Life Lessons 7: Breathe Again

A/N: An update just a day later! I'm proud of myself. Haha. I also plan on having at least one more update before Christmas.

I didn't realize that I'd basically written about Peeta's feelings about having kids right after Katniss' until now, but I guess that makes sense. It kind of connects them together at any rate.

Peeta had waited a long time to have children. Somehow he had always known that Katniss would come around. He hadn't pushed her. There had only been a few times he'd mentioned it over the years. She knew it was what he wanted though, and he had known that she was struggling over it in her head. He had expected her to come around, but it had still been a shock to him when she had told him they could have children.

Now, as he sat in the meadow next to his wife and watched his children run through the tall grass, he still couldn't help put marvel over the two children that seemed to be the perfect mixes of Katniss and him.

Dani bent over to look at something in the grass before running towards them with something yellow in her hand. "Look what I found!" In her hand was a yellow dandelion. Dandelions had been Dani's favorite flowers her whole life, as she had been named after them. Peeta was fairly sure that she had managed to find the last yellow dandelion in the meadow as many of the scattered flowers had turned feathery and white by this time of year. "Can you hold it for me while I play?" She held the small flower out to Peeta who took it from her and began to twirl it around in his hand.

"What are you thinking about?" Katniss suddenly spoke up. Peeta turned to see her lounging in the grass beside him. At his questioning look she responded, "You look like you're thinking about something. And you're being quieter than normal. What is it?"

"I was just thinking about when you finally agreed to have kids," he explained. Katniss looked at him a moment before turning to watch their children.

"I'm glad I did," she sighed before leaning against Peeta.

"Me too," Peeta smiled. "I think they've helped. I thought I was mostly over the hijacking before them, but there's something about them that makes life easier. It's as if each year it got a little bit easier to breathe, but I wasn't breathing normally until they came. There are still the occassional asthma attacks, but overall, my breathing's normal again." He paused a moment before laughing. "That sounded ridiculous."

"No, I get it." Peeta looked down to see Katniss watching him with understanding in her eyes. He leaned down to kiss her before they both turned back to their laughing, playful children.