"You honestly had no idea?" Peeta asks. We were back at our house, sat in the kitchen. Prim had offered to take Reed for a while so that we could sit down and talk without having to worry about entertaining him.

"None" I say "I found out about ten minutes before you did, Peeta."

"Well" he laughs and shakes his head before all but launching himself across the table to hug me "I'm so happy, Katniss; are you ok?"

I nod "yes." Honestly, when I'd found out, I hadn't been too thrilled but that all changed after seeing the baby on the monitor but I decide not to tell Peeta this.

We were just in the process of putting lunch together when Gale bursts into the kitchen, a big smile on his face. "Hey! Have you heard the news?!"

Peeta and I look at each other "what news?" We ask together.

"Well, of course you haven't heard the news!" Gale laughs, shaking his head "I've only just heard it!" He then starts to leave but he stops at the door and says "dinner at mine tonight, seven ok? Good" then he leaves leaving Peeta and I more confused than we had been when he'd burst in.

"What on earth was that about?" I ask.

"Not a clue but hey, we'll be able to make our announcement at dinner" he smiles before going back to slicing bread.

Reed stays with Prim for the rest of the day; she happily agreed to putting him to bed for us and waiting for our return before she goes back home. I had a feeling that she knew what Gale had been yelling about earlier; I'd been talking to her about it and she was smiling. I can always tell when Prim is hiding something but I know that she only keeps secrets when she has to.

We arrive at Gale and Johanna's at seven on the dot and are surprised to see Haymitch and Effie there as well and even I couldn't fail to notice that every person in the room, including Peeta and myself, were hiding something.

"I didn't know you could cook" I state to Johanna as she sets a platter of various meats in the centre of the table.

"Just because I don't, doesn't mean that I can't" she states "anyways, I think it took Gale a while to trust the fact that I wouldn't try to poison you all."

I laugh at this but Peeta looks a little confused "why would you poison us?" He asks but she just winks as she goes back to grab some more plates of food. "Would she really have tried to poison us?" He turns to me.

"Peeta" I kiss his cheek "I think that it was her attempt at a joke." I look at Haymitch "do you have any idea what this big news is?" I ask.

"Not a clue. Effie and I were having some us time on the couch when he bursts in and invites us to dinner. I don't think he even noticed that our clothes were on the floor!"

"Haymitch!" Effie slaps his arm, a blush creeping up her cheeks but Haymitch just grins in his new childlike manner and shrugs.

I smiled at him; since marrying Effie, Haymitch had turned into the guy I'm sure he had been before the games. She'd even gotten him completely sober. He raises geese now for a living, providing some of us with fresh eggs. He's a lot nicer as a person now, more manageable; even Gale likes him. When Gale and Johanna got together, Haymitch helped him manage her because she was still a little unstable and, since then, the two of them have gotten really close so it makes sense that Haymitch is here too.

"So are we ever going to find out what this big news is?" Effie asks as Gale and Johanna finally take their seats at the table. She still isn't one for biting her tongue when it comes to stuff like this.

Gale and Johanna look at each other, grinning. "Well, it's kind of a double whammy" Gale admits. "I proposed to her this morning and then we found out that we're expecting a baby!"

This shocked me; of course, I knew that Gale had wanted children but I never took Johanna to be the maternal type. "Congratulations!" Peeta grins "how far along are you?"

"Three months" Johanna nods "not showing yet." She looks down at her flat stomach and sighs which got me wondering whether or not this is actually what she wanted.

"Well" Haymitch smiles "congratulations you two; would it be rude of me to say that Effie and I have an announcement as well?"

"Haymitch, it can wait" she scolds "this is their evening!"

"No, it's ok" Gale nods "go ahead."

"We're expecting too" Haymitch announces, his grin widening even more.

Effie nods in a very un-Effie-like way, shyly. "Almost three months."

"We wanted to wait to announce it" Haymitch nods "we were going to wait until we knew the gender but with you two expecting and- what?" He turns to me and Peeta who are slowly turning red as we try to contain our humour.

"Sorry" Peeta snorts, taking my hand in his "it's just" he looks to me "we just found out that we're expecting our second. Katniss just found out that she's almost five months pregnant."

The whole table was stunned into silence for a moment before everyone began laughing and congratulating each other. "Well, this is cause for celebration!" Haymitch says, raising his glass of water for a toast "to new beginnings" he nods at Gale and Johanna, acknowledging their engagement "and the continuation of the Victor race!"

Effie ropes Johanna and I into agreeing on a trip to the Capitol to buy the 'must haves' for our unborn children, saying that there's an 'absolutely superb' group of shops on the front strip that specifies in infant necessities. Despite Johanna and I's reservations about going back to the Capitol, we both felt that we couldn't deny Effie of this when she was just so damn excited.

"We'll wait until we know the gender, of course" she tells us "then the boys can work on the nurseries whilst we go on our trip! It will be fabulous!"

Since the rebellion, travelling between districts is now allowed; we're also allowed to move out of our own district if we want though, besides the few who've come to twelve, not many have. We all seem to prefer our home districts. I'm not in a hurry to return to the Capitol and I know that Johanna has even more doubts about it considering the fact that she was held captive and tortured there but, for Effie's sake, we agreed.

"I wonder if Cinna will want to come" I say halfway through dessert.

"No, no" Effie says "Cinna counts as one of the boys; he'll be helping with the nurseries."

"He's still designing clothes though, isn't he?" Peeta asks.

I nod "yes, he's making some outfits for Reed; I think most of Dylan's clothes were his design as well."

"He should start up a shop" Gale laughs "I think the three of us, as well as Finnick and Annie, would keep him in business."

"I suggested that to him" I say "but he says that he wouldn't charge friends for his clothes; he does it out of passion and love for his work rather than for money."

Peeta and I relieve Prim of toddler duty just after midnight. "I'm glad you two had a good time" she says, yawning "Reed was well behaved; I made him rice pudding for supper."

"Bet he loved that" Peeta smiles, giving her a hug and thanking her for taking care of him.

"He loved it and it's no problem; it's a pleasure. He's such a happy little boy; you two are doing so well with him."

"I think he's got more of Peeta in him" I say causing them both to laugh.

"Well, anyway; see you two tomorrow." My little sister, who's not so little any more, gives Peeta and I one last hug.

"I'll walk you back" Peeta tells her.

"Don't be silly, I'm only 25 yards across there!" But there was no arguing with him.

Whilst I waited for Peeta to return, I headed up the stairs to check on Reed who was sleeping soundly in the big boy bed we'd got for him the moment he'd managed to escape his crib. I kneel down beside him and plant a soft kiss on his temple before heading back down to find that Peeta had already returned and had started to boil us some milk. "Is he ok?"

I nod "so far gone he's snoring" I chuckle. "He's hugging that toy train you made him."

"The wooden one?" I grin in reply making Peeta laugh "that cannot be comfortable."

I sit at the table and wait for Peeta to pass me my cup of warm milk before taking his hand and squeezing it. "Things are really going to change now" I say "more children running around."

"It's going to be wonderful" Peeta smiles "for the first time in years I now feel relaxed and hopeful for our future."

"You didn't before?"

He shook his head "kind of but it was only really us and our family that was changing, now Effie and Haymitch are expecting and Gale and Johanna are engaged as well…it feels like the rest of the world is finally catching up with us."

"I understand" I nod "it's going to be weird seeing Haymitch with his own child, don't you think?"

"No, I've seen him with Reed plenty of times; I think that I'd like to be there for their name discussions though. You know how strange the names are in the Capitol; I can just see Effie spouting off a load of names that Haymitch will hate."

I laugh "and Haymitch suggesting names that she'll think are too common!"

We both laugh together for a moment before Peeta sighs "are you really ok with going back to the Capitol?"

"I think so" I say "I mean, I'd rather not go but it'll be interesting to see how much it has changed now that there's no Snow or Coin to dictate things. I wish that you could come though."

"Me too" he nods. Peeta is strange when it comes to baby things. Most men leave the shopping side of things to the women but Peeta gets more into it than I do; it's really fascinating to watch. Actually, it's not just the shopping, it's the bathing and changing diapers when the baby finally arrives. Most people, including myself, hate having to change dirty nappies but Peeta loves it; states that it's bonding time for the parent and the child. I'd never thought that I'd see a man smile whilst a baby urinates in his face.

He's also excellent when it comes to cleaning up vomit; I can't stomach it, which is strange considering that I can kill and gut animals. Peeta normally handles Reed when he's ill with a sickness bug and he's brilliant with him.

"How did I get so lucky?" I ask him with a sigh.

"With what?" He asks

"You, Peeta Mellark, how did I get so lucky with you?"

Peeta just grins before moving our empty cups to the sink. He then takes my hand and kisses it before leading me up the stairs to bed.