Our Love Will Remain - The story after Mockingjay

Chapter 1

I wake up in the middle of the night. It was just a nightmare, I tell myself. It was just a nightmare. I still can't get it out of my head. It was all so real, the mutts with their shining white teeth and eyes of the fallen tributes, trying to rip our legs off as we clinged to the cornucopia. When one of them, the one with eyes identical to Rue's, tried to grab my foot, I woke up. My dreams usually are about the Games. When they aren't, they are about Her death, or about Peeta, being tortured by the Capitol. But the Capitol has fallen. There are no Hunger Games. I try not to think my sister's name. It hurts too much. That's why I call her "She" or "Her" in my mind. The pain is not so bad when I do it that way. But tonight, I can't manage to keep it away. "Prim, oh Prim, I'm so sorry you died, I should have been there to protect you, I should have saved you. Oh Prim, I'm so sorry" I think in my mind. Or i thought so at least. Peeta had heard me, of course he had. I had said it out loud, with tears in my eyes. He leans over me and pulls a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Are you alright, Katniss? Oh, no, don't cry, I'm here, I'm here. Shhh.." he says, comforting me.

"P-Prim's d-d-dead, Peeta." I say with a trembling voice.

"I know, Katniss. But she is in a better place now. She is happy now. Don't worry, it was just a dream, just a dream, honey." he says, kissing my lips softly.

At the touch of his lips, I instantly feel a lot calmer. My sobbing stops and I take a shivering breath.

"Are you sure?" I say.

"Yes, I am sure, darling. Should we try and go back to sleep now?" he says with a calming voice.

"Okay." I answer.

He lays back down and I snuggle into his bare chest. He wraps his arms around me and I fall asleep with a sigh.

I wake up again and look at the clock on the nightstand. It says 09:53 AM. I tremble with my hand on Peeta's side of the bed, but he isn't there. I guess he got up to make some breakfast. He does that most mornings. Some nights, it takes longer for him to calm me down, and those nights he sleeps as long as I do. But normally he wakes up before me. I get up and make the bed lazily, nobody ever comes here so It doesn't really matter. I walk downstairs and am greeted with a hug from Peeta, who had rushed towards me the moment when he heard me in the stairs.

"Good morning, beautiful." he says with a loving voice.

"Good morning, handsome." I answer jokingly and then kiss him directly on his lips. I feel his smile and break away. "What's so funny?" I ask, brushing away a curl of his hair from his forehead.

"Nothing, I'm just so happy I have someone like you. It would be so lonely in here without you. Have I told you in a while how much I love you?" he says with an even more loving voice.

I laugh, because he used the word "you" in the end of three sentences in a row, but answer: "Yes, you have, every day. And I love you too." I say.

Then he kisses me so passionately that I get knocked off my feet, but before I fall he grabs me and holds me in his arms, my legs around his waist. We stay in that position for a while, kissing, nobody wanting to break away. We finally do when my stomach growls. I snort. My human needs always come in the way when I least want them to. I remember, when we kissed in the cave during the 74th Hunger Games, my forehead started bleeding and he told me to lay back down. That was the only kiss of the hundreds that I really enjoyed, and didn't want to end. During those year I had had only one other kiss like that, it was on the beach during our second Games. Nowadays, I get that feeling every time we share an especially passionate kiss.

"Well, we can continue later, your stomach seems to be quite empty." Peeta says, and I climb down from his embrace. He kisses me one last time, and goes to prepare our breakfast. He seems to have been making pancakes, he knows I love his pancakes. I can tell by the flour that is by the sink, and the smell that hangs in the air. He has hidden the pancakes in the fridge to cool down. He takes them out and puts them om the table. He puts two sets of a plate, fork, knife and a glass on both sides of the table. He also places a jar of maple syrup and a small bowl of blueberries in the middle of the table. We sit down and start eating. I compliment his cooking skills and he says that he wouldn't be cooking so well without me in the house.

"That's nothing compared to what you do for me." I say with a smile on my face.

"What? What do I do for you?"  he asks, curious.

"Comfort me every night. Are there for me when nobody else is. Save me from drowning in my despair and grief. Love me when I really, honestly don't deserve it." I say, my smile fading with every word. At last, I let a small tear roll down my cheek, there would be no point holding it back. Peeta stands up and takes me in his arms and holds me tight, stroking my back.

"Oh, no, Katniss, you shouldn't be crying. You do deserve me, you actually deserve someone better than me, it's me who don't deserve you."

I feel almost angry at these words. How can he say that he doesn't deserve me? He is the most wonderful person in the world. But I know why he's saying that. He means the flashbacks. Every now and then, he gets a flashback, an unsorted memory that the Capitol manipulated to a terrifying one. He doesn't get the urge to kill me anymore, but once, when I was standing too close, and he made a sudden movement, his arm hit me in the stomach. Pretty hard. When his flashback ended, he spent the rest of the evening almost crying and asking me if I was okay, and saying that he will never forgive himself for what he did. I ended up almost crying too, because of how miserable he felt.

Before he can argue more, I kiss him hard on the lips. He relaxes and kisses me back.

"Don't ever say that I deserve someone better than you again. I probably will cry if you do. Promise?" I tell him.

"I promise." he says, and finishes our kiss. Then, suddenly, the doorbell rings. Peeta tells me to get dressed and goes to get the door. I walk extra slowly, to hear who our visitor is.

"Um.. Hi." a slightly familiar voice says. I feel like it has changed a bit since I heard it last time, not like I've only heard it once or twice. I just can't place it.

"Uhh.. Hello.." Peeta says. He looks confused as he stands there, shirtless and in shorts by the door.

"Do you have any idea where Catni.. I mean Katniss is? I've been looking for her everywhere. She isn't in her house, the Hob, the Seam, or even the woo.." Peeta interrupts him.

"She's right here, actually." he says, waving me forward. I gasp when I hear the stranger talk. I know who the owner to that deep voice is. When I walk to the door beside Peeta my suspicions get confirmed. Yes, the person that stands by the door is Gale Hawthorne.

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So, what did you think? Should I continue? I would love to, but first, I want to know your opinions. :)