I can’t believe they would all do this to me. I thought they were my friends, I guess I was wrong.

“Well thank you so much for all of you that are abandoning me just because you’re afraid. If you need me, Gale or Peeta we will be in Twelve making sure that Paylor is to be there by five,” I say. I look at Haymitch and he winks at me. Then I leave. I go back to my room. Peeta isn’t there so I go straight to the target range and I see him talking to Eli. Peeta gets up and gives me a kiss.

“Hey Katniss, Eli was just about to go look for you, you need to train,” he says. I take a deep breath and I’m going to tell him right in front of Eli. Peeta can tell by just my face that something is really wrong. He sits me down.

“Peeta we are not staying here,” I say.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I mean we are leaving Thirteen today to fight. Paylor has a messed up plan that only Gale believes is true that I will explain later. Eli I could use my bow and some other weapons. You’re welcome to come with us Eli if you would want to fight with us unless you’re afraid but you have to tell me now because we are leaving now.” He doesn’t even hesitate with his answer.

“I’m in,” he says.

“Great. Grab my bow and some guns and we’re out of here” He runs into the weapon room and a few minutes later he comes out with an arm full of weapons including my bow. I grab my bow, Peeta grabs a few guns, Gale grabs a few guns and Eli carries the rest. We run to the lift off/landing station for hovercrafts. We all get into the hovercraft and when we get in there Gale goes straight to the phone to tell Claudia what to do. I’m going to miss my little girl. When I sit down Peeta puts his arm around me and starts to whisper in my ear.

“I am so proud of you. You are giving up the safety of yourself and the little person inside of you to defend your country. But why are we leaving Thirteen?” he asks.

“The security system was breached and Peacekeepers got in. No one can recognize them because they are disguised as Thirteen citizens. They killed five and injured five through a shooting. Then Paylor surrendered, they were flying her to Thirteen but everyone there was too stupid to realize that Paylor was only doing this so when she gets there the Peacekeepers will free her then kill everyone there. It’s simple to understand but no one believed me. That’s why it’s only us four,” I say.

“I believe you, and I always will.” I smile and give him a kiss. “But why are you risking your life for something that if you lose, we all die?”

“It’s what I think is right. And if I lose, at least I gave it a try.”

“You’re not afraid?”

“I’m terrified.” He laughs a little.

“Why don’t you go to sleep?”

“Because last night was one of the best nights of sleep I’ve ever gotten.” He kisses my head. I start to stroke his hair and I put my head on his shoulder. He smiles the closes his eyes. After a few minutes I start to hear Peeta snore. I hate it when he does this to me. He always tells me that if I can’t sleep to wake him up and that he will make me comfortable again to fall asleep. Whether it is rubbing my back or his warm lips lightly dancing with mine to make me feel safe again. I thought he would do the same for me. He should wake me up when he needs someone there for him. He just says they’re nightmares about me. He’s been using the same excuse for eighteen years years. When we land Peeta is still asleep. I shake him awake and he just moans.

“Few more minutes Katniss,” he says

“Okay, I guess I’ll just go get some water,” I say. He slightly opens his eyes.

“I’m awake,” he says getting up. I grab his hand, and when we leave the hovercraft I see our house. Our house that we haven’t been seeing a lot lately. Peeta and I wrap our arms around each other. “Don’t worry, we will be back in the house before you know it. This won’t be hard. We have each other and as long as we have each other we can do anything.” I smile. How can he be so positive that we are going to win this war? I can tell he’s not telling me something but I can’t just ask him what it is. Eli comes up behind us and his jaw drops.

“This is your house?” he asks. We nod our head. His face looks like he’s never seen a house before. “It’s huge. You got this for winning the games?” We nod our head.

“Right next door is Haymitch’s house and next to his was mine,” says Peeta pointing farther down the road. “I haven’t been in that house for almost eighteen years. I moved in with Katniss a little bit after we were together for a year.”

“Why only that long?” asks Eli.

“Well usually people don’t move in with each other until the parents give the blessing and you get married, but after the one year I think we both knew that we would get married. We were close friends for almost three years. So close that we were sort of together. And my mom was the only alive family member at the time and she felt like Peeta took forever to propose to me. She loved Peeta and she loved seeing me so happy when I was with him. She was so happy when Peeta moved in with us because she was the son she never had. Then my mom left after a month and we were left alone for almost three years,” I say. I’m done being sad. Nothing will bother me anymore. I will stay strong. Gale walks up to us.

“Now that you’re done telling Eli about your life story, Paylor will be here in three hours and we still have to prepare. Eli, you’ll come with me and we’re going to go around Twelve to see how many people will volunteer to be a temporary soldier for today,” says Gale. They start walking away until Peeta yells at them.

“What do you want us to do?” yells Peeta.

“Peeta, I want you to go inside and get some bed rest. I don’t want you fighting with your bad ankle. Katniss I want you to get a chair and bury the legs far into the ground,” he yells back, then he turns around and catches up with Eli. I help Peeta into the house and right when we open up the front door Buttercup is sitting right there, waiting for us. I haven’t seen this cat in years. He probably stayed alive by hunting. I wonder how she got in. How is it even possible for that stupid cat to still be alive? He is at least twenty something now in human years. I start to help Peeta up the stairs and Buttercup is following us. I get Peeta into our bed and cuddle up next to him and Buttercup jumps up on the bed and curls up by my feet.

“Why is Buttercup following us?” asks Peeta. I shrug.

“I say that I put a pillow on the floor and put her on it,” I say. He smiles. I get up and throw a pillow on the floor then put Buttercup on it. He hisses. I cuddle up next to Peeta and he starts to rub my back.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he says.

“I know, I don’t want to leave either,” I say. He kisses me.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you to.” He starts to stroke my hair and I feel like my heart is going to melt. The way he touches me or the way he makes me feel like the most loved girl in the world lets me know that he loves me as much as I love him. He means so much to me and I don’t care that I’m depressed without him, I never want to leave his side. I feel safe in his arms and he puts me on cloud nine every time I’m with him. We wrap each-other’s arms around each other and I begin to feel small kisses running up and down my neck and his warm breath heating my body. The next thing I know his lips are lightly dancing with mine. I can feel his hands on my back and my heart starts pounding. He pulls away and smiles then strokes my cheek.

“You are the love of my life and I hope you will be mine forever,” he says.

“No need to hope, I will be yours forever,” I say. He kisses me. “I wish I could just lay here forever with you, not worrying about Dawn or our next baby, or worrying about the country or our friends and family. Just worry about ourselves. I want to stay right here wrapped in your arms and have no one care,” I say.

“Well our sixteen year anniversary is coming up in a few days. Claudia said she would watch Dawn so we could do whatever we want.” He kisses me. I put my hand on his cheek. “What do you want to do for our anniversary?”

“Let’s survive today first, then we will discuss about our anniversary. I can’t believe I’ve been married to the most beautiful girl in the world for almost sixteen years.” I smile.

“I don’t get why we have to deal with all of this Capitol stuff. Just because there were two victors in the 74th Games instead of one doesn’t mean they have to kill us both even though it’s been a million years since that happened.”

“It’s the Capitol, no one understands them. Plus everything happens for a reason. If it weren’t for the Games we would never had met and have fallen in love. The only reason why all of this is happening is because someday it will all pay off, we just have to patient. For me to realize that I love you took almost four years. Fate can go fast or slow but someday this will all fall right into place.” He leans into kiss me when Eli and Gale both barge into the room.

“Katniss, you are suppose-to be preparing for Paylor,” says Gale. I say silent. “I want Peeta down in the basement now in case of attack on the Victor’s Village houses. I also want you to be outside in five minutes or I’m shipping you off to Thirteen and I will put Peeta into hiding here in Twelve. I need you to be focused. No offense to Peeta but I know your head over heels in love with him but he is distracting you in every way possible. I know he probably doesn’t mean to but he is and because of him you are in no shape to fight because he is the only thing on your mind anymore.”

“I have a family now. Shouldn’t that be the only thing on my mind?” I ask.

“I have a family to and I’m out here. Yeah, I miss Claudia and Kiri like crazy because I love them. But because I love them I’m out here. I think it’s time you should be doing the same,” he says. He leaves the room. I look at Eli as if to ask if he would do anything but he just shrugs his shoulders then leaves. I don’t say a word to Peeta and I help him to the basement. When we get there I put him on the couch, give him a kiss then start to leave but he’s holding onto my arm.

“Peeta you heard Gale, if I want to keep the family I love I have to fight. I promise you’ll be fine here,” I say.

“I know, I just want to make sure you’ll be okay. You can’t get distracted out there by thinking of me or Dawn because if you do I will probably never see you again,” says Peeta. That helped by him telling me not to get distracted. That will make me more distracted.

“I know. I promise I won’t get distracted.” I give him another kiss and I try to walk away but he is still holding onto my arm.

“Good luck out there. I’ll see you tonight, okay?” I nod my head.

“Okay.” Then I leave. I have to win. I can’t let Peeta down or Dawn. I have to live to see another day or else I don’t think I could ever forgive myself in Peace. I go outside and I see that Eli and Gale almost have the entire district outside my door.

“See this is what happens when people actually work for their country,” says Gale. Why is he acting like such a jerk? Just because I want to be with Peeta doesn’t mean he has to act like this. I have to stay focused though because I promised Peeta. I just ignore him and get to work. I start to dig the hole to put the chair in when Gale comes over and starts to put the dirt back in the hole. “Change in plans. We aren’t going to have the chair in the ground. You would’ve known if you wouldn’t have been with Peeta. A lot can change in just a little while so you better be around more.” He walks away and I start to fill in the hole again. I’m almost done when Eli comes over.

“Gale is just being a jerk, don’t listen to him. He will be over here any minute to tell you that we are going to use the chair but don’t listen to him because he will eventually tell you that we won’t be using the chair. He’s just wasting your time because he doesn’t actually want you to help, he just wants you to fight and not do anything else. He told us all while you were with Peeta,” he says. I nod my head.

“Thank you,” I say. He looks over his shoulder and Gale is coming so he goes back to whatever he was doing.

“What were you and Eli talking about?” asks Gale.

“Nothing, we were just talking. Is that a crime now?” I ask.

“No, but me and some other district citizens were talking and we are going to do the chair so you have to dig the hole again.” He starts to walk away. All my rage and anger doesn’t hold itself in.

“No,” I say. Gale stops and turns around.

“Why? You said you wanted to help,” he says.

“Listen Gale I don’t know what is going on with you. I don’t know if it’s because you miss Claudia and Kiri or if you’re just stressed with Paylor coming but I know what you’re doing. I don’t want to go along with your little plan. I don’t just want to fight I want to help as much as I can.”

“It’s called punishment.”

“I want to know who even put you in charge. You used to be my best friend and we would always do everything together. What happened to you?”

“Peeta. Peeta came into your life and ruined not only my life but yours.”

“I thought you two had a truce.”

“I only did that for you. He took you away from me. Even though I’m getting married and have a kid, I still miss my friend.” I stay silent. Why doesn’t Gale tell me anything anymore? Why didn’t he tell me that he didn’t like Peeta? I could’ve done something about it at an earlier time to make everyone happy. I thought they were friends. If he thought Peeta I were taking up too much time together, he could’ve just told me. Instead he punishes me by doing pointless work. I’m frustrated at him. Gale slides his hand over his face and starts to pace then puts his hands on my shoulders. I fight back to cry. “I didn’t mean it like that. I know Peeta treats you like a princess, it’s just…” he trails off.

“You said that you were friends with him. You helped him out so much. You’re one of the people that helped save him. If you really hated him you would’ve left him in the Capitol to die. You saved his life, you told him where to propose to me at, you were the only friend he had since all of his died in the bombing, you were there for him when I wasn’t around. I thought you were my friend and that you’d support me with whatever decision I made and guide me from wrong to right. If you didn’t like him why didn’t you just tell me?”

“He made you so happy. When you were with him all you did was smile. When you were with me all you would do was talk about what he did that day to make you smile. I couldn’t just say to you that I hated him and I didn’t want you to see him anymore because I was being a good friend. I was happy for you and I was so happy that you found someone to share your life with.”

“Then why don’t you like him. Is it something he said to you?”

“If you really want to know why I don’t like him is because he took you out of my life and put you into his.” He could see that I was confused. “I loved you and he took you away from my heart.” I run away and head to the lake. It’s the only place I feel that I can think at. I go into the cabin and the lights from mine and Peeta’s wedding were still hanging up after all these years. I turn it on and the room lights up. I sit down on the bed and lean up against the wall. I begin to think about what Gale had said to me. I don’t know if I hate him or not. I knew he loved me but I didn’t know that he didn’t like Peeta, at all. I don’t know what to think anymore. I feel like I can’t trust anyone anymore. I feel like Peeta is the only person I feel safe talking to. Eli is nice, but so was Gale and he will probably turn out just like him. I feel like I’m only wanted by Peeta anymore. No one really likes me anymore all because I love Peeta. It’s not my fault that I fell in love with Peeta and not Gale or Eli or anyone else. I hear footsteps outside. I stay quiet. Gale walks through the door.

“It’s time for you to just leave me alone Gale,” I say.

“Can we just talk about this?” he asks. I stay silent and refuse to look at him. “What I did was so inappropriate, rude, and just plain mean. Please forgive me. Peeta is a great guy and is perfect for you. He didn’t take you out of my life because I see you every day and my daughter calls you two her aunt and uncle because she loves you both so much. Claudia loves you two and Dawn. You and Peeta have been raising a beautiful daughter and are great parents because what happened in the Games was meant to be. Without Peeta, Dawn would’ve never been born and I would’ve never met Claudia and Kiri wouldn’t exist. I am so very sorry. If you don’t want to talk to me ever again I completely understand.” He walks out the door and I hear his footsteps wear off into the distance. I don’t know who to believe anymore. I walk back to the City Circle and everyone stares at me like I’m from another planet. It’s dead silent. I walk past Eli and Gale but I stop at Gale. I look at him.

“Someone and get me when Paylor arrives, I will be in the basement with Peeta since he is the only person left in the country that actually enjoys my company and doesn’t just use it,” I say. I see Gale’s face filled with pain. I walk into the house and into the basement and I see Peeta laying down on the couch watching the news. His face looks confused.

“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be outside preparing for Paylor? She going to be here in an hour,” he says. He sits up and I go over and cuddle up next to him. He kisses my head and starts to stroke my hair. “What happened?” Tears begin to run down my face.

“Gale said you ruined my life and his because I feel in love with you and not him. He’s been holding in this anger for almost eighteen years and just blew up on me today. He said that he was sorry but I really don’t believe him. I thought he was my friend and I was so wrong. Johanna and Annie aren’t on my side anymore because they’re chickens and I don’t really want to be friends with Eli because I’m afraid the same thing will happen with Gale,” I say. Peeta just shakes his head in disbelief.

“I don’t even know what to say.”

“I do. I feel like my heart has pieces missing. You are the only person left in the country other than my dad that really wants to be with me anymore.”

“I will always be here for you, and what about Dawn. She loves you unconditionally.”

“She’s a baby. She has to love me or else she won’t get fed.” He is wearing a half smile.

“I love you so much and I’m glad for you to tell me this.”

“What do we do now? I can’t go out there again. I’m not talking to Gale and everyone looks at me like I’m a freak because I was yelling at Gale so loud Paylor could’ve heard me in the hovercraft.”

“I think you should just stay here and cool off and just give Gale some space for a few weeks to let him cool off to. If you decide to forgive him or not is your choice. It’s your life, not his. You chose me to be in your life and I think that has been an amazing choice.” I’m confused. He can see that I’m not getting the message. “What I’m saying is when it comes to making decisions you always make the right choice.” I look at him.

“I love you. You are the best decision I’ve ever made.” He has a huge smile on his face.