A/N: Okay, so I needed a little bit of a fluffy interlude of sorts after all the angst. I'm a generally pretty happy person and there's only so much angst I can write before I need to fluff it up a little bit so Chapter 9 was born of that need. We'll be back to your regularly scheduled angst soon enough. Enjoy!
Chapter 9
(Katniss' POV)
Peeta's never told me all that was said on the night Gale stayed at our house with him while he was having a bad hijacking episode, and I've never really asked. Whatever it was though, it seemed to help Peeta a great deal because when Haymitch returned from checking on them the next day, he reported that Peeta seemed much better.
"Good enough for me to come back?" I asked hopefully from Haymitch's couch I had spent the night curled up on. I knew the answer as soon as he looked at me. "Why the hell not?" I snapped and strode over to the window. "If he's better than I should be able to go see him! And where the hell is Gale?"
"Slow down, Sweetheart…" Haymitch said with a wince and touched his forehead. "I can only answer one of those questions at a time and I think I heard about ten coming at me just now." He muttered and dropped onto the couch, laying down in the spot I'd just vacated.
"In short…" he said folding his arms behind his head. "He's worried seeing you too soon might set him off again worse so he'd rather just spend another night over there and reassess tomorrow." He had just closed his eyes when I stormed for the front door and he sat up with a jolt.
"Hey hey! What do you think you're doing? You know he's just gonna holler at you to get out of there if you try it Katniss…think here." He warned and I turned on my heel.
"I can't spend another night away from him, Haymitch! Doesn't he realize that? Doesn't he know that he helps me at night too?" I said, my voice catching and hot tears stinging my eyes.
Haymitch frowned and pointed a scolding finger at me. "Now that's very selfish of you to say, Sweetheart. Frankly I'm surprised." He said sitting up and making room for me to sit down, which I did since I was already feeling like a misbehaving child in a schoolroom.
"Now you know that boy loves you more than anything in the world. You think he's in bad shape when he has these little 'episodes'?" he asked and placed a hand over the one of my own that was resting on the couch beside my leg which made me look over at him finally. "If he did something to really hurt you, I mean serious physical damage…I can tell you right now, he'd never recover. Never." He leaned on the second 'never' for emphasis and it worked.
I growled loud and frustrated before the tears finally began to run fast and hot down my cheeks.
"Don't worry about him, he'll be alright." Haymitch said tugging me over into his side and I leaned my head on his shoulder. "It's the two of us that need caretaking." He joked and I sniffled and laughed at the same time. "Hey! Watch it! Don't go getting snot all over me…"
"Sorry." I said with a soft laugh but stayed in my position leaning against his arm until Gale came back a little after noon.
He took in the sight of Haymitch and I sitting on the couch and I could tell just by his face that we must have looked pretty pathetic. "He says he'd like to catch up on some baking today and maybe some painting later tonight to try and keep busy. I told him I'd head into town and drop off the plans for his bakery to Thom. I could use some catching up with old friends." He smiled softly and I knew that meant he'd likely be at the new tavern in town for the rest of the day.
"Unless you need me for anything here that is…" he said quickly and I shook my head.
"Nah, go ahead," I said and made a shooing motion with my hand. "Haymitch and I prefer to wallow in self pity on our own anyway." I teased and Gale huffed a laugh and nodded his head slowly.
"He really is doing better Katniss." He promised with a soft smile. "I'm sure you'll be back in your own house tomorrow."
I sat up a little better and swept an arm around Haymitch's living room, taking in the sight of all the clothing bottles, glasses, newspapers and other odds and ends strewn about the area. "What and leave all this?" I teased. Gale laughed and Haymitch threw me one of his infamous scowls.
"Hey!" he said and threw a pillow at me as I hurried for the kitchen to avoid his comeback. "No one asked you to stay here!" he bellowed after me and I heard him talking to himself as he lay down on the couch to pass out for the rest of the day.
I was pouring myself a glass of water when I heard the door open and close again signaling that Gale had left. I couldn't blame him much for not wanting to be around me right now, while I was moping around waiting to be able to see Peeta. I made it a point to do something with him before he went back to District 2. Something he would like and that the bad thoughts in Peeta's head wouldn't be able to find fault with. I would take him to the woods to hunt.
I was pleasantly surprised later that day around our usual dinner time, when Haymitch's phone rang and he popped his head into the bedroom where I was working on the memory book with a smile.
"Peeta?" I asked excitedly and rushed to grab the phone beside the bed.
"I'll put your plate in the oven, come have it whenever you're done." He whispered and I nodded even as I was lifting the receiver to my ear and he was closing the bedroom door.
"Peeta!?" I gasped into the phone and was met with his soft chuckle on the other end.
"Hey beautiful, don't miss dinner on my account." He teased and I sat down heavily on the bed with a goofy smile on my face. That one that old Katniss would have been disgusted by.
"I'd miss breakfast and lunch too just to know that you're okay now." I said with a shaky sigh and shook my head even though he couldn't see it. "I'm so, so sor…" He cut me off before I could apologize for hugging Gale and setting off his episode.
"You know, I plan on hanging around you for quite some time in the years to come, so if you apologize for every time I have an episode, I'm gonna get pretty tired of hearing it…" he said evenly and I could hear the trace of a smile in his voice.
"I know, I know Peeta but I just…I hate that nine times out of ten it's something I do that sets them off." I said flopping onto my back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.
"It's not your fault, Katniss." He said both simply and with no room for argument.
I let silence hang in the air between us for a long few moments before I decided to change the subject like I knew Peeta wanted me to. I figured stroking his ego might go a long way to making us both feel better after the last few hard days.
"I've missed you at night." I whispered and his answering silence made me smile. "And if you're wondering, I don't just mean for keeping the nightmares away." I finished and I heard him breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth slowly.
"Really?" he squeaked out and I grinned; mission accomplished. "Well…I…well that's….well…" he stammered and my grin widened.
"Why Peeta Mellark…" I began playfully and rolled over onto my stomach propping myself up on my elbows. "Did I just render you speechless?" I asked and he laughed nervously on the other end.
"Well don't…sound so proud of yourself, jeez Katniss." He murmured and I giggled softly.
"So how did baking and painting go today?" I asked trying to hedge towards possibly getting invited back over to the house early than tomorrow.
"Good, I caught up on what I missed the last few days and Gale said he'd take them to town for me in the morning but I might be okay to do it myself. We'll see." He said and I could tell it was his way of asking me to please just let him have until the morning to make sure his thoughts were sorted out.
"Good, that's really good. I've just been working on the memory book some. You'll have a few pictures to do once I'm back home. It'll be a nice break from working on everything for the bakery now that the plans are done and all of the equipment has been ordered. We'll just keep to ourselves for a few days." I smiled and then remembered I had wanted to ask Peeta how he would feel about me hunting with Gale before he leaves.
"Oh, and I did want to see how you'd feel, and you can definitely say no, about me taking Gale hunting before he leaves on Saturday." I asked in a rush and heard laugh softly on the other end.
"Wow, that one took some working up to huh?" he asked and there was a long, nerve-wracking silence during which I knew Peeta was mulling over how he felt about that. "Sure, I don't see why not. I know enough now about all those days you spent hunting together before the Games that I don't think it will cause any issues for me." He said slowly and I nodded.
"Thanks Peeta, I really appreciate you trying to get along with him. Besides, he'll be back in District 2 soon and then it's just you and me….and Haymitch." I teased and Peeta chuckled again.
"Oh yes, can't forget Haymitch now can we? What fun would life be if we couldn't regularly torment him with our affection for one another?" he laughed and so did I.
"I love hearing you laugh again." I said quietly and lifted my head to look out the window to the house across the street. I wasn't surprised to see a face in the upstairs window opposite the one I was in looking back at me.
I watched as Peeta gently placed his palm against the glass of the window and saw his smile even from that distance. "Then I suppose another tickle fight is in order once you're home?" he asked with a whisper that I'm sure was meant to sound menacing but just sounded sexy to my ears.
I placed my palm on the window where he could see it and smiled back. "You're on." I whispered and Peeta chuckled again but I noticed he kept his hand on the window. "Well, I guess I better go eat." I said even though I really wanted to curl up on the bed and talk to Peeta until morning.
"Yeah, me too…I've gotta clean up the paint in here and wash up first." He said and I frowned, confused.
"You're painting in the bedroom?" I asked and he cleared his throat nervously.
"Well, I messed up the painting room here a little bit during my episode and so I just brought the easel and some things in here to work tonight." He said quickly and I looked over to see his hand was gone from the window and that he had moved back to sit on the end of the bed.
"What painting are you working on?" I asked, curious now that he seemed a little bit nervous to talk about it.
"Uhh…just a…just something new, not any of the ones I've been messing around with lately." He answered evasively and I sat down on the bed with a mischievous smile.
"Peeta! Why won't you tell me what you're painting?!" I laughed and his answering growl was both frustrated and embarrassed.
"Because I'm…painting you and it's embarrassing to tell you that!" he mumbled with a shy laugh and I rolled my eyes.
"You paint me all the time, why would you think it's embarrassing? I think it's sweet." I argued.
"Because in this one you're naked!" he said in a rush and it was my turn to be the one left speechless.
I shifted uncomfortably on the bed and looked out the window again to see him leaning forward with one hand covering his face as the other still held the phone receiver to his ear. Naked? Oh boy. I decided I'd have to think on that one for a little. Not that anyone ever really went into Peeta's painting room or he ever displayed any of the paintings he did of me, they were more for therapeutic purposes anyway. But Gale had been in the painting room in Peeta's old house. It wasn't like he kept a lock on the door.
"How naked?" I asked cringing as I felt a little bit of a panic attack coming on and tried my best to keep it at bay. I watched Peeta rub his forehead and heard him groan quietly.
"Oh…pretty naked…" he mumbled and I said nothing back. "Katniss? Are you still there?" he asked quietly and I opened and closed my mouth a few times.
"Yeah, I'm here." I said in a voice a few octaves higher than my usual voice even though I was trying really hard to play it cool. "I'm uh…I'm gonna go eat…could you go ahead and lock up that painting somewhere that Haymitch or Gale isn't going to stumble upon it so that I can try and sleep soundly tonight?" I asked in something closer to my normal voice.
"Oh yeah sure, no problem at all." Peeta promised and I finally let out a breath I'd been holding since I heard the word 'naked' leave his mouth.
"Alright…well…good." I said with a satisfied nod. "So can I see it later?" I asked and heard another mortified groan from Peeta. "Alright, alright. I'm going to eat. Call me back later if you're lonely?" I asked and he sighed.
"I think I'll be alright. I'd really like to try staying by myself tonight. I might soak in the tub for a little before bed with some of those sleep salts to try and relax."
I wished he hadn't told me that because then my mind drifted to thinking of Peeta in the tub. Sex had done some very confusing things to the way my brain worked over those days since we'd first been together. It also made think of some alternative ways I could help him relax that didn't involve salts but could have definitely involved the tub.
"Okay…well, I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked hopefully and looked back to the window, smiling when I saw his face there again looking over at me.
"Count on it." He said and placed his hand on the window once more before we hung up.