Mockingjay: the dawning

Chapter 20: Mundanity

Katniss

I silently get dressed, tiptoeing my way around the bedroom. Peeta remains soundly asleep.

I carefully close the heavy door to our bedroom suite.

As I move quietly down the stairs, I hear stirring from Annie's room. I quickly run back up the stairs to where she was sleeping.

"Katniss?" She asks, still half asleep, as I go through the door.

"What's up?" I say calmly, as I sit next to her on the bed.

"I had a dream. A dream that Finnick was still here for this child." She says, holding back tears.

I carefully embraced her, not knowing the words to comfort her.

"Do you want to come downstairs? Have something to eat?" I say, noticing that her hands were shaky.

"Yes... but I can walk on my own..." She replies, slowly moving to her feet.

I help her out of the room, noticing her cautious steps.

As we approach the top of the stairs, I notice apprehension in her movement.

"It's okay; I'll get Johanna." I say, rushing down the stairs.

I find her in the living room, watching a movie.

"Can you help Annie down the stairs? If not I can wake Peeta..." I start.

"Don't wake Peeta." She says, getting up quickly and rushing up the stairs.

I see her carefully lift Annie and gingerly walk down the stairs, setting  her down in the lounge.

I walk briskly to the kitchen, getting out ingredients for dinner.

I begin making a cheese sauce for a dish I found in the capitol.

"Hey, can I help?" Johanna says, standing at the counter.

"Sure." I reply, carefully stirring the sauce as to prevent it from burning.

I watch as she gets out eggs and flour. She carefully separates the eggs into a well of flour  on the bench.

"What is that?" I ask, inquisitively.

"My grandmother's recipe. Goes well with any sauce." She says, focusing on adding eggs into the flour on the bench.

I take my sauce off of the heat and watch her carefully incorporate the ingredients. She kneads it into a dough.

"Where's Peeta's rolling pin?" She says, searching the kitchen drawers.

"Right here." I say, handing her the well-used rolling pin from the cupboard.

I watch carefully as she rolls the dough into a paper-thin layer; rolling it up, slicing it and shaking out the flat strands of dough.

"Do you mind boiling a pot of water?" She says, as she sets the sliced dough aside.

"Sure." I say, quickly boiling the water.

I let her take over, watching as she quickly moves the sliced strands of dough into the boiling water, letting it boil for a few minutes.

I watch curiously as she stirs the dough, then promptly removes it from the water.

"The pot of sauce?" She asks.

I quickly pass her the pot and notice that she put the cooked dough in the pot and stirred it with the sauce.

Did she just hijack my cooking without me even knowing it? Oh well...

She gets out a fork, loads it with strand of the dough coated in my sauce and hands it to me.

"Taste." She instructs.

The creamy cheese sauce combined with the dough is surprisingly tasty.

"Pasta. Something my grandmother used to make all the time." She says, a wistful look on her face.

"She must have been an excellent cook." I say, respectfully.

"Why don't you get Peeta and we can all have dinner?" She starts, changing the subject.

I run up the stairs, listening to hear if Peeta is still asleep.

Carefully opening the door, I note the soft rising and falling of his chest. He remains sound asleep.

Feeling slightly guilty, I sit beside him on the bed, nudging him gently.

"Peeta," I say, in a quiet tone.

I notice a shift in his movement. He turns his head and smiles. I watch as he slowly sits up.

He grabs me into a pure kiss.

"Come on, we better get downstairs..." I say, breaking the kiss.

He stands and sweeps me off my feet, carrying me down the stairs.

"And the lovebirds re-emerge..." Johanna exclaims.

We stand and blush, never quite getting used to that comment.

"We were wondering if you were going to come down for dinner at all." She says, with a smirk.

We all sit quietly and begin to devour the food.

"Did you make this, Katniss?" Peeta asks.

"No. I did." Johanna interjects, before I can correct Peeta.

"It's really nice." He says, with his mouth full.

***

After dinner, Johanna and I returned to the kitchen to clean up the food.

"I never knew you were interested in cooking," I begin, as I wash the dishes.

"We have to find comfort in some of the mundanities in life." She replies, while drying the dishes.

I pause.

"You find comfort in hunting. Peeta finds comfort in baking. Annie finds comfort in sewing and fishing. I find comfort in cooking. It is how we cope and pretend to have normal lives." she continues.

"I guess so." I reply, softly, never having come to that conclusion myself.

"Without these things, I'm almost sure I would go mad. And I think you would too. I think we all would. Because it sort of grounds us, you know?" She says, looking up at me.

"I get that." I respond, quietly.

As we carefully finish cleaning the kitchen, I switch the light out.

"Good night?" She starts.

"Good night." I reply, warmly, as I head up the stairs to my bedroom.

Author's note:

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