HELP NEEDED!

STRONG AND WILLING TO WORK LONG HOURS.

Read the flyer. It also included the address of the man's house. I took it off the window a walked back to my truck. I sat down and read it again. I really need a job. I am strong. I guess I could go over there and at least see what all he expects me to do. I start my truck up and head on my to Seam.

The drive to Seam from Merchant is quite the drive. I glance at the clock as I park my truck in the driveway. It took me about 30 minutes. That's not too bad of a drive if I get the job. I wonder what the man is like. I check the flyer again for a name. So his name is Ash Everdeen. Everdeen, that name sounds familiar. I shake my head, I need to focus on getting this job.

I knock on the door. While I wait, I glance around the property. It's a nice little place. The house is smaller than mine, but still a two story. I hear some feet walking behind the door so I turn to face it. A few seconds later a lady, I'm guessing his wife, opens the door.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asks.

"I'm here to talk to Mr. Everdeen about his flyer. I'm interested in working for him."

"Oh! Well come in, mister- what's your name?"

"Peeta, Peeta Mellark."

"Well come in, Mr. Mellark." she says stepping aside to allow room for me to walk in.

"Talk a seat in the couch over there. I'll be right there." I nod in response and take a seat. I glance around the living room. It's small but cozy.

The lady came back into the room and sat in a chair across from me.

"I'm sorry about the wait, Mr. Mellark. I'm Fern Everdeen. You said you were interested in my husband's job offer?" she tells me. So she is his wife.

"Please, just call me Peeta, ma'am. And yes, I'm very interested."

"Well, my husband isn't home right now. Usually my daughter would handle all of your questions, but she's out too. I can do my best, but to be honest I don't know as much."

"Oh okay. Well I was just wondering what kind of work he'll be wanting me to do and what the salary would be."

"Well I'm not sure what all you will have to do. Ash doesn't have the time to keep this place up while he works in the mines. And he refuses to let our oldest daughter do it- well alone at least."

"So I'll be working around here everyday? Like fixing the roof and mowing, that kind if stuff?"

"Yes, along with feeding the animals, and carrying very heavy bags. But you look like you could handle all of that." she tells me, glancing at my arms. I nod and give her a small smile. I can lift some really heavy things, it can be scary.

We talk some more about the job and the pay. It seems like a good job. When we finally finish with most of the details, I head on my way home. She said I could have the job and to be there tomorrow morning at 6. I'm sure I'll be working to at least sundown, so I'm gonna need sleep. She also said not to worry about food, they'll provide all if that. Really, this sounded like a great job.

What was I thinking? I've been here 6 hours, and I don't know how I can handle another minute. I have plowed the garden, fed all the animals, fixed part of the roof on the house, and am now digging holes for some post so I can put up a fence. I sigh loudly. This is terrible. Maybe I should quit.

"Peeta! Lunch time, come wash up!" I hear Mrs. Everdeen holler. Thank goodness! I'm ready for a break. And boy am I starved. I wave to her so she knows I heard her and place the shovel down.

I come into the house and smell fried chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes. It all smells wonderful. I quickly go to the bathroom and wash up. I come back in and Mrs. Everdeen has me take a seat at the table. Just then a teenaged girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, just like her mother. I smile at her and she quickly comes and takes a seat by me.

"Hi! I'm Primrose! You must be Peeta! It's nice to meet you! Daddy said he thinks you're going to do a fine job. How old are you anyway?" she says very quickly, with a smile.

"I'm 20 years old. Am I allowed to ask how old you are?" I ask with a smile.

"I'm 16! My sister is also 20! But guys are nothing alike. She's so serious and grouchy."

"Primrose, stop bothering the poor boy. He just started working here and he probably would like to eat." her mother says. I chuckle quietly and begin to eat. "Peeta, when you finish eating Ash told me to make sure you take an hour break before going back to work."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll be sure to remember that." I say with a smile.

I finish my lunch and decide to head to the lake for a swim. I'm gonna be stuck in this heat for several more hours, I need to cool down. I get in and take off my shirt. I consider taking my pants off too, but just in case someone sees me, I better leave them on. But I roll them up as far as I can.

I sit down on the little deck and stick my feet in the water. The water is perfect. I want to jump in, but I'm not sure what they would think about that. Besides, I don't have any change of clothes.

I sit there for a while thinking what I should do. This work is really hard, but I do need the money. It's a nice family, but I don't know if I

can handle it.

The sound of a splash breaks me out of thought. I look that direction to see what made that noise. I see a head of brown hair come up from the water. The rest of the body stays underwater. I try to think who that might be, but I can't figure out who. Then the person begins to swim towards the bank and I sit there watching. I can tell it's a female by the long hair and her face.

She begins to walk outbid the water and I can't help but stare. She has a full swimsuit on, but her figure is still noticeable. She has curves in the right places, and her skin is olive tuned. Whoever she is, she is absolutely gorgeous. She looks my way and makes eye contact. Her eyes go wide and she quickly looks away and grabs her towel. I smile at her shyness. Her eyes looked silver from here. But it was probably the lighting.

She wraps a towel around her and storms over to me. She doesn't look happy that I saw her. I swallow. How do I explain to this woman why I was starring at her?

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she demands.

"I'm Peeta Mellark. Mr. Everdeen hired me to help around this place. I'm on lunch break and thought it'd be nice to cool down by this lake."

"Oh." she says dryly. I look into her eyes and notice that they really are silver. I have never seen silver eyes before.

"My turn to ask the question, who are you?"

"I'm Katniss Everdeen, my dad is who hired you." she tells me. So this is the mysterious daughter! I can see what Primrose was saying. "Why were you starring at me?" she questions.

"Because you are gorgeous and I couldn't help it. I'm sorry if it creeped you out." I say honestly. She blushes deep red. I just grin at her and she blushes more.

I've seen her before. Her name is so familiar too. I've met her before, but where?

"Have we met before, Katniss?" I ask her. She gives me an annoyed look until she pauses. She looks back up at me.

"You do seem familiar. But I don't know where from." she answers. I try to think for a moment. I know I should know this. "Wait. Did we go to school together?"

I look at her once again and it all comes back to me. This is the girl I spent my whole childhood in love with. Ever since she sang a song in kindergarden, I've been in love with her. But after we graduated high school, she left. At least we thought she left. We saw here family sometimes, but never her. How could I have forgotten? Oh, we'll she does look different. She defiantly has grown and matured.

"Yes, that's it. How could I have forgotten?" I say feeling my cheeks warm.

"I remember you now! I didn't even think you noticed me, that's why you probably didn't recognized me. I used to have the biggest crush in you" she says and quickly covers her mouth. Her beautiful grey eyes opening wide. He cheeks the color of roses. I think it's really cute, but I better not say that.

"Oh you did? Well you're wrong about me not noticing you, I did. Wanna know something funny? I had the biggest crush on you too. But I didn't think you liked me." I tell her. I'll skip the fact that I fell in love with her, not just crushed.

"You-you did?" she asks shyly. I nod my head. We stand there awkwardly for a couple minutes. I glance at my watch and see that my break is almost over.

"Well, my break is almost over. Would you by any chance like to go out with me sometime? I know this is so quickly, but hey, 'you only live once'."

"Uhh sure. I guess we could. Does tomorrow work for you? I know you're off work since it's Saturday."

"Yeah, that would be great. How about the afternoon? Around 12:30? We could get lunch."

"Sounds good to me. See you then." she says then turns to walk away. I watch her walk away and sigh. Only one thought is going through my head.

I have a date with the miner's daughter.

One word can describe our date-amazing. It was simple, but it went well. The only problem was my nerves over the fact that I'm dating my bosses daughter. And the girl I've loved for years. Actually, today on my break, Katniss and I are going out to lake to hang out.

"Hey." I hear a female's voice say behind me. I turn around quickly and see Katniss standing there, smiling.

"Hey there, good lookin'. You got a boyfriend?" I asks teasingly. She smirks and playfully crosses her arms.

"Yes I do, actually. I was on my way to go tell him lunch is ready. Think you could tell him for me?" she says.

"I might. But first, you a pretty lady like yourself be willing to help me real quick? I need you to hold this post while I wrap the wire around it." I ask her. She nods her head and walks to the post.

With her help, we got down quickly and walked hand-in-hand to her house. Smells like meatloaf today. We wash up and take a seat next to each other at the table. Her mom and Prim soon join us with the food.

"So how is that fence coming along, Peeta?" her mother asks.

"Pretty well. I'm hoping to get it finished today, or tomorrow morning at the latest." I reply. She smiles and nods her head in approval.

"I'm so glad to see you're finally moving on, Katniss." her mon states. I look over at Katniss to see her drop her fork and place her hands in her lap. She hangs her head and gets silent. I'm not sure what she's talking about, but Katnss looks hurt and embarrassed. I place my hand on top of hers and gave her a little squeeze. She looks up at me and gives me an ashamed look. I try to give her an encouraging smile. This would be better if I knew what was happening. I wonder if this has anything to do with what happened to her for the past years.

"Mom, I'd rather not talk about any of this at the table. Besides, I'm sure Peeta would like to get onto his break." Katniss tells her mom. I interlock out fingers so that my thumb is on the back of her hand. She sits there for a while eating some rolls. I trace invisible patterns on her hand for a few moments, hoping to comfort it even the slightest bit.

She lets go of my hand and finishes her plate without another word. I give her one last glance before I finish mine too.

"I'm sorry about lunch, Peeta." Katniss says once we got to the lake.

"It's okay. Can I ask what she was talking about? Or is it too personal?" I ask her. She looks up into my eyes and takes a deep breathe. She pulls on my hand to let me know she wants me to follow her. We walk to the desk and sit down. She sits next to me and I take her hands in mine. She looks like back into my eyes for a minute before she begins.

"I don't know if you even noticed, but I was kind of 'nonexistent' for the past few years." she says and looks up at me.

"I noticed. I was worried that your family had moved away, but I would see them in town sometimes. Did you go to school or something?"

"No, I was here the whole time. You see, I thought you didn't even knew who I was. So in high school I started dating Gale Hawthorne. Well shortly after graduation, I found out that Gale had cheated on me with Madge Undersee. So I was pretty heartbroken about that." she says then pauses. I lean in and place my forehead on hers. I give her a small smile to encourage her on. "So I was already locked in my room because of that. Then, he and Madge were in a car accident and died. Then my dad got called in to work more hours in the mines, but not paid anymore. Then my mom got sick, even though she doesn't seen like it. It was like everything went wrong at the same time. So I decided to shut out the world." she finishes with tears streaming down her face. I pull her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry. That's terrible." Is all I can find to say.

"It's okay. When you saw me the other day, I was starting to move on. That's what my mom was talking about." She keeps her head buried in my chest. I hold her closer.

"Is there anything I can do? I know I'm a little late, but do you need anything? And I can promise you, I will never hurt you. You deserve better than that. You need someone who will prove to you the effect you have on people." I tell being honest. She wipes her years with her hand and looks at me.

"Is there really somewhere out there?" she asks quietly. I don't like her feeling like this. Would she let me be there for her? Could I give her what she deserves?

I take a chance and gently tip her chin up with my hand. Her beautiful silver eyes searching mine. I slowly lean in, giving her plenty of time to back away. I see her eyes close and I close mine too. I close the space quicker and I feel her lips touch mine. She doesn't react for a moment. Then I feel her kiss me back.

I reluctantly pull away and wrap her in a hug. She sighs and snuggles deeper into my chest. I smile to myself. I hope she feels safe with me.

"If you let me, I will do my best to give you what you deserve." I say into her hair.

"Okay. I'll allow it." she says and I feel her smile. I pull away to see her face. She gives me a shy smile. I kiss her forehead.

"I love you Katniss. I have for years, I just never got to tell you. I know you may not be able to say it yet, and that's okay. But I want you to know."

"I might..." she says and trails off.

"You might what?"

"I might be falling in love with you." she says with a blush. I grin and kiss her cheek. I glance at my watch. Oh no, I'm late.

"I really hate to break this moment, but I'm late for work."

"Can I help you? Or least watch you?" she asks shyly. Did she think I'd deny her time with me?

"Of course. You'll mostly be watching, your dad would kill me if I let you do hard labor. I'm already having to be careful, I'm dating his very beautiful daughter." I tell her as I take her hand. I lead her to the posts and fencing.

"Trust me, you've got no problem. My family loves you."

"Including you?" I tease.

"Maybe." she says with a grin. I raise an eyebrow at her playfully. "Especially me." she corrects. I squeeze her hand.

The rest of work went well. I sure love my job. Got to laugh and talk with my girlfriend. Actually, that becomes our routine. We spend all day everyday together. She sometimes is able to help with the work, but mostly she just keeps me company. For a whole month I have one constant thought running through my head.

I'm love with the miner's daughter.

"Meet me by the lake tonight at 11?" I whisper into Katniss's ear at the table. Her eyes light up but she tries to hide it. Her mom and sister are currently talking about some movie.

"I would, but my dad is off work tonight. We might get caught." she tells me, but I can see that her eyes are telling me she wants to try it.

"What happened to your family loves me? I promise we're not going to do anything. I just want to talk with you, maybe go for a swim in the moonlight, and yeah maybe some kisses. But nothing more than we've done." I say trying to persuade her. She looks down and blushes.

"Okay. I'll meet you there."

"I see you didn't chicken out." I say with a wink. She sits down next to me and rests her head on my shoulder.

"Of course I didn't. So anything special you wanted to talk about?"

"A guy can't ask his girlfriend to spend some time out by a lake just because he wants to?" I asks, faking hurt. She giggles. "Time for a swim. I hope you brought your swimsuit."

"Haha, yes. Stay here and don't you dare peak." she laughs while she gets up. She runs off somewhere into the forest. I chuckle and quickly take my shirt off. I decided to wear my swim trucks and just change later if we go swimming.

I think about what I want to ask her tonight. It'll change everything. What will her family say? What will she say? Are we even ready for this? Sure we love each other, but is this the right timing?

I feel arms go around my waist and I turn my head around to see Katniss smiling. I grab her and throw her into my lap. She raises an eyebrow and I start to lean in. Before our lips meet I jump into the water, dragging her in with me. She screams with laugher as she comes back up.

"You little stinker! That was mean!" she yells with a fake pout. I just shrug my shoulders. She laughs more. "This water is freezing!" she says with teeth chattering.

"I wasn't expecting this. Sorry. Let's get out if you want." She nods her head in response.

We get out and wrap up in towels. Now is as good a time as ever. I walk over to my clothes and grab the little box. I take her hand and we sit back on the deck. We sit there for a while in silence.

"Katniss, I actually do have something to ask you."

"I knew you did! Silly, you can't trick me." she says with a laugh. I shrug my shoulders and give her a kiss on the forehead.

"I guess not..."

"So what do you want to ask me?"

"You know I love you right?" she nods and smiles. "I've been thinking a lot about this. And I know promised you that I would do everything I could to give you deserved. I hope I have kept that promise to you. What I want to ask is... Will marry me?" I pull out the box and open it to show the ring I got. It's a gold band with a pearl on top. She gasps and brings her hands to her mouth. Her eyes begin to water.

"I-I... Yes. Yes, yes, yes, YES!" she finally gets out. He throws her arms around my neck and I quickly place my hands on her waist. She pulls me in and I quickly bring her lips to mine. We both end up smiling into the kiss. This has been the best few months of my life. And now, I'm going to be marrying the love of my life.

I pull away from our kiss and look into the eyes of my wife. I slightly hear the claps and cheers from our friends and family. She smiles at me and I return it. We face the audience and I hear the preacher speak.

"I present, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Peeta Mellark." he announces. I look over at Mr. Everdeen and he's smiling. I guess Katniss was right, her family was overjoyed when I asked them for Katniss's hand.

I take Katniss in my arms and lift her up. She giggles and I walk down the aisle. As soon as we get through with the cake and stuff, it'll be just me and her. I smile down at her and give her a quick kiss.

I groan and wipe my brow. This stupid heat! I finally get to the lake and take my shirt off. I stick my hands in and bring water up to my face. I throw my feet in and sigh. 5 more hours of this. You've done this for a year and a half, Peeta- you should be used to it by now.

"I ever tell you that I love you?" I hear a voice. I smile and look over my shoulder to see my wife. She slowly sits down next to me and hands me a glasses of sweet iced tea. I take a big drink before I answer her.

"Maybe once or twice." I tease.

"Oh really?" She says with one eyebrow raised. She leans in and kisses me full on the lips. I kiss her back and place my hands on her swollen belly. She pulls away and smiles. "Make that 3 times, I've said it."

"Got it. I won't forget it." I say with a smile. I gently rub her belly and watch her eyes glow. I feel a little tap under my hand.

"The baby must be happy to feel you." she tells me.

"I'll be happy to finally get to see our beautiful daughter."

"You forget that it could be a boy, Peeta." she reminds me with a smile.

"I didn't forget. I just hope if I say it enough times it will come true. Even though a boy would be nice. Wait, we could have twins! Then we could get both!"

"No. You better not jinx me. I do not want twins."

"Fine then, a girl it is." I state. She rolls her eyes and smiles. I kiss her nose and wrap my arms around. Who would've thought I'd be here today? And it's all because two people fell in love. Well, that and one other thing.

I married the miner's daughter.