More days pass. We sleep naked together on hot summer nights. We touch, kiss, talk, cry, laugh, comfort, explore.

Just us.

Haymitch comes for dinner. Peeta invited him. I'm dreading it, afraid Haymitch will pull sex jokes on our behalf, but he doesn't. We're sitting outside in the garden, and even though he's drunk as usual, he's not overly so. He tells us some very entertaining stories from the capitol, including a hilarious parody of Snow. It's getting dark, and there is a chill in the air, reminding us that fall isn't very far away. Where has this summer gone? I wonder. When I think back, my memories from this summer are centered on the smell of sun on Peeta's skin, and the feel of his hands on my body.

"Katniss?"

I come back to reality. "What?"

"I asked you about your hunting. Twice." Haymitch's eyes are looking teasingly at me. He knows. How can he look right through me? "What were you thinking about, sweetheart?"

I don't want to give him the satisfaction of blushing, but I know I'm not succeeding. I try to think of a good reply, but nothing comes to mind. Damn him.

"You know, when I was a kid, my parents had a cat." I'm surprised Haymitch has changed the subject, saving me from further embarrassment. "I never liked her much, but my mother adored her. She had a litter of kittens, every summer. And every year, in March, she'd get that look on her face that you have now. The only difference is that you're not crawling around on the floor howling for it, at least not yet."

This time I wouldn't have missed, if it hadn't been for Peeta, who blocked my throwing arm. Comparing me to a cat in heat is just too much, even for Haymitch. "Put down the bottle, Katniss," Peeta demands, and sheepily I give it to him.

I get ready to yell at Haymitch, but I'm cut short. "I'm sorry. I'm an ass. I didn't mean to hurt you." Haymitch looks sincere now. Sad? "I worry about you, that's all, and I don't know how to help you, and when I'm insecure, I say… Stupid things. I'm supposed to be looking out for you, and I hardly ever even see you. I know you're going through all kinds of crap, and I feel so helpless. And because the subject at hand is, uhm, pretty sensitive, there's only so much I do to help. I don't want you to turn into... me. I don't want to intrude on your privacy, and I'm afraid I'm leaving you alone too much, too. "

"We're doing okay," Peeta answers after a long pause. He's clearly uncomfortable talking about this. "I appreciate your effort, though."

"Are you still angry about that shot I gave you, Katniss?" Haymitch asks me, and I shake my head.

"What shot?" Peeta asks. I have, quite conveniently, forgotten to tell him.

"I gave her a contraceptive shot," Haymitch says, his eyes narrowing when he looks at me. "Her mother gave it to me."

"Her mother?" Peeta asks, clearly connecting the dots, blushing deeply. He looks even more mortified than I felt when Haymitch told me about it the first time.

"Yeah. She had two kids, she knows where they come from, and how they're made. And I'm sorry for embarrassing you again, Katniss, but I thought you'd Peeta. Are you talking? I mean, really talking?"

Peeta and I look at each other. "Yeah."

"Good. And obviously you're taking your time. So all is good. Are you making any progress?"

This is the weirdest conversation I've ever had in my life. I can't believe we're sitting here, talking about our sex life, or what passes for it anyway, with Haymitch. HAYMITCH!

"Who's to say we're not going at it all night like, well, cats in heat?" I ask sarcastically.

"Sweetheart, I'd know it instantly if you were. I can tell from a hundred yards you're not doing it, plus I live just across the street, and you'd keep me up half the night if you were if I'm right about the two of you." I blink my eyes at his astonishing mix of compassion and extreme rudeness.

For once, even Peeta is speechless. Haymitch looks at the two of us, gets up, putting his glass down. "Thanks for dinner, it was delicious. I'm sorry if I've hurt you, I never intended to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to know that I care."

When he's left, we just sit there in silence for a while, stunned. "That's a very strange way of showing that he cares," Peeta finally says.

"Yeah. But he's Haymitch, after all."

"Why didn't you tell me about the contraceptive shot?"

"I just…" I don't know what to say. I don't even know what the truth is, let alone if I'd tell it to him if I knew what it was.

When I don't complete my sentence, he continues: "Did it feel like… too much pressure?"

I shrug. "I'm not even sure. Perhaps. I didn't want to pressure you. Or perhaps I was afraid of you putting pressure on me. It just felt so… Definitive. That we had to… Others thought that we were… That we were somehow supposed to…" I can't find the words.

"Nothing has to happen," he says quietly. He's observing me closely, trying to judge how I feel.

I look at him helplessly. "I know that nothing has to happen! But I want it to! And I'm scared because I want it!" I burst into tears, feeling so embarrassed that I cry about this, now. I'm already feeling mortified for what I just said.

Peeta touches my shoulder, puts a finger underneath my chin, lifting my head to look at him. His blue eyes meet mine. "I'm scared too, Katniss," he says softly. "I'm scared every day and every night. But nothing scares me more than the thought of not having you by my side every night." Peeta always knows exactly what to say to make it right. No wonder he was a talk show hit.

"Do you know what else scares me?"

I don't really want to nod, but I do.

"It's knowing that if we hadn't been reaped, we wouldn't have been together. Being reaped was the worst thing that ever happened to me, it destroyed my life, and yet… We can thank the Hunger Games for being together. I have President Snow to thank for you sleeping naked next to me every night."

I laugh through my tears, and lift up my glass of wine. "To President Snow."

"To President Snow." I take a ship of wine, then laugh harder. "Can you imagine who pissed he'd be, if he'd been here now?"

They're just about done with the talking and the taking it slow by now. ;) Things are starting to heat up!