Chapter 16

Katniss' POV"Peeta, I know you are. You don't have to tell me every single time something like this happens. You can't control it." I say in a harsh tone.

"No, Katniss. I hurt you when this kind of stuff happens," he says, pulling me a bit away, so I can see his face.

"I want you to know that I am sorry. That this mutt inside of me, is gone. And that I am here."

"Peeta, it's not that hard to tell," I say in a comforting voice. He strokes my arm.

"No, I know that. Maybe it's not even for you. Maybe it's for myself. I mean, the mutt wouldn't be sorry. Maybe it's so that I know that I am back," he tells me. It actually makes sense. Kind of like a reality check for him. Making sure that he is back.

"Then, it's okay." I tell him. I move as close into him as I possibly can. His arms wrap around me, like a warm blanket. I realize that I only feel this safe, when I'm with him. It's funny how I feel the most safe when I'm with a guy who sometimes will try to kill me.I lay my head on his chest, feeling rising and falling calmly. His heartbeat is steady and calm, which tells me that he won't have a mutt-outbreak anytime soon.

After a while, he gets up. "I'm freezing," he says, hobbling over to the fireplace. He quickly gets a good fire going, and he hobbles back to me.

This time we lay down. While were watching the fireplace, we cuddle.

"It reminds me of you, you know?" Peeta suddenly whispers, not trying to ruin the moment by talking too loud.

"What? The fireplace?" I whisper back.

"Yeah, well, more like the first time I held your hand. At the opening ceremony for the first Games. Where we were on fire for the first time."

I turn around, so I am now facing him. "You know, now that I think about it, you were on fire too," I smile at him.He gives me this amazing, happy smile back that makes my whole body explode with joy. Then, he leans in and kisses my nose. I bury my body in his is, and drift off into a nightmare-free sleep.

Before I completely doze off, Peeta says something I can't quite make out. But it's not 'always'.It's three words, I think.

---

Peeta's POV Katniss has been asleep for about an hour now. I carefully get up, making sure to not wake her up. I hobble out into the kitchen, and start to prepare about a dozen cheesebuns.

---

When they're done I wake up Katniss. I shake her lightly, whispering into her ear: "Katniss, wake up. I have a little surprise for you." I make my lips playfully tickle her ear, making her wake up.

"What?" She groans, rubbing her eyes. "What's what smell? Cheesebuns!" She flies up, and hugs me. I return the favor.

"Thanks Peeta!" She squels, running into the kitchen. While we eat our cheesebuns, Katniss asks: "What about your furniture situation? Should we make that paint studio of yours?"

"No. I actually met someone I want you to meet," I say.

"Oh, what's his name?"

"It's a girl," I answer quietly. Is she going to be angry?

"Oh, well.. What's her name, then?" She asks, looking a bit confused.

"Panna." I answer.

"Oh, that's cute. How did you meet her?" Katniss says, picking a bit off the bun, before putting the piece in her mouth.

"She was managing the bakery before we came back," I explain. "I met her when I went down to the bakery, and hired her." I continue. "She's a really good baker, and came up with this amazing idea for the walls."

"Oh, she sounds just lovely," Katniss rolls her eyes. "Can I take a couple of these home?" She asks.

"Sure. Wait, are you going home?" I ask confused.

"Yeah, Haymitch and Gale is probably worried to death, since they haven't seen me since you collapsed." And with that, she is out of the kitchen. A few moments later, I hear the front door slamming.

What just happened? Is Gale here?And is she jealous of Panna?Did I talk about Panna in a special way?Obviously I am not in love with Panna.I'm in love with Katniss.Just like I said earlier today when she was sleeping.

---

I walk into the bakery, finding Panna helping a costumer counting their money.Panna quickly looks up, smiles sweetly to me, and then looks back down at what appears to be change.

The customers body looks familiar, and so does the clothes. The person is dressed in all black. When the figure finally paid off a loaf of bread, the person walks towards me. It's a guy. He sends me a smile with a closed mouth. His smile looks familiar, and it looks like it's hurting him to smile. His features also looks familiar. Where have I seen him before?

He quickly walks out, heading towards the meadow.

"Didn't you have something else to do today?" Panna says in a soft voice.

"Katniss ditched me'" I say, sounding hurt, making a 'feel-bad-for-me' face.

"Aw, you poor, poor soul," she grins. "Katniss was going to help you?"

"Yeah," I answer. "I wanted her to meet you, but then she just left."

"Oh, that's weird," She says with a concerned look.

"Does she not like me?"

"Probably not," I answer truthfully. "But don't take it personally, she hates everyone. And she'll love you when she finally meets you, just give her a little time," I assure her.

"Yeah, she better end up liking me, 'cause I'm going to stay here for long time," She says, tapping the counter once, before heading into the back.

Her words confuse me: 'cause I'm going to stay here for long time.'What did she mean by that? Yeah, sure she's going to work at the bakery for a long time probably, but it didn't sound like that was what she meant. I walk behind the counter, standing there to greet customers, getting this fishy thing out of my mind.

---

Katniss' POVI feel pretty bad about how I just stormed out of Peeta's house. He looked so confused and sad, probably thinking that he did something wrong. But he didn't. We are not together. And it's not like he said that he kissed her or something like that, I just got jealous. Jealous that he has other girls on his mind. But, I can't be angry at him for that. I have been playing with his feelings for two years now. But now it's different.

I chose him.

Not because I can't survive without him.

But because I can't live without him.

I need him.

I need him to be happy.

But I have to stop acting like this towards him. I have to show him that I love him.But how?Telling him is too risky, too plain.

I don't have any idea whatsoever, so I walk into my house, and put the cheesebuns down on the counter in kitchen. I'm sure that I'll find Peeta at the bakery, so I take a bit of money with me, so he can't kick me out, if he doesn't want to talk.

As I walk out of the Victors Village, and head into town, I realize how much has changed. Factories, pretty houses, no skeletons, kids in good clothes with chubby cheeks are running around the streets, playing. Not to mention that there is streets. And cars.I am actually walking on a real sidewalk!

As I get to the bakery, all the shops look a lot more modern. Everything looks a lot richer, since a lot of new jobs have been made, and for once, the Capitol actually send us decent clothes and food.

The bakery has nice, white painted concrete walls and big windows to gaze at all the delicious stuff in there. I walk up to the door. There is a sign on it, that says: 'CLOSED' but I walk in anyways. Luckily, it's not locked, meaning that at least someone is in here. When I walk in, the smell of wall paint hits me.

"Hey Peeta, I actually got another idea for the walls!" An excited girl voice says, from the back, I think.

"Yeah, what is it?" I hear Peeta ask.

"I was thinking of doing stripes instead, it'll look really cool, I promise," the girl voice assures Peeta.

"Yeah, I can totally see it," Peeta agrees.

I can't.

"And, I bought some of this glitterly gold color, I know, it sounds really girly, but mixing a little bit of this into te orange, will look really cool when the sun hits. Almost like fire," the girl explains.

"Yeah, totally," Peeta says nicely. I can see the smile playing on his face. All the sudden the two walk out, finding me.

"Um, i'm sorry miss, we're clo- Katniss Everdeen.." The girls gasps, freezing.

"I'll be in the back," she says, throwing a glance at me, and then at Peeta. Did he tell her about how I acted?

"Panna?"I ask. "She sounds... Delightful." I realize how sarcastic that sounded.

"She is, um, I mean, she's nice," Peeta says, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. He places the two paint buckets, he was holding, down.

"Why are you here?" He asks, crossing his arms, looking away from me.

"I came to apologize," I say.

"With that comment? You know that both me and her have ears, right?" Peeta asks angrily.

"I didn't mean for it to sound saracastic," I defend myself. "It just happens sometimes."

"Oh," Peeta says, obviously done with the conversation

"Can we go for a little walk? To talk?" I suggest. He might be done, but I am not.

"Katniss, my hands are kinda full right now," he says, lifting the buckets up again. Then he walks over to me, whispering into my ear: "I can tell that something private is bugging you, we'll talk later, okay?" Before he completely pulls away, he plants a kiss on my cheek, making me burst with happy feelings.

"Okay, I'll have to kick you out now, I've got to work now," he says, making sure that Panna hears it. I can't help but feel that something is going on between those two. I know I shouldn't feel jealous, yet I still do.

"Can I stay and help you?" I ask quietly. "I'm afraid of being alone after last night," I confess.

"What, the independant, one and only, Katniss Everdeen is afraid of being alone?" He jokes, making sure that Panna won't hear. "What, so I'm guessing the next step is to sleep with you every single night now?"

Yes, I think to myself. "Well.."

"If that's what you want," he sends me a nice smile, telling me he isn't joking.

I smile and hug him. "You didn't answer my question: Can I stay?" I ask.

"For me, yes, but I'll have to ask Panna if it's okay," he says and heads out to the back.

Shortly after, he comes back, saying: "Make yourself at home.

---

I quickly give up on actually helping, since I don't understand what is happening at all. They are putting masking tape up, so that they can paint stripes. I can tell it's hard to get them completely straight, but at last they manage. It takes a good four hours, before they get to actually painting, so I drift on and off to sleep, always awoken by a nightmare. They aren't that bad, and when I wake up I am not crying or screaming. Peeta always quickly get over to me and comfort me.

Peeta asks if I want to help with painting, and I say yes. At first I do a terrible, but Peeta quickly fixes the mistakes.Then, he goes behind me, and takes my arms in his hands, guiding my arms showing me how I should do it. Feeling his arms around my body like this, his warm breath on my neck, while he quietly whispers into my ear how exactly I should do it. It's hard to focus, to be honest. It makes me question my earlier theory of Peeta and Panna having something going on. My theory gets completely destroyed when I catch Panna staring at us, smiling widely. When she catches me, catching her, she winks at me, and gives me a thumbs up. I smile at her, before turning my attention back on the wall and Peeta. Mostly Peeta.

Me and Peeta paint a couple of stripes together, before he continues on his own, and so do I. Panna is on the other side of the room. When we're finally done, it's dark out.

"Good job, Panna!" Peeta says, patting Panna's shoulder, while examining her work. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," she says, before heading into the back. Moments later, she returns in a beige coat. "Bye Peeta, bye Katniss," she says, waving before heading out. She closes the door after her, and with that, she is gone.

"Do you like her?" Peeta suddenly asks. I turn to him.

"Yeah, she's nice," I say. He grabs my hand, pulling me over to the counter. He jumps up on top of it, pulling me inbetween his legs. Butterflies fill my stomach. My arms wrap around his neck, while he snakes his arms around my waist, resting his hands on my hips.

"What did you want to talk about?" He asks quietly, looking at my lips.

"Um," I begin, instantly getting his attention. His eyes shoot up from my lips to my eyes.

"It's not really important anymore," I mumble.

"Come on, you can tell me anything," he says, pulling me closer. I accidentally take a deep breath, making it sound like I am kind of moaning. He lets out a small chuckle.

"I felt kind of.. jealous.. with Panna," I confess quietly, not sure how he is going to take this.

"Jealous?" He chuckles.

"It was just the way you talked about her, I guess," I say, feeling insecure from the laugh.

"Katniss, listen to me: When I'm around her, I feel like I am at a family dinner, like she is my sister. When I'm with you.." He stops, not being able to find the right words. It usually never happens with him, but I know that he still doesn't quite know where he stands with his feelings towards me.

"Let's go home," he says, avoiding the sentence he started. He hops down from the counter, grabbing my hand and drags me to the back, where he grabs his keys and his jacket.

"Katniss, did you bring a jacket or coat?" Peeta asks, looking at me. "It's pretty cold."

"It's April," I answer.

"Yeah, a cold April. You brought something?"

I shake my head.

He removes his jacket, putting it over my shoulders.

"Peeta, you're going to freeze," I say.

"And so are you. Don't worry, holding you should be enough." I smile to myself at his comment, then accept the jacket, and put it on. It's a couple sizes too big, but it has a soft layer of fur inside of it. The outside is black leather.

Peeta puts his arm around me, and I put mine around him, as we walk through the bakery. Peeta locks the door, and we walk towards the Victors Village.

Peeta is shaking from the cold, so I try to rub my arm up and down his back. He smiles to me.

We walk home in silence, then Peeta stops. "Which house?" He asks.

"Yours," I answer. "I don't feel too comfortable with my own right now, and I like the smell a lot more in yours."

"Okay then," Peeta says, leading me up towards his house.

---

"Peeta, I don't have any clothes with me, can I borrow one of your shirts?" I call from his bed. He is in the shower, in the bathroom, that connects with his bedroom.

"Yeah," he calls back, as the water stops running. I walk over to the dresser, picking up a grey -shirt. I remove my socks, pants and shirt. Just as I am about to unhook my bra, Peeta walks in.

His hands flies up to his eyes, covering them.

"Oh god, I'm sorry Katniss!" He doesn't go back to the bathroom so I can actually change, so I grab a pillow, and throw it at him.

"Peeta, get out!" He backs up, and just to annoy me, he lifts a finger, so that he can peek out.

"NO PEEKING PEETA!" I yell at him. The door closes into the bathroom, making me all alone in the bedroom again. I change, and the shirt is way too big for me, but it's the best I got.

I open the door into the bathroom, to see Peeta. This time I actually get to look at him. His hair is dark, dripping from water, and his toned muscles are glistening from the water on them, and the light hitting perfectly. He has a towel wrapped around his hips, hanging dangerously low.

"Oh, so you're allowed to stare, but I'm not?" He jokes.

"Well, you're not doing anything about your naked situation," I joke back.

We walk into the bedroom, and I jump on top of the bed. Peeta turns his back to me, facing the dresser. Then, all the sudden he just drops his towel right in front of me.

"PEETA!" I scream, buring my face in a pillow.

"You need to start warning me before doing that!"

He just laughs at me.I feel him joining me on the bed, pulling in the pillow. I peek over the top of the pillow.

"Katniss, I am wearing underwear now," he laughs.

"Yeah, but not a shirt."

"What, so you don't want to sleep with these badboys?" He asks, patting his abs.

"Um, well..." I mumble. How do I not sound bad in this? "Just put on a shirt!" I groan.

"You sure?"

"No!" My eyes widen, and Peeta laughs.

"Come here."