Epilogue

Rain pattered on the windows and greasy grey light filtered through the curtains. Katniss looked around at the plain white walls and dated furniture. With her few possessions packed, the cottage was unchanged from when she first saw it six months previously, but in the dark of an Australian winter, it seemed sadder and lonelier.

Or maybe that was just melancholy talking.

This place was never meant to be anything other than temporary, a landing pad while she figured out what to do with the empty shell of her life. But somehow, it had come to feel like home.

Katniss walked through the cold, quiet house to the sunroom at the back, the space she'd anticipated becoming a yoga studio when she'd first seen pictures. That hadn't happened. So many of her expectations for her time in Australia had been derailed.

She looked out over the yard, careful not to touch the freshly washed glass. Across the lawn, her house's twin stood dark and lonely against the grey skies, no sign of life at all. "Perving on your hot neighbour?" a low, sexy voice said from behind her, and Katniss smiled.

"Not much to see today," she said. "No sign of life at all." She watched Peeta's reflection in the glass as he moved closer, the orange of his sweatshirt a bright spot against the gloom.

"Wonder why that is, love," he murmured. He was close enough for Katniss to feel his warmth.

She couldn't resist leaning back into him. His arms came up to wrap around her collarbones, his lips pressed against that ticklish spot where her neck met her shoulder.

"Sure gonna miss jumping that fence to sneak in here and fuck you senseless," he murmured, and his sultry tone tightened everything sensitive in Katniss.

"Once more, for old times sake?" Katniss breathed, forgetting about the spotless glass and bracing her hands against it to arch back into him.

He was already hard.

Peeta groaned, hands dropping to snake under her shirt, caressing bare skin. "Temptress," he hummed, rutting lightly against her, pulling her earlobe with his teeth. Her panting breaths fogged the window glass.

"Peeta," she gasped as those incredible hands slid up her ribcage to squeeze her breasts. She knew she didn't have time for this. But he was completely irresistible.

"You guys back there?" The raucous voice of Finnick Odair rang through the room. Katniss jumped and tried to push Peeta out of the way, but he held his ground, though he did slide his hand out of her bra.

And just in time. Finnick walked into the sunroom without pausing. "Oi, you copping a root in here?" Finnick teased, not the least bit embarrassed to have caught them in flagrante delicto.

"We were trying to," Katniss grumbled, and Peeta laughed, squeezing her one last time before spinning them both to face the interloper.

Finnick was grinning goofily. "Aren't you two cute, but the removalists are done, the truck's already heading out."

Katniss snorted. Six months in this crazy place and still the language surprised her. "I thought Aussies were all about making words shorter. How'd you end up with 'removalists' instead of movers?"

Peeta laughed, burying his face in her hair. Finnick merely shrugged, the motion shifting baby Nick, asleep in his carrier on Finnick's chest. "Australia's a special place," Finnick said.

"It sure is," Katniss agreed, as they followed Finnick to the door.

Then she walked out of her little cottage for the last time.

They paused on the porch, sheltered from the rain, watching as Finnick darted to his car, moving his sleeping baby from carrier to car seat with practiced efficiency. Peeta squeezed her hand. "Ready for the next adventure, love?" he asked.

"Scared shitless," she breathed.

He chuckled. "That's how you know it's going to be amazing," he said.

Katniss looked up at him, still golden and beautiful even in winter. Her brawny blonde beefcake. The man she loved. He'd spent the past six months breaking down her walls, helping her learn to love and to accept his love in return.

It hadn't been easy, but Peeta grounded her, prevented her from running or hiding. And in return, she gave him a safe place to be his truest self.

Despite everything, Katniss had built a community for herself in Panem, for maybe the first time in her adult life. Her relationship with Annie was better, stronger now than it had been in med school, and she had bonded with Finnick too. She chatted with Madge almost daily, met up with Gale from time to time for drinks, and had coffee with many of the other hospital staff too. Besides that, she enjoyed spending time with Peeta's friends, his mates from the fire brigade, the people he knew from school and from the bakery and just from a lifetime in Panem.

On the other side of the planet, far from everything she had ever known, she'd found herself.

It wasn't just Katniss's world that changed, though. Gradually, the people who meant something to Peeta began to see the man Katniss saw. Began to relate to him differently.

Her community got wider, while his got deeper.

"I guess this is it," she said, gazing up into Peeta's smiling eyes. She wrapped her arms around his waist, basking in all of that attention he focussed on her alone. He cupped her cheek in one big hand and kissed her, just lightly.

"Crikey," Finnick yelled from the open window of his car. "Your new house is only ten minutes away. You can walk by the old places any time. It's not like you're moving to Canada!"

Peeta laughed, and Katniss grinned up at him. "Our new house," she whispered.

"Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Peeta murmured, resting his forehead against hers.

It was a huge step for both of them, taking this thing between them to the next level. Once her contract with the Panem hospital was extended, Katniss had to think about where to live. She was already spending almost every night at Peeta's place, so moving in with him was logical.

But curled up together one evening, Peeta encouraged her to look beyond logic. To take an even bigger leap with him.

They found a lovely four bedroom home with loads of potential just a few blocks away from the house Finnick and Annie shared. The kind of home for putting down roots.

A forever home.

"Shall we?" Peeta asked softly. "I have plans to christen every room as soon as the removalists are gone."

She was so ready.

—/—-