Like always, the flashbacks reveal past secrets. Enjoy.


"When we talked for the first time in ages, I got onto the subject of marriage and it got me wondering when I got home - our trip to Vegas..."

"Peeta, I thought that was fake." Katniss breathed out.

Peeta nodded, watching as Finnick stood up and rubbed his jaw, wiping the blood away with his napkin. "Me too. I kept the certificate as a memoir since the guy told us he wasn't sure if he was a real officiator but I got it checked out again just to be sure after I met Willow."

"Shit," said Katniss.

Annie shared a glance with Finnick and gestured to his lip. "Let's get that sorted, shall we?" She asked tersely.

She didn't even wait for a reply, she dragged him by the arm and soon she began to berate her husband for starting this mess of a dinner party.

"How did we not know it was real?" Katniss asked.

"We were drunk."

"Yes but after. How did you find out?" She asked, beginning to pace.

"A colleague of Jo's. She was off sick and I went to her firm to get the marriage certificate checked out of curiosity. I hadn't thought about our trip to Vegas in years but you coming back brought everything back including my intentions to marry you and having kids with you before everything happened. Turns out our officiator did successfully obtain his marriage officiator licence prior to our drunken encounter."

Katniss shook her head in disbelief. "I knew he was shady," she said lightly, unknowing of what to do or say. "You didn't have to defend me you know," she continued. "I can handle Finnick."

"I'm not saying you can't. But Finnick's my best friend and I didn't appreciate the way he was talking to and about the mother of my child..." Peeta replied quietly.

"I won't have you risk your friendship because of me."

"You were friends with Finnick too."

Katniss raised an eyebrow. "'Were' being the past term. We definitely aren't friends right now and I've gone and affected his marriage as well with this. I never wanted to hurt anyone-"

"I-I know." Peeta faltered.

"I should leave," she suddenly said. "I mean, there aren't many apartments good enough on offer within my price range and my mother's dead and buried. I should just go back to Aunt Effie..."

"And leave me again? And I'll never see my daughter again?" Peeta's heart began to race, even more so when she took a couple of steps towards him.

"No. You could come with us, Peeta..." She whispered.

[Six Years Ago]

Katniss beamed as they walked through the streets of the Sin City or City of Lights, however people put it.

"How did you afford this, babe?" She asked in excitement, the buzz of the alcohol running through her as they searched for another nightclub to celebrate in. "This is the best holiday I've had in ages since my father..." She trailed off, her eyes becoming glossy but her smile still present. "Thank you, Peeta."

Peeta turned to her. "You deserve the world after everything. Thank you for sticking with me. I know we haven't always had the good times like today but-"

"You're not her, you're you. And I love you no matter what."

"I'm not a good guy, Kat..." Peeta continued. He could feel Katniss' grip on his arm becoming tighter and he turned to her again, a bright smile directed for him only.

"I don't care. I'm not a good girl, am I?" She grinned cheekily. "Especially when I do this..."

She let go of him and stumbled her way on top of a car parked by the curb.

"I'm the Queen of Vegas!" She yelled out, yelping when the car's alarm went off. "Shit!"

Peeta burst out in laughter. "Well, Queen of Vegas, do you want your king to help you down before you get arrested?"

"Yes please, Your Highness," said Katniss, allowing herself to be carried off the car."I love you," she told him as she glanced up at him through her eyelashes.

"I love you too but I don't know why you would love someone like me." Peeta sighed, letting her down.

"Let's go get more drinks and I'll spend forever showing you exactly why I love someone like you." She smiled softly.

Peeta returned the smile. "I like the sound of that."

"What?"

"'Forever'. I want to be with you forever, Katniss if you'll have me that is."

Katniss' eyes sparkled. "I do. I'll have you."

She pursed her lips as she scanned their surroundings, her eyes falling on a gas station store across the street.

"Come on!"

Peeta obliged, his hand being dragged across the street by Katniss as they entered the store and she went looking for what she wanted.

"Ah ha!" She said in triumph, holding up a packet of a lolly ring. She also grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the fridge.

"A lolly ring?" Peeta asked, an incredulous smile playing on his lips. "Okay."

He took out his wallet but Katniss stopped him and dug out her own purse, paying for the sweet and drink as well as showing her ID.

"You paid for the trip, I pay for the extras." She winked at him as they left the store.

Just in front of the door, she got down on one knee, ripping her tights but refusing to case as she gazed up lovingly at her boyfriend.

"Peeta 'insert-middle-name-here' Mellark, will you marry me?" She asked.

Peeta laughed. "You still don't remember my middle name?"

"No. I'm trying to propose here!" She pouted.

Shaking his head, Peeta joined her, kneeling down on one knee as he took the lolly ring and wiped her raven locks out of her face.

"It's William, after my grandfather. And yours is Lenore, after your grandmother..." He said softly. "Now, Katniss Lenore Everdeen, will you marry me?"

Tears sprung to Katniss' eyes as she silently took the ring out of the packet and placed it on her ring finger, giving him a soft kiss.

"Yes." She smiled against his lips. "Let's drink to celebrate."

They got up and opened the bottle, taking it in turns to take a sip as they continued on their hunt for a nightclub but they were stopped.

Turning around, they were met with the guy behind the counter of the store.

"Hey, I just saw your engagement. Congratulations, dudes!"

Blushing, the couple politely smiled.

"Have another bottle on me, and if you stick around for a week or so, you guys can meet me at the chapel across the road if you want to do things on the spot?"

The couple shared a glance, their lips slowing turning into smiles.

"Can we get your contact details?" Peeta asked.

"Yeah, of course!" The guy said, giving them the bottle and grabbing his contact card out of his pocket. "I don't think I'm legit or anything but you can treat this as a practice. Many couples are doing that these days to calm those wedding jitters."

Katniss smiled. "That's fine. I don't think we want to rush anything just yet. We're barely even 21." She chuckled. "I know that if we were to do this properly and sober, we'd have all our friends and family with us."

"I agree. This is just a little Valentine's gift," added Peeta, kissing the side of her head. "But we could get a marriage license right now?"

"Yeah," said Katniss. "I'd like that. No, I'd love that. Then we can properly get married whenever we want."

[Present Day]

"I-I can't just leave everything and go with you. I have a solution."

Katniss sighed in exasperation. "What? Prim's getting bigger by the day and I know Rory wants to come home soon to be with her and the only reason he's staying with his mother was to give us, more specifically me, space but I can't deny them their chance to be a family. And the money I got from selling my place to move back here isn't enough to even raised Willow in a one-bedroom apartment. The prices have gone up since I was last here... I can't afford to live here and I need to pay rent for Prim since her pay got reduced at work and Rory's laid off for the time being..."

"Don't make any rash decisions right now, please... I've only just got you back," said Peeta, his voice almost breaking.

"I can try Haymitch's place but it's too far away from Willow's school and I'd have to wake her up forty minutes earlier if she would make it on time every day."

"Wh-what about my place? I have so many rooms and-"

"Don't you live in my uncle's street? Delly was talking-"

"I moved into Delly's place and gave her and Scotti my place since I mainly stay at the apartment above the first bakery and well, I never counted on getting married or having kids after you left... But now Willow's in the picture and you're back, Delly's old house - my house is just perfect for us. It's three-bedrooms unlike my old place which has at least seven bedrooms but it's enough for you, me and Willow to have our own rooms. It even has a garden with a swing if she'd like that."

Katniss' eyes widened. "You want us to move in with you? Isn't that too soon? We're getting used to each other, you're just getting to know Willow. I-I don't think I'll take you up on-"

"Just think about it," begged Peeta. "Please. Don't decide to leave again just yet."

She sighed, rubbing her head. "We need to deal with this whole marriage thing as well and find a way to get it annulled. Just for a week though," she finally accepted. "I'll find somewhere permanent soon enough. I could maybe ask my aunt for a loan but I really don't want to have to..."

"Of course. You can stay as long as you need. I-I can even help with Willow and take her to school and help her with her homework-"

"Not many people even know she's yours. Wouldn't they be surprised that a girl from your TV show is now being walked to school by you?"

"Then maybe it's time people did know. I'm not ashamed of her."

"Neither am I."

Peeta nodded. "Then I guess we're in agreement. We're filming an episode tomorrow. I'd like to introduce her then if that's okay with you?"

"And people would have questions and ask where we were for all these years... Can't we just introduce her to our town first? I know Sae would love to meet her..."

"Let's talk about this later. Right now, I got to try and salvage my friendship with the only best friend I have in the world."

Katniss frowned. "Good luck. I'll just check on how Lulu's doing."

"Lulu?" Peeta asked.

"Yeah," she blushed. "I call her that as her pet name. She hates it but I think it's sweet. She couldn't pronounce her name when she was learning how to talk so she responded to Lulu and referred to herself as such. She's forgotten but I still remind her."

"Lulu. Sounds sweet. Like Lenore."

Katniss blushed furiously. "Well, William is less cheesy than Lenore." She smiled.

"William and Willow. You named her after me?"

Katniss shrugged. "Aunt Effie loved the name, Wilhelmina. I hated that name but it made me think of you and your grandfather and I wanted Willow to be connected to the both of you somehow. That's why I call her Willow but my aunt loves calling her well, her full name."

"Either way, it suits her. Do you want me to drop you off home?"

"I'll call Rory for a lift. He's nearby visiting a friend of his about a job. Thanks for the offer. And the one to stay with you. I'll call you for further details soon."

Smiling, Peeta nodded. "Yeah. I'll be expecting your call then. Now, I really better apologise and explain everything. I want all of us to be on better terms. Especially since I want, well, I hope you'd want Annie and Finnick to be a part of Willow's life."

"Definitely. I was hoping to speak to Annie about the role of godmother. She was waiting for a long while. I just hope Finnick..." She sighed. "I hope that we can work things out."

Spotting Finnick glancing at them through the archway leading into the kitchen, Katniss swallowed deeply and gave Peeta a short hug before leaving and releasing the breath she held since hugging her ex.

Being back didn't seem to be so easy anymore.


Shall they remain married? Write down what you think and thanks for reading this chapter.