Hello! Here's Chapter Two! I hope you're liking the story.
Rekindling
Chapter Two
Peeta was right about the kids still being there in the morning. I woke up to a pair of blue eyes peering down at me, brown hair tickling my face. Rosemarie's small hands were bunched around a handful of white fabric of our comforter and there was a bruise by her thumb where Rye bit her. I brushed my finger over her hand and smiled at her.
"Hi, Mom."
Even though she was seven and was calling me mom since her first word, I still felt surprised to hear her say it on occasion, and today the word caused my heart to soar.
"Good morning, Rosemarie."
"Uncle Gale is here," she told me, grinning obviously because Gale was one of her favorite people, even though she didn't see him often.
"What time is it?" I asked, sitting up so that I could see out the window above our bed to see the sun. The sun had an afternoon look to it, so I knew Peeta left me to sleep in.
"Lunch time. Dad made pizza."
"My favorite," I said, laughing when she did, as if keeping a secret.
"We know."
Rosemarie lay in bed, kicking her feet back and forth while I got dressed. I threw on a black t-shirt and a pair of brown pants and left my hair in a tight braid, just how it was almost everyday. Rosemarie insisted that I braided hers as well, so I parted her hair in three sections and braided it even more quickly than I could do my own. She reached behind her after and squeezed the braid in her hand, feeling how her hair was knotted together. She wiggled off of the bed and disappeared out of the room, expecting me to follow her.
When I got into the kitchen, Peeta had Rye tucked under his arm as he wiped down the kitchen countertops. Rye was slapping a piece of dough as big as a handheld compass in his hands, gnawing on it only to realize it didn't taste all that good raw. Rosemarie's screeches and giggles brought my attention to Gale who was tossing her up into the air over his head, only pausing to kiss her neck, tickling her.
"I'll take him," I said to Peeta, taking Rye once he handed him over. Peeta kissed me on the forehead and went back to cleaning up the kitchen without a word.
"Hey," I said to Gale when he set Rosemarie down so that he could greet me.
He hugged me as well as he could with Rye in my arms and pressed his cheek against my head.
"Nice to see you," Gale said, squeezing my braid the way Rosemarie did to her own as she sat on my bed earlier. He sat down in the kitchen chair pulled out next to him and I sat in the one to his left, pulling it out so I was facing him.
"How's District Two?" I asked, smiling only because Rye pressed the dough he was holding against my cheek, where it stuck. I peeled it off and handed it back over to him as Gale answered.
"Busy. We've been trying to perfect the trade route between the districts to prevent the chaos we've been encountering with the demand of everything."
"That must be keeping you on your toes," I said, shaking my leg that Rye sat on so that he bounced up and down.
"As well as anything else could," he answered, letting Rye latch onto his finger that he held out for him. "He's grown a lot since the last time I saw him."
"Peeta's been giving him too much dough to play with," I said, somewhat laughing. "He ends up eating it."
"Ah, he's going to be a fat one," Gale said, laughing when I threw the discarded piece of dough that Rye pressed on my cheek again at him.
"I ate dough when I was a kid and I turned out fine," Peeta said from the sink.
"So you think," Gale said, laughing again when Peeta hurled a heavy burlap bag of unopened rice at him from the opposite side of the kitchen. Even with age Peeta could still toss his weight around, and even Gale's reflexes were still sharp enough to catch the bag with ease.
"Not in the house, boys," I said, rolling my eyes.
"What happened to the fun Catnip?" Gale asked, plopping the rice on the kitchen table. "You would have loved throwing bags of rice around back in the day."
Peeta laughed slightly at the comment.
"Yeah, well, being a mom does that," I said coldly.
Gale caught the look in my eyes after my answer. How I knew what was going on behind the walls of this house. How I knew that we might not be as safe as we thought. I wasn't up for fun talk either. Our small talk was just coming to an end and he knew what I really wanted to discuss.
"Rosemarie, go play with your brother in the other room," I said to her, still looking at Gale. Rosemarie lugged her brother into the family room when I handed him over to her.
"She's a little angry we were talking without her," Peeta said to Gale once he sat down at the kitchen table, pushing a plate of pizza my way.
"Clearly," Gale said back.
"You can't be excluding me from information like that," I said to Gale. "I have every right to know if my family is in danger."
"I know," Gale said. "There's just not a lot of evidence supporting what we're thinking. I mean, if former Capitol citizens were really after you and Peeta because they wanted to take back their former glory, they would have done it by now. And it has to be such a small group since only extremists would want something so corrupt back."
"I feel so much better," I said sarcastically, hating him all over again.
"You two wouldn't be the only targets either. They'd be after everyone who worked to get President Snow killed. They'd be after me too."
"You don't have anyone, Gale," I said, mad that he didn't realize that there were two kids in the other room that could be hurt if someone came after Peeta or me.
Gale's face fell at my remark, but he regained composure after a few seconds.
I knew it wasn't right of me to call Gale out on his lack of a family since I was the one he would have wanted to live his life with had he not left to District 2. Peeta sent me a look that meant he didn't think my comment was fair. Since District 12 got torn apart after our second Games, Peeta and Gale had an unspoken brotherhood, or whatever they liked to call it. All I knew is that Gale was now Peeta's best friend and mine was basically Haymitch. I got the short end of the straw on that draw. Nowadays, Gale and I mostly argue.
"I think it would just be easier to face if we knew what to expect," Peeta said, budding into the conversation so that Gale wouldn't have to respond to my dig.
"I know what to expect as much as you do," Gale told him. "If I hear anything, you'll be the first to know obviously."
"Can't Paylor get a few people into District Twelve to keep a watch on things? It couldn't hurt, right?" Peeta asked, clearly hoping his brainstorming might start a team bonding moment. I took a bite of the pizza he made and let them talk it out.
"I already tried to get people over here, but Paylor thinks that it wouldn't be worth the man power… among other things."
"What other things?" Peeta asked.
"She thinks too many people have died for us in our lifetime. We've had our nine lives," I said, looking at Peeta, then at Gale.
Gale nodded, stealing a slice of pizza from my plate. I let him take it and watched him stuff half of it into his mouth in one bite.
"At this point we know nothing and therefore can do nothing," Gale said. "I'm sorry."
"Well, then for now we'll go on about living our lives," Peeta said confidently.
I could only look at him because I wasn't sure it would be so easy. I was just getting over the habit of constantly looking over my shoulder for hunting tributes and now I actually had something to watch out for.
"I wish I had more to say, but maybe we should take the lack of information as a good thing."
"I agree." Peeta nodded.
"Can you live with that?" Gale asked me, trying to read my expression, but I was doing a good job at hiding my emotions after a night of letting them run wild.
"I guess I have to," I said, standing up. "I think I hear Rye."
I heard nothing in reality, since Rye and Rosemarie were playing peacefully in the family room where I told Rosemarie to take her brother. I just didn't feel like being around Gale and Peeta right now. They had things to discuss, I'm sure, since they had gotten in the habit of doing the serious talking when I wasn't around. Sure enough, when I left the kitchen I heard their conversation start up and at first they talked normally, but I heard how their voices lowered as I played with the kids, just low enough so that I couldn't make out a single word.
By the time Gale was set to leave, he had already given Rosemarie a dozen piggyback rides and gotten bit by Rye. Peeta was standing on the front step with the kids, listening to Rosemarie complain about the departure of her uncle. I was standing out in front of the row of victor houses with Gale, waiting for his car to arrive to pick him up to take him to the train station. Above us the sky was an orange and pink color and the air was cool as day turned into night.
"Sorry about the arm," I said to Gale, seeing the red mark the size of Rye's mouth etched in his skin.
"Well, at least he has a good protective instinct," Gale said with a chuckle, lifting his arm so he could see it.
"Just in case, right?"
I didn't mean to sound bitter about the situation at hand, but my words came out blameful and quick. Gale looked over at me, resting his arm back down at his side. He sighed and shook his head, kind of laughing to himself before saying anything to me. I squinted at him since the afternoon sun was right behind him, but even with my skewed sight, I could tell he was thinking about something set in the past.
"I should have expected this from you," he said.
"Why's that?"
"Because you've always been protective," he said, rocking back and forth on his feet.
"There's nothing wrong with that," I replied.
I expected him to understand my reasons for being so protective definitely since he saw what I went through with Prim, and since he was the same way with his siblings and mom.
"I'm not saying there is. I just have a feeling you're more upset with the fact that Peeta knew about the Capitol people before you. You've always wanted information first."
"Do you really think I want to hear something like this? That I really care who heard it first? I'd rather not have this as an issue," I said, feeling my eyes become wet with tears. "You don't think our life has been hell enough?"
I hated that after becoming a mother, I cried like a crazy person at any sign of upset. I pretended the sudden moisture was from the bright sun in my eyes and blinked a few times to get rid of any sign of pitiful emotion.
"I'm not looking to make you upset, Katniss," Gale said, looking somewhat guilty. "I thought I was looking out for you by just telling Peeta."
"Well, don't think that anymore," I said, shoving him lightly. "Always tell me what you know."
"Okay," Gale said, laughing softly. "First too?"
"Definitely first," I said with a grin since I knew that Gale was right about me preferring to hear things before Peeta.
"I'll call you with any updates," he said once the car pulled up to us, idling in its spot while the driver waited. "But don't wait around."
"I'll try to act normal," I told him, smiling when he seemed relieved.
He kissed me on the top of my head, giving me a tight squeeze before going to the car. Before the car pulled away, he rolled the window down and yelled goodbye to Peeta and the kids, who waved from the house. I left my spot and went back to the kids and Peeta when the car was no longer in view and when the sky was nearly black.
"Alright, guys, time for bed," Peeta said, standing up with Rye in his arms while Rosemarie grabbed his hand.
"Can you tell us a story, Dad?" Rosemarie asked.
"Which one do you want to hear?" Peeta asked as they walked into the kids' room. I leaned against the doorframe and watched as Peeta set Rye in his crib.
"The one where you saw mom for the first time," Rosemarie said.
"That's a good one," Peeta said as he helped Rosemarie into her pajamas.
She held onto his shoulders as she stepped into her cotton pants and once she was dressed, he scooped her up in his arms and laid her down in her bed. He knelt on the floor and leaned his elbows against the mattress so that she could see him. Rye whined in his crib because he wasn't ready for bed and I went and lifted him out as Peeta told Rosemarie her bedtime story. I sat down on the bed, leaning against the headboard as Rye rested his head on my shoulder. Rosemarie watched Peeta intently as he told her about his first day of school when his dad pointed me out.
Her eyes were heavy and barely open a few minutes later, but even then she wanted to hear another one, and just like every night, no matter how late it was and no matter how many times he insisted the first story would be the last one, he told her another one. And even when she fell asleep, he kept the story going, telling it to me just incase I had forgotten since the night before, that he has loved me everyday since the moment he saw me.
Like it? Review!
Much love,
unknownbyhim22
