KATNISS

I stood behind the counter, peering out the big window in the front. There were school children running around town before school. It was a particularly slow morning today. Hardly any customers have been in today. It was three days ago that Peeta got home. It was three days ago...when I lost one of my precious babies. I stared mindlessly out the windows. There was nothing else to do. I leaned my back against the counter, my hands rested gently over my stomach. I looked at the gently rising sun painting the sky. Its orange arms stretched out and painted the sky. Turning it from a dark blue to an orange yellow that progressed into the seemingly endless light blue that creates the sky.

I heard Peeta banging and slamming dishes in the back but nothing could break my peaceful reverie. I am one with myself. Coming to terms with the life I've had. Looking upon the beauty and majesty of the world. My home, District 12. I ran my hands over my stomach. I heard the loud footsteps of my husband. I turned around and couldn't help but feel more calm and peace at the sight of him. Peeta came out from behind the wall that divided the kitchen and main Bakery area. He had flour smeared on his face and apron. I smiled at the sight of him. He smiled at me. His gentle ocean eyes trailed me up and down.

"You're stunning, Katniss. You don't even realise it, but you're standing there with your hair in its natural waves. Your face glowing in the sun's light. Your gentle hands resting on your barely there baby bump. It's stunning. You are absolutely stunning," Peeta told me. I blushed but looked down at my stomach, I saw no bump.

"What are you talking about, Peeta? I'm not pregnant enough to have a baby bump," I told him with a slight smile. There were two babies in my stomach, I would probably be bigger than normal but you can't see a bump yet.

"Yes, you are. Look," Peeta came up behind me, he grabbed my hands in his. He ran his fingers over my stomach, dragging my fingers with his. "You feel that? It's a bump," He said repeating the movement I felt nothing out of the ordinary. "Here," he whispered in my ear gently, making me shiver. He trapped my fingers and moved them over my stomach.

"I still don't believe you, but to appease you I will look in the mirror later. I'll try to convince myself that my uterus has in fact grown and the bump that has always been there is bigger now that I'm barely pregnant," I told him with a laugh. He turned me around in his arms, he rested his forehead against mine and smiled gently.

"You do that, Honey," he said, spinning away from me. I laughed an open-mouthed laugh.

"Peeta!" I said with another laugh.

He looked at me with his eyebrows raised. Instead of jokingly being upset with him I put my arms out and stuck out my bottom lip like a child. He sighed but came and wrapped his arms around me scooping me up.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked him as he walked around the kitchen putting pots in the sink to be washed. He ignored me and did work as if I wasn't there. I leaned my head on his shoulder, he still walked around like I wasn't in his arms. I gently began kissing his neck, I knew he couldn't ignore when I did this, I made a trail of kisses that went from his neck down to his collarbone. I worked my way back up and began pulling the little hairs on the back of his neck.

"Katniss," he hissed, making me smile and continue my routine. Before I could get any farther a voice came from the front of the Bakery.

"Mr. Mellark? Is anyone here?" The voice called. Peeta looked at me, I hopped off of him and he walked back to the front of the Bakery. I busied myself in measuring out some ingredients for an order while Peeta dealt with whoever was up front.

"It was just the mailman," Peeta said as he walked back over to me. "We got a letter from a friend I made in the Capitol," Peeta said, making my heart sink.

"Which friend?" I asked, trying to keep my voice normal. Peeta looked at me, it was obvious he noticed the difference in my voice.

"Finnick Odair. His mom, I think it was his mom, was the District Four baker of the year. Now that I think about it, I think it was his grandmother. Actually I'm not sure," He told me, relief washed over me.

"Oh, well what does the letter say?" I asked Peeta shrugged.

"I don't know, I haven't opened it yet," He told me, displaying a slightly green envelope with elegant handwriting scrawled on the back.

"It says, ehem, Dear Peeta, It was very nice to meet you in the Capitol and I had a good time hanging out. Annie has since expressed how much she wants to meet your beloved Katniss, Jo has shown less enthusiasm about Katniss but would love for you to visit. I'm sorry to tell you, but she is a nut job. Annie says I shouldn't tell you that Jo is a nut job in a letter so here is my saying she is NOT a nut job. On the other hand Anne and I would love if you and Katniss were able to visit us in Four, you can stay in our beachfront house. Here is the number for you to call for your answer 465-810-7023. From Finnick," He said, finishing.

"Okay, so what I've gathered from that is that Jo is not a nut job, they want to meet me, and we can go to Four and...stay in their beach house for free?" I said, thinking it actually wouldn't be too bad if I just stayed away from Johanna. Also, I could use some new scenery and a chance to get away from all of the chaos here. But knowing my luck, it would probably follow me.

"Yep, pretty much," Peeta said to me. "I'm going to go call him, if you want to go,"

"Yeah, sure! It will be good to have some time together alone," I replied.

He nodded, going to get the phone. I heard his muffled voice coming from the other room, and looked out the window at the dusty streets of District Twelve.

It would be nice to be able to look out a window and be greeted by a clear ocean, with bright skies and sandy beaches. Maybe it would take my mind off of the babies, at least momentarily. But I doubted it. How could I forget the fact that I was literally carrying two little humans inside me at that very moment? And that one of them was gone now. And I was never getting them back. But I wasn't going to forget them, and I would still love them. Even though I had never really met them.

I heard Peeta's familiar, loud, footsteps walking back into the room, and I turned my attention to him.

"Well, what'd he say?" I questioned him.

"He said that it was going to be really fun, and we could come in a few days!" He said, smiling at me.

"Okay, great!" I said back, excited to have something to look forward to too.

"Oh, also I forgot to tell you, but Haymitch and Effie invited us over for dinner the last time I was there," He said.

"When?" I asked him.

"Uh...tonight," He said, looking down. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you. But it's gonna be fine! They're really nice, and they even have a little kid! Her name is Mia. She's about one I think," He said, telling me about Mia, Haymitch and Effie's little daughter. She sounded really cute, and now I was excited to meet her.

"Peeta! What time do we have to come over then?" I exclaimed.

"Around 7:00 I think," He responded, looking guilty for not telling me. It was 5:30, so I still had a little time to get ready. "And sorry for not telling you," He apologized softly.

"Okay," I responded, smiling at him. "I'm excited to meet them,"

"Aww! Am I still my beautiful girl's favorite person?" He said with a light smirk.

"Oh shut up, Peeta!" I said with a laugh. "But you're half right!" I said with a grin. "I really am beautiful, aren't I?"

He laughed, and nodded. "Yes, you really are," He said tracing my face with his finger, then lightly kissing me on the lips.

I blushed, a small smile replacing my joking grin. "Oh, I didn't know you were such a romantic now," I said to him jokingly.

"Yes, well there's lots of things you don't know about me," He said kissing me on the cheek again before going walking out.

I laughed to myself, thinking about how lucky I was to be with Peeta.

I walked up to my room to get ready. Indecisively changing my outfit before deciding on a simple blue dress with light flowers fading from the waist to the bottom of the dress. I put on some light makeup, checking myself one last time in the mirror, and heading downstairs to Peeta.

I was met with his big smile and his hand extended to me. "You look gorgeous, Katniss," He said.

"Thank you, Peeta." I said shyly, with a blush.

"Let's get going. Effie has a thing for being punctual," He says.

We walked out of the Bakery, enjoying the crisp evening air, just talking together as we headed over to the Abernathys house.

Soon, we arrived, and I took in my surroundings. They lived in a small but pretty house, and it had some flowers lined up by the door, adding a rare splash of color to the drab background of District Twelve.

"Here we are!" Peeta said, gesturing to their house. "Ready?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I replied with a smile.

"Okay, and by the way your beauty has been increased by a million with that dress," He said, giving me a kiss on the cheek, while I laughed.

"Wow thanks," I said to him. "But we really should head in. Don't worry though, you'll have more time to compliment my amazing looks later," I said with a smile.

He laughed, and we knocked on the door. I heard footsteps coming, followed by a lighter, faster pair. I heard a little girl, who I guessed to be Mia laugh. A man who looked to be in his late forties, but still in pretty good shape, with dusty blonde hair touched with gray streaks. He was holding Mia in his arms, and she was giggling. She glanced at me and I could see her little head trying to figure out if she had seen me before. I smiled and waved a little to her so she knew I wasn't some random person.

"Peeta! And you must be Katniss! Haven't seen you since you were a little girl!" He said, moving out of the doorway so we could walk through.

"How's everything been around here Haymitch?" Peeta asked.

"Pretty good. Effie's been good too. So has my little Mia here," He said, looking at her as she giggled. "Mia, do you remember Peeta?" He asked her.

"Yeah! Peeta!" She said, a big smile on her face. She seemed to be kind of shy to new people, but comfortable around others that she was familiar with. I remember being like that when I was younger.

"Haymitch! I need help with the food and it would be greatly appreciated if you would actually do something useful for a moment!" I heard a shrill voice call from another room.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Haymitch yelled back, shaking his head to Peeta, a smile still on his face though. He brought Mia with him, telling Peeta and me that we could make ourselves at home in the living room.

We stayed there for about ten minutes, just talking about nothing, before Effie invited us to come and eat.

Once we were all at the table, I actually got a good look at the food. It looked amazing, and I could only stare at it before coming to my senses and taking a bite of the food.

"Effie, this is amazing!" I said. "What is it? How did you learn to cook like this?" I asked her. I didn't even know food this good existed.

"Oh, thank you darling! It is a recipe I picked up from the Capitol when I was there the last time! It's only some pork chops and mashed potatoes! Oh, and there's the salad. But if you aren't full by then we of course have some scrumptious chocolate cake!" She said, like it was humanly possible to eat that much food in one sitting. Although I was certainly going to try, as I was not one to pass up a good meal like this.

Peeta glanced at me, and looked down at his food, a silly expression on his face. I had to stifle a laugh. God, why did he have to do this when we were supposed to be behaving well?

I looked away from him, and concentrated on the mountain of food before me.

Soon enough, I was so full of food I didn't even know if I could move. We went into the living room with Haymitch and Effie, Mia having gone to bed as she had barely been able to keep her eyes open.

"So, how have you and Katniss been? I heard you were pregnant?" Effie asked, looking at us.

I glanced at Peeta, and I knew he could tell I was still uncomfortable with the topic. I had just lost one of my babies. Although maybe they didn't know that yet. But they might soon, because news traveled fast in Twelve.

"Uh...yeah s-she is. Yeah. And we've been doing pretty good." He stuttered.

"Well, that's fabulous!" Effie said cheerfully. "And the Bakery? It's been doing well too?" She questioned.

"Oh yeah, the Bakery's been great!" I answered, thankful to have something other than marriage or pregnancy to talk about. Sometimes it seemed like those two topics were taking over my life.

"That's just great! I dearly love those lemon tarts that I get whenever I stop by there!" She said, a bright smile on her face. "I'll have to get some soon!"

"Well," Peeta said. "We'll be sure to give you a friends and family discount if you'd like!" He said with a smile.

"Oh Peeta, you don't have to do that!" Effie exclaimed.

Peeta laughed, his face lighting up as he did so. "Oh, it's really no problem!" He said, a sincere smile on his face.

"Well, if you insist then!" She said.

We stayed for a while, aimlessly talking, and it felt nice to just be around people and have a normal conversation. After a little, we realized that it was getting late, and we should probably get home. We said our goodbyes, saying that we would come again some other time. They gave us some of Effie's meal to take home, insisting that there would be plenty for them too.

"Well, that was fun," Peeta said as we were walking back to the Bakery.

"Yeah, it was pretty fun," I replied, taking his hand.

We walked in silence for a while, Peeta looking up at the starry sky.

"They're so beautiful," He said, and I was confused until he elaborated. "The stars, I mean. I used to draw them sometimes when I was younger. Never could get it to look quite right," He said with a light chuckle.

"I highly doubt that," I said to him with a smile. "Everything you make is gorgeous. Just like you," I stated.

"Oh, look who's the romantic now!" He said with a grin, and I laughed.

We stayed like that for the rest of the walk, laughing and joking, just enjoying our time together. All too soon we arrived back at the Bakery. Peeta looked at me with a small smile, he looked up at the door but didn't open it.

"Let's do something adventurous," He said. I felt a smile creep on my face. "Let's go to the woods." And that's where my smile disappeared.

"Oh, Peeta, no. It's way too dangerous. Let's admire the stars in the backyard. That will be our adventure tonight. Plus, it's almost curfew. Wouldn't want anything bad to happen again for being out past curfew," I told him gently. He smiled brightly, his white teeth reflecting the moon's light. He nodded eagerly. He led me to the backyard where he sat me down quickly. He ran into the Bakery and came back out with his arms full of blankets. Lupus trailing at his side. He laid them on the floor and then pulled me to lay down on them. Together we laid staring at the stars.

"I was being serious. I could never draw stars, just like your eyes. I've never been able to get them perfect, it's either the wrong shade of silver or the glint in your eye just isn't there," Peeta spoke quietly, gently as if he would wake someone up by taking any louder. "No matter how perfect you think I am, I could never be as perfect as you. With your silver eyes and dark wavy hair, everything about you screams goddess in real life. You are absolutely perfect and beautiful, a goddess," He said. I just stared at him while he spoke, mesmerized by the calming affect his voice had.

"My father, he would tell me stories. He said that once there was a thing called mythology. It was a huge system of stories people used to believe. In a thing called Greek mythology there was a Goddess, she reminds me of you. Her name was Artemis. She was strong and brave. She was absolutely beautiful and she was a hunter. She led young girls in a group and they hunted mythical animals. She reminds me of you because well she is beautiful like you, a hunter like you, a leader like you, you don't even realize it but you could lead people to the end of the earth and they'd follow you, you could overthrow a government and have people following you. You are like that goddess but you don't even realise it," Peeta said. I had no idea how to respond to him. I turned to him and gently pressed my lips to his.

"Peeta, you don't even realize how amazing you make me feel. These stories you tell make me so happy I have you here. When these babies are here they will be so lucky to have you as a dad, you will tell them these stories and make them feel just as special as you make me feel. I love you so much and even if I don't know stories and don't have memories to tell you to make you feel special hopefully other things I do make up for that. You are my amazingly handsome baker of a husband and I love you so much. Think about it, I'm having kids for you. I never wanted kids, but here I am pregnant with your babies," I told him. He smiled at me.

"I know you love me, baby. I'm honestly surprised you are with me still after I talk so much. If you enjoy it and it makes you feel special I have loads more to tell you. Like that goddess Artemis, she made a promise to never get married or have children. Just like you but I changed your mind," He said kissing my nose gently, I smiled at him. These moments like this, just enjoying each other's presence filled me with so much happiness. I never regret falling in love when I remember these moments.

~

The next morning I opened my eyes to see sleeping Peeta, his blonde curls a bigger mess than usual. I smiled remembering last night, our deep talk on the years that led to an intense kiss that was brought inside. I smiled remembering his hot lips on mine. The love we made, with our two children already inside of me. I got lost in remembering the feelings I hardly noticed the phone ringing. But when I noticed Peeta starting to wake up. I quickly hopped out of bed and pulled one of Peeta's shirts over my naked body. I ran downstairs and to the phone.

"Hello?" I answered it quickly, out of breath.

"Katniss," my mother said. "It's Prim, she's sick. You should come over," My heart sank. How sick could she be?

"How bad is she, Mother? Why do I need to go see her? Won't she be fine?" I asked desperately.

"That's the thing, Katniss. I don't know why it is, it's getting worse really fast. I don't know how to slow it down. I am at a loss, I don't know what to do," My mother said, beginning to cry.

"Oh mother, don't cry. I'll be there soon, don't worry I'll be there to help you," I told her, I could hear my mother hiccuping to calm her tears.

"Okay, Katniss. Please hurry. Oh, I have to go-" she hung up abruptly. I quickly walked upstairs to wake Peeta. I opened the door to our bedroom. I quickly went around the room and started pulling clothes.

"Peeta! Time to get up, hun! I have to go!" I said loudly to wake him up. He sort of mumbled something and twitched, such a baby he needed his beauty sleep. I rolled my eyes but went up to him in the bed.

I bent over and whispered in his ear, "Wake up, Peeta. Prim is sick and I have to go. You have to get the Bakery open and running. Please get up," I told him he opened his eyes.

"Go see Prim, I'll be up and running the Bakery soon don't worry," He mumbled, I nodded and changed quickly. I rushed down the stairs and out of the building to my old house.

I quickly arrived at my house, my head filled with all the worst outcomes that could happen. It's going to be fine. Prim will be okay. It's fine. I tried to reassure myself, but it wasn't working, so I was just hoping that we could somehow help her.

I opened the door to my house, my mother rushing over to me once she saw me. "Katniss," She said. "Thank goodness you're here!" She said frantically. "I don't know what's wrong with her!" She exclaimed, panic filling her eyes. I don't think I had ever seen her like this, and it was scaring me.

"Mother, how do I help her? I'm not even good at stuff like this!" I said.

Prim had always been the one that was good with medicine and things like that. I had been more of a hunter. Prim never would even think to go in the woods, let alone kill an animal, she was just too caring.

"What's wrong with her, anyways?" I questioned. Usually, my mother could handle people when they were sick, but this seemed different.

My mother led me into the room where Prim was, and I could immediately see that she didn't look well. I felt her forehead too, and she was heating up.

"Katniss?" She asked. "What are you doing here?" She questioned. Even her voice sounded weak, like just the effort of talking was too much to do.

"Well, I came to help you silly," I said, trying to appear happy for her, and to act like this was no big deal, that this happened all the time, that she would be all right. But I didn't know if she would be.

"Oh right," She said with a feeble smile.

My mother and I proceeded to try and help her, making sure she had water, blankets, or anything that she needed, but her condition only seemed to be worsening.

As the sun went higher in the sky, the worse Prim got. My mother searched helplessly through all her medical books in a feeble attempt to discover what illness is slowly bearing down on our beloved Primrose. My father was missing, again. I hardly cared, taking care of Prim was easy like this. I searched through one of my mothers books to see if we could heal Prim. I sighed as I closed the book.

"Mother, I'm going to go check on Prim. I'll be back soon," I said, she nodded solemnly, hardly looking up from her book.

I walked down the hall and opened the creaky door and saw Prim. She was pale, her fair hair was losing it's bright yellow color, it seemed to be turning white.

"Hey Prim," I said gently. I sat down beside her bed and smiled at her. She opened her eyes slightly, her smile was small.

"Katniss, why are you here?" She asked again, I smiled even though my heart hurt knowing she hadn't remembered our earlier conversation.

"Well, I am here to help you, Little Duck," I said gently. "Do you need rest? I bet you do. Let's see, I'll check your temperature and then we'll see if you can get any food in your stomach, then you can rest," I told her, she nodded.

"Okay, Katniss, but I'm fine. If either of us needs rest it'd be you. You are growing two babies inside of you," She told me. I chuckled at her selflessness.

"It is hard work but I will only rest if you rest. Okay?" She nodded gently. I checked her temperature. She was cold, earlier she was hot. I nodded to myself just to make her think it was something good that I had just seen. I grabbed the bowl of soup off her bedside table. I scooped up some soup, "Open up, Little Duck," I told her. She opened her mouth. I fed her a little bit of the soup, spoonful by spoonful. When she stopped opening her mouth I set the bowl down.

"Prim?" I asked, seeing if she was awake.

"Hmm?" She asked without opening her eyes.

"If you're done eating, you need to rest," I told her. She opened her eyes slightly.

"I'll rest now, Katniss. But you need to leave. You can't get what I have, it could hurt the babies," She said, I put my hand on my stomach subconsciously.

"I'm being careful. Promise. Let me say till you fall asleep, alright?" I told her. She sighed deeply.

"Katniss-" I cut her off before she tried to make me leave again.

"No, I'm going to stay here, Prim. Don't try to change my mind, Little Duck. I'll never leave you," I told her gently.

"Fine," she said begrudgingly, "Can you sing to me at least? If you're not going to leave?" She asked, I nodded quickly. I took a deep breath.

"Deep in the meadow, Under the willow,

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow,

Lay down your head, and close your eyes.

And when they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, and here it's warm.

Here the daisies guard you from every harm.

Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true.

Here is the place where I love you."

Prim's eyes were closed again. Her breathing even. She had fallen asleep. I felt a tear fall from my face when I looked at her sickly figure. I laid down next to her and I watched her chest fall and rise rhythmically, putting me to sleep.

~

I was in the meadow, I saw Prim running around with a little girl and Peeta carrying a little boy pointing at mockingjay in a tree. I smiled gently, suddenly I heard sobbing, I looked around trying to find my mother, where was she and why was she sobbing?

When I woke up I sat up quickly trying to see my mother, suddenly I saw her clinging to Prim.

"Mom?" I asked, hoping my assumption was wrong. My mom started sobbing harder.

"K-k-katniss, sh-she-she's gon-ne! Sh-she-she's d-d-dead!" My mother sobbed. I looked at her in disbelief.

"No," I mumbled. I couldn't lose her. I just lost my baby, not my sister too. "No, no, no," I mumbled, getting closer to see if what my mother said was right. I grabbed Prim's cold hand, I put my finger on her wrist, I felt nothing but her cold skin.

No, this can't be happening I thought.

"Mom- I,- Mom we need to look at her, we need to confirm it. She might be just really weak," I said helplessly.

My mother pulled away and looked at Prim's pale figure. I had no doubt her soul was long gone from her body but my mother needed hope. This was the hardest thing I'd ever have to do. I held back a sob as I put Prim's hands together over her chest. I sighed deeply, but when I saw a stack of papers on the bedside table, she'd left notes. I gave up on being strong and began sobbing into my little sister's dead body. My mother joined me and we just sat there and wailed and sobbed.

I heard stomping but I didn't acknowledge it. "Prim, Lila? Where are you guys?" My father, he was home and seemingly sober. "I had the morphling from the train, but I also brought other stuff home too," I didn't want to acknowledge him but I stood up and went to find him. When I saw him in the kitchen his eyes widened. "Katniss," he said.

"You! You did this! You took my sister from me! You fucking son of a bitch are the reason why my little sister is laying dead in that room!" I screamed at him, he looked at me confused. I ran up to him and banged my fists on his chest and it made me angry that he didn't react.

"Katniss, you mean she's-she's d-d-dead?" He asked, his voice soaked in sadness. I growled angrily.

"Yes! Your daughter is dead! All because of you! And you don't even care!" I screamed helplessly trying to push and shove him.

"Katniss, it's not his fault," I heard my mother say, she clearly was still crying. I didn't believe her for one second.

"Yes, it is his fault!" I screeched helplessly. My mother sighed and pulled me away from him, she pulled me into a hug and I melted into her. "He did it, Mom. it's all his fault," I sobbed. She patted my head as her own tears fell onto my head. I cried. I cried so hard that my tear ducts had to be empty. "Prim is dead, Momma. She... is gone.. forever," I cried helplessly. My mother held me tightly.

"Katniss, honey, I think you need to go home and rest. I'll tell you when we bury her. I don't think we can afford a funeral. We will have a burial, but you will hurt you or the babies if you stay here and have the constant reminder. Go home and get some rest. It should only be a few days till I call you. Okay, honey?" My mother told me. I didn't want to leave Prim but I knew only Peeta could distract me in any way from this horrible event. I nodded gently, pulling away and wiping my eyes. More tears came.

"Okay, Momma," I said. She nodded gently.

~

"Katniss, are you awake yet?" Peeta asked, bringing in a tray with my breakfast. Prim passed away four days ago, yesterday was her burial. Five days ago, my Little Duck waddled away, across the bridge, a bridge I couldn't follow her through just yet. Peeta had allowed me to wallow in my pain in bed for the last five days except yesterday. Yesterday Peeta pulled out a white dress for me, he sat me up in the bed and gently braided my hair. He helped me get dressed and made sure I was at the graveyard in time. Everyone who showed up wore black, but it made me happy Peeta dressed me in white, Prim would have wanted it. I cried throughout the ceremony, and so much more when we got home. Peeta has let me grieve. He's let me be sad. He's run the Bakery on his own. I often got lost in my thoughts like I am right now, not really there but not anywhere else either.

"Katniss, honey, here please eat," Peeta pulled me out of my thoughts and back to the present. When I was more present Peeta began speaking again. "See, cheese buns and some soup," He said. I nodded slightly. He scooped some soup and fed it to me. He fed me like this, like he had every other meal for the last five days. At first I hadn't wanted to eat but then Peeta reminded me how Prim would have wanted me to. If not for me or her but for the babies.

"Katniss, I got a call earlier." I raised my eyebrows in reply. I did not have the energy to use words, I wasn't ready to live life like I had before Prim had left our world. "You know what we forgot about? Our trip to Four. Finn called yesterday and asked if we were still coming to Four. I said something had come up and I had to talk to you about it. So, are you still up to going or do you want to push it off a bit?" I weighed his words. I didn't really feel like it but I know Prim would say that I'd be crazy to throw out a chance to see the ocean. I guess a trip would be good, it'd get my mind off things. I nodded to Peeta.

"Yeah, let's go, no need to push it off. We can go, Peeta. I think...I need it," Peeta smiled brightly, he seemed happy to hear my voice.

"That's great, Katniss. Okay then, so we should leave tomorrow. So today you can just prepare yourself and pack. I will go down to the Bakery and open it up and finish any orders. Maybe I should call Haymitch dmto him to run it while we're gone. How long do you want to be gone Katniss?" He asked me.

"Um, a week. Probably less," I replied quietly. Peeta sat down on the bed beside me.

"How about this? I call Haymitch and he fills in for us and we are in Four for five days. Does that sound good, Kat?" He said. I nodded at him and tried to muster up a smile. The little bit my lips raised wasn't much. I sat up and hugged Peeta tightly, it took him a minute to respond but eventually he wrapped his arms around me.

"Thank you, Peeta. I love you," He squeezed me lightly.

"I love you too Katniss," He said. I pulled away and looked at him. I pushed his blonde curls off his forehead, my fingers idling behind his ear. "Okay, I'm going to go back down to the Bakery. Take your time getting out of bed and ready for tomorrow," He told me gently. I nodded, I leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to his lips. Something I hadn't done in five days. In the last five days, our only kisses had been Peeta's lips on my cheeks or head.

I watched him walk out of the room. I listened to his footsteps down the stairs. I sat there for some time. it could have been minutes or hours, I wasn't sure. I just sat there keeping my mind blank and avoiding thoughts of my sister. After that time I sat there I decided I needed to be productive. That no matter how much I sat there lost in thought, the sun would keep on setting and rising. Just laying there wasting time is not what my sister would have wanted. I walked over to the closet and pulled out our suitcases. I pulled out a week's worth of outfits for myself. I grabbed the only bathing suit I had. It was green. I only had it from when I went to the lake. I've considered buying another one in orange, for Peeta's enjoyment. But I'm yet to show him the lake so the purpose is yet to arrive. I closed my suitcase and opened up Peeta's suitcase and I began packing for him. I realized that he'd need a swimsuit too. I didn't know where to look. Would he even have one? I decided to just go ask him. I walked down the stairs quietly. I looked around the kitchen and saw no sign of Peeta. I went up front. He stood there talking to a customer. He went and grabbed some pastries and had the lady pay. After a minute, the lady left and I went up to Peeta.

"Hey Peeta, do you have a swimsuit?" I asked, he jumped slightly. He turned and raised his eyebrows, probably surprised to see me up and out of bed.

"Oh, um, I don't think I have one. But I bet Finnick would let me borrow one of his, because can you even buy a swimsuit here? Where would you buy one?" I shrugged.

"Okay, I'll go finish packing for the both of us," I said, he nodded, I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already 12:15. either Peeta fed me breakfast late or I had sat in bed for longer than I realized.

"Katniss, do you want lunch? I can make you something," Peeta said. I wasn't hungry necessarily, but I nodded nevertheless. "Okay, anything specific you want?" He asked, I shook my head. He nodded and went into the kitchen to cook. I went up front and flipped the sign over saying that the bakery was closed. The sky outside the window was clear and blue, just like Prim's eyes. The sky was so bright and calming like she had been. I sighed looking down. She was gone now. I had to continue on with life. I had to take moments to remember that life goes on. Whether I want it to or not. Prim wouldn't want me to sit around being sad. She wouldn't have wanted me to become depressed. She would have wanted me to live life like I had before, happily. I needed to be better. For Prim. For my babies. For Peeta. For myself.

~

Peeta and I walked down the streets of Twelve together. Peeta somehow held both of our suitcases and my hand. I tried to get him to let me hold my own bag but he brought up every possible excuse. I let him be because there was no fighting him. Peeta dragged me along as I looked around Twelve. It felt so weird. I couldn't help but think about things. :ike the fact that it was the first time I'd seen that one street dog since Prim died. The first time I'd passed that certain street since she left. When we arrived at the train station, I thought about how she never went anywhere on the train. She'd never be able to travel like she wanted to. For some reason these thoughts didn't make me cry or all apart into pieces. It just made me want to make her proud of me. When Peeta and I got on the train I made it my mission to be happier and not be sad about Prim. No matter how much it hurts, I can't let this bring me down. I couldn't let this be my downfall. I had people that needed me and I couldn't do that to them, to Prim.