Oh my josh I am so so so sorry it took so long for me to update this! Super-duper sorry! Hopefully this chapter will make up for it. I've spent a lot of time on it, revising it and stuff, so I hope you enjoy! Review, please!

-MJ888

Sage pokes at her left knee, but immediately yanks it back, wincing in pain. Bright red blood oozes out of the cut she just got when she fell off her bike. She still is shaky on her two-wheeler, even though she insists that she's elite.

"I can do it myself," she had told her father a few minutes ago when her mother came out onto the porch and told him the oven was beeping, which meant his cookies were ready to be taken out. "You can go and get your cookies. Anyway, I'm hungry."

After he disappeared inside, Sage ensured that her helmet was buckled and hopped onto her bike. She kicked off and pedaled away, perhaps faster than she should have, and she wiped out before she could count to three.

Now, as Sage fights down tears, she wishes her father hadn't left. Sage feels a warm tear run down her cheek, and before she knows it, whole rivers are flowing down her face, despite her attempts to hold it all in. The front door swings open suddenly and her father steps out.

"Hey, Sage, how's it going with your-" he says. His smile droops when he sees his five year old daughter sprawled out across the grass, her bike collapsed next to her. "What happened?"

"I fell," Sage sniffs. She points at her bloody knee. "I got a boo-boo."

"Aw, you poor thing," Peeta says sympathetically, jogging over to examine. "Let me see, cupcake."

Sage gingerly lifts up her knee for her father to inspect. "It h-hurts, Daddy," she sputters.

"I know, sweetie," Peeta says. "It's just a cut, though. Don't worry."

"It hurts!" Sage exclaims.

"Hon, calm down. It's just a cut. Deep breaths, deep breaths. It'll be okay, okay?" Peeta says, caresses his daughter's hair. Sage sniffles and nods. "Now, I'm going to get some band-aids, you stay right here, okay?"

"Okay," Sage obeys.

As Sage sits on the grass waiting for her father to return, she wipes her eyes on the back of her hand. Her father was right; it's just a cut; it's not going to kill her. She takes one deep breath, then another, like her father advised her. One deep breath, two deep breaths, three deep breaths, four deep breaths. How is her father so brave, anyway? Sage has always marveled his ability to stay calm in any situation.

"Okay, now I'm not a healer like your grandmother, but I think I know how to heal a cut," Peeta says. He kneels down beside his daughter and elevates her knee. "This might sting, but just a little."

Sage holds her breath and manages to only cringe slightly when Peeta sprays the first-aid spray on her cut. It stung terribly, like a wasp sting, which Sage has gotten when she was three and accidently stepped on one, but Sage was determined to be brave.

"My brave girl," Peeta murmurs as he caps the spray bottle and opens the box of band-aids. He takes out a single band-aid and sticks it on Sage's boo-boo like tape. Then he kisses it. "There. All better?"

Sage nods feebly and whispers, "Thank you Daddy."

"Anytime, cupcake."

Peeta gladly returns the hug Sage gives him. When they release, he smiles warmly at her, but she says something that makes him do a double-take.

"You got a boo-boo once, didn't you? That's why your leg is gone?"

Of course Peeta knew his daughter knew about his prosthetic leg; it would be kind of hard to hide, and he knew one day Sage's curiosity would be eating at her mind until she asked, but he didn't know it would be this soon. Maybe he should've suspected it;

"Oh, well, um…" Peeta stammers. He doesn't know what to say. He and Katniss had decided that they would tell Sage about their horrific pasts when she's twelve, since that used to be the first year in the Reaping, and she still had seven years to go. But a simple 'yes' wouldn't hurt her, would it? "Yes, you're right."

"My leg won't fall off, will it?" Sage asks, and Peeta can detect real fear in her voice.

"No, sweetie, your leg isn't going to fall off. My boo-boo was much bigger than yours," Peeta says.

"Did it hurt?"

At first, Peeta doesn't know how to answer. He doesn't want to lie by saying no, but he also doesn't want to scare Sage by telling the truth. Finally, he takes a deep breath and says, "Yes, it did. But you don't need to worry about it, okay? Because it's done and over. It doesn't hurt anymore."

Sage is quiet for a moment, thinking about what her father said, which is quite unusual, since typically she never shuts up. Then she says, "How about those cookies, Daddy?"

Peeta grins. "Of course."

He picks Sage up and carries her inside, while she babbles about her favorite types of cookies, back to her normal self.

Review. And that's an order!

-MJ888 :{D