Help Me Make it Through the Night (Everlark Fanfic)

Chapter 25: In His Arms

Katniss' POV

I am finally starting to get the hang of the whole cooking thing. Since Peeta's birthday, I've tried to cook at least one of our meals a week. He tells me not to worry about it, that he doesn't care if I can cook or not but I feel like I should learn. I mean what would I do if he were sick and couldn't cook? Besides, stew isn't hard to make. You just throw in the meat and other ingredients in the pot and let it cook for a couple hours, checking on it every once in a while.

Right now Peeta's upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms he turned into an art room after our first games. I don't go in there. Even though his paintings are amazing, they are memories I don't really want to face in the daylight, even if they visit my dreams each night.

Just as I finish the stew, I hear a crash upstairs. I turn off the stove and make my way to Peeta's art room. I walk in to see him siting the corner with his head in his hands. In the middle of the room is a easel and canvas that he obviously threw down in his fit. There are some paints spilled on the table as well.

"Peeta?" I ask him crouching down next to him,"Are you okay? What happened?" He looks up at me with tears in his eyes. They are a clear blue that show me he is himself right now, not under an attack.

"I fell apart again,"Peeta says, shaking, "I thought I was better, that I had left it behind me, that I couldn't hurt you anymore." He starts to cry again and I try to hold him but he just pushes me away."Don't touch me! I don't want to hurt you."

"Peeta, you would never hurt me. I trust you. Just tell me what happened so I can help you." I say as I move his trembling hand from his face.

"I..I was painting and i..it must have been something that made me snap. I didn't think it was a bad memory, but for some reason the mutt came back. I didn't want to hurt you but wanted to at the same time," he says as I gently interlock our fingers.

"Your ok now aren't you?" I ask and he nods his head defeatedly, "Come on let's clean this mess up and then we can go eat ok?" I ask him. I help him up and goes strait to cleaning the paints. I set the easel back up and pick up the painting. It's nearly finished and the detail is remarkable but looking at it I instantly know why he had the flashback.

I am looking at a painting of me, walking away from him during the Quell. He painted the last sight of my face that he had seen before he was hijacked. I am looking over my shoulder sadly as I follow Johanna away from the Lightening tree. Almost as though I knew I wasn't coming back to that tree.

"Oh Peeta, you must have felt so abandoned painting this. Why would you put yourself through that?!" I say as I look around at the others,"Why did paint these?!"

"I don't know why I do. I just sit in front of the canvas and these are what comes out. I haven't painted one of the games in a long time. The others are happier," he says looking over my shoulder and gently taking the painting from my hands.

"There are others?" I ask.

"Yes. I don't keep them here because they don't belong on these walls. They belong to a different life then we lived before the war," Peeta says setting his newest creation back on the easel.

"Will you show me them?" I ask him.

"You want to see them?" he asks.

"Yes, I would. I want to see what you see what you see," I tell him and he gently takes my hand and leads me to the closet door, or at least what I thought was a closet door.

When he opens it, it leads to a room with a huge bay window and walls covered in bright paintings that glow in the light from the setting sun. They depict beautiful things that have both happened and not happened yet. Most are paintings of us at the lake. Me in mid song playing my guitar and wearing a crown made of dandelions, us laughing as we sit on a fallen tree that spans the lake, our feet dangling in the water. And there are others from our future. Us on our wedding day,me standing by a window holding a pregnant stomach, smiling sweetly, and finally one that catches my eye and won't let go.

It shows two children, a boy and a girl, playing in the regrown meadow. The girl is older and she looks a lot like I had when I was a child. She has long, thick, brown hair that flys free behind her. The only difference between her and me is she has Peeta's dazzling blue eyes that sparkle as she looks back at a boy who I know must be her brother. He is smaller than her, obviously a toddler and is almost a spitting image of Peeta, with his ashy blond curls and gentle smile. The only difference is he has grey eyes, not like my own but sparkling and full of life. Two children who run across a graveyard, unknowing.

"Are they who I think they are?" I ask Peeta, finally taking my eyes off of it to look at him. He nods gently.

"When I don't have nightmares, theses are the things I dream about. Our children are in them a lot," he says gently touching the painting as though it will shatter.

"Do they have names?"I ask, still mesmerized by them.

"Yes, but I never remember them when I wake up," He says hugging me. I lay my head on his shoulder. A small radio in the corner begins to play a gently song, slightly upbeat, but slow enough to dance to in the position we are.

"Do you want to dance?" Peeta asks me. I nod softly and lay my head on his shoulder as we sway gently sway back and forth in a small circle. Unknowingly I begin to sing along.

"In your arms
I can still feel the way you want me when you hold me
I can still the the words you whispered when you told me
I can stay right here forever in your arms

And there ain't no way
I'm lettin' you go now
And there ain't no way
And there ain't no how
I'll never see that day...

'Cause I'm keeping you forever and for always
We will be together all of our days
Wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face
Always

Mmmm, baby
In you heart
I can still hear a beat for every time you kiss me
And when we're apart, I know how much you miss me
I can feel your love for me in your heart

And there ain't no way
I'm lettin' you go now
And there ain't no way
And there ain't no how
I'll never see that day...

'Cause I'm keeping you forever and for always
We will be together all of our days
Wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face
Always

(I wanna wake up every morning)

In your eyes
(I can still see the look of the one)
I can still see the look of the one who really loves me
(I can still feel the way that you want)
The one who wouldn't put anything else in the world above me
(I can still see love for me)
I can still see love for me in your eyes
(I still see the love)

And there ain't no way
I'm lettin' you go now
And there ain't no way
And there ain't no how
I'll never see that day...

'Cause I'm keeping you forever and for always
We will be together all of our days
Wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face
Always

'Cause I'm keeping you forever and for always
We will be together all of our days
Wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face
Always

I'm keeping you forever and for always
I'm in your arms"

As the song ends I look up into his eyes and kiss him. It's sweet and passion filled and gets me drunk on love like all his kisses. We brake apart when my stomach rumbles.

"Why don't we eat that lovely dinner you made us," Peeta says jokingly.

"Hey! I'm getting better!" I say.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't quit your hunting. Your not gonna make a living on your stew," he says. I hit he playfully and we go down the stairs and eat the mildly better than last time stew.

And tonight, laying in Peeta's arms, I dream of the brown haired girl and the toddler with curly blonde hair.

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Hey guys! Decided to update bc we had a snow day. I've had this idea since about Tuesday night but I never had the time to actually write it until today. The song is Forever And For Always by Shania Twain. If any of you are not listening to my song suggestions, please at least listen to this one. I feel it really describes how Katniss grows to feel about Peeta. It is a sweet song and hope those of you who do listen to it enjoy it as much as I do.

I also would like you guys to go and read The Mockingjay's Melodies by Foreverdeen13. It is an amazing story that slowly builds and that I enjoy and hope you do too.

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-Kayla