The grand facade, so soon will burn

"Where is he?"

Gale stares at Katniss, resignation in his gaze. He knows that with the return of Peeta, his time with her is over. Truthfully, it was all a mistake; those small caresses…the kisses—and he knows it.

More than once, another voice fell from her lips whenever they were together.

"He's in there with Haymitch," he tells her.

Katniss can hear her heart beating in her ears as she approaches the closed door. She doesn't know what to expect despite the numerous times that she watched him during those interviews with Caesar. Her chest aches recalling the last interview—right before the rescue—the pain in those blue eyes.

Blue eyes that she knows so well from long nights during the Victory Tour…eyes that watched over her in a cold cave…that stared at her emaciated form before throwing her burnt bread to save her family's life.

Taking a deep breath, Katniss turns the knob, pushing the door open. Haymitch meets her eyes and she can see relief in those usually burdened greys.

Her mentor approaches her, squeezing her shoulder.

"Be gentle with him," Haymitch advises quietly. "He seems overwhelmed by everything…and he keeps asking about his family."

The Mellarks perished with a majority of the citizens of District 12. The remaining people were all shuffled in with District 13 in this underground barracks.

Haymitch reaches the doorway and, with a final nod, closes the door.

Peeta is sitting on the exam table and she can see the heaviness in his shoulders, burdened by weeks of torture at the hands of Snow.

Katniss moves over to his front and approaches him carefully. He looks up at her steps and her breath hitches at the weariness of his eyes.

However, there is something else that she can't quite catch…

"Peeta," she breathes out.

He meets her stare, his expression calming at the sight of her. The relief at the look is palpable.

Her arms are suddenly around him, her nose pressing into his skinny shoulder and the rest of her trembling. His own arms wrap carefully around her.

"I..I almost lost you."

Katniss pulls away, looking him over. Peeta is definitely in need of some weight gain and has obviously been roughed up. She can see that several hours…days of sleep would help because he looks like he could drop from exhaustion at any moment.

His hand reaches to brush away the tears that have unexpectedly filmed in her eyes. "Don't cry."

She lets out a laugh, happy to see that her kind Peeta is still in there.

"I must love you a lot," Peeta continues in a whisper.

"You've never really said it," Katniss replies. "I think that you did show it…more than I ever did."

"I'm sorry," he suddenly says.

"Why do you need to be sorry?"

Peeta looks to her shamefully.

"Because I don't remember having such a pretty wife."

Her whole body goes cold.

"Peeta, do you know my name?"

"No." He is crestfallen, his arms encircling his thin frame. "I don't know it. I'm so sorry!"

Katniss reaches for him, pulling him to her and he rests against her chest.

"It's alright. We'll figure it out…together."

"The doctors are still running tests," Haymitch tells her. They're standing outside of Peeta's room in the hospital sector. "So far, his MRI's have come back clear, and his blood tests are fine."

"He doesn't remember me." Katniss looks at the man in the hospital bed who is sitting with Prim. Peeta turns to her and gives her a smile. "He thinks we're married—"

"Did you tell him that you aren't?" he retorts. The look on her face brings a chuckle to his lips. "Looks like someone wants to believe it's real."

"Not funny, Haymitch."

"I've talked to Johanna and Annie," he continues, ignoring her ire. "They were all in the same place, though they were taken to another room during questioning. Right before our squad got them, Peeta was taken one last time, that's possibly when they erased you."

"Erased?" she repeated.

"I've talked to him. He remembers everything about District 12—except for you."

"Why would Snow do this?"

There are several reasons, of course.

The first being that there would be no reason for Peeta to fight. She was really the only reason that he joined the Careers or volunteered for the Quarter Quell in Haymitch's place.

The second reason is that Snow is trying to throw her off. He knows that taking Peeta's memories of her will preoccupy her thoughts and deter her from fighting. She won't want to leave him for missions—and he's right, she doesn't.

And the third, Haymitch says as she bites her lip anxiously.

"Because Snow knows that you would do anything to keep Peeta safe—including turning yourself over to him for a cure if it comes to that."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Katniss confirms.

Because she would do it in a heartbeat.

This is the worst time to realize that she might actually love Peeta Mellark.

"Why did we get married so quickly?"

The doctors advised Katniss to go along with the story, afraid that opposing the one thing that Peeta seems to believe will trigger a breakdown. Dr. Aurelius, District 13's resident psychologist, has already met with Peeta once and has concluded that, even though he can't remember her, Peeta trusts her.

The doctor tells her to go along with it until they're sure that he's stronger, mentally and physically.

Peeta has already watched snippets of their first time in the arena as well as the Quarter Quell. On screen, they do look like the Star-Crossed Lovers of District 12, but he has no memory of the scenes playing in front of him. He doesn't remember the weeks before the Quell was announced when he could barely look at her or her suggestion of getting married during the Victory Tour.

Or his unhappy acceptance when Katniss had brought it up. He wanted it to be real.

Now, she wishes it had been.

"Because we didn't want to wait," she answers as they walk along the corridors where the resident barracks are. "We were going into the arena and we were scared of what might happen. So, we decided to have a toasting—"

"Was it nice?"

Katniss smiles. "It was." She lets her mind wander into what might have happened. "Haymitch and your father were our witnesses at the Justice Building. My mother and Prim made us dinner and your brothers made us a wedding cake." She swallows down her guilt. "You made our toasting bread."

"It sounds beautiful." Peeta stops, his hands going to her shoulders, and she is filled with an inexplicable warmth. "I wish I could remember." He meets her eyes, concern in his stare. "I saw something else…my interview with Caesar before the Quell—"

He looks down at her abdomen.

"I-I lost it." She's practically choking on her lies. "With you gone and the stress after the Quell, it was just too much."

"You would've been a good mother," he assures her.

The question comes out tightly. "How would you know?"

"I watched the part in the Games with Rue..." Peeta moves closer. So close that she starts to notice things. Like the small scar on his cheek or the slight freckling on his nose. He still smells sweet despite not being anywhere near the Mellark Bakery. "You took care of her."

"She took care of me," she replies, swiping at her eyes.

"Prim told me about how you volunteered for her," he persists. "She says you took care of her, even though you were a kid yourself."

Katniss doesn't know how it happens, but she finds herself in his arms as her arms wrap around his own waist.

"Do you know that you saved my life…my family's life when we were kids?" she says, her cheek against his chest. "You threw a loaf of burnt bread to me. We were starving and that fed my mother so that she could give Prim milk. It fed me after everything ran out in our pantry."

He rasps at her words. "I bet my mom really enjoyed that."

"Not really. The next time I saw you, you were sporting a bruise on your face."

"Sounds about right." Peeta holds her tightly and she calms in his embrace. "I don't mind if it meant I kept you alive."

How could he still care so much about her?

'Because he doesn't know who you really are', a voice inside says.

Katniss closes her eyes, afraid that the truth will come seeping out of her.

"You would have been a good father," she tells him instead.

"I'm lying to him, Prim."

Katniss sits on what used to be her bed. Peeta has been moved out of the hospital sector and they are given a residence of their own. Dr. Aurelius insists that she continues to pretend that they are married, that she continues to act like she loves the man lying next to her in bed.

The tests continue to come out clean, no sign of brain trauma. The doctors can only conclude that it is some sort of conditioning that the Capitol put him through.

"It's for his own good," Prim replies pragmatically as she folds her newly laundered uniforms. "I've read about cases like his. We need to give him time to settle, then slowly bring him to terms with the truth. If you try to tell him too much, he could regress."

"You've read about this? You're only fourteen, Prim," Katniss says. "You're not supposed to be reading psych cases."

"Then what I am supposed to be doing?" she questions. "There is a rebellion happening. You are the symbol of it. I need to help in any way I can. If that means working on the medical team to help my brother-in-law, then so be it."

"I feel guilty, Prim," Katniss admits softly. "And…I care for him."

Prim stops mid-fold and looks to her, a small grin on her lips. "Just care?"

"I can't let it go any further than that," she tells her. "The guilt would kill me. I also think about everything that we went through before that. The Peeta I remember was so angry at me for pretending it was real, yet he still forgave me. He wouldn't forgive me for this."

Prim sits down next to her. "May I suggest something?" Katniss nods. "Start clean."

"What do you mean?"

"You two get a chance to start anew," her sister says. "Become his friend…maybe more if it works out like that. I think that this might be good for your relationship."

"What relationship? We don't know anything about each other," Katniss scoffs.

Prim looks to her, a slight smile on her lips. "Exactly."

Peeta and Katniss sit together in the mess hall at a table away from everyone else.

However, not one to be deterred, Johanna joins them, sitting uncomfortably close to Peeta.

Katniss glares at the woman who cackles at her expression.

"We're friends, Mrs. Mellark. We had cells near one another in the Capitol."

Peeta looks to Katniss, reaching underneath the table to take her hand and give it a squeeze. She calms down immediately, taking a deep breath, and stretching her mouth into a semblance of a smile.

"You're always welcome to sit with us," she says through clenched teeth.

Johanna smirks. "Thank you." She puts an arm around Peeta's shoulder. "So did the wife give you a proper welcome home?"

Katniss could feel the heat on her face. Everyone had been advised to pretend that she and Peeta are married, for the sake of his mental health. Johanna was one of those who opposed to the idea though after a talk with the medical team, she finally agreed to the charade.

It didn't mean that she would allow Katniss to get away with it so easily.

"Johanna," Peeta starts calmly. "It's only been a month since we've been rescued, and Katniss is busy with her missions. We're not…ready."

"We're starting with a clean slate," Katniss adds.

Annie and Finnick join them, trays in their grasp. However, as they sit down, they join hands using each of their free ones to pick at their meals. Katniss can't help but feel a little envious of their closeness. She's never thought about how it feels to be so connected to someone and there's something inside that hungers for it.

'Him! He could give you what you need!', that voice inside her screams.

"But you sleep in the same bed, right?" Johanna questions.

She says it just as Gale and Prim join them.

Prim sits next to her sister, while her grey-eyed friend chooses the spot across.

Katniss can't bring herself to look at Gale; if she did, she would probably see him glaring or pouting—both would be equally annoying.

"Yes," she chokes out. "What of it?"

"I'm surprised that Coin hasn't demanded a little Rebellion baby," she taunts. "Aren't we all just part of this little plan of hers? We were rescued…and Katniss does those stupid little propos…what better way than to start a new generation of District 13 soldiers for her cause?"

Katniss stands up, slamming her tray on the metal table in anger. "Stop!"

Johanna merely smirks and for a second, Katniss envisions herself stabbing the woman with her fork.

Instead, she turns to Peeta. "I'm going to our room. Take your time."

He nods, taking her hand to kiss the top of it as he glares at Johanna.

Turning away, Katniss rushes towards the nearest exit corridor. Why did she let Johanna get to her? She can usually take the woman's biting words—

"Katniss."

She turns to see Gale slowing down in front of her.

"It was uncalled for—what Johanna was saying. This lie though—you being Peeta's wife and being in love with him? How is it going to feel when he finally knows the truth?"

"Don't you think that I worry about that every time I'm with him?"

Katniss steps towards her friend and can see the longing still there in his eyes. However, the depth of her feelings for Gale aren't even close to what she feels for Peeta.

"It kills me to know that he could just go right back to hating me! Especially since I'm in—"

Gale steps back, pain in his eyes. "Shit Katniss, did you feel anything for me?"

She straightens herself before meeting his stare.

"Not the way you wanted."

Katniss and Peeta lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, unable to look at one another.

When she returned to their room, she took a quick nap before meeting with Coin. The silver-haired woman had quickly checked-in about Peeta before announcing that Katniss would be taking a trip to District 8 to their hospital.

Peeta would stay as he was deemed not ready.

He is there when she returns, apologizing for Johanna's crassness. Katniss holds him tight, the conversation lingering in her mind.

They haven't been—she cringes at the word—intimate.

It seemed a lot easier when they were fearing for their lives for them to just kiss.

Now they share a room and a bed, and it feels like they're a million miles apart.

"I'm going to District 8 tomorrow," she says suddenly. "Coin wants me to visit their hospital."

Peeta shifts, looking to her. "Will you promise to be safe?"

She turns to meet his eyes. "Would you believe me if I did?"

He laughs wryly and Katniss shifts to lay her head on his chest.

"Probably not. My wife has a penchant for running into dangerous situations."

"You had a tendency to follow me," she retorts.

"Obviously, I'm an idiot," Peeta tells her. "Why would I follow a beautiful woman into a deathtrap?" He presses a kiss to the top of her head. "Oh, now I remember…"

Katniss turns her head, her chin on his chest. "What do you remember?"

"Nothing really. I just imagine that I would've followed the woman I love anywhere."

She nods, stamping down her disappointment. "Oh."

"You sound upset," Peeta says. He sits up, resting back against the wall and she follows. "I know that this is hard on you. I'm not the husband that you had—"

"No!" Biting her lip anxiously, Katniss tries to find her words. "I guess I'm just reeling from Johanna's words. Somehow, she always knows how to hit you where it hurts."

"I've wanted to kiss you," he admits. "I just didn't know if you'd let me."

"Um…you're my husband. Why wouldn't I want you to?"

They inch closer together.

When they look to one another, they're only a lean-in away from a kiss.

So, Katniss leans in—

Peeta suddenly draws back, his face going white.

Ow, that hurt.

She gives him a shaky smile. "You aren't ready—"

"No! Something happened to me, like my body instinctively just pulled away!" Peeta is panicked, his blue eyes pleading with her to understand. "There is nothing I want more than to kiss you."

Katniss nods. "Let me try."

Her hands reached to his face and, taking a breath, she dips her mouth towards his—

The pain is electric, and she draws back, her fingers going to her lips. "Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Peeta reaches to take her hand away from her mouth. "What happened?"

Katniss frowns. "It hurt." The sensation still lingers on her lips like a slow spreading flame. "We should go to the medical ward."

"It's late," Peeta replies. "You have a mission tomorrow and you need to rest."

"Why aren't you worried about this?" she demands to know.

Her husband chuckles. His blue eyes glowing at the sight of her all agitated.

"Because there are other places that I can kiss you," he answers.

Peeta brushes his lips against her forehead and there is no instinct to push away.

She, however, feels the kiss all the way to her toes.

"See? We're in the safe zone."

He continues down to her cheeks, smacking each one with a loud smack that causes her to laugh. Then, his lips are on her jaw…in the crook of her neck and she moans when he nips her earlobe. She never realized how that one spot could cause her whole body to uncoil.

"Should I keep going?" Peeta asks, his voice husky. "Will you allow it?"

There's still a little bit of the old him in there; the one that remembers her.

Her hand reaches to the bottom of her shirt, pulling it over her head eagerly. "Yes."

He kisses his way down until she is crying out his name, his face between her thighs.

Katniss sleeps soundly until her alarm sounds and she must regretfully leave her husband with a kiss to his bare shoulder.

Katniss finds herself shaking horribly—or is it the hovercraft?

Boggs is sitting next to her, his dark eyes staring at her in concern.

"Katniss, there was nothing you could have done," he tells her.

"I shouldn't have gone," she replies tonelessly. "It was the perfect countermove to get the rest of Panem to hate me."

"Your message to the citizens counteracts that," Cressida assures her from her seat, across from Katniss. She had been introduced to the woman during a previous mission along with her assistant Messalla and her two cameramen, Castor and Pollux. "Remember that people out there still believe in you."

"Those people are dead." She hangs her head between her legs. "I can still see them in front of me…"

Everyone goes silent as Katniss draws in her breaths, trying to keep her thoughts intact. Her eyes go briefly to Gale, who has not said one word to her.

They aren't friends anymore. They're comrades—and she finds that it doesn't sting like she expected it to.

The hovercraft enters District 13 and she is eager to leave, bouncing in her seat.

They have made a full stop and she jumps from her seat as the ramp lowers—

Peeta is waiting for her, along with Haymitch and a stoic Coin.

However, Katniss sees only him, and she is running down the ramp until she is in his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He presses kisses to the top of her head…her forehead…her cheeks…that one area behind her ear that causes her to come undone—

"Ahem."

They turn to see Coin watching them, a calculating look on her face. Haymitch smirks seeing Katniss' very public show of affection while Boggs look on in amusement. Cressida's team is to the side as she directs them on the best shot of 'The Star-Crossed Lovers'.

Gale stands back before heading towards the barracks, but not before getting a gentle pat to his shoulder by Coin.

"I'm so sorry about the hospital," Peeta says, his eyes trained on her. "When Haymitch told me that there was an attack…I thought I lost you."

"I'm here," she breathes against his shoulder.

"I'm glad that you're back safely, Katniss," Coin suddenly says as she approaches them. "I'm sorry to hear about the losses." She looks between herself and Peeta. "I've talked to the medical team and I feel that Peeta is ready to join you when you go to the Capitol."

Katniss looks to the woman incredulously. "Are you sure?"

"Snow believes that he holds the cards because of what he's done to Peeta," Coin continues. "Seeing you two together will show him and the Capitol that you two have overcome. That, despite him erasing Peeta's memories, he is still the enemy."

"Peeta isn't ready," she insists.

"Well, it's not your call," the women tells her. "You and your husband will be ready in two days to travel to the Capitol."

Coin turns, exciting the landing area, without even looking back.

"Katniss…" She turns to Peeta at his call. "I don't want to be here without you. Waiting here after hearing about District 8—it was the worst feeling in the world. Even worse than realizing that Snow erased you from my mind."

"Also, we've talked to the doctors about what happened to you two…last night," Haymitch suddenly says. "Peeta didn't want to wait on finding out and it kept him distracted after you left."

"And what did they say?" Katniss asks eagerly.

"Let's go to your room and we can talk over their theory," their mentor suggests, looking around. "Away from the cameras."

"I explained what happened to the medical team as well as to Dr. Aurelius," Peeta starts as soon as they are back in their room. "I told them about my negative body reaction as well as what happened when you attempted to kiss me."

"I should also tell you that Dr. Aurelius feels it isn't in your best interest to mention this to Coin," Haymitch interjects.

It just confirms Katniss' distrust of the woman; there is something not quite right and instinctually she has had her guard up.

"They believe that your kiss is probably a trigger," Peeta says with a sigh.

"I don't understand."

"It means that, if we were to kiss, it could trigger some sort of psychological reaction," he tells her, his eyes full of pain. "And no one knows if it will be a positive or negative one."

She looks to him. "What do they mean by negative reaction?"

"A couple of things they suggested were that I could become violent towards you, even attempt to kill you, or my memory is completely wiped out. Not just of you, but of my whole life. I could possibly become incapacitated, just a shell of a person."

This can't be possible, but she pushes forward.

"And, the positive reactions?"

"I could get my full memory back," Peeta continues. "Or, there is no change, whatsoever."

"So, we have one good reaction, one neutral, and too many negatives," Katniss concludes. She shakes her head. "No. We're not taking that chance."

"I told you she wouldn't be happy," Haymitch says.

She turns to glare at the man. "Can you please give us some privacy?"

"Don't kill the messenger…or the guy who went with the messenger," Haymitch mutters. "Keep me posted, you two." He pats Katniss' shoulder. "I'm sorry about District 8."

He leaves them alone to contemplate Peeta's news.

"I know that this is scary to hear," Peeta tells her. "The odds aren't in my favor."

She glares at him. "But…?"

"I think it's a chance that I need to take."

Katniss stands up, turning away from him.

"Please don't make this harder than it already is." His arms wrap around her, his chest pressing into her back. "What if it unlocks something important?"

"And, what if it doesn't?" She turns to him, almost pleading for him to change his mind. "What if you become violent, or you lose all of your memory? What if you become a vegetable?" Her eyes shut, imprisoning the tears threatening to escape. "I couldn't take it, Peeta! I couldn't…"

Peeta embraces her, kissing the top of her head.

"If I was any of those things, would you abandon me?"

"Never," she says into the crook of his neck.

"Then, I will be alright," he assures her.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Katniss wipes her nose against his shirt. "That's supposed to be my job."

"I guess I learned from the best." Peeta gazes at her tenderly. "We have to go on this mission in two days and I can't be the weak link. If something were to happen because of me, I couldn't live with myself. I need to do this…because we lost a lot of people…I lost my whole family because of Snow."

"You have me!" she persists. "Am I not enough?"

"More than enough!" he replies, his voice raised. "Our children, Katniss! Do you want our children to be born during a war?"

"And, if we never get that chance?" Katniss' voice breaks and she can't believe what she's about to say. "What if something happens to you and our children have no father?"

"Why are we even talking about this right now?" Peeta suddenly asks her. "Do you want to try to get pregnant?" A smirk rises on his lips. "I mean, it's been how long since—"

She stares at him in confusion—is this man seriously trying to suggest sex in the middle of an argument?

Katniss sighs.

Doctors be damned.

"I need to tell you something," she tells him. "And it will likely change your mind about children. It will change your mind about me."

Katniss sits down on their bed, patting the spot next to her.

Peeta joins her, taking her hands in his. "What is it?"

"We aren't married, Peeta," she confesses, feeling the weight of her secret lift off her shoulders. "In fact, we weren't even really a couple. You see, in the first Games we were in…"

Katniss goes on to explain how Haymitch told her to capitalize on the whole 'Star-Crossed Lovers of District 12' idea and how it would save their lives due to their popularity. How she convinced the world that she was in love with him and that Peeta had loved her back—until he realized the ruse. How he had been angry at her before the Victory Tour and then how they subsequently tried to form a partnership.

She told him how she had suggested that get married because it would convince Snow that their relationship was genuine.

Katniss can't bring herself to look at him as she continues onto the Quarter Quell. She stammers through explaining the kiss on the beach.

"It was the first time I really ever wanted something…and someone." Katniss looks up to find his eyes on her, his expression unreadable. "Then we were separated, and you were taken to the Capitol. I was brought here."

"Why would you lie about being married to me?" he asks gruffly.

"When you saw me, you thought I was your wife," she replies helplessly. "And I didn't disagree with you. Then, the medical team and Dr. Aurelius decided that we should keep letting you believe that it was true. We didn't want to risk you possibly having some sort of breakdown."

"If we never found out about this trigger, were you going to just keep lying to me?"

"I don't know." She swallows the lump in her throat. "I'd like to think that—one day, when this is all over—that I would tell you. Because you deserve nothing but the truth."

They lapse into a silence, the weight of her words filling the air around them.

Katniss knows that she's lost him.

However, he was never hers to begin with.

"I have one more question." She looks to him, waiting for anger. "When all is said and done, do you still love me?"

"I thought we just talked about this. It was all for show—the relationship, the marriage, the baby—"

"Bullshit." Peeta chuckles wryly. "I watched those snippets when it was just us and you can't fake emotion like that. I can tell when you're lying. Even now—" His hand reaches to cup her the back of her head so he can look at her straight on. "I can say for certain that you feel something for me. It's all there—in your eyes."

"I do." It comes out in a gasp. "I think I've loved you for a long time and I'll keep loving you after all of this."

They fall into each other's embrace, kissing every inch of exposed skin.

Katniss cries against his shoulder, knowing that there isn't going to be a discussion on what needs to happen.

Peeta has already made his choice.

His hands cup her cheeks and he presses one last kiss to her forehead, his eyes glistening with love…and fear…and hope…

'Till death do us part', she promises to herself.

"Katniss," he whispers, his mouth inching towards hers. "Kiss me."

So, she does.

FIN.

*I'm going to run and hide now.