"The flour, sugar, and baking powder are in the pantry. We buy bread every two days, it can't be stale obviously, but we make toast with butter with the last pieces," Mimi said with authority.

Katniss nodded, trying to figure out the old maid. Her hair was white and tied in a tight bun behind her head. Her skin was pale and Katniss couldn't decide if her eyes were grey or blue but she was sure that they seemed to hide something, like she was the only one that could understand the jokes.

"Questions, braid?" Mimi asked with a piercing look and Katniss shook her head.

"It's Katniss," she said, putting her braid behind her.

"Okay, Katniss," she said with a smirk.

"Be nice Mimi," Madge said entering the kitchen quickly. She was barefoot, her shoes in her hand, a coat over her forearm, and she was wearing her standard grey skirt and blazer from the Justice Building.

"I'm being nice, right?" she asked, looking at Katniss with a crooked eyebrow and she nodded dumbly.

"Don't worry, she barks but she doesn't bite," Madge said with a smile, putting on her shoes. "How's your back?" she asked Katniss while Mimi handed her a small cup of tea.

"Good, healing. Prim's a genius," Katniss said with a smile and Madge smiled as well over her cup of tea.

"Great," Madge said, putting her cup in the sink. "I gave mom her medicines, she was sleeping. I think she's having a good day," Mimi nodded at Madge's words and Katniss realized how much Madge trusted her because the Mayor's wife had always been kind of a mystery to the District.

"I'll check on her later," Mimi said and helped Madge with her coat. "And I'll be nice with your friend, don't worry."

Madge smiled at Katniss and she shifted on her feet uneasily but smiled weakly.

"Have a good day you two," Madge said over her shoulder, ready to leave but then Katniss heard her friend's voice calling her.

Vick Hawthorne was standing at the doorstep with a bag of clothes, shifting from one foot to the other, shivering from the cold.

"Madge asked me if I could bring this," he said showing her the bag.

"Thank you boy," Mimi said taking the bag and handing him a few coins. Prim and Rory were waiting with Posy, who was on Rory's shoulders, and they waved at her smiling. Prim probably was going to town to buy some supplies while Rory dropped his siblings off at school before his midday shift in the mines. Katniss waved back and went inside again with Mimi before seeing how her little sister held hands with her boyfriend.

"So, now you'll do the weekly inventory and then you'll clean the cupboards. Don't stretch your back too much or Miss Madge will have my head."

Katniss nodded, taking the small notepad from Mimi.

"You can talk, you know." Mimi said to Katniss with a smirk, which made her blush.

"I know," she said in a low voice. Mimi nodded and took the bag of clothes upstairs.

Katniss spent the rest of the morning cleaning and rinsing the silverware and cups from the cupboards. It was a big kitchen, with a stove and a marble counter and Katniss liked that it had a black and white checkered floor. The house wasn't so big but it was nicely decorated, far from the gossip that said it was like those houses the Capitol showed in the mandatory viewings of the Games. But what Katniss liked the most was that it was warm, with grilles that blew hot air. She stood underneath one for a few minutes, enjoying the air.

"Are you here to work or to stand in the middle of the kitchen looking at the ceiling?" Mimi asked and Katniss jumped.

"I'm sorry, I was going to follow you..." Katniss said, cursing at her stupidity for staying under hot air.

"Mhmm," Mimi said opening a cabinet next to the icebox .She took out a syringe and a box like the one Madge had given Prim when she was healing her back. "I'm gonna give this to Mrs. Undersee, you go to the bakery for two loaves of bread and a lemon tart, the money is in the drawer under the table."

Katniss watched as Mimi went upstairs while she put her coat on and left the house toward the bakery wondering what was wrong with Madge's mom.

The air was icy and it hurt when the blasts of wind hit her face, so the warm bakery was welcome on her shivering body.

"How can I help you?" Mrs. Mellark was looking at her coldly while she put warm loaves of bread in baskets.

"Hello Mrs. Mellark, I'll take two loaves of white bread and a lemon tart please," Katniss said with her kindest voice possible, trying to ignore that the woman across from her was the reason Peeta was working in the mines.

"I never thought I would see you walking through the front door," Mrs. Mellark said coldly and Katniss clenched her jaw.

"And yet, here I am," Katniss said trying to reign inher temper. Mrs Mellark snickered and shook her head.

"Funny, isn't it?" she asked mockingly and Katniss sighed, looking at the woman. Her blue eyes shone with anger and what Katniss thought were tears. "You're here, in town, and Peeta is down in the mines."

"He's there because of you," Katniss said angrily, trying to keep her voice low.

"He went there by himself. You could survive, you know how to do that, but Peeta? He walks with his head on the clouds, he's clumsy and I wouldn't be surprised if he causes another accident," her words were bitter and her eyes were swimming with tears and Katniss realized that Mrs. Mellark had been waiting to say those words.

"How can you say that? He's your son," Katniss said,her throat knotted painfully and her hands shaking.

"Yes, but he's his father's son, I saw that boy burn bread, drop flour and waste icing-"

"Mother, I think that's enough," a deep voice made Katniss jump a bit and Mrs. Mellark looked at her son panting and shaking. Peeta's older brother Sam was standing with his hair disheveled and the front of his apron covered in flour. Mrs. Mellark huffed with annoyance and gave the bag to Katniss, her blue eyes now full of tears.

"I'm sorry about that," he said cleaning his hands. Katniss shook her head and took the bag but before she could leave the words left her mouth.

"Please, convince him to leave the mines," she pleaded and Sam looked at her sadly.

"I did and said everything. Bran, Delly and Madge too," Sam shook his head and placed his hands on the counter. He was massive, taller than Peeta but just as broad as him and looked like some kind of wildman with abundant blonde hair. "He would listen to you, that's for sure."

"Why?" Katniss asked with a frown and Sam smiled slowly.

"Umm, he has a high regard for you," he said and his smile stretched.

"Oh! Okay, I will talk to him then," she said and left the bakery quickly, thinking about Sam's words and the doodle Peeta had sent her. Still, she couldn't imagine why a boy like Peeta would like her. She had a permanent scowl on her face and Prim always said that Katniss couldn't stay calm without flying off the handle but she shook her head as soon as she remembered what Peeta's mom had said. Fear consumed her, not because she thought Peeta could cause an accident, but because accidents could happen down in the mines, she had experienced it first hand.

Those nightmarish images of her dad running toward an escape impossible to reach were now playing in her head, but Peeta was the one running.

"Please, tell me what that poor rag did."

"Huh?" Katniss asked taking her eyes from the window. Mimi pointed and Katniss realized she had been looking outside while squeezing a rag to clean the marble counter.

"I'm glad miss Madge sent me such a hard working girl," Mimi said with a smirk pointing at Katniss's hands clutching the rag.

"The rag started it," Katniss said with a shrug, cleaning the counter and Mimi laughed, shaking her head.

"Is your back hurting? Your face looks like it is," Mimi asked.

"No, I'm...umm, I'm worried about someone that's down in the mines, that's all," Katniss explained and Mimi nodded with a grave expression.

"The only thing you can do is hope and wait for them to be okay," Mimi said after a small silence and shook her head. "I knew your dad and I'm sorry that you have to worry about another person you love being there."

Katniss was going to explain that she didn't love the person she was worried about but the words died in her mouth, thinking about the drawing Peeta had sent her with those two last words, Love, Peeta.

She nodded at Mimi instead, feeling bad because Gale had been working down in the mines for more than three years and she remembered feeling the same fear when he started, but this was different. Still, she couldn't think about Peeta and Gale together for too long, because for some reason Gale and Peeta didn't coexist well enough in her thoughts.

At lunchtime Mimi served the most delicious thing Katniss ever tasted. It was rice, but the good kind, not the kind from the Hob that turned into a paste, and it had a sweet sauce with carrots, peas, potatoes and sweet potatoes.

"I take it you like my rice?" Mimi asked when Katniss couldn't help but moan a bit after a particularly rich spoonful. She could only remember eating something so wonderful once and that was the loaves of bread Peeta had thrown her. That day Katniss felt it was the best thing she had ever tasted, because it meant more than two loaves of bread with raisins and nuts.

"It's really good, I'm not used to eat food like this," she said looking at her plate, her face reddening with shame. Mimi touched her hand quickly and Katniss lifted her eyes from the plate and looked at Mimi, who was staring at her with a determined face.

"Good to know you like it. Maybe you can take some of it home," she said firmly and Katniss nodded, thinking that maybe Mimi wasn't so bad. "Now, stop staring at me like I'm some kind of Effie Trinket."

Katniss snickered and finished her meal in silence.

The rest of the afternoon Katniss spent her time following Mimi around the house while she explained her all the chores that needed to be done. It was a good thing because her head keptep going to Peeta and the mines and the fear made it hard to breath normally.

She finally met Mrs Undersee briefly. She was in her husband's study under a very low light sleeping softly.

"Her headaches make her stay in bed most of the time, when she comes here it's because she's feeling better," Mimi whispered before closing the door softly. Katniss nodded and looked at Madge's mother. Her soft blond hair was braided and she looked very fragile in a white nightgown with a quilt over her knees. She looked like she had her mother's age and to Katniss's surprise both had that distinctive look of sadness on their brows when they sleep, which made Katniss wonder what had happened to her. Maybe she had lost someone too, like everyone has in the District.

Katniss's thoughts went to Peeta again and fear bubbled up in her stomachso by the time she was ready to finish her first day of work she was nervous but determined, MImi's words had made her way into her brain; the only thing she could do was wait.

She thanked the old maid for the basket with food and after tying her scarf protectively around her neck, she walked toward the mines.

She held the basket closely to her side, her knuckles white and cold. She felt a bit silly, but she needed to see him. She sat on one of the broken pillars at the entrance of the mines and tried not to think about the last time she had been there, when the explosion took her father's life.

The whistle indicating the last shift made her jump a bit, but the distraction was welcomed. A few minutes later the cages were pulling the miners back above ground. Most of them were her neighbors from the Seam, so they looked at her curiously wondering why she was there but still nodded to greet her.

"Catnip! Did something happen?" she saw Gale walking towards her worried but Katniss shook her head.

"No, no, I was...umm, looking for..." she mumbled nervously but Gale cut her off.

"Did you come to pick me up?" he asked with a crooked smile but Katniss opened and closed her mouth, not knowing how to tell him no.

"Actually I was waiting for Peeta," she said finally, looking at him briefly before lowering her eyes to her shoes.

"Oh," Gale said with a nod, his eyes cold. His face was covered with soot but she could see how tense he was. She nodded feeling her blush on her cheeks. "He's on the last cage, you know, rooky," he added with a small smile. A very tense small smile that looked far from being genuine.

"Ha, okay, I'll wait for him. Yeah, okay, umm, thanks," she said nervously with a small smile and Gale nodded.

"So, I guess I'll see you around," he said and before Katniss could say something else he turned around and walked away from the mines, along with large groups of men and women.

Katniss closed her eyes and sighed tiredly. She knew Gale would be weird about it, not even once she had come to the mines to pick him up, but on Peeta's first day she was there. A part of her felt like she was betraying her best friend, but another part felt like she needed to see if Peeta was fine. Maybe her parts should shut up for once and let her be.

She sat down again and waited and when the sun was setting the last cage emerged. She stood up and smiled when she saw Peeta's blonde hair standing out like a sore thumb between the dark hair of the Seam's miners. His crew was laughing at something he was saying and when he saw her he had look twice before a bright smile spread across his face. Her stomach was jumping nervously and her heart was drumming wildly in her chest.

She walked toward him slowly, while the boys from the Seam said their goodbyes to Peeta with a friendly slap on his back and to her with a small nod.

"Hi," he said, smiling.

"Hi," she said nervously.

"What are you doing here?" he asked and Katniss realized he was holding back and even brighter smile.

"I just...I wanted to make sure you were okay," she said looking at her boots. The snow was covered in soot and and Peeta's boots were covered in soot as well. She saw them when he stepped closer and she lifted her head to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, a grin so big and contagious that Katniss couldn't help but return it.

"Good, I'm glad, it's on my way home, so, you know... " she said shrugging and Peeta took her hand.

"Thanks," he said, running his thumb against the back of her hand. "How was your first day?" he asked.

"Kids, please move from the entrance," the foreman interrupted them and Peeta sighed dropping her hand. They walked slowly toward the exit and Peeta put his big hand on her back.

"So, the first day?" he asked again, now outside the wired fence.

"It was okay, I didn't have to do much. It's very different from the woods, that's for sure," she said and Peeta nodded looking at her with a gleam in his eyes, like she was saying the most important thing in the world. "Here, I brought you an apple," she added, lifting the towel from the basket Mimi gave her.

"Really?" Peeta asked and Katniss nodded.

"I remember my dad liked to eat apples after his shifts because his throat always felt dry. You should drink a lot of water too," Katniss said looking at him and Peeta smiled, taking the apple.

"Thanks a lot, my throat does feel sore," he said nodding.

"And you should cut your hair because it will be easier to wash, especially during winter," she remembered her dad always kept his hair and beard trimmed. Peeta ran a hand through his curls with a nod.

"Yeah, it was about time anyway," he said tugging the locks gently. Katniss nodded with a smile but didn't say a word about the beard, because she kind of liked the golden stubble on his jaw. He didn't say much about the mines and Katniss was grateful, the less she knew the better. Instead he told her about his crew and how growing up lifting heavy bags of flours was a good thing.

They reached the path where they were supposed to part ways and Peeta cleared his throat nervously.

"So, thanks for the apple," he said with a smile and Katniss nodded, holding the basket tightly to control her nervous hands.

"No problem," she mumbled, kicking a few pebbles. Peeta ran his hands through his hair again and smiled at her. There was a small pause in which Peeta opened his mouth to say something and took a step forward. He closed his mouth and smiled again, crooking his head a bit.

"You have no idea how much it means to me... this, you coming here, this apple," he said with a big smile with his eyes fixed on her face and Katniss shivered, because he was stepping closer and closer and he was leaning in and she closed her eyes and then she felt his lips on her cheek, soft and warm and the tip of his nose, cold. Katniss leaned a bit into him and shivered.

"You should go home, it's getting dark," Peeta whispered, his lips still close to her skin. Katniss nodded slowly and Peeta took a step back.

"So, you haven't kissed yet?" Prim asked in a whisper that night after their mother had fallen asleep. Katniss shook her head, still looking at the ceiling "Was that a yes or a no? I can't see you," Prim said poking her on her ribs and Katniss stifled a laugh.

"No," she whispered back and Prim sighed.

"What are you waiting for?" Prim asked with an edge on her voice.

"Dunno," she mumbled, drumming her fingers against her stomach.

"Do you want to kiss him?" the question hung in the air. Her first thought was that yes, she wanted to kiss him. Well, if she was honest with herself she wanted more than to kiss him; sometimes she felt the need to know how he tasted, how he slept, how he would feel laying on top of her, how his fingers would feel on her naked skin and so much more. It was like his gentle and soft kiss on her cheek had awoken a hunger within her that she couldn't contain. But she didn't want to tell that to Prim and she was grateful for the darkness, because she was pretty sure she was red like a strawberry.

"I think I do," she said instead and Prim giggled.

"Katniss is in looove," her sister said in a singsong voice and Katniss groaned, turned around and buried her face in her pillow. Prim laughed out loud and Katniss tried to shush her with a poke on the ribs, which made Prim laugh harder and Katniss started to laugh too.

"Katniss and Peeta..." Prim sang, trying to be quiet, but her laughter was hard to contain.

"Shut up Duck" Katniss said, trying to cover her sister's mouth with her hand but between the darkness and Prim covering her face she couldn't do it. And she was laughing too.

"... sitting in a tree..." both were laughing now but Katniss kept trying to make Prim stop by tickling her.

"Prim please stop, we have to wake up early." Their mother's sleepy voice made them stop, which took a few minutes, but finally they were calm enough to try to sleep.

Prim mumbled something and Katniss couldn't quite catch it, but she smiled and sleep won at last.

The next day, after finishing with the dishes and dusting the cabinets in the living room, Mimi told Katniss to go home. The clouds in the sky were becoming darker and darker, like it was a bad omen for the bad day that was coming.

By the time she made it to the mines a frozen wind was blowing and Katniss shivered and tucked her face further into her scarf. She didn't have any excuses to see Peeta this time, but she had made her way from Madge's house to the mines without a second thought.

"What happened?" Katniss asked Peeta when she saw Gale leaving alone with that angry look and pace she knew so well. He threw her that same angry look over his shoulder when he walked past them, his crewmates behind him whispering.

"Well...there was a bit of a scuffle today down there," Peeta explained, scratching behind his ear nervously.

"What happened?" Katniss asked again and Peeta cleared his throat, looking everywhere but at her.

"Peeta!" she said shaking his arm gently and he sighed. He took her outside the mines to the place where they had parted ways yesterday.

"Ok, let's just say you...you are a pretty girl, a really pretty girl..." he said after a silence and what looked like an encouraging intake of breath and Katniss felt her heart drumming in her chest quickly and her cheeks redden. Peeta noticed this and smiled.

"Oh, " she mumbled quietly "but, why did Gale get into a fight for that?"

"Well...someone from his crew made fun of him because you picked me up yesterday and not him."

Her face probably showed her confusión because Peeta sighed.

"A lot of boys like you Katniss, me too, in case you haven't noticed, and I think Gale did for a long time and still does... I thought he was your boyfriend," Peeta said with a shrug but all Katniss could think about was the fact that he liked her. Peeta liked her.

"He never was my boyfriend," she said quickly, her insides still doing cartwheels at his words.

"I know now but when I found out, I dunno, I felt like he was the competition or something," he shrugged and Katniss felt like he had said something he had kept to himself for years, like a big secret. The way he was looking at her made her step forward.

"Well, you don't have much competition anywhere," she said with all the courage she could muster.

Peeta looked at her with a shy smile and took a step forward at the same time his cold hand cupped her face. His lips were soft against hers and she smiled when his beard tickled her a bit.

"What?" he asked with a smile.

"Nothing...umm, I'm glad you didn't shave today," she said with running her thumb over his cheek. Peeta looked at her and kissed her again but something wet landed on her closed eyelid. Then on her cheek and forehead.

"Wow, I made it rain, I finally kissed you," Peeta said looking at the sky and Katniss laughed. She reached on her tiptoes and kissed him again but they had to stop because with the rain and the wind is was getting darker and darker.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Peeta whispered and kissed her one last time.

"Yeah," Katniss said cursing at the stupid winter. She just wanted to kiss Peeta longer, preferably in a dry and warm place, but they couldn't risk getting sick.

But the storm got worse and Katniss only had the chance to see Peeta once and briefly during the next four days. He had kissed her deeply, leaving her breathless and with a promise of seeing each other soon before sprinting toward the mines under the rain.

A curtain of frozen water was falling on the District and both made their ways to their jobs quickly, always trying to see if they could see each other but the water and the wind made it almost impossible.

"The Mellark boy left this for you," Mimi said as a greeting. She was holding a piece of paper and a towel.

"Thanks Mimi," Katniss said taking the paper and the towel. Madge smiled at her over her mouth full of toast.

"How's the happy couple?" she asked quickly swallowing the toast, but she choked a bit a crumb and started to cough before Katniss could answer. Mimi shook her head and patted her back.

"That was the crumb that warned you about minding your own business," Mimi said while Madge kept coughing between gulps of water.

Katniss chuckled and opened the small parcel of paper. It had an apple drawing on the margin and it said:

Katniss,

I want to give you something and the rain might ruin it.

Wait for me at Madge's, I'll pick you up.

Love, Peeta

Katniss put the paper in her apron and looked at Madge. She was red in the face still breathing heavily.

"So?" Madge asked in a wheezy voice and Katniss grinned.

"Such a bad weather, right? But the rain might stop today," she said instead and Madge rolled her eyes.

"Such a tease," she said finishing her tea and Katniss laughed. Mimi left with a tray and Katniss shrugged.

"He asked me to wait for him, he wants to give me something," she said.

"What? What? Katniss!" Madge exclaimed with a smile and Katniss shrugged, soaping the plates and cups.

"Dunno, he said that," she answered and Madge sighed.

"What's with the mystery?" she asked throwing her hands in the air while she walked to the small bathroom near the kitchen. After brushing her teeth Madge left the house singing something about young love and Katniss laughed at Mimi's face.

"Now because the baker got your heart, it means your head will be in the clouds, right?" Mimi asked with a crooked eyebrow and Katniss frowned.

"Who's the baker?" Katniss asked with a little smile and Mimi laughed.

"That's more like it," she said and then told Katniss list of chores for the day.

Despite her promise to Mimi, Katniss couldn't help but let her thoughts to go to Peeta and what he wanted to give her. A kiss would be welcome and a hug would be nice too. Maybe he wanted to take her on the date he had mentioned when she had been whipped- Oh no, Mimi was looking at her with that face that seemed to know everything and Katniss shook her head, maybe that would make the reading of the mind harder.

"And how long have you known the Mellark boy?" Mimi asked when they were wrapping for the day.

Katniss was leaning against the counter while Mimi sat on the table sewing one of the Mayor's shirts. She was waiting for Peeta too, Katniss could tell.

"Since we were kids," Katniss said with a smile and Mimi shook her head.

"I meant romantically, girl," she said with exasperation, as if Katniss was being dense on purpose.

"Oh, it's not like that, we..umm..it's, actually, he helped me once when we were children and then when I was whipped he was there too," Katniss said cursing her incapacity of talking about Peeta without turning into a babbling mess.

"So you've liked each other for a long time?" Mimi said and Katniss nodded after a small pause. Yes, she had liked Peeta Mellark for a long time, even before she could acknowledge it. Mimi went upstairs and told her to call her because she wanted to meet Peeta.

Katniss smiled and grabbed a dish towel to dry the plates while humming an old song, something her father had taught her about a cicada singing under the sun. Mimi had left her the basket with food and she was thinking about saving some rolls to eat with Peeta.

She opened the cupboard to put back the plates inside, but they landed noisily on the floor when Katniss ran desperately outside.

The sirens that warned about an accident in the mines were echoing through the entire District.


Hi! Thanks for reading and if you want to, leave a review, I would love to know what you think.

Thanks yo eatsnightlockforbreackfast for her time, she makes sure this is not a mess.

I took Arcade Fire's song Awful sound (Oh Eurydice) for the title.

I'm working on the rest of the story, so I hope the wait won't we long.

Okay, bye!

Mari