Always

Chapter 6

Katniss P.O.V.

When I wake up, Peeta's right there beside me. "No nightmares," I whisper smiling.

"Me neither," he replies as he kisses me. "But we're about to face one," he says smiling.

"What?" I ask. Even though he isn't being serious, something in his voice tells me that he's speaking the truth.

"We haven't told your mother yet," he says. We both start laughing.

"I'll call her later," I say. We lay there for a few minutes until the phone rings.

"Maybe you won't have to," he teases as he stands up and walks to the study where the phone is. After a few minutes when he doesn't come back, I go to check on him. He's got his hands folded in his lap and he's staring at the ground.

"What's wrong?" I ask as I pull up a chair next to him and sit down.

"That was your mother," he replies. "I didn't tell her because she said she's coming by District 12 today. She said she's in the Capitol right now getting medical supplies and she'll be here when the next train comes in."

"But what's wrong?" I ask worriedly.

"She said there's talk about retrying to rebuild 12," he says.

"Good luck with that," I say.

"Katniss, they're serious this time," he says. "They're wanting to make it into a District of just businesses. Like schools and hospitals."

"As long as they leave us and the Victor's Village alone," I say even though I really hope that they'd just leave all of 12 alone.

"Katniss," Peeta says patiently. "They're wanting to turn 12 into a business District. No more residential areas." He must still be able to see my bewilderment because he looks me right in the eye and delivers the next line very slowly. "Katniss, they're wanting to destroy the Victor's Village."

"No!" I say forcefully as I stand up quickly, knocking my chair over. Peeta stands up with me and walks over to me.

"There's nothing we can do," he says.

"Yes there is," I say. "We can take a stand!"

"Katniss," Peeta begins to say, but I cut him off.

"Peeta, they can't just come here and tear down our house. Our house that we're going to raise our children in. Our house where we're going to live together for the rest of our lives!" I'm screaming now. Not directing it at Peeta, but at the situation.

"Katniss," he says gently as he pulls me in close. I rest my head on his chest. "It's going to be okay. You just have to stay calm. All right?" He says.

"All right," I reply. The phone starts ringing again.

"I'll answer it again if you want me to," he says.

"All right," I reply. "I'll be in the living room if you need me." I walk into the living room and curl up on the couch closest to the fire place. Peeta comes back downstairs in a few minutes.

"It was your mother again," says Peeta as he sits down next to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder. "She said there's an emergency in District 5 so they're getting ready to fly her there now. She'll probably be there for a couple of weeks," he says.

"I'll go visit her soon," I say.

"We still need to tell her," he says. I lean my head into his chest.

"I know," I say. "We will." He smiles at me. "So what are we gonna do now?" I ask.

"Why don't we go for a swim?" He asks.

"All right," I say. I go upstairs and put on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. When me and Peeta both are ready, we walk out the door, join hands, and go running towards the lake. When we get there, we immediately jump in.

We got out deeper, and deeper until I finally can't reach. Peeta grabs me by the legs and pulls me under. Usually this wouldn't bother me, but I start having a flashback about the second Games where one of the other boys dragged Peeta under the water and he almost drowned.

I start panicking. I thrash around, and I kick something really hard. When I come back up, I'm screaming and trying to catch my
breath. Peeta comes up beside of me and takes me by the waist. He helps me back up onto the shore.

"You okay?" Peeta asks as he pulls me in and I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," I gasp, still trying to catch my breath. When I finally calm down all the way, I realize Peeta's nose is bleeding. "What happened?" I ask.

He just smiles. "You kicked me in the face," Peeta says laughing.

"I'm sorry," I say.

"Don't be," he says. "I'm the one that should be sorry. I shouldn't have scared you like that," Peeta says as he kisses me.

"You didn't scare me," I say.

"Then why did you panic?" He asks. I tell him why. The whole story about watching him almost drown. "I'm sorry," he says.

"It's fine," I say. "You didn't know." Peeta offers me his hand and helps me up.

"Maybe we better leave," he says as we go walking back towards our house. When we get back home, we both change into our warm, dry clothes. Peeta comes into the living room where I'm sitting on the floor beside of the fireplace. He comes and sits down next to me. He wraps his arms around my shoulders. "Are you all right?" He asks.

"Yeah," I reply.

"Maybe you do need to go visit your mom," Peeta says. "Give you a change of scenery for a while."

"Okay," I say. "As soon as Mom goes back to District 4, I'll go visit her."