Author's Note: I am so, so sorry about the delay! First I had a horrible cold and then there was the holiday weekend where I wasn't anywhere near my computer. But here it is, the last chapter for the story! And FYI, italics denote memories. I hope you enjoy!

Gale had rushed to his feet when Katniss dragged the chair to the door. No one else moved.

Then she'd pulled out the keys to Peeta's handcuffs. That got a response from everyone in the room.

Mrs. Everdeen and Effie gasped.

Haymitch muttered something about needing "just one more damned drink."

Boggs had to restrain Gale when he'd made a break for the door.

Finnick and Johanna shared a smirk.

"It's going to be fine," Prim spoke over them all. She watched as Peeta unzipped her sister's dress and then they were wrapped up in each other, Peeta whispering so low that the sensors couldn't pick up a word. "We're all going to be fine."

Katniss smiled, tears falling from her eyes as Peeta whispered in ear and they relived their last night before the 75th Hunger Games.

Peeta was so shocked at her request to join her in the shower that all he could do was gape. She had to reach out and pull him to the bathroom. Neither of them spoke as they undressed and slipped into the shower stall.

Katniss smiled as the hot water rained down on their bodies. When she'd invited him to join her she'd been so nervous but clearly he was too. He hadn't even looked at her and yet the back of his neck and ears were flushed red.

But she'd already made up her mind about how she wanted to spend what might be their last night together and even though she couldn't say the words she could damn well show him.

So, Peeta's back turned towards her, she soaped up a washcloth and gently ran it across his shoulder blades. He jumped at the contact.

"Katniss, what are you doing?" Peeta asked, his voice strangled.

"Helping you wash up. Now hush." She brought the cloth down his arms, over his buttocks and down both legs, not treating the prosthetic any different since she knew it was made to handle all elements.

"Now I need to do the front," she whispered.

"You really, really don't ha"

"But I want to." And Katniss turned him to face her. He looked above her head instead of at her body but, unlike during their first games when she'd tried her hardest not to look, she let her eyes wander over every inch of him.

Then she started soaping up his shoulders, lingering over his chest and abs then avoiding the one place she suddenly realized she was very curious about. He sighed when she dropped the cloth without touching him there and she knew he was disappointed but hadn't expected her to touch him there.

"Are you going to return the favor?" she whispered.

Peeta finally looked her right in the eye in surprise and then his gaze fell lower and lower as though he couldn't help himself once he started. "What…what is it you want me to do?" he stammered, his eyes glued to her bare breasts.

Katniss didn't say a word, she just soaped up another washcloth and put it in Peeta's hand. Then she guided that hand to her shoulder, barely an inch away from where he couldn't stop staring. When she dropped her hand he continued from there, washing her just as she had him. There was tenderness but he didn't linger over her intimate areas.

They helped each other wash their hair and it might not have led to anything more. Then Peeta slipped right when they went to step out of the shower stall.

Katniss automatically reached out to help steady him and next thing she knew her back was pressed against the wall of the shower and Peeta was somehow pressed against her front.

They both froze at the contact and Peeta looked at her with wide eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered and stepped away. He didn't say anything else as he carefully stepped out of the stall, pulled the towel off the rack, and wrapped it around his waist.

Katniss couldn't help but blush and smile as she reached for her own towel. She knew why Peeta had apologized and it hadn't been because he'd tripped and taken her with him. It had been the fact that he'd very much enjoyed the shower, so much so that she'd felt it against her belly when they'd hit the wall.

She quickly dried off and followed him into her room, her mind racing. Suddenly she wasn't so much nervous as she was electrified.

"Peeta?" she murmured, interrupting him just as he was about to pull on a pair of sleep pants he'd taken out of her dresser. There'd been a few of her outfits in Peeta's room and vice versa since day one.

Once Peeta turned to look at her Katniss dropped her towel and stalked towards him. She slid her arms around his neck and went to pull him into a kiss, huffing in frustration when he turned his head. "Don't you want me?"

"Not like this. Not if it's just because you know we won't both make it out of this alive," Peeta said. His voice was stern even as his hands gently traced patterns on the bare skin of her back.

Katniss moved a hand up to trace his jaw line, then applied enough pressure to guide his eyes to meet hers. This was the part that had been making her anxious ever since she'd first thought of it. The part where she'd have to use her words.

"Peeta, I don't have much experience with love except for how much it hurts. Watching my mom break down after my dad…knowing I'd rather die a million times over than see my sister in the arena. But Prim and you…you've also shown me that love can make you strong and I don't want to be afraid of it."

"Katniss, what are you saying?"

"I can't tell you that I love you," Katniss admitted. "But if we had time I know I could and I would but we don't. I just know that tonight I want to be with you."

Peeta searched her eyes and must have found whatever he'd been looking for because he dropped his head and captured her lips in a kiss.

That one kiss led to many kisses and caresses and afterwards Katniss stayed curled up in his arms awash in regret. Not at what they'd just done, she'd never regret that, but regret that she hadn't realized how important Peeta was until it was too late.

Peeta pulled away just enough to look at her face, searching just as he had that night. "How can you trust me to hold you like this when I forgot…and then I tried to choke you to death?"

Katniss gulped, staring into the blue eyes she remembered and not the cloudy haunted ones he'd been returned to her with. And she finally spoke the words she never thought she'd get to say.

And yes they were still in the middle of a war. They were still both broken (she was not naïve enough to think either one of them would ever be completely healed, not after what they'd been through) but she had hope.

"I love you. Always."