Here we go, next chapter! Smut in the chapter, as well.

Enjoy!

I sit in the bathroom, huddled against the bathtub. I should have started my period two days ago. I'm officially freaking out. I have been checking every time I was anywhere near a bathroom for the past week, willing there to be blood. There needs to be. I can't get pregnant. No.

I hear a knock at the door, much too loud to be Peeta. I groan, but don't bother to get up. "Come in."

"It's locked, Sweetheart."

Great. Haymitch. Out of everyone, he's probably the last person I want to see at the moment, in the middle of my crisis. "Hold on!" I grumble as I get up, stomping all the way to the door. I swing it open, a frown on my face. "What?"

He pushes past me – making me huff – and sits of the lip of the tub, facing me with a smug look, his arms crossed. "Something's bothering you."

"And you smirk about it?"

He sighs and stands back up, clamping a hand on my shoulder. "What's on your mind?"

I'm not sure I want to tell him. Actually, I really don't want to tell him. But who else am I going to tell? I can't tell Peeta without hurting his feelings in some way – I just feel they would – and I'd rather not have anyone else knowing our business. Even though the cameras already did that for us. I sigh and give in. "My…er…period hasn't started yet." I cringe, realizing what I just explained to him.

He raises his eyebrows and clears his throat, obviously uncomfortable. "All right. How long?" He looks away from me, taking his hand from my shoulder.

I look down as well, swishing my foot across the tiles. "Two days."

There's silence. I look up to see Haymitch trying to keep a smile at bay, a snicker coming out. "Two days? Sweetheart, you really need to loosen up a bit."

I'm getting angry. Doesn't he see what is at stake? "I can't be late! I mean, I could be pregnant!"

He grabs both my shoulders and forces me to look at him. "It's been two days. That's hardly anything to worry about." He moves away, pacing. "Why don't you just take one of those tests?"

I shrug. "It's just…I don't know." Truth is, I'm scared. Scared of what the results might be.

He gives me a look. "Do yourself a favor and use one." He nods toward the medicine cabinet.

I shake my head and walk toward it. Peeta had gotten some a couple weeks back because I refused. I open it up with shaky hands and take one of the packages out; it's staring back at me, mocking me. "Maybe I should wait one more day."

He rolls his eyes and waves me off. "Whatever you want, just use the damn thing. I already have you two to bother me; don't need another. You do your thing." He motions toward the package. "I'm going home. Oh! And I took some of your booze, whole reason I came over."

And with that, he's gone.

I look back down, gripping the box so hard it's starting to cave in. "All right, Katniss, you can do this. Just…open up the box." I take in a shaky breath and tear the sides open, letting the small stick-like piece of plastic fall into my hands, as well as a small sheet of directions. I let the box drop to the floor and read the small slip of paper. "Minus means not and plus means…" Please let there be no plus sign.

I glare at the toilet as I walk over slowly, the stick in my grip. "Let's get this over with." I do my business and wrinkle my nose at the damp stick, and grab some toilet paper to set it on. At least I didn't drop the thing while I was using it. I flush the toilet and wash my hands, taking my spot back over by the tub.

Ten minutes. That's how long I have to wait. Ten whole minutes; I'm counting each second in my head. I tap my fingers on my knees while I wait, finally making it to the ten.

I stand up slowly, taking small steps over to the counter where it lay. I close my eyes as I tilt my head down. It's now or never. My eyes widen. "Thank fuck." I cover my mouth, not used to swearing, while I look down at the minus sign in the small window of the test. So, I'm not pregnant. Not only am I relieved that I'm not having a child, but now we can have…do that again. I didn't realize how much I wanted that again, until now.

"Katniss!"

I jump and turn around at the sound from downstairs. I grab the stick and throw it in the trash, then run down the stairs, putting a smile on my face. "Hey."

He smiles and kisses me softly. "Hey." He moves away and grabs my hand, leading me to the kitchen. "Come on. I'm starving."

I stand by the table while he prepares to make us dinner. We're quiet for a while, except for the sound of him whistling an unknown, chipper tune. Before I even think, I blurt out, "We can have sex again." My eyes widen and my hand clamps over my mouth. I really need to get a filter.

Before I can even process what is happening, his mouth is on mine. "Sounds good," he whispers huskily against my lips as he pulls me flush against him. I'm taken aback by his straight-forwardness, and it's easy to tell he's been waiting for this for a long time; easy to tell emotionally and physically.

I nip at his lower lip. "I can tell." I glance down, then back up to see a deep blush across his cheeks. Nerves are starting to set in, but I ignore them, instead focusing on the burning flame in my core.

He places hot kisses down my neck and collarbone, walking us toward the stairs clumsily.

I push him away. He looks at me questioningly, and before he can ask what's wrong, I put a finger to his lips. "Let's just go in the living room." It's something I wouldn't normally do, but at the moment the bedroom just seems too far away. I don't give him time to think, already pulling him to the couch only a few feet away.

"Katniss-"

"Sh." I push him onto the couch, reveling in the power I currently have over this man in front of me. He's breathing heavily and looking up at me, waiting for my next move. I suddenly realize that even though I enjoy the power, I don't exactly know what to do with it. I clear my throat and slowly crawl on top of him, and then lean down for a deep kiss.

He moves his hands up and down my back, lingering at the hemline of my shirt, silently asking for permission.

I sit up and quickly remove my shirt, only one goal in mind. I'm quick to remove his too, and then I'm on the floor, him on top as he rubs against me. "Ooo…" I run my fingers through his hair, letting my mind go blank when he peppers kisses across my chest. The next thing I know, my pants and underwear are gone and so are his, and he's taking a condom out of his pocket – he responds with that he had been stocking all his pants pockets with them in case of something like this - and positioning himself between my legs.

He leans down and whispers, "I love you." Then I feel full, fuller than ever before. He's moving hard, letting out all the pent up passion that had been slowly developing since our first time together.

All I hear is the clashing of skin against skin and our bated breaths, and feel an overwhelming ecstasy that keeps growing stronger. I cry out when he reaches a hand between us, down to where we're joined, and soon enough I am over the edge.

He's there too, moaning deep in his throat, and then dropping on top of me. We're both breathing heavily, unmoving except for our heaving chests. After we're calmed, he rolls off of me and turns his head to look me in the eyes. "That was…"

"Intense?" I want to laugh, not only at our inability to articulate what had just happened, but also the fact that I'm able to comfortably do this with him when it's only our second time, especially when our first was weeks ago.

He leans in and kisses me, a sweet smile on his face as he says again, "I love you."

I reach up and brush some hair out of his eyes. "I love you, too." I pull the blanket from the couch over us.

We fall asleep within moments.

FGHG

I groan when I'm awoken by a loud knock on the front door. Somehow we had managed to sleep through dinner and the rest of the night, and yet I still feel tired. Peeta needs to be at the bakery by ten, so when I look at the clock I'm relieved that it's only eight thirty. Still, it's longer than we usually sleep.

"Coming!" I stand up, making sure to keep Peeta covered, and start toward the door. I stop suddenly and look down. "Shit." I run back over to the living room and throw on my shirt and pants, not bothering with the undergarments, the knocking so insistent. "I'm coming!" I fling the door open, fixing my hair.

Who stands in front of me was not what I expected.

"Hey there, Catnip." Gale stands in the doorway, a small smile on his face. He's dressed in a nice shirt and a pair of light pants, Capitol-made.

When I look at him, I expect to feel anger. Betrayal. Hate. All because of Prim. But for some reason, there's nothing, and that's when I realize I don't blame him. At least, not anymore, now that he's right in front of me. "Gale? W-what are you doing here?"

He raises an eyebrow with a chuckle. "If that's how you greet guests, you really need to work on it." He peeks around inside. "Mind if I come in?"

I blink, then jump a little when I move to the side. "Oh, yeah. Come in." I watch as he walks inside, this man that is – was – my best friend. A changed man.

He turns to me with a smile, and we stand in silence, not too sure where to go from here.

I clear my throat and glance toward the kitchen. "Uh, do you want something to drink?"

"Water, please. I'll just go wait in the living room." He lingers there for a moment, then swivels around.

I'm making my way to the kitchen when I remember what's in the living room. I turn around quickly and run to the living room. "Wait!"

He's standing there, stock-still, as he looks down at what lies in front of the couch. His face is unreadable, but his eyes are stormy.

I walk over to stand next to him, staring at my sleeping boyfriend. My sleeping, naked, boyfriend. I have no idea what to say.

"Is that-"

"Yeah." I cross my arms and kneel down, gently tapping Peeta on the shoulder. I really don't want to wake him up to come face-to-face with Gale of all people, but I really don't want to handle this alone, either. "Peeta, wake up." I try to act calm, as if it's normal for my old friend – who used to, or maybe still does, love me – to walk in on the naked form of the man I'm sleeping with. Not to mention my missing undergarments.

He groans and stretches his arms, and I make sure the blanket stays in place over his bottom half. He blinks his eyes a couple times, looking at me. "Hey beautiful."

I smile but say nothing back, glancing over to my left, hoping he'll look.

He seems to get my signal because he looks, and his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. "Gale." He almost stands up, but must remember he's without clothes, and has the decency to wrap himself up in the blanket before getting off the ground. He uses one hand to hold the blanket up, and the other out to shake Gale's hand.

Gale doesn't move. He just stares, right into Peeta. It makes me nervous, like I think he's going to do something he'll regret later.

"Ah, Peeta, how about you go upstairs and get into some fresh clothes. You have to go to the bakery soon," I say as I try to diffuse what is playing out before me.

Peeta slowly turns away from Gale and to me, a faux-smile on his face. "Right." He kisses me long and hard, his hand cupping my cheek. He pulls away and kisses my cheek. "I'll be back down in a bit." He glances toward Gale, but there's a tinge of something I've never seen before. Almost possessive.

I watch as he makes his way up the stairs, then slowly turn to Gale for a conversation I'm really not looking forward to having.

Coming next chapter: Katniss and Gale talk.

I wasn't even really planning on bringing Gale into this story, but then at a random time on Friday my mind came up with a fun conversation that I just have to write, so I brought him. Not for very long, but still.

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