Thunder and Lightning Love
Chapter One: Unmoving
Summary: Katniss and Peeta wait out a thunder and lightning storm.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.
Katniss felt the ground rumble beneath her. She saw the flashes of light illuminate the dark house. But she sat there, unmoving. She had been doing that a lot since she and Peeta had returned, triumphant from the horrible arena that haunted them at night. She barely ate, and she rarely said anything. When one of their friends, or even a family member would stop by to see them, to see how they were doing, Katniss wouldn't even acknowledge that they were there. The only way that Peeta knew that she was okay, in any sense of the word, was that she leant into him whenever he put his arms around her and held her close to him, muttering little things in her ear.
It wasn't until a loud clap of thunder shook the house violently, and the flash of the lightning lit up the room to the point where it could have been confused for day time, did Katniss even react. She jumped up from her chair in the living room, causing Peeta to stumble backwards in shock and surprise. Katniss made her way over to the window and looked out. It was so dark outside that she couldn't even see across the street to Haymitch's house. Something confused her though. Why did the pounding rain, loud thunder and bright lightning suddenly seem so inviting to her? Glancing back momentarily at Peeta, Katniss made her way to the front door and flung it open.
It was like all logic had flown from her head. Here Katniss was, about to walk out of the warm, dry house, into a thunder and lightning storm. Looking back at the Boy with the Bread, who was giving her an inquiring look, Katniss motioned for him to follow her. When he looked at her with bewilderment, all Katniss did was shake her head, roll her eyes and then turn back to outside. Pushing the screen door open, Katniss stepped out of the house and was instantly cold. She looked around her and her eyes landed on the tree that was planted in hers and Peeta's front yard. Wrapping her sweater closer to her body, Katniss walked over to it and sat down.
Although Peeta didn't follow her completely out into the rain, he did follow her to the porch and watch her movements. It was as she was sitting down under the tree that it hit both of them. The moment that he had become the Boy with the Bread flashed in both of their minds. Katniss found it unsettling that she was so easily able to feel like the girl who had just lost her father to a mining accident and was on the verge of starving again. After Peeta had saved her, her mom and Prim from starving, Katniss had vowed to never experience that feeling again, yet, here, in probably a worse storm than that day, she had reverted back to that state of mind.
Peeta knew what he had to do. On that day, all those years ago, he had simply tossed the loaves of bread to Katniss while he stayed out of the rain. This time it would be different. Turning around and heading back into the house, Peeta made a beeline for the kitchen and grabbed the loaves of bread that he had baked earlier in the day and after wrapping them up so that the rain wouldn't get to them, he made his way back out to the front yard. Looking over at the girl he had loved for so long, the Girl on Fire, Peeta saw that Katniss was crying. She rarely cried, finding it to be a sign of weakness, but it had to be a combination of what she was feeling, and what her mind was replaying to her, that was causing the tears this time.
Taking a deep breath to do what he should have done to begin with; Peeta walked out into the rain and walked over to Katniss. As he was about to reach her, Peeta felt a pair of eyes on him that didn't belong to the girl in front of him. Despite the gloominess of the sky, and the darkening of the clouds, Peeta looked across the street to his old mentor's house and saw that Haymitch was staring at him like he was crazy. And that was probably true, but Peeta didn't care. Upon reaching the tree, Peeta sat down next to Katniss and handed her one of the loaves of bread before pulling her towards him and kissing the top of her head.
"I miss him Peeta." Katniss muttered into Peeta's chest, just as a clap of thunder went off.
"I know Katniss; I know." Peeta replied, simply rubbing her arm up and down and whispering shushing noises into her ear to try and calm her.
"Do you think he would be proud of me?" Katniss asked.
"I didn't know him all that well, but anyone who loved, or loves; you would be a fool to not be proud of you. You did what you had to do to ensure Prim's safety. I'm sure that your dad would have extremely proud of you." Peeta commented.
"After I volunteered for Prim's place as Tribute, what would you have done if your name hadn't been the one that was called?" Katniss asked, looking up into the bright blue eyes that she loved so much.
"I would have volunteered in his place. Once I saw that it was you, there was no way that I would have let you go through the games without me there to protect you." Peeta replied almost instantaneously.
"What if it had been Gale's name instead of yours?" Katniss inquired.
"I would have known that you were safe with him there, and I would have prayed that you returned home safely." Peeta answered after a moment or two of consideration.
"I love you Peeta Mellark." Katniss commented, pressing her lips to his.
"And I love you Katniss Everdeen." Peeta replied, breaking a piece of bread off of the loaf that he had handed her and fed it to her.
As Katniss and Peeta continued to eat the loaves of bread, they just sat there in the rain, staring into each others' eyes. They didn't know how long they sat there, or when exactly Haymitch had come out of his house, and started yelling at them to get their butts back inside and that they were crazy for sitting in a thunder and lightning storm, but it didn't matter. They had each other and that was all they really needed at the moment.
"You remembered." Katniss whispered, indicating the last little bit of bread that was in Peeta's hands.
"I will never forget that day Katniss." Peeta replied with a smile.
"I don't care how old we get, but you will always be my Boy with the Bread, Peeta." Katniss said softly.
"And you will always be my Girl on Fire." Peeta said as he kissed her temple.
"Are you two off your bonkers?" Haymitch asked as he came over to them, already soaked head to toe from the short walk across the street.
"What do you mean Haymitch?" Peeta asked, looking up at the drunkard.
"You two have got to be the craziest people I know to sit out here for an hour and a half in a thunder and lightning storm." Haymitch commented.
"Hey, we were having a redo of a moment from our past, if you don't mind." Katniss said stiffly, a little miffed that Haymitch had ruined the moment.
"Did you two catch a cold in that moment, 'cause you sure are going to this time around." He said with a shake of his head.
"Why don't you just go drown yourself in a bottle of alcohol?" Katniss retorted, causing Haymitch to glare at her and Peeta to laugh a little.
"I'm glad to see that a thunder storm can spark you back into a functioning state Sweetheart." Haymitch replied before turning around and heading back to his house.
"We should probably head back inside. I don't want you to get sick." Peeta said as he stood up and held his hand out to help Katniss up.
As Katniss followed Peeta inside, she could have sworn that she saw someone staring at them from the corner of her eye, but when she looked, the person was gone. With a shake of her head to try and clear the illusions that were toying with her, Katniss went into the house with Peeta right behind her, closing the door behind him. Walking over to the living room, Katniss sat down by the fire and stared outside. Now that she was back inside, she noticed just how cold and wet she actually was. Looking over towards Peeta, she saw that he was making them something warm to drink, so she decided to start a fire.
Once the fire was going, Katniss looked outside the window again.
Whomever Katniss had seen earlier she was sure that she was seeing him again. It frightened her that the guy seemed so familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen him. Looking more intently out the window, Katniss tried to get a better look at the guy, but was finding it hard to do with the downpur that was going on outside. When another bright flash of lightning went off, Katniss fell backwards and leaned against the couch, shaking her head slowly from side to side. It wasn't possible. There was no way that Katniss was seeing her father outside. He was dead. He had been dead since she was eleven. He had been killed in the mines, along with Gale's father, and a number of other Seam men.
"Katniss, are you okay?" Peeta asked as he came over to her and knelt down next to her.
"Peeta, I think I'm losing my mind." Katniss said as she continued to shake her head.
"What's wrong?" Peeta asked.
"I just saw my dad outside." Katniss replied.