10. Puppy Love

It felt so good. My head was in Katniss' lap as she ran her fingers through my hair. My eyes closed and I sighed happily. It was the perfect end to the day. I almost fell asleep, but then all of a sudden, Katniss' fingers were out of my hair. I didn't want it to stop, so I opened my eyes, ready to complain. My complaining ceased, though, once I felt Katniss' soft lips linger on mine. Unfortunately, her lips went away too soon. I groaned.

"Katniss, why do you torture me like that?" I heard her chuckle.

"Because I still have to show you your birthday present." For a moment, I had forgotten that it was still my birthday. I had been so preoccupied with the proposal.

"I don't need any more gifts, Katniss." I sat up, putting an arm around her shoulder.

She stopped and looked at me. "You really thought that I wasn't going to get you anything?" She gave a little smile and then kissed me again. I wanted to kiss her for a longer period, but she kept pulling away.

Before I could answer, Katniss was peeling my arm off of her, grabbing my hand instead, and leading me downstairs. She was genuinely happy and practically yanking me down the hallway. "Slow down!" I yelled, laughing slightly. "You're acting like an excited puppy." We reached the staircase and Katniss stopped, looking at me with wide eyes. "Are you okay? I'm not really mad, I was just teasing," I assured her.

Her shoulders sagged, her worried expression fading. She said, "Just come on."

I didn't understand what that weird look was about just five minutes ago, but I didn't want to question it. I wanted her to stay happy, and anything that I did that would make her upset would make me upset, too. I let out a chuckle.

"Hey, easy. My leg isn't cooperating today," I said, gingerly taking steps down the stairs. I think I was just extremely tired. For some reason, my leg was just feeling really heavy today.

Once we finally made it into the living room, Katniss sat me down on the couch. She half-raised her arms, indicating that I should stay where I was seated. She then ran off to one of the back rooms down the hallway. Why was she going all the way to one of the back rooms? Was it too big to wrap? I was starting to to get a little excited and curious as to what she had gotten me.

I started to hear little yelps and I strained my neck to see what it was. However, I couldn't see anything because the couch was too far away from the hallway. I was starting to get a bit worried when I heard no response and instead heard louder yelping.

"Katniss? Is everything all ri-?" I stopped, my mouth open. A smile creeped on my face and grew wider as Katniss continued to approach me.

"Happy birthday, Peeta," said Katniss with a smile.

I looked at her with utter amazement. I scoffed, unsure of what to say. I was entirely speechless. "It's... amazing!"

Inside a carefully weaved basket, sat two puppies. One seemed to be a golden retriever puppy, the other a black lab. They were the cutest things in the world, besides Katniss, of course. They cried out, their tiny paws leaning over the basket's edge, wanting to be let out.

I walked over to the basket and picked up the two dogs. Their little tails wagged as they continued to yelp, their cries not mature enough to be full barks. I placed the black lab on the couch beside me, and he continued to run around in circles beside me. I started to pet the little golden retriever, and he licked my face.

"Aw, you're just so cute, huh, buddy?" I said to him. I looked up at Katniss, who seemed to have picked up the black lab. "What should we name them?" I asked.

Katniss gave a thoughtful look. She shrugged before saying, "For some reason, I wanted to name yours Chance." I thought about it. Chance. It was a wonderful name. "They're both boys," she added as she continued to play with the black lab.

"It's a wonderful name. Chance it is." I looked up at Katniss, who gave me a little smile. I then proceeded to think of a good name for the little black lab. I pondered for a couple minutes before I found the perfect one. "Kieran," I said.

Katniss stared down at the little dog in her arms, petting its short hair. She gave a long look at him before she nodded. "Kieran," she confirmed. I gave her a big smile.

I looked at the two puppies, constantly barking and wagging their tails with excitement. It seemed like they were already starting to get familiar with this home. I hoped they would love it. I started rubbing Chance's stomach and he lied down on his back, his paws up to his chest, his legs spread out, and his tongue sticking out. He was panting, probably from being so ecstatic and from his running around earlier. He seemed to love getting belly rubs. "Welcome home, Chance."

I continued to play with the puppies for a while, and Katniss decided she was going to clean up the rest of the trash from the party. I didn't like the idea of her cleaning and working while she was still sick. Well, she said she was fine, but I wasn't so sure. However, after talking to Dr. Lewis, she seemed to be getting exponentially better, but I didn't understand why. Katniss wasn't taking any medication or anything. I started to become curious, and then I realized that I didn't really know what had happened between Dr. Lewis and Katniss.

"Katniss." I tried to get her attention.

"Hmm?" she asked as she swept the floor in front of the door. I didn't understand why she was cleaning the front entrance now, while winter was fast approaching. It would just be dirty again, especially with the polarized weather we were getting. When it was cold enough, it would snow, but soon melt, leaving us with mud. When it wasn't cold enough, it would just be rain, again resulting in mud. The front doorway would be almost impossible to keep clean.

"You never told me what happened between you and Dr. Lewis. What did he want to talk to you about? Did he give you any medication?" I felt the impulse to ask more questions, but I started with the most important ones first, not wanting to overwhelm Katniss.

"We just talked," was all Katniss said, continuing to clean. She didn't necessarily sound harsh, but she had a dead tone. I didn't know what to think of it. Was she upset? Angry?

I knew that I was probably in for a slap to the face, but I was very curious. I mean, how could you go from nightmares, to vomiting and flu-like symptoms, to blackouts, and finally to being well again without some sort of medication?

"Well, what did you talk about?" I knew what was going to happen before she even did it.

Katniss stopped and quickly turned around, glaring at me. She let the broom that she was holding fall. "Why do you always have to know everything?" She snapped.

I started to feel angry. "We've been living together for five years, and we're engaged. What does that mean to you?" My breathing started getting heavy. "To me it means commitment. It means you tell me everything and don't leave anything out."

Katniss gave me another death glare, her nostrils flaring. "Well, maybe we shouldn't be engaged then."

It felt like a slap to the face. I wasn't expecting this. It seemed almost as if she wasn't either. "Take it back, Katniss." She didn't say anything and I screamed, "You don't mean it."

She threw her hands up in the air and said, "Of course I don't mean it. I just wish you would let it go!" She started to walk away before I could say anything.

"Where are you going?" I said, my voice quieter. I was slightly relieved that she wasn't going to break off the engagement. But there was still a problem that we needed to fix.

She was heading up the stairs before she said, "I'm getting my stuff and moving to the spare bedroom."

"What?" I asked, running up the stairs behind her. I couldn't catch up because of my slow leg. I was still so exhausted and there wasn't much energy left inside of me.

She went into our bedroom and slammed the door. I leaned against the door, ignoring the pain in my leg. "Katniss, please." I scrunched up my face in pain. I resisted the urge to groan. "Why won't you let me know how you got better? Why is it so hard to explain it to me?"

There was a long, silent pause on the other side of the door. She probably has some sort of illness that she doesn't want to talk about, I said. Once I started to think about it, I got extremely worried. Was it a fatal illness? Was she not telling me because she knew it would tear me to pieces? No. She would tell me if it was something that important... right?

I gently pounded on the door. "Katniss, please." I decided that I would sit in front of this door all night if I had to. I would wait until Katniss came out. I felt empty being without her, and if this was going to be the closest I'd be to her, then so be it.

I stayed in the room for a couple more hours. I paced back and forth, running my hands through my hair. I had never been so stressed. I hadn't heard a sound from him in the last hour, and I was too afraid to open the door. Too afraid to talk to him. You're ruining his birthday because of your selfishness, Katniss. I was so unbelievably disappointed with myself because of this. First, I snapped at him when he only asked a question, then I proceeded to yell at him and not tell him anything, and finally, I threatened to break off the engagement. Yes, I was annoyed with the fact that he constantly bombarded me with questions. He did need to respect my space. I wasn't going to tell him everything; some secrets were mine. But it was his birthday, too. Threatening to leave him was just unbelievably rude, but I couldn't apologize. I couldn't leave this room. No, Katniss. You're not being selfish. You're telling him to leave you alone, which is exactly what he needs to do. I was so confused. It felt almost as if two people were inside my head telling me what to do. I guess, in a way, there were.

My jumbled thoughts continued to be more complex and harder to organize. I continued to pace, but the feeling of guilt became too much. I finally opened the front door, getting ready to look for Peeta who was possibly downstairs, before I looked down to see him on the floor asleep. My heart sank. This couldn't get any worse.

"Of course you would stay on the floor, Peeta," I mumbled, feeling guiltier by the second. I kneeled down next to him and grabbed his arm. "Peeta," I whispered into his ear. I felt bad waking him up, but there was no way that the floor was comfortable. "Wake up, let's get you into bed."

"...Katniss?" Peeta mumbled sleepily, his eyes opening, but only slightly because of the bright bedroom light. It didn't take long before he realized where he was and what had happened. "Look, Katniss. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start a fight... I got so upset and-"

I cut him off. I gently pressed my hand over his mouth. "Shh. It's okay. Let's just get you to bed, you've had a rough day." Yeah, because of me, I added in my head.

Peeta sighed, but nodded, starting to get up. He probably was too tired to argue, and for that, I was very grateful. I didn't want to focus on finishing our fight. I just wanted Peeta in bed and rested.

Peeta wrapped his arm around my neck and I helped him walk over to the bed. He was too heavy to carry, so letting him lean his weight on me was the best I could do. Once he finally got into bed, I took off his shoes that he still had on, and wrapped the bed sheets over him.

I was about to leave the room until I heard him say, "Katniss?"

I walked back over to the bed and sat down beside him. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

I took a deep breath, trying really hard to keep it together. Peeta both angered me and made me feel unbelievably guilty. The thing was, he wasn't trying to make me feel guilty. He was genuinely sorry when he apologized, and he always tried to make things better. This frustrated me to no end because I felt the need to apologize when that was the last thing I wanted to do.

Despite the frustration I felt, I also felt a little tingling sensation run through me as he said those three words. I leaned over and kissed him lightly. I then stroked his cheek. "I love you, too." Peeta sighed, turning his head into my palm. He quickly fell asleep after that.

I was about to head into bed myself, until I realized that I should probably check on the puppies. I turned off the main bedroom lights and instead turned on a lamp, so I could have some sort of light, but it was at least muted enough to not shine on Peeta.

I went downstairs, prepared to search the whole house for the energetic puppies, but as soon as I was downstairs, I saw Kieran and Chance curled up together on the couch. They were fast asleep, their little paws tucked underneath them, and their little bodies curled up into little balls. I suppressed a sigh.

I quickly turned off the lights and headed for the stairs, but a wave of exhaustion hit me, and I settled for the chair next to me. I had enough time to wrap a blanket around me before I quickly fell asleep.

Hi, hi!

First of all, HIB and I want to tell you guys how happy- no- ECSTATIC we are that we got EIGHT reviews on the last chapter! We hope you all enjoyed the one-shot! :)

Anyway, I do have some bad news. I don't think I can update next Wednesday. It's going to have to be a little later, maybe Thursday or Friday, because I'm actually traveling on Wednesday. I'll be in a plane... TO FRANCE!

Thanks so much for the support. Thanks to those who reviewed: Iheartbakers, MsAmiClassified, AlexMichele, LiveInTheMusic, HungerGamesLoverXtreme, ilikebread1, Thynerdgurl, and Guest. Thanks to those who read this story!

Until next time,

tonks-quinn57 & Hillary Izzy Blair