16

"Katniss," Haymitch yelled. "You couldn't have said yes! That is probably the stupidest thing you have ever done!"

I looked at him, confused. I thought he would have been happy for me. I mean Haymitch is the closest thing to a father I have ever had. I thought he would be glad that to do something as big as that for me.

"You know very well there is no such thing as a 'white wedding' anymore," Haymitch shot at me. For a while there he was right. We basically only went to the Justice building, signed a piece of paper, and then had the toasting. But I wanted my wedding to be like Finnick and Annie's, kind of like my last tribute to them.

"Haymitch you know very well that's not true," I said.

I could see the look of worry spread throughout his entire face. "As you said, marriage means children. I thought you didn't want children."

"I'll deal with that later. That's something for Peeta and I to talk about later. Probably years from now, but that is beside the point," I shot back.

"You just can't marry him. Not right now. Things are going to be crazy for a little bit," he then said.

"What do you mean?"

"Gale is back in town!"

I stared at him for a moment, not registering what he had said. Gale? He was back in town? That didn't even make any sense. Why would Gale be back in town?

"How do you know that? You rarely ever leave your house," I said, barely over a whisper.

"You know very well that they notify me of everyone that comes in and out of District 12 since I have become our representative," he replied.

He was right. In the new government, they have representatives from every district who meet in the Capitol twice a year to discuss whatever they discuss about. At first they asked me to do it, but I basically laughed in their faces. Like I was really going to help them anymore, after all the crap they had given me. Then, they asked Peeta. He basically said the same thing as me, but much more polite. The only other person who would suit the job would be Haymitch, though they tried to avoid asking him since he is such a drunk. But, it seems like he was the best one for the job. He takes it seriously, which is more than Peeta and I would ever do. He actually sobers up both times he travels to the Capitol, and he apparently has a huge influence on the entire council.

I looked down at my empty cup, just wishing that it was full again. Visions of Prim, lovely Prim, past from my eyes. I smiled at her memory. Knowing that she was dead - partially because of me - didn't hurt as much anymore. Of course, the wounds would never heal, but Peeta has helped me put myself back together.

But forgiving Gale was a totally different thing. Partially, because it may have never been his fault in the first place. But the other part was much deeper. We always promised that we would take care of each other. We promised that if one of us died, the other would make sure our family was fed. During the war we promised that if one of us got capture, the other would kill the captured. We promised that we would be friends forever, but I have basically pushed him out of my life. It's not that I blame him for Prim's death. I have learned to blame nobody for things that couldn't have been prevented. It's just our entire relationship is built on broken promises. How could I trust him anymore? How could he trust me? And then there's Peeta. I reassured him that I still wasn't in love with Gale, which I wasn't, but would him being here cause a strain on our relationship?

"Is this why you were doing the dishes?" I asked.

He nodded. I was touched that he was worried about me. I never thought that Haymitch could actually feel something for someone other than himself.

"Maybe marrying Peeta would be a good idea then. That way Gale couldn't come between us," I said.

Haymitch frowned and said, "That's why it's a bad idea. You don't want to marry him for the wrong reasons."

"Peeta proposed to me before I even knew Gale was coming," I replied.

"But Gale has been on your mind for weeks now. I mean seriously, you have never been the one for marriage. Even years ago when you two were on the Victory Tour, you shuddered at the thought, and you were going to be marrying Peeta! So don't you think it's strange that the second somebody brings up a complication you think marriage is the best solution? Katniss, you got to stop running from your problems and face them head on. Maybe one day you will marry Peeta, but it should be because you want to, not because you are worried about somebody else taking you away from him," Haymitch practically shouted at me.

I got up out of the chair and started walking towards the door. "Where do you think you are going?" Haymitch shouted after me.

I turned around and said, "I am not going to sit here and let you lecture me about this. For once in my life, I actually believe I am making the right decision, and I refuse to let you taint that." Then I spun on my heal and left.

The cool air outside felt good on my face. I was hot, and being drunk didn't help very much. I was furious. I wanted to run, to punch somebody, to scream. Life was out to get me. It reminded me of being back in the game. Once you walk out of one dangerous section in the arena, you have just either been pushed into an even worse one or herded towards your death. Maybe even both. That's how my life has been. Just when I get out of one bad situation, I seemed to have just stumbled into a new and worse one.

Was I doing it for the wrong reasons? I truly didn't think so. It was so spontaneous and unexpected, but the first thing I felt after he had asked me was a mixture of happiness and relief. Like I finally got the only thing that could ever make me truly happy, besides Prim coming back. How could something that made me feel like that be wrong?

I walked home, finally giving up any hope of figuring something out. I walked in to find Peeta looking through the book we made. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked into the smiling faces of the dead.

"We haven't added anybody new in months," Peeta said quietly.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing," I replied.

After I ended up staying in District 12 and Peeta and I got together, we actually made the book commemorating all those who have died due to the Capitol or the Hunger Games. We haven't opened the book since the last time we added a person. Sadly it was Annie. We got a call a while ago, saying that she had died. It was a morning like any other. Peeta was making some type of bread. Probably the kind with the cheese that I like. I had just woken up and was walking downstairs when the phone rang. It wasn't until after I had hung up Peeta saw the tears in my eyes that it had really sunk in. Annie had never really recovered fully from Finnick's death, especially since she was already unstable to begin with. She needed help with everything. She couldn't even raise her own child without help. My mother sort of adopted her after Annie's death. It was especially hard on all of the Victors. Annie was the perfect example of what the Hunger Games did to people. How it can break a person. Losing her was like losing a piece of the Games. Though losing that was good, it came at a high price. I shuttered at the memory.

I then asked, "Why did you take it out in the first place?"

He didn't say anything at first. Then he said slowly, "I was just thinking about how many people won't be able to be there with us."

I was stunned. Peeta was right, as always. There were so many people who won't be able to be there. So many people who I would have loved to see one more time. Just to hear their voice.

"I want to invite Gale," I heard myself saying. At first I was surprised that those words escaped my lips, but as soon as they were out in the open I knew they were true. "There are so many important people in our lives who won't be there. I don't want Gale to be one of those."

Peeta's expression at first was distant and unattached. His eyes were icy, and I thought that my comment was going to lead to another fight. Then, his expression softened and he nodded.

I kissed him softly and said, "Thank you.

Yeah, so I finished writing this lovely chapter a while ago. I had just finished it and it was late and I was tired, so I had this brilliant thought. So there I was thinking to myself, "I'll just post this chapter tomorrow. I mean, nothing is going to happen to my computer at all between now and then." Well you see, life likes to prove my stupid little thoughts wrong all the time. So my virus blocker thingy (that, let me just say, expired the day before) wasn't working at the moment. So, you know, my computer just HAD to get a virus.

So there I was, with a defective computer and being all frustrated and all. My mother was all like, "Give it to me. I'll bring it to the nerds at my job and they'll fix it for you. I'll bring it back by the end of the week," because she's a smart person who works at a smart people institute thingy (though she said it more mom-like). I was all like, "Sure what's the worst that could happen. It's not like this could possibly get any worse." Yeah, well apparently life likes to prove my statements wrong because I ended up not getting back my computer until 7 weeks later.

Now, I finally got my computer back and I was all happy and stuff so I was all like "Let me post my lovely chapter now before something else happens." Well, I looked at the chapter and realized that the auto-save only saved half of the chapter. So after retyping the second half of the chapter in like under ten minutes, because at this point in time I was so frustrated that I was about to throw my computer at the wall, I posted this chapter. So that's the story of how this chapter became extremely crappy and about 500 words less. I hope you enjoyed:)