True Love, New Love
Prologue
Katniss Everdeen knew the pain of losing someone you love. It happened to her twice. First she lost her father in a mining accident at the age of 12. It was 6 months later that she met Peeta Mellark. She had been starving herself so that her younger sister, Primrose, would stay healthy. Peeta had found Katniss hiding in a classroom, passed out. He picked her up and carried her home to her mother. He had noticed she rarely, if ever, ate with the rest of her classmates. The day he found her, he had decided to follow her to offer her some of his own lunch. This event brought Katniss's mother out of her depression and soon Peeta and Katniss became friends. The next week, as she walked up to thank him for taking her home, she saw him pick a dandelion which he gave to her after her thanks. When they were 15, Peeta admitted his true feelings for her, that he truly loved her. On her 16th birthday, Katniss admitted to Peeta that she loved him as well.
On the 4th anniversary of her father's death, tragedy hit Katniss again. Peeta was killed by a drunk driver while he was walking home from wrestling practice with his best friend and teammate Cato Evans. Cato had got off easy, a bruise to his hip as his only injury. He stood between Katniss and Peeta's dad, Mr. Mellark, during the funeral. He sat with Katniss during the after funeral get together at the Mellark's bakery. After, Katniss locked herself in her room for a week, not speaking to anyone – including her mother and her sister. On the 7th day, Mrs. Everdeen couldn't sit around anymore and let her oldest daughter suffer alone. She called Cato, Peeta's best friend. Cato knocked on the bedroom door and asked if Katniss would please let him in. He heard her shuffle to the door and heard what sounded like furniture being moved. She cracked the door open and asked if he was alone. He nodded. The door closed and again Cato heard the sound of furniture being moved. The door then opened, an arm reached out, grabbed his hand, and pulled him in. As soon as he was through, the door shut, the room darkened, and he heard the sound again. Turning around, he saw a shadowy figure pushing a large piece of furniture back against the door. Before he had a chance to say or do anything, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. He wrapped his arms around the girl and told her to let it all out. They stood there, crying together, mourning their loss of Peeta. He was special to them both, his loss hurt bad. Cato eventually walked Katniss to her bathroom, where he got a wash cloth out of the cupboard, wet it in the sink, and began to wash Katniss's face. He begged her to not give up, pleaded with her to eat something. He made her see that Peeta wouldn't want her to stop living. He promised that he would stick by her side no matter what the world threw at her. She asked him to spend the night with her, promising that if he did she would eat something. The next morning she took him out to the forest behind her house and they built a little stone pile memorial to Peeta and her father in a clearing full of grass.
Over the next 2 years, Cato and Katniss grew to be very close. He was true to his word, staying by her as promised. When she won the state archery competition, he was there watching. When she lost the inter-class talent competition, he ran and bought a half gallon of chocolate ice cream and watched her eat the whole thing (well, except for the few bites she fed him). He even got her to go to their Senior Prom. He was voted Prom King and they were both surprised when she got Prom Queen. Cato realized that he loved this broken girl but knew that she swore never to love again.
They went off to different colleges but called each other nightly, telling the stories of what happened that day. Every year, on the anniversary of the deaths of Peeta and her father, they travelled back to their hometown and took flowers out to the pile of stones. They would sit next to each other and talk to each other as well as to Peeta and Mr. Everdeen. Each would give the other a few minutes of privacy to speak. But, it was the visit right after college graduation that everything had changed. Cato and Katniss would normally meet at Katniss's mom's house and they would walk out to the forest together. This time, Prim told him that Katniss had already left and that he should join her as soon as he could. He walked to the edge of the clearing and watched the young woman talk to the rocks. It was a moment before he realized that the clearing was somehow different. Then he saw that instead of grass, the clearing was covered in dandelions! He looked back to the brunette and began walking towards her kneeling figure. He noticed her hands fiddling with the end of the long braid. It was a habit that she did when she was worried or nervous. Then he heard something that he never dreamed he would ever hear.
"Thank-you Peeta for giving me a sign that I can be free to love Cato, that you are giving me your blessing. He has been my rock, my savior, since you left. I have loved him for so long. I feared he would find someone when we left for college. But all his roommates said he never went on any dates, that his heart belongs to someone that can never love him back because she couldn't handle the pain if she lost him too. I think they were talking about me, Peeta. After you died, I swore to Cato that I would never love again because I wouldn't be able to handle the pain. Even Finnick and Annie believed me when I told them about you and my pain. You remember Finnick and Annie? I brought them here yesterday to meet you. I'm going to be Annie's bridesmaid next summer when they get married. Anyway, I got to go now. Cato will be here soon and I need to tell him how I feel about him before he leaves this town for good. Thank you again for the sign my boy with the bread, my dandelion in the spring."
Cato watched as she took a small pressed, yellow flower from her lap, put it up to her lips, and set it on the rocks. He slowly walked over as she stood up. She turned, saw him approach and smiled. It was a smile he hadn't seen in almost 7 years. It was a smile he saw her give to Peeta thousands of times, while wishing he would find a girl of his own that would smile at him like that. He walked up to her, ice blue eyes staring deeply into silver gray eyes, seeing so many flashes of emotions between the two. He then leaned down and kissed her. His kisses showing her just how much he truly loved her. Kisses he felt returned back to him a hundredfold.
Two years later
She was busy getting everything ready. It was her and Cato's first anniversary. She was so excited, yet nervous. She placed a small white box with blue and pink ribbons on his plate. Inside the box was the positive pregnancy test she took earlier that day. She wanted to tell everyone so bad but also wanted Cato to be the first to know. Their friends and neighbors, Finnick and Annie Odair, were expecting their first child any day. She looked out the dining room windows and saw a nasty storm heading this way. She hoped Cato would be home soon. She really hated thunder storms and this one looked particularly nasty. She is startled by the phone ringing.