Will you marry me?

The words echoed around her, crashing over her over and over again. Marry me. Marriage. Her and Peeta… married. He said he wanted to ask her something, but she had never in a million years thought it would be this. If she had she surely would have tried to find some way to avoid the situation, but she hadn't realized what was going on until it was far too late and he was already down on one knee in front of her. Was this what they wanted? When they were both still so young? Her heart was hammering in her chest so hard she was sure it was going to break through her ribs at any moment. She bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes zeroing in on Peeta's. His blue eyes shone up at her, full of love, honesty and vulnerability and she couldn't bring herself to do anything to hurt him.

But she couldn't stop the panic from raising in the pit of her stomach and creeping up her spine. There were so many variables here. So many. What if he realized one day that he was wrong, and he didn't want her? What if he got tired of her and all of her baggage? She was covered in both physical and mental scars, most of which she could hardly stand herself. How could she expect him to deal with them for the rest of his life? Not to mention she wasn't exactly the easiest person to be with, in fact she was the furthest from that. Haymitch's words from a few years ago rang through her mind."You could live a thousand lifetimes and still not deserve him." Haymitch had been right. Katniss knew it and the mentor knew it. So what was to say one day Peeta wouldn't know it too? And then what? What if… her eyes fell to the ring, focusing it and stopping her in her tracks.

There it was nuzzled in the silver band, balanced on top of the ring perfectly. It was a pearl. Almost identical to the one Peeta had given her during the Quarter Quell, but she knew it wasn't her pearl. That one was weighing heavily in her pocket right now. It had been there all day. Reminding her of what she had waiting for her at home, what she had to get herself together for. And it was doing that now too. Images began to flash through Katniss' mind at a rapid speed.

Peeta giving her the bread that kept her and Prim alive so many years ago. Their first kiss in the dark caves of the arena. Finnick restarting his heart. Him stopping her from taking her Nightlock pill during the rebellion. The first time she told him she loved him and really meant it. And then they weren't memories anymore. More like flashes of what could be.

It started with a wedding. Katniss in a white dress with her mother standing there smiling alongside Haymitch and Effie. In their late twenties, Peeta in the kitchen doing what he does best as she watched with a tiny pink bundle balanced on her hip. The scene changed and they were lying in their bed upstairs, middle aged, their features beginning to show laugh and stress lines; each one telling a story. Then they were older, much, much older. All wrinkled and grey haired but still smiling, and still looking at each other with the same adoring look he was giving her now.

"You really want to marry me…?" she asked quietly, so quiet that she wasn't even sure he had heard her. She finally managed to pull her eyes away from the tiny white gem staring up at her and brought her gaze back to meet his. His eyes bore into hers, searching for an answer and that's when it clicked for her. All the panic was for nothing. She was in love with him. And for whatever reason he was in love with her too. There wasn't anyone else out there for her. No one else would ever fit with her the way he did, and vice versa. It was like he was her missing puzzle piece, only he would fit. This was it for them, they were it for each other. "Yes," she said in the same quiet tone, a grin breaking out across her face. "Yes, I'll marry you, Peeta," she said louder this time, letting out a breathy laugh of both joy and disbelief over the situation.