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Peeta spends all morning baking, preparing for the visit. Katniss assures him that he doesn’t need to do anything special, that it’s just their friends, but he bakes anyway.
Their friends (except for Haymitch and a handful of others) live far away, and they almost never get to see them. Katniss still can’t leave Twelve, after all, though lately she says that it feels less like house arrest and more like something else that she doesn’t have a name for. (Privately, Peeta doesn’t really see the difference, but then he came back willingly. For her. He’d have gone anywhere for her.)
Still, Peeta has finished baking in plenty of time for the two of them to go down together to meet the train.
Johanna is the first one off, and she doesn’t look too pleased about it. “Wow, they really weren’t kidding when they said you had to rebuild from rubble.”
“I thought you saw the propos,” Katniss shoots back.
“I did, but it didn’t prepare me for this.”
Peeta rolls his eyes. “It’s great to see you again, Johanna.”
“You, too, Peeta,” she says.
And then Finnick and Annie are coming off the train and oh. He’d known that they were expecting, of course; they wrote and called each other frequently. But actually seeing it was another matter entirely.
“I know,” Annie said with a small smile.
“It’s great to see you,” he said. “All of you.”
They walk together back to the Victors’ Village, and Peeta has to admit that the way Finnick fusses over Annie awakens something in him. He’d always expected to have kids someday; it was what people did.
But the idea of having a family with Katniss without the prospect of a reaping looming over them… he wants it. He shoves the thought aside for now. He knows if he brings it up now, Katniss will be in a sour mood for the rest of the visit.
And she’s been really looking forward to this.
He can’t spoil it for her.
Still, he smiles at Finnick and Annie as it all slots into place. “You two seem really happy.”
“Oh, we are,” Finnick says easily. “We’ve overthrown the Capitol and can live our lives like we want to.”
He hears what Finnick leaves unsaid: What’s there not to be happy about? Besides all of the death.
But they both know better than to bring that up in front of Katniss or Annie.
“I can’t believe the two of you have been cooped up here,” Johanna says. “Who do you even have for company? Haymitch?”
“We have a few friends in town, too,” Katniss says a bit defensively. Peeta doesn’t protest that she isn’t very interested in spending time with Delly or Thom or anyone else except Peeta and Haymitch. It’d just prove Johanna’s point.
But Johanna sees through her anyway. “I bet.”
“Johanna,” Finnick says.
“It’s fine,” Katniss says. Peeta slips his hand in hers and squeezes.
She squeezes back.
His relationship with Katniss is difficult to explain. He can’t quite put a name to it, except that he loves her and is pretty sure that she loves him, too. She hasn’t said it yet. He’ll wait until she’s comfortable. He knows better than to push.
They live together now, and even share a bed. He’s prepared for whatever teasing Johanna wants to roll out.
Buttercup is lounging in the living room when they get in, and Finnick and Annie both seem delighted to see the cat. Katniss calls him all sorts of names, but he wouldn’t still be here if she didn’t have a weak spot for him. For Prim.
But it’s best not to think about Prim right now.
Buttercup accepts the pets that Annie and Finnick offer him, while Johanna stands off to the side. “Of course she kept the cat,” she murmurs to Peeta. “Did she stop back in Thirteen to get him?”
“She said he walked all the way back here on his own.”
“And here I thought dogs were supposed to be the loyal ones.”
“Katniss doesn’t like dogs any better.”
Johanna glances over to her. “I can see that.”
They take it easy that first day, and when they go to bed, Peeta holds Katniss as she traces one of the scars on his arm. “It’s good to see them,” she says.
“It is.”
“The baked goods were a good idea.”
He kisses that spot right below her ear. Kisses are just fine with her; it’s words that scare her.
“I thought they would be, but someone didn’t believe me.”
She laughs and pulls him in for a kiss.
No, he can’t quite explain their relationship, but he does love her like crazy.
One day, he’ll get to tell her without her getting that look in her eyes, because she’ll have realized that she loves him, too.
They go for a little walk into the meadow, careful not to let Annie overexert herself. Katniss isn’t quite eager to show them her stomping grounds, but she’s willing, which from her is almost as good.
They make slow progress to the lake. He should have known that Finnick and Katniss would jump right in.
“So this is how you learned to swim, huh, Katniss?”
“My dad used to take me out here,” she says.
Annie dips her toes in the water, but Johanna stays a safe distance away.
Peeta has lunch in his basket. He offers Johanna a sandwich, which she takes greedily.
“You’re actually pretty good at baking,” she says.
“I had to learn young. Katniss’s dad took her hunting, mine taught me how to help at the bakery.”
“Peeta’s a better cook than I am, too,” Katniss volunteers.
“But you still bring home the fresh game.”
Annie looks between them, and it’s clear she wants to ask, but she doesn’t.
Eventually, Peeta gets in the lake, too. He’s not a very steady swimmer, not like Katniss or Finnick, but he can tread water, and it’s still a hot enough day that the water feels nice and cool.
Katniss swims over to him and kisses him, in plain view of everyone. “Glad you could join us.”
“Me, too,” he says.
And there’s so much unspoken in those two lines that Peeta could choke on it.
Later, as they walk home, he asks Katniss to sing the Valley Song.
She does.
“The birds really do stop to hear you sing,” Finnick says in awe.
“I told you so,” Peeta says.
That night, Haymitch comes over for dinner with some white liquor, and they all (except for Annie, who can’t drink), toast to those they’ve lost.
Katniss brings out the book, and Johanna, Finnick, and Annie help to remember all of those they lost, too, from tributes to family and friends.
They can never bring them back, but they can remember them.