Always

Chapter 19

Katniss P.O.V.

Me and Peeta walk into Paylor's office and the guard gestures to a couch. We sit down next to each other and wait.

"Paylor will be with you shortly," the guard says as he walks off. We sit there silently while I nervously bounce my knee and bite my nails. Peeta slowly and gently wraps one of his hands around my wrist while his other hand rests firmly on my knee so I can't bounce it anymore.

"I'm starting to get motion sickness," Peeta teases as he laughs. I look at him and smile.

"Sorry," I say.

"It's fine. I get it, you're nervous," he says as he takes both of my hands in his and we continue to wait.

When Paylor finally walks in, me and Peeta stand up automatically.

"Katniss, Peeta, it's so nice to see you two again," Paylor says as she shakes both of our hands. "I'm sorry about the unfortunate circumstances. I hope that I'll be able to answer all of you questions." She sits down in a chair behind her desk, and me and Peeta take our places back on the couch. "I didn't expect you to get here so soon."

"We'll we figured the sooner the better," I reply.

"Well, before I get into my apology, let me explain what happened first. I was in a coma about a week after my stroke before they even announced it. I have no clue why they lied about when it happened. Anyway, there were so many people who were still upset about Snow's death that his son was voted in as my temporary replacement. He immediately fired all the staff and hired people who were on his side. He then started lying and scheming around just to get back at you two for killing his dad. He started telling people that I approved of everything, but u can assure you I approved of nothing," Paylor explains. She turns to Peeta. "I hear you're the brave young man who ended all of this."

I look over at Peeta who is nodding his head. "My hero," I whisper in his ear. Peeta looks at me and smiles.

"We'll that brings me to my apology," Paylor says as she stands up. "My intentions were to rebuild 12, not to tear your house down forcefully leaving you with no where to go. I am so sorry that all this has happened. You don't deserve any of it and I am here to make it up to you two in any way." She takes a chair, pulls it up in front of us, and sits down. "I want to ask you both a huge question. Even though it's only been about a year, I feel as if my duties as president of Panem are over. If I resigned, would you two be interested in taking over? Peeta as President and Katniss, you as the First Lady." Me and Peeta look at each other before he speaks.

"We'll have to have some time to talk about it," Peeta says,

"Take all the time you need," Paylor says as she stands up again. "Well I think that about covers everything. Do you have any more questions?" Me and Peeta shake our heads no. "Can you find your way back to your room okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," I say as me and Peeta sand up. We both shake Paylor's hand again and head to our room. Once we're inside and the door's shut, I turn to face Peeta.

"What should we do?" I ask quietly. He wraps his arms around me before speaking.

"I have my thoughts about it, but I want to hear your opinion first," Peeta says softly.

"I think we should do it," I say honestly.

"Really?" Peeta asks as he pulls me back so he can see my face better. I nod my head yes. "I do to," he says. "Now I won't have to use my speech about why I think it's a good idea," Peeta says and I start laughing.

"Should we go in back and tell Paylor now?" I ask, not wanting any extra time to change my mind.

"Let's go,"Peeta says as he takes my hand in his and we do walking back to Paylor's office. When we get there, she's sitting at her desk doing paperwork. When we walk in, she look up at us.

"We'll that was quick," Paylor says as she smiles at us. Me and Peeta walk over to he desk and Peeta immediately starts talking.

"Me and Katniss have decided that we would like to take over as leaders of Panem if need be," Peeta says finally. Paylor nods her head.

"I'm glad that you have talked this over and have decided to do this. I'm sure you'll do a better job than anyone ever had ruling over Panem," Paylor says. "I'll announce my resignation next week. Give you two time to go home and tell your family and friends."

"So we can go on home now?" I ask.

"Yes," Paylor says. "And instead of waiting for the train, I'll have a car take you home. Just go pack your things and meet the car around front when you're ready."

"Thank you," Peeta says as we leave Paylor's office and head back to our room again. When we get there, we pack up what little belongings that we unpacked. When we're done, I grab my bag and start heading out the door. The second the door opens, Peeta walks over to me, takes my bag out of my hand, sets it down on the ground, and closes the door.

I look over at Peeta as he turns to face me. "Are you okay?" I ask him.

"Yeah," Peeta replies as his hands rest on my shoulders. "But before we go through with this, I have to ask you a serious question. Are you sure this is what you want to do?" I look at him and smile. I wrap my arms around him and pull him in close. His hands fall off of my shoulders and his arms wrap around me. Pulling me in even closer.

"Of course this is what I want to do Peeta," I reply as u give him a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "Is this what you want to do?" I ask him.

"It sure is," Peeta says as he kisses the top of my head.

"What are we going to tell Mom?" I ask quietly. This makes Peeta laugh.

"We'll, we can think about it on the way there," Peeta says as we pick our bags back up and he takes my hand in his. "Let's go," he says, and we walk out the door.