Ablaze (after the Mockingjay) ON HOLD

CHAPTER 9:

Peeta walks in as I'm cooking. "I see you went hunting." he says and points to the dead squirrels. I can't tell if he is still mad.

"Yeah. So did the kids." I say.

"Wait, what? Why did you do that?" Peeta says. "Couldn't they have gotten hurt."

He is most definitely still mad. "Peeta it's fine. I used to go when I was their age." I turn around and finish chopping potatoes. He sighs with annoyance and walks over to the sink. He washes off white icing. "Did you finish the cake?" I ask.

"Yes but, I didn't get anything else done"

"I am sorry about the cake by the way."

He looks shocked. I almost never apologize first. "It's fine. I'm sorry for making you mad last night and today. I love you and the kids so much. If anything happened to you guys I would never forgive myself." I smile and walks towards him. He puts his arms around me and I kiss him.

"I love you Peeta." I say. And with that we eat dinner.

Afterwards, Peeta and Rye go play a game in the office. Josie sits on the couch and sketches.

"What are drawing honey?" I ask while I sit down next to her.

She says "A mockingjay." I look over at it. It's beautiful.

"Do you know the story of the mockingjay?"

"No."

"During the Dark Days, the Capitol created jabber jays. These were birds who repeated things. The plan was the Capitol would use them for spying. But, the plan backfired. They decided to kill them all. However, a few escaped and mated with the mockingbirds creating the mockingjay. Mockingjays repeat stuff just as the jabber jays did. That's why when I whistled while we were hunting today it whistled back."

She thinks about this for awhile. "Interesting." she says finally. She goes back to sketching. I decide it's time to show her the book Peeta and I made. I walk up to my room to get it.