Chapter 21: Peeta
Katniss saved my life in the first Hunger Games arena, and she did it by selling our love story to the Capital. After finding out her feelings for me in the arena weren't real, I was devastated. I've said it before, but I've loved her since I was five. That feeling of devastation I felt after we won the Games and we were on the train back to District 12, is a pain I thought I would never get over. It's a pain I wouldn't wish on anyone.
I never once during that train ride and the months after believed that she would ever love me. But here we are. Married, in our hearts at least, and open about it. Katniss has held my hand since she was rescued as if our hands linked is the most natural thing in the world.
Katniss' mother took the news surprisingly well. She suspected after we reunited that it would only be a matter of time. Prim and Effie squealed with excitement while Katniss and I laughed. Haymitch rolled his eyes, and Johanna picked a stray leaf out of Katniss' hair. Oops. Finnick and Annie congratulated us enthusiastically, and let us all know of their own plans for a wedding. Even Gale shook my hand and offered us both sincere congratulations.
We spend the last evening we'll have here in District 13 for the foreseeable future together as a group. At dawn, Finnick, Katniss, Gale, Cressida, Messala, Pollux, Castor, Darius, Johanna, and I will all board a hovercraft on the way to District 2, while Annie and Beetee will both remain behind. We, along with some others, will be forming an elite squad. Elite, in that the footage captured by Pollux and Castor will be used in propos that are intended to counteract the propaganda released by the Capital. President Coin is not anticipating that we will be in any actual battle. I know that Katniss would rather I stay out of danger, but I would rather she be entirely safe as well. Everyone knows we do better together, however, and neither of us will truly be safe while President Snow is in power, so we agree this is the best plan.
Our group sits together at dinner, laughing, having fun. We're not thinking about the warzone we're about to be dropped into. We're thinking about right now. A day that Katniss and I committed our lives to each other. An evening where we can enjoy our time with the people we're closest to.
I look at my beautiful wife, smiling. Smiling a real smile was a very rare occurrence for Katniss prior to her rescue from the Capital. For several years after her father died, she felt like she didn't have a reason to smile. She and her family were starving, and her mother was nearly comatose with depression. I can't even begin to share what it feels like to know that smile is for me. This moment, right here, when my beautiful girl is smiling and laughing with our friends and family, can I really regret my name being called for that first reaping? I might never have had the courage to talk to her without that. If anything that has happened to me or to Katniss in our lives been even slightly different, we wouldn't be here right now. I cannot regret my life when it's brought me to this moment. I'm not even paying attention to anyone else. Only her.
And later, when we are cuddled in bed in our most frequent sleeping position, Katniss' head resting on my shoulder, and out linked hands resting over my heart, I whisper, "I'd like to freeze this moment, right now, and live in it forever."
Katniss looks to me, smiling the most genuinely beautiful smile I've ever seen, kisses me lightly on the lips, and says, "I'll allow it."