Chapter 1

The Call

…

Feeling the morning sunlight stream through the blinds playing across my back I curl closer against the warm, firm pillow beside me. As I burrowed myself into the pillow I heard a rumble of ingenuous laughter vibrate through it. Confused I shifted my face inches away from the pillow forcing myself to open my eyes. Fluttering my eye lids open and closed a couple of times against the brightness that filled the room my eye s finally adjusted to see the figure lying beside me. The first thing that my eyes fell upon was the suntanned, broad, well-formed chest of a man. So looking up to see whom the chest belonged to my eyes laid upon a familiar face that consisted of short, curly blond locks, a stunning smile, a semi-uneven yet perfect shaped nose, and a set of striking sea blue eyes. Smiling down at me Peeta pulled me close pressing a soft kiss against my lips.

"Morning."

I smiled back bringing my arms ups so I could run them through his hair before wrapping them around his neck. "And to you."

He let out a short laugh at my remark before twisting to lie on his back. And as he turned I moved with him so as he laid on his back I laid across his chest. With our legs intertwined under the cotton sheets and arms wrapped around one another I pressed my cheek against his shoulder.

"Can we just stay in bed and sleep the day away," I whispered in his ear groggily.

I felt him shake his head no.

"Why not?"

He let out a breath. "Why are you so difficult," he asked placing kisses along my shoulder.

I let out a laugh, "'Cause stubbornness is a well-known Everdeen trait. It's one of the many reasons why we are found so irresistible."

He snorted. "Well I don't care how stubborn you are, we cannot stay in bed all day and sleep. Firstly, we can't because it's our one day off a week we have together so we have to do something together and sleeping the day away does not count as "doing something." Secondly, I have something planned for us this evening, a surprise."

I let out an obnoxious groan. "You know I hate surprises!"

He continued to kiss along my shoulder doing his best to fight back the laughter I knew was building in his chest. "I do and I don't care. No matter what you do I will not tell you what it is and you cannot get out of it."

Groaning into his chest he poked at my side with his fingers. "Come on, it's not that bad."

I let out another groan. "But it is," I said pulling myself out of the embrace and out of the bed.

"Oh really," he said lifting himself up onto his elbows.

"Yes," I said grabbing a pair of shorts from the storage bench that stood at the foot of the bed along with a pair of boy shorts and a sport bra, "Because I hate surprises. They make me nervous and unsteady. And you're surprises just make me… make me feel like a complete wreck."

"Is that so?"

"Yes," I nearly shouted as I made my way from the bedroom into the bathroom.

"Mh hmm," I heard him say to himself before calling out after me, "What do you want to eat for breakfast?"

And as I turned on the hot water I called back out, "Pancakes!"

…

"Peeta," I called out as I made my away from the bathroom toward the kitchen as I knotted the elastic band in my hand at the tail of my braid, "Can you give me a hint of what the surprise is?"

He didn't respond.

"Come please," I pleaded walking through the living room, "Please."

Still he didn't respond. Feeling a little annoyed I walked into the kitchen to see him nowhere in sight.

"Peeta," I called out again.

Still there was no response. Letting out a groan of frustration I quickly made my way through the flat checking every room till I found myself back in the kitchen. No Peeta. Leaning against the kitchen counter I looked down to see a small plate sitting on the island stacked three pancaked high with a note sitting beside them. Walking over I snatched the note into my hands.

Katniss

I went out to get things ready for tonight. I'll be back at 8 to get you for our date.

Love, Peeta

No snooping around, it's a surprise for a reason!

Letting out a laugh at the last part I couldn't help, but think that Peeta knew me a little too well. But no matter what he had written me he would have known that I wasn't one to listen, I was stubborn. I was going to find out what the hell he had planned for tonight. I was not going to have a repeat of my twenty-first birthday again. My twenty-first birthday I couldn't help but think of even though I didn't want to dwell on the subject. It was a fun night, but god I nearly had a heart attack. I hated surprises, period.

Shaking the thought from my head my eyes focused on the words: Love, Peeta. They made my inside flip and a shiver travel through my spine. Peeta loved me and I loved him and I don't know how the hell it worked but it did and that was something I was more than happy about. Smiling my attention finally fell on the plate of pancakes. Dam Peeta and his abilities to cook, I thought, what the hell wasn't he good at.

…

Following eating the pancake breakfast Peeta had left me I looked to the clock to see how long I had till he would return to pick me up for our date. It was a little before ten now and Peeta wasn't coming to get me to eight so I had about ten hours to kill before he would be back for our date. I had ten hours to find out what Peeta had in store for the night. Now I just had to find out who I could trick into spilling the beans to me. Gale? No I don't think Gale and Peeta had talked lately and even if they had Gale was just as stubborn as I was and most likely wouldn't tell me if he knew. Annie, I thought; but no, I wouldn't be able to get her to tell me because she was working at the bakery so there was a good chance that Eric or Peeta or someone would be around to stop her. Rye, no he was probably still asleep and even if he wasn't he'd probably just make some sort of sexual joke or tease me about how in situations like this Peeta had me "wrapped around his finger." Marvel? No, he wasn't that reliable and neither was Johanna. I could call Marcus, but he would probably rat me out to Peeta. Finnick, I thought, yeah I could get Finn to tell me.

…

Standing in front of the Ocean Realm Exhibit at the Sea Side Aquarium I watched as the different colored and sized fish swam behind the thick sheet of glass. The tank held 760,000 gallons of seawater in which fish and sea creatures like stingrays, silky sharks, needlefish, blue runners, zebra sharks, shark rays, hammerheads, and so on and so on swam about. I was waiting for Finn so in the mean time I decide I would visit my favorite exhibit in the aquarium. I knew this aquarium like the back of my hand. Peeta and I use to come here every over week last year and this was the exhibit we would always start and end our day at the aquarium with. So here I was waiting. I had texted Finn over two hours ago telling that I was coming to visit him at one. So being the gentlemen he is he told me he would take his lunch break following the twelve o'clock tour he was giving for some kids birthday. It was growing close to one and any minute now Finn would appear and I would find out about Peeta's surprise for tonight.

Watching as one of the zebra sharks swam by the glass I felt a hand clam onto my shoulder causing me to jump in surprise. And then I heard Finn's familiar laugh. "Easy there Kitty," he said as I turned to him see him holding two cups of coffee. Handing one of the cups to me he took a drink from his before stating, "If you're here to get me to spill the beans about Peeta's surprise for you tonight I'm not going to say peep."

"Dammit," I muttered under my breath stomping my foot, "Why not?"

He laughed looking to the stingray swimming past us. "Because Peeta worked non-stop over the last couple of months to make sure tonight would just go swimmingly and I'm not going to ruin it. Plus is fun seeing you like this." The only thing that catches me off guard is when Finn said a couple months.

"Months," I ask. I know Peeta was invested time into these dates and surprises and maybe spent a few days max planning them out, but a couple months seemed a bit much.

Finn nods his head. "Calm down Kitty you know Peeta beyond and above over these things."

But I feel like I'm in shock. Months. Months. Looking to Finn I ask in all seriousness. "He didn't plan something outrageous did he? Like a surprise vacation? Or something like- something like eloping?"

Finn seems to be catch off guard about what I last said, but he doesn't let it faze him.

"Kitty," he says nudging me with his elbow, "Calm down. None of those things are going to happen. This is Peeta were talking about."

I nod my head. This is Peeta we're talking about. Peeta, nice loving stable gentlemanly organized fun Peeta. Still unconsciously nodding my head I take a sip of my coffee. God I hate surprises, I think. And as Finn and I both turn away from Ocean Realm Exhibit we walk down to the hall toward the Stingray Beach Touch Exhibit in the next room over. Entering the room to see a group of kids crowded around the small pool touching the harmless stingray I see a smile light up across Finn's face.

"You're not going to elope or go on some crazy vacation. It's not going to be like your twenty-first birthday," he says, "I can't tell what you're doing, but I can tell you what you should wear."

…

Fixing the brown, twine belt around my waist I looked at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. With Finn's help and guidance I found myself wearing the dress I had worn to Gale's welcome home party last year. It was the dress I had gotten from the boutique that Effie Trinket owned and still owns beside Mellark's Bakery because at the time Effie and Haymitch were "friends" and being Haymitch's family I received a thirty percent discount. It was simple and fun dress. It was a beige colored dress like the sand. The dress reached my mid-thigh with a nice breezy flare. There was an elastic pull at the waist that pleated into a full frilly skirt that gracefully swayed when I twisted my waist. Then at the top was a sheer chiffon yoke that Effie called a "trompe l'oeil sweetheart neckline;" basically it was a sheer see-through fabric that began just above my breast and ran up around my neck. And finally there was the brown, twine belt I had added to the outfit.

Pleased with myself I looked at phone, seven fifty-six. I had four minutes. Quickly applying some mascara and a natural shade of eye shadow I looked to my phone again. Seven fifty-nine. I had one minute to spare. Flicking off the bathroom light I snatched my bag off my bed before heading in the direction of the door. And just as I snatched my shoes off the floor beside the door I heard a knocking come from the other side of the door. Looking to see what time it was, it was eight o'clock. On time as expected. Letting out a huff I reached to twist the front door open. There on the other side stood Peeta. He wore plain pressed black jeans and a white collared shirt whose sleeves he had rolled up to his elbows. Quickly lacing up my high tops I gave Peeta a giddy smile. "Hi."

"Hey," he replied leaning down to kiss me on my cheek, "You ready?"

I nodded my head slinging my bag over my shoulder.

"Okay," he said opening the door when his phone began to ring, "Ah." P

icking up his facial expression quickly changed from joyful to serious. And after a few moments of saying yes he finally hung up only to turn to me saying, "We have to go to the hospital, now."