Peeta and I walk home hand in hand.

“You’re crazy!” he says.

“You said I could!” I say pulling away from him.

“I was thinking about something else, nothing like that,” he says. “You were so doubtful to do this, and now you’re going to do it to make Gale and some girl you just met fall in love? What if Gale doesn’t volunteer? Then twenty three people will be dying under your name! If you do this plan your nightmare that you had last night will become a reality. If it just those two in the end one of them is going to die. And what if neither of them survive? They could both be strong but they could die from disease or from a mutt attack!” he says.

“Peeta relax, Gale will volunteer and you will be their mentor. Since you’re their mentor you will have to do your best to get sponsors for them to send them medicine if one of them does get a disease. And I will just make sure that the people in the control room don’t send any mutts after them. Also I will make the decision to have two tributes live for this one time,” I say. He has disappointment written all over his face.

“What if someone tries to kill them?” he asks.

“That is when their strength and stealth will have to come in. Plus I’m really only doing this for Prim, this is just sort of a bonus. I would never take the job just for that one stupid reason. I thought you knew me better than that. What happened to you supporting me 110% no matter what decision I make!” I say. I run home.

“Katniss wait!” he yells. I run through the front door and slam it shut. I run upstairs into our bedroom and shut the door and lock it. I curl up into a ball and just sit there in front of the door. I thought he was going to support me, then he tells me that I’m crazy that I was going to take the job. He start to knock on the door trying to get me out, trying to talk about what happened but I don’t budge. I stay silent. Eventually he gives up and goes downstairs. We have been married under twenty four hours and we already have something driving us apart. That one question that Paylor asked is putting our relationship on the line. I take off my father’s hunting jacket and I take off my shoes. I put on my robe and my slippers. I think I have been upstairs for a couple hours when I finally decide to go down stairs and make up with Peeta. When I’m half way down the steps I freeze. I see him watching something on the TV. But it isn’t a news broadcast it is a recording of us in the 74th Hunger Games. He was at the part where we were kissing in the cave. I look at him and he has tears filling his eyes. What is he thinking about? Is he thinking about I faked him in the games, or what just happened? Is he thinking about how he felt at that moment, or when I told him that everything was a hoax in the games? The possibilities could be endless.

“Hey,” I say. He looks at me and wipes away his tears really fast and pauses the recording.

“Hey,” he says with sadness in his voice. I begin to walk down the stairs again. I cuddle up next to him. He puts his arm around me.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“No, I should be the one saying that I’m sorry. I told you I’d support you and I didn’t. I lied and now I feel awful that I made you upset,” he says trying to avoid eye contact with me. I start to rub his back.

“What’s wrong, because you know I hate to see you sad,” I say.

“I just feel that I’m not being a good husband. After just barely a day I’ve already made you upset. That’s why I was watching this, it made me feel that I know I can make you happy and that I can be a good husband.”

“You’re a great husband, and don’t feel so bad. I made you feel a lot worse when I told you that I just pretended to be in love with you,” I say. He looks at me and smiles. I give him a kiss on the cheek.

“I love you,” I say.

“I love you too,” he says. He starts to play the recording again. I watch as I leave the cave to save his life. When Clove was on top of me trying to kill me at the Cornucopia I see Thresh pick up a rock and next thing I know Clove is dead.

“Can we stop watching this?” I ask.

“This is what you’re going to be forced to see if you take the job,” he says.

“I know, it’s just I was in those games, so I knew everyone in there. I mean if Thresh killed me we’d both be dead. I have emotional bond with those games and the other games we were in,” I say.

“You might have an emotional bond with these because Claudia and Gale may be in it.”

“I know, but I think I’m doing the right thing taking this job. Plus those kids watched us die in the arena for seventy five years, I think they can handle one year,” I say.

“Okay, I will be there with you the entire way,” he says. I get up and go into the kitchen and Peeta follows me. I walk over to the phone. “You’re sure you want to do this?” he asks. I take a deep breath.

“Yes, because I know that you’ll be with me the entire way and that the Capitol citizens get to see what it’s like to have their family members in a life and death situation,” I say. I dial in Paylor’s phone number. She picks up.

“Hi Paylor it’s Katniss,” I say.

“Katniss Mellark just the girl I wanted to hear from, do you have your answer?” she asks.

“Yeah I do, I’ll do it under some conditions,” I say.

“Perfect, what conditions do you have?” she asks.

“I want to raise the age limit to 15-21 and I want two victors. Those rules will only apply for these games. If you will do those rule changes I will be your Head Gamemaker,” I say. I hear silence for a couple of seconds.

“Deal. I will need you in the Capitol ASAP,” she says.

“One more thing I want. When I want to be with Peeta and I am allowed to see him whenever I want,” I say. He smiles.

“Okay, that’s fine, but that will only apply before the games. So when is the earliest you can come?”

“Next week,” I say.

“Next week? Why?” she asks.

“Peeta and I still have to go on our honeymoon,” I say.

“Oh, okay. Well I’ll see you in one week at my mansion. Bye,” she says then I hear a click.

“Our honeymoon?” asks Peeta.

“Annie set us up with a beach house in Four,” I say.

He has a smile from cheek to cheek. He picks me up and spins then puts me down and kisses me.

“You seem excited,” I say.

“This is perfect because now we can relax somewhere beautiful with no stress,” he says.

“Well then we should get packing,” I say. Peeta runs upstairs and by the time I get up there he has my bag and his bag already packed. Next thing I know we are on our way to District Four. Peeta and I sit next to each other on the train. He grabs my hand.

“Your hands are clammy, are you nervous?” he asks.

“Well sort of, this is the first time I’ve been to Four. I mean I’m more excited than nervous,” I say.

“I’m pretty excited to, this is the first time I’ve been to a different district to enjoy it. Thirteen doesn’t count,” he says. I smile. “I’m just happy that I can even go on a honeymoon. I mean not even my parents got to go on a honeymoon and they were middle class citizens. I’m the first one to go on a honeymoon in my family in almost fifty years.” Only he would know that. He’s such a dork.

“I don’t even know if anyone in my family has been on a honeymoon. I know my parents didn’t, but I’m not sure about my grandparents because I never met them,” I say. But then I think. “How did you know that you’re the first one in your family to go on a honeymoon in almost fifty years?”

“When I was younger I did my research because I wanted to be the first one in my living family to go on a honeymoon with the person I love,” he says. I smile.

“But I guess I’m stuck with you,” he says in a sarcastic voice. I push him and he laughs.

“Shut up, you have been waiting to marry and go on a honeymoon with me since you were five,” I say. He smiles.

“That is true,” he says. “But my dreams did come true. I am with the person I love and I’m going to a beautiful part of Panem with her to celebrate our marriage.” I kiss him. He puts his arm around me and I cuddle up next to him. Soon I walk to our bedroom on the train and try to take a nap. I hear Peeta walk in and I feel him lay down next to me. He strokes my hair. I love him. I really didn’t sleep good last night but right now I’m comfy in my husband’s arms. My husband. I have a husband and he is the person I least expected to marry. My husband. I am definitely on cloud nine and there is no way I could be happier. My husband. The word gives me the chills because I know I now have one. Peeta shakes me to wake me up. I open my eyes.

“We’re here,” he says with a smile on his face. I smile. We get up and stretch, and grab our luggage. When we come off the train, Annie is waiting right there for us with Aylyn. He is really getting big. He’s holding onto her hand and hiding behind her leg. He hasn’t seen me or Peeta in a long time, he probably doesn’t even remember us. Annie runs her fingers through his hair. He looks a lot like Finnick. I wonder if she notices. What if that is what gets her up every morning, knowing that she can see another version of Finnick every morning. I’m sure Aylyn loves her as much as Finnick did. But her and Finnick had a relationship that could never be fully understood. No one seeing them could doubt their love. She starts to talk which brings me back.

“Welcome, glad you guys could make it,” she says.

“Thanks for doing this for us,” says Peeta.

“It really wasn’t much. We built your beach house last week and it didn’t take that long,” she said.

“Who is ‘we’,” I ask.

“Gale and Claudia helped,” she says while grabbing our luggage. Alin grabs mine and Peeta’s hands and starts walking behind his mom. He warmed up to us really fast. Gale sure is helping out a lot. He got a piano player for our wedding, got the meat for the reception, he decorated the cabin at the lake, and now he built us a beach house for our honeymoon. Annie guides us over to the house and Peeta and I follow. When we finally get to the beach house the view is incredible. The house is actually built over the water so we have to walk onto a deck to actually get to the house. Annie puts our luggage right outside the door. “Be on the beach at five for dinner, there is a fridge in there that has snacks in case you get hungry,” she says.

“Thank you,” says Peeta. We grab our luggage and walk into the house. I look behind me and I see Aylyn whisper something into Annie’s ear. She smiles and Aylyn grabs her hand and they walk down the boardwalk. When we opened up the door it was breathtaking. There was a huge bed with white covers and red rose petals on top of it. On the bed were orange and green pillows. Then a few feet to the left was a white couch with rose petals on it and a coffee table in front of it, and an orange and green rug under the table. Then a few feet to the right there was a table set of two with one orange seat and one green seat with a white table cloth. Also this house is wood floored. I look at Peeta and he has a huge smile on his face.

“Wow,” is all I manage to get out.

“This place is amazing,” he says. We throw our bags onto the couch.

“Man is it hot here, there was frost on the ground when we left Twelve and now its eighty degrees,” he says. I go to the bathroom to change and it’s huge. There was a full bathtub and a huge shower. There were two sinks and a toilet with a tiled floor and granite countertops. I change into my swimsuit and Peeta changes into his and we leave to go on a walk on the beach. Once we go on the beach Peeta grabs my hand and I put my head on his shoulder. We walk down by the water so the water goes over our feet. Once we get to the middle of the beach we decide to stop and we lay out the towels. “This beach is gorgeous and we have it all to ourselves. But the best part is I’m with you,” he says. Peeta always knows what to say, especially when it comes to making me feel like the happiest girl in the world.

“I don’t know about you but I’m going swimming,” I say getting up. He smiles. I take a run for the water and then I dive in. Peeta limps in after me and I push him under. When he comes up he tackles me so I go under. One thing I love about our relationship is that we can act completely ourselves, and Peeta and I still both act like kids when it comes to horseplay.

“What was that for?” he asks in a non-serious voice. I laugh. “You are so going to get some revenge,” he says charging towards me. I start to swim away. He must have been practicing swimming because I swam out into deep water and he followed me. He chases me until he catches me. When he finally got me he picked me up and threw me into the water. When I come up I can’t stop smiling. He walks towards me and we wrap our arms around each other. He kisses me. “I love you,” he says.

“Love you too,” I say. We decide to get out of the water. We don’t even use our towels because ten minutes after we get out we are already dry. We lay down and I use his arm as a pillow. I close my eyes but I try not to go to sleep, I just try to relax.

“I never knew that Four was so beautiful,” he says.

“I know. I always thought that Panem was terrible dark place,” I say. We stay silent until I bring up the topic that I know is on both of our minds.

“I’ve thought about the job, and I know it’s too late to turn back but I feel I made the wrong decision,” I sigh. “Anyways since you are going to be the mentor could you tell me what you’re going to tell them so I can know there strategy?” I ask.

“Katniss, you have to relax about this job. I mean I will but you really need to take a break because this is our honeymoon. Trust me I’m a little nervous about this job to but right now I’m keeping that the last thing on my mind.”

“We should probably go get ready for dinner,” I say getting up. He gets up and rolls up the towel then grabs my hand. I let go and I give him an amorous hug. He smiles. I just smile back and then grab his hand and we walk back to our house. When we get back I grab the one dress I brought and my makeup bag and go into the bathroom. I only brought my makeup bag and one dress because I thought I would need it in case Annie planned something fancy. I take a shower and towel-dry my hair then to do light curls in it. I put on very light make up so it looks natural. When I come out of the bathroom I see Peeta in a suit. He’s combing back his hair. I come up behind him and mess it up.

“I worked hard on that,” he says.

“You look better with it messed up,” I say.

“Can I at least comb it forward?”

“Nope.” He turns around and his eyes light up.

“Wow, you look amazing,” he says.

“You don’t look that bad yourself, and I love you hair.” He smiles. “Shall we?” he asks.

“We shall,” I say. He grabs my hand and opens up the door. We walk down the boardwalk and go onto the beach. We see some torches and some candles in the distance. We walk over and see a table for two with candles in the middle and torches surrounding it. We see chicken and vegetables steaming already on the plates. Peeta pulls out my chair and I sit down. “This is just too much,” I say.

“I know Annie and the rest really went all out,” he says. This looks like a Capitol set up, with the white linen table cloth to the grilled chicken and the steamed vegetables. Then it gets quiet. The food is delicious.

“Peeta about what happened at the bakery, I’m sorry for all of that. I just wasn’t ready to hear it yet.”

“It’s my fault. I knew you weren’t ready to have kids but I completely ignored that thought because I felt that you were giving me vibes that you wanted to have some, just by the way you were acting.” I lean across the table and give him a kiss. He gives me a half smile. Throughout the entire dinner I could only think of is when will I be ready for children, or even if I will ever be ready. I know Peeta really wants them but do I? I spend a lot of time thinking about it and next thing I knew the honeymoon was over. I look out the window of the train. We are on our way to the Capitol. When we get to the Capitol we get a Peacekeeper escort to Paylor’s mansion. We walk in and are greeted by President Paylor.

“Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Mellark,” she says. That has a nice ring to it. Mr. and Mrs. Mellark.

“Thank you, it’s so good to see you again,” says Peeta.

“Well you will be staying on the top floor of the Training Center, I will have Avoxs bring you and your luggage there,” she says. We both smile. I can’t believe we get to stay where we had our first real conversation. We get to stay in the place that made us friends, in the place that means a lot to me. Paylor calls a car and it takes us to the Training Center. When we get there it’s exactly as I remember it. The Avoxs drop off our luggage, and when they leave I notice something. One of the Avoxs that dropped off our luggage was the red headed Avox. I wanted to say thank you but they left too fast. Peeta sees the flash of recognition on my face

“That wasn’t her. She probably died during the Rebellion,” he says.

“No, it was her. I can tell. When she came to take our bags me and her locked eyes. I know it was her. She was the one that told me that you survived your surgery the one I didn’t save.” I can tell Peeta tries to change the topic.

“You know my heart stopped twice during that,” he says.

“Really, I wasn’t sure if it did or not,” I say going into his arms.

“My heart stopped twice because I was thinking about you.” He wraps his arms around me and I wrap mine around him. He kisses my head. We pull away and he grabs my hand. We start to walk down the hallway when we stop right between my old room and his old room.

“Which room do you want to go in,” he asks.

“Well the room can’t look that different,” I say.

“How about you look at my old room and I’ll look at yours,” he says. So I go into Peeta’s old room and it looks exactly like my old room. It just doesn’t have the same view or the remote that can change the view. I run my hand across the blue silk lying on the bed. The black marble stairs that lead to the bathroom are the same. I walk into the bathroom when something falls out of my pocket. I bend down to get it and I see all of these engravings under the counter. I lie on my back looking at all of them. All from past tributes that have used this bathroom put their story under this counter. They build a different arena every year, but they use the same Training Center. I look around until I find Peeta’s engravings. I can tell it is his by the crisp lies he makes. His engravings show him throwing the bread. The interviews and his hope of one day that I will fall in love with him. I smile. He always knows how to make me smile even if he isn’t trying. I don’t hear him walk into the bathroom so when he says my name I jerk my head up and hit it on the counter. He bends down next to me.

“Are you okay?” I nod my head and I lie under the counter again. He lies down next to me.

“I like your engraving of your story,” I say. He smiles.

“I figured out that not all of these are about past tributes stories. This one right here,” he points to the biggest engraving “is how to escape the arena. Whether it be above in the Control Room, or below in the bunkers. It’s a full map. I have no idea how that person did it but I think it’s pretty accurate.” I run my fingers through the engraving. It’s beautiful. Peeta kisses me cheek to bring me back to reality.

“Which room do you want?” I ask.