Peeta answered his door in Victor's Village. Gale was there, looking worried. "She's gone again!"

"I know." Peeta said quietly. "She'll come back."

"I don't think she will. She stays out longer and longer, every time… Peeta… Twelve isn't her home anymore, is it?"

"No." Peeta reached over to an end-table in his foyer, and produced a large basket of food. "For Mrs Everdeen. And you'll find another for your family, waiting at your place. Take it to her for me, please?"

"You can go yourself, you know." Gale pointed out. "She doesn't blame you."

"Nobody does." Peeta admitted. "And that's almost the worst part."

Gale took the food for Katniss' mother, left the basket for his own. "Tell me if she comes here?"

"I will." Peeta promised.

And for a split second, until the door closed, Peeta could see Gale's face change. He knows I'm lying.

Peeta came into his kitchen, and knelt down to nudge the narrow shoulders curled in a ball by the fireplace. "I wish you'd visit Gale, at least once in a while. Gale has five more mouths to feed and an eleven hour workday. He doesn't need to worry about you as well. I don't like lying to him. Not even for you."

Katniss didn't move. She slept a lot now. "So let me go."

"The door isn't locked."

"You know what I mean."

"No, I really don't." Peeta said honestly. "You come and go often enough. How am I keeping you here? I won't deny I'd make you stay if I could, because I honestly think you won't come back one day. Gale agrees. That's why he's in such a panic."

"I won't starve. Not in my woods."

"No, you won't. Not if you don't want to. But there's no reason you should starve in my kitchen, either… And yet, you don't eat." Peeta sighed. "Maybe that's what I'm worried about."

She said nothing.

Peeta tried again. "Why won't you see your friend, Katniss?" He asked quietly. "Did something happen with Gale?"

She didn't answer for a long time, before finally she nodded.

Peeta let out a breath hard. "I think I can guess what it was. But it's the same thing that happened between us before I left. You still come here."

Katniss said nothing. For now, at least.

"I wouldn't blame you if you hated me." Peeta said quietly. "You're not the most open person when it comes to feelings, and I poured my heart out all over the place. On live television. It's not fair to you. In my defence I expected to be dead by now, but I wouldn't blame you if you hated me for it."

Katniss said nothing.

Gale wasn't wrong. Katniss had been spending more and more time past the perimeter. Her loyalty to her mother was always out of obligation since her father died, and now it was growing thinner every day, without Prim there to keep them together. With the Hob closed, everyone had to apply for extra, back-breaking shifts. Gale in particular had a lot of mouths to feed. He couldn't search the woods for Katniss.

But not long after Peeta returned, the fence had been electrified again. Darius was feeling the eyes of the Capitol on him.

Victor's Village backed onto the woods, and Peeta was able to let Katniss hop his own fence and reach the woods that way. But the extra security, and the Hob being shut down, meant she couldn't bring her 'kills' back with her. The only person she could feed in the woods was herself. And she knew it too. Peeta had been feeding all the people that the Hob kept alive, spreading his winnings around.

Katniss knew Peeta wouldn't let her mother starve. She could have left the District entirely and not missed anything or anyone in it, except for Gale… And Peeta. When she came in from the wilderness, she checked on him. He always fed her, though she hadn't been aware of hunger since Prim died. She was never a healthy weight, and no matter what delicious meal Peeta had painstakingly prepared for her, she could barely taste it anymore.

Katniss observed that he wasn't eating much himself. She wondered if it was solidarity with her or guilt. Most days, she didn't have it in her to care.

But there was one thing that forced Katniss to come back. It was the same thing that compelled Peeta to let her hide from everyone else in his home.

Gale limped home from the double shift; feeling pulverised. His wages were burning a hole in his pocket. It would be enough to buy enough rice and cabbage to keep his siblings fed for another few days. Long enough for him to work another double shift.

Having the Hob closed was keeping the Entire District under heel. Gale had been able to parlay a rabbit into enough food to do the same job; and it didn't make him ache half this much. He hadn't been in the woods for weeks; and it felt like he was starving in a far more fundamental way.

And he was starving for Katniss too. He couldn't remember a time he'd gone this long without seeing her.

Hazelle met her eldest son at the door. "Gale." She said with a smile. "You look miserable. I'll draw a bath for you."

"Worth it, to keep the kids alive." Gale groaned. "But you shouldn't waste the firewood. Enough fire to heat up a bath for me? Save it for winter. I just need to lie down for a minute."

"Ohh, we can afford it." Hazelle commented. "Peeta stopped by. He wanted you to know Katniss was okay… And he dropped off a gift."

"Gift?" Gale came in, and his eyes bugged out. There was a basket of food on the table. Enough food to let the kids sleep through the night for a week. More food than Gale could earn in a month. And it was so much more than cabbage and rice. Actual fruit. Loaves of bread.

Gale couldn't help but feel a pang. It's so easy for Peeta now. Gale pushed that thought away instantly. Whatever else it may have been for him, 'easy' is not the word.

"I'm going over there." Gale said.

"Why?" Hazelle demanded. "To tell him you don't want charity? Or to say thanks?"

Not sure yet. Gale admitted to himself.

Hazelle grabbed her coat quickly. "I'm going with you."

"I don't need someone to hold me back."

"Yes, you do." Hazelle said. "I know you'd rather starve than accept help, but the kids aren't so particular. If you aren't going to do it, someone should thank him."

The door to his house in Victor's Village wasn't locked. Gale led the way in slowly, Hazelle at his heels. There was music echoing through the house. Elegant formal music. Gale followed it, and came into a large room; where Peeta was centre stage. Around the edges, there were Stylists, there were cameras, there were a few Avox, serving drinks to all the people that Gale had never seen before…

And right in the middle of the room was Peeta, with his arms around Effie.

Hazelle covered her mouth with one hand, smothering a laugh. Gale's head tilted, trying to process this, and after a few moments of watching them sway; it finally made sense: Effie was teaching Peeta how to dance.

Gale was still staring blankly, when one of the Stylists noticed Gale and let out a trill. "Ooh, new people! Peeta, is this one of your staff? Because he's tracking coal dust into your house." The man with bright green hair and purple eyebrows snapped his fingers quickly, and the Avox snapped to work, hurrying to the hallway, scrubbing the polished floors.

Peeta turned. "Gale!" He blurted. "Great to see you; um… what brings you by?"

Gale shifted from foot to foot as the Avox shined his shoes on the spot. "Well, I came to say something, but I'll be darned if I can remember what it was just now..."

Peeta's eyes flicked around at the bizarre scene. "Yeah, um… Give me a minute. Meet me in the kitchen?"

The kitchen was empty, which surprised Gale. But there was tray after tray of finger foods in easy reach of the door, ready for the Avox to serve the assembled company upstairs.

Gale had to admit, the feeling of jealousy was there. The jealous anger of poor, broken-down people for the rich and well-fed. Gale was still aching in places he didn't know he had, after ten hours of trying to claw coal from the rock without a break, or a meal. Seeing Peeta in his luxury house, learning how to slow-dance; while tray after tray of luxury food was passed around? The divide between the rich and the poor in Twelve was never more apparent.

Peeta came in a moment later. "Sorry about that… The house has been sitting empty for more than seventy years. The Capitol always make a spectacle of the latest Victor, so they sent a crew of decorators to make it pretty; and of course, that brings the cameras; so that bring the stylists… And the Decorators all had support staff of their own; so it became something of a circus."

"Effie seemed to be in her element." Hazelle observed.

"Yeah, the dance lessons? The Camera Techs all wanted to run 'color tests' or some such. Something about my skin tone, versus natural light… Effie's been prepping me for the Victory Tour. Banquets include dancing; and I don't know how; so I need lessons. Effie is an Escort. She finally has someone to Escort twice, so she's getting awful protective of her job…" Peeta trailed off when he noticed the abrasions on Gale's face and hands. He'd had a hard day and could care less about how Peeta looked on television. "C-Can I get you anything?"

Gale was about to tell Peeta what he thought of the whole entourage, when he noticed the kitchen counter. The huge collection of food was… divided. There were empty baskets on the counter. Baskets like the one sitting on the table at the Hawthorne household.

He's making other deliveries. Gale thought. To who?

Peeta noticed him looking. "Um, Gale… The Webbers are your neighbors, right? Can I ask you to drop that off to them? I kind of had an awkward moment with their kid today…"

"Awkward moment?" Gale asked.

Peeta winced. "I saw them on their way to school. Their daughter turns twelve the day after tomorrow. I-uh, I wished her a happy birthday, and she kind of… Burst into tears."

Gale swiftly understood. "First time her name goes in the bowl?"

"Families with kids are sort of… afraid of me, now. I know for a fact that her father traded at the Hob; and… I thought if…" Peeta's voice was shaking.

"You thought if you sent them a care package, then maybe they wouldn't need Tesserae." Gale finished. "I'll make the delivery."

Peeta said nothing for a long moment. He looked like he was waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

"I hear you're making deliveries to the Everdeen's as well." Hazelle commented, breaking the awkward silence. "Among others."

Gale's ears pricked up. "I remember, before you left, you thought that she'd never accept anything from you, if came back…"

"Katniss wouldn't. Her mother is... " Peeta trailed off, unsure how to phrase it. "Rue and Thresh had a bargain, that if one of them went home, they'd look out for the other's family. I could do no less for Prim."

Gale looked at Peeta again, noticing him properly this time. The make-up was to cover things up; and in the low kitchen light, Gale could see through the attempt. Dark circles under his eyes, hunched shoulders; and his clothes were loose. Peeta was losing weight. Surrounded by food, Peeta wasn't eating.

Rich, but not well-fed. Gale realized, looking to his mother. Hazelle nodded discreetly. She'd seen it too. "Well, Peeta." Gale heard his voice say. "I just… wanted to thank you for your generosity."

Peeta looked relieved. "Oh. That's nice of you. You're welcome to stay for dinner, of course? The Circus should be back on the train by then."

"You should have said yes." Hazelle told her son as they walked home. "Peeta's still trying to process the Arena. And if neither of you had ever met Katniss, I'm quite sure you and Peeta would be great friends."

Gale shivered. "Possibly true. But if the Webber kid gets Reaped next year, and our next door neighbors feel raw about it? Is he still our best friend then? They watch the kids when you have to work the same time as me. We need the folks next door, and we need'em more than we need someone from Victor's Village."

Hazelle froze. "This is what you're thinking?"

"It's what Peeta's thinking." Gale hefted the basket for the Webbers. "About everyone in town."

Peeta had two obsessions since coming back. One was cooking. The other was painting. He went back and forth between the two. When he'd painted long enough to make his arms hurt, he returned to the kitchen, and found Katniss had returned. "Hey." He said to her.

She said nothing.

"Gale and Hazelle were here before." Peeta said. "After the team from the Capitol."

Katniss said nothing. She never stayed when company was in the house.

"Are you worried others will be able to find you, or do you just not want to see anyone else?" Peeta asked.

She was already asleep.

The next Parcel Day came; and Peeta made his appearance at the Station, passing out food. It was for the Cameras from the Capitol. Peeta had been handing out food since he'd moved into Victor's Village. Things in Twelve were tight enough that nobody refused him; but everyone knew it was his tortured conscience as much as any kindness.

Peeta delivered the Parcels to the Everdeen home personally. Mrs Everdeen waved him in and went through the parcels of food with a watery smile.

"She's okay." Peeta whispered without looking at her. "She's at my place. She doesn't stay, and she never says anything, or eat much, but she's safe."

Mrs Everdeen relaxed, but didn't look away from the parcel.

"I wouldn't blame you if you hated me." Peeta said quietly. "Because I came back and she didn't. Of course you wanted it to go the other way."

She said nothing for a while. "Peeta, it's not like you volunteered. None of this was our choice. That's the problem with the world. We don't have any choices." She rubbed her eyes a moment. "And even without all this… I always knew I'd lose Katniss the second Prim was old enough to take care of herself."

Peeta carefully avoided that. "I've heard tell about how things happened in your house after the Mine collapse. Are you… okay?"

"I wasn't cowardly. I was unwell. I'm in a better position to treat myself now, but-"

"After the Victor's Ceremony, a man from the Capitol walked me through the list of things I would receive in my winnings, for my whole life." Peeta said swiftly. "Medicine was at the top of the list. Apparently certain drugs are in high demand for Victors. For more than health reasons."

"Please, tell me you're not one of them." Mrs Everdeen said with warmth and worry.

"I'm not. But give me a list of whatever you need, and I'll promptly get sick. They can't stop me sharing food. Meds, you need to clear it with someone who can write prescriptions. Most of the doctors involved will rubber-stamp a Victor's prescription, but-"

"Stop trying so hard to make it all okay again. You won't bring her back, no matter how bad you feel." Mrs Everdeen cut him off, and squeezed his shoulder tightly; changing the subject. "I ran into your mother this morning. I gather that things are not going well at the Bakery."

"Oh?" Peeta said with careful disinterest. His mother had lost almost all her business since his return from the Arena. Prim's little story about Mother Mellark giving her youngest a black eye over bread rolls had gone national. The Mellark Bakery was mostly for the 'wealthier' side of town. With the Parcels being distributed to the Winner's District, there was no urgent need for their usual customers to visit a bakery managed by a social Pariah.

"Your mother keeps hinting that Katniss should come by. Prim always handled the shopping. Everyone liked her. Especially your father."

Peeta rolled his eyes. "My mother thinks that if Katniss comes to the Bakery, I will follow." He couldn't help the wry smirk. "She's probably right."

"You step foot in that Bakery, and your mother will declare all to be forgiven." Mrs Everdeen reminded him.

"I honestly don't know if I care." Peeta admitted. "My brothers have the sense not to… take advantage of my new Status; and they got out of that house as fast as they could. I have no idea what my father thinks. Mom is almost at my mercy for the first time; and she doesn't know how to handle it." He shrugged. "Neither do I, really."

"Do you… have anyone? On your side, I mean?" Mrs Everdeen probed gently. "Victor's Village is just you and Haymitch. I know for a fact he can't keep so much as a maid." She gave him a maternal look. "For all your sudden wealth, you've been through five kinds of hell; and you're still seventeen. You're all alone in that house, Peeta."

I was alone in a house crowded with relatives, this side of two months ago. Peeta thought. Aloud, he kept it neutral. "Not always."

Another few days passed. Peeta had responsibilities before his Victory Tour. Katniss came and went unpredictably. When she was there, she stayed on his hearth. He kept the fire burning for her as the weather turned. The kitchen was still the coldest room in his house.

"I wouldn't blame you if you hated me." He said again, quietly. "If I had just killed Cato the first time I had the chance; Prim might be here right now."

Katniss said nothing. Peeta leaned against the side of the fireplace. He didn't sleep well anymore, and the warm stone lulled him into a doze by the sound of her breathing. When he woke up, she was gone.

Two more days, and the routine held. She would appear at his fire; and he would confess another reason why she should hate him. She would say nothing, and he would close his eyes and fall into a doze; only to wake after she had gone. On the second day, he awoke with a blanket over him.

On the third day, she was back by the fireplace. A mangy cat was at her side. "Prim talked about Buttercup." He said quietly. "We told each other all the stories we had to tell."

Katniss said nothing.

"The last thing she said to me…" Peeta whispered. "Prim's last word was for me to look after you."

"I know." Katniss whispered, and Peeta felt buoyed by it. She would often go for days without speaking.

"If she had told me to stay away, I'd still want to look after you." Peeta admitted, though it wasn't a surprise. He'd said it to her every time she came by.

"I know." Katniss sat up slowly, achingly. "I was so mad at my mom for being like this when Dad died. She just faded out, right in front of us. I was screaming in her face, and she couldn't hear me. Then it happened to me. If Gale hadn't been whipped, I'd still be curled up in a ball on the floor of my house."

Peeta sat with her, stoked the fire. "You love him, don't you." It wasn't a question.

"Please don't ask me to sort that out. I can barely remember my own name anymore." Katniss stared into the fire.

Peeta nodded. "Okay."

Long silence. They could spend hours like this, not speaking; staring at the fire. Peeta got up and went to work in his kitchen, preparing a meal. It took him an hour or so, and she didn't move the entire time. Stews, soups, breads… more than Katniss would usually eat in a week. He put a plate beside her, but she didn't reach for it. The cat was not so particular, eating without hesitation.

"He follows me into the Woods sometimes." Katniss said of the cat. "I don't know why. I still say we should have drowned him and made mittens. But Prim adored him. He never stops hissing at me, but he keeps following me into the woods."

"You and that cat are not so different." Peeta commented. "Hardened survivalists who happen to love a particular someone more than anything else in the world." He tossed the cat a few more morsels and sat beside them. "They think animals don't have emotions, but they do. Maybe the cat's trying to figure out how to live without Prim, just like you are. Why wouldn't he want your company for that?"

More silence. Katniss went into her numb fugue for a while, and came out of it when Peeta added more firewood. She saw the shadows dance, and realized she'd been curled up, staring numbly at the fire for hours. It was actually getting dark. They'd spent all day sitting by the fireplace, not speaking.

Katniss said something finally. "I don't know why you care about me. I don't know why Gale would. I'm not loveable in any way. It's not a personality flaw. It's a deliberate action on my part. Because my worst fear was to be left like this. I loved my dad. But if loving someone means you were so completely breakable, isn't it better to just go without? If only to keep breathing?" Katniss shook her head. "And then it happened. When your worst fear comes true, you don't fear anything anymore. But then you and Gale… The only thing worse than this would be to have it happen again. And again." She looked back at him. "About halfway through the Games, I realized you were doomed. Because you weren't playing to survive. And I realized that if it came down to you and Prim, you'd never 'try to win', purely because of me. Your love for me doomed you to die horribly, and somehow it still turned out worse. That happened to you, Prim got killed, Gale got the lash; and all because we care about someone more than we care about ourselves."

It was the most words she'd said to him, ever. And Peeta hated himself for all of it.

"Being on my own forever doesn't frighten me, Peeta." Katniss summed up. "It's my only source of comfort."

Long silence.

"Katniss, I cannot make you eat." Peeta admitted, not moving. "I'm the only guy in the District with food, I'm a good cook, I can offer you lavish meals, piles of money, a huge house, and clothes for a Queen… But you just aren't hungry. Not for anything." He wiped a tear away. "I would give you everything you could ever want, if only you wanted something."

Katniss said nothing.

"I love you. And I loved Prim, for as long as I could. Promise me that you'll take in enough fuel to keep Prim's last words true; and I will never ask you for anything else. I won't ask you to enjoy it. I won't care if you can't even taste it. Just… Think of it as fuel, for Prim's sake."

Katniss scowled and reached for the now-cold plate, eating what Buttercup had ignored. "Silvertongue." She grumbled. "I'd strangle you for using her name to make me do what you want. But you're right. She would hate to see me like this."

Peeta nodded.

She ate silently for a while. "I come here when I dream of Prim." She finally confessed. "My father showed me an old cabin, miles away in the woods. Been there since before the Dark Days. I go out to my woods, and it's easier than being here. Prim never went to the woods with me, so there's less of her there. Back at the Everdeen house, everything is Prim. Absolutely everything brings her back. So I stay out there forever, but when I dream of Prim, in the Arena… I have to come here."

"Why?"

"I don't know." She admitted. "Maybe because I can walk through the old house and see Prim's entire life. Except for the ending. That happened far away. The only thing Prim and the Arena had in common was you."

More silence.

"What you said, about how being 'unloved' was a comfort to you?" Peeta offered finally. "Thing is, you have never gone unloved a day in your life. Even if you didn't know it, even if you didn't want it; since we were five years old, you had at least four people willing to walk through fire for you. Five, if you count your dad. Now it's three; and I'm sorry for that; but it's still more love and devotion than a lot of people get."

"More than you had with your family?" Katniss guessed.

Peeta winced, not going there.

"I don't mean to be so self-pitying." Katniss said quietly. "I just… Can't summon enough anything to let that make a difference."

"I know."

She looked over. "I do blame you." She said seriously. "If you'd just finished Cato off…" She shook her head. "What you said, before you left; about not wanting them to change you? If Prim was here right now, what would she have done to you to make it home? So I blame you. I blame Cato. I blame myself, for not volunteering sooner; and I blame Effie for not letting me volunteer after. I blame the Capitol, I blame the Gamemakers, I blame and blame and blame. I lie here counting all the people I hold responsible, and I'm dead and hollow inside by the time I'm done."

The little speech seemed to suck the life from both of them, because every word was true.

"I have deliveries to make." He said finally, and stood up. "If you ever have trouble remembering, come back here; so I can tell you: Your name is Katniss Everdeen; and you're my favorite person in the world."

Silence.

"Gods, I'm tired." Katniss lay back down and curled into her protective ball again.

"I have beds. Guest rooms. The house is huge, and I'm the only one living in it."

"I'm fine here." Katniss yawned. "I can sleep on nails these days."

"How I envy you." Peeta said grimly. "I can hardly sleep at all anymore."

That comment stayed with her, and she uncoiled later that night, creeping on silent feet to his bedroom. Peeta was having a nightmare, moaning. He wasn't thrashing around. He was paralyzed. A feeling she was familiar with.

Prim had nightmares, the day of the Reaping. Katniss thought distantly. Peeta's dozed beside me at the hearth for three days; and he never has nightmares when he's next to me.

Peeta was still twitching in his sleep, like he wanted to claw at his sheets, but the nightmare kept him trapped in place. "Katniss!" He moaned wretchedly. "...Run! Please!"

Katniss heard that and her heart hurt. His nightmares were of her. And there was no chance that she was the enemy in his head. After the Arena, his haunting nightmare was that she might be in some kind of trouble.

Part of her wanted to react the way she did to Prim's bad dreams. To go to him, wrap him up tight in her arms and ride it out.

But Peeta loved her, and Katniss couldn't encourage more of that.

Weeks passed. Katniss went to the woods, slept at the cabin her father had taken her to as a child. Prim had never been there, so it was distant enough from Katniss' broken memories. She stayed in the woods, fed herself; and came back to town once or twice a week. Common enough that Peeta could check the fireplace in his kitchen and know that she wasn't dead yet.

Peeta cooked and painted, almost obsessed with both pastimes. He was creating desperately; conjuring food to feed the whole District, one meal at a time; and the painting to exorcise his nightmares, banishing them into canvas. There were always plenty more where they came from.

Autumn got colder, and she stayed on his kitchen floor for two days in a row.

Gale had asked about her every day until the coal mines had their quota to the Capitol raised; and then he couldn't; broken down and exhausted by the double-shifts.

Katniss slept. Peeta painted. Haymitch drank. Gale worked. One way or another, they were filling in the days; as if waiting for something to happen.

Then, with three more days until the Victory Tour; it did.

Katniss had spent the night on Peeta's kitchen floor by the fire. She was shaken awake by Madge, who had scampered in the back door as silently as she could. "Wake up, Burnout. We gotta get you outta here."

"What's going on?" Katniss groaned.

"My father got a call this morning. He didn't know I was listening in. Trust me, you don't want to be here right now. Peeta has company coming for Brunch."

Katniss looked to the kitchen. A box of sugar cookies, a few rolls. He'd been up early, baking breads and rolls as he always did. But there was nothing now. Peeta had invited people over before. Hungry families that would sit in his dining room and leave with leftovers. "If he had company coming, he'd be cooking." Katniss turned over to go back to sleep.

Madge nearly picked her up and carried her. "He would, if he knew it was happening."

Peeta returned to his house, and set the empty basket down. He'd been delivering food. He told himself he wasn't picking houses with kids in particular, but he was. Peeta found he couldn't walk past the school anymore; wondering which kids would be the next ones reaped. During school hours, he delivered food to their houses; as an apology or a pledge he wasn't sure.

But when he came in, he found two Peacekeepers waiting in his foyer… and two other guards in black at the staircase. Black uniforms, instead of the usual Peacekeeper white.

Presidential Guards.

President Snow is sitting in my dining room, reading a book. Peeta thought numbly.

Snow noticed him instantly, and raised a finger for Peeta to wait, eyes on his book. Snow read to the end of the page, and very deliberately set a bookmark in place. Peeta was still pole-axed in the doorway.

The visitor set his book down. "Ahh, Mister Mellark. Please, come in." Snow invited Peeta into his own house jovially.

"Mister President." Peeta said, trying to shake the pins and needles that had spontaneously covered his whole body. "Well, I'm not sure why you're here, but I'm sure this is a conversation my father never had."

"No, I imagine not." Snow agreed; and gestured for Peeta to sit across from him. There was a plate of cookies on the table. "I hope you don't mind, but I had my people check the kitchen. It's odd how often people forget that Presidents need to eat as much as anyone else."

Peeta's eyes fixated on the cookies. He'd made them the night before. They had been sitting on his kitchen counter. The Kitchen. Where Katniss was.

"Mister Mellark, you and I haven't had the opportunity to speak, beyond a momentary encounter at the Victory Celebration." Snow continued politely. "So, usually there are protocols and procedures… I think this will go better for us both if we just be honest with each other."

Peeta nodded, fighting for cool. "As you say."

Snow smirked, sensing advantage. "You go first."

He's not here to talk about the weather. Peeta racked his brains, trying to find a subject that was honest, but unlikely to get him flogged. "I'm told Seneca Crane is… dead."

"He is."

"May I ask why?" He already knew, but wanted to hear Snow's reasoning.

"He made a mistake that many in his Role have made at one time or another. He was under the Impression that the Hunger Games was a television show, or an athletic competition. He forgot their true purpose." Snow's eyes narrowed. "You, on the other hand… I watched your Games with great interest. You knew exactly what game you were playing, from the moment that cannon went off."

"I didn't expect to win." Peeta admitted. "Or at least, I didn't expect to survive."

"And yet you have done both those things." Snow commented. "And most people have seen it as a boy simply not wanting to kill; or as a young man who took the Victory, and lost his lady love. A tragic love story that everyone can get behind… But there are some, some few; who have watched your tactic, and seen… an example to follow." Snow's voice was colder than his namesake. "A way to win the Game, simply by refusing to play." Snow scoffed a little. "And if a boy from District Twelve, of all places; can win something like the Hunger Games, purely by refusing to play by the rules… Then what is to prevent them from trying the same trick?"

Snow drew a handful of photographs from within his jacket, and slid them across the desk at Peeta. The boy looked, and saw something chilling. Pictures of workers. In Lumber Yards. In Steel Mills. In factories.

And in every photo, some of the workers were sitting down, on the floor. Not fighting back; but not obeying, or taking part in their work. Just like Peeta had done with Cato in the Arena.

"You have uncovered a singular truth, Mister Mellark." Snow commented. "Something that Seventy Four Years of peaceful Capitol Rule has never seen before. You've shown that Resistance can be a Passive state. But, of course…"

He was leading him somewhere, and it didn't take a genius to guess where. "But of course, a riot can be put down in a straight fight. A Sit-Down is something else." Peeta said. "If people just sit down, and you crack their skulls for it; then you become the villain in the story."

"Exactly. But if I let things go as they are; then I have a greater problem. Because if people can organize work-stoppages; then they can organize something less… submissive. Obviously, I can't punish people for doing nothing. Not the usual way. I have to put them back to work. I have to find ways to… motivate them; before they decide to take the next step."

Peeta swallowed.

"What would motivate you, I wonder?" Snow asked, as though thinking out loud. "It's not as though you did a good job of keeping the important people in your life a secret-"

"You take one step towards Katniss and I'll kill myself." Peeta said instantly. "I'll make it as obvious and as loud as I possibly can. Your own granddaughter will be convinced you did it with your bare hands. Wonder how people will react to that?"

Snow's eyes flashed. "Well now. There's an interesting angle. One I hadn't considered."

"You know I'll do it." Peeta said with a certainty he didn't really feel. "I was willing to do it in the Arena if it came down to me and Prim. For Katniss? Won't even blink. If me being dead was in any way a good thing for you, I imagine I would have had a tragic accident already. But nobody will believe that, and that's why we're having cookies right now."

"They are excellent cookies." Snow agreed. "But as it happens, I am less concerned."

"How so?"

"Your threat, I am sure, is quite genuine. As was your intention in the Arena, if things had gone a different way. But all your strategies make sure that the only one put at risk is you." Snow rose. "No. You do not have it in you to build a power base, or rouse rabble. Because you know that if you do, they will be in danger. And you can't bring yourself to put others in danger. Only yourself."

"True enough. But if you do move on Katniss, or her family, or my own… I'll follow through; and your sit-downs become uprisings."

"Stalemate." Snow agreed. "One where neither of us has to do unpleasant things. I can live with that... for as long as you can."

"Meaning?"

Snow smiled at him from the door. "Enjoy your Victory Tour, young man."

Snow left him on that. Peeta ran to the doorway as quietly as he could, tracking the man as he left the house. The second his security team shut the door, Peeta bolted for the kitchen. She wasn't there. He searched the corridor. No sign of her. He ran for the stairs.

Katniss was in Peeta's bedroom, looking over the path to the street. Victor's Village was a ghost town. There was Snow, walking to his Car, with security flanking him. But none of them were looking up. None of them were looking for Katniss Everdeen, with her father's bow, at the window behind Snow. He was the only one with white hair. A clear target.

Peeta always left the window open when he slept, even in winter. She had pulled it wider to climb in once the guards had searched the house on their arrival, and pushed it back where it was so they wouldn't notice when they left. She'd been stalking jittery woodland animals her whole life, and walked on silent shadowfeet.

The window was only open a few inches. If she opened it further, his people would notice. She had three inches of clearance, and that meant she had only a few moments where Snow would be in range.

A small window, but an easy shot, by her standards.

With a totally expressionless face, Katniss drew back her bow. "For you, Prim." She whispered...

And Peeta tackled her from behind. "No!" He hissed, grabbing at the arrowshaft. "Don't you dare!"

Katniss was on him immediately, teeth bared. "Stay out of this, dammit! That snake has to die!"

They were wrestling, raging at each other, while being as silent as possible. Nobody wanted the sharp ears outside to notice them.

Peeta hadn't been eating as much as he should, but Katniss had been half-starving herself slowly since Prim. He held her down like she was made of feathers; arms around her in a bearhug that lasted until they both heard the car outside pull away.

Katniss stopped fighting instantly, knowing she'd missed her chance. "I hate you." She said to him, exhausted again. "Why are you protecting him?"

"I'm not protecting him." Peeta hissed back, letting her up. "I'm protecting you! You have any idea what would happen to you if you'd taken that shot, succeed or fail?!"

"I don't care!" Katniss suddenly started screaming. "I DON'T CARE! She's dead! Prim is dead!" It was the first time she had said it out loud. She suddenly couldn't stop saying it. "She's Dead and she's gone and she's not coming back! She's dead, Peeta!"

"And you're not! And I have to keep it that way!" He yelled back desperately. "It's Not Just You! I'd be dead, you'd be dead, my family, your mother; Gale… Hell, probably half of Twelve would be carpet bombed in retaliation if it happened here!"

"I don't care about any of that either!" Katniss yelled, and swiftly put a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

Dead silence.

"You really mean that, don't you?" Peeta whispered, so… terribly, horribly sad.

Katniss was already running.

Gale was exhausted. With the Hob closed, Gale had to lie about his age to get a job in the mines. Nobody believed that, but they didn't stop him. Gale was working double shifts to feed his family.

So it took a while, at the frantic tapping at his window, for him to wake up and open the window for her. "Katniss! Are you okay?!"

Katniss looked haunted. "I haven't been in the woods this whole time. I was also at Peeta's." She told him. "This won't mean anything to you, but... I didn't mean it. The things I said to him? I didn't mean it. I do care about Twelve. And you more than any of them."

Gale stared blankly at her 'confession', and pulled her in through the window. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Katniss threw her arms around him. "I didn't mean it, Gale! You have to believe me!"

"I do." Gale promised instantly, trying to calm her. "I do."

Katniss broke down sobbing. "I don't know why I say and do the things I do anymore." She confessed. "I don't understand myself anymore. Not without Prim."

Gale hugged her tightly. "The people who know you best are still here. If you don't know, we still do."

Peeta was packing for his Victory Tour. Katniss had not returned since the day Snow had visited. He kept firewood stacked by the kitchen hearth, just in case.

Now that Snow had mentioned it, Peeta suddenly saw the 'Passive Resistance' happening everywhere. The Hob had been shut down, but none of the people who traded there had been arrested. The Peacekeepers were too quick to burn it down, without taking names first. The posted reward for information was unclaimed. Hungry people, choosing to stay hungry, rather than rat on each other. The quotas on the Coal Mine were being filled precisely. Not a single lump of coal more than the Capitol demanded, no matter that there could be bonuses. Just enough to avoid the charge of disobedience.

Snow was right. Peeta thought. The people here are so hungry for change they're almost willing to do something new. They're stuck at the limit of actually doing something. A tiny push is all it would take to cross a line.

The starting day of the Tour, Haymitch came to collect him, and the two of them walked to the Station. Gale was waiting for them at the Station steps. He faced away from Peeta, speaking quickly. Anyone watching would think he was reading off the noticeboard "She's safe. She's at my place now. She says to tell you she 'didn't mean it'. In fact, it's almost the only thing she's been saying for a day and a half."

Peeta relaxed and let out a breath like he'd been holding it for a week, and turned so that anyone watching would think he was talking to Haymitch. "Gale, there's food at my place. Help yourself to whatever you can carry while I'm gone. Keep her safe."

"We're fine." Gale said immediately. He still didn't want to take charity. Not from Peeta. Not even from Katniss.

"Not for you. For the Everdeens. I had a care package that Katniss was supposed to deliver, but she didn't make it. You will see that Katniss and her mother get the food? And anything you want to take as payment for the delivery, you can have."

Gale gave a single nod, still not looking at him, and turned to leave without another word.

"What just happened?" Haymitch asked, looking back and forth between them.

"Believe it or not, I think Gale and I just formed an Alliance." Peeta admitted grimly.

"In my day, when two young men loved the same woman, they'd have the decency to hate each other." Haymitch scoffed.

"I'm not that lucky."

Author's Note:

Here we go again!

First, a few points of order: Many thanks to everyone who commented on Part One of this AU. You're the reason I decided to come back for the other two books.

Secondly, you'll find that Parts Two and Three (Both of which will be added onto this story as chapters, rather than broken up into separate stories) are more in-depth than Part One. The reason for this is because we're deep into another timeline now. Part one of the AU only had scenes where things diverged; but as of Peeta's Victory, it's all uncharted territory.

Third, I remembered too late that Gale's mom is named 'Hazelle' and not 'Hazel'. She's already in part one that way, and she is not a major character, so going back to correct it in her few conversations is not a priority. Don't be confused by the correct spelling from here on out; it's still the same woman.

Now, onto new business: We learned in Mockingjay the sorts of things that were expected of Victors. Peeta and Katniss' 'romance' protected them from that, because Snow wanted Katniss to perform a very different service to the Capitol. With Peeta as a solo Victor, that's now changed somewhat. How it has changed is rather the point of the story, so I won't say more just yet.