Author's note
I love the Hunger Games, it's the sort of story you never want to end… So I decided to continue it. This whole story is based on me going back into the last few chapters of MJ and asking myself, "What if?" I'm looking forward to some of your reactions. Please read and always review. Reviews make my world go round! Also, I don't own the Hunger Games, and I am not making any profit off this piece. Please read, enjoy, and review!
-MeganC
Chapter 1: Peeta Comes Home
Katniss was tired. She had been in bed for months. Sometimes she would get up to eat, to bathe, to pace her hallway, arms wrapped tightly around herself, just lost in her hazy mind. When Haymitch came over, she would sit on her porch with him, listening to him aimlessly chatter in his slurred voice about Panem and District 12 rebuilding. She didn't usually speak, unless Haymitch asked the question again.
"Did Greasy Sae tell you?"
She turned her head in his direction.
"Did Sae tell you anything?"
Katniss shook her head. She hadn't seen Sae or her granddaughter that day.
"They're sending Peeta back."
For the first time in months, Haymitch saw emotion flash through Katniss' eye. So he continued, "Dr. Aurelius cleared him, says he is doing much better. His flashes are fewer and not as severe."
"Good for him," Katniss said, staring at Peeta's house in the Victor's Village.
"Dr. Aurelius says you need to answer your phone."
Mute again, Katniss merely nodded.
Haymitch sighed and heaved himself out of the porch chair, moving right in front of her, "Katniss, you need to wake up. Peeta will miss you. Greasy Sae misses you, Thom misses you. Hell, even I miss you. Everything else here is growing. You would feel better if you did too."
Katniss watched Haymitch until he disappeared into his own home.
She scampered out of her chair and locked herself in her home. Did Haymitch provide her with good news or bad news?
Peeta was coming home.
She looked at the primrose plants HE had planted. For HER sister. Because everyone loved her happy, bright, kind sister. Even HIM, without the memories, could remember Prim.
Buttercup wound himself around her ankles, meowing his sorrow.
"You're the only thing left, you damn animal," Katniss sighed.
She glanced behind her, the dark stairs to where the bedrooms were. Her mother's room. Her room. Prim's room.
The air caught in her throat. Her eyes tingled, her nose twitched. Tears began to leak out of her eyes. She touched her cheek cautiously.
She hadn't let herself cry in months.
She collapsed on the floor, sobs ripping through her body, shaking her to her core.
"Prim!" She wailed, "Oh Prim." Buttercup circled her, meowing loudly, joining her grief.
"She's dead, dead, dead you stupid cat!" Katniss shouted, batting at Buttercup, "She is never coming home, never coming back because she died! Everything, everything I did, I did it for nothing. She died, she died anyways. I killed her, I killed my sister."
Buttercup meowed louder, agreeing with Katniss. She stumbled up the stairs, tripping in her blinding grief. She ran to Prim's room, slammed the door open, and froze.
Nothing had changed.
Prim was a slob, clothes heaped all over the floor, her bedding in a tangled knot at the foot of her bed. Her desk was covered in hairbands Katniss had bought her, because they could afford filly things now.
Katniss stepped closer to the desk, dragging her fingers against the cool wood.
A piece of paper caught her eye. On top of everything, seemed to be a poem that Prim wrote for school, when they thought they were safe.
My Sister's Protection
Everything I am today
Is because my sister loves me
She always made me feel safe
And never let me really see
The hurt and horror and hunger everywhere
She held that all on her own
She didn't want me to worry or care
The evil she faced all alone
She is my Sister, my Tribute, my Friend
It was her, I knew would come back
It is to Katniss I owe over again
My whole life, and keeping me on track
-Primrose Everdeen
Katniss collapsed onto Prim's bed, clutching the poem in her hand, tears falling again. She laid her head on Prim's pillow, pulling Prim's quilt up to her chin, taking in the summer scent that was Primrose.
With a final shuddering, deep breath, Katniss felt herself pulled into sleep, a final thought drifting through her mind...
At least Prim knew how much she was loved.
She awoke to the smell of bread, lofting its way through her home. It was a nice smell. Different from the greasy bacon and eggs Sae typically made for her.
However, bread had always meant on thing to her...
Peeta.
She tossed off her covers, raced downstairs and into the kitchen, using a chair to break her momentum.
There was a loaf of warm bread in a basket on her table in front of her. She whipped around, frantically searching for him. He had been her, she could just feel him. She found her back patio door cracked open, and she immediately knew where he was.
She stepped outside, the sunlight brighter than she ever remembered it. She could hear the water running from the hose on the side of her house. She turned the corner and stopped immediately.
Peeta was there, watering his primroses. His back was turned to her, so to get his attention, she would have to speak. Did she even want his attention?
She swallowed her fears heavily.
"Peeta?" It came out a croak. No one could hear that. She tried to quietly clear her throat, and call to him again, before she changed her mind.
"Peeta."
This time he turned to face her, a worn smile gracing his face, "Hey, Katniss. Good morning."
"Hey," she said, looking down. She knew he was watching her, waiting for her next move. "Thank you for the bread," she mumbled to the ground.
"You're welcome."
When Katniss looked up, she saw Peeta looking her over, a concerned frown now resting on his face. She self-consciously touched her hair, noticing how matted and knotted it was.
"I'm sorry," she said, hugging herself.
"For what, Katniss?" he asked, shutting off the hose and taking slow steps towards her.
"I, uh, just got out of bed."
Peeta gave her a knowing look, and scanned over her body again, "What's in your hand?"
Katniss looked down, Prim's poem now a crumpled wad in her hand. "Oh! Oh no!" she moaned, starting to tug out the wrinkles.
"What is that Katniss?"
"A poem. Prim wrote it," she replied, not looking up. He took her arm cautiously and led her back to the kitchen.
"Can I read it?" Peeta asked softly after they sat down.
Katniss flattened the paper out on the table, glancing at Peeta, really looking at him for the first time since she left the Capitol.
He was thin and gangly, sallow cheeks and skinny fingers. The bags under his eyes proved he didn't sleep much either. She wondered who starred in his nightmares.
She slid the poem across the table to him, watching her fingers while he read the simple stanzas.
"Katniss," he hummed her name, "When did you find this?"
"Last night," she sighed, "I went into her room; it was sitting on top of those colorful hairbands I bought her. I don't know if there are others. This was all I could handle."
"She admired you very much Katniss," Peeta said, sliding the paper back.
"Prim is dead."
Peeta looked at Katniss, tilting his head to the side, "I know that Katniss. That's real."
"I killed her."
He cocked his head the other direction, frowning, "I didn't know that Katniss. I thought the bombs killed her."
"Coin sent you to kill me, and it didn't work. So she killed Prim, the reason I became the Mockingjay in the first place."
Peeta absorbed the new information, "You didn't kill Prom then, Coin did."
Katniss shook her head, "I'm the reason she is dead. I couldn't convince anyone of anything. I'm the 17-year-old girl who couldn't convince anyone of my loyalty. To either side."
Peeta stood up, getting ready to leave, "You are a survivor, Katniss. I don't know what else Coin and Snow expected of you."
"Where are you going?" she asked suddenly, trying to watch him walk down her front hallway.
"I have a phone appointment with Dr. Aurelius soon," he said, opening her front door, "By the way Katniss; he says you should answer his calls."
She waited by the phone the next day, just waiting for the ring to interrupt her solitude. Finally, it did.
One. Two. Three...
"Hello?" Katniss answered.
"Oh, hello Katniss. What a pleasant surprise," Dr. Aurelius said, "How are you feeling?"
"Um, better, actually. I showered today."
Dr. Aurelius paused before saying, "Well, wonderful Katniss. It sounds like you're making progress then. Have you spoken to Peeta yet?"
"Well, yes. He, a planted primrose bushes along the side of my house. And yesterday, he left me some bread. We played real or not real."
"Great Katniss. And how to you feel about spending time with Peeta? Do you feel safe?" Dr. Aurelius continued.
"Peeta is different now. He isn't my Peeta anymore. I mean, I see him sometimes, but mostly he seems tight, like he is always on the brink of something," she paused, then whispered, "Then again, I'm probably not his Katniss anymore either."
"No, both of you are changed. You will never be the same. But I think you can help each other. NO one else has experienced what you have. You two need to take care of each other," he sighed, "Just be careful with Peeta. You, Katniss, are his main trigger. Anything you do could set him off."
"I understand."
"Alright Katniss. Well this was a wonderful session. I see improvement. Keep getting better Katniss, and I hope you'll pick up again next week. Have a good week!"
Katniss replied, "Bye Doc."
She didn't really like talking to Dr. Aurelius. But she owed him. It was his testimony that convinced Panem that she was innocent because she was crazy.
When would she ever stop owing people?
