Hey guys! Please review and let me know if this is worth continuing! As always, plot is mine, Hunger Games is not! Still in need of a Beta if there are any volunteers!

"I never said I never wanted to be with anyone and have children. I did, however, say that I don't want to do it when someone tells me to and I want it to be with whomever I choose…" I trail off looking at the wall, wishing we were above ground so I could pretend to stare out a window.

Just like every other time we have this conversation, Peeta looks at me with his bright eyes and then mutters under his breath and changes the topic. Honestly, I'm quite glad he chooses to change the subject. Sometimes I feel like he likes me, like more than a friend, and sometimes I just can't tell. At any rate, we have more pressing matters to deal with, like the fact that we don't know how much longer it will be until people in our bunker won't be able to have anywhere near the proper nutrition that we should have due to lack of food increases. I also have more personal pressing matters to deal with.

While sometimes the monotony of the book room irritates me, other times it proves to be quite helpful. If I had another job, say in the research lab, I would have to absorb the information I am reading and actually focus on the job I am doing. Here, I can run on auto pilot, which gives me the space I need to figure out what I am going to do, and more importantly, how I am going to get out of the bunkers.

I, like most of the people who made it to the bunkers, am very grateful for everything the underground bunkers have given to me. I am grateful for the food, shelter, clothes, and friendship of Peeta. But, in exchange for that, they want me to give them something that I am unable to commit to: life.

Knowing what we have learned about the virus in the last six years, which, veritably, is not much, the Team wants us to procreate. I understand they want to prolong humanity for the sake of the cure, but not only do I not think we are ever going to see a cure, I also don't want to leave a child I have created behind, alone, when I die at 40, if I am lucky. That is one of the things we have discovered about the virus. When it first hit, most people over 40 didn't even make it to the bunkers. Those that did, died shortly after from unforeseen illnesses. Now, there isn't anyone over 40 underground. Once they realized there was no way to save anyone once they got to a certain stage of the virus, they established a plan to help keep our population up long enough for the cure to be discovered.

Most people don't see getting together with someone else for the sake of procreation to be a problem. They don't consider having to settle down, marry, and have kids with someone by the time you are 25 to be a big deal, but I do. Best case scenario: if I get married now to someone I pick, have children, and the children turned 17 ensuring that they were more or less an adult before I die. Worst case scenario: I wait until I am 25, the Team does a data match and I have to shack up with God only knows who, we have trouble conceiving, and I die while my child is still a child, leaving them all alone.

I really hate the thought of that. I realize that even if the virus had not hit, there was a chance that I could leave my children motherless at a young age. But that was just a chance. This is inevitable.

I have seen how it works down here. The daycares are overcrowding with little orphans. They look so sad that it breaks my heart to even walk by the kid's area. So many children under the age of ten, already orphaned. I do not want that for any child of mine, but unless I find a way to leave the bunkers, they will make me.

"Hey Kat," Peeta breaks me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to meet up after we are done here tonight?" He asks me, looking hopeful. I'm not sure why he looks so relieved when I tell him yes because we meet up almost every day after work. Other than working, eating, and for some people, studying, there isn't a whole lot of things that can be done underground.

Time gets away from me due to my overthinking, and the next thing I know, Peeta is looking at me from across the room, signaling to me that it's time to leave.

"So, there is something I wanted to run by you…" he says when we finally make our way to our meeting spot, which is really just an empty room we found when we were walking to our cells one day after work.

"Okay, what's up?"

"Well, okay. You know I turn 25 this year, right?" He asks nervously. I do know he turns 25 this year. I have been worried for the past few months because that means the Team is going to data match him soon.

"Yes…" I trail off not sure where exactly this conversation is heading.

He starts pacing the small area of the room while running his fingers through his hair. It's a habit he has for when he is nervous. Why is he so nervous?

"So you know they are going to match me soon, right?"

"Yes. The rules the Team made say that everyone has to be on their way to making more babies by the end of their 25th year so they match you at the beginning so that you have had a year by then to hopefully knock some woman up." Of course I know these things. I have been here longer than he has, after all.

"What if it wasn't just some woman?" he asks looking directly in my eyes. I am not sure I like where he is going with this. What if he already found someone? Wouldn't he have already mentioned her before? We are best friends!

"Did you already have a woman in mind?" Honestly, I'm not sure I even want to know the answer to that. My heart would be absolutely shattered if he found someone. Granted, I wouldn't say anything to him. He wants to live by the rules of the Team. I don't. He doesn't see a problem with having kids for the sake of, hopefully, producing the genes for the cure, and I do.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about…" he is cut off by the sound of the bunker sirens blaring. It must be time for our monthly drill. Every month each bunker does an emergency drill to make sure everyone knows what they need to know in the event that we have to get out of our bunker and head to the common bunker. I am not sure what kind of event they are expecting, but the rules say we have to do it, so everyone goes.

"Can we finish this after the drill?"

"Yeah, sure. Just… I really need to talk to you, okay? As soon as we are done?" I nod, trying to placate him, hoping more than anything that he hasn't already found someone. But, that's the selfish part of me. I would much rather he found someone he genuinely liked than to be stuck with whoever the Team matches him with.

We go about our drills, which is, honestly, just everyone heading down the tunnels that connect the bunkers. The tunnels are small, only big enough to fit two people, side-by-side in a line. It smells like the damp earth that is on the walls and ceiling of it and it is dark. Very dark. After making it to the main bunker, we are expected to assemble into certain groups where the Team makes sure everyone has made it safely. After this happens, the drill is deemed complete, unless a big mess happens or we haven't done it in a timely manner. Apparently this drill was done well because they release us quickly. I follow the slow moving line back to B2, where I wait to spot Peeta coming through the tunnel. Once I see him, we make our way back down to the room we were at. I almost shrug off our meeting, ready to sleep and not really anticipating this conversation, but his anxious expression stops me.

"So, before the drill you were saying…" I trail off, looking at him trying to decipher what is going on in his head.

"Yes. Okay. So, you know I am turning 25 and they are going to match me, unless I match myself. Well, I know how you feel about this whole matching process anyway, but I was thinking I would rather find myself someone than have them stick me with someone ridiculous." He's looking at me expectantly. I just can't figure out what he expects of me. Is he expecting me to be happy about this or is he expecting anger? I just can't tell.

"Okay…"

"Well, what if we matched up together?" I am dumbfounded.

Seeing my shocked face, he starts rambling.

"Look, I know you are only 22, and you don't have to be matched up with anyone for another three years. I also know how you feel about this whole ordeal, and how much you hate the fact that you even have to be in this mess. It sucks, honestly. I am already at the age where I have to abide by the rules so I am kind of stuck, and I know in asking you this, I am asking you to be stuck too, when I am sure you would much rather spend the next few years trying to figure out how to get above ground. But…" he pauses, taking in my still shocked expression. I am sure my face shows my confusion. He wants to be matched with me? I mean, I think I am in love with him and all, but if he doesn't love me I don't want him to be stuck with me when there is a potential for a deep feeling with his match, since they do it based on actual data. I don't even want to be matched. I don't want to be with anyone because I am forced to.

"But," he continues, "You are my best friend. There is no one else I would rather be matched with than you. I don't want them to match me with some vapid girl and have the Team expect me to…ya know… have babies with her. I don't turn 25 for a couple of months, so at least think about it. If you say no, there will be no hard feelings, but I will be forced to be data matched. If it's not you that I am going to get to choose, then it doesn't really matter who they stick me with, alright?" He is still looking at me. It seems like he's holding something back, and I am wondering if it's something he thinks that may change my mind. Whether it would be in his favor or not, he keeps it to himself.

"Okay. Just let me think about it. I understand where you are coming from… I just need some time." That's the only reply I can give him.

Later that night, I am laying in my bed, thinking. After we parted, there were so many thoughts running through my head, and they are still twirling around like a kaleidoscope in my brain. So many pros and cons, and different scenarios just plunging through. What would happen if I say yes and miss my chance to escape because he doesn't want to? What if I say no and our relationship changes, even though he said it wouldn't? What if I say yes, get knocked up, and die and leave the kid alone in the world, which is inevitable under the current circumstances? What if I choose to be with him and he never returns my feelings? I know love is a small thing to be worrying about at a time like this, but if I get to choose him and he never loves me, then I may as well stay alone and give him his chance at what little happiness could be found in this world right now. I am not sure I would be able to take that type of rejection when I would already be rejecting my own opinions on the matter. Also, why am I even worrying about this when survival is a bigger issue to deal with?

When I finally fall into a fitful sleep, the only thought I have left is If it's not you that I am going to get to choose, then it doesn't really matter who they stick me with.