CH.28

This chapter is written a little differently than I usually is out of sequence (to keep you on your toes lol). You'll notice the times and settings jump around so make sure to refer to the heading of each section or you'll wonder what the hell is going might want to go back and reread Ch.27 to piece some of the timeline together.I tried writing it straight however in the end I like this way the best.

May 8th 10:00 pm

There are moments in your life that occur that you can never anticipate happening. Moments that feel like you're an outsider looking in ; hearing Prim's name called for the reaping, the first time I saw myself on fire when we rode in the tribute's parade, when Peeta purposed to me by the lake. The difference between those moments and now is that I never instigated any of them. They happened to me not because of me. This situation is totally my doing.

As I glance around the room I'm struck by a very surreal feeling. This might possibly be the strangest situation I've ever been in. Gale, Johanna, Peeta, Haymitch and I all stare at the man behind the tall marble counter. He's short in stature and is wearing moon shaped spectacles that he keeps pushing up on his nose. He is wearing a coat and underneath I can see that he has on a pair of plaid pajamas. The man does not look pleased with the five of us. I can't say I blame him. I don't know anyone who would like to get woken up and forced to face this rag tag group. Gale stares at me through a swollen black eye and I think Johanna might still be drunk .I have a silly smirk on my face and Haymitch looks pissed off .Peeta seems to be the only respectable one out of the five of us .

"Are you intoxicated ?" the man asks us.

"No sir." I say suppressing a laugh.

"Because if you are intoxicated I'd like to remind you that this is an official document and it shouldn't be taken lightly. I don't care if you are super stars." At the word superstars I laugh out loud. I'm being very immature I know but happiness is a new emotion as of late and I'm not regulating it very well. The man looks at us distrustfully.

"I can assure you sir that we are all very sober and are taking this very seriously. We're just excited nothing more. We truly appreciate you coming here after hours and helping us tonight. It's a true testament to your character." Peeta could convince the most skeptical person of anything. The man's expression softens and he turns around and leaves his desk hastily to gather what he needs.

"Would you pull it together? It took an act of God and a very large sum of money to get him to come here at this time of night." Haymitch scolds.

"I'm sorry Haymitch. Thank you." I hug him around the waist. I have never done this before and it seems to make Haymitch slightly flustered and uncomfortable. Peeta grabs my hand and pulls me to the side.

"Are you sure about this? We can all go home right now you know." He holds my face so I'm forced to stare into his eyes.

"I'm positive." He keeps staring at me and then releases my face.

"I believe you but if you change your mind…"

I stop his words with a kiss.

Earlier that evening The Hob

According to everyone involved this is what happened once I left The Hob….

When I slammed the door to the bar all hell broke loose.

"You're a real asshole you know that!" Gale screams.

"I'm an asshole?"Peeta can't contain his rage anymore and punches Gale full force in the face then tackles him to the ground. The bouncers come and quickly separate the two as they curse and swing at each other. They throw them out into the alley way behind the bar .As the door closes behind them Peeta and Gale are about to tear each other apart again when they are suddenly drenched in ice cold water. Johanna stands holding a large tub that once held ice.

"Now you both pissed me off. You sit!" Johanna points to Peeta and directs him to the curb. He takes a seat obediently.

"And you sit!" Gale complies. "I'm going back in there and finishing my drink and you two assholes are going to have a conversation because this bullshit has gone long enough and don't think about starting up again or I'll call Plutharch and he'll have every reporter and flashing camera here before you can say I'm an fucking idiot!" with that she slams the door and leaves the two in dead silence. They sit there for quite some time holding remnants of ice on their injuries. Finally Gale breaks the silence.

"She's right you know. This has gone on too long."

"You'll have to excuse me but I'm not quite ready to make nice so you and Katniss can play house."Peeta says bitterly.

"Jesus Christ ! You are clueless man. We're not with each other. Can't you see how much she loves you? She's been barely holding it together since you left." Gale yells in exasperation.

Peeta gives Gale a look of confusion. "What do you mean you're not together? Why are you here then?"

"It's her birthday. What kind of friend would I be if I let her sit alone on her birthday?"

"But I saw you two kissing. I saw the whole thing."

"No. You saw me kissing Katniss." Gale takes a deep breath and continues sheepishly. "She told me she was in love with you and I panicked. I thought if I didn't kiss her … I don't know. I felt like I would always wonder what might have been. I couldn't leave her without knowing for sure. It meant nothing…seriously we laugh afterward at how bad it was actually."

"That's why you were laughing? You're not together?"Peeta repeats to himself in a shock.

"Never were. In fact I'm engaged. I'm bringing my girl by tomorrow so Katniss can meet her."

"So all these months…I thought… Oh shit." The weight of all his actions finally hit Peeta and he sits staring at the ground in a state of panic and disbelief.

"Yup. That about sums it up." Gale replies.

"It's over and it's my fault. Why didn't I just let her explain? She called Annie's a hundred times and I wouldn't take her calls. Oh my God what did I do?" He's mumbling to himself with his head in his hands.

"Hey listen to me." Peeta looks up from his hands staring at Gale. "Katniss is like a sister me. I know her better than I know myself and I know you two belong together. I haven't seen her truly smile since you left. It's like a piece of her is missing. It would be sweet if it weren't so depressing."

"Are you trying to make me feel better?"

"Sorry, what I'm trying to say is it's not over yet. Quit talking about you two like you're in the past tense."

"Gale, you saw me in there. You have no idea how much I just hurt her. She hates Paisley hates her and I….. on her birthday …I just thought you two were together and happy and it killed me. I was so hurt…It's not an excuse…. Oh god I'm fucking idiot."

"So you're giving up .You must not care about her as much as I thought. Maybe you don't deserve her." Gale stands up and starts to walk away.

As soon as Peeta hears him utters these words it's as if he's wakes up from a bad dream. I do still have a chance. It doesn't have to be over. Peeta thinks to himself.

"I love her! No I'm not giving up." He says.

"Good." Gale replies happily.

"I'm going to find her and beg her to forgive me." Although he says this as a statement Peeta looks as if he is asking for Gales advice.

"That's an excellent idea."

"Okay I'm going." Peeta starts to run down the alley and suddenly stops. "Gale, thanks….. and sorry about your eye."

"Any time and I think with all the trouble I caused a black eye is getting off easy. Now go!"

With that Peeta continues running toward the woods leaving Gale behind in the alley. With a day as bad as today, Peeta thinks to himself, I know exactly where she'd would go. He just hoped he wasn't too late.

May 8th 7:30 pm By the lake

I stare at Peeta in shock. Will you marry me? His words keep replaying over and over in my head. I know the what I want to tell him but I've suddenly become mute. Peeta looks into my eyes with concern.

"Katniss? Are you okay? You don't have to answer right now. Think about it and.."

"Why me? I'm grouchy." I blurt out.

"And compassionate." he quickly responds.

"I can't cook."

"You're an amazing hunter."

"I'm a basket case ."

"You're stronger than you think."

I look into his eyes and I can see how much he loves me. There is no doubt in my mind no second guesses.

"I know my answer." I say nervously.

"Okay. Do you want to tell me?" He looks pale and worried.

"Of course I'll marry you."

"You will?" Some of the color comes back into his cheeks.

"Yes I will. Yes." We're grinning ear to ear .He pulls me close and places a meaningful kiss on my lips. He lightly moves his lips across my mine causing my breath to become more rapid .I can't wait to marry this man. Suddenly I have an idea. I quickly part from Peeta's lips and stare at him.

"What's that look for?" He asks warily.

" I have one condition." I reply.

" A condition, okay…. what is it?" There goes the color in his cheeks again.

"I want to get married right now." As the words leave my mouth even I surprise myself.

"Now! As in here in the woods?"

"No. Let's go to the justice building right now and get married."

" Um… well they're not even open right now are they ? Besides don't you want your mom there and Neli. Annie would want to be there too I'm sure."

"We can do the toasting later and invite people. Peeta, if I learned anything from being apart it's that I don't want to waste any more time.I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you I just want to start as soon as possible."

Peeta looks worried. This is very unlike me so I can understand his concern,"I just don't want you to feel rushed into this. Let's take our time, we have all the time in the world."

"Okay I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice."I say in a serious tone.

"Oh God."he mumbles to himself dreading what is coming.

"It's my birthday and do I need to remind you that an hour ago you allowed whore to grind against …"

"Stop right there. You can have whatever you want. Forever and ever. "He says stopping my words with hasty kisses.

"So we can go get married now?"Peeta nods his head in agreement.

"I would have married you years ago. I just want to make sure you aren't going to regret anything." I kiss him intensely and then hop up.

"Let's hurry. We'll need witnesses and Haymitch might have to pull a few strings so we'll have to swing by his place." We race out of the woods as darkness chases us. We manage to get to the fence a little after dark.

We stop at Haymitch's first who tells us, "It's about damn time. I'm glad to see you two got your head out of your asses." He makes a few phone calls and somehow gets the Head of the Justice Building to agree to marry us but we have to be there in thirty minutes. It amazes me what Haymitch can accomplish when he wants. Next, we go to the Hob and collect Johanna and Gale to witness.

"What happened to your face?" I ask Gale in shock. He stares at Peeta and they both smile guiltily. "You had a talk huh?" I tell Peeta.

"I apologized." He offers shrugging his shoulders.

"That's true he did apologize." Gale says as I roll my eyes.

"There's one more stop I have to make before we go." I say to the group.

"You'd better hurry up sweet heart this guy's not going to wait forever." Haymitch bellows.

I return to my house in Victor's Village knowing exactly what I want. I just have to gather the courage to retrieve it.

"Will you come with me?" I ask Peeta. He can sense the trepidation in my voice .

"Of course. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to get something and I don't think I can do it alone." he gives me a reassuring smiles and we enter my house. As we walk down the hallway I feel tightness in my chest. The door to Prim's room has been closed since I returned to 12.I haven't been ready to open it. At first I couldn't even look at the doorway without feeling a gaping hole inside but over the years I've come to block it out of existence. I know this is an inopportune time for me to face this but I need to feel like Prim is with me today and what I need to do that is behind this door. I place my hand on the Door knob and take a deep breath in , closing my eyes.

"I'm right here .It'll be okay. "I look into Peeta's deep blue eyes and know he's helps me find my strength and with him by my side I know I can do this.I twist the knob and turn on the light.I gasp as I look around the looks like she never left.I slowly approach her desk and see some dried flowers in a vase and a drawing of buttercup. I hold up the drawing and look at 's no mistaking the style .

"Did you draw this?"I ask him. Peeta shakes his head with glassy eyes.

"She'd come over now and then to talk or bake with me. I didn't know she kept that .I forgot I even drew it for her."He says reverently.

I can't help but feel that I was meant to come here. It's as if Prim sent me a sign tonight. This drawing is as close to her blessing as I will ever get. I look to the side table next to Prim's bed and my eyes lock on what I came here for. It's the blue ribbon I tied around Ladies neck when I gave the goat to Prim. She took to wearing it in her hair after I returned from the games and every time I saw her wearing it I was filled with joy. It forced me to recall one of the happiest times in my life . When I left thirteen it was one of the only items I was able to hold onto. When we returned to twelve I asked Sae to put the ribbon in Prim's room for me. I couldn't look at it without breaking down and I thought that's where it truly belonged. I carefully braided my hair and tie the ribbon to the end of it. Now I feel like I have a piece of Prim with me. I turn to Peeta and wrap my arms around him. He wipes a few stray tears from my cheeks. As I look at Peeta I wonder how I made it through the last three months without him. When he's here I feel complete. Then I kiss his lips and say , "Let's get married."