By the time Mo was three months old, Reed's second birthday was upon us and, even though Effie and Johanna were both heavily pregnant, everyone turned up to celebrate. We debated doubling up with Annie and Finnick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary at the same time but decided that, as we hadn't been able to give him as much attention as he was used to, to celebrate the anniversary in the evening.

"Hey, Mom?" I call, letting myself into my first home in Victor's village with Reed and Mo. It had been an hour since Reed's little party at the bakery and, even though she'd been there, I'd forgotten to ask mom if she could watch the boys later.

"We're in the kitchen!" She calls back.

I hustle my boys through to the kitchen to find my mother and Prim sitting at the table grinding herbs. "Reed!" Prim grins enthusiastically, hopping down from her chair and opening her arms for Reed to jump into.

"Are you alright?" Mom asks as I hand Mo over to her.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if you were able to sit with the boys tonight, whilst Peeta and I are at Finnick and Annie's?"

"Sorry, honey" she sighs "I'm busy tonight."

I frown. Busy? Doing what? My mother is never busy. "Ok" I say slowly "what have you got planned?"

She blushed as she starting faffing around with Mo's blanket. I noticed that Prim was smirking. "I can take care of them" she says.

"Thanks" I nod at my little sister before turning back to our mother. "Mom?"

"Well" she sighs "Cinna asked me if I wanted to join him for dinner; it's not a date!" She says quickly "I'm sure he's just being nice."

My frown turns into a smile as I quickly glance at Prim who's smile widened. "Mom, Cinna doesn't do things to just be nice" I tell her. "He likes you and I know damn well that you have a thing for him."

"I do not!" Mother spluttered, her face now like a bright glowing beacon. Then she stopped and deflated a little as she mutters "ok, maybe a little bit."

"You should go for it" I say "I always thought that Cinna would go for someone spectacular."

"But" her face fell a little "your father-"

"Wouldn't want you to be alone for the rest of your life" Prim says "we've been over this, mom."

Our mother nods before getting up and passing Mo back to me. "I knitted him and Reed a toy each" she says before disappearing from the room.

Prim and I sat in silence for a moment or two before Prim says "she was scared to tell you."

"Why?" I ask, sitting down in my mother's recently vacated chair.

"Because you're so close to him, she didn't want to steal him away from you; that as well as the dad issue. She told me that she sometimes feels as though she's disrespecting him and her marriage vows to him."

I sigh and shake my head. "I can understand that; I think I'd feel the same if I ever lost Peeta."

Prim smiles, letting Reed settle into her lap and play with her braids. "You've changed so much, Katniss; three years ago, you'd have rolled your eyes and told her that she's being silly and now-" she laughs "I love you, Katniss; it's wonderful seeing you happy."

"What about you" I ask, raising my eyes at her "I see you and Gale's brother, Rory, sneaking off into the woods sometimes."

My sister doesn't blush, like my mother had, instead she just smiles. "We don't sneak, Katniss; Rory helps me gather medicinal plants and herbs. I like him but I don't think that the feeling is mutual."

"You're beautiful, Prim" I tell her "and you're smart, head strong and dependable; why wouldn't the feeling be mutual? Have you asked him?"

"No; I was going to tell him later, when he comes over. He was going to help me grind the rest of the herbs that mother and I won't have time to finish."

"But you're still alright to look after the boys?" I check.

"Of course! He won't mind."

"I knitted a frog for Reed," Mom states as she returns "I know that he likes to go frogging with Gale and Peeta; Mo got the traditional bear." She hands me her knitted toys, stuffed with wool. "I didn't want to give it to them earlier because they're not birthday presents."

"They're amazing, mom!" I tell her. "Reed, look what Nana made for you" I hold out the frog to my oldest son who claims it and hugs it to his chest. "What do you say?"

"Thank you, Nana" he says softly.

"You are more than welcome, sweetie" mom replies, smiling.

I return to the house just as Peeta's getting back from the bakery, bearing the rest of Reed's birthday cake. "Hey, big man!" Peeta greets Reed, putting the box, containing the cake, down on the counter. He'd started calling Reed 'big man' after Mo was born. "What have you got there?" He scoops Reed up and kisses him before looking at the frog toy.

"Nana gave it to me" he says, settling his head down on Peeta's shoulder.

"Nap time" I say quietly before looking down at Mo who'd also fallen asleep "for both of them."

"Mom can't watch the boys tonight" I say, back in the kitchen and sipping at my coffee, once the boys had been put down "she's going on a date with Cinna."

Peeta choked on his coffee and ended up spraying half of it across the table. "What?" He coughed. "Your mom and Cinna?"

I nod, smiling "yeah, she was damn scared about telling me too."

"I can imagine!" He laughs before shaking his head. "Your mom and Cinna?"

"A match that wouldn't have happened without the games or the rebellion" I say, happy that my mother was finally doing something for herself.

Prim and Rory arrived later that evening, laden with herbs that needed crushing. "The boys are asleep" I say "but Mo should want his bottle in about an hour and if Reed wakes up it's probably to use the toilet. He hasn't had an accident all week so try and keep an ear out for him. Rory" I turn to Gale's younger brother "can I talk to you for a moment?"

Rory looks to Prim before nodding. I guide him out of the kitchen and into the sitting room. Rory looked like Gale when he was seventeen; it was really strange and I had to keep reminding myself who I was actually talking to. "What's up, Katniss?" He asks.

"Look" I say quietly "I don't know what Prim has said to you but if you hurt my sister I will hurt you. Understood?"

Blood fills his cheeks but he doesn't look away. "Prim is an exceptional young woman" he tells me "I have no intentions of hurting her."

I smile, seeing the same look in his eye that Gale has when he talks about Johanna. "Are you in love with her?" I ask.

"I've been in love with her since she helped Gale after he got whipped" he replies "it took a while for her to notice me but now that I have her attention I'm not planning on letting her go."

"Good" I nod before ruffling his hair like I used to when he was small. "You treat my sister right, Hawthorne, or you'll have the entire population of Panem after your head." I wink at him before going back to the kitchen to get Peeta.

"What was all that about?" Peeta asks as we walk from our house toward Annie and Finnick's.

"They're teetering on the edge of admitting their feelings for each other" I tell my husband "I was just making sure that he treats her right, that's all."

"Prim and Rory?" He looks amused for a moment before he laughs "damn, everything's happening today!"

We arrive at Finnick's to find that we weren't the first two arrive but we weren't the last either. "Where's Haymitch and Effie?" Peeta asks, taking a seat beside Gale at the table.

"Effie went into labour about ten minutes ago" Annie tells us "don't worry though, we're under strict instructions to carry on without them."

"Wish it were me" Johanna grunts, rubbing her large stomach "Jade is really giving me back ache."

Gale leans over to kiss her "don't worry, Baby, I already warned Finnick and Annie that we won't be staying too late."

"Which is fine by us" Finnick states, walking into the room with Dylan tucked under his arm. "He's teething so we haven't been getting much sleep."

"So not the anniversary dinner you were expecting?" Peeta asks

Annie shrugs "we don't mind; we celebrate our marriage every day. We just thought that it would be nice to get together and celebrate it with friends."

Finnick has cooked a large smoked salmon, accompanying it with rice and white sauce with vegetable; it was beautiful.

"Did you know that Rory and Prim are almost dating?" I ask Gale, as the plates are being cleared.

"My little brother, Rory?" He frowns

"Yeah."

"Well" Gale laughs "at least one of us managed to get through to one of you but " he turns to smile at his wife "I'm glad that it worked out this way."

Before we all returned home, Haymitch came by to fill us in on how things were going. "It's going to be a while yet" he tells us, accepting a coffee from Finnick and chugging down. "Aria was facing the wrong way so we're trying to get her to turn around."

"Was?" Peeta asks

"Yes, she's turns halfway round, she just needs to turn a little more; I'm hoping that she does it soon because Effie is really uncomfortable with it."

"Labour is uncomfortable" I point out

"Get her to sit in a bath of warm water." Annie says, remembering what helped her when she'd been in labour. "It helped Dylan turn."

Haymitch nods, handing his empty cup back over to her "thanks" he nods "I'll suggest that. I'll check in again in the morning, sorry for the bad timing you two."

"We understand that babies have their own agenda" Annie laughs. "Now get back to Effie, Haymitch."

When we return home, I find Prim and Rory looking a little red faced as we join them in the sitting room. It didn't take a genius to work out what they'd been doing. "Good evening?" I ask them casually "manage to crush all of the herbs?"

"Almost" Prim replies, getting up "we'd better go; Effie's in labour and I promised mom that I'd help as soon as you two got back."

"Alright" I smile "thanks for watching the boys."

"No problem, Katniss. Mo's woken twice; once for a feed and another for a nappy change and Reed got up to use the toilet. I found him in there after I'd changed Mo."

I thank her again before walking the two of them out. Once the door was closed I turn to Peeta. "They were making out, weren't they?" He asks before I could even open my mouth.

"Looked like it" I laugh before kissing him and saying "now, Peeta Mellark, I know that Effie's in labour but don't be getting any ideas; I want a nice long break before we even talk about having more children."

Peeta frowns "what made you say that?"

"When Dylan was born you went all gooey over him and that's how Mo happened."

"So not true!" He laughs "you were pregnant with Mo before Dylan was born and anyway, you got all broody as well. Now come on, Mrs Mellark, I'm tired; let's get to bed."