What if.....

Home!

“ Katniss.” Peeta shakes my shoulder.

“ Hmmm?” I say, blinking my eyes against the sunlight. Wait. Sunlight?! I slept through my watch.

“ What were you dreaming about?” Peeta says snapping me out of my alarm.

“ What?”

“ You had a smile on your face so I wondered what you were dreaming about…”

I smile as I remember my dream. “ Oh, nothing…”

“Please tell me!” Peeta wheedles.

“ I’ll tell you when we get home.”

He pouts at me again, “Fine.”

We decide that now it’s only Cato, and us we might as well go looking for him. We eat the rest of our food; pack up our supplies and head out. The river is dry and so are all the other pools we stop at.

“ They’re driving us to the lake.” Peeta concludes. I hear a snap to my right and turn my head to see what it was. Two large, yellow eyes stare back at me.

“ Peeta! Run!” I turn and speed toward the lake and I can hear both the mutt and Peeta behind me.

--------------------------------------------Time skip---------------------------------------------------------

I hear my name and look down the hallway to see Haymitch standing at the end of the hall. I smile and run down the hall. Launching myself into his arms I immediately start crying.

“ Shhh, sweetheart. Your safe now.”

“ Peeta?” I say my voice muffled by his shoulder. He just nods and I cry some more before Cinna comes to take me to get ready for interviews.

--------------------------------------------Time skip---------------------------------------------------------

The plate rises and suddenly Peeta is standing a few meters away. Seeing him looking so perfect I start to cry again. I take three steps toward him before throwing myself into his arms. I bring my tearstained face close to his, our breath mingling. I kiss him and the crowd goes wild. I don’t care about them anymore. He’s okay and that’s all that matters. Caesar comes over to us but Peeta just pushes him away, never breaking our lip lock. The crowd screams louder and finally Haymitch has to tear us apart. We go sit on the loveseat and Caesar begins the interview while I get as close as I can to Peeta without actually sitting on him. I lean on him and he puts an arm around me automatically. I snuggle closer as the Replay starts. After that Caesar talks to us.

“ So Peeta, age five was it?”

“Yep.”

“ And you Katniss?”

“ Oh…. I’d say when we were twelve.”

“Really? And you never were aware of each others feeling?”

“ Peeta looks surprised by my confession, so I’m guessing no.” I say looking into Peeta’s perfect, blue eyes.

After the interviews, President Snow comes to Crown us. As he places one of the crowns on my head, he smiles and, leaning in close, whispers, “ You look lovely. I wish you and Peeta all the best.” He then places a gentle kiss on my forehead. He’s a lot nicer than people make him out to be. I smile back at him and then hop in the car with Peeta to go to the train on the way home. In the train, I won’t let go of Peeta’s hand so Haymitch reluctantly allow us to sleep in the same room.

Crawling into his bed I curl up and wait for Peeta to return from the bathroom. I sit up as he crawls in next to me and pulls me down next to him. I lay on my side so his chest is against my back. He throws one arms over my waist and pulls me closer. That is exactly how Haymitch finds us the next morning. He whips the covers off us and demands that we get out of bed and put on proper clothes for the cameras at district Twelve. I run to my room and put on the dress I had worn at the reaping.

Stepping out of the train I am blinded by the multiple flashes from cameras and instinctively reach out for Peeta’s hand. Holding it tight I lead him over to where my mother and Prim are waiting. I drop Peeta’s hand and hug Prim close. Then I move to hug my mother and cry on her shoulder. She drops a kiss on my head and her eyes are full of tears. Turning I see Gale standing with Hazel and the kids. He meets my eyes but scowls when I smile at him. I hug him and Hazel before rejoining Peeta again, in front of the cameras. They ask our families a few questions and then it time to go to our new houses in the victor’s village.

I give Peeta a quick peck as his mother sends daggers at me before slipping into our new house with Prim and my mother. I watch Peeta walk away and am surprised to see that his family won’t live with him. I hurry upstairs to take a shower and get dressed in something more comfortable.

After dinner I notice that Peeta is sitting outside on his front porch so I decide to walk over. I walk up the steps and smile shyly when his eyes meet mine.

“Hello, darling.” He says.

I lean down and kiss him full on, glad that no one is watching. I then sit on his lap as he wraps his arms around my slender waist. “Hello to you too handsome!” I reply grinning.

“Finally remembered me?” He laughs.

I feign hurt. “How could I forget the man I love?”

“Hey! Get your hands off my Catnip!” We both turn to see Gale standing at the bottom of the stairs leading down from the porch.

Peeta looks confused “Who?”

I whisper in his ear how I got that name and he nods, understanding. Gale stalks up to us, and Peeta’s arms tighten momentarily on my waist. I clamber off his lap and stand next to him, his hand tightly clasped with mine. I brush off my dress with my free hand as Gale and Peeta assess each other.

“ What do you want Gale?”

“ Catnip, remember what I told you before you left..?”

“ Yes, but you also saw who I am in love with.”

“ I thought that was all for the cameras!”

“ Ha! As if! I love Peeta. I have since before I meet you.”

“ No! I refuse to listen! You’ll come back to me, you will when he leaves you.”

I sigh. “ Gale, please leave before you do something you’ll regret.”

He comes closer to me and grabs my free hand. “ Like what? This?” And then he kisses, right in front of Peeta. I raise my hand and slap him. Hard. He reels away from me, cupping his cheek.

“ We are no longer friends!” I hiss, spitting in his face.

Gale stares at me a minute longer and then walks away, dejectedly. I turn to face Peeta.

He just looks at me: surprise and awe evident on his handsome face. Then he laughs. Clutching his stomach, he doubles over with laughter.

“Stop! What’s so Funny?” I smack his upper arm and try and keep the smile off my face. Peeta grabs me around the waist and crushes me to him, still chuckling. I warp my arms around his neck and bury my face in his shirt. Then my mother ruins the moment by hollering at me that’s it is my bedtime. I blush furiously and quickly peck Peeta before running across the square.