“Well I don’t know. Have you tried under the stairs?” Her foot beat out a constant tap against the wood floor of the hallway as she eyed up the clock on the wall, the big hand steadily ticking its way to twelve. There was a reply from the receiver pressed to her ear but if she was honest she hadn’t heard a word. A minute into the conversation and Katniss had thrown out a series of locations in a panic, hoping to get her Mom off the line. She was, as it turned out, failing miserably.

The million-dollar question was why, with a few minutes until her class started, had she taken the call? Especially when she saw who it was calling. The only explanation was that guilt and a sense of daughterly responsibility had won out which had resulted in a ball of anxiety squirming in her gut for her efforts.

“Mom.” There was no sign of the other woman stopping but Katniss pressed on. “Mom. I have to go.” At those words her Mom’s voice took on a familiar wobbling tone but she knew if she stayed on the call any longer then she would be dealing with another of her mother’s episodes. “Mom, I’m going now. Bye. Bye.” She stressed the last goodbye with more finality before quickly ending the call before another word could be said.

“Jesus Christ.” With each syllable she gently hit the back of her head against the wall she was leaning on and took a moment to shut her eyes.

The desperation to leave home for college had built up over a long, hot summer and every moment she had been in that house, just her and her Mom, Katniss swore she was one minute nearer to committing a random act of violence. When the start of semester finally arrived, she threw everything she had into her old rucksack, chucked it in the car and drove off at full speed.

For about five blissful minutes she had been free.

Before she stupidly, stupidly, answered the phone she had been heading into Professor Abernathy’s Psych class and was now late. Three lectures in and she wasn’t too sure what she had learnt about Psychology so far but she had learnt that Abernathy was a mean, rude man. Due to the classes popularity and mismatched lecture hall size, being late meant you didn’t get a seat. The Professor held a ‘no seat, no stay’ policy, stating that those who wanted to attend his class would ‘damn well be on time.’ In previous lectures those who hadn’t quite made it and who had nervously twitched and hovered by the door were unceremoniously kicked out. One even had a pen thrown in their direction.

That morning Katniss got to watch, with increasing alarm, as fellow students filed in ahead of her. She took a moment to question whether she needed to attend the class at all, contemplating taking a non-attendance mark over public humiliation. The problem was Professor Abernathy also operated a rather strict ‘three strikes’ rule for no-shows and with circumstances the way they were she knew she couldn’t risk it. Those non-attendance marks needed to be bankable.

She groaned out loud to the quiet hallway. There was only one thing to do. “Fuck. My. Life,” she muttered and hoisted her bag over her shoulder. Public humiliation it was then. If she was quick she stood a chance at successfully ducking from whatever it was he decided to throw at her and if a miracle occurred then she might be able to sneak in unnoticed and discover an empty sear. Please, she begged, to no one, to the universe. You have everything else. Just give me this one thing.

Katniss pushed the door open and crept in, her stomach instantly stopping its fight to flee her body. The place where the grumpy, dark haired man usually stood at the front of the hall was…. empty. The miracle she had wanted had happened, she had somehow arrived before the professor. Thank you, she thought. Maybe pathetic pleading does work.

In the absence of an adult, a proper adult, the lecture hall was buzzing. Students sat chatting away to each other, leaning across rows to reach people they knew or were taking the time to scroll through their phones. Some students, the extremely pretty group of blonde girls that gravitated towards each other in lecture one, were even taking selfies. Katniss walked up the first steps past them, rolling her eyes. This is what people did when they found themselves at a loose end? She could be wrong but she was sure class was for learning, not for making friends.

Despite the win on a temporarily absent professor, she was faced with her second battle. Her eyes scanned the lecture hall for a seat and succeeded only in find a whole lot of nothing. Well shit. Maybe this was why people made friends with classmates. When you end up in a crappy class with bad seating arrangements at least a friend could help you out when you ran late. She turned around and was about to head out the door in defeat when she heard it. Over the noise of the talking and the laughter, Katniss thought she heard a yell of ‘hey by the door!’

Frowning, she looked up and around, her eyes sweeping over the heads of her peers. Then she saw it. Six rows up on the right side by the aisle. An arm waved in the air followed by another shout from a voice, a guy’s voice. “Hey, do you want a seat?”

Katniss looked behind her quickly to see if another tardy student had followed behind her. No. Just her.

“Yeah, you with the braid. There’s a spare here!”

Heat flushed her cheeks. Well this was public humiliation on a different level. A quick glance around however, told her that no one seemed to have paid any attention. Her foot waivered on the step. It was probably a matter of minutes before Professor Abernathy turned up and Katniss had learnt the hard way that beggars couldn’t be choosers. Gritting her teeth, she made her way up the stairs towards where the arm was still waving. Great, she got to be a charity case here too.

When she reached the seat, the guy was bent down, shoving his bag onto the floor of the spare seat next to him as he moved across to it, freeing up the aisle one for Katniss. A quick look at his back told her nothing aside from the fact he had wavy blonde hair and very broad shoulders. Jock, she noted. I see how this is. A dumb jock who thinks he can copy from me. This day is just getting better,

She murmured a quick ‘thanks,’ and threw her own bag onto the ground sliding into the seat next to his, keeping her eyes down whilst hoping that would be the full level of their interaction.

There was a chirpy, “you’re welcome!” followed by a pause. “I saw you on the phone out there and thought you might want a seat saved. I know how this class gets.”

He was obviously a talker. Marvellous. If she humoured him and thanked him again he may just accept it and leave her in peace. If he didn’t, then she would tell him, in no uncertain terms, that she wasn’t interested in conversation. Katniss turned to look at him, her mouth open with a quick and curt reply.

Oh. Oh. He wasn’t entirely what she was expecting. He was grinning at her. No, not grinning, beaming at her, a wide and pleasant smile spreading across an equally pleasant face. She realised that her mouth was still open but no reply was coming out. She quickly spoke, “um yeah. Thank you. Again.”

“You’re welcome. Again!”

She mustered a small smile at him and looked down at her bag, readying to get her notebook out but he must have read the smile as a sign of encouragement because he leant towards her, his voice low. “You know he does it deliberately?”

“Sorry?”

“Professor Abernathy overbooks his classes on purpose. It’s not because he likes to make people suffer,” he shrugged. “Ok, maybe there’s a bit of that, but it’s his specialist area of interest. His first ever thesis was on in-group and out-group behaviour in stress related situations.” He leaned in, even closer, and Katniss saw that his eyes, a remarkable shade of blue, were shining with humour. “A few years ago he took his final thesis students on a survivalist week and created awful living conditions to see how they would react. It was so bad that by the fifth day they snapped and tied him to a pole.”

She laughed before she could help it and watched as his face lit up. “Guys a mad genius. His next study is on conformity to authority. I think he’s started with yelling at people to get out of his class. Who knows where it will go.”

Where indeed, she thought. Instead she asked, “how do you know all this?” and internally cringed as she said it. Dammit, a conversation was the one thing that she didn’t want to start and now she was actively participating in one. He didn’t seem to mind though, in fact he almost seemed pleased that she’d asked.

“My brother took this class. He was actually the one that had the idea to tie up Professor Abernathy to the pole.”

“Oh.” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and the guy chuckled.

“I swear it sounds worse than it is. According to my brother Abernathy told him he had ‘spunk.’”

“And are you taking this class because you’re hoping to tie someone up?” As soon as she said it she regretted it. A stunned look took over his face and there was a pause while his mouth opened and closed. He was now either thinking she was implying he was a sadist of some sort or was thinking she was flirting with him. It wasn’t the first and it certainly wasn’t the last. Mortification flooded through her and she started to look around for another seat. If she couldn’t find one then maybe she would chance it and just let Abernathy throw stationery at her head.

Before she could swap one embarrassment for another Katniss heard a chuckle from her right and she glanced over at him. He was rubbing the back of his neck and his face had pinkened, a blush decorating his cheeks. “I promise I’m not taking this class for some re-enactment of my brother’s glory moment. Professor Abernathy is really revered in his field. I just finished his new book before the semester and-”

There was a slam from the hall door and the man in question stormed in. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he called out to the room. “I’m late and I’m not going to apologise for it. Now shut the hell up and pay attention.” Katniss rolled her eyes. Well glad to see that he could be late without consequence.

Her new conversation buddy caught her attention from the corner of her eye and mouthed ‘yeah, I know!’ followed by a sheepish smile at which, for some strange reason, she found her mouth had moved itself into a half smile in return.

For the rest of the lecture she couldn’t help but peek at him from the corner of her eye. There was something so irritatingly wholesome about him and Katniss realised, as she watched him take note after note on the material, that she had him wrongly pegged as a dumb jock. If anything, it was more obvious that she would benefit from copying from him.

Still, she hadn’t been entirely wrong on the jock front. When she first saw him she had noticed those broad shoulders and his physical presence seemed to take over the flimsy lecture hall seat he was sat in. Not in weight but in frame. While Katniss seemed to be small and inconspicuous in hers he seemed, solid. Stocky. And because she wasn’t a complete idiot she had also noticed that his sweatshirt said ‘D12 Wrestling Team 2017.’ That explained the build even if the slightly angelic looking blonde waves didn’t entirely fit the image.

When the bell finally rang, signalling the end of the hour, Katniss started. For someone so desperate to make it to this lesson she had paid surprisingly little attention during it. The guy next to her was packing up and she started to close her notebook, wincing at the lack of decent notes. She felt a rush of irritation at herself for getting distracted. This wasn’t why she was here. She couldn’t afford distractions. Sighing she grabbed her bag and threw everything in, leaping up from the chair and was wondering if the professor would post the lecture content online when she heard his voice again.

“Hey!”

She turned and almost tripped over her own bag strap but his hand shot out and grabbed at her elbow, keeping her upright. “Sorry! That was my fault, I shouldn’t have distracted you!” His eyes were wide and Katniss thought she could see genuine concern but she wrenched her elbow away from his grip, the feel of his warm fingers around her bare arm making her shift uncomfortably.

“Sorry. Again.” The same blush as before started to bloom across his face. She nodded and turned to walk down the steps. After a few seconds she realised he had joined her.

“I’m really hoping I’m not coming across as creepy but I was wondering if you wanted to take a copy of my notes? I noticed that you hadn’t written much and I think it was my fault. I probably put you off with what I was saying before the lecture so if you want my notes I’m happy to share.”

Jesus was this guy for real? She wanted to tell him that she was fine. She didn’t need his notes, she didn’t need his conversation and she didn’t need him to save a seat for her. Except, frustratingly, she did. Not the conversation maybe, she had never been one for that but she had needed a seat. And now she needed his damn notes. Sighing she turned to him. “Yeah that would be good, thanks. Maybe we could meet up before the next lecture. I could take some copies then?”

“Sounds great. I’m Peeta by the way.” He held out his hand for her to shake, such an unexpected gesture that she stalled and was immediately jostled by someone behind her. You are winning at life today Everdeen. She scowled at the person behind her who held their palms up and walked round her. She then scowled at Peeta’s upturned hand. Ugh. This is not want she wanted. She did not want polite people and possible friendships.

Reaching out with her hand, she shook his. “Katniss.” She would meet him before the next lecture, get copies and then go. It was a large class and she was small, she could blend in so he would never find her and start up a conversation again.

When they exited the lecture hall they walked to the side of the hallway and stood in the same place earlier where Katniss had answered her phone. Peeta had insisted that they swap numbers so that they could arrange to meet up for Katniss to get the copies. It made sense but she was still reluctant in giving her number over, not fully trusting that he would meet up and hand over the notes and dubious over the intentions of any guy with a girl’s number.

When they finished she said goodbye and turned to walk away but before she could he stopped her again. “I know I’m a pain in the ass.” She said nothing. “But I was thinking it would be good to have someone to talk over the lectures with, go over the assignments with, that sort of thing. Thought we could tackle this course together. If you’re interested?”

She frowned. Katniss didn’t know whether it was at him directly, at the whole concept of a class friend or if this was her face now. A semi-permanent frown.

When I woke, the other side of the bed was cold.

It wasn’t a surprise, not really, not considering I slept alone but I’d secretly been hoping that Prim would have joined me during the night. Normally I wouldn’t have welcomed the chill of her toes pressing against my legs but as time drew on and that day grew nearer I had started to miss it. It wouldn’t be much longer now, until she was fully gone.

The more I tried not to think about it, the more I could only think about it. It had become routine to just lie in bed, wide eyed and staring at the ceiling until I finally fell asleep. If Prim were curled into my side it might have been better. I could have re-assured her, told her everything was going to be fine but it would have been lies. Nothing was going to be fine again.

With a sigh, I turned my head towards my nightstand to see from the time on the carriage clock that I’d slept in. Again. The corner of my eye caught the time on the clock. I’d slept in. Again. My stomach sank down to my cold toes. I had started to make an accidental habit of this.

Knowing that I would be in trouble if I left it any later I threw the bedcovers off my body with every intent of getting ready. “Oh god!” The chill of the air flooded around my bare legs and I quickly scrambled to throw the bedcovers back on. “I swear, he’s trying to freeze us to death!” I spoke out loud to the room but there was no one to hear me. When my teeth began chattering together, out of sheer desperation, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to imagine something, anything, that would make me feel warmer.

The image that instantly came to mind was the lake. Tucked away on the grounds, past the willows, it was hidden away from the prying eyes of anyone wondering the gardens. I imagined it as it was in summer, with the water a brilliant blue shining with the sunlight glinting across the surface like jewels. If I thought hard enough I could almost feel the sun’s heat burning across the back of my legs, and it was that moment that I would always launch myself, clothes and all, into the depth of the water and let the cool depths wash over me.

That’s when I opened my eyes to the reality that I was glad in my nightgown, shivering in my cold bed, in my cold room. “It’s no good.” I eyed up the fireless grate. “No. No good.” All the pretending in the world couldn’t undo the current situation.

As I dressed, without a maid, I thought back to when my father was alive. I pictured his face, the deep lines on his forehead, the grey of his eyes. I tried to claw desperately on to the memory of his laugh as it rang through the house like a bell. He always made sure that in winter every fire in the house was lit. If we ever huddled under blankets, with cold toes and noises, it was done out of affection and not a need for body warmth.

Everything had been better back then but after his death, with no male heirs, the estate went to his brother. ‘No,’ I corrected myself. ‘His half-brother.’ The Everdeen home had been such a happy one. My heart ached inside my chest. Now it was such a silent place. The diminishing number of household staff meant the house grew quieter and the noise of people laughing and talking had gone. The rooms we were told we didn’t need to use anymore were locked. Rules and misery overcame us all.

Prim had tried to inject noise and laughter back into the place, but even with her sunny disposition she had struggled. That was probably why she had agreed to this whole mess, just to escape this hell.

With the thought of Prim in my mind I went downstairs in search of two things. My sister of course and breakfast. Hoping to find both together I found neither.

The breakfast room was small and with large, dark mahogany furniture filling the space it had always appeared even smaller. But that morning, with the pale morning light of the winter sun and a small, but flickering flame in the fireplace, it had never seemed so claustrophobic. As I stood in the doorway I faced the back of my mother’s blonde head. Despite being a slender and completely unimposing woman her presence seemed to fill the room. It had been at least two days since we exchanged civil words.

Usually by this time she would have retired to her drawing room for sewing, reading or silent contemplation and so the thought crept in my mind that she had been sat here waiting. For me.

For a moment, I wondered if I could sneak away and come back later to the kitchens to beg Mag’s for food. She was old, mute and always seemed to have a slight smell of the sea about her but she had been known to keep portions of food aside for Prim and I. An extra portion of eggs, honeycomb from the hives that we would suck on as we walked around the house and, at Christmas, an additional glass of mulled wine.

I rolled my eyes. We operated a ‘waste not, want not’ rule now and if they thought I wouldn’t be down for breakfast they would give it to someone else and I’d go without. As unappealing as sitting opposite my mother was, in the battle of stomach versus brain, my stomach won.

Creeping past my mother’s chair I cleared my throat. “Good morning mother,” and felt a little slice of delight at watching her startle.

“Oh Katniss!” She clutched her hand against her chest. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“Do what?” I asked, sitting comfortably down in the furthest chair and eyed up the pot in the middle instead of looking at her.

“Creep about like that. I’ve told you before it’s very unnerving.”

I shrugged, reaching for the tea. What could I say? A smirk found its way onto my lips. The Everdeen’s always had a silent tread. It didn’t matter that I could make a little more noise before I entered a room, my mother could make a little more effort to listen harder.

As I poured the tea into my cup I noticed it has a distinct lack of steam. “The tea is cold,” I muttered to myself but she picked it up.

“If you came down to breakfast on time then it wouldn’t be.”

“It’s fine. I’ll get Mags to heat up another pot.”

My mother breathed out a sigh. “No, you won’t. You can either drink the tea from the current pot or go without.”

I looked up at her but she sat with her head bent over her sewing, not looking at me. “I won’t drink cold tea.”

“Then you go without.” She looked up at me then and I saw her face, her red and watery blue eyes, floating in her pale face. The only bit of colour came from the dark blue shadows under her eyes. Even her light blonde hair seemed whiter, wisps of it pulling out from her usually immaculate bun.  

The weight of guilt crashed upon me. I knew the past few years hadn’t been easy one anyone, mother included. In the days and weeks after my father’s death she had looked so frail, so small. Her body seemed to fold in on itself until it took up no space at all. There was a time when I’d prepared myself for becoming an orphan.

I felt myself soften towards her and opened my mouth to say something kinder but then her left hand twitched and I saw what she was holding. The chill in the house didn’t matter now. Anger had started to burn up my insides and my teeth began to grind together until I swore they had become dust.

I jerked my chin at her hand and the slip of ivory fabric I had seen bunched up in her thin fingers. “Is that for Prim?”

There was a pause. In the silence I could hear the spit of the wood as it was consumed by the fire. Burn away, I thought. Though I didn’t know if I was referring to the grate or myself.

My mother uncurled her hand and unravelled the material from her palm and I watched as the delicate veil unfolded before me, with the intricate patterns my mother had sewn beginning to take shape. Flowers. Small and perfect primroses adorning the lace.

As my mother’s hands opened I found mine had clenched into fists. “I can’t believe this,” I hissed. “You’re selling your daughter and you think a pretty piece of decorated cloth will make it all better.”

My mother’s mouth opened and closed before she shut her eyes and took a breath. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed and then, when she opened her eyes, they met mine full on. “Not this again.” Her voice was quiet but determined. An edge in it that I hadn’t heard for years, not even since our last argument two days ago. “I cannot have this conversation with you every time you see or hear something to do with the wedding.”

“Well why not?!” My voice rose and boomed across the quiet room. “Someone has to point out how wrong this is! How unfair it is! How you’re basically sacrificing Prim!”

“No I am not!” My mother’s voice matched mine in intensity as she yelled out the words. I reeled backwards, my eyebrows shooting up to my hairline. She never raised her voice, never. Had always said it was unbecoming on a lady.

We stared at each other across the table, my face falling into its familiar scowl while my mother’s chest rose and fell, pink dots appearing on her cheeks. Her fists were clenched and the veil, still in her left hand, was scrunched up in a ball. She cleared her throat and unravelled it back out, smoothing it across the table, speaking as she did do.

“It is common for women to marry based on arrangements made for them.” Smooth. “And many successful marriages have been made this way.” Fold. “Prim is a young woman of marrying age.” She picked up the scissors and cut off a snagged thread, stealing a quick look at me. “And she is of an agreeable temperament.” Snip.

I sucked a breath in. Prim was more than agreeable. She was gentle and calm and delicate. Of course she would have agreed to anything if it meant making other people happy and that was why I couldn’t let this happen. Couldn’t let Prim sacrifice her happiness for the demands of others.

“But you and father married for love. You always said it was better to marry for love. So why are you allowing this to happen?” My voice was calm but there was an edge. Desperation. Please mother, it seemed to beg. Don’t do this.

Her hands stopped fluttering over the veil and then softly, so softly I could barely hear her she spoke. “Your father and I were very lucky. I could only dream that you girls would be so fortunate.” She stood up, the veil gently draped over one hand. “These are testing circumstances Katniss. You know this. There is more going on then you realise.” She shook her head. “You need to stop being a child about these matters.”

She turned to go and I knew this would be the end of the conversation and I needed to ask the question now otherwise I’d never be able to ask again. “But why him?” I thought of my sister’s intended husband. Of his smug face, his obnoxious family. The way he sauntered through the town with his top hat and cane. A cane that he didn’t even need. “Why the blonde menace?”

I saw a wry smile appear on my mother’s face. “Blonde menace indeed.” She looked at me. “There’s more than one of those in Panem. You would know.” With that, she walked out the door and left me alone in the silence of the room.

The temptation to follow her was strong but instead I sagged back towards the chair ignoring my mother’s words, ‘a lady always sits up straight Katniss, it is very unbecoming to slouch.’  I was exhausted and I’d only been up a matter of hours. Placing my hands against my face I pressed the palms against my eyes and took a breath in. The fire in the grate was dying along with my resolve.

In the distance I could hear a knocking at the front door but ignoring it I went to the fireplace, hoping to coax some life back into it. As I stood at the mantel I saw, through the impressions left in the dust, that some items had been removed. There had been a carriage clock, gold and ornate in the middle, which was no longer there. The matching candlesticks at either end were still there but on closer inspection they weren’t the same as the ones before. These looked to be brass whereas the candlesticks once matched the gold clock in material and design. Hadn’t there been a painting too? On the opposite wall? A pretty watercolour of a yellow field. It appeared that someone had been taking our possessions and I had a good idea as to who.

Abandoning the fire and any plans to remain calm I stormed from the room. Determined to find my mother and ask her exactly what was going on I didn’t hear the cough at first. It was only when I reached the first steps of the stairs and began to storm up them that I heard my name.  

“Miss Katniss!” I turned and saw Posy Hawthorne, one of the few household maids we had left, calling and waving at me. “Sorry Miss Katniss.” She looked down at her feet blushing. “You have a visitor.”

I frowned and looked down the hallway and then when I saw him the breath stopped in my lungs. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen him at first but then he was skulking by the front door, blending in with the black door by wearing a thick black winter coat.

He looked no different to when I’d last seen him. Wavy blonde curls peeked out from under a top hat that he had begun to lift in greeting with his right hand. His left held his cane, the ornate decoration at the top hidden by his palm.

I whispered under my breath. “Blonde menace. Indeed,” and begun to walk towards him with calm, measured steps. The nearer I got the more his smile grew, his teeth shining white amongst the gloom of the hall, until I reached him just an arm length apart.

The top hat came off, the chaos of waves released from its confines and he nodded at me. “Katniss.” It was exceedingly gentlemanly, which I knew he could be at times.

“You look lovely Madge!”

“Thanks! So, um, do you.”

Well that was a lie and Katniss knew it. She turned to Johanna and saw the look on her face. “You look…very…interesting Jo.”

She snorted. “Unlike some others brainless, I have actually put the effort in. This is my sexy lumberjack costume!” The outfit consisted of one very low cut (and very short) pair of dungarees that showed a lot of leg, a lot of midriff and a lot of boob. There was a plaid top underneath the denim but even calling it a top was optimistic. To top it off Johanna waved around a plastic axe as she gave Katniss a twirl.

“So you do know this is a costume party right?” Jo gestured with the axe waving it up and down Katniss’ body.

“I’m wearing a costume.”

Another snort from Jo. “Yeah and what the hell is it supposed to be?”

“Me. On a Sunday.”

Jo just glared at her while Madge politely sipped her wine. Katniss knew it wasn’t the most original, or most exciting, of costumes and could probably not even be called a costume at all but it was what she wanted to wear. Hiking boots, walking pants, waterproof and the fake bow. Not a boob in sight.

“If you seriously think you’re going to impress anyone wearing that-“

“I don’t want to impress anyone!”

“Yeah? You sure about that?” Her face took on a sly look. “I heard your boyfriend might be there.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Fine. I heard your fuck buddy might be there.”

Madge shifted uncomfortably. “Guys…”

“He’s not my fuck buddy! We went on three stupid dates. I don’t care if he’s going to be there and I certainly don’t want to impress him!”

“Well at least he managed to get his bow in your quiver. He’s probably looking for a Halloween treat this evening.”

Katniss groaned and was sorely tempted to tell Jo and Madge that they could just stick it and go without her and that instead of sleeping at her and Madge’s this evening, Jo could try and find her own drunken way home across the city. Before she could speak up and say anything Madge managed to step in.

“Well ladies!” She clapped her hands together. “All the wine is gone so let’s catch that cab shall we? Otherwise our hosts will be wondering where we are!”

Jo and Katniss murmured their agreement but Katniss knew that the whack on her ass from Jo’s axe on the way out wasn’t entirely accidental.

When Finnick’s elderly aunt passed away five years before she had left him and his wife Annie a small fortune and a large house outside of the Merchant part of the city. It had surprised everyone. Not the part where Mags left everything she had to Finnick but because she actually had something to leave.

It turned out the small fortune and large house were unexpected surprises, something she was determined to keep hidden until after she had died. She was also pretty determined to give everything she had to the one person who was her everything.

Since Finnick couldn’t quite throw away his party days he and Annie were constantly hosting dinners and parties for their friends. The Odair’s Halloween party had become a fixture in a lot of people’s calendars and as the cab pulled up outside the house even the driver gave a low whistle.

“Yeah, they go all out.” Jo chucked the driver some money and started to climb out the cab. “Hey you turn out to be free later, give me a call.”

Madge and Katniss shot each other a look and followed her out. The front yard had been turned into a temporary cemetery complete with howling noise effects and a fog machine. They passed a Lurch at the front door, someone who had been hired to open the door for the evening and stepped inside the foyer.

Sidestepping the creepy séance layout they went deeper into the house. The den was dimly lit and Katniss could hear the shrieks of people as they played games while the living room was a bit brighter and not as loud, set that way for the people that wanted to talk.

“Ladies!”

Simultaneously they turned towards the voice. “Annie!”

The hostess appeared before them dressed as Hermione Granger. “Hello-accio!” She broke into giggles. “Sorry, I’ve had a lot to drink!” She hugged them each in turn before Jo asked where the aforementioned drinks could be found. Annie pointed Jo in the right direction and then turned to Madge and Katniss.

“You both look so good! Madge you look gorgeous! And Katniss you’re not the only archer in here this evening!”

“Oh?”

“Yeah I’m pretty sure I saw Gale carrying a bow and arrow set.”

Madge spoke up next, a slight tremor to her voice. “Is Gale here already?” She took some of her hair and started to curl it between her fingers.

“Yeah he got here about half an hour ago.” Annie then turned to Katniss. “Are you ok that he’s here?”

Why on earth would she care? “Yes fine. It was literally three dates. I didn’t want to go on anymore and we were both fine with that.”

Annie frowned at her. “I’m not so sure that-“

Before she could finish her sentence the man in question seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “Trick or treat.” He bent down and planted a kiss on Katniss’ cheek which took her by surprise. But maybe this is what people did when they were being courteous after going on three dates and having sex on the third.

“Gale. Hi. How are you?”

“I’m really good.” His grey eyes looked her up and down. “That’s not a Black Widow costume.”

“Excuse me?”

“Pretty sure that’s hiking gear.”

“It is hiking gear.” She looked down at herself and then at what Gale was wearing. “Who are you?”

“Hawkeye. Y’know from The Avengers?”

Katniss met his eyes. “Yeah I know who he is. Why would you think I’d be Black Widow?”

Annie muttered something about new guests she needed to greet and shuffled off waving her wand leaving Gale, Katniss and Madge standing there.

“I thought we were going to be wearing matching costumes?”

 Huh? Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. This was new and unexpected. “No…I think maybe you thought we were going to be wearing matching costumes. I’m not sure why we would even be matching.”

“We discussed this. On our last date, I said we would look good if we went to the Odairs party as Hawkeye and Black Widow. Especially as I’m an archer.”

Katniss could feel an odd sensation boiling in her stomach and her fingers flexed unconsciously. “Well so I am,” she spat.

“Yeah but I don’t think I’d look any good as Black Widow!” he started to laugh at his joke but all Katniss could feel was bewilderment. Exactly why Gale thought that they would be wearing matching costumes to a Halloween party she didn’t know. She was wracking her brains, desperately trying to recall how they ended things on their last date, when she heard her name being said beside her.

“Katniss-expelliarmus!” She turned and came face to face with Ron Weasley aka Finnick Odair brandishing his wand at her. And for once in her life she was grateful for a distraction of a phallic object in her face.

“Finnick, I am glad to see you.” She practically threw her arms around him. He pulled back and winked at her.

“Well I need to say hey to everyone obviously but thought I would come over and point you in the direction of the kitchen to get a drink.” He bent forward and whispered in her ear. “It really looked like you needed one.”

She made her excuses to Gale and Madge and turned to leave, ignoring the disappointed look o Gale’s face but managed to catch the tail end of their conversation as she went.

“So Gale, how have you been?”

“Fine, thanks Margo.”

“It’s Madge.”

Katniss shook her head and walked off towards the kitchen. Something somewhere between her and Gale’s last date and tonight had gone horribly horribly wrong.

The kitchen was relatively empty considering as it was the place where all the drinks were held. As she pushed through the swinging double doors she was instantly aware of the person standing on the other side of the island pouring a drink into his paper cup.

Without meaning to she let out a sudden exclamation and he looked up, a blank look at his face for a split second before he registered who it was. Then his face lit up, a grin spreading across his face as wide as it could possibly go.

“Hi.”

It took a moment but Katniss realised that Peeta had spoken to her and was patiently waiting for her reply. She said the first thing that popped into her head. “Trick or treat?” and then cringed at how awful it sounded.

He didn’t seem to mind though and if anything the smile got wider which was near impossible as he basically running out of room on his face. “Oh it’s most definitely a treat! Drink?” He motioned to a variety of bottles and mixers and she nodded.

“Yes please. I’ll just take a wine.” She took a look at him. His arms and shoulders were bare and she had a feeling his chest was as well but she couldn’t fully tell as the chef’s apron he was wearing covered the majority of it. “Are you on drink duty?”

“Well, I’m usually found in the kitchen at these places so I thought I would make myself useful. I think the wine’s in the fridge.” Peeta then turned facing away from her to reach to the fridge behind him and as he did so Katniss let out a gasp.

“Oh god! Are you naked?!”

He turned back laughing. “Yeah I keep forgetting!”

“Why…why are you naked?!”

“Well I’m wearing an apron and some sneakers so not fully naked….”

Katniss had been right, his arms, shoulders and chest were bare. And so, most definitely, was his bottom half. When he turned she caught a glimpse of the broad expanse of his back and the muscles that flexed as he moved. Then further down, the back of his calves but of course there was the bit in between. The sight of his bare ass, all round and smooth and….she shook her head in the hopes it would clear her mind.

“But why are you just wearing that? Is this your costume?”

“Well when you said that your costume was you on a Sunday I quite liked that idea.” He gestured to her outfit and she hoisted her bow further onto her shoulder, suddenly feeling quite shy at the attention. “So I thought, ‘I’ll borrow it’ and go as me on a Sunday.”

Peeta handed her the glass of wine and a light blush covered his cheeks. “I hope you don’t mind? I realise I should have asked.”

She took a large gulp of the liquid and shook her head. “Not at all. It’s not a very good costume idea though so I’m surprised. It was mainly me being lazy.”

He picked up his own glass. “Well I quite like your ideas. And I like your costume. Makes a change on Halloween. All these people that insist on getting practically naked.” Then he winked at her, his eyes shining, and she almost choked on her drink.

Swallowing down what she could she waved her hand at him, “I still don’t understand, is this really you on a Sunday?”

“Ah there is many a think you don’t know about me Katniss Everdeen! And one of those things is that I like to bake on a Sunday.”

“Naked?”

Peeta grinned at her again. “Oh yes, naked. There’s lots of activities that I like to do completely naked.”

He took a sip of his drink and she took a sip of hers, murmuring into the glass, “I can imagine.”

Katniss had spoken to Peeta for what seemed like five minutes in the kitchen before Madge came to get a drink and told her she’d actually been in the kitchen for fifty minutes. During that time both her and Peeta had poured glass after glass after glass and so a few hours later Katniss was truly feeling buzzed.

Madge had ended up speaking to Peeta and then more people arrived to join in and Katniss found that her conversation with Peeta had come to a natural end. When asked what they had been speaking about, Katniss found that she couldn’t give Madge a proper answer. Just ‘stuff’ she told her. Her brain couldn’t seem to retain any information but she did know that she spent a large portion of the time talking to Peeta trying not to think about what was hidden under his apron.

Everyone had dispersed out throughout the house and Katniss had spent time talking to some of Finnick and Annie’s other group of friends, people that she had met at previous parties. She let Madge convince her to play some Halloween games in the den and it was that that made her realise she was on the way to being fully drunk.

Swaying she walked from the bathroom back into the living room looking around for people that she knew. In the corner, talking to a pretty blonde dressed as Harley Quinn, was Peeta and Katniss wondered for a moment if she was feeling bold enough to go and interrupt. Not that she wanted to, she reasoned. She wasn’t feeling any feelings of irritation towards the woman at all.

It seemed that Peeta could sense her looking over because he chose that moment to look up from where he was paying attention to the woman speaking. They locked eyes and he smiled and despite the booze Katniss felt inexplicably shy.

“I heard Mellark fucks like an animal.”

Katniss turned so quickly her braid whipped across her face. “Jo! What the hell!”

“Just saying. Reliable sources have told me so.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Don’t you?” The brunette raised an eyebrow and stood closer to Katniss. “Apparently Finnick overheard a lot when they were sharing an apartment in college. And he said that Peeta’s ex-girlfriends have been very complimentary.”

“Good for him.”

Jo snorted. “Good for him? Good for them! You know you should join him in his costume choice. Get naked and offer him a trick or treat.” She looked at Katniss, focusing intently on her face. “I think he would be very receptive to that offer.”

Katniss could feel heat flood her face. “Pretty sure all guys would be receptive to that offer. If the woman he’s talking to offers him a treat I bet he would take it.”

“Who, Glim?” Jo took a swig of the drink she was holding. “Nah. He likes you.” She looked Katniss up and down and sighed. “Though sometimes I swear to god I don’t know why, you have the imagination of a dead jellyfish and sometimes the humour to match.”

“Thanks.”

Jo shrugged. “Just do everyone a favour and get rid of tall, dark and moody. Oh look he’s coming this way now.” She put her empty glass down. “I’m off to play some games. I need to see which guy can hold his breath the longest when bobbing for apples. Intel for later.” She winked at Katniss. “Catch you later brainless.”

With that she sauntered off leaving Katniss standing alone. Peeta had obviously noticed and it looked as though he was trying to politely disentangle himself from the woman he was with as he kept glancing over at Katniss and was clearly trying to shuffle walk towards her. For a moment it looked like he might achieve success but unfortunately Gale walked up to her first.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

They stood there in silence. Katniss not knowing what to say. She never knew what to say. It wasn’t like she had a lot of experience in dating and it wasn’t like she was the one who went around breaking things off. Her error though, she realised, was sleeping with him.

Date one was fine albeit a slight let down as the chemistry that Katniss was expecting never appeared. Date two was just to see if date one was an unfortunate fluke but she managed to have more fun and so date three was the equaliser. It was a mix between dates one and two. It was fun and they got on well but the chemistry just didn’t materialise.

The sex, whilst fine, had been a bad idea. Katniss vowed to never make decisions or go on dates ever again when she was hungry or horny. Speaking of horny she watched as the blonde woman speaking to Peeta laughed and touched his arm, leaning a little too far into his body. He glanced at Katniss but she looked away, not wanting to read anything into it.

She ended up looking straight at Gale and found that he was looking at her, his grey eyes cool and clear. His jaw seemed to flex and he swallowed. “I really enjoyed our dates. Sorry if I got mixed messages about the costumes. Maybe I read into one of our conversations a bit.” He nudged her elbow with his. “You were right to go as an archer, you are better at it!”

Katniss couldn’t help but laugh, not noticing that the sound drew Peeta to look over. “Yeah, well I think I am. Our archery date proved that. You’re good but not that good.”

Gale grinned at her. “Well someone’s not practicing modesty.”

She shrugged. “Hey, why fight what you know to be true.”

Gale looked over towards where Peeta was standing and then quickly back to Katniss. “I’m going to have to take a shot at something Katniss. I think you’re right about fighting.” With that he cupped his hands around her face, leant down and pressed his lips against Katniss.’

Her eyes fluttered shut, partly out of shock, partly out of a natural response. They had kissed before, obviously, and so the feel of his mouth against hers wasn’t a completely alien one. The alcohol had lowered her inhibitions and her reaction times, so when Gale deepened the kiss and she felt his tongue slide against hers she responded in kind. It was only when his hands started to travel lower that she remembered this wasn’t what she wanted.

Katniss pulled away, “Gale wait. I don’t think we should do this.” He lowered his eyes slightly but Katniss quickly looked around the room, checking who had seen and hoping no one had. The odds, it seemed, were not in her favour. Peeta was staring directly at her with a look of hurt and confusion before he flitted his eyes back down to his companion, an easy smile plastered on his face.

She shook her head. Maybe she had imagined it. He certainly seemed fine speaking to the blonde that Jo had called Glim. In fact he now seemed more than fine. Before, the woman had been leaning into Peeta and whilst he seemed polite he didn’t seem particularly interested. Now however he was leaning forward, laughing at whatever she was saying and then, after she nodded, reaching out and touching the red coloured hair at the end of her ponytail.

Katniss felt her stomach constrict and she sucked a breath in. Her heart started to pound a bit faster and she could feel it in the roof of her mouth. She had way too much to drink obviously and she needed fresh air or water, preferably both. She quickly made her excuses again to Gale, saying she wasn’t feeling too good. He offered to go with her but she told him no. In the busy party, amongst the loud and chatty crowds, the shriek of the games in the next room and the Halloween music, she just wanted a moment’s peace.

The garden was cool and clear and she sat warming her hands against the fire pit. Someone had offered her a glass of cider when she was out there but she declined, already feeling woozy from drinking. She was about to turn and go in, see what Madge and Jo were up to, when she heard a voice behind her.

“Hey there Katniss as Katniss.”

“Hey there Ron.”

Finnick dropped into the chair beside her and swished his cloak out of the way. “Annie is taking this year’s costume way too seriously.” He raised an eyebrow at Katniss. “She just spent fifteen minutes telling me it’s pronounced ‘levi-o-sa.’ I told her I had no clue what she was talking about but she said I just needed to get into character.”

Katiniss smiled. “You love it though.”

“Yeah. I love it.”  

They sat in silence for a moment before Finnick spoke again. “You ok?”

“Yeah I just needed some air. And some space. To think.”

He nodded. “Yeah I need that sometimes too. Especially at parties.” At Katniss’ look he laughed. “Hey, there’s more to me you know then party party party. I’ll have you know I’m a very sensitive individual. Just ask Peeta.”

She groaned. “I’d rather not.”

At that Finnick sat up. “Has something happened?”

“Not really. Well not yet. Give him another twenty minutes and then maybe he’ll be sticking his baguette into someone’s oven.”

Finnick gave such a guffaw of laughter than Katniss jumped. “Sorry but that took me by surprise, you just made such an awful baker pun that was worthy of both Peeta and Jo.”

“Yeesh. I must be drunk.”

“You know he likes you a lot.” Katniss saw Finnick glance at her from the corner of his eye. “He’s absolute chicken shit about it though. I mean this guy can charm the panties off of women and their mothers yet when it comes to you I swear he looks at you like you’re the sun itself.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I think so. He’ll respect whatever friendship boundaries you’ve set up though, mainly because he would rather have you as a friend then not at all and he doesn’t want to risk ruining that. He also thinks that you’re just not interested in him like that. But I think you are.”

“Finnick?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re Ron Weasley not Jon Snow so you don’t get away with knowing nothing.”

He laughed again. “Oh I know a lot. He thinks you’re interested in Gale. If he thought he had half a chance with you then I’m pretty sure he’d be whipping out his baguette to show you.”

She groaned. “Please stop. Now I’m just getting hungry.”

The air had cleared her mind a little and she knew what she needed to do. Tell Gale that she wasn’t interested in him and that, while she enjoyed their dates, it wasn’t going anywhere. Tell Peeta that she was interested in him and that she would quite like it if he asked her out on a date. Tell Madge that she either needed to make Gale know she was keen on him or get over him as she just wasn’t fooling anybody.

Back in the living room there was no sign of anyone she was looking for. Gale had obviously moved on and Peeta and the blonde were nowhere to be seen. Checking the kitchen also came up with nothing and she couldn’t make nor tail of anyone playing the games.

She moved from room to room downstairs, stopping to say the occasional hello to people she recognised but when she ended up in a longer then she wanted conversation with Beetee she didn’t even need to pretend she needed the bathroom as she had genuinely began to need the bathroom.

The queue for the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms were long, always women and always in pairs, but Katniss remembered that one of the guest bedrooms had its own bathroom and so she would just use that.

Approaching the door she thought she could hear noises coming from inside. It sounded like a woman’s voice peppered with gasps. She was also sure she heard something else, an occasional grunt, and wondered if she was intruding on something private. Then an unwelcome, uninvited thought crept in. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be.

She should have just turned around and gone downstairs, found another bathroom. Instead she walked down the hall and waited in the dark. Watching to see who would be coming out. A sick sense of panic began to rise up from her stomach and she wondered if she would throw up. Her reactions seemed too strong, too disproportional, she has no ownership on anyone, but she couldn’t pretend that her heart wasn’t being slammed against her ribcage.

After a while the guest room door clicked open and into the darkened hall stepped Harley Quinn. Katniss watched as she walked down the stairs, her ponytails swishing around her face. Less than a minute later another figure stepped out into the darkness and Katniss started in shock. Following Harley was Hawkeye. The plastic bow and arrow set carried under one arm.

And it was with that thought that the uncertainty crept in. She was sat in a guy’s kitchen wearing nothing but his shirt after having slept with him on their first date. When people asked how the date went this wasn’t exactly something she could tell them. Or was it? Katniss was so out of touch with the dating world that she just didn’t know anymore what was socially acceptable.

Except when she thought about it that wasn’t the main reason she was feeling unsettled. What was the saying? Why buy the cow if you could have the milk for free? She was sure Peeta of all people didn’t think like that but the worry niggled in her gut and made her squirm. She wanted him to not think badly of her, for him to not think she did this regularly. Dammit, Katniss wanted Peeta to buy the cow.

“You ok?”

“Huh?” Peeta had stopped whatever it was he was whisking and was standing in front of her, freckled broad chest on eye level display. It took all of Katniss’ will power to look him in the eye.

“It’s just your sat there shaking your head and I’m not entirely too sure if that’s at me or –“

“No no.” She shook her head vehemently. “In my mind I’ve basically just referred to myself as cattle. My Women’s Studies professor would not be less proud right now.”

He chuckled. “Well I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Deal.” He turned back to the food and began plating up. Katniss played ahead in her mind. Peeta would finish cooking, they would eat, she would get back into her clothes from last night, he would wish her a good day and she would go home. Then, Katniss would sob in the shower, eat her body weight in ice cream and ignore him forever out of shame whilst simultaneously watch him fall in love and get married to his beautiful wife who never had sex on first dates. All because she didn’t have the guts to say what she needed to say.

“Peeta.”

“Katniss.”

At the moment she decided to bite the bullet and speak he had chosen the same moment to turn around and address her. He shook his head and gestured. “After you.”

“Ok.” She swallowed, trying to get some moisture in her mouth. It had suddenly and inexplicably gone dry. “I was going to say that I don’t want you thinking I’m the kind of girl who does this. I mean obviously I did this but I don’t usually. I’m not saying that it’s not ok, it totally is. For other girls. Just not me. Although this was ok. It felt better than ok. But I don’t usually do this.” She stopped, realising that she was rambling and that Peeta was just looking at her. “It’s just that I don’t want you thinking badly of me.”

“Katniss.” His voice was soft and low. She didn’t say anything, choosing to focus on the suddenly wildly exciting pattern of his tea towel. “Katniss.” He walked over to her, reaching his hand out to hers and she stared as his fingers wrapped around hers.

She whispered. “Yeah?”

 “I don’t think badly of you. I would never. I don’t usually do this either but it felt right. We went with the moment.”

“Well we went with the moment a few times.”

Peeta grinned at her. “Yes we did!” He gave her hand a squeeze. “I want to see you again. This evening, tomorrow, the night after. Any time you are willing to give me. I like you Katniss, like I said last night, I’ve liked you for a long time.”

She glanced up at him, his blue eyes so wide with anticipation. She could feel his palm grow clammy with nerves.

“But only if you’ll allow it. No pressure.”

Katniss smiled at him, his face relaxing as she did, and she squeezed his hand back. “Oh yes, I’d certainly allow it.”

He kissed her then, slow and sweet, before turning back to their breakfast his tuneless humming growing louder and more enthusiastic. Suddenly her diary had cleared, she was free that evening, pretty much free for the week. For the month. For the rest of her life.

Sunday. 8:30am.

Katniss opened one eye to see that Peeta was still asleep beside her. His bare chest rising and falling with his breaths. She sat up, glancing down his chest towards his abdomen where the dark line of hair trailed from below his belly button towards what was currently hidden by the sheets. She blushed. This wasn’t like her. Katniss never slept with anyone soon into a relationship let alone a first date. She had no clue what she was thinking.

At that moment Peeta turned over towards her, the sheet sliding off his body and pooling down beside him. Oh yes. She remembered. She knew exactly what she had been thinking.

He took a deep breath and then his eyes fluttered open and Katniss watched as they adjusted to the morning light, taking time to focus on her face. For a moment she had a horrid feeling that she shouldn’t still be there. That she wasn’t adhering to some ‘morning after’ protocol.

His hand reached up to touch her hair, rubbing a strand between his fingers, before he beamed at her. “Good morning. It’s a pleasant sight to wake up with you in my bed I have to say.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Peeta’s hand trailed lower, stroking her neck down past her shoulders to her collar bone. A finger lightly tracing the skin there before he moved his hand lower and rested it between her breasts, the steady beat of her heart pounding a rhythm against his palm.

“I feel like I should go.” The words came out before she could stop herself, silently cursing why she had even said them. She didn’t want to go, not really, had only said them out of some ridiculous notion of politeness.

Peeta gently pushed her back towards the bed and she allowed herself to fall easily back against the pillows. He leant over her, his naked form covering her still sheet clad one. He looked slightly disappointed and it was an expression she didn’t want to see on his face again.

“You don’t have to. If you want to then of course, but don’t go because you feel you should. Personally, I would keep you here forever.”

She snorted. “Forever in your apartment?”

“My apartment. My bed. Wherever you’d let me.”

His hand slipped past the sheet, pushing it gently to the side, the cool morning air hitting her exposed left breast. She gasped as his fingers trailed over her flesh, gently circling a nipple as his ministrations caused a pull far lower down.

“You’d get bored of me. Being here forever. You’d soon find out I’m not much fun.”

“Oh I think you’re plenty fun.” His hand had left her breast and trailed down her ribs, smoothing past the flat planes of her stomach circling round her belly button. She gasped as his mouth quickly took over from his fingers, his lips enclosing over her nipple, the wet warmth surrounding it as his tongue flicked over the bud. The pull grew and her hips shifted upwards towards his, feeling him hard and hot against the sheet, her thighs moving open to accommodate the weight of him above her.

“Isn’t it too soon to be using words like forever? I mean we’ve only had the one date.”

“But Katniss I feel like we are quite acquainted.” He shifted off her, just enough to allow him to pull the sheet completely from her body and she found herself fully naked before Peeta, for god knows what time in twenty four hours.

“Yes but,” her breath hitched in her throat as he moved his mouth even lower, planting a kiss on her ribs, her stomach, his tongue dipping into her navel before he kissed her abdomen, a wet open mouth kiss. “We barely know each other.”

He held onto the bones of her hips rubbing his thumbs tenderly onto the skin. “We already know the deep stuff.”

“The, uh, deep stuff?” A gasp wrenched itself from her mouth. His hands cupped her thighs, pulling them apart ensuring that her centre was fully exposed to him.

“Yeah, the deep stuff. Like my favourite colour is orange and yours is green.” He bent forward, the tip of his tongue lightly flicking through her folds.

She groaned. “That’s hardly deep.”

He glanced up at her, mirth making his blue eyes sparkle. “Oh Katniss. I’ve just gotten started.”

Saturday.12.30am.

His mouth moved down to her neck, sucking at her pulse point and she gasped, her hips rocking upwards at the same time he pressed his firmly down onto hers, the feel of him pushing against her warmth making them both groan. Katniss had long since given up caring that the dress she was wearing was hoisted up to her navel; and that her legs were open and her knees were hitched up towards her chest.

She felt delicious. Peeta’s hands skimmed up her sides touching everything he could from hip to breasts and down again, his hips thrusting lightly against hers. His pant covered centre grinding against the silky material of her panties. Thank god she went with the good underwear.

“Let’s go to my room. I don’t want to take you on the couch.” He had pulled his mouth away from her neck and kissed her lips between words.

Katniss felt a thrill shoot through her spine at his words. “Couch. Bedroom. Wall. Floor. You could take me anywhere you want.” She sucked his top lip into her mouth flicking it gently with her tongue and watched as his eyes flickered shut.

He groaned. “You can’t say things like that if I’m going to last longer than five minutes.”

She wiggled her hips underneath him. “I’m just impatient.” Her hands reached round to his back, gripping his shoulders before moving down to his ass. She grabbed it with her hands, digging her nails in and making him gasp. As she reached to kiss him, her tongue sliding against his, she moved her hips up and drew his down and onto hers, rubbing as hard as she could against him.

Peeta grunted and pulled his mouth away. “That’s it. Bedroom. Now.” Without another word he quickly stood pulling her up and into his arms, slinging her over his shoulder like he was a Neanderthal and she weighed as much as paper. She giggled, a drunk, giddy feeling settling over her wondering why she was feeling like this when she hadn’t touched a drop.

Saturday. 11:30pm.

“I’ve liked you for a long time Katniss. I wanted to ask you out for so long but you were with Gale and then when you broke up I didn’t want to be that guy. You know the one that creeps around heartbroken women waiting for their chance.”

They had been done with dinner hours ago but with an unspoken agreement both had gravitated towards the piano bar next door, neither one seemingly wanting the evening to end. They were sat in the darkened corner with the tealights on the table casting shadows on their faces. Something about the evening or how comfortable they felt or the intimacy of the place had left them opening up. Discussing feelings. While Katniss wouldn’t normally be ok with that there was something that made her want to discuss them. A part of her desperate to know what Peeta felt and a part of her desperate to make him understand whatever it was she was feeling.

“I wasn’t heartbroken.” She shrugged at his quick look. “I wasn’t. I liked Gale, but I think I was always waiting for the end. I knew it was inevitable. We were too similar. We hated all the same things and that wasn’t good.”

“So you had a lot in common?”

Katniss wrinkled her nose. “I guess, but not the good stuff. We both had tempers in common. And the ability to wind each other up. Gale used to say we had ‘debates’ but it gets to a point where you just realise that those debates are actually arguments.” She took a sip of her Coke. “I think at the end we didn’t even like each other as people anymore.”

Peeta looked genuinely contrite. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” There was a moment of silence and she felt the nerves build up in her stomach. “If we were still together then I wouldn’t have had this date with you. I’m really glad you asked me out. I’ve had a really great time.”

He shot her such a look of happiness that Katniss felt her insides go warm. “So have I. To tell you the truth I was terrified.”

 “Terrified? Peeta ‘Sunshine King’ Mellark is not terrified of anyone.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah remind me not to disclose any more High School nicknames to you again. But yes, terrified. You have quite a scowl on you and I was already calculating how fast I could run for my life when I asked you out.”

“I am not that bad!”

“Have you seen your scowl? Ah there you go!”

Katniss quickly relaxed her features. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Peeta took a sip of his own drink and looked over at her. “I like it. Your nose scrunches up a little. But I like it when you smile. I particularly like it when you smile at me.”

“Well I’m not sure that they’ll be more of that if you keep talking about my scrunched up nose.”

He grinned at her and reached out to trace down her nose with a light fingertip. As soon as he touched her skin she felt a little jolt, just a small spark underneath her skin. “It’s cute.”

She gave him another scowl which earned her another laugh. It was a lovely feeling, Katniss had decided. The feeling that tingled all over her whenever Peeta laughed, or more specifically, when she made him laugh.

“Yeah well you better practice your running if you think you could survive me.”

Peeta winced. “True, I’m not much of a runner but I could definitely pin you.”

She looked over at him in surprise. “Oh! Um. Well you could.” An image flashed through her mind of Peeta’s broad golden body over her small dark one.

“I wrestled, Katniss.”

“I knew that.” But he was looking her with what could only be described as amusement. The corner of his lips turning up and laugh lines appearing at the corner of his eyes.

He took another sip of his drink and leaned forward, joking in a whispered tone. “I could show you some wrestling moves if you wanted. Maybe even let you pin me down.”

“I can be ferocious.”

“I bet.”

They looked at each other in silence, the air between them thick. Somehow they had moved closer towards each other without both noticing and Katniss hadn’t realised that she was practically in his lap. She licked her lips to wet them, the sudden closeness making her anxious for something and as her tongue slid past her lips she could see Peeta’s eyes flicker down and darken.

His hand was in hers, their palms pressing tightly together. The pulse that beat in his wrist and the way his thumb caressed her skin caused those earlier sparks to tingle up her arm. “I think we should go.”

Peeta reluctantly nodded and begun to pull away before Katniss could finish. “I mean I think we should go someplace else. Prim is staying at mine this weekend and so we could go to yours?” There was a moment of quiet and Katniss could feel her stomach drop. She had massively misread the signs on an unprecedented level of stupid. It had taken a lot for her to say something like this, to make the first move and she had misjudged the situation. This, she thought, was why she never made the first move.

“Yes.” It was said almost breathlessly but the next thing Peeta was pulling her closer to her him, his nose brushing against her cheek, his mouth heading towards hers. “Oh thank god yes.”

Saturday. 7.00pm

Peeta had told her that she looked beautiful. In fact he had looked at her like she was the sun in the darkness when he came to pick her up. She had just shrugged it off and muttered ‘oh this old thing’ but he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.

“I’ve never seen you wear a dress like that. Or a dress at all. They suit you.”

“I suppose you’re more used to seeing me in outdoor gear?”

“And there is definitely something very appealing about you in hiking boots and parka jackets. In fact the first time I saw you, you had mud on your top and twigs in your hair.”

Katniss looked at him incredulously. “There’s no way you remember what I was wearing the first time we met.”

Peeta tapped his temple with a finger. “Oh yes, it’s all logged here. Green jacket, braid, scowl. I was hooked.”

She gave him a good natured tap on the arm. “Yeah right. I remember I was having a really bad day that day.”

“You remember?”

“Yeah, I had a really bad group on the trail and I couldn’t wait for the day to be over. I had a craving for something sweet, popped into your bakery and as the say, ‘the rest is history.’”

Grinning Peeta gestured down his body. “Well you got something sweet indeed.”

“Let’s just start with dinner. See how we go from there.”

Saturday. 5:00pm

“You’re not wearing that are you?” Prim was in Katniss’ bedroom watching her get ready, looking her up and down with an appraising eye.

Katniss glanced at herself in the mirror and couldn’t work out what the problem was. Her hair was in its usual braid, she was wearing a nice fitted shirt and smart jeans. “Yeah. I think this looks good.”

Prim signed and launched herself off the bed and into the wardrobe. “It just won’t do. This is a first date with Peeta Mellark.”

Katniss looked at her and nodded. “I know that.”

“No no. Let me say it again. Peeta Mellark. Whilst I know that guy would like you wearing a potato sack –“

“Oh I don’t think – “

Prim held a finger out to cut her off. “Whilst he would like you in anything, and correctly so, you want to be impressing him this evening.”

“Prim, this is just a friendly date, no strings attached and no expectations. I’ve got a full diary with work and you know I don’t do dating.”

Her little sister signed as she took a dress off its hanger. “You won’t get another first date with him, Katniss. I know you like him so I am acting as your counsel for this evening. Wear this. Make his heart race a little. All of you are going to be thanking me in the future for my kick start.”

Katniss took the garment from her sister glancing at how short it was. She couldn’t remember why she bought a burnt orange dress that fell mid-thigh. It was something of a whim purchase after seeing it one day and deciding that it called out to her. “Who are the ‘all of us’ that will be thanking you exactly?”

“You, Peeta, my yet to be born nieces and nephews.”

“Prim! Don’t get ahead of yourself!”

“If you wear that dress it also means you’ll have to shave your legs. Trust me, you should always shave your legs before a date. And wear the good underwear. You never know what will happen.”

The eldest Everdeen’s mouth dropped open in horror as she looked at her baby sister. Though she wasn’t really a baby anymore but still. “We’re going to need to talk, you and I.”

“It isn’t about Peeta seeing it but about giving you a confidence boost! You’ll be more confident if you feel good.” Prim dug around in Katniss’ underwear drawer. “Here, these say sexy and fun.”

Katniss snatched them from her sister’s hand. “Fine, I’ll wear them. And the dress. And I’ll shave my legs but nothing is going to happen Prim. It’s a first date with Peeta. You have levels of expectations that are too high.”

“Take a condom too.”

“Don’t push it.”

The knock on the door at seven was prompt and Katniss gave her sister a kiss on the forehead and a promise that she would be back before ten. Prim just rolled her eyes and told her to have a good time and to not make promises she couldn’t keep.

Before the front door closed she managed to catch Peeta’s exclamation of how beautiful Katniss looked and she could almost hear the blood flow to her sisters face in pleased embarrassment. Before they disappeared into the night Prim scuttled over to the window to see them walking towards Peeta’s car. Peeta looking at her sister like she had hung the moon and her sister returning his look in kind.

Prim grinned. Katniss would find easily find the condoms that Prim had snuck into her bag, along with her toothbrush for the morning. Call it a hunch but she had a feeling that it was going to be a good first date for them, she’d watched them interact long enough to know that all it took was one little push in the right direction and some subtle hints to Katniss to get the ball rolling.

With a sigh she moved from the front door into the kitchen, squeezing her way past the table that she had just about managed to fit into the tiny space, to see what her husband thought about it. And also to ask him whether he had even remotely seen this coming.

Peeta stood with his back towards her, the muscles in his arm flexing slightly as he sliced through a loaf of bread for their usual Saturday breakfast. Katniss cleared her throat. “Hey, did you know about this?”

He stopped slicing and turned around, running a hand through his hair before he took the card from her outstretched hand. She saw his eyes widen the second they clocked the words ‘Mellark-Undersee.’ “Holy shit.”

“I take that as a no?”

“Yeah that would be a no. Wow.” Peeta did exactly what she had done a few minutes earlier and traced the lettering with his fingertip before letting out a low whistle. “That’s one expensive looking invite. And the reception is being held at the Undersee Mansion? Shit. I bet mom is swinging from the curtains.”

Katniss snorted. The image of prissy Virginia Mellark swinging from anything amusing her. “Don’t you think it’s a little….soon? I mean they’ve only been seeing each other six months and I know they joked about getting married but I really thought they were joking. Or that they would at least wait a few years.”

Peeta shrugged. “I’m used to Rye going full pelt into everything. Sure, I never thought that would include marriage but they seem happy and they’re both adult’s so what’s the harm?”

“I guess.”

“Hey.” He put the invitation down and took a step towards her. “What’s going on?”

It was her turn to shrug. “Nothing. I just don’t deal well with surprises obviously.”

Peeta pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her body and chuckled into her hair. “Tell me something I don’t know. At the very least we get to have a free five course meal with dancing and drinks at the Undersee Mansion, that’s got to be fun right? I love a wedding.” He pulled away, winked and kissed her on the nose before going back to their breakfast.

She stared down at the invitation. “Yeah. Fun. Of course.”

Two days later she managed to catch up with the woman of the hour. Katniss called Madge to offer her congratulations and after half an hour of excited squealing, solely from Madge, they arranged to meet up for brunch.

“Just an orange juice for me thank you.”

“Oh Katniss! It’s a celebration, have the champagne! I’m paying if you’re worried?”

“No no it’s not that. I just don’t understand how anyone can drink at eleven in the morning.”

Madge giggled. “It’s an engagement celebration brunch, drinking champagne is acceptable at every point.”

“I’ll just stick with the orange juice.”

When their drinks arrived they toasted to the upcoming nuptials, glasses chinking delicately against each other. Katniss spied the large diamond in its platinum setting on Madge’s finger and went to reach for her own pearl engagement ring finding comfort in its familiar shape. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, feeling out of place in the super white, super perfect Coriolanus restaurant.

Madge was practically bouncing on her chair as she went over the wedding plans. “I know six weeks isn’t a long time to organise anything, and gosh Katniss there is so much to organise! Rye isn’t one for planning anything but luckily I have my mom. And Ginny is really keen to help out which is nice. I’ve basically given her the entire ceremony and reception floral arrangements to sort out and –“

“Wait a second. Ginny?”

“Yeah, that’s just what Gin – Virginia told me to call her now. I didn’t think she was keen on nicknames but –“and at that Katniss felt her stomach drop. She knew she wasn’t the Mellark matriarch’s first choice, or any choice for that matter, for her baby boy but it still stung.

The history between the Mellark’s and Undersee’s stretched back to when Peeta and Madge dated. In fact that was how Peeta and Katniss were set up. Madge and Peeta were long over and still on very friendly terms when Madge suggested to Katniss that her and Peeta would be perfect for each other. After a lot of cajoling from Madge, Katniss had agreed to a date. And then agreed that Madge was right.

But this was new. The nicknames and the floral arrangements. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise as Virginia had apparently been devastated when Peeta and Madge broke up all those years ago. She had also expressed borderline devastation when Peeta introduced the very non-pale, non-blonde, non-wealthy Katniss to the family. It was a mission in Virginia Mellark’s life to get her son married to Madge Undersee. It seemed that she didn’t care what son.

“Sometimes Katniss I think you and Peeta did it right. Just the two of you running into the sunset together with your sister and your grumpy uncle as witnesses. I look at the pictures of you both having your wedding picnic and I just think-“

“Madge.” Katniss winced, feeling bad that she was interrupting her friend. “Can I ask you a question? I mean it was a surprise when you started dating Rye and you both seem very happy but this is very quick and well I was wondering…what about Gale?”

To her credit Madge didn’t look upset but just nodded, her blonde curls bouncing around her face. “I know, I know. I mean I’ve known Rye for years, from back when I was seeing Peeta obviously, and I didn’t think of him as anything more than my boyfriend’s horny older brother. But he’s not like that anymore and when he came back from travelling we got talking and just clicked. I feel like I’m old enough to know when it’s ‘the one’ and this is it. Didn’t you feel that way with Peeta?”

Katniss swallowed from her glass of orange juice and managed a quick imperceptible nod. She didn’t like openly discussing her emotions, always felt a bit embarrassed at conveying how strongly she felt but she remembered the moment. It was just him and her one morning in bed. The soft light streaming in the window and the curtain was moving, ever so slightly, in the cool breeze. There was something about the way the light lit him from behind, making his hair gold and his skin glow and he reached for while laughing at a joke she made. All she could think of was how she loved the way his eyes crinkled and how long his lashes were and it was that moment that she knew she was tied up in him forever.

She gave Madge a simple yes.

“I’m also so excited Katniss that we basically get to be sisters! I mean you’re my best friend and now we’re going to be related.” Madge reached one manicured hand across to Katniss’s chapped one and squeezed it tightly, her eyes shimmering slightly. “I’ve always wanted a sister and I can’t think of a better one to have. The Mellark boys and their wives! All we need to do is get Graham married off and it’s a full set!”

Katniss smiled at that, the joke was that the Mellark children seemed to do things in reverse order, starting from Peeta, before moving to the middle boy Rye and then the eldest, Graham. Not wanting to spoil the fun but knowing she needed to ask, Katniss went for it. “Have you spoken to Gale?”

“Yeah. I let him know before we sent the invite’s out. I didn’t want him finding out from someone else.”

“How did he take it?”

“Silently.”

Katniss laughed. Gale was one for portraying the silent, brooding type but give him the opportunity and the angry ranting often won out in the end. “Well you both ended it amicably. He’s probably just a bit shocked at the timescale.”

Madge took a sip of her champagne, the rock on her finger sparkling in the chandelier light. “He had opportunity to commit, he never took it. Besides I think he spent a long portion of our relationship pining after someone else.”

And there was the other element of the slightly incestuous relationship square. At the same time Peeta and Madge were dating so were Katniss and Gale, except Katniss shut down her relationship a lot sooner into it. After a lengthy period of silent treatment Gale finally accepted the situation and they worked their way back to being friends. Something that had continued quite harmoniously until Katniss and Peeta went public. Then it was more silent treatment and two years of him dating Madge before he could even attend social events with the pair of them. It was only recently that he even referred to Peeta by his name rather than ‘Mellark,’ or prior to that, ‘bread boy.’

“Gale didn’t pine. He was never that upset over our relationship ending, I think his pride was hurt more than anything.”

Madge nodded. “I think it was the same with us. I think he was more surprised that I’d enough of his bullshit and called time on it.” She giggled at something. “He was quite silent when I told him about the engagement though but when the shock settled he did get rather annoyed.”

“Did he rant?”

“Oh yes! And guess what he said?” Madge deepened her voice and squared her shoulders in her best impression. “This is twice now that I’ve lost a girlfriend to one of the Mellark’s. What have they got dicks made of chocolate and wine or something?” She laughed. “I don’t know, both you and I only entered into relationships with Peeta and Rye after we were with Gale and in your case way after!”

“I think he will always have an issue. I’ll accept civility. Anyway I’m sorry I bought it up. We should be talking floral arrangements or whatever it is ‘Ginny’ is helping you with.”

“Well I’m glad you’ve said that as I may have some wedding brochures with me.” And at that Madge reached into her bag and pulled out a wedding planning book and a stack of brochures, flagging down the waiter and signalling for more drinks. “I want to talk to you about hair.”

Katniss automatically reached for the end of her braid, curling it around her finger. The stack of brochure looming ominously on the table. She could see words such as ‘ice sculpture,’ ‘chocolate fountain’ and ‘horse drawn carriage’ and she swallowed heavily. “Great. Sounds great.”

It wasn’t great. It was all far from great. Madge wasn’t a bridezilla but she wanted a lot and as the wedding date was slowly approaching – two weeks and counting – there was a lot to do. Katniss had the distinctive honour of being chief bridesmaid and had promised Madge that she would do whatever she could to help.

That particular Saturday was the worst. Foregoing her and Peeta’s usual Saturday routine had put her in a foul mood but he had to head into the bakery early to lead the creative team on the five tier wedding cake with white and gold decoration, the groom’s cake, a separate bridal cake and individual cupcakes for 200 guests. So there was no time for him to bake, let alone eat, bread with her that morning.

When she had looked through the planning book for the Mellark-Undersee cake extravaganza she couldn’t help but think back to her and Peeta’s wedding cake. A simple one tier Victoria sponge with buttercream filling and the most delicate sugar work in flowers and leaves on top. It wasn’t much but it was beautiful however Katniss couldn’t help but wonder if Peeta had wanted to make something more opulent for his own wedding.

She didn’t have time to dwell though. Her own day was busy. Final dress fittings for the bride and her eight bridesmaids had kept them busy until the early hours of the afternoon and lunch was canapes and champagne, of which Katniss ignored the champagne and picked on the canapes avoiding the ones with soft cheese. Unfortunately as they made up the majority by the times the fittings were over Katniss felt tired and hungry.

After the fittings she had the list of final bridal items to collect; the ceremony shoes, the reception shoes, the going away evening outfit, the tiara, the bridal underwear, her own underwear for her bridesmaid dress and finally the wedding jewellery that Madge would be wearing.

Finally, when she was done Katniss headed home and collapsed on the bed. The mass amounts of shopping bags taking up the space in their small home. She must have fallen asleep because when she woke Peeta was standing in their bedroom closing the curtains against the darkening sky. “Shit.” She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Hey.” He sat on the bed and tucked a loose hair from her braid back behind her ear cupping her jaw with his hand. “How was your day?”

“Crappy. How was yours?”

He stroked his thumb across her cheek. “Crappy. You look pale. Have you eaten?”

“Not really.”

“I’ll take a shower and make us some dinner.” Peeta yawned. “Sorry. It’s been ridiculous. I never thought I’d say this but I hate weddings.”

“A few weeks ago you weren’t saying that. You love weddings remember?”

He chuckled and laid back on the bed. “I did say that didn’t I? Ok I take it back. I love weddings when I don’t have to bake enough cakes to feed the continent. And ours. Ours was pretty good.” Peeta yawned again, his eyes blinking once and closing.

Katniss leaned over him, watching as his chest rose and fell as he started to fall into sleep. She reached across and stroked his hair. “Yeah ours was pretty good.”

The Mellark-Undersee wedding was also pretty good. It wasn’t Katniss’ style but it was definitely in Madge’s and Rye seemed to be gloriously happy as long as his wife was gloriously happy. Which she was. She was also gloriously beautiful and Katniss had to try her hardest to not burst into happy tears at several points during proceedings. Madge’s blonde hair was swept into an elegant French chignon twist and her off-the-shoulder lace mermaid gown hugged her figure in all the right places. Rye couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

Peeta managed to sneak over to Katniss after the vows to tell her that he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She blushed as he planted a quick kiss to her bare shoulder, ignoring the disapproving glance of Virginia Mellark, and grabbed him by his tie to pull him closer, pressing her lips hard against his.

“I love you.”

He grinned at her, smiling so wide his cheeks must have hurt. “I love you too. See, everyone loves a wedding.”

“You weren’t saying that a few weeks ago.”

“Listen Mrs. Mellark, stop remembering everything I say.” He winked at her. “It all came good in the end. Not as good as ours though.”

“True. But I hear there is good food. And dancing.”

“We had great food and we danced.”

Katniss blushed at that. “Well if you could even call it dancing.” After their vows in the small church with Prim and Haymitch as witnesses, all four went to the local park, ate picnic food and wedding cake and drank champagne until they fell over with giggles. In the evening Katniss and Peeta stayed in a one bed cabin they rented by a lake and stood, pressed against each other as tightly as possible, swaying to music they played from Peeta’s iPod.

“Oh it was dancing. And I’m definitely getting you on the dance floor later.”       

After an hour and a half of schmoozing at the drinks reception, with Katniss wishing she could take off her shoes and nap, followed by the five course dinner and speeches (Peeta’s best man speech being the best of course) there was finally the dancing. She watched as the bride and groom performed their first dance and wiped her eye which seemed to be misting up again before her own husband appeared by her side with two glasses of champagne.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, I just have something in my eye.”

He gave her a look. “Fine, fine I was feeling a little overcome. I know I thought they were moving quite quickly but they do really love each other. They were both so happy when we got married and so I just needed to remind myself how happy I should be for them.”

Peeta handed her a glass. “Let’s toast to that. To their happiness. And ours.” He took a sip from the glass while Katniss held onto hers.

“There is something else though.”

Peeta paused. “Oh?”

“I think I was feeling a little, well jealous, as to all the money that they could spend on their wedding. I know ours wasn’t expensive and sometimes I worry that you missed out on all the expensive, extravagant things because of me.”

“Katniss no. Never.” Peeta put his glass down and placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing his thumbs lightly across her skin. “First of all I would do whatever you want to make you happy and secondly this isn’t me either. I love our Saturday tea and toast breakfasts, I love getting in the Sunday papers while you go on hikes, and I love our wonky home and holidays to see Prim at college. I loved our wedding so much but it isn’t about the wedding, it’s about the marriage and if we could measure wealth in happiness then dammit we would be millionaires.”

She rolled her eyes but smiled at him to show she didn’t mean it. “You’re so cheesy.”

“Yes I am. So are my buns.”

“Oh stop.”

“I can’t help it. I’m so bun-y.”

Katniss groaned. “No really please stop.”

“I just curr-ant.”

She ignored that one. “There is also something else.” There was a pause as she looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “I was also thinking of all the money that Madge was spending on the wedding and how it could be spent on other things. Things that we would need.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Like a crib. Or a pram. Or breast pumps and diapers. I don’t know.” Katniss paused and looked at him, making a point of putting down her untouched champagne.

“Katniss.” His breath hitched in his throat. “I need you to say it. I’m getting excited here but I need you to say it.”

“Peeta.”

“Yes?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Because, and she quoted, ‘they were sisters now’ and because Prim was having to study for her finals it was Madge that hosted Katniss’s baby shower. Katniss wanted it to be small, family and close friends only. No stupid baby games, no baby themed cakes and no mass pile of presents. Madge had agreed, whatever it was that Katniss wanted, Katniss got.

Here they were in the Mellark bakery, a closed sign on the door, with hot and cold drinks being passed around along with cheese buns and cupcakes. Katniss happily chatting with all those who mattered to her. And Virginia.

Rye and Graham who were so ecstatic at becoming uncles and couldn’t get over how big her bump was getting kept making sure her drink was re-filled and that she had a full plate of food. Prim who flew back for the weekend couldn’t stop touching the bump to feel the baby move and Madge who made Katniss cry by buying her a pram that she had her eye on but couldn’t afford. The pram that was suitable for use in the woods.

Virginia wasn’t being too bad. Being told that Katniss and Peeta were expecting her first grandchild wasn’t the disappointing bombshell that Katniss thought it might have been. Instead she was bragging to anyone who would listen about how her first grandchild would be arriving in a month and waving the ultrasound picture in their faces.

As Katniss stood and watched her do that to Haymitch, Peeta came over resting his hand on her belly. “Having fun?”

“Yes. I am.”

He bent down to her stomach. “And you baby? Are you having fun?”

Katniss laughed. “Oh I think so.”

“And do we think Gale is having fun?”

They both looked over to where Gale was currently talking to Prim, listening to her tell him about her upcoming exams.

“Yeah. I think he is. He was slightly awkward around Rye earlier but I think he got over it. I think his new girlfriend helps.”

“Yeah she seems really nice, a real creative type.”

Katniss nodded in agreement. Gale had asked if he could invite his new girlfriend of five months to the shower as he wanted her to meet Katniss and she was happy to say yes. Cressida was an attractive woman with half her hair shaved showing off a beautiful green vine tattoo. It was very much a talking point, with Virginia being half horrified while the remaining Mellark’s loving the creative side of it. Katniss had even had a wonderful conversation with Cressida about her job as a wildlife photographer and decided that she liked her very much.

Gale took that moment to wonder over to them both. “Hey Catnip.” He bent forward and kissed her cheek. “Peeta.” He submitted a cursory nod and at least, Katniss thought, that was progress. “It’s a nice set up here. You’re both looking well.”

“Thanks man.” That was Peeta being courteous. “Thanks for coming. It means a lot to Katniss.”

Gale nodded. “It’s cool. So have you both met Cressida?”

They both nodded at the same time. “Oh yes,” Katniss said with enthusiasm. “She’s lovely.”

“I like to think so. Not too sure where she is at the moment though. She was working the crowd.” Gale started to look around the bakery. “Can’t see her at the moment.”

There was a moment’s pause before Peeta quietly spoke. “Erm, she’s over in the corner by the pastries. Looks like she’s speaking with Graham.”

They all turned to look and there by the eclairs was the eldest Mellark brother, his eyes looking enraptured by the woman in front of him. Cressida was enthusiastically nodding at something he was saying, stepping closer to hear better, her eyes staring intensely back at his face.

When they came to tell her that father died she was sat in the classroom staring at her textbook, bored out of her mind. Even if she couldn’t remember the details of what was said or who said it she could clearly recall the minutes before the news broke. The smell of her teacher’s perfume permeating her nose, the rustle of book paper and the birdsong outside the window. It was small, it was insignificant and it was hers. From that day on she saw her life as a series of moments and made sure that she savoured each one, even if the taste was unpleasant.  

Many, many years later she woke in the darkness and from that point a new moment had begun. As she lay there in bed the first thing she felt was panic. Her heart pounded against her ribs and her stomach churned. She knew then and there that it was happening that night. The clock said 2am and Peeta, unaware that Katniss had woken up in turmoil, slept on beside her. The steady rise and fall of his bare shoulders, usually such a comforting sight, did nothing to calm her.

No, for Katniss there wasn’t a single minute longer that she wanted to stay in that bed. Not when Peeta was in a moment of peace and not when the chill of fear was creeping its way up her spine. The sanctuary of the bed had become a prison of pillows and the sheets that had wrapped their way around her hot and shaky limbs were trapping her down.  

Silently Katniss moved out from under the sheets, stilling when Peeta shifted towards the spot she had vacated, searching for her body even in his sleep. A stab of pain and guilt simultaneously radiated through her body when she looked at him. The next part she didn’t want to do but there was no stopping this chain of motion now. It was best, that she took her time, and when she was ready she would let him know.

Katniss approached the wardrobe on bare feet, gently opening the door until she could peer inside. On the floor underneath discarded piles of clothes was the suitcase. An old brown thing that she had dug out one day and packed without much regard to the contents. It had been ready for weeks, waiting patiently among shoes and bags for when it would be taken out.

Little did Katniss know, when she brushed her teeth and put on her nightgown before bed, that it was that night that the suitcase would be getting the moment it had waited for. In her head she had always imagined that she would be doing this in the harsh bright light of day, bold as brass and declaring it openly. Not like this, creeping into the darkness and listening to sound of Peeta’s steady breathing.

Whatever happened next, however Peeta reacted, she needed to do this on her own terms. This was the moment, that precious moment before the actual event and she needed to taste it, to absorb in all the sounds and smells.  She needed to survive the next moments and Katniss knew, what happened next, had to be done calmly. Her life, just as it existed in this slice of time was going, and without realising it she had been waiting to say goodbye.

The first place she said goodbye to was the bathroom but she didn’t know why. It could have been the clean untarnished surfaces or the neatly lined up towels that made her think to stand in the room, pressing her hand against the cool tile, as another stab of pain coursed through her. Bottles, his and hers, were aligned in rows and there was the realisation that so very soon there wouldn’t be two rows of anything anymore. Instead of the earlier fear she could feel something else begin to creep up her spine, something Katniss had begun to recognise as excitement, a thrilling tingle vibrating in her stomach.

She didn’t need to say goodbye to Peeta’s room, the one where he painted, because she knew it wouldn’t change, and she didn’t need to say goodbye to the room at the end of the hall. The room that she had gone into numerous times over the past few weeks and whose door had remained shut this evening. She said goodbye to her hallway with two pairs of shoes waiting by the door, goodbye to the lounge and finally goodbye to the kitchen, noting the car keys on the sideboard.

There had been a moment, a year before, when Prim and Katniss had sat in this very kitchen with the daylight streaming in through the window both holding matching mugs of tea. Katniss had told Prim everything. How she had finally made up her mind after all this time and that this was something she wanted but it terrified her. She had spent so much of her life as part of ‘Katniss and Peeta’ that she didn’t know if she could function as something different.

Prim had taken her hand, looked straight into her eyes and told her with such surety that she could do anything. Katniss knew then that she could. As she surveyed her kitchen in the dark she just didn’t think things would have moved on so quickly from that day to this.

But there was no delaying the inevitable. If this was to happen tonight then Peeta needed to be told. She would have to disturb his peaceful sleep and possibly ruin all peaceful sleeps yet to come. Her much-needed goodbyes done she dressed quickly, pulling the suitcase from the wardrobe and resting it by the bedroom door before standing over him.

Katniss was never the good one at breaking news, Peeta was the wordsmith not her, and she felt awful that she couldn’t do this more eloquently. That she couldn’t express such a monumental occurrence with something better then waking him up and gesturing to the suitcase waiting by the door.

“Katniss, what the-?” Peeta blinked sleepily, his eyes taking time to focus on her face before glancing down her body. She could see the moment of realisation as it occurred to him that she was standing in front of him in the dark early hours of the morning, fully dressed and pointing towards the offending article.

Alarm rushed onto his face. His eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline and his eyes opening wide. His face was so much paler than it usually was with the addition of the moonlight making him look ill. In fact it might not have been the moonlight. The flash on his face was one of genuine fear and Katniss knew that she had done the right thing. By taking her time, taking her moment she had steeled herself for this. If she hadn’t, the look on his face would have ended her. There was no way Katniss would have been able to deal with his fear, not if she still had to conquer her own.

Despite another wave of pain, which she had determined was getting slightly worse, the feeling of excitement was starting to overtake the terror and she told him that she was going to be ok. At this Peeta shot up, the sheets falling around his waist as he grabbed for the light switch by the side of the bed. “Shit Katniss, why didn’t you wake me?”

“I am waking you.”

“I mean earlier, how long have you been dressed?”

“Not long.”

“Shit.” Then he was up, grabbing his clothes and trying to put his jeans on at the same time as his sweater looking around for items to grab hold off. She sat back down on the bed and watched him. “I need to find my keys.”

“Peeta they’re downstairs. It’s fine. We have plenty of time.”

He stopped panicking and knelt in front of her then, his eyes searching her face. “Are you ok? You seem….calm.”

She smiled at him. “I am calm. Honestly I feel fine. I am fine. This is going to be ok.”

He rested his hands on her stomach, the large round bump that just seemed to get larger and rounder each passing day. Even though she had wanted this, even though it had been her idea to begin trying, Katniss had been expressing her dread of giving birth pretty much from the day she conceived. Peeta, as was his want, had rushed into pregnancy planning and pre-natal care with eyes and arms wide open. He had been nagging her for weeks before Katniss had finally given in and packed her hospital suitcase before ignoring it completely to the wardrobe.

“Katniss, you’re going to be a mom. I’m going to be a dad. Soon. Like today, tomorrow. This is it.”

“I know.”

“This is exciting, it’s great, it’s…” he trailed off and ran his hand through his hair. “It’s terrifying.” He gave a nervous laugh. “This is huge. I feel like I should have prepared more.”

Katniss took his hand, just like Prim had done a year ago, and looked him dead in the eye. “Peeta, we can do anything.” Yes she had been scared, scared of being pregnant, scared of giving birth, scared of getting it all wrong but she wasn’t scared of the baby itself. Through it all the thought of her and Peeta having a baby, something uniquely them, something that they would love with all their hearts had never scared her. The room down the hall with its crib and changing table was ready and waiting. And now so was Katniss.

“I’m ready Peeta. I’m really ready. I’m having this baby.”

After another contraction, after Peeta had finally managed to get his clothes on and steady his own breathing and after he checked again that she was ok, he took the suitcase to the car. Katniss watched him from their bedroom window as he put it into the boot and thought of its contents. Most especially the baby blanket and the cutest primrose yellow Babygro she had ever seen, both tucked delicately onto the top.

So as her acquiescence to this date was done for extremely courteous reasons, on ‘D-Day’ when he came to pick her up she asked him to park his car down the road and told that she would meet him there. The last thing she needed was for him to come to the door and give Prim the wrong impression that this was an actual romantic date with Peeta Mellark.

When Peeta called to say that he had arrived, and yes, was parked halfway down the road, Katniss stuck her head round the open door of Prim’s room to see her sisters blonde head bent over some textbooks. “Hey little duck, I’m off to the library. I have an assignment due in and the book I need is there.”

“Ok, no worries,” Prim glanced up briefly at her before looking back down.

“Mom will be back in an hour but I won’t be long. There’s some food in the fridge if you get hungry and I’ve already put-“

“Katniss! It’s ok! I’ll see you later.” This time she didn’t even get a glance and just like that the conversation was over so Katniss walked out of the house and down the road into Peeta’s waiting car.

The next day when he asked her out again, a little less shyly this time, she agreed remembering the way his jean clad knee had pressed against hers in the darkened cinema and caused little electric sparks to fly up her leg.

It was only supposed to be one kiss. Just the one kiss. Katniss told Peeta afterwards that they couldn’t make this a ’thing,’ that she didn’t have time in her life for romance or boyfriends and that all she could afford to do was study and work and make sure that Prim did her homework. It was vital that Prim did well at school, that Prim went to college, that Prim would make something of herself and that Prim – and then Peeta’s mouth was on hers again swallowing up her words.

In that moment Katniss really couldn’t think as to any reason why they shouldn’t make this a thing. Not when Peeta’s nose gently brushed against hers or when his hands slid up her waist, smoothing up her spine into her hair. Not when his lips were soft and his tongue was hot. After the fifth, tenth, fifteenth kiss wherever she touched him it felt like his skin was burning. Well, she thought, if that’s what his skin feels like then hers must have been on fire.

Later that evening, sneaking back into the quiet house and carefully closing the front door behind her she hadn’t expected to jump a mile out of her own body. Prim was sat in the dark living room, the light from the TV screen shining on her frowning face.  

“Hey there little duck, what are you doing up?”

Prim shrugged, “I couldn’t sleep so thought I would watch some TV. Where have you been?”

“Er, working. I took an extra shift at Sae’s.”

“Get good tips?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmmm. Ok. Good night Katniss.”

“Night little duck.” Easy, Katniss decided. This was easy.

She was only supposed to let him hold her hand in public the once. It was fine for them to like each other and see each other and kiss each other but Katniss didn’t want to make it public so she let him hold her hand the once in the park on the outskirts of town.

It was all because Mrs. Mellark clearly hated her and Katniss didn’t want to cause any more misery for Peeta than what already existed in his house. There was also the matter of not wanting to flaunt her and Peeta when she had rejected Gale’s anguished declarations of love, something that their friendship had yet to recover from. And of course it was also important that Prim didn’t get the idea that having boyfriends was ok. Not when her studying and schoolwork needed to take priority.

Despite her protests against PDA she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the feeling of their fingers intertwining or the way that their palm’s pressed so tightly together she could feel his pulse beating with hers.

It was after school hours one afternoon when they were walking alone in the hall that she had the sudden urge to grab his hand and grasp it to hers. When she looked over at him, his hair still damp from wrestling and his cheeks flushing pink, Katniss felt like such a teenage girl in love. Giddy with that thought she reached out with her free hand to pull his face towards her, their mouths parting to meet and her internal protests against being public falling by the wayside.

Except there was a movement down the hall, a figure advancing  around the corner and quickly Katniss and Peeta jerked away from each other, twin blushes on their faces. It was a small blonde that suddenly appeared before them.

“Katniss?”

“Prim! Hi.” Crap. She had forgotten that Prim had joined the gymnastics team and that their practice nights were the same as the wrestlers.

“What are you doing here? You’re never at school after hours.” Then Prim’s eyes flitted to the person standing next to her. “That’s Peeta Mellark.”

The person in question rubbed the back of his neck and gave a little wave. “Hey Prim.” Katniss watched as the tips of Peeta’s ears turned red and hoped that Prim wouldn’t notice.

All three then stood there, standing in awkward silence, Prim’s eyes glancing between Katniss and Peeta while they just stood there not looking at Prim or each other. Just when Katniss thought the moment was never going to end Peeta turned to Katniss. “Well I’ve got to go. It was nice bumping into you. See you around. Bye Prim.” With another little wave he then hot-footed it down the hall leaving the two sisters standing there. Prim staring Peeta’s retreating back and Katniss staring at her own feet.

“That was Peeta Mellark.”

Katniss cleared her throat. “Yep. That was Peeta Mellark. You actually announced to Peeta Mellark that he was Peeta Mellark. So we have that covered.”

Prim turned to look her then, her eyes narrowed into slits. “Why were you with Peeta Mellark?”

“No, no, I wasn’t with him. I just happened to bump into him. Back there.” She gestured behind her. “From the same place that I came from.”

“Right. So you were watching the wrestling?

“No! No. I was catching up on some archery practice. Gotta keep sharp Prim. Gotta keep sharp.”

If it was at all possible, Prim’s eyes narrowed even further. “Right. So where are your bows?”

Crap. “Er, I must have left them behind.”

“You left your prize possessions behind? The ones that you lovingly check over each and every time you use them? One of the few things that you say you love most in the world besides me and the Mellark bakery cheese buns?”

There was silence. Katniss knew she had to think of something disarming, get Prim away from this line of thought before she started realising that Katniss was lying through her teeth. “Yeah.” Oh good going Katniss.

“Hmmm. Well that’s not like you.”

“Jeez Prim! Ok! I left them behind, I’m an idiot etc etc. I’ll go get them now.”

Her sister just tilted her head and looked at her for a long minute before shrugging. “Ok. I’m going to catch a ride home with Suzy. I’ll see you there soon.”

They finally waved their goodbyes and Katniss watched as Prim walked down the hall, the same direction Peeta had disappeared down earlier. “Shit.” Katniss had never moved so fast, running out the back door and across the car park. Once she was in her car she drove like a fool just to make sure that Prim didn’t make it home first and discover Katniss’ bows were still by the front door.

It was only supposed to be the one time. To see what it felt like. Though she had heard sex was fun she didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. Katniss had suggested that maybe, just maybe, they could try it and maybe then she would see if it was worth the fuss.

Her worry wasn’t that she wouldn’t enjoy it but that he wouldn’t enjoy it with her, the girl who had the imagination of a rock and the passion level to match. Except that swooping feeling came back into her stomach again as did the weak knees and the electric sparks. Wherever Peeta touched her it felt like volts were bursting from his fingertips onto her skin and it made her gasp and clutch and claw at him like a person possessed.

Throughout it all she could feel his heart pounding, just as furiously as hers, within his chest. Peeta’s bare skin was pressed deliciously against hers and her naked breasts finally got to push up against the broad chest that made her mouth dry. The feel of his fingers in places that would normally make her blush added to a pressure that built and built from someplace with her until it finally tipped over causing her to shudder and yell out his name.

After, when he had broken apart above her, they lay on his bed sweaty and breathless. Peeta rubbed his nose over her hair and breathed in her scent and Katniss told him they probably wouldn’t be able to do this again. That it was so rare for his house to be this empty and that Prim was always home.

He kissed her and told her they would make it work before reaching for each other, over and over again.

When Katniss finally got home their mom was nowhere to be seen and Prim was bent over textbooks at the kitchen table. “Hey little duck. Sorry I’m late, Sae’s was awful this evening so they needed me to work an extra shift.” She grabbed an apple from the bowl and looked up to see Prim staring at her.

“You were at Sae’s?”

“Yep.”

“Definitely at Sae’s?”

“Ah-huh.”

“It’s just Sae rang earlier, said they were short staffed and was wondering if you would be able to go in.”

“Oh.” Silence. Katniss was getting used to awkward silences and Prim looking at her like she had grown an extra head. “Well one of the other waitresses called me on my cell and so I left the library, which is where I was by the way, and then went straight to Sae’s.”

“Did you shower at Sae’s?”

“No, why?”

“It’s just that you smell like shampoo and soap and not burger grease.”

Katniss’s eyes widened. Cover stories were clearly not her strength. She had to think on her feet, say something plausible. What would Peeta do? “Er, yes. I did shower at Sae’s. In the staff showers. I forgot that I had showered when I told you hadn’t. When in fact I did. Shower.”

There was another round of silence. There was a slight possibility that Prim wouldn’t believe her but Katniss hoped against all odds that she was beginning to come across as convincing.

She was met with a sigh before Prim bent her head back to her books. “Right. Goodnight Katniss.”

Although she felt like she had been dismissed by her little sister (of all people!) Katniss walked up the stairs with lighter shoulders before throwing herself onto her bed. Her grin stretched so wide on her face it started to burn and she grabbed the pillow to hold over her face just so she could scream her joy into it.

It was only going to be the one time that she had Peeta over. It was a Saturday and her mom was on a day shift and Prim was shopping at the mall. Katniss knew that they had plenty of time to just exist in the same space. Existing in the same space turned into doing that thing that she said they would only do once but had done three times already.

It couldn’t just be the once now. Not now Katniss knew how his skin tasted and that he knew how she tasted. She could feel the heat burn up her neck as she remembered the feel of his tongue in a place other than her mouth and the memory of his eyes that never looked as blue as they did when they were between her thighs.

They had such limited time that Saturday that Katniss told him they could only do it again the once. Which Peeta took to mean once on her bed and then once again in the family shower with the water beating down on their bodies. After, when they were in the kitchen with Katniss making them sandwiches he stood behind her, arms wrapped around her waist telling jokes into her hair that made her laugh so hard her stomach hurt.

So caught up in her laughter she almost didn’t catch the sound of the key turning in the front door. Just in time Peeta exited through the back door pressing a quick parting kiss to Katniss’ lips before Prim emerged in the entrance to the kitchen.

 “Hey there little duck.”

“Hey.”

“Enjoy the mall?”

“Yeah.” Prim’s eyes scanned the room. “Enjoy your Saturday? Your Saturday alone?”

“Yep good. Just hanging out. Just…doing stuff.”

“Like taking showers midday?”

Katniss swallowed, suddenly aware of her wet braid trailing down her back. “I got up late so I showered late.”

“Huh.” Prim stopped her eye scan of the kitchen and looked directly at Katniss’s face. Katniss was beginning to feel that she was turning into such an ominous figure, this cute blonde, and that a career in advanced interrogation techniques was beckoning. “What’s with the sandwich’s?”

There they were. Two plated up PB&J’s. “They’re for me and you duck. Thought you might be hungry after the mall.”

“You didn’t know what time I was coming home.”

“I heard you come in.”

“You made two sandwiches, plated them up and poured two drinks in the time it took for me to come in?”

Katniss flinched and prayed that ‘Eagle Eye’ Everdeen wouldn’t notice. “Yep.”

Prim rubbed her hands over her face and sighed. “Ok. I’m off to my room now Katniss.”

She watched as Prim turned and started to walk back down the hall before she stopped and looked back. “You know you can tell me anything right? I’m not going to judge you if you want to keep anything in your life secret but you can trust me. I’m not going to turn into a teenage heathen and stop working hard just because you’ve started to live your life.”

“Ok Prim. But I’m really not doing anything.”

“Ok. Whatever you say.”

It was another Saturday, this time an evening, when Peeta came around again. Her mom was at work because she was never anywhere else and Prim was hanging with a friend, and just because Katniss couldn’t get enough of him she called him straight away. And straight away he came.

“So,” he turned and smiled at her as they sat side by side on the couch. “Are you going to tell me that this is the one and only time I can come round? Because it’s probably about the tenth.”

Gasping with indignation she turned to look at him only to find his face inches from hers and the smile on his lips reaching all the way to his eyes. “No. I think I’ve resigned myself to the fact that you’ll be here at least a hundred times.”

“Just a hundred? I think we can go higher than that.” His fingers trailed her collar bone and swept up her neck.

A shiver coursed through her body, “Ok higher than a hundred. Maybe even a thousand.”

“Just a thousand?” Peeta’s fingers now threaded themselves through her hair and tugged gently, the motion making her scalp tingle. “Let me try and convince you to go a bit higher.” He pressed his mouth to her neck, pushing her back against the cushions until her hips cradled his. Katniss felt the breath catch in her throat as Peeta pressed his groin into hers so that she could feel the full length of him through his jeans.

Through his groans and her breathy moans and the haze of everything she was feeling, Katniss forgot that time even existed. Forgot that school existed, that work existed, forgot that she should have been keeping an eye on the front door or even listening out to the familiar sound of the key in the lock. In short, she forgot that Prim existed. That was until she heard a loud clearing of a throat that was not hers or Peeta’s.

With a shriek Katniss leapt up from the couch and wished she hadn’t. Standing by the door was Prim and the lanky dark haired Rory Hawthorne. At least Rory at the decency to look embarrassed while Prim just crossed her arms and sported a shit eating grin.

“Oh look its Katniss. And Peeta Mellark. Hello Peeta Mellark! What a surprise to see you here.”

“Prim –“

“And look Rory, my sister has no top on and I think Peeta Mellark’s fly is down.”

Katniss tried to ignore Peeta’s distractingly desperate attempts to cover himself up with a throw pillow whilst also trying to ignore the fact that Rory was trying to not stare at her standing there in just her jeans and a bra. “Prim –“

“Katniss.”

“I, um. I have nothing to say to get out of this one.”

Prim snorted, such an undignified sound from such a ladylike person. “Katniss, you had nothing to say to get out of the other ones! You are the worst liar I have ever known!”

 “No! I…I…” Katniss’ mouth just kept opening and closing and words wouldn’t form in her brain.

Prim dropped her arms and walked round the couch towards her sister, gently taking her hand. “You are a terrible liar but its fine. You didn’t want to tell me about it and you didn’t have to but I knew it was serious when I caught you skipping down the garden. Besides,” she shrugged, “it’s quite exciting when it’s secret.”

Katniss’ shoulders sagged and she looked over at Peeta, who was still sat on the couch and who appeared to be trying his best not to laugh. “I didn’t skip. It was just an enthusiastic walk.”

“Anyway,” Prim continued. “Just keep doing what you’re doing with Peeta Mellark and we won’t bother you. Will we Rory?”

“Prim stop calling Peeta by his full name it’s creepy.” Katniss paused for a moment, something Prim said earlier sinking in. “Hold on, what do you mean ‘we won’t bother you,’ where are you going?”

“Upstairs. But like I said we won’t bother you.”

 “Prim….what do you mean ‘it’s exciting when it’s secret?’” She looked between her sister, her baby sister, and the Hawthorne standing anxiously in the doorway who had begun to shift from foot to foot. Katniss wondered how quickly she would be able to reach for her bows.

Prim simply grinned at her. “Well let’s just say if one of us is ever going to be called for the secret service it won’t be you. I think we can ignore what we’ve seen can’t we Rory? If Katniss can ignore us going upstairs.”

Prim walked past her and grinned down at Peeta, who was most definitely laughing now by the looks of his shaking shoulders. “See you later Katniss, see you soon Peeta. It would be nice to have a conversation at some point since you’re in a relationship with my big sister.”

“Sure Prim, look forward to it.” And with that Prim took hold of Rory’s hand and dragged him up the stairs and all Katniss could do was stand, topless and open mouthed in her living room before turning to Peeta.

“Did you see that? Her and Rory? How long has that been going on for? She’s only 16! She can’t be upstairs with boys.” She started to walk towards the stairs, “I’ve got to drag him out of there.” As she walked past Peeta he grabbed her hand.

“Hey. Leave them for the evening. They probably won’t be doing anything anyway. You can grill her and kick his ass tomorrow. In the meantime,” he gently tugged her down next to him. “We can spend some time in each other’s company. Just you and me. No rushing, no running out of houses. What do you say?”