Peeta

Being back in District 12 is challenging. I'm surrounded by the specters of my family and friends, of all the people I let die in the name of the Rebellion. Once we clear out the dead and bury them in the meadow by the remains of the Seam – once I'm not confronted with the ugly reality of death and bodies left behind to rot for almost a year – I'm able to find peace in the company of ghosts. They help me to remember what we fought to change in our world, what we fought to change in the lives of those who will come after us. I strive to summon the good memories to replace the absence of them – the echoing laughter of my brothers and the warmth of my father's grin, the crass jokes of my friends on the wrestling team and the smiles of lost girls who I flirted with in my youth before Katniss.

Katniss.

She is my saving grace.

When we returned to 12, she was inconsolable for weeks. She had seen images of the destruction on screen, but she hadn't yet smelled the smoke or inhaled the ashes of the dead. The guilt overwhelmed her entirely, ultimately making it impossible for her to leave our bed. At times she wept with her whole body and at others she simply stared blankly at the wall. She wailed in agony, mourning for our people until I was terrified that she would end up lost far beyond where I could reach her. I was at the point of tearing my hair out and on the verge of calling her mother and Prim to come help me, when the last person I ever expected to see in District 12 showed up at our door.

Effie Trinket was less ostentatious than she had been when I last saw her, the night before the Quell, but she still stood out against the earthy browns and greens of 12. Her bright purple dress and matching heels screamed of her upbringing in the Capitol, but the absence of her colorful wig and her naturally dark blonde hair without any sort of adornment spoke to her time in hiding for the duration of the war. Her makeup was still loud, but her eyes held a seriousness that wasn't there before.

"Pee-ta!" she shrieked as she yanked me forward into her embrace. She kissed me on both cheeks and stepped back hurriedly to look me over. "My dear, it is so good to see you! Getting here was such a process, otherwise I would have been here days ago."

"Effie don't take this the wrong way," I hastened to say. "But what in the world are you doing here in 12?"

She threw her painted fingernails up dramatically and rolled her eyes. "I'm here to help, of course. Haymitch called and alerted me to the fact that Katniss was having difficulty adjusting, not that I blame the poor girl after everything she's been through," she muttered this last part under her breath. Then, "Tell me my dear, how is she – really?"

I allowed all the worry and pain and desperation I had been holding back crash over me as I dropped my face in my hands and let out a shaky wet sob.

"Oh dear," Effie murmured and pulled me into her arms once again. I let myself fall into her, crying into her shoulder the way I had always wished I could have with my mother. To her credit - and in the face of all her Capitol-bred manners - Effie only wrapped her arms more tightly around my broad shoulders. I dwarfed this woman, but she allowed me to feel as vulnerable and small as a child in this, my moment of weakness. I had fought so long and so hard – for my life and for Katniss's, for my district and my country – that I just wanted a reprieve, even just for a minute.

When I finally took a breath, Effie steered me into the living room and sat me down on the sofa next to her. "Tell me dear," she implored again. "Tell me what's happened."

I launched into everything Katniss had been through since the Quell – her torture at the hands of Snow, the paranoia and exhaustion she faced during her recovery in 13, our separation and her being drugged and traded back to Snow by Coin, her dispatch of Snow while he tried to use her to escape, and finally, her return to our home and having to face the destruction carried out against our people. When I finished, Effie wiped away a tear and exhaled a tremulous breath before she set her face into an expression of determination.

"I'll be back, Peeta darling," she assured me, before marching up the stairs towards our bedroom.

I sat in the same spot for close to an hour after the bedroom door closed behind Effie, wondering what our former escort was possibly doing to get Katniss out of bed. Eventually, the door reopened, and Effie emerged, a bedraggled Katniss trailing behind her; Katniss was still in her pajamas and her hair wasn't brushed, but her feet were stuffed into her boots, and she had a sweater on over her sleep shirt. When she passed by me on her way to the front door, she called out to me, "I'm going to the woods, I'll get dinner."

Once the door clicked closed behind her, I whipped my head around to Effie and asked her, "What did you say to her?"

She walked up to me with a small smile on her face and tapped my nose with her fingertip in lieu of an answer. "Girl talk my dear," she smirked. "Make sure she bathes!" she added before heading out the front door.

Katniss did return with dinner that night, and after the third time she caught me grinning at her, she rolled her eyes and told me to cut it out Peeta. Per Effie's instructions I pushed her to shower, which she agreed to do so only if I joined her. I have never clambered into a bathroom faster in my entire life.

I washed her hair and worked some fancy conditioner into it to help detangle the mats that had formed during her depression. I soaped her back and her limbs, reveling in the softness of her beautiful skin as it brushed against my body in the small shower stall. After she was finished, we moved to our room and sat on the edge of the bed in our towels. She wept softly when I brushed the knots out of her hair, but by the time I was done, she had wiped her face clean and then stood and turned to face me.

She let her towel fall to the ground, leaving her body exposed for me to take in. She was incandescent – a flame that could not be put out, a fire more brilliant than the sun. I told her so, and she pressed her mouth against mine as though to halt my words. She gave me all of herself, and through our lips and touches we found our way back to each other. She laid back on the bed and when I moved my body over hers, she gasped as I pushed into her. She asked me for more more more and I moaned my assent back to her. She was mine and I was hers. I had to hold back from finishing too soon, but when she met my gaze and I saw her stormy eyes blow wide with her own climax, I couldn't wait any longer. I watched her cry out as she came, and I followed close behind, her name on my lips throughout.

We breathed each other in for a few blissful moments, but I needed to know – I needed to make sure Katniss was really here with me.

"I love you, my wonderful girl," I whispered against the shell of her ear. She trembled at the feel of it and traced her fingertips down the muscles of my back. "You love me, real or not real?"

She met my gaze and I saw that hint of a smile I had seen a hundred times in the locket I wore around my neck. "Real," she told me softly.

She answered my wide grin with one of her own, and I knew in my heart that she was back with me.

She will have troubles and pain, and some days will be worse than others; but we can depend on each other, protect each other, because that's what we do.

Katniss

Everything was grey in District 12. The ashes, the bones of the dead, the sky. I'd seen it all on the television many times but standing amidst the remains of people who died because of my actions…. It brought me to my knees. At first I tried so hard to claw my way out of my crushing sadness, but it was too hard; and every day it just got tougher. I knew I was worrying Peeta, and that only broke my heart more.

The day that Effie stormed into my bedroom changed everything. She climbed up next to me in my bed and sat up against the headboard, running her long fingernails along my hairline as I burrowed into my pillow.

"Katniss dearest," she crooned softly. "I know Haymitch told you he got me out of the Capitol on the eve of the rebellion, but I don't think he told you the details of it." When I didn't reply, she simply forged on without me. "I fought that dreadful man with everything I had in me - he ruined my best wig! Can you imagine? I refused to listen to him, and I honestly believe he was on the edge of knocking me out. Finally, after what felt like hours of arguing back and forth about the absurd idea of me suddenly leaving my home in the Capitol, only to go to ground in some anonymous district…. Odds, and never knowing if I would see anyone I knew again - or even hear from them…. Well, Haymitch said something that got my attention."

She knew I was listening because I tilted my head up to catch her next words. "What'd he say?" I croaked, my voice rusty and scratched from disuse.

"He told me, 'We need to save those kids.' I realized that no matter how much he and I disagreed on so many things, we did see eye-to-eye on that. We care about the two of you, my dear, and he was trying to make sure you both lived. So, I was in - I was all in, Katniss. It was not easy - not at all, my dear. I was not seen as a rebel, but thank the Odds I was not seen as a loyalist either. Haymitch kept me safe, but it hurt my soul every day I was away from you all. And when I saw what President Snow did to you and the other victors…. Oh, my dear. I was desperate! I almost set off to find you myself! Can you imagine – in my shoes?" She chuckled, and I couldn't help my grin at the thought of Effie trekking across Panem to take on whatever forces were hurting us. "We were a team – I would like to think we still are, yes?" I nodded in agreement. "Katniss my dear, experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. Odds, do you learn. You will continue to hurt, that will never go away – but you have that wonderful young man downstairs who is so terribly worried about you. He is your ally, my darling. You need to let him in, and I guarantee that once you do, the hurt will be a little bit less, and perhaps a little easier to shoulder."

She was right. I knew she was right. So, I got up and I went to the woods; I let the breeze carry me along the paths of my youth and I watched the sun move across the sky as I perched in the trees. I shot three squirrels for dinner and blushed under Peeta's loving gaze. I bathed with him, wept in front of him, and made love to him. Bringing him back into my body brought me back to life, and I realized just how much I still had in front of me.


Finn and Annie have their baby - a little boy named Malek who has red hair like his father and the wide expressive eyes of his mother. A few months after he is born, we decide to travel to District 4 to reunite with our friends. Haymitch agrees to join us, grumbling the entire way about leaving behind his newly acquired flock of geese. He's been cranky since Effie returned to the Capitol, even though she assures us all that she will come back as soon as she is able. We plan to see my mother and Prim during our time in 4; they haven't wanted to visit 12 since the war ended. Prim, newly sixteen, is beginning her doctor-training at the end of the month, and my mother sounds better than she has since my father died.

Johanna and Enobaria surprise the rest of us by stumbling into Finn and Annie's house on our second night there. There are screams of excitement and tears of joy all around, and I can feel my heart finally sewing its last missing piece back together in my battered chest.

They come bearing news from District 2. While relations between former loyalists and rebels are still frosty at times, most days are filled with optimism. They tell me Gale is flourishing in his new role, and I am able to let go of another little bit of my guilt.

We make a bonfire on the beach one evening and pass around a bottle of sweet wine as the sun makes its way towards the horizon, watching as warm colors paint the sky. We tell stories about our lives before the Games and talk about our plans for the future; we do not dwell on the time between the two.

"I'd like to propose a toast!" Finn calls out, lurching unsteadily to his feet and sporting a teasing smile. "To the Girl on Fire!" I'm cringing already and dig my face into Peeta's shoulder. "My dear Katniss Everdeen, you have - quite simply - changed my life." His voice is suddenly serious, but the warmth remains as he persists. "I was a prisoner of the Capitol for nine years before you volunteered for your sister, and when you and Peeta won your Games together, I knew there was no going back. You set the world on fire with your bravery, but you saved every part of my world with your kindness. You helped Annie with your compassion, keeping her alive so I would get to experience true happiness with her. I got to marry the love of my life, and now I get to live every day as a father to our child because of you. So, thank you Girl on Fire, thank you for my life."

I'm tearing up and squirming with discomfort as the others echo his salute. Johanna teases but kisses my cheek, Enobaria punches my shoulder and grins. Haymitch takes a shot in my name, and Annie passes me baby Malek to hold so she can kiss the breath out of Finn. Peeta leans in and presses his lips to my temple, whispering, "You have no idea, the effect you can have. But we do. I love you, my girl."

I breathe into the crook of his neck, thankful that he doesn't need me to stumble over saying it back. He knows I love him more than anything else in this life.

I'm playing with Malek, when seemingly out of nowhere, he asks me, "After Snow died, what was it that Finn said to you that made you all uncomfortable?" He posed this same question to me at the time, but I was too flustered - both by Finnick's words and everything that had just gone down - to relay them to Peeta without stumbling over them entirely.

I let out a loud sigh and try to distract myself from my own discomposure by fussing over the baby. "He told me he appreciated that I acted the way I did to save Annie and the baby, but that he'd never forgive me – and you would never forgive him – if I ever pulled that kind of shit again," I explain.

Peeta seems to ponder this for a few moments before a smirk overtakes his face. His eyes crinkle with mirth and drink and he leans in to murmur against my ear, "He's right, you know. I love you for your valor and your strength, and I will love you for every moment of the rest of my life." He pauses, letting those words sink in. "But Finn's right, let's maybe leave the heroics to someone else now, yes?"

I tilt my head back and forth as if I am undecided on the matter. Finally, I hum an agreement and smirk. "I guess that's probably a good idea, considering what else Finn said," I snicker, returning my attention to the baby in my lap.

Peeta looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue with a contented smile on his face. "Don't let me stop you, Everdeen. What did else did he say?"

I cough to cover the embarrassment that's rapidly catching up to my big mouth. Evidently the wine has loosened my inhibitions because I normally would take this next bit to my grave. I clear my throat, and keeping my gaze averted I mumble, "He also said we should get on with practicing to make some baby victors."

I swear if Peeta had been taking a sip of his wine he would have spit it all over Malek and me. His face erupts with hilarity and his eyes crinkle as he guffaws. He is beautiful and golden in the firelight, and he is mine – all mine. I know someday I'll give in and have all the fat babies he could ever want, but right now it's fun to tease and laugh and imagine.

"I should buy Finn a gift…" he murmurs under his breath. He snorts when he sees my shocked expression.

I can't help but cackle unabashedly at his teasing and I lean over the baby to kiss him soundly on the lips. The others hoot at our display, but instead of chagrin, I'm filled with passion and glee and contentment and peace for the first time in my life – and yes, perhaps just a touch too much wine.

As the night wears on, the others play a game, taking turns singing my praises and trying to see who will say something that gets me to blush the most. I scoff at their antics and work on shrugging off my awkwardness, because these are my friends, my allies, my people – and I know that there are much worse games to play.


A/N: The quote, "Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. Odds, do you learn," is a modification of a quote by C.S. Lewis.

The name Malek is Arabic, and means "wave". I found it appropriate for the Odairs, who do in fact get to live happily ever after.

So here at the end, I want to say thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read One Need Not be a Chamber to be Haunted, for your kind words, and for taking this journey with me, exploring these characters we know and love. I wrote this story on a whim, never expecting it to be much and certainly for it to never leave my laptop; it ended up taking me six months to write the 256 page monster it turned into, but I wouldn't change the experience for a moment. When I was writing it, my friend-turned-beta said to me "Oh god are you going to kill everyone off after I've gotten so involved in this?"

Short answer was no.

While I completely understand Suzanne Collins's choices for what happened to her characters, I figured that sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a happy ending. Even if it takes a while to get there :)