Wow this was supposed to be a mini chapter and has ended up being the longest one yet. :P Changing the point of view (just for this chapter).

"Dad!" I hear a shrill scream though I don't go into panic mode. I've heard this one enough times to know that my daughter is not in any sort of danger. She's probably just annoyed at Ash or something. Unfortunately there is too much of an age gap for them to have a close relationship yet but Katniss and I hope this will change when Ash grows from toddler to child.

Before I even have a chance to move from my spot in the bakery, Lily has burst in and is demanding my attention. Ash follows behind her.

"Ash will not stop following me around. Make him stop!" She tells me.

"Lily, its Ash's birthday so I'm sorry but you're going to have to put up today. It's not every day your baby brother turns two. And aren't you two supposed to be at Haymitch's for another hour?" Katniss and I were using Ash's birthday as an excuse to have a get together with old friends. Lily will be turning ten in a few months and we thought it would also be nice for her to get to know everyone again before we start telling her about the Games. Show her that we're all human, despite what we've all done and been through.

"Haymitch is outside, I was chasing the birds around again and one bit me! They never go after Ash, it's not fair." Lily loudly declared as her loose braids swish around her face.

"Well maybe you shouldn't aggravate them by chasing them around. We all know Ash doesn't do that." I am silently displeased that Haymitch even let Ash around the geese at all.

"I can feel your displeasure through the wall you know." Haymitch remarks as he comes into the bakery. In the meantime Ash has found a chair in the back room. He's looking at a book and waiting patiently for my attention. I decide to ignore Haymitch in favour of my son.

"How's the birthday boy?" At my voice, Ash looks up at me brightly with his grey seam eyes.

"Daddy!" I hear him let out before he runs into my waiting arms. I hug him tightly and lift him up onto the counter. Everything is cleaned up at this point as I was just finishing decorating Ash's cake.

"Cookie, please?" He asks in the most polite voice a two year old can manage. He looks up at me and his eyes beg for me to give in to him. Katniss says I'm soft but I know she's the same around him too. Lily had always tried the puppy eyes but she could never quite pull it off like Ash does.

"Don't mind if I do." Haymitch reaches around the counter and quickly snatches one from the display.

"You know, if you were patient like Ash or Lily," (who I can see wiggling very impatiently for a cookie as well) "you would've gotten one fresh from the oven." I say as I take out some warm ginger cookies. I hand one to Lily who's trying to be patient and failing miserably. Ash is still looking at me with his big doe eyes as I hand him one as well.

"Thank ya." He says before taking a nibble into the corner of one, while Lily has completely forgotten her manners and snatched another warm cookie to give to Haymitch and another for herself.

"And thank you little missy." Haymitch says to Lily as he messes up the hair on her head, loosening her already imperfect braids.

"I hope there's more from where those came from!" I hear a loud voice boom. It's none other than little Finn (who is now twenty-four) carrying two boys I would recognize anywhere. They may be far more tan than kids normally are from the seam but it must be really sunny in District 2 for Gale's five year old twin boys to be so dark. They quickly demand Finn to let them down as I hand them all a cookie as well. It's still hard to see Finn sometimes. He is the splitting image of his father right down to size and bone structure. The only thing he got from Annie I'm sure is an even temperament.

"You know you're going to go out of business if you keep giving handouts." I hear another voice say. I can see Ash was getting nervous with so many people around (especially Gale's loud boys who are now banging pots together). He curls against my chest from his perch on the counter. I quickly lift him up and sit him on my hip. Ash tucks his chin into the curve of my neck so he can see over my shoulder but won't have to face anyone. None other than Gale comes through the door with his newborn little girl sitting against his chest, and I see Gale holding her like she's made of glass. She looks so small and it's strange seeing Gale so quiet and gentle with her. Before I can start in with conversation with him, Finn steals my attention.

"I'm just here for a drop-off. We need to finish some birthday preparations for my namesake. I'm off." Finn remarks as he grabs two cookies from the tray. Haymitch follows him out, probably heading to my house to start the birthday "toastings" (his excuse to start drinking).

"Where's the wife at?" I finally ask Gale.

"Yours or mine?" He asks me. We share a small knowing smile before I reply.

"Both, I guess."

"Probably comforting Annie after seeing Katniss skin a deer or something." He remarks playfully, and stops the boys from making a mess of my bakery. Gale and I catch up as Lily takes the twins outside and plays games with them just outside the bakery window. After a few minutes Ash wants down and joins them.

"How's sleep with the new baby?" I ask him, seeing the bags under his eyes.

"It would be fine if Ross and Ryder would stop waking her up all the time. Poor Violet just wants to sleep." He shifts her weight slightly in his arms as he speaks about her and looks at her fondly. Ash comes back in then and walks to the back room to get his book again and looks at it quietly.

"I hope she's like Ash. The boys are already such a handful." Gale remarks, almost to himself.

"Ash may look like me, but he is purely Katniss showing through." I tell him.

"I don't know." Gale says. "He seems way too easy-going to be just Katniss' kid."

"I guess they're always a mix." I reply in turn. I can safely say that even ten years ago I could never imagine Gale in my bakery and talking casually about our kids. They may say that time heals all wounds but we both know that's not completely true. No matter how close Gale and Katniss are they'll never be friends like before. Primrose will always be a looming presence.

"Have you told Lily yet?" Gale asks me after a moment. He doesn't need to explain what he means. I look towards Ash to see if he's heard but he's absorbed in his own world. I turn back to Gale.

"Not yet; when she turns ten. Before they start learning about it in school." I tell him morosely, knowing that we are running out of time.

"That's kind of a crappy gift you know." He says good-naturedly. I let out a snort before sobering up.

"A month after she turns ten is what Katniss and I agreed on. It just seems too soon though. It seems like too much to load onto a ten year old. I know Katniss hasn't said this but it makes us feel so guilty; having to make her learn about so much horror." I confess in him.

"You know we lived with that horror. Since the day we were born." Gale tells me meaningfully.

"I'm sorry Gale but what you are getting at?" I ask him exasperatedly. I'm already exhausted from this conversation, how am I supposed to tell my little girl about it?

"Just don't underestimate her. She is yours and Katniss' child. The kid of the two most resilient people I have met in my entire life. Well, you two and Johanna." Johanna, I've forgotten whether or not she is coming today. I hope she is. I'm transported back to decades ago. Right after I had been taken by the Capitol. The first time I heard Johanna's scream as they injected venom and various poisons into our bodies. Hearing my own scream for the first time, but not realizing that the strangled sound was the one escaping my own throat.

I will my body to calm down and unclench my hands from the side of a counter I was unaware I was holding onto. I confess in Gale something I have been even too afraid to tell Katniss.

"I'm scared she'll think we're monsters; especially me. I'm afraid she'll get the nightmares that causes us to wake up screaming. Screaming for me to get away from her, scared I'm going to hurt." I looked at Gale's daughter meaningfully.

"Peeta, you are the kindest gentlest person I know. You never even killed anyone in the Games." Gale tries to comfort me, but not being quite sure how to.

"No? I tried to kill Katniss though." I regret the words as soon as they're out of my mouth and I look behind me to see that Ash is not in the back room.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I spot him outside the window with Lily and the boys. He didn't hear me.

"I think we should stop talking about this for now." Gale nods his head at my words. We head outside so we can bring the kids back to the house where the party should be starting soon.

Author's note: Long chapter is long. I hope you guys liked it. This is sort of my sorry for taking so long to update. I was going to make it two chapters but there isn't a good place to split this chapter at all so I decided not to. I hope you enjoy it. As always please R & R.