CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - DISTRICT TWELVE
Chaff was released the same day, without fanfare. Early the next morning, the Victors were escorted to their respective trains without opportunity speaking to each other. Katniss had wanted to at least speak to Chaff, but she figured the Capitol probably wanted them to act like the whole thing hadn't happened.
Effie, surprisingly, was the first to bring up the ordeal as the train pulled out from the station.
"You know," she said. "It is quite a relief to be away a bit. It's been quite the disaster."
"Effie, what are you saying?" asked Peeta, smirking. "You don't want to be in the Capitol? Are you planning on staying with us in Twelve?"
Effie's eyes widened as though he had suggested that she swallow a tracker-jacker nest.
"My goodness me, no. The Capitol is always—"
But she broke off, visibly confused.
Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch all laughed at her, and once she recovered herself she managed a small smile as well.
"I must admit, though," she said, "there is a sort of rugged charm about the place. Very rugged," she added, in response to Haymitch's smirk.
From Effie, this was the highest of praise.
"It'll be good to be home, for sure. Now that all of this is over," said Peeta, and Katniss was overtaken by a wave of feelings. Prim was just a few hours away now.
"About that," said Effie. "Did you say Cashmere Carmichael poisoned the cup when you were talking to the other Victors, just before the fika began?"
Katniss nodded, and Effie continued speaking without pausing to breathe.
"I could have sworn she stayed in her corner the entire time."
"Nobody really noticed her," said Katniss, shrugging. "That's why it was the perfect disguise."
Peeta met her gaze and she looked away.
"Speaking of things being over," said Haymitch, standing up and approaching the table of food and beverage. "It is time I broke my long spell of sobriety."
"You drank plenty at the Tribute Center, Haymitch," said Peeta.
"Did I?" he asked, pouring himself a drink from a bottle of amber liquid. Though Effie huffed with disapproval, the sound was much less harsh than it might have been a year before.
At half past seven the next morning, the train pulled into the station in District 12. The shabbiness of the station was a welcome sight to them as the three Victors stumbled, puffy-eyed and groggy, from the train.
"Katniss!" called a voice, and she turned to see her sister rushing toward her. Katniss ran to meet her and gave her the tightest hug she could. Gale waited a few paces back, actually smiling.
"I'll see you later," Peeta said, once Katniss and Prim had released each other. "I'm going to help Haymitch get home."
Their mentor stood behind him, grimacing and shriveled as he nursed a hangover, and Katniss bade them goodbye and told them she'd see them both very soon. As the attendants handed Katniss her bag, she saw Gale and Peeta nod curtly to each other.
Prim chatted most of the way home, telling Katniss about how she'd gotten better at knitting and how there was a boy at school who had told her he liked her. Gale got in only a few words while Prim paused for breath, but still, he seemed relaxed in general and pleased to have Katniss back.
When they got to Katniss's house in Victor's Village, Prim dashed inside, muttering about helping her mother prepare dinner. Gale and Katniss paused in front of the steps. They stood staring at each other silently, each waiting for the other to speak.
"Did the bow come in handy?" asked Gale, after a while.
"Yeah, actually," she said, grateful for the opener.
"I missed you."
"I missed you too."
Gale looked down at the pebbled ground and kicked it absently.
"I was a little worried, Catnip. Maybe it was stupid of me."
"Peeta was there with me," she said. "And Haymitch and Effie," she added hastily, but it was too late. She knew what her words had implied.
"Peeta huh?" he said, the corner of his mouth tipping upwards.
Katniss stayed quiet. There was something accusatory in his question that made her uncomfortable.
"I never thought... you and a townie, I mean..."
"He's not just any old townie, Gale," said Katniss, though she knew he was already too aware. He nodded and sat down on the step. She joined him a moment later.
"Look," she began, looking out in front of her instead of at Gale. "For a long time, you were the only person outside of my family who meant anything to me. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't been reaped, and I'm sorry things are the way they are but—"
"They don't have to be," said Gale, and she heard him turn to face her. "You're still here. I'm still here."
"I'm engaged," she said quietly. The last time she'd said it, it had been an excuse to not address anything to do with love and stay in her comfortable limbo. Now, even with her resolve stretched almost to its breaking point, she could feel the skin of Peeta's palms and the warmth of his breath; she could still remember her terror as he'd collapsed to the ground, poisoned, with her unable to do a thing to help him.
Now, her words were an answer. Gale heard it too.
"It finally got to you, in the Capitol," he said.
"What are you talking about?"
She looked down at her hands. Her left pointer finger had a hangnail.
"You're buying into the whole star-crossed lovers thing," said Gale. "Giving up on me, and yourself."
"Gale," said Katniss, closing her eyes. "I'm not giving up. I'm making a choice. You just don't like what I'm saying."
She could feel Gale's eyes boring into her. She didn't know why it was so difficult to look at him. There wasn't anything to feel guilty for.
"I'm not the same person I was before the Games," she said. "You want me to go back to how it was—-before-—but I can't. It's the past. It's done."
She braved a glance at him and found him staring, but he broke eye contact immediately to look ahead, as though she wasn't there at all.
"I bet he's thrilled," he said.
"Actually, he isn't," said Katniss. "He suggested I be with you. Even... in the future."
"But you said no."
He turned his head back to her and she saw betrayal in his face, and sadness. She opened her mouth to find some explanation but couldn't.
"I wonder what would be happening if some other guy had been reaped with you," said Gale, looking forward again.
"Then I probably wouldn't have won the Games," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. She knew what he was asking was something entirely different. Why did both Peeta and Gale insist on wondering what might have happened? It didn't matter, anyway, so what was the point of worrying about it?
She took Gale's hand and squeezed it, trying to figure out what exactly had changed and when. During all of those months of his being on edge, of being suspicious of Peeta and jealous of him, she'd dismissed his worries. His assumption that Peeta was a threat had struck Katniss as an odd sort of insult upon herself, but here she was, choosing Peeta, just like he'd always feared.
"So what happens now?" he asked.
"We go to the woods on Sundays, like always," she said, and paused. "I need my hunting partner."
For a long time, he said nothing, and Katniss was afraid he would say no, or walk away, or just disappear and never speak to her again. But then he spoke, at last, and his voice was lighter, less weighed down.
"Yeah you do," he said. "Otherwise you'll never hit a damn thing."
"Shut up," said Katniss, and she shoved him. "My aim is crazy good, and you know it." He looked back at her, smiling ever so slightly.
He looked down at his watch and stood to go, but she threw her arms around him and hugged him to her tightly.
"Can you stay a while?" she asked into his shirt. "They're probably making dinner for you too."
He nodded and followed her into the house. Inside, they chatted like old times, and Katniss released the breath she'd been holding in. In her relief, she reached for the phone to call Peeta over, but she laid the receiver back on the hook before dialing, thinking about how much she'd seen Peeta lately and how maybe it was good to spend some time without him in the company of her best friend.
Thunder shook the house as Katniss tiptoed from her room into the hall. She avoided turning on the light in case her mother or Prim saw it. At two in the morning, they would probably be asleep, but it didn't hurt to take extra precautions.
She groped for the railing so that she could descend the staircase without falling down and making a lot of noise. She'd managed complete silence until the bottom step betrayed her by letting out a loud creak, and she waited for a second to make sure neither her mother nor Prim appeared at the top of the staircase to ask her where she was going.
She opened the door and stepped into the deluge, cursing herself for having left her umbrella upstairs in her room.
But Peeta was right on time, and he offered her his umbrella immediately.
"Thanks," she said, locking her door. "Thanks for coming, too."
"Any time," said Peeta.
"You don't seem very surprised that I asked you over here so late."
"I have a feeling I know what it's about."
Katniss raised her eyebrows as they walked down her front steps.
"You do?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "You didn't tell the whole story, on the train."
"So do you know where we're going?"
"No," he said, and he took her hand. "Lead me."
Katniss nodded and said nothing as she took him the twelve steps across the square to Haymitch's door, though when she knocked on it, his face betrayed his confusion.
Katniss was sure there wouldn't be an answer, not this late at night, but she was proven wrong when the door opened and Haymitch's haggard face appeared in the doorway.
"I almost gave up and went to bed," he grumbled. "Let me get my coat."
Katniss and Peeta waited patiently without saying anything; Haymitch slid on a rainjacket and joined them under the umbrella. They walked down the lane, all three of them silent.
The rain was loud enough that there was no risk of being overheard. Even if the square were filled with bugs, the downpour would drown everything out.
In front of the fountain, Katniss said:
"So do you want to tell Peeta, or should I?"
Haymitch pulled a flask from within the raincoat and took a large gulp. Grimacing, he replaced it and turned to Peeta.
"Has she figured it all out before you, then, Peeta? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." He looked at Katniss again. "What gave me away?"
Katniss could tell Peeta was looking at her, too, but it was too dark to see his expression.
"Blight," said Katniss. "Because—"
"Because he didn't write the first letter," said Peeta. "I was wondering about that."
Katniss nodded and took a deep breath.
"Cashmere wasn't working alone, was she, Haymitch?" she asked.
"Don't ask a question you already know the answer to."
The three Victors stood listening to the rain. Katniss opened her mouth to say the next words but could not find them, and Haymitch did not volunteer them for her.
"Effie was right," she said eventually. "Cashmere didn't leave that corner. She poisoned my cup then and there—and then you called me over."
"To where I was talking to Seeder, correct," said Haymitch.
The next pause was longer than the first, and Katniss could feel the tension rolling off Peeta in waves.
"What if Katniss had drunk from that cup? What if-?"
"Why do you think I carried that antidote? You think it was coincidence I had it on me when you were poisoned? I had one job: get Katniss over to me and make sure she stood on Seeder's left side."
"You're a rebel spy," said Peeta.
"Rightio."
"You were working with Cashmere?"
"Yep."
Peeta paused to take a breath.
"You were lucky," said Katniss. "Cashmere didn't have time to elaborate on her partnership with you."
"Are you asking me something?" said Haymitch.
Katniss clenched her jaw.
"I want you to tell us the whole thing, from the bottom up. We deserve as much."
She expected another sarcastic come-back as it thundered loudly overhead, but her mentor surprised her by saying:
"It was supposed to be clean and quick. Assasination of Seeder for her assassination of Woof—"
"So Woof was a—?"
"Quiet," said Haymitch. "Woof's death was the beginning of all of it. Seeder was dangerous and ruthless. It was necessary. Lavinia and Cressida... were never supposed to be part of it. The Olvidia was just to knock Lavinia out, make her forget her day. Cashmere was never supposed to kill her. But that's what happens when Thirteen puts this kind of thing in the hands of someone so... unstable."
Katniss frowned at him.
"Thirteen? What do you mean?"
"District Thirteen," said Haymitch. "It's not gone like they've always said."
It was as if he had slapped her across the face.
"What?!" she said. "What do you mean it's not gone?"
"I don't know the details," said Haymitch, "but the citizens of Thirteen went underground somehow. There's a whole organized effort toward bringing down the Capitol, starting with a gigantic espionage effort."
"The terrorists," said Peeta.
"What?" repeated Katniss.
"The Capitol was talking about a group of terrorists because Thirteen is getting to people all over the place. I mean, Haymitch, Cashmere, and Woof, that's three Victors."
"And it's not just us, either," said Haymitch. "You'll be glad to know that Cinna's perfectly fine. He was evacuated to Thirteen, presumably when his assignment got too dangerous or the Capitol started getting suspicious."
"Wait," said Katniss. "Cinna's okay?"
"Unless he's caught some tropical disease or had a bizarre sewing accident, then yes, I would say so."
"And Mrs. Etheridge?"
"Seeing as I requested that they pick her up, I would say she is as well."
"You requested? You had contact in the Capitol?"
"Not really, but when there's an emergency..."
The rain was starting to let up a bit, and the square drifted back into focus. Katniss stepped forward to get moving, sure that the square would not be safe once the roar of the rain no longer sheltered them. Peeta and Haymitch hurried to get back under her umbrella.
They'd come about a hundred steps from the entrance to the square in Victor's Village when Katniss turned abruptly, nearly colliding with Peeta.
"You could have told us, Haymitch," said Katniss. "You could have just told us about Seeder and the rebellion and everything."
"No I couldn't have," said Haymitch.
"Why not?"
"Because it would never have worked if you'd known," he said. "Don't you realize that Thread and Snow suspected rebels right away? You threw suspicion off of us, even off of yourself by not knowing. That's why it had to be your cup."
"I could have handled it!"
"I couldn't be sure of that, sweetheart," he said. The nickname stung. "I sent the letter so you would be completely in the dark; it was the only way you were safe."
"Safe!?" cried Katniss. "Cashmere poisoned Peeta, she tried to kill him. She—"
"She didn't try to kill him, Katniss," said Haymitch. "She just didn't really care whether he made it. She knew I had the antidote, and she knew I'd use it."
"But that was just luck!"
"She was trying to get you to stop digging," said Haymitch. "That's why when I tell you to leave things alone, you leave them alone."
Katniss was fuming. She was about to begin yelling again when Peeta quietly said:
"So why are you telling us now? It's not like they're going to watch us any less now that we're home."
There was a short, tense pause.
"Oh no," said Peeta. "You're not serious..."
Haymitch did not reply.
"What?" asked Katniss. "Not serious about what?"
"You've reasserted yourself as the smart one, Peeta," said Haymitch. "I'm sorry to say that it's necessary."
"What are you talking about?" Katniss asked.
"They'll be here any minute," said Haymitch.
"Is the Capitol going to punish the District for this?" Peeta asked.
"Hello? Answer me!" said Katniss, stomping her foot.
"They might," Haymitch said, continuing to ignore Katniss. "But there's an evac team on it in case."
Suddenly it all came together for Katniss.
"Thirteen's coming to get us?" she asked in disbelief.
"Has to," said Haymitch. "There are uprisings everywhere, dangerous things going on. The President's not going to let you guys—"
"Good evening!" called a voice behind Katniss, and she whirled around to see a man in a large black jumpsuit with a neon 13 printed on the lapel. She couldn't make out his face, but she knew this voice: it was Finnick Odair.
Katniss blinked.
"Finnick?" she said. "You—you are in on this?"
"I am now," he said, touching the 13 on his lapel. "Was just recruited this morning."
The rain had almost completely died down now, but it was still too dark to see much. Still, she could make out movement behind Finnick; there would be more black jumpsuits and neon lapels.
"Odair!" came a gruff voice from the darkness. "We don't have time for lollygagging. Get them and let's go!"
"Yep, coming Captain," said Finnick, and then to Katniss and Peeta: "Come on then."
"What? No!" said Katniss. "I've got my family, and—how are you even here? How are you not tripping some Capitol security system?"
"It's all thanks to Beetee," said Finnick. "I know," he added, when she raised her eyebrows. "You didn't even have a clue, did you? Me neither. Apparently that's what he's been up to on his computer this whole time: finding loopholes and weaknesses to open up. That's why all of their surveillance has been down."
"Odair!"
"Yeah yeah. We gotta go, guys," said Finnick. "The holes don't stay open forever."
"We can't go," said Peeta. "The Capitol will lose their minds. They already thought she was in charge of this rebellion stuff. Our families are still here—what's going to happen to them?"
Katniss nodded vigorously as he spoke.
"They're safe," said Finnick. "We've rounded them up just now. They're on their way to Thirteen as we speak. It's just you three holdouts."
"I'm not holding out!" protested Haymitch, and he passed between Peeta and Katniss and disappeared into the dark behind Finnick.
"The Hawthornes," said Katniss. "Snow will kill them if we leave, just to get at me!"
"We don't have time for anyone else," said Finnick. "Come along now, or I'll have to make you."
"Make me? It's not up to me anymore?"
Peeta stepped in front of Katniss, shielding her with his body.
"We're not going," he said. "What do you think is going to happen the minute the Capitol realizes we're gone? They'll kidnap or kill or maybe even bomb the whole District. If we go, the jig is up."
"We can't be instruments anymore, Finnick," added Katniss. "We'll do whatever we can from here but—"
"ODAIR!"
"Yes Captain," said Finnick with a sigh. "I'm really sorry about this guys."
"Sorry about wha-?" began Peeta, but he'd suddenly dropped like a stone. Katniss saw the gun in Finnick's hand.
"What did you do?!" she demanded.
"Tranq dart. Are you going to come with me or do I need one for you too?"
"You piece of shit, we can't leave these people here to-!"
But then there was a pinching in her left arm and she tumbled into darkness.
When Katniss woke up she had trouble placing where she was. She was not in her bed in Victor's Village, nor was she in the Tribute Center, but in a room with dingy metal walls. There were rusty bolts on the ceiling.
The memory of last night appeared in her brain, foggy and vague, and she could not tell at first whether or not it had been a dream. She checked her arm and saw the puncture mark from the tranq dart, and fury rolled through her. The next time she saw Finnick she'd be giving him a serious black eye, at least.
After trying to sit up and being smacked in the face by a pounding headache, she lay back down and covered herself with her blanket. She was going to kill Haymitch, too, as soon as the headache went away and she could summon the faculties to find him.
As Katniss waited there, head pounding, she slowly emerged from the blanket to examine her surroundings further. There was a simple nightstand beside the bed, which was narrow but comfortable, and shelves built into the wall. Everything, including the sheets and blanket, was a dull gray.
After about a half hour, with no improvement in Katniss's headache, the door slid open, and Finnick Odair entered, still wearing his black jumpsuit.
"Good morning, Katniss."
"Get away from me," she croaked. Her voice was scratchy and weak.
"You're much less scary when you first wake up," he said, grinning. Katniss glared at him.
"What did you shoot me with? Olvidia?" she asked.
"No," he said, approaching her and sitting on the foot of her bed. "Olvidia is illegal here in District 13 now, thanks to our good friend Cashmere."
Katniss tried to kick him to knock him off the bed, but he stayed where he was, looking amused. She struggled to get the proper angle and force, but the movement made the pounding in her head worse.
"Where's Peeta?" she asked him when she finally gave up.
"His room is just next door. He woke up a little while ago. By the way, take this," he said, offering her a white pill. "It'll help with the headaches. Nasty side-effect, I know."
Katniss snatched the pill from him and swallowed it. Almost immediately the tension in her head vanished. Her shoulders loosened as well and provided another wave of relief, though she hadn't even realized they had been tight to begin with. Before she could stop herself, she sighed loudly.
"I know," said Finnick, "incredible, right?"
"Uh-huh," said Katniss, but then she remembered that she was still angry with Finnick. He seemed to sense it and stood from the bed before she could commence another round of vicious kicking.
"District Twelve, what happened to District Twelve?" she demanded, jumping from the bed herself.
Finnick's expression turned somber.
"You were right," he said. "The Capitol... they bombed it. Everything. Burned it to the ground.
Katniss blinked and stood motionless for a moment. Then, she launched herself at Finnick, so that he just barely managed to get out of the way in time. She crashed into the wall and turned to locate him.
"I told you!" she cried, barreling towards him again. "I told you we couldn't go!"
"Wait!" he cried, dodging her again. "Just wait a minute they're—they're okay!"
Katniss crashed into the bedframe and banged her shin so hard that her eyes swam.
"Who's okay?" she asked him through clenched teeth.
"Everyone," said Finnick, breathing heavily. "I transmitted a message to Gale Hawthorne. I knew you would..." he trailed off. "I got in loads of trouble for it."
"What then?" asked Katniss, still glaring.
"I had to explain myself to the Captain and I told them that you refused to cooperate unless they sent an evacuation fleet immediately, at least for the Hawthornes, and seeing as they couldn't ask you and they knew they'd only have a few hours, they sent one. In the morning the security systems all tripped in the District, but your friend had already collected a good group."
"Eight thousand people got on one hovercraft?"
"Of course not. But they managed to get everyone into the woods before the bombings started."
Katniss sat back down on the bed.
"Where are they now?" she asked.
"Everywhere," he said. "It's a little bit of a problem, actually, Thirteen's population rocketing up like this. But they're alive, at least."
Katniss fell back onto the bed and breathed deeply. Gale was okay. Hazelle was okay. Madge too. She lifted her head to look at Finnick.
"Sorry for trying to attack you," she said.
"No worries. Women often throw themselves at me with violent force."
"Get out of my room."
Finnick chuckled and began to withdraw, when Katniss remembered something else.
"Wait!" she called. "What about Chaff and Gloss and Johanna and Blight?"
"They'll be gradually rounded up," said Finnick, standing in the open doorway. "But they're not affiliated with us yet, not officially. I've put all their names down on the list of potential rebels, though."
"Could you add another one for me?"
"Name?"
"Edna... something. She was that Peacekeeper they were out looking for, or said they were."
"Oh her," said Finnick, "She's here already. Now that you mention it, she says hello."
"Oh," said Katniss awkwardly. "Thanks."
Finnick nodded and withdrew, the door sliding closed behind him. Maybe she wouldn't have to kill him or Haymitch after all.
Peeta trudged back up to his room from the briefing quarters where more people in jumpsuits had talked to him as though he was a small, stupid child. They'd offered to escort him to the cafeteria for lunch, but he'd declined with the excuse that he was still feeling queasy from the tranquilizer.
His door slid open and he entered to find Katniss alert and awake, sitting with her legs crossed on the foot of his bed.
"Hi," he said, as the door slid closed behind him.
"Hi," said Katniss. "Where have you been?"
"Briefing. You're going to have to go in a bit too, once they realize you're up."
Katniss nodded and fiddled with the end of her braid, and Peeta went to sit next to her.
"Did they tell you the Capitol bombed District Twelve?" she asked him.
"Yeah, but who told you about that?"
Katniss told him that Finnick had already been to visit her and spilled the whole thing. The only part that was news to Peeta was that Gale had been the one to round up the first group of people. He told Katniss what they'd told him in the briefing room about Chaff: that he'd been plucked out of Eleven in the early hours of the morning, and would be sitting trial for espionage against rebel forces. A deep line appeared between Katniss's eyebrows as he spoke.
"I know," he said. "I had that reaction too, but Captain Boggs told me that if you and I testify to his defense, he's likely to be cleared. Haymitch too, he'll be a key witness."
"Haymitch," said Katniss. "Have you seen him, by the way?"
"No, not yet."
Peeta watched Katniss pull the band off her braid and start to loosen it.
"Can you believe that he knew exactly what was going on that whole time?" she asked.
"No," said Peeta. "Though I was thinking about how drunk he got after Cressida died."
Katniss stopped running her fingers through her hair for a second.
"That's right," she said, and went back to brushing.
They were silent a while as Peeta continued to watch her while she rebraided her hair, missing a piece on the left side of her head. To brush it from her face, or leave it there?
"So..." he said. "I do have to tell you something. I know you'll be supremely disappointed."
"Okay?" she said.
"I'm breaking off our engagement," he said, giving her his best nonchalant grin.
Peeta had whiplash from all the changes. For a while, he'd been sure Katniss would take him up on his Gale plan, but then she'd surprised him with her choice. Once again, for a brief, beautiful day, she'd been his. He'd been too picky and idealistic to appreciate it fully, but the loss of that new, common future clawed at his heart. Here he was again, giving her up.
Katniss grinned back at him.
"I can't believe it," she said. "After all my time and effort planning that wedding."
"I know. I'm heartless."
Both of them laughed nervously, and Katniss brushed the piece of hair behind her ear.
"Quite the back and forth, huh," she said, her gaze darting about the room.
"I was just thinking of that," said Peeta. "But don't worry. Now that we're done maybe I can capitalize on the whole Victor thing. Play the martyr card real hard. You think the girls here in Thirteen would fall for that?"
He looked at Katniss and saw her open her mouth and close it again. Probably she was deciding whether or not to play along. Who was he kidding, anyway?
He took her hand though he was unable to meet her gaze.
"I..." he said, looking at their clasped hands. "For what it's worth, I would have done everything to try make you happy. I'd have gone to the moon and ba—"
"Peeta, don't," she said, cutting him off. "You don't have to-"
"I love you," he said. "I know I shouldn't , but I just..."
"Peeta," said Katniss, "shut up for a second."
Then she reached across the space between them and ran her fingers along his cheekbone, the touch soft and bittersweet. He closed his eyes, covering her hand with his, and all of a sudden she was kissing him.
For a few moments he tried to break away to ask her what she was doing, but she was having none of it. Every time he pulled away, her lips and tongue were there again, crushing his resistance to dust after a few attempts.
He had kissed Katniss a thousand times, but this was the first time his brain completely shorted out. Confusion floated briefly through his awareness before folding in on itself. He couldn't tell anything, except that he was still kissing her and she was kissing him back, and there were no cameras in sight.
She pushed him onto his back and scrambled on top of him, the weight of her body on his sending jolts through his system. This was the kiss he'd always wanted to have with her: uncontrolled, untroubled, uninterrupted.
He thought Katniss must have sensed his need for air, because she drew back and studied him, one hand resting on his chest and the other on the bed. Peeta's own arms were still clasped around her waist.
"What was that for?" he asked her, unable to keep the stupid, childlike grin off his face.
In answer, Katniss turned a deep red.
"Even your forehead is blushing," he said, still grinning.
She laughed and rested her forehead on his chest, and he wondered how loud his heart was in her ear. It was pounding at a mile a minute, and for once he was allowing it, not worrying about the consequences and meaning of the last few moments. He was done with that kind of worry.
"I don't want you to try to impress the Thirteen girls," she said.
"Why's that?" he asked her.
She looked up at him again.
"Stop," she said. "Don't make me say it."
"You're going to have to, because I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, wagging his eyebrows at her.
She sighed heavily.
"I told you. I..." she reached back and grabbed his hand, entwining her fingers with his. "I'm serious about the choice I made. I still want this... and you." she said.
"Hmm," said Peeta, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach. "But maybe I don't want you anymore, now that I'm free."
Katniss rolled sideways and off of him.
"Ugh. Never mind, I take it back," she said, but he could see her smiling.
"No you don't."
He reached for her the way he'd done in the field the day Cashmere had attacked them, and she folded into his arms again.
"I'm going to ask you something really stupid," Peeta said. "Don't laugh at me."
"What?"
"Would you... will you, um, be my girlfriend?"
Katniss laughed aloud, but even though he'd been the one to tell her not to, he did as well. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so happy.
"Yes," she said.
Peeta kissed her again.
"Are you sure?" he whispered, when they'd broken apart.
"I'm sure," she said, beaming.
He kissed her a third time, slowly, without reserve. This was a dream, and he'd be waking up soon, he was sure of it.
A moment later, he heard the noise of the door sliding open, followed by Haymitch's voice.
"Not now, kids," Haymitch said. "There are a lot of things that need to be done. Katniss, get down to briefing; you're late."
"Ugh," Katniss grumbled, sitting up. "All right, I'll be there in five minutes."
"No. Now. I'm tired of making excuses for you."
She rose and smoothed down her shirt, then turned and kissed Peeta again.
"See you soon," she said, and then she trudged out and into the hall. Haymitch yelled at her to pick up the pace, then turned to Peeta.
"I swear," he said. "That girl!"
"Uh huh," said Peeta.
Haymitch couldn't maintain his scowl, a smile replacing it as he approached Peeta and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Good for you, kid," said Haymitch.
Peeta's smile was huge.
THE END
A/N: And so we reach the end of our journey together.
Within These Walls was born in November of 2015, and it's the first long form anything that I have ever finished. It's a little bittersweet to post the last chapter, because it means saying a sort of goodbye. Goodbye to an idea that I spent countless hours with: planning, replanning, writing draft after draft. Goodbye to a project that I have loved.
This story is safe, in more minds than just mine, and for that I am amazed and grateful. I feel so lucky to have found people to share it with, to know that this Hunger Games mystery might mean something to someone somewhere.
Special thanks to:
Javistg, for bringing me to tumblr and being generally wonderful and supportive
Aihodineverlark, for making a kick ass banner that rocks my socks
CosmicCandy, whose constant support almost from the beginning has blown my mind.
And thank you, dear reader, to you, whoever you are, whether you're reading this in 2018 or 2028. Steven King says that writing is like telepathy – I bring half, and you bring half. We are a team, you and I, and if you have made it this far, this story belongs to you, too.
Thank you to every person who's left a review- they always make my day!
Thank you all for everything.
-ryrous