a/n: Happy Friday everyone! I am on vacation (the kind where you go somewhere on a plane, not the kind where you take the week off from work and lay around the house in your pajamas) from tomorrow until Friday the 19th so I wanted to get Chapter 31 out before I left! The next update will hopefully be next weekend sometime as I will probably get some writing done on the plane. I will post chapter 32 by Saturday or Sunday next weekend depending on how much of my Saturday is taken up by watching the new Catching Fire trailer premiering at Comic-Con San Diego that day once it hits the internet! So excited for that!

Enjoy and have a great week!

Chapter 31

I belong with you, you belong with m

You're my sweetheart

"Ho Hey"- The Lumineers

On the Saturday that Zale came to stay with us, the summer humidity was at its peak. Even at 6 o'clock in the evening, when the train from District 4 rolled into town carrying our pint sized visitor, it was still unbearable. On the phone earlier in the week, Zale had gushed about how excited he was to come and stay with us for the first week of his summer break from school.

Peeta had joked as we lay in bed later that night that Zale's excitement was probably motivated more by the idea of riding the train by himself for the first time than it was by the prospect of visiting us for a week.

I had questioned the soundness of Peeta's argument all the way up until I stood on that platform and watched Zale hop off of the train with the kind of confident swagger and air of "I'm-the-man" that only a preteen boy can exude when given one of his first opportunities to do something grown.

He looked the same as when we'd seen him earlier in the spring at our wedding reception except his tan indicated that he'd already spent a good deal of time outdoors since then (most likely on a boat or at the beach).

He bounced along across the platform searching the crowds for me and Peeta with bright, engaging green eyes. Before he saw us, Peeta and I shared a brief look that communicated the same thing we'd been saying to each other every time we'd been around Zale since he was a baby; he was the spitting image of Finnick.

"Katniss! Peeta!" He called running full tilt in our direction when he spotted us at about twenty feet away. At ten feet away, he dropped his large duffle bag to the ground and at four feet, he launched himself at Peeta who caught him and threw him over his shoulder with a hearty laugh.

"Easy kid, you're bigger every time we see you and I'm getting too old to carry seven-year-olds around…" Peeta teased and Zale frowned and gave Peeta a good natured shove when he put him down on his feet.

"Hey! I'm eleven, not seven!" He laughed and Peeta shoved him back lightly with a gasp.

"Eleven? Why, you're practically grown!" he said slapping his forehead for affect and then glanced around Zale at the bag he dropped a few feet away.

"I guess that means you can carry your own bag to the car now. Terrific!" Peeta said with a smirk and a big thumbs up.

Zale groaned and his shoulders slumped as he turned to get his bag.

"Hey! How 'bout a 'hi, Katniss. How have you been?'" I laughed and opened my arms to the boy who grinned shyly and walked straight into my embrace.

"Hi, Katniss. How have you been?" he asked with a smirk when I cupped his face in my hands and smiled down at him.

It was still so hard, even so long after losing Finnick, to look at his son's face and not feel immensely sad. But because Zale absolutely hated seeing that look from people, I masked it by crossing my eyes to make him laugh and then kissing his forehead and mussing his coppery hair.

"Come on," I said as I released Zale and he picked up his bag from the ground.

I looped an arm over Peeta's shoulders and he did the same to me as we headed for our car with Zale walking between but a little ahead of us.

"I bet you're hungry after such a long train ride all by yourself." I said and Zale turned around to face us but continued walking backwards.

"I'm eleven, I'm ALWAYS hungry." He laughed and turned back around as we reached the car and he threw his stuff in the back before climbing in.

"Good thing you're staying with a baker and a hunter this week then, huh?" I teased and climbed in back with Zale while Peeta went around and climbed into the driver's seat.

On the way home, Zale gave us the abbreviated version of everything he'd done in school and at home since we'd last seen him at our wedding reception. He finished up his school year, was being good for his mother, and he had just begun sailing lessons which he claimed had Annie more overprotective and anxious about his safety than she normally was.

"So, you looking forward to a week of baking and hunting?" Peeta asked glancing in the rearview mirror as we neared the houses of Victor's Village and a group of kids from a neighboring house raced out of the road where they were playing some sort of ball game and waved at us as we passed.

"Definitely!" Zale said practically bouncing with excitement in his seat.

"Could we go to the lake and swim too?" He asked looking between my face and the back of Peeta's head expectantly.

The child's excitement was contagious and I found myself grinning from ear to ear as Peeta chuckled in the front of the car.

"Sure," he said with a casual shrug as we parked in front of the house.

"I don't have the baking class with the kids tomorrow so why don't we go once you've had a chance to get a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast in the morning?" He said and Zale nodded eagerly before he climbed out of the car with his bag over his shoulder.

"Here kitty, kitty. Here, Buttercup!"

I glanced over at Peeta with a frown to find he was already looking sadly after Zale. The boy was glancing from side to side in the bushes looking for the cat as he headed for the door. I mentally cursed myself for not having thought to say something earlier but truth be told, I was still kind of trying to get over the scruffy cat's passing several weeks earlier myself.

That's right. A few weeks after our wedding reception, it was as if that damned ugly cat had decided his job of bringing us together was complete. He had started staying outside of the house more and more, even choosing to sleep on the porch or out in the woods at night rather than in our bedroom.

Peeta and I had both noticed but neither of us said anything to the other for fear that mentioning what we knew was coming would make it true. After a week of hiding, sleeping outside, and turning down even his most favorite of foods (bacon), Buttercup didn't show up at all for two days. On the second day, Peeta came home from the bakery while I was making dinner and stood in the doorway of the back porch with a small, still bundle wrapped loosely in a blanket.

I had been trying to prepare myself during those few weeks prior but seeing his face and knowing that the stupid, ugly, mangy pet that was my last remaining physical connection to my sister made me drop to my knees and break down in tears.

They only came on stronger when Peeta walked slowly over to me and sat down on the floor with me and I could see he'd been crying as well. I reached out and put a hand on top of the blanket covering Buttercup and petted his lifeless body one last time while I tried to compose myself.

"We should bury him at the old house. That's where he always wanted to be anyway." I finally managed to say before another wave of tears.

Peeta nodded and set the cat aside before he pulled me into his arms and we just sat there holding each other and crying for the loss of our pet.

That had been just over a month before Zale's visit and Peeta and I were both still missing him. We shared a look as Zale pushed open the front door still calling for the cat. Peeta walked swiftly up the walk to the house calling the boy's name.

I followed behind at a slower pace and had just entered the house as Peeta was apologizing to a distraught Zale for not having told him beforehand that Buttercup had died.

"It was only a few weeks ago, Buddy. Katniss and I…we're still kind of sad about it so we didn't think to mention it to anyone else besides Haymitch." He was saying gently as he crouched on the floor with a hand on Zale's shoulder supportively.

I sighed sadly when I saw Zale trying to quickly dash away his tears with the backs of his hands and walked over to pull him in for a hug.

Since Zale was little, every time he and Annie came to visit, Buttercup had been his constant playmate. I assumed the love affair began on Buttercup's end because the little soft human constantly smelled of milk and whatever other food was stuck to his face as he crawled around the house on the cat's level. Zale had been taken with Buttercup from their first meeting, squealing happily and trying to get a handful of fur every time he saw the cat skulking through the house.

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie." I whispered and held him close.

He slowly raised his arms to wrap them around my waist and hugged me tightly because he knew as much as I complained about the cat, I had loved him too.

Peeta stood and wrapped his arms around us both and we all just held each other for a few long moments. What finally pulled us apart was a soft, light meowing coming from the upstairs. We had all just pulled far enough apart to look at the stairs as our noisy, new little roommate pranced down the steps to check out our visitor.

Zale stiffened momentarily and then looked up at Peeta and I, before slowly smiling.

"Who's that?" he asked with a tear roughened voice and slowly approached the orange tabby kitten who was sitting on the bottom step, his tail twitching back and forth contentedly.

"Buttercup Two," I said. When Zale cast a skeptical look over his shoulder, I shrugged.

When Peeta came home with the kitten two weeks earlier, I had initially been really pissed off that he had gotten it without talking to me first but he had assured me that it wasn't something he planned. He'd heard a customer asking people in the bakery if they knew anyone interested in a cat because his female cat had just birthed a sizeable litter and he was looking to offload the kittens quickly.

"We're still working on the name…" I said even though calling him 'Buttercup Two' had kind of grown on me. He was nicer to me than Buttercup the First had been when he was a kitten but to be fair, I hadn't tried to drown this one when Peeta brought him home. Though I briefly entertained drowning Peeta when he'd first walked in with the little ball of fur sitting on his shoulder.

"He's cute…can I take him up to the bedroom with me while I unpack?" Zale asked hopefully and chuckled when the kitten jumped from the step onto his duffle bag and began biting the straps as if it was some monster we all needed saving from.

"Yeah, that's fine. Dinner will be ready in about a half hour so don't waste all your time playing with him and not unpacking your clothes." I warned even as the boy was racing up the stairs with the kitten hopping along behind him.

I looked over at Peeta who laughed softly at the look on my face as we headed into the kitchen together to set the table and get dinner started. I couldn't believe that Zale had gone from being sad about Buttercup to wanting to take the kitten off and play with it in a matter of minutes.

"He's an eleven-year-old boy, Kat. They're mercurial by nature." He said pulling some steaks from the fridge that were already marinated and ready to cook on the grill outside.

I smirked as I set the table and raised my eyebrows at him. The first time I had come into contact with Peeta he was 11-years-old and nothing like he'd just described the typically developing boy. Especially the one who was probably lying on the floor upstairs with a still fully packed bag dropped by the bedroom door while he played with the new kitten.

"So if typical eleven-year-old boys are like Zale, were you some kind of weirdo because you were single-mindedly obsessing over a girl you'd never met and throwing her bread so that her family didn't starve to death?" I asked walking over to him and handing him the large grilling fork to take with him outside.

"Absolutely." Peeta said proudly. "My brothers thought I was deranged."

He smiled and I chuckled and stood on tiptoes to peck him on the lips.

"Aww…well, I for one am glad you were a weirdo." I said with a nod and Peeta leaned forward to kiss me this time.

"Me too." He teased and winked at me as he slipped out the door.

"You better go check on him. The typical developing 11-year-old wouldn't have even thought about unpacking yet." He said and I set a stack of napkins down in the middle of the table before heading upstairs to find Zale.

Zale passed out by 8:30 that night but not until he'd eaten a 12 ounce steak, about 10 stalks of asparagus, half the bowl of mashed potatoes on the table and two slices of a chocolate cake Peeta had brought home with him from work.

When he started nodding off as he pushed himself back and forth in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch, while Peeta and I lounged on the swing together, Peeta had sent him up for a shower and to change into his pajamas. He'd never have admitted how tired he was on his own but after traveling for most of the day, he was obviously exhausted.

Peeta and I were still on the swing together and the sun was just beginning to set when Zale padded barefoot out onto the porch in light pajama pants and a sleeveless undershirt to say good night.

Buttercup Two was doing figure 8's around his feet as he made his way over to shyly lean against the railing across from us. I sat up from where I was laying with my head in Peeta's lap when I remembered that, with just he and Annie in the house together, Zale had very little opportunity to see how couples behave together and he might have been embarrassed by even simple displays of affection.

"Heading to bed?" I asked leaning more casually into Peeta's side and Zale leaned down and picked the kitten up, smiling when it snuggled him under the chin. I looked away briefly to collect myself because the soft, sweet smile on his face was just too much like Finnick's had been. Peeta must have sensed that I was upset because he wrapped one arm over my shoulders protectively as Zale nodded.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired. Night," He mumbled and set the kitten in my lap as he leaned over to hug me quickly.

Before he could pull away, I put my arms tightly around Zale's shoulders and hugged him back. I had suddenly been overcome with an overwhelming need to show him how happy I was that he had come to visit us. Zale stiffened at first, surprised by my returning his hug so tightly and then he sighed softly and relaxed into my arms.

"Thanks for letting me stay with you guys this week..." He whispered and scratched the back of his head nervously when he stood straight. Peeta took mercy on him by reaching out to muss his hair rather than subject Zale to an awkward guy hug. He also reminded him that we were the bedroom door next to his if he needed anything at night.

"We'll be up in a little, but if you need anything in the next hour or so we'll be out here." I told him and Zale nodded and said good night once more before he scurried inside and headed up to bed.

"He's such a good kid." Peeta said guiding me back to my previous position lying with my head in his lap looking up at him as the kitten curled up on my stomach comfortably.

I nodded and smiled, thinking of how good of a job Annie was doing with Zale on her own. He was just getting to that age when having a man around to share any thoughts or feelings he might be having was something he could really use on a daily basis. Annie had even asked Peeta if he wouldn't mind fielding any 'guy questions' that might come up during his stay and he had readily agreed. Based on the fact that he seemed more embarrassed than usual by even our smallest displays of affection for each other, I assumed he might actually have some questions worth Peeta's time.

We were splitting time with him during the week and I hoped that, if he did have any concerns or questions, Zale would feel comfortable enough when he had Peeta alone to ask them.

"Yeah, he is. I just hope we don't screw him up at all while he's here…" I said with a nervous laugh.

"I mean…it's not exactly like we're kid experts and we usually have Annie here to field the behavior issues that come up…" I said chewing my bottom lip. "Can you punish 11-year-olds? I don't even know how that would work or where to start if…"

Peeta cut me off by leaning down to kiss my lips deeply.

I sighed and relaxed into the kiss, knowing that because Peeta was using his most effective method of calming me down (and shutting me up) that he did not have the same concerns about our ability to care for Zale.

"Katniss…he's eleven years old not eleven months old." He smirked and reached over to pet Buttercup Two's downy fur.

I knew what he was trying to say, but I still found the idea of being responsible for another person's life pretty daunting. I'd just finally gotten pretty good at taking care of myself and Peeta and we had a new pet we'd managed to keep alive so far. But the responsibility of taking care of a child, especially one who was all his mother had left of his father, was pretty daunting indeed.

"I'm well aware of that, Peet," I scoffed and sat up next to him, rousing the kitten. He meowed at me and hopped over to Peeta's lap where Peeta continued to calmly pet him and the kitten kneaded Peeta's thigh with his paws.

"It's just, I haven't had this much responsibility laid on me in quite some time. It just…brings back memories of taking care of Prim," I said quietly. Peeta sighed and reached over to hold my hand in my lap. "And look how good of a job I did with that." I mumbled and looked down at our joined hands.

"Well, just remember that when you were taking care of Prim it was just you because your mom mentally checked out after your dad died. This time, you have me to help take care of Zale," He smiled and squeezed my hand gently.

"Anyway, tomorrow should be an easy enough test of our childcare skills since we're taking him to the lake." Peeta said with a chuckle. "The kid can swim laps around you and you're the best swimmer I've ever seen."

He winked and I nodded but was still skeptical.

"I really hope he likes hunting. It's the first time he's been old enough to take out with me and we already know he loves to bake with you." I said ticking activities off on my fingers in hopes that it would help ease my mind to review all of the fun things we had planned for Zale's visit.

"He'll have a blast with us, Katniss. Did you see how happy he was when he saw us on the train platform?" he asked shaking his head as if he couldn't believe it himself.

When I looked more closely at Peeta's face, I was momentarily taken aback by how touched Peeta seemed to be knowing that Zale was so happy to be with us. While I was still frightened by the idea at the time, the look on my husband's face told me just how badly he still wanted to be a father some day.

We had occasionally talked about it through the years and while I had stopped turning him down outright, I continued to insist to Peeta that I still didn't feel ready to be someone's mother just yet. I knew it upset him even though he tried to hide it very well.

I saw how much he loved kids every time one of them walked into the bakery, with eyes bigger than their bellies as they took in the sight of all the wonderful cakes and other goodies.

I saw it whenever I joined him for one of the two Sundays a month that he ran the children's baking class and saw how happy being with children made him. Of course, I didn't miss the affectionate way the children looked at him either. There was never any doubt in my mind that Peeta would make the better parent of the two of us, but when I'd first had that thought, I hadn't been the other parent in my mind's equation.

"I did."

I had to at least admit that I'd seen how happy Zale was to see us when he first spotted us waiting for him at the train station. Anyone with a fully functioning pair of eyes could see it.

"He was thrilled." I whispered as Peeta nodded and leaned back into the swing comfortably. He once again began to push us back and forth with one foot on the ground.

He tugged me over into his side and we watched the sun drop behind the tree line that was the beginning of our forest and I relaxed slightly as I worked to picture Zale's face on the platform that evening. It was a technique Dr. Aurelius had taught me to use over the years when I was feeling overwhelmed and as I pictured Zale's look of excitement and took some deep breaths, I began to calm.

I appreciated that Peeta didn't mention anything more about either his or my childcare skills for the rest of the time we sat out on the porch. Eventually, the kitten grew bored with chasing fire flies and mosquitoes in the grass just off the porch and began to pace in front of the door telling us he wanted to go in, mewling loudly.

"Yeah, yeah…we hear ya," I laughed softly and tugged Peeta to his feet before we headed inside.

I hadn't realized how tired I was myself from cleaning and preparing the house for Zale's stay until we were climbing the stairs to the second floor and my body protested the struggle against gravity at each step.

Peeta chuckled as he watched me holding onto the railing as I trudged upstairs and I made sure to smack his ass hard when we reached the top step.

"Shh!" He hissed with a grin as he grabbed my wrist and pointed towards Zale's door which was already closed for the night.

I didn't know whether it would be considered a violation of his privacy to open it and check on him or not so I let Peeta make that call as we came to stand in front of the door. I stepped to the side slightly as he gently turned the knob and peeked inside. When he glanced at me with a tender smile and nodded, I moved my own head to look in.

Zale was stretched out diagonally across the bed on his stomach with the covers half turned down underneath him. He had all of the windows open wide and there was a small device sitting on the nightstand near where his head was resting on a pillow that had sounds of waves crashing on a beach coming from it.

I realized that he must have been so used to the sound of the ocean as he slept that being away from it would make it too difficult for him to sleep properly. So he had brought the ocean with him in some way. The sound was so clear that I almost looked out the window to make sure we weren't in fact at his and Annie's quiet, secluded little bungalow by the shore as Peeta slipped into the room and headed for the bed.

I watched with open curiosity (mostly because I knew Peeta couldn't see me well in the sliver of moonlight illuminating shadows in the room) as he crept to the side of the bed nearest the windows and gently tugged the covers the rest of the way down underneath Zale's prone body. The he just as gently tugged them over his sleeping form and tucked him in. Completing the fatherly picture developing in my mind, he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to the boy's brow and brushed his wavy bangs back from his face lovingly.

I rested my head against the door jam and closed my eyes briefly as a wave of some feeling that was previously completely foreign washed over me. Something deep inside my belly clenched and unclenched at the sight of Peeta taking part in what would have been such a typical daily routine in the life of a parent.

It touched me even more because I was watching the scene unfolding in front of me take place between a fatherless child and a man who was ready to be a father in his heart but had no child.

He stood over the bed watching Zale sleep for a few moments more and then turned back to me and crept back out the door, shutting it gently behind him.

"He's beat." He whispered with a short laugh and I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck standing on my tippy toes and pressed a hard kiss to his mouth.

Peeta was startled at first but his hands fell to my hips after a moment, holding me close as he returned the kiss.

When we pulled back, Peeta looked down into my eyes a little bewildered but still smiled at me.

"What was that for?" he asked and kept his hands on my hips since I still had my arms looped around his neck.

I shrugged, not ready to share what I'd felt when watching him tuck in our little visitor just yet. Especially since I wasn't sure myself what exactly those feelings meant.

"Nothing…I'll tell you later." I said reaching up to kiss him once more. "Come on, I'm exhausted and am probably going to pass out in the same position Zale's in once I hit the bed."

I chuckled and headed for our door but stopped a moment and watched Peeta turn back to check Zale's door once more before he followed me into our bedroom where Peeta fell quickly to sleep and I lay awake for several hours, trying to sort out those feelings as best I could.

a/n: It only felt right to dedicate this chapter to the memory of Buttercup. It dawned on me that he had to go sometime and this seemed like the most appropriate and tasteful way to say good bye to him. RIP Buttercup!