A Happily Ever After

Leg Troubles

Chapter 7

~Peeta POV~

There's nothing better than waking up with the one you love in your arms. The warmness of her tiny body on my own is priceless, her little nose buried in my neck. I give tiny kisses to the top of her head while tracing patterns on her shoulder blades, exposed by her tank top. I find myself writing 'I love you' over and over again. She giggles and shivers.

"That tickles!" she giggles, squirming around and grabbing onto me. I laugh and hold her shoulders.

"Oh doesn't it?" she giggles and nods, planting a kiss on my jaw. I link my fingers with her own and kiss her little fingers. "Good morning, beautiful." I whisper, really meaning it. She blushes like she always does when I tell her that.

"Good Morning, handsome." She tells me. I smile and being her body to my own. She kisses my lips and I smile right through it. When I was in the Capitol under treatment, I didn't think anything would be right again. It was just wrong, I hated everything, I thought I would never be happy again. But then there's Katniss. She makes me so indescribably happy that I forget the past and just laugh along with her. Because she is so perfect. I press my lips to her ear.

"How'd you sleep?" I whisper. She smiles.

"Great, no nightmares." I smile softly at this.

"That's-" I hear the front door open and Effie call up to us.

"Come on soon-to-be-weds, time to get up and at 'em!" Katniss rolls her eyes and buries her face in my shoulder.

"Lets go plan a marriage." She murmurs, staggering up and taking my hands. I only need help getting out of bed with my prosthetic and that's it. It only gives me sharp pains now and then but they're rather manageable, I just stop moving, bite my lip and take a deep breath. Then I'm better. Katniss gives me a kiss and then goes to take a shower. I make sure she's out of the room and I start adjusting the metal leg. She hasn't seen the stump and I'm no planning on her to do so anytime soon. I unlatch the metal latches and it slides easily off. It's giving me more trouble than it usually does and I don't know why. I massage what's left of my leg and reposition it, sliding it back on. After that I get dressed and go downstairs to meet Effie. We're going to the meadow to the meadow today so Effie can see it and plan where everything will be, so I'm just wearing some jeans, a light blue t-shirt and combat boots. Effie asks questions I don't know again and I just pray that Katniss'll hurry up.

••Fifteen Minutes Later••

We approach the meadow, Katniss hugging my arm a little bit tighter than usual. I stroke her braid and kiss her head. This'll be hard on both of us. We stop a moment at the edge of the meadow as take a moment just to stay quiet. Effie takes the hint and stands by us until we continue. We pass through, the pain in our chests increasing slowly. Haymitch stands close to us, watching the ground with a solemn look in his eyes. We stop in the middle. This is harder than we thought it would be. Katniss turns around to me and wraps shaky arms around my middle, burying her face in my chest. I feel the hot tears empty from her eyes and onto my shirt while I hold her tight and shush her steadily. But I can't stop my own tears from falling and soon I'm crying with her, holding onto her like she'll float away if I loosen my grip. Like everyone else has. I look over at Haymitch who watches sadly and sympathetically then comes over, pulling my head to his shoulder. I keep crying and holding Katniss as she clings to my shirt. This is a whole lot harder than we ever imagined. Effie watches us sympathetically.

"Are you really sure you want the wedding here?" she asks gently. Katniss whips around to her, startling all of us.

"We're sure. This place needs a few... good memories." She looks at the ground. "And I want them all to see it." She says quietly. I nod in agreement. I see where she is with this. I wrap my arms around her from behind.