~Chapter 2- Reunion~
~Katniss's POV~
Peeta's head whips around and his amazing azure coloured eyes lock with mine and widen with surprise. Tears are now threatening to escape my eyes. He drops the dough that is in his hands and he turns fully around.
"Katniss?"
His voice is like a call from the angels. The voice that has saved me from so much harm in the past. I start to nod continuously.
"It's me Peeta." I say with tears now spilling from my eyes.
His eyes that are still widened with surprise widen more again. He moves away from his work bench and he walks into the aisle that I am standing in. I put my things on the bench next to me.
Peeta and I then run to each other and collide together. Our arms tightly wrapped around the other and never wanting to let go. My sobs and laughs of joy become loud. I can hear Peeta laughing too and then sniffling. Our hands then start to travel over the others body feeling every place that our fingers touch with so much care and love. We break apart and we press our fore heads together.
"It's you. It's really you." Peeta whispers.
"It is me Peeta." I whisper back.
Our heads break apart and Peeta cups my face in his hands. His eyes are filled with tears as well.
"You're even more beautiful than I remember." He says.
I smile and then press my lips against his. No sudden shock in this kiss. We have both been waiting for this for years. I have craved the taste of his lips so much. They taste just like the smell of the bakery. Cinnamon and bread, an amazing combination. My hands latch into his arms and they rub up and down his arms. My hands then travel up his arms and lock behind his neck. Not breaking our lips, because they have been broken long enough. His hands travel down my back which makes me shiver. He picks me up and swings us both around in a circle. I smile as he does this and I can feel his lips forming a smile as we kiss. He stops and I wrap my legs around his waist and then I feel Peeta walk into something and he puts me down on the cold, metal bench beneath me. I ignore the cold of the bench and more about reconnecting with my true love and my only love, Peeta.
We kiss for a while, until we are interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Our lips break apart and we both look to where the sound came from. I see the man with the black hair standing in the doorway.
"I can see that you are both very old friends." He explains.
Peeta chuckles and so do I.
"John, this is her. This is Katniss." Peeta introduces me.
"Oh. I should have known. How silly of me. Peeta has said so much about his long gone love." He says.
I smile and kiss his nose.
"You are much prettier than I the pictures that I have seen, though Peeta only said how beautiful you were." He adds.
I laugh and so does Peeta.
"Thank you for the compliment." I say to him.
"Back off John. She is mine." Peeta warns him.
"Don't worry Peeta. I wouldn't break such a strong relationship." He explains.
"Good." Peeta says.
"Go home John. I'll close up shop." Peeta tells John.
"Okay. I'll lock the door behind me. Thanks boss." He says.
"All good." Peeta calls out.
Peeta turns back to face me and I look into his eyes and grab his face in my hand.
"So, do you tell everyone how beautiful you think I am?" I ask him teasing a little.
"Of course I do. Why would I say anything else? You are the most beautiful thing in the whole world." Peeta explains.
I scoff.
"Definitely." I say sarcastically.
"What? You are. And if people don't agree with me, then I tell them that you are the most beautiful thing in my world." He says.
I smile like an idiot and bring my lips back down to his.
"I. Missed. You. So. So. Much." I say to him between our kisses.
"Oh. I. Missed. You. More." Peeta explains between our kisses.
I break away and look into his eyes.
"Not possible." I explain.
"Definitely possible." He answers.
The door to the bakery slams shut and we both look at each other.
"Not in here." He says.
I nod understanding his request.
"You still live upstairs right?" I ask him.
He nods.
"I got it all to myself." He says.
It takes me a little while for it to process, but then I realise what he is saying.
"Oh my god Peeta. I am so sorry." I say pulling him closer to me.
"It's alright. I mean, now we have no more people to hide our relationship from." He says.
I pull him away from me and look at him in surprise and confusion.
"What do you mean? Is my family dead too?"
Peeta looks down and doesn't say anything except,
"I'm sorry."
Peeta and I can now live out with no one stopping us. My mother was really mean to me. Peeta's mother beat him as did mine. Both of our fathers were kind men though, but when my father was with my mother he was under almost harsher rules than me.
"I don't know about Prim though." He explains.
He doesn't, but I do.
"I know Prim is. I watched her get blown up." I explain to him.
"When did this happen?" He asks.
I look down as he looks up.
"I don't want to talk about it now, okay?" I tell him.
"Okay baby. It's alright. I'm really sorry about your parents." He says.
"I am sad about my father, but not at all about my mother. When I was all around Panem, I didn't want to see her once. I am actually happy she is gone. She was so abusive towards me, always." I tell him.
"I feel the exact same about my parents." He tells me.
"But Peeta, we can live our lives without the secrecy. We are free of their grips. We can do whatever we want and not get abused when people find out." I explain to him.
"Your right." He says.
"Of course I am." I say.
"I knew that." He says.
We both laugh and little and go back in for another short, passionate kiss.
"Help me pack up the bakery and then we can go upstairs." He says rubbing my thigh.
"Alright." I answer.
He picks me up. Swings me around and puts me back onto the ground.
"What do you want me to do?" I ask him.
"You can go out and put the chairs up on the tables while I do the money." He says.
"I can do that." I say.
Peeta grabs my hand and we walk out into the bakery. The last rays of sun are shining into the bakery making it look beautiful. I look to where the rays are coming from and I see one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. The sun brushing through the tress in the woods. This is like one of the best looks of my life. Peeta's favourite colour, sunset orange and mine, forest green. Both of these colours are showing and I tug on Peeta's arm. He looks to where I am.
"I know. It's beautiful." He says.
"It is amazing." I answer.
"Come on, let me show you something." Peeta says pulling my arm towards the door leading to outside.
He opens it and I follow him as he turns to the right and I see a set of stairs. He leads us up them and then stops at the top. It's a balcony overlooking the woods. I am breath-taken by the view from up here. You can see the sun going down through the trees and creating shadows on the forest floor.
"Oh my god Peeta. This is amazing." I exclaim.
"I know. I came out here every night after the bakery was rebuilt because I requested this." He says tapping the balcony railing.
"And I stood here and watched the sun go down every night. No matter what I was doing, I would still come out and watch it set, because they remind me of you." He says pointing to the sunset.
"Why? How do sunsets remind you of me?" I ask him.
"Because to me, sunsets are the best landscape in the world. They change every night. None are ever the same. Except one. The first one I saw from up here, looked exactly like the one that was setting all those years ago when you told me that you loved me for the first time. Ever since then I have waited for another one like it, but one hasn't. It was only that one and it made me come out here every night, just hoping that I would see that same one, but it never showed again. They also remind me of you, because they are so beautiful to me, but nothing can compare to you. You are the most beautiful thing not just in my world, but in the whole world. No matter what people think, because I don't listen to them? Sunsets up here also remind me of us. My favourite colour still sunset orange and yours forest green. And both of those colours show from up here and it is one of the most beautiful views in the world. Katniss Everdeen, you are the most beautiful thing in more than one world and I really hope that you will stay with me for the rest of this life we are in."
I am in shock. Peeta has always been so amazing with words, but those words sound like they have been said so many time that he has finally got them to sound so perfect.
"Always Peeta. I will never leave you Peeta. Never." I say to him. I press my lips against his and we share yet another passionate kiss that I wish would last forever.
When the sun has set and the beautiful colours have become dark from the sun disappearing, Peeta and I walk back into the bakery and pack it up. As I put up the chairs and Peeta sorts out the money, I am constantly glancing at him, to find that he already looking at me. When I have put all the chairs up, I walk over to Peeta and wrap my arms around him and place my head on his shoulder.
"I'm almost done." He says.
"Take as long as you want. I'm fine here just holding onto you."
I see a smile appear on his face and then he turns and kisses my head and then goes back to work.
We then go into the bakery after Peeta is done and we pack up all the things in here. He tells me where things go and then I put them away. His kitchen is easy to work in because things are just so neatly and orderly sorted out. But Peeta was always like that. He always liked things to be in an orderly fashion, it's another thing that made him so much different to other boys. When I think that it is all packed up, Peeta asks me to stay put while he goes and gets something. I smile and tell him to hurry back.
About a minute later, Peeta comes back in with a plate.
"I have made these every day since that night, hoping that you would come and have them. I ended up throwing them up and making more. This went on for seven years. But this morning when I made them and wished that you would come back, something inside told me to make the best batch yet because it felt like you would come back today, and you are. Here in the flesh, standing before me."
Peeta puts the plate on the bench next to me and takes off the plastic. Cheese buns. 'I can't believe that he remembered how much I love them.'
"Peeta, you made cheese buns for me every day hoping that I would come back?"
"Of course I did. I know how much you love them and I wanted you to have more just one surprise when you came back."
"More than one."
Peeta must done so much, hoping that I would return to him. What do I have to show for it? Nothing. Not one thing. I feel so bad now.
"Yes. Why wouldn't I spoil my girl?"
"But, Peeta I have nothing for you. I don't even have anything of mine all those years."
"Katniss, you don't need to get me anything, because you gave me you. The real you. The one I have loved for so many years. The one that still wants me after all we have been through." He explains.
"Peeta, why wouldn't I still want you? We are stuck together. I will never stop loving you. So much happened to me in those long seven years, and whatever happened to me, I still kept my boy with the bread as the first thing and only thing I thought about."
He leans down to kiss me. We kiss for a little while then he interrupts.
"We can talk all tomorrow about what happened, alright." He says.
I nod and then smile at him thinking about all the terrible things that happened to me in the past seven years.
"Katniss, you aren't going to let these cheese buns go to waste are you?" Peeta asks me.
"No way." I answer.
I pick one up and take a bite into it. Heaven. One of the best I have ever had.
"Oh my god Peeta, these are one of the best that I have ever eaten." I say with a mouthful of them.
"I think I perfected the recipe while you were gone." He says.
I smile and then rip and piece of and pass it to Peeta. He accepts it and then we sit eating the rest of the cheese buns.
When they are all gone Peeta put the plate in the sink and he washes it. I stand nearby and then I get distracted by the pin-up board on the wall. I stare at all the different things written on it and then I see a picture of me on it. One from years ago, obviously. But I remember this picture being taken. A day at the lake with him. In the picture I stand in front a willow tree and the lake is behind me. I am facing the other direction, but my head is turned to the camera. I smile into it as Peeta takes the shot. My hair flowing wildly in the breeze. I remember Peeta always saying how much he loved this picture and now it is on a pin-up board in the kitchen. I smile and then squeal a little as I am picked up from behind. Peeta picks me up, one arm holding my back and the other holding my legs. I throw my arms around his neck and then give him another kiss.
Peeta walks us both upstairs and into his house above the bakery. It looks different from how I remember it. It was rebuilt, but it is still so much different from how I remember. I did only come up here three times, but the whole way is set out is different. When you first walk in, the first thing you see is the living area in front of you. I turn to the right and see a kitchen and a bench top. To the left is an open space that leads into a hallway where I bet the bedrooms and bathrooms are. He put me down and then grabs my hand. He shows me around and the whole house plain and empty, but that's how Peeta must like it since he has probably lived like this for a while. He leads me down the hallway and as I expected, bedrooms and a bathroom. He leads me into the end one and tells me that it's his bedroom. The room is like the whole house with the plain cream wallpaper, but it the room is covered in painting. Sunsets. I can tell from the strokes that it could only be done by Peeta. He was always an artist in more than one way, but his paintings and drawings were always so immaculate and beautiful.
"You did them, didn't you?"
He nods and then turns around so he is facing me. His hand breaks from mine and then places both of his hands on my shoulders and he runs his hands down my arms. Peeta pulls me close to his body and he then picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist. My lips find his and then he starts to walk backwards taking a hand of my body and then he moves it around until he finds the bed. He sits down on it and then lays down. I reposition myself saddle him. My hands trace his perfect figure and then they grab the edge of his shirt and pull it above his head after breaking away for a second. I then press my lips against his neck and then kiss my way down his amazing body. His body was always the most beautiful, shaped and moulded making him such a unique specimen. As my lips travel, I come across something that wasn't there before. I pull up and inspect it. It's a scar. White against his tanned skin. There is more than one. I have them too.
"Peeta, when did you get these?" I ask him.
"Right. I forgot about them." He answers.
"Peeta, please tell me where you got them."
"In the Capitol. I was in an explosion." He answers.
I pull my top off and throw it away. I point to the same kind of ones that Peeta has. Peeta sits up and then I reposition myself as he grabs hold of my waist.
"I have them too." I tell him.
"When did you get them?" He asks running his finger tips over them.
"I think the same one that you were in. I got them about five years ago. The same explosion that killed Prim." I tell him.
"It must have been the same explosion. It was so bad."
"I know."
After kissing all of each other's scars. We started to taking off more items of each other's clothes. When I start to pull off his pants he warns me.
"Don't be frightened when see my leg." He warns me.
I look at him confused and then pull his pants all the way off. I look at his legs and see the metal bars where his leg should be.
"Peeta. What the hell happened?" I ask him.
"Long story." He says.
"Well tell me the short version now and the long version tomorrow."
"I got cut while I was in 2 and then it got infected and I had to get my leg amputated." He explains.
"Oh my god Peeta. Are you okay?" I ask him.
"Katniss I am fine."
"Really? You have had your leg cut off and you are fine. I don't believe that Peeta."
"Really Katniss. I mean, at the start it was hard because I had to learn to walk again, but after a while, I was used to it. There is nothing for you to worry about baby." He tells me.
"Okay. I won't."
"Thank you."
We connect our lips back together and I straddle him again.
"You're alright, right?" He asks as he runs his fingertips down my arms.
"Why wouldn't I be? I am here, in 12, with the person that I love. What else could I possibly need to be happy?"
"It's just, you're all tense."
He runs his hands around my shoulders and then down my back causing me to get goose bumps.
"Tense? Why would I be tense Peeta?"
"I don't know. But the last time I remember you being this tense was when your mother beat you when she found out that we were friends."
The thing is, I don't know at all why I would be tense. As I said, I have no reason to be tense. My life is complete. I am with the love of my life, back in my home District and never wanting to leave.
"I have no reason to be tense. Maybe you are but you can only feel it when you touch me." I suggest.
"Katniss I know when I am tense. Just don't worry about it. It may be nothing. We will talk about it tomorrow."
I nod.
"Okay."
We kiss again and this time, we don't stop. Reconnecting with the one that I love, making us whole again, is just one of the best things.
That night was one that I will never forgot. That day was one that I will never forgot. Why? Because I saw the person that I care and love so much for the first time in seven years and nothing can compare with that fact. As I lay with him on his bed, my head resting on his chest, I think about how much my life have changed since that dark day when I was taken away. My family dead. My perspective on the world changed. People living in poverty is harder than it looks. Being held under conditions that could mean the difference between life and death. It's so much to think about and process. I am just relieved that the day I saw my Peeta again has finally come.
Hey, Can I please get a decent amount of reviews, because if not then I will not bother to continue the story, I have one other chapter and it's not yet completed, so if you want the next one please please review! Thanks, everlark4ever75 xox