Chapter 39: December 15th

Peeta

The blissful feeling of his cock pulsing against Katniss' warm walls was instantly replaced by fear and horror as he met the eyes of the person standing in the doorway.

"D-dad?" he heard himself stammer.

His father's eyes went wide as he too pieced together the horrible situation in front of them. His father's face was stricken with shock and the same horror Peeta felt as Katniss' tank top that had been thrown to the hallway floor slipped from his fingers. They were interrupted by Katniss' bloodcurdling scream. Faster than lightning, she grabbed the comforter out from underneath Peeta's knees, the fierce yank sending him careening off the other side of the bed. Diving beneath the cover of the blanket, she screamed again as Peeta landed on the carpet with a hard thud.

"Oh my God," his father muttered. "Oh my good God!"

"Dad! Get out!"

"Peeta, oh my…why are you home?!"

"Get out! Shut the door!"

His father gave him another horrified look as Peeta desperately tried to cover himself and get a handle on the situation. Everything had happened so far that he didn't know what to do. His bedroom door slammed shut, leaving them alone. Katniss whimpered under the safety of his blue comforter, her form trembling slightly.

"K-Katniss?" he called out. He rose up from the floor, stripping off the condom and tossing it in his trash can to deal with later. The reality of the situation was settling in and forming a pit in the bottom of his stomach. He shook his head and winced.

His father had walked in on them having sex. Fuck fuck fuck, he thought. His brain could barely function.

"Katniss, you alright?"

She flipped the blanket down, giving him an utterly horrified look. "Is the door locked?"

Peeta gave her a chagrined look before walking over to the door where his father had been standing, flicking the lock before bending down to pick up his boxers. He pulled them on and felt his hands shake.

His father had walked in on them having sex, he repeated to himself. Fuck. Is he going to tell mom? Oh my god, what if that had been mom? Or Rye? Oh my god…this is the most horrible thing I've ever done. Fuck.

Peeta heaved a sigh, sitting down on the edge of the bed to put his head in his hands. How could this happen? How could he have been so stupid as to not lock the damn door?

Katniss sat up in his bed, the comforter around her waist. She gave him a horrified, shameful look.

"Holy shit," she sighed. "Your dad totally just walked in on us and…I think I'm going to die. Seriously, die. Peeta…what do we do?"

His father hadn't just caught them having sex – he caught them having loud, dirty, doggie style sex.

"Are you…a-alright?" he finally asked.

She let out a bitter laugh. "Define alright. Your dad just saw me….almost naked, on all fours in front of his son, moaning his name while he fucked me from behind. You define 'okay'."

Peeta nodded. "Good point. Um…Oh God, Katniss. I'm so…so sorry."

"What are we going to do Peeta? That's your dad. It's not some random stranger, or-or..or Mark or someone stupid. This is your father. What is he going to do to us?"

Peeta snorted. "He'll either give me a lecture or ask me how it was," he sighed. "Or maybe both."

"He won't kill you?"

He shook his head. He didn't think his father would kill him for having sex with his girlfriend – his father would just be upset that he'd attempted to sneak her into their house while they were supposed to have been away. However, he wasn't sure if his dad would tell his mother or not. He didn't think he would, but Peeta usually found he had rather poor luck when it came to things like this.

"Peeta, what are we going to do? Your dad…caught us," she hissed. "I can't even…oh my God. I want to die right now. I seriously want this bed to swallow me whole."

Peeta looked over his shoulder at her. "At least you had a bra on, and I mean…he didn't see much else. Luckily we he didn't get to see the…tail end of things," he sighed. "I however, fell off the bed completely butt ass naked when you grabbed that blanket."

Katniss buried her face in her hands. "I had to cover up, I'm sorry, I….oh Peeta, what are we going to do?"

Peeta slowly trudged down the steps, shuffling to the kitchen with trepidation. Peeking around the corner, he saw his father sitting on the kitchen counter with a bottle of beer in front of him, gripping it like it was a lifeline. He took a long drag as he walked into the kitchen, meeting Peeta's eyes briefly before looking down.

"Son."

"Uh…hey dad. So…I guess I should explain…"

His father raised an eyebrow. "I…I thought you were maybe hurt or….I guess I should have figured out what was going on when I heard a…a-f-female…"

"Yeah, well…"

"I'm…I'm so sorry," he cringed.

"Me too," Peeta sighed.

"This is such a nightmare Peet, I…..look, are you being safe?"

"Dad…you already asked me that. Yes, we are. I swear, I mean-"

"No, erm….okay, sorry. I'm trying to cover my parental bases and I can't get the image out of my head arrrrgh," his father groaned, scrubbing his face with his hands. "Peeta, buddy, what were you thinking? That is the last thing I expected when I walked through that door."

"Obviously!" Peeta exclaimed. "Dad, you could have knocked!"

"I wish I had," his father sighed, taking a log sip of his beer. "I don't think we have enough alcohol in this house to cleanse my memory. That poor girl. Peeta…"

"Are you mad?"

His father took another long sip of his beer, shaking his head. "No, I mean…you're an adult now so I can't tell you what to…" he gave a pained sigh. "Buddy, you gotta lock the door. First rule of getting it on in a place where other people live. Lock that door."

Peeta exhaled sharply in relief. He should have known his father would be cool about this. "Yeah, uh…looking back I definitely should have done that. Look though dad, I'm sorry I brought her back without permission. I thought you were visiting mom's aunt, so…"

"She sent me back here because she said I was driving her nuts," his dad sighed. "I saw your car here and I just…went upstairs thinking you were in your room playing video games or something. I didn't realize…"

"Yeah, well," Peeta sighed, shaking his head. "Uh…well Katniss had a rough week and I just wanted to bring her here for a night to relax and just…"

"Bang it out, apparently," his dad chuckled. Peeta looked over at him with a smirk.

"Dad."

"What? I'm sorry," his dad chuckled again. "I just saw you doing something a parent never wants to see their child do and…the horror of it all is making me laugh to hide how uncomfortable I am. Oh Lord, Peeta. Maybe Rye or Bannock, but you? This is…this takes the cake buddy."

"I know dad," Peeta winced. "I'm really sorry too. I just…I wanted to bring her home and…. things just…got out of hand so quickly. I…we didn't mean to-"

"Stop right there," his dad pleaded, pinching the bridge of his nose. He set down his beer bottle and gripped the countertop. "I know you didn't mean for me to walk in. Obviously," he winced. "But you guys are being safe? You've both been tested and whatnot?"

"Yes, dad. I swear. Katniss…went to her…girl doctor and I…got tested after that Cassie thing."

He felt like an idiot talking about this with his father, even though the two of them had always had an open book relationship. Peeta had drunkenly confessed to his dad what had really happened between him and Cassie a few nights before he left for camp the last summer. He was drunk, lonely, and heartbroken and when his father had offered a friendly ear, Peeta had jumped at the chance to pour his heart out. He didn't regret it but it was still awkward to talk to his father about such things.

"Good, uh….good," his dad said. He made a face and took another drink. "You are so damn lucky it was me and not your mother."

Peeta cringed. "Are you gonna tell her?"

His father heaved a sigh, his shoulders slumping. "No. Against my better judgment, no, I'm not going to tell your mother. I know she'd take it out on Katniss for corrupting her baby boy when…I'm sure you're as much to blame for your behavior as she is unfortunately," his dad muttered, avoiding his eyes. "I won't tell her because I want to give that girl up there that you seem to…care about a lot a chance with your mother. You do care for her, right son?"

Peeta felt his heart clench in his chest. "I love her dad. So much. So much I just…get carried away at times. Not on purpose."

His father nodded. "That's…good to hear. Especially after what I witnessed," he said slowly, shaking his head. "Just…be safe and responsible and treat her…respectfully."

Peeta's cheeks flamed as he realized he did treat Katniss respectfully, although that was probably difficult to see since he'd been engaging in some rather graphic rough sex with her when his father had walked in on them. Respectful was probably not the word that came to mind.

"I will dad. I…I love her a lot and I care about her. I'd never hurt her."

"I know you wouldn't son. Now…think you can coax her downstairs so I can meet her?"

Peeta crept back up the steps to his room, carefully flicking on the lamp by the door. He spied a conspicuous lump in the center of the bed beneath his comforter. Pulling it back, he saw Katniss on her side with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Babe?" he asked.

She stared blankly forward.

"Katniss? You alright. I talked to my dad…"

"And are you going to live to see Christmas?"

"I think so," he sighed. "He wants to meet you. Erm…again."

Katniss made a whimpering noise. "I think I might die," she admitted.

Peeta sat down on the bed beside her and brushed some hair away from her eyes.

"Katniss….he's embarrassed too."

She nodded blankly. "Okay then. I'm pretty sure I might die then. Die of humiliation," she sighed.

He glanced down at her. "Would it make you feel any better that he promised not to tell my mom?"

She opened one eye and looked up at him. "It might help a little."

"And…and I mean at least it wasn't my mom. Or Rye. Or Bannock. Shit, those guys would never let us live that down in a million years. It could have been worse."

Katniss untucked her legs and sat up. "Peeta…worse? Your dad caught us doing it. In his house. Doggy style. He had my lacy tank top in his hand when he opened the door. Like he saw us doing it. He didn't just…find your condom stash or see a dirty text. He saw me on my knees with you behind me and I was just moaning your name and… This is so horrible I don't even want to think about what I'm going to say to him. I seriously considered crawling out your two story bedroom window while you were downstairs and hitchhiking my way back to my house."

Peeta gave her a skeptical look.

She tucked her hair behind her ears. "There's a white trellis outside your window that is within three feet of a sturdy looking branch. Trust me, I thought about it," she deadpanned.

Peeta put his arm around her. "Bab…I'm sorry. He's sorry, you're sorry…I think someday we can honestly just laugh about this and forget that it happened."

She let her head fall forward onto his chest and heaved a sigh. "Peeta…oh my god."

"Just remember. It could have been my mother."

uld have been worse ; )

Short update tonight I know - I just wanted to remind you all that I'm not dead, lol. Wedding planning takes time! gah. Anyway, planning another update for this soon along with an Arrows update. I put that on the backburner to finish NIOF and get this story going again, so my apologies for the wait.

Up next...Katniss and Mr. Mellark have a chat ; )

Thanks for sticking with e and please review!