A/N - This final chapter of The PIcture is written as a thank-you to all of you who made me feel so welcomed and appreciated after this story was published in the final round of PIP. So many of you asked me for more of this universe that after much deliberation on my PIP submission, I decided this one made the most sense. It was wonderful to visit this universe again.

Peeta stood in the window of the study and watched the girls in their bronze-coloured sheaths as they fussed with the flowers and did a last check of the garden behind the quaint craftsman house nestled at the end of a cul de sac. Well, technically Delly and Annie were fussing. Katniss's Aunt Effie was gesturing broadly, as though she were directing traffic. Meanwhile, Johanna lounged in a chair near the pergola she and Aunt Effie had just finished draping with burlap and tulle. Jo's gold heels lay in a jumble on the deep orange runner that lined the aisle between the chairs. It was the perfect colour to compliment the reds and golds that crowned the big thick maple and oak trees surrounding the property.

Soft female voices drifted down the stairs. He listened to doors opening and closing, quick steps and the rustle of satin as Katniss's mother and sister helped his bride with her finishing touches.

He checked his watch. The guests would be arriving any minute.

A heavy hand clapped his shoulder. "You ready?"

Peeta grinned at his brother and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "You have no idea how ready."

"Just talked to Brandon. He and Madge are on their way." Ry straightened Peeta's lapel and pinned his little brother's boutonniere onto a suit that matched his bride's eyes. "You know," said Ry, sounding surprisingly serious, "I would have done the ceremony."

Peeta stepped back and grinned. "There's no way I'd leave you in charge of my wedding, Ry. Besides, you had to be my best man." Over Ry's shoulder, Peeta spotted Finnick entering the room. "I needed someone uglier than me to stand beside."

"Fuck off," Ry laughed. "Don't think I won't punch you on your wedding day."

Finnick snorted and shoved his hands in his pockets. "You will not. Katniss scares you."

Ry laughed harder. "She scares Peet too. Took him 14 years to make his move and even then we had to set them up."

A sharp knock on the door jam interrupted Peeta as he was about to protest. Gale Hawthorne stood in the doorframe, long and lean in a grey suit that matched the ones worn by the other men. "Hey," he said, pulling on the cuffs of his jacket. "Finnick, the guests are arriving. We gotta..." He jerked his chin toward the front door.

"Thanks man," called Peeta as Finnick strode to the door and Gale turned away. "Hey Gale?" The tall, dark-haired man turned on his heel. "Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to Katniss, and to me."

Gale gave him a curt nod, made to leave, but then turned back with a wry smile. "And, dude, one time when we were growing up, this kid stole Prim's lunch money. Catnip and I tracked the guy down. I planned to scare him and make him give back the money. But Catnip, she jumped him and broke his nose." Gale grinned at the memory and shot Peeta a knowing smile. "So I wouldn't mess with Peeta, Ry. She gets real protective of the people she loves. I'd hate to see your eyes blackened in all the wedding photos."

They were all still laughing when the front door closed behind Gale and Finnick.

"I never thought I'd see the day that guy would be in your wedding party, Peet."

Peeta shook his head. "Me either. If you had any idea how badly I envied that guy…"

Ry snorted. "I think I have some idea."

Peeta shrugged. "Anyway, Katniss and I both felt that Delly should be in the wedding party. And she said that if my childhood friend was going to stand up with her, then maybe Gale could even things out on my side. Seemed fair. And it's been good, you know, getting to know him a bit."

The brothers stood side by side, their shoulders nearly filling the window, watching as the small crowd began to gather in the backyard. He heard the garden door that led into the kitchen open and close, and soon the house was filled with the sound of the girls and Effie giggling as they clattered inside for a last look at Katniss before the big event.

Jo and Annie stopped in the door of the study, champagne flutes and a green bottle in their hands. Peeta doubted Katniss would be interested in drinking today of all days, but held his tongue.

"Looking good, Blondie," Jo quipped. Annie smiled indulgently and winked at Peeta.

"Thanks," Peeta and Ry replied together, and laughed.

Ry wrapped his arm around Peeta's shoulders and Peeta did likewise. "Which of us did you mean, Jo?"

Jo gave them a saucy wink. "Wouldn't you like to know? You know, Blondie, I'm kind of surprised you two didn't wait until spring so you could have a wedding in a backyard filled with those weeds Brainless is so crazy about."

Peeta shrugged. "We talked about it, but we didn't want to wait that long. Six months was long enough."

"I'm not going to complain, seeing as Brainless is not sleeping on my couch anymore. Well, I'm off to ply her with alcohol and convince her to give me the phone number for that tall, dark tree she keeps insisting she never climbed."

"You do that, Jo," Peeta said with a knowing grin. Katniss would be pleased to hand it over, he knew. She'd been hoping the wedding would spark Johanna's interest in her reserved childhood friend. She was also smart enough to know Jo and Gale both had to believe it was their own idea. "You might have to work on her, though. She'll be afraid you'll chew him up and spit him out."

Jo's teeth flashed and her eyes sparked. "Only if he asks me to. Come on, Annie, we've got drinking to do. See you at the altar, boys."

Peeta watched Johanna and Annie head upstairs before turning back to the window. He'd just spotted Madge on Finnick's arm, moving toward the front seats that had been reserved for family, when he heard the knock and turned to find his brother Brandon standing nervously in the doorway, a leather folder under his arm.

"Hi," Bran said softly. Peeta crossed the room with open arms and Bran met him halfway, crushing him in a hug so tight, it reminded Peeta of their backyard wrestling matches when they were kids. "Thank you." Bran's voice cracked with emotion as he let go. "Thank you for wanting me to be part of this. I know I haven't always been…" Bran's head shook regretfully. "It means a lot, Peeta."

"You're my brother," Peeta replied simply. "We all deal with her in our own way. I never blamed you, Bran."

Bran gave him a grateful nod and spread the contents of his folder out on the desk, slipping into lawyer mode. "Okay, here is your marriage licence. Thank you for dropping that off. I've filled out my part. You and Katniss and your witnesses will have to sign it after the vows. You said on the phone that you wrote your own?" Peeta nodded. "That's fine. And you want to do an exchange of rings?"

Peeta had barely managed to confirm their plan when he was interrupted by a string of curses from Ry. "Peet, you didn't!"

Leaving a bewildered Bran at the desk, Peeta rushed to the window. "I didn't," he confirmed, watching as his beaming father followed his mother and Finnick down the aisle to their seats. "Katniss did. She insisted she wouldn't allow Mother to hold our failure to invite them to our wedding over our heads for the rest of our lives." Even Finn's charms hadn't chased that pinched look off his mother's face, he noted.

"It will be alright, Ry," Bran said. "Mother won't want a scene that could make her look bad."

"Peet, she'll do her best to ruin your day," Ry warned.

"Impossible," said Peeta, repeating the words Katniss had said to him when she addressed the envelope to his parents. "No matter what happens today, Katniss and I are getting married. There's nothing Mother can say or do that can ruin that."

Ry's rebuttal was cut off by Aunt Effie's appearance in the doorway, urging them outside so the girls could line up. Soon, the brothers were standing at the end of the aisle, watching as Finnick seated Aunt Effie and Prim, followed by Gale escorting Mrs. Everdeen to her seat. Finnick and Gale took their places while Peeta scanned the 50 or so faces that were gathered in the garden. Prim waved excitedly to Peeta, and Katniss's mother offered him an approving smile. He saw the Cartwrights, the Hawthornes, his boss, Plutarch Heavensbee and Heavensbee's "partner" Fulvia Cardew. No one at the office was certain whether Fulvia was a partner in the financial sense, the biblical sense, or both, and neither of them seemed inclined to explain. He saw Katniss's boss, Beetee Latier and his wife, Wiress. There were friends from work and mutual friends of theirs from high school and college. Finally, his eyes landed on his family. Madge offered him a reassuring smile and his father's eyes were filled with pride at the sight of his three handsome sons standing together on such an important day. His mother's expression, however, was closed. He was still fighting the familiar twinge of longing that had overcome him when the music started. Peeta refocused his attention on the door at the other end of the aisle, his dysfunctional family forgotten.

With her bouquet of sunflowers clutched in her hands, Delly moved toward them, all generous curves and smiles. Her golden curls fell about her shoulders and her bright blue eyes danced when they met Ry's. Peeta felt his brother stand a little bit straighter as she approached, giving them an flirtatious wink as she passed them on her way to her position on Bran's opposite side.

"I get to tap that," Ry whispered in Peeta's ear.

"Don't even. You are so gone over her you can't even think straight," Peeta murmured under his breath as he continued to watch the door. "Put a ring on that will ya? Finn and I will flip a coin over who gets to be best man."

"I'm the best man," Finn weighed in as Annie appeared in the door. "Because I had the good sense to marry her as soon as she'd have me."

Annie glided down the aisle with the serene elegance she brought to everything. Her green eyes locked with Finn's and she gave him a soft smile as she passed by, undoubtedly reliving their own wedding almost a year ago.

The air crackled with electricity when Jo entered the garden and sashayed forward. Her knowing smile stretched from ear to ear when she reached Peeta. "Well done, Blondie." Peeta swallowed a laugh. "Get ready, here she comes."

Peeta took a deep breath when Katniss emerged in the doorframe. The hair that framed her heart-shaped face had been swept back and pinned just below the crown of her head so that it fell in loose curls over her bare shoulders. The gown's lace bodice was a creamy colour that made her skin glow. It hugged her slender form, falling into a dropped waist, where it flared out in a cloud of tulle, edged with the same scalloped lace that framed the sweetheart neck of the gown. A mantilla veil was anchored to a crown of pearls in her hair and trailed behind her. Pearls dripped from her ears and surrounded her neck, as though the man in the moon himself had wept tears of joy over her beauty when he laid his eyes upon her. Katniss stopped at the edge of the patio. Removing one hand from her bouquet of sunflowers, tiny globes of green chrysanthemums and amber calla lilies, she reached out to Peeta with a tremulous smile.

Their friends and family sighed and cheered as he strode toward her, his heart pounding in his chest. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he told her as he offered her his arm. "More exquisite than any sunset."

Katniss's answering blush made her all the more lovely, and when Peeta turned to face their guests he saw that as promised, Aunt Effie had timed the start of the wedding perfectly. The setting sun was just above the trees and the sky was bathed in a rosy glow.

The music changed, and Peeta escorted Katniss down the aisle to the new life they were building together, brick by brick, finally coming to a stop in front of his eldest brother. The crowd settled into their seats and Bran cleared his throat, glanced at Peeta and Katniss before turning his attention to the crowd.

"Welcome everyone. It is an honour and a privilege to be here today to join my brother in marriage to the woman he's loved since he first realized there was a difference between boys and girls. Peeta's never-ending crush on Katniss was the worst kept secret in our house," Bran paused as the crowd chuckled, "and Ry and I did our duty as older brothers and teased him mercilessly." Peeta could only blush and look at his shoes as the laughter grew. Then Katniss gently laid her head on his shoulder and he relaxed.

"A couple of days before Peeta's twenty-first birthday, I got a call from Ry," Bran continued. "He said he'd organized the best birthday present ever for Peeta and he wanted me to go out with them. I figured Ry had hired a stripper, so I declined."

Everyone looked at Ry, who feigned shock and exclaimed, "Who, me? Never!" The laughter turned to a roar and Bran waited until everyone settled down.

"Of course, now we know that was the night that Ry and Finnick orchestrated a night out with Finnick's then-girlfriend, Annie, and her roommates, Johanna and Katniss. And I will forever regret that I wasn't there to see the moment my baby brother realized the love of his life might have feelings for him too." The crowd was silent now, hanging on to Bran's every word. "But I am blessed to be able to be here today to join them in marriage. Now, Katniss and Peeta, I understand you've written your own vows?"

While the sun disappeared behind the trees, the couple nodded. Their guests whispered in admiration as twinkle lights began to fill the trees and shrubbery throughout garden. Katniss passed her bouquet to Jo and Peeta took both of her hands in his.

Katniss licked her lips nervously before she tipped her chin to look him in the eyes. "Peeta, I'm not very good with words. You know that, so this will be short. But you should know that for as long as I've known you, you've been my symbol of hope. Because of you, I know that things can be better, no matter the odds. You taught me that love wins, in spite of everything that tries to get in the way. Your love is the greatest gift I've ever been given. I promise to cherish you the way you deserve, to be your lover, your best friend and your faithful partner in life. I promise to remind you that you are precious to me; to be the one you can turn to, no matter what we're facing. I will love you and stay with you. Always."

Peeta wiped a tear from his eye and then took Katniss's hand back in his own. "She says she's not good with words and then she does that to me," he said and the crowd joined him in laughter. Katniss gave him a watery smile. "Now my knees are wobbling." Their guests tittered as Peeta grew serious and spoke the words that were on his heart. "Katniss, almost a year a year ago, I made a terrible mistake. I was in backyard kind of like this one. I got down on my knees and asked the woman I loved to marry me. She said no. Then she left me, and I was miserable."

Katniss's eyes dropped from his to their clasped hands and he heard a whispered me too pass through her lips.

"But I deserved it. You see, I forgot something crucial that night. I forgot to tell you that you are the most important person in the world to me. Nothing I accomplish means anything if I don't have you to share it with. We've built a wonderful life together, Katniss, filled with love and friends and family. But now I want to build our own family. I promise to wake up every morning and be grateful to have you beside me. I promise to to be your lover, your best friend and your faithful partner in life. I promise to remind you that you are precious to me; to be the one you can turn to, no matter what we're facing. I will love you and stay with you. Always."

Under Bran's watchful gaze, the pair exchanged rings before moving to a small table to sign their licence. Once back at the pergola, Bran gave the crowd a large smile. "With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may now kiss."

Peeta smiled down at his glowing bride and wondered if the happiness he felt inside was bursting from his pores. He wrapped an arm around Katniss's waist and pulled her to him before reaching up to stroke her cheek. Katniss leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. Peeta gazed at her lovingly, desperately savouring a moment he'd waited for his entire life. He would wait as long again, if only he got to be with her.

But Katniss, it seemed, had other ideas. She raised herself up on her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck and impatiently pulled him down into the kiss, her soft lips trapping his bottom lip between her own. The crowd cheered as they embraced with an ease that was born of the joy of the moment and the promise of a future together. Katniss dropped back on her heels and gave him a smile she usually saved for when they were alone. Laughter bubbled up inside him until it spilled over, then he gripped her hand in his.

"Together, Mrs. Mellark?"

Katniss accepted her bouquet back from Johanna with her free hand. "Together, Mr. Mellark," she replied, the harmony of her laughter mixing with his made him giddy as he raised their joined hands above their head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you for the first time, Katniss and Peeta Mellark!" Bran shouted.

Marry You floated through the air as they danced down the aisle, followed by their friends.

It took no time at all for the servers and the wedding party to pile the chairs off to the side and whip the cover off a small bar set up off to the side. Jo stationed herself behind it, efficiently opening beers and pouring glasses of wine for the guests. Before long, she challenged Gale to some kind of bartending competition and the two were attempting to outdo each other with a speed and finesse that was completely entertaining to the guests.

Music filled the air and the servers were moving through the exuberant crowd with trays of tapas when his parents finally approached them. In no time at all, Peeta found himself wrapped in one his father's famous hugs. Even in a suit, the smell of yeast and sugar surrounded his dad. Peeta held on for as long as he could.

"Congratulations, Peeta. I wish you a happy life," he whispered, before turning to Katniss and wrapping her in his arms. Peeta caught the surprise in his new wife's eyes as she hugged his father back. It made him sad, in a way, to watch his dad with Katniss. His parents had badly wanted a daughter. Katniss had needed a father. They could have had a beautiful relationship if it hadn't been for her.

"Mother," said Peeta, bending down to kiss her cheek. "Thank you for coming."

"Peeta," she said, and sniffed. "No meal, I see."

"There was no place to do something like that for a crowd this size at the house," he explained. "And we really wanted to do it here."

His mother harrumphed. "I suppose it is sufficient if that is all you can afford."

Peeta saw Katniss was still busy talking to his father and steeled himself to deal with his mother when Aunt Effie swooped in, embracing him in a cloud of perfume.

"Peeta," she gushed. "You and Katniss are to be congratulated. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony. Romantic, intimate and perfectly you. So much better than all of those gaudy, overdone affairs in hotel ballrooms."

Suddenly, Aunt Effie realized she had interrupted Peeta's conversation with someone else and turned to his mother, holding out her hand. "Oh excuse me, I'm interrupting aren't I? So very rude of me, my apologies. I guess I'm just excited. I'm Effie Trinket, Katniss's honourary aunt."

"Mine too now, I hope," teased Peeta.

"Oh Darling, of course I am," Aunt Effie tittered while she pinched his cheek and then turned back to the other woman, extending her hand. "And you are?"

"Lyla Mellark," his mother said smoothly. "Peeta's mother."

"Oh!" Effie exclaimed. "The woman who birthed three stunningly handsome men. You must be so proud of them. I don't know your eldest son well, of course, but Ry and Peeta are just wonderful."

"Yes, very," Lyla replied. "Bran and Ry are both doing exceptionally well at their law firms-"

"And Peeta is just the talk of the town with his designs," Effie trilled, turning her palms to the sky in ecstasy. "Honestly, Plutarch's decision to appoint him director of design was long overdue…"

"What's this? Director of design! Peeta!" Peeta's father turned away from Katniss to hug his son again. "Well done, Son. When did this happen?"

Katniss slipped her arm through Peeta's and laid her head on his shoulder. "About six months ago," she said, her pride in him evident in her voice. She looked up at Peeta. "It was just around the time we bought the house, right?"

"About that, yes," he answered, covering his hand with hers.

"This is your house?" his father asked in awe. "You bought a house and we didn't even know?"

"And it's just the most adorable house I've ever seen," gushed Aunt Effie again. "Anyway, my sweets, I need to go bend Plutarch's ear about a project he's working on that one of my clients is dying to be a part of." She kissed Katniss on each of her cheeks before turning to Peeta and doing the same. "Hang in there, Darling," she whispered in Peeta's ear.

"So nice to meet you both," she said with a nod before teetering away on an impossibly high pair of heels. She got only a few steps away before she turned around again. "Oh, and Peeta, the tapas are delicious, and so du jour. I've eaten more rubber chicken dinners than I care to count. That whole approach is so tired. Ta-ta my dears!"

As soon as Effie was out of earshot, his mother's eyes narrowed and zeroed in on him. "We hear nothing from you for over a year and then we get an invitation to your wedding? We didn't even know you were engaged! Then a house you surely can't afford and job we knew nothing about? This is all her fault, isn't it! Well, don't expect us to bail you out of trouble when this all falls apart."

"Lyla!" admonished Peeta's father. "That was completely unnecessary."

Peeta reached for Katniss's hand where it rested on his arm and brought it to his lips, before smiling down at his bride. I've got this, he thought, and hoped she received the message. A quick flex of her jaw told him she had.

"If it weren't for Katniss, you wouldn't have received an invitation," he told his mother. "For your information, we financed our dream house with the proceeds from all those doodles you felt were such a waste of time. There's a gallery in the Capitol that can't keep my work on the walls these days. I don't tell you what's going on in my life because, quite frankly, I don't remember the last time your opinion meant anything to me."

Ignoring his mother's shocked countenance, Peeta turned to his father. "Dad, we'll be in Paris for two weeks. If you want to chat when we get home, the phone works both ways."

He looked down at Katniss. "Now, I think it's time for dance. Wouldn't you say?" When Katniss nodded, Peeta pulled his wife out into the middle of their backyard and spun her in circles under the stars.

It was late when the last guest finally left and Peeta and Katniss finally found themselves alone in their master bedroom. He carefully unbuttoned the back of her gown and pulled the pins from her hair before she slipped into the ensuite. When she emerged, she wore a simple white satin nightgown and her face was clean of make-up.

"There you are," he smiled and then dropped to his knees. "And there you are," he said to her belly, dropping a kiss on the nearly invisible bump. Katniss ruffled her fingers through his hair while Peeta laid his cheek against the softness.

"Tired?" he asked, as he stood up. She often was these days.

Katniss gave a little hum and kissed him. "Not too tired for this."

Peeta swept her into his arms and laid her softly on their bed before crawling up beside her. He kissed her lips, her chin, laved his way to the hollow between her jaw and her ear and suckled gently, enjoying the sigh that fell from her lips. "In the spring, I'm going to paint a new picture of our meadow," he told her, before slipping one of the nightgown's tiny straps off her shoulder. He kissed where it had lain and then moved downward along the deep vee of the gown to the valley between what were becoming a set of rather bountiful breasts.

"You know, I liked your breasts just the way they were, but these are something else," he mumbled, ignoring the eye roll he was sure he'd just received.

"The painting, Peeta," Katniss reminded him.

"Oh yeah," he said, pushing himself up on his elbow. "Sorry, I got distracted down here. Anyway, yeah, I'm going to paint a new one. Of the three of us sitting together in the meadow. I think I'll call it Joy."

Katniss gave a strange little laugh.

"What's so funny?"

She laid her hand over her tummy. "That's what I thought we should call her."

Special thanks to badnovels for giving us one more crack at such an amazing bonding experience for the fandom and to xerxia31 and peetabreadgirl for being the coolest betas a girl could ask for.