Katniss

I wake up with someone's arm flopped over me. Yesterday comes back to me and I quickly duck beneath Peeta's arm and sit on the edge of my bed. I feel a dull ache between my legs as I force myself up. I walk to the bathroom off the large bedroom and shut the door. I use the toilet and brush my teeth before walking back out and getting dressed in the clothes I wore to dinner.

I brush out my hair and braid the sides before pulling it up in a ponytail behind my head. I hear movement on the bed and look over to see Peeta has just moved in his sleep. I get up and pull clothing out for him and lay it at the foot of the bed before quietly exiting the room.

I roam around my house a little, seeing there are two other bedrooms up here and downstairs along with the kitchen, a sitting room and another bathroom. I walk into the kitchen and look through the cupboards to find them stocked with more food than I think I've ever seen at one time. Being from the poorer part of the district, I didn't have the luxury of a fully stocked kitchen.

I get out a pan and begin making scrambled eggs. I'm not a good cook, but at least I can make simple things. Its probably one of the many reasons they paired me with Peeta. They evaluate every single thing about you when making the choice.

Especially appearences. They want a more assimilated looking people so of course they try to pair women of the lower class with wealthy unmarried men who have come of the choosing age. Peeta and I are each the litteral stereotypes of our respective classes.

"You're up early," Peeta says behind me, making me jump a little. I look back at my breakfast and shrug.

"I'm always up early," I say. "My father died when I was young. I'd been the main provider for my mother and sister for about eight years so I used to go out early to hunt before I went to school." I don't know why I admit this. Hunting is technically illegal although it isn't really enforced. But he doesn't react to it so I just shake it off.

"Did you sleep well?" He asks and I stop to think a moment. Because I slept better next to a stranger who had just that afternoon been forced to rape me than I have next to my sister for years now.

"Honestly," I say finishing off the eggs and taking them off the stove to set on the table. "I actually slept through the night for the first time in a long time." Peeta pulls out my chair for me and I sit down. "I guess now that everything I was so scared of is over for a while, I can actually relax a little."

He nods and we begin to eat the sorry excuse of a breakfast I made. He compliments it even and I laugh a little. Even though I'm not happy to be in a marriage at all, not to metion an arranged marriage, I do find myself genuinely enjoying Peeta's company.

"Did you want children?" I ask finally, needing to know. He looks at me and then down at his hands.

"Yeah," he says. "But you don't, so I don't want to worry about that when we don't know one another."

"But I could be pregnant," I say. "After yesterday, with all the measures they take and the crap they were treating me with. Their job is to make sure that these choices result in a baby. And they are very good at their job." I get up and gather the dishes before walking to the sink to do the dishes. Peeta gets up and follows me.

"I'd be happy," he says. "Not with how it happened. But I would be happy to be a father."

"I guess that's fair," I say leaving it at that. But Peeta persists.

"But lets not worry about that now," He says. "If you are, you are, if you arn't, you arn't."

"And then we will have a whole host of other problems," I say. Peeta's silent because we both know that if I am not pregnant, we will have to get me pregnant within the year or be seperated and "taken care of" which means we probably won't be breathing much longer after that.

"Lets just worry about that when it comes," he says and I nod. He pulls me into a hug and I tentatively wrap my arms around him. "Why don't you go and visit your family? Take your mind off things for a while."

"Do you want to go with me?" I ask. "At least meet them?"

"Do you think they'd want to know me?" Peeta asks. "I took you from them." I look down but nod.

"They might as well," I say. "You are letting them continue to be a part of my life. I'd like if you met them." He pulls away and rests his hands on my shoulders.

"Well I'd like to meet them then," he says and I smile. "We'll go for lunch. I'll throw together something." I nod and he turns to rummage through our cupboards. I look down, still embarassed by my sorry excuse for a breakfast.

"I'm sorry I'm such a bad cook," I say and he glances over his shoulder and laughs.

"Well its a good thing I like to cook then, huh Sweetheart," he says taking me aback a little. Really? A nickname already? I feel a blush I try to fight rise to my cheeks.

"I guess so," I say and he smiles as hop up on the counter and sit to watch him make a small loaf of bread. He notices my eyes as I watch him work and he chuckles. "What?"

"You are a curious creature, Katniss Everdeen," Peeta says. "Its almost like you've always been there." I smile and fold my hands.

"I could say the same for you Peeta," I reply and he smiles. "They could have done worse." He nods knowing I'm refering to the government.

"And here I always thought their main goal was to make our lives a living hell," He says and I am taken aback again by his boldness. People don't just say those things aloud, no matter how much they think them.

"Peeta!" I say. And he shrugs.

"They can't hurt me," he says. "Their whole system relies on us have a baby for their statistics." I don't say anything. What he says is all true. They wouldn't dare ruin the probability of their new plan to save the country's declining population. I admire the bravery to be so outspoken.

I actually admire a lot of the qualities of my new husband. His compasion on my part for one. His kindness and understanding are another. Peeta Mellark, dispite being a spoiled metchant boy, is a good man.

But I can only hope that my family get the same impression.