DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY

IT BELONGS TO SUZANNE COLLINS

Fifty-Three

"Two days ago, Paylor?!" I start, "I was just talking to you a day ago about all of this and you didn't even take a moment to tell me that all of it has been done already?"

"And what if I did tell you?" She says, "Could you have done anything? It would've only made everything even more complicated! I have a responsibility to fulfill and I can't go about it by spilling every single detail to anyone, including yourself."

"You told me I could trust you!" I tell her, rising from my seat.

"I like to believe that I showed you that you could trust me." She says, looking up to me from her own seat behind her desk. "After all those times during the Rebellion? Or have you forgotten as well?"

"You said he'd remember how he felt about me." I persist.

"He did." She says, " General Walker told me he remembered he had a crush on you."

"You know that's not what I meant." I shake my head at her; frustrated that no one seems to have a solution.

"Can't you hear yourself talk, Katniss?!" Paylor says to me now and I sink back to my seat. "He's alive and that monster or demon or whatever it was is gone from his life forever."

"And he's gone from my life too." I sigh.

"Listen." She starts, now standing up from her seat, her hands flat on her desk and her face looking down at me. "Get a hold of yourself. You've got a child to take care of and a country watching your every move. This is the life you have, Katniss and there is no use running away from it or sulking around every time something doesn't go the way it was planned!"

"I just thought we'd have more time." I whisper.

"I understand how you feel." She says as she moves from behind her desk to my side. "For such a long time he was the most important person in your life and to have him ripped away from you after everything you've been through to be together is unfair."

"The odds will never be in my favor." I try to laugh.

"Your orders are simple." She continues, "Ease him back into his life. Talk about the Games, explain that he was a tribute and is a Victor. Move onto the Rebellion and your life together after."

"Fly home Katniss." She says as I get up. "His memories won't be gone forever. You've seen how fast he remembered certain details when you were talking. Spend some time with him, that will surely help."

"He doesn't want to have anything to do with me." I say.

"Katniss." Paylor raises an eyebrow. "This is Peeta we're talking about. He'll come back to you."


"How was it?" Harvey asks as he leads me through the hangar and toward the hovercraft that will take us home.

"It doesn't matter." I tell him, "Paylor didn't have a solution either."

"Mrs. Mellark, may I speak freely?" he asks as we near the hovercraft. Claire, carrying Alouette in her car seat, climbs the stairs first.

"Go ahead." I say, staying at the foot of the stairs.

"You can stop looking for the solution because you are the solution." He starts, "We've seen how fast he remembered the way your story went and who knows how much more faster he would remember the important things?"

Both of us stay where we are and I am at a loss for words.

"Maybe it's going to take days or weeks or years but you have to believe that he'll find his way back to you and Alouette." He continues, "Mrs. Mellark, if both of you learned to love each other despite the circumstances you were in in the past! If you were able to do that then a little loss of memory is even more surmountable."

"Harvey, I—" I try to say something more but I have never been good with saying things so I just pull him in my arms and give him the warmest hug I can muster. "Thank you for that." I say after.

"All in the day's work." He says and straightens his suit. He gestures for me to climb the stairs and I do. It's strange how a person who you hardly know will be the one who will catch you when everyone else won't.


I come home to yet another empty house with a child in my arms and still no husband to stand by me. The security teams form their lines, creating a barrier in front and around my home. They make way for me when I arrive, Alouette sleeping in my arms, the moonlight making her skin look pale against my own skin.

I make my way through the living room and up the spiraling flight of stairs and into the master bedroom. I gently lower the sleeping baby into her crib and pull the blanket up to her chin. I plant a light kiss on her forehead and dim the lights in the room.

They have taken all of Peeta's things and brought it back into his own home in the Voctor's Village. He won't be sleeping under the same roof with me for quite some time. I fall into the bed and surround myself with pillows, ignoring the feeling of emptiness that came with the bed that is now too big for a single person.

"Orange?" I asked him.

"Not bright but soft like the sunset." He said to me.

I walk barefoot in the sand, looking towards the horizon and the setting sun.

I search for him and find him sitting on a patch of leaves under a tree. The place is similar to the Clock Arena but the emotions that came with it are not here now. All that I feel are anticipation and relief. I make my way to him and sit by his side when I reach his spot in the sand.

"You came." He says when I lean my head on his shoulder,

"I'll always come back for you." I whisper as we both watch the birds fly over the sun. He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me even closer to his body.

"I've been away for so long, I've forgotten how nice it feels when you're here with me." He says after a while.

"Then, come home to me, Peeta." I tell him, looking up at his eyes. "It's that simple."

"You know that it's not." He says and gets up, leaving me in the sand.

"Where are you going?" I ask him but he doesn't answer. He turns away from the sun and looks toward the forest and walks straight into the thickness of the trees. I follow after him but as soon as I reach the edge of the trees, monkeys start to appear on every branch and the fog starts to thicken and move toward me.

I wake with a start to find Alouette, whimpering in her sleep. I crawl out of the sheets and look into the crib of my daughter wondering what sort of nightmares she's having. I pick her up and gently wake her from her nightmare. She opens her eyes and I watch as her pupils dilate and focus on me. She doesn't even cry. After a few moments when we've both recovered from the terrors of the night, I open the blinds and let the sunlight in. I look through the window and find Peeta's house. The curtains are drawn and the windows are closed.

Peeta always liked sleeping with the windows open.