After Gale accepts my dinner invitation, he offers to walk me to the Market. Along the way we are stopped by old acquaintances and friends. I'm grateful we don't have to talk to each other. Thom finds us perusing some eggplant. He and Gale hug each other tightly, patting each other's backs. Thom's wife is expecting a baby, and they moved back to 12 to raise their child. He holds a watermelon to his belly to show us how big his wife has gotten, and earns a dirty look from the woman running the stand. We part ways, and suddenly it's just me and Gale.

"Catnip," Gale grabs my hand and stops me.

"I don't want to do this here," I say back.

"But you do want to do this?"

"Can we just go back and make it through dinner and take it from there?"

"I'll take it," he says.

When we reach Victor's Village, we stop at my house so I can change before heading back to Peeta's. Johanna is already there, and we catch her punching Haymitch in the arm as we enter the house. Peeta is back on his feet. He assures me my mother's ointment has worked wonders, but I know part of this is keeping up appearances with Gale. He doesn't know that Gale saw him last night, wrapped around me on floor, shivering and heaving. While we were out, Peeta made some garlic knot bread, which, while it smells delicious, has left the house sweltering. Only a Mellark would run the oven in the dog days of summer. I simmer tomatoes on the stove and slice the eggplant. Peeta tosses some spices in the pot - oregano, basil, thyme. I fry the eggplant in a skillet on the stove. I add onion and peppers, some summer squash. I let everything simmer in oil until the vegetables are tender.

Peeta scoops everything into a large serving platter. He places a green salad on the table, the bread, and the eggplant concoction. Johanna sits in Effie's seat. She doesn't know that. Gale sits between Johanna and me. Dinner starts out pleasantly enough. Everyone is courteous and polite as the food is passed around the table. Within a few minutes though, Johanna is throwing food and Haymitch is laughing so hard he almost chokes on his bread. The evening is relaxing and I make eye contact with Gale as we are both losing it over Johanna's impersonation of Caesar Flickerman. She is interviewing each of us and asking humiliating questions, like forced game of truth or dare that none of us can weasel our ways out of. I feel like I have my friend back.

As the evening draws to a close, Gale hovers at the doorway while Johanna makes her way back to their house. Peeta and Haymitch are inside at the table - Peeta tidying up and Haymitch supervising. Gale leans against the frame and his smoky gray eyes meet mine. "Can I walk you home?"

I look back at Peeta, who feels my eyes on him and smiles at me as he continues to talk to Haymitch. I am home. But I can't say those words aloud, so I just manage, "I'm not going home." Gale's face hardens a little and he nods his head and ducks into the summer night. Haymitch heads out soon after. Peeta and I are left standing in the kitchen, washing dishes.

After he dries and cares for the last plate, he turns to me with a grin. "Tonight was fun, huh?"

"Yeah," I smile, relieved. "Although I can't believe you admitted your dad's secret nickname for you was Peety Piper," I tease as I finish wiping off the table.

"If nothing, it was a compliment to my piping skills on the cakes!" he exclaims.

"Sure it was…" I laugh and throw the rag at him. He charges me and wraps his arms around my waist, lifting me into the air. I squeal as he starts poking at my sides.

"I thought you said Katniss Everdeen doesn't squeal." I'm struggling to breathe through the laughter. This is a normal moment, like normal people have. I like it. Peeta's smile drops and his face becomes serious. His eyes drop to my mouth. I feel my stomach flip and I know where this is going. If I'm going to stop this, I should stop it now. The backs of my legs are pressed against the table, and he slides his hand along my face. He hooks his fingers in my hair and sweeps it back. I can feel his heart pounding, and mine is matching in full force.

I pull myself up onto the table and he settles between my legs. This is eerily like the office, and I think we are both there in our minds. He drags his mouth down my neck, and my breathing quickens. My hand runs up his back and neck until it finds a home in his curls. I tug them lightly and squeeze Peeta's hips with my legs. He lays a trail of featherlight kisses from my collarbone to my jawline. He pulls his face forward and his mouth hovers inches from mine. He leans in closer, but his lips are still just ghosting my own. It's not enough. I pull him into me to close the space, and his mouth crashes into mine. This kiss is different than any of our others. There is an urgency to it, a heat that is burning in my stomach and shooting flames throughout my body. I pull his hair a little harder and he hooks his arms under my legs. In one smooth motion I am laying on the table with Peeta is on top of me, one leg propped between mine, kissing me like I may never let him again.

His tongue traces my lips and I open my mouth slightly to let him in. This only intensifies things, and I am pulling at his body trying to get it flush with mine. His tongue dips deeper into my mouth, and I can feel a soft sigh escape my lips. Peeta breathes into my mouth and it drives me wild. He shifts the leg between mine up, and when it presses into me a loud moan escapes my lips. Peeta pulls away and looks at me. His lips are swollen, his eyes are bright and wide, and there is a smile plastered across his face that I can't help but mirror back to him. My hair is spread around my head on the table, and Peeta can't stop looking at me. I blush under his gaze.

Peeta stands up and helps me off the table. I straighten my clothes and run my fingers through the tangles in my hair. Peeta blushes and tucks a loose strand behind my ear.

"I'm wide awake," he laughs.

"Me too," I say. We head into the living room and lay our heads on opposite armrests. I remove his prosthetic, and our legs tangle comfortably together. We talk for hours. I tell him about my adventures in the woods. He tries to convince me there is a difference between cake flour and regular flour. I don't buy it. We talk about Haymitch, and how he will do here without Effie. We speculate about Johanna and Gale. Gale's eyes seemed to be on me most of the night, but we both caught Johanna watching him during dinner. We take bets on when Thom's wife will pop, and the gender of the baby. I tell Peeta I'm thinking about a garden, and he is really excited about the idea.

When the conversation lulls, Peeta's mind starts drifting. I know where he is going, and I try to keep him here with me. He pulls himself up. "Katniss, about last night…"

"Don't," I say. I sit up and hug my legs to my body.

"I don't really remember a lot about it, which means it must have been bad."

"It wasn't that bad, Peeta." I try to comfort him, but he isn't interested.

"You shouldn't lie to me, Katniss," he says resignedly. After a while, he whispers , "Did I hurt you?"

"Oh no. God no, Peeta. You didn't hurt me. You hurt a chair, but you've got 5 just like it so, I think we can manage." I try to joke but he's not interested.

"This is why I was trying not to be alone with you. If things had gotten away from us…"

I cut him off before he can finish. "If I had been here earlier, it never would have gotten as far as it did." Most of the time, when Peeta has a flashback, it only lasts for a minute or two, and he still has a grip on reality the whole time. It's exhausting for him. The blood drains from his face and he'll sleep for hours afterward, but that's usually the extent of things. This was the first time he'd fully lost control since coming back to 12. "If I had been here, things would have been easier to hold on to. You could have talked to me. I would have kept you grounded. It was my fault for pushing you away for weeks. And Effie leaving. It was all of it."

"Katniss, I..."

"Don't apologize to me again. You didn't do this. Snow did. And he's gone now, and we can just get through it together. We keep each other safe. Let me keep you safe."

Peeta nods his head. The night is finally getting to us, and his eyes are closed now more than they are open. He leans back again, resting his head on the armrest. This time I crawl forward and lay my head on his chest. It's like last night, but in reverse. He tangles his fingers in my hair, and as he starts to doze, he whispers, "I like you here."

"Me too."