Months had passed since the destruction of the arena during the 75th Hunger Games. From those Games, four tributes were taken back to the Capitol.
Enobaria
Johanna Mason
Peeta Mellark
Autumn Reeves
While Enobaria was let go, the rest of the tributes...
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"Hey, catch!" Autumn spoke quickly before throwing a blueberry at Finnick. He was not quick enough to open his mouth as the blueberry hit him just under the eye, bouncing from his face to the ground.
"That wasn't fair!" He pouted like a child. "You didn't give me a warning."
Autumn sat back in her chair and crossed her arms as if to gloat. "He won the Games at fourteen and yet he can't catch a blueberry in his mouth."
"Well," Finnick shrugged. "Let's see how you do, Ms. Reeves!" He then threw a blueberry and sliced strawberry at Autumn, back to back. She caught the blueberry in her mouth but the strawberry caught her by surprise and hit her nose.
"That wasn't fair!" Autumn yelled out. "Circle fruit only."
"You never set down the rules!" Finnick laughed, shaking his head. He looked around them for a moment, looking at the empty floor space that seemed to go to so much waste.
He stood up from his seat once again and walked over to Autumn's chair, bowing slightly and putting his hand out in front of her. "Would m'lady care to dance?"
Autumn looked from Finnjck's hand to his eyes and then around them. "There's no music," she gestured to the space.
Finnick raised an eyebrow. "That's never stopped is before."
This was true. After Autumn won her Games and she and Finnick became much closer, that eventually moved in together. At nights when Autumn was having a particular bad night and couldn't sleep, Finnick would waltz her around their house until she became tired enough to be able to fall asleep. They often didn't have music as Finnick hummed Autumn to sleep instead.
Autumn smirked, taking a blueberry from her plate and holding it up to him. "If you can catch this blueberry in your mouth, I'll dance with you."
Finnick smiled, retracting his hand. "Deal." He walked back across the table and stood, prepared to run across the room of that meant catching the fruit in his mouth.
Autumn threw the berry into the air, watching as Finnick moved to the side a bit and caught it in his moth, chewing the fruit up in victory. "Yes!" Finnick pumped his fist into the air as if he had just won the lottery. Autumn rolled her eyes with a smile, standing and grabbing Finnick's wrist to lead him away from the table.
She placed a hand in his, holding their hands up together at Finnick's shoulder height. Her other hand was on his shoulder while his other hand was on her waist. Finnick began to step, leading Autumn in a dance around the large tree.
He hummed softly, creating a beat to which the couple danced, their eyes staring into one another's.
Autumn saw nothing but Finnick. They were not in the middle of a war. They were not held in a bunker underground. And she was not a broken minded woman. In this moment, they were just two people in love, dancing.
Finnick slowed the pace down, bringing Autumn closer to his body. Their chests pressed up against each other as Autumn laid her head on his shoulder, breathing in his natural smell that seemed to intoxicate her.
He rested the side of head on her's, their feet barely moving as they swayed in each other's arms. Finnick began to mumble to himself until his words became loud enough to Autumn that they were audible.
"I don't deserve you," he spoke in a tone above a whisper. Autumn wasn't sure if she was meant to hear his words or not. "I love you, Autumn," he spoke, now in full volume after lifting his head.
"I love you, Finnick," Autumn replied, lifting her head a bit so she could kiss his cheek before she place her head back down. She closed her eyes in a moment of bliss.
Autumn could feel his eyes on her, but she felt protected under his gaze. She felt loved. That was all he held in his eyes when Finnick looked at her. Even a blind person could see it. Their love for each other was un-doubtful.
"Will you be mine?" Finnick spoke to Autumn. She picked up her head, looking at him with her eyebrows creased together in confusion.
"What do you mean?" She asked him.
Finnick looked away from her for a second, regathering his emotions before looking back down into her large brown eyes.
"I drive myself mad everyday, waiting to see you," he began. "And when I'm with you, it's as if nothing else matters. Before I met you, I had never felt something like this. No one ever seemed to matter as much as you matter to me now. Without you in my life, I'd crumble to pieces."
"What are you talking about, Finnick?" Autumn asked. "You are the one who holds me together. I often feel like a burden to you." His eyes turned sad as these words left Autumn's lips. He had never thought of this. Finnick simply couldn't imagine it as he never once though of Autumn in this way. "You are the only thing that keeps me sane."
"Then be mine," Finnick spoke again, only confusing Autumn further. "Autumn, I do not know what our futures look like. We could die tomorrow or we could die in fifty years. We are in the middle of war and you and I both know we will be forced to fight in it. So, before we are sent into battle, I want you to be mine in every way possible and I want to be yours."
Autumn began to realize what Finnick was speaking of. "In every way?"
Finnick nodded. "In every way." Finnick then let go of Autumn, stepping away and reaching into the pocket of his pants. "Autumn Reeves." He pulled out a small black box. "I have never loved anyone the way I love you. And I will spend the rest of my life proving it, however long or short it may be. All I ask is that you let me." Finnick kneeled down on the floor.
There he was, Finnick Odair, down on one knee in front of the crazy girl from District Four. Two opposites, completely in love. Two broken people, who have glued each other back together. Finnick Odair, a man asking the love of his life to spend the rest of her days with him. All he had to do was say the words.
"Will you marry me?" He spoked, opening the black box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring on a silver band.
Tears dropped down Autumn's face as she covered her mouth, using all of her strength to keep from crying any harder.
"Yes," Autumn nodded, only crying harder. "Yes, I will marry you."
Finnick let out a breath of air, unable to hold away the tear tat watered his eyes. He stood up from the ground and wrapped his arms around the girl in front of him, lifting her off of the ground and spinning her in his arms.
Finnick stopped, placing Autumn back on her feet and stepping apart for a moment to slip the ring in her finger. She stared at it in awe, never having seen any piece of jewelry so beautiful.
Autumn looked up at Finnick, taking his face in her hands. Their eyes met, each of them staring into the other's soul. They saw beauty in each other and a brokenness in themselves that couldn't be fixed without the other person.
Finnick closed the gap, eager to kiss Autumn and rejoice upon this moment by his lips on hers. No other action seemed to connect them more in this moment. As their arms snaked around each other, they were as close as possible.
It felt as if they were kissing for the first time. Every memory and every moment they ever spent together seemed to flash under Autumn's eyelids. Autumn melted in Finnick's arms, feeling protected and nervous and blissful all in one. Time seemed to stand still and it was just the two of them, the happiest they'd ever been.
