A/N: Hello lovelies! I'm sorry this chapter took awhile to get out, I've been busy! Here it is though, it's sort of fluffy…but I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading and please , please, please review! Thank you!

P.S. There will probably be some major typo's near the end. I was exhausted when I wrote it, but I wanted to get it uploaded so bad. So, please forgive me!

Peeta and I had dinner like this often. We both knew that neither of us could handle seeing each other everyday, though. It brought back too many memories and too many flashbacks; but we were slowly building up our friendship. And it helped me wake up every morning.

I was wandering around the house one evening, waiting for Peeta to arrive for dinner, when I stupidly ventured into her room. It still smelled like her; sweet and familiar. Her bed was made, as if she had hastily woken up, pulled her covers to her pillows and ran from the room. I cringed to think of what her next fate would be.

Her room had been untouched. There were still dresses of hers hanging neatly in the closet, brightly colored and wrinkle free. I gingerly ran my hand along them. Tears began to silently run down my cheeks. I turned to try and stop the salty flow, but my eye caught a picture. It was of me, Prim and my mother, smiling. Our cheeks pressed up against one another's. We all looked happy, even while we were desperately living in the Seam. We had each other.

I felt myself hit the floor. Sobs began to violently escape me, I was shouting out her name. I was shouting the names of the people I missed. The people I caused to die. Finnick. Madge. People of the rebellion. People of every district in Panem. Peeta's family. Each face flashed in front of me, crying. I was hyperventilating, I was seeing black swirls float across my vision. The world was spinning, spinning, spinning. And then black.

"Katniss," the voices of those dead were hissing in my ear. "Katniss, it's okay." It's okay? No. You're dead because of me. Arms grabbed me and shook me. "Katniss. Katniss." The voice was different now. Softer and familiar.

My eyelids fluttered open. "Katniss?" The voice said, panicked.

"Peeta?" His blue, blue eyes were inches away from mine. They were searching my face. "Peeta, it was awful. I miss her…I miss all of them."

"I do too, Katniss. I'm here for you. Always." I could only see his eyes and I focused on them to stay surfaced, to stay away from the dark.

I sat up and threw my arms around him, burying my face into his already tear stained t-shirt. He lifted me off the hardwood floor easily, carried me down the stairs and gently lay me down on the couch. Fingers ran through my hair and caressed me cheek, he was looking at me worriedly.

"Are you okay?"

No, I wanted to say. I feel selfish, pathetic, and weak. I feel awful. "Yea," I lie.

Peeta sighed and lowered himself to kneel by my face. He once again searched my eyes, a frown on his face. "Katniss," he dragged out my name into an exasperated sigh. "I heard you yelling their names…"

That was all he had to say for tears to pool in the brim of my eyelids. I tried hard to hold them back but one escaped, sliding shamelessly down my face. Peeta reached up to brush it away with his thumb ever so gently. "I miss them. It's all my fault that they died."

"It's not your fault. You didn't kill them. Snow did. You tried to stop him." He murmured, still staring deeply into my eyes.

I let a sob out and reached for him again, awkwardly hugging in my laying position and his crouching position on the floor in front of me, but never wanting to let go. He hugged me back tightly. "It's okay," he was telling me, not because it was okay what had happened but that it was okay to cry, to not be brave for one second.

Eventually my cries subsided and I sat up and pulled Peeta up on the couch next to me. After a few more sniffles and silent moments, I asked "how are you, Peeta?"

He knew what I meant. Not how his day was, not how he was feeling at this moment, but how he was coping. I felt as if it had been all about me the past few dinners we had, and I wanted to know how the boy I barely knew before the Hunger Games was.

He laughed lightly at my sudden subject change and stretched his arm to rest behind my shoulders. "I'm living. I miss my family…and my friends." His voice hitched and he cleared his throat. "I always think about them, dream about them. I hate it, but at the same time I don't want to forget them. I don't want to forget what they look like, how they acted, memories we had together." His eyes began to shimmer with tears and he blinked them away.

I reached up to touch his cheek, reminding him of what he told me…it's okay to not be brave for a few moments. His words reminded me of something. I stood up and ignored the confusion on Peeta's face as I went to the end table by the chair and opened it's drawer. In it was the memory book idea I had told Dr. Aurelius about, after which he had sent me this book. It's pages were blank and crisp. I sat down next Peeta.

He looks at it curiously while I explain it to him. "I asked Dr. Aurelius for this. Do you remember our plant book? The one that had all the information about all kinds of plants?" His nod allowed me to continue. "Well," I wiped away a stray tear. "This is like that, but it's going to be full of our memories of people we know…or used to know."

Peeta gently took the book from my hands and thumbed through the pages. "That is a very good idea, Katniss" he murmured. He turns to the first page and smoothes it out. "Who should be first?"

I shrugged and watched him grab a pencil from the coffee table at his knees. Blue eyes met mine for a quick second and then returned to the blank book. He begins to sketch, making dark shadows and defining smudges. I watch his features in awe and I remember laying in my bed, my heels bruised and painful, my tailbone sore. I remember Peeta sitting next to me, sketching plants and flowers into our plant book while I described them the best I could. At that time, before the Quell, I had chosen Gale to live the rest of my life with. But as I watch this baker so concentrated and delicately drawing in the book, as I lightly run my fingers through his blonde hair, I began to strongly doubt living a life without waking up next to Peeta every morning. At the same time, I couldn't say I was undeniably in love with him, but whenever I wasn't with him, I could feel the darkness sinking in on me.

After about a half hour, Peeta blew on the page, the lead dust floating into the air. He looked at it for a moment and then showed it to me. I felt two emotions inside me; sadness and happiness. They were conflicting, pushing against each other, each one trying to take over my body. I reached out to touch the page that had a perfect drawing of my beautiful baby sister. She was smiling with a primrose gripped in her hand. "Oh Peeta…" I whispered.

"I hope you don't get mad…it's just the first person I thought of. I always remember her being so happy, even when you walked along side her with a scowl on your face." He laughed lightly.

I laughed once as well, a few tears again. "I'm not mad Peeta. She's beautiful. She was always very positive…she definitely got the beautiful trait in our family."

Peeta looked at me a small smile playing on his lips. His hand brushed a few hairs from forehead and tucked them behind my ear. "You got quite a bit of that trait, as well." A blush slowly crept up my cheeks and Peeta noticed it. "You know what's funny to me?'

"Hmm?"

"Even though we spent all those nights together on the train, even though we kissed all those times; everything now seems new. Spending this time with you…it feels new to me. Maybe it's because we are spending normal time together, not planning on how to keep each other alive in a fight to the death." Peeta explained exactly how I had been feeling in a low murmur.

I smiled and whispered my agreement. He pulled me into a deep hug again and we stayed like that for a few minutes, soaking in each others warmth. "See, if we were in the games…I would have been thinking about how much you hate me…"

I leaned back abruptly. "Peeta…I have never hated you." I hissed.

His eyes hardened slightly and I braced myself for an attack. "You…you, lied to me…no, you didn't." He grabbed my hands and I knew then that he was plummeting into a flashback. His grip tightened, but I could tell he was trying his hardest not to hurt me. As he groaned, he released my hands and went to yanking on his hair. I leaned toward his clamped shut eyes and whispered in his ear, my arms wrapping around his rigid figure.

"Peeta, Peeta" I whispered. "I'm here. Whatever it is…it's not true. I'm here for you, no matter what. I would never hurt you." Intentionally…

After a few moments, he came back to me. "I'm sorry. I just…you and I…" I'm not sure, but I think I saw his cheeks grow light pink. "On the train…we spent nights together and…"

I knew my cheeks were the color of a bright rose. My eyes locked onto my hands. "We uh, kissed and we spent the night together…"

"Spent the night together…? We didn't go any further than kissing, right?" Peeta was desperate as he tried to sort his brain out.

My entire body was blushing. "Um…" I cleared my throat. "No, no we didn't."

"You were pregnant, real or not real?" He was so comfortable with asking these questions.

I met his eyes. "Not real. That was another rumor you started to keep me alive." I laughed lightly.

He laughed along. "Oh…you see, the Capitol" he said the word like it was a swear, "had me believing you were pregnant with my baby, but you hated it, so you…killed it. And you hated me and you hated us together and, and-"

I pressed my finger to his full lips. "Shh, I could never hate you, or us together…or anything you and I created." Whoa. That was a little out there, Katniss. I mentally shook my regret out of my head and told myself it was better to tell the truth.

Peeta grinned and I felt a hand rest on my knee. "Neither could I, Katniss." He murmured.

I searched his eyes for any sign of a flashback and when I found none, I once again pulled him in for a short hug.

"Now, how about we get this dinner started!" I grinned and stood up, pulling him into the kitchen with me.

I watched as he made spaghetti and I made a fruit salad. The train had brought in some fresh watermelon, cantaloupe and blackberries and I discovered a patch of wild strawberries in the forest. When I popped one of the red berries into my mouth, their tanginess took over and I was pleased to find that the patch was large and plentiful. They were delicious.

We set the square table and settled into our seats across from each other. I poured each of us a glass of iced tea and dug into the mouth watering meal.

As we ate, we talked about how the District was improving. They were building a factory and slowly cleaning up the town. Sae had begun to build her small eatery with the help of Thom. The District was improving, and with the help of the people it might be better than before.

Peeta picked a plump blackberry from his plate and eyed it for a moment before shifting his eyes to mine. "I bet you…one batch of sugar cookies that if I toss this blackberry from over there," he pointed to the corner of the kitchen about fifteen feet away from the table, still looking at me, "you wouldn't be able to catch it in your mouth." He wore a mischievous smile that was extremely irresistible. He caught me staring and winked one blue eye at me.

I cleared my throat. "Oh? I'll take that bet."

"Very well then." He stood from his chair and made his way across the kitchen. I, too, got up from my place and took a step back, facing him with a huge grin. "Alright, for one batch of sugar cookies…here goes Katniss Everdeen, ready to attempt to catch a blackberry in her mouth."

"Okay, but you can't throw a curveball, has to be fair." I reminded him.

"Yea, yea." He waved it away. "May the odds be ever in your favor, beautiful lady."

I blushed a little but poised myself. Peeta tossed the berry and it skimmed through the air, I focused on it and felt it fall into my ready mouth. I quickly chewed up the tart treat, grinning at Peeta. "I like my sugar cookies frosted." Peeta sighed and suddenly had another blackberry in his hand, he threw it at me and it pelted me in the arm. "Hey! No need to throw a fit!" I laughed with him. He walked toward me, tossing berries into his mouth as he did.

"What kind of frosting would you like?" He asked when he was directly it front of me.

"What kind of frosting do you have?" I put one hand on my hip and leaned towards him, fluttering my eyelids and biting my lip in an attempt to hide the fact that I had an ice cube in my hand, ready to get back at him.

"Hmm, all kinds. I add fruit to it…to uh…to make it…" he stuttered, staring at my lips. "To uh…"

"To add flavor, I'm guessing?" I murmured, seductively as I rested the arm with the ice cube gripping hand on his shoulder, my body was just barely brushing against his.

"Yea, to add…fla-….ahh!" Peeta jerked back as I dropped the ice cube down the back of his shirt. I burst into belly clutching laughter and stumbled to the couch. "Hey! Not fair!" He desperately tried to shake the ice cube from his shirt.

This made me laugh even harder and I was rolling around on the couch by the time Peeta had tossed what was left of the ice cube in the sink and sat next to me. "Oh my! I'm sorry, but that was funny." I sat up with one last giggle and saw Peeta grinning at me.

"Good one," he laughed.

Peeta remembered he had brought cheese buns and we sat on the couch, diving into their rich flavor and turned on the news, it wasn't as depressing since the revolution. All the Districts were beginning to stand on their own two feet and rebuild.

I gasped and felt my heart wrench when a familiar name was said by the news reporter. His face appeared on the screen and I heard his voice for the first time in months.

"I'm Gale Hawthorne, I work in construction in District Four. We are building a medical center at the moment."

There was an interviewer standing in front of his tall, gruff appearance. He looked healthy, but he was covered in grease and grime. He looked bitter. After a few questions on District Four, I almost started to cry when the interviewer hesitantly asked the next question. "So, being the cousin of Katniss Everdeen," Gale's eyes hardened but his expression stayed composed. "do you ever talk to her? If so, how is she doing? Do her and Peeta Mellark still plan on a future together?"

His jaw was clenched, but he managed to spit out words that, even so casual, broke my heart. "I'm sure she's fine."

I turned off the T.V. then, staring at a dark screen, still seeing Gale's hard expression. Peeta and I sat in silence for a minute before he slid closer to me and coiled an arm around my shoulder. "I'm sorry."

I looked up at him, a tear skimming halfway down my cheek before I could catch it and brush it away. I managed a weak smile and shook my head. "Don't be, I'm okay. I guess I just miss him."

Peeta grabbed the memory book and began to sketch Gale. I didn't understand how he could sketch someone he didn't like very much, but he did a great job. He even drew Gale smiling. I wrote all I though was important in the book and returned it to it's home in the drawer.

It was getting late, so Peeta stood from the couch, stretched his limbs and walked towards the door. I followed.

We stepped through the threshold and into the summer night air, it was getting cooler and more like fall. "Thanks for having me, once again. I know I'm not much company." Peeta laughed.

I shook my head and gazed into Peeta's eyes, as I had done all night. "Peeta…you're the best company anyone could ask for…really."

A moment passed as stood close to each other, never breaking eye contact. Peeta leaned down and ran his fingers along my jaw line. He braided them through my hair before bringing the other hand up to do the same. I knew what was the happen next, and nothing in my body could bring me to fight it.

His soft lips were like heaven against mine, moving slowly, gingerly. Nothing could compare to how my body reacted to his, how much I wanted him. And it ached when I asked myself if I was in love with him, because I couldn't answer that. I didn't know.

I sighed when he pulled away, too soon.

His eyes were only slightly glassy, but it was enough for him to back away and smile lightly at me. "Goodnight." He murmured.

"Goodnight, Peeta." I smiled.

He turned and sauntered down the street towards his house, a smile still on his face.

A/N: Thanks for reading! And again, sorry for any typos! Please review, they are so motivating and literally brighten my day!

Xo

Hyper Maiden