This chapter kind of skips ahead a bit. The last few were in the beginnings of spring, when things were in the process of thawing and warming, but this chapter skips to when things are thawed and warm. Like…April. Yeah, April. Oh, and by "break-up" I don't mean like 'I'm breaking up with you, biatch'. I mean the period in early spring in which everything is melting. Us Alaskans have our own special vocabulary. I'd list some other…special-er words but never mind that.

oOo

PEETA'S POV

For a few weeks things were calm. Katniss stayed with me most of the time, seeing as how her mother had taken Prim in as an apprentice at the hospital and now worked for quite a bit longer.

Throughout most of it, we spent the break-up inside or in town. She watched me paint and helped me bake (I only ate the stuff she made to be nice; I'm glad she's not a real baker) whilst I kept her sane. I was always there when she had nightmares, was the voice of reason whenever she had a bout of self-loathing and other such suicidal leanings, and kept her busy. That last one was a big part of it.

Annie sent pictures of baby Jace to us every now and then from District 13. He was growing into really an adorable little kid, and his eyes—which were black at birth—were lightening up just enough to see flecks of green. Katniss and I cooed over them, and framed them for the shelves. But sometimes I catch her looking at them with some sort of sad sparkle in her eyes. Then it vanishes and she goes on.

Mid-April hit and all the ice was melted. Little green sprigs popped up everywhere, creating uneven color around District 12. The air was balmy and warm, just the perfect temperature for shedding our coats and wool underwear (not that I wear any).

It was the seventeenth, if I kept track accurately, we had woken up early. It had become routine; I cooked breakfast while she showered, and after we ate, we'd go about our day. But, on the occasion, we overslept and had a very late breakfast (or early lunch). Today was one of those days.

My eyes peeled open to the sound of a bird outside. He seemed to be having quite a time shrieking his miniscule lungs out right next to the window. I hoped he exploded into a pile of pretty blue feathers, for interrupting my sleep.

Lifting my head up off the pillows, I squinted over at the clock on my bedside stand and found it was nine in the morning. Quite late considering we use to think seven was a late time for waking up.

Inwardly cussing the bird outside the window, I peeked down at Katniss. She had fallen asleep with her cheek pressed against my shoulder, one arm draped lightly across my torso. She was so peaceful when she slept, quiet whistle of her breathing, smoothed features only aware of the painted dreams inside her head. And I absolutely loved how she felt comfortable enough to curl so tight up against me to sleep.

I wanted to ask her to marry me. A thousand times I've run over the moment I kneel in my head. Or should I not kneel? Maybe it would be best if I just plain asked her. No… That didn't turn out so well the first time. I'm going to kneel. Maybe in front of the whole town. Maybe in our house before bedtime. I don't know, but I want her to be mine.

I've thought of a thousand different ways it could go, good and bad. All I wanted was for Katniss to say yes and be happy, not necessarily in that particular order. But it's so hard to get inside her head to know what she really wants. Maybe she doesn't want to marry me. If I asked her and she rejected, that would be the end of our good relationship right there. Everything had to be perfect, so carefully planned.

But I knew I wanted it to happen.

A thought popped up into my head, one that's been there before but I had misplaced it. Maybe if I had time before Katniss woke… Gently easing myself out of her arms, I managed to slide quietly on the floor with my feet without disturbing her.

I threw on some clothes without really caring what they were, and only pausing to grab a few things from the nightstand drawer and to slip a small note into Katniss' fist, I jogged out the door.

The town was fresh in the orange light of dawn. People walked along the pebble road, talking quietly among themselves, stopping occasionally to sample something from a nearby vendor. My eyes flicked from store to store. Surely there was a metal smith around here…

I walked past ghosts of buildings that used to be in the old District 12. Most shops were just built over, reconstructed the whole town a new, different town. But some places, the exact replicas of places were rebuilt right over their remnants. Like the bakery. It stood exactly where it was burned. But other than that and sparingly few other buildings, this place was new to me. The square was still where it was.

Thankfully, it didn't take too see the nice little shop. Through the large glass window, I could see a man, scruffy and older than half the population of District 12. Stubble was sprinkled on his lower jaw, and wrinkles were folded under his eyes and mouth but still, he was working diligently at an anvil, pounding a piece of red-hot metal with a hammer.

I hesitantly knocked on the door and walked in. A tiny bell tinkled from somewhere above me.

The old man looked up and stopped pounding, pulling off scuffed leather gloves to shake my hand. "What brings you here today, son?"

In my pocket, I rolled the small bead of white around in my palm as I told him. "Do you think you can do that?"

His eyes started to twinkle. "I can do that. I've done a lot more complicated than rings before. This should be no problem."

I didn't like parting with it, but something in the old man's eyes made me slightly less reluctant, and I handed him the pearl I was worrying between fingers. "How long do you'll think it'll be?"

The man looked contemplative. "Two days at the most. Check back then." He weighed the pearl in his hand and then dropped it in a dusty tin on the shelf at eye-level, labeled 'objects'.

"How much should I bring when it's ready?"

Tired eyes, a dark grey color, met mine. "How much do you think its worth?"

I hated when people asked that. "More than I have."

The man chuckled, and turned around to study racks of strips of metal, different thicknesses. "Pretty special girl, eh?"

Did he normally like talking about feelings to his customers? I felt my mouth twitch up into a subconscious smile at the thought of my 'special girl'. "You could say that."

Though the man acted as though he knew nothing of mine and Katniss' connection, the sparkle in his weary eyes told me different. He pulled off a very slim dowel of silver metal and held it up to the light. "It's not too much. Rings are simple. And, in providing the stone, you saved yourself a bundle." He used a pair of fancy-looking pliers and clipped a length of the metal. "It's not too much. And if I get the branding iron done today, the ring should be ready tomorrow."

That soon? My palms got sweaty. "Feel free to take your time."

A deep laugh rumbled out of the old man's' chest. He wheezed and wiped his eyes on the material of his apron. "Ah, of course. Nervous, no doubt." The man eyed me sympathetically. "I was such a chicken to ask the girl I loved to marry me. It took a long time to get up the nerve to even prepare a ring."

"So did you ask her?"

Something flickered behind the man's' eyes and he looked down. The metal rod got slid into the bellows, iron door closing after. He wiped his hand on the front of his shirt. "Never got the chance. Ran off with someone else."

"Oh." I inwardly thanked Katniss for not being like that. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

And that was the end of that conversation. I left with a small 'goodbye', leaving the hammering of metal on hot metal behind me.

I didn't really have anything else to do in town, and Katniss was probably awake by now, so I just headed back home.

Like I suspected, she was awake. I walked in as she stood in front of the mirror, braiding her hair behind her in a long, black rope. Her eyes flicked up to me when I walked in.

A small smile stretched across her lips. "You're back."

"I am." I gave her a kiss on the forehead, but I was preoccupied.

"What were you doing?"

"Stuff."

Katniss' eyebrows raised in that 'oh really' look she did so well. "What kind of stuff?"

I wandered into the kitchen, knowing she was following after me. "Just stuff. What do you want for breakfast?"

Katniss let out a gusty sigh and gave me look, not answering my question.

In the end, I decided to fix homemade toast with butter, and, of course, tea. We sat there, munching on our breakfast. I had to admit it was entertaining watching Katniss' facial expressions throughout the day. When things were silent, her eyebrows scrunch up and she chews on her lip. I would give anything to be able to get inside her head and know what those faces are for.

After cleaning up, I brushed my hands off on the front of my trousers. "It's really warm outside today. What should we do?"

Katniss was brought out of her reverie and blinked. Then a slightly smile reached her mouth and she looked up at me eagerly. "We should go to the lake."

"Perfect!" I haven't been to the lake since the little incident last time, the day after our reunion. I had to admit, I was a bit hesitant, but Katniss seemed excited and much better than she was a month ago. So instead of hesitating, I grabbed two empty water bottles from in one of the cupboards and began filling them up.

Katniss took the first one, once it was filled up, and looped it through her belt. I did the same. "You ready?" she blinked up at me, hand poised on the front door.

I answered her with a kiss on the head.

We hiked around the house and out of the fence perimeter. Katniss went ahead of me by a foot about, but kept checking back at me. A half-hour passed, then another. The warm weather and the exertion of hiking caused light sheens of sweat to appear on our skin. Half of our water was gone by the time we stumbled into the little lake clearing.

Katniss flopped down onto the dirt in front of the water and sighed. I followed. Things were quiet for a few minutes when we regained our breath, then we sat back up.

"This is so much nicer than the first time." Katniss wiggled her shoes off, then socks, and stuck her slender feet in the water. A sigh of relief bubbled from her mouth. "This water feels so good."

I watched in bemusement as she stood up. Gripping the hem of her shirt with both hands, it slid over her head and onto the dirt. Thank goodness she was wearing an undershirt this time. It's awfully hard containing these dumb hormones of mine.

Katniss looked back at me and held out her hand. "Let's swim."

I blinked. "I can't swim."

"I'll teach you."

"The water is probably deep."

"Only on the other side."

This was aggravating. Katniss had total confidence in me not to drown, but I knew better. The last thing I wanted was for her to have to save me from going under. I shook my head.

Sighing, she shrugged, and—to my mortified surprise—began taking off her trousers. Words stuttered out of my mouth, but even I didn't know what they were. I heard Katniss chuckle quietly at my reaction, but before anything was said, she stepped into the water and vanished.

I blinked in shock. One minute she was there, the next she was gone. Standing up cautiously, I peered over the edge of the water. "…Katniss?"

Snorting, she bobbed up to the surface and stood. The water was up to her waist, and clung her undershirt and hair to her skin. Katniss held out her hand to me. "Come on. It's not that bad."

"I must be insane…" I muttered to myself, but nevertheless tugged my shirt off and, after a second of hesitation, pulled off my pants. Underwear was no problem when going swimming. Or going drowning, as I put it.

Ignoring the bite of the frigid water, I waded until I was waist-deep as well. Katniss was right next to me, grinning in triumph.

"A little deeper, now." She treaded water further in and beckoned to me.

This felt foolish. "I'm fine here, thanks."

"Swimming's no fun if you don't get your head wet." Katniss said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not swimming, I'm wading."

She snorted, loudly, and once again sank into the water.

No I just felt awkward, standing in the pond, waist-deep, seemingly alone. But even that feeling of awkwardness floated away when something gripped my ankle. It didn't pull, but I yanked back in surprise, earning me a one-way ticket to—yep, you guessed it. The bottom of the pond.

I landed with a great splashed and let out a surprised cry, flailing my arms out of instinct. When I managed to stand up straight again, every inch of me was covered with cold water, and I was fighting off the surge of adrenaline.

On cue, Katniss popped through the surface and looked at me with an amused arch of her eyebrows.

At first I was planning on knocking her back down for vengeance, but seeing the adorable look on her face just made me laugh. I grabbed her by the arm and put my arms around her, still laughing. Katniss and her facial expressions were one of the lights of my life.

She started laughing, too, and to my surprise, stretched up to press her mouth against mine.

For a second I felt like I was melting, then pulled away. "Not-not in the water." I was grinning my face off, I knew it. "I'm going to drown again."

Katniss tugged my hand towards the shore and we waded back to the shore, where we laid down, side-by-side, heads turned towards each other. I reached up my hand to sweep back a wet lock of hair on her, and she kissed me again.

I would have thought it was safer to do that on the shore, because I was not in risk of inhaling water, but it was just as dangerous on land as it was in water. The world fell away and something in my gut surged. It wasn't necessarily pleasant when this happened, mainly because I had to control it. Hormones were inescapable and horribly tempting, and at times like this when Katniss is being too…seductive for her own good, it was all I could do not too just—.

Our lips broke apart for a second, but only for Katniss to get her arm underneath her for support. Her freshly-sopping body pressed against mine and tangled her fingers in my hair.

I groaned and just had to pull away. "I'm sorry Katniss, I can't." Our eyes met and for a minute it was humorous. A smile flashed on my face. "Things would go badly if I let us do this any longer."

"It's a shame." She bent down to brush her mouth once, very gently across mine. Through my fingers, I could feel both our bodies shiver. "Being virtuous, you know."

Yes, I did know. But there'll be nothing stopping us once I get up my nerve to ask her to marry me. Again, visions flashed before my eyes, but I shoved them away and stared at now, Katniss propped up on my chest, eyes shining. There was no place I'd rather be, than with my Mockingjay, married or not. Well… My hormones say "yes please" but I'm trying to ignore those for now. It's not doing so good.

oOo

Every person has that feeling some time in their life. No matter how incredible perfect and sexy Peeta is, there is no denying he is a teenage boy so I had to put something like that in there. :DD

We're gonna have a party their honeymoon night, you know. Like that song "let your body give in to the beat of your heart as my hand touches your skin, if this' love…Let's start a fire!" I love that song to bits. But if you know what I mean by "fire", it's going to be AMAZING. HAHAHAHA. Let's hope you people are pervs like me. But don't worry. It'll be clean. Sort of. Yeah. –parental guidance recommended— (not really) REVIEW! LOVE YOU ALL!