Hey! Thanks for all the reviews I got for last chapter! I'm glad to hear it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

oOo

"So," I said as I walked into Katniss's room about an hour or two later. "I asked around and found out some stuff I thought you might want to here."

Primrose and Katniss, who were combing each others' hair, looked up at my arrival. Prim smiled at me, but Katniss looked thoroughly relived I was back.

She smiled shyly, as if ashamed that she was so dependent on me. "So what did you find out?"

"Good news or bad news first?" I adjusted my book bag on my shoulder. Turns out it could hold even more than books. I had gone all around the RQ asking different Officials, and then asked at least half a dozen nurses and secretaries in the hospital before I was content enough to return. From the corner of my eye I could see Prim trying to sneak away as if this was only for mine and Katniss' ears only, but I stopped her. "It's okay, Primrose you can stay."

Prim shrugged slightly and leaned against the wall in front of me.

Katniss got up and leaned with her little sister. "Bad news first."

The news wasn't really bad. "I talked to your main doctor and he couldn't give me the results for your surgery. But—" I added seeing Katniss' disappointed expression. "—he is coming to your room this afternoon to explain it. I thought it would be best if your mother was there with us when he did."

It seemed as though most of the tension in the room exited in one sigh from Primrose and Katniss. Kat smiled weakly. "If that's the bad news…" She let her sentence trail off.

"The good news now?" I was almost bouncing on the balls of my feet. She was going to love this!

Prim and Katniss both nodded eagerly.

"Project rebuild was launched a month ago." I held my breath and waited for their reactions, but all I got were confused blinks.

Katniss' slow nodding of her head became shaking. Again. "Meaning…?"

"Don't you get it?" I gripped her shoulders. "District Thirteen started rebuilding the other districts a month ago, and they were starting from 12 down."

It took a few seconds for the news to register. I watched in amused ecstasy as their facial expressions changed. Primrose covered her mouth as her happiness escaped her in the form of manic giggles. Katniss, however, just stood there looking stunned before wrapping her arms tightly around my waist and didn't loosen them.

All three of us laughed and hugged each other for a few moments longer when Katniss surprised me by reaching up and kissing me passionately. My brain went numb and for a little bit I stood there absorbing her, when I realized Primrose was still right next to us. She looked mildly uncomfortable.

Laughing, I pulled away from Katniss's embrace. Then, I held her at arms' length and put a serious face on. "Katniss, love, I don't want you to get your hopes up." I nodded my head in Prim's direction. "You too, Prim. Just because they are rebuilding it doesn't mean we'll be able to live there right away. Especially regarding the situation at hand."

Katniss' smile didn't waver at all. "It's still good to hear that there is still a chance, though. I'd like to hold onto every bit of hope of returning normal."

"Me, too." I hugged her tightly again. "And…" Letting go of her and reaching into my bag slung over my shoulder, I added, "…I brought something to celebrate." My fist got hold of a crumpled paper sack and I held it out to Primrose.

She took it and peered inside. Immediately, her face lit up. Inside were about two dozen cookies, baked and iced by me. It took quite a while, but after making about four dozen, the cook agreed to let me keep half.

Primrose held up a cookie and examined its pattern. "What kind of flower is this?"

"Lupin." I took pride in the intricate purple flower designs, bunched up on one long stem. It was a very hard flower to draw, but beautiful once done.

For a little while all three of us just sat around on Katniss' bed, eating cookies, when Katniss got up and declared that she required a bathroom, and disappeared behind a small curtained room I hadn't noticed before. Boy, was I unobservant today?

The very second Katniss was gone, Prim's jovial smile faded into one of business. She leaned close to me, a half eaten cookie in her hand.

I leaned forward as well. "What is it?"

"I am really concerned about Katniss." Prim whispered.

"What happened?" I frowned at her, not remembering something that I would have been too concerned about.

"When you sent me to keep her company, I-I walked in the door and she was huddled up in the corner with this—" Prim's delicate face scrunched up. "This look on, like she was scared out of her mind. Her eyes were all crazy and when she saw me she started to scream. It took forever to get her to calm down."

I bit my lip and leaned back away from Primrose. Katniss was really starting to worry me, with her behavior. I knew it was honest-to-goodness, but her seeing things that aren't there, and her mistaking me for President Snow? There was a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was just about to express my worries to Prim, when the curtains opened again and Katniss came back into the room.

Prim sighed and stood up. "I had better leave." A lock of blond hair was tucked behind her ear as she smiled at both of us. "I will come back later with Mother, okay?"

Katniss pulled her little sister into a gentle hug. "Thanks for staying with me while Peeta was out, Primrose."

"Any time." Prim pulled away from Katniss and went to hug me. "See you, Peeta." And with a barely noticeable smirk to both of us, she walked out. "Have fun."

"Have fun?" Katniss blinked after her. If I wasn't mistaken there was a slight hint of blush on her cheeks. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Probably nothing…" I stretched out my legs and put my arm around Katniss' shoulders. "So now all we have to do is wait until this evening."

"Mm…" She closed her eyes. It was obvious she got very little sleep. "Hey Peeta?"

I stopped halfway in the process of shoving a cookie into my mouth and looked down at Katniss. "Yeah?"

"This morning when we were talking about…about starting over in District 12, what exactly did you mean by that? Did you mean that we wouldn't be a-a couple anymore?" Katniss looked ill at ease.

"Not exactly. I meant… That if we move back to 12, we'll have a chance of a normal life, and we could grasp that chance. I could bake, you could hunt, and we would be two normal people. We could start over again, there in District Twelve, and forget everything that happened here." I was on a roll. "If you want, we could even…even annual our marriage and really start fresh." Wrong thing to say.

Katniss' look turned into one of grief, and she stared straight up into my eyes with a horribly sad face on. "Are you saying you don't want to be married anymore?" She squeaked.

"No, no!" I pulled both my arms around Katniss and held her tightly to my chest. "I was just saying—" I sighed. "Everything we have done here in 13 was practically forced. I made excuses and was not straightforward about it at all. If we had a chance at a new life, I would want to start over the right way. I would want to propose to you properly, when the timing was just perfect, and I would want us to live the life we choose, not one forced upon us. We could wait a year—or however long you want to have kids. We could wait until you are twenty-five if that is necessary. I want to restart things, and do them the right way. Our way." When I ended my speech, I couldn't help but be very proud. I think it went well.

Katniss was silent against my chest. I could feel the light thrumming of her heart through both of our shirts. I had grown so use to it, laying awake at night when I could sleep and just listening to its steady pulse. So this time, like always, I just sat still and felt of her heartbeat slowly lulling me into a numbing sense of security. But when ten minutes passed without Katniss saying anything, I was starting to get puzzled.

"Katniss, love, are you okay?" I swept back a strand of her jet black hair out of her eyes.

She adjusted her position of her body on my chest. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just the thought of being normal again kind of blew me away."

I had to laugh quietly at that. "Well, you can have it again, Katniss. Just you and me in our house in the Victor's Village, having rabbit stew and dill bread for dinner. Going to sleep at night in our own bed, under a window displaying our own backyard. Maybe we'll have a garden."

Katniss' eyes adopted a gleaming quality about them. But that lasted only for a few seconds until she shook her head and looked up at me. "And you're telling me not to get my hopes up."

"Oh yeah…" I had forgotten about that. "I suppose I got wound up in my fantasies as well."

"And your fantasies are…?" Katniss raised her delicate eyebrows at me.

"Just that. Me being back home with you, having a normal life." I tucked her head under my chin. "Getting older and wiser. Our own children growing up and having kids of their own. Grandchildren playing together on our front porch, laughing at the old story of how Katniss, The Girl on Fire, brought down the Capitol. And at the end of it all, looking back at our days in the cave, thinking of how nothing changed. You and me laying quiet next to each other hearing the drum of rain on our roof. And as our adventure began together, it would end just as peacefully. As one."

For a few second Katniss sat there in my arms, and a single shiny tear slid down her cheekbone. She smiled up at me. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."