25 Years

"Coach Finnick?" A timid voice came from outside his office. Finnick looked up to see a rather nervous looking Henry Spenser, a fourteen year old who was on the swim team shifting from foot to foot. He was one of those kids who had a lot of potential, but just hadn't quite hit his growth spurt yet. Finnick took off his glasses, set down his pen and motioned to the chair opposite of his desk.

"Hi Henry, what can I do for you?" He asked, and Henry looked nervously down at his hands, which he was currently in the process of wringing before saying,

"I'm…well…I'm thinking of coming out to my parents." Henry said nervous, "Because I'm gay."

"What can I do to help you?" Finnick answered automatically.

"I know you run a…group right? For parents?"

"That I do."

"I was wondering if I could give them an info packet or something…to help them understand I guess." Henry said, and Finnick opened up his file cabinet, pulling out the beginning info packet for one of the many groups he helped to run and gave to Henry after he got up and clapped him on the shoulder.

"You're doing something very brave, and I'm proud of you. It takes kids like you to set a good example for the rest of the team about being who you are and being proud." Finnick told Henry seriously, and Henry nodded. "If you need anything else, be sure to call or email me. Just remember to be accepting of their opinions as well."

"But what if they…say it's a phase or don't believe me?"

"Make sure to ask them to read this packet, or to call me at any time okay?" Finnick said, before Henry gave him a hug,

"Thanks Coach." He said and Finnick ruffled his hair.

"Good luck." He wished the kid, before Henry walked out of his office and Finnick smiled to himself.

After he had become a certified councilor, on top of his other positions at the Arena, he had begun a lot of different programs for the Arena, as well as many of the other recreation centers across the state. A yearly LBGT Awareness week, as well as groups for parents in understanding and talking about their own LGBT youth, working with a group of victims of sexual assault, kids who were in the foster care system, as well as organizing to aid homeless shelters around the state with volunteers and donations. He liked to think he had made a difference in the lives of many, and really liked being able to help people and give back.

Finnick began to pack up for the day, before walking out of the Arena, and going to his car. He had to get home early, because that day wasn't a normal day and he wanted to get right home.

It was his and Annie's twenty-five year anniversary.

Well, not wedding anniversary. It was actually going to be their 20th marriage anniversary in a month, and it was their 25th anniversary of being together. They had decided to celebrate both anniversaries together, after all it was apparently an "accomplishment" to have been together as long as they had been. Even though it didn't feel like that much of an accomplishment, when every day he spent with Annie, even the hard ones were more rewarding than anything he could have ever imagined. In the spirit of that sentiment, they had opted for just a simple family dinner, and Finnick was very much looking forward to it. Too often, they weren't able to eat together as a family. Dylan, being seventeen and driving his own car he had been paying gas and insurance for with his job as a lifeguard normally had to chauffer Rita and Nick and Kai to swim practice and wherever else, while Finnick normally just ate whatever was in the fridge and relaxed with Mags while Annie began her work. But that day they had all taken off their personal activities in order to celebrate their family together.

He pulled into the driveway and opened the front door, only to be pleasantly assaulted with the scents of a home cooked meal. Mags, now very much in her nineties hobbled over to give Finnick a big hug, which Finnick returned with just as much gusto. A few years ago, Mags had suffered a stroke, and without hesitation Finnick had the basement of the house renovated so that she could live with them comfortably. Finnick was just never okay with the idea of putting Mags into a home, after all she had done for him. Thankfully, Annie was very much in agreement.

"Welcome home, mi hijo." She warbled with that smile of hers.

"Good afternoon." He chuckled, just as the twelve-year old twins Nick and Kai rushed down the hall to give him a hug. "And hello men! How are we doing today?"

"Good." They chimed in together, eyes his color glinting with mischief, just as Rita turned the corner, hands on her hips.

"You little snot nosed brats!" She told them before saying to him, "Dad, they literally put food dye in my hand soap."

"Is that true?" Finnick asked the boys who looked away, both trying to appear as innocent as possible. Nick and Kai had certainly been a surprise when Annie had found out she had gotten pregnant. Of course Annie chalked it all up to her genetics as a twin herself, and though they were identical twins rather than fraternal, they both had taken more after Finnick then any of his children with bronze curls and sea-green eyes and easily tanned skin. And obviously they had acquired Finnick's mischievous streak as well.

"Ritzy, don't sweat it. It was just a little prank. Life goes on." Dylan said, stretching to his full height, before patting Rita's head as she rolled her eyes.

"Do not call me Ritzy. Only dad calls me that." Rita told him, brushing her gold hair off her shoulder.

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure Ryan Hill called you Ritzy while you were sucking face with him in the hall." Dylan teased, causing Rita's fair complexion to flush bright red.

"Oh my god I'm going to rip your face off!" Rita said, brandishing her manicured purple nails.

"Children." Annie called from the kitchen, one hand on her hip, the other one brandishing a wooden spoon. All of the kids froze and Finnick felt his mouth tugging into a huge smile, "It happens to be my anniversary, so let's stop the bickering alright and let your father breathe and sit down before you begin again."

"Yes mom." All the kids repeated, Rita pouting like a proper fifteen year old girl before elbowing Dylan and then going to do her homework on the kitchen table, while Dylan like any self-respecting seventeen year old brother elbowed back jokingly before going upstairs, while Nick and Kai went into the living room to go play X-box.

Finnick walked over and swept Annie up in his arms, pressing his mouth to hers in a wonderful, sweet moment before pulling back.

"Hello Annie, you are looking absolutely ravishing today." Finnick greeted, while Annie smiled back and rolled her eyes back,

"And hello to you, my silly husband." She said, as Finnick tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Finnick knew Annie could sometimes get a little self-conscious about the laugh lines forming and crow's feet that came along with being in their early forties. But Finnick always made a point to tell her how beautiful she was to him. In his opinion, they were both aging rather gracefully over the years, and still to Annie's chagrin his ass did get rated rather highly every time they went to the store.

"How was work last night? I was asleep before you got back right?" Finnick asked and Annie chuckled.

"We've got some new nurses on the unit, so I had to hold their hands a little bit, but they've got promise. How about you? How was work today?"

"Very good, some of the girls in my Sexual Assault group really made strides talking today, and we had a lot of qualifiers for swim team Championships." Finnick said, and Finnick could just feel how proud of him she was before saying honestly,

"That's so wonderful, Finnick. You must be the busiest man in Panem County."

"I really must be." He agreed before saying, "Whatever you and Mags are cooking smells absolutely fantastic." Finnick chuckled, and Annie smiled.

"I figured we should pull out all the stops, so I'm baking a lot of haddock, got some mashed potatoes with extra butter just like the kids like it, broccoli and cheese sauce, green beans, and corn on the cob. Then Peeta was nice enough to give us a cake and some fresh bread. I figured we'd be able to work it off tomorrow while we train for the Arena's triathlon tomorrow so why not indulge." Annie said before suddenly remembering and pulling out a letter from her apron, "Oh, and by the way, this came for you in the mail."

Finnick took the letter in his hands and turned it over, reading the sender and feeling like his eyes might pop out of his head.

"Mayor Undersee?" He asked, surprised as he began to open the letter, "What on Earth could it be about?"

Finnick opened up the letter and began reading, and the further he got along the further his mouth opened in complete shock. He was so honestly surprised he was halfway ready to call up the mayor's office and demand to know if it was a joke, before he saw the mayor's actual signature on the bottom.

"No way." He said, totally thrown off guard.

"What?" Annie asked concerned, before his face broke out into such a huge smile that his cheeks hurt and that he was worried that his face might split in two.

"You know that Activism conference I was invited to last year that we all went to?" Finnick asked and Annie nodded,

"Yeah I remember."

"Well…apparently I was voted by the council to be Activist of the Year for the state. And they want to give me an award for the programs and work I've done. And they want me to give a speech."

"Oh my God!" Annie said, immediately giving him a hug, causing him to twirl her around, before Mags claimed a kiss and a hug of her own. "Oh God, Finnick, congratulations! I'm so proud of you."

"Well it wouldn't have been possible without the two of you, as well as my beautiful and wonderful children who should come here to hear the news I just got!" A stated loud enough for Dylan to walk down the stairs, the twins to prop themselves up on the back of the couch and for Rita to pop her head from around the corner. "Your old man's been voted Activist of the Year."

"Congrats Dad!" Nick and Kai cheered, clapping their hands. Rita immediately burst out of the kitchen in order to claim a hug, while Dylan came downstairs to give him a hug in turn.

"You really deserve it, Dad." Dylan said, "You're pretty much the best person I know."

"I wouldn't say that." Finnick said trying not to choke up as his son smiled at him with Annie's smile.

"I definitely would. You help a lot of people, and obviously those people know what we see in you." Dylan pointed out. "You've done a lot of good for the community."

"I just hope that you all will aspire to do good things for people as well." Finnick said seriously, "I've always wanted to be the type of person you guys could look up to in that regards, and be able to live your lives in a way that will make a positive impact."

"There he goes, already making a speech." Rita giggled, making Annie hold back her laughter and Finnick to smile and give her a kiss on the top of her head.

"And you can make a positive impact by getting a good grade on your math test." He teased her, making the boys cackle and Rita stick out her tongue at him.

And so that night Finnick sat at the dinner table with all of his favorite people in the world and enjoyed the dreamlike everyday life he had somehow achieved.

"I don't know if I can do this." Finnick said, his speech crinkled in his sweating palms as Annie reached out to fix his tie, just like she had when he had gone for his first job interview all those years before. The way she smiled immediately put him at ease, just like it always had as she stood there in her gorgeous sea green evening gown. She looked so gorgeous that Finnick would marry her at that moment all over again.

"Of course you can." Annie hummed.

They were standing behind the curtain, a few minutes before Finnick was to go on and give his acceptance speech. Annie had been helping him write and practice at home while they had gone out for their daily runs or swims, or after they had made love and lay side by side in bed. Even if he stumbled and fell, she was always there to encourage him.

"If I totally mess this up, you'll still love me right?" Finnick asked hopefully and she just rolled her eyes.

"I'll publicly denounce you." She said jokingly before saying, "Of course I'll still love you. I'll just have you take a public speaking class."

"Oh great, just what I wanted to hear." Finnick muttered, causing Annie to press her lips to his. God, he would be glad to just kiss that mouth every day for the rest of his life. Her taste was of home, just like the feeling of her arms around him and the scent of her hair was. And Finnick couldn't imagine wanting anything else.

"I just want to let you know how proud of you I am, before you are descended on by the hordes." Annie said seriously, "You've come a long way since that kid who walked into my tutoring session all those years ago."

"I'd like to think it was in a positive direction." Finnick said, as she touched his hand that held his speech.

"It definitely was. Ever since then, you've never ceased to amaze me. You've grown into the type of person that anyone would be proud of. I'm just the lucky one you chose to share that growth with." Annie said, sounding as if she was choking up on her tears, "And in all these years you helped me grow and become a better person too. We've fought like hell to get here, and fought each other sometimes but it was so worth it."

"You bet it was." Finnick said before saying in total awe, "I don't think you could ever understand how much I love you, and how much you've changed my life."

"If it's anywhere near as much as it is with me, then I think we're good." Annie said with a tearful laugh that Finnick shared with her, "I want you to also realize what a good father you are. All of our kids have so much to offer to the world, I mean, Dylan was telling me about how he wants to get into Cornell because of their veterinarian program, and Rita's about to become varsity captain of the swim team next year…and both Nick and Kai have gotten such good feedback from their teachers. And they're the way they are because of you and your constant commitment to them, and to all the children at your job you help. I wish I was half as good as you, Finnick. You are something special and you deserve this."

"You are the good one." He said, throat clogging, "You're the one who taught me what it meant to love other people, and how to care for them, and to take responsibility. It's your commitment that inspires mine, whether it was to your school work, or to your family, or to me, a stupid kid who thought he wasn't worth it. If it was up to me, you'd be the one getting this reward not me."

"Well then, we're both good. But it's your damn award. Not mine." Annie laughed, reaching up to kiss his face before pulling back. "Break a leg, Finnick."

"Annie, you're the best." He said before announcing loudly, "Marry me again, damnit!"

"Any day!" Annie called back, before walking off to rejoin the crowd that had reassembled during the ending of the intermission.

Finnick nervously hopped from foot to foot as Mayor Undersee retook the stage, commanding attention with his presence before he began to say,

"To make a difference in a community takes hard work, care, and a commitment to those whom you serve. Tonight, many of you boast such wonderful attributes and help to make the world a better place for all who live in our beautiful state. However tonight we honor one man's commitment to bettering the world, by including them into a family of those who work tirelessly to reach out and bring joy, happiness, and love to those struggling with the most difficult issues. The award for Activist of the Year goes to a man whose work provides programs across the state and is continuing to expand to those who most need our help. So please, put your hands together and welcome, Finnick Odair."

Finnick took his cue and walked out onto the stage, nearly blinded by the stage lights for a moment, only to be greeted by the sight of hundreds of people and their nearly thunderous applause. As he walked over and shook the hand of Mayor Undersee and took his award, he spied the two tables at which sat his most important family, Annie and the kids, Mags, Daniel and Laurie, Cora and Jeff and their two kids Ester and Henry, and Garrett and his parents, Johanna, Peeta and Katniss along with Rosie and Jack, Delly and Thom, Madge and Gale. And then of course, his father and his own family. He kept his eyes trained on them as he placed the award back up on the podium and fixed his jacket before he began,

"Good evening everyone. First things first, I'd like to thank the committee for not only honoring all the other wonderful achievements of my colleagues, as well as continuing to promote a better world." Finnick said, letting the applause begin and end, before continuing to say, "Today's a very special day for me. Not just because I got this award, which is very nice by the way and I'll be sure to show it off to everyone. But also to stand as an example of what can happen when people believe in you, and never give up hope. Those are the kids I work with a lot of times, who have experienced the sort of continual disappointments, whether that be by the hand of a supposed protector, or by society as a whole. And it's my mission to reach out to those kids and change their lives for the better, like mine was."

"My story is something I wish to share with all of you. As my beautiful wife, family, and foster mother know, my story is one that at first took me a while to speak of. I wished to brush it away, to never think of it. However the past clung to me, kept me from living a productive life, and only once I accepted my story was I able to turn my life into a true force of good, which is why I share it with you today, so that I may reach out perhaps to someone who struggled so beautifully and so terribly as I did."

"I suffered when I was a child from a broken family, a family torn apart by tragedy. This left its permanent mark upon my mother in the form of mental illness from which she never sought help, and from a very young age I had no such thing as a childhood. I began to take care of her and I as well as a child could. I began working when I was barely eight, trying to pay for food in the house as well as cover bills when I could. I nursed her when she came home drunk, I did everything I could to make her happy even when she hit me. But things slowly progressed downhill once my mother got her boyfriend who not only abused me, but introduced her to drugs, the drug of choice being meth. It was only then that we lost the house and I became the sole provider. Working at ages ten to fourteen every night under the counter at any restaurant that would hire me so that we could live in whatever motel room we could afford. And it was around that time that she also began to sexually abuse me, constantly tearing down any feeling of self-worth that I had, and then the straw that broke the camel's back was when she essentially pimped me to her dealer in order to get a cheaper hit. It was then that I was raped and left to die, but somehow clawed my way to safety and was properly taken out of that toxic situation."

"Understandably, I was thoroughly traumatized. After having been placed in the foster care system, I slipped through the cracks. I was constantly running away, from not only the homes but from the experiences that I had lived through. I drank, I did drugs, I had gratuitous amount of sex. Anything I could do to lessen the void that felt as if was eating me from the inside and would kill me. But it was when my last shot came around, with my foster mother Mags, that I was saved. She slowly but surely got me to open up. She taught me how to escape the constant cycle of self-hurt that I was inflicting upon myself because I felt completely and totally worthless, and set me on the path to learn to love myself. And then, came the greatest miracle of all."

"I was really bad in school, because I was a smartass. I didn't think I was going to amount to anything, so why bother. But when Mags finally showed me how important education really was to succeeding I reached out for help with one of my teachers, and was assigned a very special tutor. To be honest, to begin with I didn't think there was anything too special about her. She was a good student, she was pretty, and quiet, and that seemed to be it. But the most amazing thing about her was her unwavering belief and determination to help me. I never knew a person could be so passionate, that at the beginning I thought she viewed me as some sort of lab rat that she could turn into a success story, but it wasn't like that at all. She was passionate about helping people in any way she could, and passionate and achieving her goals and how much effort you put in and how much you cared about other people was how she judged you. Not by how much money you had, or by how good you looked. And that's what I admired about her, and what drove me to tap into my natural ambitions and desire to help people too."

"And that's when I started helping those who I could. After all the energy that my foster mother and that special tutor put in, I figured the best thing I could do was give back. That was when I began The Alliance, my organization for LGBT youth and their parents, Reach, the groups that help victims of sexual assault, as well as Higher Ground, my talk therapy groups for children in the foster care. People often remark that I must be so busy, but honestly I feel like I'm never busy enough. Every day I work with these people who are going through the same struggles as I did, seeing them smile and begin to heal, I only wish to be busier and busier, because that only means I'm reaching my hands out further and further in order to help those in need."

"So as a final thought, I would like to dedicate this award to that special tutor, my ally, my wife, my best friend, and the love of my life. Over the years we cried and loved and fought, though mostly we bickered, but no matter what happened together we were so strong that nothing could shake us. It was because of you Annie Cresta, that everything in my life has turned out this way. I may not have loved you right away, but you crept up on me. And no matter what we face, we'll always be together, and you'll always be in my heart. Thank you."

At that moment as the entire stadium stood up and erupted into tears, he held up the award with tears washing down his face as Annie smiled and cried as well and it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his entire life, because he knew had finally reached her heart just like she had reached his all those years ago.

And Finnick would always be grateful for it all.

THE END.

Song of the chapter: Pieces by Red

TT~TT

Tears. Eternal tears.

First off, I'd like to say a giant thank you. Whether you reviewed once, every chapter, or just favorited and followed and kept up with me over these past two years, know that from the bottom of my heart I'm eternally grateful to you for all the love and respect you've given me. I started two years ago, my first fic on the Hunger Games fandom, and for the first chapter I got I think two reviews. And now RY is the #1 most reviewed mature Odesta fic and AU Odesta fic, as well as the 10th most reviewed Odesta fic EVER on this site, as well as gathering a crazy fan following who I'm all head over heels in love with. It always makes my life whenever I got PMs just thanking me for writing Odesta fics in a world where Odesta is perhaps one of the least appreciated and amazing couples to grace Fanfiction, and to think I help to represent you wonderful, crazy people and I'm your first choice to show people when wishing them to jump on the Odesta train just warms my heart.

On another note, I've had more than a fair share of reviewers ask for a chronological listing of the chapters of RY. To be honest, I was impressed by the fact I only made one tiny mistake when listing years and dates, but it doesn't really matter. Now in my opinion, I wrote RY to be read as is. It flows almost better in the abstract fashion, but it is a different experience to be read chronologically. And I find it amusing how in nonchronological I begin with Finnick and chronological I begin with Annie. It sort of fits their personalities doesn't it?

Here it is broken into RY Canon and RY PreCanon:

Reaching You Canon

Chapter 17

Chapter 38

Chapter 37

Chapter 3

Chapter 45

Chapter 28

Chapter 32

Chapter 4+5

Chapter 7

Chapter 11

Chapter 31

Chapter 15+24

Chapter 19

Chapter 41

Chapter 2

Chapter 6

Chapter 18

Chapter 13

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 1

Chapter 10

Chapter 12

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 21+22

Chapter 23

Chapter 25

Chapter 27

Chapter 30

Chapter 33

Chapter 40

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Reaching You Pre-Canon

Chapter 9

Chapter 29

Chapter 26

So thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. Little Stars will be updated asap, and will be my story of focus until that is finished as well, and don't ever count out the appearance of outtakes. But in any case, until another time, and another tale, yours truly ~OMGitsgreen