I would be a terrible person to leave you with a cliffhanger like that now wouldn't I? ;)

-honeybooboo

"Now get in this lake with me now before I can't stand to smell you any longer." He starts to take off his clothes piece by piece, and he wears a playful expression on his face.

Oh I get it now.

I try not to look at him as he takes off the last of his clothing. I hide my face, resisting with every ounce of morality I have not to look at him. My mind starts to create images in my head to compensate, and I cannot avoid looking like a fool. But something's wrong. I don't hear any water. He's not in the lake yet.

"Something wrong Mellark?" I mumble.

"Yeah something's pretty wrong here."

"What is it?"

"Well Katniss I just don't know how to say it. You'll laugh at me."

"I'm sure its not much to laugh at. You just took your clothes off in front of me. Regretting it already?"

"No thats not it at all..." His voice drops.

"What's wrong Peeta?"

"I don't know how to swim." I can't resist the laugh that escapes my injured mouth. "Why are you laughing? Why are you not coming in here with me? Teach me how to swim already! Its not funny Katniss!"

"I am not getting naked with you Peeta." Not that I'm not naked with him in my mind right now. No that's not it at all. Well maybe it is, I don't know if I could control myself.

"But its dark. And its nice in here. If I go any further in, I'll drown!" I hear him start to move. He can't be serious can he? If he really can't swim, he's going to fall right into the part of the lake that gets suddenly gets really deep. The shallow part of the water is only a small sandbar, there's not enough land for him- and then I hear muffled cries and lots of splashing. Looks like Peeta discovered how short the sandbar was the hard way.

Quickly I kick off my socks and pull off my dress. I contemplate removing my underwear, but there's just no time. The more Peeta flails his arms, the quicker he sinks. If his heavy footsteps were any indication, I'd say this young man were made of lead.

Without a second thought I'm in the water, easily diving over the sandbar and into the lake. There's not much moonlight this evening, but years of night swimming and opening my eyes beneath the water have unknowingly trained me for a situation like this. I can see him beneath me, his arms slack, some bubbles coming out from his nose. He's unconscious and taking in a lot of water no doubt. His feet are skimming a large boulder, thankfully preventing him from sinking any deeper. I swim to his ankles and let my hands grip his calves for a second, trying to adjust to his weight. He's so solid, I feel like I'm lifting a tree or something. I shut my eyes tight and try not to succumb to my need to breathe, and I push.

I drag him with my arms hooked underneath his shoulders and pull him onto the sandbar, quickly rolling him onto his side. When none of the water comes out of his mouth I almost panic, but then I remember something my mother taught me years ago. She had left me home alone with Prim for the first time while she and Papa went out together on a date. She showed me how to do it on a ragged old baby doll.

I rolled him onto his back and put two fingers to his neck. He's still got a pulse, I could feel his heart beating. I push onto his stomach. I can feel the water lingering there. Is he breathing? No. What do I do now...I start to remember my mother's words again. Listen for the breath. Push down on the chest. Wait, and then listen again. If Prim isn't breathing, you need to open her mouth and breathe in. I'm shaking now.

He's not breathing.

"Peeta. Please. I'm sorry I should have taught you how to swim...I shouldn't have been such a brat..." I'm crying like an emotional basketcase again and I bring ear above his nose. When I'm sure he isn't breathing I compress his chest twice, and then listen again. I blow into his mouth, watch his chest rise, and compress again, when I bring my ear down to his mouth again, I hear the most beautiful sound.

He coughs.

He spits all the water out and into my ear and falls back onto the ground.

"Peeta!"

"What the heck..."

"You idiot! Don't try swimming if you don't know how." I'm sobbing now.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how deep it was. Got you out of that dress though!" He mutters between coughs. The fact that he can still be silly right now scares me and I punch him in the shoulder.

"Hey you! Don't do that I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me." He pulls me close to him again and lies back down onto the sand. I quiet my sobs and look up from his chest, and then suddenly I realize that he's naked, and I might as well be. I can feel my cheeks get warm. The chill from the water long forgotten, I can feel his body get hotter too. I think he's realized what we both look like we're doing now.

"Hey Katniss lets get you dressed..."

"No." I keep surprising myself.

"A-are you s-sure? I-I was just kidding about what I said b-before. About getting you out of your c-clothes. I'm not a jerk like that..." I smile at the thought of Peeta losing all certainty and confidence in himself. I must be a terrible person. I like this power.

"Yeah I'm sure, just let me lay here for a bit...You weren't breathing before."

"Yeah okay sure."

"I want to hear you breathing right now. It makes me feel better." That shuts him up. He runs a hand through my wet hair, and I feel the most relaxed I've ever felt. I must be insane, to go from crying one minute to completely content the next.

Maybe we're both insane.

"Peeta!" I cry out as he moves his body over mine. He braces himself on his forearms above me.

"Peeta you were practically dead, don't exert yourself right now..."

"I'm not exerting myself. I'm fine." His eyes are burning right now, and even in this darkness I can see them glinting electric blue. I can't see below his chest, but I'm sure if I did I'd be a tomato right now. Thank goodness I can't. I'm already a bumbling idiot.

He lowers his lips to mine, and then I can't help it. I kiss him back, scared that he'll stop breathing again, but too needy to let him take in any air. He's careful not to bring his body too low, careful not to scare me. Hell I'm scaring myself, I want to pull him lower.

Its over all too quickly. He sits up and places himself next to me, and I join him upright.

"Katniss, I think I love you."

I'm so glad he can't see how red my face is, or the ugly confused expression I'm wearing. I don't know how to respond.

What do I say to him?

You saved my life when we were kids by giving me food when I was hungry. You saved my life again when your father hired me as your servant. You saved my soul when you took me to the lake to get away from your mother. I think about you every second of the day, and yet before I worked for you I avoided you at all costs. What is this feeling? Is this love?

He kisses me again before I can answer, obviously content with just that. I sigh into the motion, letting myself get lost in the action. When he pulls away, the only thing I can think to say is this.

"Never leave me. Ever."

"I'll always be with you."

"Always?"

"Always." and then he kisses me again.