This drabble is for the lovely akosiroxy who sent me the prompt:

Begin your drabble with the following sentence: "In my defense, it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time."

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Katniss raised her hands defensively, her eyes were wide with worry as she said, "In my defense, it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time."

Peeta's eyes narrowed, barely concealed anger laced his words when he asked, "Burning down my kitchen seemed like a brilliant idea?"

"I didn't set out to burn it down!" she countered.

"I don't know if you've noticed this, but you're standing in a cloud of smoke. And that thing behind you? Yes! The one you're trying to cover with your body, that's a burnt wall! What were you thinking of?" he demanded.

Her shoulders slumped forward. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean for any of this to happen," she admitted in defeat.

She looked so small and fragile standing in the middle of the large room. Her arms were wrapped around her petite frame, and her knuckles looked white as she dug her fingers into her flesh.

Peeta stood still, he took a couple of deep breaths and waited for his heartbeat to slow down.

It was the crack of dawn; he'd been sound asleep when the acrid smell of smoke had tickled his nostrils and settled on his throat. He'd woken up with a start, dazed and confused as he fought the fogginess clouding his mind. It had taken him a few moments to remember he was at home in Victors' Village.

The sound of a window being pushed open downstairs had terrified him. A barrage of questions had flooded his tormented mind. Was someone invading his house? Why was there smoke in his room? Had they set his furniture on fire? Were they trying to kill him in his sleep?

Without a second thought, he'd adjusted his prosthetic and rushed down the stairs.

That's when he'd seen her. Katniss. Moving frantically around the kitchen.

She held a wet tea towel in her hands, and she was waving it around as she imitated the movement of a fan in a desperate attempt to direct the tongues of thick smoke towards the open window.

She must have heard his heavy steps as he approached her because she had frozen in place as soon as he'd reached the bottom of the stairs.

Slowly, she'd turned to face him. That's when she'd started talking.

The smoke had begun to clear. Peeta's anger subsided, and he analyzed the scene in front of him. Other than the remnants of smoke and the scorched wall everything seemed to be in order. He couldn't identify the source of the fire, but everything indicated it was under control.

Katniss was clearly shaken, though. Whatever her plan had been, she had obviously meant no wrong.

Annoyance gave way to worry as he finally registered the dejection etched on his girlfriend's beautiful face. He rushed over to where she was standing and opened his arms to her. Relief washed over him as he felt her welcoming his embrace.

A moment later, he asked, "Are you ok?"

She nodded.

"Alright, so what were you trying to do?"

"Well, your birthday's coming up soon, and I wanted to do something special for you," she explained. "I thought it would be nice if I helped you out with the early shift."

"Oh, Katniss," he whispered, feeling incredibly guilty for his initial reaction. "But, I don't get it, though. You've helped me with prepping and baking tons of times. You know how to do this. What happened this time?"

Katniss tightened her hold on him before speaking into his chest, "I was making something new," she confessed, her words were partially muffled by his soft sleep shirt as she added," I was trying to bake a cake."

Peeta held his breath as tears pooled in his eyes. He could have blamed the smoke in the room, but he knew that Katniss's words, tightly wrapped around his heart, were the real culprit.

A cake. No one had ever made a cake for him, not even his dad.

In the steadiest voice he could manage he asked, "You were baking a cake? For me?"

Katniss nodded, "Yeah, I got the recipe from one of your books. Everything was going fine… until I fell asleep," her voice was barely a whisper when she added, "by the time I woke up your oven was on fire. I'm sorry."

Peeta chuckled "Don't apologize," he said as he gently rubbed her back, "it was a brilliant idea. I'm just glad you didn't get hurt."

Katniss pulled away slightly, she looked into his eyes and smiled, "At least my little adventure wasn't a complete waste of time," she said.

"It wasn't?"

"Nope."

Katniss disentangled herself from Peeta's embrace and walked over to the countertop. In his confused and angry state, he had failed to notice the tea towel extended over a tray on top of the work surface.

Peeta's eyes widened in surprise as Katniss lifted the cloth and revealed three rows of neatly aligned loaves of bread. The crusts were golden and crisp; they looked delicious and perfect.

"Those look perfect, Katniss!"

"I know!" she said proudly. "So, today's bread is ready, and the fire has been contained. Why don't you just go back to bed for a little while?" she suggested.

Peeta's cheeks reddened as he asked, "come with me?"

She smiled and walked back to where he was standing. "Now that's a brilliant idea!" she said.

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AN: Kudos and comments are as beautiful as Peeta's frosted cookies. You always make my day when you share them with me. Thanks!

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The Hunger Games Trilogy is property of Suzanne Collins. No money was made off of the creation of this fanwork.