Better Games

3. Snowed In

It was the afternoon. Peeta and I had washed our plates for breakfast and busied ourselves until lunch. I had convinced him to grab clothes from his house which was where he was now. I was currently trying to bring anything to keep us cozy and busy before the big storm started. I had started the hot chocolate and right now was upstairs pulling quilts out of a linen closet. I stack three quilts in my hand and hold them with the bottom of my chine while closing the door to the closet with the heel of my foot. Barely seeing where I'm walking I feel my way to the stairs and cautiously walk down the stairs step by step. I finally get to the living room and set the quilts down on the couch. Then suddenly I had an idea.

I take the vase of flowers and book off of the coffee table and put it them in the kitchen. I light a fire in the fireplace and move the coffee table to the far corner of the living room. I then take one of the quilts and spread it out on the living room floor between the couch and the fireplace. I go to the kitchen to get the hot chocolate. I take two cups of it and set them on the floor in the living room. I go back to the kitchen to get a plate of fruits and sandwiches and put the on a tray. I think this through one more time, searching for more ideas. I got into the study and pick out some interesting books and also find some cards and puzzles. I bring all these to the living room and organized them on the floor. As I'm getting up I hear the front door open and for a moment the howling wind is audible before it closes.
"Katniss," I hear Peeta call out.
Choosing not to respond I quickly hide behind one of the arm chairs, thankful for my quiet hunter feet.
"Katniss I'm back," he says again to the air. I hear him set a bag down and listen to that familiar tread, his prosthetic is barely noticeable but I can hear it nevertheless. I hear him getting closer and closer and I hunch more and more behind the chair, and I can't help myself from grinning.
"Katniss where are-," he stops and I assume he's looking around the living room.
I hear him get closer and closer until I hear the hot chocolate mugs rattle and a book being picked up. This was my chance. I carefully get up from behind the chair to find a Peeta with crouched down on one knee, his back turned to me.
"Boo!" I say careful not to scare him to much.
He jumps slightly and turns around.
"You did this?" He asks grinning.
"Yeah," I say smiling at the floor. I look anywhere but him, "I thought if we were going to be stuck in the house all day then we should at least be cozy and have things to do."
He steps closer to me and lifts my chin up to look at him.
"Thank you."
It's little things like these that cause my stomach to flutter. I'm not sure what we're doing with each other or what this is. But I know it's a start, and he does too. These are the first few days in weeks that we actually touch each other again. Just small things like this, him lifting my face up by my chin, brushing our hands together. That kiss yesterday was the first time in so long that I realized how much I missed him. The sureness of his touch, the softness of his lips, the safety of his arms. I'm not sure what will happen with us and honestly I'm afraid, but it's been a very long time since I've felt something like this. Happiness...hope. And looking at Peeta and being with him...ever since he's com back to Twelve I've been getting better. And he has to. We were shy towards each other when he first started visiting me in my house. I went to his sometimes too but he preferred mine. Last time I went to his house it was it an alright state, no better than mine at the time, but I did see a broken vase here, a ripped lampshade there. Signs of his attacks. I didn't mention it since it was the reason he didn't want me to visit his house often. But that was in the beginning. We're getting better now that we spend time with each other, see each other everyday. I don't think we've spent a day without seeing each other for at least 2 months now. And this was one of the reasons why a winter storm wasn't going to separate me and him. It was like how I feared the white doors of our rooms in training center in the Capitol we're going to lock once we were in our rooms, separating us until the Games.

I come out of my trance and see that Peeta has been watching me intently for the past minute I spent thinking. I assumed my expression went from happy, to solemn, to sad and scared within that time because a look of worry is plastered on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"I was just thinking of a time when I didn't know anything for sure that's all."
"And you do now?"
I think about my response and finally answer, "Yes. With you I'm sure, with you I have hope. You're, you're," I think of a time long before the training center doors, "you're my dandelion in the spring."
"I remember that day. You picked up the dandelion and then saw me. That was the first time in a long time since I saw you smile."
I smiled as he is finished.

We spend the rest of the afternoon sitting on the quilt eating, reading, playing cards and puzzles, we play the game we made on the roof of the training center but use the wall instead of a forcefield and a ball instead of an apple. We laugh, we talk. We were close to something you would call happy. Afternoon eventually turned into evening and evening turned into night. And as the time passes the snow builds and builds. At some point we both got under the quilts and put out the fire. Close to collapsing from sleepiness he whispered something drowsily to me, barely audible but enough to make out the two words.
"Stay with me," he says.
"Always," I respond. That was the first night I fall asleep wrapped in Peeta's arms. And the first neither of us have any nightmares.

AN: Hope you like it so far! Comment, suggest. First fanfic. Continuing the story and hoping to write more about growing back together, painting, more characters entering the story, flashbacks, and more too come. A lot planned for this story. ~Love Gail