Author's Note: Hey guys, before I say anything else I just wanted to let everyone know that this story is not done! It may have seemed like it because of my long absence but I promise you its not over YET! Next, I'd like to apologize for not updating in a while. A lot was happening so I didn't have time to write.

I'll leave you guys alone and let you read the chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or its characters. All credit goes to Suzanne Collins. I don't own Safe Haven. All credit goes to Nicholas Sparks.

Katniss's POV

When I wake up, I feel myself surrounded by warmth. I lift my head and see Peeta is asleep towards my left, and Jackie is asleep soundly towards my right.

How did this happen?

Flashback...

"Uncle Peeta!" I hear Jackie's cries.

Peeta sprints up and is out the door in less than a second.

I immediately follow him and enter the room I used to stay at.

Jackie is sitting on Peeta's lap as he strokes her hair in a soothing way and rocks her back and forth.

"It's okay, it was just a dream." He reassures her.

I'm instantly taken back to the numerous amounts of times he was there to comfort me from my nightmares.

She sniffles and says," Can I sleep with you and Jessica tonight?"

"Wha- oh we don't... we don't sleep together...we-" I start to turn red.

Peeta raises his brows in amusement and says," How about I stay with you here tonight?"

"Your bed is bigger and I want Jessica with us too," Jackie says." Back home, mommy and daddy would always let me sleep in their bed so that they can both keep me safe and fight the monsters together."

"Jackie..." Peeta trails off not knowing how to answer her.

When Prim was five, she would always get night terrors and slip into my bed at night. This went on for a year until they started to become less frequent.

"Okay," I nod.

"What?" Peeta asks in shock.

"Yeah, it's fine," I agree.

"Jessica, are you sure?" He tries to read any hidden emotions.

This is for Jackie, it's not because I want to sleep next to Peeta. The last time was an accident but this time it's to help his niece get to sleep. It's not because I liked what happened last time... I kind of did but- No, I can't think that way.

"Of course, come on," I nod and walk over to Peeta's room.

We get to Peeta's room and Jackie makes herself comfortable on the right side of the bed. That means Peeta and I have to squish together completely.

"Jackie, why don't you sleep in the middle that way Jessica and I can protect you from the outside?" Peeta suggests.

"But then the monster will try getting through the door," she says in fear." Daddy always sleeps on the side closest to the door. He says the monster can get him first so he can fight him so mommy can take me to safety."

Peeta glances at me with red cheeks.

"It's okay, it's just for tonight, right?" I answer.

"Yeah," He slowly nods.

I make my way over to Jackie and she huddles up beside me. I feel the bed sink towards my right, signaling that Peeta is now laying down.

I feel him shift around for a few seconds until I feel his warm breath hit the back of my neck.

I turn red knowing that he's really close to me but decide to ignore the thought.

This is to help Jackie sleep, Katniss!

About nearly ten minutes later, Jackie falls back asleep soundly but I don't. Neither does Peeta.

"Your brother's a good father," I try to make conversation.

Peeta chuckles and says," That he is."

"What about your brother Wheat?" I ask." Is he a father?"

"Wheat? No." He says." He's currently on a honeymoon with his newly wedded wife in Hawaii."

"That's a good choice," I say in a hushed tone. I wonder what it would be like to go to Hawaii. Or get married. It sounds scary to commit yourself to someone and give them your heart and trust.

"Never been there?" He asks.

"No," I reply.

"Join the club," He jokes before we fall into a comfortable silence.

"We should go to sleep," I announce.

"Yeah," He relies." Goodnight, Jessica."

"Goodnight, Peeta," I reply and close my eyes.

End of Flashback..

I sigh and glance at Peeta. His warm breath hits my face every couple of seconds.

He looks so peaceful...

He suddenly shifts, and my cheeks immediately turn red.

You got caught!

But he doesn't wake up. Instead, he places an arm across my waist and pulls me closer to him.

He sighs in content as I lay perfectly still.

A warm, safe feeling immediately courses through my veins.

I glance at him and study his long lashes.

"Jessica?" I hear a sleepy mumble.

I turn towards Jackie and see she's sitting up as she rubs her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I ask, not moving. I don't want to wake Peeta up.

"I'm hungry," She says just as her stomach grumbles." I'll wake up Uncle Peeta."

"No, don't do that. I'll cook you breakfast, how about that?" I suggest.

"Okay," She smiles and nods.

"I'll meet you in the kitchen in five minutes," I promise her.

"Okay," She scurries off, oblivious to the fact that I'm trapped in Peeta's embrace.

I lay there and slowly lift up Peeta's strong arm.

He suddenly shifts and pulls me closer to him with his same arm. This time, he buries his face into my hair.

I bite my lip and slowly slide out of his grasp.

When I'm free, the warm, safe feeling is gone. I glance back at Peeta and see him scowl his face for a couple seconds before shifting face- first onto the pillow.

I sigh in relief, and leave his bedroom.

...

"Can we have chocolate chip pancakes?" Jackie asks as she colors in her coloring book.

"Um..." I look in the refrigerator for eggs. There's none left." It looks like your Uncle ran out of eggs. I'll have to run to the store and buy some if you want pancakes."

"Can I come?" She asks and yawns at the same time.

"I'll tell you what, you go climb back to bed and take another nap, and by the time you wake up your pancakes will be done," I suggest.

I don't mind taking her, I just don't know what Peeta would think about me just taking his niece out without his permission.

She looks into thought for a minute but agrees.

"Okay," She nods and makes her way back to Peetas' room.

Gale's POV

"She's here, Thom," I snarl." I know she's fucking here."

"I live here, I know what that little thing looks like and the bitches in town look nothing like her," Thom chuckles and lights up a smoke.

"She dyed her fucking hair blonde," I growl." She shouldn't be that hard to spot."

"There's a lot of blonde's here," He laughs." I remember this hot blonde from a grocery store. She was begging for it, I tell ya."

I angrily huff and say," Fucking help me or don't say shit."

Katniss's POV

I arrive at the grocery store in less than fifteen minutes, soaking wet. It's still raining and all I have to shield me from the rain is a thin sweater.

Remember to buy a raincoat.

I quickly walk over towards the eggs and I see Annie's there.

"Hey Annie," I shyly greet.

She turns to me and she greets me with a huge smile," Hey Jessica, I- who, you're soaking!"

"Yeah," I nod." I just ran here to buy eggs."

The cool air suddenly hits me, causing me to get goosebumps on my arms.

"Peeta has you doing his dirty work for him?" She teases.

"Oh, no! It's nothing like that! He would never ask me to do that!" I shake my head." Jackie woke up and wanted chocolate chip pancakes and we didn't have eggs in the house so-"

"Jessica, I was just teasing," Annie laughs.

"Oh," I suddenly feel embarrassed at my outburst." Right."

"You finally met Jackie, huh?" She asks.

"Yeah," I nod." She's a really sweet kid."

"That she is," She laughs." I thought she would take after Rye and his pranking habits."

I chuckle just as she reaches for a carton of eggs.

I instantly remember why I'm here and reach for a carton of eggs as well.

Maybe I should grab another one as a just in case. Peeta's always using eggs, not that it's a bad thing but it'll save him the time and money.

Annie makes small talk with me as we make our way towards the check out lanes.

When we get there, I see that there's only one available and it's crowded with a bunch of customers.

"This wasn't happening when I got here," I say.

"Maybe one of their registers isn't working," Annie says.

...

About nearly an hour later, Annie and I get checked out. It turns out Annie was right, one of the registers wasn't working.

"You headed home?" Annie asks.

Home? Is Peeta's house really something I should refer to as home?

"Uh, yeah, I'm heading back to Peeta's house," I say.

I make note that I need to start apartment or house hunting when I get the chance. I don't want to be a burden to Peeta any longer. He's done more than enough for me.

"So home?" Annie quirks up an eye brow.

"I..." How should I respond to that." ...It's just a temporary living space. I'm going to be looking for another place to live and-"

"- slow down," She giggles." I was just teasing you."

"Oh," I let out a nervous laugh.

"Do you need a ride?" She asks and fishes her car keys out of her bag.

"You drive?" I ask in shock.

"Yeah," She laughs." Rarely though. I prefer to walk. So about the ride?"

"Oh, no, I'm perfectly fine walking," I reject her offer.

"I won't take no for an answer," She says and grabs me by the hand before leading me towards her car.

Gale's POV

"We've been driving around for hours and so far nothing," Thom grumbles." I have things to do."

"If you're going to be bitching, I'll drop you off at the fucking bar and you can walk home," I growl and glance out the window, searching for a blonde with similar features to Katniss.

Katniss's POV

We're one block away from Peeta's house when Annie says," What do you think of Peeta?"

"Peeta...?" I ask and she nods." I think he's a really nice person."

She rolls her eyes with a playful smile and says," Okay, stranger."

"I'm serious," I reply feeling my cheeks betray me.

"Mhmm," She giggles.

No, I don't like Peeta that way. He's just a really good friend. Right?

"We're here," She wiggles her brows and parks the car.

I awkwardly laugh and say," I'll see you later Annie."

Before I get out she says," It's none of my business but if you're really happy and you really want to be with him, don't let your past point you in a different direction."

"He's just a friend," I mumble. Is he just a friend?" But thanks."

She gives me a soft smile and says," Anytime."

When I enter the house, I see that Peeta and Jackie are sitting at the table in the kitchen.

Peeta's face looks troubled but Jackie doesn't seem to notice because she keeps humming a song.

His eyes flit over to me before widening.

Before I can process anything else, he walks over to me and gives me a giant hug.

He buries his face into my neck and says," I thought you left."

"I- No." I shake my head and awkwardly wrap my arms around him. "I said I was staying."

When he slightly pulls back, I look up into his eyes and realize how intimate this is.

I awkwardly drop my arms from him and step back.

"I went to buy eggs," I shyly say and step around him." I'm going to go change, I got these clothes wet earlier."

...

"These are really good!" Jackie compliments.

"Oh, thank you," I blush.

"Where'd you learn to make these?" Peeta asks and shoves pancakes into his mouth.

"My mom taught me," I answer in a hushed tone.

Peeta shoots me a look of sympathy but I look away.

"My mom teaches me how to cook too!" Jackie excitedly says." She doesn't let me work with oil because she says you can burn yourself... but Daddy also teaches me how to make cookies and he lets me help him frost cakes!"

I give her a small smile and say," Wow, that's really awesome! You must be a really good chef."

"Mhmm," She smiles." Maybe one day when you and my Uncle Peeta have kids, you can-"

"Jackie," Peeta gives her a stern look." We're just friends."

"But you hugged her in your sleep," Jackie says." Daddy always hugs mommy that way when-"

I blush furiously and say," I'm- I'm going to the bathroom."

"Jessica-" Peeta gives me a worried look.

"It's okay, I just have to use it," I lie.

Once I'm in the bathroom, I lock the door and sit on the side of the tub.

Okay, you don't like Peeta. You don't like him and you never will. He's just a friend and that's the longest friendship you've ever had besides Sae.

And you can't ever have kids or get married. That isn't an option for you. You can't bring kids into this cruel world and you won't allow being married in a false identity.

Tears cloud my vision immediately.

I'm never going to live a normal life. I'm not going to have a loving husband or drive my kids to school or pack them lunch.

That's something I should be okay with. I won't cause any more damage and Gale won't be able to hurt them.

Them? I'm talking about them like they exist already.

I sigh and wipe my tears.

You have to accept the fact that you're not going to have that and move on. You never wanted it anyway. You'd always say you never wanted kids as a teen.

But you were thirteen you idiot!

I scowl and whisper," Get it together."

I'm not going to have that life and that's okay.

Isn't it?

Gale's POV

"Fuck!" I yell and throw a chair at the wall.

"Hey, if you make a dent you pay!" Thom angrily yells.

"Fuck off! I have enough shit to deal with right now!" I growl.

"Fucking calm down!" He yells." Why don't you just go into town with me and we find ourselves a few desperate bitches. Then tomorrow you can continue looking for your hot girlfriend."

"No!" I growl and punch a hole in the wall.

I see red and squeeze my eyes shut.

I want to choke that bitch so hard to the point where she passes out. I want her to wish she never fucking ran away from me.

Katniss's POV

"It's red. That means you can move three spaces to the right," Peeta informs Jackie.

We're currently playing a game in the middle of the living room floor with Jackie.

This wasn't the first choice. Peeta originally wanted to take Jackie and I in town, but Jackie convinced Peeta to stay and play a board game with her.

I have to say, it didn't take that much convincing. You can easily tell how much Peeta adores his niece and how he'd be willing to anything to keep her happy. He'll make a great father someday.

"Your turn Jessica," Jackie says and hands me the spinner.

I take the spinner and flick it. I land on the color red, which means I have to go back three steps.

"That's a bunch of poop," Jackie frowns." You were doing so good."

"That's nothing," Peeta tells her while giving me a small smile." It doesn't determine that she's going to lose."

"I guess you're right Uncle," She instantly smiles again.

Suddenly the lights go out and Jackie yells.

"It's okay," I reassure her.

"I'll go get some candles," I hear Peeta say.

"Why'd the lights go out?!" Jackie freaks out.

"Probably from the wind," I say in a soothing tone." It's nothing."

Peeta comes back into the living room carrying two candles.

"Can we keep playing?" Jackie asks.

"Of course," He nods and sets the candles down on the coffee table."Who's next?"

"You," I announce.

I've barely spoken to Peeta all day. Ever since this morning, I've felt really nervous around him.

Two hours later, Jackie starts falling asleep.

"One more game," She doesn't listen to Peeta's suggestion of going to bed.

"You're falling asleep," He says in an amused tone.

"No, I'm not," She says as she struggles to keep her eyes open.

"Alright, lets get you to bed," Peeta laughs and lifts her up.

As soon as she lays her head on his shoulder, she falls asleep.

"I'll be back," He says before he disappears to her room.

I nervously bite my lip and start putting the board game back in its box.

"So..." I hear him trail off.

I look up and see that he's standing five feet away from me with his hand rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous way.

I tear my eyes away from him and pretend to be busy putting the board game away.

"I..Um.. Jessica, I'm sorry if I made things awkward with my behavior this morning," He apologizes.

"Peeta, you did nothing wrong I just... I just misinterpreted things and freaked out," I say. I'm sure that's what it was.

"Oh," He replies with a troubled look on his face." I- Um- I didn't mean to touch you while we were sleeping."

"You were asleep," I answer." You had no control over what you were doing."

Silence overtakes us causing me to get nervous again.

"How about we just put it past us and do something together?" I suggest.

He gives me a small smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes for a second but says," Okay."

"We don't have to if you don't want to," I suddenly feel embarrassed.

"No- it's not that- you're idea was amazing, I was just thinking of something else," He panics.

"Oh- okay, so what shall we do?" I ask.

I wonder what he was thinking about...

He recovers from his panicked look and says in light tone," Give me a minute."

"Um, okay," I nod as he gets up.

Did I make things even more awkward?

He grabs a candle and walks into the kitchen. He places the candle on the counter before taking two wine glasses from a cabinet and opening up the refrigerator to take out some wine.

"It should still be cold since the power went out not long ago," He says and comes back into the living room, leaving the candle in the kitchen.

He sits down in front of me and pours me a wine in a glass. He hands it to me and starts to pour some wine for himself.

I hesitantly take a sip and sit the glass down on the coffee table.

"It's good," I reply.

"Finnick gave it to me," He chuckles and shakes his head." He handed it to me and said,' everyone should always have to have at least one bottle of wine in their house'."

"And why is that?" I ask in curiosity.

"In case there's a need to celebrate, bond, or chill," He chuckles." Finnick's words."

"I would've never guessed," I chuckle.

He laughs and immediately tells me stories about Finnick and himself during high school.

"There was this Halloween party my junior year where Finnick went dressed as Madonna-" He says in fits of laughter.

Wine flies out my mouth as I start laughing really hard.

"- and I went as the terminator. He had a little too much to drink that night because he accidentally knocked down a girl dressed as an angel; they landed on the punch bowl." He laughs.

"Oh!" I cover my mouth and laugh really hard.

"That same girl eventually tried to get Finnick back by embarrassing him but little did she know that Finnick rarely gets embarrassed," He chuckles to himself.

He glances at me with a shy look on his face.

"What?" I ask, suddenly feeling shy.

" I just- I'm glad you're here," He gives me a shy look.

I bite my lip to keep myself from blushing and shyly mumble," Me too."

He gives me a beaming smile and says," So, you have any stories?"

"Oh, no," I shake my head and take a small sip of my wine.

"Come on, there's got to be at least one," He encourages.

"I.. well..." I trail off and decide to give in. I tell him about several of my embarrassing high school moments which earn loud laughs from him.

I tell him about the time I tried wearing eye liner to impress my student teacher.

"No," He shakes his head in fits of laughter.

"I didn't know it was going to rain!" I laugh.

His laughter dies down with mine and he says," Well those certainly beat my college stories."

"I wouldn't say that," I chuckle.

The power suddenly comes back on.

"That was pretty quick," Peeta comments.

I nod my head and say," I'll take the wine glasses to the sink."

"No, I'll do it," He gets up at the same time as me.

"It's fine you got the glasses," I say and reach for the wine glasses the same time as his.

"Jessica," He gives me a stern, joking look.

I lift up both wine glasses and dash to the kitchen.

He dashes after me and I can't help but let laughter erupt from me.

"Jessica!" He calls as I run back into the living room.

When he finally catches up to me, he wraps his arms around my waist.

We gently crash onto the couch, with him on top of me but I'm too busy laughing to really think about anything else.

When was the last time you were this happy and laughed so much?

He laughs with me and rests his head above my shoulder blade, where there's a small area of the couch cushion exposed.

Just as our laughter dies down and we're left a breathless mess, he lifts his head up.

His mouth twitches into a warm smile and he slowly moves a hand towards my face.

My heart hammers against my ribs but for the first time in several years, it's not because of fear.

His hand cups my cheek and his thumb strokes my cheek bone.

His eyes meet with mine and I shyly look away.

"Hey," He softly says causing me too look back at him several seconds later.

That's when I notice how blue his eyes are and how they hold an unsure look.

What is he unsure about?

He glances down towards my lips and back into my eyes.

My heart starts beating faster as I realize what he could be thinking about.

Right when he slowly moves his head down towards mine, my breath hitches in my throat.

I close my eyes waiting for the contact of his lips, but they never meet mine because of the giggling in the back round.

We spring apart from each other and see Jackie covering her mouth with her hand. She must've woken up.

"Jackie, Um- I mean what are you doing down- I mean up!" Peeta says with red cheeks." Let's get you back to bed."

"I woke up because of the laughing," She says in an amused tone.

Oh no, we woke her up.

"Let's go put you back to bed," Peeta ushers her back towards her room.

I stand up from the couch with red cheeks and place the wine glasses in the sink. I quickly blow out the candles and the feeling finally sinks in.

Peeta and I were about to kiss. Well he was going to kiss me...

Did he really want to do it? Or was it the wine messing with his head?

He was still nursing his first glass of wine.

I sigh and lean against the counter.

This is confusing.

What if he likes me? What if he tries to kiss me again? What if he wants to build a relationship with me?

You can't.

" It's none of my business but if you're really happy and you really want to be with him, don't let your past point you in a different direction."

Do I want to be with Peeta?

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Okay, I like Peeta. But it's wrong of me to! He's my friend and I shouldn't think of him this way. He probably thinks the same way of me too.

But he tried to kiss you.

I internally let out a frustrated sigh.

"I guess we were wrong about the timing," I hear his smooth voice in front me." We've been talking for over two hours."

"I- yeah, I guess so," I mumble, unsure of what to do next.

"So... I-yeah- so um..." He awkwardly mumbles.

I look up and see that he's not looking directly at me.

He's studying the kitchen, like he's never seen it before, with blush on his cheeks and his hands shoved into his pants pockets.

"I-" I begin to speak and he immediately holds my gaze." I- think- I- you know, it's getting late and yeah."

"Right," He nods and disappointment crosses his masculine features.

"I should- yeah, I should go," I nod and scurry towards his room but stop halfway.

What are you doing? Go to sleep, I internally scold at myself.

Before I realize what I'm doing. I find myself walking back towards a troubled looking Peeta.

He's leaning against the counter with a frown on his face. His hands are no longer stuffed into his pockets and his blush is gone.

He looks up and his expression instantly goes to unreadable.

I stand a couple of feet away from him and say," I wanted to thank you for today. It was fun."

"Yeah," He shoots me a smile." It was."

"I- I just um-" I quickly give him a peck on the cheek, leaving him with a shocked look." Goodnight."

Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Half of the credit goes to me and the other half goes to Awesomegirl2656. Please review and tell us what you thought about the chapter.

Also, from Awesomegirl2656 and I , we wish a happy late father's day to all the fathers in the world! We'd also like to say happy late father's day to some of the women out there who are mothers but also had to be the father figure for their children.

Thank you all for reading and we hope you all have a great week!