A/N:Here's the second chapter, a little longer than the first one. Hope you enjoy! And please send me feedback. Thanks to those who already have!
Halfway back to the Victor's Village, Katniss decided to take a detour into the woods. Soon a familiar sense of calm washed over her as she made her way through the forest. She had a bow and arrows hidden somewhere, but that was closer to the meadow. Or had Gale moved it? She couldn't remember. But she wasn't there to hunt. Not that day. Just to clear her head.
She eventually found a large tree that had fallen and made her perch on its vast trunk. Images swam before her – Peeta in the cave, Peeta with blood running down his leg trying to refuse her tourniquet, Peeta kissing her on the beach during the Quarter Quell, Peeta trying to kill her with his bare hands. It was too much. She felt dizzy. She tried to calm herself by closing her eyes and steadying her breathing. After a few deep breaths she opened her eyes. The forest was quiet, and she almost expected Gale to stride up to her when she opened her eyes. But she shook that thought from her head.
She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting on the fallen tree when she decided to head back. The sun was warm on that spring day, but still a chill had crept up on her. She should have worn her jacket over the thin cotton tunic. The walk helped warm her up and ease the stiffness that had settled in her joints after sitting for so long. She counted half a dozen fat squirrels that scurried up trees as she went past, as well as three large rabbits that she startled in the underbrush. She should set traps, she mused. She should find her bow and arrows and hunt again.
For months she hadn't let herself think about that. She couldn't. It was too much like before. Before her world had turned upside down. Before she had pretended to love him. Before she had killed people to return to Prim. But now it seemed all right. The ache in her chest was there, but it was always there as of late. The thought of being back out in the woods calmed her, relaxed her. She realized she had been cooped up in her house for too long.
She came upon the Victor's Village at a slow pace. The geese were nesting in the tall grass behind Haymitch's house. No noise came from within, which could be a good sign or a bad sign. Katniss actually smiled to herself. Peeta's house was also quiet. She hoped he was still in town. She felt a long-forgotten warmth creep up her neck to her cheeks when she thought about seeing him earlier that day. When she thought about how his eyes had lit up and how he had smiled. She shook her head. Embarrassment was all it was, she convinced herself.
On her porch, Buttercup was laying in the sun, languorously cleaning his paws. In earlier days, she might have kicked at him, causing him to jump up and hiss menacingly at her. But things were different now, and when he spied her, he stood up, stretched slowly, and wound his way through her legs. She bent down to scratch behind his stubby ears and that's when she noticed the basket.
The basket sat near her front door, clean white dishcloth covering its contents. There was a note pinned to the cloth. This wasn't Greasy Sae's handiwork. Greasy Sae would have left whatever she had brought in the kitchen. Nor was it from Haymitch, who would laugh uproariously at the suggestion that he had given her a basket. That meant there was only one person that it could be from.
She grabbed the handle and carried the basket inside, setting it down on the kitchen counter. She lifted the dishcloth and discovered several warm, fragrant loaves of bread. She tossed the dishcloth back over the loaves and once more saw the note. Before she registered what she was doing, she had unpinned the note and read it.
"Just thought you might like some. – Peeta" it read.
Her eyes stung. Still clutching the note tightly in her hand, she retreated from the kitchen to the couch. She blinked furiously, willing the tears not to fall. It was just bread she told herself. But it wasn't just bread. She thought of the burnt loaf thrown near her feet on a rainy day that had saved her, and Prim's, life. She thought about the bread Gale had shared with her on Reaping Day – it seemed like a lifetime ago.
He should hate her, not bake her bread. She was the one who had strung him along with kisses and caresses and false promises. It was her fault that the Capitol had captured him and turned him against her, against himself. She had been selfish to want him to return to her, and delusional to think he would come back the same. It was her fault he was scarred in the same way she was. The Girl on Fire had burned him.
But Peeta was recovering faster than she would have ever imagined. He was smiling and planting her flowers and baking bread and rebuilding the bakery. Katniss realized she knew more about him now that he was back in District 12 than she thought. Though she'd lived the past few months as a shut-in, she had listened to what Greasy Sae said about him. She had acted apathetic at the time, but the words had stuck. Peeta asking after her. Peeta wanting to bring her and Haymitch some bread. Katniss had made a small noise at that and walked out of the kitchen, so Greasy Sae must have told him her answer had been "no." Greasy Sae mentioning how busy Peeta was planning the new bakery. How it was going to be even bigger than his family's, with more ovens.
Two weeks ago Greasy Sae had told her the ovens for the bakery were to being delivered in a few weeks' time. That must have been what Peeta and the workman were discussing in town. Katniss couldn't believe she remembered so much of what had been said over Greasy Sae's modest, but filling dinners. She cooked for Peeta as well, and Katniss felt a familiar ache in her chest when she thought about eating the same food for breakfast and dinner as he did. For months she hadn't said two words to him, and he lived next door. The ache in her chest became sharp and she felt as if she couldn't breathe.
After she caught her breath, Katniss climbed the stairs for a much needed shower. She still couldn't bear to look in the mirror as she combed through her messy hair. Her scars hadn't fully matured, she knew. The doctors that had worked on her burns in the Capitol told her it would take a year. They had given her creams and salves and other concoctions that she was supposed to rub on her skin, but most lay unopened in a cabinet under her bathroom sink.
Naked, she stepped into the shower under a blast of hot water. Her delicate skin screamed in protest as she hastily adjusted the temperature. She let the warm water wash over her for a long time. When she didn't feel like standing, she sat in the shower, arms around her bent knees. She didn't move until the water turned cool.
She shivered as she dried off, her wet hair clinging around her face. In her room she pulled on some long-neglected clean clothes and wrapped the towel around her hair. That's when she noticed the lights on next door. At Peeta's house. He must be home now, she thought. She found herself close to the window, peering across her yard at his residence. She saw movement at a downstairs window and she quickly backed away from hers, lest she be seen spying. She did catch some movement from down the lane. Greasy Sae was making her way up for dinner.
Katniss towel dried her hair as thoroughly as she could and headed downstairs. Greasy Sae was already letting herself in the back door with her eyes fixed on the bread basket from Peeta.
"Hmmm." Greasy Sae made a noise as she lifted the dishcloth and surveyed the loaves. She set down her foodstuffs on the counter and inspected each loaf of bread as she removed it from the basket and set it on the clean dishcloth. Katniss sat on a stool and, resting her chin in her hand, watched Greasy Sae quietly prepare dinner.
Greasy Sae carefully sliced one of the loaves and buttered it to go with the stew she was heating up on the stove. She kept her back to Katniss as she worked, sometimes humming to herself.
"You need to talk to that boy." Greasy Sae said, stirring the stew. "After all y'all have been through, after all he's been through…" She continued.
Katniss hung her head, her damp hair making wet marks on her shirt.
"He planted you those flowers, girl. Now he's baking you bread." Greasy Sae had taken the warm pot of stew off of the stove and set it on a layer of dishtowels on the counter. She looked Katniss long and hard in the eyes, then ladled a large portion into a bowl. She pushed the bowl, along with a few slices of bread, in Katniss's direction.
"I can assure you he doesn't hate you," Greasy Sae said matter-of-factly as Katniss was eating. Katniss dropped her spoon back into the bowl at Greasy Sae's statement. Something lurched in her stomach, almost as if the food had turned bad. But Katniss knew that wasn't the case. Her heart pounded in her chest as she dipped a piece of bread in the stew and continued eating.
"Tell him thanks, thanks for the bread," Katniss managed to get out between bites. Greasy Sae gave her a long look as she was packing up her things to head next door.
"I will," the older woman responded. "But I think you should thank him yourself."
