Chapter 1: Something to Come Home To

I wait in the locked, ornate room of the Justice Building. I have just said goodbye to my family after being Reaped as the male tribute of District 12 for the 74th Annual Hunger Games.

I'm as good as dead. Only two people from Twelve have made it back from the yearly fight-to-the-death alive. One of them has been dead since around the time I was born. And the other, Haymitch Abernathy, is a useless drunk.

I don't expect any more visitors, until the door opens to reveal the last person whom I thought would visit me. I rise from my seat, surprised and elated all at once.

Katniss Everdeen, though we are only classmates who have never spoken, still looks beautiful with her brown hair in one braid, and in her blue Reaping dress she wears every year. Only this time, the dress hangs loose about her, as she is still losing her baby fat from the infant she now holds in her arms.

The baby girl isn't mine. But, oh, how I wish it was! Katniss Everdeen fell pregnant with her boyfriend, Gale Hawthorne's, baby. She was still only fifteen at the time. Just, in fact. The baby was preemie - born just before Christmas. I hear the child's name is Rory, named after her father's younger brother.

The Hawthornes. They were all killed in an earthquake. Which followed the mine collapse that killed many miners, including Katniss and Gale's fathers. Many people think the collapse was an inside job to get rid of known or suspected rebels. Gale survived, however, but he - a well-known troublemaker - was sent away to the Peacekeeper Academy in District 2 to be disciplined. For the miner rebels who did live, the Peacekeepers of 12 also killed Mrs. Everdeen and Katniss's little sister, Primrose, so no Healers could save rebels who had survived.

Katniss had thus given birth to her daughter alone, were it not for the kindness of folk in the Seam like Greasy Sae.

And now, this young woman who I am still in love with, is standing here with her child sired by another man, wanting to say goodbye to me. Me!

Katniss now gives something between an uncomfortable grimace and a scowl as she looks down at her feet. "I couldn't stand not thanking you. For the bread. It saved my family's lives. I just... thank you."

She flushes. I wonder if she thinks she is not so good with words. That's OK. I don't mind. But I am surprised by her thanks. The bread. The bread I tossed to her when we were starving as small children. She'd had a mother, a father and a sister to care for then.

Now, she has nobody except for baby Rory.

I dare to approach her, running a hand down her arm. She stiffens for a moment, but then allows it. I stare down at the little baby with cerulean blue eyes nestled between us. Merchant eyes - something she didn't inherit from either Katniss or Gale, but likely from her maternal aunt and grandmother. Mrs. Everdeen was originally born a Merchant.

"Will you be all right on your own?" I ask her.

"We'll be fine," she tells me.

I am not convinced. A single Seam mother with no family to care for her, and the father shipped away?

Suddenly, I have a new reason to come home. If not for Katniss and the potential to one day earn her love, then for this helpless little baby. I have to win the Hunger Games. I will win. For them. Someone - two someones - to come home to.

I dare to kiss Rory's little forehead. Katniss starts for a moment, but then her gaze softens at the tender gesture. "I'll be back," I tell the little baby. "I promise."

Katniss and I look at each other, and I wonder if I should kiss her forehead too. But as I lean in to do so, Katniss suddenly stands on her tiptoes and gently presses her lips to mine.

The gesture is traditional in 12. It signifies wishing someone good luck, just as the three-fingered salute is one way of saying goodbye. So even though I dare to kiss her back, and even want to deepen the kiss, I know I should not. Katniss Everdeen is not kissing me based on love. This is not for love. This is -

"For luck," she rasps out at the same moment I do, when we break apart. I desperately want to confess my love for her here and now, but the Peacekeeper has come to take them away.

I only hope I have the chance to tell her someday.

The Third Quarter Quell. What a time to be a first-year mentor.

I won and became the Victor of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss's kiss and Rory's blue eyes stayed with me like a prayer. I survived the Bloodbath for them. Made the Final Eight for them - all four Careers, the girl from 5, both from 11 and me. I deserted the Career pack before it was destroyed save one... for them. And I battled and beat Cato, the boy from 2, to get the Crown... for them.

I lost my parents and brothers in the process though. President Snow was concerned over how much hope a Victor from District 12 could bring. So he killed my family.

But Rory and Katniss have been my salvation. The reason I have not turned to the bottle like Haymitch.

Now, these two lovely women - one 17, the other only 18-months old - visit me in my mentors' quarters in the Justice Building. Haymitch has a separate room of his own, so I can be alone with the only loved ones I have left.

Like last year, I am surprised to see them. And distressed to find Rory just on the edge of crying.

"What's the matter?" I ask Katniss.

"She started wailing as soon as I tried to take her home," Katniss explained. "She kept reaching back and trying to make sounds, so I brought her inside and figured..."

Just then, Rory makes what she wants explicit: "DA-DA!"

Katniss and I both freeze, looking at each other.

"Her first word!" Katniss doesn't seem to know whether to squeal or blanch. And not only that: her first word mistakenly identified me as her Daddy.

But I make no attempt to deny it, as I know it would only fly over the head of this still-young baby. Instead, I merely take Rory in my arms and bounce her up and down to calm her. I lead Rory and Katniss out to the train, where my tributes have apparently already been loaded in and Haymitch is waiting for me.

I kiss Rory's forehead. "Peeta will be back, princess," I tell her. "I promise."

Katniss then gives me a hug. "Ride safe," she tells me.

And I get on the train for the first time as a mentor.

"Peeta! Peeta!" Rory darts into my Mentors' Chambers. At 5-years-old, she looks a lot like her mother... and has since learned to call me by my real name and not Daddy.

"Hey, princess!" I smile, hugging her. Looking over her shoulder, I see Katniss leaning against the doorframe with the closest thing to a smile on her face that I have ever seen. "I have to go to the Capitol for a few weeks for the Games. But if you are good for your Mom and listen to everything she says, Grandpabbie and I will bring you back a treat." By 'Grandpabbie', I mean Haymitch - I came up with the name myself, much to the old drunk's displeasure. But he tolerates it and by extension Rory because he knows how much the little girl means to me.

Rory and Katniss see me off on the train as always. Katniss and I still share a friendly hug. "See you soon," I tell her.

Katniss scoops up Rory into her arms and smirks. "Don't be late," she chides me, as if she is my wife telling her husband to be back in time from work.