Peeta's POV

I awoke from the most blissful sleep I've had since before the Games to the sound of Buttercup hopping into the bed and onto Katniss, meowing loudly the whole way. This seems to be a rather common occurrence lately, ever since they've seemed to have grown fonder in the recent months. And while the wake-up calls can certainly be aggravating sometimes, I'm glad that they've grown on each other since Prim's passed. It sounds silly, but I truly think that Buttercup makes Kat feel better about the whole situation... maybe just the reminiscent of Prim that remains in his tangled pumpkin-like fur, and soft, grungy meows.

I feel Katniss stir, and turn to face her just as her eyes flutter open softly; adjusting to the light shining into the room between the blinds. She's so beautiful in the morning. Especially this morning. Her soft waves are in slight tangles in the back of her head from where my fingers wove into her long, silky tresses last night, and her small, but perfectly-proportioned naked body just has a soft, heavenly glow about it in this dewy, early morning light. She smiles sheepishly as she takes in the sight of my equally-naked body, and blushes deeply when she sees my gaze upon her.

She pulls the blankets up over us, knowing we can't get too carried away because unfortunately, it's Sunday. Which means we have Haymitch duty. I shouldn't say that, because it isn't all bad. Sure, he has his bad days; but don't we all? His are definitely more frequent that your average person, but what can you really expect from a man who's gone through what he has? Especially since he's been getting much better lately. I laugh at the thought, and Katniss looks over at me questioningly.

"It's just Haymitch," I laugh sleepily. "I was just thinking about him herding those geese." She laughs at this too, because it truly is utterly hilarious. Don't get me wrong. we're both so glad that with the help of Hazelle, he's managed to find something in his life that can help pull him out of the dark, liquor-tainted nightmare he lives in; but that doesn't seem to stop either one of us from cracking up every time we see him out there with those silly geese, trying to feed them, and herd them back into the little pin he built for them. But at least on these days, we're assured that he's okay. That somehow, he didn't drink enough to kill himself the night before, and that his hangover wasn't so bad that he wasn't able to make it out into the sunlight and actually partially-participate in real life. It's days life these that give us hope.

After our laughs stifle and subside, I lean down and kiss her lightly on the forehead before getting out of bed to grab some clothes. "I'll go downstairs get some breakfast and pastries together to for us and to bring to Haymitch's today," I say softly as she gets out of the bed and heads towards the closet. "So you can go ahead and take a shower; i'll meet you downstairs when you're done, and we'll head out."

"Sounds good," she smiles; turning back to the closet and pulling out a pair of dark jeans and my favorite little white-and-gray-striped sweater that she wears. I couldn't help but bask in the sight of her beautiful exposed body for a moment before heading off towards the kitchen.

Katniss's POV

The wonderful scent of sweet strawberry pastries, and my favorite cheese buns fill the air as Peeta takes them out of the oven; just in time for me to get ready and make it downstairs. Peeta's long hair hangs in his face and his brow is creased in concentration as he leans over the counter; carefully icing delicate lines onto the warm pastries. I sit down on a stool on the other side of the counter, watching him intently. I've always loved to watch him work, but watching him bake is a totally different thing. You can see the passion and contentment in his eyes; and you know that he loves what he does. That's probably why everything he ever makes turns out so well. I lean over the counter as he's finishing up the last pastry, gently pushing his hair out of his eyes and kissing him sweetly, on the lips.

"You're so intense when you work," I say, trying my best to have some kind of cute or seductiveness in my voice. "It's adorable." He smiles at me with that perfect boyish grin of his.

"You're adorable! I love it when you wear your hair like that." he says, twirling a strand gently in his hand. I walked over to him, my hair sitting in long, silky brown waves across my shoulders and down my back.

"Well that's a miracle, considering all of the knots I had to brush out this morning, because of your eager fingers last night!" I say, winking at him.

"Oh, you're going to talk to be about eager fingers? You should see the scratches I have running down my back, that were caused by none other than your naughty self!" he says jokingly, pulling me into his arms as I lean my head back against his chest.

"Mmm, but you know you loved it." I say in a low, sexy tone, turning to face him, and knotting my fingers under the neckline of his sweater.

"Ahh, well I can't deny that." he smiles at me, before pulling me into a kiss. I press myself against him, trying to deepen the kiss, before he pushes the food on the counter aside and lifts me up on it; our lips never separating for a minute. Soon my our sweaters are off, leaving him shirtless, and me in a black, lacy cami. He's pressing into me too, both of us trying to relieve some of the pressure that's built up in our cores from our little chat and our increasingly heated kiss. He's tangling his finger's right back up into my hair, deepening the kiss furthermore, and my small hands are gently caressing his back, over his fresh scratches and toned muscles; when we suddenly hear a husky voice coming from the other side of the kitchen.

"Jeez, do you kids ever have any clothes on anymore?" he says loudly. "I could hear you guys going at it all night last night! Congrats on finally getting laid, Peeta! Took yah' long enough!" he laughs, walking across the kitchen my patting Peeta on the back.

"Haymitch! What the hell?! Have you ever heard of knocking?" I say furiously. He's always so nosy and rude, and he thinks it's funny! I look over at Peeta, who is obviously still in shock, his eyes are about as wide as quarters, and he has this completely mortifies look on his face. He grabs our sweaters quickly, shoving mine at me, before putting his own on. He still has that looks on his face, and Haymitch is laughing hysterically; when I get up and punch him on the shoulder. "Learn to knock before you go barging into people's private moments!" I yell angrily.

"That was certainly a private moment, all right!" he laughs uncontrollably, holding his shoulder.

When things finally calmed down, we all sat at the table in the kitchen, munching on all of the good stuff Peeta had made. He truly is a phenomenal baker. "Why are you even here, anyways?" I ask, looking at Haymitch questioningly. "We were just about to head over to your place."

"It looked like the only thing you were about to was get laid," he said, starting to laugh again, almost gagging on the cheese bun he was eating. I could feel my face heating up again; and Peeta noticed, deciding to step in, ignoring Haymitch's comment completely.

"How'd you even get up so early? You're usually passed out until at least 1 or 2."

I can tell Haymitch kind of internally laughed at this, but he kept a straight face. "I had to make sure I was sober enough to take care of the geese today; plus Hazelle is coming over later today to clean, so I figured it'd probably be a good idea not to be passed out and drunk on the floor," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I don't think that'd be the best idea." I said, equally as sarcastic. "So you did finally hire Hazelle to clean and cook for you?" He shook his head, taking another bite of his of his cheese bun. "That's good, I'm glad that she'll have another source of income coming in. They could definitely use it."

We spent the rest of the day talking casually about how thing's had been lately. Haymitch has been sober much more often in the recent weeks, and I definitely think that Hazelle's assistance has been a huge help for him. He stayed for dinner, and Peeta cooked up a deer I had caught earlier in the week with some vegetables from the new Hob and some herbs that Rory and I had collected in our time in the woods on last Sunday. We said our goodbyes just as the sun went down, and Peeta and I cuddled up on the big, soft couch in the living room, basking in the warmth of the fireplace, and just enjoying each other's company. Apart from the horrible, and still traumatically embarrassing start to our visit, it was all in all a really good day. Haymitch had been through a lot with Peeta and I; and we owed him everything in the world for what he did for us. He certainly had some definite rough patches, and could be a total ass, but Haymitch gave us a sense of conginuity in our lives in a strange sense; something I feel like we've been desperately without for a long time.

**Alright guys, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I'm sooo sorry it took me so long to update this time! I know I usually try to take not longer than a day or two to get updates out, and this one ended up taking a couple of weeks! I was in the middle of moving across the country again, and with all the crazy stuff going on with school just starting this week, i've been crazy busy! But i'm going to be getting these next chapters out much more quickly if you guys help me! Please remember to follow/favorite/and especially review! You don't even have to be a member of the site to review! I just love hearing you guy's opinions, and it really does truly help me get new chapters out more quickly when you guys tell me what you want the next chapters to include! Espcially with this story in particular, where it's going to end up being so long; and idea's for interesting chapters get hard to come by! So please let me know! Lemons? Haymitch scenes? More fluffy scenes? More angsty scenes? Any different characters from the books you'd like me bring into this story? I want to know your thoughts! After all, I write these for you! I love you all, thanks for reading! 3