I wasn't ready to tell Peeta that I wanted our future to include more than just us. Our relationship needed to evolve out of the comfort that we gave each other and into something more.

"Peeta?" I called, as I walked down the stairs and into the foyer. The front door was open and Peeta was painting on the stoop.

"Hmm?" He replied; his tongue was sticking out of the side of his month as he concentrated on capturing the view of town from the top step of the house.

"Can we… date?" I asked, shyly.

He was still turned away from me as he set down his brush and I could see the hint of a smile as he looked at me. "Date?"

I shuffled my feet, I suddenly felt awkward standing in the middle of the foyer. "Well… yeah." I brushed my hair back nervously. "I mean, I know there isn't anywhere to go… but we could have dinner here? Maybe get dressed up?"

Peeta moved back into the house and came towards me. His hands were in his pockets and he shuffled his feet too. Finally, he looked up at me with a smile. "Why Katniss, I thought you'd never ask."

XxXxXxX

After my proposal, Peeta went into town to ask Sae to come cook us dinner. We decided that since our date would take place in our own house that Peeta would pick me up at my bedroom door, which was his bedroom too on the bad nights, and then we would go down to dinner together.

I decide to wear a cream knit sweater that goes down to my mid thigh, chocolate brown leggings and a pair of knee-high boots. It's not too fancy, but it's comfortable and it mostly covers my scars. With a smile, I think about braiding my hair in two braids like when Peeta first saw me… but I decide to leave my hair down instead. At seven o'clock there is a light tapping at my door. I open it to find him standing there in gray pants, dress shoes and a plum colored button down shirt. "You look handsome." I said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

Peeta breathed a sigh and smiled. "And you look stunning as usual."

I flush slightly. "What do you have there?" I asked, noticing his hand behind his back and hoping to divert his attention away from my looks.

"Oh," he startled, remembering. "These are for you." Peeta holds out a lovely bouquet of wild flowers and hands them to me with a smile.

"Peeta, they're lovely. You picked these for me?" I ask, turning to go fill a vase with water so that I can place them near my bed.

He nodded. "I stopped in the fields on my way back from talking to Sae." Peeta waited for me to return to the door and offered me his arm. "Speaking of Sae, should we go have dinner?"

I answered with a smile as I take his arm, "Yes please."

As we take our time walking from the landing upstairs down to the foyer, Peeta's hand slips into mine as we walk. "I helped Sae get everything ready." He says as we reach the bottom of the stairs.

I can see a faint glow from the dining room as we reach the foyer. When we step over the dining room's threshold, I can see that the table is alight with small candles. Our seats are set next to each other on the corner, like we always sit. "Oh, Peeta. It's beautiful, thank you."

He leans towards me and kisses my cheek. "Anything for you."

I smile at him shyly as we take our seats. I look around the table as I unfold my napkin in my lap. As I take everything in, I pause; realizing that every dish on the table was something… meant something. There is the plum stew that I had adored from the Capitol, Peeta's rolls, and much more. "Peeta, really, this is too much."

He leans over and pats my hand reassuringly. "Katniss, I just wanted this to be perfect."

"Me too." I squeeze his hand. "I feel like I should have done more though, I asked you out after all."

He shook his head, "Asking me was enough."

I take his plate and dish out the stew and the other entrees and sides onto his plate then my own. We eat and talk for almost two hours. The meal is perfect and Peeta laughed at my groans of appreciation, as I taste everything.

"I am completely stuffed." Peeta says as he pushes back from the table, rubbing his stomach.

I laugh and wipe my mouth with my napkin. "I am too." I say as I push back from the table and stood. "I have to go get something."

I open the closet in the foyer and pull a small box off the top shelf. When I bring it back to Peeta he is staring at me, concern on his face. I smile at him in reassurance as I sit back down beside him and open the box to reveal the small black pearl and the gold locket

"You kept them." he says, awe in his voice.

"You remember them." I say with a gentle laugh. "I wanted you to know that I always kept a part of you with me." I gently place the locket in the palm of his hand.

Peeta looks at me and I nod towards his palm, encouraging him to open it. Inside, there are no longer pictures of my mother, Gale and Prim but instead there's a picture of him, a picture of me and in the center a picture of the two of us.

"Katniss, it's-" and I can hear the catch in his voice.

"Well," I rush to fill the silence, "it was yours to begin with anyway so it's not like I'm giving you something new. You should wear it."

"You should wear that." he points to the pearl. Peeta takes it from my hand and removes the chain from his locket. After a few moments he hands it back

When I look into my palm at the pearl, I can see that he has woven a small basket around the pearl using the long chain. "How did you do that?" I look it over before clasping it around my neck.

"Finnick taught me…" We get quiet for a minute. "Thank you." he says again, gesturing to the locket in his hand; his fist clenched tight around it.

"I-" I begin unsure. "I thought maybe we could put other pictures in there someday."

Us. Our children. Grandchildren even. I hope he understood what I meant.

He nodded with a lopsided smile and I think that he did. Peeta rose from his chair and walks to the music player. He presses a few buttons and a slow, melodic sound flows from the speakers. Peeta walks back to me and holds out his hand. "Dance with me."

The words were a command but his eyes hold the question. "But your leg... " I began weakly.

"We danced at the Victor's Ball, my leg was the same then." He ignores my protests and pulls me up to him. We shuffle slowly around the dining room. He holds an arm around my waist and the other he is clasping my hand, holding it out to our sides.

After a few moments, Peeta brings my hand in to rest on his chest, my hand over his heart and his hand over mine. The song changes and we continue to move around the room. I looked at Peeta as we dance; I want to do something to make this more than just comfort. I bring my face next to his; our cheeks pressed together, our mouths near each other's ears. I can feel his breath on my neck as we move. Peeta's chest beats rhythmically beneath my hand.

"Katniss?" he asks, his voice soft in my ear.

"Yeah?" my response barely escapes my mouth but so close to Peeta's ear, he must have heard.

"Real or not real;" he paused for a second, pulling back to look into my eyes, "you are mine forever."

I lean forward slowly and press my lips to his. I've been on fire before but it was nothing like this. My whole body tingles as if all my extremities have fallen asleep at once. Peeta wraps both his arms across my mid back, pulling me flush against him. His hand moves up my back and to the nape of my neck, drawing my face to his. I've felt passion before; a passion for caring for my family and a passion for doing what is right but I have never felt romantic passion before. This is what it feels like, now I finally know...

I pull back from Peeta fractionally, our heads pressed together and our breath heavy on each other's face. "It's real, Peeta. I'm yours and you are mine. Forever."

He kisses me again softly before turning and leading us towards the stairs.

XxXxXxX