After I said goodnight to Katniss outside her house, I floated home on a cloud. It was amazing what one little "yes" could do. I had hope like I'd never had before, and I was so grateful for my father's advice to keep trying.

I knew I shouldn't let myself get carried away—she had let me walk her home once, just because she was scared, and had barely spoken to me the entire time. It was a tiny victory: I wasn't going to convince her to elope with me anytime soon. But still…that night I drifted away on dreams of her and me, together…

The next morning I watched as Katniss trailed into the schoolyard a few steps after her sister and another boy I didn't recognize. To my delight I noticed a small smile playing about her lips…was it possible our walk together last night had made her as happy as it had made me?

Get real Mellark, I told myself ruefully.

I kept watching as Prim pulled her sister into the corner of the schoolyard for a private conversation. Katniss' smile vanished at first, as whatever Prim was telling her obviously bothered her, but then as the bell rang she let out a peal of laughter and tweaked her sister's nose, walking away with a huge grin on her face.

"See you later!" I heard her call to Prim.

And then her eyes connected with mine, and I knew I had been caught staring again. This time, though, I didn't look away. Instead I smiled at her and raised my hand in a small wave, my heart in my throat.

She smiled back at me before ducking her head and hurrying into the school, and an already wonderful day was made even better.

I was careful not to speak to Katniss for the rest of the day, although I couldn't help staring a little. Not that there was anything new about that, anyway. To my disappointment, she never looked my way again, and I was never on the receiving end of another smile like I had been that morning. That was okay, though…slow and steady was my new motto. I could live a long time on one smile per day. And, okay…maybe one walk per night.

Because I was definitely planning on walking her home again that night, if she would let me, but that was a big "if." Maybe she had only agreed to it last night because it was her first night back, and tonight she would have more confidence and therefore no need for my companionship. I could see her deciding that allowing it "just once" was okay, but that more than that would be violating her preconceived rules about Town kids associating with Seam kids. I knew that if I could just get her to say yes again tonight, then I had a much better chance for making it a permanent, long-term arrangement. There was a chance I would have to persuade her, and I toyed with different arguments in my head instead of listening to any of my teachers.

The day dragged on. School, then chores, and homework, and dinner…even goofing around with my friends for half an hour after school was tedious. Finally, though, it was time and I found myself once again standing outside of Sae's, waiting for Katniss.

When she finally came out I couldn't even speak, I was so nervous, but it turned out not to even matter. I didn't have to do any convincing at all, no persuasive arguments were needed. Katniss just smiled at me and allowed me to fall into step beside her. I was walking on air until she spoke and brought me back to Earth with a thud.

"I saw Devin today."

Anger flared up in me, hot and unexpected. Just the sound of that monster's name…

"You saw Devin? What the hell? I told him to stay away from you!"

I had thought my brothers and I had made ourselves clear. Maybe another visit was due him, and this time we'd do more than just threaten him. How dare he…!

"No, no," Katniss quickly interrupted my murderous rage. "Not like that. We just both happened to be at the Market at the same time. It was a coincidence."

Oh.

"Oh."

So Devin hadn't dared, after all. The tension that had seized me eased up a bit. Still, it wasn't fair that Katniss had had to face him so soon after everything that had happened. Why couldn't he just disappear of the face of the Earth all together and leave the world a better and happier place?

"Are you okay?" I asked her, concerned.

She nodded, and I felt a bit more of the tension roll off of me.

"I think so," she said. "It was kind of a shock, but I guess it had to happen sometime."

"Did he see you?"

"Yes."

"Did he do anything?"

The tension in me ramped up again at just the thought of him doing anything to upset her.

"No," Katniss shrugged like it was no big deal. "He just shot me a nasty look. All he could do, really, in a public place like that."

I wanted to hit something. Preferably Devin's face. He should be groveling at her feet, not shooting her offensive looks! If he was still brazen enough to do that, what else would he dare to do?

"If he ever touches you again, I'll kill him, I swear," promising myself as much as Katniss. "I have a mind to go punch his face again a few times just for looking at you."

"That won't be necessary, Peeta," Katniss said, and to my amazement her tone was light, like she was trying to cheer me up! "I think you worked him over pretty well the first time. He looked like he'd been hit by a train!"

Good.

"Yeah, well…he deserved it."

I wasn't quite ready to be cheered up. I was still fuming at the thought of Devin being rude to Katniss. But she persisted.

"Well, I won't argue with that," she said. "But how did you do it? Fight both of them at the same time, I mean?"

"I don't know," I said. "I guess I'd just had more training than them. I'm on the wrestling team, you know."

I saw her nodding out of the corner of my eye, and little thrill ran through me at the thought that she had noticed even that much about me before now.

"Plus," I went on, having been successfully distracted from my angry thoughts, "I have two older brothers. You don't grow up in a house full of boys without learning how to fight."

I laughed as countless memories of tussles with my brothers ran through my mind. It was possible I was even the best fighter out of the three, since as the youngest I had always been so eager to beat my older brothers…to prove myself their equal.

"Especially when you're the baby," I added with a grin. And then my thoughts returned to her original question. I wanted to be sure to give credit where credit was due. "There were other factors, too."

"Like what?"

"Well, for starters…you had softened them up pretty well for me. They were both already bleeding when I got there."

Katniss laughed—a beautiful, tonal sound. "True. I broke Ryland's nose."

"And did a very nice job of it too, if I may say so," I teased her.

"You may."

I suddenly felt light as feather as I realized that here we were…having a real conversation and even despite the serious subject matter I was able to make her smile and laugh. If only I could make her see how good we'd be together…

"What else?" she asked.

"They were drunk," I remembered the way Ryland had been staggering around. "That slowed their reflexes just enough to give me an advantage. And, I guess, the fact that I was so angry. When I realized what they were doing…I just saw red."

Katniss was silent, and I suddenly wished I could bite my own tongue off.

Too much. Too intense, Mellark!

Would I never learn?

"I'm sorry," I said, desperately trying to salvage the situation. "Does it bother you to talk about it?"

"No," Katniss said. "I think it kind of helps, actually."

I felt a huge weight slip off my shoulders. Maybe I hadn't blundered as badly as I thought I had.

"I have thanked you for what you did that night, right?" she went on, peeking over at me.

I laughed, giddy with relief and happiness.

"More than amply, I promise," I said.

"Good."

We walked the rest of the way to her house in silence, but I didn't mind. I felt like I was truly making progress with her. And then she said "yes" again the next night that I met her outside the diner, and then again the night after that. For two weeks, she said yes to me and my happiness knew no bounds. I didn't care that we didn't have another conversation like the one we'd had that night—she smiled when she saw me, she allowed me to walk beside her, and I was content. And despite everything, I allowed my hopes to rise.

Then came the night that I ruined everything.

"Peeta, can I ask you a question?" she spoke for the first time as we turned down the street to her house.

"Sure."

"Why are you doing this?

My heart started racing. I hadn't been expecting this conversation already. I mean, I thought I had made my intentions pretty clear, but I had also thought she would never in a million years want to actually bring the subject up for discussion. I quickly decided to play dumb to buy myself some time to think.

"Doing what?" I said.

"This. Why do you walk me home every night?"

She sounded like she sincerely didn't know. Could it be possible she really didn't even have an inkling of how I felt about her?

"I'm just making sure you get home safely," I said, testing.

She let out a frustrated sigh.

"I know that. That's not what I'm asking."

"So what are you asking?"

Spell it out for me Katniss. Do you really want to hear this?

"I'm asking why? Why you? Why me? You don't even know me. Why have you taken on this…responsibility?"

I stopped and looked at her.

She did want to hear it. She wanted me to say it…to tell her how I felt. Could it be possible…?

"You really don't know?" I could barely speak now.

"No," she said. "If I knew I wouldn't be asking."

Her grey eyes were so sincere, looking up at me like that, and suddenly my world was spinning. My heart was thrumming, my blood racing through my veins. Could this really be it? Could this really be happening?

"Katniss…" was all I could say, and suddenly I was touching her…my hand was on her cheek. Her skin was warm and soft and I wanted to feel more of it. Her eyes stared back into mine, so deep and mysterious…I wanted to unlock all of their secrets. I leaned forward…

And then everything came to a screeching halt.

She jerked back away from me, leaving my hand hanging in mid-air. I knew in that instant that I had made a horrible, possibly irredeemable, mistake.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding like she wanted to cry. "I'm sorry, Peeta. I don't…I don't want to do that. I'm sorry."

And then she was gone, and I knew I would never forgive myself for what I had done.

AN: Poor Peeta…he has still to learn exactly how emotionally stunted Katniss truly is. Happier days ahead, though, of course!

Sorry I've been away so long…you know, life and stuff. No real excuse. I promise I'll try to do better. Would it be completely evil for me to tell you that I write much better and faster when I get a lot of reviews? It would? Oh, well…too late!