She's a little bit confused when Peeta says that the phone is for her, but she knows better than to get her hopes up. Peeta holds the phone away from his mouth and speaks quietly. "It's my friend Finnick. I can tell him you're not available."

She shakes her head, but she can't help but to smile at the offer. "No, I'll take it. Thank you."

He nods and hands it over. It takes her a moment to answer.

"Hello?" she asks. "Peeta said you wanted to talk to me?"

"The elusive missus!" the voice says, clearly delighted. "You know, my wife and I were trying to figure out whether or not you actually existed. Peeta has kept you under wraps these last few days."

"Missus?" she repeats. From where he's busying himself with the dishes, Peeta tries and fails to stifle a laugh.

"As in, you know, Mrs. Mellark," his friend explains. "Anyway, I'm a friend of Peeta's. Finnick Odair, and I'm calling to invite you and Peeta over for dinner this evening."

"What did he say?" she asks, not wanting to undermine him.

"I didn't ask him. I'm asking you," Finnick says. "We'd love to have you two over, but we understand if you say no. Just let me know, okay?"

"Yeah," she says. "Um, I'll talk to Peeta and he'll get back to you."

Finnick doesn't ask to talk to Peeta, just says goodbye. Peeta doesn't mind, though. Just sort of glances up at her when she sets the phone down on the counter beside him.

"We got another dinner invitation," she says.

"You don't feel like you have to say yes, do you?" he asks.

She can't help but to feel the way she did that first full day, when his brothers invited them to go to dinner and he tried to convince her not to go. Is there a reason he doesn't want his friends to meet her? And for that matter, are his friends going to be the same way as his family? "It sounded like they really wanted to meet me."

"Of course they do," Peeta says, as if she's missed something obvious. "And I want you to meet them. I do. I want so badly to show you off. It's just that I understand how much all of this is for you to try to cope with. I'm trying to make it as easy as possible because –"

"You think I'm going to lose it if I meet a couple of your friends?" Katniss guesses, and Peeta laughs, looking more than a little bit embarrassed.

"Something along those lines. It does sound sort of silly when you put it that way, though."

"Finnick seemed nice."

"He is nice," Peeta says.

"Do they have warnings?" she asks. "You know, like your brothers did."

He laughs. "No, none come to mind. Do you want to go?"

"Yeah, I'd like to go," Katniss says, and Peeta grins.

She takes a shower and spends more time than she probably ever has trying to figure out what to wear. In terms of niceness, the dress that she came here would probably make the best impression, but she doesn't really want to put that back on. She settles, instead, on a pair of light jeans and a yellow blouse that Peeta had liked, one that's mostly like a tank top other than the material and the way it has ruffles going down the front.

The problem is her hair. She has no idea what to do with it.
Well, the real problem is actually the fact that Peeta said that he wants to show her off and that she thinks that the least she can do is to give him something to work with.
So she works her hair as dry as she can with the towel and then pulls it into a braid. There. Now she looks like herself. If, of course, you can look past the expensive clothes.

Peeta smiles at her when she comes out, which convinces her that she made the right choice in terms of what to wear. "You look lovely," he informs her.

"I shouldn't have left my hair down, then?" she asks, lifting her braid up.

He laughs. "Well, I'm not the best for fashion advice, but like I said, I think you look great."

"When do we leave?"

"I was actually just about to say something about that," he says. "It's not a terrible drive. I mean, it's quite a bit of a drive out to their place – they live out on the beach – but it won't be worse than, say, going to the campground. It's just the other direction."

She feels her eyes widen. "There's . . . you have a beach here?"

She had never thought about it, really. Thought that District Four had all of the ocean when she was little and didn't think about it too much more when she was older.

"Yeah," he says, smiling. "I probably would have brought you there if I knew how much you loved to swim. Have you ever been?"

She shakes her head. "I saw the ocean from the train, in District Four. Wanted to see more."

"You'll love Finnick and Annie's place, then. Shall we?" he asks, offering her his arm.

The car ride is easy. Yesterday, Peeta been pretty stunned about everything she told him about District Twelve, and today, she almost can't help herself but to keep going.
They exchange stories for most of the way. He tells her about what it was like to grow up in the bakery and in exchange she tells him precious pieces of information about District Twelve. Things she didn't even really intended on letting him know. Telling him about the mines is hard, because she has to remember exactly how horrible it was.
His brothers, it seems, have always teased him about as much as she's seen. Maybe that would explain why he deals with it so well. Either way, when he told her about them trying to convince him he was adopted, she can't quite believe it.

"You look just like them," she says, amazed at how close he claims he came to believing them. "Just like them. How did you . . .?"

"I know," he says, laughing. "They said that was why they picked me. They thought I would fit in."

She laughs with him.

"Did you and . . . Prim? Play jokes on each other like that?"

"Yeah, her name is Prim. But we didn't."

"Girls are different, I guess," Peeta says, glancing over at her.

District Twelve is different, she thinks, but doesn't say. "Yeah, I guess. Did you want a sister?"

He thinks about this for a second. "Well, I'm pretty sure I always knew how badly my father wanted a girl. So, you know, any desire to have a sister probably came from that."

She nods.

"What about you? Did you want a brother? Or just more siblings in general, I guess?"

She shakes her head, so fast that Peeta looks amused. "No. Prim was enough. She was . . . a handful."

That wasn't exactly the right way to put it, but she isn't ready to explain about her father quite yet, and to be honest, she can't imagine being any time soon. He accepts her answer, though.

"Well, as you know, I'm the baby, so I wouldn't know anything about that."

She's ready to change the subject, so she sits forward a little bit. "Tell me about your friends. Finnick and Annie, right? Are they a couple?"

"Yes ma'am," he says. "They're married. They're a lot like us, but sort of backwards. Which is to say that Finnick is originally from District Four, and Annie is from here."

"So, that's why they live near the ocean?"

"Actually, no, it didn't have anything to do with Finnick. Annie's family used to be really into fishing. They had a boat and everything. It just happened to be a lucky coincidence when she ordered Finnick that he loved the ocean."

"Who did you know first?"

"Oh, I've known Annie practically forever. Feels that way with Finnick too, though. He's the outdoorsman I was saying you would like."

Finnick Odair is a tall, bronze haired man that seems thrilled to see them. "Hey! Wow, Peeta. You didn't tell me that she looked like she does in the picture."

"That wasn't a given?" Katniss asks, more to Peeta, and both of the guys laugh.

"Finnick Odair," he announces, holding his hand out for her to shake. "We talked earlier, on the phone."

"Nice to meet you," she says.

"Annie!" he calls, heading into the house. "Our guests are here!"

Annie comes out of the dining room and immediately hugs Katniss. She pretends like it isn't uncomfortable. Peeta gets the same treatment, which, if nothing else, makes Katniss feel surprisingly accepted right off the bat.

"Oh, I'm so glad you could come! We've been dying to meet you, you know."

"Peeta has kept you to himself admirably," Finnick says. "We weren't even sure if you really existed."

"I do," Katniss says, as if that wasn't already obvious.

"Annie took Finnick out on the town practically as soon as the train arrived," Peeta explains.

"Well, with a face like this, people certainly would have thought she was making me up," Finnick says.

"Right. Because, really, who would be kind enough to take on such a charity case?" Annie teases, stretching up on her tiptoes and squeezing her husband's face to prove her point. To smooth things over, though, she gives him a quick kiss. They're both pretty nonchalant about it, and it makes Katniss ever so slightly uncomfortable. How long will it be until Peeta comes to expect this sort of thing from her?

"Is there anything I can help with?" Katniss asks.

"Oh, no, of course not," Annie says. "Finnick has it pretty much finished. He has some garlic bread in the oven, so once that's finished, we're set. And even if it wasn't, there is no way we would ask you to help in the kitchen."

"It's true," Peeta says. "This is the only house I know better than to offer to bring dessert to."

"That's a big deal for Peeta," Annie adds. "He never likes to come to a house empty handed. We have it covered, though."

They stand in silence for a moment, and then Annie claps her hands, as if she's getting an idea. "Can I borrow you for just a minute, Katniss?" She leads her through the house, first showing her a glimpse out the window at the beach that the house is practically backed up against. It's just almost too dark to see it, but the ocean stretches out seemingly forever. She can't help herself but to stare. "I know. It's pretty gorgeous," Annie agrees. They continue to the bedroom that she and Finnick undoubtedly share, and picks up a bag from the bed, smiling sheepishly when she presents it to her. "We heard that your bag got lost in Six, so I put this together for you. Figured maybe it would be better to not do this in front of Peeta, just in case."

Katniss sorts through the bag, a little bit confused. She doesn't understand Annie's hesitance until she realizes what the parcel contains. Her cheeks are burning by the time she reads the words sanitary napkins on one of the pink packages.
"I have completely crossed the line, haven't I?" Annie asks. "I just thought, you know, maybe it would be easier coming from me than it would from Peeta."

"No, no, you didn't," Katniss says, not able to make eye contact. "Thank you. I didn't even think about any of this."

"Okay, okay, good," Annie says. "And just so you know, Finnick has no clue about any of this, and neither does Peeta."

She nods.

"And, lastly," Annie says, going into the massive closet and pulling something down. "I saw you in that color and couldn't help but to be reminded of this dress, which I'm pretty certain was made for you. Will you try it on?"

She barely has time to blink before Annie tosses a yellow dress at her. "Oh, um, no, you don't have to do that," she tries to say, because she's already accepted too many clothes from Peeta, and now she's accepted way too much from Annie.

"Are you kidding?" Annie says. "This hasn't fit me in ages. Try it on. The bathroom is over here."

It's ever so slightly too big for Katniss, but Annie claims that it just makes it look better and insists that Katniss take it.

"Besides," she calls as Katniss heads back to change into her actual outfit. "It's a built in excuse. Peeta will ask what this was about, and you can tell him I gave you a dress. It's not even a lie."

Peeta offers to take the bag to the car as soon as she and Annie resurface, and Katniss doesn't want to risk it knocking over, so she agrees and settles in on the edge of the cushion he had been sitting on. Finnick is on the other end of the couch and Annie settles in beside him.

"So, Katniss, if you don't mind my asking, what do you think?" Finnick asks.

"Of the Capitol?" she asks, wondering if she can be honest with Finnick. He's not from here, after all. He would have no reason, really, to be defensive of the place. Maybe he even sees how strange it is. She wonders if they put the men in the career districts through classes the way that they do with the girls. If he dreamed about coming to the Capitol.

"Of Peeta," he corrects.

She looks over at the door, wondering if he's going to come in or not. "He's nice. Um, much nicer than I expected. He took me camping."

"So we've heard," Annie says. "He sent out this group text. Something along the lines of don't bother me, I'm meeting my wife."

Finnick laughs. "How did that go?"

"It was nice. He let me try to teach him to swim, and –"

"Say that again," Finnick says, sitting up a little bit straighter. Annie laughs.

"He let me try to teach him to swim?" It comes out as a question.

"Wow," Finnick says, dragging the word out.

"Finnick has been trying to convince him to get in the water for years, now."

"I teach people how to swim for a living," he explains. "And after, what, two days? He just lets you drag him into the water?"

"We didn't get very far. I just tried to convince him to float on his back."

"I'm not saying anything bad about your teaching skills. Just the opposite. I'm impressed, frankly."

"I know you are," Peeta says, shutting the door behind him. "She's impressive. What did she do?"

She laughs, a little uncomfortable, and moves over to make room for Peeta on the couch. Her legs are practically pressed against his. "We were talking about the camping trip. When we were swimming."

Peeta nods.

"How did he do?" Finnick asks, and she knows that Peeta is waiting for an answer, too.

"Good. I mean, he had a little bit of trouble relaxing, but, other than that, it was nice."

Peeta laughs. "By a little bit of trouble, she means that the entire lesson was pretty much just her trying to get me to relax."

She sits down beside Peeta at the table, and he makes sure to serve her a heaping pile of pasta before he even thinks about putting any on his own plate. Annie and Finnick tell Peeta about how their life has been going. The meal is surprisingly good. It just takes them a while to get to it.
"So, Peeta was telling me that Katniss is accepting a job offer at the bakery," Finnick says.

"Good old nepotism, right?" Peeta asks with a grin. "No, it'll be great. My father is crazy about her."

"You've met the family already?" Annie asks. "How did that go?"

"It was fine," Katniss says, and then cringes. "I mean, it went well. We had dinner."

"What she means to say is that it was terrible. Ugh. I mean, you guys know how my mom is. She started making comments about table manners and District Twelve and savages and I have no idea how Katniss handled it as well as she did."

Her cheeks feel hot again. "It wasn't as bad as he thinks. His sister-in-law is really nice."

"Clearly she doesn't mean Astrid," Finnick says, and Peeta laughs. It's a little bit strange, Finnick and Annie knowing Peeta and his family so much better than she does. She can't help but to feel maybe a little bit left out. Maybe this is what Peeta was trying to spare her from.

"No. I don't think she liked me very much," Katniss admits. Peeta's thumb sort of rubs the back of her hand.

"Astrid doesn't like anyone other than Dylan," Peeta says. "Well, I mean, maybe my mother."

"But that really says all you need to know," Finnick says. "Right? I mean, anyone who likes Peeta's mother more than they like him isn't someone you're going to trip over yourself to be around. At least, not in my experience."

Peeta laughs. She files away the information for later. Not easily offended when it comes to his mother.

"Are you excited to start at the bakery?" Annie asks. "We got sort of off track, there."

"Yeah," Katniss says. "I mean, it'll be different from the mines in Twelve, but hopefully a little less dangerous."

She's the only one to laugh at her joke.
"Um, Peeta said he would teach me. So, that should be nice," she adds.

Annie made brownies for desert, and they're good, but far too rich for her. Peeta offers her his, and she shakes her head.

"I'm surprised she's not sick of baked goods yet," Annie announces. "Being married to a baker and all."

Peeta laughs.

"Have you had his cinnamon rolls?" Katniss asks. "He made them for me the first morning I was here. I don't think I could ever get tired of those."

They all end up on the couch again after dinner. Finnick and Annie, Katniss learns, are practically one being. They're turned to face Katniss and Peeta, Finnick sitting with his legs crossed and Annie in the space between his legs, her back pressed against his chest and her knees pulled up.
Katniss and Peeta are sitting on the same cushion, but it feels like they have miles between them.

"Tell us about the station!" Annie demands.

Katniss realizes that they're looking at her and not Peeta. She knocks Peeta's knee with hers.

He's more than happy to take over. "I mean, it's like a normal station story, I guess. There were a lot of people coming off. I recognized her from the picture. She looked sort of scared out of her mind. I held my sign up –"

"You made a sign," Finnick repeats, as if this is funny.

"I wouldn't have known he was there for me if he didn't," Katniss defends.

"I think it's romantic. I had a sign for you," Annie reminds Finnick. "Like something out of a movie."

"You're a girl, though. Sorry, Peeta. Go on."

"I held my sign up, and we met from there."

"What's the first thing she said to you?" Annie asks.

"Um . . ." Peeta thinks about it for a second and then looks over at her. "That they lost her luggage, I think."

She nods, and then suddenly everyone is laughing.

"Well, it's original," Finnick says.

"But yeah, I mean, there weren't any like, grand romantic gestures or anything. But none were going on there, either, so . . ."

"He helped me up," she blurts out, not liking how short he's selling himself. He was . . . this woman knocked me over. And he had already held up the sign but then he was just, you know, there, and he picked my packet up and helped me up. I didn't even realize it was him."

Everyone's quiet, watching her. Even Peeta. Especially Peeta.

"Yeah, who did you think I was?" Peeta asks, no doubt remembering the last name debacle.

"I thought, you know, maybe you worked for the guy that ordered me," she admits, too embarrassed to look at any of them. Finnick laughs, Annie tries not to, and Peeta's hand somehow finds hers.

"I thought her name was pronounced Kahtniss," Peeta announces, and this sets both Finnick and Annie off laughing. Even Katniss sort of laughs.

"Yeah, buddy, we remember," Finnick says. "How did you find out you were wrong, anyway?"

"I listened to her. She introduced herself to my brothers and my father had been saying it right all along."

"You talked to your father about me?" she asks. "And Finnick and Annie?

"Katniss, I need you to listen to me. This is very important," Finnick says. "He talked to everyone about you. Everyone who would listen. Even people that wouldn't."

"Have you ever seen him this happy?" Annie asks, craning her neck to look back at Finnick.

Peeta laughs uncomfortably.

"No, I mean it. Finnick, back me up on this. She's a miracle worker," Annie presses, and Katniss wonders if maybe the glasses of wine she had with dinner are taking effectbecause she doesn't seem to be able to tell that this isn't something Peeta is particularly interested in talking about. "After these last few years, it's just nice to see him happy again."

These last few years. She turns to look at him, unable to help herself. He raises his eyebrows, and she knows that this is a conversation they're going to have another time, if at all. "She's great. I completely agree with you on that," Peeta says.

Thankfully, the conversation moves to lighter subjects. Finnick asks if Peeta's sleeping on the couch, and then has a story about how he slept on the couch when he first got there, and how Annie took the bed. Peeta sounds like he's particularly happy when she says that Katniss let him in on the first night.

She wakes to an empty bed and hears Peeta moving around in the kitchen while she's getting ready, so she decides to see if she can make herself of use as soon as she's finished brushing her teeth. She comes out in her pajamas. Peeta looks up when she comes in and looks a little bit guilty, as if he's been caught doing something he shouldn't have been.

"Hey. Can I help?"

He looks a little bit surprised by the offer. "Yeah, yeah, of course. Come here."

"Okay," she says, stopping at the sink to wash her hands first. "What are you making?"

There's that guilty look again. Well, partially guilty and partially proud. "Well, I was sort of hoping I'd be quick enough to get them in the oven before you realized, but we're making cinnamon rolls."

She can't help but to feel a little guilty, like Peeta thought that she was dropping hints last night. "You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to," he assures her. "For a few reasons, so, first of all, I sort of want to test that theory of yours, about not getting sick of them. And also as a thank you for being so awesome. In general, but, you know, last night in specific, too. I mean, have you made a single bad impression in your life?"

"So, I get cinnamon rolls for making your friends like me?" she asks, deciding to change the subject. "I could get used to that, I think."

Peeta laughs, showing her how to cut the dough. "They loved you, Katniss. And I feel like you should know that I've already gotten two texts from Scarlett saying how upset she is that we're working the shift before hers tomorrow, because she wanted to see you again."

"Oh, wow," Katniss says. "Well, I liked them, too."

"And for the record, you never have to do anything to earn cinnamon rolls," Peeta assures her. "Never."