Posting this in honor of the release of Mockingjay today, which I will be seeing in about an hour.

Let me know what you all think of the movie in a Review!

Til next time,

-thamockingjayandpeeta

The next morning when I woke up, the sun was high in the sky. I had no idea how long we slept, but I felt an immense amount of relief that Katniss was still lying next to me, curled into my side, still naked. That meant she didn't regret last night.

At least not yet.

I couldn't bare the thought of last night having been a mistake. It had been too perfect, too wonderful, too real. She had said she had wanted it to happen on our terms. No nightmares, no flashbacks, no book. It had been right, dammit, and I had no idea, no clue what I'd do if she woke up sorry that it happened.

"Hi," I heard her murmur, and how lost in my thoughts was I to not have noticed that her breathing had became uneven?

"Hello yourself," I said, shyly.

"No bakery today?"

"No. I talked to the owner. He let me off." She laughed softly at that.

"Good. There's somewhere I wanna take you. Can you be ready in an hour?"

I'd have been ready in ten minutes if she had said that's how long I had.

"Of course."

"Okay. Don't eat."

I showered and got dressed and then made my way over to Katniss'. She was waiting for me with a basket in her hand, dressed in black boots, green pants, and her father's hunting jacket.

"Are you taking me hunting?" I asked her.

She snorted. "I would never take you hunting. You'd scare away all the animals."

"You try being quiet with this leg," I argued.

She spared me a glance. "You were loud before the leg."

I grinned. "You made us lunch?"

"Nothing fancy. Just some fruit and cheese and crackers."

She could have bought raisins and it'd have been enough for me.

We walked for what felt like ages, and I was just thinking that it was a good thing that I'm in shape when we finally arrived at a meadow, with a lake, and eventually a cabin. I was confused.

"Where are we?" I asked her.

"My father's cabin," responded Katniss softly. I looked at her, even more confused. "No one knew it was here, except my dad and I."

No one?

Maybe sleeping together made her more in tune to me, because she stared at me, full in my eye, when she said,

"No, not even my family. And no, not even Gale. He knew about the lake. But I never bought him to the cabin."

I was shocked into silence until I asked, "But you bought me here?" She nodded. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to share this with you." She grabbed my hand then, and it was that moment that I realized she was telling me that she didn't regret last night, that she was okay with it, with us.

I kissed her, but not like last night. It was more sizzle and spark, and uncontrolled need, and I wondered if now that we'd crossed this bridge, I'd ever be able to go back to just holding her, or kissing her, or if I'd have to have her, take her, every time she was in my presence.

If anybody had told me a year ago, hell, six months ago, that I'd make love to Katniss Everdeen in the middle of a meadow, I'd have figured they'd been hijacked.

It was nothing like last night. Last night we'd taken our time, exploring each other, taking the other in. This time her jeans weren't even all the way off; she had one shoe on, one shoe off, one pants leg off, wrapped around my waist, while her shirt wasn't off, but lowered, exposing her breasts, which I was sucking on.

Me, on the other hand… I had my pants at my knees, my shirt off, and was trying to remember some other word other than Katniss.

God seemed to be the only other name I could come up with.

Katniss seemed just as frenzied as me, only she had no problem talking. Her cries of 'Yes' quickly turned into 'Right there,' or 'Faster."

I can't believe this is the woman I laughed at for being innocent.

I heard the same whimper from last night and then she blurted out, "Don't stop. Please don't stop." She dug her fingers into my flesh and I buried my face in her neck to keep myself from cumming. When she arched her back and clenched around me I bit her neck.

She shuddered under me, and I almost lost it then, but then she was gripping my hips tighter.

She pumped her hips into mine, choking back a sob, and I watched her, really watched her, as she came, bucking from the pleasure. Her eyes blazed black, even in the sunlight, darkening with pleasure, and she threw back her head, her hair cascading down her back, in tight curls as I had undone its braid. Her lips were parted, her flesh flushed, and she had never been more beautiful in that moment, cumming for and from me.

It was in that moment that I realized she was a painting, a piece of art, a masterpiece.

And me? I was just the piece she was working on.

"I love you, Peeta," she groaned into my ear, and I'd nearly stopped pumping, because she'd never said it, at least not said and meant it.

I couldn't even respond, but I don't think she needed me to, because she pulled my face down to kiss her.

When I came, a few moments later, she followed.

Panting, we fell where we were, not a care in the world.

When I could speak again, I turned to her. "I love you too, Katniss."

She reached out and touched my face. "Real."

I don't know how long we stayed there, in content silence, but when she broke it, I hadn't expected her to say what she did.

"So whose place are we staying at?"

"What?" I asked, turning to her again.

"It doesn't really make sense for both of us to live in separate houses." She was looking at me so intently I had to gaze away.

I hesitated, but not because I didn't want to live with Katniss. I was just thinking about the flashbacks, and where I would go if we lived together.

Again, she seemed to know what I was thinking. "You're no danger to me, Peeta."

"I can be."

"So you'll tie yourself up to a chair for a little while."

"Can I talk to Dr. Aurelius first?"

"Yah, and while you're at it, tell him we're sleeping together. I'm sure the good Doctor will have something to say about that," she told me sarcastically. "You think too much."

"My brain is telling me this is a bad idea. Maybe it's too much, too soon."

"What does your heart say?"

Shit.

And they said Katniss didn't know how to get through to people with her words.

"I'm not going anywhere, Peeta. And neither are your flashbacks. So if we have to live with them for the rest of your life, then we might as well do it together."

I brushed her hair out of her face, tucking a strand behind her ear, remembering what Haymitch had told me last year, during a session: "You'll fall for her again. You won't even mean to. One day you'll look at her, you'll see her, and you'll fall again."

"You have to give me my space if I ask for it," I finally told her. "You know how I can get. If I say something, or do something…." I shook my head. "If we do this, I'm gonna need my space sometimes."

"Okay," she agreed. "Can I move in with you?" Her voice cracked at the end, and then the tears came, and at first I was confused, until she sobbed out that she hated living in her house because it reminded her so much of Prim. I held her, calmed her down, assuring her that she could move in tonight if she wanted.

We stayed in the meadow for a few more hours after she calmed down, and when I slipped inside of her again she was ready, so ready, quivering with anticipation.

My last thought before succumbing to pleasure was that I could do this for the rest of my life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We were walking back to my place, holding hands, when we saw Haymitch on his front porch, a cup of what had to be liquor in his hand. He caught my eye and I could feel my face heating up. I wondered if he suspected anything.

When he smirked, I knew he did.

"You could do way worse, sweetheart," he called to Katniss, and barked out a laugh when she buried her face in my arm, embarrassed. She didn't look up again until we were inside my house.

By then I had hidden my own grin.

We started packing that night and she was all moved in by the weekend.

Buttercup adapted pretty quickly, and I felt like if he could like it, Katniss would like it too.

The hardest part was cleaning out Prim's room. At first Katniss had refused, but I told her a lot of Districts needed donations. It took her a day but she finally agreed. We had talked to Dr. Aurelius first, and she had talked to her mom. Both thought it was time, and could be therapeutic.

She cried a lot at first, but we got through it, together. When everything was packed into boxes, she asked for a few minutes alone. I hesitated at first, but she assured me she'd be home shortly.

True to her word, about half an hour later, she was home. She was quiet, though, subdued, and went upstairs to take a shower. When I went upstairs to check on her I heard on the phone, crying with her mother.

About an hour later she came downstairs to the living room, her eyes red. "Mom says hello," she told me. She came up to me and wrapped her arms around me. I didn't know who this Katniss was. Katniss was hardly ever vulnerable, but I held on to her. She didn't cry, though. "I think she's still wondering how you went from trying to kill me to us moving in together."

I felt my body tense and pushed her away.

"Peeta?"

No. Not now. Not when she needed me.

I do not want to kill her. I don't. Not real. Not real.

I knew she wouldn't leave unless I told her to go. She was just stubborn like that. But after a few moments I felt it pass. I took a shaky breath, trying to keep my calm.

"I'm going to take a shower," I told her, and left her without as much as a backwards glance.