Author's Note: I've never written for the Hunger Games, and I just finished the books, so I hope you all enjoy this! A lot of OCs are going on, but you'll be able to sort them all out soon enough. I hope you guys can get through these first few chapters. The longer, and more in depth ones will come as it gets closer to around chapter 3-5.

God Bless,

Thegoodgirldoll (:

The house was dark; the blinds drawn, and dim lamps lit on various tables.

"Peeta, are the kids sleeping?" Katniss whispered in the almost pitch blackness.

"Would you be sleeping?" He replied, moving a hand to rub up and down her back. They mounted the staircase together, and climbed to peer into their children's rooms. First, they gave the door to their daughter, Ingrid's, room a gentle push. Surprisingly, she was asleep. Her blonde curls framed her young face. She didn't look too old, nor did she look under thirteen. She was a tall, slender sixteen year old with a strong sense for art like Peeta, and a slow ability to learn and take in things. Her mind wasn't too sharp, but at least she had learned to sit still for my than five minutes at a time in school.

The next room they moved to check was their son, Nicholas. They weren't surprised to see him wide awake. He sat straight up in bed, his back towards them. His dark brown hair was buzzed on the edges, and spiky on the top. His muscles contracted at the sound of the door creaking open, and Peeta was surprised. It seemed his son's mind was already in the games. Nicholas was a mere fourteen years old, the striking image of his mother in stature and mentality. Peeta knew there was no other way to approach the subject, than bluntly. Katniss took a seat on his bed as Peeta began to pace the room. His eyes fogged over with another memory that Katniss guessed was from the Tracker-Jacker venom. He had come back to her, yes, and fully. But still, there were time when he thought of his imprisonment, the arenas…that he would fall into the world of shiny memories, that he couldn't escape. Not needing to be left alone for this conversation, Katniss shook him slightly. He came to immediately and stared his son in the eyes.

"You're going into the arena, with your sister, in a couple of hours time. You have to be prepared." He stated fiercely. Katniss seemed thoughtful at the level of severity her husband held in his voice.

"I agree with your father," she stood beside him now. "you need to be prepared, Nick. Ingrid won't know what to do; she won't be quick on her feet, she doesn't know how to shoot, and she'd have a better chance of sprouting wings than throwing a knife."

"But I can't protect her. If I do, it will come down to me, and her, and I can't kill my own sister."

"You're allowed alliances." Katniss continued, ignoring his comment. "I say pair up with the District 10 kids. Caskadia, and Aaron. Aaron is fair with tree climbing, and Caskadia is so painstakingly dim, she'll follow whatever orders you bark. You don't have to get attached."

Peeta cringed at the fierceness he hadn't heard in Katniss's voice since over-throwing the Capitol. Nicholas simply nodded, and Katniss stepped closer to him.

"Both of you better come home to me. You fight, and keep fighting until you can't feel anything anymore. Do you understand?" She grabbed him by the shoulders now. Never had she imagined her children would be chosen for the games. In an instant, she felt what her mother must've felt. Neither of his children would ever be able to tell her how Prim felt, though. She wasn't chosen alongside Katniss. She hadn't had to be her enemy in the arena. Katniss wondered, if they had the choice, if her kids would want to choose one of them to watch from the TV sets, or keep it was it was. She supposed that the guilt of being unable to defend the other would be over-whelming. Hadn't that been what she felt when she rushed forward to take Prim's place? Worry for the guilt she would endure if she didn't?

Katniss didn't know. All she knew, was that savoring the last moments of her family together, were the hardest thing to have to let go off. She knew that in a few short hours, they'd have to say goodbye…

And for at least one of her children, it was be forever.

When she laid in bed that night, even Peeta's warmth surrounding her couldn't take away her fear. This wasn't one of the nightmare's he protected her from; it was reality now. Their children were going to die, and as Peeta held her close she realized that he had come to that realization too. The initial shock was gone. Their children were going into the arena.

Their children might never come home, and in less than 48 hours, one of them or both could be dead.

Burying her head in Peeta's chest, she sobbed out the anxiety she held deep in her heart for her children, and the years worth of bottling up the horrors of the arena that two of their own would have to face. Peeta's tears stained her hair as he kissed her head, but he wiped them away hastily. In the morning, there would be no time for crying. Dry eyes were essential; and so was making it clear to their children that they would protect them at all costs if they did the same for each other once the Games began.

Author's Note: Gettin' a feel for the characters, and a little slow paced. But it will get better! I have the arena and everything planned out! Please review!

God Bless,

Sarah. (: