When the Red X is on the Door

by MADAM BETH

Post Mockingjay. Katniss and Peeta rebuild their relationship while trying to deal with the trauma of having been through the horrors of their lives since being reaped into the Hunger Games. They are there for each other when nightmares creep in the dark, but how does Katniss know when it is not safe for Peeta to be near her because of his hijacking? When the red X is on the door.

45. Chapter 36

a/n: Hi everyone! I wanted to take a minute of your time before you start Chapter 36 to let you know that the story will be winding down over the next month or so and probably wrapping up completely by early to mid October! Crazy that by that point it will have been almost 9 months since Chapter 1 was published!

To celebrate the end of my first Hunger Games fic, I have been lucky enough to commission the artistic talents of the wonderful, fantastic, amazing, (insert roughly 12-15 other synonyms for 'fabulous' here) wollaston (aka co-author of the brilliant Alone in a Crowded Room/ aka alonglineofbread on tumblr) to do two pieces of artwork for When The Red X is on the Door!

One will depict the final chapter and the other I am asking for your input on! I am going to provide a list of 7 scenes for you, the readers, to choose from and I am hoping you will vote on which you would like to see come to life in one of alonglineofbread's beautiful drawings.

You can vote by either PM-ing me with the scene you would like to see, mentioning which scene you would like to see in a review of this chapter or the one I post next Thursday, or on my tumblr (My tumblr is under madambeth).

It's pretty simple, whichever scene gets the most votes will be the other piece of artwork done for this story! I will tell you that the piece being done for the final chapter DOES include the whole Mellark family (Peeta, Katniss, Bow and Finnick) so don't feel like you need to choose a scene with Bow and Finnick included (even though I would totally have every single one of the interludes illustrated if I thought that was financially feasible!).

The scenes are as follows:

1.) Katniss and Peeta in the recliner the night of their first time when she notices the pearl necklace and he places it around her neck.

2.) Effie walking in on Katniss and Peeta in the hot tub (for ct522 because she requested it be in the running!)

3.) Peeta at the podium giving his speech for the dedication of the memorial with Katniss and her mother seated behind him holding hands. The red X is hanging on the microphone as he explains what it is.

4.) Peeta and Katniss running the Sunday kids baking class in the bakery. (for my beta who said, and I quote, " blah blah blah Peeta and a kid should be one of the choices!")

5.) Katniss at the car door when Peeta has shut himself up in the car on the way back from the Capitol because he feels he is going to have an episode.

6.) Katniss and Peeta looking out at the crowd gathered along the road from the justice building following their wedding ceremony.

7.) Peeta and Katniss during their toasting with Greasy Sae and Haymitch in the background witnessing the moment.

Please, please make sure to vote if you want to see any of these 7 scenes brought to life! I know which I would choose but I really want to know which one YOU would like to see most!

And the high road's steady and steep,

And the low road's easy and deep.

Guess I'll follow, follow, follow my feet.

Guess I'll follow, follow, follow my feet.

I don't know where,

I don't know where,

Where my path will lead, but I'll follow my feet and

Hopefully they'll keep me on the ground and I'll keep walking to the sound

"Follow My Feet" –The Unlikely Candidates

Chapter 36

For the rest of the day, after my discussion with Haymitch, I threw myself into teaching Zale to hunt. I found myself filled with the type of excitement that came from having a clearer mind and also from engaging in the one activity I had complete confidence in myself to do.

Already a capable fisherman from his District 4 upbringing, Zale demonstrated a natural aptitude for hunting. What maturity he lacked in his day to day life, the loudness and impatience I usually saw in him seemed to disappear when he was focused on the hunt. He needed some instruction in how to walk quietly amongst sticks, stones and brush, but for the most part, Zale kept quiet and still whenever we paused to wait for prey to wander by. He was attentive and asked relevant, interested questions when I showed him how to build and set a snare.

During his first few attempts he missed a rabbit, 3 squirrels and a pretty spirited quail that actually turned and came after Zale when it realized he was responsible for the arrows zinging by its head. That was when I finally saw a glimpse of the excitable 11-year-old boy that had been staying with us the past few days.

I couldn't help laughing as Zale danced his way around the grove of trees we were hunting in, screaming at both the bird and at me, telling one of us to get away from him and the other to save him. The only problem was that I was laughing so hard I couldn't be of any real assistance at the time.

Once the quail got bored (or decided he'd taught Zale enough of a lesson, I'm not sure which) Zale sulked for the rest of the morning until he finally shot and killed a wild turkey. Apparently that was enough for him to feel that his manhood had been restored.

"Great job, kid! That was a nice shot!" I said encouragingly as Zale held the dead turkey down by the neck with his foot and carefully pulled the head of the arrow back from where it was buried in the bird's side.

I didn't mention that big, slow, goofy turkeys were one of the easiest kills in the forest since the little guy seemed so pleased with his skills. I just kept that bit of information to myself, deciding I would tell Peeta later and we'd have our own secret laugh about it.

Peeta had been equally pleased early on in our living together when he had shot and killed a turkey after a few hunting lessons of his own. I hadn't been as careful with his feelings, instead teasing him almost immediately with the same information on turkeys I had refrained from sharing with Zale.

Peeta had been only slightly offended, especially when I argued that I should be allowed to have the most skill at hunting and we could consider it balanced since he was good at everything else. Of course, he'd playfully asked me to review the list of all the things he was better than me at, assuring me that it would make up for my having hurt his feelings when he bagged, as he put it, 'the slowest, nosiest animal in the woods apart from him'.

I'd laughed when he said that because even though I didn't think of it that way at first, he was mostly telling the truth. Peeta's leg was always a bit of a hindrance when I tried to teach him to hunt and he had an almost uncanny ability to find and step on every twig we came upon.

I'd made sure to lay it on thick, talking up his baking and cooking skills, his talent with a paint brush, and his easy way with people. Things got interesting as I moved on to describing his skills in the bedroom and Peeta had tossed the turkey aside and laid me down in a grassy area near the hunting trail. We proceeded to make enough noise to scare away any prey within probably a 5 mile radius when we pushed aside only the necessary clothing in order for Peeta to bury himself in me, driving us both quickly into powerful orgasms.

I pulled myself out of my daydream of that quiet, crisp fall day in the woods with my husband and turned back to Zale who was trying to find the best way to lift and carry his kill. His smile lit up the shade beneath the canopy of the trees as he looked over the large, plump turkey. It seemed, for the time being, that I was out of the dog house for laughing at his run-in with the quail.

"Can we have it for dinner?!" He asked excitedly as I gave him some twine to tie the feet together so that it would be easier for him to carry back home.

"Absolutely," I said picking up both my own bow and Zale's to carry since he had his hands full with the turkey. "Right after you pull all of its feathers out, cut off the head and feet and learn how to clean out its insides."

I grinned and Zale turned a little green, obviously not completely over his night of vomiting just yet. I rolled my eyes at his face as we started to head back for the house. I didn't feel too bad for him though; the kid had been gutting fish since he was practically still in diapers and, if you ask me, that's a lot harder to stomach than taking the innards out of a turkey.

"Are we going back already?" He asked with a grunt, still struggling a little bit with the large bird he was hauling over his shoulder. I stopped and pulled out some more twine so that I could tie the turkey around Zale's waist and he could pull it along behind him on the relatively clear path out of the woods.

"Yeah," I said looking up at the darkening clouds through the leafy treetops. I sniffed at the air when I caught the familiar scent of rain on the cool summer breeze. "It looks like it's going to rain. Smells like it too."

I pointed to the clouds and took a deep breath of fresh air. Zale did the same and nodded excitedly.

"I smell it! It smells the same as home does when I'm out on the dock and can see the ocean churning up big waves!" He said animatedly waving his hands around and looked over his shoulder to make sure the turkey was still intact as we started walking again.

"Well, actually…it's hard to smell much over the smell of the ocean, but that and the big waves are how we know it's going to rain in District 4." He explained. I smiled appreciatively as Zale had just unwittingly taught me something about life in his district in exchange for the hunting lesson I was giving him.

"Very cool." I replied with a wink and Zale's cheeks reddened.

I was starting to get the sense that since Peeta's talk with him, Zale was experiencing the same type of school-boy crush on me as Peeta's apprentice Calen once had. I resisted rolling my eyes because I still just couldn't figure out what it was that men found attractive about me and instead, reached out to muss Zale's hair as we continued down the path.

By the time we reached the edge of the woods, it had begun to drizzle and we were crossing the back yard the house when the sky opened up and it began to pour. We ran the last couple of feet to the porch with me carrying the turkey still attached to Zale's waist. He pulled out his own pocketknife that he had brought from home to cut the twine loose from his body before cutting it where the bird's feet were tied together.

"Good timing!" He chuckled and shook out his wet hair, sending droplets flying at me as I pulled off my hunting boots.

"Take those off before you step foot in that house." I warned as Zale was already heading for the door in muddy shoes with the turkey over his shoulder once again. He froze in mid step and turning to lean against the house beside the front door he kicked his shoes off by one of the rocking chairs.

"And you might want to leave that out here to chop off the head and feet and pull the feathers." I suggested.

Zale looked between the turkey, the door, and me while I cleaned the arrows from our hunt and laid them out on a chair to dry under the cover of the porch.

"Peeta kind of frowns upon blood and feathers being all over the kitchen," I said with a smirk.

Zale dropped the turkey from his shoulder to the ground with a thump and eyed it nervously as he awaited further instruction.

Zale faired pretty well during the chopping and feather plucking and did a great job of pretending to fair just as well while we cleaned out the innards and prepared the turkey to be cooked.

He had always been a naturally curious child and loved to learn new things so I wasn't surprised to see him hanging on every word. I was even less surprised to feel a nudge against my leg and looked down to see that Buttercup Two had joined us in the kitchen.

Once we finished stuffing the turkey with seasoned bread, onions, and celery, I showed Zale how to cook up the heart, liver and neck of the turkey for the cat to enjoy as his meal that night

"We never waste any part that can be used, understand?" I asked.

Something passed over Zale's eyes that told me he'd learned enough in school about the days before the rebellion to know why I was so serious about not wasting anything useful from the food we were so lucky to have on our plates.

"Uh huh." He nodded and smiled when the kitten greedily gulped down the turkey liver we had cooked and then mewed for more.

"You can have the rest at dinner time." Zale told the cat as he scooped him up and carried him over to the window. It was still coming down in buckets and I could tell Zale was bummed to be stuck inside.

"You can go outside and play if you want." I told him as I was placed the rest of the turkey parts into a covered dish to put away in the fridge for the kitten's meal. Zale's head whipped around and he looked between my face and the window, trying to decide if I'd gone blind to how hard it was raining out there.

Annie was a wonderful mother but I always got the impression from watching her around Zale, particularly since he became mobile, that she hovered a bit. It was completely understandable to me why she would be that way after everything she had been through in her life and after having lost Finnick the way she did, before their child had ever taken a breath of air.

Zale was all she had left of him. Before the rebellion and the war there had been a need for them to keep their relationship a secret (which they obviously hadn't done a very good job of since Finnick's name was almost certainly pulled from the Quarter Quell reaping ball on purpose and Annie's as well before Mags took her place) so they had lived separately, snuck around as best they could to be together. They had made sure to never appear together in public in any sort of a romantic way lest the Capitol citizens who thought Finnick's heart belonged to them know he was off the market.

Annie was great with Zale as a baby but once he started walking and doing that thing toddlers do - where they unintentionally look for certain death around every corner - she became more and more watchful of her son. It was fine when he was still a little guy, but I could tell during the last few years of visits that Zale was starting to get a little resentful of how closely his mother kept tabs on him. I was amazed that she allowed him to come visit us alone and had only called twice to check in on him since he'd been with us. I wondered again if maybe she was dating someone and perhaps he was having a positive influence on her allowing Zale some breathing room.

"You mean I'm allowed to go out in the rain?" Zale asked in awe. "But…but couldn't I get sick?"

I chuckled and shook my head.

"It's pretty warm out, I'm not too worried about that but if you'd rather not…" I started and Zale shook his head from side to side emphatically.

"No, no! I'll go!" he said setting the kitten down and patting his chest and thighs as he looked himself over quickly. "Is it okay if I wear this?"

I took in the dark blue t-shirt and tan cut-off cargo shorts he was wearing and shrugged.

"Looks fine to me, and don't bother putting on shoes if you're just staying in the yard. We should probably let the ones you wore hunting dry so we can clean the mud off of them later." I said as he was already making his way for the back door.

"Could I practice shooting some more with the bow and arrows? I'll only shoot at those target boards on the trees out back." He promised and I smiled.

I had placed those targets there years ago for Peeta to practice with and he used them… occasionally. I had surrendered myself quite a few years before to the realization that Peeta was happy enough to let me be the hunter and he, the baker. Neither he nor I saw any reason to be bothered by the juxtaposition of our daily activities with me doing the more traditionally male job of hunting and he, the more traditionally female job of cooking and baking.

I always knew that Peeta wasn't the sort of man to be bothered by such idiotic stereotypes, one time when one of his buddies from town made a joke about our seemingly flip-flopped gender roles, I overheard the conversation from the back room and decided to go against my usually chaste public reputation to save my floundering husband.

Peeta was stuttering a response when I sauntered out, walking purposefully between the men gathered in the storefront around Peeta, with a batch of small, chocolate drizzled bunt cakes for the display case.

I remarked that the strength and attention to detail Peeta honed in his work at the bakery had given him skills in bed beyond that of anything a more obvious manly career path would have ever been able to, and that I appreciated those talents nightly. Only Peeta, myself and occasionally Haymitch when the windows were open on a quiet enough night, knew for sure that we didn't have sex every night, but by the half impressed, half envious looks cast Peeta's way, I decided my mission had been a success. It was confirmed later that night when Peeta enthusiastically showed his appreciation for my little stunt at the bakery after we chased each other around the house and upstairs to bed.

He hunted when he wanted, sometimes even alone on days I was irretrievably lost inside my own dark thoughts and spent from morning until night swaddled in the blankets of our bed. I cooked a few nights a week and helped him out at the bakery. However, I had never quite gotten the hang of frosting so I stuck mostly to working the register and doing any paperwork required to keep our supplies in stock.

As I came awake from my daydream of the past, I noticed Zale standing by the back door waiting patiently for me to come around and respond. It was a perfectly natural thing to him that the adults in his life should occasionally trail off in the middle of a conversation and stare into space or stay in bed for hours at a time fighting off the horrible memories of their past in the Games. This made me both sad for Zale who would likely always have to endure such oddities in those he loved, and proud of how mature beyond his years he was in this particular way.

"Sure, sweetie," I said and smiled to let him know I was alright.

"Just make sure you don't hit any of the geese if they wander over. Haymitch might chase after you with his walking stick if you do and it'll just embarrass him when he can't catch you." I said with a wink and Zale chuckled and nodded.

"Promise. Just the targets." He assured me and I moved over to the door with him, picking up the kitten as it was meowing and pawing at Zale to be held.

"Have fun." I said taking a step closer to him. "Come in if you start to get chilled."

I dropped a kiss on top of his head gently and smiled down at him. Zale blushed, gave the kitten a pat on the head, and then slipped out the door without another word.

I watched him for a few minutes as he gathered up the quiver of arrows and his own smaller bow, trudging out to the middle of the yard as the rain almost immediately soaked his clothes through to a few shades darker. I felt a strong sense of pride seeing him try to hold his hands and body the way I taught him to and smiled when he hit the target with only his second shot. It wasn't in the center like I would have been able to do, but he at least hit it which was better than Peeta did in his first few lessons.

The telephone ringing took me away from watching him but only for a moment as I grabbed the cordless receiver off of the wall and brought it to my ear as I headed back to the door to watch Zale.

"Mellark's hunting school, how can I help you?" I said after noticing on the small screen in the middle of the phone that it was the bakery number.

Peeta laughed softly on the other end.

"Hey, how'd he do this morning? You get much practice in before the rain started?" He asked and I grinned, thinking of how I was going to have to break it to Peeta gently that Zale had shot a turkey on his first outing. Peeta's own turkey hadn't been bagged until his third or fourth trip into the woods with me to learn.

"Sure we did. Had a couple of missed rabbit and squirrel opportunities…" I said and cringed, already preparing for Peeta's outrage at having been out-hunted by an 11-year-old. "…but he shot a pretty good sized turkey for our dinner before we got driven out of the woods by the rain."

I had mumbled that last part and bit my lip to keep from laughing at the shocked silence on the other end of the phone.

"Seriously?" Peeta half groaned/half laughed.

"Wow, so it's official…" he chuckled on the other end. "I am a fucking joke with a bow and arrow.

He sounded exasperated and I chuckled sympathetically back.

"Hey, I told you before…" I said lowering my voice even though Zale was outside and I could tell Peeta did not have me on speaker phone in the bakery. "…your talents in other areas of expertise are much more important to me than whether you can hunt or not." I whispered silkily.

"I can hunt but there are other things only you can do for me that I find are vital to my personal gratification." I purred and rubbed my chin against the top of the kitten's head when he climbed up to hold onto my shoulder.

"Bedroom things?" Peeta asked and I rolled my eyes at his thick headedness.

"Uh huh." I said with a fake, cheery voice and could hear the smile in his voice when he replied.

"Awesome." He teased and then sighed softly as if remembering the original topic of our conversation.

"Eh, alright…so the kid can hunt." He conceded and then asked what we were up to.

"Well," I said glancing at the oven where Zale's turkey had just been placed.

"We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon learning how to prepare a turkey for eating, stuffed it, fed some of the giblets to Buttercup Two, and now Zale is back outside practicing shooting arrows in the rain." I said and I even noticed the tenderness in my voice as I shared the details of our busy morning with Peeta.

"Sounds like fun. When will the turkey be ready so I make sure I'm home in time for dinner tonight?" He asked and I told him around 5 as the kitten mewed in my ear next to the phone and then sniffed it curiously when he heard Peeta's voice coming through.

"Hey kitty, are you having fun with that rowdy kid?" He asked in a voice that made me think of the way he talked to babies that were brought into the bakery. I smiled and chuckled as the kitten mewed again and looked around trying to find Peeta.

"He's looking for you babe, he misses his big buddy." I laughed and shook my head as the kitten jumped down to the ground, landing perfectly on his feet and skittering off to try and find Peeta.

"How bout you? You miss your big buddy too?" he asked playfully and I chuckled in answer.

"Still sore?" Peeta asked, lowering his voice so that only I could hear.

"Still thinking about how I got that way, so I guess I am…" I whispered back and felt a quick ripple of warmth course through me again at the memories of the night before.

"Good. See you at 5." He purred before hanging up the phone.

I sighed and hung up the phone, thinking about how I had already lost the inital battle to keep abstinent during Zale's visit and that if Peeta kept talking to me that way and bossily hanging up phones on me, I might lose another battle that night as well.

I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing mashed sweet potatoes, string beans, creamed corn, and a salad with the leftover fruits and vegetables from our garden by the lake. I occasionally peeked out the kitchen window to see what Zale was up to when he moved on from shooting arrows after about an hour and a half of running back and forth into the tree line to retrieve them. His next stop was up on the porch where he used leaves from one of the areca palm bushes beside the house to make himself a rather handsome hat that looked fit for the cattle men I'd seen on the Victory Tour stop through District 10.

When he finished, he left the hat hanging on the top of one of the rocking chairs and stood in the doorway so that I could check if he was dried off enough to enter the house.

"Well, you look like you pass inspection, why don't you go get a shower and you can help me finish up dinner before Peeta gets home?" I suggested.

"Sure! Is Peeta bringing home any desserts for tonight?" he asked excitedly and I raised my eyebrows.

After the excitement of his puke-fest the night before, I was surprised that Zale wanted to eat anything much less desserts. He'd bypassed breakfast and lunch, only drinking a few cups of water that I saw since we'd returned from the woods.

"Sure you're up for dessert tonight?" I asked warily and looked him over.

"Yeah, sure. I feel fine now." He shrugged and thundered up the stairs, loud even in bare feet. I shook my head and gave Peeta a quick call to request as bland a dessert as he could scrounge up.

Zale may have claimed to feel better, but I wasn't interested in a repeat performance from the night before.

When Zale appeared back downstairs around 4, he set right to heating up and feeding some more of the giblets to the kitten without being asked and set the table for dinner before offering to help me with the rest of the preparations.

I found myself warming up to the idea of a child to keep me company while Peeta was a work, to teach how to be mannerly and helpful in the way Annie had done with Zale, and to let be silly and play in the rain on warm summer days when the only future they had to worry about was the afternoon.

"I think you've done your fair share of work for the day," I told Zale as I basted the turkey and placed it back in the oven.

"Why don't you go watch some television until Peeta gets home and then you'll have the energy to brag to him about your first turkey over dinner?" I suggested and Zale grinned and nodded.

"Go on." I said and he thanked me and bounced off towards the living room with the happily fed kitten right on his heels.

Yes, making a family with Peeta was something I really could see myself doing without much fear anymore.

Peeta arrived home at about a quarter till 5 with a big kiss for me and a celebratory angel food cake with strawberries and cream for Zale.

"Good choice." I whispered as Zale bounded into the kitchen asking Peeta roughly a million and one questions from what he brought for dessert to whether he thought the turkey he shot was bigger than the first one Peeta himself had shot.

I found myself unable to stop smiling at the youthful energy that seemed to fill every corner of the house since Zale arrived and if I was reading Peeta's face correctly when he came down after a quick change of clothes, he had obviously been afflicted with the same contagious joy.

Peeta let Zale recount every minute of our day together over dinner, never interrupting him except to comment on something he said or to ask a question that led to even more excited sharing.

"I made myself a hat from some of the palm leaves on the side of the porch, I hope that's okay." The boy said as he worked his way through a drumstick more slowly than he'd eaten anything else that week so far. I noticed he only took a helping of each side dish as well and Peeta and I shared a look that said he saw Zale's hesitancy to eat too much or too fast as well.

"I could make one for you tomorrow Peeta. I mean, that is if I'm staying around the house…" Zale said looking between the two of us and I nodded.

"Sure you can." I smiled and took a second helping of white meat for myself and scolded Peeta for feeding the skin from his own drumstick to the kitten who was sitting looking up at him expectantly from between our two chairs. "Tomorrow is Wednesday so we'll clean out Haymitch's chicken coop in the morning and then you've got the rest of the day to yourself."

Zale made a face about the coop cleaning but seemed pleased that it would only take up part of the day.

"Actually, I was going to come home around lunch tomorrow and paint a little if you want to give it a try yourself." Peeta offered and Zale smiled and swallowed a mouthful of mashed sweet potatoes before he answered.

"Really? You'd teach me how to paint?" Zale asked raising his eyebrows hopefully and Peeta laughed softly and nodded.

"Maybe I could make something for my mom…she'd probably like that." He said proudly and Peeta and I shared a warm look.

The love Zale shared with Annie was something to aspire to as a parent. I only hoped that I would have as special a relationship with my own children one day as the one I saw blossom between those two from the first time I saw them together.

"Absolutely! I'll show you some different techniques and you can decide which you like best. I'm sure your mom would love anything you made to take home for her." Peeta said as he stood to begin cleaning up the dishes from dinner and asked Zale if he wanted some angel food cake.

"Uhh…maybe I'll wait and have mine tomorrow with lunch." He said nervously and put a hand over his full stomach.

"Are you sure?" Peeta asked, trying to hide a knowing smile.

"I had a lot of dinner so I'm good for now," Zale replied trying to look like it was a decision he'd thought a lot about. However, I knew that from queasy look that passed over his face when Peeta first took out the cake, as well as the strawberries and cream to go with it, that he wouldn't be having dessert that night.

"Can I be excused or do you want me to help with the dishes?" He asked politely and Peeta shook his head.

"You shot the bird, Katniss cooked; I'll clean up here if you both want to go relax with some television." He offered and I gave him a quick peck on the lips before following Zale out into the living room.

I suspected Zale was tired when he had come down to help with dinner already in a pair of sleep pants and a sleeveless undershirt for bed, but I could tell for sure that he was exhausted when he stretched out on the couch without even bothering to grab the remote to put on what he wanted to watch. Instead, he let me choose and I settled on a romantic movie that I knew would put him out like a light in no time at all.

I smiled down at him as I came to the end of the couch where Zale's head was and tickled his neck to make him sit up a bit so that we could share the couch. The steady rain we'd been experiencing since lunch had stuck with us into the night and was actually on its way to intensifying into a thunderstorm.

I was pleasantly surprised when, as soon as I sat down, Zale scooted forward from where he had been half sitting up so that I could join him, and laid with his head in my lap facing the television. I was startled that he would do something so reminiscent of his younger years when he had spent most of the week trying to show Peeta and I how manly he'd become. After the initial shock wore off, I was delighted to have been given back a small piece of that little boy I had watched grow into the little man before me.

I felt my eyes well up with tears and wondered if this was how parents felt all of the time; engaged in this endless tug-o-war between celebrating new milestones reached and mourning the things that would never be new again like first smiles, first laughs, first shaky steps from the safety of one parents' arms to the other.

I subtly wiped the corners of my eyes and dropped my right hand to thread my fingers through the soft, strawberry-blonde waves of hair on Zale's head like I'd done a hundred times before. I could feel him take a deep breath (perhaps he'd even yawned) as he relaxed his neck muscles and the warm weight of his head pressed harder into the thigh it was resting on.

I sat there, stroking his hair and watching his lashes take longer and longer to make the trip back towards his brow. Whatever movie was on the television had been long forgotten as all of my attention was focused on the head in my lap and the rise and fall of Zale's back as he drifted off to sleep in my arms.

"Told ya."

Peeta's deep voice startled me from the little world I'd slipped into that contained only myself and Finnick's son and I looked up at him slightly dazed as he stood in the kitchen doorway.

"You're a natural." He finished with a smile and walked over to sit on the arm of the couch that I was leaning against.

I smiled and leaned my head into Peeta's side gently, soaking up all of those wonderful feelings of home and family that had become more welcome in my heart over the past few years and certainly over the past few days.

He reached up and toyed with the single braid winding its way down the right side of my head and flicked his thumb back and forth across the tip of it lovingly. We were pulled out of our reverie by a bright flash of lightning and a closer, louder crack of thunder than any others so far that evening.

"Want me to carry him up?" Peeta whispered and I shook my head and rubbed Zale's back when he startled slightly from the thunder.

"Nah, just let him lay there for a little longer…I'm comfortable like this." I said and Peeta leaned down to kiss the top of my head, holding his lips against my part for a long few seconds as I continued to stroke Zale's head.

"Sure." He finally whispered and then moved over to stretch out in the recliner and we watched the rest of the movie in comfortable silence.

Peeta did eventually carry Zale up to bed and tucked him in while I showered quickly and pulled on a pair of Peeta's shorts and a tank top for bed. I towel dried my hair so that it was only damp before I left the bathroom and entered our bedroom rubbing my nightly lotion into my patchwork of skin.

I could smell that Peeta had already put his lotion on, even from across the room where he lay in bed waiting for me.

"Storm's really kicking up." Peeta said nodding towards the closed windows. "I put the air on a little higher so that it'll reach the second floor tonight and I closed Zale's windows too."

I lifted the sheets and climbed into bed where I found Peeta wearing a matching pair of shorts to the ones of his I'd put on.

"Still look better in those than me," Peeta mumbled when he saw me looking between the two of us during another flash of lightning and I snuggled into his arms with a smile.

"I found the copy of the memory book we keep at the cabin under Zale's pillow when I put him to bed." He whispered beside my ear and I felt a stab of sadness straight to my heart and brought my arms up to lay them over Peeta's around my waist.

"Opened to Finnick's page?" I asked in a loud whisper and Peeta sighed as I felt his nose rub up and down the length of my neck in back as he nodded.

"Of course," He whispered back and I turned over and wrapped my arms around Peeta's waist, needing to be closer to him. I always did whenever I thought about the good people we'd lost and how fortunate I was to still have Peeta.

"We should let him take it home with him." I suggested and Peeta made what I assumed was a noise of approval. I settled my cheek against his chest and his hands smoothed my hair down my back lovingly.

"I'll just tell him to keep it in his room so it doesn't upset Annie." I whispered and lifted my head to kiss his throat, his chin and then his lips lightly.

"I think he has a pretty good idea of what and what not to say around her already based on my eavesdropping on their phone call the other morning." Peeta admitted and I crinkled my nose.

I had noticed this as well having listened in on one of their calls earlier in the week myself. Zale kept the conversation light and it was obvious he also kept it on track and moving forward, pulling his mother back in with only a key word or two when she must have drifted off to some other topic.

"I know, I listened to their conversation the first night he was here…" I admitted as well and Peeta smiled and tilted his head to press his lips to mine gently.

The kiss was just beginning to deepen into something more when we both pulled apart with a gasp after another loud, rumbling crack of thunder shook the house following a close lightning strike.

We shared a full-bellied chuckle together and Peeta pulled the covers up over our heads so that we were hiding under them together like little children might do in a storm. I giggled softly, unable to help the nervous reaction. It was one I'd had to the sound of thunder since Prim and I were small children sharing a bed and overreacting to the power of nature you feel when a thunderstorm rolls though.

I pushed aside those thoughts of Prim with only a passing feeling of guilt. I loved my little sister with all of my heart during the time I had her, but if I was to be able to move on with my life, I needed to not let every daily event that reminded me of her spoil my good mood. It was especially important when I was with Peeta, like in that moment when I could hear him still chuckling softly during our shared a moment of youthful joy together in the quiet of our own bedroom.

"Woah! That was a big one." I laughed and snuggled into Peeta's arms again as we tried to find our way back together in the inky blackness created beneath the sheets.

"Mmm…it was." Peeta chuckled back and I felt his strong hands slide down my back to grip my ass tightly through the thin shorts I was wearing.

"I think I need you to find a way to distract me from the storm so I don't get scared…" he teased and I felt his lips move up the curve of my jaw to my ear where he lightly tugged on the lobe with his front teeth.

The sensation created by him nipping at my ear in the complete darkness beneath the covers put all of my senses on heightened alert since I couldn't really tell where he might go next without being able to see into his eyes.

"Peeta…" I warned, but it sounded pathetically weak even to my own ears as he gently rolled me to my back and straddled my left thigh. My traitorous body surged up towards his when I felt how hard he already was each time he ground his hips down into mine.

"The rain is loud and it's thundering…he won't hear us." Peeta whispered against my cheek.

I could feel him leaning on one elbow on the mattress beside my left as his free hand came up to sneak beneath the tank top I was wearing. He caught one breast in the V between his thumb and forefinger and slowly began to massage up to the nipple as it hardened and again I couldn't help but raise my back into his gentle touch.

"Peeta…" I said again but this time it was a whimper; an appeal for him to keep going. Peeta's response to my words was immediate.

"Kat…I love you."

He moaned against my cheek and moved his mouth back to mine, tugging at my full bottom lip with his teeth like he'd done to my ear. I moaned back and opened my mouth to him, welcoming his tongue in where it tangled with mine.

"I love you too, Peeta. Uhn! You feel so good…"

I gasped between kisses and lightly scratched my fingernails up and down his sides from just beneath his armpits to the waist of his shorts and back, causing Peeta to grind his hips harder and faster into my hip.

We were so caught up in our little bubble of sensations beneath the covers that we barely noticed the next flash of lightning or tremendous clap of thunder until the next, less natural sound we heard was the creak of the door next to ours and the timid knocking of a small hand on our own bedroom door.

We both froze and Peeta tugged the covers back from our heads as we worked to catch our breath.

"Zale?" Peeta called out in as normal a voice as he could manage with a raging hard-on.

"Yeah?" Came the timid reply on the other side of the door and Peeta climbed off of me and sat up against the pillows on his side of the bed as I righted my clothing and tried to do the same.

"What's wrong?" Peeta asked looking over at me in the dim light and touching his stomach. I assumed he was asking me if I thought Zale might still be feeling sick so I shrugged and looked back at the door as it opened slowly and the boy's head appeared through the crack.

"Umm…well…I was wondering…um…if I could sleep on your floor…maybe…if it's okay…" he mumbled.

I could just see the edge of a pillow sticking through the crack as well and assumed a blanket wasn't far behind.

Before Peeta or I could answer, another bolt of lightning lit up the sky followed by a booming rumble of thunder. Zale shot into the room like he was on fire and perched wide-eyed on the end of our bed. I glanced over at Peeta with a small smile as Zale's request suddenly made sense to me.

He was scared of the thunderstorm.

I bit my lip to keep from smiling when I noticed Peeta was almost as close to tears as Zale, but obviously for a completely different reason.

"Uh…yeah…yeah, sure." Peeta said with a sigh and nodded to the comforter folded at the end of the bed that Zale was sitting on.

"Take that and lay it out on the floor at the end of the bed and use your pillow and blanket." He directed and Zale nodded as he slipped off the bed and tugged the comforter to the floor.

We looked at each other again as we listened to Zale arranging the makeshift bed and an apologetic smile was exchanged between the two of us. I reached out for the middle of the bed and Peeta's hand met mine there without a word.

He threaded his fingers through mine and gave my hand a light squeeze as we held each other's gaze as best we could in the dark bedroom and shared a silent promise for another time.

A few moments later Zale's head popped up over the end of the bed and he smiled bashfully.

"Sorry…I just don't like thunderstorms." He said so quietly that we could barely hear him over the rain pelting the sides of the house.

"It's okay, Zale. Everyone is afraid of something." I said climbing out of bed and walking around to where he was kneeling on the floor. I set a hand gently on his back and guided him to lay down with his head on the pillow before covering him with the blanket he had dragged with him from next door.

"Just get some sleep okay? Peeta and I will be right here if you need us." I promised and brushed his bangs back from his forehead as he nodded slowly and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." I whispered and leaned down to press my lips to the space I had uncovered on his forehead and Zale snuggled into the blankets looking a little more relaxed.

I watched him for a moment before I got back into bed and moved over, prepared to go to sleep in Peeta's arms.

"Wait, wait!" Peeta hissed as I was backing up into his chest.

I immediately froze and looked back over my shoulder at him.

"What?" I hissed back and he shook his head.

"I…I need a few more minutes here before we can cuddle, Katniss." He groaned.

I smiled sweetly at Peeta as I rolled over to face him and rested my head on his pillow. We were close enough to touch but I could tell Peeta didn't want me to do so just yet, so I folded my hands under the pillow with a little grin.

"Ah, shut up…" He whispered loudly and glanced at the window as yet another bolt of lightning lit up the night sky.

"It's a lot easier for you to back up the excitement train than it is for me." He grumbled and smiled to temper his words.

"You know, if we're going to start trying for a baby in a few months, you're going to have to get used to being interrupted like this more often…" I reminded him and Peeta smiled.

"Yeah I know. But if it means I get to watch you take care of our own child as well as you took care of Zale tonight, then I think I can put up with the occasional parenting related cock-block." He said with a wink and I stretched my neck out to kiss him softly.

"Mmmm…being a real adult is tough work sometimes." I teased in a whisper and Peeta grunted and tugged me over into his arms.

"Tell me about it." He whispered and I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heart and the occasional toss and turn from the end of our bed as I drifted off to sleep.