1. Katniss swipes the fog from the bathroom mirror and says the words out loud for the very first time. "I think I'm in love with you and that scares the crap out of me. Everyone I've ever loved has died or left me and if you were gone, I might give up. I almost did the last time I lost you."
She can feel herself choking up and a single tear escapes. Furious with herself, she swipes it away. Two years ago, she would never have dreamed that she and Peeta would be ever well enough to speak of love. She will not allow her happy moment to be stolen by the past. She will not.
2. The next night, she practices saying it in the shower. "I think we were meant to be, Peeta. I've watched you, kept track of you. Even before the bread, I knew who you were and I knew things about you. Maybe I didn't know it was love then, but I know it now."
She scoffs. That is just not good enough.
3. "Peeta, you love me and I love you. Why don't you just make some bread and we'll toast it?"
Her expression in the reflection in the mirror is grim. Clearly, she has no gift for comedy. She'll have to keep trying.
4. In the steamy bathroom, she rubs the ointment from the new medicine factory into her scars. It keeps them soft and the redness is slowly fading away. They could probably make them disappear in the Capitol, but she's not allowed there. She doesn't want to go there either. And anyway, her scars seem to line up with Peeta's. It's another sign that they're a pair and she kind of likes that, even if she'd rather not have proof that they're damaged goods out there for everyone to see.
"I know I'm not perfect," she says as she rubs her arm. "I'm not even the person I used to be, but I'm in love with you."
No, that won't do either. Peeta deserves more than a consolation prize.
5. She grips the sink and stares into the mirror again. "Remember, on the train, when you asked me if it was all for the cameras and I said yes? I lied. Well, not really. I just didn't understand what I was feeling for you. I wasn't sure I could love anyone other than Prim. And then the lie got increasingly control and my feelings just kept getting more and more mixed up. But now that's it's all over, I can tell you. I love you, Peeta, and I think that you and I were always meant to be together. I'm sorry it took me so long to figure it out."
They feel right, these words. A tremor passes through her and she swallows. She can do this. Once upon a time, she was fierce, beautiful and brave. Peeta deserves to hear the actual words pass through her lips. He will be so happy to hear her say it. But still, her hand trembles on the door knob and by the time she steps into their bedroom, she's already changed her mind. Maybe she'll say it tomorrow night.
Peeta is sitting up in bed, absorbed in yet another book from the new district library. A pair of glasses are perched on his nose. He just needs them for reading. His doctor thinks that his captors damaged his eyesight when he was being held prisoner. He glances up and their eyes lock.
"You know I can hear you in there, right?"
The bottom falls out of her stomach and she shakes her head. She should have thought of that, obviously. She knows how thin the walls are in this house. Well, there's nothing to do now but say it. She squares her shoulders and bares her heart.
"I love you."