Kingdom Come

A/N: Welcome back, friends! How are ya'll? I'm sorry for the lack of chapters, but I've had so much going on. I hope the (hopefully) amazing quality of this chapter makes up for it. (But it probably won't.) But volleyball ends this week so I'll be more... avaliable than usual, so YAY! So I hope you enjoy the chapter and all. Well, just read and enjoy. Clove and Glimmer, take it away please!

DISCLAIMER

Clove: Um, OHMAIGOSH, Pie does not, um, own the Hunger Games. Can you believe it?

Glimmer: Her claims to, um, are also false? Um, I'm confused...

Well you get the general message. SO enjoy!

Everyday after the double date with Gale and Madge, Peeta tried to get closer to Katniss. But all it did was make her uncomfortable. Because Peeta was extremely persuasive. And kind. And she couldn't even let herself accept him.

So she just swiped off all the attention and kept doing as she always did. Snapping biting remarks and always being incredibly sarcastic. But Peeta wasn't dumb. He knew something was up. And as nice as he seemed, there were more patient people in the world.

"Katniss," he eventually sighed after I told him to take a hike, "What is going on here?"

She looked up at him with a quizzical look in her eyes, almost seeming innocent. Almost. "What do you mean, Peeta? I'm confused," she said, and the Baker's son rolled his eyes.

"You say that I'm the one playing some sort of game. But in reality, it seems your the high-scoring player. And you know exactly what I mean, Katniss, so don't give me that look."

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. "You don't know me," she stated, trying to veer from the topic she knew the discussion was steering towards. "So don't assume you know anything about me." Peeta did a first: he glared at her. Not that Katniss cared... much.

"Obviously it's something. I mean, we just go out, and we had a good time at that theater, and suddenly you act as if I'm the swine flu or something." Katniss snorted.

"I most definitely did not have a good time at that damn theater. It was basically torture. Now, if you excuse me, I must be going to work and if I'm not mistaken you should be getting ready yourself."

That was when she walked out the door and slammed it shut. But as she passed, the hurt look on Peeta's face made her a bit more guilty than she was comfortable with. But she couldn't let it get to her, not now anyways.

At work, she had to deal with the immense bragging of her co-worker and shall you say, kind-of-friend-half-the-time Clove on her engagement to the 'incredibly hunky' Cato while another co-worker, Glimmer, squealed and screamed with her, causing a scene Mr. Abernathy wasn't fond of. But still, Katniss found herself with a new and alien feeling in her gut.

Jealousy.

It wasn't fair, really, that these girls got their own fairytale endings. After all, hardworking and self-sufficient Katniss Everdeen didn't get one. Even when it was basically offered to her on a silver platter. It wasn't often that Katniss let herself feel remorse for what could have been, but over the last few weeks she had discovered something very revolting and almost made butterflies invade her nervous system.

No matter how much she shot him angry glares or sarcastic comments, or how much she tried to make herself despise him, Katniss Everdeen was falling for the Baker's son, Peeta Mellark. And falling fast.

The prospect of falling for someone was new for her. Sure, the occasional Middle School crush or high school fling came in the picture, but it was always fleeting and never more than temporary. But Peeta, well, he seemed to be the most peculiar case so far. He stuck around, almost like the colored juice stain on a white t-shirt. He was always /there/, and always in mind. Maybe not mainly, but somewhere in there. But still, Katniss questioned herself.

It didn't make much sense, really. Just the other day she had been screaming about how much she hated him in her thoughts, but after the night shared (kind of shared) and a short but firm dedication from Madge, it had just happened. And now she had to resist. Because she couldn't let herself have him. Couldn't take that risk. But she sure wished she could.

So when she got home that night, she avoided Peeta. Though he didn't ask about the morning's events, she didn't want to spend anymore time with him. She didn't want to fall faster. But the boy wasn't making things very easy.

"How was your day, Katniss?" she twitched in frustration.

"Ok," was all she replied, in a tight voice. He either didn't notice the tone, or ignored it, because he blabbered on from the kitchen as he prepared dinner.

"Oh, really? Well my day was so insane! There were these chickens on the farm, and they got loose, right? So we had to chase them all down! It took almost two hours..."

He continued with some more stories, some which might have been from a week ago, and she wondered why he even bothered because she was sure he sensed her mood. But after several minutes of him yapping, she just tuned him out and started thinking about (damn her) Clove and her no-good fiance that she hated even though she hadn't really ever met... or seen a picture of... or had any contact with... but it was really the thought that counted.

"So, any interesting stories at work today, Katniss?" he finally asked, jarring her from her thoughts. She looked up and blinked, knowing one but was slightly hesitant to bring it to light without her position on the whole 'love' thing.

"Well..." she started, biting her lip, "My co-worker Clove, she got engaged yesterday and brought this huge freakin' diamond to work that had to have weighed a ton."

Apparently the cooking had reached the point where it didn't have to be watched, because Peeta walked in and sat on the couch opposite of her, and nodded slowly.

"Hm. Good for her. Who's her beau?" Katniss just stared at him funny, her head cocked and eyebrows furrowed.

"What the hell is that?" she blurted out, and Peeta laughed. He leaned forward, with his elbows propped on the coffee table, and explained.

"You know, like her fiancé? Did you go to English class?" he teased, and Katniss's mouth twitched into a rare half-smile. She leaned back and stared at him. "Fifth was my sleeping period," she informed him, only half-joking.

He rolled his eyes. "I think it was everybody's. Irving was so old he didn't even get the fact pretty much have the class was sleeping. He was basically blind and deaf. I mean, if you put them right in front of his eyes, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an ass, the donkey type, or an ass, the rear end zone."

Katniss felt a giggle rise in her throat. "Hey, Irving would never have been able to see an actual ass. You kidding me? Have you looked at the guy, Peeta?"

He chuckled. "I think he looks at his own. In the mirror." Katniss bursted into giggles that were almost unheard of. Even she was shocked.

'Oh God,' Katniss thought, 'I'm not supposed to talk to him. And now I'm giggling. I hate being in love.'

So she sat up a little straighter, coughed off her vulnerable voice and breathed in a more guarded one. She saw Peeta notice a change, and he looked a little quizzical, but she ignored it.

"So..." she said, with that formal tone that made his face fall. "When's dinner going to be ready?"

He sighed. "I don't know what's up, Katniss," he started, completely ignoring her question. "But there's something wrong. And I will find out what it is. Don't you doubt that." he paused for a moment, biting his lip, and turned back to her, with a faint smile stretched across his face. "I've been told I can be quite persuasive."

He stood and walked into the kitchen, but Katniss was flashed back into another time, another place where she was happier and more carefree than she had been in a long time. Well, if she had ever been happy and carefree.

Dinner was awkward and quiet. Prim, being the girl she was, tried to keep up conversation with the other two, but Katniss refused to comment on basically anything and Peeta did just to be polite because he was confused and strained, she guessed. But she still didn't say anything.

When Prim excused herself and it was just the other two left, Peeta looked like he wanted to say something. Well, not exactly. He was squirming and fidgeting in a way that looked to Katniss that he desperately needed to use the restroom, but she assumed he just was figuring out what he wanted to say, and she didn't feel up to stopping.

"Katniss," he finally said, " You and I both know there's something going on. I just don't know exactly what it is. It'd be awful great if you could just spit it out before it gets ugly."

Ugly? What did he mean by that? "I still have no idea what you're talking about, Peeta," she shot his question down. "I told you, there is no game going on."

"But you yourself accused me of one, remember? It was like, last week." he sounded accusing, like he was trapping her in a corner and now he knew he was going to get answers.

She shook her head with a sigh. "I was exhausted. I don't even remember why I asked. Now Peeta, please come off it. Right now."

His eyebrows furrowed. By the look in his eye Katniss could tell he had formed an idea. He looked at her and, barely hiding a sly smirk, said, "Well, you won't open up to me and you swear it's not anything I've done. So is it because your sister is here? If so... maybe we should go out somewhere. Would you let me take you somewhere this weekend?"

She shrugged. "Fine. I'll call Madge and ask if she and Gale have anything planned and then we can go." it wasn't the biggest thing in the world. She could survive a night, watched by Gale and Madge, and not do anything stupid.

"No, Katniss. I meant just you and I. Alone." he looked hopeful but cocky, a look not suited for his innocent face. She blinked and before she knew it, the words had come out. And it was too late to take them back.

"Alright," she said, "I guess I'll go."

What had she gotten herself into?

Love? Hate? Eh? Tell me in a review, please! I love them and they bring chapters faster.

So, what do you think will happen on the date? What is Katniss's secret? What will Peeta try to pull?

REVIEWS ARE PEETA KISSES! :) 3