Disclaimer: I'm not Suzanne Collins. All rights go to her!
*UPDATED*
We watch the sun fall slowly overhead. Watch as it disappears gradually under the Earth, waning sunlight in the far distance. Katniss' head is in my lap, grey eyes fixated on the sunset. I braid and unbraid small parts of her hair, just as I did so many years ago on the roof of the Training Center. In a way, it feels like I've zoomed back in time, to that very moment. This time, I'm free from the prospect of the Arena, and instead content with the occurrence of our future.
"I wish we could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live it forever." I whisper. My voice is soft and Katniss stirs gently in my lap. Her eyes meet mine. A small smile widens across her lips.
"Real or not real?" she says.
"Real," I murmur. "I said that to you on that balcony in the Capitol. I was just remembering that. You allowed it."
Katniss smiles and looks back at the sunset. "That seems so like it was a lifetime ago."
"That's because it was, in a way, Katniss.."
"Mommy, daddy! Look at this!" Little Rue shouts running towards us. My daughter. Our daughter. Rue's small hands are cupped in front of her. "Look what I got, look what I got!"
She approaches us with the widest smile spread across her face. I glance at Katniss. She chuckles. Her eyes are filled with joy.
Katniss sits up. "What is it?" she asks.
Rue tries not to smile, but nothing can hide the corners of her mouth from turning up into a grin. "Are you ready?"
Katniss says, "I'm ready."
"Are you ready, daddy?"
"I'm ready, Rue." I laugh.
"Okay then," she says. She looks from my face to Katniss'. The grin finally fully appears on her small face. Her blue eyes shine with happiness as she opens her hand and a bright orange butterfly flies out, launching itself into the air. It flies around our heads and we watch it until it makes it's way onto a small bunch of flowers on the outskirts of the meadow.
Rue's giggling on the ground. I look at Katniss and find that she's laughing too. Laughter. Happiness. I think back to the time of the Games, while we were all under President Snow's rule. How much happiness did we have then? Why had it not occurred to me then that every moment I spent happy, I spent it with Katniss. As with every happy moment now. Katniss. And now we have children to share it with.
The nightmares from the Capitol come and go, and I know they're going to be with me until the day I die. But whenever I have an episode, whenever the images of a shiny Katniss come into my head, I just let them pass. It's no use fighting them. The war inside my head will never cease, but it does have it's periods of peace. When I fall under, I keep in mind what I have waiting for me in real life, outside of my head. I have all the things I wanted. Children. Happiness. Katniss. Nobody can take that away from me now.
"Rue, where's Finn?" Katniss suddenly asks. Rue looks around the Meadow frantically.
"Uh, oh! Be right back!" she runs off. I hear Katniss chuckle once.
"What's so funny?" I question. Katniss points at a tree and I see Finn hiding behind it. He's about four years old now, while Rue is around six. He claps his hands and shows us a toothy smile, then disappears again behind the tree.
"He has your camouflage skills, Peeta." Katniss murmurs. I smile and gaze at the tops of the evergreen trees. It's funny how the trees look sodark against the warm sunset. The trees, Katniss's favorite color, the sky, mine. It's funny how the scene parallels us.
I watch as Rue walks by the tree Finn hides behind. I can hear her softly shouting, "Finn? Finn, where are you?" In a burst of excitement no longer contained, Finn squeaks and jumps out from behind the tree, clinging onto Rue's legs.
"There you are!" she shouts at last. "I found you!"
The two begin chasing each other around the Meadow, in a small, unfair game of tag. Rue is much faster than Finn, but even as a toddler, Finn is strong. He has my curly blonde hair, and the wind pushes it back as he runs.
Our children have the best of both of us. Rue with her mother's hair and my blue eyes. Katniss says she takes after me though, personality wise, and that she'll grow up and move people with words like she says I can do. She's right though, little Rue has the makings of a leader. Even in her early stages we can see that. Perhaps one day she'll even be the President of Panem. Finn, on the other hand, is clearly Katniss' child. He inherited her grey eyes and her hunting skill. A few days back, I looked out the kitchen window and saw him playing with one of Katniss' old bows. Not with the arrows of course, just the bow. All he was really doing with it was examining it, but after Katniss saw this she and commented that he'd make an excellent hunter. She told me that she couldn't wait to take him out in the woods and teach him how to hunt.
Frightening, how time moves so fast.
Rue definitely takes an interest in art. I can't help but swell in pride on that. When she's older, I'll teach her everything I know about painting. Maybe I'll even teach her a few frosting techniques.
It's these moments, these tastes of absolute perfect happiness, that make the Games almost worthwhile. Although nothing can ever get rid of the images, the nightmares that follow, those random times when a fellow dead tribute pops into our minds, what gets us through the day is the promise of tomorrow. Things will get better. And that the Games are finally, and forever, over.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please review, I'd just love that! *says in Effie voice*