Katniss sat in the meadow with her eyes closed, the suns' rays warm on her lids. It had been months since the remains of District 12's bombing victims were buried there. Now, in the warmth of spring, a soft bed of grass replaced the charred, barren earth where the bodies lie. With the change of season, the freshness of the air, the rebirth of flora, Katniss somehow felt the lightest she'd ever felt. She never expected she'd feel true joy again after the Quarter Quell and the war, but somehow, in that moment, she felt the most content she could remember.

She didn't think she'd ever breathe the same after Prim died and her mother left to live in District 4. And although she could breathe, she would never look into a pair of green eyes without seeing Finnick, she'd see Rue and Prim in any young girl she met, she'd never look at silk or sewing needles without seeing Cinna, she would see Madge in every friend she made, she'd see her father in the mockingjays as they echoed back her songs, her mother in herbs in the forest, and her nightmares would never go away. But she figured that as long as she had the meadow, the woods, Peeta, Haymitch, and spring to look forward to every year, she'd be okay.

The sound of footsteps pulled her out of her thoughts and back to her senses, she turned her head to see her blonde boy. "Hey," he greeted her softly.

"Hey," she smiled.

He sat down beside her on the grass, their shoulders touching, and she noticed he was carrying a loaf of cheesy bread, her favorite.

"I made this for you," Peeta said as he handed her the bread so she could rip off a piece.

"Thank you," she grinned as she teared off a hunk of the fresh, warm bun.

Peeta looked down at the ground they were sitting on, "It is strange to sit here, knowing what is under us… under the grass," he said uneasily. Katniss knew that it bothered him that District 12 was now a graveyard, that the remains of his very own family could be beneath him.

"But, I guess it's a symbol. That after everything that happened we will still be okay. Even after all the damage and death that happened here, the grass still grows. Everything will live on," he said, staring at the mushrooms, dandelions, and blades of grass around them.

Katniss looked at him lovingly. Peeta, who was always good with words, who always knew what to say. Peeta, the boy with the bread, whose arms were the only place left in the world that was completely safe. Oh, how much she loved him, how much she needed him to say that. He was always her beacon of light in the dark — the hope that was stronger than her fear.

She gently touched his soft, sunkissed cheek with her fingertips, a smile spread across his face. He grabbed her hand, placing a soft kiss on her palm and nuzzling his face into it. Katniss still to this day felt so lucky to have him with her, alive and healthy. How beautiful it is that after everything that happened, against all odds, they made it back to each other. It was fate. They may have been the luckiest victors.

Katniss ate the last bite of her bread, then lied down on her side using Peeta's lap as a pillow. He stroked her hair as the cool breeze blew across their skin, the trees rustled around them, birds singing in their branches. He traced his fingers over her features, across her eyebrow, down her nose and cheek, over her lips, along the line of her jaw.

Suddenly, a flush of worry came over her, something that happened quite often, "Peeta?"

His hand stopped on her cheek, cupping it, "Yeah?"

"You'll stay with me, right?"

He beamed, his smile warmer than any ray of sun, "Always,"

Her doubts were gone, she felt light again. The sun would rise each day, the grass would keep growing, spring would come each year, and their pain would only get easier to carry. It would never leave, but as time went on there would be more love and sunlight, things much stronger than their sorrow. And through it all, she would have Peeta, her dandelion.