The proposal

All rights go to Suzanne Collins and Disney Media Productions. I do not own the characters of the Hunger Games Trilogy nor do I own the characters of the Proposal. Also thank you to everyone who has favorited followed and reviewed. Here's the next chapter.

Peeta and Katniss walked out of the office, her on her phone and he holding the booklet of frequently asked questions with the sticky note that told them what time their appointment would be. He could not believe he was here much more he still was in the middle of prossesing the words that came out of the officer's mouth. They had to pull this off, otherwise he would be spending the five years in prison. Prison. He could not imagine living there. Anything would be better than that. He would even prefer living back with his parents and his controlling mother. That sounded better than this.

"Katniss!"

"Yes, Peeta. "

"Were you in that room?"

"Yeah, we just got to go up to your parents, tell them we're in love and tell them to lie to the inspector and we are in the clear."

"Katniss that would be impossible to do. Katniss I've known you for three years and have worked under you for two-and-a half years, I know how good of an actress you are."

"So what's your point? All we have to do it's pretend we are in love, get married then a quickie divorce. Boom easy as 1, 2, 3."

"And if that doesn't work, you get deported and I get sent to prison with a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar fine!"

"So what, that's the worst thing that can happen. Why are you so jumpy? You're usually really preppy guy. Chill. "

"You want me to chill?" He was getting mad "Please, but who says I'm agreeing with this. You haven't even propose to me."

"Pfft, me propose? You're the guy aren't you supposed to do that? "She said incredulously.

"It's the 21st century my dear. Equal rights, right?" There was a slight hint of gleefulness. He liked to see her squirm this was really out of her comfort zone. If this didn't work at least he would have gotten a little fun out of it and it would temporary stop his mom of asking if he had found someone yet. Just for the fun of it he decided to push her buttons a bit "And you could really go back to Canada for all I care."

She snorted "Please, you wouldn't do that."

"And why not? Right now the only thing standing between your visa application AND your job is me. So I would only accepts if you ask me."

Scowling she looked at him "You're serious?"

"Yep." Making sure the 'p' popped.

"Here?" She did a quick survey of her surroundings. There were on the sidewalk on one of the busiest street of New York and the sidewalk did not look like the best place. She had seen worse but that was a long time ago and she didn't have to deal with that anymore.

"Well it's not at my favourite restaurant, nor is it on our anniversary, nor is it by candle light, nor are we in the state of dress…"

"Okay I get it. You don't need to continue." Taking a deep breath she put her phone away and tried to act all flirty. "Peeta, will you marry me?"

"No."

"No" she sputtered "Why no? You have to marry me. We just If not who knows what could happen to me!"

"Not my problem. And again not everything is about you Katniss. And I would like to at least go on a date with someone before they ask me to marry them. Call me old fashioned, but that was how I was raised. "

"Ugh. "She was getting frustrated she wanted to get this over with but Peeta seemed to have all the time in the wool. So in order to speed things up she grudgingly asked "Peeta, my dear Peeta would you go on a date with me?"

"I sure would love to Katniss. Pick me up at seven. "He said while tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. For some reason whatsoever when he touched her she shivered as if someone had just walked upon her grave. A strange tingly feeling. She disimmied it as being nervous and afraid of being caught. (She was positive it would not happened.)

A few hours later…

"You look good."

She rolled her eyes and said "Thanks, I wanted to get dolled up for my lovely prince charming."

"By the way, you are wearing my favourite colour." She was wearing an orange dress that stopped just above the knee, with long sleeve that seemed to change hue when she walked. Ever so modest the dress had a simple sweetheart neckline. She honestly seemed to be glowing and for a moment Peeta's heart stopped. She had gotten the dress from one of Sae's friend's granddaughter. Octavia was a makeup artist and model whose big dream was to be costume designer

"You can turn down the sarcasm. I was paying you a complement which I'm sure you don't know what it means."

"Sure."

Getting into the cab he asked her where they were headed.

"Were are going to a restaurant that I used to go to whenever I got home sick. It's called D13."

"Can't say I've ever heard of it. "

"Probably not it's kind of a hole in the wall type of place. But the food is really great."

"Really!" he exclaimed. "So you come here often?"

"That's your go to line? How many girls actually eat that up?" she grinned

He smiled. Sometimes he even wondered if she was human with all the negativity perfection and sarcasm she reeked. "Everyone but you."

Once they arrived at the restaurant they were quickly seated. The 'couple' choose a booth near the back of the restaurant. The restaurant had the rustic look that looked like a diner from the sixties, but had a charm and feel of the 2000's. The back was dimly lit in some corners to allow a more romantic setting while the front had a more jovial expression. Once they were seated a hostess came with their menus and ice water.

Their waitress was a girl named Clove who seemed bored with her job but perked up when she saw Peeta. The 'fiancé' of the evening picked up his menu and looked at what they were offering. He was so engrossed in the menu (everything sounded appetizing) that he didn't feel nor did he see the waitress laying her hand on his biceps a moment too long. Katniss did and for a fleeting second looked and glared at her. Clove glared back but left to get their drinks, a Shirley temple for Katniss and a club soda with lime for Peeta.

"What do you think you'll get?" asked Katniss "I think I'll get the lamb."

"Um … I don't know. Everything looks so good. What would you recommend?"

"The orange chicken is pretty good. So is the rabbit."

"The what?" Peeta's face suddenly went pale.

"Oh yeah" she replied just as if it was the most obvious thing in the world" the roasted wild game is rabbit, they sometimes add some squirrel to it. Trust me it's good."

"Well since you said it is I think order both. "

"Trust me you won't be disappointed."

"Don't worry if there's one thing I know for sure is that I trust you judgement. You always seem to know what to do in almost any situation." And for the first time in a while she smiled at the complement.

When their meal arrived they ate in silence for a while, each savouring/ testing their meal. Peeta had to admit, Katniss was right the roasted wild game was phenomenal. The meat was well season and he could taste the different spices used; sage, rosemary and something else. Whatever it was his taste buds were in for a hoedown.

"Soo?"

"Amazing. You were right. I've never had squirrel before tonight. It surprisingly delicious.

"Told ya. The secret to having the best ones is to be just before winter and late spring. That's when they're the juiciest and when you can catch young, fresh meat. "

"Wow. How do you know all this?" He was indeed shock because she looked at acted like a city girl through and through.

"Um, I used to go hunting with my father. He was Cree so we got all year hunting privileges up in Canada." She explained, she didn't want to go into too much details of her family. Even if they had passed away eleven years ago, the pain was still fresh. Sensing her sudden change in demeanor, Peeta decide to change the subject.

"You know at some point we need to talk about the elephant in the room. We need to come up with some sort of story."

"What's wrong with the one we have now. We meet at work, we like each and decided to get married. Easy and simple."

"That's the thing, its way to cliché. You tell that to someone on the streets and they won't believe you. We need to convince them. Ugh, the person we need to convince the most is my mother."

"Why, are you a mama's boy?"

"Nope, she just has high standards on who we should be dating and since I call almost everyday complaining about you. Let's just say you're not on her favoirute propsects list.

"Okay so what should we do?"

Sighngn he leadned back in his chair, folded his arms as a small smile formed form upon his face. " For starts you can start by proposing to me. You should get on your knees." He smirked

"What you've got to be joking."

"It's not a real proposal, unless the one proposing is on their knees."

"Can we not do this here?" she whined.

"Why? Do you want to be somewhere else?" he leaned towards her, his voice suddenly husky. "

"Wha-at-tt?" her face had turned at least ten shades redder and looked at everything except Peeta's gaze. She knew what he was implying but it still made her kind of queasy.

"Fine he sighed. If you can give me a decent proposal I will accepts plus you will also read and publish one of my manuscripts.

"You write?"

"Yes, I also do some sketching too."

"Ahh." Katniss slowly stood up, then proceeded to hold on to the edge of the table and bent her knees.

"My dear Peeta, for the past three years I've had the privileged of having you work for me But now I think it is time for a change. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?" When she finished she looked up at him. He was holding back tears but they weren't tears of sadness but of laughter. He then exploded into a fit of laughter. "What was that a marriage proposal or a business deal?" He was laughing so hard she barely understood him. The amount of energy she had put in was phenomenal she was never good at expressing her self and with Peeta laughing it just seemed to make it worse. For the first time tonight her scowl reappeared. She suddenly stood up, grabbed her purse and left the restaurant. She walked out in the cool night air and stared the trek back to her apartment. She had barely made it three blocks from the restaurant when she unexpectedly heard someone scream her name.

"Katniss. Wait" she didn't want to turn around but she finally relented and saw Peeta running after her. She turned back and kept on walking but once he caught up he grabbed her arm so she could face him.

"Look, he said "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed at you back there."

"You're right. You shouldn't. You of all people should n=know how hard it is for me to express myself."

"Yeah I know. I was a jerk. Could you forgive me?" she thought about for a minute. She should forgive him, otherwise she would be kissing her career goodbye and she would be back in Canada; a place that held both good and bad memories.

"Okay fine I forgive you. Let's just agree to disagree that you are a jerk but my jerk. We will go up to Alaska and convince the investigator." The emphasis on the 'my jerk' went didn't go unnoticed by Peeta, instead he just gave the perfect reply. "Perfect. I'll see you at the airport tomorrow?"

"Where else who'd you expect me to be?"

"Oh, before you go I stopped at Tiffany's to pick this up." He slowly reached inside his coat pocket and produce a black square box. She looked at him in shock. Inside the box was a small necklace with a thin silver chain at the end of it was a shiny pearl reflecting the moonlight.

"Peeta, it's beautiful. How much did it cost you?"

"Surprisingly not much, it was my grandmother's so I thought it would be appropriate for you to wear it since were going to her party anyways."

"Thank you it's really beautiful. Help me put it on?" She turned around and brushed her hair to the side in order for him to access her neck. He unhooked the clasp and clasped around her neck. When he was done she turned around. The necklace hung just above her cleavage and fit like it was made just for her.

"Thanks again. See you tomorrow."

"You bet."

"Good night, then. "