Our Love Will Remain - The story after Mockingjay

Chapter 16

We wake up when we hear a light knock on the door. Peeta sits up and yawns, but I feel too lazy to do that. We hear another knock, and then a small girl's voice say:

"Can I open?"

It must be Leisel. Peeta yawns again and says with a sleepy voice:

"Uh, yes, sure."

Leisel opens the door a little and peeks in, but then opens it entirely.

"Hey." Peeta and I say in unison. Leisel laughs.

"We're having a big breakfast, all of us. They told me to wake you up before the food runs out." she says and smiles. I realise that both Peeta and me are still wearing our clothes from yesterday.

"Well, we shouldn't keep you waiting then." Peeta says and stands up. He stretches and reaches his hand towards me. I grab it and manage to get up from my lying position. My back hurts a little, so I lean on Peeta when I have gotten up from the bed.

"Your hair looks funny, Mrs. Mellark." Leisel says and giggles. Peeta walks up to her and ruffles her hair.

"Well, now your hair looks funny too." he says, and she giggles again. "Hey, why don't you go tell the others that we will be there in five minutes?" he says.

"Oh, okay." Leisel says and runs downstairs. Peeta is great with children, he is born to take care of them. Unlike me. I'll never deserve him, it took me this long to give him the only thing that he wanted, although he has been giving me everything for fifteen years. I start to cry a little. When Peeta notices, he hugs me tight and rubs my back.

"Katniss, it's okay. Shh, honey." he says, and sits down on the bed, rocking me back and forth, still rubbing my back. I stop crying and look into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just remembered how good you are to me. Too good. I've done nothing to deserve you, Peeta." I say.

"Oh, Katniss, by carrying my daughter you have done everything that I have ever wanted and more." he says. "How about I braid your hair again? Leisel was right, it looks funny." he says and smiles. I smile too. He knows how to make me smile. I nod and sit down on the floor in front of him. He starts running his fingers through my hair, and it has a calming effect on me. I close my eyes and let out an involutary moan, as he starts braiding. He laughs and kisses my head. When he is done, he strokes my hair until I get up, remembering our promise to Leisel. It must've gone way more than five minutes, I wonder why she didn't come again. We walk down the stairs, Peeta steadying me, as I feel a little dizzy and  out of balance because of my growing abdomen. When we reach the kitchen we see a large table filled with delicacies of all kinds. Stuffed turkey and butter peas, bacon, eggs and all kinds of bread and muffins. And that's not even close to all. We stare at the food for a while, and then we see the people who are surrounding it. Everyone from last night's party are here, except for the prep team, I guess they had something else to do. There are not many good prep teams left in Panem, after all.

"Long night, lovebirds?" Haymitch says. I blush.

"Actually, Katniss fell asleep as soon as she touched the bed, she was really tired. So was I." Peeta says, smiling at me. He just saved me from being humiliated. I kiss him on the cheek as a thanks.

"Oh, really?" Haymitch says, taking a sip from a small flask.

"Really." I say and take a step towards the table.

"I'm really hungry." I say, and everyone start chit-chatting with each other, breaking the silence. When I am about to reach for a chicken leg, Gale stops me.

"Oh, I wouldn't eat that if I were you, Katniss." he says. I look up at him.

"And why not? They look delicious." I say. He chuckles.