Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games or its characters.

Note: Hey y'all… just a heads up, my updates may be a bit slower coming for a few weeks. I am a flight attendant and I fly weekends so I can't update Fri-Sun. I do have vacation in a few weeks, though. I really don't have any idea how much longer this will be. I have a vague idea how I want this to go but I guess it all depends on how in depth I go with the story.

Are y'all enjoying the story so far? BTW, there is definitely some MATURE content in this chapter. Actually, it starts immediately. Enjoy!

Chapter 10

I wake up in his arms. I can feel the sun on my face and the warmth of Haymitch behind me. He's tracing slow circles on my stomach. We fell asleep without any clothes on. I'm grateful for this because feeling certain parts of his body against certain parts of mine has put us both in a good mood, apparently. Without turning to him I whisper "Good morning Haymitch."

"Mmmmm, yes it is." He breathes in my ear and then tugs on my ear lobe with his teeth.

As he kisses and nips at my ear and neck his hand that was making the circles slowly slides down my stomach and disappears in between my legs. A lazy moan escapes my lips as I tilt my head back and put my top leg behind me over his legs, opening myself up to him, still on my back. As his left hand continues to dip in and out of me and swirl around his right hand starts to fondle my breasts.

I grind my hips in a steady motion on top of him. This is not enough. I want him in me. I need him in me. I brush his hands off of me, flip onto my stomach on top of him and kiss him, my tongue forcing its way into his mouth. He reacts instantly to my aggressive moves, grabbing my hips painfully; he helps me swing my leg over his hips and positions himself right at my opening.

Abruptly I sit up, stare him straight in the eyes and quickly, painfully, push myself down on him. He forces his hips up in a rough thrust as I come down on him. I scream. I don't stop moving. Desire and primal need is coursing through my veins as I ride him uncontrollably. With my head back and eyes closed I grab my breasts as his fingers squeeze bruises into my hips. I'm moaning so loud I could almost consider them screams. Haymitch grunts and groans as we wildly come together.

As we both near the end we so desperately want he sits up and wraps his arms around me, and starts passionately kissing me. I yank on the back of his hair as I drag my sweaty body up and down his as close as I can and I yell that I'm about to come. He stops kissing me and we look at each other, watching as we both come apart at the seams.

I'm shuddering against him, whimpering, as I come down from my high. Still looking into my eyes, Haymitch gently pushes my hair out of my face and I do the same to him. We sit like that, him still inside of me, as we catch our breath.

"Wow." I manage to say.

"Wow indeed." He answers. "I wouldn't mind waking up like that every day, sweetheart."

I blush and say "Me neither." We kiss and hold each other for a few more minutes then take a shower.

Back in the room I look down at the bed and frown. I hadn't noticed the blood last night in the dark. Wrapping his arms around my waist from behind he rests his chin against my shoulder and says "That's normal. Don't worry about it." I shrug. He kisses my cheek then heads downstairs to start breakfast. I strip the bed to wash the sheets.

We spend the day in the woods, him sleeping against a tree and me hunting. At night we come together, glad we've finally found happiness in each others arms. Weeks go by like this and we slowly begin to be happier. We drink less and talk more. On one outing to the Hob, Haymitch and I walk hand in hand towards where Greasy Sae has her booth set up. We sit down on our usual stools and she serves us up some 'beef stew'.

"So, I see you two are finally going public now." Sae comments as she points towards our joined hands on top of the bar with her eyes and a nod of her heard.

I blush but Haymitch just says "Yes we are." Then he kisses my hand. Greasy Sae drops the subject after that.

Later that evening while we're eating sandwiches for dinner I ask Haymitch "So, what are we now? Boyfriend and girlfriend? That sounds so… juvenile."

He laughs to himself and says "Well, we could call ourselves lovers." I choke on my food.

"Lovers? Really Haymitch? That sounds- naughty." I say.

"It's what we are, Katniss. Are you ashamed to be my lover?" He asks.

"No! Of course not. I love you and I love what we have. It just sounded sort of scandalous." I reply.

"We could always be husband and wife. Would you like that?" He says, barely above a whisper.

I'm stunned into silence. My heart starts racing. Did he just propose to me? Surely he's joking. But no, he isn't. His face is so serious.

"Haymitch, I'm not ready for that. I think one day I'd really love to be your wife, but I'm just getting better. It's only been 8 months. Please, I need a little more time."

His face softens "Of course, sweetheart. Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere." I grab his hand and squeeze it and tell him "I'm not going anywhere either. I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart." I can't help but see a small pang of hurt in his eyes. My heart breaks.

It's true, I love him and I think, with him, I could actually consider being married. Though I know I'm definitely not ready for that now. We finish our dinner in silence and when we go to bed, we only hold each other as we fall asleep.

After a few days Haymitch returns to his old self. Good. I hate knowing that my response had hurt him. Prim came to visit us for the weekend. It was good to see her. Mother didn't come.

"I'm really happy that you're happy Katniss. I'll admit, I was shocked at first to hear that you were with Haymitch and mom was livid. But being here with you two, and watching y'all together, I can see how happy y'all make each other."

"Thank you little duck, it means a lot to hear you say that. I never in a million years ever thought I'd be with Haymitch, but he grew on me." I laugh. "He has always been there for me and helped me through everything. I can honestly say I wouldn't have survived the last 3 years without him. Especially this past year. I love him, you know?"

"I know" Prim says. And I'm brought back to that day 6 months ago when we had a similar talk, only I was saying how I had loved Peeta, instead of Haymitch. Sensing my mood change Prim continues "It's ok, Katniss. You can love them both. It's not wrong. Peeta loved you too and he'd want you to be happy, to move on. Loving Haymitch doesn't mean you stopped loving Peeta. And being happy with him doesn't lessen what you had with Peeta, either. Be happy Katniss. Of all the people in Panem, you and Haymitch deserve it the most." I hug her and together we cry.

She leaves Sunday afternoon so she's home before classes on Monday. The nights after she leaves are usually the hardest on me. Only now when I wake up screaming Haymitch is there to comfort me in more intimate and effective ways. His love heals me.

As I fall back asleep in him arms still slick with sweat from our loving I know I'm right where I need to be.

Side note: I realize that the end of this chapter kind of makes it sound like I'm ending the story, but I'm not. So don't worry, for the few that are following this. There will be more!