Chapter 16 – KPOV:

A/N: Hey, guys! It's insanely late now, 11:13, and I feign shock as I type this. :0 Hehe… Moving on…

Brandie Hitsugaya: Yeah, I wish he was alive, too… I always loved Cinna… :( I always thought she would tell Prim first, but hey! Prim is dead! So here's a spoiler: Annie is her real friend. So Katniss is going to tell Annie that she and Peeta are getting married. I think that would work :) GirlonFire10203: Okay, we talked about this. Yes, I may have gotten some inspiration from you, but I swear to Peeta the ring was always going to be the pearl from the Quarter Quell. Always. *wink wink* ;) majorettegirl13: No problem! There were so many people it overwhelmed me as I typed all the names! I'm doing that every 15 chapters, so I will be using the same people and adding the ones who just added me and whatnot. I'm glad you love it so much! :-) Thanks for adding this to your favorites! It really means a lot! :) Bluedog270: I know, right? No one can possibly live up to Peeta! But one day, we'll all find our Peetas… :) Again, I know right? Peeta is soooo nice because he's Peeta and he's amazing! :D And you mentioned that it was very long? Well, I thought I owe it to all of you for a super long chapter so I gave you one! I mean, it's the least I can do…

Hehe, ten minutes later and I'm done responding to the reviews. Thanks so much, guys! I know it doesn't seem like much, but really, I get ecstatic when there's a new review! It just makes my day because I know how nice you all are! :D

By the way, if you had subscribed to this prior to when I posted Chapter 15 and you didn't see your name, I didn't forget about you. For some reason, some names didn't show up. I'll make sure they show in Chapter 30! =)

The sun warms my face as my eyes open and adjust to the light. As soon as they do, I see Peeta's beautiful face and his ashy blonde waves in a jumbled mess on his forehead. His eyes are still closed, but something tells me he's awake already.

"Hey, Peeta," I whisper. His eyes snap open and his brilliant blue eyes pierce through my silver ones. He tightens his grip around me.

"I love you," I whisper.

"I love you, too," he whispers back.

I hear mockingjays chirping outside. "Hey, I bet if you sang for them, they would go silent," Peeta says. I shake my head. "Doubtful," I say.

"Maybe not," he says. "Let's talk about this another day," I say. He shrugs. "Okay," he says. I softly kiss his nose.

"Peeta, what if Gale comes back?" I ask.

"He won't come back," he says firmly.

"But what if he does?" I say.

"I really don't want to spend this lovely morning with you talking about Gale," he says.

"Okay," I say, "I wouldn't want to either. I was just scared…" I lean closer to him and bury my face into his bare chest. I feel him stroke my hair. I sniff and lift my head up. "I'm sorry about last night," I say.

"What about last night?" he asks.

"The screaming," I say.

"I don't care about the screaming," he says, "All I care about is that now you're going to be my Mrs. Mellark."

I smile at him. "You're Mrs. Mellark," I repeat, then bury my face into his chest again. The tears that were brimming at my eyelids last night now fell, expressing my feelings in every drop.

Fear.

Joy.

Fear.

My voice is almost being masked by the tears that fell and are continuing to fall, but in my effort to speak, I get out what I need to say. "I love you so much, Mr. Mellark…" I say.

He drops a feather-light kiss on my neck.

"Seriously, Peeta. What did I do to deserve you?" I ask. "You were yourself. You weren't changed by the Capitol. You didn't give up on me," he responds.

"Why would I ever give up you?" I ask softly, even though I know exactly what he's talking about.

His hijacking.

"When I was hijacked. You never gave up on me. Even when I…" he says, but starts to get choked up. I lightly brush his face with my fingers, which seems to give him the confidence to continue speaking. "Even when I tried to kill you…" he says.

"I never blamed you, Peeta," I say.

"But you should have," he says.

"No, I didn't. And I wouldn't," I say.

"But you should have. I tried to kill you!" he says, his voice rising.

"That's it. It wasn't you. That's why I never blamed you. I blamed Snow. I blamed Coin. I even blamed Haymitch," I explain.

"You blamed Haymitch?" he asks.

"I blamed everyone I could see. I think I lashed out on Finnick once, too…" I say.

"Finnick?" he asks.

"Yeah… But I didn't even hurt him. I just started screaming at him when he brought you up. I could never do anything to him, though. He was the one who restarted your heart during the Quell after you hit the force field. I was hysterical," I say.

Peeta looks at me, shocked. I'm afraid of what he might say, but instead, he leans in and kisses me passionately.

"Peeta Mellark, I love you," I say, smiling.

"Katniss Everdeen, I love you, too," he responds, then kisses me again.

A/N: Okay, I want to see how many of you actually read my Author's Notes. So I'm putting a poll at the bottom here. But since I want to make this more fun, I'll put it at the bottom of every chapter from now on. And believe me when I say this, I don't think this story will have an ending any time soon.:)

Put your responses in the reviews!

*What are your top five favorite songs today?*

These are mine, just to make this even more fun:

#1: Eyes Open by Taylor Swift (from The Hunger Games [Songs from District 12 and Beyond)

#2: What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction (from Up All Night)

#3: Part of Me by Katy Perry (from Part of Me – Single [doy!])

#4: Give Your Heart a Break by Demi Lovato (from Unbroken)

#5: Down (feat. Lil Wayne) by Jay Sean (from All or Nothing)

You know what? For the heck of it, I'll do top 10! But you guys do Top 5!

#6: Without You (feat. Usher) by David Guetta (from Nothing But the Beat)

#7: Gold Forever (Live) by The Wanted (from iTunes Festival: London 2011)

#8: Price Tag (feat. B.o.B.) by Jessie J (from Who You Are [Platinum Edition])

#9: Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Buble (from Crazy Love)

#10: Marry You by Bruno Mars (from Doo-Wops & Hooligans [Deluxe Edition])

So yay! This is almost pointless! But I think it's fun, and as readers, I want to really connect with you and blah blah blah… Wow, what kind of crap am I talking about? Consider it as something incredibly pointless for Zenia. Yay!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

-Zenia (zalamode00)