Chapter 16: Happily Ever After

Katniss's POV

The door to our one-bedroom apartment in District 13 slams open and Peeta and I stagger inside, kissing and making out fiercely. I feel my husband crowd me into the wall every few steps, his excitement and clear desire for me brushing up against the inside of my thigh.

"Mmmmm….. Hmmm…. Pe….Peeta….." Swallowing his tongue, we gasp as we come up for air; tilting my head, I allow the man I love to rain kisses down on the soft curve of my neck, already slick with sweat. I feel his palms dip lower to caress and feel up the curve in my rear and he viciously ruts against me. Digging my nails into his strong buttocks, I brazenly jerk my hips back, gallingly raising my one leg high to hook it about his torso. Peeta picks me up in his arms, lifting me off my feet, and I climb him happily, letting him maneuver us both to our bed. Throwing me down on it, he starts to clamber up on top of me, kissing the pronounced swell of my belly. I can feel his strong and calloused fingers pushing up the skirts off my blue Reaping dress, bunching them over my hips. Yanking the bodice down (and chuckling at the choking sound my husband makes when he realizes I am not wearing a bra, I begin to knead and touch myself, tweaking the pebbled nipples of my swollen breasts. The apex of my legs is very, very wet, and when Peeta sends his tongue along my throbbing cunt, a spasm of joy overtakes me and I let out a squeal.

"Pee….ta….." I hardly appreciate his teasing, clamping my thighs around his middle. My grey eyes flash like stormclouds. "TAKE. ME."

"As you command," Peeta's eyes – a brilliant blue – are glinting and he sinks into me with one thrust.

I arch my back, rising off the bed as I snap my pelvis up to meet him thrust for thrust. We undulate and gasp together, relearning each other's bodies, and when Peeta sucks my nipple into his mouth, I squeak.

"Fuck, Peeta!" And he responds by slamming into me more frantically, his large hands still feeling up my ass.

"Trying to," he grunts, bearing down.

"Huhh….. Uhhhh….. Oooooh….. Ohhhh….. OHHHHHH!" The headboard of our double bed is ramming into the metal hall. Every one on this level, including my mother and Prim just next door, can probably hear!

Peeta nips at my earlobe, knowing just where I like it, and whispers, "I love you. And our babies…."

And that's when I lose it completely.

"PEETA!" He makes me cum so hard, I see stars, and seconds later, he follows me over the edge, spilling himself deep inside me. Collapsing on top of me, my husband pulls out like the gentleman he is and turns on the nightstand light. I'm sweaty, and terribly flustered, breathing hard. Rolling over, a hand flies to my stomach, and I wince.

"Sweetheart, what is it? Are the babies OK?"

"Fine, they're fine," I dismiss. I huff out a sigh. "Panem almighty, I didn't think I would lose control so completely like this. Second trimester is…."

"…. The best?" Peeta finishes hopefully.

"Oh, by far, I just didn't think I'd be so damn horny!" Burying my face into his chest, I laugh. "Look at me! I'm…"

"Beautiful. You're beautiful, Katniss. And perfect." His voice is husky, and I barely hold in a whimper.

"Thank you," I turn pink, running a hand lightly up his arm. My husband is quiet, staring up at the ceiling as he works to calm his own heart rate.

Until Peeta came into my life, I had never thought of being married. When he first proposed to me just before the Quell, I had been quite taken aback. Scared and unsure, though I knew by then that I loved him. Watching the Games, I was so afraid for him, even though it was Haymitch and not him in the arena. Then Peeta came home to me safely. He brought my sister back to me, and I am a lady of my word. How could I do anything less than marry him?

I tenderly brush his golden bangs out of his eyes. "Hey….. you OK?" I croon.

"Just…. thinking about my family."

I nod solemnly. The survivors of District 12 had arrived in Thirteen a couple of nights after the Quell halted, reporting the dropping of firebombs. Peeta's parents and two brothers were among those who didn't make it out. I held him all night that first evening as he cried and screamed with grief. He was especially sad they weren't there at our wedding, to see us get married.

Peeta runs a palm over my womb. "My dad would have loved you…." he murmurs. "My mother wouldn't have, and I imagine the feeling wouldn't have been mutual."

I wrinkle my nose. "She wouldn't have approved of you wedding a coal miner's daughter."

"No, but that doesn't mean she could have stopped me. We don't and wouldn't need her blessing."

"Hmm," I smile softly as I run my hands along my pronounced stomach. "Well, at least we can say the Mellark line will continue on. I hope they're like their daddy."

"I hope they're like you," Peeta's eyes burn with love for me.

"Well, there are two of them in there. What do you say we split it fifty-fifty?"

"Perfect!" Peeta's grin is dazzling. "Our daughter can raid the kitchen with me, and you can teach our son how to shoot."

I kiss his lips lightly. "Sounds fabulous." Gazing down at him, I dip my head and kiss him again, deeper this time. When we break apart, I whisper, breathless:

"I love you."

"I know."

5 Years Later

Prim is freaking out again. This time, she turned into a blubbering, wailing mess when I tried to do the simple courtesy of finishing braiding her hair. Only my husband was able to calm her down, whispering to her something about Mags, the poor old lady from 4 who died in the Quarter Quell.

And that was just from PTSD. Prim's nerves over her impending nuptials to Rory Hawthorne are a whole different knot to untangle. Not even my five-year-old twins, prancing at her feet and chittering to their auntie that she looks beautiful, are able to assuage her.

"Katty! Katty, I can't get married looking like this! The dress is not…."

"It's plenty beautiful enough. It's our family heirloom. Surely you want to wear the same dress that I wore to my Toasting? That Mother wore when she married Daddy?"

"Why did I choose white for the flowers?" Prim whispers, not even appearing to hear me.

"Prim…." Mother coos as she gathers her baby into her arms. "Rory isn't going to care what flowers are in your bouquet or what you look like in your dress. He's going to be delirious just to marry you!"

The door behind to our upstairs bedroom in the Victors' Village opens, and Haymitch pokes his head in. "Is she all right, Belle?"

"She's fine, Haymitch. I know you want to help calm her, but we've got this. Now just wait downstairs; we'll be there in a minute."

"By the way, I gave Finnick the key to the liquor cabinet. I'll be fine, but…. I didn't want to take any chances."

Peeta smirks in bemusement. "You've been sober for over six years, old man!"

Mother, however, just beams, taking Haymitch's face in her hands and kissing him soundly; I turn my face away. "You're wonderful. I'm proud of you!" Taking his hand, she allows her fiancé to lead her downstairs.

I turn to see Peeta watching me with a bemused smile. "Don't look at me like that."

"I'm not. I just wanted to ask if you're OK?"

"I'm fine with it. Mother and Haymitch." At his cocked eyebrow, I insist, "No, really, I am. I just…. some things take some getting used to."

"She's happy. They're good for each other," Peeta murmurs.

I snort, a wry smile tugging at my lips. "They're not the most conventional couple by any means…"

"No, indeed," Peeta comes up to slip his arms about my waist from behind. "But then again, when is love ever conventional?"

I crane my neck back and kiss his lips lightly. "We weren't."

Peeta's kissed lips purse as he turns it over in his mind. "I think I have to agree with you there."

Giggling, we lean in to kiss again. We're interrupted by a shriek and Prim pelting across the room into the bathroom, locking herself in. Rosemary and Yarrow are banging on the door, begging their auntie to come out.

I shake my head. "Was I like that at our wedding?"

"Worse," Peeta lays a hand over mine, nostalgically grinning like a loon.

I let out a gawping laugh, my lips upturned in a poor attempt at acting affronted. "Peeta!"

He kisses me deeply to shut me up, and I hold it, melt into it for a moment. "You were inspiring…."

We finally manage to talk Prim off the ledge. Peeta escorts her down the stairs where Rory Hawthorne is waiting by the roaring fireplace and promptly loses his breath when he sees his bride. I admit, they're a little young to be married at 18, but the war is over. The Capitol and Snow fell. The Hunger Games were abolished and as many of us as possible returned to Twelve to build new families and new lives. My sister, my husband, and my stepfather-to-be are all hailed as heroes, as the Victors they are, and now I just feel relieved that Prim will have someone to take care of her. To love her and catch her when she falls in those times when the Games will come back to haunt her, the way that I do for Peeta. The way he does for me.

For no matter whether we were tributes, Victors or spectators, I have to conclude, as I watch Mother and Haymitch give Prim away, as I watch her and Rory join hands to Toast the bread, as I watch my sister and her new husband embrace and kiss, there are much worse Games to play.