A/N: Okay guys... So this is it. I know some of you are probably going to hate the way I ended this but honestly, as I have said in other chapters, I am getting tired of this story. As most of you know I am in the middle of writing a new story and feel that it will be a lot better than what this one has turned out to be. Hopefully I wrap up all of the outstanding questions that you have for this story. This will probably be the longest chapter because it is wrapping a lot of things up. But it is mostly talking about the future of everyone that was involved in the story.

I want to thank all of you for your constant support throughout this story and I hope that you will follow me throughout my next story, Convenience. Thanks!

And now... the very last chapter of Here with Me.

Chapter 20

It's strange to think how I got here.

The day after Gale and the soldiers returned from their rescue, the Capitol declared war. The bombs reigned all around us but the Capitol could never find our exact location. President Coin, the "good guy" at the time, refused to to give away our location, so no counter attack was portrayed that day. The counter attack came when they least expected it.

It was quiet in the districts for an entire year before Coin forced a counter attack. And the Capitol was ruined. In that year we had gotten all but District Two to join our side. That's how we won the war in one attack. The Capitol had no resources to attack back. President Snow put his white flag up that day. And the day after he surrendered he was executed by my arrow.

I wasn't even needed as The Mockingjay. They never used me as they said they were going to.

Everything was perfect. Until Coin decided that it was time for clean up in the districts.

Most of the districts were fine after the Capitol's attack. But some of them rioted during the year that we waited to counter attack. They wanted to attack now. They wrecked havoc in their own district and it didn't even bring any harm to us.

After the so called "war", Coin decided to send all of the soldiers to districts to clean. That included all children over the age of thirteen.

Gale, my family, and I were all luckily sent to District Seven with Johanna Mason. Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta Odair, and their son Finny were sent back home to District Four to clean.

We were the lucky ones.

The not so lucky ones were the children that were sent to Capitol. Of course they were all Capitol children. That's the reason the bombs reigned down on them that day. Coin thought it best to get rid of the spawn of the Capitol people so any unfiltered ideas of another Hunger Games would never be on any of their minds. Everyone in the districts disagreed. And in reply to her insanity? Another person's blood on my hands.

Not long after the war Delly Cartwright became Delly Garret. Delly, Thom, and their daughter, Katie, moved back to District Twelve after the war.

And that's where my family and I live now.

"Katie!" Delly yells. "Don't run off!"

Delly grunts and sits back on the porch swing that Gale put up after we returned.

"I swear that girl is going to be the death of me," Delly says as she sits.

"Oh come on," I object. "She's precious! And only a little over a year. She just started walking. You can't expect her not to use her new found skill. She wants to explore."

"She gets it from Thom," Delly mutters.

I laugh.

"And that's a bad thing?" Annie asks from across the porch.

She giggles along with me. "I guess not," she replies.

"At least she's adventurous," Annie says, then glances over at the barely two year old, Finny. He's sitting on the porch coloring in an old coloring book that Greasy Sae gave him when Annie and Finnick decided to come visit.

"Yeah, I saw that," I say. "He hasn't looked up from that coloring book since he got it."

"I hope our second one is a little bit calmer," Delly says while rubbing her slightly swollen belly.

"I wish the opposite for ours," Annie replies.

I stay silent. Everybody is silent for a while. I think they can feel the tension coming off of me.

"What about you, Katniss?" Annie asks.

"Yeah, Katniss!" Delly exclaims. "Any children coming up soon?"

I snort. "Yeah right," I reply.

But I'm just trying to hide the truth. I had been wanting kids since Katie was born. When I first held her in my arms I knew that I wanted one just like her. I little girl to call my own. I had mentioned it to Gale a couple times but he would just blow it off and say that I was kidding myself and that I wasn't ready. But I was. At least I thought I was.

"And plus you know I'm still a virgin," I mutter.

"I just don't understand his logic sometimes," Delly says. "I was pregnant with Katie before Thom and I got married."

"Yeah, us too," Annie says. "I gave birth to Finny before I even married Finnick. But we were engaged."

"And that's the thing I don't want to get married," I continue. "I don't think it's that big of a deal."

"I don't think it's that big of a deal now," Delly replies. "But before the war," I flinch. "Sorry!"

"It's fine; keep going," I reply.

"Before the war," she continues. "It was a huge deal. If you walked around a district pregnant and not married, you were shunned."

"I know but none of that matters now," I say. "Gale wants to live the way that we used to and I don't want to remember that past life. It's too painful."

"What's too painful?" Gale's panicked voice cuts in from behind us. "Are you okay, Catnip?"

He kneels in front of me. "Are you hurt?"

I scoff. "God! No, Gale I'm fine. We were talking about before and during the war."

"Well what brought that up?" Finnick asks, walking around and kneeling front of Annie. He kisses her and then begins placing feathery kisses in her protruding stomach. I glance at them longingly and watch as Thom walks around and does the same to Delly. I sigh.

"We were talking about pregnancy out of wedlock," Delly replies.

"Yeah," Annie replies. "I mean, do you really have to be married to have a baby?"

Gale glances at me and recognition crosses his face. He stands from his position before me and walks back into the house without a word.

My eyes begin to fill with tears. "See?" I say to the four desperate faces.

"Oh, Katniss," Annie says and begins to get up to comfort me. But I stop her.

"Don't," I say. "You really don't need to be on your feet."

I wipe my tears on the sleeve of my shirt and stand. I place a smile on my face and yell, "Katie?"

She turns from her place on the see saw. I don't know when but little Finny has joined her.

"Katie, Finny. Why don't you guys come in and I will make you both a snack?" I ask.

Huge smiles stretch across their faces and one the them jumps from the see saw and begins running as fast as her little legs can carry her. Finny calmly stands from his place on the see saw and walks over ever so slowly.

"Hopefully your Aunt Prim has some lunch ready," I say with a grin.

I grab them both by the hand and lead them into the kitchen.

"I just don't know what to do," I hear Gale say as we enter.

"Go sit at the table and I'll bring you both some lunch," I say to the children. I glance at them lovingly as they follow my order and sit at the table.

I turn and find my father, John, Prim, and Gale staring at me from across the kitchen.

I make my way towards them as I ask, "Don't know what to do about what?"

Gale ignores me and walks from the room. I roll my eyes.

"Why is he being so childish?" I ask no in particular.

"Because he loves you, Kat," Prim answers.

She walks to the counter and begins making a sandwich. I share a glance with both John and my father then sigh.

When Prim is finished with the sandwich she cuts it in half them places the halves on two separate plates. "Here," she says.

I grab both plates that she offers me and bring them over to the table placing them in front of the children. I return to the cabinet and grab two plastic cups and fill them with water, then too place them in front of the children.

"I just don't understand," I say. "I mean even you and Rory are having a baby out of wedlock."

Yep, my baby sister was going to be a mother before I was. As soon as they turned eighteen, they were both out of their parent's house. Prim still helps mother with the new apothecary shop that she opened after the war and Hazelle helps as well. Rory and Prim moved into an empty house that had been built and they swore that they would never marry. They thought what I thought. That it wasn't that important.

"But it's different between us," Prim replies. "As much as Rory is like Gale in so many ways; this is one thing that he doesn't have in common with Gale. You should talk to Gale. Maybe he'll give you some answers."

And, like always, I listen to my little sister.

I lie in my bed that night. Gale is still pissed and the only reason I know is because I am not in his arms. He's in our bed with me but there is at least a foot between us when usually there are mere centimeters between us.

I know he's awake because every now and then I hear his breathing falter. Finally, after too much silence, I turn over and find that our backs had been to each other.

"Why are you so upset with me?" I ask.

"I can't hear you," he replies. "I'm sleeping."

"Gale, please!" I exclaim. "Just tell me."

He turns over onto his side and faces me. "You really want to know?" he asks.

"Yes," I reply forcefully, and I caress his cheek.

He sighs. "I thought you knew me better than that."

I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. "I don't understand."

"I want to do this right, Katniss," he says. "And so far I've only done one thing right and that's asking your father permission to marry you."

"I still don't understand, Gale," I say. "What do you mean 'do it right'?"

"I had it all planned out, Katniss. Before you were reaped, I had it all planned out. When you turned eighteen and your father came home I was going to ask him if I could marry you. I always pictured that he would say yes and I would respect his wishes if he said no. But if he did say yes then I would ask you to marry me and I would do the same for you, respect your wishes if you said no. But in my mind you always said yes. I pictured this tiny wedding with just our families and Greasy Sae and Thom and Delly. And then that's when I finally see it. You, pregnant with my child. In my mind it's the most glorious sight. That's why, Katniss. That's why I can't make love to you until we are married. I want all the things that lead up to you carrying my child. I want all the little things."

"But," I begin. Then sigh. "Don't take this as a low blow, but you slept with other girls. And you won't sleep with me? And what about Paige?"

"Yes," he replies truthfully. "I slept with other girls. But you have to understand! None of those girls mattered to me. None of them! You were the only one that ever mattered to me so I knew that when the time came you were the only one that I would ever do it right with. You were the only one that I would marry before I made love to you. And when I do make love to you, you will be the only woman that I ever truly want and the only woman that I will ever make love to again. The other girls? It was just sex. A way for me to cope with the thought of possibly never having you. But now that I know that you want me too? It all comes back to doing it right. And Paige? She's dead, Katniss. We will never know if that baby was mine or not, and I'm betting on the 'or not'. It doesn't matter now."

The rumor that had gone around District Thirteen after Paige's death was that she committed suicide. A few months after the Capitol bombed us Paige's body was found in her compartment. My mother searched her body and found an unimaginable amount of Morphling on her and in her blood stream. Nobody knew what to think but that she killed herself and her baby. Gale of course was distraught for a while considering the fact that the baby might have been his.

"So," he pauses. "Will you marry me, Catnip?"

I smirk. "It depends. Will you make love to me?"

"After you marry me," he replies with the same smirk.

I sigh. "Okay," I reply, fake reluctantly.

"Woah! Settle down! Don't act too excited!" he laughs. "Why do I feel like you are just marrying me to get into my bed."

"Umm. Technically, I'm already in your bed," I reply smartly.

"You know what I mean," he says seriously now.

"Well, I kinda am," I reply sweetly. "You know how I feel about marriage, Gale."

"Yeah, and I also thought I knew how you felt about children and that changed. So hopefully this will change too."

"I don't know. Maybe it will," I giggle. "Or maybe not!"

"God, I love you," he says.

"I love you, too."

The End!

And there you have it! The end of Here With Me. I hope you all liked it. Please let me know in a review or PM.

If I have left any unfinished business out, please let me know and I will add it in as soon as possible.

Thanks again to all of the wonderful readers that followed me from the beginning. Stay alert for my new story that I will be continuing in the next few months. I think I will be taking a few weeks off just to contemplate what to write for this next story.

Any suggestions for that story are welcome. Just go read the first chapter that I have posted, tell me what you think, and let me know of any ideas that you may have.

Thanks again. And see you all soon when I begin posting my next story. See ya!