I will always stay with you

Chapter 8

Katniss POV

Peeta immediately steps in front of me like he could protect me from a mountain lion with his body. 

"Fuck" I mutter under my breath. Peeta and I both have the same idea and Finnick still has no clue what is going on. He is far enough away that I cant even see him around the bend. Both Peeta and I stretch our arms out to look as big as possible, except that Peeta has a jacket so he takes that off and flaps it around. 

We both shout trying to scare it away and finnick calls from down the path "What the hell are you guys doing" I can tell the exact moment when he sees us because he stops whistling. "crap!" he shouts then slaps a hand over his mouth. 

The mountain lion is just standing on the fallen tree that we were sitting on a few moments ago and growling. It's golden eyes are narrowed to slits and it's teeth are bared. It has a long sleek, but shaggy coat and its paws are huge compared to its body so it still must be fairly young. That's not good. Where there is a young mountain lion there is bound to be an angry parent. 

This goes on for a couple of minutes; Peeta and I waving and shouting and Finnick silently freaking out behind us. All three of us walking away from the mountain lion slowly and the mountain lion stalking towards us a constant low growl escaping its jaws. 

The beast starts to run at us and Peta shoves me farther behind him as the mountain lion jumps. Peeta hold out his arm and when it lands on him, he kicks it from underneath with all of his might. We surround it, Finnick, Peeta and I kicking it, just trying to get it to leave us alone not mortally wound it. Finally it gets the point and lets out a small whine as it stalks away. 

That is the moment when I realize that the blood on the ground is not from the mountain lion. In fact I don't think we even broke its skin. The blood is coming from Peeta. He wasn't fast enough when the lion jumped and he got swiped by its enormous paw. Blood was gushing out of three deep cuts along his forearm. 

He gives me a knowing look after glancing at his arm and falls to the ground. 

"Peeta!" I shout and rush over to him. "Finnick help me!" I scream at him. Together we lift Peeta up and carry him the rest of the way (which, thankfully isn't very far) to his car. 

We rush to the hospital and when we get there they wont let Finnick or I go in with him because we are not Peeta's family. They also wont give us any information. I call the bakery and thankfully his dad answers. I tell him what happened and he says he will be right over. 

When Peeta's dad gets to the hospital we finally get the information we have been waiting for. Peeta passed out from blood loss and once they hydrated him and gave him some more blood and stitched up his arm he was fine. 

After he had some time with his father Finnick and I were allowed to go into his room one by one. I went in first. When I walked in to his room he looked like he was waking up from a long sleep. 

"Hey dude" I say shyly. 

"Hey beautiful" He responds. I give a small blush and walk over to his bedside. I sit in the chair next to the bed and take his hand. 

"Don't do that again"I scold. "Also, thank you for saving me from a mountain lion" I say and we laugh together. "I should go home and see prim" I say. 

We hug and I turn around in the doorway and say "Hey, notwithstanding the fact that we almost got eaten, I had a lot of fun today. "

"Me too" he says and smile. 

"Bye" I say

"Bye" He says

When I get home I make a pot of soup for prim and I and toast some bread in the toaster. Not the meal of champions, I know, but it will have to do for now. I go upstairs to work on the pile of schoolwork that I accumulated last week. I am about an hour into my work when I get an unexpected call. 

It's Peeta's dad. He says that the doctors want to keep Peeta overnight for observation but he has to get back to the bakery to make in orders and things for tomorrow. He was wondering if I would be able to spend the night at the hospital with Peeta. 

"I know that you just moved here too and you are pretty much his only friend" his dad says

"Mr. Mellark--stop worrying, I would like nothing more then to spend some time with Peeta and make sure he is ok" I tell him 

"Thank you so much Katniss"

"No problem"

I decide to bring my school work to the hospital, maybe Peeta can help me with some of it. I gather all of my things and get into my car. Its kind of chilly out so I decide to run back in and put one a sweater. 

When I get to the hospital I almost want to put on sunglasses. All of the lights are shining so brightly in the night. I make my way inside trying to remember how to get to Peetas room and I end up just asking a nurse. 

I get to his room and find a sleeping Peeta in the bed. I close the blinds and make my way to the chair. I set up my work and dig in again. 

About 45 minutes later Peeta lets out a small gasp and then a shout. I think he is having a bad dream. i stand up and place my hand on his cheek. 

"Peeta, Peeta, wake up" I say. "It's ok, it was just a dream" He lets out another shout and sits bolt upright in bed. 

"Katniss? what are you doing here?' he says inquisitively

"You mean your dad didn't tell you? He asked me to stay the night because you couldn't." 

"Oh. I'm glad it's you and not him" he says

"Me too" I state. "What were you dreaming about?" 

"My mother" he mutters. 

I sit on the edge of the bed as he lays back down. I know it might seem kind of weird but I think what Peeta really needs right now is just some motherly affection while he isn't feeling well. So that is exactly what I give him. I scoot closer and rub my hand along his arm humming an old song my mother used to sing to me. 

Deep  in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass a soft green pillow, lay down you head, and close your eyes and when they open, the sun will rise. Here it is safe, here it is warm. Here the daisies guard, you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweat and tomorrow brings them true, here is the place where I love you. 

"Katniss" Peeta says almost asleep 

"Yeah?"

"You know you are a really nice person. You are super cool and I really like you. Like I like you, like you. I have a huge crush on you and I have since day 1"

I just simply state "The feeling is mutual" and with a smile spreading across his face, a look of pure contentment he falls asleep.