A/N - Kind of just a filler chapter, I'm hoping that by the end of the next chapter I'll catch this story up to the CF storyline.
Suddenly we are being swarmed by the reporters. In my haste to get out of the woods I came out at my usual spot, which admittedly is very close to the Victors Village, and therefore very stupid of me. I know that anyone from the Capital who stayed behind after the train left yesterday are using the vacant victors houses as their headquarters until they decide to leave. I know I've just given them gossip gold, and reason to stay longer. Questions are being fired at us faster than I can even comprehend them. Gale pushes a few reporters and to try to clear a path for us to get away.
Suddenly my hand is being yanked and a gruff voice instructs Gale to follow us. I realize it's Haymitch who has come to our rescue, he pulls me quickly and Gale is protecting me from behind, keeping up to our quick pace. We make it to Haymitch's house and he slams the door behind us, reporters still screaming their questions at the closed door as if they still expect me to answer somehow.
Haymitch leads us to the kitchen where he takes a swig from a bottle of liquor. "You just had to give them reason to stay longer, didn't you sweetheart?" He says to me sarcastically.
"I didn't do it on purpose." I defend myself.
"I've never seen you show one iota of affection for this kid in all the years I've seen you two together." He accuses. "Not coming out of those woods, not walking around the Hob, now the very day after I tell you they are trying to set you up and to act normal, you're out there canoodling up to him for the whole nation to see!"
"I wasn't thinking! And we weren't canoodling!" I shout at him.
"So, you were told how to act around me?" Gale asks.
"Of course! Wait, no...well...we were told..." I'm struggling to explain to Gale what exactly Peeta and I were told about the situation we were coming into when we got back to the District, but I'm caught off guard by the hurt and disbelieving look on Gale's face.
Not only that but Haymitch interrupted me by shouting, "You'd better hope that Peeta understands what you were doing, because I sure as hell don't. They're going to spin what they just saw out there into whatever they want, you cheating on Peeta, you two having secret meetings behind his back, they could turn this so many different ways and every single one is going to kill him!"
"Peeta knows!" I shout at Haymitch. "He knows I could never be with anyone else. He knows I wouldn't hurt him like that. They can spin it whatever way they want, he'll see right through it." I say with confidence, my voice calming toward the end of my declaration. "He knows I could never love anyone else."
The door slams shut behind me, I turn around to see that Gale has left the house. Haymitch and I go to the window to see him storming through all the reporters walking hostilely through the swarms of cameras toward the Seam. "Peeta may know, but did he?" Haymitch asks, pointing to Gale. I want to argue that of course he did, but it suddenly becomes obvious that something changed for Gale between me and him and that I didn't even see it happen.
When it becomes obvious that nearly every camera in the District is following Gale I sneak out the back of Haymitch's house and through the backyards of the other Victor's houses and manage to dodge the remaining reporters until I'm far enough ahead of them that they need to run to try to catch up to me. I make it to the bakery, I've been out for a couple of hours now and it's mid-afternoon. I run in through the front door, passed Rye at the front counter and head straight to the back of the bakery where I find Peeta sitting alone at the decorating table. He's icing some cookies but he looks up at me when he hears me come charging through the door.
"Hey." He greets me casually. "Where've you been?" He asks as he turns back to his work. I'm trying to catch my breath, and debating on how much of my day I should tell him. I realize that ordinarily I wouldn't have ever thought twice about sharing my whole day, everything that happened in detail, but somehow Haymitch's stupid words about him being hurt are echoing in my head. Since I'm not exactly sure what happened with Gale and if I'm reading the situation correctly I realize there could have been more to that hug than I thought. Gale isn't really the comforting type, and I've never felt the need to seek him out for that kind of support at all before, not that I did this time, it just sort of happened.
"Katniss? Is everything ok?" Peeta asks turning back to look at me when it takes me too long to respond, his expression slightly worried.
"Yes." I answer, but even I can hear the change in my voice.
"Did you still want to move to one of the new houses today?" He asks.
"Yes." I reply. I pull up a seat and sit beside Peeta, I watch him concentrate on decorating the little cookies. This is so normal for us, I usually watch while he finishes up some kind of decorating or baking, he's gotten very remarkable at it over the years. I love watching his face so full of concentration, his eyelashes are so long, but it's hard to notice because of how blond they are. I lean over and put my head on his shoulder, he looks at me, hardly turning his head to me, "did you have a good day?" He asks again.
I sigh, "Not really." I admit finally.
"What happened?" He asks, still concentrating on finishing his work.
I explain to him about walking with Gale in the woods, hunting, the flashback. "So when I came out of the woods Gale caught up to me within the District, and he hugged me." I say, I watch for any sign from Peeta, and I see it. His hand jerks in surprise ruining the design on the cookie, as if out if everything that I've explained has happened, this is the part he's been dreading. I'm starting to think that Haymitch is far more observant than I give him credit for. "It was nothing really, he was just trying to help calm me down, and so that's what I was doing, I let him help me calm down. But a reporter saw and got some pictures and before I knew it we were being swarmed and Haymitch saved us and took us to his place."
I'm getting a bit worried now; I have Peeta's full attention. He's put down his work and is looking at me with a concerned expression.
"So you were with Gale?" He asks.
"And Haymitch, but well, not for long. Haymitch yelled at us and said that the Capital was going to spin a story out of what they saw and that the reporters might be here longer because of it and it upset Gale and he stormed off." I'm rambling now, talking a mile a minute. "So then I came back here while the reporters were chasing Gale." I watch Peeta carefully, he's thinking very hard.
I see the flicker of emotions cross his face until he looks at me, "So basically we have to go out there and do damage control is what you are saying? Give the people something that will make them forget about that hug?" He asks. "Is that what you want Katniss?" I'm a little surprised at the way he's speaking to me, it has an accusatory tone and reinforces that Haymitch is more right than I care to admit. Peeta is obviously jealous, something I've never seen from him before.
"No, what I want is to make sure that you understand that no matter what the Capital says I love you." I say gently. I put my hand on his cheek the way he does to me when he is trying to be especially understanding. "It meant nothing, he's my friend and I needed his comfort for a minute, but that minute is going to be blown up and taken out of context over the next few hours."
"What does Gale think of everything?" Peeta asks.
"Well, he's pretty upset. He stormed out of the house when Haymitch and I were arguing, but…well, you know Gale." I say.
"No, I don't really." He says to me. I don't know what to say anymore, Peeta just shakes his head. "Ok, so, that's what happened to you today. You know what I did?" He asks me in a kind of serious tone. I hold my breath, afraid of what he is going to say, "I spent my whole day in this bakery just waiting for you to come back to me so that we can head out and pick one of those houses." He's smiling by the end of his sentence and I let out a sigh of relief. "Let's go already, I can't wait anymore."
He takes my hand and leads me to the upstairs apartment where we tell Mr. and Mrs. Mellark where we are going and not to expect us back today. Mrs. Mellark can't help the disapproving look that she gives us, we know she isn't falling for our story that we aren't moving in together. We gather a few of our things, leaving the majority of it behind just in case we decide to stay the night here again in the future and head out the back door of the bakery, I allow myself to get excited, I hold Peeta's hand on our walk over. As we approach the Victor's Village the group of reporters sees us and comes running over, but they don't swarm us the way they did to me and Gale earlier, maybe it's because Peeta knows how to handle this crowd. When the reporters approach us he holds his hand out and smiles warmly at the camera. "One question at a time please." He says to the small crowd. There are a few flashes from the camera that we stand and pose for the way we learned to do while we were in the Capital, Peeta's hand is on the small of my back gently pushing us forward. We may be posing for the cameras, but we are still actively trying to get into the nearest house with as little communication with the reporters as possible.
"What do you think of Katniss stabbing you in the back with that secret rendezvous with Gale this morning, Peeta?" One of the reporters shouts. I want to die, I know Haymitch tried to warn me about the things they would say, but hearing it out loud is something I wasn't really prepared for, and so directly. I look at Peeta, his face falters for a fraction of a second before putting on his mask of confidence.
"Is that what you think that was? There was no secret rendezvous, Gale came and got Katniss at the bakery. Really, it was just an innocent walk between friends." Peeta reassures. I don't know if he realizes, but it sounds a lot like he is also trying to convince himself, darn that Haymitch for being right.
"What about the hug, the kiss?" Another reporter shouts.
"There was no kiss!" I can't help but say angrily with a scowl on my face, Peeta grabs me by the arm and guides me quickly toward the house before I can make a bigger fool of myself. This is going badly; it's fairly obvious this is damage control. We walk up the steps to the house that was closest to us, they're all made with the same layout so it really doesn't matter which one we choose.
Just before we walk in Peeta turns back to the reporters, "As you all know, the life of a victor is a difficult one, and one that is hard to understand. I'm thankful that Katniss has such a great friend in her life who will be an ally to us both as we try to transition into this next stage of life for ourselves. He is someone other than me who Katniss can turn to for comfort." His speech is delivered excellently. "Don't try to make us feel guilty about turning to our friends at a time like this. We'll be happy to see them, we'll hug them, these people thought that we were going to die, please don't mix relief with anything more. I trust Katniss, and I think our time in the Games have more than proven our love for each other. Good day everyone." He dismisses the crowd and pushes me into the house and closes the door behind us. Unlike before at Haymitch's house, the reporters are silent outside. I leap into Peeta's arms and kiss him, he returns it eagerly, I'm so utterly grateful that he knows how to handle these situations.
We roam about our new house, it has already been furnished, the cupboards and refrigerator is full, we find the closet upstairs full of clothing from the Capital that is obviously for me, but surprisingly there are a few outfits for Peeta as well. "Do you think Effie did this?" He asks me when he sees the clothing meant for him. I laugh, remembering how she was bragging about doing all the necessary preparations for the houses, ensuring that they would be move in ready.
"She probably figured that if she couldn't keep us apart on the train right under her nose then there was no way we were going to stay away from each other once she was gone from the District." I say, Peeta laughs along with me at the thought of poor Effie admitting defeat to two teenagers who couldn't keep their hands off of each other. It's still hard to believe that this is still District Twelve. Just outside the door, a few yards away, people are living in shacks, her we live in a mansion, they don't have the luxury of hot running water, but here we have a full shower, and a small bathroom on the main floor. For a moment we are both silent, it's like we're thinking the same thing, we look at each other and I know that we are.
"I'll make bread every morning for those who can't afford it, especially in the winter." He says.
"And we'll spend tons of money here, anything we can do to keep our money within the district we'll do it. Nothing from the Capital unless we really can't get it here." I say.
He nods his head, surviving the Games has put us in a very fortunate position. We spend the afternoon just setting the house up a bit more to our liking. We didn't bring much with us, but I did bring my family pictures that Peeta rescued from my old house after that night the Mellarks brought me to the bakery. I set it up above the fire place and take a look at my father, mother, Prim and I looking so happy. I find a place for my plant book next to their picture. I can hear Peeta cooking in the kitchen, moving pots and pans around, putting food together for our first dinner in this house. We have a nice evening, after dinner we do what we can to make this place feel like a home. I head upstairs to the bedroom to look through all of the beautiful outfits that Cinna sent for me, as I'm looking through them I begin to wonder if there is anything that I can actually wear here in the District, there are so many fancy clothes, I nearly die with embarrassment when I look in the underwear drawers and find fancy night gowns, some of which are even see through. I can't imagine Cinna sent these, or Effie, maybe the prep team.
I hear the television on downstairs; Peeta has been on the first floor this whole time setting up his art room. I told Effie that Peeta is an artist and there was a whole room set up with canvases and paints and anything that any artist could ever want. I look out my bedroom window and can see most of the district from here, shrouded in nearly complete darkness, the Seam is without electricity, like usual. I begin to think that electricity is something that we will never be without in the Victors Village. I make my way downstairs with my quiet hunter's tread. I find Peeta standing in the living room where the only television is, from here I can see the television set as well, I see the story they've spun. It's not as bad as it probably would have been if Peeta hadn't said his speech about us needing comfort from our friends.
I do see the photos that they captured of me in Gale's arms, most that they show are from before I noticed they were there, when I was still coming out of my flashback and allowed myself to be comforted. I have to admit, it looks like a very intimate embrace. I'm tucked into Gale, I wasn't crying, so there are no tears, and I'm trying to calm myself, so my eyes are closed and it just looks like I'm enjoying the embrace. Gale's strong arms are around me, protecting me, his cheek resting on the top of my head, I've never let anyone hug me like that other than Peeta.
"Are you angry?" I ask making Peeta jump since he didn't know I was standing here. He turns the television off as if he was caught watching something he shouldn't have been. He runs his hands through his hair. "I know how it looks, you can be angry at me if you want to be."
"Do I have a reason to be angry?" He asks me.
"Well, I know how these things can get out of hand; I know how you see one thing and can jump to conclusions, I had to deal with Delly Cartwright, don't forget." I point out.
Peeta scoffs. "Delly was never competition for you Katniss."
"Well, maybe not. But I still sat in the lunch room, day after day, watching her fawn over you and say how cute you are. I even had to watch as she gave you kisses!" I exclaim.
"That was one time, on the cheek even, as she was comparing me to being like a brother to her. I told her never to do that again, and she always, from day one, knew how I felt about you." He turns and looks at me. "She knew before you did, from that very first day in kindergarten when I was a goner for you when I heard you sing the Valley Song." My breath is caught in my chest. "That day she came to the bakery and asked us." He emphasizes "us" by pointing at both of us. "To go to her little brother's birthday party was because she wanted to get to know you better. I suggested she come by and ask us both, but she was nervous because you intimidated her. She thought you were great, she wanted to be your friend, and then you ran off into the woods that day. I didn't even go to the party without you; I waited all day by the fence for you to come back. And when you did you told me all about meeting Gale." I sit in the couch, remembering that time so long ago. "Things between me and you were always so solid; I fully believe that we both knew we were meant to be together. I thought surely you'd found a friend in Gale like I had with Delly. I thought that you'd understand that a boy and a girl can just be friends, and I believe that's all it was between you and Gale." He's not angry, and he's explaining everything to me gently, as if he's afraid that I'll run away now, when I couldn't even if I wanted to. My legs feel weak, and I sit on the nearest chair. "The only difference is that I don't think that's the way Gale sees things. I know you; you wouldn't have talked about us, not to Gale the way I talk about you to Delly. Which is why I think he's gotten it into his head that he has a chance, he's in love with you, you know that don't you?" He asks.
I just look at him, "well of course he does, and I love him too." I see the pain and panic flash through his eyes. "As a friend, a best friend. Like I love Madge, I would do anything for him and his family. They've always treated me like one of their own." I explain quickly. I get up and go to Peeta. I hold his face in my hands and kiss him gently. "You're the love of my life Peeta. There's nothing he or anyone can do to change that." I push the hair from his eyes. "I'll do everything I can to make that clear to him." I say between kisses. I feel Peeta hands wrap around my waist and make their way up my back underneath my shirt. It sends shivers through my body.
"We've waited so long to be together, and now we are and it's great. I just don't want anything to change us, who we are for each other. We've been through so much; I don't want to lose you now." He whispers into my ear.
"You won't. I love you too much to just give up on everything we have together. We're just starting; we almost died, we're so lucky to have each other." I reassure him.
"Together." He says.
"Always." I finish.
I love this part about being with him, how we can seem to pull through anything. We create that hunger for each other; I let him take me, all of me that night in every way that he wants. Over the next several days I don't think we are ever fully dressed at any one time. We only go to the first floor of the house to make love in a new room, because we've decided to do it in every single room of this house, and also to eat. It's a blissful couple of days that we spend by ourselves. We don't turn on the television after that night; we aren't concerned with what the nation thinks of us never leaving our new home, to be honest any conclusions they come up with from it are probably all too true.
We check every day to see if the reporters have left, and we see that after nearly a week and no sight of us since we've come into this house the number of reporters has greatly fallen. We aren't immune to the nightmares that the Hunger Games have caused us to have, they still happen often, but Peeta rescues me from mine, it's harder for me to save him. Whereas when I have a nightmare I thrash around, moan, talk and sometimes even scream out loud, Peeta gets tense, very tense, all his muscles contract and he doesn't move at all. I woke one night because he likes to fall asleep with the window open and I was cold, I got up to close it, when I looked at him I noticed his arms tucked into his body and his hands were clenched, I pushed some of his hair from his face and he was in a cold sweat. I called his name and shook him awake, since then we've both taken to staying awake as long as we can and sleeping only when we are exhausted.
When we've been cooped up in this house for a whole week the honeymoon stage seems to be coming to an end and we find ourselves becoming restless and longing to go outside. We leave our house and have our day planned to go to the Hob and various merchants in the village to buy things that we need, but the remaining reporters followed us all the way from the Victors Village, and Peeta and I decide not to risk a trip to the Hob since its very existence is illegal. I'm pretty sure most of the vendors have closed up shop until the Capital removes its presence in the District. We visit Peeta's family for an hour or two, but again, that results in a dramatic increase in business so it's hard to have a conversation when we create so much more work for them. In the end we sneak away back to our house.
"This is so frustrating! I wish we could at least go into the woods or something, the weather has been so hot lately, we could go to the lake like we used to. I would really love to go swimming." I say in frustration.
"Then let's go." Peeta says excitedly. "It's been warm enough, do you think that they would see us if we snuck out after dark?"
I think about it for a moment, I'm so desperate that I agree. So that night at about midnight we exit through the back door of our house and stay as close to the fence line as we can. My usual entrance to the forest is so close now, we don't bring anything with us, as soon as we cross the fence we make a dash for the forest. When we are certain that we can't be seen I climb the nearest tree to look out over the fence to be sure that reporters haven't seen or followed us. When I'm sure it's safe Peeta and I head out in the direction of the lake. We're there in an hour or so, the moon doesn't provide much light, but for the first time in a while we lose ourselves in the freedom that we have together. We are back in our own world, before the Games, when we could just be us. We swim, we play, and it's everything that we thought we'd never have again, with the added bonus that we also get to make love in the water under the glistening stars. We spend as much time as we can together at the lake, but when we know that dawn is only a few hours away we decide to head back. I want to check where I had my flashback for my bow and quiver of arrows. I know that I dropped them when I went dashing out of the forest the last time I was with Gale.
Sure enough, I find them in the general area that I thought I was. I look at them sadly, Peeta walks around me inspects them for damage, then he hands them to me. I'm hesitatant to take them, "Why don't you shoot one, just for practice." Peeta suggests. I look at the weapons and tentatively take them from him. "See that tree?" He asks pointing to a tree that has a rather large knot in the trunk. "Shoot at it, don't pick a live target yet." I get in my shooting stance, take a deep breath, and I can already feel my legs getting shaky. I suddenly feel Peeta's broad chest against my back, he puts his face close to mine, wraps arms around me and puts his hands over mine on the bow and the arrow. "Just breathe Katniss, the Games are over, don't let them rule our lives, we won." He whispers into my ear. We release the arrow together, it sticks into the tree. "See? It'll get easier." He smiles at me.
We spend our last remaining time in the moon light just shooting arrows at trees, I feel calm and confident enough to not need Peeta to cover my body with his, but I don' t tell him that. We start to walk back toward our house, but we are so close to the fence line that we can see into the District, we see the miners walking from the Seam to work. "Gale started at the mines a few days ago." I say sadly. "I promised him that I would still hunt for his family. It's so sad; he really does come alive here in the forest, to think of him underground for hours every day. It's not fair that I have all this money and my friend won't let me help him so that he can stay out of there."
"How are you going to hunt for his family if you have a panic attack when you shoot at live game?" Peeta asks.
"I don't know, I didn't know that the panic attacks would happen when I went hunting when I made him the promise." I admit.
Peeta takes my bow and arrow from me; he walks a few yards into the forest. Admittedly, his tread out here is much louder than it used to be now that he has to walk with the prosthetic leg, but he still comes back with a rabbit after a few minutes. Its morning now, dawn is on the horizon, the animals are waking and being careless, just as we are being by still being out here. Peeta brings me the rabbit. "Take it to them, go through the exit that Gale uses near the Seam, I'll head back to our house and go to the bakery. If any reporters are watching for us, they'll catch me leaving and follow me." He kisses my nose and walks in the direction of the Victor's Village. I head off in the direction of the Seam.
I run as fast as I can, I want to get out of this forest before daybreaks and the world is flooded with sunlight. I'm to the Seam in no time, and I make a beeline for Gale's house. Some of the miners are only just leaving their homes, and I'm about to walk up the steps to the Hawthorne's house when the door is gently opened and Gale emerges from the house. We both stop, looking at each other in mild surprise. I was expecting him to be gone by now. I hold the rabbit out to him; he quickly and silently takes it into the house and emerges again a moment later.
He walks passed me, but I quickly hurry to catch up until I fall into step with him. He looks at me; I look at him, not really knowing what to say. So we do what we always did in the forest, we walk silently, side by side, until we get to the fork in the path, one of which will lead to the mines, the other to the Victor's Village. We pause for a moment, "Sunday, we'll me at the usual place?" I say it in the form of a question, I'm not one hundred percent certain if he will agree, I'm not even one hundred percent certain he is angry with me or why. He gives a slight nod to let me know he will be there, and continues his walk to the mines.