"Wake up up up! Must I need to remind you children of another big big big day?" I hear the high pitched voice of Effie clashing into the bedroom. I practically peel myself from Peeta's arms and see him still dead asleep by the time Effie leaps out of the room in her 14 inch heels that create a circle around her feet. I hop in the shower, dress myself and re braid my hair, then I walk back to him laying on the bed in a starfish position. I stare at this perfect sleeping person. His facial features are more relaxed. I don't want to wake him, however, I want to see those blue eyes.  Effie usually rises us two hours before necessary. I decide to let him sleep longer, as I sit on the edge of the bed. I wonder what nightmare he has been sucked into. Maybe not any because he just looks so peaceful. I don't realize I'm staring at him for fifteen minutes until it passes. He starts to stir and he flutters his eyes open at the ceiling, blinking a few times before he adjusts his sight on me. A smile curves on his face when he sees me. "Good morning." he says in a raspy voice.
"Good morning. Only two more days on this train." I say, jumping onto the bed stomach first. "And then that party." he says.
I forgot about it. I'm always forgetting about it.
"The thought of seeing Capitol people drool over us brings an unsettling feeling to me." I say.
"It seems better than people from other districts pretending to be happy for us." Peeta replies, stretching out his arms before yawning.
"I should probably leave, you might want to shower or something."
"You can stay, I'll only be a few minutes." He kisses my forehead and grabs a towel before entering the bathroom. He's out in 15 minutes, and opens the bathroom door and enters with just a towel around his waist, with still dripping wet hair. I bite my lip and lay back down and stare at the ceiling, giving him privacy. "What? Would you flip if I flashed you or something?" he giggles. "Just thought you would want the little privacy you could have." I sit up, and see him in just boxers. "Alright, Katniss." He chuckles, looking for a shirt to wear. He knows that I'm still the same me from the first games. Afraid of nudity. Not his specifically. I was uncomfortable even at the patients my mother would care for. I stand and walk up to him, and he turns around, puzzled. I wrap my arms around him, and rest my head on his bare shoulder. He doesn't question, but he hugs me back. Shortly after that my lips find his.
"What is taking them so long?" I hear Effie squeal from the hallway.
I pull my lips from his, and look at him.
"You should put clothes on now." I whisper.
"Great idea." he walks over to his dresser.
As we walk out to breakfast hand in hand, Effie gives us a nasty look. Who knew that could be possible with Effie?
"You're late! I specifically said to be here at 7!"
"Okay, then where is Haymitch?" I ask.
"How am I supposed to know that, dear?"
"Well, he's your boyfriend." Peeta spits.
Effie's eyes widen. 
"What do you mea-"
"We were in the hallway when you were talking." Peeta lies. We were in the closet.
"We won't tell Haymitch we know," I start.
"Oh, thank you Katniss!"
"On one condition, you have to stop nagging on us and relax for once, take a break with the tight on the dot schedules."
"No, that is how I keep order here!" Effie protests.
"Hey, Haymitch!" Peeta calls out.
"Fine fine fine fine! But we must leave here at 11:00am for the justice building in district 2." She gets up and leaves the room.
Peeta and I sit at the table and talk about random things that we wouldn't usually bring up with Haymitch or Effie around. We talk about life at home and school, in which we won't be going back to. "So is it really true? That I really was the only girl you ever noticed in school?" I ask, concentrating on my plate of eggs.
"I've noticed others," he pauses, "but as I said, they were nothing compared to you."
"That's really sweet, you know." I smile.
He opens his mouth to say something, when Haymitch staggers through the door.
"Where's Eliz- I mean.. Where's Effie?"
"What?" I drop my fork onto the plate.
"Nothing."
"What did you say Haymitch?" Peeta asks.
"How am I supposed to know? These Capitol people have crazy names." He wobbles over to the liquor.
We realize that we won't get anything out of him, he's too hungover.
"Can we talk?" I ask Haymitch.
Peeta looks at me confused.
"Sure, sweetheart." He sits down across from us.
"I just was wondering what to do when we mentor people." I say.
"Well, you'll know when the time comes."
"When the time comes, we will be scared shitless, along with the tributes we will be mentoring." I tell him.
"Language. Watch it." he stutters. "I'm not in the mood to discuss mentoring strategies, but you can tell I'm decent at it, considering I have you two sitting across from me taking up space in here."
"You've been mentoring for over twenty years, I wouldn't say that your drinking made you an excellent mentor." Peeta scowls.
"Be lucky I stopped long enough to actually help you." he says into Peeta's face, and then storms out.
"I think we both pissed him off this time." I say.
"He will forget about it in an hour." Peeta rolls his eyes.

The next two days are super slow and filled with arguments between Effie and Haymitch. Every little thing sets the other off, that Peeta and I spend as much time away from them as possible. I am watching Peeta paint orange flowers on the side of my wall. If Effie found out, she might flip.
"They've been fighting a lot, I can't wait to get off this train." I state. "Maybe they'll be fine and pull it together for the Capitol tomorrow." says Peeta.
"You have paint on your face." I smile.
"Um, where?"
"Right here." I lean in and kiss his lips. He drops his paint brush and his hands find my neck. We sit on the bed, and my arms wrap around him.
"Hey," he gently grabs my waist, pulling me closer to him,
"You're so beautiful." he whispers. I blush, kissing him again.

I wake up to a soft knock on the door. I groan, untangling myself from Peeta, I open the door to see my stylist, and most importantly, my friend.
"Cinna." I grin. He extends his arms out, and I walk into them. "It's great to see you, girl on fire. Are you ready for the Capitol?" he questions.
"Sure," I say, "as long as you'll be responsible for my appearance."
"Portia is searching for Peeta. Any ideas where he could be?"
I open the door fully and back up, pointing to him on the bed, sleeping. "I'll tell her he isn't awake yet. I'll let everyone know you both shouldn't be bothered for a little while." he kisses my cheek, and closes the door. I smile to myself, and climb back into the blankets. I look at him next to me, and I can see he is having a nightmare. I lift his arm up and scoot over, placing it over me. He lays on his left side, holding me like a child would squeeze a teddy bear. Wishing I could stay like this all day, I close my eyes.

More hair is ripped from my body, but it's not as painful as it was twelve days ago. My prep team is most excited for this event. I, on the other hand, just want to go home to my mother and sister. Maybe Peeta can help me put a dinner together for them once we get back, and we can invite Haymitch. Gale would be out of the question this time. I didn't exactly leave him on the best of terms. He never even shows up to the dinners I invite him to. Hopefully he will get over whatever his issue is before I see him again.
Snapping me out of my thoughts, Cinna enters the room with the gown I will be wearing. "This is beautiful," I state, running my fingers through it.
"Try it on for size." he tells me. Octavia helps me slip the dress on and I look in the mirror. "I knew I would love it, thank you so much," I embrace him.
When I walk out to show Effie, Peeta opens the door a second before me, and I see that we are dressed similarly again. This time, it annoys me a little less. "You look beautiful." he tells me.
"As do you."
"Back to hair and makeup!" Effie interrupts us, pushing us along.

As we enter the gates of President Snow's mansion, swarms of people crowd us, yelling our names, wearing our faces on every inch of their clothes, desperately asking for autographs.
"Eyes bright! Chins up! Smiles on!... I'm talking to you, Katniss." Effie says, repeating what she said before the victory tour.
"And hold hands!"
He takes my polished hands and we continue walking until we enter a room bigger than my home at victors village.
"Overwhelming yet?" I whisper.
"I beg to differ." mumbles Peeta.
I'm not interested in these people, in fact, I want to leave. I was considering grabbing Peeta and hiding somewhere, until I see tables and tables of food, which are miles long. It would take days just to walk to the end of it. My mouth drops open in shock, and I instantly start walking to the start of the table and grab a plate, with Peeta's hand still connected to mine. "No more than one bite of everything." I suggest. We get not even a quarter in, when I can't hold in anything else.
"You should expect a very heavy wife after this." I joke, as a camera walks by us. "You'll still be so beautiful." He lightly pinches my cheek. I smile.

I want to take this makeup off, and wear some real clothes. I'm itching to go back to being myself again. But we still have hours to go in this place.
We bump into our prep teams, and they squeal over how phenomenal we look. "Why aren't you two eating?" Octavia asks. "Oh, we have been. We're just so full." Peeta says.
"Oh here! Try this!" Venia waddles over to a huge table with shot glasses, filled with clear liquid. She grabs one and hands it to Peeta. He goes to drink it when they nearly have a heart attack.
"Not in here! Are you crazy? Do it at the toilets!" They yell.
"What is this?" Peeta looks at it, horrified.
"It will make you sick, so you can go on eating."
"I've already been in there two times!" Octavia squeals.
"You mean this will make me puke?" Peeta asks.
"How else will you taste everything?"
He places it down cautiously, and grabs my hand. "I think it's time for a dance, love." he kisses my lips quickly for a nearby camera, and he leads me to the dance floor.
We sway back and forth to a slower song, in which involves us barely moving our feet.
"You know, I was starting to think they weren't so bad, that they were people too. Which they are, but people are starving in 12, here they are just throwing it up to stuff more in.." he trails off.
I look around, and then get close to his ear. "That is a topic to talk about anywhere but here, now laugh as if I said something funny." He looks at me, and then starts laughing very convincingly.
The rest of the night is dreadful, but comforting, with his hand always linked to mine. I had to separate from him to talk to the new head gamemaker, Plutarch Havensbee.
President Snow then quiets the commotion with a single hand gesture from a balcony.
"I would like to congratulate our most recent victors on their engagement. My best of luck to you and may the odds be ever in your favor." Everyone cheers, and fireworks explode in a variety of colors in the sky. I think of how much Prim would enjoy them.

Leaving here is my favorite part besides eating. My eyes are barely open when I take Cinna's dress off in my room. I lay down right where I was standing, because I am too tired to walk any further. I hear Peeta laugh and pick me up, placing me on the bed. He cradles me in his arms.
"We're going home now?" I whisper.
"We are gonna be home soon," he kisses my forehead.