Many thanks to Ellenka for the beta.
Title: Heartfelt
Author: Cindy Ryan
category: one shot, missing scene
Summary: Marriage was supposed to be forever; to be about love. Not a way to survive
Notes I'm rereading Catching Fire and was struck by Haymitch's conversation with Katniss before Peeta's marriage proposal. I wondered what was going through Peeta's mind.
Peeta Mellark paced his room. Every now and then, he glanced at the pad of
paper that rested at the foot of the bed. He'd retreated here hours before, seeking solitude. All he'd gained was a mess of emotion and
tangled thoughts.
Protecting Katniss had been Peeta's ultimate goal since the day of the
Reaping. He'd never expected to survive the Games.
She'd been his savior and stole his heart in the process. Declaring his crush had seemed
innocent at first. A way to get sponsors. To gain them an advantage. Selfishly, Peeta admitted now, to be near Katniss. If only for a little while. Peeta thought back to that conversation on the way home.
'What do we do now?"
'I don't know...try to forget, I guess."
"I don't want to forget."
Peeta shook his head and stopped pacing. Some things; mostly things from the arena, he wanted to forget.
He'd tried to forget. Holding Katniss as she slept hadn't been one of those. Their kisses, real or not, Peeta would cherish those.
Sitting down on the bed, Peeta picked up the pad of paper. The page was
blank. He was supposed to come up with a marriage proposal that all of
Panem would believe.
To protect Katniss and those he loved back home, Peeta would do it.
He'd find a way.
It wasn't hard to tell everyone what was in his heart.
The hard part was to keep it from breaking.
Peeta knew Katniss didn't feel that way about him.
Not yet.
She'd barely begun to process everything that had happened.
Her heart was back in District Twelve with Gale.
Absently tapping the pen against the paper, Peeta realized he'd never
thought much about marriage. It was something for later. If he was
lucky enough to win a girl's heart. To win Katniss's heart
His parents were not the best example of a marriage. Both had endured
a lot in their lives. Keeping the bakery open hadn't been easy. It'd
taken it's toll.
Though every once in a while, Peeta caught his father looking at his
mother tenderly and with love.
It was that brief image and his feelings about Katniss that Peeta would
use as inspiration for the proposal. He'd told Haymitch he wanted it to be real.
For him it would be.
end