PPOV

I was running. Running towards the coal mines, where I knew Katniss would be, waiting to see if her father would make it out of the explosion this time. I had heard the thunderous noise of the blast and dropped the bread pan I had been carrying to the ovens. I would pay for that later, my mother wouldn't be happy at all, but I didn't care. I had to be there for Katniss, just like I was every time there was a mining accident. She would be hysterical, looking for her father every time the elevator doors opened, dumping out miners like water from a bucket. More and more people would be brought up out of the mines but Katniss wouldn't leave until her dad came out. I ran faster, knowing she needed me, knowing that beneath it all she was just a scared little girl, needing somebody, anybody, to comfort her. And I would be there. Finally. I see the mines.

Katniss is sitting on the ground, holding a sobbing Prim, rocking her back and forth and singing her sister a hushed lullaby, all the while her eyes never straying from the men's faces that were coming out of the lift, straining to see if underneath all the black coal one of those men was her father.

I sprinted to them, my best friend and her sister who might as well have been mine, too. Katniss looked up as I tore through the crowd at them. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she answered my unspoken question by slowly shaking her head back and forth. Her father hadn't made it out yet.

I sat on the ground behind the crying girls and held them whispering that it would be okay, he would come out soon, just like always.

But it wouldn't be. The stream of miners that were coming out was turning to a trickle, and her father was still not here, reassuring them that he was fine, as he should've been doing. Instead the doors opened for the last time and out came three or four miners, none of whom the one they were hoping made it out the most. Katniss realized that was it and turned to me and put her face in the crook of my neck and let out terrible sounds as she really began to bawl. I grab Prim up tight and hold onto these two girls who can't stop crying, crying, crying. I squeeze them tight but don't try to tell them it will be okay, because it won't. Today their lives changed forever, and no amount of talking will fix that.

I just rock them back and forth, and look over their heads to see their mother, standing a bit of ways off, with tears silently rolling down her face as she watches the doors that remain closed. I wonder why she isn't over here, holding her daughters with me, but then I realize this woman's job isn't to be a mother to these girls right now. It is to be widow to that man who will be forever locked down in those mines. And as much as I want to go over to her and scream at her for not helping her children, I can't. Because I get it. The love of her life is gone. I would do the same if it were Katniss.

KPOV

I see him running. Running at me and Prim like we're freedom, and the gates holding him in are about to close. I shake my head. No, my father hasn't come out yet, I tell him in that one movement. As if he can't already tell. I'm sitting on the ground clutching to Prim rocking and singing to her, wondering where in the world my mother is, wondering why she isn't here with us, comforting us. These thoughts are soon blown out of my mind as Peeta takes over her job, protecting us as my mother should.

We take refuge in his arms, as he holds us and whispers into our ears about how everything is going to be okay, it will all be okay. However, I have a feeling that it won't. I have a feeling, that as these elevator doors open for the last time, as they are now, that these last men that walk out of the lift will not be my father, that we lost him forever. And, as I watch to see if the doors are going to open again, I realize that I am right. My father won't be here anymore to sing me and Prim to sleep, or to take me out hunting as he would sometimes on Sundays. He wouldn't be here to give my mother presents as he walked in the door, or make her smile as only he could. We were alone. Me and Prim and my mother are all alone. But as I lean back and feel a warm body behind me, holding me, loving me, I realize that this is not true. We have Peeta.

I turn around in his arms and cry into his neck and he holds me until I don't think I can cry anymore. I lift my head and look up into those big blue eyes and nod, telling him that I am okay, and I receive a nod back. He understands. I look around to see that Prim has found my mother, and is holding onto her as though she would never let go. I hadn't even noticed when she got up. My next thought brings even more tears to my eyes, though they don't spill over. My father was always the one to hold Prim when she cried, to console her when nobody else could. And now he was gone.

I don't know what's going to happen now, but as I look up into Peeta's eyes I know that it will be okay, as long as he's here with me. I find that my arms have been hugged between me and Peeta the entire time I had my breakdown so I lean back and almost immediately I miss his warmth. I free my arms only to throw them around his neck and hug him, silently thanking him for what he has done. I pull back but leave my arms where they are around his neck, and realize just how close we are. How close his lips are to mine. I silently press mine to his, just once, before I lay my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. I'm so tired that I can't even care that I've just changed everything, that I've turned my best friend into something more.

I wrap my arms around his waist and I feel him pick me up with him when he gets up a few minutes later. He cradles me against him, and carries me back to my house where he tucks me into my bed. I finally open my eyes, to find his, staring back at me. They are not swimming with questions as I had imagined. They are full of understanding. He stands up from his position kneeling on the floor next to my bed and turns to go.

"Wait. Stay." I say softly and pull back the covers next to me. "Don't go. Stay with me." His back is turned but I know he heard me and slowly he turns around with conflicted eyes, but none the less, in he crawls, right next to me. We are facing each other, and his body is close to mine. Our noses almost touch and we breath the same air as we look into each others eyes. I press my lips to his for the second time and he kisses me, soft and slow. I break away, too soon, but snuggle up next to him and he wraps his arms around me.

"I love you." I whisper for the first time.

And as I'm drifting off to sleep in the safe cocoon of his arms, dreaming of his kisses and how I hope that although they are our first, they won't be our last, I hear him softly whisper back, "I love you, too, Katniss. I always have. Nothing can change that."