******************************************************************************Hey Everybody! I can't believe we're here….The epilogue. Thank you guys so much for the support on the last chapter! I will be writing a note to you all at the bottom, and I hope you guys like the epilogue! I love you all so much!

"They play in the Meadow. The dancing girl with the dark hair and blue eyes. The boy with blond curls and gray eyes, struggling to keep up with her on his chubby toddler legs. It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly. When I first felt her stirring inside of me, I was consumed with a terror that felt as old as life itself. Only the joy of holding her in my arms could tame it. Carrying him was a little easier, but not much."

My beautiful daughter Baylyn Marine Mellark is now six, turning seven in a week. My sweet son Ethan Alexander Mellark is now two years old. I smile every time I think about the meanings of their names, because they couldn't be any more spot on. Baylyn means: enjoys the simple pleasures of life especially activities that take you outdoors. I watch my bouncy seven year old run around the meadow her seam colored hair flying across her face in a beautiful manner. Her middle name is in memory of a man that I owe my happiness to, Finnick. He was my best friend though the war. He understood me, and helped me through Peeta's captivity. He helped me pull of the fake pregnancy, and most importantly…he gave me Peeta. When his heart had stopped in the arena; Finnick is the one that saved him.

Ethan means: strong and firm. Even at his age I can tell he will have Peeta's broad shoulders, and he learned to walk much quicker than Baylyn had, he was strong to take so many blows to the hard wood floors. He is my little fighter. I took him out into the woods with me yesterday and he cheered when I took down the first deer of the spring. I gave him a small sling-shot that I made from some wood, and his aim isn't bad for his age. When he's older I'll give him the first bow that my father gave me. His middle name Alexander means: defender of man. Ethan reminds me of my father and Peeta. The best men I have ever known, I decided on this name for him after my father, while the nightmares of his accident have vanished. The pain in my heart remains as strong as ever, but it's nice to have that remembrance of my father living through my son. I listen through the doorway when Peeta wakes up Ethan every morning. "What do we do with our mommy and sister?" "We are nice to them, we love them, and we protect them." The meaning of his middle name is perfect for this, and if Ethan turns out anything like Peeta personality wise, it's very fitting for his middle name.

I smile as he runs as fast as he can to catch up with Baylyn. Dillan is beside Baylyn running and laughing right along with them. I lean against Peeta's shoulder and sigh out in relief and pure happiness. He kisses my cheek and laughs at our children playing in the afternoon sun. Baylyn comes skipping over, "Hey mommy." She kisses my cheek and plops down beside of me. Dillan goes to take a rest with Annie who is just several feet over, flopped onto her back, sun bathing. Ethan's funny footsteps approach and he throws himself onto my lap and he lays his head on Baylyn's lap. She rubs his soft toddler blonde curly hair. Peeta plays with Baylyn's hair and tries braiding it the way I used to braid Prim's. Ethan trains his caring silver eyes on me and laughs. I tickle his stomach, "What's so funny about my face? Huh?" "No. I like…your face." "Well thank you. Yours isn't too bad either." He opens his mouth in a giggling expression and sits up and messes with my face, starting with my nose and he ends up wiggling my braid around and against my face. "Your nose looks like mine. And our eyes are the same color!" He yells out in one fit of happiness. "Yes we do. You got that from me, and you got your hair and mouth from your daddy." Ethan crawls out from my lap and onto Peeta's. "Hey Bud. I heard you and mommy aren't you glad that you have her nose? Look at how big mine is!" Peeta lets our son pull on his nose a little before tackling him and tickling every part of his body. Ethan's chubby toddler face turns red from laughter and pure happiness to be with his dad. Baylyn comes and sits close to me.

"Wow…boys….so immature!" She sticks her nose up in a playful way, and giggles silently. "They never do fully grow up." I stare at Peeta; his large arm extends and pulls Baylyn by the ankle into their dog pile. She squeals and then it turns into an unstoppable fit of laughter. Peeta won't stop smiling. I smile and watch them wiggle around. Both Baylyn and Ethan stop…and just stare at me. I shrug my shoulders and stick my lips out. They laugh and jump to their feet and pull me on top of Peeta. I am an inch from his face and I feel that hunger I did on the beach, his big blue eyes seem to be reflecting the same feelings. I lean forward to kiss him and that's when I feel that I'm being jumped on my children. I roll off of Peeta and hold Ethan up with my legs she makes some weird screams or laughs, and smiles his Peeta perfect smile down at me. Other than the nose and silver like eyes, Ethan is the spitting image of Peeta. It makes me smile and kiss his face all over. "Do you know that I love you?" He giggles, I take him into my arms and yell out in a funny voice. "Do you know that I's loves yous?" He busts out laughing even harder if it's possible and nods fast, "Yes! Yes!" He kicks around and can't stop laughing. "Now go get your daddy!"

I give his butt a soft slap and he flinches a little and continues to "tackle" Peeta. Baylyn comes and sits by me. "Now that the children are busy…I wanted to tell you something mommy." "Okay, what is it Sweetie?" I redo Peeta's attempt at double braids and shake my head at his sloppy work. "Is it possible to love somebody even though I'm only six?" I smile over at Peeta and nod. "Your dad fell in love with me when he was only five…so yes." Baylyn stares over at Dillan who is trying his attempt at a braid, in Annie's hair. "Can I ask you one more thing mom?" "Sure." "What are the hunger games? The older kids at school all say you, daddy, and Aunt Annie played some kind of "role" in them…" I bite the inside of my cheek. Not now. How can I tell her in a way that won't make her want to die, in a way that won't make her have nightmares the way I do.

I flit my eyes around, but the way Peeta's always have, Baylyn's blue eyes make contact with mine. "Mommy. What is the hunger games?" "A competition." "What do you do to win? If you, daddy, and Aunt Annie all won it, I want to try and play!" Baylyn's smile sickens me, "Baylyn Marine Mellark! Don't you dare ever say that again! Do you hear me? You will never say you want to be in the hunger games!" I pull my knees up to my chest and silently sob. I glance up to see Baylyn is doing the same.

In almost every way personality wise Baylyn is like Peeta. But when it comes to her emotions me and her way of expressing it is identical. Peeta walks over and crouches down beside me. "Kat, what's wrong? Please tell me." I extend my arms so he can pull me up to my feet; he carries me into the shallow woods so the kids won't hear us. I collapse in his arms and begin shaking violently "I know you said we'd tell them in a way that'll make them stronger. But Peeta, there isn't a way to tell them that there was so much evil in the world that me, you and Annie were thrown into an arena forced to kill other children." I look over his shoulder at Dillan and Ethan running around in the meadow. "Peeta, they don't even know that they're playing on a grave yard." I'm an emotional wreck at this point, but Peeta's face stays the same. "Does this not scare you? Do you not worry you for their feelings? What is wrong with you?" I throw my hand up and try to hit his jaw; his sturdy hand catches my hand and holds it to his lips.

"Of course it scares me…But we both knew this day was coming. But right now our baby girl is up there, crying, over how you yelled at her for her ignorance of what the games even were. To her they were just some fun game show. And what did she earn in response of wanting to be like her mom...screams and a lecture." I hang my head in shame, Peeta's right…like always. How could you yell at Baylyn? What kind of mother are you? This is the first time that Peeta has ever been so….straight forward with me in our marriage…if you don't count when he lost his memory and called me fat. I pull myself together and try to straighten my knees so I don't collapse. I stand up tall and kiss Peeta, "I can't do it alone." He grabs my hand and we go to gather Baylyn. "Annie do you mind watching Ethan. It's time for Baylyn to visit Finnick's memorial." Annie's eyes turn a little glassy and she picks up little Ethan who has passed out on the grass. "I told Dillan several months ago before school started." I nod and thank her for watching Dillan.

I bend down beside Baylyn, her whole face is red and under her eyes is puffy. "Baylyn, I'm so sorry sweetie. I shouldn't have yelled at you until me and your dad had showed you something." She hesitates before taking my hand; she shakes a little as she walks beside me. I think back to Prim and the day of the reaping. She climbs into the back seat of the car and I try to think of something to tell her. "Where are we going daddy?" "To visit your uncle Finnick." "Okay." Finnick's memorial had been moved to twelve when Annie moved here. "What's that statue of?…I've never seen it before." We all climb out of the car, to stand by his statue. "Baylyn, this is your uncle Finnick. He passed away after the games I had been telling you about."

I won't tell her about the war for another year. "He was your aunt Annie's husband. He also won those games." "Can I know what exactly these "games" are?" I sit down on the bench and pull her onto my lap. "A long time ago there was a mean man…his name was-was-…." "President Snow. Before me and your mom were born, they started something called the hunger games. They sent two children, they called tributes, from each district to fight." "You mean like…wrestle?" "No, there could only be one "victor" in these games you had to kill all the other children or teenagers." Baylyn shakes violently in my lap and begins crying. "All of those-those….children. All of them but one came out alive?" I nod through my tears. "Me and your dad were the tributes from twelve, years ago."

"But you're both still here? Wouldn't one of you have to die?" I smile at little at the memory of deceiving the capital with Peeta. "We out smarted them. We told them we would kill ourselves, and then they wouldn't have any victors. We were called the star-crossed lovers of district twelve. If it weren't for your grandpa…we wouldn't be here." "Grandpa?" "He persuaded the "game maker" to let us both win…and when we threatened our lives…me and your mom were allowed to live." Baylyn jumps off of my life and pulls her braids out and fluffs her dark hair out so it covers her face and sinks down behind Finnick's memorial. I can hear her constant whimpers. Peeta walks over and picks her up and holds her securely.

"This Snow man….if you tricked him, does he want to hurt us all?" "Baylyn, it's okay. He is never coming back. He died." She nods ever so slightly and shakes in Peeta's arms. "The games are gone Baylyn. They will never come back." I pull her hair back and braid it in a single braid down her back. I pick her up and stand at the foot of Finnick's memorial, and try to bring up something happier. "Baylyn, you uncle Finnick was one of the best men I have ever known. He saved me and your dad's lives multiple times." Baylyn smiles "He looks like Dillan." "He truly does. Doesn't he?" Baylyn nods, and stares up at the face of Finnick. "I love you uncle Finnick. Thank you for keeping my mommy and daddy safe." She lets out her sweet smile, and I swear a ray of golden sunlight shown down onto her face.

"Are you ready to head back home?" "Yes, I'm pretty tired." I turn to let Peeta hold Baylyn for a while, and carry her to the car; and he is gone. "Peeta?" I see his pupils are the size of a pinpoint, and they are dark and clouded with the venom, he is grasping the back of the bench and Baylyn tries to wiggle out of my arms to go play with her dad. "Baylyn, stay here. Mommy will be right back." "I want to go play with daddy too!" "Baylyn, stay here!" I walk over and rest my hand on his shoulder. "Not real. Peeta." His grip loosens a little and he shudders at my touch. "Our daughter is walking over to see you, her father….real." As Baylyn steps up on the bench Peeta returns to his normal self, but to snap out of an attack that quick it left him completely drained. Baylyn hops into his arms and he smiles at her, his eyes barely open. "Ready to go home Bay?" "Yes, Daddy."

He carries her to the car and then collapses into the driver's seat. "Peeta, let me drive back home…it's only a couple miles." He nods out of pure exhaustion and pulls himself over to the passenger side. I kiss his forehead and drive us back home. Peeta walks into the house holding Baylyn's hand, and I run over to gather Ethan. "We're back!" I yell out into Annie's house. Ethan shows his perfect face first and comes running over to me as fast as he can, and wraps his arms around my legs. I throw him up into my arms and kiss his cheeks. "Hello buddy! I was thinking me and you could go out into the woods again today….what do you think?" He squeals out happily and throws his small arms around my neck. I stand up and kiss his soft blonde curls and walk over to Annie.

"Thanks for watching this little nasty!" Ethan lets out happy laughs and bonks his head against mine. It takes me a second to become fully aware of Annie's appearance. Makeup is smeared across her normally flawless skin, and eye makeup in scattered on her nose and pretty much everywhere that it's not supposed to go. She laughs to reveal lipstick on her teeth. "The boys found some of the makeup Effie gave me and decided it'd be a fun idea to put it on me while I dozed off on the couch for a few minutes. "Ethan? Did you cover Aunt Annie's face with makeup?" He just laughs and touches Annie's face. "I'll take that as a yes!" "I just… feel so beautiful right now thank you Ethan." We both laugh and when I catch my breath I notice that it's getting close to dusk. "We're going to head out to the woods and catch some dinner. I'll take Dillan out tomorrow to start working with the bow I made him." "Okay thanks Katniss." I hug Annie and that's when Dillan enters the room. "Hey you distracting thing, you! I bend down and wrap my arms around him. I kiss his cheek and he makes a disgusted noise. "Hey, if my daughter can kiss you on the cheek, I think you can let me, your aunt Katniss kiss you every now and then!" He blushes and looks down at his feet. "We'll see you guys tomorrow! Thanks again Annie!" "No thank you Ethan! What would I do without this beautiful makeover?" She hoists Dillan up and throws him onto the couch and he laughs.

"Okay Ethan, hunting: Day two." He nods and holds his slingshot up." I hold my bow up and smile at my tiny hunting partner. "Okay Ethan. See that bush over there?" He nods intently. "I want you to aim for it with this rock." He grabs the rock from my hand and I help him load the slingshot, I decide to let him try it on his own. "Okay, focus on nothing but the bush." His expression sends chills through my body, it's so similar to what mine looked like in the first games. He releases the rock and it misses the bush by only a foot or two. For a two year old that's amazing. "Great try Ethan! Let's try one more time. Okay?" He picks up a rock from the ground and loads the slingshot all by himself this time. His focus is even stronger this time, it hits the target, a little off center but like I said, for him to only be two almost three it's an amazing shot!

The birds fly up and I load my bow swiftly and strike two birds down with one arrow. He jumps up and down and cheers at the top of his lungs, it sends most of the other bird flying away, and I don't get the chance to load my bow for a second arrow. "Mommy! Look there's a deer!" Sure enough across the stream there is a doe. Not only is Ethan a great shot, but he has a great eye for the prey. I load my bow and aim for it carefully, "Shoot straight mommy!" the deer turns towards us at his words, and I sink an arrow straight through the eye. It is on the ground: A clean kill. Ethan runs to grab the bird and retrieve the arrow, I head straight for the deer in disbelief of Ethan's ability to help me get a perfect shot, and to even find this rare deer.

He runs over with the bids and holds them up proudly, "Ethan…I haven't gotten a deer in… I don't know how long…" He stands up proudly and does a cute toddler happy dance. "Can we have it for dinner tonight?" "I'd be sad if we didn't!" He does an excited jump and pulls the two birds back and happily chatters about how he likes to hunt. "I want to be just like you mommy!" I smile proudly as I lug the deer into our back yard to skin. I send Ethan inside; I don't want him to see the skinning process quite yet. I skin the birds easily. The deer on the other hand is a little trickier I have only skin one once…maybe twice. After half an hour I get it done and I have cut it up into smaller pieces and throw it into a bag and walk into the kitchen.

I am hit by the wonderful aroma of baking bread and I throw my sack of meat down and go to wash my hands. "Bread smells great as usual." I kiss Peeta and hug Baylyn. "Did Ethan tell you what we got today?" Ethan looks like he's about to bust so I let him do the honors. "I found us a deer! Mommy shot it! But I found it!" He puffs his chest out proudly. They both applua him and Peeta kisses the top of his head. I watch Baylyn make the prettiest loaf of bread standing beside Peeta who is making some kind of dessert. "Mommy! Daddy taught me how to make almost every kind of bread in the bakery!" "He did?" "Yeah! I can't wait to get back in there tomorrow….I can go right mom?" "Sure! I am teaching Dillan to hunt tomorrow anyway." "Ethan, do you want to try your hand at baking tomorrow?" He nods and jumps into Peeta's arms. Peeta kisses Ethan's head. At that moment all three of my favorite people are side by side and I almost start crying at how happy I actually am at this moment.

Baylyn pulls me over to help her pull the bread out of the oven…the one thing in baking I can actually do without harming the bread. After an hour or so Peeta has prepared the meat in a way I know I never could have and it's making my mouth water. Mixed with the bread aroma flying around, I am excited to share in this dinner. We sit around our kitchen table. There are so many different kinds of breads I have no idea what to eat first. We all indulge and finish a third of the deer meat. I can't help but giggle over Ethan reactions to the deer meat. "He has found new love." Peeta mutters under his breath. Ethan shrugs and helps himself to more meat. I can tell Baylyn likes the meat but I know she has scarfed down at least two loaves of bread on her own. We clean the dishes and join the kids on the floor. They are moaning.

"My belly is going to pop!" I turn towards Baylyn and she's right. I've never seen her stomach more bloated. Ethan is about to fall asleep and I think he'd be fully satisfied doing so. Me and Peeta laugh at each other and I have a feeling he is thinking about the seafood feast in the second games. Baylyn kisses her brother's head. "Until you could hunt we never had that good of meat. Oh! Wait! I'm sorry mom!" She truly feels bad, and I just laugh in response. "I actually agree with you Bay. Ethan is a great hunter already. But Baylyn you're definitely our second baker in the family, you and your dad make the yummiest bread!" She smiles in confidence. I look over at Peeta and we both say "together".

All of sudden both Ethan and Baylyn yell out, "Always!" After another hour or so of playing funny little games we all sit up except for Ethan. He has passed out on the rug, I lift him into my arms and carry him back to his room. I hear Peeta usher Baylyn to go slip on her pajamas. I pull on Ethan's flame pajamas and his eyes are almost completely closed.

When Peeta and Baylyn slip into his nursery and join me by his bed. I begin singing and they both join in:

Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow

Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes

And when again they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

His eyes close on the very last word. Peeta lifts a now drowsy Baylyn and carries her back to her bedroom and we tuck her into bed and sing the last line in the song and she is out. The lights Peeta hung for her nursery still remains on her ceiling. They glow on her sweet face. We close their doors and head back to our own room. I collapse on the bed after the exhausting day. Peeta lies beside me. "I love you Peeta. Thank you for giving me a family." "I love you too Katniss. Thank you Katniss. I know you weren't too happy after you found out about Baylyn…But I hope you're truly happy with our family now." "I think it's impossible for me to be even happier." We turn towards each other and he leans in to kiss me. We kiss for a long time before we do anything else.

As me and Peeta are about to sleep he whispers to me, "You want to freeze this moment, together as a family. Real or not real?" "Real. Always."

"That's when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I've seen someone do. It's like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious after more than twenty years.

But there are much worse games to play…."

******************************************************************************Hey Guys! What did you think about the epilogue? Hate it? Love it? Let me know? What did you think about their son? How about Ethan's skills with the slingshot? Like the older Baylyn? Enjoy seeing her baking skills? What did you all think about Baylyn finding out about the hunger games? I played it down a little for length and happy factor. I'm thinking about writing a short story about the telling a little more in depth? What do you all think about that? Or maybe a quick 5,000 word story on Ethan's birth? Don't you all bet Annie's makeover looked fantastic?! Let me know your thoughts on the epilogue in the reviews below. I am deciding between some different story ideas… Either a Cato Clove love story from the 74th hunger games. Or a Baylyn Dillan love story! I might be writing some short stories here and there so just let me know what you all want to see! As well as vote below for what large story "project" you'd like to see me do! And now I want to spill my heart out to you guys….if you don't mind…..here it goes….

I don't know where to start….I guess about when I first made this account. I was expecting to get a couple hundred views by the time I ended the story. I had hoped for ten reviews when my story finished. You all have blown me away with your love, support, and kindness. And I really can't put it into words how much each and every single one of you mean to me. We are currently are 61 favorites, 74 followers, over 25,000 views and 366 Reviews! You're not just my readers, or my "fans", you're my fanfiction family! I Love you all from the deepest parts of my heart, I really didn't have any confidence in myself until I heard all of your sweet comments and reviews. I feel like my writing has improved since I've had all of your feedback, and I am really about in tears that this "chapter" of my life is over. I hope you all know how much you mean to me, not just for the number of views or the numbers of reviews, but to know that I'm bringing joy to you for doing something I enjoy. I wish I could give each and every one of you a giant happy tear filled hug….oh what the heck! *VIRTUAL HUG!* Every time I have received a review or personal message it sends chills through me…it lets me know you liked it enough to leave me a couple words of praise or encouragement, and my goal for this was to hear from you guys that I may have brought a smile onto your face through my writing. I truly do hope that you guys know that you guys are a part of my life, and that you all have a very special place in my heart! And to those of you who have followed me and my story since the beginning I wish I could talk to you all and personally thank you for the support, and believing in me to write this story! I hope that each and every one of you knows that I am a real person, and that I love you. And when I say that…I couldn't mean it anymore! You are all fantastic, beautiful, sweet, amazing, awesome, and just….what is the word I'm looking for….I guess there isn't really a word to describe you guys and my love for you all! I didn't expect anything like a following to happen from my little story! You make me smile daily. You are my inspiration to write. If I think about this much more this story will never end because my tears will kill my laptop…. In other words this long message could be shortened to: THANK YOU FOR THE AMAZING SUPPORT! I LOVE EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU MORE THAN WORDS CAN DESCRIBE! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR STAYING WITH ME AND THIS STORY! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Please leave me a review below, so I can chat with you guys, I am also making a poster of all of your sweet reviews and hanging it in the center of my room so I can smile every morning when I wake up. I LOVE YOU GUYS! And I hope you are freaked out by this long letter! Hehehehe

Sending you my love,

~Freezethemoment 3

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