Do You Remember The Day
This was originally written for the tumblr prompt - 'Everlark and kids.'
Thank you Sponsormusings for beta-ing this piece.
Katniss first becomes aware that a new day is beginning when rays of early morning sunlight are streaming through their curtains, radiating soft light throughout their bedroom. There's a calm breeze making the curtains billow softly, and birds singing from somewhere outside. Immediately, she knows it's going to be a beautiful day and smiles in gratitude. The reassuring, steady rhythm underneath her ear begins to shift and she hears a stifled yawn. Lifting her head off the solid chest she had been resting on, she catches her husband looking down at her with a smile and bleary eyes. "Good morning, beautiful," he whispers sleepily.
She smiles and leans over to give him a quick peck on the lips. "Happy 30th Birthday, Peeta."
His eyes widen. "That's right, it's my birthday today." He lets out a chuckle. "I've been so busy lately, I forgot."
"Well, you're an old man now, so you were bound to lose your mind eventually," she teases.
"Very funny, Mrs Mellark. But in case you've forgotten, I've already been there and done that at the sweet old age of seventeen." He lifts his head up to claim her soft pink lips; Katniss rolls herself on top of him, her hands drifting into his scruffy bed hair as she sinks further into the kiss. Their tongues meet and tease each other languidly, like they have all the time in the world – and in reality they do. The ability to talk and joke about the state of Peeta's mind, now that it's been over a decade, just proves how much they've recovered and healed since his mind was hijacked during the war.
"Can I have my present now?" he asks, and lowers his hands down to grip her ass, pushing his morning erection up against her covered core.
She breaks away and leans up on her hands. "I actually made something for you. I've been working on it all week."
His eyes brighten and suddenly he looks like an excited kid. "You made me a present?"
Katniss nods and gets up off the bed, heading towards a drawer where they keep some of their old Victory Tour clothes. After they'd come back home, they had wanted to throw out everything that reminded them of the horrors they'd gone through. But when the time came, Katniss couldn't get rid of the clothes – Cinna had made them especially for her, and that's all she had left of him. So she'd made a compromise with herself - she kept them, but packed them away so she didn't have to see them. The drawer that would usually be opened with a heavy heart was now a safe haven for Peeta's gift, a place where she feels her and Cinna are sharing an important secret between them. She can now look inside the drawer with a smile.
Sitting back on the bed, she gives him a handmade book. "You know I'm hopeless with wrapping."
He laughs and looks at the front cover. His eyes widen as he recognises the picture of them together. He had drawn it years ago, while they were celebrating their first wedding anniversary in the meadow. "Did you make me a book where I can keep my drawings?" he asks her curiously.
"No. It's a memory book. Like the other one we have," she explains.
He looks up at her with a wary expression.
"Relax, it's not that type of memory book." She helps him open the first page. "Reaching the age of thirty is a huge milestone for us, and since we've been home we've shared a lot of special and happy memories together. I wanted to remember them in honor of your birthday."
He lets out a relieved sigh and opens the book. "You had me worried there for a moment."
"Sorry," she apologises and ducks her head back down to look inside the book too. "Don't worry, this is a happy book. One that I think will become your favorite, even before all your precious cooking books."
"HA! Well if that's what you're aiming for, it's going to have to be pretty amazing to get that title. Are the pages filled with naked photos of yourself or something?"
Shaking her head in mock annoyance she utters out, "Just turn the page, old man."
With a pleased laugh, Peeta looks down at the first page. There's only one sentence, sprawled across the page in black ink and matching Katniss' handwriting.
Do you remember the day I made you your first birthday cake and I put salt into the mix instead of sugar? It was a disaster.
Peeta looks up at her with a grin. "I certainly do remember that and it wasn't a disaster. It was the best cake I've ever had."
"Peeta! That cake was disgusting and we both know it."
He moves his hand to cup the back of her neck, his thumb caressing her jaw. "I was so proud of you for making that cake," he tells her softly. "You hadn't gotten out of bed in days, and then suddenly I came home and you were making me a birthday cake. It was the best thing I've ever tasted," he tells her sincerely. "Well actually, now thinking about it, I would have to say it's the second best thing I've ever tasted." With a glint in his eyes, he removes his hand from her neck, and lets it travel down the valley of her breasts, drifting softly down her belly until it stops at her underwear. As he leans down to give her a searing kiss, he runs his fingers teasingly along the lips of her covered pussy.
"You need –" she lets out a raspy gasp and tries to ignore the excited jolt in her belly. "You need to finish looking at the book," she murmurs against his lips. "Please."
He breaks away with a feral grin, "This isn't over Mrs Mellark," he promises, and lets her go. He moves his attention back down to the book and continues opening page after page.
Do you remember the day when Haymitch was trying to round up his geese that had fled to the meadow and he slipped and went tumbling down the hill? It was our first real laugh.
Do you remember the day you swam the whole length of the lake by yourself? I was so proud.
Do you remember when the blizzard hit and we sat in front of the fire in silence holding hands? We were at peace.
Do you remember the first time we made love? It was real.
Peeta looks up at her and she can see his eyes starting to water. "This is such a wonderful idea," he murmurs. "We've been blessed with so many great memories."
She nods and starts to feel her own eyes well up. "It's not finished yet. Keep going," she chokes out.
He continues turning more of the pages. One after another of more happy memories of their lives together resurface and greet them like an old friend.
Do you remember the day I proposed to you? I've never seen you so happy.
"That was the happiest moment of my life," he whispers.
Katniss nods again and she feels a stray tear run down her cheek. It's now the moment of truth. The last page. The reason why she made this memory book for him in the first place. "One more page, Peeta."
He turns the page, and there's silence for a moment. He looks up at her, confusion settling in his eyes before they turn wide as saucers and he lets out a surprised gasp. "Is this real?"
She nods, confirming what he's read. "It's very real."
He looks back down, continuing to stare at the black letters that make up a sentence she knew he never thought he would read or hear for himself. But one he's always hoped for.
Do you remember the day I told you that you were going to be a father?
He breaks his gaze from the page and looks up at her with wonder and awe. "You're pregnant? We're having a baby?"
"We're having a baby," she confirms, grinning.
"Oh my god, Katniss." He reaches for her, pulling her to sit on his lap. Very slowly, like he's trying to capture every moment to store away in his brain for later, he lowers one hand down to gently place it upon her still flat stomach. He spreads his fingers wide, as though he can touch every inch of her soft skin. She feels so much wonder and love radiating from him as he leans down and offers her the kindest and sweetest kiss they've ever shared. He opens his mouth, seeking her tongue, and they move together, fusing as one, before they break apart slowly. "This is truly the best birthday present I've ever received."
"So would you say this is your favorite book now? She asks quietly, her tone teasing. "Is it up there with your cookbooks?"
He laughs. "This book has surpassed all my cookbooks. It's so far ahead, that those books and every other book I will ever possess in my life are now dust in its wake."
She lets out a watery laugh and he grins back at her. She feels the warmth coming from his palm as his fingers start rubbing affectionate circles against her belly. "I know we planned this, but I need to know. Are you alright with this?" He asks her carefully.
She moves her hand down to join his. "I won't lie, I freaked out for about a day or two," she confides. "But as I let the news sink in and I thought of you and of us, together, I didn't feel so scared anymore."
The relief on Peeta's face at her words is clear.
"I thought about how I could break the news to you and then this idea popped into my head. It's actually been quite therapeutic for me, like our other memory book," she says, taking his hand off her belly and interlocking their fingers together. "Just thinking about all the memories I have since coming back, I realised that a lot of the time I focus too much on the painful ones," she reveals quietly. "But you know what? We've come such a long way since then. And you're right – we have so many happy memories and we have each other. Always."
Peeta gazes at her in awe. "Our baby is so blessed to have you as her mother."
"And our baby is so blessed to have you as its father," she repeats back, squeezing his hand in assurance before pausing. "Wait, did you just say her?"
He shrugs his shoulders and laughs. "It's just a feeling I have," he replies, and leans back down to kiss her again. Slowly he helps lower her down, so she's lying on her back and he's hovering over her. "Right now though, I do have another feeling I was wondering you could help me with?"
"Hmm, what do you have in mind?" She murmurs against his lips and places her arms around his neck, encouraging him to lay down on top of her.
"I want to make love to my pregnant wife," he tells her huskily and begins moving his hips eagerly against hers, his erection getting harder by the second. "Will you allow it?"
Pushing her hips upwards to join in on his ministrations, she moves her mouth to his ear and whispers hotly, "I'll allow it."