Chapter Text
It must be midnight, it must be tomorrow when haymitch pushes the door. “They’re back. we’re wanted in the hospital.” My mouth opens with a flood of questions that he cuts off with “that’s all i know.” I want to run, but Finnick’s acting so strange, as if he’s lost the ability to move, so I take his hand and lead him like a small child(…)
Peeta.
Alive and well--maybe not well but alive and here. Away from Snow. Safe. Here, with me. In a minute I can touch him. See his smile. Hear his laugh.
Haymitch’s grinning at me. “Come on, then.” He says. I’m light-headed with giddiness. What will i say? Oh, who cares what I say? Peeta will be ecstatic no matter what I do. He’ll probably be kissing me anyway. I wonder if it will feel like those last kisses on the beach in the arena, the ones I haven't dared let myself consider until this moment. Peeta’s awake already, sitting on the side of the bed, looking bewildered as a trio of doctors reassure him, flash lights in his eyes, check his pulse. I’m disappointed that mine was not the first face he saw when he woke, but he sees it now. His features register disbelief and something more intense that I can't quite place. Desire? Desperation? Surely both, for he sweeps the doctors aside, leaps to his feet and moves towards me. I run to meet him, my arms extended to embrace him. When the moment finally comes, the moment we crash into each other’s arms and we can finally hold each other, I feel like I can breathe for the first time in weeks, if not months. We hold each other, and I forget about anything else. Peeta is here . In my arms. We stay like this for I don't know how long, it could be hours, I can touch him, hold him, even smell him. While he doesn’t smell like cinnamon and bread anymore, he still smells like himself, and the thought of that makes me want to cry for some reason. My head resides on the spot it always did when we comforted each other during the victory tour, the spot where I can hear his heart beating. The sound, after all these months away from him, is the most comforting in the world
“Peeta,” I whisper, while still not letting go of him, just as he doesn’t let go of me.
“Katniss,” he whimpers, and hearing the pain in his voice makes me remember that he’s hurt, and me holding him with a death grip is certainly not helping. I see his doctors, who were taking care of him before our reunion, looking at us tensely. One of the doctors however, the one with gray hair, looks at us with a little smirk, which helps me remember that we have an audience, so I take a step away from our embrace. Peeta sends me a sad, but understanding, look.
“Mister Mellark, we have not yet finished your evaluation. Please come back so we can finish, you can continue what you two started afterwards.” One of them says, with an annoyed voice, which I find rather insulting, we have been separated for months, no wonder we want to have a moment.
“Okay, but she’s staying with me.” Peeta says with a lifeless, but firm voice.
I go with him towards his hospital bed so that he can lay down. I sit on the head side of the bed, and make him lay his head on my lap. The doctors start to talk to him, probably to tell him he shouldn’t have ran, but i don't really care- all I can find myself to care about is the boy whose head is on my lap, and I take time to observe him. He has bruises all over his body, some older which have a green tint, and others more fresh that look almost black. He looks so thin, I wonder how I didn't break him earlier when I hugged him. I think back to the boy in the arena, with wide shoulders, muscles, strong arms and his bright and beautiful smile; and in that moment, the anger I feel toward the Capitol has never been stronger.
I suddenly look up toward his face, expecting him to look at the doctors who are taking care of him, but no; his blue eyes, which have haunted my dreams for months, are looking at me. Pain, love, curiosity, fear, anger, sadness, hope, I can feel all of those emotions in his stare. We stay locked in each other’s eyes for a moment; to be fair, it was probably more than a moment, since when I lift my eyes up, the doctors are gone, it’s just us.
“Hi” he says while smiling, and it comforts me to see that with everything he has been through, his smile is just the same as before.
“Hi” I say, feeling the corners of my mouth turn up. And suddenly I can’t resist him anymore.
I thought he would be the one to kiss me, that he would be the one too ecstatic, that he would be the one who would lean his lips into mine.
But no. I am.
His head is still on my lap, so my head is tipped off toward him, and while the position may be awkward, the kiss is everything but. The kiss is slow, but is saying so much; I missed you so much, you are so important to me, I am so happy you are here,
You were wrong Peeta, I need you, I need you so much, I haven't felt alive since we have been separated.
“Katniss, is this real?” He asks with unheard tears in his eyes when we separate, and my heart breaks. How much has he thought about the moment we would reunite? Did he think we were never going to? I stop in my thoughts; because the idea of losing him is so painful, so unimaginable that I start to cry.
“Yes Peeta, this is real” I say, with tears running down my cheeks and trying to speak throughout my sobs, “this is real, you are safe, I’m never going to let anyone hurt you ever again”
He suddenly looks full of worry, sits up and takes my face in his hands. He uses his fingers to wipe my tears away and engulfs me in his arms, no longer as strong as they once were, but just as comforting. “Please don’t cry, it's okay, I'm here” he says between kisses on my forehead. The situation is truly ridiculous, he just came back from months of torture, and he is the once comforting me. When is the boy with the bread finally going to think about himself? Instead of answering him, I lay us down on the hospital bed so we are laying sideways, forehead to forehead.
I have never been good with words, but I feel like I have to say something, like he is waiting for me, and considering everything he has been through, it is the least I can do.
“How are you?”
How stupid, he was tortured for the last few weeks and I ask him how he is? How truly pathetic.
“I have been better, but everything is better now that I am with you.” He says while smiling. I can see how exhausted he is, his eyelids are dropping on their own accords.
I kiss his forehead, not able to come up with an answer, and hold him against me. With us holding each other, it reminds me of the cave, so much has changed ever since; except maybe my eagerness for him to get better, and It feels so good to be able to finally hold him. He decides to finally break the silence we have had for a few minutes.
“Katniss, I have so many questions.” He says with a weak and tired voice. I think back to what I felt when I was rescued from the arena, and understand too well what he is going through, but he is so tired, and he needs to rest.
“I will explain everything, but you need to rest.” I say. I start to play with his hair, and give his forehead another kiss. His eyes close, and he lets out a sign.
“Will you stay? Please?” He asks, his eyes still closed, pleading with me. As if I would ever be able to let him out of my sight again.
“Yes Peeta, always.”