I'm sorry it took me so long to post again! Took advantage of a day home sick to write this up. Any chapters after this will likely be one-shots, so I'd love to hear from you as to what they should be about.

Peeta's POV:

The waves lapped at my toes, and I pulled them back from the cold water. I had seen the ocean a handful of times during my life, but I could see why Annie and Finnick loved it. It was peaceful here. It would be a good place for me to start fixing things. Maybe then I could go back to Katniss.

I shuddered, remembering the look in her eyes when I'd sent her away. Heartbroken. I had done everything I could to help put back together what the Capitol had shattered, only to break it again. I hated myself.

We were both so broken. I had gone mad, unable to control myself. I had nearly killed her because I couldn't get a grip on those memories.

Words from what seemed like years ago rang through my head as I remembered holding Katniss, telling her that none of this was our fault, that we needed to stop blaming ourselves because it was the Capitol that had done this to us. But here in Four, with me having run from what I had failed to handle, it was hard to believe my own words. She had worked so hard to come back, and I wasn't good enough for it.

I felt sick.

So my only option was to stay, and to heal. Annie had been so kind as to agree to let me stay indefinitely, and I was going to need to take her up on the offer.

I didn't move when I heard the door slide open behind me, but I couldn't help but smile as little Finnick toddled over the beach towards me. He reached up for me, and I picked him up, amazed again at the striking similarities between this boy and his father.

He knots his hand in my hair before attaching to my ear, tugging curiously at it. I pulled my head away, relieved by his innocence. He doesn't know I hide a monster. He doesn't quite understand where his father has gone, or the sadness in his mother's eyes. And the sadness is still there; Annie's soft eyes tell a story so far beyond sorrow. But there is now hope where there was none, and it makes me think that there might be a chance for me as well.

She has healed in a way no one expected to rise to the challenge of raising a child as a single mother. She told me that she cooks dinner each night and spends long hours swimming or weaving nets, and this has brought some steadiness to her life. Maybe that is what I should do: find a rhythm in the things that the person I was before the Games enjoyed, and hope they help bring me back. That seems like the best place to start.

I spent a quiet dinner with the Odairs, grateful that Annie is so comfortable with silence and also grateful that it is not true silence. There was the scrape of knives on plates, and Finnick's happy babbling, and the sound of the ocean. Not conversation, but the sound of life going on, and that was more than enough.

I returned to the edge of the water as the sun began to set, admiring the sky as it softened into my favorite shade of orange. Tomorrow I would bake something, and maybe go for a walk. That was what I would have done, right? It was harder now to remember, with all the memories skewed and all the people who had played a part in them gone, in one way or another. But I would try. I had to start, at least.

This time I rolled up my pants and waded in. The next wave rushed over the bottoms anyways, soaking the cuff I'd made. I couldn't find it in me to care anyways; they would dry, and I was enjoying the feel of soft, wet sand between my toes too much.

So I watched the waves, letting them drown out the sound of voices in the house. Annie must have a visitor. I didn't feel much like getting up and chatting with anyone, so I stayed. Darkness was rushing in to fill in the space left behind by the sun when I heard the sliding door open.

Again, I didn't turn. I was content here, and if someone needed me they would come out to me. I waited patiently for someone to call out or for the door to open again, but there was nothing. The nagging feeling of someone behind me pulled me around at last, and what I found was not at all what I expected.

Katniss stood small and quiet behind me, the sunset framing her silhouette and the breeze tossing her hair up. She reached up, pulling it around her shoulder. It was strange to see it freed from its braid. I wondered why she'd come; I'd told her not to, and Gale was supposed to keep her safe. Safe from me.

"Katniss, you shouldn't be here."

She shook her head, opening her mouth and closing it before speaking. "No. I have something to say first."

I waited, my blood running cold. She was here to tell me that she hated me, that I had hurt her too much to ever be forgiven. I knew that, of course. But that small, impossibly unbroken part of me that liked to hope. I wasn't sure if I should apologize, try to explain further, or simply let her go. I didn't know if I could do any of the above.

"I loved you. I still love you."

I struggled to find the words to send her away, to find the strength to send her away. The words were there—I just had to find them, to say them, to force them out.

"Katniss—,"

"No, stop. I don't want to hear it. You might want space or time or distance but I don't want that, and I don't need that, I can't have that. So you're just going to have to deal with me being with you because I can't get better without you."

And suddenly, I couldn't find those words, or any at all. So I nodded as my shaky resolve crumbled, and held my hand out, because it was the only thing I could do. She was wrong; I didn't want space between us. I just couldn't hurt her. And if she needed me, like she said, then I would have to find another way to heal, a way that didn't involve being away from her.

She stepped forward took my hand, and I held on. Here, so far from the place I once called home, next to Katniss, I felt like maybe I could find a way. The bruises I'd left would heal, though forgiving myself would take far longer, and she and I would find our way back.

Or maybe we would find our way forward.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are very much appreciated : )

Again, please don't forget to leave ideas for what you'd like to see for some one-shots of their future!