Catching Fire: The New Story

Chapter 53

Peeta's POV

"Excuse me," says Katniss. I watch her disappear up the stairs. I jump up and dash after her, she does not take notice in me following her. Because of that, she slams the door in my face before I could enter along and comfort her. I knock on her door a few times, softly as to not arrange her sadness, asking her to let me in. I only hear her crying, her sobs racking her tiny body. Downstairs, Prim and her mother are cleaning the dishes from dinner. The plates and cups hitting each other as they are passed to one another, being cleaned, dried and put away. "Katniss, please let me in," I beg. "No!" she screams. I sigh and keep knocking, it is the only way to let her know I am here and want to enter. I finally grow tired of waiting for her to open the door, which will never happen unless I take action into my own hands. I try the knob, but it was locked. Great, I should have expected that. 

I look around for a key or something to help me inside without having to kick the door down. I search all around the halls and come up with nothing. I go downstairs and ask Prim if she has a key. She said to check on top of her doorframe, where their only spare is hidden most times. I jog upstairs once more and go to her door once again. I lift my hand up to the top frame and slide the tips of my fingers across the edge. Something metal falls from the corner and clinks onto the wooden floor. I bend down to pick up the item and hold in my hand, bronze, shiny, its edge ridged with bumps and sharp ends, a key. 

I unlock the door quickly and quietly. As low as I possibly can to not disturb Katniss in any way. I open the door a crack, making a creaking sound, and peeking into the green room. Katniss lays across her bed, head hidden in the tree brown duvet. 

I start, "Katniss, are-"

"Go away!" she screams. A pillow is aimed at me without her looking up from her bed, she almost hits me. I slam the door shut before it makes it to me. Careful, Peeta. Careful. She’s sad, and angry. Take is easy, slowly. 

I reopen the door quickly and enter her room once more. Locking the door immediately, I miss yet another pillow from Katniss's right hand. I move swiftly to the side of her bed and begin to rub her back. She cried a bit harder into her blanket, her knuckles white as they clench to the duvet. I stopped. She sat up, her eyes red and puffy from tears. I opened my arms to let her in. She hesitated, staring at me with questioning eyes, then lunged toward me and cried into my chest. I brushed the back of her hair to the tip of her braid. Her hair is soft and perfect. I twisted the end around my finger, it soothes her.

I lifted Katniss onto my lap and she curled up like a child. ''What’s wrong?" I ask. She tries to talk but the words are caught between her sobs. She chokes out a few, making little sense. I rub her back and twirl her hair until only sniffs come from her. She is completely calm, almost asleep after a few more minutes. Her eyes are locked on the window, beginning to drift close but also being in a dream state. 

"Can I?" she asks. She looks up dreadfully. "Please."

I shake my head. "No Katniss. It's too dangerous. You could get hurt- you could get killed! They could take you away from me." I bring her closer to myself. She moved around in my hold, nodding in agreement. "You can't go to the woods. I don't think you can ever go back. I'm sorry." She just nods again. The tears begin again, her eyes continue to sparkle. It broke my heart to see her so depressed.

"Okay, Peeta." She sounded like a child wanting to go run in the rain and I am her father saying no. Her eyes are sad, her voice cracks like a child’s. I feel horrible for saying no although it is the right thing to do, and I almost want to let her go and run in the rain. But the consequences of allowing so can get herself injured or sick. Peacekeepers could find her and bring her to Snow. I won't let them take her ever. She is staying with me where she is safe and loved in my arms. 

I rock her small figure back and forth until she's stopped crying, sniffing, or whining why she can't go out and run freely in the woods where she enjoyed her time. Only breathing is coming from her, her chest puffing up and down, her eyes blinking, her nostrils flaring with the air coming into her lungs. She is finally quiet, left over tears dribbling down her chin ignored. I lay her down on her bed flat on her back. The bump from our child has grown since we've known about it. I smile. She looks down and places her hand on her bulging stomach. I feel afraid that she is not happy about this creation we have made from her confused, depressed look on her face. But she smiles, ensuring me she is indeed excited about our new one. She smiled so big, the woods now a lost memory behind created thoughts of a baby. 

"What do you think they'd look like?" she asks. Her glowing eyes looked upon me for answers, her mind wondering about our child. I let my free hand lay on her stomach. 

"I don't know. You I hope," I answer. I rub her stomach with her hand above mine. Katniss’s looks so small compared to my large, man one. She shakes her head in disagreement. 

"I hope they look like you. With your eyes. Or your hair. Or-"

"You," I finish for her. She seemed vexed by her incomplete, incorrect sentence. I smile down at her angry face, how her nose and mouth become smaller and her eyes turn a dark gray. She burst out laughing in seconds after seeing my silly smile. I gain her laughter after a while. Why was that so funny? What was so hilarious? 

She breathes in after our laughter filling the empty and quiet room leaves our mouths and become a memory. She breathes in a gulp of air, making her tummy grow ten times bigger than it is. I start to imagine how she'd look like in a few months. Bigger, probably. I hope the baby is healthy. That is all I wish for from this child, and that it looks like Katniss. That would be a very pretty child. It would be our child. Our special star-crossed lover, beautiful, rebellious, baby. I laugh. Such a wonderful idea for a child.

"What?" she asks laughing again.

I shake my head. "I love you."

She doesn't look me in the eye. She doesn't even glance from her stomach. She doesn't say anything. Which worried me, does she not love me? 

I'm guessing she heard me say it. She sat up straight, looking at me so shocked. "Peeta! I do love you! It's... it's just... hard. I-I never really love anyone. I can’t trust myself with such a big commitment, but with you it’s different. Without you, I feel like I can’t breathe, or I was missing such a big piece of myself. I need you, I love you Peeta Mellark." By the end of her not so grand speech, she has tears in her eyes once more. She cups my cheeks with her palms and pulls my face into a romantic kiss I usually start. Now it's Katniss's turn. 

She moves her lips from mine, a tingling sensation left over, like I had just taken a gulp of whiskey. I rub my fingertips gently over my lips and look down. I look back up to see Katniss giggling. "What?" I ask frantically. 

"Your cheeks!" she bursts. Her finger goes out to pinch the skin on my face, turning the white into pink, darker than before. She lays back down on the bed and laughs more. I look into a mirror on her nightstand and see myself blushing full on, one cheek darker than the other. A shy smile forms on my lips. What has this love done to me? 

Katniss sighs. I lay with her on her bed. "I really do... love you... Peeta Mellark." Her voice goes quiet after that. Her eyelids fall, sheltering the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen in my seventeen years of life, the ones I love most. I brush some hair from her forehead, the little curls different from the rest of her wavy hair, and rub her stomach again. I sigh and let this moment sink in. 

I have the love of my life with me. My love from twelve years is mine, officially, finally mine. I will keep her safe, loved, for eternity. Katniss Everdeen, my love, the love of my life. I will keep her in my arms forever, along with this baby between us, we will be one.

*

Author’s Note:

Such a cute chapter!! I always freaking update late, oops. It helps me sleep. Hahahaha. I'm freakishly weird. Whatever.

How was Peeta’s POV? Was it cute enough?

Keep reading guys!

~Jez xo