Forty

                                    

                                          
The rest of their wedding was perfect. Marissa hardly even noticed the cameras there and when the celebrations and dancing finally ended, Finnick and Marissa got to spend the night to themselves. They were exhausted from the busy day so they just helped each other get ready for bed and lay in each other's arms until they eventually fell asleep. Marissa couldn't have asked for a more special way to end her wedding and Finnick didn't want to get out of bed the following day and instead chose to hug Marissa close to his chest for hours. 
"If you could have chosen to go on a honeymoon, where would you have chosen?" Marissa had asked Finnick curiously as he played with her hair in the silence of their room in District Thirteen. He thought for a moment before he smiled softly and kissed her forehead
"I would've just wanted to be with you," he replied and Marissa struggled to hide her grin. "What about you?"
"I would just want to be in District Four with you. We could've spent all our time at the beach or in our home," Marissa told him. "It's where we live and, it's where we first met. It would've been perfect." 
"Well, as soon as this is all over, we'll have a second honeymoon."
"I would like that. Two honeymoons, how spoilt of us," Marissa teased him, and he laughed.
"I think we deserve a break for a change," Finnick had said. "Something  for us to enjoy with nobody else and no ulterior motives." 
Unfortunately, Marissa and Finnick do not get the luxury of a break. The next day, their little honeymoon is cut short by the announcement that District Thirteen are fighting in the Capitol in three weeks. Marissa and Finnick are then thrown into the training programme for the soldiers of District Thirteen and have to prove they are able enough to join the fight but, luckily, Mira is helping them get up to speed with District Thirteens' way of doing things. 
"I'm exhausted," Marissa sighs as she and Finnick sit down for lunch with Annie, Mags, Mira and Delly (a survivor from District Twelve). They've just finished more training and were pleasantly surprised to see that they had proper beef stew for lunch and not the usual meals they are served. 
"I don't blame you," Delly responds kindly. Delly and Marissa are not close friends but, Delly is helping Peeta with his recovery as well as District Thirteen thought it would be good for him to see someone from his District. Marissa wasn't on board with the idea at first but Peeta seems to be making even more progress now so Marissa has started to warm up to her. 
"It's not that bad, love," Finnick says, squeezing her thigh under the table. "We've been through much worse."
"Trust me, you'll get used to it," Mira tells her older sister. "I've been training since we first got here."
Katniss, Johanna and Gale join them just as Marissa tucks into their stew and Annie demands that Finnick tells everyone the story about the time a sea turtle swam away with Finnick's hat. Marissa has heard the story a thousand times because it's one of Annie's favourite stories but, she laughs every time. She can still remember the look of surprise on Finnick's face when the turtle stole the hat out of his hands and sped away with it. 
"... and it was my favourite hat as well! Marissa bought it for me when we-"
Finnick stops speaking abruptly when he notices that Peeta is standing behind the empty chair at the table beside Johanna. There are two guards behind him as a precautionary measure. 
"Peeta! It's so nice to see you out... and about!" Delly says loudly. Marissa is pleased to see that Peeta has made enough progress for the District Thirteen doctors to allow him out and around Katniss so she smiles widely at him. He sheepishly smiles back at her and Finnick.
"What's with the fancy bracelets?" Johanna asks. Peeta is wearing cuffs around his wrists and he struggles to hold his lunch tray. 
"I'm not quite trustworthy yet," Peeta says. "I can't even sit here without your permission."
"Sure he can sit here. We're old friends," Johanna remarks. she pats the seat beside her and the guards allow Peeta to sit down. "Peeta and Marissa and I had close cells in the Capitol. We're very familiar with each other's screams." 
Annie covers her ears at the mention of the Capitol and Marissa sends Johanna an angry look as Finnick tries to comfort the frightened girl. 
"What? My head doctor says I'm not supposed to censor my thoughts. It's part of my therapy."
Everyone sits in uncomfortable silence as Finnick calms Annie down. Marissa pushes her leftover stew around with her fork for a while before deciding to intervene and try and alleviate some of the tension. 
"Did you guys know that Peeta made the cake at our wedding?" She asks with a smile. Most of the people at the table probably already know this and the ones who don't know probably don't care but she couldn't think of anything else to say. 
"It was really lovely," Delly praises Peeta brightly. Mags nods in silent agreement and Mira also compliments the baker on his cake. 
"Thank you, it was my pleasure," Peeta says quietly. The table falls into silence again and Marissa does not break it. The presence of Peeta does not usually bother her but with everyone present including Katniss and Gale, the mood is highly hostile. Peeta looks over at Katniss and Gale with a tightly clenched jaw. "So, are you two officially a couple now, or are they still dragging out the star-crossed lover thing?"
"Still dragging," Johanna rolls her eyes as she speaks. 
Peeta's hand's spasm into tight fists and then loosen quickly. Gale tenses beside Katniss as if he's waiting for Peeta to do something wrong. 
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself," Gale remarks simply. 
"What's that?" Peeta asks him. 
"You."
"You'll have to be a little more specific. What about me?"
"That they've replaced you with the evil-mutt version of yourself," Johanna answers for Gale. 
"Stop it, both of you," Marissa snaps at Gale and Johanna. "You don't know what it was like for him."
"Really?" Johanna raises her eyebrows at Marissa. "I don't know what it was like?"
"None of us do! We all experienced different things," Marissa reasons to Johanna. "And Gale, did you achieve what you wanted by insulting Peeta?"
Gale narrows his eyes at Marissa but doesn't answer. He instead turns to Katniss, "you done?"
Katniss gets up without another word and follows Gale out of the dining area. Annie finally calms down and removes her hands from her ears and Delly begins to lecture Peeta about treating Katniss poorly. Marissa wants to intervene as she knows it's not entirely Peeta's fault but he has been making progress with Delly's methods too so maybe it will help him overcome his hatred of Katniss. 
A/n: I am super motivated to be writing this story again as I'm sure many of you will be pleased to hear. updates may still be slow as I am at university right now but I will be writing as often as I can for you guys :)