{Wow, up to 22 reviews overnight! Amazing! Thank you, to all my reviewers!}

I seem to be churning out crap lately, so I'll see what I can do to make this interesting. There is some harsh language in the second and third bars of text when Peeta has a flashback. Two words only, nothing worse than what you hear in high school and such.

Do I have to do the disclaimer? Onwards!

I open my eyes to find Katniss sleeping quietly beside me in her - our - bed. Katniss suffered a horrible dream last night, one of the worst she's had. It took maybe four hours to finally get her back to sleep. My arm is still wrapped around her slowly growing waist (she recently started eating again) when I stretch to get out of bed. I place my pillow in the curve of her waist to keep her warm and give her a kiss on the forehead as I change my clothes and wash up for the day.

I trudge downstairs and begin my day as always, putting a fresh batch of fruit and nut bread into the oven while I cook bacon and eggs for Katniss. To tell you the truth, I'm not much of a meat kind of guy. It tastes good, I guess, but a large amount of it makes me queasy. But Katniss pretty much lives off of meat and has for most, if not all her life, so I'm not stopping her. I really like it when she brings home berries from the woods. There's at least four kinds and they all taste amazing. Katniss also likes to order fruits that we tasted in the Capitol or that are rarities in 12, like pears, oranges, and strawberries.

The oven crackles and I open the door to reveal a plump loaf of bread. I pull it out and it's scent wafts into my face immediately. This bread brings to many memories, of when I threw the bread to Katniss on that rainy day. The first gift between us. I place the bread on the counter and turn off the stove as the bacon and eggs sizzle on the pan.

I hear a slight shift coming from the stairs, and I see Katniss come downstairs in her PJ's, but otherwise ready for the day. Her eyes open a little wider at seeing the food, and I quickly grab a plate and fill up her plate, leaving myself a small patch of egg. She sits down at the table and immediately stuffs her face with bacon. I laugh and she scowls at me as she stuffs another slice in her mouth.

Katniss watches me as I sit down with two slices of bread and eggs on my plate. "Do you want my bacon?"

I look up at Katniss, and she's held up her last piece of bacon out to me. She stretches her arm out so the bacon is right near my mouth, gesturing me to take it with my mouth. She looks at me expectantly but softly, and I take it. She slowly sits back in her chair and grabs a fork to begin eating her eggs. I chew on the bacon, and it's just what I needed. I sigh after I swallow.

"You look tired," she says, standing and coming over to me to sit on my lap. She curls into my chest and hugs me. "You should take a day off work and stay here with me," she says a bit groggily. She looks up at me and take my hands in hers, playing with my fingers.

"But what about the staff?" I ask. I can't really leave all my staff there to their own devices.

Katniss kisses me on the cheek and squeezes my hand. "It's basically the same routine every day. They're prepared to make all the pastries and they can handle the customers and the shop on their own. Trust me, Peeta, the shop is in good hands."

I sigh at the comment, closing my eyes for a second as I curl my fingers around hers. "Okay," I say, kissing her hair. She responds with a squeeze from her arms that are around my abdomen.

We sit like that for about half an hour, and then we finish off the rest of the raisin and nut bread. This seems to ring back memories for Katniss as well, because she curls into my chest a little closer and becomes drowsy when we reach the end of the loaf. I carry her to the sofa, and we end up falling asleep.

I can see the sun starting to fall when I wake up, seeing Katniss skin and gut the game she caught yesterday. I feel my heart rise into my throat, my vision becoming blurry, my hands pinched with pain and strength.

Katniss is a disgrace, a monster. Look at her cutting open those squirrels! She's done that all her life! She kills squirrels like she kills innocent people, like she almost did to me! No, Peeta, she saved you. That's why you're still here- She is a monster! She tried to kill me, she used me to stay alive! How dare she! But I am al-

I can't tolerate this monster. She needs to go where she belongs. I stand up and run into the backyard, a perfect place to dispose of her. That Capitol monster. My lover? Never. New anger swells into me as I pick up speed and reach my arm out to her neck. I can almost reach her when she sprints away from the squirrel and scrambles up the tree in our backyard. I remember this trick, during the first Games when she kissed me for the cameras, to stay alive.

"Come down, you monster! You deserve to be killed! You are pathetic! You can't survive by yourself! You suck life out of others for your own gain! You selfish bitch!" I look up at Katniss, see her face twist into an odd direction and see her mouth move, like she's screaming. "Shut up, shut up!" I tell her. "You shouldn't be talking!You deserve to be dead! You killed all those innocent people!"

I look up at her, my prey, and see her eyes turn red and glaze over as if a river forms in her eyelids. I watch a river or tears run down her cheeks, her mouth harden and shake as she climbs slowly higher into the tree. I hope she dies up there. I'm not moving.

What did I just say? What did I just think? Peeta, you idiot! You fucking idiot! You hurt her!

I realize this when I return to my normal self when the sun rises. I fell asleep under the tree behind Katniss's house, and I can still hear whimpers and ragged breathing from the tree. I look up and see Katniss near the top, curled on a forked branch, staring down at me blankly with glazed, red eyes.

"Katniss, I'm sorry," I tell her, looking up at her. She curls her head into her lap when I meet her eyes. "Katniss, I'm back. Please come down. I'm sorry about what happened. It was so sudden." I see her eyes look at me from her hunting jacket, glistening with tears. "I'm sorry, Katniss. I love you; you know that. I didn't mean any of those things. Please come down," I beg.

I watch uncurl herself and slowly make a shaky decline from about eighty feet up. She pauses at times, but with a few words she continues. When she's near the bottom I see her skin raw from climbing so suddenly, and from staying in an uncomfortable place all night. Blood trickles down her forearm as she comes closer. When she's five feet up, I can see her shaking so badly I think she'll fall any second.

"Come here, Katniss," I say gently. "I'm back, Katniss. Come here. Let's clean those marks, okay?" When she reaches out for me, I catch her in my arms and I see the severity of her condition. I bring her into the master bathroom and put her in the bathtub after I take off her hunting jacket and long pants. Her head and face are scratched in numerous places, her arms and hands and feet raw and bloody from climbing, her muscles weak and in need of care.

I grab a towel of warm water and rub it over her wounds as she battles sleep and tears. She must be exhausted, because she doesn't put any force into protecting herself when I clean the scars near her left ear, a sensitive area for her due to losing her hearing during our first Games. Her grey eyes fixate on me the entire time I wash her clean, and when I lift her from the tub, she hangs in my arms like a puppet.

Katniss stops crying when I finally get her settled down on our bed, and when I look down at her, her eyes are heavy. "I don't want a bad dream," she says flatly.

I kiss her hair and rub her back. "Dream of something nice. Like sunset."

"I've never dreamt of sunset before," she mumbles almost to herself. She pauses and nestles beside me, her eyes starting to close on their own.

"Dream of how much I love you," I whisper, my heart swelling at what I just said. I kiss her as she burrows her head into my chest, and within a minute, her breathing becomes even. I begin to play with her hair as her body becomes more quiet and still, and as the sun reaches it's highest peak, I fall asleep.

And that's that!

I also forgot to mention earlier that I don't use spellcheck or a beta for anything of mine, I write them on the document manager here on FF and don't bother with spellcheck (a bad habit of mine, honestly). So if any of my stuff has epic mistakes, please point them out and I can hopefully change them. Thanks!