The Bride Swap

Part 1 - The Predicament

Peeta followed soon behind her, shuddering with his release. He collapsed, breathing wildly, his skin damp as he dropped his head onto her shoulder, seeking control of himself again. Katniss loved this part, the part where he was too weak to move, too overcome to keep his body from pressing heavily down onto hers. He collapsed from the excess of too much...everything. His abandon lasted just long enough to almost render his weight unbearable before he shifted onto his back, pulling her into the spot that was reserved solely for her, in the crook of his arm.

After a few moments, when she was sure he'd come back to himself, she turned her head up to look at him. "What was that all about?"

Peeta sighed heavily, rubbing his face with his hand as if to wipe away whatever was troubling him. Katniss shifted, bringing herself to rest on her elbow to look down on his. A lock of his ashy-blond hair clung to his forehead, which she swept away with a careful movement of her fingers. "Tell me," she pressed, seeing his boyish features change, his preoccupations crinkling the smattering of freckles on his nose, deepening the lines around his brilliant, blue eyes.

"Mom," he said, as if that explained everything which, knowing Mrs. Mellark, really did.

"What did she do now?" Katniss asked, her eyes narrowing involuntarily.

"You know," he said, suddenly slamming his fist down on the mattress. "It's already bad enough that I have to sneak around to see you, as if we were common criminals because of her. No, she has to hold the bakery over my head to get me to do what she wants!" he exclaimed, his anger causing his skin to flush.

"Wait...slow down. I don't understand," she said.

"When dad died, he gave me the bakery. It's written in the will. You would think that would be enough to keep her from being all...megalomaniacal about it!" He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and Katniss knew the pacing would start again. "The problem is, he didn't specify when or under what circumstances I would inherit the business so, technically, she could hold on to the bakery until the day she dies. She could ask me to leave until she is forced...by mortality, to ceed ownership to me. She could even sell it while it is still hers and that would be the end of my claim."

"Peeta, you're not making any sense," Katniss sat up, pulling the quilt of the bed over her as Peeta paced the small cabin, as naked as the day he was put on this earth. Katniss derived an infinite amount of pleasure from just watching his body move but scolded herself to keep from being distracted from what he was trying to say.

"Mom won't sign the bakery over to me like she promised she would. She said the only way she will hand over ownership is if I marry a Merchant girl," Peeta tugged at his hair again, making them all stand on end.

"Just stall her. I mean, maybe she'll change her mind...with time. She's not planning on working until the day she...you know..." Katniss sputtered, not sure what to say to him.

"Katniss," he said, sitting at the edge of the mattress, and taking her hand in his. "Even though we don't show it in public, she knows the way I feel about you. She doesn't approve of us - she'd just as soon toss me out on the street as see me married to you..."

"I know..." she said in a small voice. "She hates me..."

"It's not just you. She hates anybody from the Seam. It just so happens she hates you particularly a lot," Peeta joked weakly. "But I can't marry you until I know the bakery is mine and I can take care of you, of us..."

"You know, I don't care about any of that.." she protested. This was an old argument between them.

"Yeah, I know you don't, but I do. I want you to have a good life, Katniss. You've earned it. And dammit, that's my father's family bakery! She's threatening to sell it off if I don't do what she wants. I can't let the bakery, which has been in our family for generations, just get sold off like that! I can't do it!"

"She'd do that?" she asked, knowing full well that there was no end to Mrs. Mellark's cruelty. "Would she really just sell it?"

"Yes, she would! What does she care about the Mellark family? As far as she's concerned, she doesn't have to worry about it anymore now that Dad's gone."

Katniss stood also as all the pieces of their conversation began to fall into place. She felt a fist of ice close over her heart. "So, what are you saying? You're going to go find somebody to marry? Is that it?"

"Wha-what? No!" Peeta stopped pacing and gripped Katniss by her arms. "Are you out of your mind? You're the only person I want," he pulled her into him and squeezed her to him, crowding out her sudden terror and replacing it with his presence, his love. "If push comes to shove, I'll let her sell off the bakery and I'll try to open my own business. If I have you, I don't care," he buried his nose in her hair, kissing the crown of her head. "I'll bake bread in the Seam. As long as you don't have to do without."

Katniss held onto him in turn but she knew that losing his father's bakery would be a blow to him, no matter what he said about it. It was more than just having an employment, which clearly mattered to him. It was about keeping his father's bakery in the family and not allowing it to fall into the hands of strangers. Mrs. Mellark knew this and was using this weakness against Peeta to get him to conform to her expectations. His older brothers had left - the middle son had gone to District 4 to work the fisheries while the oldest married the butcher's only daughter, making him the heir to their shop. That left Peeta in Mrs. Mellark's claws and she was clearly making the most of her advantage to control him.

Leaning back, she took in his worried features, his frustration, the clear misery in his eyes. Katniss couldn't stand to see him unhappy. How could his mother even tolerate it?

"Maybe...maybe you should just do what she says..." she said in a small voice. Even saying it was enough to rip her heart open but she was strong. If it was for his own good, she could do this. "Your life will be a lot easier if you don't have to fight her about me every step of the way."

Peeta froze, his face darkening as she spoke until he looked like he would set fire to something. "Don't even say that to me. I'll compromise on everything else. I'll even let the bakery go. But I'm not going anywhere without you."

"Peeta..." she pleaded but he stopped her with his lips, kissing her until she was breathless.

When he pulled back, she was dizzy and felt her legs turn to rubber beneath her. "I don't want to hear it. We'll think of something. But you're it. I don't want anybody else."

"Neither do I," she said as she kissed him again. She had no idea what they were going to do or how they were going to get out of this predicament but she shoved that preoccupation to the back of her mind as he led her back to bed. They'd make love slowly this time and they'd let themselves get lost in it for a few hours, maybe the day, if they could manage it. But the problem would still be there, staring hideously back at them, and Katniss had no idea how they were going to solve it.

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