Author's note: Guys! There's Everlark all up in this chapter. Holla!
I also have a couple lines from a song by Amy Lee off her Dream Too Much children's album called If You're a Star. Go look it up (the whole CD, not just that song) because it's so lovely!
Huge thanks to my beta JavisTG! Go check her out!
Happy reading!
Chapter Seventeen
Peeta leaned over the Yule log cake. It was a very detailed project and he loved working on them. All the world melted away and he was able to just focus on every tiny bit of bark and the bits of fungi that clung to it.
"Hey, Peanut, you going to pick up the kids?" Conrad asked over his shoulder.
Peeta floated back to the real world and looked up at the clock. "Oh! Yeah, I better." He slid the cake off the table and headed toward the fridge. "This is almost done, I think."
"It looks great." Conrad said. "And your phone's been ringing in your locker." He went back into the kitchen.
Peeta got his phone and keys from his locker and checked his messages as he made his way out the back. Katniss had sent him a text.
Katniss: Can I call you when I get off work?
Peeta smiled and wrote his reply. Sure! I'm watching the Odair kids. Annie and Finnick are doing their Christmas shopping. You could come over. That wouldn't violate your rules, would it?
He got Pearl from her preschool and then made his way to the ridiculously long car line of the elementary school. Pearl chattered along in the back about her day. Someone tapped on the window to his car and he looked over to see Brendan waving at him. Peeta pressed the button to unlock the door.
"Hey, kiddo." Peeta said as Brendan slid into the front seat.
"Hey, Peeta. Hi, Pearlie." Brendan shivered and put his hands in front of the vent.
"Hi, Brendan!" Pearl called from the back seat.
Brendan rubbed his hands together and then burrowed into his coat. "We're ordering pizza, right? I'm starved."
"Me too!" Pearl exclaimed.
"We'll order pizza later, but I'll get you guys a snack when we get to your house." Peeta promised. He moved up a car length. "What do you think your folks are gonna get you for Christmas?"
Brendan shrugged. "I just asked for money. I'll probably get clothes."
Peeta laughed. "Probably." He picked up his phone to find he had a text.
Katniss: Nope. Don't think so.
Peeta: Well, I'll appreciate having you there. More kids than I'm used to solo.
Callie and Mags were bouncing on their toes. It was cold outside and the car two spots ahead was taking a million years to get settled and leave. When Peeta finally stopped in front of them, the girls clambered into the back seat on either side of Pearl. They talked over each other as they fastened their seatbelts.
"Who's ready to party?" Peeta asked as he drove away from the school.
"Me!" Came the chorus from the back.
Brendan mumbled, "Whatever."
Peeta chuckled. "We're just going to have a normal Friday night. But since Uncle Peeta's there, rules will be more like guidelines."
Brendan chuckled. "When Dad's in charge there are no rules at all. Then Mom gets mad."
Peeta laughed. "I know. That's why we'll follow a few of the rules at least."
The girls all ran up the stairs as soon as they went through the door, dropping coats and backpacks along the way. Peeta called after them, but they ignored him. Brendan bent down and picked them up, hanging them beside his on the hooks by the door.
"Thanks, kid." Peeta said as he shed his coat. "I'll throw some cookies in the oven."
"Will you play a round of Mario Kart with me?" Brendan asked.
Peeta grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "Sure thing." He walked toward the kitchen. His phone buzzed with a text.
Katniss: When should I be there?
Peeta: Whenever you want. I'm ordering pizza around five. But cookies are happening right now.
Peeta threw together the ingredients for peanut butter cookies and put them in the oven. He sat down to race Brendan. The boy was a great and he easily won. Peeta took the cookies out of the oven to cool and sat down for a rematch. He lost again.
"You're too good for me, Brendan." Peeta ruffled his hair and returned to the kitchen to put the cookies on a plate. "Cookies are ready!" He called loud enough for the girls to hear.
Three sets of feet rumbled down the stairs and snatched as many cookies as their little hands could clutch and then they ran away again. Peeta took one and then handed the plate to Brendan in the living room. He then headed back toward the kitchen to clean up.
He was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.
"Is that the pizza already?" Mags called down the stairs.
"I haven't even ordered." Peeta called back, opening the door.
Katniss stood on the other side. The rope was back in the center of his chest. He flexed his fingers to keep from touching her, but he couldn't stop himself. He held out his hand and she slipped hers into it. A relieved breath escaped her lips and he longed to press his to them. He swallowed and pushed that thought away.
"Hi." She said.
"Hi." He gently tugged her inside. "Come in. I was just cleaning up the kitchen. You missed out on cookies. I'm sorry."
"That's fine." Katniss pulled her hand out of his. "How are the kids?"
"Good so far." Peeta looked up the stairs. "They'll probably start arguing once I ask what they want on their pizza."
Callie stepped out onto the landing. "Is that Becca?"
"Just her mom." Katniss said with a smile. She gave Callie a little wave.
Callie walked slowly down the stairs and stood in front of Katniss. She looked up with concern in her eyes. "Why didn't you bring Becca?"
Katniss knelt down. "She went to a movie with her dad. And I'm sure she'll be mad when she finds out I saw you without her. How about I talk to your dad about all of us going to the park sometime soon?"
Callie's eyes brightened and she looked up at her dad. "You gotta say yes, Daddy!"
"Oh do I?" Peeta laughed. "How about I say we'll see and you go back up to play with Mags and Pearl?"
"That's good enough." Callie ran back up the stairs calling, "Becca's mom's here without Becca."
Katniss leaned across the bar into the kitchen and watched Peeta clean up. "Will Annie and Finnick be okay with me being here?"
"As long as no funny business happens, I think we're okay." He put the cookie sheets in the dishwasher and then chuckled. "Though I'm sure they would probably be fine with it as long as it didn't happen while the kids were awake."
"Or in their bed?" She asked with a smirk.
Peeta laughed. "Yeah, I think I would be banned for life."
Katniss looked around. "So where's Nell?"
"They decided to take her along." He explained as he closed the dishwasher. "Since she's still pretty tiny, they decided not to force her upon me."
Katniss laughed and walked toward the table. "I remember never wanting to trust my girls to anyone else when they were that small." She perched herself on a kitchen chair. "Not even Gale sometimes. Or myself."
Peeta sat beside her and placed a hand on top of hers. He saw the anxiety melting form her face. "What are you thinking about?"
She looked toward the living room where Brendan was now playing Call of Duty with the volume turned up just a touch too high. Then she glanced up the stairs.
She pulled her hand from under his. "We filed the paperwork a couple days ago." She swallowed. "We're still trying to figure out the holidays. My sister is married to Gale's younger brother."
"What do you usually do?" He asked gently.
She leaned her head on her hand. "Christmas Eve at Hazelle and Bobby's house. Bobby reads the Christmas story from the Bible just before we sit down for supper. Then we all get in our jammies and drink cocoa while someone reads The Night Before Christmas aloud. Everyone takes turns." She smiled. "All the siblings take their old rooms. The grandkids sleep wherever they fall." She swiped at a tear. "Then Christmas morning is chaos."
He laughed. And then his face grew concerned. "Are you going to be with them this year? Comfortably?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
Peeta patted her arm. "Well, we close early Christmas Eve and all day Christmas Day. If you want to spend time with us, I'm sure my family wouldn't mind."
"Thanks." Katniss said with a smile. "I'll think about it."
Brendan walked into the kitchen. "I'm starving. Is it time to order pizza yet?"
Peeta chuckled. "It can be time to order." He took out his phone and hollered up to the girls, "What kind of pizza am I ordering?"
Three sets of feet ran down the stairs. Pearl tripped over her feet and started crying. She got to her feet and climbed up onto Katniss's lap.
"You okay?" Katniss asked, looking like she felt a little awkward.
Pearl looked up and sniffed. "I hurted my knee. Will you kiss it?"
Katniss pressed her fingers to her lips and then pressed it to Pearl's knee. "Better?"
"Lots." She wrapped her arms around Katniss's neck and held tight.
Peeta wasn't surprised that Pearl went to Katniss instead of him. She always gravitated more toward mothers more than fathers, even people she didn't know well.
"I miss Mommy." Pearl cried into Katniss's shoulder.
Katniss held her awkwardly and rubbed her back. "She'll be back later."
Pearl sniffed. "Okay."
Peeta smoothed a hand down Pearl's hair. "Okay, what kind of pizza do we want?"
"Pepperoni." Callie and Mags said at the same time.
"Cheese." Pearl said softly.
Brendan opened up the fridge and took out an apple. "Just pizza. I'm so hungry." He took a bite of the fruit as he walked out of the room.
"Katniss?" Peeta asked. "You have a preference?"
"I'll eat anything." Katniss rubbed her hand over Pearl's back absentmindedly.
Peeta fought against the tightening in his pants at all the dirty thoughts that simple sentence brought up. "I'm for Hawaiian." He opened the app on his phone and ordered up four pies for delivery. He was sure the older girls could eat their own and so could Brendan. "They'll be here in about thirty minutes."
"Yay!" Callie exclaimed.
"You better call us soon as it gets here." Mags said, pulling Callie out of the room.
"You seriously like pineapple on pizza?" Katniss asked with a snort as Pearl climbed off her lap and wandered back up the stairs.
Peeta laughed. "Alex never liked it. And I can't seem to convince Cal to try."
"Gale is completely against pineapple on pizza. I've never really had much cause to try." Katniss leaned her head on her hand again.
"Well, you can have a bite of mine if you want." Peeta reached out and trailed his fingers down her arm. She trembled a little and grabbed his fingers.
"I moved in with my sister." She placed his hand on the table and brushed her thumb absently over the back of it. "Sam's been staying there with me this week."
He lifted his hand up and slipped his fingers between hers. He saw her eyes go wide with shock, but quickly went back to normal as she pulled her hand away. He pushed away his disappointment. "Becca told me when she was in the bakery with Gale."
"It's been a few days." Katniss sighed and rubbed her temple. "I'm sorry I haven't called or anything, I just…"
Peeta patted her knee. "I understand."
She moved away from his touch. "It's just that when I saw all those lives…"
His heart sank at the loss of contact. "It was very overwhelming. I drew all our lives together over the last few days."
She nodded and traced the grain of the table. He watched her in silence for a long time, resisting the urge to reach out and touch her again.
They were quiet for a long time. The TV was too loud, but the sound of the girls playing upstairs still trickled down to their ears.
After a while, Katniss stopped her tracing and placed her hand on top of Peeta's. "I—"
The doorbell rang and the herd of feet came down the stairs.
"Pizza's here!" Mags exclaimed.
Peeta patted Katniss's hand with his own before he made his way to the door. As he sat out the boxes on the counter, Katniss stood.
"I need to go." She said, skirting around the kids.
"Please don't." Peeta said softly. "We were having a great conversation."
"I was bringing everything down." She moved toward the door and lifted her coat off the hook.
He put his hand on top of hers. The electricity flowed back and forth from the spot where their skin touched. "Stay, Katniss. Keep me company. Help me keep an eye on these guys."
She blinked a few times and he could see her eyes glistened with tears. "Okay." She walked back toward the kitchen and stood in the doorway to watch the kids laughing and talking over the pizza boxes.
Peeta placed a hand on her lower back.
Katniss shook her head and moved into the room. "Is there any pizza left?" She teased as she lifted a slice of the cheese pizza out of a box.
Peeta followed and took out a slice of his Hawaiian. He talked with the kids for several minutes until they had all eaten their fill. The girls went back up to Mags and Pearl's room to play while Brendan returned to the living room and his video games.
Katniss helped put the boxes away.
Peeta held a slice of Hawaiian pizza in his mouth as he closed the box. He took a bite and held it out to Katniss. "Want a bite?"
She shook her head. "I barely know you."
He grinned. "We've been together over centuries."
She laughed and a slight blush colored her cheeks. "That's different." She took a slice out of the box and sniffed it. "It's not a horrible smell." She took a tentative bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Not awful." She took another bite and nodded. "I think I like this." She finished the slice and reached for another.
Peeta laughed. "I've created a monster."
Katniss joined in and finished the second slice. "And now I've eaten way too much." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and scrunched up her nose.
"What is it?" Peeta asked, leaning against the counter.
"Sam's having some issues." She sighed and typed her reply. She sat her phone on the counter and leaned beside Peeta. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder a moment and groaned before moving away. "I want them to be comfortable with everything, but it's so hard. Especially for Sam."
"She's nine, right?" He reached up and rubbed a bit of her hair between his fingers.
She nodded. "She'll be ten in a few months."
"It's a long time to have the same thing and then suddenly have it change." He dropped his hand. "My mom walked out when I was ten."
"Really?" She moved closer. Their arms brushed.
"Yeah." He hooked his index finger around hers. "She wasn't always kind, but she was my mother. And I took it hard for a while. I thought I'd done something wrong."
"It couldn't have been you." Katniss slipped her hand firmly into Peeta's. "You were a kid."
"I was. But it was still something I worried about." He rubbed his thumb back and forth over her hand. "How much does Sam know?"
"Everything except how long Gale kept the truth to himself. And how the dreams affected me."
He let out a little snort. "Well, I wouldn't bet she'd need to know about the dreams in too much detail."
She smiled and squeezed his hand. She looked down. "I want to tell you a secret."
"What?" He turned and rested his hip against the counter.
"Gale and I don't hold hands much." Her voice was just over a whisper. "So I really like this. It's nice."
He placed his other hand on her cheek. "I've always been a physical, touchy-feely person. If I'm doing it more than you're comfortable with, let me know and I'll back off."
She pulled his hand away from her face. "Okay. That's a bit too much."
He nodded. "Got it."
Katniss's phone beeped again and she let go of Peeta's hands to pick it up. "I need to take this." She walked into the other room and Peeta took the time to check on the girls.
They were playing well, but Peeta could see they were getting tired.
"PJ time." He announced.
All three grumbled, but went to the dresser to find their nightclothes. Peeta left them to help each other.
"I'll see you Sunday, Becca." Katniss said softly. "I love you." And then her tone shifted. "Well, she was uncomfortable, Gale. You have to understand that."
Peeta felt like he was intruding, but he continued into the room.
"No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying—" She sighed. "I know. She's not a huge fan of Peeta either. But this is life now." She nodded and turned, shock on her face when she spotted Peeta. "She's resilient, just like her father. She'll be fine. We just need to be patient." She turned away again. "Good night, Gale. Give them both one more kiss for me, please." After another moment, she ended the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket.
"Everything okay?" Peeta asked as Katniss turned back to him.
She nodded. "Sam got a little snippy with Madge. And now she hates the world."
"It'll be okay." Peeta slipped an arm around Katniss's shoulders. "We're all still figuring this out. Sam will be okay. So will Madge and Gale." He smiled. "And you." He pressed a kiss to her temple.
Katniss nodded and moved away. "So will you."
Pearl scooted down the stairs and then hobbled to Peeta. "Uncle Peeta, I has a problem."
Peeta held back a laugh when he saw that the little girl had managed to stick both legs in the same opening of her pants. "I'll help."
Callie called from the top of the stairs, "Katniss, Becca said you always sing her to sleep."
Katniss chuckled. "Well, as much as I can."
"Do you think she'll be mad if you sing to us?" Callie asked sweetly.
"I think she'll be okay with it." Katniss held out her hand to Pearl, now with her pants on right. "Want to show me your room?"
Pearl slipped her hand into Katniss's with a huge grin. "Goodnight, Uncle Peeta."
Katniss was a little unsure, but knew she didn't want to let Callie down more than anything. They were connected now.
Callie and Mags were on opposite ends of the same bed. The bed on the other side of the room was much smaller and Pearl headed to it.
Deep in the Meadow was Becca and Sam's song, so she chose something different. It was one she'd recently heard Posy playing for Jensen. "The stars are shining bright. And I wonder what they're seeing. Can they see me watching them?"
Katniss moved back and forth between the beds as she softly sang. The three girls were asleep by the time she finished the song.
She turned to see Peeta standing in the doorway. He was frozen with a look of wonder on his face.
"Wow." He said softly.
Katniss pressed a finger to her lips as she left the room, slipping her hand into Peeta's as she passed him. "I really need to get going."
"You sing like an angel." Peeta said softly.
Katniss grinned and looked away.
Lights moved past the window and stopped in the driveway.
"Looks like Annie and Finnick are home." Peeta said.
"Yeah." Katniss responded.
Peeta raised Katniss's hand to his lips and gave her knuckles a soft kiss. "Text me when you get to your sister's?"
She nodded and returned the kiss to his hand with a smile. She said nothing else as she gathered her coat and left the house.
"Hi, Katniss." Annie said kindly as they passed on the walkway.
"Hi, Annie." Katniss leaned over the carrier on Annie's arm. "Well, hello, Nell. Wide awake I see."
Annie let out a little groan. "After sleeping all day long. And now that Mommy and Daddy are tired."
Katniss laughed. "It's how it always works out."
Annie squeezed Katniss's arm. "I'm glad you're getting to spend time with him. He needs it."
Katniss nodded. "So do I." She didn't elaborate. "Have a good night." She waved at Finnick as she climbed into her car.
Prim was still awake when Katniss walked in the house, but barely. "Did you have a good time?" Prim asked.
Katniss sat on the other end of the couch and rested her head on her sister's lap. "I feel awful, Prim."
"You don't have a fever." Prim said as she pressed her hands to Katniss's forehead.
"Not that kind of awful." Katniss turned her head slightly and spoke to her sister's stomach. "Stay in there, kid. The world sucks."
Prim smoothed her hand over Katniss's hair. "Is this about Peeta or Gale?"
"It's about everything. I'm a failure." She sat up. "Sam is still so upset about it all. And I feel like I'm not doing enough."
"Do you remember our first night in the Hawthornes' house?" Prim moved closer and wrapped an arm around Katniss's shoulders. "I was so sad and scared. But you said that the Hawthornes loved us and cared about our well-being. That we would be okay because we had each other. And then you let me sleep with you every night even though the bed was so tiny." She gave her older sister a squeeze. "You knew what to do then. You'll know what to do now."
"I guess so." Katniss sighed.
Prim kissed her temple. "I should go to bed so I can get to sleep before my husband starts snoring." She stood and stretched. "I seem to remember about the time you got tired of sharing a bed with me that Gale's wasn't a problem."
Katniss laughed. "Gale's bed was bigger."
"Sure." Prim shook her head as she walked away.
Katniss turned out the lamp before making her way to the guest room. She could already hear Rory's soft snores. "Poor Prim." She said to herself as she changed and climbed into her bed.
She pulled out her phone and sent Peeta a quick text. I made it back. About to pass out. Talk to you tomorrow.
She barely registered the tone that meant he had replied. She'd read it in the morning.