Chapter One
Katniss really didn't want to be there. It was beautiful outside. But, it seemed like the right thing to do. Although Mrs. Mellark had been an evil old crow in Katniss's opinion, Mr. Mellark had always been kind to her, trading fairly with her when she brought something from her hunt to the back door of the bakery. She wanted to give her respects to the old baker and of course there were his sons too, Peeta in particular. Katniss didn't really know him. He was in her year in school and they had shared classes in the past but since graduation she had only rarely seen him. They had never really spoken beyond a few hellos here and there. But, Peeta was the reason she felt so obligated to be at Mrs. Mellark's funeral. He had saved her, all those years ago, her and her family and she had never properly thanked him. That fact remained a weight on her mind. So, here she was waiting to give her condolences to the Mellark men as they stood in a receiving line after the funeral service. She felt being there now was almost as good as a thank you for she was extending a kindness to him as well.
She had talked Prim into coming with her and they sat together in the middle of a pew towards the back of the church. As the Mellarks had walked by she had been surprised to see genuine grief on their faces and she felt a rush of compassion for them. It dawned on her that she had always assumed that Mrs. Mellark was just a mean witch, but she realized that wasn't very fair of her. She really knew nothing of the woman, only a sharp memory of her being cruel on that worst day. But, life in twelve was always difficult and although she really disliked the Mellark woman, it was clear that the young men and their father were suffering the loss of a mother and wife.
As she and Prim moved further through the line she tried to think of what to say to them. Funerals always made her feel awkward. She never knew how to clearly express herself in these situations and always bumbled through with as few words as possible. Wracking her mind, she acknowledged that all she really knew about the Mellarks now, was that Peeta's two older brothers were no longer living at the bakery even though the middle one still worked there. She supposed it would be just Peeta and his father who remained in the home above the shop now.
As she and Prim finally made it to the family, Mr. Mellark reached out to Katniss and took her hand. He thanked her for coming then looked to Prim before Katniss was even able to say a word. That wasn't so bad, she thought She supposed that there were so many people there that the family wouldn't really remember what she said to them anyways. She moved forward and shook a young lady's hand, the eldest brother's wife perhaps, then one of the brothers. "I'm sorry for your loss" she said and when she moved on from him she saw that Peeta was next. He was still speaking to the person in front of her and had yet to notice she was there. When he turned his head and looked at her, surprise flickered across his paled face. Their eyes met. His looked pained. The memory of him tossing bread to her in the rain sprang to the forefront of her mind. He was in pain now, grieving the loss of a parent, her boy with the bread and she knew what that felt like. He reached out a hand to shake hers and as she grasped it she decided that a handshake wasn't enough.
She stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around his middle in a tight hug. He let out a gasp of surprise but wrapped his strong arms around her too. "I'm so sorry Peeta" she whispered to him. "Thank you, Katniss" he said. She tightened her hug one last time then stepped back from him looking up into his face. As he struggled to keep the tears in his eyes from spilling over, he grasped her hand again before she could move away. His blue eyes meeting hers once more, "Seeing you here means so much to me," he said. Suddenly Katniss felt like crying. All she could do was nod at him again. He let her hand go and turned towards Prim and those in line behind her. Katniss didn't remember what she said to the last Mellark brother. She supposed she shook his hand as well, but her mind remained on Peeta.
That night she lay in bed awake. Peeta had been composed when she first stepped up to him, but after she spoke to him he seemed upset again. She was surprised at how emotional the moment had been. She wondered if her presence brought back a bad memory. Had she reminded him of getting a beating from his mother the day he burned the bread? That was the last thing she would have wanted him to think of. She had hoped to bring comfort to him. Then again, he told her that it meant a lot to him that she was there and he said it with such sincerity that she had believed him. Still, she worried that she had made things worse somehow.