A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoy this one. It's an AU of when Perta gives Katniss the bread. Also, please got vote in my poll!

Step of Hope

AU

"I think about that all the time. How I tossed you that bread. I should have gone to you. I should have just gone out into the rain..."

~ Peeta Mellark, The Hunger Games

District 12 winters were cold, meaning more hunger and more illness and more death. It also meant fewer supplies for the bakery, so Mrs. Mellark was sure to give her sons a wallop or two if they dropped a bit of flour, let alone burn two loaves of bread. Peeta didn't care though. The girl who he secretly loved was sitting outside in the frigid rain, appearing very ill looking and near the point of death by starvation. So when Peeta got hit so hard on the head with a rolling pin he could barely see, and was told to go outside in the rain to feed the burned loaves to the pigs, he did so gladly.

The gentle twelve year old had no intention to feed it to the pigs, so he went out back without a fuss, and snuck a glance at his mom who was already at the front counter and could not see him. He was nervous, not because he was afraid of a beating, but because he was finally approaching Katniss after seven years of watching and waiting.

Once Peeta was sure he was safe to go, he rushed out from under the cover of the porch and into the torrent of rain. He saw her beautiful bright gray Seam eyes trained on him, though they were glazed over. He kneeled beside her, not giving a thought to his soaked knees, and gently pushed the bread into her thin arms.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, concerned. He knew she wasn't; her dad had died three months ago and she was starving, and by the looks of it sick. She shook her head resolutely though, determined not to let a virtual stranger know her weakness. She attempted to give the bread back to him, not wanting to be indebted, though Katniss truly wanted to run to her sister and fill her hollow body with nourishing bread.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because you need help and your family is starving."

Katniss brusquely responded,

"Most families in the Seam are starving, why am I different to you?" He could answer that. It was time to be truthful, Peeta told himself. It might scare her away, but at least he would have a chance to say it to her. He took his thin jacket off and put it on her shoulders, saying,

"I like you a lot. Now take the bread and go." And Katniss went, stumbling away tiredly, but going as fast as she could. Peeta spun around and rushed back into the bakery, cooking two more loaves of bread to replace the ones he gave to the beautiful, stubborn Seam girl. He knew she had a sister, and he wanted to check up on them.

After the loaves of bread were done, Peeta's shift was over and he asked his Father if he could go out. Mr. Mellark looked at him strangely, but at seeing the excited and worried look on his son's face, he agreed. Peeta rushed upstairs to grab his only other coat; the thicker one, then burst out the back door and ran through the back alley. He ran all the way to the Seam, but then realized he didn't know where the Everdeen's house was.

All houses in the Seam looked the same, so he wandered down a few streets, constantly wiping the water away from his eyes before he saw a window with dried flowers hanging in it. There was only one person in the Seam who would hang flowers in their window at the end of winter: Primrose Everdeen. Peeta had heard Katniss talk about Prim a lot, whenever she did talk. He had even met Prim a few times, and she was the sweetest little girl he had ever met. He approached the dimly lit house and knocked softly on the door.

Peeta heard muted voices through the thin walls, and the beat up door opened a crack to show Katniss' smooth olive face. She looked confused, and opened the door wider.

"Peeta? What are you doing here?" He didn't know how to tell her he came to check up on her and her family, make sure they were all right.

"I…Uh… I came to see if you made it home alright." Katniss looked skeptical, and she said,

"Well I did." She started to shut the door, uncomfortable with a boy who had just saved her's, and more importantly, Prim's life. She genuinely wanted to thank this admittedly handsome Merchant boy, but thank yous were hard for her, and she felt so cold and nauseated she was surprised she was still standing.

"No, Katniss! Please wait!" She stopped. "I want to help you, please let me in." Katniss sighed tiredly, but her hard mask softened into something gentle as she opened the door to admit him in.

"It's the least I can do after everything you have done." Peeta stepped inside to see a small room which was a living room/ kitchen/ dining room/ bedroom combined. A little sink and counter with cupboards above it took up one wall, while a fireplace and a rickety rocking chair claimed another wall. A half shut door next to a threadbare mattress looked to lead to a bedroom, and a pine table dominated the last wall.

"I haven't done much." Peeta responded modestly.

"You gave food to my sister. Even I haven't been able to do that." Katniss admitted in a whisper as she gestured to a thin, pale Prim with dull hair and hollow cheeks munching happily on a piece of bread at the table. She was sharing it with a white goat and a ugly cat, muttering to them how they should be thankful to Peeta for giving them such wonderful food.

"Prim, say hi to Peeta." The eight year old looked up and smiled brightly, bounding out of her seat to squeeze Peeta around the waist.

"Thank you so so so much for the bread Peeta! It is so delicious and I haven't ever had anything this good!" Her blue eyes sparkling again, she jumped to kiss him on the cheek, and then turned back to the table. "Lady and Buttercup thank you too. They just can't tell you." The scruffy cat apparently called Buttercup looked at Peeta with what could be interpreted as grudging appreciation. Peeta chuckled and turned to Katniss, who was staring at the bread.

"Have you had any? It's probably still warm." She looked at Peeta sheepishly and shook her head. "Go ahead, I don't mind." Katniss sat down on a rickety chair and offered Peeta a piece.

"Would you like some?" Peeta would never take any food from this devastatingly starving family.

"No thank you." Katniss inclined her head to a chair next to her, and immediately started nibbling on a piece of bread. She moaned and closed her eyes as she leaned back, savoring the warmth and hardiness of the piece, but also in discomfort. Prim didn't notice, as she was too absorbed in the tastiness of the nutty bread, but Peeta picked up on it immediately.

"Katniss, are you alright?" She immediately sat up, her face tinged with pink from her embarrassment. She was embarrassed because Peeta had picked up on her illness and had seen right through her. Unbeknownst to anyone in the entire District, Katniss was truly and desperately in love with the strong, gentle, caring, handsome Peeta who she had never even talked to.

"I'm alright. I'm going to go give my mother some bread." She stood up, her small frame swaying slightly as she picked up a chipped plate with bread on it. Peeta stood up too, and grasped her arm softly to steady her. Prim was by now doing weekend homework and oblivious to the situation as she concentrated.

Katniss felt shivers run up and down her whole body as his warm, soft hand made contact with her cool skin. She brushed it off as her fever's doing and ripped her arm out of his grasp, uncomfortable, though secretly relishing his touch.

"I'll be back in a moment." She spoke quietly, her hoarse voice shaking a bit. She stepped to the ajar door and slipped inside. Peeta followed, peeking his head around to see the once charming Mrs. Everdeen sitting unmoving and unseeing on the bed. Young Katniss was perched next to her, desperately, but quietly, begging her mother to eat, to speak, to do anything. Peeta was horrified. This woman appeared to be a shell, and it was no wonder the sisters were starving if their mom had been like this since Mr. Everdeen died.

Eventually, Katniss gave up, frustrated and sad tears in her eyes as she set the plate on her mother's lap and left. She saw Peeta staring at her, and she looked mortified.

"Did… did…. Did you see my mom?" He nodded his head and made what he thought was a very stupid move. He hugged her, sure she would pull away and force him out of the house, refusing to talk to him ever again. She stiffened in his grasp for so long he wondered if she was in shock, before hugging him back loosely to his utter astonishment.

Katniss was very shocked when Peeta hugged her, but she was so desperate for comfort she leaned into his strong warm embrace and hugged him back. Unbidden, her tears of grief and pain and sadness, of frustration and guilt for letting her sister starve started to fall. Peeta glanced back to find Prim asleep at the table, so he guided Katniss to the couch, and settled her tiny body in his lap, her face buried in his shoulder.

He soothed her, stroking her long braid as she cried silently, fighting off his own tears at what this brave girl had gone though. Finally, she looked up at him, affection clear in her red rimmed eyes.

"Thank you, Peeta. For everything. I have never let anyone see me cry before, it's kind of nice. I have been all alone taking care of Prim since Dad died. I... I didn't know what to do."

"It's alright Katniss. You're not alone now. I don't know how much of a help I'll be, but I'm here to stay, whether you like it or not. As I said earlier, I like you a lot. It's alright if you don't, but I am letting you know I'm here from now on." He said all of it very shyly, and Katniss couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek, he was so sweet.

"I… I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." Katniss did, though.

"I like you too. I was just too afraid to come up to you. Thank you." Peeta beamed, so shocked all he could do was stare at her. The stunning Katniss Everdeen, the one almost all the boys looked at, liked him?

He hugged her frail body,changing topics as he became aware of the heat of her skin, muttering,

"You're sick, aren't you?"

"No, I am not!"

"You are cold and shivery, and you are really tired. Your eyes are glazed and your voice is hoarse. You are shaking and you can't walk properly. You barely ate even though I know you are starving. That's not sick?"

"Fine." She moaned. "But there is nothing either one of us can do about it."

"I can make you comfortable." He detangled himself from her; before he reached over to the coat he had given Katniss earlier. It was warm from hanging by the low fire. He added a few coal pieces and stoked it, before turning to Katniss and wrapping her in his coat that was much too large for her.

Peeta sat back down and she nestled into his side, throwing one of the few threadbare blankets over the both of them. She hesitantly took his hand in hers and moved her thumb in slow circles over the top of it. He leaned his head on top of hers, and sighed as he drifted off. Finally, things were going somewhere; finally, things were changing for the better. And that was Peeta's last thought as he drifted off to sleep, with Katniss tucked beside him.

A/N: I hope you all liked it! I wasn't sure if I was going to upload it or not. I really like the premise, but my writing in this is not good. Anyways, if you want me to rewrite this or expand the AU, drop me a review!

*whispers* the poll...