A/N: I believe Peeta starts this crazy chapter. :D

I step out first. "It's not a problem, because I'm not with you for your body or the sex." I laugh. "After you." ~

"Ladies first." I lightly push him out into the hallway and close the door behind us. "I don't know if we're supposed to be out now, but I don't care. Take me to the room. Take me there!" I tug on his right arm to pull him along down the hallway. ~

"Fine, fine!" I laugh, heading to the elevator and punching in the room key code. M-1242. The doors open and I go in before him, still in pajamas, seeing as my dad won't see me. No one really should. I've seen that he's serious about this, and honestly, so am I. ~

I follow closely behind Peeta, laughing. "You ready?" ~

"I should be asking you that." As long as he properly explains himself, there shouldn't be much of a problem. My dad loved Cato. Even though the dad is supposed to hate the boyfriend, he just didn't. I don't know if my dad even had the capacity to hate. ~

"Absolutely." ~

"I'm...glad." I say honestly. ~

"So am I." I'll seriously ask today. And I would marry him today, too, if we had time. And if we had enough time before. But now, as long as I get an answer, I'm set. ~

I squeeze his hand until the doors open again to a floor Cato'd only seen once-me, many times. I let him go and turn myself into an alcove that I knew existed that was out of sight from the room. I used it to hide. "M-1242." I say, pointing at the door to remind him. ~

"Oh...okay." I follow his fingers over to the door that is almost directly next to me. "Okay." I walk over to the door, take a deep breath, and knock. ~

After a moment or two, a voice is heard on the other side. "Hello?" The door cracks, and Peeta's father sticks his head out, sighing a bit with a smile. "Hey, Cato." He steps out of the room. "What can I do for you?" ~

"I...I just wanted t-to ask you something," I stutter. Well shit. "If you have the time, that is." ~

"Of course, of course." He insists, furrowing his brow in concern and putting his hand on Cato's shoulder. "What? Is something wrong?" ~

"No, nothing!" I say quickly. "Actually...something's right. Very right. It's uh...it's about Peeta." ~

He raises an eyebrow. He knows this nervous face isn't normal like the boy he knew to be dating his son. "What is it, about Peeta?" He glances back to the room and checks his pocket for his key before closing it. ~

"Well, it's about me and him, really...you like that I'm with him, right?" Just making sure. ~

"Of course!" He laughs, very reminiscent of his son. "You've made my son happier than he's even been in his entire life...you brought him back to me, after I believed I'd never see him alive again." ~

That's right. I saved Peeta's life just two weeks ago. "He makes me happy, too. I really love him." ~

"That's all that a relationship needs." He says, smiling. He doesn't exactly know where this is going, though he doesn't object to it-but he knows that his son has probably told this boy about his wife, and her objections to the relationship and their son's likings. He wants to make sure that the boy knows that he doesn't feel the same way. "I support you both completely." He says, giving a look in his eyes that hints at what he's trying to get across. ~

For a second, I lose my breath because I'm really about to ask. "That's good...because um, I want to spend forever with him, and I wanted to make sure you're okay with that." ~

He nods, not realizing for a moment what Cato is saying. "Of course I am, I..." And he looks in the boy's eyes, and sees what he's trying so hard to say, and sees how difficult it is to say it-so he'll say it for him. "You...you're asking me to marry my son." ~

When he finishes it for me, all color drains from my face completely. "Please don't kill me." ~

The first thing he does when Cato looks as if he's going to pass out is take him by the shoulders. "No, no. I wouldn't. Ever. Relax...Relax." ~

"Y-you're not mad at me? I...I know it's only been six months, but I've been by his side whenever I could, and he...he feels the same way about me. I just want to make him happy. I'm in love with him, Mr. Mellark. Please say yes..." ~

"You...do realize he's seventeen years old." He makes sure. He just wants to assure that everyone's on the same page here. ~

"That's why I came and asked you, first-I mean, I would've asked you either way, but the fact that he needs permission..." Just shut up. "We're not going to do it like right this second or anything...I told him I wanted to wait a while. But I just wanted to make sure I was allowed..." ~

"Don't act so nervous," He laughs. "I told you to calm down." He pauses and just looks at Cato for a moment. "You have to know that I'm going to say yes, so stop acting like you're worried I'm going to deny you or my son the love you both deserve." ~

Did he just...oh my god. "Really? You'd let us?" ~

"Of course." He nods and gives a warm smile. "You thought I'd say no?" ~

"Well, I know you're very...um...protective of him." Which is a good thing, in Peeta's case. "So I...oh god. Thank you..." Against my better judgement, I hug him. I'm used to it. And now, this is really embarrassing. But I don't care. "Thank you so much!" So fucking much. I caught myself. ~

He hugs the boy back, smiling a bit at the fact that he's shaking. It means the world to him that someone cares this much about his son and his happiness. "No, thank you. For saving his life." He says finally, completely honestly and openly. In more ways than one, he knows. Both in the Games, during the torture...He knows that even if Peeta won, without Cato, he would have gone back to being ridiculed by people. It's hope. That's what this boy gave his son, and he owed him everything for that. ~

"I wouldn't have done otherwise...besides, he saved mine, too." I was a wreck without him. Those three months I spent without him were torture. I missed his smile (especially because of the jaw), his cheesy-ass compliments, his kisses, his everything. Without him, I was essentially dead, myself. Maybe he didn't save me physically (or so I tell myself), but mentally, a hundred times over. "I swear I'll give him everything." ~

He pulls back a bit from the hug. "I believe that you will. I still hold that offer. You can come to me for anything, whenever you need it." He knows how hard it must be for Cato to not have his mother around, though it's for the best that his father isn't. That would be like leaving Peeta alone with his mother, which he'd never, ever do. ~

"Thank you!" I turn my head to the side a little bit. "PEETA!" ~

I immediately groan. I look like a complete bum. Of course, I'm smiling like an idiot, but I still look horrible. I poke my head out to see my dad and Cato standing there, and I step out, scratching my head. "I never got changed." I laugh. "Sorry." I shoot a look jokingly at Cato for making people see me like this, but come over and take his hand in mine.

"You make each other happy." He leans against the wall. "That's all that really matters." ~

I squeeze his hand, smiling like an asshole. "I...Peeta," I turn to Peeta and look into his eyes, "I can't imagine me without you." Let's be a little more professional this time. "Will you marry me?" Just fucking say yes. ~

Oh god. Oh dear god. I immediately start crying, but do everything that relates to self control in my body so that I can make out words. I pause. Oh god. I can't even remember words, I'm breaking down so badly. What is it again? What is it? Goddamnit, he's standing there. Waiting. And you're just standing here. Sobbing like an ass. Oh, damn. There it is. Of course. "Y..yes!" ~

"Oh, for a second I thought you'd say no!" I laugh. Not really, but he did look kinda scared for a moment there. And now he's crying. "Shh, this is a happy time!" I pull him closer to me and hug him. Yes, lots of hugs today. "I love you." ~

"I...love you, too.." I say as I try to catch my breath through laughter and sobs. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me. And now, we can be happy. He'll come home, and we'll be happy.

I feel a hand pat me on the back-my dad. He's getting a bit teary eyed, too. But he doesn't say a thing. I know he's just happy that I am. ~

"Score!" I laugh, but really...I scored. I played the Games and won the most important, priceless prize of them all. "Perfect. Perfect! That's what you are-both of you. I'm so beyond glad I had this chance with you. I feel like I'm not even in real life anymore. I just...how does someone as amazing as you exist in a world like this? How am I even with you right now? I...I can't wait until I get back home." ~

My dad begins laughing, and I squeeze Cato more with my right arm. "I can't wait either, love. I can't wait either." This moment is perfect. The two people who've cared about me the most, all of us, together, happy...It's all I've ever wanted or needed. More than I ever expected. ~

"There's going to be cake, and and...cute stuff, and love, and partying, and bicycle riding!" I am so determined to teach him how to ride a bike. Even I was lucky enough to get that chance. I want him to have every chance to do everything he wants. "THIS IS THE HAPPIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!" ~

I look to my dad. "He does this a lot." I laugh, pulling back and getting on my toes to kiss him. "Relax, love." I mess with his hair. "We're all right here." ~

"No kissing in front of your father!" I tell him. "Wait...is it okay?" ~

He clears his throat a bit, looking a tad embarrassed. "I think that ship has sailed," He begins, "I did watch the Games, you know." Oh. I'd almost forgotten. I laugh nervously, a blush forming on my face. ~

"Oh, right..." Oops. "Sorry for ripping your son's clothes off in the cave." ~

I smack my forehead immediately, my blush getting worse.

"Just...Don't mention it." He laughs, brushing it off. Sometimes, I forget how lucky I am to have my dad. ~

"And uh...sorry about nearly killing him on the second day." That was a complete accident...but still. Whoops. ~

Oh, Cato. Editing. Self-editing. "I forgive you for anything and everything." He insists, wanting to get out of this situation as quickly as possible. "What's past is past." ~

Then I guess he forgives me for the broken wrist that he has yet to notice. "Good, good. And I assure you, when he and I are alone, we're a lot more...clothed and calm." ~

"Cato!" I exclaim, blushing just slightly. "He's right," I insist to my dad, "Just...Haven't we gone over thinking before we speak or do?" I laugh, wrapping my right arm around him. ~

"Just reassuring him that I didn't...violate you," I whisper. "Besides, thinking is for planners. I'm a procrastinator. Spontaneous, you know. Live in the moment." I smile. ~

"So that's what you're calling it now?" ~

"Absolutely!" I laugh. ~

I lean into him. "And I'm a planner. Match. Made. In. Heaven," I reply, smiling. My dad just gives me a small nod, and that's all I need to know. ~

"Every time you say that, I just think about that night in the Games. I was so confused when you said that. And...I said a match, like best friends." We're best friends. "I guess we were both right." ~

"It just works out that way." To be in love with your best friend. How perfect. ~

"And it always will." I kiss him again. Not for too long, because...yeah. Parent over shoulder. ~

"Thank you, dad." I smile at him.

"Anything to see you happy, Peeta." He crosses his arms and takes a deep breath. This has been a long, confusing process for him. ~

"Thank you...dad." I pause, waiting for a reaction. "Too soon?" ~

"No," He shakes his head and smiles at Cato, making eye contact. "Not too soon at all." I feel like my dad mentally adopted Cato from the moment we spoke before my to-be execution. Because he was all that he'd have left of me. And if I had cared for him, so would my father. It's just the way he was. ~

"Good. Because my own father sucks." I'm not ashamed to say it, just like that. I really don't fucking care anymore. "I hate-SHIT." ~

"What?" I look to him to see his face in some combination of anger and shock. ~

"I have to tell my mommy..." I whine. "Damn it!" ~

"We'll make sure she knows." I kiss his cheek. "Don't worry about it." ~

"But no, she isn't here! They all know you and I are in Thirteen now...what if they did something to her? Peeta, my dad would put work in front of the family at any moment. If it was her, or his job and possibly life, he definitely wouldn't choose her!" ~

"Then we have to get her here." I say definitively. ~

"She'd...she'd be gone by now." I pull away from him and put my forehead against the wall. "I didn't think to get her here before..." ~

"You can't think that for sure..." I whisper to him. "There's always a chance..." He was probably right. But I wouldn't let myself live it down if I didn't try. But that would just be another surprise for his birthday, hopefully. ~

"Peeta. It's been a week since we last talked. And you told the whole nation we're here. The Capitol is fucking pissed at us. They'd take the only thing left that matters to me, since they can't touch you now!" I sob. She has to be dead by now. Unless she ran away to who knows where. But it was unexpected, so I doubt it. "I didn't get to say goodbye." ~

I go over and hug him from behind. "Hush, love...I'm sure she's fine. She's smart..." The woman was very bright in odd ways. Part of me just didn't want Cato to cry, and the other part was actually confident his mother could be alive. "She had to have made it out, somehow. I bet she did." As soon as he was gone, I'd get people to go out and look. Even if I had to do it myself. Even if not for Cato, I owed that woman my life a million times over. ~

"Don't waste your breaths, Peeta...she can't escape him. She's tried before." Oh boy, has she tried. ~

I shut my eyes against him and lean my head against his back. Who knew when we were in the Games that we were such similar people? "I'm...I'm an optimist." That's all I can manage to say, because even though the abusive person in my home was my mother, I knew what he was feeling. And I'd seen, known, felt his father in action. ~

"He probably killed her, Peeta!" Turning around, I hug him tightly. "He cares more about the Capitol than he does me and my mom! He always has..." ~

Now, I just hold him. It's his turn. "I'm so sorry, love...So, so sorry..." I whisper. I can't even imagine the pressure he was under at home. No wonder he wanted to win the Games so badly. Maybe then, he'd be of enough notice in the Capitol that his father cared so much for that his father would pay some note to him, too. But that man didn't deserve Cato's time of day. ~

"I wanted to be just like that...bastard!" I kiss his cheek in an attempt to calm myself down. "Someone who ignores his family for eighteen years and threatens them when they try to leave! There's a reason why Peacekeepers usually aren't supposed to have families, Peeta. It's because of shit like this." ~

"He is a bastard...I know.." I hate seeing him like this. It's horrible. "But if he didn't have a family, I'd never have had you." Optimism. ~

"I...I know." And that thought scares me. That I owe my life to him because he happened to be around. "When I get the chance, he's dead. He wanted to see me be a heartless killer? I'll show him. First. Hand." ~

I kiss him to stop him from speaking anymore or saying anything he may regret saying in front of my father. "Sh..." I coo. "Things will work themselves out." ~

"Especially if I have anything to do with it. He hurt you, he hurt me, he hurt my mom...so I'll hurt him." I finally start calming down a bit. ~

He was right. That man was a terrible, horrible person. I don't understand at all how he could have contributed to the creation of the love of my life. ~

"I miss her, Peeta! I don't care if I'm a momma's boy. I'll say it a million times! I let her die!" ~

"Oh, love..." I hug him, holding his head. "I'm sorry. There's nothing you could have done." ~

"I could've asked Thirteen to get her a week ago! But I wasn't thinking...how could I forget?" I pull away from him and cover my face with my hands. "Just forget it." ~

I kiss his forehead. "Don't blame yourself." Because if she's alive, I'll get her back. ~

"But it's my fault..." ~

"It's not. And you don't even know that she's gone for sure, Cato." ~

"I suppose you're right." If she's alive, then the Capitol is torturing her. Same thing. "She's all I had before you." ~

"When you get back, we'll get her." When you get back, she'll be here. ~

"That could be too late, but...thank you, Peeta." I know he'll try. No guarantees. And I won't hold it against him if they can't save her. ~

"Nothing to thank me for..she saved my life more times than I could count. If...if it wasn't for her, I would have been long dead when you came back from the Victory Tour." ~

"Okay, and whose fault was that?" I laugh. "Mine!" Instant good mood, courtesy of Peeta. ~

"Not on purpose!" I remind him, laughing along with him. ~

"Of course not! Remember, I'd never hurt you..." I look down his wrist, "on purpose." ~

I glance over at my father who's just in some state of joy over ours, and realize he hasn't noticed my hand. No, he had to have. It's so obvious. "I know that." Then I realize why he hasn't said anything.

It's a sad thing when you show up injured and your father just assumes it was your mother. ~

"I'm sorry." I pick up his left hand and kiss it. "Never again." ~

"Stop..." I whisper. "It's not your fault." I shoot him a shut up kind of look.~

"Wait, why are you giving me that look? Oh..." Well, I'm a little slow there. "I know, but I still hate that it happened." I can't lie to his father forever. ~

"It can't be helped...but we don't have to talk about it. As long as it doesn't happen again." I give him a little smile, trying to tell him that one mistake shouldn't be the end of this trust my father had in him. ~

"It won't." I'll tell him eventually. No lies. ~

"Good." ~

Then, the door opens. Not good. Actually, it's worse than not good. Behind that door was evil in its worst incarnation: Mrs. Mellark. And who knows how long she was there for, and what she's heard?

I pull Peeta very close to me like we're each other's life support, because well...we are. "Hello-" I start.

"What is on going here?!" ~

Immediately, I grip onto Cato tightly. This couldn't be happening. "H-hi mom, I..." I can't even make words. ~

"Don't," I tell him.

"Stop touching!" She slams the door behind her. "What is he doing here?!" she says, referring to me. ~

"He came to talk to me," my dad says calmly, attempting towards some sort of peace. I still don't let go on Cato, though. I won't. Can't. ~

"I don't want that scum near you!"

"I'm not the scum here," I say. Fearless. ~

"He's not scum!" I cry out at her. ~

"You both are!"

Right now, I really want to beat the shit out of her, but then I feel Peeta's cast on my arm, so I hold back. "Come on, Peeta, let's go. See you later, Mr. Mellark. Thanks again." I immediately go to leave, pulling on his hand, but she pulls him away from me by his hair.

"You will not be seeing him anymore! I've told you this a million times!" She has? "It's not natural!" ~

I cry out in pain as I feel the pulling. It's like she's going to rip the hair out of my head, but I don't stop pulling away. I want Cato back. Not this pain. I didn't want him to ever have to see this happen. See me this totally helpless. "Let go of me!" I scream. Just because you don't understand something doesn't make it unnatural. ~

"Fine," she says, throwing him into the wall, hitting his head hard. So hard that he collapses to the floor.

"Peeta!" I run over and kneel down beside him. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his mother wipe her hands on her dress like gay is a contagious disease. Bitch. It takes everything to not hit her back, but I have to hold back for Peeta. No violence. "Peeta? Are you okay?" ~

My head is pounding and things are out of color, but I'm conscious. All I can really make out is some odd, fuzzy sepia-toned vision of Cato. "Ow..." I get out. Oh god, I'm in so much pain. But he's here. So I'll be okay. My father and she are yelling at one another, but I can't make out exactly what they're saying. ~

"Come on, let's go." I help him up, keeping him stable by holding him up completely. "Let's go." ~

Everything's spinning, and I grasp onto Cato for dear life. I blink a few times in a poor attempt to register the world around me. I partially expect another blow, or to be ripped from his arms again.~

I push him along down the hallway as fast as possible to avoid the screaming and abuse. "Can you talk at all?" ~

"I...can.." But my throat isn't cooperating, so it stops me from speaking, because my mind is just focusing on breathing. It hurts to do anything else. My sight is progressively getting foggier, and I feel like I'm hurting Cato with my grip, but it's the only way I can stay up. ~

"Don't." I can't leave him tonight. Not after seeing this. "Maybe you should sleep," I tell him. When we reach the elevator, I bring him in and prop him up against the wall. "Can you at least hear me?" ~

I can at least make that out. I hold my hand up and put my fingers together to represent "a little", before I whisper, "Slower." Goddamnit. All he's going to do is worry about me while he's gone. I know it. I'm taking deep breaths, in, and out. Oh god. ~

"Okay." I brush his hair out of his face and smile. "No words." I lean forward and kiss him. Please feel better. ~

I take breaths in between the kisses, trying to keep my head clear. "Sorry." I whimper. I'm sorry he had to see that. It's happened before. But I've just laid there until I could walk myself, and it wasn't ever quite this hard. My vision wasn't ever quite this messed up, either. She was probably fueled by seeing me with Cato. I'm just happy she didn't hurt him, or vice versa.~

"Stop saying sorry." The elevator door opens. "Come." I kiss his cheek and help him limp along the hallway. ~

I stare in the general direction of the ground and walk with him. I almost walk into the wall by our room.~

"I don't think she took that well," I say, opening the door. "Go lay down." ~

Me either, I think. Gripping onto the wall, I make my way over to the bed and laid down. My breathing is getting calmer, so I whisper, "Everything's black and white." ~

A/N: I hate Mrs. Mellark. Oh my lord. TELL ME YOUR FEELS, READERS. I hope you're enjoying the story. We're...nearing a very big thing here. So...be prepared and REVIEW.