Disclaimer: All names, characters, and places belong to their respective owners. I only own my original content. This is not beta-ed, so please keep that in mind before hand. I am continuing this story as part of a piece originally posted during Prompt in Panem's final session.

My mother looks Peeta, expressionless, and sighs, "Well then, I suppose it is best that the two of you marry. I would prefer that we keep this from Prim, though. She is young and subjects like this are delicate. I hardly need your little sister thinking that do-," she chokes a little on her tea, "doing what you did leads to prosperity."

That's all? My mother's only thoughts about the altering event in her eldest daughter's life is how it would reflect on her youngest?

"I will do right by her, Ms. Everdeen," Peeta gives her a reassuring smile, "and I will do right by this child."

My mother gently smiles back, "I am sure you will, Mr. Mellark. Tell me, do you intent on bringing my daughter out of Twelve?"

Peeta goes stiff, his eyes widening, "I mea-an," he stutters, "if you think it would be best…"

My mother shakes her head, "I have no issue with the idea, I am simply wondering what you plan to do."

"You don't care if I leave?" I ask, a little incredulous. My relationship with my mother is far from ideal, but she knew that if I left town I would rarely be back.

She purses her lips, "Katniss, the best I could wish for you is to get out of this town. That's what your father wanted for you, and it's not as if I am in any place to convince you of doing otherwise."

I slump a little in my chair. She is right, my father had always wished to get the rest of us out of this place - move to a big city or California and make a life for ourselves. He hadn't gotten the chance, but now, if nothing else, I could provide that opportunity to myself and my child - even if I had to live under Peeta's authority.

Three Months Prior

After Peeta introduces himself, he offers, invites himself rather, on a tour of the woods.

"Who better to show me around these parts than a regular rule breaker like yourself," he says with a cheeky grin.

Everything about him is infuriating. The self assured confidence, the obnoxious good looks, the naturally flirty demeanor. He reads like one of the characters from the romance novels Prim was always borrowing from the rotating library.

"So," he says, taking a long look at me, "you haven't told me your name."

I laugh, "I'm not so sure a rule breaker like myself ought to." The leaves crunch under my feet, it's getting dark and I really should be heading home. But seeing as Mellark knew me to be a hunter, it was best to patronize him. The last thing I needed was to anger a man of his station, even if he seemed harmless I knew what he could do to me.

"Ah yes, have to retain a certain air of mystery. That is what all the good marital advice says, after all," he laughs, springing forward before turning back to face me.

I snort, "Marital advice? Well that's hardly relevant, as you certainly are not my husband. Though any woman in that square would love to take you as their own."

"Then who is your husband, do tell," he raises an eyebrow, "if you have one."

I stare at him. My mother had always told me that nothing good ever came of a strange man asking if you were unwed. Unmarried women are up to be taken, she said.

"My husband's name is Hawthorne," I lie thickly.

"Ms. Hawthorne, then," he ponders, absentmindedly kicking the dirt under his feet, "does your husband know how you choose to spend your afternoons?"

I look up at the sky, ignoring his question. It's getting cloudy out there, just two days ago there was a storm brewing but it had passed. The sky look "I think it is going to rain, we really should head back."

"If you insist, Ms. Hawthorne," he sighs, staring at the raindrop that lands directly on his nose, "I suppose I have a meeting as well-"

At that the sky cracks in a fit of lighting and the heavens break open, large raindrops pour over the earth

We had wandered too far off to make it back in these conditions, I had let this man distract me when I knew it wasn't right to go this far out when it might rain.

"Sorry," he spits through the water, his hair slicking against his face.

I roll my eyes and grab at his hand, "Come on," I say, "there are some cabins not too far away, we'll wait it out there."

He practically glints, "I knew you'd protect me."

Present

"It went well," Peeta says, hand on my knee as we sit on the stoop. My mother is tucked away in her bedroom, she claimed to have a headache but I knew better.

"I guess," I look at him, "she cares about my honor a whole lot less than most mothers. Although, I don't think many women in this town would cry over their daughters marrying you."

He rubs his fingers against his temples, "Did I ever tell you that one of the merchant girl's mothers offered me her daughter's virtue?"

I look at him, "Did you accept?"

"Yes," he rolls his eyes, "I took the virginity of some poor girl at the offer of her mother. Goodness, Katniss. Who do you think I am?"

"Who do I think you are?" I take him in for a moment, take a good look at the blue eyes that reeled me into this mess, "Peeta, I barely know you."

"Don't say that," he shakes his head, "we aren't strangers, greater love stories have formed in shorter amounts of time," his hand presses firmer against my leg, "Romeo and Juliet, all the classic stories."

"Yeah, Romeo and Juliet. That worked out real well."

What does he think? That we are going to fall in love and live happily ever after. Peeta is a romantic, a hopeless flirt and an all around sappy man, but he isn't naive...nor is he foolish. He is right, we aren't strangers, and what he knows about me should be enough to determine that our marriage was not going to be a thing of dreams.

"You know what I meant," he says, "I am hardly professing that we are Romeo and Juliet, I'm afraid our tale is far more common, but I just don't want you to think that I'm going to whore around on you."

"I wouldn't care, you know, if you kept a mistress. A lot of men in your station do," I shrug noncommittally, "So long as you don't bring any diseases home, that is."

He looks at me as if I stabbed him, "Katniss," he says, "don't tell me you wouldn't care, I know how you get about the other girls in town. You honestly expect me to believe that you would be perfectly fine about me whoring it up with others when we're married? Quite frankly Katniss, I don't believe you."

I turn up my nose, blushing, "I never cared if you slept with other girls."

"Oh that's a lie," he laughs, "you are a terribly jealous person."

"Me?" I cry, throwing my skirts to side and standing up, "as if you didn't look like you were about to blow off Gale's head every time you spoke to him."

"Well then I guess it's settled," he says, urging me to sit back down, "we are both terribly jealous people. Though I never minded the fooling around we did after those episodes."

I heat up as I remember what he had done to me after our last argument about Gale. The way he had curled his...

"Peeta," I hiss, my thoughts breaking as a miner passes by, his eyes drifting towards the unlikely couple on the front steps, "you can't say those things in public."

"You're already with my child," he grins, "you and me, we're rife with scandal. Nobody will care about a little inappropriate banter when we have our shotgun wedding and run off."

"About that," I say, rolling my tongue over my teeth, "I was thinking…my sister is getting older. I can't take her from my mother just now, but when the baby is - when she's older, perhaps I could bring her into our home, take her out of Twelve?"

"Of course," he says, "you hardly need to ask me that. Prim is family, and she deserves a proper education and the opportunities that will come when we marry."

"When we marry…" I look down, drifting off into the thought.

"Are you still scared?" he asks me, "about this, about us? You'll love me one day," he says hoarsely, "one day, even if it is just like family. We're going to spend our lives together, Katniss...and one day you will care about me, just like I care about you."

Three Months Prior

"So," Peeta says, throwing his wet jacket and vest onto the creaky wooden floor of the cabin, "how long do you think the storm will last?"

I shrug, trying once again to light the fire, "I don't know Peeta," I let out a frustrated sigh, "do I look like god to you?"

The cabin isn't perfect, a little leaky and at least fifty years old, but it's better than nothing. There is even a small bed in the corner, the ropes need to be tightened but the mattress is decent and there are some threadbare blankets in one of the cabinets.

He doesn't answer, just fiddles with the wet cuff of his sleeve.

"Aha!" I say, as the wood busts into a decent fire, "finally."

Peeta smiles, welcoming the heat, "You are very resourceful, you know. I guess we're stuck here for a while," he tugs at the buttons of his shirt, "I think I have a pack of playing cards in my jacket, that's something at least."

"What are you doing?" I ask him, my eyes drawing themselves to the open bits of skin.

"My shirt is wet," he looks at me, "I'm going to dry it by the fire. You ought to take your outer dress as well."

I sigh. He is right, we were soaked and hardly going to dry up in this cabin. No point in risking illness for the sake of contrived modesty.

Peeta takes my silence as a form of compliance, and once again his hands draw to his shirt, which he removes swiftly, tossing is beside the fire.

"Here," I say, not quite looking at his bare chest, "I need you to undo my buttons."

"Help you with your dress?" he chokes out, "Are you sure?"

I roll my eyes at his sudden withdrawal, "Come on," I say, "the buttons are in the back."

He rolls closer to me on the floor, his hands shaky as he undoes the row of buttons along my back. "There you go," he says hoarsely.

Standing up, I slip my heaviest petticoat to the floor as well. After all, it was the largest part of my attire and quite frankly, a total nuisance I had only worn because of the event in the town square.

"Now," I say, "where are these cards of yours?"

Author's Note: Proper warning, this is not beta-ed. If you see any mistakes, feel free to let me know. What do you think about where this story is heading? How do you like the flashbacks and the way that is formatted - is it confusing? Let me know in the comments below!

As always, you can follow me on tumblr at starveinsafety, everlarkfanfictionclub, and everlarkfanfictionprompts. Thanks for your continued support of my fics, I have been playing around with this story for some time and I'm really glad to see it in motion!