Katniss stared out at the darkening sky, willing her heart to calm.

She'd nearly collapsed from relief when her mother had returned home. There hadn't been a conscious decision to leave Prim's care entirely to her bewildered mother, but there she was, sitting on the doorstep, not doing anything to help while her mother tended to Prim inside.

When the door opened behind her, she could hear Madge speaking, and she knew immediately that it was Peeta who was standing behind her. Without glancing back at him, she scooted to the side, allowing him to sit beside her.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Katniss, not wanting to hear the obligatory, "Are you okay?" spoke before he could.

"When you first helped Prim, I couldn't understand why. It made no sense. You'd never spoken to her or to me. Yet there you were practically carrying my little sister into Madge's house. It was one of the most confusing things I'd ever seen someone do, which meant you had to have an ulterior motive. I didn't trust you."

Peeta took his time answering.

"Did you ever discover my ulterior motive?"

Katniss looked at him, taking advantage of the fact he was looking away from her to spend time committing his features to memory.

"Yes," she admitted, "but I don't know that I'd call it an ulterior motive anymore."

Peeta turned to her, eyebrows raised.

"That doesn't help me understand it much more than I did before," she continued. "Nothing about this," she motioned between them, "makes sense. You're from town; you have a million friends. Life would be easier for you if you stuck to them."

Peeta's brow creased.

"That wouldn't make me happy," he said quietly.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Peeta scooted closer to Katniss. It wasn't by much. She still couldn't feel him beside her, but the proximity left her stomach fluttering in a way that made her take a steadying breath.

"I never thought about any of that," Peeta said. "Back when I helped Prim… I don't want you to think I planned it to get anything out of it. I didn't. Hell, I was half convinced you and Gale were secretly dating back then."

Katniss choked on air, and it took several seconds for her to regain herself. Peeta managed to look both amused and embarrassed by the reaction.

"What?" Katniss managed as soon as she was able to speak.

Peeta gave a short nod and continued.

"I know you're not now of course, but back then… I wasn't the only one who thought you might be, but that's not the point. The point is I didn't think I stood a chance. When you let me walk you and Prim home, I was shocked. That was more than I'd expected. Let alone this."

He motioned between them, and Katniss found herself scooting closer. She'd never been drawn to people. Even when it came to Gale, it wasn't often that she actively desired to spend time with him. It was more that he was either there or he wasn't.

Peeta was different.

Even before they'd spoken, she'd been drawn to him. At first, it had been nothing more than curiosity about the boy who would take a beating to give her family bread. It had taken time for it to become more, but Katniss remained fascinated by him in a way she'd never expected to feel about anyone.

She reached out to take one of his hands in both of her own. It anchored her as her mother tended to Prim inside.

"When she was six, Prim decided to plan her wedding. She told me about everything. It was like something straight out of a television program, not reality, but after she'd been going on for a while, she asked me what my wedding would be like, and I just asked, 'What wedding?' She bothered me about it for days, insisting that I plan for one. I still think that was ridiculous."

Peeta squeezed her fingers, and Katniss offered him a small smile.

"It's not as if I ever made a conscious decision not to get married," she continued. "Having kids, that I never wanted. Marriage, I just didn't stop to think about."

When she glanced at Peeta, his lips were turned up in a small grin. He didn't appear horrified by the idea of Katniss never wanting children, which was more than Katniss could have said for Prim.

He gave a short nod of understanding and scooted closer so that their bodies aligned. She could feel him against her, his presence and warmth calming her even as her heart raced.

"I don't know what to do next," she admitted in a whisper, watching Peeta carefully.

He gave her a gentle smile that left her wondering why that had worried her in the first place. After a second's hesitation, he lifted one of her hands, still grasping his, to his lips, kissing it. It sent chills down Katniss arm and spine, making goosebumps erupt across her skin. She couldn't help but smile.

"That's fine," Peeta said. "We'll figure it out."

A/N: And that's the end. I realize there will probably be people out there that will be angry there's not even a kiss on the lips here, but honestly, considering the story and Katniss, this felt the best to me. I originally wrote it as a kiss on the lips, and it didn't feel right, leading me to rework the scene.

Of course, I imagine the rebellion breaking out soon after this, but I'm not sure at this point that I'll write a sequel about it. With Katniss not being the Mockingjay, she would play a minor role in the war, and though I know a story could be told there, I'm not planning to write it now. (I'd never discount it entirely for the future, but I feel as if writing about a war makes you enter a mindset that I just don't want to dive into at this point in time.) When I set out to write this, I really just wanted to explore how Katniss and Peeta might end up together without the games, not write about an alternate rebellion despite the rebellion necessarily brewing in the background with or without the Mockingjay.

All that being said, I'm working on a canon universe story set several decades after Mockingjay if anyone's interested in sticking around for that.