Screaming. It jolted my entire body, and scared me shitless. I don't know if the screaming had been going on before, or if it just started now, but it had just startled me awake. I tried thinking about what it could possibly be when it happened again. It was a child, and it wasn't a threatening scream, it was just high pitched noises as he threw a fit. Oh, Sumpter!

I rolled to my side to shake Peeta awake, remind him of our new…housemates. But he wasn't there. The sunlight streamed through the window and the sheets were pushed aside where Peeta had left the bed. The clock said nine o' clock. Oh god…will I wake up like this every morning with a child…?

I stood and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to tame it. After pulling some clothes on and putting my hair up in a pony tail I headed downstairs. I didn't have time for my braid; I wanted to see why Sumpter wouldn't stop screaming, and why Peeta wouldn't do something to help. You'd think Ira would have learned how to control her child by now.

But when I got downstairs I realized I'd misconstrued the situation. Sumpter wasn't throwing a fit. He was only playing. There was the hugest smile on his face and he giggled uncontrollably, Peeta holding him upside down by his ankles and dropping him onto the couch softly. Ira was sitting at the table, eating a piece of toast like she's never had toast before, smiling at the two.

There was a tinge of jealousy in my heart at that moment, but it was quickly flooded over with happiness. Peeta hasn't looked so happy in nearly a year, aside from the times we make love of course, but our sex life can't be everything. It was amazing to see him so clean and pure after only recently getting his memory back just in the beginning of the winter. But it was time for spring, it was a time for rebirth. I just hope to god that this child had a father somewhere, and he wasn't here, chasing him in circles around the couch.

"Katniss, you're awake," Ira exclaims, smiling at me. I give her a smile back, and I hope it doesn't look too forced. I like her, but it's hard for me to warm up to anybody, much less a stranger we took in so easily.

"I hope you slept well," I ask her, pouring myself a glass of water.

"Better than I have in weeks." I can't help but give her a genuine smile this time, we are doing a good thing, after all. "Sumpter just had to wake up at eight though," she rolls her eyes and chuckles like what are you gunna do? She was handling his single poor mother thing pretty well.

"So…do you have clothes…or belongings? When you came here you kinda came empty handed," I shrugged, sitting next to her. Peeta hadn't yet noticed I had come down, but I didn't want to distract them. I don't think Sumpter had had this much stimulation in a long time.

"Well we weren't counting on staying," she says, "but I have a few things. I'll book a train ride as soon as possible," she says. But I can see that she must be under a lot of pressure. It was obvious she was out of money, and this train ride was going to put her into debt.

"Don't worry about it. Wherever you live, we'll handle the transportation there whenever you want. Perks of being victors, free rides." I say, beginning to prepare myself breakfast.

"I couldn't possibly." I sigh and turn to face her from the sink.

"I insist. It doesn't cost us anything; you're foolish not to take it." And she nods in agreement.

"Sweetheart," Peeta calls breathlessly, "I didn't know you were awake, I would've said goodmorning." He comes over and hugs me from behind for a moment, kissing my cheeks and giving me a tired smile. It looks like Sumpter woke him up and tired him out too.

"You looked like you were having fun," I tell him, "didn't wanna disturb you."

"Peeta!" Sumpter nearly runs into my legs as he charges towards Peeta, "I got you!" He pulls his hand up and forms a finger gun, making fake gun sounds. Peeta pretends he's shot and falls over on the floor. Hey, if he wasn't to lie on that nasty floor, that's his choice.

"Oh boy…" I say to myself, understanding exactly how high maintenance children are, and how weird our situation is. Peeta was good with him, but we just met them yesterday…we don't know if Sumpter is his yet… If he wasn't, Sumpter was still going to be attached to Peeta. Bringing him here couldn't have been entirely a good idea, but it's so hard to botch what we're doing when Ira needs so much help. So I'll consider this a charity deed, and pretend my husband never had sex with her. Even if it was in an act of slavery. I had to continuously remind myself that it was never his choice to begin with.

"I know, you're lucky you have a choice," she says to me. "It wasn't exactly like I conceived on my honeymoon somewhere on a tropical island, on a beach…" she sighs, watching them return to they're roughhousing. "How could they let so many men do that to me…?" She turned to me. "Why should they be allowed to not use a condom if they pleased?" I looked down.

"They're sick. Like you said, it was an entertainment act," I say, "And sure, I have a choice to let him use a condom or not, but I didn't try to get pregnant either. And Peeta and I have never been on a honeymoon." I return to making my breakfast, and I'm nearly finished when I realize she was silent, and staring at me.

"What?" she says as I notice her, almost like she couldn't believe what I'd just said.

"I was just gunna ask the same thing…"

"You're pregnant?"

"Oh…yes," I say. To my surprise she laughs and wraps her arms around me. I had thought this hug was going to be awkward, but honestly it felt nice. It felt safe, since she wasn't going to hurt anything we had.

"It's obvious he'll be a great father," she says as we pull away, looking towards them.

"Yeah…"I sigh. "I got lucky."

"I hope I did too…" she says, quietly. For a moment I think she's talking about Peeta until I notice she's not with me anymore. She's lost in her own world, thinking about someone else.

"Was there a man in your life?" I ask her in a softer tone, wondering exactly why she hadn't gone to him and not us.

"Well…sort of," she blushes and looks away. I grin, like a teenage girl. I hadn't had the teenage life I realize now that I'd wanted. I had to work at such a young age.

"Tell me about him," I urge, sitting down, eating my food in anticipation. She sighs in defeat, turning towards me fully.

"Well he's how I did my research on you. I wouldn't have known how to find you without him, and I wouldn't have had the money for the train ride here," she says, smiling at the thought of him. "He says he lived in district 12 his entire life, and if this place wasn't so small he wouldn't have known enough about you to tell me that he knew that you and Peeta were married, lived in the victors' village." Lived here? I must have known him!

"Where were you living before?" I ask. "When you met him, did you live in the capital?" I had never known someone from district 12 to live in the capital, but with this newfound democracy, I guess anything can happen…

"No, I had been living in district 2. He was working as a weapon manufacturer but ended up taking over one of the companies, became the CEO," she explains. "I met him then. Sumpter was fascinated with guns, and I had to keep him away from the peacekeepers weaponry shops. One day I turned around to buy some food, probably fruit I don't remember, and when I turned around he was gone. Thankfully I knew where the closest shop was, and he did too, so when I got there I found him, talking to a strange man." She looks at him like the naughty child he must be, but his face was just too sweet to stay angry at. I already had a soft spot in my heart for Sumpter.

"They were outside the shop, and Sumpter wasn't afraid, which is rare because a lot of men scare him," she explains.

"So the CEO of a peacekeepers weaponry company was just coincidentally standing outside that shop when Sumpter showed up?" I question.

"Not a weaponry company, the weaponry company," she points a finger at me. "Every peacekeeper you've ever seen is carrying one of his weapons. Well, I guess since he took over about a year ago."

"Does he have a name?" I ask. She chuckles, and I know there's something.

"I would imagine he does, but I never did learn what it was. I simply called him by his office name." She shrugs. "But I wasn't in a position to question his authority when he had my kid in his hands, so I listened to what he had to say."

"These shops are dangerous ma'am."

"I know sir, I'm sorry, but he just can't seem to stay away," I explained to him.

"Kid tells me he loves guns," he says, laughing a little. I nodded.

"He does."

Ira stops, and I ask her what's wrong.

"I didn't know what it was about him…his eyes…but he made me want to tell him everything. We ended up meeting the next night, he bought us dinner," she says. "That was when he asked me if there was a father in Sumpter's life, noticing that he and I were alone. I ended up telling him everything," she pauses, "even Peeta."

"You say his name is Peeta?" he asks me.

"Yes," I tell him.

"You mean…hunger games victor Peeta…?" he questions, leaning forward on the table like my answer could mean anything to him.

"He…he was in the games?"

"Of course I hadn't known about that. I refused to watch the games. Senseless violence, which is why I don't understand where Sumpter acquired his fascination for weapons," Ira sighs.

"He's a child, he'll move onto the next fascination sooner or later," I reassure. Anyway, she continued with her story.

"He was. Tragic story really," he pauses, like he knew personally, "his lover Katniss and he were both from district 12. I grew up with them." He takes a sip of his water and motions for the waiter to come over. This restaurant was fancy, fancier than I've ever been to before, and I was thankful that Sumpter was asleep in my arms. It was his favorite place to be.

"You know Peeta?"

"Odds are he lives in the victor village with Katniss. They're married now."

"Were they married…when…I knew him?"

"Not that I know of, but they were together," he says to me. "I don't know much about him, but if he is the father of your child, I don't doubt he would do something to help you out, miss," he smiles at me, and it's a smile like nothing I've ever seen before. "He's a kind man."

"I know," I whisper.

"Here," he sighs, putting a train ticket on the table in front of me. "I've been saving this for a raining day, but I will never need it as badly as you do now."

"And that's how you got here," I say after she finishes her story.

"Yep, and since then, I can't get him out of my head. There was just something about him…"

"Sounds like you have a little crush." I grin, reassured that Peeta wasn't what Ira had came for. She came for the sake of honesty and to find out if Sumpter really was his or not.

"Maybeee…" she blushes.

"Do you think you'll ever see him again?" I question, interested in her story.

"Well…he did give me this. If I wanted to see him again all I had to do was ask for him at the headquarters down the road from where I lived," she takes something out of her pocket and sets it on the counter in front of me.

I studied it for a moment, seeing that it was a pin, almost like a nametag, but something that ancient American soldiers used to wear so that they could be identified as a certain rank, but slightly modified. I read what it said.

Chief Executive Officer Hawthorne, of the Second District