Sorry for the ridiculously long update!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy some Katniss and Peeta lovin'

I open the door to the bakery, which is almost packed full since it's around lunch time. I see one of Peeta's hired workers at the register taking orders vigorously, and I'm surprised Peeta isn't up here with him. When I come into his view, he simply nods toward the back, obviously too busy for pleasantries. At this point, the newcomers to District 12 have gotten a bit more used to having me around and don't bother me nearly as much as they used to. And then there are the originals that knew me before I was put in a costume.

I make my way to the back after weaving through customers and find Peeta pulling out a batch of fresh cheese buns from the oven. My mouth has already begun to water from just the sight, and once the scent hits me I wait for him to set them down so I can sneak behind him and snatch one up, since he hasn't even noticed me yet. He's humming to himself – albeit terribly – while he puts them on an oven mat, and then goes back to the oven to grab the next batch.

I swiftly make my way across the room and grab a bun from the sheet, regardless of how it's scorching my palm.

"Katniss."

I freeze. I'm caught. I put on my cutest smile and turn toward him, hiding the cheese bun behind my back, though I'm sure he's already noticed by the way his arms are crossed and the raised eyebrows. "Um…I came for lunch. You know, since I said I would and all."

He stares at me for a moment, which is beginning to make me nervous, then shakes his head with a small chuckle. "C'mere." He's already grabbed me in his arms, though, taking the cheese bun and setting it on the counter. I know what's coming next, and I'm not sure I want it to. "How did your time with Gale go?" His voice has taken an edge of hostility, and his hold tightens around me.

I lean into him and neck the crook of his neck. "Can we eat first?"

He's silent for a minute, then nods. "Sure. Just let me get these out to Brandon."

So that's the guy's name. I nod and pull away, letting him get everything situated. If it was any other lunch date, he'd probably be bustling around with customers for a while before setting us up, but due to recent events I doubt that will be the case. He's out in the front and then right back within ten minutes.

He takes off his apron and goes over to the fridge to pull out the lunch he has prepared – sandwiches and some of the fruit I brought back from the woods a couple days ago – and a plate of cheese buns. "Let's go to my office."

I smile and take the cheese buns from him, snatching the one on the counter before following him farther back, to his small office.

The minute the door closes, he's on me.

I quickly set the plate on his desk before he pushes me against the wall with his tongue prying my lips open. I squeak in surprise, which quickly turns into a moan as his hands trails up the back of my thighs, pulling my legs around his waist. He moves from my mouth and trails kisses across my jaw and neck, gently nipping even other one. "Peeta-"

"Sh." He grinds himself into me, and I have to hide my face in the crook of his neck so I don't alert the whole bakery of what is going on. It takes him less than a minute to get us both completely undressed, and then he's pinning me to the floor.

When he enters me, it's rough and so unbearably hot that I can't stop myself from chanting his name every time he pushing into me. I'm sure he's going to end up with scratches down his arms, but he doesn't seem to care at the moment. "Oh, Peeta…" He leans down and nips at my neck while I hook my legs around his waist and lift my hips to make him go as far in as possible.

He plants kisses up to my ear, where he whispers huskily, "Let me hear how much you like this."

I oblige, letting out the moans I was working so hard to keep down, and hoping that my voice won't carry to the front. By the way Peeta's acting, though, I'm guessing that the walls are soundproof enough.

I'm almost there, when there's a soft knock on the door. We both still and look at each other, and then Peeta sighs and leans down. "To be continued." He turns to the door and says he'll be there in a minute while he throws my clothes to me as he starts putting on his own. Once we're completely dressed and mostly composed, he opens the door with a smile. "Brandon, what can I do for you? Everything okay out there?"

I hear a timid voice asking for some help since the customers were getting huffy at the wait.

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have left you by yourself at this time of day." He looks at the boy apologetically and then turns to me. "I'll be back in a bit; you can go ahead and start without me." He hesitates for a moment, then goes and kisses me quickly before he's out the door.

I sigh and sit down in his chair, taking a cheese bun to munch on while I wait. I decide to think over my conversation with Gale and how I'm going to word it for Peeta; I know that was the reason for the mind-blowing sex. The conversation was basic enough, and I probably told Gale exactly what Peeta would like to hear, so I can't find a reason to leave anything out.

The whole plate of cheese buns is almost gone by the time Peeta gets back. When he sees, he chuckles and shakes his head, and then takes out sandwiches out of their wrappings. I smile appreciatively and take a bite. "This is really good," I say through a mouthful of food.

"Thanks."

We eat in silence, knowing we'll have to go through everything once we're done. Might as well save energy. By the time we're done I'm feeling confident. He takes the wrappings and empty plate and leaves the office for a moment. He comes back and walks over to me wordlessly, pulling me from his chair and onto the cozy couch in the corner of the room.

I bite my lip and twirl my fingers, not exactly knowing how to start this. I'm grateful when he finally speaks up. "So, what'd you and Gale do?" His voice is a mixture of insecure and possessive, something I'm not particularly fond of. Then again, it's nice to know that he can get possessive, but I definitely don't want him insecure.

I grab his hand in mine and smile. "Walked, talked. Went to the woods."

He nods slowly, waiting for me to continue. Almost waiting for me to tell him I'm leaving. That will not do.

I scoot a bit closer and run my thumb up and down the back of his hand. It seems to relax him some. "At first the conversation was kind of rocky; I mean, he just showed up. Didn't exactly put me in the best mood." I bite my lip and look down at our adjoined hands. "And then…then he just flat up asked. If none of this happened, he wanted to know if I would have still chosen you."

He tenses up, and when I look up I can see him struggling to keep his face blank. He swallows visibly, then motions for me to go on.

"I told me that once I realized I loved you, I also realized that I never loved him." I force him to look at me, one hand on his cheek. "It was always you. It hurt for him to hear, but he deserved the truth."

The smile that makes its way to his face warms my heart. He leans toward me and captures my lips in his own, untangling his fingers from mine so he can run them through my hair. He pulls away for only a moment, just to whisper, "I love you."

FGTHG

I had decided to stay at the bakery and help out in any way, which really just meant keep the dishes ready at a steady pace. I'm still not very comfortable with all of the people here, and baking…well, everyone knew that was out of the question.

When we finally made it home, Haymitch was sitting on our steps, alcohol in hand.

"Uh…what are you doing?" I look at him, confused. Sure, he'd go sit on his porch, but why is he here?

He stands up and puts him arm around me, then begins walking away from the house again. "Let's take a walk, Sweetheart." He glances over at Peeta. "Don't worry kid, I'll have her back by curfew." His comment makes me roll my eyes.

We begin to walk, and after Peeta is out of view I shake his arm off and glare at him, crossing my arms and standing in front of him so he can't walk. "What are you doing?"

He stares at me long and hard, as if trying to solve an impossible puzzle. "I saw what's-his-face here earlier" he says, while motioning toward my and Peeta's house. "What'd he want?" The expression on his face says it all. What did he want from you?

I shake my head and look down. "Nothing. Just stopping by. Apologizing for killing my sister, and all."

He rolls his eyes and steps around me, pulling me to walk again. "You know he didn't kill her, Sweetheart. That's not it."

I huff. "Why do you care so much? It's not your life!"

He crosses his arms. "Because if you start this crap up, I have to listen to the boy complain about how he's your 'second choice', and then I'm forced to jump in and save the day." He shakes his head and mutters something about how he wishes we were like his geese.

I roll my eyes and stop, but give in anyway, since honestly, there isn't anything to hide. "He came to talk. We went to the forest when Peeta went to the bakery."

He stops and faces me, raising an eyebrow to have me continue.

"He asked if thing ended up differently, who I would have chosen…" I look down, and then back up. "I was honest. I told him that it would have been Peeta no matter what." I shrugged and looked him straight in the eyes to show that I'm not lying.

He stands there for a minute, then nods with a smirk. "Good to know you finally figured that out."

"What?" I hate it when he starts these things.

He raises an eyebrow. "Sweetheart, you chose him a long time ago. You just couldn't admit it to yourself," he shrugs, "probably some mumbo jumbo about turning into your mother or something."

"I should really get back to Peeta. We're starting dinner soon; you can stay if you want." I turn and begin walking back, not wanting to get into that conversation. If we start this, then I have to face all of my 'underlying problems'. The exact reason why I ignore Dr. Aurelius' phone calls.

Haymitch is taking his time now that his little lecture is out. I continue the walk and am suddenly thinking about earlier, and am not ready to get back to Peeta. I'm started to regret asking Haymitch over for dinner...

"Peeta?" I open the door and peek in. I hear his voice from the kitchen and look over at Haymitch, who is now right behind me at the door. He shrugs. We both walk inside and head toward the kitchen, and what I see makes me come to a dead stop.

Gale and Peeta are having a friendly conversation, both preparing stew. And they're laughing.

I feel Haymitch pat my shoulder. "Well, I'm going to leave this one to you, Sweetheart."

I'm about to turn and beg him – of all people – to stay, but Peeta decides to notice I'm there right at that second. "Katniss! How was your walk with Haymitch?"

I turn to him and give him a look, figuring I'd get some sort of 'he just came in, and now I can't do anything' reaction, but there was none. I shrug, but stay in place. "Fine."

He nods, the smile still on his face, and then nods his head to the cupboard full of plates. "Do you mind getting out the bowls while we finish up the stew, hun? Three."

So he calls me hun, and invites Gale over for dinner? I'm not sure how to respond. Regardless, I pull out three bowls, and grab glasses and silverware. I glance over at the glass cabinets in the dining room. I have a feeling that this dinner is going to require a drink. I set everything down and glance over at my boyfriend, who is still chatting with Gale, and hurry over and grab two bottles of wine, just in case.

Peeta looks over when he hears the bottles. "Oh, wine, that should go nice." The oven goes off, and he pulls out a fresh batch of cheese buns. My cheese buns. For us. And sometimes Haymitch or Greasy Sae. Not Gale.

I grab the plate from him with a forced smile and sit down. "Let's eat!"

Gale glances back at me, while still stirring the stew. "Just a couple minutes, the meat's almost tender."

I turn straight in my chair and take a cheese bun. I feel hands on my shoulder and a kiss on the top of my head. Peeta comes into view as he walks to the chair next to me. "We're making your favorite."

"Lamb stew!"

I don't even glance in Gale's direction, too focused on trying to figure Peeta out. I give him a look, and he shrugs. I feel like I'm in that historic film from the time of America, something about Twilight Zone. I chew my cheese bun slowly, keeping my eyes down at my plate.

Gale is taking the pot off the stove and carrying it over, the ladle handle sticking out. "All right, everyone get your bowls ready." He comes over to me and scoops some in my stationary bowl, then Peeta's. After he does his own, he puts it back on, but at a lower heat. "Just in case we want more."

I watch as they begin to eat. "Uh…I forgot the wine glasses. Cork screw, too." I jump up from the table and hurry out to the cabinet, taking out three wine glasses that are next to the alcohol, and pulling a corkscrew out of the first drawer. The moment I get back, I'm opening up the first bottle of red and pouring a full glass.

"Thanks, Katniss." Peeta squeezes my hand and pours a little in his own.

I see Gale eye him, and then turn to me with a smile. "Yeah, thanks Catnip." He grabs the bottle from Peeta.

Okay, so maybe not everything is going as well as I thought.

I shake my head and take a gulp of my wine, staring out into space as I try to ignore their chatter. At this point, I'm not even hungry anymore.

"Guess who called today."

I turn to Peeta, who is looking at me expectantly, clearing excited about telling me. "I don't know. Who called?" Another gulp.

"Johanna. Just checking in." He smiles. "She's doing well in Seven. Found a nice guy…or, at least a guy that can handle her." He chuckles at his own joke.

I'm actually surprised, and pretty excited, too. "When did she call? Just while I was on a walk?" I guess the walk was a lot longer than I expected. Then again, they were able to finish up this stew pretty quickly, too.

He nodded. "She had left a message to call her back, so I did. Wanted to talk to you, apparently something good, so she's gonna call sometime tomorrow."

I nod and smile. "I'll be sure to be here, then." I'm surprised how much I've come to enjoy Johanna's company, despite her rude remarks and blunt attitude. In reality, she's the only one – besides Haymitch – that tells me things straight, whether I want to hear it or not.

"Johanna; you shared a room with her, right? The victor from District Seven," Gale says around a mouthful of stew.

I nod. "Yeah. We grew close, I guess." Silence takes over, again.

"So Gale, we never really talked about life in Two. How is it?" Peeta is acting so cordial, that I don't even know what to do. What the hell happened while I was taking that damn walk? I curse Haymitch in my head.

Gale shrugs. "It's nice there. Everything's changed in the districts' so much; most of the stuff in Two is all military now. I have to travel to the Capitol a lot, too, though." He motions outside. "And Twelve is turning into a medical district?"

Peeta nods. "Shutting down all the mines, too."

I pour myself another glass of wine.

"So, how about your bread company? How's that working?" And here it comes. Gale is trying to show that he's somehow better because of his stupid military job.

Peeta seems to catch on, too, and sits up a little taller. "It's a bakery. And it's doing very well; sometimes Katniss even comes in to help." He smiles at me, and I smile back.

Gale laughs. "That's funny. In Two, the men always joke about it being a woman's duty in the kitchen."

I think Peeta and I both tense at that, and I'm about to say something, but Peeta speaks up first. "A bit sexist, don't you think? And our company has always been run by men, so I don't see what you mean."

The laughter has stopped, which can't be a good sign. Another glass it is.

"We don't mean disrespect, but it is kinda more known as a woman's job. Definitely not Katniss, though."

"What's wrong with Katniss helping?"

"Nothing, it's just not her. She's a hunter, not a baker."

"People can change. And she still hunts; just comes to help every once in a while."

I open the next bottle.

FGTHG

Both bottles are gone, and I'm feeling a little light-headed. Not quite sure why, because I'm definitely not drunk. Maybe there was something in that stew.

I watch as Gale and Peeta talk, but can't exactly focus on what they're saying. I'm getting a little annoyed at being left out, so I whisper over to Peeta. "Peeta, I need to tell you something."

I don't know why Gale looks over, too. What does he have, bat ears?

Peeta raises his eyebrows and smiles. "What's that?"

I lean in closer to him, perhaps a little too close, since I end up sprawled out on his lap. I feel him help me back up to my chair, which is now somehow closer. What I need to tell him is very important, though. Very, very important. But someone's looking at me that's not Peeta. Gale has an eyebrow raised, but this isn't even his conversation. Why is he looking at me? "Don't look at me!"

"All right Katniss, what is it that you needed to tell me?" Peeta is pulling me closer to him. I like it when he has his arms around me. It's nice. And sometimes, sexy. Very.

I sigh and fall into him, just because it's no nice and cozy. I'm so happy I have him. He's nice. "I just…I'm not very good with my feelings." I nod; I wish the room would stop moving, though. I want to be face-to-face with Peeta, but I can't do that sitting like this.

"Oh! Katniss, sit down." Somehow I'm in Peeta's arms again, but now I'm in his lap. This works, though. We're face-to-face.

I put my hands on each side of his face, so that he has to look at me. "I just…I love you. I do. You're the best thing ever."

He's smiling at me, which is good. I love his smile. "I love you, too. But maybe we should get some sleep. Gale can stay in your mother's old room."

"What?" I turn toward Gale. "Why are you staying here? You have a house. We're not your babysitters!" I glare at him.

"Katniss, we've all had some drinks an-"

"I am not drunk."

"…I never said you were, but you did have a couple drinks." Peeta runs his fingers through my hair, and it feels so nice that I let my head fall to his chest. "I just think it would be better that Gale stay the night, instead of walking home right now."

I swish my head over to Gale's direction, and he nods. "If that's okay. I'm not too bad, but I haven't stood up yet, either."

"Pshh." I wave my hand. "That's 'cause you're drunk. You should learn to handle your liquor better, Gale." I turn to Peeta. "Fine, he can stay."

He nods at me, then at Gale. "Then it's settled. I'll clean the kitchen tomorrow." He kisses my forehead and stands up, but I'm still in his arms. It's like I'm flying. I giggle.

"I'll, uh, just take care of the stew, then." I let my head drop back and see Gale standing up, but he's all swaying because he's so drunk. The kitchen must be, too, because it's swaying with him.

"Thanks. Do you know where your room is?"

"Yeah. I've been here, before."

Peeta's arms tense around me for a second. "All right. Good night." He's walking up the stairs, now.

"I'm the Mockingjay again! I'm flyyyyiiing." I want to get out of his arms because I want to fly, but his grip only tightens. But then I am flying, until I hit a comfy floor. I look down. Just kidding; comfy bed.

Peeta is over at our closet pulling out clothes, then comes over to me and coaxes me to sit up. I lean against him as he changes me in my pajamas, and the feel of his hands up my thighs is so incredibly wonderful, that I don't want it to stop.

I grab his hands and run them up my body, then slowly turn to face him. I look up at him; his eyes are like sapphires. "Peeta…" I slide a hand down the front of his pants and revel in his groan. I get as close to his ear as possible and whisper, "I want you." I kiss him, and he's not one to stop it.

By the time we're done, I can't exactly remember how loud I was, but I'm sure Gale didn't hear.

Hehe, drunk Katniss.

The beginning of the next chapter will probably be it for Gale, so when he's gone at this time, if he comes back it'll be a very small appearance.

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