Penelope: Thanks for reviewing! This story is written entirely for shits and giggles and to explore the characters, who have hopefully experienced some personal growth since the end of Catching Fire. Sorry if you didn't think the characters are true to their natures and that the premise is lame. I suppose it is lame, but humor often builds off of absurd situations. I do my best. If you think the execution was poor, then there isn't much I can say. If it's a matter of interpretation of character development, then we'll simply have to disagree. (FYI, if you didn't care for the earlier chapters – you'll hate this one. Though, I assume the story no longer holds any interest for you.)

However, I fail to see how The Hunger Games series doesn't concentrate on love. As far as I can tell, the whole story is about love. The action makes it move, but love is the motivation that gives it meaning: From Katniss choosing to volunteer in Prim's place, to her refusal to let Peeta die for her in the Third Quarter Quell, plus all the sacrifices that many characters make in between (Madge, Darius, Cinna, Mags, etc). And love is what separates Katniss and others from the amoral, inhuman, blood-thirsty Career tributes and Capitol crowd who crave the "action" without a thought for ethics. In short, love is the only thing that makes the characters human or keeps the tributes, like Katniss and Peeta, from being just "a piece in their games;" to die, but in their own idiom. To focus on the action is to miss Suzanne Collins' message entirely. That we are human, and what keeps us human, as opposed to savage beasts, is the care we have for our fellows.

I simply gave a few of the characters the space to breathe and explore thoughts and feelings that SC has already but into play. And to be fair, SC put a heck of a lot more smoopy kissing scenes in her books than I've put into the fanfiction. ;)

Sorry, I suppose that turned into a defense of my corpus at large.

Shameless plug: Maiasm of DA made a neato picture from Redux Ch. 3. Check out the awesomeness! http://maiasm(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/And-So-We-Run-Redux-158461294

Many thanks to Ceylon205 for beta!

Chapter 7

"I think we ought to live happily ever after…It should be hair-raising." Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones.

…

And to conclude – Peeta!

I wake up, not for the first time, to Katniss's hair tickling my nose. I turn my head in time to avoid sneezing on her. She sleeps like a rock and doesn't notice our bodies jolt. She's resting in her usual position with her head over my heart, one leg thrown over mine. On this side I don't have to worry about losing the circulation in my leg. Well, my shoulder and arm are another story, but I won't complain.

Shifting onto my left hip, I pull out a small notebook from my right back pocket. Sliding out the gray pastel from inside the wire spiral, I flip a few pages and add a tally, marking yet another nightmare-free night for both of us.

I blow the coal dust off and put the notebook away. I allow myself a deep breath of satisfaction and grin at the towering pines backlit by the pink and orange hibiscus dawn overhead. Below the gorgeous display, large ferns fan out around Katniss like screens. Not too shabby.

And it means there won't be any cameras around for what I intend to do next. The way I wanted it to be. For real.

We lay like this a while longer, Katniss oblivious to everything, me listening to her even breathing, feeling her chest rise and fall in time with mine. My thumb draws invisible lines up and down her spine. This feel right. Just us, away from all the bustle in the Underground, and the demands of the rebellion. We're like normal people, and not for the last time, I wish we could freeze this moment.

Eventually anticipation gets the better of me. I kiss her forehead and murmur her name. She snorts in her sleep, burrowing closer to me. Decidedly asleep.

"Katniss," I mock whisper in her ear. "I asked Finnick if I could use his net costume."

Katniss stirs, wrinkling her nose when her cheek hits the wet spot where she drooled on my shirt. "Ugh," she moans. She looks up at me through bleary eyes. "Wha?"

"Mornin'," I say.

"Hrmfff."

"You utter piercing eloquence." When she glares at me, I quip, "You never did suffer teasing with grace."

Katniss sits up, stretches, and gets her fingers stuck in the haystack on top of her head. "What happened to my braid?"

I pull her hair tie out of my pocket and twirl it around my index finger.

She frowns in consternation. "Oh."

"You only let your hair down when you're unconscious or incredibly…distracted." I shrug, putting her hair tie back in my pocket before she tries to get it back. "By me, of course."

"Which was it then?" she asks, masking a teasing smirk with a yawn. "I don't remember."

"Incredibly distracted. I could give you a recap…"

Katniss laughs, pushes me away, and then licks her chapped lips. "Speaking of, I'm distractingly thirsty. We should probably head back to the hovercraft and find out if the others are still alive and if they've found a water source." She stands up, helping me to my feet and starts brushing off pine needles. We tackle the debris on the blanket together, then she folds it up.

While her back is to me, putting everything else back into the pack, I rummage in my pocket. Seems like I've got everything in here today, I muse, making sure my quarry is still there.

I clear my throat. "Before we meet up with Madge and Gale I wanted to clear something up." I announce, slowly dropping onto my knees just as Katniss turns toward me.

Katniss's eyes pop. The backpack falls to the ground. She lurches forward, throwing herself down on her knees front of me. "Peeta!" she cries, her hands thrust out in front of her like she doesn't know where to touch me. "What's wrong?"

"Relax, Katniss." I laugh softly, taking her hands in mine. "I'm fine."

She takes a deep breath, then she looks sheepish. "Sorry. Knee jerk reaction. For a second I thought you were dying on me again."

"Not this time," I say. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

Katniss looks confused. "On your knees?"

I grin and shake my head slightly. Not for the first time. "Katniss, any other girl would've been on to me already."

"What?" she asks defensively.

I laugh, a little nervously. "I'm on my knees, humbling myself before you – which is frankly terrifying – because I am asking you to marry me." Katniss's mouth drops open and a sound comes out of her throat, but I gently press a finger against her lips and continue, "For real this time. Not for the cameras or the Capitol or the Rebellion or Haymitch or the thousands of other reasons we've had to consider in the past. I love you." I glance down at our hands, remembering every time I've said those words to her – and the varying successes and failures of those confessions. I have a hard time looking up again, but I manage. Her grey eyes are wide and fixed on me as though we'd never done this before. "I want to be with you only for the reason that I love you and you love me too."

She looks a bit stunned, so I keep talking. "I know that traditionally you haven't been very fond of the marriage and kids idea but without the risks we faced in Twelve, I figured maybe you'd change your mind. I want to be with you always." I grin. "Not to mention that your mom would finally relax."

"Peeta?"

"Oh, and I should give you this." I hold up the ring after digging it out of my pocket. It's the pearl I gave her set in gold filigree leaves I designed from pictures in their family book. In light of yesterday's conversation, I'm pleased to say they aren't depicted after some vegetable in disguise.

Katniss takes one look at the ring and her face crumples, causing my heart to drop into my stomach. Bowing her head, she begins sobbing quietly against my chest. And I've probably seen Katniss cry more than anyone else, but it's still a weird sensation.

I wrap my arms around her, resting my cheek against her head. "Is it something I did?"

She gives a hiccupping sort of laugh. "Yes."

"Sorry. And your mom's fine and –"

"Don't apologize, you idiot. It's my fault." She lifts her head and sniffles. I wipe a few stray tears away. "You're perfect, and I love you."

"Then what is it?" I ask, feeling completely confused. Something I did, but it's not my fault? My fingers twiddle with the ring, and I wonder if maybe she doesn't like it after all? "You don't like the ring?"

Katniss sighs, taking the ring and studying it. "This is beautiful craftsmanship. It's just that the pearl was all I had of you for a long time. While you were…gone," she shudders, "I spent most of my time thinking about our first year as tributes and victors, of the awful mess I made."

I frown, wondering why she's rehashing all of this. "Katniss, it's okay."

She shakes her head. "No it isn't. I hurt you and I hurt Gale. Before I give you an answer, I need to know that you've forgiven me for that."

This gives me pause, because I always figured that she knew where we stood with that. We've been together for two years now. I didn't suffer in the Capitol so that when Mockingjay forces rescued me I could hold a grudge. And all I've ever wanted is to be with her, I won't let something that happened in our teens muck up our relationship now.

So, I tell her, "You know I'm over it, if there's anything to forgive. Katniss, I don't blame you for feeling confused. We were both young, and the whole situation wasn't fair to you. We were desperate, manipulated..."

Katniss interrupts me, shaking her head. "Stop brushing this off, Peeta. I need you to forgive me because I don't want to marry you unless there's no doubt that all the uncertainty is behind us. That it's gone."

I shrug. "No big deal, I forgive you."

She bites the inside of her cheek, struggling to say what she's thinking. "I'm not the most observant girl in the world – especially when it comes to people – but I know you now. And you say that everything's forgiven, it's not a big deal. But you still operate like maybe you aren't even sure that the past is in the past." She cups my face in her hands, searching my eyes. "You never have to measure up to Gale, do you got that?"

Now my jaw drops as her words expose a scab that's been very slow to heal. One that I've only been partially aware of. And she's right, amazingly. I can easily forgive her for loving Gale once, but not feeling like I must replace Gale…ouch.

"I want you. Not Gale. Not a golem fashioned after him." Her hand gently smoothes my cheek before she gives me a light kiss. "Do you understand?"

I nod mutely, feeling overwhelmed, both by the wound and the freedom from it.

"Then yes, I will marry you, Peeta." She smiles one of those rare, rooftop smiles. The kind that's happy and at peace. "I love you."

My heart squeezes so tightly it hurts. I take the ring and she lets me place it on her finger. Then my hands slip around her waist, drawing her toward myself. Her hands rest on my shoulders, and she doesn't wait for me. Her lips brush over mine, then press firmly against my mouth. I rock back on my heels, pulling her onto my lap, and the kiss deepens until I taste her completely. Wholesome as clover and sweet like honey. Her hands caress upward to my neck, entwining in my hair, holding me closer. I respond with a hungry sound deep in my throat and feel her answering smile. I tease her lips gently with my teeth and she shivers as my hands mold around her hips.

And stay there. With great reluctance I place one last kiss on the corner of Katniss's mouth. She exhales with the same resigned frustration that I feel. Her lips are swollen and her eyelids heavy. The loveliest shade of pink covers her cheeks, bright beneath her dark eyes. Beautiful.

"What is it?" Katniss asks, her voice hoarse.

"I regret telling Haymitch about our great escape. Now he'll know to come after us. I could get used to having you to myself."

Katniss's ears pick up on one thing only. "You told Haymitch?" Her voice rises a few decibels and she slips off my lap. "Peeta! What about Madge? She'll be in so much trouble."

I shake my head. "Katniss, she'd be in trouble if we really did steal the hovercraft." I wouldn't have said anything if I thought it'd make things worse for her.

"Why didn't you tell Madge any of this?" Katniss demands.

"I didn't think it'd hurt to let her believe she'd really pulled off a heist." I scratch my head. "The hovercraft wasn't supposed to break down, though."

"Peeta," she huffs, our beautiful moment forgotten. For now. "Come one, we'd better head back."

…

We find Madge and Gale not too far from the hovercraft. Katniss stops short at the sight of them spooning beneath the blanket and gapes. It makes me chuckle.

"I knew the blanket situation would work itself out," I say, giving her a smug grin. "Despite a few setbacks, you have to admit that my plan worked. Once again."

I step around Katniss, who's still openly staring, and start building up the fire. Gale left a pile of kindling nearby and I feed it into the coals till there's a blaze. The sleepers haven't stirred a muscle and I wonder when they actually fell asleep.

Katniss plunks down next to me. The backpack drops on the ground and I unzip it, pulling out the cookies. She watches as I grab another stick and skewer a cookie and toast it over the fire.

"Wish we had milk," I say.

She ignores me, and says, "It's weird."

"What is? Toasting cookies?" I admit I've never done it before, but I kind of want something warm for breakfast. And our bread is lying in a bush somewhere along with all our other supplies.

She gestures toward Madge and Gale. "Them. Together."

"No, it's not." I tap my chin, thinking. "Effie and Haymitch would be weird."

She snorts. "You think?"

"However," I continue. "Weird suggests the unexpected or unusual. I know for a fact that Madge has been mooning over Gale since we were at least sixteen. Gale I wasn't so sure about until recently. All in all, they just needed a little help." Katniss gives me a how do you know? look. "When a girl runs through the snow…"

"You two shouldn't talk about us like we aren't here," Gale murmurs groggily.

Katniss and I shut up, casting surprised glances across the fire. I just barely save the cookie from falling into the ashes and hand it to Katniss. The frosting drips, but she doesn't notice.

"Sorry," I say, unable to think of anything else appropriate.

Gale's eyes are still closed but his lips thin into a smirk, half concealed behind Madge's hair. Her back leans against his chest, resting her head on her arm. Oblivious and asleep.

"So, returned from your tryst?" he whispers.

Katniss splutters over the term. "We were perfectly innocent."

"Ah." Gale's eyes sliver open, focusing on me. "But were you successful?"

Uh, I'm not really sure what he means by that since I never told him anything, so I just nod. "Sure."

"Alright then."

Katniss rounds on me. "Did Gale know about this?" She waves her left hand in the air.

"Nope," we both reply.

Her brows furrow with suspicion and disbelief. "Then how did you guess we were engaged?"

"Obvious." Gale squints at the ring. "Well, actually, I didn't know you were engaged, per se, but I figured Peeta went through all this fuss to corner you for a reason. I wanted to know if all this hassle worked out in his favor. I guess it did."

"Worked out in your favor, too," I tell him.

His eyes close again like he's going back to sleep and he tucks Madge a little closer. "Yeah."

Well, I guess that's that, then. I start toasting myself a cookie but Katniss elbows me hard in the ribs. God, she's bony. "What was that for?"

"I need water," she says. "Why don't we go find some?"

"Okay."

I get up, then stand there stupidly. Uh. Where to start?

"Go southwest for a quarter of a mile," Gale mumbles against Madge's neck.

"Thanks," Katniss grumbles uncomfortably, stalking off in that direction. I catch up with her and thread my fingers through hers. We walk for a ways without speaking. I play with the ring, twisting it around and around on her finger. It reminds me that something ugly and painful, like a grain of sand and an oyster, can make something beautiful.

"So…weddings, huh?" I say, my thoughts returning to earlier in the morning.

Katniss stops. "What?"

"I thought when we get back we should just hit up the judge," I say, pulling her along.

"Right away?" she gasps.

"Well, yeah." I shrug, skimming my fingers over the soft part of her arm between her elbow and shoulder. One of her sweet spots. "How long did you want to wait?"

She retorts, despite the way my touch makes her shiver, "Long enough to take a shower."

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline. "That long? 'Cause, really, that's a long time to wait," I tease.

"You'll live." Then she smirks and walks on. "Although, who knows when Haymitch will get his act together and send a rescue party? It could be months."

I give her a penetrating look, though it's wasted on the back of her head. "It anyone other than you was stranded out here, I'd worry about how long Haymitch would drag this out. But he's not going to leave his little Mockingjay in the woods for very long."

Katniss stops short again and groans. "What's the matter?" I ask.

Her shoulders bunch in dread. "You just reminded me that everyone will finally get their big, fancy wedding."

"It doesn't have to be that way," I try to soothe. "We can have a private ceremony if that's what you want."

"Oh, come on, Peeta." Her grey eyes flash on me. "Do you think for a moment that anyone will let us get married without making it a big deal? I wish it really could just be you and me and the judge." She starts walking again and I follow behind.

"Yeah." I'll have to think on that.

It isn't long before a line of thick, green undergrowth appears, heralding water. Katniss says she can smell it. I just nod my head, because everything smells the same to me, and follow her beeline through the thicket.

We take our shoes off and stand in the shallows. The water feels cool on my clammy foot, which has been in a boot for too long. Although the creek runs clear, I have to be mindful of my prosthetic over the silt and stones. Eventually I crouch down and swill the muddy water around, then start spreading mud over the big toe of my real foot till it resembles the rocks scattered over the riverbed. Habit.

I can see Katniss's wavering reflection watching me. Her hands perch on her hips. She kind of looks like her mom when she does that, but I've never told her as I value my life. That is, I'll gladly die for her, but letting her kill me seems like a waste. "If I can't find you after you've painted yourself into the riverbank, I'm not sure I can convince the others to stay and wait for you to tire from your game."

"You'll find me. You always do," I say seriously. Then add with a grin, "Madge would stay, which pretty much leaves Gale no alternative."

She half-smiles, half-cringes. "I've never seen him like that over a girl before."

That's news to me. "Not even over you?"

She bends down next to me, rinsing her arms and hands. "Well, when he liked me, I wasn't really picking up on his signals, remember?"

"Point." She didn't pick up on anyone's signals. Not even the ones broadcast to her over dozens of large screens surrounding the Training Center.

Katniss cups the water in her hands and pours it over her face. It runs down in beads from her forehead down to her throat, catching the sunlight. It twinkles off of her smooth, olive skin. I'd offer her my shirt to dry off with, but I know she'll just use her own. Instead, I scoop some water into my mouth and drink till the dryness dissipates. It tastes good, but drinking from the stream brings back bad memories. I probably should have thought of that before asking Madge to fly us out into the wilderness. Katniss doesn't appear to be bothered. I guess her memories go back farther to happier times in different woods.

So, I turn my thoughts to something else that tastes good. Or someone, rather. I reach for Katniss's arm, but lose my balance when the sand shifts under my false leg. I knock into her, sending her sprawling from where she balanced on the balls of her feet. The water splashes around us and she cries out.

"Whoops."

When I've wiped the water out of my eyes, I see that I'm on my hands and knees over Katniss, while she glares at me. She's up to her waist in water and a reed lodged itself in her hair. I pick it out and give her an apologetic grin.

"Sorry. Faulty equipment." I apologize for my non-foot. Her lips twitch as she struggles to suppress an embarrassed, blushing grin. "That's not what I meant," I add hastily, but she's already silently laughing at me, shoulders shaking. I revenge myself by plunking a wet, open mouth kiss on her cheek. "You've been hanging out with Johanna again." The victor from Seven has a one-track mind, I found out, and has even been known to make Finnick blush.

Katniss rolls her eyes, swiping at her cheek. "Ugh. Not willingly."

"I figured." I get back on my feet and help her out of the creek.

"We should head back," she says as she wrings the moisture out of her clothes.

"I guess." Though I'm not in any hurry.

"I'd like to dry off by the fire," she tells me, but then she sticks out her tongue at something. "I lied. I really want to know what Madge and Gale are up to."

"Are you sure?" I smirk. Other couples make her squeamish. Well, mostly around their appreciative displays of one another. We don't spend time with the Odairs much these days.

"Yes, I'm sure." Her grey eyes light with mischief. "Gale deserves to be teased after all the ribbing he gave us at first."

Ribbing? He practically flayed us with his wit. I still hear him caricaturing sometimes when I kiss Katniss.

The trek back to camp seems shorter and before we know it, we're within eyesight. Katniss pulls to an abrupt stop and I walk into her. "Whoa," she says.

Our companions still lie on the ground about fifty feet away, but the blanket's heaped over to the side, forgotten and in danger of catching fire. Gale leans over Madge, supporting himself on one arm while he cradles her head with other. It looks like he's trying to eat her lips. Judging by the way she's tugging his shirt, anchoring him down, she's not opposed to a life with no lips. I guess I can't blame her. From a purely objective male point of view, Gale is a stud. Even if he does behave like an ass sometimes.

Gale must sense that they're being watched because he leans off of Madge and looks around. His eyes lock on us and widen with surprise.

"I guess they got carried away," I mutter in Katniss's ear.

He whispers something in Madge's ear and then sits up all the way, pulling her with him. She glances sheepishly at us over her shoulder, without meeting our eyes.

"Wow, you can see her ears glow," Katniss replies.

"Yep." It's that pale merchant skin always giving us away.

Madge busies herself with pulling pine needles off her clothes, when we approach. Gale's sipping out of a water bottle. Nice of him not to mention that they had those.

"Good morning," I say with verve worthy of Effie.

"Morning…" Madge murmurs, glancing up briefly. Then she gasps. "What's that?"

Katniss blinks at her. "What?"

"That ring!" She points to Katniss's left hand. "Are you two engaged?"

Gale mutters weird while I reflect on how quickly Madge noticed. Like she has some kind of radar.

"When did that happen?" she demands.

"This morning," we reply.

Gale and I are quickly cut out of the conversation. It's clear by Madge's intense gaze on Katniss that we have nothing interesting to say.

"How did he do it? What did he say?" she demands.

"Um…" Katniss's mouth works for a moment before she gives up. Her lips twitch and I know that there's no way she can bring herself to repeat all that sappy stuff in front of our friends.

Madge signs, not waiting for the information. "And you said yes."

"Yeah."

"When's the date? Will you have a traditional Twelve wedding? Are you going to ask Haymitch to give you away?"

"I don't know!" Katniss cries, hitting overload.

"You should ask Haymitch just to pull his leg. I can play the wedding song on the piano for you."

Gale gives me a commiserating glance, why are we listening to this?

He gets up and gestures toward the hovercraft when Madge starts discussing wedding dresses and I follow. Funny, Madge didn't strike me as the type of girl to wax eloquent on the subject. I guess weddings bring that out in some people.

Just not Katniss. She's turning green. Hopefully this engagement is still on when the conversation is over.

Gale stands by old Ethel's nose. He picks up a wrench off the ground and tosses it into the toolbox.

"What?" I ask him.

He leans against the nose, crossing is arms. His somber eyes appraise me, so I fold my arms, too. "If you hurt Katniss, she'll flay you alive. Just saying."

"Thanks," I say with a grim smile. If anyone's in a position to hurt anyone…it's usually not me.

"No problem." Oblivious to my sardonic tone, Gale starts toward the hatch, crunching over broken glass from yesterday.

I add, "If you hurt Madge, she'll dump you for Quintus McFarlane."

Gale stops, grits his teeth. "I hate that guy."

"Making it an apt revenge," I say with a much sunnier smile.

He mutters, "She won't need to revenge herself."

"And I don't intend to get flayed."

"Good." Thus ends our verbal kick in the balls. "So. How long are we stuck out here?" he asks from inside the cabin.

I think about it a moment. "They aren't going to miss us until this afternoon, at least."

His head pokes out. "And what then? Will they connect our disappearance to the confiscated hovercraft? And will they know where to look?"

I lean against the hatch opening. "Haymitch knows everything about Ethel and our destination." Gale's eyes widen with surprise. "I told him beforehand. When we're late, he'll put two and two together."

"Will he?" Gale asks sharply.

"He's a quick one. Even when he isn't sober," I say in Haymitch's defense.

Gale huffs. "How much trouble are we in?"

I'm guessing he's really wondering how much trouble Madge will be in, after forging Haymitch's signature, plus conspiring and succeeding in flying a stolen aircraft out of the Underground. "She'll be all right."

He doesn't miss a beat. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Haymitch was…amused." Gale accepts this and heads back to the fire. Madge offers him a cookie and they share a bottle of water. I still think he's a jerk for not telling us he had it. But then, he wouldn't be Gale if he had, would he?

I settle down next to Katniss, who looks thoroughly frazzled but still engaged, and play with the hair falling over her shoulder while she splits a fruit snack with me.

"Well, what do we do now?" she asks.

"I guess we wait."

The End!

Thanks for reading!

(Okay. Maybe an epilogue…)