Chase The Stars

by: Kumutasia

Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you all so much for your kind notes and reviews! I'm so glad to be back and I'm glad you're enjoying my little one shot look into the lives of Peeta & Katniss. I know that these stories seem pretty fluffy, but really that's all I know how to write! Plus, after everything, I think Peeta & Katniss deserve some lighthearted, beautiful stories as well. This next chapter explores Katniss and her feelings. What she went through after going back to 12 and her dealings with Peeta being back as well. It isn't my favorite, but I tried to capture how I think she felt. If you guys want, please send me PROMPTS or PLOTS that you would like to see me write and I will gladly try to write as best as I possibly can! Reviews are always appreciated as well!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games trilogy, nor do I own any of the characters mentioned in the story. This fan fiction is for entertainment purposes only and any copyright infringement is not intended.


No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get herself to fall asleep. It wasn't that she was afraid to face the nightmares. In fact, she was almost certain that she would rather brave through those than be forced drowning in her own thoughts as she was doing right now.

The first few months had been hard. She was back in District 12, on her own. Of course, they had sent Haymitch back too, but he quickly succumbed to the power of his drinks. As far as Katniss was concerned, he was dead to the world more often then not. She spent a majority of those first months wandering around in the woods, trying with all her might to get lost. No matter how hard she tried, though, the woods always led her back home. And then he came home. He came back to her when the rest of the people who loved her seemed to have faded out into the background, leaving her to fend for herself.

When he first arrived, she was confused. She wondered why he came back. He didn't have a home there anymore. None of them really did. And you couldn't call they life they had once lived there good. He had the chance to start over, go anywhere he wanted, and yet he chose to come back to 12. To the place where she was.

Earlier that night, they had enjoyed dinner together, along with Greasy Sae, Haymitch and Sae's granddaughter. This was becoming a nightly thing, not out of the ordinary. She found comfort in being around this unusually mixed bunch of people. She was beginning to realize that they were the closest thing to a family that she would know. After the others left, Peeta stayed. They had begun to work on a memory book together and they wanted to finish a few pages before they retired to their own homes, to be alone with their nightmares. Katniss was beginning to rely on their evenings spent together, slowly flushing out the dead from her mind. It seemed to help a little, the nights that they spent together working on their simple task were usually the nights that the nightmares stayed away.

After spending a few hours talking about the dead and remembering, Peeta closed the book. This was the signal that it was time for him to go home. Katniss hesitated, not wanting him to leave. The kettle was still on the stove from dinner. Katniss made her way over to the stove, picking up the kettle, refilling it with water and placing it back onto the stove. "Want some tea before you go?" she asked the boy who was still sitting quietly at the kitchen table, watching her every move.

He nodded curtly, but remained silent in the dimly lit kitchen. Katniss took a seat across from him, pulling her knees up to her chest, her feet resting on the edges of the chair. The remained silent, only the sound of the kettle blowing to indicate that the water was ready broke the loud silence. Katniss got up and prepared the tea, pushing a mug toward Peeta, she took a sip. It was warm and calming. And it reminded her of the boy sitting across from her and how he had made her feel those nights on the train during the Victory Tour, which now seemed like an eternity ago.

She sighed, "Why did you come back?" she finally asked, it had been weighing on her mind since she seen him planting those primroses in front of her house. She didn't want to ask him before, it seemed cruel, self righteous even.

A smile played on his lips, and Katniss caught a glimpse of the boy she once knew, the boy who once loved her, "Well, I could go if you like," he joked. Slowly, the real Peeta was showing through the Capitol controlled mutt that they had made him into. Katniss sighed again, rolling her eyes, "Seriously, Peeta."

Peeta's face falls serious once again, and Katniss regrets being so curt with him. It's not often that she gets to see the old Peeta, and honestly she misses that. She succumbs to haunting memories of the boy that she used to know, the boy who held her hand on the chariots, the boy who tried to take care of her in the cave even though he was just as bad himself, the boy who pushed all the nightmares away. She looks up and instead of the boy staring back at her, it is a man that she is slowly getting to know once again. He looks like he is thinking, hard, maybe trying to arrange his memories into categories of real and not real.

"I came back because where else would I go? This is the only place I know," Peeta speaks his eyes sweeping around the house.

Katniss blinks, "But you had so many other options. You could have gone anywhere. Made new memories. Explored new places. You could have forgotten about all of this and just gone. Had a new life," she says, her voice turning into a whimper. In an instant, she is crying again, hot tears spill out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She doesn't make the effort to wipe them away, instead, she buries her face into her crossed arms.

In her opinion, she didn't have the choice. She had to come back to 12. No matter where she went or what she did, the memories would still haunt her. Coming back to 12 was logical to her. In her opinion, he had a choice. He could have asked to be sent to any district and he would have been able to rebuild his life, perhaps he would have been able to get married and have children. What was in it for him here?

He looked at her for a moment, as if he was staring deep into her soul, "I didn't want a new life. I wanted my old one back." Now, it sounded like he was about to whimper. Katniss looked up, but he wasn't sitting in his chair across from her, he was kneeling next to her, just far enough away for her not to notice immediately, but close enough that she could touch him if she wanted to.

"You could have been married," she whispers, looking into his eyes. Those eyes, which are still such a startling shade of blue, flicker and for a moment, Katniss sees fear, but they return to normal in an instant.

"Who says I can't still be married?" Peeta laughs, Katniss also lets out an unsure giggle, but her mind twists with confusion.

Peeta looks at the clock on the kitchen stove, it's late he says, and he has to go home. He stands up and looks at Katniss with desire. All of his instincts tell him to hug her, to hold her, to stay with her, but his mind-those memories, override all of that and he leaves through the back door, glancing back as he makes his way out.

She sits in the same chair, refusing to move for fear of being broken if she does move. What did he mean he can still be married? Her heart is beating faster, but slower at the same time. The feelings that she had for him are rushing back and she is confused. She hates the feeling, it's too girly, she thinks. The Katniss that she once was would have never anguished over whether a boy liked her or not. The Katniss that she once was didn't even notice boys, wasn't planning on getting married. But the Katniss who was sitting in that chair couldn't help but wonder what could have been with the boy with the bread. She couldn't help but wonder if he had come back for her, and if he did come back for her, did that mean there was still a part of him that loved her? And if he still loved her, did that mean she could possibly still love him?

There it was, the admission to herself that she did, in fact, love him. That small fact was probably obvious to everyone except her. It was even obvious to Gale, which is why, she realized, he had chosen not to come back for her. He was just making her decision easier. She feels thankful, for a second, for Gale's sacrifice. And then she is back into her confusion.

She continues to sit in the kitchen, not touching the now cold tea that is sitting in front of her. She always associated these kinds of feelings with the silly girls who gossiped and followed Gale around like puppies. These weren't the kind of feelings that a girl like Katniss felt. But then again, she didn't really know what kind of girl she was anymore. The sun slowly began to rise on the horizon, she could feel the warm rays of morning sun as it filled the room.

Greasy Sae noisily made her way into the house, hanging up her coat on the rack next to the kitchen door. She didn't notice Katniss sitting there, until she was heading to the stove, about to prepare another kettle of tea.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, "Damn, child. You could at least let me know when you decide you're gonna be sitting in the middle of the kitchen this early in the morning," Sae chides Katniss. But Katniss doesn't look up or respond in any way, "You been sitting there all night, girl?" Sae asks, Katniss gives a little nod

Sae raises her eyebrow, now eyeing the cups of tea sitting on the table in front of Katniss. The memory book is also sitting out and open, new pages which Peeta painted drying on the table. Sae now knows what this is all about, "Ah.." she says quietly, realization flooding her face, Katniss still doesn't look up, "Want to talk about it?" Katniss looks at Sae, of all people she knows that Katniss has never been a girl of many words. Sae nods, "Ok, up to bed you go then."

Katniss is helped up the stairs and into bed by Sae. She is surprised by how quickly she falls asleep, even though she tried hard to fight it back. The nightmares don't haunt her, she doesn't see anything, just black. But in the back of her mind, she hears Peeta's voice whispering, "I love you."


Thank you for Reading & Reviewing!

I will try to get a new chapter up soon, remember: PROMPTS, PLOT IDEAS, & anything else you would like to see in these stories are gladly accepted