Chapter 57: Concern
Peeta and Haymitch return late the following evening to District 12. They carry with them the burden of the upcoming Games, but Peeta doesn't want to think about that now. He just wants to see Katniss and hold her. Katniss is the one who helps to make sense of his world.
As Peeta walks into the house, he sees a light in the kitchen and food set out on the table. Katniss has prepared a supper for his return. Peeta wants to see her and the children first, so he quietly climbs the stairs trying not to wake them. He looks into Prim's room and sees she is sleeping soundly with her feet peeking out from under the covers. This is how she always sleeps, even in the winter. Prim doesn't like to be confined. She is a lot like Katniss.
Next, Peeta heads into their room and sees Pik in his cradle, arms stretched above his head, sleeping peacefully. Peeta looks across to the bed, but there is no sign of Katniss. The bed is still made, so Katniss hasn't gone to bed after putting the children to sleep. He hopes she has just fallen asleep somewhere else while she was waiting for him to come home. Peeta goes from room to room turning on the lights and searching for Katniss. He heads back downstairs and, when he reaches the front of the house, Peeta finds her sleeping on the sofa in the front parlour. She has a blanket pulled up over her legs and entwined in the fingers of her right hand is the locket Peeta had given her. Peeta kneels down beside Katniss and gently takes the locket from her hand. He leans across and kisses her as Katniss begins to stir.
"Peeta? Oh my God, Peeta!" Katniss throws her arms around him. She starts to kiss him – first on his lips, then his eyelids, his forehead and his cheeks – delighted to have him home. They hold each other for a long moment before Peeta draws Katniss up from the sofa. He begins to kiss her more deeply and, with only a light nightdress covering her body, Peeta soon feels her response. Katniss quickly becomes urgent in her efforts to remove whatever barriers stand between her flesh and his until finally no obstacles remain between them. Peeta is going to be hers and she is going to be his…in the right way, at the right time.
Their reunion has been blissful and once again serves to strengthen the bond between them. In the intervening months, after Peeta's return, this helps Katniss slowly begin to come to terms with Pik's diagnosis. Peeta spends a lot of time reassuring Katniss that he does not blame her for what has happened to Pik and encourages Katniss to stop blaming herself. He knows she can be very hard on herself when it comes to the people she loves, she feels so responsible for them. Pik had been her ultimate responsibility, but Peeta reminds Katniss that she did not know about Pik, about Snow or the extent of the infection which had wracked her body requiring such strong medication. All these things had been outside of her awareness and Katniss can't be held accountable for them. He does his best to convince her of this.
The fact is that Pik is healthy in every other way and growing stronger each day. He is just over four months old now with a full head of blond hair, just like Peeta. He has the grey eyes of the seam which match Katniss' and is a lively baby with a ready smile. Far from making him sullen or distant, Pik's deafness does not seem to have impacted on his sweet nature at all. Katniss and Peeta engage him using hand gestures and more pronounced facial expressions. Pik responds to these and engages with them, too. The information Katniss' mother sent has turned out to be very helpful. Katniss likes to keep Pik close and carries him in a sling most of the time, partly for his reassurance and hers, and partly to make it easier to manage Prim. She is a very active toddler, curious about the world, and Katniss is doing her best to keep up with Prim's demands as well.
Spring has turned into summer and Peeta has been working hard to establish an efficient service at the bakery so that when he has to attend the Games there will be no interruption to the business. He now has another baker working with him, plus an apprentice and two people to serve at the counter. Peeta mainly oversees the employees, making sure that the standards remain high and the work gets done on time, but he continues to create the special cakes some of their customer's request. Being creative is his outlet, a bit like hunting is for Katniss, and they both need an outlet as much as they need each other.
Haymitch has partially given in to his old demon, the drink, and Katniss has taken him to task over it more than once. She has tipped his liquor down the sink on a number of occasions, which made Haymitch mad, but Katniss didn't care. Haymitch needs to be sober, not just for the Games, but for Prim who has come to love him. Katniss can't bring Prim over, or let Haymitch into the house, if he has been drinking. He is a sullen drunk and Katniss does not want to expose the children to Haymitch when he is like that. Katniss is trying to encourage Haymitch to clean up his act by inviting him over for meals and encouraging him to spend more time with the family so that he can take his mind off whatever is bothering him. The children keep her busy, Peeta is busy in the bakery, but Haymitch has too much time on his hands and that's his problem. Katniss has spoken to Peeta about this and they both feel the same…Haymitch has been there for them and now they need to be there for him.
Katniss has also taken the time, while they wait to hear again from Paylor, to talk to Peeta about mentoring the Capitol children. She wonders how he is going to mentor other children going into the Games when it had taken such a toll on both of them, not forgetting there is little or no sympathy for these Tributes from the Capitol. There is also the reality of what has happened to Pik. Peeta tries to reassure her by telling her that they would have been mentors at the last Games if Snow hadn't engineered a way to force them into the Arena again. He tells Katniss he doesn't see these children as the enemy, but as a means to an end which is to capture Snow. Maybe the Games will not even go ahead. Either way, having been a Tribute himself, and a Victor, Peeta believes this qualifies him to be a Mentor and thinks he might do a better job than Haymitch did in the beginning, during their first Games. Katniss accepts that Peeta is determined to play his part and that he doesn't seem to be affected by what he is being asked to do. Regardless, she will be by his side to support him.