Author's note: I shared some of this on Tumblr (booksrockmyface) a while ago and it finally came up! With the events in the last chapter, I hope you like what's happening here. I'm sorry, but this will be the last update for a few days. On the weekends I have a lot more time to write. I also have some reading I'd like to get done. Let me know what you think.
I also want to thank you all for the words of encouragement and speculation and appreciation. It really makes me happy and lets me know I must be doing something right. Keep it coming!
Happy reading!
Chapter Eleven
"I need a giant favor." Katniss said after he answered.
Peeta said, "Name it and I'll see what I can do."
"I have something I have to take care of and I can't bring Caleb. My sister is not an option today and—"
"He can come hang out here." Peeta said.
"Are you sure? It'll only be for an hour or so."
"I'm sure. Bring him on over."
"Thank you so much." She hung up and started putting Caleb's things into his backpack.
"Caleb?"
He poked his head out of his room. "What?"
"Want to go hang out with Peeta and Callie at the bakery?"
"Yes!" He ran in and started pulling on his shoes. He held his foot out. "Tie, please."
"You need to learn to do this yourself." She tied his shoes and then handed him his backpack. "Now, stay out of the way and listen to Peeta, okay?"
"Okay."
At the bakery, he ran to the door, but she put a hand on his shoulder to slow him down inside.
Peeta walked over. "Hi." He smiled kindly. "Ready to have some fun?" He asked the boy.
Caleb nodded.
Katniss said, "He has coloring books, so he's good to sit and do that for a while."
Peeta nodded. "If we get done making cookies and you're still not back, I'll sit him down to do that."
"Oh, you don't have to do anything special." Katniss argued.
Peeta shrugged. "It's a bakery. I need to make the cookies anyway." He held out his hand. "Callie said she'd help, too."
Caleb slipped his hand into Peeta's. "Bye, Mama."
Katniss leaned down and kissed his forehead. "I love you. Stay out of the way. Listen to Peeta."
"I will." He promised.
Katniss said, "Thank you, Peeta. I owe you big. Maybe Callie can come hang out with us one afternoon."
Peeta nodded. "This is no problem."
She nodded and called to Caleb, "See you in a little bit."
"Bye, Mama." He waved.
Peeta walked Katniss out and then took Caleb into the back where Callie was sitting decorating a cake. "You guys want to make cookies?"
"You should take Caleb on a tour first." Callie suggested. "That's what you do with all the new people."
"That's true. Come on, Caleb. Let me show you how cakes and cookies and pies and all the yummy things you can ever think of are made." He took Caleb's backpack off his shoulders. "Coming, Cal?"
She shook her head. "I think I'm finally getting the hang of this."
"Okay. We'll be in the kitchen."
She nodded and kept working.
Peeta led Caleb into the next room. "First stop is the break room. You can have your very own locker today." Peeta walked over and opened one and hooked Caleb's backpack in it. He smiled. "Number 7. Can you remember that?"
Caleb nodded.
"There's a bathroom through there." He pointed to a door on the other end. "Do you have to go?"
Caleb shook his head.
"Okay, let me know if you do. It's sometimes confusing to come back here from the kitchen, so I'll bring you back."
He nodded.
Peeta motioned him back out. "That room we were just in is the decoration room. That's where all the cakes go from just a cake to a really pretty piece of art."
Caleb slipped his hand into Peeta's. The man looked down and smiled and squeezed. Caleb squeezed back.
Peeta smiled. "My grandpa opened this shop a long time ago. I think my dad was about your age. My dad grew up here learning all about baking and decorating. And then he took over and I grew up here and learned all the same things."
"And now Callie is." Caleb said.
Peeta nodded. "Now Callie is." He stopped and lifted Caleb up to look through a window. "There's the kitchen. It's the only thing that's ever changed big around here. When I took over, I shut the place down for a while and had the kitchen expanded, made bigger. It was so tiny before, everyone kept bumping into each other. But now there's plenty of room." He sat Caleb down. "Let me show you."
Inside it was a little noisy from various mixers and machines, but not too bad. Peeta showed him every section. They now had stations fully equipped for a few specific things: a place just for making cakes, one for breads, one for pies, and one for cookies.
"Now we can make everything quickly because a person needing to make cookies doesn't have to wait for a person mixing a cake batter to be done." Peeta said. He pulled over a stool and sat Caleb on it. "What kind of cookies to do you like?"
"Chocolate chip." Caleb said confidently.
"Then let's make some chocolate chip cookies." He got out the ingredients for a batch and they got to work.
After a while, Caleb said, "My dad's a bad man."
"Is he?" Peeta asked softly.
Caleb nodded. "He used to hurt my mom."
Peeta didn't know what to say.
"Mama took me to live with Aunt Prim when I was a baby."
"Did he ever hurt you?" Peeta asked softly.
Caleb shook his head. "Mama says no."
"Well, that's good."
"Yeah."
Peeta handed him a spoon to lick while he scooped the cookies onto a pan.
"Did Callie's mama die?" Caleb asked after a while.
Peeta took a deep breath and nodded. "She did."
"What happens when people die?" Caleb asked.
Peeta smiled. "Well, a lot of people have different opinions. A lot of people think they go to a special place called Heaven."
"Is that where Callie's mama went?"
"I believe so." He smiled.
"Do you like to bake?" Caleb asked, very quickly changing the subject like any kid.
Peeta chuckled. "I love to bake."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "Lots of reasons. I like to decorate the cakes the most, though."
"Can I see?" He asked.
"Sure. Let's get these in the oven and we can go back to the decoration room." Peeta set a timer after the cookies were in the oven. He told someone to listen for it and picked Caleb up to ride piggy-back through the halls. The boy giggled and urged the man faster. Peeta laughed and complied. He bounced and galloped and swung around and then dropped Caleb safely on a chair beside Callie. He looked over her work and pointed. "A little inconsistent there. Was that from when you first started?"
She nodded and finished her latest swoop. She put the piping bag down and flexed her hand. "I think I'm getting better."
"You are getting better." He kissed the top of her head and then walked to the cooler. He pulled out a long rectangular sheet cake and sat it on the table in front of them. There was a delicate fleur-de-lis pattern all across it done by hand. Around the border were many of the same sort of swoops Callie had been working on.
Caleb said in awe, "That must have taken years."
Peeta chuckled. "Only a couple of hours."
"My dad's great, huh?" Callie asked.
"Amazing." Caleb breathed.
"You want to decorate a cake to bring home?" Peeta asked.
"Sure!"
He put the big cake back and took out another small round one like Callie was working on. "What color do you like?" He took out a piping bag and scooped some frosting out of the big tub into a bowl.
"Blue. Like the sky." Caleb said.
Peeta nodded and put a few drops of blue food coloring into the white frosting. As he mixed, the white turned the perfect shade of sky blue. "Does that work?"
Caleb nodded.
"Good." Peeta folded the end of the bag over his hand and filled it with the dyed frosting. He tied off the end and sat it on the table. Then he picked an apron from the wall and tied it over the boy's head and around his middle to cover as much of his clothes as possible. "Okay, now, I'm going to help you at first. It's a little tricky." He got down in front of him so their eyes met. "This is the first time you've ever done this, so it's going to be messy and not look like what Callie is doing or what I've done, but everyone has to start somewhere."
Caleb nodded. "Okay."
Peeta stepped behind him and showed him how to hold the piping bag. They worked together silently for a long time and then Peeta stepped back and let him work on his own.
"Here they are." Delly said kindly from the doorway.
Peeta looked up and smiled at Katniss. "Oh, you're back."
Caleb looked up and smiled proudly. "Mama, look! Peeta let me decorate a cake. He said I can bring it home."
She walked over and smoothed down his hair. "It looks good."
"Thanks!"
Peeta asked, "Katniss, can I speak with you alone a moment?"
She nodded and followed him to the other end of the room.
"Caleb said... He told me about his dad. He said he was mean to you."
Katniss took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He was abusive, yes."
"I'd gathered as much from the other day, but I didn't... Are you safe? You and Caleb?"
She smiled gratefully. "I am. We are. He and I are fine."
"If you ever need anything, a place to stay or someone to come over and make you feel more secure, you can call me. Callie and I could be right over."
"Thank you." She looked to her son. "We should go, Caleb."
"Would you like to stay for dinner? I've got a roast in the slow-cooker. And some biscuits I froze just last Sunday."
Katniss thought a moment and then said, "Okay, sure."
"I have an hour or so left here." He shook his head. "You know what? I own the place. Delly can close up for once." He walked into the front of the shop and then came back after a couple minutes. "Put it all away, Cal." Peeta took a small box from a shelf in the back and sat it on the table beside Caleb's cake. "You can take this home." He put the cake into the box and pushed it toward Caleb.
"I never want to eat it." He said reverently as he looked at the box.
Katniss ruffled his hair and kissed his head. "But I bet it's delicious."
"We can eat my practice." Callie said.
"You did a good job, Callie." Katniss said.
"Thanks!" The girl beamed.
"Come on, let go hang out. I'll finish supper." Peeta said.
"Hey, Caleb, want to play some video games?" Callie asked as they walked through the door.
"Do you have Mario Kart? Finn's been letting me play at his house and I'm getting better."
"Yeah, I do." They sat together on the couch.
Katniss followed Peeta into the kitchen.
"About what happened at camp the other day—"
"Don't." She shook her head. "It's not right. We can be friends, but we can't be anything else. I'm your daughter's coach."
"You are." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So what happened today?"
"Cato is going to sign over his rights." She looked over at the pair in the living room.
"So what does that mean?" Peeta put some biscuits in the oven.
"It means that legally, he doesn't have a father. And if I ever marry someone, my husband can adopt Caleb if he wants."
He watched her a moment and then nodded. "That's good."
"Very good." Katniss smiled. She leaned against the counter. "Will you tell me about Alex?"
"Only if you tell me about Cato." Peeta countered
She chewed her lip and then nodded. "Fair enough."
"Alex and I dated off and on for a long time. And I liked her a lot. I fell in love with her. And we made Callie. And we got married. And I loved her more and more every day. And then she was taken from us. I know I shouldn't still, but I mourn her."
"Is she the reason you don't date?"
He nodded.
Katniss was quiet a moment and then said, "Cato hurt me with his words and with his hands. And when I have nightmares, they are about him hurting me or taking Caleb from me." She clenched her teeth. "I don't want to cry on your shoulder again."
"You can if you need. I don't mind."
She asked softly, "Are you expecting me to kiss you again?"
He leaned closer to her. "I'd be lying if I said no."
She took a deep breath and turned her head away. "We can't."
"We shouldn't, but we can."
"Peeta, I…"
"Don't bother." He took the biscuits out of the oven and sat them on top of the stove.
Katniss looked over her shoulder to make sure the kids were engrossed in their game. She stepped up to Peeta and grabbed his face. She pressed her lips to his. She did it again, just a little longer. She whispered, "A very bad idea." She kissed him once more and then moved to the other end of the kitchen.
Peeta watched her with wide eyes a moment. He turned away and started gathering plates from the cabinet. He handed them to Katniss. "Will you set the table?"
She nodded and took the plates. Their fingers brushed.
"Yep, a bad idea." He said softly as he started assembling the food.