Hey, Everyone! This is the next chapter. Hope you like it! Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own the characters of The Hunger Games (dang it!). Enjoy!


Chapter Nine

Peeta's POV

*Three weeks later*

Christmas is next week and I'm at the market looking for a present for Katniss. For some reason, things have been tense between Katniss and me for the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping that this tension will dissipate over the holidays.

I am searching through the jewelry stores at the market, trying to find something simple that Katniss might actually wear someday. Every year, I get her something practical like hunting gear, but this year I want to get her something more intimate.

After an hour of walking around aimlessly, a lady finally took pity on me and started helping me look for something Katniss would love. We looked at diamonds in every form you could find them, but I didn't think Katniss was a diamond person. So we continued looking.

Finally, I found a heart shaped, amber pendant attached to a sterling silver chain. I ran my thumb over the heart pendant and smiled as the light hit it, making it look as if it were on fire. It was definitely the perfect gift for my girl on fire. I bought it and had the lady that had been helping me gift wrap it for me.

After purchasing the necklace, I continued to walk around the market. I found a camouflage hunting jacket and a pair of hunting boots that I thought Katniss would like, so I bought them, too.

Once I'm home, I rush to put Katniss' presents somewhere she'd never look: The flour cupboard in the kitchen. I am just sitting down on the couch with my sketch pad when I hear the back door open.

"I'm home," Katniss yells as she slips off her old hunting boots.

"I'm in the living room," I call back, tossing my sketch pad back onto the coffee table.

"How was your day?" She asks, sitting down at the other end of the couch and picking up the newspaper.

"My day was good. What about yours?" I ask, shifting to face her.

"Fine," She replies, never looking up from the newspaper. This is how it's basically been since thanksgiving. I get up early in the morning to go work at the bakery. Katniss goes hunting around seven and doesn't come home until around now, which is four in the afternoon. If I didn't know better, I would say Katniss had a boyfriend on the side.

After a few minutes of silence, I get up and go into the kitchen to start dinner. On the counter in the kitchen, Katniss has left me a skinned and boned beaver. I chop up the meat along with some onions, carrots, and potatoes and dump them into a pot. I add two cups of water and some spices before letting it simmer for a while. In the meantime, I baked a couple loafs of bread for the next few days.

An hour and a half later, the beaver stew was done and I was pulling the bread out of the oven. Katniss and I ate at the kitchen table in an awkward silence. I watch as Katniss eats her food in a solemn manner and can't help the question that pops out of my mouth.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask her in a not-so pleasant manner.

"I don't have a problem," She replies snippily at me.

"Obviously there is something bothering you," I tell her.

"Nothing is bothering you! Can't you just learn to mind your own damn business?" She snaps at me before getting up and storming out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I sigh and put my hands in my head. Things have just been too tense between us lately and I don't know what to do.

Katniss keeps herself locked up in her room for the rest of the night and I end up sleeping on the couch for the next couple of days as Katniss cools down from our fight. She is definitely the girl on fire sometimes. I'm just hoping that the tension between us dissipates before Christmas.

*One Week Later*

Its two nights before Christmas Eve and Katniss finally let me back into the bedroom tonight. I am rearranging the pillows on my side of the bed, when Katniss comes up behind me and starts kissing my neck.

"What's this for?" I ask her, turning around to face her.

"Your welcome back present," She replies, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. I smile and lean in to kiss her lips. She moans and I can feel the corners of her lips twist up into a smile as we kiss. She pushes me onto the bed and then climbs on top of me.

"I love you," She whispers into my ear before she starts sucking on my earlobe.

"I love you, too." I tell her and we make love to each other.

I wake up the next morning with Katniss' head on my chest and her hair splayed around me. I shift my head and brush some of her beautiful, brown hair out of our faces. For a while, I just stare at my beautiful wife. Everything about my Katniss is beautiful: Her hair, her eyes, her skin, her soul, everything.

She stirs before her beautiful grey eyes open up. Her lips twist into a smile as soon as she sees me. She leans her head up and kisses my lips.

"I've missed waking up to you," She tells me.

"Me, too," I reply, kissing her forehead.

We get out of bed and head downstairs to start our day. Today, Johanna is coming from District 7 to spend Christmas and New Year's with us. Katniss and her mother would be doing most of the cleaning while I would be cooking and baking.

"I'm going for a quick hunt. I should be back in an hour." Katniss tells me. She kisses me goodbye and heads out the door.

I make the dough for bread, enough to probably feed the entire district, and set it aside to rise. Next, I head out to the little garden that Katniss and I planted for fresh fruits and vegetable closer to home. I pick some raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and boysenberries. I head back inside and spend the next hour and a half making the fillings for the various pastries.

"Something smells good," Katniss says as she enters the house. She gives me a kiss hello and sticks her finger in the bowl of raspberry filling I am currently making.

"Tastes good," She tells me, before she goes to help her mother clean the house. I take the dough that has risen to twice its original size and conform it to the pie tins. I bake the dough for a little while before removing it from the oven, adding the fillings, and placing the top layer of dough on top. I stick it back into the oven and start working on my next project.

I take the rest of the risen dough and form it into decorative loaves, combining my artistic and baking skills, and stick them into the second oven in our kitchen. Once I have everything in the oven, I clean up my mess and sit down at the kitchen table with my sketch pad.

I begin drawing a face which quickly turns into Katniss' face. But it doesn't look quite right. This face has the same fierce, grey eyes and the same determined facial expression, but it's a younger version of Katniss'. It's our daughter. I sigh before tearing out the page and tossing it into the waste basket. I am afraid that, if Katniss sees it, she will get upset.

I hear the doorbell ring and get up to answer it. I am in the living room when I see that Katniss has already answered the door.

"Let the festivities begin!" Johanna Mason calls as she enters the house.


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