Peeta sat in the corner of the room, listening to Katniss breathe while she slept. The windows were open and the curtains billowed with the breeze while the moonlight cast a milky glow onto her olive skin. He was up early, unable to sleep. It was so every year at this time. His mind knew the calendar like clockwork and the anniversary of being stranded on the island sent him spiraling into the past, where he relived the dark and stormy night on the ocean, and the loss of his family.

He pulled on his khaki shorts, not unlike the ones he'd once loathed, and slipped out into the early morning. The sounds of night quieted around him as his tread met the packed dirt. The ground was moist under his bare feet, and clung to his heels and toes. He loved the feel of it. Something familiar to keep him grounded on nights like these, when he felt imprisoned by the memories.

Soon, he was standing in front of a dark opening, breathing in the scent of jungle. A scent that, six years ago, he would have given anything to be rid of.

Sometimes it was hard for Peeta to believe he was back here, on the very island he'd dreamed of being rescued from. The same island where he'd lost everything in his past and found all he wanted for his future. There was a time he thought he would die on that island. Alone. But fate had turned a compassionate eye on him and intervened, sending Katniss to his rescue.

He moved inside and lit a fire in the ring of stones that still waited in the middle of the his former home. They had changed nothing since being back. As he read his life's story on those walls, he thought about his parents, long gone. Their memory had faded in his mind over time, but the loss became a sharper pain in his heart with each passing year. He missed them. He mourned for his brother, who would have been 28 this year, his life cut short when he'd only begun to live. Peeta wondered what their relationship would have been like had they survived. Fast forward to the future, and had they survived, he wouldn't have Katniss.

Or Willow. Beautiful, sweet Willow. Dark hair and skin like her mother. Blue eyes deeper than the ocean.

Oh, how his thoughts could turn dark in seconds. He didn't have to choose, though. Fate had done that for him, and, while he would always miss his family, he had his own now. What terrified him most these days was the possibility of his children being left without a father, as he had been. It was a personal hell he knew all too well, and he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy.

"I thought I'd find you here." Katniss's voice permeated the cave, interrupting his ruminations. He turned to look at her and instantly his morning brightened. She was always a vision, like the rise of the sun. A natural beauty. He'd been a goner since the day she stepped onto the island five and a half years ago, and he was thankful she never gave up on him.

After the return to the real world, their time apart had nearly done him in. He'd been a wreck inside. The day she turned up in Effie's house, all he'd wanted to do was hold onto her day and night. But his aunt had taught him to question everything, including Katniss, and he foolishly listened. He was thankful every day of his life that Katniss had taken him back.

Peeta was furious after finding Effie waiting in the wings with the pearl around her neck the night of the Flickerman Show. It was the spark that incinerated any doubt that he'd done the wrong thing where Katniss was concerned. The spark that brought them back together, back to the island. Back to life.

"Come here," Peeta beckoned his wife, and when she reached him he pulled her back against his chest. He nudged her braid over her shoulder and kissed her neck. His hands roamed her soft belly, still too smooth to acknowledge the life inside of it. But he knew. And he couldn't touch her enough these days. "You're up early. Is Annie with Willow?"

Katniss rested the back of her head on Peeta's shoulder, twining her fingers through his. "Yes. And she knows where to find us if she needs us."

Annie was their friend. She'd moved from the mainland to take a position as a teacher in the new school. The village that sprang up to support the resort had grown quickly with a down economy in South Africa. A lot of families were needing work these days, and families meant children. Peeta had volunteered himself to teach art at the school, and all the kids knew him as Jungle Pete. As soon as he met Annie, he knew Katniss would take to her sweet personality. She had, and when Annie had admitted she was homeless and had been sleeping nights at the school, Katniss had taken her in immediately.

They would lose her soon, though, since Finnick Odair had laid eyes on her and become smitten. He spent more time on the island than he'd ever planned, almost making the penthouse suite of the grand hotel his permanent home just to be near her. Annie hadn't known how to take Finnick's advances at first. He'd been about as subtle with his feelings as an atomic bomb, but she soon grew used to him and developed feelings of her own. They'd be married before his and Katniss's baby was born. Another sign that life would go on, same as the jungle flowers that bloomed each morn only to retreat during the night.

"Thank you," Peeta said with relief, returning his lips to her warm skin. He was overly protective of his curious daughter, but Katniss never faulted him for it. She backed him at every point, understanding exactly where he was coming from. If they disagreed, she spoke to him privately, laying out any reasons and other options for him to consider. They were the best kind of team, and he couldn't imagine sharing his life with anyone else.

He nibbled at the skin just under her ear, a place he knew she loved his attention, and the breathy sigh that left her, along with her rounded ass pressed into his morning rise, was quickly turning him on. She blew out a deeper sigh and Peeta pulled back, sensing something was off.

"Are you okay?"

"Just hot," she said, using one hand to fan herself. When Katniss was pregnant with Willow, they spent a lot of time under the cool spray of the shower, and rubbing ice cubes over her pulse points. It seemed likely it would be the same this time, and Peeta knew just the place to cool her off.

"Let's go for a dip," he suggested, guiding her out of the cave and down the trail.

When they reached the part of the stream that was deep enough to bring Katniss relief, Peeta let go of her hand long enough to strip away his shorts. Then he reached for Katniss's nightdress, pinching the hem between his fingertips and slipping it over her head. He steered her into the water carefully, sidestepping the larger rocks that pebbled the bottom, and pulled her flush against him when they were finally submerged.

"Are you okay?" Katniss asked him as Peeta placed her arms around his neck. The water was moving faster than usual from the rains they'd received, and he wanted to be sure she was anchored to something. His wife was a good swimmer, but flashes of fishing her out of the ocean were never far from his mind, and he never wanted to be put in the position of rescuer again.

He hadn't known much about her back when he'd plucked her from the sea, other than she was beautiful and curious. But it had terrified him watching her swim too far into the currents he knew were unrelenting and deadly. He'd been caught in them once himself. Thankfully, he managed to get back to shore on the opposite side of the island after resting on his back when he grew tired of swimming. He hadn't wasted a second thinking of his own life as he watched Katniss make the same mistake that day. He shuddered thinking about what could have happened.

Her fingertips raking down his back brought him to the present. "I am now," he answered, smoothing his palms down her backside. When he reached the tops of her legs, he hauled her upwards and tugged her legs apart, encouraging her to wrap them around his hips. The water shifted around them, softly babbling downstream, lapping at the big boulders that had lodged themselves in the middle of it long ago. Birds squawked and monkeys howled in the distance, but Peeta didn't hear any of it. His hands were on a mission, sliding up Katniss's hips, gliding upwards until they cupped her breasts. He could tell by the fit of them in his palms they were readying for the new baby; weightless in the water, but filling his hands.

Katniss laid her cheek on his shoulder, and he circled the taut peaks of her breasts with his thumbs. She squeezed her legs around him in response, rubbing her center against him, and he suddenly needed his mouth on her. He moved his hands back underneath her and lifted her out of the water until her soft mounds were exposed to the air. Then he wrapped his lips around one of her wet nipples and sucked on her while his fingers massaged the pliant flesh of her ass.

She moaned and writhed against him, weaving her fingers into the hair he'd allowed to grow out again since returning to the island. The way she gyrated in his hands, searching for more, made him as hard as the rocks dividing the waters downstream. Eager to give Katniss what she wanted, he slipped one finger between her folds as he switched to suckle the other breast. She cried out and the sounds of life around them stilled.

He rubbed her with expert precision, felt the pleasure he was giving her all the way to his toes that curled into the mud. Katniss was the only woman he'd studied, the only one he ever cared to know how to make feel deprived and satisfied in the span of five minutes. Peeta knew her body better than she did. He loved it when she panted his name, reveled in the way it rolled off her tongue like the highest praise and deepest need, as it did now.

After her body finally shuddered in his arms with her release, she sagged against him. The steady flow of the stream around them kept their naked chests pressed together. He brought his hands from the water, pushing a few strands of damp hair from her face. The morning sun was breaking through the treetops, sending streams of golden light shooting into the water around them, glinting off his ring, and her hazy eyes. He kissed his wife reverently.

"I need you now, Peeta," Katniss groaned through the languid kiss. She reached between them and took hold of his erection, positioning it at her entrance. He grunted at the contact, his swollen head moving through her softness until they were perfectly aligned. He needed her too. He pulled her hips into his, the mix of the water and her tightness making it difficult to sheath himself in one thrust.

Peeta stilled once he'd buried himself. He needed more stability to take her like he knew she wanted, so he maneuvered them to the closest shore. He let his feet feel the way out of the water, unable to tear his eyes away from Katniss. Everything about his wife was succulent. From the slope of her slender neck, to the swell of her breasts. The curve of her waist, which would soon grow with his own flesh and blood, and the flare of her hips that would bring their child into the world. She was his heart and soul. Had been since he'd first laid eyes on her, his mate. The half that made him whole again. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her.

When he reached land, he fell to his knees and lowered Katniss to the ground, the two of them still joined. Water dripped from the ends of his hair onto her chest, and he was suddenly dying of thirst. He sucked every droplet from her skin as he began to move in and out of her. She pleaded for him to go faster, harder. When she was pregnant with Willow, he'd been too gentle with her, afraid to hurt their little one, but this time around he was more confident, and it wasn't long before he felt his orgasm surface. He could tell by the rapid intake of breath that Katniss was as close as he was, and he reached down, flicking her bundle of nerves once, twice, before she pulsed around him. He grunted at the sensation and seconds later his cock throbbed with release inside her.

He rolled off to the side, careful not to crush Katniss, and gathered her close to him, gently brushing away sand from her back. They laid there in the early morning, sated, Peeta stroking her belly lovingly as their breathing returned to normal, until the sun rose in the sky a little more and he knew it was time to get back to their daughter.

Sensing Katniss was exhausted, Peeta scooped up his wife and carried her back across the water to their clothes. They dressed and made their way back home before Willow was up, stopping to allow Peeta a quick climb for a ripened bunch of bananas he spotted on their way. He didn't have to do that anymore, since there was a market in the worker's village at the end of the island. But to Peeta it felt natural scaling the trees, and he knew Katniss still marveled at his agility, so he took every opportunity to turn his wife's eye.

Their home was situated down the path from the cave, set in a semi-open space. It wasn't lavish or spread out, since the space wasn't large enough for any of that, and he wouldn't allow any trees to be cut down for their home. He hadn't wanted to build in the more open spaces, either, near the cliff or the beach, hoping that someday they would have little ones to care for and thinking ahead for their safety. But they ended up with a slice of heaven on a third of the island that Finnick had sold him.

When he'd been reunited with Katniss, they'd formed a plan to set themselves up for the rest of their lives, as well as leave their children a sizable inheritance for their futures. It had taken two years, but once Effie had been put in her place, and the money secured by the sale of Peeta's shares of the company that had been returned to him after he'd been legally raised from the dead, they left for Africa.

When they'd contacted Finnick about their plans, and asked to purchase part of the island, he'd been willing to give it to them as a gift. But Peeta had insisted on buying it, wanting it rightly in his and Katniss's name. They'd set up a portable living space after they arrived while they found workers from the village to help construct their modest home. No one knew who they really were and the fact that they were building such a simple abode kept them from being of any real interest to the islanders. They felt safe here, away from the prying eyes of the world that had been glued to their every move after it was revealed he was alive.

As he looked around at his life on the anniversary of his shipwreck, he knew he'd gone through hell to get to paradise. But he'd do it all over again if it meant a life with Katniss. With Willow, and their new baby. He could imagine many pairs of feet slapping against the concrete of their home, running around and screeching in delight as he chased them, Katniss with a smile on her face as she cradled a babe at her breast.

The irony was never lost on Peeta that where he'd been lost was also where he was found. Where he would live out his days in joy and peace, passion and contentment with the woman who was meant for him, as surely as the tide rose and fell each day. Katniss and Peeta. Always.

It's officially over. :( I've loved this story. Every word. Every expression I was able to make you feel with it. Connecting with the audience. Having discussions about WWPD in this situation and still be in character. The challenge of taking on something that a lot of people thought would be corny - which is why I went a different direction with it. I can't thank you enough for all the comments and follows on a story I thought would be a quick one shot, and maybe never even get added to the archives. Please, oh please, leave me a last review! Id' appreciate it so much! Come say hi on Tumblr - Peetabreadgirl.