It's Thursday! That means there's a new chapter! I may not post every day, but do know that come Thursday, there wil be a new chapter posted! Anything before or after is an added bonus!

I'm loving the Reviews! You guys are great. I'm so glad you liked the story. I told ya'll if I owned Hunger Game's it'd have ended differently.

Until we get to that, enjoy!

-thamockingjayandpeeta

Katniss stormed into my place, up to my bedroom, not even bothering to knock, a few days after the dandelion incident. I wondered how she had gotten in, as I had made a habit of locking my door. I must have forgotten to this time.

Seeing her makes me sad, because she looks a mess, and I know it's my fault. I abandoned her, and the book, and I've never done that before by choice. Still, I can't give in, because she's safe this way. She's safer away from me.

"What do you want?" I asked her, making sure my voice was cold.

Why was it so easy? Maybe because I had had a flashback, just that morning.

"Say what you need to say, because this stops, right here, right now." Her voice was just as cold, just as brittle as mine, only hers was shaking with anger.

"What stops right here and now?"

"You. Me. Us. Whatever the issue is. We have it out, right now, because I'm so tired. So tired, Peeta."

"Tired of what?" I challenged.

"You shutting me out! You don't get to shut me out."

I wasn't quite sure what I thought she'd say, but that wasn't it. Suddenly I didn't have to make myself angry anymore. The anger came, full force. "You're talking to me about being shut out? You? You're not just the Darling of the Capitol. You're not just the Girl on Fire. You're not just the Mockingjay. You're the queen of shutting people out. Don't like the taste of your own medicine?" I can see Katniss get angrier and angrier as I speak, but I continue. I think of everything she's ever done and spit fire at her. I'd say anything to get her to leave, to see she's better off without me. "Swear to God if we were really married, I'd ask for a divorce." Her eyes widened with tears, and I could tell she was hurt, so hurt. I tried not to cringe, telling myself it had to be like this, that this was for the best.

Where was Good Peeta, and why wouldn't he make this better?

"How dare you? How dare you make me care for you and then you just take it away?"

"Really? And how many years did you lead me on? I've loved you since I was five years old, yet you didn't want me until I didn't have anything left to give you."

She let the angry tears fall. "Why did you come back? Why did they let you come back if you weren't any better?"

"I am better, Katniss. I know what's real and what's not real." I had to make her understand. "You wanna know what memory keeps replaying in my mind? You voting yes for more Games. The fact that you could be so cruel, that you would want somebody else's kids to go through what we went through, was an eye opener."

Shocked. Incredibly shocked. That was the look on her face as she stared at me.

"I was grieving!" Her voice cracked and she gulped for breath. "Plus I needed Coin to think I was on her side. You know that right? You can't judge me off of that. I have never asked you for anything. You've always willing given everything, way more than I ever have. I don't have the right to ask you for anything. But if that's all that stopping you from loving me, I'm begging you, begging you. Please, please don't base who I am off of that moment. It wasn't my finest hour. Please."

Watching her breakdown broke me, and I felt Good Peeta stirring awake.

"Don't cry, Katniss."

"Haymitch said I didn't deserve you, and I know I don't, but I didn't expect this. I've seen your temper before, when you and Haymitch fought on that train. When you smashed that lamp in 11 when you found out Haymitch and I had held information from you. And when you were still getting treatment. You said some cruel things. But I never thought I'd see you like this. Not to anybody, but especially not to me."

Dammit. Got dammit. This time, a different kind of guilt filled my veins. "I'm sorry Katniss. I'm so sorry. It's me. I just can't. I don't know how to deal with this. There are no cameras. And I don't know what that means for us."

She stiffened. "You still think I'm acting?"

"No. Yes. I don't know." I put my hands over my face, taking a deep breath, then let them fall to my side. "I'm scared you feel like you owe me."

"When we were on the Victory Tour, and we knew we had to get married, and you shut yourself in your room, I talked to Haymitch, because I was confused. I thought it was what you had wanted. But he told me that you didn't want it like that. You wanted it to be real." She stared at me, her grey eyes fierce. "This is real, Peeta. How I feel is real. You're my dandelion in the spring. You can choose to believe it or not. But I can't keep doing this, the back and forth. I'm not strong enough. You're doing me how I did you, and I can't handle it. I was never as strong as you. So I'm going to tell you the same thing you told me, when we got home from the 74th Hunger Games: when you figure it out, let me know." She turned on her heels and headed towards the door. She was almost gone when I spoke.

"I heard you call Gale's name, after I stopped you from taking the nightlock. It destroyed me, because I thought you still preferred him over me."

She slowly turned around, scowling, "I told you that the last person you'd ever have to worry about is Gale."

"Only because he killed Prim."

Katniss shook her head. "I chose you the minute I decided I was ready to die for you in that arena."

"Do you hate Gale?" I despised how childish I sounded, but I felt the familiar feeling of jealousy possessing me. Maybe Good Peeta would awaken after all.

"I hate myself," she answered. "I hate myself for not seeing what Gale was when I had the chance. He got mad at me, you know. When I suggested we run into the forest. He got mad at me because I wanted to bring you and your family along. That should have been my wake up call." She paused. "You keep letting him come between us, but he's not even here. There is no me and Gale. And there hasn't been since that day on the beach. Come to me when you remember that moment."

And just like that, she was gone.

I went downstairs, about an hour later, and noticed the glass on the floor. I had locked the door, like I thought.

Katniss had broken in.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Though I knew I had to make things right with Katiss, I still avoided her. I had to place a call to Dr. Aurelius to have him assure me, once again, that I wouldn't ever really hurt her.

I was trying to figure out a way to make up the past few months to her. I hated knowing that I was causing her more pain. Like we didn't have enough pain already. I just needed time, so I filled my days by finishing up the bakery.

After six months of working from sun up until sun down every single day, it was nearly finished.

I had grown stronger over the past months. All the work had gotten me back into shape, and I was bigger now than I was before the Games.

Truth was, I was becoming a man.

I was eighteen, soon to be nineteen.

Where had the time gone?

I was painting the door of the bakery, a week after Katniss and I had had our argument, when I heard the hovercraft.

I stiffened, dropping the paintbrush, and looked up to the sky. I was frozen for about ten seconds. I could hear the other men calling my name, some of them stepping up to me, but I ignored them.

Only one thing was going through my head: they would not take Katniss.

I ran, ran as fast as I could, ignoring the shouts as I headed towards Victor's Village. I'm not sure how I was running, figuring I could barely breathe. My heart was in my throat, and I couldn't even call out Katniss' name. It didn't register that she wouldn't be able to hear me. I was just so afraid, nearly paralyzed with fear, only I couldn't freeze, because I had to, absolutely had to get to her.

I didn't find my voice, until I saw her running, Haymitch behind her.

"Katniss!" I screamed, and ran towards her. When I got close enough, I saw she was struggling with Haymitch. She looked… crazy. Her hair was halfway unraveled from its signature braid, she had a wild look in her eye, and I could tell she was screaming. It reminded me of how she reacted at the end of the 74th Games. I kept running until I started to close in on them.

"Let go! Let me go," cried Katniss. "I have to get to him."

"He's fine," I heard Haymitch say.

"You're a liar," yelled Katniss. "You've lied to me before. You're a liar." Then she drew back her hand and hit Haymitch dead center in his nose.

"Katniss," I called, sprinting towards her.

At that moment she heard me, and I saw the relief on her face. She was sobbing when she approached me, and threw her arms around me.

"I thought they were coming to take you," choked out Katniss. She looked this crazy… for me? She'd run here for me?

"I thought they were coming to take you," I replied, my own eyes filling with tears. I buried my face in my neck, my heart hammering, and took in her scent. She was shaking life a leaf and I pulled her closer to me.

"No one's coming to take anybody," panted Haymitch, and I noticed the blood pouring out of his nose. "That's Effie, you fools." He spit out the blood that was in his mouth.

"Effie?" Katniss turned around and stared at Haymitch, but we haven't let each other go.

"Yes, sweetheart, Effie. Remember? Gold hair, tons of makeup, dresses and talks funny? We invited her here for a few weeks for your birthday."

Oh my God. I'd forgotten Katniss' birthday.

I hadn't even known it was May.

What the hell was happening to me?

"Effie." Katniss looked horrified as it started to sink in.

At that moment, some random man came up to us "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," barked out Haymitch, and then he grabbed Katniss and me and drug us to a deserted alley. "Stupid, stupid woman. I told her not to show up here in a hovercraft. Spoiled. She's so spoiled." He scowled as he looked at us. "You two need to understand something: you're safe. We won. The Games are over. Snow isn't in charge anymore. You may not ever be fine again, but you are safe. You two need to realize that. Stop walking on eggshells."

I nodded as what he says starts to sink in. In retrospect, I completely overreacted.

It gave me great pleasure to know Katniss had too.

"Safe?" asked Katniss softly, and it made me look at her. She still looked terrified, so I did the only thing I knew how to do: squeezed her hand in comfort.

"Safe," repeated Haymitch, and then he hugged us both. Katniss sobbed into his arms for a few moments. When she finally composes herself he said, "Now lets go get Effie."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If Effie hadn't spoken directly to us, I would never have recognized her. The gold wig was gone, replaced with what had to be her real hair. It was in soft blonde curls, and fell to her shoulders. The dramatic makeup was gone, though she still wore eye shadow, eyeliner, lipstick and blush, but just enough to enhance her features, not cover them. She wore a lime colored suit with gold accessories, but she looked pretty, not overly done.

If her eyes didn't look so vacant, she'd be beautiful.

She didn't look like the Effie I had ever known. But when she spoke, I knew it was her.

"Haymitch," she declared, looking mortified. "What happened to your face?"

"The Mockingjay has a mean punch," said Haymitch, clearly annoyed.

"What happened?"

"You flew the stupid hovercraft."

At his words, she visibly blanched. "Oh, Katniss, Peeta. So silly of me. I wasn't thinking. And Haymitch told me not to. Old habits die hard." She embraced us both, kissing us lightly on each cheek. "Katniss, you were right. Peeta does look well. Very handsome indeed."

I could see Katniss blushing out of the corner of my eye.

We made our way to Victor's Village, making small talk as we walked. Katniss and I weren't holding hands anymore. In fact, she had walked ahead of everyone, her arms around her chest. When we reached her house she turned to Effie.

"Why don't you go ahead and head up to your old room? I need to talk to Haymitch for a moment."

"Of course," smiled Effie. She was almost inside when she turned to me. "I'd love some garlic bread tonight, if you don't mind."

"I—" I snuck a quick glance at Katniss. She was scowling at Effie, and my heart sank. She didn't want me here. Was I too late? Was I too late to try and make things right with her?

"Sounds delicious," spoke Katniss, sparing me a glance. "Dinner's at seven. See you then."

I was being dismissed, and I had to stop myself from scowling. I had done this to her.

To us.

As I made my way downstairs I heard her say, "I'm sorry I hit you."

"You were delirious."

"I was scared," she muttered.

What Haymitch said after that I'd never know, because I was out of earshot.

As I showered, and started making bread for dinner, I knew one thing: I had to get Katniss back.

Seeing that hovercraft had knocked some sense into me like nothing else could.

She was all I'd ever wanted. I had no business pushing her away. The flashbacks… well we would just have to deal with them when they came. We'd figure it out.

We'd gotten through much worse before.