I've written at least 7 more chapters of this story so far. I'm a little stuck on 'The Last Catastrophe', and this kind of just came to me. Within about two weeks, I wrote a solid 12 pages and over 9,000+ words for this story. I've worked harder on this than I have for any other story I've written, and to be quite honest with you guys I feel quite apprehensive about posting it. Something about it just feels so intimate to me, between the time I spent on it and the excitement I felt every time I sat down to write more of it. It's like my baby, so I hope you guys will love it as much as I do.

This was originally a one-shot, but the sheer length of this story so far in addition to many other things prompted me to split it up into seperate chapters, which is why this is so short. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

"Peeta!"

The young girl calls from across the schoolyard. He turns to watch her running over to him, her braids bouncing against her back, the hem of her skirt fluttering as she quickly makes her way over to him.

"Peeta, look at what my daddy got me!" she yells, twirling around and around in front of him. He smiles, the hem of her buttercup yellow dress fanning out all around her legs. "He bought it from the dress making shop in town, just for me! Isn't it pretty, Peeta?"

The young boy observes his best friend for a few moments. The dress was lovely, yes, with it's small cap sleeves and delicate trim along the hems – but not quite as lovely as her. So when he speaks, only he knows what he's truly talking about.

"Yes, it's very beautiful, Katniss."

She smiles, a wide, broad smile that Peeta can't help but return. She grabs his hand and begins to pull him along with her.

"Come on, let's go, let's go! My daddy has a surprise for you, too!"

The two glowing children run, rosy-cheeked and laughing, to her home. When they arrive, her mother is on the small front porch, pruning flowers to put into a vase with Katniss' baby sister, Primrose. As Katniss and Peeta descend the steps, her mother greets them with a warm smile, and Prim greets them with a lilting giggle. With quick kisses to their cheeks, the two eagerly make their way inside and find Katniss' father sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of something cool and a weathered, old newspaper in his hands.

"Ah, there they are!" the older man booms in his deep voice, the crinkles beside his eyes showing when he smiled. Mr. Everdeen wraps Katniss in a hug, spinning her around as she laughs, her dress fluttering around her. Then he turns to Peeta, and heavily places his hands on the young boy's shoulders. "You get more and more handsome each day, my boy!" Mr. Everdeen smiles, and chuckles as he ruffles the boy's wavy blonde locks.

"Daddy, I told Peeta you got him something from town!" Katniss lilts from the small kitchen, bring over a tin of freshly baked cookies for her and Peeta to share. Peeta takes one gratefully, his stomach grumbling from an active day at school, and eats the cookie in two big bites.

Mr. Everdeen picks up a box from the table and hands it to Peeta, who sits on the floor with Katniss and eagerly opens the lid. Inside lays a smooth suede jacket with two large front pockets, made from the finest chocolate brown suede Peeta had ever seen. Being from town himself, Peeta had seen many of these jackets in the display window of the Cartwright's dressing shop. But never had he dared to go in and enquire about one himself, the price tag hanging from the jackets a clear indication that Peeta could never afford one, even with his family's status as one the more well-off in District 12.

Peeta was suddenly filled with shame, remembering the walks home from The Everdeen's that Katniss and her father would spend with Peeta, stopping to take a peek at the fine suede and leather jackets in the window displays. No, he could never accept such an expensive present, the young boy thought. Gingerly putting the top back on the box, Peeta handed it back to a confused Mr. Everdeen.

"I could never accept such a fine gift, Mr. Everdeen. It's much too expensive," Peeta deeply sighed. Katniss' father just smiled warmly at the young boy, though, and opened the box himself, pulling the jacket out. It was a few sizes too big, but, Peeta thought, that was just as well. Mr. Everdeen almost always bought things a few sizes too big so that his family and him were able to grow into it. As Peeta looked at Katniss' perfectly fitted dress, though, he realized that this month was the highly anticipated raise all of the employed in District 12 would be receiving, courtesy of the Capitol. It wasn't much, as was anything in this District, but it was something, and very much a cause for celebration for the residents of the poorest District in Panem.

"You know that I would never buy anything frivolous, Peeta," Mr. Everdeen started, and while Peeta wasn't entirely sure what that word meant, he was smart enough to assume it's meaning. "Consider it an early birthday present."

Katniss' father knowingly smiled at Peeta, for they both knew that Peeta's birthday wasn't for another few months. But there was no use in arguing it any further, he thought. If Mr. Everdeen wanted to give Peeta such an amazing gift, then Peeta would accept it graciously.

It didn't matter the warm weather of the day, nor how the sleeves of the jacket sagged down quite a few inches where the boy's arms didn't reach – Peeta wore the jacket with pride for the rest of the day, carefully brushing any crumbs the cookies left off of the front lapel, or grinning widely when Katniss gingerly placed a fresh flower into the front pocket.

And when Peeta walked home that night with Katniss and her father, he walked past the dressing shop's window with just as wide of a smile, peering at the empty mannequin in the front window display.