Peeta sighs as he drives past the familiar, warn out sigh, Welcome, You've Entered Panem. Pop 4 500, he managed to stay out of his small town for so long but things happen and now he's back. Peeta enjoyed his life in sunny California where he lived a good life, his job not his favourite but other than that he enjoyed living in California but not everything stays perfect forever and getting fired by defending himself affected the relationship he had with his girlfriend and she left him for the CEO of the company he worked for, turned out she was real cozy with him throughout their relationship.
His life wasn't complete and utter shit for too long because he got a call from his dad saying he's retiring and wants to give Peeta the family bakery, it took Peeta a while to decide because in order to take it over, he had to return home. He decided that it was better than having no job and accepted his father's offer, he immediately started looking for his own place, not wanting to spend time in his childhood home, knowing that the rooms that used to be bedrooms have all been turned into an office, a workout room (which is odd because his parents hardly use it) and then a spare bedroom for when his brother, Reuben, brings his two boys down to sleep at their parents house.
Pulling into the apartment garage lot, he finds a parking spot to put his car. He makes many trips to and from his car, carrying boxes and boxes up to his new empty apartment. He sets up his bed and thanked the lord that his GMC Terrain was spacious enough for his queen sized mattress, he worried that even with most of the seats down it wouldn't fit but it had just fitted. When he's finished with setting up his bed, he lets out a sigh
"Welcome home" he whispers to himself
+ + +
The moving guys come in a couple of days with the rest of his stuff and his apartment slowly fills up and he spends most of the day arranging everything and settling in. He walks over to his fridge but groans when he opens it, of course there's no food, all this time and he's resulted to take out... that was a mistake.
He looks at his shopping cart and scoffs to himself at how filled up it is already, so much for spending wisely. After getting a couple more things he pays for everything and loads it into his car, he closes the trunk with a sigh
"Peeta? Peeta Mellark?" He looks behind him to see Madge Undersee, a little boy about four by her side, a toddler girl sitting in the cart and a baby in a sling attached to her
"What's it been? Five years?" She chuckles, hugging him
"Last time I checked" he replied smiling and she laughs a little
"So what brings you back to Panem?" She asks
"Well, I'm taking over my dad's bakery, he's retiring" he replies
"That's great. It's good to see you back... after everything that happened" she sighs and he gives her a sad smile, he can't stop himself to what he asks her
"Do you know where Katniss lives?" He asks, knowing that the two are best friends
"Oh, Katniss? Um... she uh—"
"I'll be damned" Gale Hawthorne approaches with a girl identical to the little boy in his arms, they sure have a big family, Peeta thinks to himself
"Hi, Gale" he politely smiles and they all just stand there, making it incredibly awkward
"Well, I better get back to my place. It was nice seeing you all" he says, they exchange goodbyes and part ways, leaving Peeta thankful for getting out of the situation.
His first day at the bakery is busy, his dad telling him that business has been good for months now and so the busy job distract himself from what's really bothering him about being back. Dinner at his parents for the first time was like they were strangers and it took a lot of talking to each other until it was a comfortable night, they told Peeta how big his nephews Ryan and Challah are getting, how Reuben has found a new girlfriend after four years out of his divorce.
Peeta sits outside in the back patio with his dad, enjoying the fall breeze, although he doesn't enjoy being back, he did miss the company of his father
"We've missed you here, Peet" he sighs
"I know... it's just hard coming back after that night" he admits, the horrible night that drove him away from this town, thinking back makes his heart feel like it's stopped beating
"It was a horrible night" his father agrees, the night Peetas long time best friend was shot and killed, his best friend who he turned down going out with to rekindle with an old love, the night he could've gone and maybe stopped his friend who was practically his brother from dying.
When he gets back to his apartment he sits on his couch, drinking his beer as he recalls getting the call about his deceased best friend. The funeral was filled with tears and memories, Peeta distanced himself from everyone and once it was all over he left and never looked back.
The weekend comes around and he decides to go to the local tavern after a long day at work. Walking in he looks around, seeing familiar faces but only people he's just walked past with a smile or something, he walks further in but soon hears something shatter, his head shoots to his right and see a dark haired woman picking up the glass of drinks, he rushes over and immediately helps her
"Are you okay?" He asks, the woman nods, his eyebrows furrow in confusion as she turns and walks away, with a shrug he sits down at one of the stools at the bar and orders a beer, sipping it while watching the football game that's playing.
He stays longer than expected and as he looks around only about five or six people are left drinking or eating a late night dinner but something catches his eye, the girl from before is wiping down the bar just a few feet from him, her back to him. He gets up and walks around to look at her face, as their eyes connect his widen as he stares at the silvery eyes he last saw before he left
"Katniss?" He says in complete disbelief, he knew that she was working to pay for her little sister's college tuition instead of hers but he never knew it was at Abernathy's Tavern
"What... what are you doing back here?" She asks, not exactly excited to see him
"Well... my bad is retired and I'm the only one left to take over. I got fired from my job in California, which was kind of a bummer" he says
"Yeah, because living here is just the worst, right?" She replies sarcastically, scowling at him
"So... your still mad, huh?" He asks, rubbing the back of his neck
"No, I mean who could be mad when you sleep with your old high school boyfriend and he tells you that he wants what we use to have again. Only to leave town when things get bad" she snaps
"Look, I took what happened to Finnick really hard" he defends
"And Annie didn't? Annie is still here, you know. Hell, she finished college and came back to raise their little boy by herself" Katniss says
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left like that. I shouldn't have left you like that" he replies
"Yeah. It was a pretty shitty thing to do. Now, if you'll excuse me" she says and speed walks away to the back room before Peeta could follow her and he sighs, at least she didn't scream at him... but he still didn't expect for her to be this angry.
+ + +
He sighs sitting on a park bench, he decided to get into a routine to run around the park for a couple of minutes just to clear his head about yesterday. As he sips on his water he smiles at all the children playing on the playground in front of him, he's always wanted children but he's never felt like that about any one, well that's a lie because he has but she hates him. A little girl sitting next him interrupts his thoughts, she looks at him with a familiar look, she looks so familiar but he doesn't think he's ever met her before
"Hi there" I say
"Hi, I saw that you were lonely and I wanted to sit with you" she replies, her beautiful cerulean eyes staring into his, he's confused because he swears that their just like his
"Oh, thank you. Won't your parents be wondering where you are?" He asks
"I only have a mommy. I'll get back before she notices" the little girl says, Peeta looks at her with a raised eyebrow
"Your speaking is really good. How old are you?" He asks
"I just turned four in April" she replies, four? He thinks to himself, before they could continue talking
"It was nice meeting you Mr Man" she says
"You to little girl" he chuckles, she crosses her arms and scowls... where has he seen that before?
"I'm not little, I'm medium little" she replies
"Got it" he nods, she then smiles and walks off and continues to play on the playground, that was definitely very weird.
As he finishes work he decides to join his parents for dinner and even tells them about his encounter with the little girl and how familiar she looked, they acted weird when he told them which he just shrugged off. While his parents are washing up, he goes upstairs to check out his dad's office and once he does he smiles to himself, it's definitely his dad who decorated, family pictures on the wall, books and photo albums on the shelves.
He looks at all the albums labeled for Peeta and his brothers, even for his nephews. He pulls out his photo album and smiles as he looks at them all but stops when he gets to a certain picture, it's the summer of 2009... it's Fourth of July and him and Katniss have their foreheads pressed together and smiling at each other, that day he told Katniss how he felt and gave her a promise ring, a promise that he broke.
With a sigh he keeps turning pages but furrows his eyebrows when he sees a sonogram photo, he picks it up and reads the name printed, Katniss Everdeen November 15th 2014, why would his parents have Katniss's sonogram photo? Why does this photo even exist? And then it clicks... his eyes widen
"Holy shit" he says under his breath, he looks up to see his dad standing in the doorway
"What is this, dad? Don't try to cover it up. Just tell me the truth" he asks his dad, Mr Mellark sighs and walks further into the room
"Katniss had the baby not too long after you left... it's not my place to say, son" he answers
"Don't bullshit, dad. This baby she had, it's mine, isn't it?" Peeta says and his dad sighs again
"This is a conversation you need to have with Katniss" he replies, he storms past his dad and out of the house, the sonogram photo still in his hand.
He slams the photo down at the bar table right in front of Katniss, she looks at him with a raised eyebrow and picks up the photo, her eyes widen and her face turns pale
"Where'd you get this?" She asks
"I thought it was weird. This sonogram photo in my photo album but with your name on it" Katniss looks around and then back at him
"Can you just cool it, Peeta? I'm at work" she hisses under her breath and turns to walk away but he jumps over the table, snatching the picture from her
"Not this time, Katniss. Say it. I want you to say it" he says, she looks down at her shoes and shakes her head, looking at him with tears in her eyes
"Not night now" she says, she turns away and runs off but this time he follows her to the back of the tavern, he's not letting her run and he's not taking that for an answer
"Katniss. If this baby is mine, I deserve to know" he narrows his look at her and she scoffs
"Oh? You do? I don't think you do. You know I was doing just fine before you came to me that night. Your the one who made the first move. Your the one who said those things only to leave days later and never come back. I had to do everything without you, do you know how embarrassing it was when I told people who the father was and why he wasn't around?" As he listens to her, he sees the pain that he's caused in her eyes and he frowns
"You could've called me" he replies, more calmly
"Why? So you could come here? Drop college and provide for me? I didn't want that, to my daughter your just a guy who got me pregnant. Don't think I don't know about the park either, I should've known to go to one further away" she mumbles the last sentence to herself, Peeta thinks back to earlier and the little girl he encountered, she looked just like Katniss and her eyes... they were just like his
"I want to meet her, Katniss. You don't owe me anything but you know how much I want children, please don't keep her from me because a stupid mistake I made" he replies
"Peeta. You can't just come back, find this out and demand to want to know her. That's not how it works, there's been so many times when she asked for her daddy and I always told her that I didn't think he was coming back, that her and I were all we had. She'd want more than anything to have a dad but she doesn't deserve one who runs whenever it gets hard" she glares at me and he looks to the ground
"Please, I'm begging you. I'll even get on my knees" he says, keeling down on both knees by her feet
"Katniss Everdeen I beg of you plea—"
"Get up Peeta" she says, a hint of a smile on her lips as she helps him up
"This isn't easy for me. She knows who you are, she's known since the park. I'll allow it but on her terms" Katniss says
"Of course, her terms. Thank you... Katniss" he replies
"I'm doing it for my daughter. Don't you think about leaving now because if you do and she's too attached then I'll personally hunt you down. So think twice about this because if your wanting to be a parent? Now that gets really hard" she warns
"I promise, I won't" he says
"Don't say words that you don't understand, Peeta" she frowns, he gives her his number and they part ways.
+ + +
"Okay, Peeta. Calm down, you can do this" he says to himself getting into the elevator, pressing the button labeled with a two, he runs his hand through his hair nervously and his grip on the flowers, he really hopes her favourites are still tulips and primroses. He knocks on the door and Katniss opens it, he extends the bundle causing her to raise her eyebrow at him
"You remembered?" She says, sniffing the flowers and smiles, a real smile but it's gone just as fast
"Um, come on in" she lets him in and puts the flowers in a vase
"She's in her room. She'll be out in a little bit" Katniss says and he nods, just a few seconds later the little girl from before walks out and stands in front of the little girl
"Hello, Mr Man" she says and he smiles and bobs down to her level
"Hey there, little medium girl" he chuckles and she giggles
"Mommy says that you my daddy" she tells him, he looks to Katniss who slightly nods
"Yes, I am but you can call me Peeta if your not comfortable enough" he replies
"My name is Addilyn Primrose Mellark" she says, offering her hand, Peeta smiles and shakes her hand, he stands and looks to Katniss
"Addy, go play for a bit. You're... dad and I need to talk" she tells her daughter, once she's gone they can talk
"You gave her my last name" he smiles
"When your parents came to visit me in hospital, they looked so in love. It's their only granddaughter and I wanted her to be apart of their family" she explains
"You've done an awesome job, Katniss. I wish I wasn't such a coward" he sighs
"Yeah... so do I" she scowls walking past him, he's got a lot of work to do.
Peeta spends most of the night with his daughter and learns that he loves her laugh and her laugh, and the way her eyes light up when they find something in common. She calls him Peeta first which he was fine with and only hopes that she eventually calls him dad but he tries not to rush into it.
Peeta watches a movie with Katniss and Addy, Tangled, which he found quite interesting and caught himself humming to the tune of a song. He looks down to see Addy asleep in his arms and he looks on the other side of him where Katniss is also asleep, he smiles and slowly gets up, he carries Addy to her room and helps her into her pyjamas seeing as she's too tired to do it herself
"Are you coming back tomorrow?" Addy asks her father as he tucks her in
"I'm not sure. Do you want to see me again?" He replies, she lets out a yawn and nods her head
"I want you as my daddy" she sighs, her eyes closing, he smiles and kisses her forehead before leaving her room and see Katniss still asleep, he lays her down and puts a blanket over her, kissing the top of her head, he gets up but before he could leave she grabs his hand, he kneels back down
"Don't leave" she mumbles tiredly, her eyes still shut
"I don't want to intrude in your space" he replies
"No. Don't leave us again" she says, he kisses her forehead again
"I'm not leaving, not ever I again. I promise, it's a promise I'll keep" he replies and she nods slightly
"Come, I'll carry you to your bed" he chuckles and lifts her before she could protest, carrying her and tucking her into bed.
The next couple of weeks Peeta spends a lot more time with Addy, mostly weekends because she's at full time preschool during the week. She's warmed up to him and even started calling him daddy which he takes pride in, he finds that he enjoys being a dad much more than he thought.
He walks around the store, Addy sitting in the cart, he lets her choose the cereal to have at his house for when she comes over and she chooses nearly every box but he negotiated down to two and he'll buy her ice-cream
"Mommy is very lonely" Addy tells her dad
"Really? Why's that?" He asks
"Because she doesn't have you with her. I heard her talking to aunty Madge about it" she tells him, Peeta smiles to himself
"Interesting... every interesting" he says
"Don't tell her. I don't want to get into trouble" Addy adds and Peeta chuckles
"Your secrets safe with me" Peeta finds this new information quite interesting and is amused at the fact of his daughter eavesdropping and getting the scoop on Katniss. After being begged and begged, Peeta gives in when his daughter asks to play on the playground in the park, he checks that she's all warm and dressed appropriately before he takes a seat and watches his daughter play
"Hey, Peeta" he looks at the small red head that he knows so well, he stands and hugs her
"Hi, Annie. It's been a while" he chuckles
"I know. How've you been?" She asks as they sit next to each other
"I've been real good. Found out that I'm a dad since I've been here" he admits, she smiles at looks at the playground, Addy plays happily with Annie's son
"They're a blessing, children" she sighs happily
"Definitely. I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I left. I shouldn't have left" he frowns
"We all grieve differently" She reassures him, it's a couple of minutes till Addy comes running to the pair and climbs into her fathers lap
"Daddy, I'm hungry" she whines, he chuckles and looks to Annie
"It was great seeing you, Annie" he smiles, holding Addy on his hip as they walk back to his car.
+ + +
"Thank you for sleeping over. I hope the couch wasn't too uncomfortable" Katniss says handing him his tea, Peeta woke by their daughter jumping on his gut so she can open the presents from Santa
"It's okay. No, the couch was more than okay" he smiles, Addy tears at the wrapping and squeals happily when every present is opened, after Addy is already playing with her toys she notices a present still under the tree and grabs it
"This ones for you mommy" Katniss looks at Peeta with a raised eyebrow and takes the neatly wrapped present, she unwraps it and opens the rectangular box with a gasp, the light silvery pearl sits on a silver chain, it's plain, simple but just as Katniss likes it
"Whoah! It's so pretty!" Addy says admiring the jewellery
"It definitely is" Katniss replies, she takes it out and puts it on, Addy continues playing and Katniss looks at Peeta
"I love it... I feel bad for not getting you a present though" she frowns but he shakes his head
"I wanted you to be treated this Christmas" he replies with a charming smile, Katniss returns it but what surprises him is the kiss on the cheek she gives him, he wasn't expecting it.
Over the next few days Katniss and Peeta are doing things together with or without Addy but everything changes on New Years Eve. It's a party at his parents house and as they watch the ball drop and count down, Peeta decides a risky choice, as it counts down to one, he pulls Katniss by her waist and kisses her but he didn't expect her to kiss him back.
Over the next few weeks Peeta and Katniss grow closer, eventually Peeta asks Katniss out on a date with him and they try to go alone but they bring Addy along with them. Weeks go on and soon Addys fifth birthday comes around, the day of Peeta and Katniss being together for four months, the day Katniss asked Peeta to move in with her and Addy, and the day that Peeta knows that he really is home.