You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

Maybe It Does

"You are so loved. Never doubt that."
– Unknown

...

"Have a delightful time with your family, Cora. You deserve it," Xena cheerfully bid her strawberry blonde friend farewell.

See you in a few weeks, Cora. Percy signed to the girl.

Cora said goodbye to her friends and left with Finnick and Ambrosia on the train back to District 4. The 68th Annual Hunger Games were in about four weeks and Snow was allowing the young Victors to spend those weeks at home. They would be back soon enough.

Cora and Finnick had spent almost the past year in the Capitol, pleasuring rich teenagers. Despite the fact that Cora felt she was losing a bit of her soul with each appointment, it had been going rather smoothly.

There were a few hiccups, as with any occupation. But the District 4 girl wasn't worried. Everyone got what they wanted in the end. Snow had no reason to be upset with her. Life was good. Well, as good as it could be for a child sex-worker with severe ptsd.

The sixteen-year-old girl rarely saw Reef anymore. Or Mauve. It was easy to avoid them when she was drunk out of her mind. It was easy to avoid them when she was living with Finnick. And, on the nights that simply living with Finnick wasn't enough to keep the ghosts at bay, Cora was always welcome to join the boy in his room. Nothing could hurt her when she was lying in Finnick's arms.

In fact, that's where she was currently. It was late and the two were cuddled up on a couch in the window section of the train, just watching the stars go by.

"Excited to be going back?" Asked the sixteen-year-old boy.

"Of course," replied the girl.

"But...?"

"Imagine how much everyone's changed, Finn. We're not a part of their lives anymore. Just people that show up every once in a while... What if everything just feels off?"

Finnick hummed. It was a thought that had crossed his mind too. Lyra, his little sister, will have turned ten while he was away. Cora's little brother Sean, too. And Blue, Cora's youngest brother, who was four when Finnick was reaped, would be seven now.

Sure, Ocean and Annie will have aged and changed as well. But it was the little ones, especially, that worried the Victors. They were missing their siblings' childhoods so that Capitol kids could live out their dark, pubescent fantasies.

"Maybe it has," Finnick said after a while. "Worrying about it won't change anything. We'll just have to show them that we haven't changed. We're the same Finnick and Cora that they remember."

"But are we?"

The conversation died after that. They weren't the same Finnick and Cora their families remembered. They had changed. And so, the teenagers cuddled closer into each other, Finnick's arms wrapping tighter around Cora. It was an instinct, by now, to hold each other when the world didn't seem fair.

...

It was a sunny day when Coral Newport and Finnick Odair arrived back in District 4. Their families, including Mags and Annie, were waiting for them.

Lyra had had a growth-spurt while they were gone, it seemed. The girl stood next to Sean, as always, but now a whole foot taller than him. Blue had grown a lot as well, now reaching just under Sean's shoulder.

Behind the littles stood Ocean and Annie, who had both matured over the year. The two looked like they were friends now, which was nice to see.

Mags stood behind all of them, significantly shorter than Ocean. Just as wrinkled and old as ever, the woman had tears in her eyes as her two Victors returned. Oh, how she loved them.

It seemed that the sixteen-year-olds' worries were all for nothing as Lyra ran up to them, pulling Sean along with her by the hand, and tackling them both in a hug.

"You got so big," Cora laughed, elated to be with her family again.

"Don't worry, Sean," Finnick assured with a smirk, "In a few years you'll be taller than Lyra all over again."

"No he won't!" Lyra hit her big brother, playfully.

"Yes, I will!"

Exiting the group hug, Cora made her way over to her youngest brother.

"Hey, Blue," the girl smiled and crouched down, opening her arms for a hug.

The freckled boy went into her arms with a small smile on his face.

That night, the eight all had dinner together. Cora and Finnick were eager to learn about everything that had happened while they were away. When asked about their time in the Capitol, Cora simply said that she and Finnick made two friends called Xena and Percy.

It was a good night. And it helped to remind Finnick and Cora that even time and distance can't change the fact that their family loved them. They will always be family. They will always be loved by at least six people.

...

...

...

——————————
A/N

And, with that, this section of the story comes to a close!

Thank you all for reading and I'll see you in the next section!!