"So how have you been spending your days?" I asked Bonnie. She had been through a lot since the uprising. It was best for her to keep busy to keep her mind off of things.

"Twill's been trying to teach me how to cook," she replied. "And I've practiced setting up snares like you taught me."

"That's good," I smiled.

"But I haven't caught anything," she admitted. "I've just been dancing around the house mostly. I never had this much free time before. Back in Eight, it was all just school or work. Work, work, work. That's why I like being here."

"I remember when I was younger I would come here with my dad. He would try to teach me how to dance, sometimes, but I was never really good at it."

"Really? How are you not good at dancing?" she asked incredulously. "You're good at everything!"

"Two left feet," I replied with a shrug.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you," she said as she quickly sprang to her feet and pulled me by the arm.

"No, it's okay," I protested, leaning back against the couch. "There's no music on."

"Then we'll make our own music!" she exclaimed. "Can you sing me a song?"

I never sing anymore. Not since my father passed away. But ever since the Games were aired, everyone expects me to burst into song for them.

"Maybe next time," I replied with a polite smile.

She sat back down on the couch and sighed despondently.

"When are you going to bring Peeta over?" she asked.

Her question took me by surprise. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I never imagined bringing Peeta into the forest, much less to this cabin. It was dangerous to go into the woods now, even more so than before. And the cabin was a sacred place for me. Before Bonnie and Twill, I had never brought anyone there. Not even Gale.

Besides, there was no reason to bring Peeta there. I didn't even tell him that I had met two runaways from District 8 and was keeping them here. Housing them was illegal, and there was no need for Peeta to get involved. My mind reeled to think of a suitable answer.

"He's busy," I finally said. "He has work."

"But he's a Victor!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Why is he working?"

"He's very passionate about what he does," I shrugged.

"What does he do?"

What doesn't he do?

He bakes. He builds. He draws.

And he puts the same amount of passion in everything he does.

"He works at the bakery," I said finally settling on an answer.

"Tell him to take a day off," she suggested. "I want to meet him in person at least once before I leave! He's my favorite Victor, you know. My friends all say Finnick O'Dair's hotter. But I don't agree. Peeta's just gorgeous!"

I didn't really know how to respond to that.

"I've never met Finnick before," I replied and hoped that would suffice. I've never really been good at girl talk.

"It doesn't matter. He's not nearly as handsome as Peeta! Or as brave. All Finnick ever cared about was winning. Just like every other Victor. And now all he does is sleep around with Capitol women."

Not by choice. He was forced to sleep with all those women from the Capitol, just like he was forced to kill all those people in the games.

"When you're in the arena you have to do whatever you can to survive," I said trying to explain. "If you don't give in to your instincts—you'll die."

"But Peeta never gave in to his instincts, and he didn't die," the young girl pointed out. "Peeta didn't even care about winning. All he cared about was protecting you. He was willing to risk anything for love. And in the end, love saved him."

I never thought of it that way.

Bonnie let out a wistful sigh before continuing. "He's so romantic. And funny and charming too!" she gushed. "No wonder you fell for him!"

I didn't fall for him. I don't fall for humor or charm. Or for anything at all.

"He's perfect!" she continued in a dazed tone. "Is he really like that in person?"

"I don't know if he's perfect," I replied sympathetically. "But he definitely has a gift for making people laugh."

"He seems perfect! You're so lucky to be married to him!" she gave one more wistful sigh before glancing at me. "What's it like?"

"What?"

"Being married to the most amazing guy in all of Panem?"

"He's just like any other husband, I guess."

"You're just saying that!" she declared, mistaking my indifference for modesty. "You know every girl in Panem wishes she was in your shoes. Peeta's so dreamy," she swooned. "And he's got a really hot body!"

I forgot that pretty much all of Panem had seen Peeta strip down to his boxers. Probably even more because I turned around for the rest.

"Is he good in bed?" she asked suddenly. "He seems like he would be a really great lover."

"Bonnie!" I heard Twill shout from the kitchen, saving me from having to think of an answer.

"What?"

"You're 14," she scolded from the other room. "You shouldn't be asking about those things!"

"Why not?" the young girl demanded defiantly.

Twill appeared at the door with a stern look on her face.

"Because you're too young. And because it's rude."

Twill turned to give me an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, Katniss—it's just that girls have become quite smitten with Peeta since the Games. He's won hearts all over Panem, not just yours," she gave me a light-hearted warning look, before adding on a more serious note.

"I have to say I was impressed myself. Especially when I saw him give away a part of his winnings to the families of the other tributes. No one has ever tried to bridge the gap between the districts. Not since the Dark Ages. And to do so on live television? That was very brave. He inspires the rest of us to be brave as well," she added with a smile before withdrawing back into the kitchen.

"See, I told you he was brave," Bonnie grinned, nudging me with her elbow, as soon as the older woman had left.

"I know he is," I replied with a roll of my eyes. I just didn't like to admit it.

"I wish I met a guy who was willing to risk so much for me," she sighed.

"You will one day," I assured her with a smile.

"Yeah, but not the way you guys met. It was so romantic."

I gawked at her. How could she think the way Peeta and I met was in any way at all romantic?

"There's nothing romantic about a game that makes you kill people for sport," I shot back in a disgusted tone.

"It's not the game that makes it romantic. Just the situation."

I glanced over at her warily, trying to make sure she hadn't injured her head somehow between now and the last time I saw her.

"Having to choose between taking someone's life or taking your own isn't exactly a romantic situation," I retorted heatedly.

"It's a terrible situation!" she agreed. "But to have someone there to remind you that even with all the violence, you're still capable of loving someone—that's romantic."

I paused for a moment, taking in her words. I hated to admit it, but she was right. After my father died, I thought the whole world had turned against me. My mother, my friends, my family, everyone I knew had abandoned me. But Peeta was still there for me. He reminded me that there was still some good left in this world.

And then, in the arena, when I thought everyone was my enemy, Peeta was there to show me love and kindness. He showed me that even the Capitol couldn't destroy all the good that existed in the world. That in the end love truly did prevail all.

I was amazed that though Bonnie was younger than me, she seemed to know much more. "Were you ever in love before?"

"I had a boyfriend once," she replied shyly. "When I was thirteen. I'm not sure if it counts, though. All we did was hold hands and kiss a couple times."

That's as much as Peeta and I did. Most of it was for the cameras, though. I still wasn't sure how much of it was real.

"It counts," I assured her.

"At first it started out as a series of pranks that we would play on each other. He would steal my factory tools and I would get upset at him. But I think he did that just to get my attention. I got back at him soon enough though," she remembered with a nostalgic glint in her eyes. She smiled and hugged her knees to her chest as she continued her story.

"Then we became friends and started sharing all our lunch breaks together. He would steal clothes from the assembly line and we'd pretend to be people from the Capitol and make funny accents. I always played Candace—she's our Capitol representative. I was always better at doing accents than he was."

"It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun," I commented softly.

She nodded her head gravely.

"But he's probably dead now." Her eyes began to well up.

The poor girl lost everything. Her family. Her friends. Her home. I didn't know what I could say. There was no way I could ever alleviate all of her pain.

"Maybe he survived and made it to District 13," I offered, gently placing my hand over hers. "He's probably waiting for you there already."

She just nodded her headed absent-mindedly and continued staring off into the distance, with the hurt look still imprinted in her eyes.

Just then Twill came into the room. "Lunch is ready. Why don't you girls come and help me set up the table?"

She knew Bonnie needed a distraction. That the only way to cope with losing so much, is just to ignore it all. Numb yourself from the pain and never think about it for too long. That's the only way you'll have enough strength to carry on.

I ate with them, and then went back to my house in the Victor's Village.

As soon as I entered our living room, my eyes fell on a large framed photograph sitting on the mantel above the fireplace. It was a picture of Peeta and I on our wedding day.

I took the picture down from the mantel and examined it more closely. We were both smiling for the cameras, just as we had been told to do, but the happiness on Peeta's face seemed more convincing than my own. Just by looking at the photo, it was hard to imagine that anything tragic had ever happened to him.

Madge told me Peeta had lost someone to the games. I didn't know who it was, but it must've been someone important, since he changed so drastically afterward.

I desperately wanted to know who it was.

I couldn't ask Peeta. Not in our house, where the cameras heard everything. I knew that if Peeta had asked me about my father's death, I wouldn't want to talk about it in front of the Capitol cameras that watched us in our house. I had to give him the same courtesy and respect. So I couldn't broach the subject until we had a private place to talk.

But I was impatient. We wouldn't get a chance to go to his mother's house for another four days. I didn't want to wait that long.

Of course, it wouldn't be hard to find out who it was on my own. All I had to do was watch a rerun of the game two years ago. There were only two tributes from 12. Whoever Peeta lost, it had to be one of them.


A/N

So I've kind of made Bonnie into a Peeta fangirl! I hope you don't mind! :)