Hey, hey guess what! This story is now officially longer than Lo and Behold! Woot. Anyhoo, read and review! I'm starting this chapter off on an unusual POV, Prims'. I've never done hers before, which should certainly be fascinating.

oOo

Prim's POV

Mother and Katniss have long since gone to bed, as should I. But I couldn't help but stare at the picture. Its frame was cracked and years of dust stained it, but the picture was still there. I was just a baby when it was taken, but there we were. Father and I. His deep eyes and strong jaw, wrapped around a blond-haired baby girl. Katniss was there, too, with her tiny five-year-old arm around his neck, grinning. She had been so careless then. It hurts every time that wild, frightened look appears in her eyes, and I know I can do nothing to help. Peeta's doing his best, obviously, but as her sister I wish nothing more to go back to the way things were.

Sighing, I tucked the picture back in the bottom drawer of my desk and walked to the bathroom. It wasn't very tidy at all, but I still found my favorite lotion stored deep under the sink, amidst everything else. With my thumbnail, I popped the lid off and took a sniff. Lavender. I always put some on my hands before going to bed, as instructed by Mother. It was always important to have good hand care when you work at the hospital as we did so often.

After plaiting my hair back into two braids, I slipped my dress off and pulled a nightdress on from where it was draped over the hook on the opposite wall. Its heaviness and warmth was welcome, though my room was hot enough to begin with. It gave me a sense of security.

I was just about to crawl into bed when a thought popped into my mind. Perhaps I should check on Katniss to see if she's alright before turning in myself. Yes. I hopped back off the side of the huge bed and padded quietly back across my room and opened the door. Thankfully, the only bedrooms on the first floor were the master bed—where Mother slept—and a guest room. Mine was just two down from Katniss', so I didn't have to creep up the squeaky stairs to check on her like I did most nights. It was often I found her snoring away, face buried in a pillow, arms and legs sprawled. She had slept like that ever since I could remember. And every time I saw it, it made me laugh. But this is not what I found.

I snuck down the short hallway and cracked open Katniss' bedroom door. I was surprised to find Peeta there. Now, most of the time when I worry I'd walk in on them, in my mind it would be unpleasant and absolutely mortifying, but this was sweet. Peeta was sitting up, out of the covers, one arm tucked under Katniss' small head. His head lolled in a way that suggested he didn't mean to fall asleep. He just was.

Katniss was on the other side of the bed, buried in blankets up to her eyes. Her head was resting on Peeta's shoulder and one arm curled on top of Peeta's torso, as if she hesitated putting her arm around him at the last second, and fell asleep halfway through the stretch. Black hair was strew quite messily all around her head, even getting in her mouth, which was hanging open. To put it bluntly, they both looked like accidents. Peeta looked as if he didn't mean to fall asleep, but he had by mistake. And Katniss looked as though she hadn't meant to cuddle up to him. Half of her body was twisted away from him, but the other half uncertainly huddled close to him.

As I stood there, watching them, a stone of sympathy formed in my throat. It was obvious to us all that she's been…distant wasn't the word. Almost…avoiding Peeta. Before this, they were happy and not afraid to hold hands in public or freely cozy up, with people around and everything. But now it seems as though maybe they're acquaintances or just friends. Seeing this, I knew the battle had been lost. Katniss knew she couldn't make it without the strength of her partner next to her, helping her limp along as needed. I just wasn't sure what it took for here to see that.

Shaking my head slightly, I closed the door with a quiet "click" and tiptoed back to my room. I'd have to admit it was much easier going to sleep after that, having the reassuring picture of my big sister's security in my head. With blankets poofed around my head and the room heavy with darkness, I let my mind slip out of my fingers like water from fingers. I was asleep without any trouble, not knowing.

Katniss' POV

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in bed. It was still dark out, but Peeta was still by my side. It took me a second to register why I'd woken up, but as soon as I did, I shot upright. The acrid smell of smoke filled my nose and my lungs, making me cough. It was hazy and dark in the room because of the smoke.

"Peeta," I coughed, my words wheezing out of my lungs as if I was a decrepit old smoker. "Peeta, wake up." My hands shook his shoulder roughly, and I coughed some more.

Peeta's eyes fluttered open a second later, but the second he did, they flew wide and afraid. "Katniss?" He glanced at me. "Why is it smoky, Katniss?" His lungs were just as wheezy, but only because he had been sitting up higher than I had, and he'd gotten way more smoke than I.

"Fire, Peeta." I coughed some more, feeling the pain in my lungs like fire. It kind of was. "We need to go. Get Prim…and—" I hacked, doubling over. "…Mother."

"I'll get them." He winced as he inhaled, but nevertheless pursed his lips and crawled down onto the ground from the bed. "Go out the window. The trellis will act as a ladder."

"No, Peeta!" I dropped down onto the ground, finally glad for some semi-fresh air. "I'm not leaving you."

"And I'm not leaving Primrose and your mother." Peeta's look was like steel. "Go, Katniss, I'll catch up."

With tears in my eyes—not just because of the smoke—I turned around and crawled, trembling, to the window which I lifted up. Black smoke belched out the window like an open wound. Still coughing my lungs out, I pulled my numb body out of it and found a foothold on the trellis as Peeta said. My heart was racing a million miles an hour as I climbed down. I was scared. Scared for me, scared for Peeta, scared for Mother and Prim and the house. What had caused the fire? Maybe Mother had been cooking, and she managed to get out because the kitchen was on the first floor. I didn't know, and I didn't have time to ask questions.

Loosening my grip on the trellis, I dropped onto the ground and hastily backed away a few feet from the house before actually looking at it. What I saw made me stumble and fall backwards, but I had to scramble up again and run several more feet from it. No.

There were a line of Victor's houses making a rough U-shape, and the forest ringed about fifty feet from the back of each of them. Eight of those houses were already consumed, golden fire licking the sky with its fiery tongue, sending smoke into the heavens like ribbons. The fire which had eaten up the first eight in the semi-circle was also in the forest. It reached as far as I could see both ways, and the smoke filled the sky, letting ashes like snow fall at our feet, creating a dusty effect. My town was on fire. My forest was on fire. My house was on fire. My life was on fire. I wanted to run back in the house for my family, but I knew I couldn't. Either they got out or they didn't, but either way it was impossible for me to go back in. Forcing sobs down, I just turned my back to the fire and ran straight for the forest. Luckily, the part of the forest that was on fire didn't include the lake, so I aimed for that.

I ran until my sobs disabled me, and then I dropped onto my hands and knees and crawled, waves of hacking and coughing and tears shaking my shoulders. I crawled for some time, hearing the giant fire grow closer and closer. And something else that grew closer was a voice.

"Katniss!" it called out, faint at first. Then got louder. "Katniss!"

Peeta.

I turned around just in time to see him barreling towards me, holding Prim's hand. Mother was running along with them. Terror shone in their eyes, real and horrifying.

"Peeta! Prim!" I screamed, holding my arms out for them. "Mother!"

They all skidded next to me, but with their arms shoved me to keep running. I did.

"We have to get away," Peeta said, his breath pumping in and out with every step.

No, duh.

"The fire," Mother was gasping. She wasn't used to running this fast for this long. "Is faster than any possible I've ever seen."

Prim was sobbing. "District 12," She cried. "It's gone. It's—" She suddenly flew out of my vision with a piercing scream that sent chills up my bones.

I was forced to slew sideways and double back for her. She was laying face-down in a fit of screaming tears. And, to my horror, her leg was broke clean in half at the shin, foot caught under a root. A nasty, bloody piece of bone stuck grotesquely out of her calf. Cried began pouring from my mouth and I took her, trying to pull her from the twisted root. She just screamed more.

Peeta suddenly appeared next to me and got her unstuck and was carrying her, running once more. "Come on, Katniss!"

We were sprinting again, though it had to be faster. I could see the blazing fire just above the treetops behind us when I looked, and that gave me the incentive to run. I could see Mother up ahead, along with the clearing of the lake. I was about to laugh with relief when Peeta gave a low moan and fell to the ground on his knees.

"Peeta, w—?" I said frantically. The fire was approaching. "Get up, we have to go!"

"I…can't." He huffed, blood dribbling from his lower lip. "T-take…Prim."

"No, Peeta, I will not leave you again!" I screamed, over the sound of Prim's own yells and the roar of the flames. "You are coming!"

"No…" He dropped Prim onto the ground. "I'll…catch up… Go."

I had no choice. Sobbing loudly, I scooped my little sister up in my arms and ran toward the lake without looking back. The crack of twigs behind me told my brain that he'd gotten up and was once again running, too, but there were no footsteps behind me.

I burst into the lake clearing and sloshed into the water, crying over my injured little sister and Peeta, who still hadn't come I had no time, though. Immediately after I got rib-deep in the water (Prim's head was just above the surface, and she had blacked out) the fire came. It was easily thirty feet tall, eating up the trees like a giant vacuum cleaner. There was a twenty-foot space between the tree line and the water which was only sandy dirt. That stuff couldn't catch, so it remained clear as the Fire parted and surged around the lake.

Mother appeared next to me and took Primrose in her arms. She was crying silent tears, but I need not ask what over. Everything.

Though the fire didn't slow or dwindle, I sloshed back out of the water and landed on the soil, despite my mother's cries to stay back.

"Peeta," I whispered, tears rubbing down my face, which was hot from the flame raging in front of me. With trembling arms, I pulled myself up further onto the ground and screamed into the sky. "Peeta! Peeta!" I yelled his name, but it didn't make him appear. He was gone. "PEETA!" My scream echoed in my head, in the entirety of the forest, all around. And it was that scream that broke the barrier of sound between the real world and the dream world.

I thrashed, squeezing my eyes shut against the world. The heat from the fire was still licking up my body, and I was still yelling. "Peeta!" Sobs came ripping from my throat. I felt branches whipping across my arms and my shoulder, but I hit them away, screaming at the top of my lungs. "Peeta! PEETA!" He was gone, he was gone. The fire was in my chest and heart, and screamed. The branches still persisted, and I still hit them away, but one of them was stronger than the rest. It wrapped around my shoulders, pinning my arms to my side, and something stifling pressed into the side of my face.

I stopped struggling. Let them take me, stupid flaming sticks. Let them take me, let the fire eat away at my bones. I was crying, curling my body up into a little ball against the strange, the stifling something pressed on my face. I tried to say Peeta's name again but it just came out as more crying hot, morose tears.

"Jesus, Katniss, you're okay," A voice broke through my head, which felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

I just shook my head. Hell no, my boy just got eaten by a fire that burned down my entire down. Nothing is okay.

"Katniss, look at me." The voice came again, breaking even more of my cotton-headed tears. "Katniss,"

I wrapped my arms around my chest and tucked my face against them, shaking violently all over. His voice… Get away, you're not real. You're dead. Don't taunt me.

"Katniss." A finger on my chin forced my head up.

Through the tears, I managed to pry open my eyes and stare, though blurrily, into the face of…

"Peeta?" I said in pure confusion, brows furrowing despite my trembling shoulders. "Wha…?"

He shook his head at me and took his hand away from my chin, only to wrap it comfortingly around my shoulders. "I thought you'd never stop screaming. Are you okay?"

My breathing was coming out in little hiccups, and my face was still wet with tears. Face buried in his chest, I tucked my knees as close to my collarbone as they could go. I shook my head.

Even though I was out of the consuming fire dream, my skin still felt like it was on fire, and sweat stuck my hair to the back of my neck and was enough to form a tiny drip down the front of my ear. Try as I might, I wouldn't stop shaking. Peeta swept his hand across the back of my head, burying his fingers in the hair at the back of my neck. It was no doubt greasy and gross.

We were like this for a few minutes, Peeta holding me tight as I shook. Slowly, the shaking dwindled enough for me to lift my head and sit up a little straighter. My arm muscles were currently out of order, and it took all of my strength just to put my hand son Peeta's chest to prop myself up. I was completely weakened by the dream, and I felt kind of like vomiting.

Peeta's arms were wrapped securely around me, but when I sat up he loosened them and looked slightly guilty that he had them around me in the first place. But even though his arms were dropped by his sides, he lifted one to brush a finger against my cheek, where a tear was sliding down.

"You were screaming my name." Peeta said quietly. "What…what was the dream about?"

There was a long pause, and I dropped my gaze from his. Though I didn't fully take my hands away from his chest (I'd collapse if I did), I brought one up to wipe away a bead of sweat that had rolled down my neck. "…... There was a fire." I shrugged, trying to dismiss it as not such a bad dream, but the panic inhale of breath at the memory gave me away. "It had already taken up District 12, and the dream started right where we are now. Right here, just as we had fallen asleep. It was so real..."

Peeta's brows furrowed, but he didn't have to word his question.

"We ran," I said. "But it was too fast, the fire. It ate everything. And we were running to the lake. Prim tripped on a root and…and…" I gulped, my eyes widening involuntarily. "Her leg broke… You carried her but right when we were just before the lake, you couldn't carry her any more. Your legs gave way and you fell. I took Prim and we made it to the lake, as did Mother."

A long pause before I took a shaky breath, my mouth forming a grimace with another bout of oncoming tears.

"I watch y-you go up in flames. I saw your face be-before you…" Looking away so hopefully he couldn't see the fresh tear that ran from my eye, I took another shaky breath. "And I was screaming on the shore of the lake for you to run." I couldn't take it anymore, so I buried my face in my hands, leaning against Peeta's shoulder.

To my own ears the recollection of the dream sounded like nothing. I shouldn't have been screaming my lungs out and crying all over the place, but he wasn't there. He didn't see our home in flames.

Peeta's arms went around me again and he shushed me gently, like a child.

"Peeta," I sniffed, rubbing my eyes with a hand. "W-Where's Mother and Prim?"

"Your mother went to work, and Prim was sent into town for flour." He explained in a soft voice, as though not really believing I meant the change of subject as genuine. "It's just me."

I frowned a bit. Now that I was done scrubbing away the tears, I had leaned back, exhausted, against him, head back on his shoulder. "Did you hear my screaming from your house?"

Peeta paused, and then exhaled defensively. "No. I didn't mean to fall asleep here, but I did."

He probably did mean to. I didn't respond.

"…Katniss?" Peeta's finger found its way under my chin again, forcing me to look at him. "It's not just the dream. Tell me, Katniss."

I…was pretty sure it was just the dream, but his gaze was so intense, I almost wanted to shrink under it. "It's nothing." I said in a whisper, unable to take my eyes from his.

He shook his head. "No, it's not. Please, Katniss. You were creaming for half an hour before I got you to calm down, and now you're acting really weird."

I wasn't aware I was acting weird. Swallowing, I hugged my arms back to my chest, not saying anything.

"Katniss," Peeta used his authority, deep man-voice. He was totally serious.

Swallowing hard, I managed to pull my gaze away and put my forehead on his shoulder. "I lose you so often. In dreams, you always say you're there, and you always leave. Die, vanish, abandon me… I'm sick of being so vulnerable and breakable, and I hate dreaming about stuff like that. It scares me so bad, but as soon as I know it's just a dream, I feel stupid and foolish to have bothered you with my…complaining and whining."

He didn't move to brush aside my hair or touch my cheek or anything. His chest just rose and fell with a silent sigh. "Don't, Katniss. You don't ever have to feel that way, and I'll never leave you in real life. You know that. Even though the inconsistency is driving you mad, I'm sure over time it'll pass."

I snorted, pouting against his shoulder. "I doubt it. I'm thoroughly convinced I'm going insane."

To my surprise, I felt Peeta lean his face down close to mine, lips almost touching my ear. "What's not to love about an insane woman?" he whispered, and then drew his face back from mine.

I didn't know what to say to that. His words made me automatically melt into a pool of Katniss, but I wasn't sure exactly how to respond. Give him a list of 'what's not to love about an insane woman'? Get up and fix breakfast? Give him a friendly punch on the shoulder and say "that's the spirit"? I didn't know. It rendered me confused and wordless.

Sighing, I sat up a bit and looked at Peeta, face puckered sadly. For a minute I sat there and looked at him. He held my gaze with his own. Curiosity made me lift a hand and put it against Peeta's cheek, surprising the both of us. Peeta's brows puckered in confusion and astonishment. His skin was as smooth as ever and still remained untouched by any form of stubble. Whatever they did to him in the first Games seemed to still work, which was odd.

I couldn't help but rub my thumb along his jaw line. "You still don't shave, do you?" The question, which would have originally bothered me, didn't make me embarrassed or even blush.

His mouth twitched up into a smile. "I don't have to. I'm worried it'll never grow again. It would take out a chunk of my manliness to not be able to grow facial hair."

I couldn't help but smile as well, inadvertently. "You don't need to worry about your manliness." I said in a quiet voice. Automatically, my face heated and I was back to being the normal mortified Katniss who felt tiny against a world of constant embarrassments.

Peeta let out a laugh, and then took my face in both hands. He was grinning. "Thank you for reassuring me that, Katniss." Almost reluctantly (but not quite) he leaned his forehead against mine. "It's good to see you've got your sense of humor back."

"More like my sense of perpetual humiliation." I mumbled, still red in the face. "Putting my foot in my mouth as usual…"

There was a moment of quiet between us. Peeta didn't lower his hands or take his face away from mine. On the contrary, he slid a hand under my chin and slowly, unsurely lifted it.

No kissing! I said no kissing in bed, stupid… At light-speed, my head debated what to do. Here I was practically sitting on Peeta's lap, and his hands were on my face and he was about to kiss me. My heart was racing as if this were our first kiss again. But, quite the opposite, our first kiss was not very passionate or heart-felt. At all. I didn't know what to do, if I should let him or break my pact and-and… My heartbeat sped up. Dang it…

Our lips were only an inch apart, when Peeta hesitated. "Is this okay?" His voice was a near-silent whisper, and I could feel his breath on my mouth.

Oh, god, I'm going to pass out… I swallowed and didn't answer for a minute. I had already debated and thought it over and attempted to calm my stupid rapid heartbeat (to no avail, obviously). Screw it all. I had to swallow down a nervous lump in my throat the size of a boulder before tentatively reached up my hands and putting them around Peeta's neck. He didn't even have to laugh and make some witty remark before I pulled him the last inch and kissed him.

Peeta's response was automatic; he shut his eyes and parted his lips briefly, skimming his hands down from my face to my shoulders. I let my lips part along with his and leaned into it. It tasted sweet and salty at the same time, but I couldn't register anything else, really. I hadn't let my hands go anywhere but his neck, but I willingly deepened the kiss. Not too far, Katniss. Be careful.

And I knew that.

I sighed against Peeta's mouth and pulled away from him, still not opening my eyes.

That was too short. Longer, longer.

Shut up.

No, no, he tasted good. Longer. Kiss him again.

Good things don't come from listening to my brain.

You really, REALLY want to, though. You want to kiss him again.

I swallowed and opened my eyes, chancing a glimpse at Peeta's expression. He looked like I felt.

Come on, Katniss.

If I had the ability to kill my own thoughts, I would have. Instead, I just shoved them down mentally violently and un-tucked my legs from under me. "I'll fix us breakfast." I offered quietly, got up, and left the room in my ruffled pink nighty, feeling as light as a feather.

Stop skipping down the stairs, Katniss. You'll trip.

oOo

I apologize for the odd ending, but it wasn't too bad, was it? Anyhoo, this chapter is kind of pointless, but I know all of you would appreciate the light fluff and the super-awesome dream sequence. Review telling me how AWESOME their kiss was! Or if you don't want to, feel free to wallow in the tingliness it brings us all. I think more kissing is in order, don't you?

One last thing I must say before departing:

His mind is the most beautiful thing I've ever gotten the honor of seeing into. No words are to describe how much awe I am in. I realize I'm misusing whatever talent I may have, and with that I will say I hope that I'll be able to learn a thing or two from you.