One Day

Chapter 10

Authors Note: holy shit I didn't think I'd get this far with this story.

She felt the sun behind her eyes before she felt the heavy lids of her eyes retract to greet the morning. Her body felt deliciously sore as she stretched slightly before settling her head back into the crook of Peeta's neck. He was still sound asleep, having not moved an inch in the mere moment she had been roused from slumber. Her lips landed softly on the exposed skin directly beneath her as she settled back into place, and reveled in the fact that he had slept an entire night through. For Peeta, that was monumental; he had been happy enough in consciousness to not allow his mind to travel to those moments which had almost destroyed him in sleep.

Her fingers worked of their own accord over the path of him stomach, following every freckle and sinew of muscle in whichever direction she chose. Her path had no purpose, and yet, she didn't feel as if she could bring herself to stop. Now that she had something so precious cracked open and bleeding through the wall she had created, she didn't want a moment to pass where she didn't realize she could hold him and keep him forever. She had treated him as a disposable commodity for the entire first half of this. Whatever this was. But in this moment, he was her whole world. She couldn't fathom fighting for anyone else as she once had for Prim. But this was something so entirely separate, so entirely hers that she was terrified. Here he was, this broken boy who worked so hard each day to be himself, and he loved her, of all people. Where she once would've run from the mere thought, she felt the roots dig deep into the garden of her thoughts. He was hers; she would protect him from everything. There would be no more running, but heaven help anyone who thought they could touch him again. Her feet were planted; her heart was bursting with fullness.

It was quite an epiphany to feel when she had hardly been awake a few moments.

He shifted, turning in his sleep so that this time, he was laying with his head against her collarbone and his arms tightened around her like a vine. Nuzzling closer into her neck, she felt the brush of his hot breath against her neck and her skin broke out in goose flesh. With newly exposed skin to explore, her fingers wandered the expanse of his back and over his tapered hips before she heard a mumble rush past his lips.

"Hmm?"

"I said this is what I get for falling for an early riser."

The giggle burst past her lips softly as her fingers switched to running through his hair. Nuzzling impossibly closer, a content hum left him as his lips started descended onto her neck. Ascending higher, their lips finally met as he kissed her with a quiet "good morning" brushing across his tongue. Rolling away from her to stretch, he looked like a happy puppy that just woke up from a great nap. His muscles stretched taunt before he rolled back to her, his head next to hers on a single pillow as his sleep ridden eyes met hers.

"Did we just sleep through a night with no nightmares?"

A small smirk on her face, she nodded in reply.

"We gotta have sex more often."

He broke out in a wide grin, one she had memorized a million times before, as she smacked him on the arm. Rubbing the spot softly, he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him.

"What! The girl I love didn't just….have sex with me last night. It was the first time I've felt whole since the day my name was pulled for the Reaping. I lost myself in you last night, and I slept like a damn log. If that isn't cause for celebration, I don't know what is."

Blushing, she dipped her head as his words washed over her. Peeta would forever be the one with the words, and for that she was thankful. She finally understood though. She finally got the fact that this must have been how he felt since the very start. It killed her to know it took so much happening for her to finally reciprocate.

Her face must have given off which direction her thoughts wandered in because instead of letting her think or dwell on anything negative, he swooped in and kissed her. His hand cradled her face gently as his lips danced with her own, pulling away to rest his forehead against her own.

"Don't do that. Don't wander in your head. Not today."

His instructions seemed so simple, yet she knew all she could do was smile and promise she would try.

"Try harder. Forget anything that happened before the morning I came here to plant the primroses. No arenas, no war, no poison. We went on a long journey, and happened to end up back in this place after. But the only thing that matters is that at the end of the day, you are my home. I walk through the door of a house, make my way up a set of stairs, climb into bed and wrap my arms around my home. Anything before that is irreparable, and anything tomorrow, I know I'm not alone. I hope you know and feel the same. So just today, mark today as a victory."

Rolling on top of her, he kissed her once more as her arms snaked around his waist. His golden hair hung messily with bed head as he propped himself while being cradled between her legs. Smiling softly he laid his head against her heart as she had done to him so many dozens of times on the Capital trains and nights in their shared home.

"You're right. I feel safest right here. No one and nothing could take me from you when I am here."

Her grip on him got tighter as she fought with not letting her mind wander.

"No one and nothing will ever take you from me again. No leader, no war, no poison, no nightmares. I have lost you before, and I know I wouldn't survive losing you again."

"Please don't say that."

"I wouldn't. When I saw you, when I found out what Snow had done to you, I think I would've preferred him to kill me in the arena. Prim was one of few people who gave me the optimism to hope that you'd return to me. I knew on the beach that I needed you, that I loved you, that I wanted to die with you. And then you were gone. Replaced by someone whose eyes were too cold to be my Peeta, whose voice was the same, and his smell was the same. But he hated me. And I hated me because I should've died when the Lightening Tree blew up, and I became someone who I didn't recognize in the mirror. And then the game, the game that helped you remember you loved me once… I didn't think it was possible for my heart to break into any more pieces than it already was. But it damn sure did. And I know that today, this morning, is a victory, but you were taken from me once and it almost killed me. You are what keeps me going Peeta. You are the sunshine on my darkest day. My dandelion in the spring. I wouldn't survive without you. I love you so much."

Her chest was gripped tight with unshed tears as her hand stroked through his hair. It was only a moment before she felt the wetness hit the naked skin above her heart. Wiping his eyes briskly as he sniffled against her chest, he placed a gentle kiss above the beat beneath his lips.

"I know I'm a sap. But I've waited years for this…"

Lifting his head to settle on her breast, he had a smile break out across his face.

"Does this mean I get to make love to my girl this morning too?"

Laughing softly, she kissed him once more as she tightened the hold she had with her legs around his waist.

"Yes, yes it does."

Sorry about the hiatus. New job, stuff, life, ugh. But I still find myself always returning to these lovebirds!

xoxoxo

Piercedstarling