Later That Night / Early Morning

I'm woken by soft cries and whimpers coming over the baby monitor. I look over at the clock on the nightstand. Two in the morning. Right on time. If my babies are anything, it's consistent and prompt.

I start to get out of bed to head to the nursery to feed them. I'm being as quiet as possible, but it's not quiet enough.

"I can come with you," Peeta says quietly from the bed.

"No, it's okay. Get some sleep," I tell him, leaning over and kissing him.

"Kay. Thanks honey," he mumbles and is soon falling back into his slumber.

I head down the hall to the nursery and find my two babies awake and hungry. Since Eve went first last time, it's Josh's turn. I scoop him up and sit in his rocking chair. I softly sing to him while he feeds. They both love it. By the time he's done, his eyes are drooping, so I quickly tuck him in and kiss his forehead. I cross the room quietly and pick up Eve. I sit in her rocking chair and sing to her softly while she feeds. She too is exhausted by the end, so I tuck her in and give her a kiss.

"Goodnight, my babies," I whisper.

I start to head back to our bedroom when I realize I'm wide awake. I know if I go lie in bed, I'll just end up staring at the ceiling or Peeta. Most likely Peeta. So, instead, I decide to do something I've been meaning to do for a while now. I head downstairs, go into our study, and grab a few pieces of paper and one of Peeta's nice pens. I grab a large book and head back to the nursery. I sit in Josh's rocking chair and put the papers on the book.

I'm going to write Peeta a letter.

I sit for a few minutes and think before I begin. I know I'm not the best with words, that's Peeta's department. But I have been getting better, and I know how much this will mean to him. So, I vow to do my best. I can always start over, but I hope I get it right the first time. It would mean so much more if I could give him one continuous flowing thought expressing my love.

After a few minutes, I decide to get out of my head and just write. So, I begin.

Dear Peeta, my beloved husband,

I write this letter to you as I sit in the nursery, listening to the soft breaths of our children. Even though you're just down the hall, asleep in our bed, I miss you. When you're not with me, holding me, kissing me, I feel like half of me, the best part of me, is missing.

Peeta, I know that I'm not the best with words and expressing feelings. I've been getting better, thanks to you, but I want to try and tell you some of the reasons why I love you in this letter. The letter you wrote me gives me constant comfort and reassurances. I know I will need it a lot in the upcoming months. I realized you had nothing to comfort you, so I decided to write you this letter in the hopes that it brings you some sense of peace.

Every single day I wake up next to you, I wish that we had met before that fateful day in the square. I wish that I had the guts to thank you for risking your life to save mine that one rainy day. I wish that I had realized that my soul mate, my best friend, was right in front of me all my life. Even though I have regrets, Peeta, I want you to know that I have never been happier right here, with you and our babies.

I need to admit something to you. I've never told you this before. When we first met, I resented you. I was wary of you, and vowed to not trust you. I thought you were out to kill me. I was naïve. I should have seen what you were doing, which was protecting me at all costs. When I saw you that first night with the careers, I wanted to scream at you, hit you, hurt you. Now that I know the full truth, I'm ashamed of myself. I was selfish. I was immature. I was manipulative. I attacked you after you put yourself out there in your interview, when I should have thanked you. At first, I kissed you in the Games to help us survive. Obviously, it became much more than that, but it wasn't at first. I'm sorry.

I honestly think that I've loved you for years. I think that when you walked outside the bakery that day, with the welt growing on your cheek, and you threw me those loaves, something changed in me. My heart was taken, but I just didn't realize it. Or maybe I did, but I was so stubborn that I ignored it. I'm sorry for that. I wish that I could have seen what you did, that we were destined to be together, that there was some inexplicable pull between us that kept bringing us together for a reason. Now that we are married and parents, I know that fate has had a plan for us all along. I just put it off a few years with my horrible attitude and misguided beliefs.

I know you have told me many times you forgive me, but I will never forgive myself for what I did. Lying to you was the biggest mistake I have ever, and will ever make. It was stupid, selfish, shortsighted, inconsiderate, and completely and utterly unfair to you. I'm ashamed. The fact that you were able to forgive me so quickly, and even start dating me that same night, proves how stupid I was. In that cave, like your painting, I had an epiphany. I realized that I am in love with Peeta Mellark, and that I will always be in love with Peeta Mellark. Then we headed home, and I got in my head. I convinced myself you could never be happy with me, so I made the decision for you. I'll never get rid of the guilt I carry from that one sentence I uttered to you on those train tracks. The look of hurt and sadness in your eyes is forever etched in my brain. I can never tell you how sorry I am Peeta, but know that I am. Know that I would do anything to erase that memory, to take it all back, to realize sooner that my husband was right there.

Now, I'd like to copy you a little bit. I hope you don't mind. I know you probably won't.

So, I'd like to tell you some reasons why I love you, my husband, Peeta Mellark.

I love the way you wash my hair every single morning.

I love the fact that your first instinct in any situation is to protect me at all costs.

I love your eyes.

I love making love to you. When it's just the two of us, I feel like I'm in heaven.

I love the way you hold me every night.

I love how you patiently comfort me when I have nightmares, no matter how tired you are.

I love your baking, especially your cheese buns. But I think you knew that already.

I love that for you, our family comes first in everything.

I love that you teach me how to love and live every day.

I love the way you light up when I walk into a room. It makes me feel like the most loved person in the world.

I love how adamant you are that I can succeed in anything I put my mind to. It gives me strength.

I love how you waited for me for years, even when I never gave you a second glance. You knew we'd end up here someday, and I'll never know how you had the patience or foresight.

I love how quickly you forgive me, no matter what stupid thing I've done.

I love the way you look at me. All the time.

I love the way you sketch me, the way you see me in your paintings.

I love the way you can spend hours with your hands tangled in my hair, just running your fingers through it.

I love our children. Thank you for giving me them.

I love having your last name and being called your wife. It gives me goosebumps every time.

I love that I know I can trust you with my heart, my soul, my life, my everything.

I love your prosthetic leg and your stump. They're part of who you are.

I love how we kiss each other's wedding rings every single day.

I love how often you tell me you love me.

I love how often you kiss me.

I love when you nibble on my earlobe. It drives me crazy.

I love that when I asked you to marry me, you said yes without a second thought.

I love your heart.

But most of all, Peeta, I love you. All of you. Everything about you. All that you are and all that you will become. Your hair, your body, your heart, your soul, your eyes, your personality, your undying love. Sometimes I feel so inadequate under your gaze, when you look at me with that fierce look of love, but you always seem to be able to convince me otherwise.

Falling in love with you will always be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I will never regret a minute of the time we've spent and will spend together. The good times and the bad. You truly are the best person I know, and every day, you help me grow as a person, a wife, and a mother. I will always be thankful for that. You have the purest heart and soul of anyone I've ever met, and I feel honored that you share that with me. That out of everyone in the world, you picked me to be the recipient of your love. It washes over me like a wave, filling me up with strength, courage, and the will to carry on.

I can't wait to spend the rest of my life by your side. Raising our children, and yes, we are having more children. Cooking breakfast next to you. Changing diapers at midnight. Getting into arguments about the dumbest things, then the oh-so-amazing make-up sex. In sixty years, we will be sitting on our front porch, surrounded by children and grandchildren, and I will turn to you and thank you for giving me this life. You've shown to me that in order to truly live, you have to open your heart, and luckily you were there to capture it.

Peeta, I don't think I'll ever truly find the words to explain what you mean to me. It's too complicated, too vast. There's too many facets of our love to ever even breach the surface. That's another thing I love about us – how deep, intimate, and everlasting our love is. I will always be right here for you, forever. I will always be by your side, loving you.

I hope that this letter has given you a semblance of what you really truly mean to me, Peeta Mellark. You are my bread boy, my savior. Without you, I'm nothing. I'm just a girl who knows how to hunt. With you, I'm everything. I'm a wife, a mother, a best friend. You are my other half, my soul mate, and my lover. I will love you until the end of time and beyond. I love you with every beat of my heart, every fiber of my being, with everything that I am.

I love you, Peeta. Forever.

Love always,

Your wife,

Katniss Mellark

I re-read what I've wrote, and, satisfied, I fold it up and put it in an envelope. I address it to 'My Husband'. I check on the twins one last time and head back to bed. I quietly walk to Peeta's side of the bed and prop the envelope up on top of his nightstand so he'll see it when he wakes up.

I crawl back into bed and slide over to Peeta. As if he knew I was there, his arms wrap around me tightly, and I feel safe again. I whisper that I love him, even if he can't hear me, because I truly do.

I wake up at sunrise, the sun peeking through the windows. Even though I didn't get back to our bed until after three, I'm not very tired. Writing that letter was cathartic. The letter! I can feel Peeta's warmth next to me, so I cautiously look up. He's sitting up, his back against the backboard, reading the letter. I can see the tears on his cheeks, and the small smile his mouth is quirked into. I've never seen his eyes look more blue, maybe at our toasting.

"Every word is true," I whisper.

"Kat," he whispers. "This is so beautiful."

"Really?" I ask shyly.

He looks down at me and smiles.

"Yes, really. I will treasure this forever. You have no idea what this means to me."

"Actually, I do," I grin. "You wrote one first, I just copied you."

"I think it'll become a family tradition," he declares.

"I like that. A Mellark family tradition," I agree.

Peeta sets the letter down on his nightstand and wraps me up in his embrace. We kiss slowly and softly. It's not sexual, it's intimate and reinforces the bond between us.

After a few minutes, we hear cries come over the baby monitor. We pull back and laugh softly.

"Our kids, masters of bad timing," I joke.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he says, looking into my eyes.

I kiss him and whisper against his lips.

"Me either."

A/N: I just had to write this tonight. I've had the idea in my head, but I wanted to wait until the twins were here and right before the Quell. I know it's OOC for Katniss, but it shows how far she's come in this story. How much Peeta's love has truly affected her.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, I had a great time writing it.

See you tomorrow. Have an awesome night.

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