Fate

Chapter 4

Katniss P.O.V.

"Katniss!" Prim squeals as I walk through the door. I hold her close to me and take a deep breath. I'm finally home.

"I've missed you so much," I tell Prim as I pull her closer to me. I look up to see Mom walk into the room, and the look on her face says it all. "Prim, why don't you go upstairs for a minute?" I ask her. She nods her head, obviously understanding what's going on, and takes off up the steps.

"Please tell me you're not pregnant," Mom says quietly. I shake my head, and she lets out a sigh of relief. "So what happened?"

"Snow postponed the Games."

"I know," she says. "They announced that. But until when?"

"We don't know," I tell her. "But it's under certain conditions."

"Which are?"

She'll get mad at me if I tell her that Peeta and I have to have a baby. I know she will. And I don't want to tell her that her and Prim are in danger if we don't.

"Never mind," I say as I shake my head. "But I want you to trust that I know what I'm doing before I keep talking." Mom slowly nods her head and I take a deep breath. "Peeta and I are getting married."

Mom just stares at me for a moment before she finally speaks. "You're kidding."

"No," I say as I shake my head.

"Don't do this just because you're scared."

"We're not," I say.

"Katniss, you two are still young. You have your whole lives ahead of you…"

"No we don't," I say as calmly as I can. "Whether we want to admit it or not, we belong to Snow now. We have to do what he says…" I stop myself before I say 'to keep everyone alive.' I take a deep breath. "We have to do what Snow says in order to keep each other alive." I guess that's closest to the truth without giving away too much.

"But were not doing this for Snow," I tell Mom. "We're getting married because we love each other."

She just looks at me, and I can tell she doesn't believe me. Great. How are Peeta and I supposed to convince everyone that we're in love if my Mom doesn't even believe it?

Neither of us say another word, so I go upstairs to be with Prim.
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I gasp and quickly sit up. It takes me a moment to realize that I'm at home, and that Prim is curled up beside of me on my bed. I let out a sigh of relief. She's safe.

I know that I won't be able to go back to sleep, so I carefully get up out of bed and go downstairs so I don't wake Prim up. I look out the window, and can't help but notice that there's a light on in Peeta's house.

I wonder if he also had a nightmare, or if he simply just couldn't sleep. My feet act before I can think. Before I know it, I'm standing outside Peeta's house. I knock on the door, asking myself if this is a bad idea. Maybe he's not awake. He might have just forgot to turn the light out.

But when the door opens and I see Peeta's smile, I relax a little bit.

"What are you doing up?" Peeta asks as he moves out of the doorway so I can come in.

"I could ask you the same thing," I tell him. Peeta laughs as he shuts the door behind me.

"I couldn't go to sleep," he says. I nod a little and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"I had a nightmare," I say quietly. He gives me a concerned look.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I reply. "It wasn't the worse nightmare I've ever had." Peeta and I sit down on the couch side by side.

I take a deep breath. "I talked to my Mom," I say slowly.

Peeta looks at me. "And?"

"She doesn't think we should get married," I say. "She doesn't believe that we truly love each other." Peeta reaches over and takes my hand in his. I look over at him.

"We know better," he says. I smile at him and nod my head.

"Did you talk to your family?" I ask him. He shakes his head.

"I went to the bakery to talk to them, but I never got the chance to," he says.

"Why?" I ask him. "What happened?" He takes a deep breath and pulls his shirt sleeve up to reveal a bruise on his shoulder. My heart sinks.

"Your mother did this," I say. Peeta nods his head. "I'm sorry."

"No, Katniss," Peeta tells me. "Trust me. This is not your fault."

We're both quiet for a moment before Peeta suddenly speaks up.

"Let's get married," Peeta says abruptly. I give him a weird look.

"Peeta you've already asked me.."

"No," Peeta says as he shakes his head. "I mean now. Let's get married now. Let's just forget about signing any papers. We do the toasting and say our vows. Nobody around. Just us. That's all that matters anyways."

I give him a nervous smile before replying. "Okay."
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Sorry these chapters are a little shorter right now. I promise they will not all be this short. I'm just ending them where I feel like they should end.