Hey there everyone! Thanks for all the reviews. I'm glad people were happy of what I did there in the last chapter. I hadn't switched to Peeta's point of view in a while, and I think it was much-needed. So um, thanks again and just to let you guys know, on the 28th is the one-year anniversary of starting my first Hunger Games fanfiction, Lo and Behold. When I think about it, it really surprises me that I could have written that much, plus this story, in just a year. I'll stop talking now, so you can read and review!

oOo

Still Peeta's POV

I woke up early to the muted cries of birds outside my window. They chirped and whistled and squawked until I groaned and rolled out of bed. My neck felt stiff, but the second I remembered the day before, I was alert and all stiffness had vanished. Things buzzed in my head, and I went into the bathroom to wash my face and stare at myself in the mirror. Katniss was kind of right. My hair does stick up in funny places when I wake up. Sighing, I flicked some water in a meager attempt to flatten it, but I didn't even check back in the mirror to see if it worked. Instead, I began my way downstairs, tugging on a new shirt as I went.

After only taking a brief peek into the living room, I saw Katniss and Prim were still fast asleep, curled under the blanket I had thrown over them last night. I felt a smile tug at my face, but then I remembered that Katniss went to bed angry at me last night. The smile abruptly fell. Maybe she came to her senses as she slept, but I seriously doubted it. I didn't let my thoughts linger on that too much.

In the kitchen, I brought out some pans and food from the fridge and began making breakfast. It was sort of an unconscious thing, cooking, but I did my best not to let my mind wandered as I whipped the eggs into scramble-y mush. Baking sizzled in the frying pan on the burner next to the eggs, smelling deliciously unhealthy. As I cooked, the unwanted thought of Ivy and Caroline kept cropping up. I wanted so badly to discuss it with Katniss, but I had a feeling she wasn't going to be up to speaking about it with me for a while.

I hoped she would have enough decency to stay for breakfast at least. Maybe then she'll vanish off with Prim again somewhere without me. Discussing plans for the wedding. They seem to forget I'm included in the plans, too. But I didn't really mind not having too much to do with the planning. Weddings confused me, and I think the only thing I'll be worrying about on the day would be not falling on my face into the cake or something, like in the movies.

The cake… I had some ideas about that. I began sketching a few days ago. Katniss caught me, of course, and now she wants me to make it smaller, without even knowing the size. I wouldn't show her, but now that I think of it, it was probably a good thing. The sketches were only ideas, of course, but if she wanted something small, it was pointless even drawing up ideas like those. Katniss was stubborn in the sense of getting what she wanted. It made me laugh.

I thought of many themes for the cake… Some fire, some mockingjays, some a combination of all three. Everything great she's done in her life, the cake could symbolize the Katniss Everdeen that people know and love. The savior. But on the other hand, she wants to forget about that. She wants us to be now and forget about the past and everything she did. Just a normal cake for a normal couple. I could do that just fine, but she was much more than "normal" to me.

"Good morning." A quiet voice startled me, breaking my thoughts out of the world they were in now.

I glanced behind me, taking a break stirring the eggs. Katniss was standing there, looking extremely ruffled from sleep, hair an absolute mess. Her eyes drooped slightly and she walked as though stiff, but I was glad she looked exhausted, not angry. I turned back to the food.

"Did you sleep well?" The question sounded stiff, even from my own ears.

There was a pause. "Not really."

Things were awkward between us for a few minutes while I finished up fixing breakfast, avoiding her gaze. Still not looking at her, I slid the food onto two different plates (leaving the rest still warm in the pans) and poured us some juice. Katniss accepted hers wordlessly and went to sit down.

We sat in silence. Katniss just stared at her drink, tapping her fingernail against the glass absentmindedly. She didn't eat, or even move other than her finger. I stirred around my food, watching the bacon cool down and stop bubbling. I wasn't quite sure what to say, or if I should say anything.

"I guess…you want an apology from me." Katniss kept hold of her low voice, looking through her lashes at me. I couldn't discern what her expression was, or if she had one on at all. "I was just…feeling odd."

I shrugged, popping a spoonful of now-cold eggs in my mouth.

"I was upset at myself, not you."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I looked up. "Why were you upset at yourself?"

She swallowed a tiny bit. "Because I let Ivy persuade me into wearing the dress. And… I promised myself I never would again. I just…realized afterwards that it's stupid and…I shouldn't let people do that to me."

Now I was just sympathetic, and it took everything in me not to reach over and put my hand on hers. "Do…what, exactly?"

"To get in my head." She decided to give in and she took a bite of her food. "They do it so easily, and…that's what got me into this mess."

"But you're fixing it." I insisted, defending what, I didn't even know. "I can see, even though it's been only a few days, you are…doing far better than I'd thought you'd do. You're fighting with yourself, but you're winning."

"Winning what, Peeta?" She grimaced down at her plate, hunching forwards slightly. "I don't even know what I'm doing."

"Neither do I, trust me." I couldn't help but grimace, too, but I wiped the frown off quickly. "But whatever you're doing, keep doing it. We'll go about our lives. Eventually, whatever you're trying to do will work."

A tiny smile appeared on Katniss' face. "Thanks for the optimism. It's good t—"

"Katniss?" Primrose shuffled into the kitchen, rubbing her bleary eyes a bit. She brought her hand back down from her eyes and saw us there. A smile twitched on her face, and I recognized Katniss' in her face. Their smiles were the same… "Good morning."

"Morning." Both Katniss and I said that at the same time.

"There's some breakfast on the stove if you'd like." I offered, pointing behind me.

"Thanks." Prim gave me a tired smile, and then flicked an unsure glance at Katniss, and back again. "I'm not…interrupting anything, am I?"

We shook our heads and watched as she took the food and sat down. I guess we were now forced to eat as she did. Her blue eyes kept moving between the both of us, confused and a little bit guilty. It was silent over breakfast, and Prim seemed to get the uneasiness from Katniss and I. She thanked him for breakfast after she was done eating, and proposed an idea.

"We should go into town today, Katniss," She said, fingers curled around a glass of juice, "and see if there's anything we could do to help with the preparations."

I tried to keep the disgruntle scowl off my face. Of course, I was spot-on, guessing that they'd go and plan the wedding stuff without the groom.

"Okay," Katniss looked up from prodding a piece of bacon. I hoped she didn't say that just because I wasn't going. "Good idea. We should go early to clean up at the house, though."

Primrose perked up at her agreement and stood up with Katniss. I stood up, too, and put all of our dishes in the sink. Even though Katniss' plate and my plate weren't cleaned off, we didn't have much appetite anyways. I followed them out the kitchen, watching Prim open the door and hop out. I stayed a few feet away from the both of them, watching Katniss linger a bit inside, obviously knowing I was right behind. She swallowed visibly and turned.

"I'm mean to you because it's the only way to not want to be with you. To not want…me to be around you. Because I'm mean…" She shook my head, with a sudden look of annoyance. Perhaps at herself. "Never mind, Peeta. I'm sorry. Don't take any of this personally."

I gave her a small, weak smile and leaned against the wall next to the door. "You know I will."

Katniss' POV

I did. Sighing, I just bowed my head and walked out only leaving small thanks for the breakfast. It was getting harder and harder being away from him, being mean to him. I wish I could have phrased my thoughts right, instead of making myself look like a fool. I didn't want him to be around me if I was mean. He didn't deserve someone who was mean. It's easier to stay away and keep to my promise if I thought he didn't deserve me. Ugh. I was confusing myself. Shaking that off, I just ordered my feet to follow Prim back to our own house.

Into the front door and up the stairs we went. But there I was left to fend for myself as I grabbed a pair of clean, un-wrinkled clothes from the closet. The shower I took, though relaxing, lasted only five minutes. Fighting the lump in my throat, I pulled on the clothes drearily and tried to fix up my appearance in the mirror a bit. My hair was insane. The vain part of me hoped I didn't look that at Peeta's. But considering the way his hair had been an absolute mess, I guess we were even. But I wasn't sure how "charming" he considered mine.

I combed down my lion mane and brushed my teeth. Sadly, there wasn't anything I could do about the violet circles under my eyes. I tried straightening my slouch, to not much avail. Oh well. Reaching behind me, I did my too-long black hair into a lengthy plate. If I was going to look like the living dead, I might as well do it in style.

Primrose was waiting in the living room when I was done. When her hair was wet, it looked professional and adorable, curling in that way it did, a fierce shade of gold. She looked up from the book she was engrossed in (Buttercup was curled at her side) and grinned.

"Ready?" She stood up, giving her disgusting orange cat a find pat on the head.

As if on cue, Mother swept in from the kitchen. "Where are you two going?"

"Mother?" I couldn't help but ignore her question. "You work today, don't you?"

"Yes, but I only have to go in at eleven." She tucked the pencil she was holding behind her ear. "The apothecary work has been surprisingly slow lately. I might get tomorrow off, and more for your wedding. It depends."

Prim brushed the long cat hairs from her dress. "Well, we're going into town to do some looking around. Is there anything you need picked up, Mother?"

She thought for a second. "We're out of flour. We have been for a few days."

I nodded, storing that in the great file cabinet of my brain. "Anything else?"

A smile appeared on my Mother's tired face. "It doesn't hurt to look at stuff for the wedding, now, doesn't it?"

"We were thinking that, actually." Primrose looked like she had thought of something really great. Her eyes widened and a grin appeared on her face, dimples coming with it. She looked at me. "We can look at wedding dresses!"

Whoa, slow down. Way too fast. I found it hard to wrap my head around that, today, but thankfully Mother laughed.

"It isn't a good idea to get that today, Prim. There are things you need to do in advanced, and you'll need your mother there with you at least." She rubbed at her eye. "But feel free to look around and report back if you find any that strikes your fancy."

No one says that anymore.

"Okay, Mother!" Primrose had this whole thing down. She kissed our mother on the cheek and looked back at me. "Katniss? You alright? You coming?"

Blinking, I nodded my head a bit and followed my little sister out the door, bidding Mother goodbye. Strangely enough, as Prim and I walked out, Peeta was doing the same out of his house. His eyebrows at us when we caught up to each other on the asphalt path out of the Victor's Village.

"You off to the bakery?" I tried to act normal around him. It wasn't really working, seeing as how my heart was leaping out my throat, trying to be closer to him. Get down, stupid, we're not together any more.

Peeta nodded and squinted off in front of us, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Yeah. I think it's time I start looking for employees."

I nearly laughed, but it came out as a surprised cough. "You don't have any other workers there besides yourself?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "If I did, I could have it open even when I'm…off. The last time I was there I put a paper out in front. Maybe there's someone today."

I shrugged, letting the boring subject drop off casually. "Prim and I are off to run some errands for Mother. We're out of flour."

Peeta smiled, faint. "Stop by on your way back."

I nodded, swallowing down my heart again. "See you."

"By Peeta!" Prim waved as we went our separate ways, us down the road leading to the general shops, him to the bakery.

I wondered why it was so hard to forget him. I tried, but all the good times kind of…canceled out the times I went all insane-lady on him. His laughter at my stupidity, the way his hair looked when he very first sat up in the morning, his arms around my waist when I woke us up, screaming in the middle of the night. What was I doing? Was this even accomplishing anything? It had to be, or wasted time for nothing. I knew he'd wait up for me, but I wasn't sure I could wait. It was driving me insane. More insane than I already was, which was saying something.

Prim was muttering to herself, squinting at the different shops as we past them. "Blacksmith…kitchen ware…clothes…more clothes…baby stuff…diner…still more clothes…hair ribbon stand…tailor…"

Something popped into my head. "The tailor!"

Prim's head snapped up. "What about it?"

The recognition deflated as soon as it came. But it was too late. "Eh… C-Caroline works…there… I just thought perhaps—"

"I'm off today." said a voice behind us.

Letting out a startled noise, I glanced off to the side where the voice came from. Caroline, obviously. She was dragging Ivy by one hand, carrying a large package of who-knows-what with the other. Ivy was crying, flailing her arms around, kicking her feet. How we didn't hear that before, I had no idea.

"I only work Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays." She recited her abnormal schedule with a smile and an embarrassed glance down at her daughter. "Ivy, stop that now."

"B-But I wanted…I wanted…" She tore her hand from her mother's, but obviously forgot exactly what her tantrum was over. Rubbing her teary eyes, she made an upset noise and glanced back up. At me. Her puffy face was shock first, and then turned to relief. She turned her back to her mother and stomped over to me, demanding I pick her up. When I did, she wiped her snotty nose on my shoulder, tiny sobs coming from her throat. "M-Momma w-won't let m-me get…s-something I w-want."

Caroline cringed when Ivy blew her nose on the material of my sleeve.

I ignored that. "Well, you don't have to cry about it. I'm sure there is a whole bunch of other good things coming to you soon, other than something your mother won't let you have."

She looked doubtful, hiccups shaking her chest a bit. "Like w-what?"

"Like…" I racked my brain hastily for something she could have. It was obvious, really. "I was looking for you two, actually. We were hoping you'd come looking at…dresses with us." Flour could wait.

Ivy suddenly stopped crying. Her face split into a joyous grin. "Really? You mean it?"

"Sure!" I couldn't help but smile at her, despite my hesitation and the snot on my shoulder. "If it's okay with your mother, that is."

Caroline looked absolutely defeated. "Yeah."

A thought slipped into my mind, and I remembered something. Had we discussed it last night…? I really didn't think so… "Hey, um…" I struggled for eloquence, which was failing me. "Y-You know in a wedding, there are…are bridesmaids and such… Um…" This was embarrassing. I tried again, face red. "Well, Peeta and I have been talking more about the plans and we forgot to mention it last night. Along with the meager guest list, we've also composed a list of…well, bridesmaids."

Ivy hummed impatiently in my arms, not paying attention to what I was saying. But Caroline was. She tilted her head inquisitively.

"Prim, Annie…um….Annie Cresta. And, of course, we…we wanted Ivy to be a bridesmaid as well."

Ivy's head snapped us, immediately alert in hearing her name being spoken. She giggled, but judging by her not-so-incredibly-enthusiastic response, I took it she didn't know what a bridesmaid was.

Caroline looked happy at first, but then her face fell, pink with embarrassment. "I-I don't think we have the money for a-a dress…or anything." She grimaced, not meeting my gaze.

"No, no, we pay for the dresses." I clarified, feeling an odd tinge of pride seeing both of their faces peek with gratefulness and wonder. "We pay for everything. Peeta and I."

The mother seemed to be in shock, but Ivy wiggled happily in my arms, fists pressing her lips into a scrunched, surprised expression. "I get a dress?" She glanced at me, then Prim, then her own mom. "I get a dress, I get a dress!" She giggled and writhed, tugging at my shirt. "Come on! Let's go, let's go…"

Caroline sighed and rubbed her temples with two fingers. "I don't know…I don't know if I can…accept that, K-Katniss." She glanced up, a tiny grimace creasing the skin on either side her mouth.

"Accept, accept!" Ivy yelled at her mother, more out of excitement than meanness. "I wanna princess dress, momma, I wanna princess dress!"

Primrose was standing off behind me a bit, smiling, but unsure what to say if she should say anything at all. Caroline just pursed her lips in worry.

"We're just looking today. The third bridesmaid comes on Wednesday, and she should be there to make the decision as well." I set down the four-year-old I was holding. I was worried I'd drop her because she was wiggling so much. "Like I said, just looking. Get some ideas."

After sighing in defeat, Caroline just shrugged her shoulders. "Alright." She had this helpless face on, as if we ganged up on her and forced her to agree. But since she had already consented, there wasn't much else I could do besides cough and continue.

"You…well, my first thought was the tailors, but you work there. I don't know…"

"It's fine." She reassured me, smiling weakly. "Never mind they only pay minimum wage, the tailor, Mr. Webb, is a really talented man." Her hazel eyes were cast somewhere off into the distant. "He likes to tell me that I work for an artist, not a tailor."

He sounded kind of stuck-up to me, but I just raised my eyebrows in a neutral expression and let Caroline lead the way inside.

It was roomy and tastefully decorated, with racks of plastic-covered clothes hanging high on one wall. Rolls of fabric lay slanted against the opposite, and there was a large wooden desk in the middle. And, sitting behind it, was whom I assumed to be Mr. Webb. He had skin the color of soft paper, and graying brown hair. A nicely-trimmed beard formed below his smiling lips. Though the smile was not completely welcoming, it wasn't hostile either.

"Miss Sawyer, what might you be doing here on your day off?" He asked in a surprisingly gentle voice, and then his black eyes floated over to the rest of us: Prim, Ivy and me. "With the Mockingjay and her sister no less."

Ivy frowned, as was her mother. Caroline seemed out of extremely articulate words, she just made a face.

"Well, see, K—"

Mr. Webb interrupted her. "Yes, yes, the wedding. I take it you're invited and perhaps…helping the girl choose her gown?"

"Not exactly," Caroline's face made it obvious he was always like this, knowing what you were going to say before you did. "Ivy is going to b—"

"Yes, bridesmaids!" The tailor clapped his hands in pleasure, looking from the four-year-old holding my hand, to Primrose on my other side. "And young miss Everdeen here, too, I suppose?"

"Yes…"

Mr. Webb seemed delighted this had come up, and he stood from his post to walk a little closer. "You're looking for bridesmaid dresses, exactly. Buying or just looking?"

"There's still another o—" I started, wanting to explain about how we wanted Annie to be here when we made the final decision, but I was a fool to think he'd let me finish a sentence.

"I see… I understand…" He had already crossed the room to a high shelf on the north wall, lined with different-colored binders. His skinny finger ran across the spines of them, until it stopped on a sky blue-colored folder. He pulled it out and set it on his desk, open. "Come come. Pull up some chairs."

I glanced around and saw a few seats shoved into the corner. We grabbed them and pulled them up to the other side of the desk.

"Now, there are different sections of these according to themes, but there are also separate ideas and forms, meant for young and adult…" Mr. Webb rambled and he flipped through pages. The binder was upside down, pointing to the four of us. "Is there a particular theme your wedding has taken on, Miss Katniss?"

It was a good decision to answer with as few words as possible. "Not really."

With a nod, he stuck his thumb under a yellow tab near the beginning, and flipped it to those pages. "These are some of my most popular ones. Feel free to look, I need to tend to something in the back." Mr. Webb gave us each a giant smile (personally it kind of freaked me out) and practically vanished through a door that I hadn't even noticed before.

There was an astounding moment of silence when he left. Once the shock of his overpowering presence had left, we bent back over the binder. As we flipped through the pages, Ivy told me we should get "that one, that one, that one!" about every one of them. Caroline didn't speak throughout the thing, but she assured me it was because the dresses weren't for her, they were for Ivy and Prim, but for my wedding. She just kind of stayed out of it. Prim spoke occasionally, pointing out something she liked about the dress on the current page; ruffles down the neckline, pleats, the seam design, she seemed impressed by a lot of them. But thankfully, she didn't want every single one of them as the four-year-old in my lap did.

But when it came down to a certain dress, it gathered the same initial response from all.

"I love that one, how it seems to kind of float on you…" Primrose's voice was hushed in what seemed to be awe.

Awe didn't hush Ivy's voice, though. "Like a princess!" She squealed, and turned around to Caroline. "Momma, momma, lookit this pretty dress!"

Caroline obeyed her daughter and leaned over the binder. "Ooh, it's beautiful! Those sleeves are something special…"

I, personally, really loved it, too. But no decisions were being made without my last bridesmaid.

"What do you think, Katniss?" Primrose sat up, looking somewhat excited.

"I think…it's gorgeous. Honestly. We—"

"I see some progress has been made, yes?" Mr. Webb came nearly floating back through the door, fluttering back to his seat delicately. I couldn't help but scoot an inch further away. "Which one?"

Primrose scooted the binder around so he could see our favorite.

"Ahh…" A wide smile split the tailor's face, and he peered at the paper with content. "This one is marvelous, great choice."

"It isn't really a choice; we still have to wait f—"

"I understand, Miss Katniss." He waved me off with yet another smile. "There's time for adjustments and everything before the other girl gets here. When it she coming?"

"Wednesday." My shoulders felt slouched under the heavy poise he carried.

"So soon, so soon…" Mr. Webb tutted to himself and he yanked a yellow sticky note from beside him off. A pencil danced across the tiny surface and he handed it to me. On it was "5-st2-#19—5-5-29 Everdeen" I didn't know what it meant, but I pocketed it nonetheless. The tailor smiled at my confused look. "That tells me the number of binder, the section, the dress number, the date, and your name so it'll be easy to find the next time you come. Are you finished looking through it?"

I felt compelled to say yes and run out of the store for some clean, non-egotistic-maniac-filled air.

"I think we are." Thankfully, Caroline beat me to it. She stood up, taking her young daughter's hand. "Thank you, Mr. Webb."

His smile was warm, but still wide and intimidating. "Thank you Caroline. And, of course, Ivy, Miss Katniss and young miss Everdeen."

Primrose smiled back, but mine was less placid.

"See you Wednesday." I was dying to get out of there. Once he nodded in release, I put my arm gently around Prim's shoulder and practically shoved her out the door.

When we were all out, Caroline grimaced. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you about how…overpowering my boss is."

Ivy, who had gotten Prim to pick her up, wasn't paying much attention to us.

"It's fine." I made a face off in the distance. "Some progress was made at least…"

There was a stretch of silence, in which Primrose had Ivy in a fit of rolling laughter. They giggled together for some time, until I realized I was being impolite. We had stayed for a bit, and it was now late lunchtime.

"Would you like to join us for lunch?" I offered them.

Ivy, who had calmed down her giggles enough to talk, squealed. "Yes, please!"

Ever since District 12 had been reconstructed, Greasy Sae got her own eatery place, a few blocks away from the bakery. We walked there in silence (well, near silence; Ivy and Prim were still laughing) and the moment we stepped inside, there was Greasy Sae right up in my face.

"Why haven't you come and visited me, girl?" She said in loud, mock anger. "I've been sitting her all alone, left to decompose without everyone's favorite rebel here to stomach my soup. What a life to lead…" She shook her head sadly, but a grin crept across her familiar, creased face. "Glad to see ya, Katniss."

"You too." I said weakly. Greasy Sae wasn't quite that much of a change from Mr. Webb's overpowering demeanor. "This is Caroline and Ivy." I said, pointing.

"Pleasure to meet you two." She could be kind when she felt like, easing the nervous smiles on our friend's faces.

"Now, get us some lunch, we're starving."

"Yes, your highness." She winked and swept off back to the kitchen.

The place couldn't be called a restaurant. In fact, it was hardly a diner or a café. It had about three tables (not including the bar, which seated four), and it was just Greasy Sae and one other decrepit old woman who brought us the food. Caroline and Ivy seemed hesitant and quieter in this place, but to Primrose and I it felt more like home.

Actually, the beef-and-carrot stew was one of her better ones, and by the end of the hour, we'd had our fill. Though Sae insisted I didn't pay her for that meal, I secretly dropped a few coins on the counter, which I saw the ancient waitress scoop up right away and shove in her pocket. With a bid goodbye and a punch on the shoulder, we managed to make it out of the eatery in one piece.

"Thank you for the meal, Katniss." Caroline was very polite, but she still seemed a little shook up from my old friend.

"You're welcome." I smiled at her, and then down at Ivy, who was round with soup. She grinned up at me. Being with Caroline and Ivy made me forget why Prim and I had came into town in the first place, but we accomplished something so I didn't feel too bad. Now I just had to swallow whatever that was holding me back and go visit Peeta in the bakery.

"You okay, Katniss?" Primrose frowned, looking sideways at me. "You have a funny face on."

"I'm alright, Prim." I assured her. "I'm just…nervous about the wedding." It was true, but not why I had a funny face on.

She smiled at me, easing some of the tension in my throat. "Don't be. You and Peeta belong together."

Sometimes I wished it was less so. The Capitol chose us to be together, we still shouldn't be. Yet… I can't seem to get him from my mind. Even when I was supposed to be staying away from him, trying to level my head out before we get married. Life wasn't fair to either of us, but still, he assures me he still wants me, sane or not.

"You're right." I lead the way away from Greasy Sae's place. "More than I realize myself."

Isn't that the truth…

oOo

Sorry, guys, I couldn't find a good way to end this. It was going to be way longer originally, but I'll save that for next chapter, I think. Anyways…. Please review! You know how much I love it. :D Happy June something-or-other!