Chapter One:
Katniss P.O.V.
I'm not sure how I'm suppose to forget. It has now been three years since my time in the arena, since I first heard of the threats to kill off Peeta and I made by President Snow. The same amount of time has passed since Peeta first proclaimed his undying love for me and at that same moment he did, the people of the Capitol fell in love with us, the star crossed lovers from District Twelve.
I honestly don't think that I can forget any of it, the good and the bad. I wish I could but I'm haunted by the time I was in the arena and frightened by President Snow. Not that he would ever follow through with his threats because it would upset the Capitol people if either one of us died unexpectedly, probably even start an uproar. He does keep the terror fresh and alive in our minds by forcing us to act as mentors each year in the annual games. He also doesn't want our marriage that will take place in six months, in November. But the Capitol citizens do, so he doesn't try to stop it. Only six months, so he doesn't try to stop it. In fact he's actually paying for the whole thing, I only agreed as long as we were in charge of the details of the wedding ceremony. The President didn't like it, but he let the subject matter go. Only six more months and we will finally be together all the time.
I'm suddenly startled by the sound of Peeta's voice carrying through my house. My stomach instantly fills with butterflies and my heart begins to glow with warmth. He still has the ability to make me nervous even after all of this time, all in a very good way of course. My face is already grinning. I know now that no matter what, I can't live without him. He means far to much to me.
Walking quietly down the stairs, while his back is turned to me, I creep up behind him and cover his eyes.
"Guess who!"
"Well, I'm going to have to guess that it's my sweet and loving fiancée." As he turned around, pulling my hands into his bigger and more calloused but still somehow soft ones. After pulling me in for a kiss. "How are you my darling?"
"I'm doing great, much better now that you're here. Would you like something to drink?" I asked while walking into the kitchen with him close behind.
"Sure honey, but I have to make my visit short right now. I have to get into town to have supper with my parents. They want to hear more details about the wedding." I think he can see the slight disappointment on my face but I try to cover it up anyway. Handing him a glass of lemonade and sitting down on the counter, he looks up and can still tell I'm upset. "Katniss, I will be back tonight. I promise. We're having an early supper tonight, I'll be back by 6 'o clock. You're still welcome to come with if you want to."
"No, it's okay. Go, I'll be alright. I'm starting to not feel very well. So I'll probably just make some tea and go lay down and read or something. I just need to get some rest tonight."
"Sweetie, why didn't you call earlier and tell me you weren't feeling well? I would have come over right away." He asks me looking slightly upset that I didn't tell him, I can hear it in his voice to.
"I know you would have, that's why I didn't. You had work to get done and it's not going to get done if you're over here babying me. I will be fine, it's probably just a cold. Go and enjoy your supper and parents' company. You'll be back tonight?"
"Yes I will be, as soon as I can. Get some rest sweetie."
As he begins to walk down the path toward the road, he looks back toward the window that I'm standing by, his face shows expressions of worry, concern and slightly being upset with me. Why do I always do that? I know how he feels about things like that. I know that he wants to know when something is wrong, no matter what and despite how busy he might be. I have to work on those little things like that. He just wants to protect me, love and care for me and comfort me to the absolute best of his ability.
If we're going to be married and I'm going to be his wife, then I really needed to begin to work on respecting his wishes and definitely not arguing with him. I can't begin to imagine the depths of his love for me. Although I upset him and sometimes he gets angry with me, he always goes to another room to calm down before coming to talk to me about it. Peeta is so good to me, I really don't deserve it, even though he says that I do. If we're in public, then all he does is give me a quiet look, but he never embarrasses me, and waits to talk to me about it until we are alone. Although sometimes I'm sure that I, more times than not, deserve for him to embarrass me.
I can only imagine the endless ways he's thought of to protect me and show his love for me after we've been joined together in marriage. I can feel my smile growing bigger and warmer just from being consumed in thoughts about the soon to be wedding and of Peeta. I really wish that we didn't have to wait.
Deciding to go and do something productive instead of just sitting around, I get up and notice that I forgot to take the trash out earlier today. Going around the house and gathering up the rest of it from the other rooms and tossing it into another larger bag. Grabbing my jacket and the trash, I walk outside to put it in the garbage can and take to the end of the path at the front of the house. Checking the mailbox one last time before going back inside and pulling out a few things.
As I'm walking back up to the house and looking through the few pieces of mail, I stop when I get to a letter from my mother who was offered a good job in the Capitol. Working with other doctors and herbalists on new medications and vaccines, she's happy and well cared for. That is honestly the only thing that matters to me. I don't think about the few cracks in the walkway while going toward the door, that is until I trip over probably the worst one that there is. Reaching out to try and catch myself, dropping the mail in the process.
"Oww! Damn it!" I cry out to the empty house. My wrist is immediately engulfed in pain.
Peeta P.O.V.
Well that dinner went much better than expected and was actually much more pleasant than I thought that it would be. Mom and Dad seemed to be pleased with the wedding preparations. I'm delighted that they want both of us over for supper sometime in the next couple of weeks. I told them that it would need to wait at least until Katniss is feeling better.
As I'm nearing closer to Kat's house, I'm brought out of my thoughts to the sound of someone yelling and crying. It sounds like someone is in a lot of pain, I wonder who. Beginning to jog towards the house, I can see someone laying on the walkway that leads to the front door.
Now who would be...
"Katniss! Baby, what happened? Why are you outside?"
Noticing the scattered mail and the fact that the garbage can is sitting out near the road, I know the answer to the second question, and I'm definitely not happy about it. Deciding to deal with that subject later though.
"Honey, tell me what happened please."
Looking very timid and in a lot of pain, I finally get a response out of her when I put my hand on her back.
"I know you're upset that I-"
Cutting her off though because I don't feel the need to address the situation at hand just yet, at least not until her pain is under control.
"Kat, don't worry about that right now. I'm more concerned with getting your pain under control first. Can you walk?"
Nodding her head, she can tell that I'm still angry about the other half of this situation. But I'm still certain to show my concern with her injury and make sure she knows that I'm here to care for her also. Helping her up and grabbing the scattered mail and then help lead her inside. Ever so gently taking her jacket off and hanging it up by the door. I lead her into the bathroom first to clean her up before getting ice from the kitchen. Lifting her on to the bathroom counter, I look at her waiting for more answers.
"Sweetie, can you tell me what happened now?"
Getting a cloth and soaking it in warm water, I begin to clean up her wrist and arm that are both covered in a decent amount of mud and snow. As she winces in pain, I lift up and try to be more gentle. But she does finally start to speak.
"I was sitting around, thinking about you and the wedding for quite a while after you left earlier. I decided finally that I needed to get up and do something more productive. That's when I realized that I forgot to take the trash out earlier. So after I got it all gathered up and in the garbage can, I took it to the side of the road. Before coming back up to the house, I checked the mailbox as well since I was already outside. While I was walking back up to the house, I was sifting through the envelopes and saw that I got a letter from Mom. While I was lost in thought thinking about her and all of the amazing things that have happened for her in the last year, I tripped over one of the cracks in the walkway. I dropped all of the mail in the process and reached out to stop myself from falling, but clearly that just made the whole situation worse."
Well, she certainly didn't leave out any details with her story. Picking her up because she's finally free of mud, I decide it would be best to get ice on her wrist now. Taking her into the kitchen and setting her on the counter. Quickly wrapping some ice in a clean towel, I turn to her and she knows that now I'm ready to talk about the other part of this situation.
"Katniss, how is your pain now? And tell me truthfully."
"On a scale of one to ten? Between seven and nine." I can tell when she's lying and thankfully she's telling the truth. Maybe I'll just wait to talk about this until later when the pain has gone down some more.
"Okay, then we will wait to discuss this whole thing until your pain has gone down." Seeing the look on her face, she seems surprised that she's still in trouble. "Yes, Kat, you're still in trouble. You know what you did. I understand that your hurting right now though, which is why we are going to wait to talk about this. So lets finish with the ice, I'll go start a hot bath for you to help you warm up and relax a little bit and get your pajamas. Then I'll come make you some hot tea and help you get in the tub, if you need my help that is. Afterwards, if you're hungry I'll get you something to eat but then you're going to bed. If there is still a lot of pain then we'll take you to see the doctor in town tomorrow, I may want to anyway just to be sure it's not broken."
With that, I walked out of the room while Katniss finished up with icing her injured wrist. After grabbing pajamas and starting the water for the bath. I went back into the kitchen, taking the ice from her and examining her wrist making a mental note that it looked pretty swollen still. After starting the water and getting a tea that will help Katniss relax and hopefully to sleep tonight despite the pain she's feeling. Helping her get down from the countertop and walk upstairs with a gentle hand on her back. She walked in the bathroom and closed the door behind her, I guess she feels alright enough to get in the bath on her own, so hopefully that's a good sign.
About an hour later, I heard Katniss come out of the bathroom, empty tea cup in her hand and pajamas on. Quickly getting up from my chair and going to her side to help her stand up without falling over.
"How are you feeling honey?"
"Just tired Peeta, and yes it still hurts. Just as much as it did earlier. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight." I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"Sweetie, don't cry. I'll be right beside you all night long and I'll do whatever I possibly can to help you sleep and maybe relieve some of your pain." As she nodded, I could see that her wrist was still quite swollen. I'm getting worried that it is broken, we'll go to the doctor first thing in the morning, hopefully it's not though.
Helping her into bed and carefully tucking the covers around her with the injured wrist slightly elevated on top of a pillow. I kiss her forehead and go climb into bed on the other side. Taking my sweetheart into my arms we both fall asleep pretty quickly, and for both of our sakes, I'm thankful.