Babe, the night it swallowed my soul
Could it be that I fell apart it shows
The lines on the face ate away my smile
Could it be that I fell apart

Peeta closed his sketchbook and stared at Katniss in disbelief. She was staring back at him, looking angry as if it were his fault. He wanted to remind her it wasn't he who had kissed her first. But he knew it would only upset her and he didn't want to do that.

"Shit," he said, dropping his pencil on top of his closed sketchbook. Katniss walked into the kitchen and yanked out the chair next to him. She sat down hard.

"Yeah," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "Shit."

Peeta reclined slightly, staring hard at his kitchen table. She was pregnant? There was a baby inside of her? His baby? Peeta felt like someone punched him hard in the chest. He scrubbed his face with his hands.

"Well?" Katniss asked. Peeta raised his eyes and saw she was watching him, her grey eyes stormier than usual.

"Well what?"

"Well what are we supposed to do? This isn't going to be kept a secret. We only have a few months until the seventy-fifth games and we have to mentor kids. Everyone will know about the star-crossed lovers' baby."

Peeta leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. She was right. The media would be crawling over each other to get pictures of Katniss pregnant. He tried to think what President Snow would be thinking about this. Then he remembered Katniss's conversation with Snow.

Convince me, he had said.

Peeta thought for a moment. A baby could do that, right? A real pregnancy? And a marriage, they could throw that in, too. It wasn't the way Peeta had ever thought about marrying Katniss, but under the circumstances, he didn't have a choice. If they got married and announced the pregnancy, then maybe Snow would back off, if only for a little while. Maybe they could convince him.

"Hey. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing."

"What are you talking about?" Katniss snapped.

"President Snow. I mean, if we got married with a huge Capitol wedding and then announced the pregnancy, maybe it would calm the Districts. If we play this whole lovesick thing and maybe prove we couldn't keep our hands off of each other when we got back, this could work."

Katniss was frowning at him, her chin in her hand. His comment about them not being able to keep their hands off of each other kind of annoyed her, he could tell.

"Right?" he asked. She nodded slowly. "I need to tell Haymitch."

He made to stand up but Katniss reached out quickly and caught his wrist.

"No!" she said quickly. "No, don't tell him yet. I…I need to…" she trailed off, frowning, but Peeta understood.

"Yeah," he said, sitting back down. "Okay. That's okay."

She didn't let go of his wrist and he turned his hand up, catching her hand in his. Her frown deepened at their fingers before she turned her hand up, too, and intertwined their fingers.

Peeta had always wanted kids, so this really wasn't a big deal for him. But he knew Katniss didn't want any. He knew some women could terminate the pregnancy because having another mouth to feed really was a burden. They both had money now, almost enough money to feed the whole District if they really wanted to. Money wasn't the problem.

The Games were. Peeta knew how entertaining it would be if the two winners of the 74th Hunger Games child was "randomly selected" to be thrown into the arena. How dramatic that would be; how suspenseful. It would capture the attention of the audience.

Thinking about it made Peeta angry. No, they couldn't have his child. Maybe they should just let the rebellion bubble over; let the Districts rebel. Then Peeta thought rationally. Twelve would be knocked off next, just like Thirteen, and if there were any survivors, where would they even go? Katniss thought District 13 was real, but Peeta couldn't quite convince himself.

No, the safest way was to get married. They needed get the Districts under control. The best thing anyone could ever do in Panem is survive, not fight. There wasn't any other option.

He ran his thumb over the back over her hand and she squeezed his fingers. Maybe Katniss told him she didn't love him, but there was definitely something there inside of her. Why would she keep coming back to him if there wasn't? She could have just ignored him until the Victory Tour but she didn't. She could have just not kissed him that morning when he brought her fresh bread, tasting like sleep and mint. That was the beginning of it all, that kiss. He didn't want to think about it because it made his chest hurt.

Katniss slipped her fingers out of his and he pretended that it didn't make his chest ache, too. When she left, he watched her, his shoulders slumping only slightly. After the door shut behind him and Peeta was painfully aware of how lonely his house was, he picked up his pencil and flipped open his sketchbook, continuing where he left off on a picture of Cato as he cleaned his bloody sword in the lake.

Katniss's cheek ached terribly as she squeezed Gale's fingers. He surfaced from the morphine briefly, and without even really thinking, Katniss leaned forward and kissed him.

He didn't know she was pregnant. She didn't want to tell him. He, like everyone else, had no idea how many times Katniss snuck from her house into Peeta's. He would have to know eventually, though, because Peeta was already planning on how to announce their engagement. Telling him now with the snow packed onto his torn flesh didn't exactly seem like a good idea.

With a heavy burden on her chest, Katniss fell asleep with her cheek pressed against the dining table cloth.

Peeta roused Katniss the next morning, telling her she should go to her room. She stood up and squeezed Gale's fingers gently. She pretended not to notice the sad look in Peeta's eyes as she turned away from him and walked up the stairs.

The Peacekeepers didn't leave soon enough, but as soon as the door closed behind them, Katniss collapsed in a living room chair, wincing at the pain that shot up her spine. She gritted her teeth as her mother slipped off her boot.

"What happened?" she asked, turning Katniss's swollen ankle over in her hand. Katniss winced again.

"I…slipped on ice."

Her mother nodded, but Katniss was positive they all knew you couldn't get her kind of injuries just slipping on ice. But nobody said anything because the entire house was bugged.

While her mother poked around her foot, Peeta caught Katniss's eyes. He raised his eyebrows in a silent question. He wanted to know about the baby. Katniss nodded slightly. She was pretty positive the baby was fine. Prim and Katniss's mother weren't paying attention to Katniss's and Peeta's little exchange, but Haymitch noticed it. He frowned at them but didn't say anything.

Katniss instead focused on her mother as she was told she sprained her ankle and bruised her tailbone. She received pain medication and Peeta easily carried her up to her room.

He set her down gently on the bed and pulled the covers up and over her. He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead that made Katniss want to cry. He turned to leave but she quickly caught his hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Stay with me," she mumbled, pulling on his arm slightly. He brushed the loose hair away from her face and replied softly, but she was far too gone to hear it.

Peeta dropped heavily onto his couch, his shoulders hunching forward in defeat. He felt like someone had punctured a hole in both of his lungs and the air was slowly leaking out.

He was going back into the arena. Him and Katniss. Haymitch could be chosen, but Peeta would volunteer. He had to be there to protect her. And his baby.

Peeta buried his fingers in his hair and tugged hard. He wondered where Katniss was and how she was reacting to this. Very badly, no doubt.

He felt his chest constricting, squeezing whatever breath out that he had left in his lungs.

He was going to die. He wasn't going to see his baby. He needed Katniss to get out of there alive. There could be no one else.

Peeta curled his fingers into a fist to calm himself. He needed to talk to Haymitch and fast before Katniss could get there. His legs felt heavy and unnatural as he stepped out of his house and walked next door. He didn't knock.

"I know," Haymitch said as soon as he saw him. There was an open bottle of liquor siting right next to him and the whole house smelled of it. Well, at least Haymitch was taking it well.

"I'll get her out," Haymitch continued before taking a huge swig of his alcohol. For a moment, Peeta wanted to take the bottle and chug it all. He wanted to forget what was happening. He wanted the world to spin around him. But he wasn't Haymitch. He was Peeta and he didn't drink. So he nodded his thanks to Haymitch and found his way back into his house.

He didn't realize it, but he began snapping all of his pencils. He couldn't draw if he was dead. He grabbed his nearly full sketchbook, flipped to an open page, and wrote down, "I love you, Katniss," in shaky letters.

He just wanted her to know.

So just like in Tender Torture, I just jumped around a bit because I'm sure we've all read it and know what happens. Please review!

(PS the last bit of this chapter made me sad)