Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! They were quite entertaining ;)

oOo

After filling Katniss in on what her mother had said to me, she just blinked, no emotion displayed clearly on her face. "But I was already all yours, wasn't I?"

"Well, yeah, but now I have your mothers' permission. For real." I grinned at her. "She didn't really have a choice but agree a year ago."

Katniss nodded, a smile playing on her lips. "That is true… But you seem oddly ecstatic about it."

"Because I don't have to feel guilty every time I touch you just because we are still teenagers. I have your mom's permission, and that is all I need."

She raised an eyebrow. "All you need to do what?"

I shrugged in an attempt to be nonchalant, but I think both of us knew what I was thinking.

"Uh, huh…" Katniss tried to conceal her smile as she turned around to straighten out the sheets on her interesting curved bed. "There is a shower in there," She pointed to the curtained bathroom. "if you want to use it. But be warned, it only limits you to two minutes of hot water before it turns ice cold."

"Thanks." I placed a kiss on the top of her head before ducking into the bathroom. It was small and cramped and, like everything else in the MI wards, every surface was a polished white color. But there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the shower.

It turns out Katniss wasn't joking about the ice water part. I was just about to turn the knob off, but my action was cut off by a sudden sputtering of the shower head and a horrible spray of numbing-cold water gushed out over my head, leaving me cursing silently to myself, running around the small bathroom naked. I only had time to pull on my jeans when I heard Katniss call from the room.

"Peeta? You okay in there? Why are you cursing like that?" She asked.

So my cursing wasn't silent after all… "I'm fine, Katniss. It turns out you weren't lying about the water. Whew, it's freezing!"

She laughed. "Well, are you done in there? It's time for bed, and I'm exhausted."

"Yeah," I finished drying off my hair and grabbed my shirt off the hanger. Not wearing a shirt (hehe…), I threw aside the curtain and stepped back into the room.

Katniss, who was just sitting cross-legged on her bed, eyed my bare chest with a slightly amused look. "I see you are getting comfortable with my new living arrangements."

"Yeah, yeah…" I rubbed my eyes, grinning. "Shirts are overrated. Hadn't I already told you that once?"

She just rolled her eyes and began crawling under the covers.

I immediately became worried. Did I insult her or…or something? "It's okay with you, right? To sleep shirtless?"

Seeing my face, Katniss laughed quietly. "It's really cute when you frown like that, but no, I don't mind. If I had I would have stopped you long ago."

"Good." I tossed my shirt into the corner of the room and walked over to the bed, where Katniss was already snuggled under the covers. Smiling softly at her, I pulled the blankets up to Katniss' chin and kissed her cheek. "Get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

Katniss, still blushing a little from the kiss, frowned. "Really?"

"No." I grinned and crawled under the bedspreads next to her. "I should make some more cookies to pass the time for us."

"You should bring your painting stuff in here so I can watch you paint." Katniss suggested, leaning her body against mine.

"Whatever you say." My words were interrupted by a yawn.

We both closed our eyes and I felt Katniss press her lips to my shoulder. "'Night, Peeta…"

"Good night…" And listening to the steady rhythm of her heart, blackness washed over me and I fell into a deep sleep.

I'm not sure what woke me, but at around 2:00 in the morning, my eyes opened. The first thing I noticed was that my arm only curled around nothingness at my side; Katniss wasn't here. I was just about to freak out, when I heard hushed whispering from across the room, which was really weird.

The room was nearly pitch-black, but the yellow light peeking from around the bathroom curtains lit the room enough to illuminate a figure in the corner. She was seated on the ground, leaning against some type of invisible something, whispering. I couldn't catch any of it, but personally I was extremely creeped out.

She paused her whispering for a second, then whisper-yelled, "But it would be the only—!"

"Katniss?" I groaned, lifting up my head off of the cushy pillow.

Kat's head whipped upward towards me and she actually fell sideways. Not in fright or anything. She just seemed mildly surprised. "Peeta! I-I didn't mean to wake you…" Katniss cast a worried glance to her left, and back at me.

I squinted in the darkness, but nothing was next to her. "What are you doing up so early?"

She kept glancing to her left. "Er…Nothing, Peeta. I—" She paused. "I'll come back to bed." And with one last apologetic glance to her side, Katniss got up and crept back into bed.

I pulled her closely to my side with an arm and once again tucked the blankets up to her chin. "Now stay in bed this time, okay, Katniss?"

"Okay." She whispered, looked at me with really wide, sparkly grey eyes.

The softly-lit moment was so serene and beautiful, I just had to cup my hand on Katniss' face and kiss her softly. When I pulled away, she was looking at me again.

"What?" I asked her, lying back down on my back, trying to hide my self-conscious smile. "What is that look for?"

"Nothing." Katniss pulled her arm around me and rested her head on my chest. "I just can't wait until District 12 is rebuilt. Normal life is sounding pretty good right now."

"Me kissing you isn't normal?" I was confused, but mostly too tired to care. "Right…"

""Good night. Again." She closed her eyes, and we both fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms. Again.

For the first time in quite a while, Katniss had a peaceful night. I woke up in the morning to the sound of the bell, announcing the arrival of breakfast. Looking over at my side, Katniss was still curled up on my chest, her cheek on her hand, dark eyelashes casting shadows on the tops of her cheekbones. Black hair spilled out across her shoulders, falling onto me. Gazing at her sleeping face, I knew I wasn't going to get up any time soon.

At first I tried going back to sleep, but I had gotten enough for now. So until Katniss woke up, I just contented myself with stroking her hair back behind her ear, over and over. It was very comforting, seeing her gently rise and fall with every breath I took.

The moment only lasted for a few moments, though. Katniss stirred slightly and opened her eyes. It took a few second to focus them, but Katniss blinked again and her gaze landed on my face. Our eyes met, but she closed hers again. "Hey, Peeta."

"Hey." I put my arms around her and laced my fingers together on the small of her back. "No nightmares?"

"No nightmares." She confirmed. "But I had the strangest dream…"

"Dream?" For a second I was confused, but silently concluded to myself that Katniss was merely sleepwalking last night and was dreaming about something else then. "What was it about?"

"I woke up in the middle of the night, and-and Gale was in the room. Just sitting in the corner. I got up out of bed and sat by him, and we talked. Then you woke up and told me to get back in bed. It might seem boring, but—"

"Katniss," I interrupted her, with a frown on my face. "That wasn't your first dream about Gale visiting you and me not being able to see him, right?"

She hesitated. "Yeah…why?"

"Those weren't dreams. You did wake up in the night and I caught you whispering to yourself. And the day after Gale died. That same thing happened." I creased my eyebrows and stared down at Katniss in concern.

She seemed slightly embarrassed and worried as well. "You know, yesterday, when the doctor was telling us about major hallucinations?"

"You think those two times you were just hallucinating?" I was already a step ahead of her.

"Peeta, he has visited me more." Finally, the truth gets out. "The day after he died, the day we found out Alexis'…purpose, the day I got stabbed, and-and the day I killed Cinna."

All of the air came out of my in one, long, sharp breath. "What did he say? Each time. Was it meaningful? Or did you two…"

"The first two times—" Katniss looked slightly pained, but she kept going. "We just talked. I got to apologize to him, and say real goodbye's."

So it was only the first two they just 'talked'. What about the other two? There was a dull sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Don't look that way, Peeta. We never did anything. He was only a hallucination after all."

I felt foolish as a flood of relief washed over me. "Right. Keep going."

It genuinely looked as if Katniss was almost about to cry, but she kept plowing on bravely. "But the night after the second visit, I woke up and he was there. He-he grabbed my hand and we were barreling through the hallways together, and-and he led me to the library. Prim was in there." Her chin was trembling and she took a very shaky breath. "She was dead. I kind of passed out, and remember when we woke up?"

It was impossible to forget that. "Yes, I do. So…It was Gale who told you Prim was in danger?"

"Yes." A small tear trickled down her cheek and she hastily wiped it away. "I owe him my life, but it's too late for that. And-And the next time he came, I—" She looked so guilty, and was barely able to talk any more from crying.

I held her closely to me. "It's okay, Katniss. You don't have to tell me.

She put her face in her hands. "I forced him to tell me he room where he was murdered in because that was where my prep team was hiding out. I forced him to tell me and-and he did."

Something was bubbling up inside of me, but I wasn't sure what it was until I tasted blood in my mouth. I had bitten down so hard on my tongue it bled. Pure anger was boiling up to my throat and threatened to burst. So it was Gale. It is his fault Katniss got stabbed. It is his fault she nearly got killed by Cinna. If he had just kept out of this she would have been safe back in my arms, none the wiser.

But my good side forced the rage down. He saved Primrose, and for that I should be grateful. He didn't tell Katniss to go running after the murderers and get stabbed. But he told Katniss where the murderers were hiding out! If Finnick hadn't been there with her, she would have been very, very dead by now. It should be Finnick who I should be eternally grateful for.

"Don't be angry, Peeta." I felt Katniss' hand on my cheek. "It's my fault. He was only a figment of my imagination, so it was all my doing."

"Don't blame yourself, dangit!" I was so enraged at stupid Gale. I knew I had a reason to hate him ever since he kissed her. But I forced the anger down a second time and gently got off the bed, leaving Katniss behind. There was no reason to take it out on her.

I stood there fuming for a few minutes, until my resentment was snuffed. Then I turned back to Katniss, who had shining tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—" But I stopped when I saw her getting up as well.

Tears streaked down her face and she leaned into my chest. Our arms went around each other and I buried my face into her messy black hair. Times were hard, but I still had to control myself and take care of Katniss. There was no reason to let my emotions explode out of me and hurt everyone around.

Out of the blue, Katniss reached up and let her arms twine around my neck. I knew what came after that, of course, but it didn't come. Instead, Katniss put her lips barely an inch from mine and took a breath.

I was prepared for her saying something deep; about the both of us, but when she opened her mouth, the complete opposite words came out in a low voice.

"Breakfast time." She breathed and let go of my neck. I had no idea how she kept a straight face saying that so seductively. Of course it didn't last too long. We both cracked up and kept laughing.

My side hurt, my throat hurt, my eyes were streaming as I gasped for breath. Laughing this hard was nearly impossible in District 13, but somehow, Katniss managed it.

Blame the crazy girl.

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You guys have no idea how hard it was to end that chapter! It was near impossible! So I apologize if it was boring or badly written. I am having an off day, no surprise there. There is a big blue review button down there with your name on it!