A/N: Here it is guys, the FINAL chapter of this story. Sorry it took so long, but I hope you guys enjoy! I posted a PiP over on tumblr that I will posting the second part of soon. Thanks for all your support with this fic :) Thanks as always and MOSTLY to my amazing friend and beta Court81981 - I can assure you all this story never would have happened without her. I'm on tumblr ~ thegirlonpeetamellark :)

One Month Later…

Katniss looked around her now barren room. She couldn't believe it was only four months ago when she had first moved in here. She couldn't believe how much had happened in such a short amount of time, how much her life had changed.

She felt wistful for a moment, remembering that first night in her new room.

But now things would never be the same.

When she felt two solid, strong arms wrap around her waist, she relaxed back against the warm chest she knew so well.

Peeta pressed a kiss to her neck and she sighed happily.

"You having second thoughts about moving in to my room with me?"

Katniss shook her head at the question. Even though she could tell he was aiming for a playful tone, she knew Peeta well enough to sense the underlying doubt he was voicing by asking her that.

She turned in his arms, linking her hands around his neck and kissing him softly. "Never," she assured him when they broke away. "Are you sure you're not rethinking me taking over your personal space and hogging the covers?"

Peeta smiled that crooked grin that made her stomach flip. "I love when you hog the covers," he replied. "It just gives me an excuse to get that much closer to you in bed."

She shook her head at him with a little laugh and relaxed into his arms, savoring the feeling of being held by him. Not a day had gone by where she didn't revel in his touch and appreciate how lucky she was to have him. They had to overcome a lot to even be together, and then they had to overcome the challenges life had thrown at them, but it was worth it in the end.

When Peeta's mother had walked out of that bar a month ago, after Katniss had told her that she had recorded her threats and extortions and that Peeta's check would never clear, there was a moment where she didn't really know if Peeta would yell at her or thank her. She had taken such a huge risk doing all of that without telling him. She had bluffed her way through most of that conversation—the cops weren't waiting to show up at the bar and bust his mother, but she had sent the recording to her Uncle Haymitch—and it had done the trick apparently.

They hadn't heard from his mother since, and neither of them expected to. His mother would always put herself first, and making sure she stayed in the clear and away from the authorities would always be her first priority.

Katniss remembered waiting for Peeta to say something for what felt like forever. He had been so quiet that her stomach had turned itself in knots and she was more scared of what his reaction would be than whether his mother would come back and make good on her threats.

Finally, he had turned to look at her with a mix of shock and confusion.

"Does your uncle really work for the Feds?"

The question had been the last thing she was expecting, but suddenly she was rambling non-stop in her haste to answer him. She told him she had contacted her uncle Haymitch about the whole situation and he had advised her how best to handle it. She had explained how the recording they got would be like insurance from his mother ever pulling something like this again. She had apologized for not telling him and for doing it without his permission.

By the end she had been a mess of tears, pleading for him to understand and to forgive her when he had not said a single word through her entire explanation.

Finally Peeta's expression had shifted into one of awe and he shook his head at her a little ruefully. "I can't believe you did all that for me." He had wiped away her tears and kissed her gently. "No one has ever done something like that for me, Katniss. No one has ever cared that much."

Then she had grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, making sure he understood what she was about to say. "I would do anything for you, okay? Anything."

Things had been good since then; not perfect, but definitely good. Peeta still had his occasional nightmares and sometimes she looked over her shoulder more than once, in fear that his mother would reappear in their life, but overall they were happy and together.

And now they were taking a step forward in their relationship by moving into the same room.

"Do we have to go out tonight?" Peeta asked, his hands trailing down her back until they reached her behind, squeezing purposefully. "I can think of plenty of other things I'd rather do with you in our new bedroom."

She tilted her head back to grant his lips easier access to her neck, which he was currently showering with kisses. When he squeezed her ass again she pushed her hips into him, feeling that throbbing urgency between her legs.

"We promised Rye and Madge we would go on a double date with them," she whispered, her eyes closed and completely lost to his touch.

"We have time before we have to get ready," Peeta cajoled her, lifting her up into his arms as her legs snaked around his waist.

"Mmm…we could save time by showering together," she added between kisses as he walked them back to their shared bedroom.

"I like the way you think," he smiled against her neck once they were in the hallway.

"Oh gross! Come on you two, keep it in your pants!"

They were broken from their moment by the sound of Rye's obnoxious voice yelling at them from down the hall. Peeta paused and turned to see Rye standing there with a self-satisfied smirk, his arm thrown over Madge's shoulder.

Katniss saw her friend grin at her, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "We're ready to go whenever you guys are," Madge said earnestly. "And I'm freaking starving, so the sooner the better.

Katniss had to bite back a laugh when she saw that Peeta looked like he wanted to throttle the pair of them.

"Give us a minute to get ready," Katniss laughed, feeling that Peeta might need more than a minute, based on his straining hard-on that was pressing into her. He grunted his displeasure and she kissed his cheek sweetly.

"Alright, but hurry up. No funny business," Rye scolded them.

Later, when the four of them sat down together at dinner she realized how incredibly grateful was that when she and Peeta fell in love, his relationship with his brother hadn't suffered and she could still call Rye a friend with no lingering awkwardness.

"Hey, I've been meaning to thank you for letting me move in at the beginning of the semester," she told Rye, when Madge was in the bathroom and Peeta was handling the bill.

"Yeah, who would have thought it would have worked out as well as it did," he mused. "I fell for your best friend. You fell for my brother. And you and I are still friends. It's doesn't always work out that easily."

"I think it speaks to how mature you've become," she replied, in a tone of false superiority.

He picked an olive off their remaining pizza and flung it at her. "Not that mature," he laughed.

Somehow her senior year came to a close, and when she walked across the stage to receive her diploma she looked out into the crowd, searching for Peeta. She thought about how it didn't seem like the end of anything. It felt like just the beginning. Rye, Madge, Johanna, and Annie sat beside her during the commencement address, and then they all trudged through the crowds together to meet up with their families when it was finished.

When she introduced her mother and sister to Peeta for the first time, she had that nervous knot in her stomach that came from the most important people in her life coming together for the first time. She knew what she had with Peeta was for the long term; so to see the way he instantly clicked with Prim and charmed her mother made her almost giddy.

Her mom and Prim didn't stay in town for long. Her mother still worked at the hospital back home and Prim was at school on the other side of the country, but Katniss was glad for the time she had with them to celebrate her graduation and introduce them to Peeta.

Her birthday was a week after graduation and Peeta planned to cook her an elaborate meal that they could share over candlelight in the apartment alone. He told her he had warned Rye he needed to stay the weekend at Madge's if he didn't want to hear Katniss screaming Peeta's name all night.

"He asked me how that was different from any other night," Peeta grinned cheekily when he recounted the anecdote to Katniss, moving around the kitchen while making her birthday dinner.

Katniss could feel the blush crawl up her face and she ducked her head, biting back a smile. "That's embarrassing," she complained. She was still growing used to being intimate with Peeta. It was weird to think of his brother—her friend—overhearing the noises she and Peeta made together at night.

"I told him this was going to be special. It's your birthday, so I plan on being very…generous." Peeta locked eyes with her and she felt her heart speed up in her chest and her underwear grow damp at everything that look he gave her suggested.

After a moment, the serious look faded from Peeta's face and he smiled at her like she was the sun. "I love that I can make you blush like that," he laughed, turning back to his preparations for dinner.

"I'm still new to…this," Katniss replied, hating how awkward and inexperienced she felt in the moment. She wished she could be cool and confident and sexy, but so much of what she was feeling with Peeta was completely new to her. "I'm not experienced like you," she added in huff, feeling oddly defensive. She didn't stop to think about what she had just said until Peeta was quiet for a moment, not responding.

It hit her like a punch to the gut how her last comment could be taken in a negative way and she mentally kicked herself for not being more sensitive and careful. Especially with what she had learned about the kind of horrible abuse his mother inflicted on him.

"Oh god, Peeta, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that." She quickly tried to make amends, jumping off her stool at the counter and moving across the kitchen towards him.

He sighed and turned towards her, opening his arms so she could fold herself into his embrace without hesitation. "I know," he mumbled into her hair, kissing her head. "But I am more experienced, Katniss. When Rye and I finally got away from our mother, there was a time there that I was just looking for a warm body at night and I wasn't very particular about who it was."

She had to work to immediately push down the anger and jealousy and mix of a bunch of other different emotions that rose up in her at Peeta's confession. She reminded herself that the way he chose to cope with the damage his mother did to him was none of her business and it wasn't her place to be upset about it. He was hers now and nothing else mattered.

"I don't care," she told him when she pulled back to look up at him. "Nothing that happened before you and me matters very much. Maybe it's stupid and naïve, but that's how I feel. All I care about is now. You and me and the future."

He leaned down to kiss her and what started as a gentle kiss quickly turned passionate, so when they broke apart they were both breathing hard. "I have to finish dinner," Peeta admonished her, as if it was her fault for distracting him.

"I'll be good," she laughed, moving away so he could tend to what he needed to.

They ate dinner by candlelight in the living room like he promised and it was so good Katniss practically stuffed herself, voicing her praise between bites. Then they were on the couch, making out like teenagers, Peeta kneading her breasts and rocking his hips into her, until they were both panting with lust.

"I keep thinking Rye is going to come home and yell at us," Katniss laughed between kisses, trailing her hands through the ends of Peeta's hair.

"Don't be thinking about my brother at a time like this," Peeta scolded her, pushing her dress up past her hips and tugging her underwear down.

"Definitely not thinking about him right now," she sighed as Peeta moved to the floor in front of the couch, dipping his head between her legs.

He started planting kisses along her inner thighs and she squirmed, rocking her hips in a desperate plea for him to put his mouth where she needed it.''

"Happy Birthday," Peeta whispered against her skin before his tongue licked the length of her folds slowly and thoroughly.

"Fuck!" she cried out as he slid two fingers inside her and wrapped his mouth around her clit. She grabbed his hair with her hand, tugging at it hard at the same time that she jutted her hips against his face, begging for more.

"So fucking wet," Peeta hummed against her as his thumb started to circle her clit with hard little circles. He continued stroking his fingers inside her. "Come for me," he said, licking her again and again until she screamed in ecstasy.

She barely had time to come down from her high. Peeta had pushed his pants to the floor and hooked his arms around her knees, holding her legs splayed apart for him as he sunk inside her.

"God you feel so good," he panted, staying still inside her, letting them both revel in the feeling of their bodies being joined, his cock as deep as he could get. He circled his hips as he pulled back and she shivered at the overwhelming pleasure.

She dug her nails into the skin of his back and tilted her head back against the couch. "Fuck me hard," she pleaded, her chest heaving as she waited for him to give her what she wanted. "Fuck me, Peeta."

He slammed into her, almost brutally, and she cried out in surprise. "Like that?" he panted. "You want it like that?"

"Yes, yes, yes," she chanted as he began a punishing rhythm that had her tensing as she neared her climax even quicker than before.

"Fuck, I love you," he grunted, his hips slapping against hers relentlessly. "I love your tight little pussy. I love how you take me so deep. I love how you let me fuck you hard and rough."

She shattered into pure sensation as his words washed over her, the pleasure nearly too much to endure. He didn't slow his pace as he felt her tense around him and his hips sped up as he neared his own release.

She was nearly sobbing as she felt him explode inside of her. He collapsed against her and then fell onto the couch, pulling her with him so their bodies were still joined.

They clung to each other for the longest time without saying anything. The sweat dried on their skin and their heartbeats returned to normal. He ran a hand over her hair and she propped her head on his chest to look at him.

"Thank you. This was easily my best birthday ever."

"I went to spend every single one of your birthdays with you," he said, gazing at her adoringly.

"I'll allow it," she grinned at him, wondering how she ever ended up so lucky to have someone as good and perfect as Peeta in her life.

He might have felt that she brought him out of his own dark past, but she knew she was not the same person she had been when she met him. He had changed her for the better and she would be forever grateful. She would never forget what he had done for her. She had meant it when she said that nothing else mattered before she met him.

When they met and fell in love was when her life really began.

Katniss was having a good dream.

Peeta was there and he was smiling at her like he always did, like she was the sun and the moon and the stars. There were also children there, a dancing girl with long dark hair and a chubby toddler with blonde curls. Katniss had the most indescribable feeling of peace and happiness, and while the details of the dream were hazy she knew she never wanted to wake up.

But something did pull her from her slumber.

She came to in the bed she now shared with Peeta without his warm body curled around her own, like she had grown so accustomed to. Instead, he was sitting up at the edge of the bed, gripping the sheets tightly in clenched fists. Tension was pouring off him in waves.

Instantly Katniss became more alert, recognizing the signs of Peeta post-nightmare. He had been having them less frequently in the recent months, but they were clearly something that would never just go away entirely.

She sat up in bed and watched him carefully. "Peeta…" she whispered timidly, afraid to upset him even further.

"Go back to bed," he choked out in a voice that was not his own.

Katniss felt her stomach drop and her chest tighten with worry and fear. She hated seeing him this upset. "Peeta," she tried again, scooting closer to him on the bed and reaching out to touch his back with her hand.

He jumped up off the bed like she had burned him, and walked toward the door of the room, pulling it open and stalking across the hall towards their bathroom.

She sat there in stunned silence for a moment, shocked that he had reacted like that. Peeta always let her comfort him after a nightmare. It was what had brought them closer together in the first place when their relationship was first starting out.

She forced herself to push away the feelings of hurt and anger over his dismissal, reminding herself that Peeta would never want to hurt her. If he was acting a certain way, it had less to do with her and more to do with himself and the things he was dealing with.

Swallowing her pride, she threw the covers off and got up out of bed to follow him across the hall to the bathroom. She came to stand in the hallway right outside the bathroom, where Peeta was splashing water on his face and staring into the mirror.

For a long time he wouldn't look at her, and so she simply stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest, waiting for him to say something. Finally he walked out of the bathroom and stood across from her in the hallway, his face somber.

She took a shaky breath and stepped closer to him, reaching up to rest a hand on his chest. "This is the exact spot we met," she whispered.

She must have caught him off guard with that statement, because a crooked smile flitted across his face before he could help it. "I remember," he acknowledged.

"You were in your underwear and a tank top," she said with a little smirk.

He shot her a half-smile and reached out to grab her hips as she moved even closer to him. He sighed as she gazed up at him, her eyes full of questions.

"Tell me," she urged him gently and quietly, hating to see him in this state.

"I had a dream…" he paused, as if to gather himself to say the next part. "I had a dream and she was screaming at me and hitting me…the usual." He closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them and looked at her they were full of so much pain she felt her heart squeeze in response. "And then suddenly I was her…and I was the one hurting my kids…our kids…"

Katniss covered her mouth with her hand, forcing herself to hold back tears. The complete anguish and misery in Peeta's voice and eyes as he related the worst nightmare he had ever had nearly undid her. Of course this would hit him harder than any other night terror before. This wasn't only his pain he had to relive; this was imagining his unborn children enduring the same torture he had experienced—and at his own hands.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and forced him to look at her. "Peeta, no," she gasped out, needing him to hear and accept what she was telling him. "It was a horrible nightmare, nothing else. You would never, and could never do that. You are an amazing man. You're full of so much love and kindness and patience. You are going to be a wonderful father." She peppered kisses across his lips and cheek and jaw, and he stood there with his arms wrapped around her and his eyes closed as he tried to slow his breathing and get control of his emotions.

"But she's a part of me, Katniss. I have some of her inside me. What if something happens, what if I do something…" his voice cracked and it nearly undid her.

"Stop," she commanded him. "Don't think like that. It's not possible, Peeta. I know you. I know your heart. I know how deeply you love and how much you care. It was just a nightmare. Don't let her win. We beat her. She doesn't get to ruin this for us, our future." Without realizing it, she was crying and looking up at Peeta desperately, framing her face in her hands and pulling him towards her.

They shared a gentle, slow kiss that was full of all the love they shared for each other and the pain from what they had been through. "We're going to have two kids," she said when they broke away, resting their foreheads against each other. "A little girl with dark hair and blue eyes," she told him, the details of her own dream coming back to her now. "And then a little boy with blonde hair and grey eyes. And you are going to be the best father in the world. You are going to spoil them rotten and love them so deeply and give them the childhood you never had."

Peeta's hands lifted to tangle in her hair, pulling her mouth back to him as they kissed again deeply, their tongues intertwining and their bodies pressing against one another. In one swift motion, he lifted her off her feet and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He turned and pressed her so her back was against the wall, his lips trailing down her neck.

"I love you," he told her, breathless and urgent. "I love you so damn much."

She laughed as he kissed that particular spot behind her ear and she trailed her hands through his hair. "Who would have thought that night we first met at this exact spot we would end up here?" she smiled, kissing him sweetly again before pulling away.

"I can't imagine my life without you in it and I don't ever want to have to," he said seriously, looking into her eyes when he pulled back.

Her heart stopped when she realized what he was thinking and her mouth hung open dumbly.

"Not yet," she said quickly, before he could speak again. "Don't ask me yet."

He grinned that smile that always made her heartbeat double its pace. "Okay, when can I ask you then?"

She smiled so wide her cheeks hurt and she felt silly, shaking her head. "I don't know. Let me find a job first?"

He laughed and kissed her on the cheek. "Okay, I can wait that long at least. As long as I get to go to bed every night next to you until then, I'll be happy."

"Me too," she smiled, thinking as long as he was next to her, she'd be happy forever.