Always

Chapter 20

Peeta P.O.V.

The entire car ride back to 12 is silent. Me and Katniss are both so overwhelmed that we don't know what to say. When the car finally pulls up outside the gate of the Victor's Village, me and Katniss head straight home.

"Do you think we should start packing?" Katniss asks as soon as we step in the door.

"Hang on a minute," I tease her. "Let's tell your mom and Haymitch first. Besides, we don't even know if we'll get elected or not. There does have to be an election you know."

"I know," Katniss says as she smiles. "It's just that I have a really good feeling about this. I don't want to have time to worry myself over it." The second I look into her eyes, I can tell she's putting on an act.

"Katniss," I say softly, "I can tell you're not as enthusiastic about this as you seem." She smiles a little.

"You know me too well," she whispers. I sigh.

"Katniss," you should've told me that before I promised Paylor that we would do this," I say.

"I know," she says. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," I say as I wrap my arms around her. "Do I need to call Paylor?"

"No," Katniss says as she wraps her arms around my neck. "I want to do this. Get our minds off of some things." I nod my head knowing what she means.

"We'll we better go tell Ellen and Haymitch," I say as I give Katniss a quick kiss. She nods and takes my hand in hers as we go walking out the door.

We go to Haymitch's first, but he's asleep. Katniss sighs in annoyance. "He's either asleep or too drunk to comprehend anything. We'll just leave him another note," Kantiss says as she angrily starts writing. I look at her and smile. When she gets done, we head over to Ellen's.

As soon as Ellen opens the door, she looks surprised to see us. "I didn't expect you two to be back so soon," Ellen says as me and Katniss step inside.

"Mom, we need to talk to you about something," Katniss says the second the door is shut.

"Okay, let's go in here," Ellen says as we follow her into the living room. Me and Katniss sit down on a couch and Ellen sits in a chair in front of us. The second we're all seated, Katniss starts speaking.

"Paylor wants me and Peeta to take over as leaders of Panem," Katniss says quickly, but plainly. "She's going to announce her resignation next week and then they're going to have a vote." Ellen looks at the both of us, speechless. "I'm sorry," Katniss says. "I just started talking and couldn't stop."

"Peeta, can you give us a minute?" Ellen asks me.

"Yeah," I say as I stand up and walk out onto the porch. It takes about fifteen minutes for Katniss to come out there. I know immediately that she's angry.

"Let's go!" Katniss says as she slams the door and walks past me.

"Wait," I say as I grab her hand. "What happened?"

"Let's just go!" Katniss says as she yanks her hand out of my grip. She starts to walk off again.

"Katniss, wait!" I holler as I run over to her. She loudly sighs and turns around.

"She said that it was a good idea for you!" Katniss yells about the time I reach her.

"What? What does she mean for me?" I ask her as I stand just centimeters from her.

"She said that she thinks you'd be a good president, but women have no business ruling over a country," Katniss says more calmly.

"Don't listen to her," I say as I cup Katniss's face in my hands. "I know you'd be a great leader. If I can do this, then so can you. Katniss, you and me are one now so whatever we do, we go through this together. I'm not doing this without you and I can't do this without you. I wouldn't want to anyways. Your mom's just going to have to realize that and get over it."

Katniss looks at me and smiles. She wraps her arms around me, and I quickly return the embrace. "Stay with me Katniss," I whisper. She doesn't hesitate before she replies.

"Always Peeta."