PPOV

Katniss and I are woken up by a pounding on the front door. Katniss scowls and squeezes closer to me, burying herself under the blankets while I try to ignore it, hoping it will go away. When the pounding continues, followed by a muffled, "I know you two are home, open up!" I sigh heavily and start to detach myself from her.

Sitting up to attach my prosthetic, I notice first that I'm naked, which, remembering the reason for that, makes me smile. Second, the long walk to and from the lake yesterday, combined with the swimming and then our late-night marathon last night have left my body pretty sore. I stretch a little to work out some of the kinks, then pull a pair of boxers on and grab a robe before clomping down the stairs.

"Coming!" I say, throwing open the door and having Haymitch practically fall through.

"Took you long enough!" he grumbles, picking himself up and straightening his shirt. It's the first time I've seen him in a clean shirt since our wedding. Apparently Hazelle's housekeeping duties don't extend to making sure Haymitch actually uses the laundry that she washes for him.

"What the hell is so important that you needed to wake us up early?" I say, running my hand through my hair and really wishing I was still up in bed.

Haymitch just scoffs. "Early? It's not early, it's after 9am, which is darn late for you and Sweetheart to still be sleeping. Last night must have wore you two out-" he stops when he sees my expression.

"What?!" I say, feeling the flush creep across my face. "What did you hear?"

"A lot, actually," he says, winking at me. "You guys always leave your windows open, and you forget that I live right next door. It was better than Capitol porn there for a while. I swear boy, you've been married for over a month already and you're just now getting to that? You must have the patience of a saint!"

I grab his shoulders to cut him off. "Don't you say another word!" I say, right in his face. "And if I ever hear you say anything like this in front of Katniss, I'll tell Ripper not to sell her liquor to you anymore!"

"All right boy, don't get so worked up," he says, going over to the table and sitting down. "But I need to talk to the both of you, so you may want to go and get Sweetheart."

"All right, give us a couple minutes," I say, heading back for the stairs. "Help yourself to some bread while you wait," I call out over my shoulder. Haymitch nods and moves into the kitchen.

Back up in the bedroom, Katniss has obviously figured out who our visitor is, as she's fully dressed and braiding her hair. "What's Haymitch want?" she asks, sounding petulant. I'm feeling rather petulant myself; this wasn't how I had wanted to wake up this morning.

"I don't know," I tell her, grabbing some lounge pants and a t-shirt and throwing them on quickly. I'll have to shower later I guess.

Haymitch is finishing some bread with strawberry jam when we come back down the stairs. Remembering that we never ate dinner last night, I quickly cut a couple of slices of bread for Katniss and I before sitting back down at the table.

"All right Haymitch, what's going on?" I ask him, taking a big bite of my bread and reaching for Katniss's hand.

Haymitch swallows and sips from his flask before answering. "I got a letter from Effie yesterday," he says, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "She says that the Victory Tour dates have been moved up to the end of November. Your prep teams will be arriving here the morning of November 26th and the train will depart for the districts that afternoon."

"That's the day after Peeta's birthday," Katniss blurts out. "Why have they moved it up? I thought the Victory Tour was always in January?"

"Effie didn't say in the letter exactly why the dates have been changed, but I have a feeling that things aren't exactly hunky-dory in the districts right now." He turns to look directly at Katniss. "You don't know this, but after your little funeral in the arena for your friend from District 11, there was, shall we say, some unrest in that district. Seneca Crane, the head Gamemaker, was ready to arrange an accident for you in the arena before I was able to convince him otherwise. And then after the whole thing with the berries, well, let's just say that I doubt Mr. Crane will be still Head Gamemaker next time."

Immediately I feel Katniss's fingers tighten around my own. "So how does moving the Victory Tour help with unrest in District 11?" I ask incredulously. "They have to know that Katniss never meant to-"

Haymitch raises his hand to cut me off. "The Capitol doesn't care about your intentions, they only care about what's happening. And the fact of the matter is, what's happening right now is not to their liking, and they need you two to fix it."

I gulp. "But how?" Katniss asks, finding her voice quicker than I can.

"They want to see their Star-Crossed lovers, acting like Star-Crossed lovers," Haymitch says, shrugging. "Although if you two keep up with what you were doing-"

"HAYMITCH!" I say loudly, staring him down. I can see Katniss out of the corner of my eye, staring at me with wide eyes. "Don't make me talk to Ripper!"

Haymitch brings his hands up in surrender. "Just razzing you, boy," he says, chuckling. "Anyway," he continues, sounding more serious. "That's all I know right now. I'll of course tell you if I hear anything more, but in the meantime be prepared to leave for the Tour on November 26th. Effie and I will of course be accompanying the two of you."

Katniss and I just stare at our entwined hands for a moment. "Thank you for telling us, Haymitch," Katniss finally says. My mind is swirling with thoughts of Haymitch pleading with the Gamemaker to not kill Katniss in the arena. My stomach drops at the thought. That had been before the rule change was announced, while I was slowly dying down by the river. We'd both be dead now if Haymitch hadn't intervened.

"Yes, thank you Haymitch," I say, looking up at him. He nods, matching my somber expression. He knows exactly what I was just thinking.

After I see Haymitch out I sit back down at the table, pulling Katniss to sit on my lap. I bury my face into her neck, feeling her arms around me and those little wispy hairs that never make it into her braid tickle my face.

I feel her kiss the top of my head. "Haymitch worked hard to bring us home," she says quietly. I just nod, too overwhelmed right now to speak.

Katniss kisses my head again. "I want you to rest your leg today," she says, obviously changing the subject and jumping into caregiver mode. "You were on it a lot yesterday and you slept half the night with your prosthetic on. I took it off for you when I realized you still had it on." Hmm, that's why I didn't remember taking it off last night when Haymitch woke us up this morning.

I squeeze her tightly around her waist. "I love you," I say, my face still buried in her neck.

She tilts my head up so she can kiss my lips. "I love you too," she says. "Now move over to the couch and stretch out. I'm going to take care of you today."

I lean up for another kiss. "Yes, love," I whisper.

Katniss hops off my lap and helps me to the couch before detaching my prosthetic and propping my leg up on a throw pillow. "I had my mom make you a new jar of cream while we were gone yesterday, so once we're done having breakfast I'm going to run over there and grab it and rub your leg for a while. Then we're going to take a nap, because," and she pauses to kiss me. "I know that I'm still pretty tired, so I can imagine that you are too." She kisses me again and winks, and it takes all of my self control to not pull her down on top of me. She still has no idea...

After Katniss makes us a breakfast of fried eggs and some more bread with jam, she runs over retrieve the cream from her old house and spends the next half an hour massaging my aching stump, before climbing into my arms and settling her head down on my chest.

"Why are you so good to me?" I whisper, running my thumb lightly over her shoulder. I feel her tighten her arms around me.

"Because I love you," she whispers back.

I'm awakened a couple hours later by the most wonderful sensation. Katniss is awake, and running her hand gently across my thighs, up and down, and across my pelvic bone. It isn't long before I feel myself getting hard and I inhale sharply as her hand just grazes the top of the now-obvious bulge in my pants. "What're doing?" I whisper, gasping as her hand passes over again.

Katniss doesn't answer, she just starts planting kisses under my jawline, moving her way up to my ear. "What do you think I'm doing?" she whispers, so softly I can barely hear her. I immediately shudder so hard I worry that I've scared her, but she just keeps moving her hand back and forth until I feel her slender fingers move under the waistband of my pants and pull down. "I want to take these off of you," she whispers again, still kissing up and down the underside of my jaw.

"Okay," I say, my voice trembling. I lift my hips up off the couch as best I can as Katniss slides my pants down and pulls them off of my good foot. She immediately resumes her hand motions, now running her fingers delicately over my erection. My breath is hitching now as she curls her fingers under the waistband of my boxers.

"I want to take these off too," she whispers. "I haven't gotten a good look at you in the daylight yet."

I take a deep, shaky breath as she carefully removes them. "What do you think?" I ask. I remember Katniss when she was cleaning me up in the arena, how she refused to look at me then. Was that really just a few months ago?

"I think you're beautiful," she says. "Your skin is so soft, Peeta. It's so hard in my hand, but so soft and smooth at the same time." She tentatively starts to run her fingertips up and down, like she's afraid that she'll hurt me.

"Let me show you," I rasp, taking her hand and wrapping her fingers completely around me and showing her how to move her hand up and down. "Don't be afraid to grip tighter," I say, trying to keep my eyes open. She grips a little tighter then and my head falls back. "Aahh, Katniss, that's it. Sometimes it helps to spit a little on your hand too, so it slides easier."

That causes her head to snap up and her eyes to narrow. "I'm not going to spit on any part of you," she says firmly. She pauses her movements as she thinks. "Hold on, I'll be right back."

There's no way in hell I'm moving anywhere right now, I think as I watch her jog to the downstairs bathroom, coming back quickly with a palmful of the vanilla-scented hand cream that Effie put in there when I moved in. "Will this work?" she asks.

I can't help but smile. "Yeah, that should work," I say, reaching up to pull her towards me for a quick kiss.

"Stop distracting me," she teases, warming the cream between both of her hands before lying down on the couch next to me, her head back on my chest.

I jump a little as she grips me again, her hand now moving easily up and down. "Is that better?" she asks me in that breathy voice of hers.

"Oh god yes, Katniss, it feels wonderful," I gasp out. She continues to stroke me while still placing soft kisses up and down my jaw, her feathery light touches pushing me close to the edge quickly. I squeeze my eyes shut. "Katniss, I'm getting close!" I manage to gasp out. "Go just a little faster!"

Her hand speeds up just a little and that's all it takes. Katniss finally stills her hand when I'm finished and rests her head on my shoulder. Once I'm able to regain my senses I reach my hand down and hug her to me. "What brought that on?" I ask, tilting her chin up so I can see her beautiful eyes.

She leans over to kiss me. "I just wanted to do that for you," she says, giving me one of her special smiles. "I wanted to watch you. Did I do okay?"

"Oh yeah," I exclaim, hugging her tightly again. "It was wonderful! You can do that again anytime."

Katniss sits up and pecks me lightly on my lips. "Good," she says, giving me that smile again. "Now I'm going to clean you up and make us lunch, then I thought we could work on the Plant Book for a while?"

I nod. "That sounds perfect."

After cleaning me up Katniss helps me back into my clothes and insists on me continuing to rest without my prosthesis on while she makes us lunch. After we eat on the couch together she pulls out the Plant Book, which occupies us for the rest of the afternoon. I try to protest a little, especially when she tells me that we've actually run out of bread, but she insists that I can bake again tomorrow.

"I want you well rested," she says. I'm about to ask for what when she adds, "for tonight."

Ohh. "Yes, love!" I say, with probably a stupid grin on my face.

After dinner Katniss makes a fire in the fireplace, since the evenings have now cooled down considerably with the start of autumn. She piles the floor in front of it with pillows and blankets and helps me hobble over, cuddling up right next to me. I don't wait too long before pulling her on top of me.

"I feel like I haven't hardly touched you at all today," I say, trying to sound teasing rather than whiny. "You've been doing all the touching."

Katniss doesn't answer, just brings her face down to me until her lips touch mine. "I'm here now."

"Mmmm," I say against her lips, positioning us so she's sitting on my lap. "Yes you are."

I quickly pull her shirt and pants off and tug my shirt over my head before I start to lavishly kiss her, working my way from her mouth and neck down to her collarbone and chest. I feel a bit awkward without my prosthetic on, but there's no way I'm going to pause and attach it now. "Katniss, you're so, so beautiful," I whisper, kissing her lightly along her neck and jaw and running my fingers slowly through her hair.

"Each night I think you can't get any more precious to me, and each night you manage to prove me wrong," I murmur once I've kissed my way back to her lips. Katniss is breathing heavily and her limbs are heavy, but she throws her arms around my neck anyway. "Hmmm," is the only reply she can give for a few minutes.

Abruptly she loosens her arms and puts her hands on my face, meeting my eyes. I can see tears shimmering in hers. "How do I deserve you?" she sobs out, one tear escaping and sliding down her cheek. "I hurt you after our first interviews before the Games, and then I thought you had betrayed me, and then I was rude to you while I was cleaning you up, and then you trusted me to not to miss Cato's hand at the end, and then you tried to bleed to death so I could live, and then I almost broke your heart on the train home, and then I made you wait over a month...".

She starts crying in earnest now, tightening her arms around my neck and pulling me down on top of her. "You ask why I'm so good to you?! Why are you so good to me? I don't deserve you. You're too good for this world, Peeta."

"Now you stop right there," I say firmly, propping myself up on my forearms again with my hands cupping her face. "Listen to me. I. Love. You. I have always loved you. I will always love you. I'd have waited for you for as long as I needed to, because you're worth it to me. And I trust you completely, just like I did when I knew you wouldn't miss Cato's hand. And you, you deserve every bit of happiness that you can get and if I'm able to give you even a little of it, then that's what I want."

I lean down to kiss the tear tracks left on her cheeks and then roll onto my back, pulling her to lie next to me. "No one has ever treated me like you do. No one has ever taken care of me like you have and no one could ever love me like you do. So please, for my sake, stop being so hard on yourself and let me show you how wonderful you are. Please."

She reaches up to cup my cheek, rubbing her thumb over my cheekbone, letting her tears finish falling. Then she kisses under each of my eyes before gently kissing my lips. "Okay."

I pull her towards me into a hug. "All right," I say, pulling back to kiss her forehead. "Now I think we should head upstairs and take a bath together, because I seem to remember that we didn't shower last night. And then," I pause to kiss her. "And then, I'm taking you to bed." I wink at her and she laughs, that beautiful soft laugh.

"Okay," she says. "That sounds perfect."