"Peeta, what are you doing?"

I glance back at Katniss over my shoulder. "Making you cheese buns."

She eyes me suspiciously. "Are you trying to butter me up for something?"

Strange how she always notices when I'm up to something.

I sigh. "Katniss, I make you cheese buns every day." Now she's giving me that look, the one where she's trying to decide if I'm telling the truth or spinning my spiderwebs of lies for her.

But she takes her favourite breakfast anyway.

"So...I was thinking Katniss,"

"Mmph?" She's dutifully chewing her cheese buns, but watching me with her rainwater eyes.

"Have you ever thought about having kids?" It's a bit of an awkward question, so I turn away and start cleaning the dishes. "When we're older, I mean." She's so silent that I can't resist glancing back.

Katniss's cheese bun is still in her hands, and her gaze is steady, but she looks like she's having a hard time trying to swallow. "What?"

"Having kids."

"No." She says, shutting down. Her eyes make it pretty obvious that she has, though.

I sigh again, and scrub a cookie tray clean before speaking again. "Well would you?"

Katniss is staring at her plate blankly. It takes her a while, but finally she mutters "No."

It hurts me a little, actually. Because I do. Because I want a family so bad that my lungs seem to constrict. But still, I manage to choke out a smooth "Why?"

Katniss finally meets my eyes, and she must see something in them because her face softens. "Because." She's never been very good with words. "Because I'm scared they'd get reaped." And because Katniss isn't very good at saying something, I have to try and read her expression.

"Katniss," I sit down next to her to start my own breakfast. "The Hunger Games are over, remember?" We both wince a little at the mention of the Games. "What are you afraid of?"

But she doesn't answer me. Instead Katniss gets up and leaves me to do the dishes. But I can't be discouraged this easily. Because I do want a family. I don't care how long it will take me to convince her, I just know I will.