Life With the Brute||Sequel to Beauty and the Brute||Catoniss Fanfic

Epilogue

The sun streaming through the window made his golden hair look even lighter. I would have ran my fingers through it, but I didn't want to wake him. The faint scars on his bare chest that weren't removed told me of the struggles he'd been through, the same as my own.

Cato is the most beautiful man I'd ever seen.

"Done staring?" a rough morning voice calls out before a pair of blue eyes look straight at me.

A smile graces my lips, I'll never be able to get use to that voice.

"How long have you been up?" I question, finally reaching out to run my fingers through his hair.

"Not to long," his raspy morning voice replies with a light smile on his face.

We look at each other for a while, not needing words to express what we're feeling.

Pure and utter contentment. Thinking about how far we've come from the kids in the games four years ago. Here in each other's arms is where we should have been all along.

"How does breakfast sound to you?" Cato asks as he softly strokes my cheek.

"In a bit, I want to lay here just a bit longer."

And that's what we do. Letting the sun continue to rise and stream in on the two of us.

Eventually Cato makes me get up for breakfast after hearing my stomach growl. Making our way downstairs and into the kitchen, Cato takes a look in the fridge.

"What are you in the mood for?" He asks me, moving food in the fridge around.

Sitting at the counter, I stare at his bare back  for a moment before replying, "how about pancakes?"

Closing the door, he comes over and kisses my head.

"Pancakes sound good to me."

Due to our hungry bellies and our sheer laziness, we settle on making 'just add water' pancakes instead of our usual ones from scratch.

Together, we whip up some breakfast. It probably took a bit longer than it could have due to Cato and I constantly goofing off.

We sit a the table in a comfortable silence and share occasional glances, grinning whenever we catch the other looking.

When we're finished Cato takes our plates to the sink to rinse them off before pulling me to the couch with him. Cato turns on the television for us to watch but I doubt either of us could tell you what was on.

With me playing with a loose thread on his shirt and him playing with a few strands of my hair, I think we were content as is.

I suddenly feel Cato stop playing with my hair and I try my best to crane my head to look at him.

"Look at us now, thinking about the games seems like some past life, like it was all a dream. Sitting here, I can't even believe it was real, that I was apart of it," he tells me and I feel like this is something that's always on his mind.

"I understand. Coming home to you everyday in this house, I think about how only a couple years ago I was coming home to a shack in the Seam, my mom, and... Prim," I tell him. Even now thinking about Prim brings a twinge of pain to my chest.

He resumes stroking my hair, "Well, I'll always be here for you. There's no where I'm going."

Wanting to lighten the mood though, he flips us around so I'm laying under him, making me laugh.

With his arms supporting himself over me, he leans down laying one big kiss right on me. Leaning back up he gazes down at me with a small laugh. Looking up at the man above me, I can't help but laugh.

"What a brute."

The End.

A/N: I can't believe this is over! It's taken so long for me to get this story all the way through and I've finally done it. Thank you to all the people who have been with me since the beginning. I truly hold you close to my heart. Keep on watching out for any other stories I might write. Also remember, message me if you'd like me to add a story to my 'Undiscovered' reading list. Again thank you to all my readers. I love you!

-Shannon