The Hunger Games: Continued

Hold Me

2 months later...

Katniss' POV
My muffled cries evolve into air piercing screams as I emerge from the retched nightmare that consumed my mind in sleep. Oh, how I need his arms to hold me now. I wipe my tearstained cheeks and bury my head in my pillow, trying to shut everything out.

Buttercup jumps onto the bed nuzzling at my arm, I swat him away, but he continues to purr and to scratch at me. I snap up from under the pillow. "What is it you stupid cat?" I try to sound angry, but it's hard to be angry at Buttercup, considering he lost Prim too. The mangey, flee bitten cat and I have managed to form a somewhat acquaintance.

Buttercup stares at me intently, before springing down from the bed and out of the room. I hear a noise coming from downstairs - footsteps. But not those of an agile cat. Perhaps Buttercup was trying to tell me something. Perhaps Buttercup was trying to warn me of an intruder. I grab the knife I keep sitting by my bedside. I used to find it absurd - Haymitch sleeping with a knife. But now, after everything I've been through, I completely understand.

I carefully emerge from my duvet and begin tiptoeing downstairs. First step, second step - I hear the jingling of Buttercup's bell. Third step, fourth step - I hear a muffled voice. Step after step I make my way down the flight, until I'm standing outside of the living room door. I hear a soft voice, to soft to identify. Buttercup continues to jingle around. Armed with my knife, I gently begin to open the door.

I slip inside the room, my knife pointed outwards. "Wow! Careful there!" He warns, his hands in the air by his face, his eyebrows raised at the sight of my knife.
"Oh my god, Peeta! You scared me!" I lower the knife to my side, letting out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. "It's two o'clock in the morning!" But I'm laughing, because I'm so relieved.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just, I heard you screaming. I came to see if you were okay." He calms me. I sigh, as I watch Buttercup wrapping himself around Peeta's leg.
"Well, I'm okay. Thanks for checking," The opportunity has presented itself, I should ask him to stay. But I don't think I can bring myself to. I count each second that passes.
I stare at him in the silent darkness. Even the blackness of the night can't dull the bright blue of his eyes. "Well, I'll see you in the morning, then," He says, scuffing his feet and looking at the ground.
"Okay," I mutter. And off he goes.

*****

Peeta's POV
I wish she had asked me to stay, last night. I could almost hear the words as they tried desperately to roll off her tongue, but she never uttered them. I want so much to protect her from the nightmares that haunt her, I need her to guard off mine. It make so much sense. For us to be together at night, to guard each other from harm. But sleeping with someone even in the most literal way is an action so intimate, so significant. It is a large step from where we find ourselves.

To this day, I still think about that night. The night I heard her whispering her feelings for me by my bedside. Everyday I try to ask her if it was real, but what if it was not. What would she think of me? I can't bring myself to, not unless I have some sort of evidence of her presence.

I drag myself out of bed and ready myself for the day ahead. Katniss says she's taking me hunting today. I argued against it, since my footsteps are so loud they scare off all the game, but she doesn't want to go alone. I don't want her to be alone if she doesn't want to be.

I scoff down a few cheese buns on my way around to Katniss' house, saving some for us to eat later. I stand outside of her front door, before knocking, a nervous sensation rises in my stomach traveling up my spine to gather in my chest. I have no idea why I'm nervous. I see Katniss all the time. As I try and form some sort of explanation, she appears in the doorway. "I saw you through the window," she laughs. "You do realise you didn't knock?" She smiles widely. I'm glad my idiocy makes her happy.
"Um, yeah, I dunno, I wasn't thinking," I stumble, I can feel myself blushing. What's wrong with me today?