Piece By Piece {Completed}

Chapter 11: Special Place

"Hey Peeta?" I say walking into his paint room, he turns in his chair, smears of paint on his white shirt

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen the pearl? The one you gave me" I see something flash in his eyes but it's gone in a split second which is already making me very curious as to why

"Uh... no. I haven't seen it" he replies, I raise my eyebrow and him, he smiles brightly which just makes me sigh and walk out, the pearl has been missing for a week and I distinctly remember where I kept it but when I went to get it, it wasn't in the tiny box I kept it in which I found really odd because I could've sworn that it was in there but it wasn't. I've been tipping the house upside down to try and find it but I never found anything, I feel really bad that I lost it because it means so much to me and I hate that I've lost it.

To take my mind off it for a while I decided to go hunting which like always cleared my head, I could concentrate on something rather then losing the pearl. Summer is here and it's hotter than ever, I love summer though, it's one of the best times to come out hunting and the sun is always shining bright down at us although Peeta isn't a big fan, he gets burnt sometimes due to his slightly pale complexion but I love taking him to the lake to cool down, it's one of our favourite things to do together, spending a day in the cool, calm water.

My mom and I are finally getting along, she even agreed to leave the Capitol and move to district four, it's closer and have a surprisingly good medical building which has left her with a new home. My mom checks up on Annie often, she tells me that sometimes Annie has real bad days and just stares off into space so my mom has to take care of her and Flynn, Annie is always embarrassed but my mom always reassures her that she use to feel the exact same way which I guess bonded them together.

She also worked up the courage recently to visit with Annie and it was quite shocking to me, she handled her time her surprisingly well and I made sure that she knew how much it meant to me that she was visiting, I don't know what it was like to lose the man that I love and a child I birthed so I forced myself to forgive my mother because it would've been beyond more painful for her than it ever was for me and Peeta helped me with realising that, I thank him every chance that I get.

I pick some of the ripe strawberries with a content sigh, Peetas favourite, I remember when he first tasted the ripe fruit and I was surprised he hadn't tasted it before, but he loved it and ate the rest when I wasn't around which I couldn't be angry at so I just laughed seeing as it was amusing to see the guilty, childish, look on his face.

I walk through the door and start by washing the strawberries and putting them away, I then deal with skinned animal meat and put that to away. I go upstairs in search for Peeta and still find him in is painting room, I walk up from behind him and wrap my arms around him from behind him and place a kiss on top of his blonde curls

"You still up here?" I chuckle, now looking at his painting with a smile

"Yeah, I don't know... I can't get it out of my head for some reason" he admits, I look at them all with big smiles, Prim, my dad, Peetas family, Finnick, Cinna, even Cato, Clove and all the other passed victors who had been in the past hunger games with us, allies or not, they stand in the meadow as the sun sets behind them

"It's beautiful. You're really creative" I smile, walking around so I can straddle his lap

"You really like it?" He asks

"Love it. You should hang it when your finished" I reply and he smiles, putting his paint brush down

"Do you want to go to the lake tomorrow?" He asks

"I'd love to. You know, I picked some more strawberries" I reply, his eyes immediately lights up and I chuckle

"I knew you'd react like that. You're cute like that" I sigh then he grins which then causes me to roll my eyes. With a kiss I leave Peeta to paint and so I decide to sit out on top of the front steps of our house, as I do Haymitch walks out of his place and walks down his own steps, he stops in front of my place and looks at me with a raised eyebrow