A/N - I don't know if this chapter comes across as very final, more to come.

Chapter 8

Katniss came home from her date with Peeta thrilled. She didn't want it to end so she suggested to Peeta that it might be a good idea for him to climb in her window once again that night. He dropped her off at home and went home to drop of his car and sneak out of his own house.

Katniss came home, saw her mom and Haymitch for a bit, they asked how her night was, and Katniss told then it was the best. Katniss was especially happy when they casually told her that Prim was out at a sleepover at one of her friend's house so she would not be bothering Katniss tonight. She had just changed out of her date clothes and into something more comfortable. She had just walked back into the upstairs living room to spend some more time with her mom and Haymitch when the doorbell rang. She went and answered it herself and found Marvel on the other side of the door. He had this kind of tortured look on his face, and his normally perfectly styled hair looked as if he's been running his hands through it constantly.

"Kat, I know you're mad at me right now. But I really need to talk to you." Marvel said so desperately that she let him in.

Her mom took Katniss aside and protested, saying that it was almost midnight and she'd already been out all day. When her mom went to ask Marvel to go home and that whatever it was could wait until tomorrow she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the boy, so she agreed to an hour before he needed to leave.

Katniss took Marvel to the downstairs den. He turned and looked at her with sadness and regret in his eyes. "Ok, I'm ready to admit it. I cheated on you again in the summer with Glimmer while I was at the beach house." Katniss sat down on the couch stunned. She really did not believe that he would ever come clean with the truth. "Nothing happened, we barely made out, I couldn't stop thinking of you and how much it would hurt you to find out. I'm so sorry." Marvel sat beside her and took her hands into his own and continued. "I completely made sure she knew that would never happen again, I think that's why none of us have seen much of her lately. I thought it was bought, and I thought I could keep this from you, but the guilt has been eating away at me." Marvel finished.

Katniss was stunned into speechlessness. She wasn't expecting this tonight; she had always promised herself that when he came clean about Glimmer she would come clean about Peeta. It was too much, she wasn't ready to let go of him yet. She didn't want to let go of Peeta, but looking at her tortured Marvel broke her. She began to cry, hard, the dreaded sobbing ugly cry. The one you can't stop no matter what, and she didn't know why she was crying at that moment. It could have been from the fact that Marvel was admitting that once again he had broken her heart, or it could be that if she didn't tell him about Peeta now she would be doing the exact same thing to him.

She had been able to fool herself up to this point. Thinking that no one would get hurt in this, she clutched her chest, her heart hurt again. This time she did it to herself, and deep down she knew something like this was going to happen. Marvel hugged her tightly and kissed her tears as they fell, he cooed comforting words into her ear; he said it was totally his fault; he would spend a lifetime making up for what he did to her.

Still sobbing, Katniss shook her head in disagreement, "No, you're not the only one." She started.

Marvel frantically kissed her lips to stop her from saying more. "Yes it was me, I'm totally to blame." He assured her.

"No," she sniffed at her tears and willed herself to stop so that he would listen to her "you haven't been the only one...for me." She couldn't look him in the face. There was stunned silence.

"What?" Marvel asked incredulously.

"There's been someone else for me too." Katniss said. "I've known about Glimmer for a while. I just...was angry."

Now it was his turn to be speechless. "Ok." He said with a disbelieving look on his face. "Ok, we can get through this." He ran his hand through his hair. "Was it Mellark? Please tell me it wasn't him." Marvel said in a stained voice.

"Does it matter?" She asked. The look that he gave her told her that it did. She didn't want to ruin their friendship. This was supposed to be an easy thing; she couldn't be that selfish and ruin a friendship for this thing that she had started. "It wasn't." She lied.

"Then who?" He asked desperately.

"Just a guy, some football player from another school." She lied, hoping that he wouldn't see through it.

He nodded his head, wanting to believe the lie himself. "So nothing serious? Like you saw the guy once?" He asked. Katniss nodded with a whimper; if he knew the truth He wouldn't be so forgiving. "Ok, we've both done something wrong. We can work through this. We're solid right?" He asked, trying to convince himself as well as Katniss. She nodded her head in agreement. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her close. "We can work through this. You're my forever Kat." Her heart broke at his words. He used to say that to her a lot. It had been so long since the last time he told her that, she had forgotten all about it. She gave a little sob, he kissed away more tears.

Her mom called down the stairs that it had been an hour. When they went upstairs it seemed that her mom and Haymitch knew they needed a moment alone and were not in the kitchen or living room. They gave each other a reassuring hug and deep kiss at the door. Marvel promised theta everything would be better in the morning, and he left.

Katniss went downstairs, her mind reeling at what had just happened. She collapsed on the floor, crying for all the mistakes she had made, the bad decisions that had led to this. She was miserable for what she knew was about to happen. She needed to end things with Peeta, and this realization led to the next in that she didn't want to.

Oh gosh, her heart hurt so badly. This time she had really done it.

She was lying on the floor in a fetal position in the den when he came to her like she knew he would. She thought that she had cried all her tears, but when she rolled over to look him in the face, they came in new waves. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. He loosened the braid from her hair and it fell in waves around them.

Wordlessly he picked her up from the floor and carried her to her room and laid her gently on the bed. Her heart wanted him so badly, at least this one last time. They needed this one last time to say goodbye to each other. He looked into her eyes and saw the desire there. He removed her shirt and she removed his t-shirt and hoodie that he had been wearing. They kissed so gently, lovingly. Peeta touched her starting with her leg and tracing his fingers up her body, it sent pleasurable tingles everywhere in her body. She felt like she had a fever, her body was on fire for him like never before, everywhere.

He kissed her stomach and worked his way up, the parts of her breasts that were exposed above her bra, he touched her everywhere through her clothing until even that wasn't enough, and he slid his fingers underneath in the places she most wanted him to.

They worked slowly together, satisfying each other in every way they could. When she felt him hesitate she would whisper to him that it was what she wanted, she wanted more, harder. They came dangerously close to taking it too far, but they didn't. He stayed until the sun began to rise, they had communicated nearly without words at all to this point. They were lying in a satisfied blissful bubble, he was lying on top of her with his head over her heart, and she was stroking his hair. It was going to hurt, but it needed to be done.

"He knows." She said simply.

"Yeah, I know." He whispered. "I saw his car; I waited until he left to come back to you. When I saw you crying I figured that was what had happened."

"Marvel and I are going to work things out. We need to stop this thing between us Peeta." She said emptily. They looked each other in the eyes, deep blue and stormy grey, clashing in a heartbreaking stare.

"Why did you break up with me the first time Katniss?" He asked seriously. She looked away, knowing that she had blamed her mom all those years ago, but coming to terms with the truth now.

"I loved you so much. It scared me, my mom practically died for a while when my dad did. I can't love someone like that, and I definitely would with you. It scares me that someone can wrap themselves so completely around a person that their heart would starve without that other person." Katniss whispered fighting more tears.

"But your mom found someone else." Peeta said.

She looked at Peeta and let her tears fall. "And I did too. I'll never love Marvel like I love you, and he'll never love me the way you do."

"That's not the way it's supposed to work Katniss." Peeta said, unable to accept the fact that he was losing this girl he had loved for as long as he could remember simply because she loved him too much. He stood up and put on his discarded jeans and t-shirt. "I'm crazy for you, I know you can see it." He didn't really know what to say. "I know you're crazy about me too. You can try this, try to stay away and deny that you don't want this or that you can live without it, but you know what, our lives are already wrapped around each other completely." With that last remark he left out her window.

Heartbroken, she fell apart again, not wanting to believe what he had just said. She saw his hoodie on the floor next to her bed, she put it on and inhaled his scent that remained on the sweater, she cried herself to sleep wearing it. It was comforting, she was so thankful that he left this one thing behind for her to help heal her now scarred heart.

How did she manage to play this game with the one person who could bring her down so completely?