Mockingjay: the dawning

Chapter 13: Yes?

This chapter is dedicated to harmonizerspizza because she is so encouraging in getting me to write and upload at the moment.

*WARNING:PG13 CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER* (if you don't want to read it, don't read the sections between the asterixes)

Peeta

As we all patiently wait for the interviews to begin, I get more nervous by the minute. I hear Effie clear her throat.
"Victors, your interview will be airing later this evening after the airing of President Paylor's  pardons for the Victors. Please, be on your best behaviour and keep any controversiality to a minimum. Haymitch will be first, followed by Johanna, Annie, Katniss and then Peeta. Following Peeta's interview, Katniss will re-appear and they will have a few minutes with Caesar. Is this understood?" she says, in her instructing voice.

We silently nod in unison, the prep team milling around fixing collars and straightening out clothing.

a little while later

I nervously stand waiting to enter for my interview, knowing what is impending at the end of the interview. I subtly grasp the small box well disguised in my pocket, hopefully for the last time.

Effie turns to me.

"Good luck, my boy. Don't forget to smile;" she says, brushing down my collar before opening the door to the drawing room and ushering me to my seat. I carefully feign a smile that hides my nerves.

I carefully answer all of the interview questions, Caesar keeping them to concise questions about Katniss, the "baby" we lost (my favourite of the white lies) and our short engagement. He cautiously asks if we are still engaged, to which I tentatively answer 'no'. He steers clear of the topic of my imprisonment and torture. He mentions how the quell was unreasonable and tough on the victors under the previous governance. I merely respond that the life of a victor is not all it is cracked up to be. The public deserves to know the truth about the lives of victors. It's not the glory and riches that the capitol brainwashes you with. Once you are reaped, you become their slave; leaving the arena does not change that. I can only hope that it has now.

Before I know it, the time bell rings. My nerves are raging through my body and I am doing my best to conceal my fear.

Katniss walks in, beautiful as ever; hair flowing over her shoulders, exuding her effortless beauty. She places herself on the couch next to me, taking my hand.

Caesar briefly mentions our origins as the 'lethal lovers'. Katniss quickly replies stating how grateful we are for each other and for our survival. Caesar asks if we have a plan for a future together; Katniss blushes briefly and says that she doesn't know. I squeeze her hand. 

Finally, Caesar gives me the signal that I have been waiting for for as long as I can remember.

I slowly shift in my seat to face Katniss and take both of her hands in mine.

"Katniss, I have loved you since I was 5 years old. You have protected me and kept me alive through all of our misfortune and troubles of the past years. Mockingjay, girl on fire; that's who everyone knows you as. But I know you as the sweet, caring, kind, stubborn, protective yet stunning girl, Katniss."
I briefly pause and watch the surprise and confusion in her eyes.
"The way I love you is relentless. It breaks my concentration when I am busy and drifts my mind away to thoughts of you when I am in the middle of conversations. What I have with you I don't want with anyone else. In you I have found the love of my life and my closest, truest friend. You have my heart, you are my world and my everything." I say, then pause for a moment as I get down on one knee next to the couch. I look up at her face and see that she is on the brink of tears.