A/N: I have exams tomorrow but since you all are so lovely, here's another chapter! Thanks for the support! It makes me so happy every time I get an email saying someone added this story to his/her favorites, or left a review, or better, added me to his/her followed authors! Thank you so much.

It takes Peeta approximately six seconds to answer the door and greet me. I often become hyperaware of everything when I'm nervous. He's wearing a plain white shirt that is just a bit too tight it makes it hard for me to ignore his chest. I see that he's holding a basket. I raise my eyebrows in question and he explains that if we're going to watch the sunset, we'll need food considering it's only past noon.

I walk in front of him instead of taking my usual spot beside him. Today is not really a usual day. He doesn't call me out on it. Peeta doesn't try to make small talk, and I don't mind that because I seem to have lost the ability to form complete sentences. In short, our trip is considerably silent, save for the sound of our footfalls. Well, his footfalls.

We reach the edge of the woods with the sun still high up in the sky, directly above us. The calmness the woods bring me is surprisingly enough to balance out the tension between the two of us.

In the middle of our hike, the sun descends a little and is now halfway behind our backs, our bodies casting long shadows on the ground before us. I watch as they move, as his shadow moves, and for a short moment I let myself believe that this is just another one of our trips to the lake. Peeta's shadow disappears and I hear a rather loud thud coming from behind me. When I whip around, he has his eyes closed in exasperation. "Sorry, been too long since I last had practice on uneven ground."

"Not my fault," I mutter under my breath. After that fall, the rest of our hike is silent. We reach the lake with—judging from the distance of the sun from the horizon—two hours left of sunlight. He spreads the blanket and lays down our bags on the side. I decide that we still have long enough for me to take a nap. He agrees to take watch, just in case something happens.

Settling down, I lie on my side with my back at him. I can't bring myself to look at him directly yet. Since morning, I've only been watching him through his shadow and the sounds he makes. Something tells me he's has been watching me, too.

I don't realize the mistake I made until I'm screaming myself awake from the nap I braved to take. I can still see images from my nightmare—Peeta being dragged away from me, me running for eternity but never reaching him. He's bleeding from a wound on his chest, then he drops to the ground, and finally I'm inching closer and closer to him. When I get to him… it's too late. He's cold to my touch, his skin pale from the lost blood.

"Katniss! Hey, wake up!"

I jolt awake, panting. Taking a look at my surroundings, I finally place where I am and why I'm—we're—here.

"You okay?" he asks. I don't dare answer, fearing my voice would crack and give away exactly how I'm feeling. I turn away from him and hug my knees to my chest. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

I still do.

It's not like those times where my whole body's shaking, or I'm hiccupping from crying. No, today, in this moment, only tears come out. I feel a hand settle on my back, and him sit beside me. We're as close as we can be without too much contact. My mind still swimming in grief from the bad dream, I risk a glance at him to assure myself whatever I saw was not real. He's safe. He's sitting beside me.

Peeta must have seen something in my face because he pulls me against his chest to hold me. My heart tells me to allow him, since it's what I wanted, right? I wanted him to wedge himself into my sorry excuse of a life again.

My mind betrays me.

Before I can stop myself, I'm already screaming. "What the hell do you really want, Peeta?! I thought you wanted me to stay away from you because you loved me too much! I thought we were avoiding each other! Then after that incident in your house you start dropping bread off on my counter with fucking notes like we're children in preschool! What the fuck do you really want?! I'm so done with being played, Peeta. I'm so tired. I can't go on letting people step on my emotions because they think I'm some sort of unfeeling rabid creature who only knows how to kill. Especially you! You made me feel like I'm a human, like I'm whole again, then you leave me hanging. Didn't it ever cross your mind how much that hurt me? Did you think that losing you didn't have an effect on my life? Then what, when you realize that you can't live without me, you take me back? What are you implying then, that it's only you who can decide?! Tell you what, I'm done with you! I'm leaving. Go find someone else. Go! Leave me alone. You don't deserve to be in this place with me!"

I stand to run from him but he grabs me before I can get away. I pound on his shoulders, but with every second that passes, they turn weaker and weaker. The feeling of his arms is too hard to resist.

"Katniss, I know I don't deserve this but please forgive me. I was stupid. You were right, I'm no good without you either. You're a part of me now, and I can't live without you. And I'm sorry again for leaving you. I'm sorry for not believing you. I'm sorry, Katniss. I guess I don't love you enough to let you go."

"Damn you!" I shout. I shove him backwards and pound my fists on his chest over and over. He lets me hurt him. He's not even fighting back. I taste blood and I realize I'm biting my lips. "Damn you, Peeta!" Punching him one last time, I yell that. "Damn you! Why is it so hard to not stay mad at you? I hate myself. I hate myself for forgiving you! I hate myself for loving you so much I'm willing to take you back even after you broke my heart. I hate you… but I love you. "

The moment those last words come out of my mouth, his face relaxes. Then he hugs me, hard. "Thank you," he whispers against my neck. I'm in midair, held there by his arms like I weigh nothing but paper. He puts me down, a smile on his face as tears stain his flushed cheeks. He wipes them off, regaining his composure. Something flickers in his eyes, then he looks up, taking the soft orange of the sunset painted above us. It's obvious now that it's truly his favorite color. You can see it in the way his face softens when he sees it.

Slowly, he looks back at me, a small smile on his lips. "Thank you," he says. "For loving me."

The following days Peeta only comes over during the day, like our first routine. We do things together, we avoid skin contact, still too busy acting guilty from the mistakes we both committed. Him for leaving me, me for letting him leave. On the fourth day, I act on impulse and press my lips against his, not caring about what he thinks. I've missed him. I have him back. What else am I supposed to do?

I'm expecting him to push me away but he doesn't. He kisses me back, just as hard. This kiss is not chaste in every way. I'm not disappointed.

We come close to doing it on that night. All the time spent apart took its toll on us. Luckily, we were able to stop ourselves. I have no idea how we ended up in my room. "This is so weird, a week ago we weren't even seeing each other. Now we're on your bed, I'm on top of you." He chuckles. "And I, ah, I think I should marry you first before we… you know."

"Maybe you should ask me to marry you so we can move forward."

"Maybe," he replies right away. His face stills, "Wait, are you suggesting I propose to you?"

Shit. But what, we're together. We have been for almost two years. We won't ever be apart again, practically husband and wife in our setup. We should at least make it official, right?

"Weren't you planning to?" I ask him instead of answering directly.

"I… am. Actually I have been, I've contacted Effie and other people from the districts about it. I'm just waiting for the right time."

"When's going to be the right time for you? When we're old and graying and decaying?"

"Um, no… I—well, we just got over a fight. I thought we should grow back together first."

"If that's what you want, I guess," I whisper, my voice soft from irrational disappointment.

"Hey," he nudges me with his nose. I'm reminded of our position, him between my legs. Surprisingly, it doesn't make me uncomfortable. "But if I ask, what will be your answer?"

I can sense nervousness in his voice so I tease him instead, "It's a surprise."

"Oh, come on!" He wails.

"You told me you want to grow back together first. Stick to what you said, Peeta!" He pouts at this, and I feel light. I feel so light again, no gray cloud above me, blocking out the happiness each day should bring. I bop him on the nose and he wrinkles it to my touch. "You look cute when you do that."

He does it again, "Do what?"

"That," I tell him, touching his nose again.

"Do what? I'm not doing anything," he says. He sounds believable but he's smiling. I do not trust a smiling Peeta Mellark.

"This," I say, imitating him. He breathes out a laugh and places his face close to mine.

"Did you know your mom—after that thing in my house with her on the phone and stuff—she started calling me every day to make sure I'm still going to win you back?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was the one who came up with the notes thing. I didn't know how I'm going to start. I asked her, and she suggested that. You could say it was effective."

"I think it wouldn't have worked if I was so mad at you. I only wrote back because I was determined to win you back, too."

Peeta's cheeks turn pink, and he gulps.

"Oh my God, did I just make you flush?"

"Not my fault I'm so love sick about you!"

After months, we laugh again. Once it's subsided, we're just smiling at one another, our faces only inches away from contact. I brush some of his curls back from his forehead. "Have you forgiven me?" he asks, worry tinting his voice.

I pull him down and kiss him. "I have. Now that I know how it's like to be without you, I'm sure I always will."

He gives me one of his shy smiles again, and we fall into a comfortable silence. He flips onto his back and I automatically move to place my head on his chest, on top of the steady beating of his heart.

This heart had stopped thrice if I'm not mistaken, twice after our first Games, on that hovercraft as the doctors worked to save his life. Once when he hit the force field in the Quell. All of those because of me. Unwanted thoughts of him dying squeeze themselves into my mind, overwhelming me.

"Peeta?" I ask frantically.

"Hm?"

"Don't ever leave me," I say. It comes out like a command than of a request.

"No, never again," he replies.

"Promise you'll always stay with me, no matter what? Even if you hurt me again, or if I get mad at you? Or if we get into another fight or I push you away? You'll stay with me? "

"Always," he assures me. "I'll always stay with you."

This time, it feels final. It feels real. The promise is real.

A/N: I'm thinking about ending this story here. It fits the title, right? What do you guys think? Few more chapters? An epilogue?