Author's note

Hi everyone! Hope you like this chapter. I am going on vaction for two weeks, and I won't be updating during this time.

Chapter 3 – The interview

After the first interview Peeta and I eat lunch with our team. We will have some time off this afternoon, and therefore Peeta and I walk out on the roof, like we always do. We have the girls with us, and they are sleeping in their wagon. Peeta and I lie down, I look deeply in his eyes and he looks deeply in mine. I hold his hand, feeling the ring of metal around his ring finger. "I am so happy you made it back, Katniss" Peeta says. He smiles at me. I can't love myself, not when I know what I have done. I am a murderess. Nothing more than a horrible murderer. If I had killed people at home in twelve I would have been punished. Here I am a hero, a victor for doing so. "Can you still love me after all I have done?" I respond. "What do you mean?" He asks me. "I am a murderer Peeta. I killed people without thinking a second thought. I am a horrible person, Peeta. Can you still love me, after killing Finnick, Johanna and the other tributes at the arena?" I cry now. And he dries my tears. "You are not a horrible person, Katniss. You wouldn't have killed them if you weren't forced to, right?" He responds. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have killed anyone if I wasn't forced to. "And you know I can't stop loving you. You and the girls are my everything. Without you I am nothing. Without you there is no meaning in this life. You know that, Katniss" he continues and touch my cheek. And then I feel a force that make our lips meet.

That night I sleep in his arms, for the first time in a very long period. I feel safer than I have felt since the games started. But the nightmares haunt me. Gale, the boy who sacrificed himself to save me, sits with me in the woods outside district twelve is there. So is little Rue. So is Peeta. Willow and Acacia. Prim. Mother. Posy, Vick, Rory and Hazelle. Madge. Mark and Delly. They are all dead, or dying. I wake up screaming. And Peeta light a bedside lamp and make several attempts to calm me. "Katniss. Wake up, love. You are safe. You are safe." He says and takes my hand in his. "But Gale is not. He is dead, Peeta. He is dead." I cry. The tears are falling down my cheeks. "Love, I know. I know he is not here. And I am so sorry he is not. I know how much he means to you. And I know how bad you miss him, Katniss. And it is okay." He whispers back. "You are allowed to miss him, to be sad and angry. He was your cousin and best friend for years. And I can just imagine how hard it would be to lose someone that close. It is hard for me, and I did never know him as well as you did." He continues and gently dry my tears. "Thank you, Peeta" I sob. "For what?" He asks. He looks at me with those blue eyes. "For being you. For loving me, even if I do not deserve it. I love you so much, Peeta." And then he kisses me. And I kiss him back. Until I forget everything else but the fact that I am madly in love with this boy.

When I wake up I feel the warmth of his body against mine. The first thing I see when I open my eyes is his wonderful blue eyes and a bright smile. He leans over and kiss me and then he whispers that he loves me. I kiss him back, and tell him I love him too. The girls wake up, and they want to be picked up. I pick up Willow and change on her. I have not changed a diaper or fed them for weeks. And it feels like freedom when I finally can pick out her clothes, make her breakfast and even change her diapers. I put on a blue body, matching the blue color of her eyes. And white little pants and socks. Peeta dress Acacia in a pink body, and white pants and socks and make her some breakfast. They are almost three months now, and they grow a little every day. Time passes away too fast. I want them to be this little a little longer. I do not want them to grow up. The children of victors are never safe from the reaping and it have happened they have been picked before. To many times to just be an incident. And what wouldn't have been more fantastic, children of not one, but two victors in the arena?

The second and last interview is today, and I know that everyone in the whole country will see it. I get nervous, like always. But like last time, they want to show of both star-crossed-lovers in live television. Meaning I can have Peeta with me all day long. Cinna and Portia makes us ready for live television and then they are babysitting the girls for us. When they are ready with makeup and everything they dress me in a light blue dress, and Peeta in a suit in the same light blue color. Cinna helps me put on high heeled shoes, and Portia replaces Peeta's sneakers and put on nice shiny black shoes instead. She makes sure his fake leg is not visible and tie his shoes with a double knot. And then we are ready to go to the room where the interview will take place. Peeta offers me his hand and I take it. "Are you nervous?" he asks me and I nod. "But I am happy we are doing it together." I say and kiss him.

Caesar Flickerman directs us to the loveseat we sat in yesterday. We sit down. I sit in his lap, like I use to do at interviews. I hold his hand in mine, and he wrap the other arm around me. I kiss his cheek and then the interview begins. I hope it is an interview based on Caesar's questions this time. "So, since we did an interview about the games yesterday we won't talk about the games too much today." Caesar says and smiles. "But we all wonder, how do you both feel after the victory?" he asks us. I look at Peeta and show him it is okay if he would like to answer first. "Well, I am just very happy to have Katniss back. We are both a little tired and we are both in sorrow, since we lost a good friend and relative in this game. He was one of Katniss closest friends and the bond they shared was like the bond usually only sibling shares. He was a nice, caring, brave and loving person. And he volunteered to save both me and Katniss. I think he brought as much pride to our district as Katniss did when she won the quarter quell for sacrificing himself." Peeta says and I just look at him while he talks. I do not think I have ever heard him speak such good words about Gale before. I love him so much, and he officially honors my fallen best friend, who he was jealous of for years. "And you Katniss, how do you feel after the victory?" Caesar asks me and waits for an answer. "I am fine after all I have been through. Peeta is very supportive and understanding, since he knows how life is after a game. I am extremely tired and I am still in sorrow after my cousin's death. But I think I will be alright if I just get to rest and spend time with my family and friends." I answer and smile. Talking about Gale make me sad, since I miss him so badly. But I think they should know what they have done. What they did to their girl on fire. They should know they killed someone that was close to me. That the ones who are killed in the games have friends and family who will never be the same again. "Well, death is something you can't run from. And it is of cause very hard and sad for those who are left behind." Caesar responds, like he died from a disease or something. He says it in denial. He knows it is the capitals fault, but he does not want to admit it. "So, what are the plans for now, you have done it all so quickly. Peeta proposed at the victory tour for the 73th hunger games, you got married and pregnant last year and are now parents to two little beautiful daughters. All of this, and you are not even twenty years old yet. What are you going to do now?" He asks us. "Well, right now we will take care of the children and each other. And then we'll see what happens next, I guess" I say and smile.