A/N: Thanks for reading!

The static at the end of the broadcast pulls me from him.

"We missed the rest of the wedding," I say ruefully.

Bear looks at me incredulously. "Are you disappointed?"

"No," I say. "Are you?"

Humor flashes in his eyes when he answers, "well it's not a wedding without cake..."

I sigh with exasperation and start to shake my head at him, until he adds, "but I guess this is just as good," and he catches me in another kiss that soon carries me away. I'm lost again in the taste of his mouth on mine and the feeling of his arms holding me.

Eventually we come up for air again.

"You should get some sleep," Bear whispers in my ear.

I sit up reluctantly. "I guess you have work to do?" I say.

"Yeah", he admits, without moving. We sit entwined another breath, another kiss, another sigh, before pulling apart. I don't want to leave. Bear must be thinking the same thing, because he suggests, "You could stay out here if you want." So I curl up on the couch next to him. After awhile, my eyes drift shut as his fingers whisper through my hair.

When I wake in the morning, dreams about Bear still float through my mind and I lounge lazily for a moment, smiling into my pillow. I'm on my makeshift bed on the couch in the back bedroom, still dressed in yesterday's clothes. Johnny is snoring from the bed.

I stumble to the bathroom to wash up, which wakes me up a little. As I dry off my face, I look up into the mirror into my own blue eyes looking back at me.

Blue, not green. Details of last night come back to me. It was real, not just a dream. I bite my lip, grinning to myself as I remember Bear's kisses, passionate yet tender. Last I remember I was curled on the couch, head resting on his thigh, his fingers absently twisting through my hair. I don't remember going to bed, and I wonder if he carried me back to the room. I hope I didn't drool on him or anything!

Well, blue eyes won't do if anyone else turns up. I definitely need to get my lenses back in, so I quietly head to the front room to find the bowl I left them in. Of course, Bear is still there and looks up when I lean my head in.

"Hey," he says softly.

"Hey," I answer.

"Sleep well?" he asks me.

"Mm-hmm," I nod, unable to suppress my smile. "Just need to get my lenses," I say.

"You mean these?" he holds up the bowl.

I walk over and reach for it, but he grins and pulls it back, away from me.

"Not so fast. I want another minute with real Madge before she goes back into hiding." It sounds strange - my real name.

I blush, but happily join him on the couch.

I lean into him and murmur teasingly, "Well now you know all my darkest secrets," before giving him a quick kiss.

"So you admit you've been lying to me all this time," he counters, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"You always seem to figure it out anyway," I say.

"Well you don't make it easy," he tells me. "Aren't eyes supposed to be the window to your soul? And now I learn you've been covering yours up?"

I groan with mild annoyance, pulling away slightly. "Are you always going to be this difficult? You think I want to hide like this?"

He looks abashed. "No, I know. Sorry, it just took me by surprise." His eyes twinkle as he says, "You think you know someone!"

He leans over and kisses my cheek, then hovers a few inches from me while he hands over the bowl.

"Thanks," I sigh, turning my head and bumping into his nose.

"Go on," he grouches. I hop up and head back to the bathroom to put them in again.

When I come back to the front room, Bear shakes his head like he still doesn't believe it.

"How do you put those things in your eyes? Don't they hurt?" he mutters.

"It's not bad. I'm used to them." I say. "Okay, I'm gonna get ready. Today I'm helping Rose prep for this district celebration."

"Have fun," he says.

I finish getting ready for the day and I'm about to rush out the door when I turn back. From across the room, Bear looks up expectantly. I'm not sure how to even ask this, but I'm about to see Rose and I don't know what is okay for me to say. "What ... do we tell them?"

"Whatever you want," he says.

I stare at him for a minute, lost. Then I nod, and head out the door.

Rose is waiting for me at the store. When she sees me walking up, she jumps to her feet. "Hey! What'd you think -"

She stops mid-sentence, eyes widening, then says, "What happened? Spill, I'm not letting you off the hook this time."

I wasn't trying to hide my happiness, but I'm still surprised it's that obvious. I bite my lip, grinning. "Well?" she asks.

"He kissed me. Bear kissed me. He likes me," I blurt out.

"That's great - of course he likes you! He'd be crazy not to. It's about time you two got together!"

"What do you mean, 'about time'?"

"Oh please. You guys are always together. Besides, if you didn't have the hots for him, there's no way you would've ignored all those guys at the square the other night." She smiles mischievously, "I was hoping to make him jealous when I mentioned them. I've been trying to get you to talk to me about it, but I couldn't force you."

"Sorry. I wanted to talk to you, I did ... I just didn't know how. Yesterday I was convinced you were going to warn me away from liking him."

"What?"

"Yeah ... seems kind of silly now."

"So what happened?"

I can't tell her everything, but that's not going to stop me from sharing now. "It was during the wedding broadcast. When Finnick and Annie were dancing. I was talking about her green dress and how it matched her eyes and .. I don't know, it just kind of happened."

"Maddie, that's so great. I'm so happy for you. Just wait 'til Spinner finds out!"

"Wait, how long have you known Bear likes me?"

Rose laughs. "I knew that from the day I met you. Remember, Bear had showed up at the command center to meet you?"

"You knew then? But you thought I liked Spinner."

"Yeah, well I didn't know you, remember? Just because he liked you didn't mean you liked him. Even once I knew you didn't like Spinner, I wasn't sure for awhile. You don't exactly wear your heart on your sleeve, you know."

"Sorry. I'll ... work on that." I laugh.

"Hey, nobody's perfect. So did you like the wedding broadcast?"

"Oh, it was great! Everyone looked so happy."

Then she asks, "Would you want to see it again?"

"Of course I would. Why? Are they going to replay it?"

She grins again. "They're making it the centerpiece of our district celebration. They'll replay it tomorrow."

"Oh, that'll be terrific! So the celebration is tomorrow? How's the planning going?"

"Well we've got a lot to do! I hope you got some sleep last night?" she teases.

I roll my eyes at her and we get to work. We spend the day finishing up the last minute provisions for the celebrations. There are party sites around the sector and we drive around to make sure each has everything it needs to make a good party. There's even white liquor for each site - not as good as wine would be, but at least it can be combined with juice to provide for a toast. When I ask Rose where it came from, she shakes her head. "You'll have to ask Spinner. But good luck - he wouldn't tell me anything, just asked how much we'd need, and the next day there it was."

There are small cakes too, decorated with simple blue frosting flowers. "It's not a wedding without cake," I mumble, remembering Bear's comment from last night. Rose's eyes brighten. She exclaims, "Wasn't their wedding cake amazing? I've never seen one so intricate."

My cheeks heat up and I admit, "I guess we missed that part. I'll have to keep my eye out for it tomorrow."

Rose and I head back to the apartment together after a long day. We're both tired but we've done everything we can to get the party sites ready for tomorrow. When we get back, I light up, seeing Bear, and start to head his way. I'm just processing that he's huddled with Johnny, arm around Johnny's shoulders. Bear looks up and smiles faintly, but shakes his head a bit, and I can tell he doesn't want me rushing over. I'm sure I give him a quizzical look, because he nods his head toward Johnny. I get the message loud and clear that something's up with Johnny, and touch Rose's arm to slow her down too. Bear nods toward the kitchen - where we can hear Spinner getting dinner together - and Rose heads that way. Quietly I make my way to the other side of Johnny & sit next to him.

Once I'm there, I can get a better look at Johnny, who's got his head in his hands, looking down at the floor. I immediately worry about what's wrong. I didn't see him awake this morning - he was still asleep when I left. He must've gotten back either really late last night or very early this morning. He'd gone to Marai's ... of course. He and Marai watched the wedding broadcast together. They're almost family, and Marai was practically engaged to Carlo before he died, and it's been ... what? A month? Hardly more than a month since Carlo was killed. The wedding broadcast was bound to remind them both of Carlo. I sigh sadly. I may not know exactly what happened today, but I understand at least the essence of what's going on. Carlo was his closest family - his big brother, even a father figure to him - he's not just going to mourn for a week or two and be fine. I'm amazed he's been able to get through as well as he has. I realize he's probably been throwing himself into the work and training as a medic as a distraction. I guess that's the thing about the war - there's always a new crisis, and only recently have things been calming down. Seeing the propo, with everyone so happy ... it was probably heartbreaking for them in a way. By now my arm is on Johnny's shoulder, trying to comfort him. I murmur to him that it's okay, to be sad.

"I'm okay," Johnny mumbles, and I pull him into a hug. We sit there for awhile, not saying much. Eventually Spinner & Rose signal that dinner is ready and bring food out to where we're sitting. At first Johnny insists he's not hungry but we make him eat anyway. Gradually Spinner and Rose start talking about their days and the plans for the celebration tomorrow, at least for the moment, Johnny seems to be more cheerful.

Eventually Rose slips in, "And Maddie had some good news this morning, too."

"Did something happen?" Johnny asks me.

"Umm..." I hesitate, glancing up for help from Bear.

Rose jumps in again, "Well I think she got a date to the district celebration tomorrow."

Johnny looks at me, smiling. "That's great! Is it that guy from the dance?"

I try not to laugh, but don't succeed, having caught Bear's expression before looking back to Johnny.

"Nope," I tell Johnny. "Not him. I think you know him though. It's the guy sitting next to you."

Johnny looks confused, and turns his head toward Bear, saying, "but ... wait, Bear? You two are ..?" He looks back and forth between us.

Bear chuckles as we both nod. I can't suppress a smile. I glance over to Spinner, who looks completely unsurprised and pleased as punch. He catches my eye and winks. I wonder if Rose had already told him or if, like her, he was just waiting for it to happen. Johnny throws his arms around first me, then Bear.

When we get a minute apart from the group, I say to Bear, "I'm sorry. I don't even know if you want to go to the celebration tomorrow." I know he's not usually keen on big parties, and don't want him to think he has to come because of me.

"For our first date? Wouldn't miss it," he tells me.