A/N: These next few chapters are dedicated to my little buddy, Matlin. This starts with Peeta's father.

Their hands grasp each other, allowing his father to pull him off the bed and onto his feet. "Was that a smile I saw?" And he begins thinking that maybe Peeta will be better now. The signature Mellark smile. ~

"...Maybe." I look to my father before glancing away. "I just...thought about how I couldn't really get off the bed myself without jumping. Because I'm small. So I thought the bed was big... And...he'd always say things that everything wasn't too big..I was just too small." I think it'll do me good to talk about him. It makes me feel like he's gone less and less. ~

"You're the runt," he says, laughing. "And that's what I've been telling you...think of the good times, and you'll get better." He starts leading him back towards the elevator. "Happy times." ~

I look at my feet as we walk. "I...don't think I'll ever be completely better." I admit. "But I..I have hope that I'll get as close as I can." ~

"You will get close. Don't worry." He pushes the button for the elevator. "You'll realize eventually that this life is worth living out to the natural end," he says, making sure to specify that he doesn't just mean any end. "I haven't known him very long, but I can tell you that I know he'll wait for you." ~

"That's...that's what we both said." But we also said together. Together. I shake the thought out of my head. "He really liked you, you know." ~

"I could tell." He realized that when Cato asked him if he could marry Peeta one day after the war ends. "He's a good kid." ~

"He...He is, isn't he? I tried to tell him that all the time, and he just wouldn't listen." I laugh quietly. "He thought I was some saint. If only he'd see me now." ~

"He was just being modest." He thinks back to watching the Hunger Games on television and talking to Cato during lunch and dinner some days over the past week. "To balance out his cockiness." ~

"But I love his cockiness." I smile a little. ~

Peeta loves everything about him. "You humored him a lot. I don't think anyone else would be able to take such a huge ego like that." The elevator door opens, letting them in. They both push the button for Peeta's floor. "It's interesting, to say the least." ~

"But his ego..." It wasn't real. A lot of it was a front. I remember the times Cato'd freak because he thought I loved him for his looks, and that we was insecure about his personality and mind. "He just never got how perfect he really was." ~

"Maybe he just didn't want to accept that when you kept denying how great you are." He looks down to Peeta and makes eye contact. "Don't think I didn't hear you guys arguing about who's more perfect." ~

I laugh a little. Just like us, really. "We did that a lot. It's just...hard to see those things in yourself. He put me on some pedestal...He didn't know anything about my birthday, no real big details about mom, none of it. And even after I told him...he still thought I was perfect. And I knew he was, too." I pause, biting my lip to stop tears. "I suppose...that's what love is." ~

He nods as the elevator door opens. "That's what it is. And...I think you're both wrong." Laughing, he takes Peeta out of the elevator. "Nobody can be perfect. But you're perfect for each other, which is close enough, isn't it?" ~

It takes every bit of self control I possess to not break down sobbing there and then. "That's more than enough." I whisper. ~

"Oh, more happy thoughts, Peeta." He motions for his son to unlock the door to the room. ~

I hold my arm up, and the door clicks open. "Huh?" ~

"I mean, think happier thoughts. Things that happened that would make you smile again." He holds the door open wider for Peeta to walk in. "It worked before." ~

"Okay, well.." I step through the door, waiting for my dad to come in before closing it behind us. "I...I guess I can tell you what happened last night. When..I tried." Because it was the fact that it made me so happy that made me want to do it. I knew that I'd never be that happy again without him around. ~

He sits down on the edge of the spare bed and takes a deep breath. "Alright...shoot." ~

"Well...before he left...I told Cato about what..what happened the last time. I hadn't even mentioned it before." I sit on our bed and rest my head in my hands as I talk to him. "...But I told him all of it. Every detail." ~

He nods slowly. "The letters." ~

"Mm-hm." I didn't tell him things that would've made him more concerned now. Like that I could probably recite what each of them said, or that all of the blood-stained papers remained in my dresser drawer at home. "And before he went, he...he told me that he had a present for me. For when he was gone. In the bottom drawer. But...I could only look when I really missed him. I wanted to look the first day, for a while...But I didn't know how long I'd have to hold off. So I waited." I pause. "Then...then I found out what happened, so...after you left, I checked the drawer." I motion toward the bottom drawer. "Look." ~

Holding his breath, he bends down and opens the bottom drawer to reveal a bunch of papers, neatly folded and kept in number order. "What are these...?" ~

I can't look at them now. I'll go back to my insanity. Maybe tomorrow, I'll let myself read them again and again. "Just...just look. Read them." ~

Glancing back and forth between the letters and Peeta, he reaches down to take a bundle of them. He sorts through them, confused, but eventually takes out one labeled "18" and opens it.

Dear Shortie,

I'm sick of always having to pick you up when we kiss. Grow a few feet before I get back.

Love, Cato

He takes out number "33" and reads it.

Dear Best Friend,

How fortunate that it turned out I fell in love with my best friend.

Love, your best friend!

He reads "42."

Dear Only True Love,

How extremely lucky was it that I came across you? In the worst of all conditions, too. Damn those Hunger Games. But we both made it out somehow, and we're both safe and with each other. Amazing how the world works.

Love, your always perfect boyfriend

"44."

Dear Forever Lover,

Together, we said.

(If you don't remember where you heard that, look at that drawing I drew you a few days ago! I promise I'll get better at drawing, though.)

But yeah, TOGETHER, SHORT STUFF! YOU AND ME!

Love, catocatocato 3

And he's had enough. "Peeta..." he begins, shuffling all the letters in his hands. ~

"To know I could never have him again was too much. Too much." I bury my face in my hands. "He really, really was perfect. There's forty-eight there. Exactly." ~

"I...I see that...he numbered them," he says, realizing forty-eight were written on purpose. "But this is how you get to remember him. Isn't this a good thing?" ~

"Such a good thing.." I whisper. "That I realized, in a mere moment, how much I needed him. Needed to be with him. That's why I did it." ~

"I don't think he intended for his present to make you kill yourself," he says flatly. "Cato wouldn't want that, and you know it." ~

"Of course I do..." I stare at the papers. "It just hurt. I'd only just found out, and was already in disbelief...and this made me realize that..that he wasn't coming back with the rest of them." ~

"Oh," he says sadly, moving over to sit on the bed next to Peeta, "I'm so sorry, Peeta...I didn't believe it at first either." ~

I just stare at my hands. "I watched them gun him down. I couldn't do anything about it." ~

"No one could. He had no way out." He puts his arm around Peeta's shoulders. "Don't blame yourself." ~

"But they wouldn't send him alone, would they...?" I sigh. "I'll always blame myself, even just a little bit. If I didn't suggest we come here, he'd never have are so many things I did that, if I didn't...he'd be alive. We could both be alive." ~

"They might not have sent him alone. We'll have to ask exactly what happened later...they'll be here soon." He sighs. "People make mistakes. You aren't to blame...he was okay with coming here, wasn't he? And there wasn't anywhere else for you to go. Even he knew District Twelve would be unsafe...isn't that why he asked them to send a team for us?" ~

"I...I guess so." I just want them back. I'm in some form of denial that he's dead. What if he shows up with them? Oh god, I don't even know what to think. ~

"Yeah, so he must've been glad that you mentioned this place. He could've been gone sooner if you hadn't come here...either way, it isn't your fault. You couldn't have known." ~

But then I'd be with him, I think. No. You've got to live. You promised. "I just wish I could have." ~

"Don't regret anything. Haven't I always told you this?" He turns Peeta's head to face him. "Regret anything, and it could've turned out completely different...better to have loved than to have never had the chance, right?" ~

"I..I guess you're right." The more I think about the idea, the more plausible it seems that this is all fake. ~

"You guess?" He laughs. "Be sure that I'm right! Peeta, I'm your father. I know things." ~

"You're right, you're right.." I admit, smiling. He could come home tonight. ~

"I cheered you up?" He smiles with Peeta. That's what makes him happy. "Keep this up, Peeta, and you'll be better soon." ~

Maybe, just maybe, optimism could bring him back. "You did...thanks, dad." I lean against him. ~

He's confused by Peeta's sudden happiness, but he won't question it. "Then...I guess we can save these," he holds up a bottle of morphling, "for another time. Do you need me to stay with you?" ~

"No, I don't think so..." I sigh. "I have to record soon, then Finnick is coming back tonight, so I have a wedding cake to finish for...tomorrow." ~

"Alright." He stands finally and walks over to the door. "But don't think I won't have people checking on you when I'm not around." ~

"I understand." I look at him and wave. "I'm...sorry about this." ~

Sighing, he turns the doorknob and pushes the door open slightly. "Don't be sorry. It's completely understandable. Just...be careful." He waves goodbye before leaving and closing the door. ~

I wait around for a while after my dad has gone. I pack away the letters in the drawer, and lay in bed, trying not to think about Cato or today. I eventually make my way downstairs to the kitchens to begin finishing the cake. I expect to work on it through the night. I didn't think I'd sleep anyway. Then, I go to Portia to prep for the propos tonight.

I tell her not to remove my bandages or remove the wounds. I need then to remind myself of what the Capitol did to him. Though these won't air for a while, I want to record them while the feeling is still fresh and genuine.

After what seems like a million takes, I suddenly get rushed away to go above ground.

The team is already home. ~

A/N: Uh oh. What's gonna happen? :/ Guess you'll find out soon enough!