To say Katniss begins to act awkward around Peeta is an understatement. She doesn't know what comes over her, but when he's near she drops things and stutters and blushes furiously.
It takes her a while before she realizes that's how she acts when she's in love. Her mind is no longer crowded up with death and war and stress. It now concentrates solely on one thing: Peeta.
And it makes her feel like a fool. She gets annoyed with herself because she's never acted like this before.
People begin to rebuild 12 around them. House shoot up from the ashes of old ones. Stronger, bigger houses unlike the small, dilapidated shacks that used litter District 12.
Katniss is surprised when the bakery is rebuilt, minus the small attic that the Mellarks' used to live in. Peeta announces one evening that Thom, one of Gale's mining buddies, asked Peeta if he could work in the bakery again and he said he would think about it.
"What do you think?" Peeta asks her nervously after he tells her. Katniss blows a raspberry on Sage's tummy and sits up, leaning back against the couch cushions and keeping a steady hand on Sage to make sure she doesn't suddenly roll over. She pushes a loose piece of hair behind her ear and tries to not blush.
"Do you want to?" she asks, finally meeting his eyes. His blue eyes are watching her, waiting for her definite answer.
Ever since Katniss had asked him to stay with her, he hadn't left. For two months he slept in her bed and other than Katniss being pulled into his arms nightly, they had barely touched. She constantly replays their last kiss in her head, the one where she kissed him and asked him to stay with her.
Katniss shifts on the couch as Peeta thinks, scowling at nothing in particular.
"I think it would be…nice," he finally admits, glancing at her. She can tell by the look in his eyes, the same look he's had for the past two months, that he wants to touch her. He was just unsure if she wanted him to touch her. She told him she loved him, but it felt so strange for them to fall back together when they weren't exactly apart.
"Then you should do it," Katniss says, curling her toes against the couch cushions. Peeta's eyes drift off to a spot behind her and he nods. "Maybe it'll do you good to get out of the house."
Peeta disappears upstairs and Katniss lifts Sage into her arms, smiling at the baby. Sage cooed at Katniss and grabbed a strand of her dark hair, tugging.
"Ouch." Katniss frowns and pulls her hair from Sage's chubby little hand. She squeals and reaches for her again, but Katniss holds her out of reach just as Peeta climbs down the stairs. He stands there in a plain white shirt and a pair of brown pants.
"You're starting today?" Katniss asks, realizing how whiny her voice sounds. She presses her lips together to stop from sounding annoying.
"Yeah. I won't be gone long," Peeta says, crossing the living room to tug his jacket on. "I'll be back at night," he tells her before planting a kiss on the top of Sage's head. She barely acknowledges it, her big blue eyes (that Katniss is now completely sure are the exact same color as Peeta's) now locked on a bright colored toy Greasy Sae had dropped off a few weeks ago.
"Bye," Peeta calls over his shoulder as he steps out into the front yard, letting in a gust of warm air.
"Bye," Katniss answers weakly, reclining against the couch and pretending like she didn't want him to kiss her too.
Somewhere around midnight, Katniss finds herself in the kitchen, leaning against the cool counter and frowning into the sink. Peeta hadn't returned from the bakery yet, but Katniss didn't want to embarrass either of them by fleeing down there and demanding where he was. They weren't married or anything. But she was still a little flustered that he wasn't home yet. She could sleep okay without him, but she had such a great, restless night with him.
Suddenly, the front door quietly eases open, and Katniss spins, her heart beating faster for just a second until she recognizes Peeta's outline.
"Hey," she breathes, pretending to act like she wasn't just waiting for him to get home.
"Hey," he answers, stepping inside and shrugging off his jacket. "Sorry, the new bakery is bigger and more advanced than the old one. I'm not quite used to it. And then my friend from school got hired also, so we kind of caught up while she showed me around."
She? Katniss thinks, but she doesn't say anything. Instead she turns back to the sink and presses her lips together. She suddenly feels stupid standing there in a tank-top without even a bra on and her underwear to beat the heat. She clears her throat to hide her sudden embarrassment and turns to head out of the kitchen and back up the stairs, but she quickly finds she's trapped against the counter by Peeta's arms.
"Hey," he repeats, much softer this time. How did he sneak up on her so easily? What happened to her hunter skills? But, if she were to be honest, her hunting skills were the last things on her mind.
"Hi," she replies, turning slightly away from him.
"Are you okay?" he asks gently, brushing her hair away from her face. After her shower, she never braided her hair back, letting it fall loose against her shoulders.
"Mmm," she answers, shifting her eyes somewhere else.
"Are you jealous?" Peeta asks incredulously, his eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hairline.
"No," Katniss answers too quickly, pushing against his wrist.
"You are!"
"No, I'm not!" Katniss insists, regretting worrying over him and getting out of her warm (almost too warm) bed.
"Don't worry; I think it's kind of sweet."
"I'm not sweet!" Katniss snaps. She lets out a little gasp of surprise as Peeta takes her waist and lifts her up on the cold counter. Before she can argue with him further, he presses his lips against hers. She pauses in surprise, but quickly kisses him back, sliding her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist.
Her stomach burns and tightens as he hands slide over her back, tugging at the bottom of her tank-top.
"There is no reason for you to be jealous," Peeta murmurs against her lips.
"I'm not jealous," she insists again, her eyes still closed. God, she wanted Peeta to touch her. The need was incessant and had to be fixed immediately.
There was quite a bit of fumbling that made Katniss feel strangely like a virgin again. Peeta and Katniss's first time wasn't exactly romantic in the sense that Katniss denied any feelings for him, but it was good practice. Now Peeta knew her body well; he knew what spots to kiss that made her back arch and ticklish spots that made her breath catch.
It was so weird that they had barely touched for the past two months and now there wasn't an inch on Katniss that Peeta wasn't touching. The kitchen counter wasn't exactly where Katniss imagined this happening again, but as Peeta pulled her tank-top over her head and pressed his chest against hers, she honestly didn't care.
Katniss blinks up at the window next to her bed, momentarily confused. When she shifts and the covers from her bed drag against her bare skin, she remembers exactly what she did last night.
She sits up quickly, drawing the covers against her chest and squinting at the empty bed next to her before her eyes sweep over to Sage's empty crib. Katniss fumbles for some clothes, tugging on the first pair of underwear and first shirt she sees.
Heading down the stairs, Katniss stifles a yawn and is careful not to slip on the hardwood stairs. The first thing she sees is Sage stretched out on a blanket, her eyes wide as she reaches for the toys scattered around her.
"Morning," Katniss hears behind her. She turns to see Peeta exiting the bathroom, completely shirtless and his pajama pants hanging low on his hips. Katniss blinks away but doesn't hide the smile curving her lips.
"Morning," she replies, rubbing her arms and kneeling down next to Sage. She can't help but feel giddy at the thought that in this moment, right now, it's the most normal she and Peeta have ever been. There was no fear of whatever they were going to do was going to get someone killed; no constant pressure to perform for the cameras; no mixed feelings anymore and no more awkward touches or glances between them. Everything was just so right in that moment.
And she hoped it would stay like that for a long, long time.
Wow kind of a short chapter to the almost end? I think the next chapter is going to be the last for this story :( maybe I'll do a sequel? Not sure exactly what on, though. The next chapter will be an epilogue!
Just wanted to go ahead and thank all of y'all for reading and reviewing and favoriting and following! And, most of all, for sticking with me through this! Every single one of yall are awesome and I hope this story was as good as i hoped it was!
Again, thank you for reading! Stay tuned for the last chapter :) THANK YOU! REVIEW PLEASE!