Every once and a great while we are blessed enough to come across people who are not only great friends but also confidants. In the little over a year that Court has been my beta, I have learned so much about writing because of her, she just doesn't edit she does so much more to teach as well as correct my mistakes.

In thanks and to celebrate Court81981's birthday I wrote her a little something. Originally published on tumblr.

I want to acknowledge ackennedy7 for prereading and to Louezem for preading and beta-ing this piece for me. Thank you ladies, for helping to make this gift possible.

Cray-Z Night

Once when Peeta was a boy his father told him, "Sometimes you have to do things that you detest doing in order to do the things that you want to do and to take care of the people you love."

Peeta had to remind himself of that night he was forced to go to his co-worker's bachelor party.

God, I hate this place! Peeta thought as sipped his warm beer. Cray-Z's was a sleazy strip club where all the dancers had some sort of shtick, such as the as the woman currently on the stage did, Enobaria the Vampiress. She was a Goth chick with her teeth filed down to look like fangs.

Other guys sitting at the table were drooling over the star pole dancer, Enobaria was promoted as the sexiest vampire in the world…Peeta didn't think too much of her. If she's the most attractive vampire there is I would hate to see an unsexy one.

Peeta shook his head as one of his co-workers, Cato, ran up to the stage and shoved a fifty down her g-string and he shouted over the music, "Baby you can suck me anytime!"

The dancer bared her fangs and Peeta chuckled to himself as Cato jumped back. It had been the only entertaining part of the evening.

"Come on Peeta, man have another drink," Brutus demanded. "You've been nursing that thing for the last 45 minutes.

"Sorry, Brutus," Peeta forced a smile, "I'm driving home, two is my limit."

"What?! The night is young!" Brutus exclaimed, he was already several drinks ahead of everyone else and that was saying a lot because the other partiers were shit-faced too. "Come on, it's my bachelor party, I don't get married everyday!"

"No, just every five years," Peeta said under his breath. If this was a bachelor party it was a sad one, it had three members besides Peeta, the groom Brutus, his brother Cato, and douche bag Marvel.

Brutus was already distracted by the next set of boobs that passed by. The man was pathetic…he was well over forty but still acted as if he were in a fraternity, spent more time at the gym than he did at work and was getting ready to get married for the fourth time. Each wife was younger and trashier than the last. Brutus had met his newest future ex at this very club. Her name was Glimmer the Glitter Fairy, and what was sad was that the Glimmer part was not even a stage name, it was also her real name. At twenty-four years old, she already had breast implants. She was a hot mess and that was being kind.

Peeta hated gentlemen's clubs in general and Cray-Z's was the worst one he'd ever been to, but when you're invited to the boss's son's bachelor party you're expected to go, or so Snow implied. (Obviously Brutus had no real friends.) The pompous old man had fired people for less so Peeta complied, even though he was going to quit soon. He'd been at Snow's architecture firm for nearly ten years. The one upside to having a demanding and oppressive mother growing up was that he was prepared for his bastard of a boss. Peeta could deal with old Snow's ridiculous instructions and frequent insults with ease while most other people run away screaming.

As long as he was able to collect a hefty paycheck and go home to Katniss every night he was able to deal with it with a smile on his face.

Even though he was surrounded by nearly nude women all he could think about was his wife. He looked at his watch. Katniss had promised that if he was home by eleven that she'd wait up for him and he could be with a real woman. Peeta didn't plan on passing the offer up.

Peeta and Katniss had been together for fifteen years, they started dating at the end of their senior year of high school. While he was in college they had a long distance relationship while Katniss stayed back in their small hometown of Seam to help raise her sister. When Prim graduated high school Katniss finally moved to Panem to be with Peeta, they had a Justice of the Peace wedding and started their life together.

When Peeta's mom found out she cut him off, thinking that he would be forced to drop out of grad school. Instead he and Katniss made it work. They worked at the same pub at night tending the bar. Then Katniss had two other jobs at any given time. She worked as an exterminator, a waitress, or anything thing else it took to pay the rent and as much of the tuition as they could manage without taking out more student loans. Currently she ran a humane animal trapping service were she caught critters and vermin such as raccoons and squirrels and then released them into the wild. It was far from glamorous but paid the bills and filled the savings account.

Peeta got a job working for Snow right out of college, the pay was great but the work was hell. Katniss and he had a ten year plan. Basically it was to work their asses off, save every penny they could, and then move back to Seam. Katniss hated the city and told him that she would never raise children there. Peeta wasn't in love with it either and he hated his job more and more all the time.

Architecture had been his mother's choice not his. Peeta's dream (and now Katniss's too) was to buy the abandoned mansion just outside of Seam and to open a bed and breakfast and restaurant. They had just about enough money saved to do it now. The only thing that they were waiting for was to get pregnant, a few months ago they decided they were ready to start a family and they had been actively trying for a baby ever since. They thought it best for Peeta to keep his job for the insurance, while it sucked the benefits were good.

"Hey, sweetie can I get you another drink," a waitress wearing only a low cut vest and boy shorts asked him in a breathy voice while invading his personal space.

"Uh, a glass of water," he replied and leaned away from her.

"Oh honey, how do you expect me to get through college on tips if you don't order real drinks?" she smiled and winked at him seductively.

"I bet that you want to be a pediatrician because you love animals?" he quipped.

The joke must have been lost on her, because all he got was a vacant smile, "How did you guess?"

Student, my ass. He was thankful that Prim never resorted to such work to get through med school, he and Katniss helped her through school as much as they could.

"Forget the water," he told her. Two hours of crappy music and overpriced food and booze, in this hell hole was more than enough, "I'm heading home in a minute."

The waitress left, looking a little crestfallen. Cato looked at him in disbelief, "Fuck man, she probably would let you screw her in the VIP room if you asked! Hell, if you ain't gonna tap that than I'm gonna to!"

"Good luck with that, she's just flirting for tips," Peeta informed him.

"You don't think that I could get with that?!" Cato challenged.

"Even if you could why would you want to?" Peeta posed.

"Why not?! She's a bit of a butter-face but she's still do-able," Cato said much too loudly. "One night stands are the way to go. All you guys are stupid for getting married."

"Let me guess, you go to the bar on the weekend and spend a hundred bucks on drinks for you and some random woman, more like two hundred if you go to a nice bar. You ask her to go home and you're going to get turned down at least seventy percent of the time," Peeta stated. "Then the thirty percent who do go home with you how many times do you actually have great or even good sex? One or both of you are too drunk to enjoy it. You don't know what she likes. She doesn't know what you like. Then there is a chance that she has something that makes your dick turn green."

"Yeah, well I bet that I get laid a lot more than you do," Cato spat like a little kid. "And by lots of different women!"

"Rosie Palmer doesn't count, little bro!" Brutus laughed and held his hand up to Marvel, who promptly high fived him. "You get it? Your hand?!"

"Look even if a married man gets laid only twice a week," Peeta explained (and that was conservative, in his case it was most often more), "He has have sex a ton more than you do. I bet that you don't have sex more than twice a month and that is being kind."

Cato's face reflected his stunned expression; Peeta must have hit the nail on the head.

"Burn!" Brutus yelled then pompously added, "Glimmer gives it up every night."

"Well, the same old box would get boring after a while," Cato defended himself, poorly.

"That I'll agree with. That's why my wife and I have an open relationship," Marvel said proudly, he bragged about his marital situation constantly. Peeta really couldn't stand him, he was Snow's number one 'yes' man. Marvel was so far up the old man's ass you couldn't tell where one started and the other began. He and his wife, Cashmere, were swingers. Or more correctly put Cashmere was a swinger and she rewarded Marvel's gullibility with the occasional threesome. "Haven't you been with your wife since puberty?"

"Senior year," Peeta clarified. "Hey, didn't your last 'hookup' end with you chained to a wall with a gag in your mouth and something obscenely big and black shoved up another orifice?"

"She said that she was into S and M and she promised that it would be like nothing I've never experienced before," Marvel informed them.

"I'm sure it was!" Peeta laughed.

"It sounded hot at the time," Marvel said defensively. "I didn't know that Mistress Clove was going to do that shit to me!"

Cato and Brutus spat out their beer laughing at Marvel.

"I would think that I'd be using the safety word long before it got that far," Peeta teased. He loved giving Marvel a hard time. "Oh, I forgot you were wearing a gag."

"Hey, who told you that story?" Marvel complained.

Peeta winked, he'd been saving sitting on that little nugget for ages, "Watch what you send from the company email. Why in the hell were sending those pics anyhow?"

Marvel hung his head, "Cashmere wanted to see them, she said that it turned her on."

Brutus and Cato laughed until they couldn't breathe.

"You all have it wrong," Brutus bragged after he caught his breath. "I keep them for a few years and then dump them for the younger, hotter model when they start to show their age. With an iron clad pre-nup you're not out anything!"

"Glimmer is going to get tired of your old balls before you tire of her fake boobs," Peeta said. He was being much bolder than usual but he'd had enough of their crap and anyhow they were all so trashed that by Monday morning they weren't going to remember a damn thing. Also Peeta had a way about him that he could insult these jerks and they thought that he was only talking shit.

Peeta swallowed the last of his beer, "Well ass hats, I wish I could say that's been a blast but it hasn't."

"Dude, you're seriously leaving?" Cato questioned. "We haven't even gotten our VIP lap dances yet."

"Tell you what, the groom can have mine," Peeta said and slapped Brutus on the back as hard as he could without it looking like an out and out punch.

"Ow, thanks man!" Brutus grinned like he'd won the lottery.

"Dude what is wrong with you?" Marvel questioned as if Peeta's behavior was incomprehensible.

Peeta shrugged, "I guess I just don't see why I should have a crappy hamburger out when I have a grade A steak at home. Later douche bags, you guys enjoy getting hot and bothered for nothing." I'm going home, where I can get laid for real by a woman that I love.

As he left he could hear, "What the fuck?" Cato hissed. "Is his wife really hot?"

"Sort of, if you like skinny hardasses she's hot," Marvel replied.

Peeta shook his head and left, thankful to be out of the sleazy bar. Maybe being in a committed, exclusive, lifelong relationship was not for everyone, but he was happy that it was for him and that he'd been lucky enough to find the one for him early on.

He located his car and drove home. Peeta hated his coworkers, and for the most part he was the only employee of Snow & Associates who ever accomplished anything. Brutus and Cato did virtually nothing and got away with murder since they were the boss's sons. Marvel was less than talented but he knew how to suck up to Snow so he was able to keep his job.

To say that Peeta was counting down the moments until he could quit that damn place would be an understatement.

He settled on happier thoughts, imagining his wife reading a book and waiting in their bed, wearing one of his old tee shirts and cotton panties. Peeta had to calm himself down before he got too excited.

The drive seemed longer than it really was but finally he pulled into his condo complex. Katniss had left the light on for him. He unlocked the front door and all but ran up the stairs to their room. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Katniss was exactly as he'd expected to find her only she was asleep. She had on the bedside lamp and opened book on her lap while she slumbered in his old college tee. She must have been tired tonight, she hadn't even unbraided her hair. He wanted to wake her but she looked so peaceful that he hated to disturb her. Maybe I'll just take care of it in the shower.

Peeta withheld a disappointed sigh and went into the attached bathroom and started the shower. He took off his clothes which reeked of flowery perfume and cheap cigars and tossed them in the hamper. The heat of the shower stung his skin for a brief second before he began to relax, the large walk in shower was the biggest selling point of the condo. He scrubbed his body and washed his hair before indulging in his fantasies.

I wish that Katniss was awake. He took himself in his soapy hand, he was already half hard and it did not take long for him to become fully aroused. I would run my hands all over her slowly, she always so warm. Her skin is soft, it's like silk. I love the plains of her body and watching how she reacts to my touch. Her gripped himself tighter and stroked a little faster when he thought about how her nipples would tighten and pucker under his fingers. Peeta was so consumed in his lusty dream that he never noticed the bathroom door opening and his wife sneaking in.

Katniss swung open the shower door and in mock surprise exclaimed, "How dare you start without me?!"

Peeta about jumped out of his skin, "Damn it, you're stealthy! You scared the piss out of me."

A completely nude Katniss climbed into the shower with her husband. She pushed him aside, and with her back to him she began to lather down her body. She turned her head and gave him a pretend scowl, "Serves you right, sneaking home to whack off thinking about all the strippers you saw tonight."

Peeta rolled his eyes, took the shower puff from her hand and started to scrub her back. "Now we both know that if that were true, you would be waiting outside the shower with your compound bow and a razor tipped arrow head, and not in the shower with me," he teased and pressed his erection into her lower back, making her laugh. "You know my heart and another certain part of my anatomy belong only to you."

Katniss turned to him and let out the girly giggle that he only ever heard when they were alone and his hands found their way to her breast. She conceded, "I suppose I do. But if it belongs to me alone then why didn't you wake me up so we could have some fun?" She reached between them and gripped his rigid length.

Peeta let out a groan, "I'm sorry, you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to wake you, I know you had a long day. But I'm happy you're here now so I don't have to do this alone."

"We're trying to get pregnant," she reminded him and squeezed him a little harder than necessary. "You're not supposed to be doing this at all, remember?"

"Sorry, I forgot," he said sheepishly, it had slipped his mind and he was embarrassed.

"I'm here now so no harm, no foul," she laughed and craned up to kiss him. They explored each other leisurely, allowing their wet hands to glide over each others' bodies. Peeta urged her into the corner of the show stall and dropped to his knees. Katniss let out a little gasp of surprise soon followed by a moan when he placed one of her legs over his shoulder and began to lap at her sex with long teasing passes.

"Peeta don't tease," she mewled, leaning back against the tiles and pressing herself against him, "please."

He looked up at her, she was breathing rapidly, her skin was covered in goose bumps since she was out of the hot stream's reach, the dusky tips of her breasts were erect. He loved to see her all worked up and couldn't deny her request. He applied suction to her little button of nerves, just like he knew drove her crazy and flicked it with his tongue, causing her to cry his name. They had been together so long that he knew everything there was to know about her body. He could make her come fast and over and over, or how to draw it out for phenomenal results that left her in a puddle for ages afterwards. He was leaning towards the latter tonight. Just as he sensed her impending climax he suddenly halted.

She whined in protest as Peeta set down her leg and stood.

"Don't worry baby I'm going to make it worth the wait," he promised and stood between her legs. Katniss knew what he had planned, after all this certainly wasn't the first time they'd had shower sex. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he picked her up by her thighs and guided himself into her.

Peeta loved this position, he felt so powerful, lifting his woman up and thrusting into her, he pressed her into the wall and pounded into her at breakneck speed. He couldn't help the moan that escaped him at the feel of her around him. Even after all these this time it still felt just as good as it did the first time. Over the years they had exchanged quantity for quality, but it had only made sex better.

His head was swimming, there was a telltale tingling at the base of his spin telling him that if he didn't change positions soon that he would come before he was ready too. The water had started to turn cold so it was an opportune moment to move this elsewhere. He wasn't going to be able to fulfill his promise otherwise.

Peeta carried his wife from the shower and set her on the vanity top, never breaking the connection between their bodies. Katniss reclined her body so that with each thrust he stimulated new places inside her. Peeta watched awestruck as she used her two middle fingers make tight circles over her clit, bringing herself closer to the edge.

Peeta held her by the hips and sped up the pace to push her towards her climax and tried to hold back on to his own. His eyes travelled from her hand and where they were joined to her face, her eyes were squeezed shut and she was biting her lip, she was hanging on, waiting for the right moment.

"Let me know when to let go," he whispered.

A second later he felt her body began to milk his and she whimpered, "Now Peeta."

He was happy for the permission because he had already started to let go, her body's reaction was the catalyst to his. He let go of her to hold the counter top for dear life, not trusting his shaking knees to keep him standing while he emptied himself into her. Only after they had come down from their highs and he softened inside her did he pull out.

"Not it," Katniss moaned.

"Not it for what?" Peeta asked as he turned to finally turn off the water to the shower.

"Cleaning the counter," she laughed. Peeta smiled, the woman had no problem chasing down rats but human bodily fluids grossed her out.

"I'll take care of it," he promised and helped her off the counter. They dried off and brushed their teeth.

"How was the strip club?" she asked, a glint of amusement in her eye. Katniss knew that Peeta hated that place, that's why she wasn't upset when he told her that he had to go.

"Awful," he said simply. "I work with a bunch of fuck sticks!"

"Fuck sticks?" she laughed.

"Yeah, fuck sticks, because calling them dicks is too kind," he explained. "Do you know how much I hate being called 'dude'?"

"You won't have to worry about them for too much longer," Katniss promised as they headed towards the bed.

Peeta picked up the book that Katniss had been reading, he didn't look at it closely before but he did now. What to Expect When You're Expecting.

"Katniss what is this?" he asked curiously.

"It's the book that my doctor gives all his pregnant patients," she replied softly, a blush beginning to creep up her pretty face.

Peeta's heart skipped a beat; he wanted to ask but he was afraid too, thankfully she did not leave him waiting for too long. She nodded at his questioning look and flashed him a small but proud grin, "I went to the doctor's today in between jobs. Peeta, we're pregnant, we're going to be parents in about eight months."

Peeta couldn't contain his joy. He leapt over the bed and swept her up in his arms, hugging his wife tight, "A baby? I don't know what to say… oh, Katniss, that's wonderful!"

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner," she apologized. "I thought that it was best to wait until you got home, so I could tell you in person."

"I am so happy that I don't care," he exclaimed, dropping kisses all over her face. "I can quit that shitty job just as soon as the baby is born."

"Or sooner," she suggested. "I've been looking at our options; we'll talk more about it later. I just want to be happy tonight."

I'm going to be happy forever. Katniss's announcement gave him the strength to deal with his crappy job for a few more months.

"Hey, you were giving me crap about self pleasuring and you knew that you pregnant," he accused as they got into bed.

"I wasn't going to pass up on the chance to cause you some grief," she confessed, with a chuckle.

"You'll have to give me some head later to make it up," he said playfully.

"I will," she yawned. "But it will have to wait until tomorrow."

Katniss snuggled up in his arms and soon fell fast asleep. Peeta lay quietly beside her, one hand resting protectively on her stomach as he watched her sleep. His wife. His pregnant wife. This was the moment that he'd been waiting fifteen years for. And even though Peeta was going to have to go back to a job and co-workers he hated on Monday morning, he sighed contentedly as he began to fall asleep. Because at least now, there was an end in sight.

Brutus, Cato, and Marvel could all take their lifestyles and foolishly think that have everything figured out, but no one night stand or cheap fling could ever compare to this.

Thanks for reading.

You can find me on tumblr as izzysamson.