Fighting For You: Forever

Chapter 7

"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Try not to let the pain make you hate. And do not let the bitterness of this world steal your sweetness."

Katniss POV

I feel my body tense all over. I thought we had escaped all the fake glam and glitz of the Captiol that I hated so much. I thought they has finally left us alone so we can go ahead at trying to lead normal lives. Peeta must sense the fact that I'm on edge as he gives my hand a tight squeeze and offers to take the phone from Johanna. Giving me one last smile, he walks into the kitchen with it.

'Do you know what he wanted?' I ask Johanna as I take my boots off, throwing them in the pile where all our shoes lie.
'No clue,' she shrugs, 'but let's not talk about that pretentious idiot, let's talk about the fact you obviously got laid-'
'Johanna!' Annie snaps. 'What she means to say is, tell us how he proposed!'

The three of us walk into the living room with Annie carrying Finley and as I reenact my story they respond with Annie sighing wishfully and Johanna saying she wants to throw up at the sweetness. These reactions don't surprise me in the slightest.

Annie is still gushing about how pretty the ring is when Peeta walks in and gets our attention by throwing the phone into the couch and flopping down beside it. There's a look plastered across his features that I hardly ever see, a mixture of anger and frustration. I stand from the chair I'm sitting on to go and sit beside him, as soon as I'm settled he groans loudly and rests his head in my shoulder.

'What did he say?' Annie asked, chewing her thumbnail as she always does when she's nervous. I know she hates the limelight too.
'Do we have to go there?' I ask, my nervousness showing in my voice instead of my actions.
'Oh no, we don't have to do that. We just have to sit here and wait for them to come and ruin our privacy for a week.' He lets the dreaded words sink in before continuing. 'Plutarch wants to do a documentary about how past victors are doing in the districts and what are lives are like now and since the majority of us are here in 12, they're coming here first. We'll all have separate interviews and I'm sure the questions will be as personal as possible.'
'In true Capitol style of course.' Johanna mutters darkly. 'I suppose we don't have a choice, do we?'
'Nope. I tried to get out of it but Plutarch said it would "help the nation see how we have moved on".'

'And what if we haven't moved on? Does he not think that we get nightmares and still flinch at little noises and have-'
I'm about to mention Peeta's flashbacks but I manage to stop myself just in time; instead I borrow closer into his side before continuing.
'Does he not realise the effect the games and the war had?'

Johanna actually snorts at my question, 'Of course not. He wasn't in the arena or on the battlefield so he's fine and is assuming all the rest of us are.'

Over dinner we explain what we have to do to Haymitch who just calls it bullshit and says he will drink so much they won't want to interview him anyway. Johanna seems mad at the Capitol for invading our privacy once again but something tells me she's looking forward to it so she can give an interview like she did before the Quarter Quell.

Annie's more shaken up, she knows they'll ask her about Finnick and that will just make the nightmares worse again as she remembers it all. Peeta is the most frustrated out of everyone but I think it's more for my benefit. He's always been fine in front of the camera and I know he'll hate doing this but he'll manage okay; I just know he's mad for me because I always have hated the camera so much despite the fact it seems I can't escape it.

-*-

'Do you think we'll ever escape?' Peeta puts down the scrubbing brush and pulls back from the sink to look at me from where I'm perched on the counter drying plates; the others have all gone home to their separate houses leaving me and Peeta to clear up. Peeta reaches over to grab a dish cloth to dry his hands before stepping between my legs .
'Honestly? No. You know how they are, only caring about what money their photos or TV shows of us will get them not about the lives they're invading.' He stops to look synthetically up at me, softly cupping my cheek with his right hand. 'If I could make them all go away for you, make them leave us alone forever, I would. Right away. But since I can't, and since we have to do this, I will be beside you the whole time. I'll talk to Plutarch tomorrow and tell him we'll be doing our interviews together; if they ask any personal questions I can head them off, okay?'

'Thank you Peeta.' It will be so much easier with him by my side, I smile sweetly down at him thinking once again how lucky I am. 'Thank you so much.'
'Anytime.' He leans up to kiss my cheek and just as I think he's going to step away to return to the dishes, he grabs me around my waist and lifts me up so I'm now only supported by his arms. He spins me around causing my braid to go flying and smack him in the cheek making me burst into a fit of laughter.

'But, I don't want to talk about them, I want to talk about the fact I now have a fiancé.' He flashes me a giddy smile, a smile so genuinely happy that my heart turns to putty inside my chest.
'You mean that I'm going to be Katniss Mellark?' I say, raising one eyebrow at him, smiling so wide I think my face is going to split. If you told Old Katniss that I would be this happy about being engaged she would probably say you were talking about a different Katniss. And maybe you are, the games changed me and so did the war but I feel so right when I'm with Peeta that I think we might have ended together anyway.

'Killing me.' Peeta mumbles before leaning in and capturing my lips, the feeling I get, the warmth and the butterflies never changes and I know it never will.

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So I'm sorry that I haven't updated in like a billion years but life has been busy and my inspiration has been lacking. Hopefully I can update quicker next time.

Thanks for voting and sticking with this story, hope you like it,

Olivia x