearly clawed you to death. Katniss Everdeen was not able to kill you with her arrow, and you just went into a coma."

"How did I get here?"

"I brought you here when I found you. I nursed you back to health, and it took me quite a while. You've been out for nearly a year and a half."

"What?" Cato shot up and instantly regretted it as pain flared up and down his sides. "I've been out for how long?"

"A year and a half. You missed the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games." Nina walked over to a dresser in the corner of the room, and Cato realized that the entire apartment wasn't very well-furnished. There was the bed, a dresser, and a desk on one side of the room, and on the other there was a door he assumed led to the bathroom and then there was a couch and coffee table.

"What happened? It was the Quarter Quell, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was."

"Well?" Cato was starting to get aggravated at the woman in front of him. "What happened during the Games?"

"Oh, Katniss and Peeta went back in, Peeta got kidnapped, Katniss was brought to District 13, and now there is war going on with the Districts against the Capitol."

Cato blinked. Wow. That had happened all while he was unconscious?

"Actually, now that you're awake, you should go talk to Katniss. She should be up and about at this time," Nina said thoughtfully, reaching into a drawer of the dresser. She pulled out a gray uniform, glancing at something inside before handing it to Cato.

"Why should I go see Katniss?" Cato questioned, frowning angrily. He did not take the outfit.

"Because you need to sort out your feelings for each other before you go fight."

"Who said I had feelings for her?" Cato exploded, jumping out of the bed. "Oh, man, not a good idea," he gasped as his arms wrapped around his torso.

"Told you," Nina muttered, smirking. "And I know these things."

"Fine, I'll go talk to her," Cato snarled, grabbing the uniform from Nina. He pulled it on carefully, wincing as the rough fabric rubbed against his wounds. "Where is she?"

"She should be either in the kitchen area or her room. I can take you there," Nina offered. Cato rolled his eyes.

"How else am I supposed to get there?"

She led him out of the room and into a brightly lit white hallway. He closed his eyes tightly, wishing that it was a little darker, especially because he was still recovering from the fact that he was alive.

They walked for a long time, never seeing anyone else. Cato was starting to sweat a little, not used to walking after being still for so long. He honestly didn't know how he was still walking, because the last thing he remembered was the fact that he was being mauled by bear-like dogs and there was barely a scrap of flesh unscathed.

"Here we are," Nina announced, stopping in front of a white door, matching the rest of the white hall. "This is her room."

Before Cato could argue, she knocked loudly on the door. It took a second before Katniss answered it, and when she did it seemed that she was in a bad mood.

"What?" she hissed, before her eyes landed on Cato and she gasped. "W-what are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead!"

"You think I don't know that?" Cato asked, rolling his eyes. Katniss glared at him.

"You know, maybe I should've shot another arrow at you."

Nina pushed the couple away from each other, smiling. "You two have to sort out your differences. I will explain what happened to Cato then."

Katniss grumbled to herself as she stepped to the side to let them in. Cato collapsed on the couch heavily, letting himself show weakness as he tried to recover. Katniss glanced at him, worry shown in her gray eyes briefly before it was covered by the hatred.

"Explain," Katniss said, sitting down on the coffee table. Nina leaned against the wall.

"When I was stumbling through the woods I happened upon the arena. I was able to find Cato, and discovered that he was still alive, barely." Nina tilted her head to the side. "I brought him back to District 13, where I healed him and took care of him until he woke up-today. I knew that he wouldn't understand what was going on, and I knew that you two had some…unfinished business. I brought him here."

"How did you even find my apartment?" Katniss asked, scowling as Cato shifted on the couch. He smirked.

"I have my ways." Nina smiled to herself, looking off into the distance. She shook her head, bringing herself back. "Any questions?"

Cato lifted his head. "What were you doing in the arena?"

"I was on a mission for District 13," she answered.

"How is District 13 even here?" Cato asked, dropping his head. "Wasn't it destroyed when the Capitol blew it up?"

"No." Katniss looked up from staring at her hands. "Remember that video they would show of District 13? They used the same footage over and over again. District 13 was never destroyed. It just moved underground."

"So…" Cato stared up at the ceiling as he tried to take all of this in. "We're in District 13."

"Yes."

"And I'm alive."

"Yes."

"What happened to Peeta then?"

Katniss fell silent, gazing down at the floor. Cato frowned.

"He was kidnapped by the Capitol," Nina replied. "There was a team sent out to retrieve him, but they were not able to. Another will be sent out when we have the men to do so."

Katniss jerked up, and snarled, "We shouldn't be wasting time! We need to get him before the Capitol decides that they don't need him anymore and kill him!"

Nina's kind smiled faded into a grimace. "We can't do anything about that, Katniss. President Coin will not let us risk the men to get Peeta when he might be beyond reach."

"He will not be beyond reach! We can get him back and he'll be fine," Katniss argued, but she was sounding less sure of herself.

Cato sat up and groaned, wondering why he had agreed to move when he was clearly still in need of rest. Katniss glanced over at him and grinned, plopping down in the vacant seat.

"Wait, so what exactly happened in the last Hunger Games?" he asked.

"It was the Quarter Quell. The special thing they did was that they chose from the victors of the Districts," Katniss explained, now gazing at the wall. "Peeta and I went back in, and we made some new…friends, I guess you could say. We were preparing our trap when Johanna Mason cut the tracker from my arm and I was brought to District 13. Peeta was kidnapped and brought to the Capitol. I haven't seen him since."

"Sucks for you," Cato muttered. "Looks like Lover Boy can't love his girl from the Capitol. Poor you."

"Shut up, Cato." Katniss glared at him. "Anyways-"

"What happened after the Games?" Cato interrupted.

"Huh?" Katniss stared at him for several seconds before understanding. "Oh, the Gamemakers called the whole two tributes can win rule off, but we were so 'in love that we couldn't live without each other' that we decided to die with nightlock. They did not agree with that, and they let us both live."

She snorted. "That of course led to uprisings in the Districts and now we're in District 13, where we are fighting a war I feel that we cannot win."

"Okay, I need time to digest all of this." Cato said. "How about I sleep on it and we'll talk later."

He closed his eyes before remembering that Katniss was next to him. He opened his eyes again and stared at her until she looked at him.

"What?"

"Can you move so I can sleep?"

"What?" She turned to stare at him. "This is my couch!"

"So?' He looked down at his body. "I'm injured. I deserve special treatment."

"No you don't."

"Katniss," Nina said gently. "Let him sleep here for the night. He won't be able to make it back to my apartment, and President Coin doesn't know he is awake yet. He doesn't have an apartment of his own."

Katniss sighed and glanced at him one last time before standing up. "Fine," she muttered, stalking over to the dresser. She opened the last drawer and grabbed a blanket, tossing it over the couch to Cato. "Sleep quietly."

He smirked and stretched out, spreading the blanket over his body. He fell into a dreamless sleep very quickly.

A/N: So I just saw the Hunger Games again with Katie, and we became kind of obsessed with CatoKatniss stories. We decided to write one of our own, and this is the product. This is sometime before they get Peeta, I guess. Review?