Hi Everyone!

Sorry, it took me this long to update, I was going to do it sooner but I had to face this obstacle called school. I'm so excited to write this part and I was literally grinning like a mad person while plotting this part because this was how much I was thrilled :). For anyone who read the prequels to this book, Survivor and Mother, you're gonna find things that aren't gonna line with this book because I'm changing some things up to make sense of the plot and basically make the story more realistic. I'm probably going to edit those fanfics but for now, I'm focusing o finishing this story.

Also, thank you so much to the people who have been following and favouring this story, I really appreciate it *insert happy teary face*. Honestly, you guys give me half the strength to continue this.

Enjoy ~~~

It had been a week since they had returned to District 12. Heather hadn't spoken to either Haymitch or Peeta since then. Even Katniss has started to speak to her less and less with time. Similarly, Heather didn't talk to any of her victor friends since her arrival at home.

The recent past events brought Heather back to her dark place, leaving her often in a solemn mood. The only reason Heather smiles these days was Luke. Said person who was stuffing himself with the breakfast she made him at the moment. He had been ecstatic to see her and never left her side since she came back.

It stung her heart whenever he asked about Haymitch. The two had a good relationship and loved each other immensely. Especially Luke, who looked up to Haymitch as his role model. As much as she found it endearing sometimes, it annoyed her when Luke started acting gruff and stand-offish in an attempt to mimic Haymitch.

However, this morning was going to be different. After wasting time moping around, Heather finally faced the truth and admitted that she was wrong.

For some idiotic reason, she just realized how petty she made things out. Words couldn't describe the shame she felt when she faced the truth. The coward part of her wanted her to hide and let things work out by themselves.

But the stronger part, the part that loved and missed Haymitch deeply opposed this.

So, Heather planned to go over to Haymitch's as soon as breakfast was over.

Just as she was about to tell Luke to get his shoes on, a knock sounded from the door. She hoped that it wasn't Haymitch. Not that she didn't want to see him but because she wanted to be the bigger person and go to him to apologize.

However, the person behind the door was worse.

It was Peeta.

Heather blinked.

In front of her, Peeta shuffled his feet nervously. "H-hey, Heather."

Heather didn't know how to feel about this surprise visit, much less react. She was more shocked than anything. A few moments passed when she was finally able to catch herself and react properly.

"Peeta," she said his name as if she was confirming his identity. "Hi. Um-what are you doing here?"

Heather inwardly cringed. Really, how rude was she to ask such a thing? Specifically to the person who she wronged.

"I wanted to talk to you to you," Peeta said.

"Okay, come in," Heather stepped aside to let him in. Judging by his demeanour, she knew that he wasn't going to say something terrible or bad. But that didn't make her any less nervous. Placing her hand on the door as she closed it, she took a moment to calm herself.

The habit of having to stay strong was engraved onto her even when she didn't need to be strong.

"You kissed Katniss."

Luke pointed at Peeta. He said his statement casually as if he was saying the weather was nice.

Thankfully, Peeta took no offence to Luke's rudeness and laughed it off. "Yeah, I did."

Luke scrunched his face adorably, "That was weird."

"Was it?" Peeta asked with an amused smile.

"Yes, you kissed her on the lips," Luke said. "You wre not supposed to do that."

"Then how am I supposed to do it?"

"Hmmm," Luke lifted his hand to his chin. "On the cheeks, the head, the neck. Other places too, just like how mommy does to me. But the neck tickles tho," he giggled.

"Oh, does it?" Heather said with a grin, reaching her hand to tickle him under his chin.

Giggling obstreperously, he tried to swat her hand away. "Stop it, mommy!"

She kissed him in the temple, "Go wash your hands."

He nodded and exited the room, leaving her and Peeta alone. Heather poured a cup of juice for Peeta and gestured for him to sit down. His limping leg didn't escape her and every other moment, there was a grimace of pain that appeared on Peeta's face but she didn't comment on it.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Heather asked as she slid him the glass of juice.

"I-I wanted to apologize."

Her eyes widened for a split second but she remained calm. "For what?"

"For yelling at you that day. That was wrong and I shouldn't have done it," Peeta looked down, refusing to meet her eyes out of shame.

"That's okay, I understand. You needed to express your anger," Heather assured him. "To be honest, I wasn't mad with you but rather disappointed in myself. I should've thought of your feelings when Katniss said she didn't love you."

"You did what you thought was best, even though you were wrong," Peeta tried to console her.

Heather disagreed with him but she smiled, deciding to keep her thoughts to herself. "How have you been doing?"

Peeta stayed silent, looking around the room before answering. "Okay, I guess. Things have been better since the film crew left."

When a new victor returns to their district, there is a film crew that will stay with them for two days to capture their reunion with their families and their new house. This was one of the reasons why Heather stayed inside her house as she didn't want to run into them.

"Who's living with you right now?"

"Miche, but he left last night," Peeta told her.

"So, you're alone," Heather stated, not liking the sound of that. She glanced at his amputated leg with a worried look stitched on her face. "Can I see your leg?"

Peeta gave her a bemused look but agreed. He rolled up the pant that covered his amputated leg and Heather got up to crouch down in front of it. Peeta looked the other way as her cleavage came into his viewpoint. He felt that it was inappropriate for him to stare at it.

Heather tentatively held the skin where his prosthetic was attached. His leg was still swollen so he'd need to change it in the near future when the swell disappeared. She lightly squeezed his skin. "Does it hurt?"

"No," he answered.

"Do you still have phantom pains?"

"Sometimes."

"From 1 to 10, how painful are they?"

"6."

While it wasn't as bad as Heather expected, she still didn't like the thought of Peeta living alone. Even though he knew how to cook, clean, and all life essentials, she worried about him because being alone was lonely.

"Say, why don't you come live with me?" Heather offered.

Peeta choked on the juice he was drinking. Heather winced, mentally scolding herself for asking this at the wrong time. However, looking at his face, Heather could tell that he was already coming up with multiple reasons to not stay with her. When he got his breathing back to normal, he didn't get the chance to answer Heather as Luke returned but this time, with a bunch of his toys in his arms.

The little boy made a straight trip to Peeta. He looked up to him with hopeful eyes that silently asked him to play with him.

Heather immediately saw this as a quick opportunity to reel Peeta into staying with her. It was a bit off-handed but what mattered is that the intention was good.

"Luke, honey," Heather called for the little boy.

"Yes, mommy?"

"How do you feel about Peeta coming to live with us?"

The prospect of having a new playmate that wasn't her nor Haymitch brightened his eyes. He started jumping up and down, "Can he? Can he?"

"Well, that's only if he agrees," Heather said.

Both mother and son looked up at the young adult man. He couldn't escape as he was targetted with two bright blue eyes filled with hope that had him squirming.

"Alright, fine," Peeta agreed in defeat.

"Yay!" Luke threw up his hands in the air. As a result, his toys fell to the ground, making a huge noise. Heather winced and gave Luke a look. He gave her a sheepish smile.

"Luke, take your toys to the living room. You know that we don't play in the dining room," Heather told him.

"Yes, mommy," Luke said quietly.

When Luke got out of the room, Heather got up from the floor and turned to Peeta. "Would you mind watching for a bit? I have to go talk to Haymitch."

"Sure, no problem," Peeta said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Heather began to collect dirty dishes.

"Are you and Haymitch together?"

This time, it was Heather's turn to choke on air. Peeta immediately went to her side and rubbed her back as she got her breathing under control. "How did you know?"

"I-I didn't know at first but I noticed the way you two behaved around each other. Especially Haymitch with the way he looks at you."

Heather felt her cheeks heat up, "The way he looks at me?"

"Yeah, I mean, I've never seen one before but if I had to say, it was a look of pure love."

A silly smile made its way to Heather's face before she could stop it. A delicious fluttering feeling began at her abdomen and her heart sang in happiness.

She wanted to ask Peeta if she looked at Haymitch similarily but felt like it was too silly a question to ask.

Panic came to her as Heather wondered if her love for Haymitch was enough. All she ever wanted for the man was to feel loved, safe and happy. But this made her feel even worse because she was sure her absence affected him negatively. Suddenly, memories of her promising to always be there for him plagued her mind, building up her guilt even more.

Noticing the frown on her face, Peeta nudged her. "Something wrong?"

Normally, Heather would brush it off and claim that its nothing but this time, she didn't feel like lying. "Yeah, I need to go talk to Haymitch."

Heather picked up the dirty dishes and went to take them to the kitchen's sick. She heard Peeta follow her.

"I'm not sure if I'll be away for a while. I might come back in an hour or so at the latest," Heather told him as she began to wash the dishes. "Luke isn't difficult. If he's upset, talk to him. Don't guess what to do, that'll do more damage than good. Ask him what he's feeling and why, I've been teaching him how to communicate his feelings so you should be fine."

Peeta looked a little confused but nodded his head. Heather decided to have faith in him and not worry over his confusion.

Heather went upstairs to change out of her nightgown. She changed into a pair of black pants and a loose white polka spoke yellow blouse and brushed her hair.

When she went to kiss Luke goodbye, he asked her where she was going.

"I'm going to see Haymitch," Heather held her hand up to silence Luke before he could speak. It was clear he wanted to go too. "I know you want to come too but you see, I did something bad. I hurt Haymitch's feelings."

Luke slightly gasped, not used to the idea of his mother doing anything bad. But it didn't take him long to figure out what she's going to do. "Are you going to apogize."

"Apologize, Luke," Heather corrected him. "And yes, that's what I'm going to do."

Luke nodded. "Okay," he patted her shoulder. "Don't be late."

"Okay."

Meanwhile, Peeta watched their interaction astound. He didn't know much about parenting but even he could tell that Heather's style was a lot different. After all, not many people admitted to their children that they did something wrong. It also surprised him how Luke knew the right thing to do, as it wasn't something a six-year-old would know how to do.

At the same time, in the solitude of his house, Haymitch was standing in the kitchen. He was intensely at the cupboard where a bottle of tequila sat. One could say that this was his emergency to-go-to bottle if something happened and he needed to not feel things.

Obviously, Heather didn't know about it, otherwise, she would've destroyed it already like the others. But Heather wasn't here and she was the main reason he was currently having an internal fight whether to drink it or not. Haymitch couldn't tell when was the last time he was emotionally hurt like this. He never realized how the lack of Heather's presence would affect him until now.

At first, when she avoided him, he was confused. But true to his intelligence, he figured out the reason why in a matter of a day. He could understand why she was upset. That's why he waited for her at first, knowing that she'll come back when her anger sedates.

But she didn't come. And with each day passing, the faith he had in her returning diminished. Which led him to here, to the cupboard that separated him from the bottle that held the power to relieve him of this emotional pain. Haymitch tried other ways to get over his pain. He tried to use logical reasons such as how he wasn't in the wrong here and Heather was simply taking her anger on him but that didn't work. None of the previous methods he used worked.

Just as he was about to open the cupboard, a knock echoed through his house. The thought of Heather being the one behind the front door of his house stubbornly remained in his mind as he walked from the kitchen.

However, it appeared that his first prediction was first as it was indeed Heather standing behind the door. Haymitch felt a tug on his heart when he faced her. The phrase 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' never felt truer than now.

Suddenly, all the hurt, all the anxiousness, all the worry, disappeared in a blink of an eye. Haymitch took a moment to admire Heather. From her peach lips to her luscious body. Everything about her was the same a week ago but Haymitch still felt the need to study her, memorizing the physical parts of her that he hadn't noticed before.

Heather refused to meet her eyes, shame and guilt crystal clear on her face. Still, she managed to gain enough courage to talk, "I'm sorry."

As soon as those words left her lips, Haymitch wanted to say that he already forgave her as long as she didn't do something like this again in the future. He didn't though, knowing that Heather had more things to say.

"I know that I was being dumb, ignoring you like this and I have no justifications for my poor actions. I hurt you and believe me when I say that I'm sorry for that. I've always said that I'll be there for you and care for you but I still hurt you," Heather hiccuped as she started to cry. All those promises I've vowed to you I broke and I'll understand if you want nothing to do with me after this."

The last bit made Haymitch reach out and pull Heather inside. He shut the door behind them and turned to Heather, who was looking down at the floor. "I forgive you."

This made her look up. Haymitch seized this chance to hold her face in his hands, making Heather look him in the eye. This woman. She had him in his pawns and she didn't know it yet. "Just please don't do that again, honeybee. Even if you're mad or sad or just not in a good mood, I still want you. I can handle your attitudes. I don't want Happy Heather or Kind Heather, I just want you. All of you."

This did nothing to stop Heather tears as she still cried but this time out of happiness. Normally, she would regret his forgiveness, opting for the fact that she did something that couldn't be easily forgiven like this. But this time, she chose to be selfish.

Haymitch hugged her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and his hand held onto her head. His hand gently stroked her soft hair and he felt Heather tightly hold him. She buried her face into his face, not caring for the fact that he mildly smelled.

"I missed you."

Haymitch pulled her face up and pecked her lips. "Me too."

For the next hour, Heather let herself forget her current worries. She and Haymitch made up for their lost time by snogging and talking about trivial matters. She didn't think about her crumbling relationship with Katniss nor President Snow nor rebellions matter. All in her mind was Haymitch, Luke, Peeta, and the peaceful future she deeply wished for.