Thank you so much for your reviews.

Katniss

It's the Saturday afternoon of the longest week of my life. Peeta and I have played our parts all week, although he is much better at it than I am. The only way that I can make it through is the fact that I have Peeta by my side, giving me strength, he makes us believable. He can laugh off any nasty remark and look at me so lovingly that no one could doubt our story, corny as it is. In fact he's so good that I could almost believe it too. Almost.

His best performance yet was yesterday at lunch, Delly and a handful of his other friends had joined our table, at least a few have accepted us. I know that he has lost a few friends over all of this, but he doesn't seem to care.

Wesley Vale asked Peeta. "So how long have you two been in love?"

Peeta smiled and got a silly look on his face, as if he were reliving a moment. He must have been aware that more people were listening than our table, because his voice was loud and clear, the whole room went silent. "I've been in love with Katniss Everdeen since I was 5 years old. I was goner, from first day I saw her."

'Wow, he is good at this stuff', I thought as he continued with his story and wraped his arms around me. "My dad had pointed her out on my first day of school; she was so cute, in her little plaid red dress and her two pig tails. He told me, that he had been betrothed to her mother, but she instead married a coal miner. I asked him 'why would she do that when she could have had you?' He said 'because when the coal miner sings all the birds stop to listen'. I was skeptical. Then later that day in assembly the teacher asked if anyone knew the valley song. Katniss's hand shot up and she sang the entire song beautifully. I purposely listened for the birds outside, I swear, they stopped to hear her sing. I knew then, just like Mrs. Everdeen had been, that I was a goner and totally in love. And I have been ever since." I blushed, as he told the story, he had looked at me the entire time. He had spoken the last sentence softly as if he just wanted me to hear.

"Awe...How about you, Katniss?" Delly asked excitedly, I could tell that she was waiting another wonderfully spun tale. What Peeta said about the birds stopping to listen to my dad sing was true.

Panicked, not knowing what to say, I'd been caught. I had been so wrapped up in Peeta's story that I hadn't thought of a story of my own so I said. "I can't pin point a specific moment, he just won me over bit by bit." That sounds believable, right?

He kissed me sweetly, just like he had in Haymitch's office, maybe a little longer, it filled me with warmth, totally forgetting that we were surrounded by others. I really wanted another kiss but lunch was over the bell had rung. Peeta leaves me to go to class and now I'm so confused that I don't know how to feel. We're just pretending, aren't we? I remember singing on the first day of school, but I've never had a red plaid dress, have I? No wait, yeah I did, it was passed to Prim who wore it till was washed to rags. Oh shit, what kind of mess am I in?

I asked Peeta on the way our way home from school. "Our parents weren't really betrothed, were they?"

"Oh, yeah, you didn't know?"I shook my head and he continued. "They were betrothed really young; Dad says that they were close friends but nothing romantic. Then your mom met your dad when she was 18 and was totally smitten. Dad released her from her contract, as soon as she told him that she was in love, my dad just wanted her happy. Her father was mad at her and took her dowry away. He was going to throw her out into the street with nothing but the shirt on her back, my dad intervened and tried to get him to give you mom her dowry. She didn't get it back, but at least she got her house hold possessions."

Now I know why Mom's things are so precious to her and why I've never heard much about her youth. With a new perspective on my mom I thought, 'No wonder I've never her about her youth before'.

/

Later I'm going to meet Peeta at Madge's, to get her portrait started. This is part of our courting, I'm guessing. I'm interested in seeing his work, but nervous about spending time with Peeta even with Madge there. How do I feel about him? Thankful, maybe? Indebted? I hate owing a debt. That is no way to start a marriage, thinking that I owe him. Marriage, oh crap, I'm really going to marry him? It's starting to sink in.

I went hunting for the first time this week, it just isn't the same. I've been alone in the woods often, this was different though. When I was alone before I could tell myself that Gale would be with me next time, the thought itself would keep me company.

Gale Hawthrone. That name just makes me sick now. I get so mad when I think about him. What if we had already been married when he did… tha?. He made a promise to me when he signed our contract. He knew how I felt about 'consummating' our relationship even before we got engaged. Was it too much to ask to keep his dick in his pants? He had admitted to me that the used to be a regular at the slag heap, making out with girls, but that was over when we were betrothed. Was I naïve to think that he could go without? If I'd been more willing would he have been faithful? Someday I'll have to get answers but not now it's too fresh.

I go to the Hob, irritated, to trade on my meager haul, a rabbit, a sad late migrating goose and a possum which I'll keep for my family. Apparently I'm the most interesting thing at the market today. Whispers and heads follow me everywhere I go. Hungry and knowing she'll make me a deal on my smallish goose; I stop at Greasy Sae's booth. The old grizzled Seam woman greets me.

"Well, if it isn't the heartbreak queen." She says with a wink and a smile. "I hear you're moving up in the world."

"Sae please." I sigh, she's my friend and knows that I'm frustrated. "I just want to eat in peace. Besides, a certain person didn't leave me with too many options."

"Oh, I'm just teasing you." She says consolingly, as she pours me a bowl of soup. "Hawthorne himself told me the truth this morning. Don't worry I won't say anything. Can't say that I'm shocked, though, always noticed the two of them lately, him and Mason, making eyes at each other."

"Thanks for the heads up Sae." I retorted sarcastically. "So, do Mellark and I have the town fooled?"

"Judging by the way people have been talking, yes." She says genuinely. "That big blonde has had his eye on you too, for a long time, been turning down every merchant girl who tries to claim him. They say that the tailor's daughter shut herself up in her room crying for three days."

"Then he settled on the poor Seam girl in a pinch?" I ask "Why would he do that?"

"Maybe he just really likes squirrel." She says with a smile. "Don't know what you're upset about. I wouldn't mind that hunk of a man tossing me into bed like a big sack of flour, kneading me all over, getting my oven warmed up."

I gagged on my soup and nearly choke, taken aback by her unexpected, naughty comment. I'm already sort of a prude. "Sae! That was so wrong!" I cough, and try to collect myself.

"What?" she says before breaks into a cackling laugh. "I'm old, not dead."

/

After dropping off my game bag and changing into a clean shirt and jeans at my house, I head to the mayor's residents. I have been there a few times; it's the nicest house in district 12, big, bright and well kept, but very lonely. Madge is an only child, her mom is often ill and relies on morphling for relief, and her dad is always busy. Almost every girl is envious of Madge, but I know that she would trade all of her fancy clothes and spacious rooms for someone to share her life with. I truly hope that Tiberius is a good guy and can give her the affection and companionship she deserves.

I knock on the door, Madge answers. "Hello come in, make yourself at home."

Strange comment, I think to myself, nothing about this place feels like a home, too big, fancy, devoid of life and sterile.

"I'm so glad you came early, I've got some clothes that I've out grown, and you're smaller than me and they will fit you well." She takes by the hand and leads me upstairs. "And before you refuse me, know that they will do nothing but hang in my closet if you don't take them."

Madge takes me to her closet which is bigger than my kitchen at home. Picking out dresses, sweaters, blouses and skirts, the depositing them on her bed. Then a thought hits me, I'm going to have to trade in my well broken in boots and my father's hunting jacket for 'respectable' dresses. "Madge I can't take these." I say in earnest."What would I do with them?"

"Well wear them of course! This is not charity. You'll be helping me make room, honestly. Tiberius and I are going to live here after we're married. I need to clear out half of the closet… or maybe a third of it. " She says happily. "You're going to be a merchant's wife soon; you'll need to look the part every now and then. Plus they're just not for you, with some altering Prim can take some too. " There she hit my weak spot Prim, I'll have to take them now.

"Please don't remind me about being a merchant's wife." I mock whine, then look at her soberly. "This is going to change who I am, isn't it? I mean, last week I was going to be a coal miner's wife, this week I'm going to be a baker's wife."

"You're going to be Peeta's wife." She corrects me. "He won't expect you to change and he really likes you the way you are."

Our conversation stops when we hear a knock at the door, Madge and I answer it. Peeta has bag of art supplies in one hand and a pastry box in the other. "Hello ladies, I brought your Mom's order from the bakery. Goat cheese tarts."

"Oh, those are for us I thought that we could have tea and tarts." Madge says.

"That will be a treat!" Peeta says. "I usually only get these when they're very stale, never had a fresh one all to myself."

"Really?" I say in disbelief. "I figured that you ate stuff like this all the time."

"Oh no, they're too pricey." He says, shaking his head slightly. "Most of what we eat is stale, Mom says that we couldn't afford to lose the profit off of the fresh stuff and that we couldn't just waste the old bread."

"Oh." I feel little ashamed, I just always pictured the baker's family feasting on hardy, fresh bread and pastries. Lately I've come to find that Peeta's life as a merchant had not been as easy as I had imagined. Being a baker was not cushy; heaving 100 pound sacks of flour, burn scars from the oven covered his arms. One ingredient wrongly measures would ruin an entire batch of bread. He worked both before and after school and on the weekends. This had been part of a deal with his dad to earn a bigger portion of the bakery so he could someday buy his brothers out.

"But don't worry sweetheart." He says brightly, knowing that I hate that endearment. Peeta puts his hands on my shoulders and kisses the tip of my nose playfully. "I'm not stingy like my mom. We're going to eat fresh bread every day. Stale bread will be only used only as stuffing in the birds you kill. "

Madge gives me a smile that seems to say 'I told you so'.

A little while later, after we ate the delicious tarts baked by Peeta made with the Prim's cheese, I watch Peeta start the portrait. He poses Madge in a window seat, washed in light. She is wearing a soft pink dress that perfectly complements her porcelain skin, long bright blond hair, and pale blue eyes. Madge is very pretty, buxom with a small waist and several inches taller than me. She is everything that little merchant girls want to grow up to be and what merchant boys hope to marry. The type of girl that everyone thought Peeta should marry.

Peeta teases Madge, to get her to smile, testing different ones to see which seems most appropriate. "This picture needs to whisper to Tiberius 'I can't wait for our wedding night, baby'," He says huskily, then follows lightly. "But your grandchildren will be should be able to look at it without feeling awkward."

We all laugh. Madge looks amused and at ease.

"There we go, that's the look I want." Peeta says with triumph.

Watching him as he works, I am amazed; so intense and focused, as if there was nothing but him and his canvas. I study his face, the fairness of his skin, the set of his square jaw, the small dimple on his cheek and the slope of his nose. Yet by far his best feature is his eyes, large and intensely blue, now in the light I can see his long thick lashes, golden in color they are hard to see normally, so long in fact I don't see how they don't get tangled together when he blinks. Unconsciously I focus on his lips, slightly parted as he concentrates on his work, thinking of how they felt on my own. A chill rises up my spine as I think about yesterday's kiss. I enjoyed it. Would every kiss with him be like that? Maybe I should kiss him again when I have the chance, just to see.

We stay at Madge's for a few of hours. Peeta has a good start on the painting but has much work to do on it yet. We make pleasant conversation as he walks me home and carries my box of clothes. I tell him the story of how I once evaded a little black bear in the woods. He tells me about icing his first cake, how proud his dad was, and how mom said that he messed it up. (Big surprise there.)

Our kiss has been on my mind since earlier today. When Peeta delivers me to my door I think about kissing him, curious about how it will feel just being the two of us alone.

"Thanks for carrying my stuff." I say and take a step closer to him.

"Well it was a pleasure to spend time with you today." He says in a low voice, he must of had a sense of what I contemplating doing, because he sets the box on the porch and closes the gap between us. Peeta wraps an arm around my shoulders, and tilts his head down closer to my level. "We'll have to do this more often."

I can feel his breath on my lips, heat radiates off his body, in the cool evening air. He is so close, I close my eyes, ready to lean in. Then I hear the last voice in the world that I would like to hear. Gale.

"Hey, Catnip." Gale says loudly, stepping out from around the corner of the house. Obviously knowing what he has broken up, as we both take a step back from each other.

"Hey, Hawthorne!" Peeta says in annoyed tone, as he steps in front of me.

"Mellark, could I talk to Katniss alone…please?"

Peeta looks back at me. "You okay with that?" I nod. "I'm going to take this box inside the house, call for me if you need anything." Peeta then lets himself into the house.

"I see you're getting chummy with baker boy." Gale says with an edge in his voice.

"Don't you think that I should be? He is going to be my husband." I retort. "Besides I'm no where as near as chummy with him as you are with Johanna."

"Sorry…I didn't come to argue." He says apologetically.

"Why did you come?"

"I-I…I just wanted to tell you that Johanna and I are going to be toasting on Friday."

"That's good. Your baby won't be a bastard now. Don't expect me for cake." I say bitterly. "If that is all, you can go now."

He looks at solemnly and in a hushed tone tells me. "There is something else...Darius came to see us today in the butcher shop."

Darius is a Peacekeeper, he is young and is the most likable of them all.

"And so?" I urge.

"He said that they're expecting the new head inspector to come for a visit sometime this winter, I guess he's a real dick, imagine that." He looks to me for a reaction, I give him none, so he continues. "Darius told us to be careful trading for game, don't hang it in the display or advertise it. He also said that they will be cracking down on the Hob and that the fences will be electrified more often. Hunters and all other law breakers will be severely punished, if they're caught while the inspector is here. I thought that you needed to know to be more careful or just quit all together."

"You know that isn't an option." I say matter of factly. "Thank you for the warning, goodbye Gale."

He looks as if he wants to say more, instead he turns on his heal and leaves. Why did he have to come and ruin my night? It had been so nice.