A/N: WOO! Update time in Mock land! I am EXTREMELY sorry to say I won't be updating until the 15th. I'm going to my secluded hole of seclusion for a week, and will have absolutely no contact with the outside world! WOOT! Here's a little something before I go though.

~Mock


I quickly find my way to the familiar area. There's no such thing as the Seam anymore, but there are houses where the Seam was. Hazelle moved to the house that is in the same area as her old one after the rebels won the war.

Taking a deep breath, I knock on the door. I haven't had much to do with Hazelle since I came back, other than to say "hi" when we passed. Still, it doesn't mean I don't like her.

Rory opens the door. He looks exactly like Gale, fourteen and already a man. He towers over me, his eyes looking deadly.

"What?" he asks dejectedly.

"Can I talk to your mother?" I ask. He shrugs and leads the way in.

I find Hazelle in the living room, doing laundry. She smiles at me as I walk in.

"Well, I haven't seen you in a while. Have a seat," she says. I sit down, slightly surprised at how easy it is without Electra in my stomach. Rory tramps up the stairs, shoulders hunched over. Hazelle watches him go sadly.

"He's been that way ever since the end of the war. We couldn't figure out what it was at first, but after a while we got him to tell us it was Prim's death. Apparently they liked each other."

I stare at her in shock, and then up the stairs Rory went up, disappearing from view. Prim and Rory? I knew that he had comforted her during the Games, but I never suspected anything more. That just makes the memory of her death fresh in my mind, and even more painful.

"Anyway, what do you need dear?" Hazelle asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I need to talk to you about Gale," I say in a low voice. Hazelle immediately sits up straight.

"What about Gale? What's he done? The last time that I heard from him, he became vice-president," she says. I nod in assent.

"He came to the bakery the other day. He told me that because he was vice-president, he wanted to marry me, and that my daughter would be raised as his own. He, he literally tried to take me, but Peeta stopped him. Please, can you help me? Set him straight?" I ask, a light pleading creeping into my voice.

To my dismay, Hazelle's face doesn't reassure me. In fact, I've never seen her look so lost.

"I'm, I'm sorry Katniss dear, but I don't know if I'd be able to do much. He doesn't contact me anymore, and he's gotten fiercely independent. I don't even know how I'd talk to him," she says, and I can tell she's really trying to help me.

"Gale might be coming back here to take me with him," I tell her. "I'm going to be in District 4 for a while, so he can't find me. Please, if you see him back here, don't say anything about where I am. Just, try to set him straight," I plead her. I'm trying to be strong, but the tears are threatening to spill over.

"I'll do everything I can dear. Gale might be my son, but he doesn't need to take you if you're already married," she tells me.

"Thank you," I tell her. Instead of leaving, I go up the stairs, and find Rory's room. I knock on the door, and when he doesn't answer, I open it anyway.

He's sitting on the floor, not doing anything. He looks up at me when I walk in.

"I just want to let you know, if there was anything about my life I could have done differently, it would be to have acted faster and saved her. I'm sorry." I don't wait for his answer. I simply walk out of the room, and out of the house.

Finding my way back to my own house, the tears start as soon as I walk through the threshold. Peeta and Electra are at the dining room table, and Peeta quickly shifts her so that he's holding Electra with only one hand when he sees me.

I run into Electra's room. The beautiful room that she can't sleep in for who knows how long! Why can't my life be normal? I thought that with Peeta and Electra my life was slowing down, that I could have the chance at living a normal life as a wife and mom, but no!

I crumble on the floor, crying my eyes out. Peeta puts his arm around me, and I take Electra from him, holding her close. She can't be put in danger. I won't allow it. If it wasn't for her, I might just stay in District 12, but she has to be safe…

Peeta puts his face in my hair and kisses my head. I don't know how long we sit like this until I cry myself out.

When my breath turns into shuddering gasps, Peeta begins to speak.

"Hey, are you sure this is the right choice? Or was it something Hazelle said? I can't help you with all these tears in the way of your beautiful face," he says. I take some more breaths, then finally find my voice again.

"I don't want to leave Peeta," I whimper. "I don't want to have to go."

"I know, I know. I don't want to have to go either. But I also want to keep Electra safe. It's not like you're going alone. I'll be with you every step of the way," Peeta says in his soothing voice.

I know that relocating to District 4 for a while is the best choice for my daughter. And her life comes before mine.

"Then let's go to stinking District 4. Quick, before I change my mind," I say shakily. Peeta kisses my head again, than starts packing some clothes into a small suitcase. I don't know how he got the suitcase, and at the moment, I really don't care. I just sit on the floor, holding Electra to me. She gets hungry after a while, so I mutely feed her, then go right back to cradling her in my arms.

Too quickly, Peeta has everything packed, for Electra and the two of us. He makes a quick phone call, and Johanna, Annie, and Finn are over in an instant. Johanna takes the suitcases and Annie comes down on the floor with me.

"C'mon," Johanna says in the softest voice I have heard from her. "There's a train that leaves at eight, and we don't want to be late. The sooner we get you out of here, the better for everyone." Everyone except me.

Peeta has to guide me to the train. I refuse to put Electra in the stroller. I need her here in my arms, to remind myself I am doing this for her, so I don't go back.

I don't want to leave my home. I have almost no regard for my own safety, and I would take Gale if I needed to. The only thing making me go is an "accident" he could arrange for Peeta and Electra if we stayed. He wouldn't be able to find them to arrange an accident if we're in District 4.

When we get on the train, we are assigned three rooms, but we only take two. Peeta, Electra and I take one, while Annie, Finn, and Johanna take the other one. Electra quickly goes to sleep, but I can't seem to close my eyes. I sit on the bed, not moving. It takes a long time before Peeta can finally coax me into laying down. Eventually, I fall asleep.

Peeta and Electra are dead. The bakery caught fire while they were there. I am alone. I sit in my house, my cold empty house.

Gale walks in. His smile makes me want to throw something at him, but I can't move.

"I told you Katniss. I always get what I want. And now our wedding is tomorrow," he says.

The scene changes. I am in my wedding dress again, only this time, I'm standing at the end of a large, white hall. Hundreds of faceless people are there, watching me. And the man at the altar, isn't Peeta, but Gale. My legs won't listen to my protests as they carry me toward Gale, to my doom…

"Katniss! Wake up, nothing you're seeing is real! Wake up!" someone yells. I know that I am screaming, I know that I am crying, but I can't stop. I can only continue, the image of me marrying Gale burned into my mind.

"Katniss, open your eyes right now!" the voice commands. I obey, because it's a voice I trust.

I see Peeta, not Gale. Peeta's alive and well, and I can hear Electra wailing from her cradle as well. They're safe. I'm not marrying Gale. My family is still alive.

My hysteria subsides into more controlled crying, and Peeta holds me until even that stops. When I'm able to walk, I take Electra and hold her close to my tear stained face. She's stopped yelling now, so I sing to her, and she drifts back to sleep.

As I lay back in bed, Peeta asks me a question. "Katniss, what was it? Do we need to make a list?"

"No," I say, and I'm surprised how tired sounding my voice is. "I just needed reassurance that you and Electra were all right. In my dream you were, you were-" I can't bring myself to say the words, but Peeta gets the message. He holds me to him, kissing my hair occasionally.

I fall asleep against his chest again, and with his arms to keep me sane, the nightmares don't find me. At least for now.


A/N: WOO! Haha, they get to District 4 next update, where, of course, nothing goes as planned! I'll let y'alls think on that for two weeks.

Oh, and there's a poll up on my profile. Vote if you haven't done so already! It would make me happy! C'mon, you know you wanna vote! You know you want to review to! Yes, you do… (work with me force…)

~Mock