a/n: Almost to 300 reviews! Woo hoo! Thanks again to everyone who has read and reviewed and to the newcomers, welcome! It's awesome that even so many months after I first posted this I am still getting favorite and follow notifications for this story. This chapter was supposed to be at the end of Chapter 37 but as it turned out to be an extra 9-10 pages, I decided to split the chapter and so what you see below is the conclusion of Katniss and Peeta's week with Zale. As I am not really a fan of PWP, I was determined that if I was going to post a chapter that was essentially a 10 page sex scene, it was going to be bound, gagged, nailed and super glued to the greater storyline and I hope that comes across when you read. When I read Mockingjay for the first time and Katniss narrates that it was 5, 10, 15 years before she agreed to children I was immediately curious as to what changed her mind after all that time and I felt (for this story) it made sense to have Finnick's child be the catalyst for that, especially since one of their own son is eventually given Finnick's name.
As always, reviews are like pennies from heaven!
Lay your clothes down on the floor,
Close the door, hold the phone,
Show me how no one's ever gonna stop us tonight.
Chapter 38
When we arrived home, I called Annie and told her Zale was safely on the train home and gave her a brief rundown on his week with us. When she asked if Peeta had gotten the chance to talk to him at all, I was happy to share with her that he had opened up to Peeta a bit and they had a nice man-to-man about the changes going on in his mind and body as he was getting older. She seemed both pleased and relieved that it had gone well. I also finally got her to admit that she was seeing someone and told her that Zale already suspected she was and I didn't think he had a problem with it at all. She said that she was more worried about what we would think since we had been so close to Finnick.
Since my own revelations that week, I was able to tell Annie without an ounce of irony that the past was the past and she deserved to be happy just as much as any of us. I quietly let her know that I was working on believing that too and she became the only other person besides Haymitch (and Zale) to know that Peeta and I were going to try for a baby.
She was so excited that I think that if she had been able to physically reach through the phone and hug me she would have but she settled for squealing in my ear and promising to send me all sorts of sentimental baby items she had kept of Zale's. I laughed and told her I would look forward to borrowing those things from her when the time came and she promised to give me any advice I asked for when I became pregnant and I thanked her for that as well.
As I came out of the study after hanging up with Annie, I shrieked when a set of strong, familiar arms came up around my waist and laughed as Peeta pressed his lips to my neck just below my ear.
"…talking about it to your girlfriend on the phone….getting all sappy with Zale at the train…" He teased in a low rumble that went through his chest into my back and sent gooseflesh spreading all over me in a way that made my libido stand at attention.
"…you're definitely ready to be a mom…" He said with such proud awe in his voice that I turned slowly in his arms and reached up to wrap my own around his neck comfortably.
"Mmmm…I am, as long as you're the dad." I teased and if possible, Peeta's smile grew even wider.
"Dad…" he whispered, testing the word on his tongue and gave a little shrug that I interpreted as nervous excitement.
"Mom…" I whispered back.
I bit my bottom lip as I looked up at him, feeling so much love for this man who had stood beside, behind when necessary, and protectively in front of me so many times for so many years.
Peeta was right: we deserved to live our lives. I was finally determined to be braver than I'd ever been, without the help of a stylist, a prep team, a mentor, an escort or even the boy with the bread. I was going to be brave all on my own and do the one thing that I'd been so terrified of becoming during my youth that I had myself convinced I'd never, ever allow myself to do.
Friend. Lover. Victor. Enemy. Fiancée. Target. Mutt. Neighbor. Hunter. Tribute. Ally.
Wife.
Mother.
I stood on tiptoes and pressed my lips to Peeta's. Softly at first but the more I thought about this new symbol I was to become for the man that I loved, the kiss grew into something more. I realized that, like the symbol of hope he'd inadvertently led me to see in that dandelion in the school yard the day after he threw me the bread, this was a similar symbol of hope to him. In doing this, becoming a mother, he would know I had finally truly begun to heal that last, most guarded wound in my heart.
The kiss steadily went from quick and passionate and to slow and meant to savor.
Peeta moved his hands from where they were splayed across my lower back down to my ass where he gripped both cheeks tightly and ground his hips into mine with a soft sigh. After so many years together, I was quick to recognize the change in the tune of our embrace and a thrill ran through me as I remembered Peeta's plan for overexerting me for the rest of the weekend.
"Peeta…" I gasped and my hips thrust forward into his of their own accord. It was as if they recognized their counterpoint in Peeta's and were being pulled to them like opposite ends of a magnet.
As our lips separated for me to gasp his name, I heard Peeta's breathing becoming fast and ragged the way it does when he's extremely turned on. I couldn't stop the moan that rose deep from my gut and out my mouth when he pushed his growing erection against my lower belly through my thin shirt. Even through his cargo shorts I could feel how hard he was and I gripped my arms more tightly around his neck.
"…Say it, Katniss….say it…" he growled and nibbled on one corner of my mouth as his lips slid down to trace the low neck of my shirt against my chest.
A wave of desire crashed through my body so strong and so fast that I fell forward into Peeta as we stumbled towards the bottom of the steps that would lead us to the second floor. Nothing was a bigger aphrodisiac for me than when Peeta was bossy during foreplay, except for maybe when that bossiness carried over into our actual love making.
I knew what he wanted me to say because he had confessed one night in quiet words whispered frantically into the darkness that he loved it when I gave him one command in particular when things were beginning to get hot and heavy.
"Peeta…" I whispered and pressed my lips to his ear so that my smooth bottom lip rubbed lightly against the soft lobe, tickling it as I spoke.
I felt his breath catch in his throat and knew he was waiting for the rest of the phrase that confirmed for him how much I truly did want him in this way. More than the real/not real game, more than any sweet memory I could share with him from before the hijacking, there was one thing I could say and know exactly what effect it would have on my usually sweet, mild-mannered husband.
"…take me to bed." I said in such a light whisper that I was surprised Peeta even heard me at all.
I was certain he had though when the next thing I knew, I was being lifted off of my feet and pressed roughly against the wall at the foot of the stairs.
Peeta's hands and lips seemed to be everywhere at once. He suckled at my ear lobes, my neck, and along my collar bone. His hands kneaded every bit of flesh they came into contact with from the backs of my shoulders all the way down to my thighs and calves which were wrapped around his waist. We rocked against each other like we were already making love, the soft moans and gasps so similar to those exchanged during the act itself that it only drove us to move more urgently and I banged my head against the wall a few times but could honestly not have cared less.
My own hands were not idle as he ravished me, tangling in his hair, kneading the muscles in his back, gripping his ass and guiding him to rock his hips harder and faster into mine to build up the kind of pressure that would give me the most gratification.
Part of our eagerness to come together was obviously because of the missed opportunities and lack of freedom to do so whenever, wherever, and however loudly we pleased while Zale was visiting. Then again, maybe it was the fact that we had decided that week to start a family, but whatever the reason for it, Peeta and I went at each other like we hadn't really done since our late teens when we were first together that way.
"Bed…please, Peet…take me to bed…" I nearly sobbed and that was his undoing.
Peeta dropped me to my feet and roughly pulled my shirt up and over my head, tossing it on the floor followed by my bra which I noticed landed across the railing and hung there carelessly.
He didn't stop there though, moving next to the waist of my light linen pants and untying the drawstring there even as he brought his lips back to mine and his tongue invaded my mouth.
"Peeta!" I cried tugging on his hair as he crouched briefly to push down both my pants and underwear and to help me slip off the sandals I was wearing.
I cried out again when he kissed his way back up my body, pressing his lips to both knees, ghosting over my center where he also brushed his nose briefly through the curls there before his lips trailed up to my navel and then my breasts as he stood upright again.
"Love you." He whispered bringing his lips back to mine again as he easily hoisted me up into his arms.
My legs went back around his waist and I gripped his shoulders as he carried me quickly up the stairs leaving a trail of my clothing behind us.
"Fuck…I love you so much, Kat. I always have…" he grunted holding me against our bedroom door momentarily as he reached down with one hand to push open the door.
I pulled back to look into his eyes, the knuckles of one hand stroking lightly over his cheek as I tried to convey with my eyes alone how much I cherished him.
"I know baby…I love you so much too." I smiled but then became momentarily distracted as a quiet 'meow' somehowreached my ears through the pounding of my blood racing through my body and I glanced down at the floor beside the door.
Buttercup Two was staring up at the two of us, his tail twitching back and forth as he waited to be welcomed into our bedroom for the rest of the evening.
"Sorry dude," Peeta chuckled and held the kitten back gently with one foot as he pushed the door open. "This is a one man show."
I laughed as he stepped inside the bedroom with my naked body still wrapped around him and then kicked the door shut behind us.
An indignant 'meow' came through the door making us both laugh softly as Peeta walked to the bed and gently lay me down on top of the covers. I opened my arms to him immediately but a wicked smiled stretched across Peeta's face and he shook his head slowly before gripping my legs behind the knees and dragging me down the bed until my legs hung off the bottom of the bed.
If I wasn't already wet before, I was saturated once I realized his intentions. I moaned and reached down to touch myself briefly, trying to alleviate some of the burn I was feeling knowing his lips would soon be on me.
"No, no, no…" Peeta scolded and kneeled, still fully clothed, at the end of the bed between my knees and gently lifted my feet to his shoulders opening me up to him.
"Allow me, ma'am." He said gallantly with his typical charming smile and I grinned in return and dropped my head back so that I was looking up at our bedroom ceiling.
My hips began to shift in anticipation of what would come next and I chuckled softly when Peeta lifted one of my feet from his shoulder and playfully began to nibble on the toes one at a time starting with the big one. I could feel the smile on his lips as he did so and dug the toes of the other foot into the crook of his neck to get him back on track.
"Ow! Hey!" He laughed and swatted the foot away as I lifted myself up on my elbows and raised my eyebrows at him.
"Then get to it!" I scolded playfully and wiggled my hips in front of his face enticingly.
"Obviously you can tell that I'm ready…" I said glancing down at my center which drew Peeta's eyes there as well.
The look I saw in them made me pant and I dropped onto my back again when one of his hands came up to separate my knees a little more and the other crept up the mattress to gently probe inside of me with two fingers.
I couldn't help crying out when he curled those fingers inside of me, nor could I stop my legs from snapping shut, trying to keep his hands there.
"Peeta!" I nearly screamed and thrust my hips into his hand as he began to move the fingers in and out of me agonizingly slow and grounding my lower body to the bed with his other arm wrapped around one of my thighs.
"Shhhhh, I'm gettin' there, Kat." He murmured with a soft laugh.
He kissed up one calf, over my knee and slowly made his way up my thigh as I shamelessly pushed my hips towards his meandering mouth, my hands balled in fists gripping the comforter beneath me.
I could feel a layer of sweat breaking out over my whole body and knew for sure that I was sweating from head to toe when Peeta's hand that was around my thigh began to slide easily up and down the outside of it, collecting the moisture there and drawing little patterns in it as his lips got closer and closer to where I desperately needed them to be.
I was just about to threaten him with a week's worth of laundry duty if he didn't satisfy me immediately when I felt the stiff tip of his tongue trace a line straight up the slit. My whole body arched off the bed and I did scream his name that time.
I couldn't help returning my hands to his hair because I needed him to stay exactly where he was and, that far into our sexual relationship together, I had no problem telling him so in more ways than one.
"Yes! Right there!" I cried out.
It sounded like a sob as my fingers gripped Peeta's hair more tightly and he buried his face between my legs, thrusting his full tongue into me.
After close to 15 years together Peeta had gotten exceptionally skilled at knowing the combination to the safe that sheltered my deepest fantasies and desires and he proved this by working me over quickly to wind me up and then slowing down to stoke the fire he could obviously tell was raging just beneath the surface of my skin.
I had to hold back a laugh at the sound he made when I told him he was focusing on the right place because, while his mouth was otherwise deliciously occupied, he was still able to force out what sounding like a 'duh' before he dove in with renewed enthusiasm.
I knew he wouldn't relent and allow me to come until I was a whimpering, gelatinous, sex-crazed mess, melting at the very touch of his hands and feel of his mouth on me. I could tell he knew I was at that point when I began boldly thrusting my hips into his mouth and fingers in the same way I would have been doing if I were experiencing the deep thrust of his shaft inside of me rather than his tongue.
"Peet…please, I need to…make me come! Now!" I panted and released his hair when he pulled back momentarily and stood at the end of the bed between my spread legs.
I lifted my head with great effort to give him the most desperate face I could manage, and then watched with open interest as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and tossed it aside followed quickly by his khaki shorts and underwear.
"Oh, I plan to, Katniss…" he said between short puffs of breath and I took a moment to let my eyes wander over his fit upper body, still so strong after years of lifting and mixing ingredients. I felt another surge of hormones when my eyes fell upon his erection, straining so much that it nearly touched his stomach. "I plan to make you come over and over again before the morning and probably even a time or two before I head in to work."
He grunted and I watched mesmerized as he took himself in hand kneeling between my open thighs and began to stroke himself the way I usually did.
"But for your first one tonight, I want to see you make yourself come…" he whispered and I felt my body stiffen momentarily but hoped he didn't notice.
Peeta didn't ask for me to touch myself in front of him often, but I knew based on the way he reacted when I did so that it was one of his favorite fantasies. He'd even told me that most of the time when he was 'taking care of himself' he was thinking of me doing the same and that was usually the image that helped him to finish.
"Come on, Kat…" he said gently when he sensed my hesitation.
"I'll make love to you in any way you want after you finish and you're so damn beautiful when you do it…it drives me completely wild…" he confessed and his hand moved faster, his hips thrusting forward slightly just thinking about it. When he bit his lip and closed his eyes briefly I was a goner.
"Okay…" I whispered back quietly and propped my legs up on the end of the bed, opening myself up to him more.
I tugged one of the pillows down from the top of the bed and placed it under my head so that I could watch what I was doing as well as Peeta's reaction to it.
His nostrils began to flare slightly and his pupils were so dilated I had to look closely to make sure it was just extreme excitement and not the beginnings of an episode.
"You alright?" I asked softly and Peeta seemed to know exactly what I was asking because a strangled laugh left his mouth and he nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, yeah…I'm fine, just takes a lot more willpower not to blow my load when you're doing this for me." He promised and I smiled up at him and rolled my eyes slightly.
"You really don't know, Katniss. You doing this is hot, but what makes it so special is that it means you trust me completely because you'll let me watch something so intimate and personal. You trusting me, that much is the sexiest thing in the world to me." He gasped and I shook my head slightly.
Leave it to Peeta to say something so adorably heart-warming to me while we were in the middle of self-pleasuring ourselves for the other's enjoyment.
I didn't need to hear any more. I felt that winding sensation building in my chest and spreading down to my lower belly as I reached one hand down to open myself up to him and used the other to slowly spread the sopping wetness there all over the area to prepare myself.
"I do, sweetheart. I trust you completely." I whimpered and stroked my hand faster.
"Fucking hell, you're so wet, Kat…" Peeta gasped and placed his free hand on the mattress to steady himself as he looked straight down between my legs and began to move his hand a little slower so that he could hold off.
I wasn't always so brazen but inspiration hit me and I removed the hand that had been stroking through my wetness and reached up to pop two glistening fingers into his mouth.
Peeta's eyes rolled back in his head and he closed them briefly as the ecstasy of me doing such a thing overwhelmed his senses for a moment.
"Mmmm…delicious…" he grinned when I'd pulled back my fingers once he licked them clean and then returned to touching myself.
Peeta remained so intensely focused on what I was doing that I was able to just let my body take over and respond the way it wanted to, the way it did when he was working late hours or stayed the night in the apartment above the bakery and I soon found myself writhing and moaning as if I were alone.
I slid the two fingers still warm from Peeta's mouth deep into myself and used my thumb to methodically pet and tap at the small bundle of nerves above my buried fingers. My legs closed occasionally around my own hand as the pressure built but Peeta would always reach out to gently push my knees apart again so that his view was unobstructed.
He continued to stroke himself, making sure to go slowly but I could tell he was squeezing hard. I sped things up myself when I noticed the drops of pre-cum slipping from the head and Peeta spreading them little by little over the length of his shaft.
"Baby…" he warned with a growl that told me it was getting more difficult for him to hold back.
I nodded and arched my back, still trying to hold his gaze even as my face crumpled with the force of my own impending orgasm.
"I know. I'm so close…it's almost there, I can feel it…" I moaned and rocked my hips harder into my own touch.
I felt one quick wave of pleasure as the blood pounded in my ears and knew I was just about there so I reached up to hold onto Peeta's shoulder that was within reach as he hovered over me still touching himself and watching me.
He grunted when I touched him and I moaned as I dug my nails into his shoulder and closed my eyes as I finally let the pleasure overtake me. Wave after wave of my orgasm crashed through my body and my hips moved erratically up towards Peeta.
Before the last of them had passed I felt the warmth of his body hovering over me but didn't bother to even open my eyes as he settled himself between my legs and slowly pushed into me between the pulse of my internal muscles which were clamping over and over. He'd never done that before while I was in the middle of an orgasm and I was amazed to find another one building up right behind the one I'd just experienced.
Usually my orgasms would last about 10 seconds and then I would immediately feel sleepy and sated which was fine since Peeta had usually finished close to me and we would just hold each other for a few blissful moments. We would occasionally kiss or stroke hands over heated skin while floating in a wading pool of the emotions we'd just experienced during our coupling.
But this time, with him pushing his hardness into me with little whimpers as he began to lose control as well, I reached up and hooked my arms under his so that mine were laying flat on his back. I cried out again and again as Peeta began to pound into me roughly like he hadn't since we were younger and driven by raging hormones.
It was like having my first and only teenage lover back along with the memories of all the times we'd come together since the first. The weight of all those feelings, from the first time when he'd innocently freaked out over the little bit of blood on the sheets to that moment with the future of our little family on both our minds, drove me right to the brink again.
"I love you so much, baby." I moaned beside Peeta's ear and he turned his head just enough to catch my lips in a searing kiss.
"I've always loved you, Kat…always…" he moaned back.
Our hips began to move in a dance they'd learned so well, as the tension in my lower belly climbed quickly and even more powerful waves of pleasure slammed through me. I yelled Peeta's name over and over and over as he thrust once more powerfully and then pinned my hips to the bed as he exploded inside of me.
"Always…" I panted when he dropped his sweaty head to my chest and I cradled his full, perfect weight in my arms and between my legs as we caught our breath.
"Always…" Peeta whispered again when he finally lifted his head and looked down into my eyes as he stroked my cheek with the back of his hand.
That night, in that moment holding each other in bed, something shifted in our relationship. It wasn't a monumental shift, just a difference in the air, the way we looked at one another, the tune played on the legs of a thousand crickets outside our open bedroom window. It was if some cosmic giant had accidentally bumped into the planet and when he set it back, the world was tilted just a tiny bit differently than it originally had been. We were no longer "the girl on fire" or "the boy with the bread". We were a woman and a man at their most exposed looking at each other as the adults we had somehow managed to become after years of helping each other through the pain and suffering of our youth.
Although we had physically and sexually been adults for years it wasn't until we began to think of our future in terms of children of our own and the responsibility that came with them, that we began to emotionally accept ourselves as being part of a whole and loving adult relationship. We might not have been whole within our own minds after all we'd been through, but we'd mended the parts we could, allowing the other to be strong for us in the ways that we had come to accept we might always be weak.
"Practicing for a baby is a lot of fun…" I said, grinning.
I kissed his chin and then his lips lightly only because they were close enough that I didn't have to exert a single ounce of energy to do so.
"It is…" Peeta whispered back in the sexy, rough post-orgasmic voice that almost made me ready for another go.
"And I have to say, I greatly appreciated your celebrating that we don't have to be quiet on account of the kid anymore…" He teased.
I just laughed softly and ran my fingernails up and down Peeta's back soothingly.
"Mmpf." Peeta groaned and dropped his head to my chest, snuggling into my arms.
We adjusted our hips to accommodate the change in position without needing to break the connection between our bodies. It usually became uncomfortable pretty quickly for me if Peeta remained inside of me once he'd gone soft but on that night, after what we had just experienced, I couldn't stand to be separated from him just yet and he obviously felt the same way.
I did, however, pull the light top sheet from our bed up to cover us until it was resting across Peeta's back just below his shoulder blades. In response he slipped his arms beneath my back and hugged me closer in his arms.
"Yeah, well…" I whispered and lowered my chin to press my lips against the crown of his head in his sweaty hair. "…kinda difficult not to make noise when you're being orally assaulted."
I grinned when Peeta laughed heartily and rolled us over so that I was lying on top of him and we were tangled up in the sheet.
"Orally assaulted, huh?" he said grinning up at me through the tangle of bangs stuck to his forehead.
I nodded slowly but didn't say anything, just shifted my hips slightly in order to finally release him from my body. We both sighed at the loss.
"Well, what else would you call it?" I said laughing freely.
I reached up to work Peeta's wet hair into a mohawk like I used to do in bed when we were younger. The significance of the act wasn't lost on Peeta and he slid one arm from behind my back to reach up and toy with a strand of my hair as well.
"Mmmm…I guess that's a pretty accurate description…" Peeta mumbled proudly.
He then gave me such a playfully devilish grin that, when paired with the mohawk I'd fashioned atop his head, left me unable to stop the laughter from bubbling out of me once more.
"We should get some rest for a little at least if you'd like me to be conscious enough to overexert myself any more tonight." I whispered.
Peeta shifted my weight to one side so that I could slip down to the mattress and snuggle into his side, with my head on his shoulder to sleep.
He reached across his chest for my hand and when our fingers linked together, Peeta brought our joined hands to his lips and kissed my fingers reverently.
"Sleep, sweetheart, I'm right here." He whispered.
He entwined our legs together under the covers, my thin, hairless ones and his, one strong and hairy, the other cool and smooth plastic. I knew I should have him take it off, but I didn't know what he had planned for later so I let it be. I looked forward to putting cream on the stump later before he went to work, perhaps after a relaxing shower together in the morning.
"I know you are." I whispered back and lifted my head to kiss his lips lightly.
"Love you." I said quietly.
Peeta returned the sentiment and pulled me closer in his arms as we both settled in to sleep for a bit. We'd only been quiet for a few minutes when the stillness of the room was broken by a sound from outside our bedroom door.
"Meowwwwww!"
Peeta groaned and I snorted as I turned my face into his neck and shook with laughter.
"Go away, asshole!" Peeta yelled out.
He laughed and threw a pillow from behind his head in the direction of the door and we both lifted our heads to look at it. I couldn't contain my laughter when two little orange paws suddenly appeared under the door, sweeping back and forth as the kitten looked for a way in.
"Just remember which one of us brought home the asshole." I whispered and slipped out of the bed naked and crept to the door.
Peeta groaned again and sat up in bed as I opened the door. The kitten pranced in proudly with a sweet little 'mew' and hopped up on the end of the bed. I petted his head and he purred before walking over to climb into Peeta's lap, twitching his tail right under Peeta's nose. He swatted the kitten's tail away affectionately before scratching him behind one ear.
"Yeah, yeah…you win." Peeta mumbled as I climbed back under the sheet with him and snuggled into his side again.
"Meow."
The kitten purred and hopped over Peeta to settle into his other side, kneading the blankets a few times before he settled in and curled up in a little ball to sleep.
"Yeah fine," Peeta whispered and wrapped his arms around me as we turned into each other more and I chuckled softly again.
"But when we wake up again, it's either under the bed or out of the room for you…" he warned with a smile in his voice.
"The first Buttercup at least knew well enough to make himself scarce when we wanted to have sex," he said and I laughed harder at his explaining the rules of being feline wingman to our new kitten.
"I'll put him back out when we wake up later," I said trying to sound casual through a yawn. "We don't want to have him scratching sensitive parts while you're getting your own oral assault."
Peeta's whole body stiffened instantly, to the point even the kitten lifted his head and looked up at him inquisitively.
I could tell Peeta was opening and closing his mouth, trying to find some witty retort to what I'd just said so I lifted my head and smirked at him.
"Yeah, I know…I'm kind of awesome." I said with another yawn.
Peeta pulled me closer in his arms and kissed the top of my head as one of his hands came to rest possessively on my ass.
"Yes. Yes you are, sweetheart." He whispered and we snuggled in close together for a short nap.