Chapter 10: Slow and Steady Wins

Peeta's POV

The mid-day rush has been slow. Almost non-existent. The lull in business gives my family and I the chance to prepare the bread for the next several days. I do my work slowly, in a lethargic monotone, speaking to no one and with an almost permanent slump to my shoulders.

Around mid-afternoon, the bell rings to signal a customer. I look up and blink in surprise before sadly looking down and away. It's Katniss. I don't know why she decided to come in through the front door; she usually makes her trades in the back. Or she did, when Dad was still alive; perhaps his death has prompted a change in routine for her.

I concentrate on washing the china dishes, in preparation for new pastries to be placed in the display window. Katniss, meanwhile, comes right up to the counter further down from me. I guess she must be pretty confident to openly trade with my mother present; her dealings with Dad were always done in at the back door to the loading dock, on the sly.

"Two squirrels," she announces, dumping the wares before my mother. Mother just stares at her for a moment, and then, by way of... can it even be called a greeting, she declares,

"He split a bag of grain last week staring after you."

I pause for just the slightest instant in my scrubbing of a plate; out of the corner of my eye, I think I see Katniss flush. I avert my eyes back to my task and just try to concentrate. But Mother doesn't let up, even as she accepts the squirrels and painstakingly weighs them.

"I said to him you wouldn't look twice at him. If you were interested, you would have said so, or maybe even thrown yourself at him, knowing your type."

I notice my knuckles are turning white as I grip the scrub brush like a vice. My mother has a sick gift for riding that most merciless of gauntlets known as personal insult; she just put down both her own son and Katniss with ease. I find myself staring down past the bizarre consumer interaction towards Rye and Julie, who are busy working the cash register and finances. Julie bites her lip, giving me something like a sympathetic smile. Or is it a grimace? Do something! I mouth to either one of them. Julie just looks to her husband, and my brother gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

My eyes dart over to Katniss for just a moment. She looks flustered. But she can't be any more than I am. I personally think I will die of shame.

And then, Mom drives the final nail in the coffin:

"He should be thinking about his work, not his dick."

I hear Julie give a tiny gasp in mortified shock just before the shattering of glass.

"AHH! DAMN!" I scream, seeing the scattered shards of the plate I just dropped.

Mother is on me in an instant. "Clumsy fool! You'll go hungry tonight for breaking that china, boy!" She grabs me by the ear, just as she did when I was little. How astonishing it is that she can make me, now a grown man, as terrified as a little boy.

To her credit, Julie tries to defuse the bomb that is already in the middle of going off. "Paula, don't!" Past my mother's manic gaze, I see Rye finally take a step away from the counter.

THUNK.

The sound silences all in the room, and we turn as one to see Katniss armed with her bow, the string taught, no arrow in the notch. As if following an invisible flight path, we see that the arrow is instead lodged in the far wall. And most conspicuous of all, is the thin slice of blood across my mother's cheek.

Katniss missed her by mere centimeters. Nicked her, really.

"Don't touch him," Katniss growls low, like a panther ready to pounce.

This is the first time in my life that I have seen my mother at a complete loss for words. Indeed, she is stunned. No, more than stunned - scared. I have never known my mother to be scared of anything or anyone.

Rye leads a terrified Julie into the back, and my mother quickly follows, almost withering under Katniss's unrelenting glare. "Next time, I'll shoot straighter," she vows to the closing door.

She and I regard each other for a long moment. Then -

We burst out laughing. Katniss strolls behind the counter to me, as if to check that I am all right, still holding her side. She plucks the arrow out of the wall, which gets us going all over again.

I brush her hair out of her eyes, and the laughter fades to gasping breaths. Katniss is gazing into my eyes. Her hands find my chest, fisting my shirt.

All at once, we are kissing as if we cannot stop. Katniss assertively pushes me against the back door, bracing it shut with my body. Then she brazenly hitches her leg to my waist. She breaks the kiss momentarily to get air. "I don't want her coming back in. None of them," she practically hisses, and I feel my libido strain even harder against my pants.

She inches closer, and I find myself drawn to her tentatively. "Open your mouth," she commands in a whisper. "Open your mouth; open it!" Her lips are practically on mine, inches from connecting. Indeed, she sounds slightly muffled, as she moans "Open it..." one last time. Our lips fuse together.

We kiss wildly now, Katniss taking most of the initiative. Our heads thrash from one side to the other as our lips engage. She melts up into my mouth, compliant and eager against me. "I love you," she gasps into my mouth, her voice strangely hoarse. She firmly grasps my shoulders; mine find her hips before sweeping up her lower back. Katniss now begins to plant open-mouthed, feathery kisses along my jaw, my cheek. I close my eyes in abject pleasure. Then, her lips tickle, suckle on my earlobe. Then, I hear her voice, silky and husky all at once:

"If we get married, you can't ever tell me what to do."

Her lips find mine once more, long and lingering, and when she draws away, my mouth is hanging open. What did she just say? Katniss is playing with the buttons on my shirt calmly, almost thoughtfully, methodically. Yet her eyes sparkle, only partially masking a practical seriousness there.

"And I won't have children. Not as long as there are still Hunger Games. Babies are something to love only until they are something to lose at the Reaping. Prim and Rory can always visit us. I can hunt whenever I want. And I can't promise I'll be civil to your mother."

Her eyes now search mine, slowly betraying a barely suppressed... panic? Here she is, having gone against her vows of chastity that she has imposed upon herself all her life. She has delivered her terms for this potential marriage. And here I am, still gaping like a fish. "Deal?" she nudges.

I seize her and kiss her until she can't breath, until she forgets her own name. My lips dig into hers with happy passion before springing away.

"Deal," I pant with a smile. Surely it's the best one I can get. She said no children, but perhaps I can change her mind about that in time. We have plenty of time to discuss it, Games or no Games.

Katniss smiles almost in amusement before languidly draping her arms across my neck. "Go ahead, then," she practically smirks. "Ask me."

"Ask what?" I breathe almost stupidly, still a little in shock.

"Ask me to marry you."

I had played this scenario out in my head for many years, all with varying degrees of flair. But if I know Katniss, then only a simple proposal will do. No thrills or fuss. Just traditional. Or at least, whatever tradition is left; she did take the unusually step of asking me first. Still, I kneel.

"Katniss Everdeen, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she smiles softly, charmed and touched by my adorableness.

I stand and kiss her tenderly, which she returns.

"There's... something I haven't told you," she says, staring down at my hands as she laces them with hers.

"What?"

But she is still staring down at my shirt, dipping her head, her eyes only half-raised to me. "I meant it: I love you. More than anyone."

I stare in astonishment. "Even Prim?"

And here she laughs. "Especially Prim." And she kisses my lips to keep me from looking like I've been hit in the head. "Thank you."

"For what?"

She bites her lip. "For loving me. For being such a good man."

She kisses me one last time. When we break apart, I tell her to go to the Hob, and wait for me there until after quitting time. I then exit to the back to tell my family of my impending marriage and to begin planning the wedding.

A/N: This chapter was inspired by the end of a beautiful fic called Slow and Steady Wins the Race.