~Chapter 1- Remembering~
~Katniss's POV~

As I drive back into the place that I used to call home, all the good and bad memories of my past start to flood back.

That ash blonde hair that shone in the sunlight. Those strong arms that used to keep me from harm. The shoulders that would fill any shirt with the best looking view. The thing that I loved the most were those amazing azure blue eyes. They would stand out in the day like an autumn leaved tree in the winter. Those eyes would guide people in the dark of night when the only light was the moon. All these features that I adore so much belong you one person and one person only, the person that I cared the most about, more than I cared about myself, the person that I hope is still living after a seven year rebellion, the District 12 baker's son, my boy with the bread, Peeta Mellark.

Mellark. The name that would scare me as a child. The name that would make me freeze with fear every time I heard it. Add Peeta to the start and even more things come to mind. The name of the person that I care so much about. The name of the amazing baker that I miss so much. The name of my boy with the bread. My lover. My protector. My only love. My first love. My true love. My soul mate. My everything. My Peeta.

If I was still in 12, I would probably be married to him by now. Maybe have a family of our own already. The possibilities are endless, except none have yet been fulfilled, all of those possible changes never to come true at this point in time.

It was a dark day in District 12, even though it was the early night, the whole day was dark. The peacekeepers have been sent out of 12 with huge trucks from the Capitol. If they were being shipped out, then something big was going to happen, and from how I can see people acting, they believe the same thing. So I am not alone when I say that I am terrified. They have never been shipped out before, so it makes it ten times worse worrying about what is in store for 12. My instincts tell me to go to the person that I know will calm me down. Peeta. With shoes already on, I run out of my Seam house and I hear my father yelling at me to get back, but I ignore it because I need to get to the bakery where he is. Even though we are under curfew, which is probably what my father was yelling at me about, I don't worry about it since the peacekeepers are gone and the Commander is also gone, there is no one in 12 to tell us 'No.' I don't see how going out now is even any worse than before when I went out to see Peeta, if anything the curfew now is revoked.

I run straight into the bakery and call out his name over and over. As I wait for a response I hear him call my name back. I run towards the sound of his voice and I run right into him. My hands stroke his body as he takes me into his arms. Our bodies now against each other, I look into his eyes and tell him how the peacekeepers were gone and that I knew something big was about to happen and how scared I was. I could sense and see the worry in his eyes as I tell him about it, that he knows and he is scared too, but all he does is try and calm me back down.

The next thing I know, I hear gunshots being fired, the sound of hovercrafts and screams coming from outside the shop. Sirens then sound and I hear his mother yelling out to him. He ignores her and grabs onto my hand and we run out the back door of the bakery. Screams fill the air and Peeta and I run in the opposite direction of the gunshots that are being fired from what I assume is the centre of 12 and we run straight into the woods.

After running for ages, Peeta and I decide that we should rest if we want to get to the lake without passing out. So we sit on a log and catch our breath. Our hands still intertwined, I then feel arms wrap around my body. I let out a scream and start to kick around. Peeta calls out my name and I scream out his. As I am being dragged away I say only one more thing as our fingers start to slip away.
"Stay with me?" I ask.
"Always." He answers before our fingers leave the others.
I feel something jab into my neck and I let out another cry. The world goes black. The world I was familiar with, gone. The world I wanted to escape out of with Peeta, gone.

Which now brings me to the present. I am driving from the textile District, District 8 where I have been stationary for the last few months and I am returning back to 12. Since the night that my life changed, I have been going from one District to the other. From District 1 to 11, from 11 to 6, 6 to 13, and so on. I have been to a District that I thought never still existed, District 13. I have also been to the heart of Panem, the Capitol for a few months.

I don't know how long that the rebellion was going on, it turns out it went on for seven long years. The rebellion was between the Districts and the Capitol. The Capitol eventually was beaten and the rebellion was resolved. A rebellion lasting seven years. You would think that someone would have done something about it, but no. Seven years of being forced to live from one place to the next. Seven years away from your home. Seven years away from the person that you loved so much. Seven years of not knowing if the person that you love with all your heart is alive or dead. It was or is the worst because I still don't know whether he is alive or dead. I really hope he is because I don't know what if the person that I was living for is still alive. The pain was excruciating. Not knowing something you wanted to know so badly. I really hope that my boy with the bread is still alive.

As I drive through 11, I am only thinking 'Only one more District Katniss. One more until you know whether the love of your life is still alive.' 12 is only about an hour away from 11 so, in just over an hour I will know the thing that I have been craving to know for seven years. I start to think about the first time Peeta and I interacted with each other, that day is burned to my brain.

I was twelve, sitting in the school yard at lunch time by myself as I did every day. Three girls and five boys approach me. They start to talk to me rudely. I try to ignore it, but then one of the biggest boys picks me up from the ground and slams me back down. They all start laughing and I try to keep my pain to myself. He picks me up again and holds me up while another one of the boys starts to punch and slap me. 'Why am I always being treated like this?' I think. 'I don't deserve this abuse. I get enough of it at home.'
"Hey."
That's when I hear the voice. The voice of an angel. The voice of him.
"That's enough." He continues.
The boy stops hitting me and the other pushes me to the ground. Paralysed with pain and fear, I stay on the ground and cover my head.
"What do you want? Beat it?" One of the boys says.
"No." He says.
'God this boy must have a lot of confidence.'
"And why is that?" One of the girls asks.
"Because I don't like seeing people being abused." He answers.
"Then leave." Another girl says.
"Not until you stop."
"Can't you see? We have." A boy says.
"I can see that. But as soon as I leave you will start again, so step away from her, now." He says.
"Or what? What are you going to do?"

The next part for me is a blur. I hear grunts, yelling and then the punches. This goes on for a while, but I still stay put. I then hear nothing and I start to get worried and I await for the violence I can feel coming. I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder and I shoot up in fear.
"Hey, hey. It's okay. They are gone." The voice says.
My eyes come back into focus and they lock on the boy sitting in front of me. Ash blonde hair almost blinding me as the sun shines down onto it. Piercing blue eyes that look straight into mine with worry.

"Are you okay?" He asks.
I look to his hand that is resting onto my shoulder and I see his bloody knuckles. I look at his other hand and see that it's also covered with blood.
"Oh my god. Are you okay?" I ask him grabbing onto his hand that isn't on my shoulder. I look at it and my finger tips run over the blood.
"Don't worry about me. Are you okay?" He asks again but this time rubbing his hand against my shoulder.
"Yeah. I'm fine." I say.
"Really? Because you just got beaten up? Are you sure you are okay?" He asks me.
I see in his eyes that they are full of genuine worry.
"Yeah. I get used to being abused." I say as I trying to get up.

"Let me help." He says.
His hands go on either side of my body and he pulls me up. I cringe at the pain inflicted by the abuse.
"No one should get used to being abused." He tells me.
"Well I do." I answer.
I brush my hands over different parts of my body to get rid of the grass and dirt that is all over me.
"Well you shouldn't." He says.
His hands leave my body, but hover near in case I fall over.
"You okay to stand without help?" He asks.
"I think I should be..."

My knees buckle under me and I go crashing to the ground. With my eyes closed tightly, I await for my body to slam into the ground beneath me, but I feel arms wrap around my waist just before I hit it. My eyes open and they look straight into the eyes of the boy that saved me, now more than once.
"I am not letting you go." He states.
My hands grab onto his arms and I steady myself. With my eyes still staring into his, he slowly pulls me back up. When I am standing on two feet, his hands still stay on my waist and my hands stay on his arms.

I look down and then look back up to him.
"Wh... What... What is your name?" I stumble out.
'God I must sound like an idiot.'
"Peeta..." 'Oh no. Please don't say the name that I think you are about to say'
"Peeta Mellark." He finishes.
My life is over. This boy cannot be a Mellark. No way. Not in a million years. He is so much different than what my parents have been describing to me my whole life. It can't be. Please don't be real.
"Mellark?" I question.
"Yes." He answers.

I fling myself out of his grips.
"I have to go." I say to him turning around and walking in the opposite direction.
I stumble a little as I start to walk but then I manage to walk without stumbling as much.
"What? What is it? What did I do?" He questions behind me.
I feel his hand grab onto my arm and I turn around.
"What did I do? Please tell me."
I feel a shiver down my spine.
"You're a Mellark. I'm sorry I have to go." I say trying to walk off.
He pulls my arm a little and I turn back in his direction.
"What's so bad about me being a Mellark? I can't help being one." He says.
"Do you even know who I am?" I ask him staring angrily into his eyes.
"No. Who are you?"
"Katniss."
His eyes widen.
"Katniss Everdeen." I finish.
"No. You can't be. This can't be real." He questions, letting go of my arm.
"It is real. I am an Everdeen and you are a Mellark. A Mellark just saved me from being beaten. Isn't this going to be a good story?" I tell him.
I turn around and walk away briskly.

"Wait." He calls out to me.
I can hear his heavy footsteps coming closer. He runs in front of me and blocks me from walking any further.
"You just got beaten up. Please let me stay with you to make sure that you are going to be okay. Who knows they might come back. And I want to be there when they do. I know that you are an Everdeen, but I don't want anything to happen to you." He explains to me.
I am lost for words. A Mellark doesn't want me to get hurt. I suppose I don't want him to get hurt either. 'Stop it Katniss. What would your mother do if you said that near her?' I ponder at his request for a minute and then answer him.
"Okay. Fine." I answer.
"Thank you." He says.
"I really don't want you to get hurt." He adds on.
I keep my face blank and we head to a new spot to sit for the rest of lunch.

Hanging out with Peeta isn't as bad as I imagined it. He is really nice. I mean, I did know that since he did save me from the bullies, but he is a genuinely nice person. So sweet. So loyal. So compassionate. You can't find that in many people these days. We tell each other what our parents have said to them about the other and then settle it out with no arguments. When the bell goes at the end of lunch, Peeta and I decide to meet each other again the next day, since I have no other friends and he wants to look out for me, we agree to meet at the spot we were currently.

Right this second, I am passing through the border of 12. I've never been over the border, except when I was the first time, but I was knocked out by sleeping drugs by the people who took me. The beautiful trees are around me. The trees remind me of going out with Peeta. We used to sneak out into the woods to see each other, since we were pretty much forbidden by our parent to see each other. We used to run hand in hand to our little 'safe house' right in the middle of the woods. It was or still is next to a huge lake that Peeta and I used to swim in. The house was small and only contained a living area, bathroom and a bed. It was empty, but it was where Peeta and I used to escape when we would want to see each other. I really hope that it's still there. I really hope everything is going to be there and where it was especially after all damage I heard was done to 12. One thing I am not going to miss from 12 is my mother. My horrible, abusing mother.

Everyday I used to come home after school and I would tell her what happened, since she asked. But if something I said I did was not up to her standard, she would abuse me in any way that she wanted to. I have no idea why she hates me so much. She loves or loved my little sister Primrose, but absolutely hated me. And falling in love with Peeta made it all worse.

As I walked home that day with my sister, I didn't talk. I just kept my mouth closed and thought about the eventful day that I had had. I had pain all in my legs and my face from the beating, but they just remind me that they would be worse if it wasn't for Peeta. He is really nice and I don't know what I am going to say when my mother asks about my day. When she does ask, I dodge bringing up lunch. I tell her about my lessons and when she asks what I did at lunch, I said that I got beaten up and she smiled and grabbed my cheek with her hand. She then slapped it causing the pain in my cheek to become worse. She then told me to go to my room and I did as she asked just in case something else happened. I went in my room and cried from the pain. I was due for a cry because of the pain that has been inflicted on me today. As I cry I think about Peeta and how I want him here now, because I imagine how caring he would be to me as I cried. He may have the same thought he did before he found out that I was an Everdeen, but I can definitely say that I have feelings for someone who is in our family rivalry.

That day could not have been any better. I did get beaten, twice, but he saved me. The man of my dreams saved me from more harm that could have come to me. It was really the best way to meet the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, saving you from eight people older than you, getting hurt in the process. That is what real men do and I don't know anyone else that could have had that. There is no other way I would have liked to meet the man of my dreams besides how it did.

Peeta and I then spent every day together. We would eat together, hang out together, we did everything together. He was my best friend. After a year and a bit, Peeta and I begun sneaking out just to see each other. Breaking the curfew set by the Commander of 12. I then realised I had more than just friendship feelings for Peeta, they were feelings of being in love with him. One day I confronted him about them and he told me he felt the same way since he met me, that night we shared our first kiss and my first one altogether, and it was magical and I was happy that Peeta was my first kiss and first love. Eventually Peeta's and my feelings began to get stronger and every second I spent with the other, we became more in love with each other. We fell deeply in love with each other and we thought nothing would be able to change that fact. Peeta and I planned to move away from our families so we could create a life of our own together, but nothing ever happened, not wait something did happen. I was taken away from the man that I love so much and I was shipped off to another District and haven't returned for seven years. That's what happened. I haven't seen my only love for seven years and it is slowly killing me.

I feel tears either already spilled or building up in my eyes. I wipe then away and concentrate on getting into the centre of 12. It is only a few minutes away now and I am getting both excited and scared. This part of 12 I have been in before. I mean, I remember it to be different, but now the only thing that I am worried about is how much 12 has changed since I was last here. I heard that 12 went through a series of bombing and it destroyed it all, but I want to see that for myself, because I don't think that it could have destroyed the 'safe house'.

Now I am in the centre of 12 and I am getting exceptionally nervous, scared, worried, anxious and excited. All the bad because of the possibility of Peeta being dead. And the excited about finding out to see if he is alive and if he is how much I am going to kiss him and talk to him and look at him.

12 is so different from how I remember it. Buildings are new and where things used to be, there is something completely different or something renovated a lot. I am really hoping that the bakery is where it used to be. I really hope that it is there full stop. I drive through 12 and see people that are somewhat familiar to me. I drive down a few roads and then turn onto the one I remember the bakery being on. That's when I see it. It's still there. It's renovated, but it's up. It's still here. I am now even more nervous and anxious.

The bakery should be shutting soon as it is around five o'clock and it shuts at five from what I remember. I park on the opposite side of the road and I park the car. I put down the mirror and look at myself. I fix my hair and pucker my lips together. 'Katniss, if he is alive he won't care what you look like. Just go in already.' I tell myself. I take a deep breath, take the keys out the ignition and grab my phone and purse. I open the door and step out. I walk from one side of the road to the other. I walk up the step of the bakery, my heart beating hard enough that I can hear it in my ears.

I take another deep breath and open the door of the bakery. The familiar sound of the bells chime as I slowly walk into the bakery. I shut the door behind me and look around. The place does look all that different. Tables and chairs to the right and the counter to the left. The smell hit me as soon as I walked in, the smell I have been waiting to crave for the last seven years. The smell of cinnamon, yeast and the faint scent of vanilla. The cake stands are filled with beautifully designed cakes. I could almost swear I can see Peeta's hands making them. I walk up to the counter and see a man with black hair facing the opposite way from the counter. My heart shatters a bit thinking that Peeta is dead, but he could be in the kitchen. Couldn't he?

The man turns around as I stand directly in front of the counter. He has dark eyes that show up against his pale skin.
"Hello madam. How may I help you?" He asks.
I slowly breathe.
"Hi, Th... This is the Mellark Bakery right?" I ask him.
"Yes it is." He answers.
Something that relieves me a bit, but not much.
"Um... Are any..." I stutter and look down and then back to him.
"Are any of the Mellarks still alive?" I ask him.
My heart is now thumping uncontrollably.
"Yes, Mr Peeta Mellark."

Peeta. My Peeta is still alive. Here. I am here in 12. I am here with my amazing Peeta, standing in his bakery, hopefully only a few metres away. My boy with the bread so close.

"Madam, is there something that you wish to say to Mr Mellark?" He asks.
"Yes. Yes." I cry out.
"I will go and get him for you then." He answers walking away from the counter to a walkway that must lead to the kitchen.
"Wait." I call to him.
"Yes madam?"
"Can I go and see him in the kitchen, since that is where he must be. You see we are old friends and I would like to surprise him." I tell him.
"Of course madam. Do you know where to go?" He asks me.
I nod as I am eager to see him.
"Thank you." I say walking in the direction of the door.

I walk into the kitchen and there he is. Standing in the same room as me. He is here. I am here, in 12 with him, the first time in seven years. His shoulders moulding his white bakers' shirt. His arms moving in a steady rhythm as he works with what I assume is dough. His beautiful ash blonde hair showing up against the silverware kitchen. His exposed, slightly tanned skin is covered with flour. My Peeta. Here. Alive. As I stand in shock of his presence, my lips form his name.

Hey guys, reviewing would be greatly appreciated! I would love to know what you think so far so I can think about continuing it! I have three chapters, but I want to know if you would like to have more, so then I would have to balance this and Fight til the End (My other fanfiction for those who don't know). SO PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks guys, everlark4ever75 xox