Alright people, we need to get cracking! I'm going to let you all know a secret: this story—Gravity—is ending sooner than you all think. Way sooner. Maybe even before chapter 60, but don't worry because I'm writing a third (and last). And I need a name for it! I need a name for the third story to "Lo and Behold" and "Gravity". So review telling me what would be an awesome name for it, or you could enter the poll I have up. But I need your input. Anyways, happy reading!

oOo

I woke up late the next day. It was eleven o'clock when Peeta shook my shoulder. Groaning, I twisted around in the numerous covered I was drowning and squinted up at him. Though, all that came from my mouth was a mumble and a groan.

His mouth twitched into a small smile. "It's lunchtime. Prim came over earlier this morning and says she needs you back at noon."

Still refusing to get up, I twined my arms around a pillow and pressed my face into it. "Mmph… For what?"

"To get your wedding dress."

Ah, crap. That was today. We get the bridesmaid dresses and my own dress. Part of me was a little excited for that. The other part wanted to stay right here.

When I still didn't move, Peeta straightened up and pulled all the covers off me, letting in all the cold air.

I whined, sitting up and wrapping my arms around my chest. "That's not fair, Peeta."

He ignored me and tossed the blankets over the back of the couch, heading away from me once more. "I made sandwiches if you want one."

Stupid boy… Sighing, I stood up and pulled the pajama bottoms up to my belly button before shuffling after him into the kitchen.

He was busy pouring tall glasses of orange juice on the table, and I was pleased to see a freshly made sandwich sitting on a plate in front of a glass, just for me. Sweeping a straggly lock of hair behind my ear, I sat.

"I also tossed your clothes in the washer a bit ago, so they should be done in a few minutes." Peeta sat down with me at the table.

I swallowed the bite I was chewing on. "Thank you."

We finished brunch quickly, and after the dishes were done, I snuck off to the master bathroom to take a shower. It was luxuriously huge and warm in there, steam heating the place nicely when I finally stepped out. I dried off my hair with a blow-dryer (after burning myself a little) and found my clothes sitting, clean and folded, on the countertop next to the sink. Something in my head yawned at the fact that Peeta came in and set them there while I was stark-naked in the shower.

When I finished braiding my hair and getting dressed and went back into the living room, Peeta had already put away the blankets in a record amount of time. Everything was spotless, as usual.

He was sitting with his back to me on one of the couches, feet propped up on the coffee table, nibbling on the semi-stale cookies he had made last night. Out of habit, I glanced up at the ceiling. Barely visible outlines of the star stickers were visible.

The smile that followed was automatic.

Feeling squeaky clean and content, I took a seat next to Peeta and tucked my legs under me.

"Did you sleep well last night?" he asked, offering me a treat (which I declined).

I nodded, leaning back on the couch. "Yeah. I fell asleep very soon after you." I chanced a glance at him and grinned a tiny bit. "You snore."

"So do you."

We've been through this before, so I just rolled my eyes and fiddled with the hem of my trouser legs. They were frayed…

"It's going so fast…" Peeta said a few minutes later. "The wedding is day after tomorrow. And then…"

I imagined how that'll go and, overcome with both nervousness and excitement, I wrapped my hand around the crook of Peeta's elbow and nestled down next to him.

"Feeling a little amorous, are we?" He laughed, looking down at me, but the grin melted away into nervousness. In his eyes I could see the exact same worry I held, too.

I wanted to bring it up, but the thought made me stomach sink a little, not to mention the blush it brought on. If I'm going to react the same thinking it as talking about it, what's the point?

"We chose kind of…a bad time, you know." I ignored the heat in my cheeks (you could have fried an egg on them).

Peeta raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

I squirmed uncomfortably. "You know… The wedding. And the-the wedding…night. We chose a bad time."

He considered for a minute, eyes narrowed, staring off in the distance. "…You're probably right."

Part of me was hoping he'd disagree and say 'no, of course it's not a bad time, everything'll go great'. But he disappointed me once again upon telling me the truth.

"But after the wedding it wouldn't matter, because we'll get the rest of our lives to concern ourselves about those things." Peeta stopped staring into the distance to glance down at me, who'd sank so low I was practically crammed between the back of the couch and the couch cushions like lost coins.

I nodded my head slightly. "I guess you're right. Patience isn't one of my best qualities, though…"

At that moment, someone on the other side of the house door knocked loudly, and we only had a split-second to untangle our selves before Prim opened the door and walked in.

"You ready to go, Katniss?" She was wearing one of her lovely blue dresses that went down to her knees, accompanied by a large bow clipped to the back of her hair. Her entire self was practically bouncing up and down with excitement that was obvious on her lovely cream-colored face. "Annie and Mother are already waiting outside."

I slid my feet off the couch and rubbed my eye. "Yeah, I'm ready."

When I looked back at Peeta, he was smiling. "Have fun. I'll be back here afterwards; leaving Benj and Anna-Mae to close the bakery early."

Both Prim and I smiled back at him, but I was the one who said, "Okay. I'll see you later."

His eyes sparkled at me, in that certain way that made feel like Prim wasn't even here next to me. "I'll see you later, too."

I wanted really bad to lean down and maybe give him a small kiss goodbye, but my little sister grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door before I could do such a thing.

It turns out Prim was telling the truth; Annie and Mother were already out there, dressed and ready. Annie didn't have Jace, so I assumed she let Finnick keep him while she was out. I was squeezed to Mother's side briefly.

"You ready, Katniss?" She was also jumping up and down. How come everyone seemed more excited than me, when this was my wedding? "This is the last step towards the big day!"

'The big day'. I nearly laughed, but my nervousness consumed it when she put it that way. "Define 'ready'."

They all laughed a little, but nobody said anything to that.

It felt slightly odd walking through town like we did. Primrose held my hand in one of hers, Annie's in the other, and Mother insisted on holding my right hand. Plus, we were fizzing with excitement, practically skipping down the roads. The looks on people's faces when they saw us passing by—a string of skipping girls from ages fifteen to fifty—were incredibly amusing. What I would give to know exactly what they were thinking…

We got to the tailors and had to break our chorus line in order to get inside the door. Caroline was in there, talking to Mr. Webb, and I could see Ivy in the corner playing with something I couldn't see. When the little bell chimed above us in the doorway, all three looked our way.

"CANISS!" Ivy yelled, barreling towards me at the speed of a charging rhino.

I caught her just in time, stumbling backwards a step as she latched her arms around my neck.

"How are you today, Ivy?" I said, straining to breathe, but still managing to look down at the precious little four-year-old.

"I got a splinter." She informed me, but wasn't able to show it to me because she interrupted herself. She paused. Her face split into an awed one, and then she jumped up in down in my arms with excitement. "Are we getting more dresses today?"

I set her gently down. "We're getting my dress today."

She giggled, climbing up into her own mother's arms.

Caroline rolled her eyes playfully at her daughter. "Are w—"

"I see we've got the whole gang here!" Mr. Webb interposed, sweeping in close to us in that frightening way he does. Upon seeing my mother, he bowed slightly an extended his hand, like a gentleman. "I'm Nathan Webb, the tailor."

Mother, who seemed overwhelmed by his presence as everyone else did, shook his hand hesitantly. "…Ruth Everdeen."

"I assume we're here to pick up the bridesmaid dresses?" Mr. Webb said, rubbing his hands together.

Knowing it was my job to answer, I took a tiny step forwards. "That and get my own dr—"

"Excellent!" He beamed with excitement. "Are you having this one ordered or are we creating it here?"

"Not ordering." I clarified.

"Excellent…" the tailor said again, rubbing his hands together. "Are we ready to get started?"

When I agreed, all six of us were hustled to the back room.

"Now," Mr. Webb ushered for me to follow him over to a wall, on which racks and racks of what I'd have described as dress skeletons hung. "These are the templates that decide roughly the shape and colors and sleeve designs of wanted dress. For instance," He pulled out a template that was covered in plastic. It was incredibly short and shapeless, but it had distinct qualities (halter top, low-cut and sort of a cream-ish color).

Mr. Webb pointed to different areas of it and explained.

"For instance, I could make it any length desired and add features such as lace and sequins, and change the seam design on the waist." He put the template back. "There is an incredibly wide variety of choices, custom and original. Please take your time deciding." And with a flourish to the rest of the rack, he folded his hands and sat at a miniature desk in the corner, messing with papers.

I was sort of speechless. This might take a while…

"I'd say," Caroline said ponderingly, letting Ivy wander off close in sight, "that our best chances of narrowing down choices would be to perhaps we'd chose something that matches the theme of your ring."

My face fell and I lifted the ring up to look at the beautiful pearl ring. Everyone crowded around to do stare at it for a minute. When I was finally able to take my hand back, there was a pause.

"…Well, what's plan 'B' for narrowing?" Prim asked, crossing her arms.

Sighing, I felt overwhelmed once more and pulled a random white dress skeleton off the rack a few feet away. It was a strapless with a plunging neckline and it's back completely exposed.

"Way too immodest," Mother said at once, snatching the template and shoving it back on the rack.

I wanted to laugh.

"How about this one?" Annie, who was searching on the other side of the room, pulled another template out. It was another white halter-top, but much more tasteful than the last.

She came over for me to look at it. It was fairly nice, actually.

"It would emphasize your lovely arms and neck!" Mother took it from Annie and held it up to me, as if it'd automatically mold to my skin and she could see it better.

"And make your chest look bigger," Prim grinned at me, cracking a joke about my small chest.

"Not to mention put the attention on your face…" Caroline mumbled, smoothing it out over my collarbone. "We could have it trimmed h—"

"OH CAAAANNNNIIISSS!" Ivy yelled to me, even though she was only about fifteen feet away, very near where Annie had gotten the other.

Sighing, I went over to her and gently took the template that she was tugging on excitedly. "Let's take a look at this one…" Originally it was just to please her, but when I took a good hard look at it, I was slightly awed.

The material was thin, shimmery and a white-ish-pink-ish color, and it had two slightly see-through shoulder straps that look like they clung close to the neck. But when I liked about it so much was the back; it seemed to have a large wedge-shape cut out, and tied back up with thick old-timey-looking laces, just like a corset.

"Ivy," I said, pulling the sweet little girl into my arms. She was grinning as I touched her nose. "I think you just found me my wedding dress."

Immediately, everyone rushed over and began talking about it. Chatters of agreement and awe and ideas were suffocating me, and it was only until the tailor pushed his way into our mob and asked if we had found one.

We all nodded our heads.

"Miss Katniss?" Mr. Webb held his hand out for the template and had his eyebrows raised, waiting for me to finalize the decision.

I handed it to him. "I'm ready for the…fitting, or whatever."

A smile that was more or less kind spread across the tailor's face. "Excellent. Now, if you would please proceed to the changing room and remove everything, except perhaps your underclothes if desired."

I was just about to go back, when something dawned on me and I paused, turning back to him. "How come the others didn't get to keep theirs on when they were getting their fittings?"

"Because theirs were to be ordered, but when you get the dress made on you, you can factor in underclothes easily."

"Oh…" I just shrugged, and, knowing what to do.

Into the restroom I went and my clothes were removed and hung on the little rack. Feeling very thankful that I just happened to be wearing a brassiere instead of an undershirt today, I left on my underclothes and just tossed the thin robe around my shoulders.

Back in the huge room, Mr. Webb had brought out a roll of the same shimmery white-pink material, along with a whole bunch of scissors and needles and measuring tapes and so many other things I didn't know what they were.

When I came in, he motioned for me to step up onto the raised floor. The tailor and Caroline (since she was his assistant, I kept forgetting) stepped up with me, leaving Mother, Prim, Annie, and Ivy standing below staring at us. The template was once again in his hands, but it was smaller and looked more like it'd fit someone my size.

When I slipped off the robe and hung it up, the template was tugged over my head. At first I was a little unsure.

"It feels…odd. Uncomfortable." I tugged at the collar.

"Don't worry." He went behind me and started pulling at the laces up my back. The crumpled material that was sagging before, now smoothed out and felt 100% better.

And so that went on. I didn't keep track of time, but it passed like molasses as I stood there like a mannequin, getting pushed and tugged on and poked with needles and measured once, twice, triple checked. The dress was lengthened a lot until it skimmed the floor in a cascade of shimmering pearly material. The cloth on my torso was adjusted so where it hugged me closer, but supported more of my chest and gave me room to breathe and move. Length was added and subtracted to the ties on my back, and a strip of fine white lace was ran across the low neckline.

In the end, everyone had me convinced I was some sort of goddess. Mother babbled, crying, Prim and Annie were jumping around hugging each other, practically shrieking. Ivy had once again clambered into my arms, and Caroline and Mr. Webb just looked incredibly pleased.

"You look so grown up." Mother sniffed, helping me loosen the corset back of my newly finished wedding dress.

I was in a state of sweaty, grinning excitement. It was sort of hard to speak. Along with the dress, we'd managed to get Caroline the day off tomorrow, so things were definitely looking up.

They helped me get out of my dress and into my normal clothes once again. I had to admit, it felt odd having material on my arms and in between my legs after standing there in the dress for so long. I stumbled out almost stiffly to pay at the front desk. My Webb was there with our things: the three darling bridesmaid's outfits and my dress, all covered in separate bags of plastic.

When the price was announced, I saw Caroline drop her head almost sickly, ashamed. And I felt a little awkward not even hesitating counting out the large-numbers notes and coins into his callused hands.

"Do you mind if we picked these up in about an hour?" I asked, planning to take everyone out for a celebrity treat of ice-cream. "And…don't show these dresses to anyone." I knew that Peeta was going to come in sometime today, too, and I didn't want him snooping around.

"Of course." The tailor seemed a lot more polite and jovial now that he had an incredible amount of money in his hands. "I'll hold it as long as you will like."

"Thank you." Out of habit, I reached down to pick up Ivy, even though I wasn't her mother. "I'll see you later, then, Mr. Webb."

"As you, ma'am. It's been a pleasure being of service to you all." He smiled as we exited.

Laughter filled the air as we walked, but most of it was relief and excitement. Mother started crying again and it only stopped when we got to the parlor, a tiny old place run by an ancient, blind man who had long since lost his family, but never stopped smiling. Ivy was in chock because she had never had ice cream before, so I told her to get whatever she wanted. When we all ordered, I silently apologized to Caroline for the amount of sugar I was putting into her daughter's system.

"This is so exciting." Prim, who was slurping down a raspberry snow cone, said.

We were all sitting on the ground in front of the parlor, backs against the wall, eating sugary the treats.

"And it's happening Friday. You're getting married, Katniss." She was grinning with anticipation. "I can't imagine how that must feel!"

I just shook my head. Ivy was sitting on my lap, making a huge mess with her double-scoop chocolate-and-rainbow-sherbet ice cream. She was totally engrossed.

"…It feels surreal." I said, running my tongue along my top lip, tasting minty honey. "Because less than a year ago there was no choice; I was in the clutches of the Capitol and I thought we were just doomed. Peeta and I talk about it sometimes, and both of us agree that the chances of this actually happening were…pretty slim."

They all nodded in agreement.

"I think it's incredibly sweet how you two are so emotionally attached to each other," Annie said absentmindedly, munching on her own chocolate cone. "We can see it on both of your faces every time you're around each other. I would have never imagined things turning out like this, the famous star-crossed lovers ending up actually loving one another and getting married. I don't know…" She sucked a bit of ice cream off her thumb. "It's just incredibly sweet."

I really had nothing to say to this. My cheeks were red with the amount of perceptiveness Annie held, though I wasn't entirely sure I liked how much awkwardness this conversation had taken a turn to.

"It really is," Caroline chimed in quietly, looking wistful. "Though you might not realize, people all over town notice you two when you're out. Holding hands and laughing and…just happy."

My blush spread to my ears and I avoided looking directly at any one of the,.

"Why," Mother laughed a little, eyes crinkling up in the way they did whenever she was about to say something potentially embarrassing. "I would expect you having little blond babies running around the house in no time at all."

I opened my mouth, ready to intrude, but once again was stopped.

"And-and," Prim was giggling, "little blue eyes, and y—"

"Okay, enough talking about my love life and my future, okay?" I said, maybe a little harsher than I'd intended. "It hasn't happened yet, I don't want you spoiling the ending."

Everyone laughed a little, but I could feel the hand holding my ice cream trembling. The truth was, I wanted a kid more than anything in the world. But I didn't know if I was able to have one, and I didn't like my family talking about it almost as if they'd be disappointed if I couldn't. I knew they would be supportive, but still…

Thankfully, the awkward silence didn't last long.

Ivy, who had just bitten into the rainbow sherbet scoop, squealed and held it out two inches from my face. "Caniss, taste this DEWISCIOUS ice cweam!" Her words were even cuter with the cold treat numbing her lips.

I did, and agreed with her that it was delicious. My heart softened. At least I had her.

Afterwards, when we were walking around the Village's circle drive, I decided something.

"I think I'm going to go and say hello to Peeta real quick." I said, carefully placing the plastic-covered dress in Mother's hands.

"Okay, d—"

"ME TOO!" Ivy said loudly, jumping up and down. Then she grabbed onto Caroline's hand. "Momma, we go say hi to Peeta!"

Caroline's eyes flicked briefly up to me and I nodded, so she transferred the tiny dress from her hands to Prim's. "Okay, hon. But you have to not yell."

Ivy giggled and put her finger to her lips. "Shh."

I let the little girl lead the way, lugging on my hand, and when we got to Peeta's porch I let her ring the doorbell. There was a rustle inside the house and when the door opened, I was momentarily confused.

"Haymitch?"

My scruffy old mentor was standing there, scratching his stubble, looking from the little girl hanging on to my hand and back up to me.

After pausing, he shook his head. "Why didn't anyone tell me it was 'Adopt-and-Orphan' day?" To my relief, he sounded sober.

"Haymitch, this is Caroline," I pointed to her, "And Caroline, you…know Haymitch, right?"

She was looking uneasy. I would have, too, if all I knew about Haymitch was that he was a drunk. But as far as first impressions go, Haymitch wasn't doing all that bad.

He extended his hand. "'Nice to meet you."

There was a tiny bit of relief on her face and she shook it. "…Nice to meet you, too."

When I looked down at Ivy, the look on her face was adorable. …Peeta? You…got a new haircut. And aged. A lot.

"Ivy, this is Haymitch." I brought her up in my arms. "He is sort of…an uncle to me. Uncle Haymitch."

She looked wary at first, but then grinned, baring her tiny teeth almost frighteningly at my old mentor. "Unco Haymitch."

I wanted to laugh, but instead, set her down and turned to Haymitch. "These are just friends of Peeta and mine's. Speaking of which, where is he?"

He let us step inside, and then pointed to the kitchen while sitting down. "Making lunch."

Peeta making lunch for Haymitch. I resisted the urge to snort as I leaned down close to Ivy. "Why don't you go say hi to Peeta?"

That was all it took. Assuming the position of a charging rhino, Ivy barreled into the kitchen at full-speed. "PEEEEEEEETAAAAAA!"

Laughing a little, Caroline and I sat down on the couch opposite Haymitch.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked him.

Haymitch rubbed his chin. "Seeing as how you dind't bother paying your old mentor a visit in the past two weeks…" He shrugged. "Didn't even bother letting me in on the plans for your wedding."

I went into automatic defense. "We've been incredibly busy, Haymitch. Pardon me for not checking in on you three times a day making sure you haven't killed yourself."

He just waved this off. "I wasn't here to lecture you two. Peeta did have an interesting idea, though." Change of subject.

"What?"

"That I walk you down the aisle in place of your father."

I felt my heart deflate a little and a lump grew in my throat. I didn't know what to say. But thankfully, I was saved.

Peeta came into the living room from the kitchen. Ivy was clinging onto his shoulder, her cheek pressed against his. She looked thrilled, clutching his neck tightly.

"Do I have something on my face, Katniss?" Peeta asked, poking Ivy in the forehead.

"Just right here," I went along with it, brushing my hand along my left cheek.

Peeta peeled off Ivy and pretended to look horrified. "Oh no! It's a little girl! Gross." He tucked her under his arm. "I must go throw her away."

Ivy screamed, thrashing around, and managed to get free. "Unco Haymitch, SAVE ME!" She ran from Peeta and scrambled up into Haymitch's arms.

Peeta came after her, trying to tickle her belly. She screamed some more and pulled Haymitch's wide arm over herself to protect from Peeta's fingers.

Finally, Peeta let Ivy win and went to sit down on the other side of the couch, grinning, and allowed the little girl to clamber into his lap. "Lunch is almost ready, but I didn't fix a lot. If I'd known you were going to be stopping by…"

Caroline shook her head, dismissing that. " It's fine. I promised I'd help Ruth and Annie with their lunch and finding the dresses a safe spot until Sunday."

Ivy, who was still sitting on Peeta's lap, frowned. "But Momma, I wanna eat with Peeta and Unco Haymitch."

It was obvious that her mother was about to disagree, but I piped up, offering to stay with the girl.

"Well…" Caroline still hesitated.

"Pleeaaasse?" The little girl begged, jumping up and down on Peeta's legs. "Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasse? They love me! Peeta and Caniss love me, and so does Unco Haymitch. Right Unco Haymitch?"

Haymitch looked a bit overwhelmed and sputtered a bit, but finally gave in and shrugged. "Sure I do, squirt."

Ivy put her hands on her hips, facing her mother. "See, Momma?"

Caroline looked defeated, but agreed after a few seconds. "Alright, but be on your best behavior and come straight back to Katniss' house after you're done, understood?"

The little girl was thrilled, once again bouncing around the room. "Yaaay!" She gave her mother a goodbye kiss on the cheek, and then hopped onto the couch, cramming herself between Haymitch and Peeta. "Bye-bye, Momma!"

With a small smile and telling Haymitch it was nice meeting him, Caroline left the house.

The second she was away, Ivy started talking. "What's for lunch, Peeta?"

"Salad." He looked thoughtful, but when Ivy made a disgusted face, he added, "But I think there are chicken nuggets in the freezer I can whip up."

"Mmm…" She nodded her head vigorously, and then promptly got up and went into the kitchen.

All three of us followed.

Ten minutes later, we were all settled around the table, eating. Haymitch was disgruntle because Peeta gave him salad instead of the chicken, but to make him feel better I got some, too.

"So how was the tailor's?" Peeta asked, wiping his hands on a napkin. "Are the dresses any good?"

"They're SOOOO PRETTY!" Ivy piped up before I could say anything. "Katniss' is white and it has l—"

"That's enough, Ivy." I laughed. "It's a surprise, remember?"
She looked disappointed.

"You mean I don't get to see it?" Peeta looked confused.

"Of course not."

I don't know which was funnier—Peeta's sad look or Ivy's sad look.

"Oh, go cry somewhere else, you two babies. You'll get to see the dress on Sunday. That's only two days from now."

There was a silence, in which I caught Peeta winking to Ivy. She giggled.

"So," I fiddled with the table clothes. "What all has Peeta told you about the plans, Haymitch?"
He looked thoughtful and began rubbing his stubble again. "About everything, I guess."

"And you're planning to stay sober?" Part of that was a joke, but when I say the slightly hurt look on Haymitch's face, I felt guilty.

He sighed, offended, and stared down at his half-eaten salad. "'Wouldn't miss your wedding for the world, sweetheart." He said gruffly.

Was he being sarcastic…? Even so, I felt a bit guilty and stayed silent after that.

A few minutes into the meal, Peeta brought up another interesting topic.

"The bakery across town," he started, "received an odd package the other day."

"How so?"

"Well, you know about the food shortages." He shrugged, and I nodded. "Well, the package was full of…supplies. Flour, yeast, nuts, raisins, all sorts of stuff. And there have been reports of just like two more boxes appearing on the back doors of shops across town."

"Who are they from, do you think?" I asked. This was definitely odd, but didn't seem particularly dangerous.

Peeta shrugged again. "They were just labeled 'The Agency'. No one has ever heard of this, but it's being decided whether or not we should react. District 13 has been notified, I think, but no threat is detected or whatever."

That was really odd… I chewed on my lettuce in thought, poking around bits of dressed veggies with my fork. Perhaps things were changing. A change for the worse or better, I wasn't sure quite yet.

The rest of the day went by, and before I knew it, I was hugging Ivy goodnight.

"Can I stay here with Caniss, Momma?" She asked sweetly when I drew away.

Caroline buttoned up her daughter's jacket. "No, honey. Tomorrow."

Ivy whined, rubbing her tired eyes with a fist. "But Momma…"

"No arguing. Now say goodbye to Ms. Everdeen and Uncle Haymitch and Annie."

Huffily, the 4-year-old did as she was told and hugged the rest of my family goodnight.

Mother, who planted a big kiss on her forehead, straightened up. "Caroline, do you think you can come here as early as six tomorrow? I'm planning on making a big breakfast for all of us and then getting an early start on the day."

"Of course." Caroline agreed with a smile. "Thank goodness I got the day off. Mr. Webb has been making me sew until my fingers bleed."

"Well, this'll give you time to rest." Mother gave her friend a small hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Goodbye everyone."

And with that, they left.

"I should be getting home as well." Peeta said, zipping up his jacket. "Annie. Haymitch. Ms. Everdeen. Prim. I'll see you tomorrow." His gaze turned to me.

I looked at my family briefly. "I'll be right back." And happily slipping my hand around the crook of Peeta's elbow, I walked out into the crisp night air with him.

Everything was silent up until we got to his front porch.

He tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. "So, tomorrow, then?"

"…I suppose so." I sighed and contented myself with momentarily resting my head against his shoulder.

Peeta put his arms around me as well. For a moment we stood like this, silent and unmoving, until Peeta reached up and cupped my face in his hands. "I wish you could stay with me tonight."

"So do I…" I admitted, sliding my hands up to his shoulders and fiddling with the collar of his shirt. "But we'll get more nights together. Guaranteed."

"Good." A grin split Peeta's face and he bent down, pressing his lips gently against mine. But it ended all too soon, of course. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow, then, Katniss."

I backed up down the stairs and waved my fingers at him. "Have a good night,"

"You, too."

With happy thoughts filling my head and making me feel like a cloud, I flounced back to the house, where it was already vacant of wakeful and busy people. In my room, I took off my clothes and changed into a nightdress, letting out my braided hair. In bed, I snuggled under the covers and closed my eyes, but my brain didn't shut off right away.

Tomorrow night was the last night I was spending single… Single? That didn't seem quite like the word, though it obviously. And right now, fiancé…boyfriend…husband… All of those terms just sounded a little weird, too. Because the circumstances that would usually label people with those didn't happen to me and Peeta. But nevertheless… We were still…together. I was still single today. In approximately thirty-six hours I will be a wife. What the heck? Wife is a foreign term. I will still be Peeta's whatever-I-am right now, and he'll be mine. But what was that?

Curious thoughts segued into dreams, which were…abnormal. But they didn't matter. I wouldn't remember them the next morning, so I let myself be weirded out and just floated away with happy thoughts in my head.

oOo

Har har har… That was most peculiar. Anyhoo, review, pretty please! Even if you don't have an account. The wedding is chapter after next! Hey, I've got an idea. If at least 25% of you review (which really isn't asking a lot), which is about 35, I will put the wedding chapter up REALLY fast. Like unbelievably fast. Perhaps just a day or so after chapter 53. But it all depends on you people. I probably will update fast anyways. I'm just seeing how many people love me. bye-bye!