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My hands slam against the headboard carvings, my head bearing down into the bed coverings as Peeta slides into me. "Don't stop," I cry out against his chest, the entirety of his body surrounding me.

"Never," he sighs, his face contorting as he grips the hard wooden edges of the bed. "Oh god, Katniss…"

The heat of him, the comfort of his body covering me...it's as if everything between us hasn't happened, as if we were never lovers or friends or enemies. In that moment it's only us and nothing else.

"Pull out," I gasp as I feel him contract inside of me. "Please, Peeta."

He complies, finishing onto the sheets beside me not a moment too soon. It is then that the breathy weight of it all falls down upon the room in shallow groans and half hearted attempts to conceal the awkwardness of what we have done. It is funny how in the moment lust feels like a cure for all, that the connection of two bodies is the desire of souls, that intimacy can bear knowledge of one's selves.

"I love you," I say, and it comes out of nowhere. I laugh shallowly, an attempt to break up the claustrophobic nature of the room's air.

"Do you?" he swallows, looking over at me. "Does it count when it is said so soon after I have been inside of you?"

"It is true," I say, and it is, because no matter what happened between us it would always be Peeta and I. And I love him, even though I tried for the longest time not to. I love him with every part of my being, with every breath of my body. "I love you, Peeta. I know I have said it before, and it isn't a declaration of lust - I love you."

"Say it again, then," he breathes, rolling over so that he lies closer to me. "Say it again and again and never stop."

"I love you, Peeta. I love you, I love you, I love you." The words remind me of the first time I spoke them, of a time that seems so far away from the reality of today.

Peeta pulls my body over his, wrapping me in his warm embrace. My toes run against his bare legs, our bodies drawing closer together as he tightens his arms around me. "You know I love you," he says, a half whisper into my ear. "You know I will always love you, no matter what."

"I know," I reply, pushing my head into his chest. "I know, Peeta."

"We're family," he tells me, his hand nearing dangerously close to my breasts. "We have a child. You and I, we're bonded for life."

"Mmm…" I murmur in response as he slides his fingers under the sheets. Peeta's hand glides down my body, his fingers brushing over the one spot where I need him most.

"You don't want another child," he infers, slipping a finger inside me.

My teeth bite into my lip at the feeling of his hands. This is not the position I imagined I would be in when we had this conversation.

"I can't, I can't risk it again," I tell him. "I can't worry, I can't be sick again. More so than anything, I can't be responsible for another...not now."

"Can you even get pregnant so close to giving birth?" He asks, his fingers pausing in position.

"I heard of women, back in the Seam…" My thoughts wander to my home country, to pregnant women with dozens of starving children and ailing husbands.

"Perhaps then," he says, "I shouldn't be inside of you all that often. No method is completely effective, and I don't want to damage what we have."

I flip my body over so that I face him, our naked bodies aligning. Even now it is strange that I can be so completely undone with him. I raise an eyebrow, laughing. "And you can live with that, being without my body? Perhaps I should be insulted…"

He laughs. "I am sure we can think of something to do in our spare time. As I said, we would only do it ever so often, minimize the risk."

I shake my head. "We can't," I say. "We are married, it is expected of us. I just need some time, we can only wait for so long. They will want a son, or at least a child to spare."

"You are more important than that," he says, placing a kiss against my neck. "More important than anything."

"Do you want another?" I ask, lifting my body up. "Another Petra, another child to add to your lineage?"

He smiles against me. "I love Petra, you know that. To see a child, to see everything you are born into something so pure...it's magical. So yes, I would want another, but not more so than I want you."

Peeta is selfless in that respect, always willing to give things up on my behalf. I can only deprive him of another child for so long before it becomes selfish, if not demanded by the court, but him offering to spend his life half celibate, to give up on the family he wants, it means everything to me.

"Kiss me," I sigh into his chest. "Kiss me and kiss me and never stop."

There is a council meeting in the morning that Peeta brings me to, a meeting about Gale, about the traitors. I can sense from the air about the room that some don't agree with Peeta's handling of the rebellion, though the dirty looks seem to get passed more in my direction than anybody else's. They must blame me for having influence on Peeta. Now that I am in favor with the King, however, none of them will dare to say a word to my face.

Peeta spends a good two hours discussing the finer details of his plan for the The United Kingdoms of Panem. Economic development, unification, trade agreements...the details all blend together, I have never been one for diplomacy, but by the end of the meeting he seems to have most of the council's support. They must all agree, even if he is gentle, he is a far cry from an idiot.

I wonder, as the years go by, how I will be remembered in the history of Panem. Coveted lover of the king, whisked away to marry him? Tempting traitor despised by all? Or will they know me as the Mockingjay, as the mother and wife of the greatest rulers of Panem.

I wonder then, who I will be, not in the books of Panem history, but in the fables and folktales of the Seam. It is a thought I have had many times before. I can't imagine what they think of me know, back in Peeta's arms and mother to his child. I hope, regardless, that I can give my people the opportunity that Peeta has given me; a chance for something better, for prosperity.

I hope still that one day Petra will know where her mother came from, will come to love both of her parents' homelands. For just as I have become one half Seam and one half Panem, she too will be tied to both lands through the blood that runs through her veins and the people she will preside over.

Author's Note: As promised, I updated this fic with a little preview of how things stem in terms of them rebuilding their lives, countries, and relationship. Hope you guys enjoyed it, let me know if you want it to continue past this. Do you want to see more of the baby, Petra?

As always, you can follow me on tumblr at starveinsafety and everlarkfanfictionclub. Thanks for all of you who have stayed through everything and are still reading this fic. I am working on rewriting the previous chapters and making the formatting a little more uniform. Please let me know what you thought!

If you like Prince Peeta, check out my story The Ruby Thief: Katniss Everdeen, a professional thief and part time assassin, is tasked to steal a ruby necklace from Prince Peeta, but things don't always go as planned. Historical AU.