By Rileyswag

"Katniss," he asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Let's get married."

I barked out a laugh. "Sweetheart, I think we're as close to that as we can get."

He shrugged and went back to baking his bread. I have a point, I know. We have a house together, we share everything, we've been virtually inseparable since the ending of... everything, and we even have a cat. If you can call Buttercup a pet- he sort of just comes by for food and then hisses at me and scurries off. Until the next meal, that is.

"Well," I hear myself saying tugging on my braid a bit. "I guess, officially, it would be kind of nice."

He perked up instantly. I had to laugh, he had flour in his dirty-blonde hair and a smudge of cinnamon on his cheek, but his smile was so dazzling I didn't even notice. "Katniss Ivy Mellark- catchy, isn't it?"

"Who said I was going to take your last name?" I teased, returning to stringing my bows with a goofy grin on my olive-toned face. It vanished just as quick as it came. I can't deny I'm scared- possibly more scared than I was in the Games. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but here's the facts: Marriage leads to children. It's ridiculous, but after my fake-pregnancy, losing a baby to the Games is possibly my number one nightmare.

"Katniss," he warns, sitting next to me and gently grabbing my hand. "I know that look."

"What look?" I mumble childishly, dragging my feet against the carpet.

Peeta sighed. "I know you... have an... aversion to having kids," he started, dragging a hand through his hair.

I snorted unattractively, leaning into him and covering my face with my hands. "What if the Games start up again?" I ask in a small voice. "They'd get picked for sure. I couldn't live with that."

"It's done," he said simply, embracing me. "The Hunger Games are officially over. The odds are in our favor, for once, and we get to live normally. Get married, have a family... everything that we deserve."

"What if we don't deserve it?" I challenge, a new found fire in my attitude.

"Katniss?"

"Well, you deserve it." I correct. "But I don't."

"Don't start this again..." Peeta sighed.

"It's true!" I insist. "I've killed people."

"As have I," he said, thinking back to our first Games.

I chuckled dryly. "Only when you've had too. I killed Coin, and that innocent- well, considering, capitol lady... I couldn't even save Prim. I'm just... you deserve better than to be bonded in a lifelong commitment with me."

"It's always been you," he murmured, staring me dead in the eye.

I shrugged him off, standing and gathering my arrows and bow. I'm not good with words or confrontation, so I give Peeta a simple kiss on the cheek that plainly said, we'll see, and run out the door and into the woods.

The only thing that clears my mind is hunting. Bringing game home, even though we don't need it. Peeta and I, we don't have to work a day in our lives now, but we each choose to go about our usual business. Or, what had been usual before our lives were turned upside-down.

Easily shooting a large buck, I walked over to it with pride. Not quite ready- mentally or physically- to go back home yet, I perched myself on a nearby boulder and pondered things over.

I never thought about marriage, to be honest. For the past few years, I've just lived with Peeta in our little house. Buttercup is our pet, Haymitch is our neighbor- it's exactly like we're married- just, less official. And less scary. Oh, yes. Certainly less frightening.

On the other hand... Katniss Ivy Mellark doesn't sound that bad. It makes me smile like a loon, no doubt, but I like it. If there's one thing I know, Peeta deserves whatever he wants, and if he wants me to be his wife... who am I to deny him?

Then I think of Prim. I always think of Prim. I remember after one particular gruesome nightmare after the second Games- one that consisted of Peeta and mine's fake child- Prim just held me and told me that one day we're going to get married and that Katniss Mellark will know exactly how to protect her children.

At that moment, it hit me. Of course I want to get married. Of course I want to be Katniss Ivy Mellark. I'm still unsure about the whole child part, but one thing's for certain- I want Peeta to be my husband, Officially, anyway.

Forgetting my buck, I all but sprinted back into the house, causing Haymitch to yell half-drunk slurs at me from his porch.

"Peeta," I asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Let's get married."