Dangerous Bridges

Chapter 17: His True Feelings

I wake up resting on Peeta's chest. I smile when I see our fingers still entwined and laying on his stomach.

I check my watch and see its only 3pm. I've been asleep with Peeta for 3 hours. "Katniss?" I hear Peeta ask. I carefully kneel and turn to face him. Our entwined fingers unjointed and my hand goes to stroke his left cheek.

"Yeah?" I answer back with a smile.

"Are you alright after that?" I know what he means by that so I don't have to ask.

"Yes. I'm not sore." I reply and he smiles with relief. Peeta sits up and stretches before grabbing me in his arms and placing me on his legs.

I smile and wrap my arms around him and place my head on his shoulder. Peeta places his right hand on my back to support my slightly awkward position.

"I had a very nice sleep thanks to you." I comment and kiss his neck.

"Why thanks to me?" He asks, slightly confused.

"Because, your embrace brought comfort. I was really relaxed." I answer and Peeta kisses my forehead.

"That's good." He states and I smile again. "You know Katniss, if anything bad ever happens to you, I'd be broken." Peeta adds and a stray tear rolls down my cheek.

"The same goes to you." I reply and lift my shirt up to gaze up the bruise on my hip. I see Peeta's hand come down to stroke it gently.

"Did your mother give you this?" I nod in reply and bury my head into his neck again. "I would kiss it but I can't reach down there." I quietly laugh and wrap my around carefully around his neck.

"Oh wait -" I see him kiss his fingers and place them on the bruise. "- there we go. Any better?" I nod and chuckle. My left hand goes to play with his hair and Peeta's hand lies on my waist. Even that makes my heart race. Peeta slowly lifts my shirt up so he can kiss all my other 'presents' from my mother.

"I love you so much Katniss." Peeta states.

"How can you, I'm not beautiful, I dress in black all the time to show how I feel and I am abused by my mother. No one would want to come near -" I retort but Peeta interrupts me.

"Katniss! You are gorgeous, I don't care what colour you dress in and I do want to come near you. Even though I hate your mother for abusing you, you are perfect even with all these marks hidden away. I love you and nothing's ever going to change that." Peeta exclaims and sighs. "Don't doubt yourself. You'll just make me more worried about what you could do." he adds and I look up at his face to see tears starting to flow.

"Peeta." I say and sit up. I place my hand against the back of his head and place his head in the crook of my neck. Peeta starts sobbing, for the first time since we met.

"I - I don't want to image you hurting yourself some other way." Peeta states in between sobs. I lean my head against his.

"Peeta, sweetie, I won't do anything like that. You are my remedy for my hard life I don't like to live in. You're my escape from my troubled reality." I say and pause before lifting up his head and holding it in my hands. "I would never hurt myself. Especially when you're looking after me" I add and wipe his eyes and cheeks.

"Okay?" I ask him and he nods. "Okay." I add and we share a quick kiss. "Come here." Peeta wraps his arms around my chest and I wrap mine around his neck. Doing my best to calm him, when he's showing me his true feelings towards the abuse.