That Ol' Wind

Chapter 22: Katniss

"I am not wearing those," I say pointing to the stilettos in Effie's hands.

"Why do you have to be so difficult!" Effie says. "There aren't any other shoes for you so you are wearing them wether you like it or not!" she sets them on the dressing room counter and stomps out. I walk over to them and look in the mirror. The woman in the mirror isn't me. Her eyes don't have the bags that mine do from the late nights of staying up with a three month old. Her skin doesn't have those little imperfections that I hate. She's truly beautiful. Nothing like me.

I hear a soft knock on the door and Peeta walks in.

"You nervous Wildflower?" he asks.

"Yes. I've never been this scared in my entire life. Not when I found out I was pregnant with Joey, or when my water broke. I don't understand why I'm so paranoid," I say playing with the straps on the shoes.

"Yeah me either," he says sitting down on the couch.

"You're kidding me right? There's no way you've got stage fright," I say.

"Always have, always will," he says.

"Then why are you so calm?" I ask him.

"It helps not to think about it," he says.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," I say slipping on the shoes. He stands up and wraps his arms around my waist, kissing my temple.

"It's easier after the first show," he says. I lay my head on his shoulder and sigh.

"Good, I'm almost as tall as you in these," I say making him laugh.

"See, you're doing better already," he says making me smile. There's a soft knock on the door.

"Peeta! You're on in five minutes! We need to stay on schedule!" the unmistakable voice of Effie warbles.

"Guess you have to go," I say.

"Only for the first song," he replies, "The second song is our duet, when I get to introduce my Mockingjay to the world." He kisses my cheek and steps out. I look into the mirror for a few more moments before Effie comes and fetches me as well.

I watch from off stage as Peeta sings his first song and greets everyone. He looks towards me and I hear the song we're supposed to sing together start. He smiles and I smile back.

"In another's eyes
I'm someone who
Loves her enough to walk away from you
I'd never cheat, I'd never lie
In another's eyes"

I take my queue and hesitantly step out onto stage. I don't look at the fans, I don't look at the band or the lights. I just keep my eyes on Peeta.

"In another's eyes
I can do no wrong
He believes in me and his faith is strong
I'd never fall or even compromise
In another's eyes

In another's eyes
I'm afraid that I can't see
This picture perfect portrait
That they paint of me
They don't realize
And I pray they never do
'Cause every time I look I'm seein' you
In another's eyes"

"In another's eyes
Starin' back at me
I see a sinking soul trying desperately"
"To turn the tide before it dies
In another's eyes"

By this point Peeta and I are face to face and I don't feel the thousands of eyes on me. This feels like another life, another situation. I find myself in the first place we sang this, the hospital after Taylor was born, singing her to sleep.

"And what they don't see is killing me
And it's a blessing and a curse that love is blind

In another's eyes
I'm afraid that I can't see
This picture perfect portrait
That they paint of me
They don't realize
And I pray they never do
'Cause every time I look I'm seein' you"

"In another's eyes"

"In another's eyes"

"In another's eyes"

Peeta pulls me into a kiss and I hear the fans cheer and Peeta smiles happily. For the first time, I look at the crowd that surrounds us and watching them all cheer makes my heart race. And I love it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Peeta starts, "It is with great honor that I introduce you to my wife, mother of my son and daughter, and most importantly, the love of my life, Ms. Katniss Everdeen." The whole crowd cheers again as I wave and many of them look shock to hear about me and our children, after all, it's not like we were in the public eye after he stayed with me.

"We've known each other a long time haven't we Katniss?" he says.

"Twelve years," I say.

"That's right, twelve years people. Yet we've only been married about how long?"

"Our first anniversary's today," I say trying to get him to get to the point.

"Yep. If you guys would let me, I'd like for Katniss and I to sing the song she wrote about how we met and why it took ten years to find each other again," he says with a smirk and I hit him softly because he didn't tell me he was gonna do this. The band starts playing the song and I almost feel pride as I realize this is a song I wrote, being played at a concert I'm singing at.

"She dropped her boy at school on time
One less worry on her mind
Now it's off to work and on the radio
Come's an old familiar song
And then the D.J.'s voice comes on
And say's he's back in town tonight for one last show"

"Her eyes welled up with tears
God could it be it's been ten years
Since that Autumn night outside the county fair
When two strangers shared a night
And in the darkness found a light
That to this day is still alive and burning there"

"He asked her twice to come along
They said good-bye at the break of dawn"

"'Cause you can't hold back the wind
If it's meant to be again
Then someday he'll find his way back to her arms"

"The marquee misspelled his name
And not too many people came
But that didn't matter to them"

"They laughed and loved all through the night
And as they faced the morning light
They found themselves standing there again"

"And he asked her twice to come along
They said good-bye at the break of dawn"

"As his bus left out she cried
With him standing by her side"
"That Ol' wind had once again found its way home."

"Someday he'll tell her about the money he hid"

"And someday she'll tell him that the boy is his kid"

"But for right now they're both in love
The only thing they're thinkin' of"
"Is that they're finally where their hearts have always been"

"So that's our story," Peeta says, "Katniss and I met when we were eighteen and I was performing at her country fair. I asked her to come along with me but she couldn't because she needed to take care of her family. And I couldn't stay because of my contract. But if I had known that I was leaving both her and my son, I never would have boarded that bus," he says and towards the end I see tears in his eyes. "But when I wanted to get out of the spotlight for a while and was asked where I wanted my last show to be, I decided on Katniss' home because I thought it would be my last time to see my Wildflower, my Mockingjay."

"Our son, who was a little over nine at the time, is the one who was the final factor in going to Peeta's show. He heard me cry during the night and when ever he asked about it, I told him because I missed his Daddy. So he told me to go find his Daddy so I wouldn't cry anymore. When Peeta did come home, he knew I had a son, but he had no idea Joey was his. And the joy on both of their faces, made it one of the happiest moments in my life," I say and he kisses my temple.

"We got married about six months later and about three months ago, Katniss gave birth to our beautiful little girl, Taylor," Peeta says making people cheer. Suddenly they start awwing and I look toward where I came on stage and see Prim carrying Taylor out to us, Joey following close behind, holding her hand. Peeta opens his arms and Joey lets go of Prim and runs into them.

I take Taylor from Prim and feel Peeta slip an arm around me. I look at him and smile brightly at him.

Because that Ol' Wind really had found its way home.

The End