He's not the only one who lives for these visits. She comes alive when she's around him. Life is no longer dull and depressing. It might give Snow a new advantage to use against them both but she needs this. She thinks Auggie probably needs this, too. Everything is real when she's with him. It makes everything Snow has her do worth it. So long as she gets Auggie, she can survive it all.

The one thing she won't let herself do is dream of that better world. A full, whole life with Auggie is the greatest gift she can imagine. Living not as his secret girlfriend but his wife. Having his children. But that's an impossibility. Something that will never happen.

"What are you talking about?" Katniss asks with a frown. Although she stays curled up in his lap, she pulls her head away far enough to look more closely at him. "You know Snow won't allow it."