As Peeta headed off the train, he scanned the crowd of people standing there, waiting for their loved ones. And then Peeta saw him. Could it really be? Yes it was his father! They embraced each other, and wept tears of joy. How short time had passed, but how long it seemed.
John Mellark held his son on the shoulders and looked at him.
"Son, I have never been happier to see you, and have never been prouder that you are my son. You have freed all of Panem!" exclaimed the baker.
"Dad I'm just happy to see you, and to know that you're alive, ya know?" replied Peeta, "Though, I want to know, where have you been? I've missed you for so long!"
"That's sweet and all, but we've gotta carry this love fest somewhere else," Haymitch interjected, "it's getting crowded, and I can't drink here.
~Inside~Inside~Inside~Inside~Inside~Inside~Inside~Inside~Inside~
Inside their hotel room at District 2, they began to settle down and unpack. Father and son were left alone. They shared their stories.
"Okay. Where were you all these weeks? How did you survive? Where are Mother and my brothers?" inquired Peeta.
The baker explained, "Well, that's a long story. I'll try to tell you the best I can.
On the day of the bombing, we were just running the bakery, another typical, except t wasn't so typical, because of everything that happened. During the lunch break, your brother turned on the TV, as it was required then. We saw you hatching the plan, and Katniss getting cut-"
"Katniss got cut!" exclaimed Peeta worriedly, as Katniss had never told him that.
"Yes, Johanna cut her, unfortunately," said the baker, "but she wasn't mortally injured."
"Just then, something exploded, it looked like it was covering the entire arena -"Peeta's father said.
"The force field," interjected Peeta.
The baker continued, "Yes, that's what happened.
Out of nowhere, our screen suddenly went black, and anything that required electricity stopped working. All of the lights, stoves, ovens, and everything else, too. We, your mother, brothers, and I knew that it was a blackout, and thought nothing was wrong. That is, until we heard a person outside scream, 'The planes are coming! The planes are coming!' We rushed outside as quick as possible to see what was happening. I saw somebody standing on a rock, directing everyone where to go. He looked like he knew where he was going, so we followed him.
Somewhere in this madness, I lost hold of your mother's hand. I tried looking for her, I really did, but I kept getting pushed forward, so in the end, I had to leave her. By then, the boy had lead us into the meadow. Everyone was suddenly startled by the sound of a bomb. Ka-bloom! It landed in the Seam, and more bombs came, blowing everything we ever had, setting fire to everything. I- I-"
Peeta noticed that his father now had his head in his hands. Not wanting to push his old man over the cliff, Peeta called for lunch. He knew that his father would continue the story afterwards, after some downtime. It must be so horrible, thought Peeta, to live through that. It must have been as horrible as the arena. At least in the arena, you knew that someone was out to kill you, and you knew who that someone was. But, all these people, they had no chance to prepare for this, no training.
And with that, they went to lunch.