Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review this story, it means so much to me.
Also many thanks to my wonderful betas kismet4891 and Court81981 for all their support and hand holding.
Always a Blessing
Chapter 3
June 1955
Peeta walked by the assembly station with a clipboard in hand, winked at her, and gave her his million-dollar smile. She looked down and tried to hide her blush from her co-workers.
They had a wonderful weekend; after the movies on Friday he took her out again on Saturday night. He took her to go bowling in the next town over, and they were both terrible, but they had a good time. The goodnight lasted longer than it had the night before, and she was even more reluctant to part from him. Her parents had invited him to Sunday dinner, which he accepted and ended up staying four hours. He played checkers with her father and helped Prim with her summer make up work. It amazed her how well the larger than life Peeta Mellark fit into their little world.
The break bell rang out. Katniss was boxing mini pies with Johanna and Annie. Katniss liked them better than the other women that worked at the factory. They had taken her under their wings when she first started working there. Annie Cresta was a local girl a few years ahead of Katniss in school. Johanna Mason was from somewhere in the northwest and wound up here by chance when her car broke down in Panem a few years ago. They were roommates and shared a nearby apartment. The two were opposites in about every way. A tall, green-eyed beauty, Annie was gentle and polite while the petite Johanna could be crass and always spoke her mind.
Annie smiled at Katniss sweetly and waved her pack of Salem's at her, "Would you like to join us for a smoke?"
"You know I don't smoke," she protested. She didn't care for the smell of cigarettes, not to mention that she thought it was a waste of money and no matter how many TV doctors said otherwise that there was no way that breathing in smoke was good for you.
Johanna sighed, and she grabbed Katniss by the elbow and dragged her out the door. "Don't care, you're coming with us."
As soon as they were outside the women pulled Katniss to the far end of the alley so that the other women couldn't overhear the conversation. Annie asked in a hushed voice, "So what is going on with you and the Golden Boy?"
"Who?" Katniss feigned ignorance.
"You know who we're talking about, brainless," Johanna said and lit up her unfiltered Marlboro and took off her hair net to play with her short hair. "Peeta Mellark."
"Um, nothing," Katniss fibbed, but the women gave her knowing looks and she then admitted, "He took me out a couple of times this weekend and then he came to dinner at my house last night…but really he spent more time with my family than he did with me. He spent quite a bit of time explaining to Prim about the difference between colons and semi-colons."
Annie let out a high-pitched squeal and hugged Katniss. "I knew it!"
Johanna rolled her eyes and laughed. "I told you that he's got it bad for you. Poor guy has been giving you puppy dog eyes ever since he started working here. So tell me—" She stopped to take a drag from her cigarette. "—Does he kiss as well as he talks?"
Katniss's jaw dropped. "I-um."
"Jo, stop it, you're embarrassing her," Annie chided. "Besides a lady doesn't kiss and tell."
"Yeah, well most people wouldn't consider factory girls to be ladies." Johanna said hostilely, and she gave a nasty look to some of the other girls that had drifted closer to them, no doubt to eavesdrop on their conversation. Johanna said in louder tone, "Of course nosey little tramps like Peggy Bristel and Ester Leevy don't helps our cases any!"
The two nearby girls' heads snapped up at the mention of their names and then they knew they'd been caught. Johanna waved them off, "You damned old hens! Go mind about your own business."
"We just wanted to get the scoop on how to get a raise around here," Bristol said snidely. "That is why Everdeen is going out with the big boss's son, right?"
Levy chimed in, "He'll just use you and then probably have his dad fire you so he doesn't have to look at you every day."
Johanna took a step their way, but Annie grabbed the back of her dress and whispered to her friend, "You can't afford to get any more write-ups Jo." She then addressed the other workers, "You're just jealous, Leevy. You drooled over Graham Mellark in high school and he never once looked your way. Now get outta here."
Katniss didn't know how to feel; the other girls had just confirmed her greatest fear. People would think the she was using Peeta or that he was taking advantage of her.
"Oh, Katniss," Annie soothed after the other girls walked away. "Boys who aren't serious don't come to Sunday dinner with the family and help little sisters with school work."
"Yeah, the first clue that man only wants in your pants is that he honks for you at the curve instead of getting you at the door," Johanna said with just a tinge of bitterness in her voice.
The bell rang again, letting them know that break time was over. The girls reentered the building, and just as Katniss went to return to her station she felt a firm smack on her rear; she knew instantly that it was her supervisor, Mr. Cray. She hated being touched by him, all the girls did, but those who complained always wound up reprimanded or fired. So she held her tongue and turned to him, "Hey honey, you're wanted in Abernathy's office."
"Why?" she asked.
"Don't know, I'm just passing along the message," he said indifferently. "Hurry back when you're done, sweet cheeks."
She was filled with a feeling of dread; it was very strange for Mr. Abernathy to pull someone off the line. Leevy cast a smug look at her as she walked past. Katniss hurried to the bakery's business offices at the front of the factory, and she stepped into to the reception area where she was greeted Mrs. Effie Trinket. The lime-green clad secretary with bouffant hairdo sat at her desk and smiled sweetly. "Ah, Miss Everdeen, Hay- I mean Mr. Abernathy is waiting for you. Let me show you in."
An apprehensive Katniss was led to the modest office where Mr. Abernathy was talking on the phone. He motioned for her to sit while he carried on a congenial conversation. As he continued to chat, Katniss took in the tan-skinned man; he had dark hair with streaks of grey. He was a bit the short side and barrel chested.
But to say that Haymitch Abernathy was a unique person was an understatement. He, like Katniss, was part Shawnee. In his teens his first successful business endeavor was running a moonshine still in the woods on his family's property. After prohibition ended, he became an honest businessman and then he romanced and married the daughter of a local candy maker, and by all accounts they lived happily and built a large house on his family's land. His wife died unexpectedly a few years after they married, followed some time later by his mother and younger brother. The war was going on and he joined the Army, not for any noble reasons but as an alternative to suicide. Although his goal was to die in battle, he never saw much in the way of action and despite his best efforts to kill himself he lived through the war and came back to Panem.
His old friend, Henk Mellark, was trying to turn his small bakery into a large-scale business by taking advantage of the post war boom. Mr. Mellark asked Haymitch for help, not only because he was a brilliant businessman but because he wanted to give his old friend a purpose besides nursing a bottle of booze. Haymitch had helped to build the Mellark brand and brought in investors. Peeta had mentioned him affectionately a few times over the weekend. In fact now that she thought about it, Peeta had mentioned him more often than he had anyone else, even his family. Just as she began to think about how odd that was, Mr. Abernathy hung up the phone.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when he declared in a far less professional voice than he had while speaking on the phone, "Damn, he's a long winded bastard!"
Instead of addressing her, he got up and looked out the window then produced a flask from his pocket and took a pull from it. This annoyed her to no end; here she'd been yanked off the line for some unknown reason, to be fired perhaps, and here he was drinking on the job at ten o'clock in the morning. She couldn't help herself and was irritated with him. "You know you make all of us of Indian descent look bad when you drink on the job!"
"Relax, sweetheart," he said dismissively. "I drink because I've had a shitty life, not because my great-granddaddy fought beside Tecumseh. Besides my Irish ancestors liked booze more than my Indian ones did." He took another drink, "I like you Miss Everdeen. You have…oh, what is the word I'm looking for? Yeah, spunk! You have spunk, but you're not obnoxious about like the Mason girl can be. You do your work efficiently and you don't complain."
"So why am I here?"
"I heard that you and the boy were inseparable all weekend." Katniss gave Mr. Abernathy a blank look and he looked a little irritated and clarified, "Peeta."
She didn't know how to reply so she thought it best to down play it as nothing. "Yes, we went out."
"The boy is crazy about you," he commented as he put his flask away and sat down. She could feel her eyes go wide, and her mouth open in surprise. Haymitch chuckled, "Well judging by the look of shock on your face you weren't aware of it. That's a promising sign."
She was thoroughly confused. "A sign of what?"
"That you like him and not his name," he said thoughtfully.
"I don't see how anyone couldn't like him," she said softly. "So why did you drag me up here, Mr. Abernathy?"
"I just thought that I'd give you a heads up about what you've got ahead of you. You're going to get a lot of nasty comments and unflattering things said about and to you. For some reason there's a few folks out there don't like the likes of us, no matter how diluted we are, mixing with the high and mighty. I'm just here to advise you that if you're not up for all of that, you'd best let the boy down now before you he gets too attached to you. I'm partial to him and I don't want to see him hurt by someone unworthy of him."
She flashed him a scowl. She had already thought herself undeserving of Peeta but to hear someone have the gall to say it aloud made her defensive. Why don't I deserve him?! I'm respectable and truly care about him.
"Easy there," Mr. Abernathy smirked at her. "I didn't say that you weren't a good kid, I just wanted to know your intentions. I don't want to see him get caught in a honey trap or to be taken advantage of because of his good nature."
She thought about it for a second or two and then she said honestly, "I like Peeta, and I just want to spend some time with him. I know that the odds of this turning into anything other dating aren't in our favor. He's going to go off to college and I'm going to stay in Panem. I just want enjoy what time we may have together this summer." All of a sudden the peculiarity of this conversation and who she was having it with struck her. "Why are you asking me these questions? Shouldn't I be getting this lecture from say, Mr. Mellark?"
"Henk is a good man and excellent baker," he explained. "But he is oblivious to the world around him and a terrible judge of character. That's why he hired me to take care of the business end of the bakery. Peeta is the future of this business, and he has it in him to do great things. I don't want to see Peeta hurt by greedy women anymore."
"I swear the last thing I want to do is to hurt him," she said candidly.
"That's good, sweetheart," he said and nodded. "You'd best get back to work. If anyone asks why you were down here tell 'em that we had to correct some paperwork. You're due for one anyways. You'll get two bucks more a week."
"Thank you, sir," Katniss said and got up out of her chair and walked to the door.
Mr. Abernathy stopped her before she opened the door, "Oh, Miss Everdeen could you tell me something? And please answer honestly as I won't tell anyone I talked to you about it."
"Yes, sir."
"Is Cray still playing grab ass with you girls?"
"I got a slap on the rump when you sent for me," she said frankly.
Mr. Abernathy let out an annoyed groan and shook his head and whispered, "Stupid bastard."
Katniss left the office and began the trek back to the assembly line. She heard her name being whispered behind her; she turned to find Peeta walking towards her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I got called to Mr. Abernathy's office." She stopped and waited for him to catch up and told him, "I just got my six-month pay raise."
"That's great," he beamed and put his hand on her arm. "I'll take you for ice cream to celebrate. Prim can come too."
"That would be nice," she whispered and couldn't help but smile. But then she looked at his hand for a second and said heavily, "Peeta, I don't think that we should talk at work. I don't want everyone to get the wrong idea about us or that I'm getting special treatment."
He looked slightly hurt but then shook his head in agreement. "I guess you're right."
She felt bad so she looked around to make sure that nobody else was present and then she reached up in her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "Just at work," she consoled him before she walked away. "I've got to get back. See you later."
She left him with a smile on his face. When she got back to her station, Annie and Johanna gave her expectant looks, as did Bristel and Leevy. She knew that it was petty and that it would be misconstrued, but she couldn't help resist the temptation to be snotty. She cocked an eyebrow and said loudly enough for all on the line to hear, "I just kissed Peeta and then got a pay increase."
Annie and Johanna giggled because they knew Katniss well enough to know when she was being sarcastic. Bristel and Leevy gave her baffled stares and before Cray got on them for letting too many pies get past them.
When things quieted down Johanna elbowed Katniss and asked, "Hey brainless, you were talking about your six-month pay bump weren't you?"
"Yes, but those two biddies don't need to know that," she said in a hushed voice.
"I'm glad to see that I'm finally rubbing off on you," Jo winked at her and threw herself back into her work.
Katniss tried to concentrate on boxing confections, but her thoughts wandered. Ever since it first occurred to her in Mr. Abernathy's office it had been on her mind: Peeta had hardly spoken about himself or his family. He'd mentioned his brothers in passing and talked about his father only in terms of work. Heck, he'd even mentioned their maid, Mrs. Sae, but never his mother. Katniss was starting to suspect that there was so much more to Peeta Mellark than met the eye.
Xoxoxoxoxo
September 1955
"I don't know what kind of shape this place will be in," Peeta said hesitantly as they drove towards the edge of town where the houses became fewer and farther between. Just past the city limits he turned into a long, winding gravel driveway with a faded sign that read 'Victor's Hallow.'"Haymitch said that they modernized the place for his mom but that was well over twenty years ago. He has had a few tenants over the years and Effie has someone check it over a couple of times a year. I'm so sorry about the other place, Katniss."
Katniss hugged his arm and kissed his cheek, "Hey, that wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known that your mom was going to do that."
It had been a long and disappointing past few days. After leaving Peeta's parents house on Saturday morning, he drove her to a lovely old brick duplex on a quiet street. He explained that he'd found the perfect place for them and he'd already spoken to the landlord. He looked at the house Thursday night and that everything was set. The beautifully landscaped house was only a few blocks away from her parents' place and within walking distance of the town park.
When they knocked on the landlord's side of the duplex to get the key, they got an unpleasant surprise. The lady informed she would not be able to rent to them after all. She told them that she had tried to cash the check that Peeta had given her for the deposit, but the bank said the account had been closed.
She and Peeta rushed to the bank before it closed at noon and sure enough, both Peeta's checking and savings accounts had been closed and cashed out. His mother had always insisted her and his father's names also be on Peeta's account while he was in school. Peeta had plans to change the accounts to his and Katniss's names, but there hadn't been the time.
To Peeta's credit he was able to keep his composure despite the fact that he was furious; he had nearly five hundred dollars saved between his accounts. It would have been more enough to give them a very comfortable start. But now they had all of fifteen dollars between them.
He dropped Katniss off at her mom and dad's house; she tried to insist on going with him but he would not allow it, citing that she didn't need the added stress in her condition.
He returned hours later with a disappointed expression on his face. She didn't have to ask; she knew that he didn't get his money back from his mother. Mr. Mellark must have escaped to the factory after the earlier conflict and so Peeta had to face his mother alone. He wouldn't share the details but the gist of the story was that his mother reasoned that the money would cover the cost of the car (which his father gave him) and his belongings such as his clothes and other personal things. Peeta said that he wanted to prove to his mother that he didn't need her money to get along. As much as they would miss the money, Katniss agreed.
Her parents offered to let them stay with them until they found a place. As much as the young Mr. and Mrs. Mellark hated to do it, they had no other choice. On Sunday they skipped church and went looking for a house or apartment. The search had come to nothing; the town was going through a boom, and between the bakery, the Cartwright shoe factory, and several other smaller shops there were more workers than available housing. By the time they sorted through places that didn't allow children and that they could afford with their newly reduced budget, there weren't many choices left. They found a small upstairs apartment, but it was infested with cockroaches and Peeta nixed it instantly. Another place they found would have been nice, but the landlord took one look at Katniss and said that he didn't rent to Indians. By the time they returned to the Everdeen home Sunday evening, they were both flustered, Peeta especially.
They camped out in the setting room; Peeta slept on the floor and she on the couch, but neither one got much rest. He tried to convince Katniss to go sleep in the bed with Prim, but she couldn't stand to leave him alone, he looked so defeated.
This was a side of Peeta that she'd seen only glimpses of. To most people Peeta was confident, charming, and charismatic. Yet Katniss knew the truth; he had poor self-esteem and doubted himself constantly, and it broke her heart. She wanted to hold him close and console him the best way she knew how to get his mind off their setbacks. But she knew that they couldn't be intimate in her family's home; Prim was only a few feet away in the next room and her parents were sleeping directly above them.
When her husband got ready for work Monday morning, Katniss thought that he looked terrible; he'd not gotten a good night's sleep in days and he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
There was one upside to all their recent bad luck and mistreatment: Mrs. Everdeen was back to being sweet and loving to Katniss and Peeta and had even packed him a lunch before he left for work and fussed over him at the breakfast table, straightened his tie, and patted down some of his wayward curls. Katniss liked to see Peeta with her mom; she always wanted a son and he never had the sort of motherly affection that she had taken for granted her whole life.
The day passed slowly and Katniss felt strange not going to work. She scoured the newspaper for rental listings but found nothing promising. Her mother sat her down, and they had a long talk about pregnancy and determined that the baby would come in early Spring, not late winter as Katniss had thought. Her mother to cry again knowing how quickly her daughter had given in to temptation. Katniss decided that it was best to give her mother some space so she excused herself to rest in Prim's bed during the day although she never actually slept. Her stomach was causing her problems again, although she wasn't sure if it was due to the pregnancy or strain of their current circumstances.
A little after four o'clock Peeta came back from work looking tired but with a smile on his face when she greeted him at the door with a chaste kiss. After they exchanged pleasantries he told her, "Hey, Haymitch has offered to let us stay in his mom's old place. We can go look at it right now if you like."
They told Mrs. Everdeen and Prim that they were going to look at a house and then set off to the Abernathy property. Haymitch lived on his family's ancestral property; one of his forefathers bought it after the Civil War and named it Victor's Hallow. It wasn't much more than about thirty acres of hills and trees, as any farmland that once went with it had been sold off or grown over long ago.
Katniss had to admit that she was curious about Haymitch's home; she'd heard about the beautiful house that he'd built for his wife, but it could not be seen from the road. Finally a large, dilapidated two-story bungalow set in a clearing came into view. She imagined that it was something special when it was first built. It was large but not huge, and the craftsmen details were attractive but not gaudy. The lawn was recently mowed, but there were no flowers or bushes in sight, making the place look barren. "So, this Mr. Abernathy's place?" she commented.
"Yeah, but there is another house on the property too," Peeta explained. He pulled into next to Haymitch's truck and soon the back door of the bungalow opened and a three-legged mutt hobbled out and barked at them.
"Haymitch has a dog?" Katniss whispered to Peeta.
"Yeah, he found her on the side of the road and nursed her back to health," he explained in a hushed voice. "He's a big softy. Shhh, don't let it get around."
The property's owner sauntered out of the house dressed in his suit pants and shirt with his suspenders hanging off his pants. He also had a mason jar in his hand filled with a clear liquid that Katniss knew wasn't water. "Welcome to Victor's Hallow," Haymitch called out, he then looked at his dog, "Ripper, shut up."
"Ripper?" Katniss questioned and patted the dog's wiry hair when she sat at her feet.
"Yeah," Haymitch replied, "she'll rip you a new ass if she doesn't like you. She thinks sheruns the place. I almost named her Effie, but that would be an insult to the dog."
Peeta and Katniss shared a knowing smile. Haymitch would be lost without Effie Trinket and everybody knew it. She'd been the secretary at Mellarks for the last seven years. Not only did she manage his career, she also managed him. She made sure that his personal bills were paid, had a handy man to mow the yard and keep up the property, and fuel in his truck and that he had a safe ride home when he'd had too much to drink. Katniss had inkling that it was Effie that suggested to Haymitch to offer Peeta the house, as he never would have thought of it so quickly.
Haymitch motioned his hand behind his house, "Well, come on it's over here. My parents built the place. It ain't all that great… but, hey I'll let you stay in it for free. It's just sitting here, so you might as well use it."
They followed him to a small house that sat behind his and was nearly obscured by trees and honeysuckle that grew up the old picket fence. But once they were closer, Katniss could see a small, two-story clapboard house. Judging by the few paint chips that clung to the exterior it must have been painted yellow at one point. The green shutters were closed to protect the panes of glass. The metal roof looked like it was in surprisingly good shape. There was a massive amount of geese droppings all over the porch, telling Katniss that there was sizeable flock somewhere nearby. She recalled Peeta telling her about Haymitch's babies before.
After some jimmying of the door, Haymitch was finally able to get it open and lead the way inside. The smell of mothballs was what hit her first, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkened room. Haymitch flipped on the lights and announced, "This is the sitting room." The interior wall had a large fireplace with a mantel. The walls were covered with pale blue paper that was peeling in places.
She looked to Peeta to gauge his reaction, but his face looked grim. She knew that a house in this sort of condition would be a surprise for him; it was a drastically different than his house on Merchants Lane. This house was not built to impress the neighbors; it was made to serve one purpose, to separate man from nature, to keep its inhabitants warm in the winter, and place to escape the bugs in the summer.
Haymitch led them into the next room, a respectably-sized kitchen. "I had the kitchen and bathroom added on in '29. Moonshine sold particularly well that year," Haymitch told them with a little bit of pride in his voice.
There was an old cast-iron, wood-burning cook stove, an white enamel sink on the wall, a small icebox, a cupboard with a flour bin and galvanized work top and a little kitchen table. The walls were made of bead board and were aged yellow. There was dust on every surface and cobwebs in the corners, but everything seemed intact. Katniss was encouraged by the lack of a mousey aroma. The upside of having geese around was that typically a lack of rodents was a result.
Haymitch pointed out the bathroom; it was cramped, but it would serve its purpose. It had a tiny claw foot tub, a pedestal sink, and toilet. Haymitch commented, "It's little, but it's nicer than the outhouse and washtub I had growin' up."
Katniss turned on the faucet, and it sputtered for a second before it started to spew dark red water. Peeta asked in a horrified voice, "Is it broken?"
"No, it just need to run for a while, it will be fine," Katniss assured him.
"You can tell that you never lived outside of the city limits," Haymitch chuckled at him. "It's just a little rust boy. It won't hurt you."
The next room was a small bedroom with tarnished brass bed frame, a dresser, and a wooden bureau with a broken door.
Finally the tour ended with at the top of a steep, narrow flight of stairs that Peeta had duck to avoid hitting his head. The room at top was open with a low ceiling.
Haymitch looked at his emptied jar. "Looks like I'm all out, I'm going to my place to get more. Come and get me when you decide something."
When they heard the front door close Katniss took her husband's hand and asked, "So what do you think?"
"Are you kidding me? This place is a wreck," he said sarcastically. He then took a deep breath and apologized, "I'm so sorry, Katniss, I never imagined that it would be this bad. I just hoped that this might be the answer to all our problems. But I was obviously mistaken."
"No you weren't. Honestly it's not that bad," she said sincerely then walked over to the window and opened the pane of glass and threw open the shudders to let in some fresh air and light. "Yes, it needs a good cleaning and a little paint. But the roof is good, the floor is solid, and it will need some work but it's not that much worse than my parent's house on Seam Street…It won't be forever. If he lets us stay here for free then we can save our money for a place of own. It wouldn't be so bad out here. I really miss living out in the country, I've not had a good night's sleep since we moved to town."
"So you want to take it?" he asked a little taken aback.
"Yeah, it's better than the cockroach infested apartment," she pointed out.
Peeta visibly cringed, "Ah, that place was awful. I still feel dirty just thinking about it."
"This place isn't perfect, but we can make it work for a little while," she admitted. "We'll have to cut our own wood for the winter and we'll have to get some furniture, but we should be able to do it. I have to get my last paycheck and you'll have yours. We can get some secondhand things and we can work on getting it move-in ready after you come home from work this week. We might be able to move in by the weekend. "
He seemed to be deep in thought, contemplating what she'd said. Katniss walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle and told him, "Anyways, I'm looking forward to finally getting to experience what it is like to make love in a bed."
He hugged her back and a love-struck smile crept over Peeta's face. "That would be nice, wouldn't it?"
"I'm looking forward to it," she said softly and played with one of his shirt buttons then reached a hand behind his neck and pulled his head down so that his lips met her. Katniss had intended for the kiss to be sweet and loving, but it quickly escalated into something entirely different. His tongue begged for entry into her mouth and coaxed hers to play. She let out a little moan of pleasure, and one of his hands cupped the back of her head while the other drifted down to the swell of her rear, and he grasped it firmly to press her tighter against him. She could feel the heat and longing seeping from her core, and she desperately wanted to find some friction to relieve it. But sadly she knew that now was not the time or the place.
Peeta must have had the same thought because he broke the kiss. "We'd better stop," he panted and loosened his grip on her. "I don't think that it would be polite to break in the place in before we officially agree to take it. Anyhow I don't think that there is a clean surface anywhere and I would hate to have to explain to your parents how we got so filthy."
They fully parted and made their way down the stairs and opened up all the windows to air out the house on their way out. They walked the thirty yards or so to Haymitch's house where they found him sitting in a lawn chair on the back porch with Ripper's head in his lap and a brand new jar of shine in his hand. The young couple agreed to take the house. Haymitch agreed with a grunt and said, "Welcome to the neighborhood."
They went back to the Everdeens' home and shared the news and they made a list of what necessities they would need. That night Katniss could tell that Peeta was finally able to sleep.
The next day Mrs. Everdeen took her daughter shopping for cleaning supplies and looking for secondhand furniture and dishes. When Peeta and Mr. Everdeen came home from work and they all ate a hurried dinner then the whole family piled into Peeta's car and drove out to Victor's Hallow to work on the house. The women worked on cleaning while the men fixed the furniture, swept the chimney, and cut wood. Haymitch even wandered over a time or two to check on the progress. They quickly learned that the water heater was no longer in working order. Katniss and Peeta did not feel right asking for Haymitch to replace it since he was already allowing them to live there for free. All of their hot water would have to come from stove.
By Friday night Mrs. Everdeen declared it fit to be lived in, but just only. Saturday was move-in day, but the search for furniture had not been overly successful since they needed so much in so little time and had a very limited budget. Katniss and her mother had found a few mismatched kitchen chairs, one hideous yet functional lamp, and a couple of wobbly end tables.
Her parents gave them new linens and towels as a wedding gift. By noon their few meager possessions were moved and in place. Katniss parents wished them a misty-eyed goodbye and Peeta showed them to the truck. Prim stayed back with Katniss on the porch. Katniss was surprised when her sister hugged her tightly and started to cry.
"What's wrong, Little Duck?" Katniss wondered.
"It actually feels like you're married now; it didn't seem real until today," Prim sniffled. "It just seems like you're not my sister anymore."
"Oh, Prim, just because I'm married doesn't mean that I'm not your sister anymore," she soothed and placed a kiss on her sister's brow. "I'll always be your sister and I love you as much as I ever did…I'm just a short drive away and we'll see each other a few times a week, alright?"
Prim nodded her head and Katniss walked her to their father's truck and Peeta helped her in. They all traded final goodbyes and Katniss watched her family pull away. Peeta wrapped an arm around Katniss's shoulder and pulled her close.
That's when the realization hit Katniss: it was only going to be her and Peeta now. They were actually going to live as man and wife from here on out. During the week, there had been so much going on that the fact they were now married hadn't really been an ever-present thought and she suddenly felt guilty about that. Peeta had been more like a houseguest than her husband over several nights. "Katniss, what's the matter?" Peeta asked with concern in his voice.
She looked at her husband and felt tears falling down her face, and she cursed her fluctuating hormones and sobbed, "Nothing, I…I."
He wrapped her up in his strong, warm arms and consoled her, "Shh, we're going to be fine. We can do anything as long as we're together, remember?" He then stood back to look at her and brushed some tears off her cheek and jokingly told her, "If you keep crying like that I'm going to think because you don't want to be alone with me."
"Oh, Peeta," she chuckled and tried to compose herself. "It's just that so much has changed so quickly. Two weeks ago I thought that you would be in Columbus right now. I never imagined this."
"Me neither," he commiserated. "I thought that the house would be nicer and our only neighbor wouldn't be a crotchety lush." He mused, "Just think about it, this winter you, me, and Haymitch can sit around the fire and exchange stories."
"We'd better not let him too close to the hearth because he might go up in flames," she said, only partly in jest.
"We better not then," he grinned and steered them to the house. "Speaking of we'd better get a fire going so we can cook later."
The young Mellarks entered the house. The living room was bare except for a rocking chair that they'd found in a closet and an end table that held the ugly lamp that had a shade that looked like a Chinese hat. They went into the kitchen and she watched Peeta expertly start a fire in the antique stove. "How did you get so good at that?"
"The old bakery, the one on Main Street, had coal burning ovens. It was one of the first things that Dad taught me how to do," he recalled dreamily. It was hard to imagine that the Mellarks weren't always as wealthy as they currently were. A little over a decade ago, the family lived in the apartment over the bakery. It was the one of the few about his childhood that Peeta would talk about in terms of pleasant memories.
"You miss those days don't you?" she asked from the kitchen table.
"Yeah," he said sadly. "Everything changed when we closed the small bakery. I hardly ever saw my dad while he and Haymitch were getting things off the ground with the factory. Mother changed, too."
Katniss knew that Peeta, despite the fact that his family had money, had suffered much in his childhood and she wanted their future to be better than his past. She sighed and said, "Well, at least we're better off now than we were a week ago at this time."
"Yeah, we do have a bed now," he reminded her and gave her a grin. Peeta walked the short distance to where she sat at the table. "And if I recall, there was something you said about doing in a bed that we've never done before and that you wanted to do."
"Take a nap?" she teased.
Peeta took her by the hand and helped her up and whispered in a lusty voice, "Maybe afterwards."He kissed her greedily and picked her off the floor, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
She giggled as he carried her to their first floor bedroom; it actually turned out to be a cheerful little room. The brass bed was now shining after she, her mother and Prim spent an hour polishing it with lemon juice. They had beat out the dust the old cotton batten mattress and scrubbed the cover so that it smelled fresh and clean.
Peeta set her on the bed, "You've been driving me crazy all week in those rolled up jeans."
"These old things?" she asked, slightly amused. "They're just what I wear around the house to work in."
"Good, I hope that you wear them all the time," he said huskily and popped the button, slid down the zipper, and pulled the denim garment off her legs, "Simply so I can take them off of you. You have no idea how many times I've dreamed of being with you like this."
"I think I do… I've wanted you too," she replies shyly and pulled his tee shirt off. This was something new—making love in the daylight and having room to move. They were used to the cramped quarters of Peeta's back seat while parked in secluded spots. Even though the bed was small by most people's standards, it was luxurious compared to what they'd been used to.
Peeta helped her out of her shirt and bra, followed by her panties, leaving her bare before him. He paused to stare at her. Katniss felt her face get hot as her husband boldly gazed at her with darkened eyes. "What?!"she said with a giggle and covered her breasts with her hands.
"Please don't cover up," he whispered and moved her hands above her head. "I've been dreaming of you for years now and I've gotten to touch you, but I've not really gotten to see you. I just want to enjoy the sight."
She sighed, "Well you should enjoy it now, because I'm going to get fat and ugly pretty soon."
"Oh, no I am never going to think that," he promised her sincerely and kissed her neck where he knew it made her squirm. She reacted accordingly but with her arms pinned down, she was defenseless. He chuckled and placed open-mouthed kisses down her neck and continued down the valley between her breasts and paused just below her navel and then met her eye. "In fact, I think that you're getting even prettier every day."
She rolled her eyes. "You know we're married now and you don't have to over embellish how pretty I am anymore."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said and then captured one of her dusky peaks in his mouth, making his wife gasp in surprise as he suckled and teased it gently with his teeth. When he released it, he gave her a naughty look, "But I've never over embellished anything about your beauty; in fact if anything I've held back. Do you know how often I had to bite my tongue the first few times we went out? All I ever have wanted was to be with you." As soon as the words left his lips, he began to pay the other peak equal attention and he finally let go of her arms and his hand traveled down to her ready center and finally worked to relieve the dull ache there.
"Awww, Peeta," she mewled, as much a reply to his words as it was to the exquisite things that he was doing to her body. She was thoroughly convinced that he could have her dripping wet from words alone if he was ever so inclined. Katniss buried her fingers in his thick wavy locks and pulled him even closer as he sank two fingers inside her and stroked the bundle of nerves with his thumb. He groaned in satisfaction; she could feel the reverberation in her chest and it gave her a chill and sent her over the edge. She arched back and came around his fingers, leaving her both breathless and boneless.
Katniss could feel him rise off her body, and she heard him hurriedly working to take off his pants; she opened her eyes to see him comically trying to push his pants off over his shoed feet. She had to bite to lip to stifle a giggle. Apparently in the rush, he forgot that his shoes were double knotted.
Peeta looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Are you laughing at me?"
"I'm trying not to," she grinned and rose from the bed and then motioned him to sit on the edge. "Here, let me."
He nodded and followed her direction like an obedient child, and her nimble fingers quickly unknotted his shoes and pulled them off followed by his pants and boxers. "Lay back," she urged, knowing that he enjoyed her taking the lead. Her small hand wrapped around his ready member and began to stroke him. Peeta growled on contact and screwed his eyes shut.
Katniss found herself watching her own hand work his engorged member; while doing such a thing would have been unthinkable just a few months ago, now it felt natural. She had a little sense of pride when it got even harder in her hand. He began to buck his hips.
"Katniss," he panted, "I need to be inside you now."
She straddled his lap and eased herself down onto him slowly, rocked her hips gently and then sank down on to him completely. She gasped at the full feeling and began to rise and fall in order to relieve the overwhelming sensation. The bed was totally different than the backseat of the car; the mattress was much softer and made it more difficult for her to move above him.
"Give me your hands," he whispered and offered his outstretched hands. Katniss took them and found that it was easier to make bolder moves. She shifted so that she kissed him while she rolled her hips and felt the pleasure build deep inside her, but the peak was just out of reach.
Without warning or parting their bodies, Peeta wrapped his arms around her waist and flipped them over so quickly that she squeaked out in surprise. He supported his weight with his arms, sucked the sweet spot where her neck and shoulder met and pumped into her at a relentless pace. "Let me hear you, please," he pled.
Katniss gripped his biceps tightly to hold herself place and moaned his name and something incoherent when she finally found her high. With a few more shallow thrusts, he followed her and she could feel the heat of his release deep inside her. His body relaxed and when he pulled out of her, she instantly missed him.
Peeta rolled to his side and nuzzled his nose next to her ear and rested his hand on her belly. They just snuggled and caught their breath. She was just starting to drift off to sleep when said, "I wonder what the baby is."
"What do you mean?" she asked drowsily.
"I mean, I wonder if it is a boy or a girl," he replied, and without looking at him she knew that he was smiling.
"I want to give you a son."
"Maybe next time." He shrugged his shoulders.
She eyes flew open. "Next time?!" she said in a stunned tone. Katniss could hardly think about tomorrow, let alone years from now.
Peeta smiled widely and chuckled, "Yeah, I would like to have at least a couple, more even, if we get along fine." He voice became more thoughtful, and he began to rub her stomach. "I think this one is a girl…I want this one to be a girl. When I have happy dreams, it is of you and a baby in a pink dress."
Katniss felt slightly guilty in that moment; ever since she discovered that she was pregnant she wasn't really able to imagine that it was going to be a real person someday. The pregnancy had been little more than an abstract idea and was simply something that had caused drastic change in her life and that made her sick on occasion. Even as of now, she couldn't make a connection that soon she and Peeta were going to be parents in a few months time.
Katniss found herself somewhat envious of Peeta and perhaps annoyed at his Pollyanna-like outlook on life. Here she was, so scared of the unknown, and he was happily dreaming of a life for them, with not just one child but with several. She had known that Peeta wasn't like most other boys; he was different and was the best that mankind had to offer and that thought comforted her, and she knew how truly blessed she was to have him.
Sleep was pulling her under; she was content and sated in her husband's arms. The last thought she had before surrendered to her exhaustion was that she hoped that she could be a person worthy of being Peeta's wife and the mother to his children.
Thank you so much for reading!
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