𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐌'𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐖𝐍, finnick odair

nineteen.

19

A PROPOSAL

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Evelyn held her daughter tightly in her arms for the last time before she would be leaving with Katniss, Gale, Boggs and the rest of the team that they had assembled for the mission. The District 11 girl even debated if saying goodbye to Aeliana or Finnick was a good idea. She just got them back and her wounds were finally on the path of healing thanks to the advanced medicine but she already had to leave. Deep down, the Miracle woman knew that if the mission had gone wrong and she never said goodbye, she would never forgive herself.

"Mommy will be right back, Sunshine," she whispered in her ear, caressing her hair gently in her hand and tucking it behind her ears. Eve felt her little face pushed further into her shoulder to avoid saying goodbye, "Lina, you have to let go at some point."

"But you just got back," she cried loudly in her ear, finally looking at her mother's watery onyx eyes with her own blue ones that had the same glassy look to them, "Why do you always leave me?"

"I don't want to, Sunshine," Evelyn almost sobbed at her; trying to keep it together but finding it difficult as she looked to her distraught child that wept in her arms.

"Lina," both girls turned to see Jaime extending her arms out for him to say goodbye as well considering he was joining the team on the mission. Aeliana was hesitant but jumped from her mother's arms and to the ground, hugging her uncle's legs tightly. Jaime met his sister's eyes and motioned for her to leave before Aeliana noticed.

She nodded sadly and left the room to see Finnick already waiting behind the door for her, "You didn't think that you could leave without saying goodbye, right?"

Evelyn didn't reply but instead wrapped her arms around his body and buried her head in the crook of her neck as her daughter had just done to her. "I'm sorry about those six years, Finn. I know that you said that it doesn't bother you, but it bothers me. I just wanted us to be a family. But as soon as we are, I'm going out to Districts that had just been bombed. I'm such a bad mother."

"Don't ever say that," he held her face in his hands, looking at the tears brimming in her eyes and wetting her eyelashes, "Everything that you have done has been for Lina and you aren't going to stop until she can have a future where she doesn't have to sleep with one eye open. You have done so much for her and now you are doing this for us as a family. Because that's what we are. A family."

Evelyn ran her thumb over his cheek before pulling him in for a kiss, their lips slowly moving against each other with a rhythm that only they knew the symphony too. He could taste the salt of her tears but he didn't care. This wasn't a goodbye kiss, it never would be.

Finnick debated against pulling apart but he had something he wanted to say. When he did, he faced her confused expression but didn't move an inch, still holding her hips with one hand and the back of her head in his other, "Marry me."

Evelyn's lips parted and she truly had no idea what to say. She knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Finnick at her side, but now that he had asked her to make it official, she was lost for words. "You don't have to answer right now," his frown slipped ever so slightly but he tried to look positively at her yet she could feel his heartbreaking.

"How about I give you an answer when I get back. When I can hold you in my arms for the whole night and not have to worry about leaving you?" she asked slowly, waiting for his head to nod with his blonde hair slipping down his face before giving him a final kiss, "I'll tell you when we see each other again, Finn."