A/N: Because canon Everlark were calling my name and they are not represented enough in fic world I feel like. This will be a short multi-chapter story. Thank you to my awesome beta Court81981 for helping out with this - if you aren't reading her stories you are missing out! Find me on tumblr ~ thegirlonpeetamellark

Katniss wakes up first.

She is immediately aware of several things.

She had a perfect, dreamless sleep.

She and Peeta are naked and wrapped around each other like vines, arms and legs intertwined.

Last night, after making love for the first time, she admitted to Peeta that she loves him.

Her heart flutters and tightens in her chest as the full impact of what it all meant hits her again. She feels a tingly, buzzing excitement shoot through her as the memory of Peeta moving inside her hits her with full force. She can't help it as her face flushes and she closes her eyes, still so unsure and inexperienced when it comes to this type of intimacy. Sharing a bed and soft kisses like she and Peeta have been doing for the past couple months is one thing, but last night was something entirely different.

She thinks back to the way that it happened, without either of them really talking about it, without either of them really expecting it.

He was comforting her from a particularly awful nightmare that had her screaming out in the middle of the night. He was stroking her back and whispering soothing words into her ear. She remembers pulling back to kiss him and just suddenly feeling like she couldn't stop— that she didn't want to stop. That hunger that she had felt once before on the beach consumed her, ignited in the pit of her stomach and then reached up to squeeze at her heart before dropping down to explode between her legs. Suddenly she was pulling at him, wrapping her legs around his waist, whispering his name and pleading for something she didn't quite know how to express.

But Peeta knew...

He was frantic and a little desperate and as he tugged her clothes off he never stopped worshipping her with his lips.

"Katniss..." he whispered when they were both naked, when she could feel his hardness resting against her inner thigh. She could hear the pleading tone in his voice, his desire to do this, his uncertainty if this was happening too fast.

In the back of her mind she had a fleeting moment of worry about her skin and her body. Her scars and burns were still not fully healed, and she knew she was too slender, lacking womanly curves.

But the way Peeta was looking at her erased any self-doubt in her mind about how she looked. She felt exposed, and it was from more than just being naked with him for the first time. She felt like he was looking at the deepest parts of her, every good and awful thing she had ever done, and accepting her for who she was. She felt like he was seeing her lying beneath him and wanting nothing more than to take her and make her his— to claim her, flaws and all.

"Please..." she had whined, raising her hips up to his in offering, begging for him to fill her. She had never let herself feel this way; she had never let herself feel this kind of desire because she knew it was a dangerous road that lead to things like love that she had been determined to avoid.

But this was different. She would never have survived the past several months without Peeta by her side. After the war, after losing so much, she never thought she could be whole again. And yet somehow, the boy with the bread had given her hope all over again. Peeta showed her that it could be good again, she could be happy despite all the pain and loss she had endured. It was the little things; him just being by her side, baking her favorite treats, helping her with the book, looking out for her when she knew he was recovering from his own personal demons.

They healed together.

Before this, they had done nothing more than share a heated make-out session in bed, both a little too unsure, a little too raw from the wounds they were still trying to heal to try anything else.

In that moment though she knew it was right; it was what was supposed to happen, what she wanted.

"Please..." she repeated, dragging her hands through his curls, pulling his mouth down to connect with hers.

He kissed her, tracing her lips with his tongue softly, sucking on her bottom lip. As he tried to position himself she noticed he was having a little bit of difficulty with his leg. He had to put all his weight on his good leg and find a comfortable position for his other one. He got a little flustered and looked up at her with a bashful smile that she returned.

Finally, when he was situated, he used one hand to prop himself above her and reached down with his other to grab himself. She spread her legs further to try and make it easier for him as he positioned himself at her opening.

She was glad he had found the pills Dr. Aurelius had sent her in the bathroom last week, that she had told him how he had sent her birth control in hopes of regulating her menstrual cycle after all the abuse her body had endured over the years.

When she felt the tip of him slide past her wet folds she gasped and clung to his shoulders, burying her head in the crook of his neck. He pushed in a little farther, and her nails dug into his skin. His hand returned to her side, moving himself up above her. She could feel him plant a kiss to her neck and it relaxed her just enough that when his hips moved in one swift motion, sheathing himself inside her entirely, it was just an uncomfortable feeling of being stretched.

"Ohhh..." he moaned, and she could feel him shudder above her, could tell how hard it was for him to stay still, to not start pumping away furiously.

He started a steady pace, arching his back and pulling back before pushing forward firmly, repeating that motion again and again. With every thrust the discomfort faded away and a pleasant burning sensation kindled between her legs.

Her knees fell down to the side and she held on, mesmerized as he continued his sensual assault between her legs. She had never felt so good. Nothing had ever felt this right. She had half been expecting some hesitation or fear or worry about them doing this, but that was far from the case. Peeta being inside her felt like heaven; felt like it was always what was supposed to happen.

"Ka..Katniss..." he gasped as his hips started to speed up, jerking erratically and dissolving into shallow, hard thrusts.

She held him as he fell apart, his body going tense and then as he shuddered above her. She could feel his warmth inside her, his hard length throbbing hotly. He collapsed against her and she wrapped her arms around him, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest.

He pulled back after a while and looked into her eyes, pushing some sweaty hair away from her face. Her own heartbeat started to pound at the sight of his blue eyes gazing into her soul.

He withdrew from her body and rolled to the side but never took his eyes off her. She turned to face him so their faces were inches away from each other, their sweat dampened bodies nearly pressed up against one another.

And that's when he asked her.

He asked her the question with the answer that she had known for much longer than she would admit, the answer that had always terrified her.

But after what they just shared she knew. She knew the depth of her feelings towards Peeta without a doubt. She knew why he was so important to her and why she needed him to survive.

So she told him 'Real' and leaned forward to capture his lips in a kiss.

His lips lifted against hers, his mouth going wide, smiling at her words through their kiss.

He pulled her against him and then dropped his hand between her legs.

She gasped as his fingers slipped through her wetness, both at how good it felt and at the fact that Peeta's hands were there. Despite the fact they had just had sex, that he had just been inside her, this gesture felt startlingly new and intimate. Before tonight there were only kisses, and the sex they had just shared was a mutual exploration of an unknown act, but this was Peeta touching her where no one else had ever touched her, where she had never even touched herself, not in this way.

This was Peeta pleasuring her.

The knowledge—combined with how good it felt when he rubbed a certain spot at the junction of her legs the right way—made her eyes roll to the back of her head.

"Peeta!" she cried, scrunching her eyes closed as he dipped a finger inside her and kept his thumb circling that spot.

She was grasping onto his arm with a death grip at this point, her hips jerking forward in response to his hand's movements. She had no reservations, no inhibitions of what she was doing or how she was acting; it felt too good to worry about anything else.

And then the pleasure was spiking hard and fast. "Oooh...oh!" she shouted as her body tensed up and the feeling between her legs exploded to every part of her, waves of warmth and ecstasy rolling through her as she cried out incoherently.

The euphoria was too much. The last thing she remembered was Peeta pulling her against his body before she succumbed to exhaustion and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

She looks at Peeta, sleeping now in the morning light peeking through the window curtain. His face is so calm and peaceful and beautiful. As she watches him, she realizes she loves everything about him: those long golden eyelashes, his pouty, pink lips, the hard line of his jaw and the slight stubble that covers it.

So she just can't help herself when she leans forward and kisses him, pressing her lips softly against his. As she pulls back, she sees his eyes flutter open, the sleepy haze fading away as he becomes more awake. Through slitted eyelids he gazes at her and offers her a lopsided grin.

"Hey," he whispers, his voice soft and raspy.

"Hi," she returns, feeling her cheeks heat. It's a strange mix of excitement and nerves and love and anticipation that overtakes her.

His arms go around her waist and he pulls her to him more firmly. She rests her head against his shoulder and tries not to focus on his morning arousal pressing into her stomach.

"Thank you..." he whispers, his lips near her ear, "...for last night."

Her stomach does a flip and she smiles against his skin.

"Do you...regret it?" he asks suddenly, his voice scared and unsure.

Her heart pangs as she pulls back to look at him. His face is tight with worry.

"Peeta, no..." she assures him, cupping his face with her hand. "I...I meant what I said last night," she explains, swallowing thickly to get the next words out. Her heart starts to thrum faster; saying the actual words—saying them in the light of day is a little daunting—but she knows he deserves to hear them. He deserves to hear them after everything he's been through. And she wants to say them.

"Peeta...I love you."

Before the smile can fully form on his face he's leaning forward to kiss her. He's soft and gentle, cupping her face and just tasting her. He breaks away and rests his forehead against hers and their heavy breathing mixes in the space between their lips.

He kisses her again, this time with a little more heat behind it as he rolls above her. His tongue pushes and prods and strokes her own and they just taste each other, in absolutely no rush.

"I love you too," he murmurs when his lips finally break away from her mouth and start to taste the skin of her neck, licking and sucking at the sensitive flesh.

"God, Katniss...I wasn't sure I could ever be myself again, that I'd ever be happy again. I don't know what I would've done without you."

"You saved me too," she insists, pulling at his head to reconnect his lips with her own. "If I didn't have this, if I didn't have us, I would have let it all destroy me." She hopes he can gather from her words the depth of what she feels for him, what she's trying to say. Despite her newfound revelations about her love for Peeta, she is still not as talented at expressing herself as he is.

He pulls away reluctantly and looks down at her with a happy sigh, running his thumb over her swollen bottom lip.

"As much as I hate to leave a bed that has you naked in it, I've got to get up and get a batch in the oven for Thom. He said there are more refugees set to arrive on the train today," Peeta explains.

She can't help but blush a little as she remembers that she is completely naked in bed with the boy she loves. Last night it was dark and she didn't think too much about Peeta seeing her, but now his eyes keep dropping to her chest and she has to fight the urge to cover herself out of habit.

"It's okay," she insists. "I'm going to go out to the woods for a little bit. I'll be back around noon and we can have lunch."

"Sounds good," he agrees, kissing her cheek as he rolls off of her and shuffles out of bed.

Her jaw drops as she takes in the sight of his perfectly sculpted backside. He moves across the room and picks up the pair of boxers he flung to the side last night in the heat of passion and puts them on.

He turns back to her to find her watching him and he shoots her a playful little grin. She swallows thickly and ducks her head, hoping to hide her blush.

She thinks this part of their relationship, this part where they've seen each other naked and have done things with one another and admitted their love for each other, is going to be a big change that is going to take some getting used to.

In the woods Katniss feels like a different person.

She hikes about halfway to the lake and then stops to pluck some berries and drink from a stream. Sitting on a rock at the edge of the gushing source of water, she thinks about last night.

She doesn't feel like a different person because she's had sex—although that is definitely something new and exciting and a little overwhelming that she's still trying to wrap her head around—but she feels like a different person because of what she was finally able to see so clearly and admit to herself.

She loves Peeta.

She loves Peeta so much it's a little frightening. The feeling she has towards him reminds her how her mother used to act around her father: the total infatuation, the giddy smiles for no reason at all. And she knows how that story ended, knows that this kind of love is all consuming—but capable of being completely incapacitating.

But at least in the current moment she's too far gone to care, too invested to try and pull back. She has fallen so deeply and completely in love with Peeta she couldn't stop now even if she tried. And she doesn't really want to because she sees now what makes all the downsides of love worth it: the absolute joy that Peeta brings to her life, the promise of a life filled with love and happiness, no matter what hardships they endure.

This knowledge, this acceptance of just how important Peeta is in her life, how much she loves and cares for him, is something that has completely changed her from the person she was before the war. All her life she has been closed off and wary of letting anyone in too close, of having to rely on anyone but herself, but now it's different. Now she knows that she needs Peeta; she needs him and wants him in her life.

The thought causes her stomach to flutter as she realizes just what that means. She closes her eyes and lets herself picture the two of them sitting in front of the fire toasting bread and then feeding it to one another. Now that she's accepted her love for him it isn't as scary of a thought as she would have expected.

But it still feels a little soon for that step, she thinks, realizing it hasn't even been a year since they both moved back to 12 after the war and started the long and slow process of healing.

There is something else, though, she decides, that they can do—that feels like the right thing for them to do at the moment.

She stands up with determination, having made up her mind, and grabs her bow. She shoots a couple of squirrels on her trek back home through the woods, a smile on her face the whole time.

She walks straight past her home and over to Peeta's, knowing that he's probably still finishing up his batch of bread for Thom. She lets herself in and leaves her hunting jacket and bow by the door, calling out to him to let him know she's there.

"Hey, I'm just finishing up," Peeta says as she comes into the kitchen to find him taking a pan out of the oven. "You get any good game today in the woods?"

She shrugs and comes to stand beside him at the counter as he starts brushing a butter mixture over the freshly baked loaves. "Just a few squirrels. Figured we could have them for dinner tonight."

"Sounds like a plan," he agrees, looking over at her and shooting her a smile.

She can't help it; she immediately grins back, biting down on her bottom lip as her face and neck flush. She looks down at her hands, suddenly hyper-aware of his body next to hers. It's strange, she realizes, that she can feel this different energy between them now. She's still herself and he's still Peeta, but now she also knows just where things can lead between them. She can feel her mind starting to drift off, thinking back to how it felt to have him moving inside her, how amazing he made her feel when he dipped his hand between her legs.

She shakes her head to clear it and tries to focus on what she was planning to say to him the whole way over here.

"Umm...so I had an idea..."

"Yeah?" he questions, transferring the last batch of loaves to a rack to cool.

"I was thinking...I thought..." She huffs in frustration, still not quite good enough at expressing herself. "I think you should move in to my house," she rushes out. "You practically live there now full time anyways, might as well make it official."

He stops what he's doing completely and turns to look at her.

She gazes down at her hands, playing with them nervously. Suddenly she realizes she didn't quite think this through. As his silence stretches on, she thinks that it was pretty presumptuous of her to just assume he would want to move into her house. Maybe he likes having his own space, somewhere he can go to get away from her for a bit. She thinks that he's probably thinking of a nice way to let her down and tell her he doesn't want to live with her when she feels him reach out and grab her hands with his own.

She lifts her head to meet his eyes and feels her breath catch. His eyes are watery and his face is heavy with vulnerability, lips quivering, eyebrows pinched together. "Are you...are you sure?" He manages to get out, his voice unsteady.

She nods her head quickly, feeling like she's on the edge of tears herself as she sees how this is affecting him. She realizes he still doesn't fully grasp the enormity of her feelings for him, that he is still having a hard time believing that she is no longer the girl who fought against admitting her love for him for so long.

He wraps his arms around her and draws her against his body, pressing a kiss to her neck that makes her stomach flip. "If you'll have me, then I can't wait," he whispers in her ear with a small chuckle, his voice sincere, clearly still in awe at the idea.

"Peeta, I want you," she assures him, pulling back to meet his eyes. "I always want you."

They share a heated look, and she can see the effect the words have on him, his eyes growing dark with passion. He cups her face in his hand and draws her lips to his, kissing her with a sense of urgency.

She moans as his tongue strokes its way into her mouth and the effect it has between her legs is palpable. She squirms a little in his arms, moving her hips as she realizes that now kissing Peeta ignites that hunger that makes her want more. Kissing Peeta now is the promise of what could be, an anticipation of something even deeper and more intense than ever before.

He pulls away first and they both struggle to catch their breath.

"I umm...I'll go drop these off with Thom and then come back here and start packing some of my stuff," he says with a nervous, excited little laugh.

"Okay, I'll help," she agrees with a smile, both of them knowing there aren't many of his things that haven't already found their way to Katniss' home.

Later on that night, they're working together to make dinner.

It didn't take more than two trips to move the rest of Peeta's belongings into her house. Currently his possessions are sitting in a corner of the living room to be dealt with later, while the pair of them move around each other in the kitchen, getting dinner ready.

They work in comfortable silence and Katniss can't help but keep glancing over at Peeta by the stove. It's an old habit really, watching him. She likes to study him secretly. She likes to examine every little aspect of him without interruption and without him knowing. Maybe a year ago, it was because she didn't want him to notice and catch on about her true feelings for him, how deep they really went. But now she realizes she doesn't want to get caught watching him because she knows exactly the power he has over her now, the fact that he can make her melt with a single look or touch.

So she watches him with brief looks and fleeting glances. She watches the way his muscles tense and flex under the plain white t-shirt he's wearing that clings to his broad shoulders. She watches how his hands work so deftly and fluidly, so in charge and strong and sure of himself. She watches as he chews on the corner of his lip, like he's deep in concentration.

When she hears her front door swing open, she snaps out of it and realizes how easy it is to get lost in him, lost in this new and exciting thing between them.

"Dinner ready?" Haymitch barks, walking across the living room towards the kitchen. He stops about halfway, his eyes going to the piles of things in the corner, his face scrunching up with confusion. "Going somewhere, sweetheart?" He questions, turning to Katniss and raising his eyebrows at her in question.

"It's my stuff," Peeta answers for her, wiping his hands off on a nearby towel. "I'm uh...moving in here...officially," he adds, scratching the back of his neck and suddenly unable to meet his mentor's eyes.

Katniss watches as Haymitch looks at Peeta, his face remaining expressionless even as he absorbs this information.

"Thought you already did..." Haymitch finally answers, shrugging his shoulders and continuing towards the dining room where he falls down into his usual seat.

Katniss lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and turns back to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. She's grateful in that moment to Haymitch for not making a huge fuss about this. The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind for her and she's still trying to adjust to this huge change in her and Peeta's relationship.

She realizes as they are bringing dinner over to the table, that from an outsider's perspective it really must not seem like a big deal for Peeta to bring over the few final remaining possessions he still had at his house. To an outsider, the fact that he has been sharing her bed for the past couple of months pretty much means they've already been living with one another for a while.

Regardless, she's glad he didn't make some snarky comment or tease them over this fact. She's also glad, she realizes with a start, that he not only doesn't seem to have a problem with it, but that he approves of their living arrangements. For reasons she can't quite articulate, Haymitch's acceptance of what she does with her life means more to her than she would care to admit.

Dinner passes as usual. The three of them enjoy the food she gathered in the woods that day and make quiet conversation. Peeta and Haymitch discuss things around the district, the opening of the new factory to make medicine, the continued influx of refugees—some old district 12 residents and some people from 13, who without the Capitol around no longer want to keep living underground.

She keeps quiet, lost in her thoughts and the food in front of her. Sometimes she wonders when she'll get used to this—the peacefulness, the calm, the normal boring repetition her life has become now. She doesn't mind it one bit obviously; she's just not used to either struggling to put food on the table or fighting for her life and dealing with the games and Snow.

After a moment of silence stretches on, Peeta clears his throat and speaks up, a teasing tilt to his voice. "Hey Haymitch, guess what?" he grins, looking right at Katniss, who furrows her eyebrows in response.

"Last night Katniss told me she loooooves me," he teases, a huge, cheesy, ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face.

She shakes her head, biting down on her bottom lip to suppress the smile on her face. She rolls her eyes at him playfully even as her entire body seems to flush in response to Peeta reaching over and placing his large, warm hand over her small one.

Haymitch chuckles between bites and then finally says, "Congratulations girl, you finally managed to figure out what the rest of us knew about halfway through your first games."

Katniss looks across the table and meets his eye and Haymitch gives her the closest thing to a smile she's ever seen from him. It makes her heart jump. She sees in his eyes a million different things—pride, love, and happiness—and she takes a moment to consider it. The fact that her finally getting her act together and acknowledging her love for Peeta can invoke these emotions in him makes her really appreciate just how much he cares about her.

But of course, he's Haymitch, and the look is gone in a flash and he has to ruin the moment.

"Last night this happened, eh boy?" he asks, shooting Peeta a wry look.

She doesn't really catch on at first as Peeta looks over at him, his eyes going wide, his face turning a light shade of pink. It isn't until Peeta starts stuttering and scratching his neck and avoiding Haymitch's eyes that she realizes what he means.

And she wants to sink under the table and disappear, her mortification is so intense.

She shrinks into herself, casting her eyes downward and refusing to look up, even as she can feel her body blush from head to toe.

Haymitch clears his throat and continues, "Look I don't want to talk about it anymore than either of you so I'm going to say two things and then I'm never going to mention it again. As far as I'm concerned I live in a world where the two of you hold hands in that bed at night and that's it."

"Oh god..." Peeta groans.

She buries her face in her hands, convinced this is the most awkward and uncomfortable moment of her life and that nothing will ever top it.

"Please be safe. I know the last thing either of you need right now is another mouth to feed and person to care for. You both need to focus on yourselves and take care of each other."

At this point it doesn't really matter that he's being honest and sincere and actually giving them good advice. She keeps thinking that she will never be able to look him in the eye again. She'll never be able to even hold Peeta's hand in front of him again.

"And uhh...I know you like to sleep with the windows open boy, but umm...just please try and keep in mind that I live right next door. I don't want to hear that anymore than you want to know I've heard it."

"You finished?" Peeta asks gruffly, trying to retain his composure even though is face is still bright red.

"I'm actually still eating," Haymitch returns coolly, effectively ending the conversation by pretending it never happened.

The rest of the dinner is endured in awkward silence, all three of them unable to meet each other's eyes.

Haymitch stands up first when he's done, grabbing his bare plate and bringing it over to the sink. "Thanks for the grub," he says on his way towards the front door. "See you tomorrow," he adds before shutting the door behind him.

Peeta lets out a long breath first, his entire body deflating. "I'm sorry..." he starts to apologize. "I should have never...I wouldn't have if I had known."

"It's okay." Katniss shrugs, the embarrassment slowly starting to fade as she realizes she can just keep telling herself that that entire conversation never happened, repeating it like a mantra until she can almost believe it. "It wasn't your fault."

"I guess it's probably pretty weird for him too..." Peeta admits after a moment with a chuckle. "I mean...I definitely wouldn't want to know about him...um...doing...that..."

Katniss laughs even as she cringes at the thought. "I think the important thing is that we never have another conversation with him like that again," she declares.

"Agreed," Peeta says as they bring their plates back to the kitchen and start to clean up.

Hours later they are spread out on the floor of the living room going through their usual nightly routine of working on the book.

Again, Katniss finds herself watching him, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of him leaning over a white piece of paper, deep in concentration as he sketches something. The sun has set and as bedtime creeps closer she can't help but wondering what's going to happen between them now. Other than their brief conversation this morning where she assured him that she doesn't regret what happened between them last night, they haven't exactly discussed anything yet.

She starts to wonder if they'll make love tonight and the thought makes her stomach flip with anticipation. She wonders if he'll initiate it, if he'll kiss her and just keep kissing her and tug her clothes off until it evolves into their bodies becoming one like the way it happened last night. She can't deny that the thought of feeling him inside her again, of shattering into a million pieces the way she did when he touched her between her legs, makes her feel more alive than she ever has before.

It's strange for her to suddenly have something in her life that is so good, that makes her feel so happy, that makes her feel more pleasure than she ever really thought was possible. But of course, she thinks, that thing would be something that she was sharing with Peeta, that he was giving her. He will always be the person that connects her to this world, that reminds her that she doesn't have to face everything alone, that she has love and passion in her life.

She bites her lip and keeps staring over at him, stuck in a trance.

She is so lost in her daydream she doesn't realize she has been looking at him for quite a while. So she starts when he looks up and locks eyes with her, a playful grin on his face.

"Can I help you?" he teases as she flushes and looks away.

"Sorry I..." she fumbles and takes a deep breath before deciding that she wants to start being more open and honest with him, telling him what she's thinking and how she feels. He deserves that much she decides; he deserves that much after waiting so long for her to admit that she loves him.

"Sometimes I like to watch you..." she confesses and cringes a little at how crazy that sounds. But she persists anyways, "I don't know...you have these really long eyelashes and sometimes you get this really deep look of concentration. You just...you're easy to look at. I could watch you all day..."

She doesn't look at him when she says any of this—she's not that brave yet. She fiddles with her hands instead and feels the heat creep up her neck the more she talks. When she finally manages to get it all out, she can feel her heart pounding furiously as she realizes what she's just said, the embarrassment slowly creeping up on her.

After a long while, when the silence has stretched to the point of uncomfortably long, she chances a look up at him. He's looking at her so intensely it takes her breath away. She opens her mouth to say something, but in that instant he moves across the space between them.

He captures her mouth in a kiss and crawls over her as she falls back against the floor of the living room. He's hovering above her now, kissing her like he'll never able to stop, licking his way into her mouth, claiming her as his.

"Peeta..." she pants when they break away.

And then he reaches for the button of her pants and her hips jerk forward in response.

Suddenly it feels like her skin is on fire, like every muscle and nerve in her body will snap unless he buries himself inside her this instant.

With trembling hands, she pushes his hands away and starts working on her own pants, tugging them down her hips along with her underwear. He moves to work on his own, and they only manage to get their garments down around their ankles before her knees are falling to the side and she is tugging at his hips.

She chants his name in desperation as she waits for him to fill her; she's so incredibly desperate to feel him inside her again it's overwhelming. When he slides into her they both let out low moans of relief as he starts to build a rhythm.

It feels different than last night, she thinks. She feels tight and not used to his size yet, but the discomfort isn't as noticeable. She lets her hands drift down from his back to his backside, feeling like she needs to pull him closer, help him get deeper inside her.

"Fuck!" he grunts when her hands grip his behind and the pleasure coils tighter in her stomach when she hears Peeta cuss.

"Oooh...oh..." she gasps, throwing her head back and squeezing her eyes shut as he starts to go a little harder and faster. "Peeta..." she moans before she feels his hand snake down to where they're joined.

She mewls her approval as he starts rubbing that spot at the apex of her legs again, that spot from last night. Yes, she decides, she really likes it when Peeta rubs her clit.

"Ahhh..." she gasps as his fingers make tight, hard circles in tandem with his hips thrusting faster and faster. She feels her entire body start to tense as she approaches something indescribable.

He slams into her with a hard, deep drive of his hips and she cries out so loudly she would be startled if she weren't swept away in euphoria.

The pleasure blinds her, floods her limbs with a sensation so blissful and foreign. Her heart hammers away steadily in response and she is only dimly aware of Peeta continuing to thrust inside her.

She feels it when he joins her though, his muscles going stiff beneath her hands, his body stilling as his warmth fills her. His hips rock a little erratically as he makes strained noises of pleasure above her. Then he falls against her, half his body weight off to the side so he doesn't crush her and part of his chest pressed against her breasts.

She holds him, still in a daze from her orgasm. She feels weightless and content and so, so good. She lets a smile creep across her face and brushes the hair away from his face, noticing the way she can feel his heart beating hard in his chest, the way their skin sticks together from their sweat.

Slowly, their breathing gets back to normal and they return to themselves. Peeta lifts himself up off of her a little and gives her a crooked, shy smile. He leans in to kiss her softly, letting their lips mold together.

"We could um...go upstairs to bed," he whispers when they break away and her heart lurches in response. A blush appears on his face, turning his fair skin pink as he waits for her answer. The fact that he could be shy about something at a moment like this just endears him to her more. She tries to calm her nerves and excitement over the idea of going to their room and the bed they share for this specific purpose.

"Okay..." she nods in response, feeling her face heat and immediately chastising herself. She moves to get up or get out from under him when he stops her.

"Wait," he says firmly, causing her to draw her eyebrows together in confusion.

And then he snakes a hand down between her legs and parts her thighs.

She gasps when she feels his fingers find her still sensitive center, seeking out her clit. "Peeta..." She chokes on his name, jerking her hips towards him and grabbing at his shoulders to hang on. She thought she might be too tender for this, but clearly her body disagrees. Her hips gyrate in a circular motion of their own accord and she feels the pleasure spiking low in her stomach a lot faster than before.

She mewls in delight, feeling every muscle and nerve in her body tighten in pleasure. When Peeta dips his head to kiss along the hollow of her throat and then trail his lips to that spot behind her ear he knows she loves, she explodes. She cries out, just as loudly as before and spasms in a fit of ecstasy.

She is trembling and delirious with pleasure and holding onto Peeta like a lifeline.

"Okay, now we can go upstairs," he murmurs in her ear, amusement clear in his voice.

Their heavy breathing is almost in sync as she pushes herself up and down on Peeta's cock. Her hands are using his shoulders to support her and his hands tightly grip her hips, helping to guide her movements.

His eyes are trained on the spot where they are joined, no doubt mesmerized by the sight of seeing himself disappear inside her again and again. She feels in control like this, setting the pace and determining how deep he gets.

In the moment all she can think about is how amazing it feels to do this with him. This is a feeling she's never known as he starts to go a little harder and faster and it's not just the sex. The pleasure is completely new, totally foreign and obviously welcomed, but it's the connection deepening between them that makes her think of this as something she has never had before. It's more than just physical, making their bodies feel good, it's a bond growing between them, a bond so deep that if she were still the same girl who couldn't admit she loved him it would terrify her.

She moves her hand from his shoulders to the sweaty ends of his blond curls. He grunts as she tugs at his hair a little and moves one arm around her waist while the other travels up to gently cup and knead her breast.

Her breath catches at the sensation, feeling like there is a direct connection between her breast and her groin. He squeezes and rubs and then pulls at her nipple. "Oooh..yea..yesss..." she breathes, her hips starting to speed up in response to his movements.

And then he leans forward and puts his mouth on her breast and she gasps, moving her hips faster and harder now. She moves in a circular motion, pressing her clit against his pubic bone and pushing at the back of his head, making sure his lips never move from her nipple.

He moves his mouth to her other breast and she throws her head back, amazed, again and still, at how good and perfect and right it feels to be with Peeta like this.

It feels good to have him inside her and to have him lick and suck at her nipples. It feels good to have him finger her clit with hard and tight circles and to orgasm until she is crying out with pleasure. But the passion and love between them is really what is sending her to new heights. As she rides him faster she feels her own release near and marvels at the fact that despite everything they've found themselves here. They have found themselves in love and are able to take pleasure from one another and get as close as two people can possibly get without her getting scared and running away.

She comes with that thought and falls against him. With a few last rough, hurried pumps he follows her and they hold each other, lost in the haze of pleasure.

She closes her eyes and realizes they only became intimate for the first time last night and in less than 24 hours they've made love multiple times and she still feels like she wants more.

But as she lifts herself off him and rolls to her side she can feel her muscles protest, leaving no doubt that she'll be sore tomorrow.

Peeta pulls her into his side as they settle themselves in bed, their sheets strewn carelessly around. "I'm never going to get tired of doing that with you," Peeta mumbles against the top of her head, his hand stroking her arm and back lazily.

She still doesn't have a way with words like Peeta so in response she just smiles and presses a kiss to his chest and threads their fingers together so she can hold his hand.

"Do you umm...are you..." Peeta trails off, suddenly tongue-tied for some reason. Katniss looks up at him curiously, waiting for him to continue.

"Is this..okay?" he finally gets out, and she frowns in confusion, still unclear at what he means. "Is this too fast for you? I feel like this past day has been kinda intense," he says with a nervous chuckle.

Her heart aches at the sudden look of worry and apprehension that she can see in his eyes. She realizes that telling him she loves him last night is only the first step towards getting Peeta to accept this new side of her—this side that knows and admits that she loves him, that isn't afraid of needing him in her life, that wants him in her life.

"It has been," she agrees finally, "but in a good way." She feels him release the breath he was holding. "And I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want to stop doing...umm this...with you anytime soon."

He laughs and moves to join their lips together in a kiss.

"I don't think I'd be able to stop anyways," he whispers against her mouth.

"Damn it!" She curses at herself out in the woods for missing her mark while trying to shoot a squirrel.

She shakes her head to try and clear it. She needs to focus. She needs to lose herself in the familiarity of the woods, she needs to make a few kills so she has something to share with the butcher and Sae when she gets into town later.

She takes a breath to compose herself and moves along, trying to keep her hunter's eye sharp.

But it's useless.

After a few moments her mind starts to wander like it has been doing so often as of late. It starts to wander to the same subject that has been filling her dreams and most of her waking hours.

Peeta.

She tries to fight it, but it's hopeless. She's in love. Since that night last week when they first became intimate and she admitted to him, as well as herself, the depths of her feelings for him nothing has been the same.

Well, a lot of things have been the same. She still hunts—or tries to—and Peeta still bakes and they still have dinner with Haymitch. They still work on the book and have nightmares and have days where the weight of their losses is almost too much to bear.

But from that moment when she was finally able to truly embrace how much she cares for Peeta, things have been...amazing. She doesn't feel like she's hiding anymore. She's not scared of what might happen if she opens her heart up to him because she knows he already has full possession of it. She truly sees now that all the joy and goodness Peeta brings to her life, his ability to help her see there will be sunshine once the storms clear is worth it and then some to risk the loss and heartache being in love can cause.

And the way they've been making love certainly doesn't hurt either.

Sometimes it makes her blush to think of the things they've shared, the way his hands have touched every part of her body, the sounds she's made, the look in his eyes when he comes. She thinks about being with him like that constantly, and since that first night hardly a day has passed without them being intimate.

What strikes her most though is how right it feels being with him like that. How it feels completely comfortable and natural. Every part of her screams in agreement when he slides inside her, feeling like this is always what they were meant to do and share.

Finally, after another botched attempt at shooting some game she decides to call it a day and head home. She's clearly too preoccupied at the moment to think of hunting.

She knows Peeta will still be in town helping Thom out so she goes straight there. She wanders around a bit, searching for him among the groups of people working on various construction sites in what used to be the town square. The new justice hall is nearly done and the new government has a supply station for refugees that are still getting back on their feet.

She finds herself at what will be Peeta's new bakery, still at the bare bones level of construction.

"Katniss!"

She turns at the familiar voice and smiles as Thom walks away from a man wearing a tool belt. "Hey Thom," she greets him with a smile, "is Peeta around? I got done with hunting early."

The smile falls from his face and her heart seizes painfully in her chest, anxiety flooding into her system.

"He uh...he went home for the day," Thom explains carefully, looking at her warily, like she's a porcelain doll that might break. "There was an accident..."

The words only just barely leave his mouth before she turns on her heels and sprints home, moving as fast as her legs can carry her.