Chapter 14 – Ready Or Not

Katniss had gone into her bedroom and closed the door. But she wasn't tired. Her mind could hardly settle down. She paced around the room for a while, then opened the door and snuck out. She had to get away. She thought about going to the roof, but then she heard voices mention Peeta. Katniss stole down the hallway to hear what they were saying.

When Cressida began discussing bringing Peeta into the game, Katniss went back to her bedroom. She'd heard enough. She was sick of the game. Anything that she shared with Peeta was between them. It didn't belong to Panem. It needed to develop naturally – to thrive or fail on its own - not be rushed to fit a television schedule.

Keeping her clothes on, she lay on her bed listening for Effie to return to her room. Katniss remained on her bed for another hour before getting up. She left her room and made her way to the roof, shutting the door tightly behind her.

She walked out to the edge and leaned against the railing, shivering slightly in the cool air. Even though it was the middle of the night, there was still traffic on the streets. Occasionally people staggered down the sidewalks no doubt intoxicated from an evening of revelry. Did these people realize how lucky they were to have a private life?

She wandered over to the garden, past the bench where Peeta had told her about the cameras only a couple of weeks earlier. She walked through the garden, looking carefully at the ornamental flowers, shrubs, and trees.

A small greenhouse stood at the far edge. She hadn't noticed it before, but then she and Peeta had only sat on the bench, they hadn't walked the entire length of the garden. She approached it and opened the door to find that the building, lit only by the pale moonlight, was filled with roses. All different colors and varieties.

The air was warm and the scent of the flowers was overpowering. To Katniss it was the smell of rejection. She looked around for cameras, but didn't notice anything obvious. She ducked down until the counter, curled herself into a tiny ball and let the tears fall.

She fell asleep after a while and woke up to a gentle shaking. Cinna was bending over her.

"Wake up, Katniss," he whispered.

It was morning. She tried to stand, but her muscles had cramped after sleeping in such an awkward position.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

She rubbed her eyes that were puffy from crying.

"I can't do it Cinna," she said. "I want to go home."

"Because you're not in love?" he countered.

"I don't know how I feel," she admitted. "I came here ready to marry Gale because we're friends at least, but he's fallen for someone else. Then, I thought I could marry Cato even though I can't

stand him. I could make myself do it. Now they're going to bring Peeta into the game."

"Do you care about Peeta?" he asked gently.

She nodded.

"Does he care about you?"

"Yes." That was probably the only thing she was certain about right now. Peeta cared for her. "I never wanted to fall in love, though."

"But Katniss, love is part of life. If you miss love, you'll miss life."

She pondered Cinna's words. Ever since she'd kissed Peeta yesterday, no even before that, the thought of him had stirred so many feelings within her – happiness, reassurance, longing, hope. So many good things in life that she'd been denying herself for so long. It was like she had been waiting for something. Was it Peeta?

"But what if…" she began.

"Some things are worth taking a risk," Cinna interrupted, reaching for her hand. "Let's go downstairs. Effie's torn the penthouse apart looking for you. I imagine she'll have Peacekeepers searching the streets soon."

Pre-wedding jitters, Effie called Katniss' escape to the roof. She sent Katniss to her room to shower and get dressed before sitting her down to eat. As Katniss downed her cereal and juice, Effie, Cressida, and Cinna joined her to discuss her upcoming interview with Caesar.

"This is where things stand now," Cressida explained. "Gale and Cato remain in the game as contestants. However, from what I witnessed yesterday I'm guessing Gale is no longer your choice?"

Katniss nodded, looking away in embarrassment.

"From what you've said in the past and from what I've seen off camera, I'm guessing you're not interested in Cato."

Katniss nodded. Two days ago, she would have resigned herself to him. But she couldn't now. Not after seeing Peeta, and kissing him, and hearing him say how much he wanted her. A giddy sensation ran through her chest as she thought about him and those kisses.

"Tonight we're going on Caesar Flickerman's show to announce a rule change," Cressida said. "We'll be adding Peeta into the game. Based on what happened yesterday, I assume you're all right with it."

Katniss nodded shyly, her cheeks turning pink. She glanced at Cinna, immediately feeling reassured at the warmth she saw in his brown eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She spent the rest of the day preparing for the interview. Effie helped her formulate answers to the scripted questions Caesar would ask; later Cinna dressed her in a muted orange dress.

"Don't be so nervous," Cinna said, as he completed her makeup. "There's no audience for the show because it won't be aired for several days. "If anything goes wrong, Cressida will fix it in the editing process."

She arrived at Caesar's television set late that afternoon. She wondered where Gale, Cato, and Peeta were. She thought they would be part of the show, but maybe she was wrong, maybe Caesar only wanted to interview her.

She stood on the side of the stage as a band played the intro music that signified the opening of the show. Caesar entered from the other side to a recording of thunderous applause.

"Good evening ladies and gentleman," Caesar said to the empty chairs facing him. "Tonight we are here to meet up again with the lovely Katniss Everdeen who has been wooed by Panem's most eligible bachelors over the past few weeks."

At the edge of the stage, Katniss rolled her eyes at Caesar's blatant lie. Cressida pushed her from behind and the sound of applause echoed through the studio.

She down on an upholstered chair facing Caesar, smiled, and made eye contact just as Effie had taught her.

"Well, Katniss you're down to two finalists."

She nodded and looked at the empty seats, glad that there was no audience.

"But I understand there's a rule change coming," he said. "Here to tell us all about it is Plutarch Heavensbee, the head of network programming for Panem."

More recorded applause sounded as Plutarch came out onto the stage. He shook Caesar's hand and kissed Katniss' cheek before sitting down in a chair next to her.

"So what's this all about?" Caesar said leaning forward in his chair.

Plutarch cleared his throat. "Well Caesar," he began. "When we created this show, we intended for our lovely Miss Everdeen to find a husband from among one of twelve bachelors. But it seems there was another love affair developing right under our noses of which we weren't aware."

Caesar leaned back in his chair, one hand covering his mouth as if anticipation of a juicy bit gossip.

Plutarch continued. "Capitol viewers were privy to the airing of some special domestic training Miss Everdeen received to prepare her for her new life as a wife. Her teacher was a handsome baker, Peeta Mellark. It seems that two developed a serious friendship."

"How intriguing," Caesar said, glancing at Katniss and smiling.

"We've decided to add Peeta into The Match Game. He will be lucky 13 in our collection of bachelors to woo Miss Everdeen, giving her a baker's dozen from which to choose."

"Adding a baker to make it a baker's dozen," Caesar chuckled. "That's very clever. When will we get to meet this handsome lad?"

Plutarch smiled. "He came here with me."

Caesar turned to Katniss. "You know what that means Katniss. You must sit behind the pillar while I interview our newest contestant."

Katniss stood up and followed a stagehand that directed her to the same chair she'd sat at a couple of weeks ago when the other contestants were interviewed.

There was a small monitor in front of her and she watched Peeta come out on stage. The fake applause track that played included a few screams. Katniss wondered if they had simply played back the soundtrack from the cooking show she'd watched with Annie.

Peeta was dressed in a forest green shirt and dark pants. He shook Caesar's hand and patted Plutarch's shoulder before sitting in the seat Katniss had vacated.

"Well Peeta, it seems you have made quite an impression on the ladies in our audience."

Peeta stared out at the empty chairs and grinned, before turning back to Caesar.

"Tell us about yourself," Caesar said.

"I'm a baker in District 12," Peeta began.

"Did you know the lovely Miss Everdeen from home then?"

"Only as someone I've always admired," Peeta said.

"So your friendship started here in the Capitol?"

"Yes," he admitted. "I was given the job of teaching Katniss how to bake."

"And now you're ready to throw your apron into the ring to join the other men who are eager to marry our lovely girl."

Peeta smiled. "I'm more than ready."

Katniss heart thumped loudly.

"And if you win, you'll marry her in a big Capitol wedding?" Caesar added.

"Certainly," Peeta said. "We'd want to share our happiness with all of Panem. But District 12 has its own marriage customs too."

"Really," Caesar said. "What are they?"

Katniss heart pounded as Peeta described a toasting to Caesar and Plutarch. Caesar had a smile on his face, but Plutarch's face turned red. Katniss thought he might choke. He's figured it out, she thought. She guessed this was not the type of excitement and drama he'd been requesting for so long.

"That's very interesting," Caesar said. "I think we have a tape of the two of you. Let's watch it now."

The lights dimmed, and the three of them turned to watch as a screen lowered from the ceiling.

The film opened with Peeta telling Katniss she was the prettiest girl in District 12 while they stood in the hallway of the train, then cut to her sitting at breakfast drinking hot chocolate with him. Next, it showed them making cookies in the kitchen of the penthouse, leaning on the railing of the roof looking over the city, putting together the recipe book, and lastly the toasting in front of the fire.

When the tape ended, and the lights turned back on, the atmosphere had changed. Someone yelled "cut" and Plutarch called for Katniss to come back to the interview area.

She slowly walked toward Caesar. This clearly wasn't part of the show. Cressida had come onto the stage and was arguing with Plutarch.

"I can edit all of that out. No one will know."

Then she heard a crash from behind the side curtain and Cato ran onto the stage. He was yelling and cursing.

He looked right at Katniss, and called her an obscene name.

Her face went red, but not before she saw Peeta jump from his seat.

Cato turned and ran toward Peeta. When he got close enough he took a swing at Peeta's face. Peeta blocked the punch, and then put his two hands onto Cato's chest pushing him backwards.

"Who do you think you are?" Cato shouted. "She was mine. I was in this game from the beginning."

Plutarch reached forward and grabbed Cato's shoulders, pushing Peeta out of the way.

Cato calmed down immediately and glared at Plutarch.

"My family paid good money to get me on the show," he yelled. "I was told I had a chance to win. But this Katniss," he spit out her name, "was already married to him according to the traditions of her district before The Match Game even started." He glared at Peeta, before turning back to Plutarch. "This show is a complete fraud. I want my money back."

Surprise crossed Katniss' face. She glanced at Peeta. He was rubbing the back of his neck nervously. She'd never thought about the implications of what they'd done in terms of how it affected the other players in the game. She guessed Peeta hadn't either. Cato was right. If he had entered the game under the assumption that it was real, even if he was the only player who did, he had been cheated.

From the corner of the stage she saw Gale, slowly shaking his head at her. Embarrassed, she looked away.

"Calm down, young man," Plutarch told Cato. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

He looked at Cressida. "Where is Fulvia? I thought she was going to be here."

"She's back at her office taking care of the wedding arrangements," Cressida said.

Caesar interrupted. "Can we go ahead and finish the show?"

Cressida nodded. "Let's begin after the film ends. Pretend Peeta never said anything about the toasting."

Katniss was directed back to the chair on the other side of the stage. Cressida led an irate Cato off stage.

Caesar asked Peeta a few more questions for his interview segment, before dismissing him, and asking Katniss to return.

She pretended enthusiasm when she spoke about picking a winner, but her stomach was churning. Why did Peeta have to mention the toasting? He was going to be part of the game. Didn't he know that she would pick him?

Finally the show ended. Katniss expected that she and Peeta would be brought before Plutarch and yelled at. Instead, she was taken back to the penthouse. Cato stayed behind to talk with Plutarch, while Peeta and Gale left by car to return to the house where they'd been staying.

The next morning a meeting was held in Plutarch's office to discuss how to handle the fallout of Peeta's revelation. Katniss sat at the conference table next to Peeta. Across from them were Plutarch, Fulvia, Cressida and Effie.

Peeta reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it, as if to reassure her. She wanted to turn and smile at him, but it seemed wrong when everyone on the other side of the table was so upset.

Plutarch began the meeting by telling everyone that Cato had left the Capitol and returned to District 2. "We've had to refund all the money he paid. Hopefully that will be enough and he won't sue us."

Katniss bit her lower lip. She remembered Finnick telling her that the entire point of The Match Game had been to raise revenue for the Capitol's coffers.

"We still have to film his rose ceremony," Fulvia said. "How are we going to do it?" She looked at Cressida.

"I've already lined up a body double," the director said. "If we shoot him from behind, we can probably get away with it. We'll have to cancel the one-on-one dates we'd planned to shoot. But I can work around it. There's enough footage of Katniss with each of the men to pull some kind of montage together."

"What about the ballots that were sent out for people to vote for a winner?" Plutarch asked.

"We'll say that everyone wrote in Peeta's name," Fulvia explained. "Those ballots were never real anyway; they were only a publicity gimmick."

"Will Cato try to cause any trouble because of all this?" Effie asked. "He seems so spiteful."

"We control all communications in the country," Plutarch replied. "He can stir things up in District 2 but who's going to care about a disgruntled contestant who wasn't chosen to win. I wouldn't be surprised if his reaction and threats weren't a ruse to get his entrance fee back altogether."

After a lot of talking, the meeting ended and Katniss and Peeta were left alone in Plutarch's office as the others went downstairs to the editing studio to see how Cressida had re-edited the previous day's interview with Caesar.

"Do you think they're filming us right now?" Katniss asked, as she glanced around the office searching for devices embedded into the walls.

"Probably, does it matter?"

She shook her head. "I guess not." She played with the hem of her shirt. She had to know what Peeta had been thinking. They hadn't had a chance to talk after the interview with Caesar.

"Why did you tell Caesar about the toasting?" she asked. "You didn't have to. You were going to be in the game."

"I wanted to be sure you picked me, not Cato, he admitted, his blue eyes locking into her grey ones. "I was worried that you'd try to save me from whatever life you thought I'd be forced into when the Capitol made us get married for real. You said as much the other day."

She nodded, amazed that he knew her so well. She suddenly realized that in his quiet way, Peeta was just as competitive as Cato, probably even more so.

And clever, too. By staging a toasting with her before the start of The Match Game, he had effectively made her ineligible for the show even before it began and declared himself the winner by default.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next few days passed quickly as Katniss was kept busy. A rose ceremony was held for Gale and Cato's double.

Afterwards, when the camera was turned off, Katniss said goodbye to Gale. He was returning to District 12. Although, he was invited to her and Peeta's big Capitol wedding, he wanted to get back.

"I miss Madge," he told Katniss. "And I've got some wedding planning of my own to do. I hope this show doesn't change things between us," he added. "We'll still be hunting partners, right?"

Katniss nodded. She was still upset with him for keeping his romance with Madge a secret, but she knew he had ample reason to be upset with her as well. She hoped time would heal both their wounds.

"It all worked out for the best," Gale continued. "Peeta is a good person and he likes you a lot. I think he has for a long time."

"He has," she agreed.

"And I think you like him, too. It's just taken you a while to figure it out."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that day, a scene was filmed in which she officially selected Peeta as her husband and asked him to marry her. She felt awkward and uncomfortable and the scene had to be shot several times until Katniss got it right and didn't flub her lines. It didn't help that Peeta looked so handsome in his suit and seemed so happy that she had picked him.

Cressida filmed their kiss after Katniss' proposal. The director let the camera run for several minutes as the couple continued kissing after she called "cut." Katniss did her best to make Effie proud. Because she knew Effie was right about kissing, practicing did lead to perfection.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They had a week before the wedding, and Peeta was moved back into the penthouse with Effie acting as chaperone. Time flew quickly by as each had multiple fitting with Cinna to ensure that their wedding clothes fit properly.

Peeta also spent a lot of time working with some Capitol bakers designing, baking and decorating their seven-tier wedding cake.

A couple of days before the wedding Katniss' mother and Prim arrived. After they had toured the penthouse, Katniss took them up to the roof and warned them about the cameras.

"I'm not surprised," her mother admitted.

Prim couldn't hold back. "I can't believe you're marrying Peeta. I'm so glad. I didn't like that Cato at all."

Kantiss laughed. "I didn't like him either."

"Are you happy?" her mother asked. Katniss could see the worry in her eyes.

"Yes," she murmured. A lot happier than I thought I'd be, she had to admit.

"It's too bad Peeta's family isn't coming," Prim said.

"They didn't want to close the bakery," said Katniss. She knew Peeta was glad they wouldn't be attending, but she didn't want to go into detail telling her mother and sister the reasons why. But then it's possible they might have heard about Mrs. Mellark striking the both of them.

While Cressida had decided not to air that footage as part of the show, bootleg copies of the incident were being circulated all over Panem. She imagined the Mellarks knew and had decided to lay low for the time being.

Cinna arrived that afternoon, carrying wedding clothing for her mother and Prim to try on. Katniss sat on her bed and watched as they were fitted – her mother in a long lavender-colored dress and Prim in a shorter apricot-colored one.

Katniss modeled her dress that the viewers across the country had chosen for her to wear. It was made of heavy white silk with a low neckline, tight waist, and sleeves that fell from her wrists down to the floor. The dress was adorned with pearls.

"You look beautiful," Prim cried when Katniss twirled around the room.

Peeta's reaction was the same when Katniss walked down the aisle accompanied by Plutarch on her wedding day.

His eyes widened and a grin spread across Katniss' face. There was something so comforting about seeing Peeta standing there waiting for her.

He was dressed in a white suit with long tails that hung off the back of his jacket.

When she reached the front of the church, Plutarch put her hand into Peeta's and she held on tightly to it for the remainder of the ceremony, not paying attention to the words of the officiate, but to the feeling of Peeta's warm hand surrounding hers.

After the ceremony Kantiss and Peeta posed for what seemed like hundreds of photographs, before being dismissed to join the reception. The twelve contestants had been invited to the wedding and the few who attended came up to greet them.

Finnick, with Annie at his side, was the first to congratulate them. He invited Katniss and Peeta to visit his beach house in a couple of months.

"I'm hosting a gathering of friends who are concerned about the Capitol's abuse of privacy," he whispered. "I'd love to have you both there."

The lumberjack from Seven, who Effie had thought was such a great catch, introduced Katniss to his male companion. Katniss smiled sweetly and encouraged him to be sure to introduce his friend to Effie, as well.

Eventually she and Peeta were able to break free of the crowds and get something to eat.

"Would you like to dance?" Peeta asked after.

She nodded and they made their way to the dance floor. It wasn't long before guests were asking to cut in. She found herself dancing with Gates. Surprisingly he complimented her appearance, which was unexpected from someone who had only seemed interested in talking about his inventions. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

"I have a gift for you," he said, handing her a golden mockingjay pin encrusted with red stones.

Katniss thanked him for it. He stopped dancing for a moment, pinned it onto her dress, and leaned over to whisper into her ear.

"There's a switch on the back," he murmured. "If you turn it on, it emits a high frequency sound that jams all cameras and recording devices within 50 feet. You may want to turn it on this evening."

Katniss' mouth dropped open. For the life she now faced, it was the best present in the world.

She wrapped her arms around Gates, hugged him tightly, and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you so very much," she whispered.

He blushed, and then smiled. "My Uncle Beetee was a victor for my district. My family knows about the things the Capitol does."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I was wondering about that hug and kiss," Peeta said later when she showed him the pin and turned the switch on in their honeymoon suite at the end of the day.

"Were you jealous?" she smirked.

He smiled. "No. Should I be?"

She shook her head. She and Peeta assumed the Capitol would be filming their wedding night. Why not? For the voyeurs in the Capitol it was the perfect violation of their privacy as newlyweds.

Katniss and Peeta had already agreed that the show would be a dud because neither was ready to push their relationship further along until they were both ready. Katniss agreed with Peeta. Things like this were taken a lot slower in District 12. But now, with the cameras and recording devices jammed because of Gates' gift, they could keep that decision to themselves.

In fact, Peeta offered to sleep on the floor, but Katniss told him it was silly. It was a big bed. They could both fit into it without even touching the other. Peeta eventually agreed and lay on the edge on his side. But when they woke up the next morning, she was curled up into his back, both of them having moved toward the center.

They spent the next couple of days traveling back to Twelve by train. Slowly over several weeks, as they set up housekeeping in one of the empty houses in Victor's Village and got to know their new neighbor Haymitch Abernathy, they grew together.

There were brief moments when Katniss became frustrated that the Capitol had forced her to marry. But with Peeta's arms there to comfort her she had to admit that she could live a hundred life times and not deserve someone as wonderful as him.

On the night Peeta kissed her and she felt that thing again, that hunger she'd experienced in the office of the Mellark Bakery, she realized it would have happened anyway. She was never meant for Gale. She wanted, no, she needed more than a marriage based on friendship and survival.

If she hadn't been on The Match Game, Peeta would still have been there, loving her from afar. It would have only been a matter of time before he'd gotten up the courage to talk to her and win her heart.

So after, when he whispered, "You love me," she whispered back, "I do."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Plutarch sat at the big conference table in his office. His head ached. The Match Game had been the worst debacle of his career. He had trusted Fulvia's expertise, but she had failed him big this time.

He heard a soft knock on the door. "Come in," he called.

Fulvia entered, looking apologetic. She carried a clipboard and a pen and sat down across from him.

"Let's do a quick debrief and retire this one fast," Plutarch said. "We need to get past it and on to something new."

"Fine," Fulvia said, her face brightening a bit. "Well, on the plus side, we did break even despite having to return Cato's entrance fee," she said, looking at her notes. "The sale of the tickets for the wedding helped a lot. It's a shame the cameras and audio didn't work for the wedding night special. That one evening and the sale of the tape would have given us a tidy profit."

"Do you know why it didn't work?"

"I have my staff looking into it," she said. "At any rate we've made Katniss and Peeta into household names. I was thinking about some kind of reality show we could do with them in District 12. Maybe we could move Peeta's mother in with them. We could call it Hell House."

Plutarch frowned, so Fulvia pitched another thought.

"His brother Rye is a looker too, and has a the reputation of a womanizer in the district. How about a show called The Adventures of Rye Mellark in which he romances a different woman every week?"

Plutarch shook his head. "I think Panem has seen enough of the Mellark family for now. Any other ideas."

"Well, I had this one," Fulvia said, tapping her pen lightly on her forearm. "What if we got two people from each district and put them on an island with limited supplies? We'll watch them struggle and form alliances to survive. Each week, they'll vote someone off the island."

"Kind of like the Hunger Games without the killing?" Plutarch asked.

"Exactly." Fulvia beamed, happy to be back in her boss' good graces.

"We do have a tropical arena that's partially built," he admitted. "We never got the chance to use it. Okay, write up a proposal and crunch the numbers. We may have a hit."

THE END

Author's Note: Thanks so much for your support of this story. I appreciate all your reviews, favorites, and follows. I'm currently working on two writing projects, the sequel to Argonauts And Allies and a modern-day one-shot. Because I like to have my stories completely written before I post, it will be a couple of months before you see anything new from me.