A/N: Guys, you are too amazing. Seriously, I've already got 271 reviews? For 3 chapters? You do realize how utterly awesome you guys are, right? I think you're starting to show off.

So, naturally, please continue. :)

This chapter is the shortest chapter of the entire story. Actually, from Chapter 5 onward, the chapters(without A/Ns) will be at least 4,000 words or higher. Usually higher. So, needless to say you guys will have plenty to read. The entire story is just under 167,000 words, so you will be occupied. :)

Also, I'm glad most of you liked the furry addition introduced during the last chapter. She has some cutsie moments in this chapter, especially if you're a dog-lover like me.

Today's new quote to add to the disclaimer comes from The Wizard of Oz!

Random Disclaimer: I do not own CF, though I do own a rather fantastic fedora; "Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?"; "Why is the rum always gone?"; "Why so serious?"; "I'll get you my pretty! And your little dog, too!"


Chapter 4

I have never been so nervous in my life. This is truly saying something, because I've won the Hunger Games. Things don't get much scarier than that . . . or so I thought. I should have just marched over to his house, cornered him, and then kissed him. Yep. That's what I should have done. Kissing doesn't involve speaking. I'm much better with actions than I am with words.

A sigh escapes me as I stare at Peeta's front door. I'm stalling, I know. Because why do I need to note that the door is painted a navy blue? Or the fact that a fly is buzzing at the top of the doorframe? Then there's a little crack in the paint at the top left hand corner of the door that's barely visible . . .

Come on, Katniss. I scold myself. You can do this. You love him. He loves you. You've just got to say it.

I glance down at the pup at my feet. She's looking up at me expectantly, like she's just waiting for me to knock on the door. Wait, should I knock? I didn't before. Should I now, though? I did leave his house in a righteous fury last time, slamming the door behind me as hard as I could.

I still feel a hint of pride at that.

Gathering my courage, I decide to just let myself in like I did before. If Peeta truly loves me, he'll love me for who I am, and I'm really not all that considerate and polite, Effie Trinket can attest to that. Quietly, I open the door and step into the foyer, closing the door behind me once the pup is by my side once again. Just like earlier, the downstairs is dark and quiet, but I hear Peeta's loud footfalls shuffling around upstairs.

My feet carry me up the staircase, though I make sure to skip the squeaky third step. However, sometimes I have to slow my pace, because whereas I simply climb the stairs, the pup has to hop up the stairs. I feel a smile tug at my lips. She really is a cute little thing.

Once the pup and I have reached the second floor, my nerves return tenfold. Have I done the right thing? Will Peeta accept my letter? Or will he crumple it up and toss it back in my face? No. Even at his worst, Peeta wouldn't do something so cruel. Hell, it's impossible for Peeta to be cruel anyway. Peeta will always be Peeta, pure and kind-hearted.

I repeat this thought in my head over and over, as if repitition will make it undeniably true. It certainly makes me feel a little bit more confident. Worst case scenario, Peeta doesn't love me anymore and only wants to be friends . . . if that's even possible. I don't know if I could ever be 'just friends' with Peeta. Not after all we've been through.

Best case scenario is that he loves me, we both apologize for being idiots, and everything will slowly get better. I would also be open to a kiss or two . . . or three . . .

I stare at the door in front of me. The second door on the left, Peeta's secret room that even Rye doesn't know the goings-on of. The pup suddenly sneezes, and my nose crinkles as I smell the same thing she does. Acrylic paint.

Is that what Peeta's doing in there? Painting?

"Katniss?"

I whirl around in the direction the voice came from. My eyes land on Peeta, who is standing at the end of the hallway having just come out of his bedroom. I immediately notice that his hair is wet, which leads me to believe that he just got out of the shower. An image of Peeta in the shower quickly invades my mind, and I beat it back in an instant. This is not the time for me to be thinking of . . .

Stop that!

I'm sure I'm blushing now, and Peeta is looking at me oddly. "Why is there a dog in my house?"

I look down to my furry companion and then back at Peeta. "You're not allergic, are you?"

"No."

"Oh, good."

"Still didn't answer my question."

"Oh, well, she's sort of mine. And she's a wolf, not a dog."

"A wolf?"

"Yeah."

"Like the big, menacing kind that attacks and eats people?"

"Sometimes."

"Oh, okay."

Peeta and I look at each other for a moment before we both burst into laughter. The tension from this morning is still present in the air, and we've both cracked under the pressure. Unable to stay on my feet due to my laughter, I slowly slide down to the floor, leaning my back against the wall. It feels good to laugh though, especially considering the day I've had.

When my laughter dies down and I look up, Peeta is sitting beside me, looking serious and apologetic. All thoughts of laughter vanish. "I'm sorry, Katniss," he says softly. "I shouldn't have said those things. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. You had every right to doubt me," I argue, shaking my head. "I should have given you an answer."

"I should have given you more time," he continues to apologize. "I've had eleven years to get used to the idea of being in love with you, and you've barely had any time in comparison. Your entire outlook changed, and it was wrong of me to just expect you to—"

I can't take it anymore. The closeness. The electricity humming between us. His rambling apology that makes me think that we might work things out . . . it's too much to take and my control snaps. I kiss him, cutting off the rest of his apology. It only takes me a second to realize that it's been far, far too long since I last kissed him. Our lips move frantically together, and my blood is zinging with adrenaline and that fire that only Peeta can coax. My fingers thread through his hair as Peeta deepens the kiss, swallowing the moan that escapes me at the sensation of his tongue dancing with mine.

I'm pretty sure we would have kept kissing until we were both about to die from lack of oxygen, but my little wolf pup had other plans. We break apart when she jumps on us, her cold nose tickling my cheek before she starts to lick my face.

Peeta chuckles. "Looks like I have competition."

I laugh as I stare at the pup, which is standing up in my lap, her two front paws on my shoulders. "She's just going to have to accept you into our pack."

"Let me guess, you get to be the alpha," Peeta teases and I scoff.

"I will allow you to rule by my side, of course."

"Thanks for that."

"Oh." I reach into my pocket and fish out my letter. I can't believe I almost forgot about it. However, now that I stop and think, the letter has been burning a hole into my pocket this entire time. My heart begins to pound as I hand the folded piece of paper to him. "That's for you," I say quickly, practically shoving it into his hands.

Peeta raises his eyebrows at me curiously before diverting his attention to the letter. I hold the pup close to my chest, my fingers entangled in her fur as I watch Peeta unfold the paper and begin to read. Almost immediately, he looks up at me and I know he's about to apologize some more.

"At least read it before you start to apologize," I tell him. Peeta opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. "Read it."

His blue eyes return to the paper, and I watch his reaction as he reads. I see guilt, surprise, amusement, and then love. Lots and lots of love. For me. I can't help but smile.

When he's finished reading, he doesn't immediately look up. Instead, he continues to stare at the letter. Whether he's just staring through it or rereading it, I don't know, but the longer the silence stretches between us, the more anxious I feel. Maybe I read him wrong. Maybe he doesn't like it. Maybe he doesn't love me. Maybe our previous kiss was a goodbye.

Just when I think I'm about to combust, Peeta looks up at me. "You didn't have to do this," he says softly. Lovingly.

I feel my tense muscles relax. "I think I did." I thread my fingers through his and lean my head on his shoulder, smiling when he releases my hand in favor of wrapping his arm around me. "You needed to hear it, and I needed to get all those thoughts out of my head."

"I'm sorry," Peeta apologizes, and this time I don't interrupt, knowing that if I don't let him get it out of his system, he'll be guilty for weeks. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. I almost hate that more than what I said."

"Why?"

"It reminds me too much of my mother," Peeta admits. "Yelling all the time."

"Peeta, you are nothing like that witch," I say, lifting my head off his shoulder to look him in the eye. "Got it? You are the kindest, most selfless person I know, alright? Aside from Prim," I can't help but add, and Peeta smiles a little.

But his weak attempt at a smile doesn't last long. "I can't believe I said those things," he says guiltily. "I was trying to hurt you like you hurt me, and that wasn't fair."

"All of this is my fault anyway, Peeta," I tell him. "If I had just told you—"

"I shouldn't have reacted so badly," Peeta interrupts. "I should have known you'd need some time and space."

"Hmm, maybe not space," I argue lightly as I lay my head on his shoulder and nuzzle his neck.

Peeta chuckles and holds me tighter. I feel his lips in my hair. "I am sorry, Katniss. Really."

My lips brush his neck. "So am I."

We sit there in the hallway in silence for a long time, just holding each other and soaking up the comfort that each of us have gone too long without. It's only when the pup begins to grow tired of the inattention and starts attacking us with little nips and nuzzles that we speak.

"You know, you've got to give her a name," Peeta says as he ruffles her fur.

I sigh. "I know, but I can't think of one that works."

"What about Effie?"

I laugh. "No. I don't think so."

"Molly?"

"No."

"Lucy?"

"No."

"Jenny?"

"No."

"Sasha?"

"No."

"You're killing me here," Peeta complains, but he doesn't give up. "Maggie?"

"No."

"Oh, come on. It's a cute name!"

"She's not a Maggie," I say definitively and Peeta huffs in frustration.

"Princess Bopalapashamalama Ding-Dong!" he suggests wildly.

I stare at Peeta oddly. "Have you been sniffing paint?"

"How do you know I've been painting?" Peeta asks confused.

"I don't know, the smell of acrylic paint was a clue," I say before I smile. "But the green paint behind your ear is a dead giveaway."

"Seriously?" Peeta brings up a hand to check behind his ear. "I thought I got it all."

"Missed a spot."

"Obviously."

I laugh lightly. The contrast between how I was feeling earlier today and how I am feeling now is so different that it's almost giving me whiplash. This morning I was so sure that I was either going to lose Peeta or Gale, or, worst case scenario, both. But then I went to the lake and found a wolf pup, and suddenly she made everything clear.

"Maya," I say suddenly.

"Maya?"

"That's her name," I say as I look at the wolf pup, which is looking back at me attentively. "Maya."

Peeta contemplates the name. "I like it," he declares before looking around. "What do you say we get out of the hallway? It's about time to eat."

I'm reminded that I haven't eaten all day. "Sounds like a good idea."

It takes maybe an hour, but together, Peeta and I discover that we can put together quite a meal. I deal with the meat, and he deals with the bread. We combine our efforts with the greens, and when we're done we are thoroughly impressed with ourselves and the mouth-watering aroma coming from the kitchen.

Maya is too, because she's been following us around since we started cooking, hoping that we'll drop scraps onto the floor. It's safe to say that this wolf will be spoiled because I'm guilty of giving her all the fat and trimmings from the meat and Peeta gave Maya a spoonful of gravy to taste test. At least, that was his excuse.

When we sit down at the table, an awkward tension fills the air as we begin to eat. It occurs to me that is the first time I've been alone with Peeta without any cameras on us in the past month. And so much as changed between us since before the Games that our repertoire of stilted, monosyllabic conversations are null and void at this point. There's just something inadequate about simply saying 'hi' to someone who you survived the Hunger Games with.

Our silence continues until we're both about halfway through the meal, before Peeta drops his fork onto his plate. "This is ridiculous," he says. "We should not be this awkward."

My lips twitch as I fight a smile. "No," I agree.

"We're just having dinner," Peeta says casually. "Just dinner."

"But it's kind of like a date."

"Yeah. Kind of."

"An unofficial date," I suggest and Peeta nods.

"Unofficial," he agrees. "Because, if you think about it, our first date went horribly wrong."

A burst of incredulous laughter escapes me. "You count the Games as a date?"

"One that went horribly wrong."

"Peeta, you were on your deathbed twice," I remind him.

"Like I said, it was a date that went horribly wrong," Peeta repeats with a smile.

"You're impossible," I mutter as I return to my food, though I'm grateful that Peeta has somehow managed to diffuse the tension.

"We should go on a date," Peeta says after another minute. "A real one. Very official."

I smile, leaning forward. "And what would we do?"

"It would have to be a combined effort," Peeta says with a grin.

"Well, we're a pretty good team," I reply. It occurs to me that I'm actually flirting. Me. Katniss Everdeen. Flirting.

Strange.

"Yeah, so I'll bring the food, you choose the location," Peeta suggests conspiratorially. "Somewhere nice and open and green. Lots of trees."

If Peeta is meaning to be subtle about suggesting that I take him into the forest for our date, then he's doing a very poor job. Or he's trying to be funny or charming. Either way, I'm smiling. "I think I now a place."

"Fantastic. It's a date."


And there we are! Kiss and makeup, PK are on their way to recovery. I've got to admit that the scene between them when Peeta first notices Maya is one of my favorite bits of dialogue in the entire story. It's just so cute! Katniss admits that the wolf beside her is the same kind that sometimes attacks and eats people. Peeta's response? "Oh, okay."

Cracks me up everytime.

So . . . next chapter is a time jump. Chapter 5 picks up the morning of the Victory Tour, so that's relatively five or six months in the future. Lots of character evolution can occur within that time frame, and I'm excited for you guys to read the PK that I've created, one that's secure in their relationship and happy. It definitely puts a different spin on things, as PK will address everything as a team, rather than hiding things from each other and keeping the other out of the loop. Let's just hope everything flows from one chapter to the next. lol

Alas, I must give you a quote from the next chapter! Hmm . . . let's go with Peeta, again . . . he's the one with funny lines . . .

"You've got to be kidding me. The wolf gets kisses, and I get shut down. Nice."

Lots of love,

AC