Katniss
Peeta wakes up at around 2PM. He sits up slowly, his blonde hair ruffled from sleep He looks around cautiously, taking in his surroundings, clearly trying to remember where he is.
"Morning." I smile at him.
"What time is it?" Peeta asks.
"It's 2PM. What time did you wake up last night?" I ask.
"Around 12AM." He answers.
"How long were you standing outside my door?" I ask.
"Around eight hours or so." He replies, not looking at me.
I sit by him on the couch. He's shivering and has the blanket up to his chin. I slowly move closer to Peeta and carefully feel his forehead. He looks scared and tenses up as soon as I touch him.
"It's okay. I'm just checking you for a fever." I tell him in a gentle voice, secretly a bit surprised I can be gentle with anyone besides Prim.
He relaxes a little but he still looks at me cautiously. He's burning up. That is not good. I gently stroke his hair out of his face. Then I blink. What am I doing? I wonder.
I remove my hand, my cheeks heating up and say, "You're running a fever. I think it's from staying in the snow last night but, don't worry. I'll take care of you."
"So it will be like the cave. Well, minus the moral peril part. Right?" Peeta smiles.
I laugh, he sounded like before when he said that.
"Are you hungry?" I ask.
"What do you cook?" He asks.
"Soup; do you want some?" I reply.
Peeta nods.
I go to the kitchen and make the soup. Then I sit by him on the couch.
"Can you handle this?" I ask.
"Well, if this is really supposed to be like the cave then you should spoon-feed me." He jokes.
"Glad to hear you have your humor back." I comment.
He laughs and sits up as I pass him the bowl.
"How are you feeling?" I ask.
"I'm cold." He answers between bites.
I go upstairs to get him another blanket. There's a knock on the door as I'm walking down the stairs. I answer it and see that it's Gale.
"Hey Catnip. Can I come in?" He asks.
"Um." I'm not sure what to say. I haven't seen him since he left and never came back. There's also the thing about him being the child-murderer who created the bombs that killed my sister Prim.
"Listen, I'm sorry for leaving. I was just angry and confused. I just want to tell you that I love you Catnip. I just have to ask, do you love me?" Gale says.
I look at Gale. He's always been my best friend and hunting partner; nothing more, nothing less. Now my feelings have become less than before because of Prim. I've never loved Gale in the way he loves me and I feel bad about it but it's the truth.
"Catnip?" Gale asks.
I glance back at the hallway, thinking about how Peeta's waiting on the couch in the living room. Probably wondering where I am by now.
"You have someone over? Who is it?" Gale asks, trying to come in.
I block the doorway. "It's Peeta and he's sick. He came by this morning wanting to talk so I let him in and then I realized he's sick, so now I'm taking care of him." I tell him.
"Why don't you just take him to the clinic?" Gale demands.
"I can't just leave him there." I answer.
"Why not?" Gale questions, face full of fury.
"Because I-" I finish my sentence in my head. I love him. I think.
"Well, I'll just get out of your hair Katniss. I hope you're happy with your life." Gale says, storming away.
I feel bad for Gale but at the same time I'm insanely happy with my realization. I'm also scared of my realization. I love Peeta. I think.
I walk over to Peeta and sit by him on the couch, wrapping the new blanket around his shoulders.
"Did you hear?" I ask.
He looks at me with an intense look on his face that tells me he heard everything, even the words that still remain unsaid.
"Can we play real or not real again?" He asks.
"Okay." I reply, mentally bracing myself for the worst.
"You care about me a little bit. Real or not real?" He asks.
"Not real. I care about you a lot." I answer, meeting his gaze.
He looks a little happy but then he changes the subject. "I bake. Real or not real?"
"Real. You're great at baking and decorating cakes."
"The fire that destroyed District Twelve and killed my family was my fault. Real or not real?"
"Not real. That happened during the second games before you were captured. It wasn't your fault."
Peeta looks relieved. "I was worried it was my fault." He admits. "That's what they told me."
"Everything they told you was a lie." I tell him.
"How do I know you aren't lying to me too?" He whispers.
"You're just gonna have to trust me." I say quietly, knowing how much that is to even suggest.
He cautiously meets my gaze. It's gonna be hard to convince him to trust me again but I can tell it's gonna be even harder to remind him how great he is.
"You want to get me back to normal? Real or not real?" He whispers.
"Real. You were happier before." I tell him.
"I can imagine I was less confused then too." He comments.
"You were less confused before." I agree.
"Why are you helping me?" He asks.
"Because I really missed you and you would do the same for me if the roles were reversed." I answer.
Peeta
Did Katniss really just say she missed me? I wonder.
"Do you really mean that?" I ask.
"Yes." She says quietly, her cheeks reddening somewhat.
I want to ask why but I'm afraid to.
She surprises me by continuing. "I missed you because you're the kindest and most selfless person I know. You're very strong-willed and you always try to do the right thing and you always know what to say and y-you chase away the nightmares."
I didn't think she thought very highly of me at all. I'm a bit shocked to hear this.
"Do you want some more soup?" She asks, gesturing to the empty bowl.
I shake my head. I'm not very hungry right now. "No thanks. It was really good; I'm just not very hungry." I tell her. "Thank you though."
She takes the bowl and goes into her kitchen. As soon as she's in the kitchen, Gale bursts through the living room window and looks at me, a crazed and furious expression on his face. He pulls me to my feet and starts hitting me. I try to defend myself, but I'm not much of a fighter. The beating reminds me of the time I spent captured in the Capitol. I drop to the ground and curl up in a ball, clutching my head as Gale continues to hit me. I'm trying to ignore the physical pain and focus on remaining in control of myself. It's not working too well.
This is Katniss's fault! A voice in my head screams.
No it's not! I think.
It's no use, my vision is going red and I'm slowly losing control.
Katniss
I hear a window break and run into the living room to find Peeta in a small ball while Gale hits him repeatedly.
"Get off him!" I shriek.
Gale ignores me and I run to get my bow from the front door. There's a knock on the door when I retrieve the bow and arrows so I open it. It's Haymitch. I grab his arm, dragging him to the living room. Haymitch catches on real fast and pries Gale off Peeta, shoving him out the front door.
"Peeta?" I call, running to him.
He's on the ground, curled up in a ball. He's hyperventilating and clutching his head.
Haymitch pulls me away from Peeta. "You might not want to get too close sweetheart." He says.
As he says that, Peeta lunges at me, hitting my arm with the bow hard enough to make me drop the bow and arrows, crying out in pain. Then Peeta grabs my injured arm and squeezes, not letting go.
Haymitch yells at Peeta, "Boy let go of her arm!"
Peeta doesn't budge, his blue eyes are nearly completely black.
Tears are streaming down my face. "Peeta, please let go. You're hurting me." I say.
Peeta blinks, looking confused, he looks from his hand to me. Realization dawns on his face and he lets go of my arm immediately. His now blue eyes fill with tears and he jumps away from me. Haymitch grabs his arm so he can't do any other damage.
"Oh Katniss, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry Katniss. I am so, so, very sorry." Peeta says. He begins to cry quietly into his free hand and Haymitch lets go of Peeta's arm.
"It's okay Peeta, you didn't mean it. It's not your fault." I tell him, gently wrapping my arms around him.
"I hurt you. I'm sorry Katniss. I'm so, so, very sorry." He says, crying harder, his legs giving out.
"Shh, shh, it's okay. You didn't mean it. It wasn't you. It was what the Capitol did to you that made you do it. It wasn't your fault." I tell him, having the two of us sit on the couch.
Peeta cries himself to sleep and I carefully put his head in my lap, gently stroking his hair. Haymitch watches us carefully from the other couch.
Peeta wakes up around an hour or so later. When Peeta looks at me he looks like he might start crying again. I gently put my good hand on his bruised cheek. Gale has turned poor Peeta black and blue and caused another flashback. I'm starting to hate Gale now. Peeta looks at me, his eyes full of guilt and my heart aches for him. I wish I could take his pain away. I don't dare let him see my bad arm; that would just make him feel worse.
"Well, now that you're awake, I need to talk to Katniss about something. Okay Peeta?" Haymitch says.
Peeta nods and sits up.
I follow Haymitch to the front door. He looks at me and for once doesn't smell like alcohol. He actually smells like ashes and smoke. "I thought you would want to know that Peeta's house is in ashes." He tells me.
"What?" I gasp.
"I came over because I thought the poor boy tried to end himself, so I ran in there and helped put the fire out. Nobody could find a body but now I think we both know who really did it." He says.
I scowl, yup, we know who did it.
"So now it looks like I might need to stay here so I can watch you two kids." Haymitch tells me.
"That sounds like a good idea." I agree, which is something I never do when it comes to Haymitch and then I hug him, something else I never do with Haymitch. "Thank you for saving Peeta." I whisper.
"I like that kid. I couldn't let him suffer more than he already has." Haymitch says, hugging me back for a moment.
We let go and walk back to Peeta.
"Do you want some more soup?" I ask, sitting beside him again.
Peeta shakes his head and looks at me with sorrow-filled eyes. "I-I really am sorry Katniss." He whispers, looking upset.
"You didn't mean it Peeta. It's okay." I tell him, gently putting my hand on his cheek.
"No, it's not okay. I hurt you. Even though I didn't mean to, I still hurt you." He says, tears spilling out of his blue eyes.
I kiss him, trying to show him that I don't blame him and that I love him in this one kiss. It's a wet kiss, Peeta's crying again, but the kiss is still full of love.
"It's okay Peeta; people forgive those they really love." I tell him, pulling away.
His eyes widen. "You love me. Real or not real?" He whispers in a shaky voice.
"Real." I smile at him.
Peeta smiles at me. "I love you too Katniss." He says, sounding like the old Peeta and I'm glad to see that he's still in there because even though he's damaged and broken, I love him, just like even though I'm damaged and broken, he loves me and that's just the way it is.