A/N: Hey, I'm back!

Title: Four Times Peeta lied to protect Katniss, and one time he didn't

Rating: T

Warnings: Hints at character death, slightly dark

Setting: Post Mockingjay, disregards epilogue

Pairing(s): Katniss/Peeta

xxx

Ragged, screaming sobs fill your ears. They're muffled and coming from the closet. You look at the calendar. February 11th. What would've been Prim's fifteenth birthday. Slipping on your leg, you stumble over and open up the closet. Since this is the Victor's Village, the closet is large enough for both of you, but just barely. Katniss squirms against the wall, trying to block out the world, which includes you.

"Katniss." You tell her. "She wouldn't want you to live like this." You gather her in your arms, struggling as she kicks and screams against you.

"Katniss, it will be okay.''

It's a lie. Nothing will ever be okay again.

xxx

Tears hit the ashes of your childhood home, which also happens to be your family's shallow grave.

"Peeta?'' Katniss' voice can barely be called a whisper. But when combined with all the pain rushing through your head and your heart, it feels like the loudest shout the world has ever known. "Are you all right?"

"I will be."

You both know it's a lie.

XXX

Pain radiates through your skull. Dizzily, you touch your head, feeling blood. A wave of nausea sweeps over you and you retch into a sink briefly before rinsing your mouth out. Stumbling out the back door of your house, you quite literally bump into Katniss.

She speaks first. "Did you have a flashback?"

"No.'' She raises an eyebrow, expecting more than a simple answer. "I slipped on the stairs."

She doesn't suspect a thing.

xxx

Her screams wake you up. They fill the night, a chorus of haunting melodies chilling you to the bone as they escape from the sleeping woman beside you. Sleep still weighs down your eyelids as you turn and shake her awake, saving her from the tortures of her mind. Her eyes shoot open, darting around the room. Sobs tear through her body and she pulls herself as close to you as she can, clutching onto you, trying to prevent herself from slipping away into insanity. You hold her close, rubbing your thumb soothingly on her back.

Once she calms down later, she speaks. "Will they ever go away?"

You know she's speaking about the dreams.

"Yes," You lie. "I think that they will go away, someday, when the world is more stable."

Even after all this time, you still protect each other.

xxx

"Peeta!" Katniss' voice is full of joy as she runs, little Willow in her arms, to meet you as you step off the train.

You kiss her before pulling away to coo at your daughter. "How's my little lady?" Little, she is indeed. At only two months old, Willow already clearly has her mother's temperament and your looks. You pick her up out of her mother's arms before grabbing your suitcase with your free arm, which Katniss clings to.

"How was your check up?" She asks as you three set off.

You glance around the crowded train station. "We should talk in private." Tears are already pooling in your eyes.

Katniss stops and forces you to look at her. "What's wrong?" She asks, worried.

"I- I'm dying." There is no point in denying the truth. Lying won't protect her from this.

Katniss knees shake. "Wh-what?"

"I have cancer."

It will never be okay.


A/N: I would really enjoy a request or two :) I hope you enjoyed it!