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Peeta stared at the burnt cookies on the counter. He didn't burn things, not unless there was a purpose, and this was the third time this has happened since they had returned from the games. He considered throwing them away but decided to hand them out to kids in the seem instead. They were just a little burnt and would be better than nothing. He put the cookies in a basket and headed out. He stopped When he saw Katniss walking out of her home, he froze. He knew that his lack of attention was due to the revelation that the love of his life was just pretending to be into him to save herself. He tried to pull himself together and waved slightly trying to smile.

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"We'll get her something nice." He squeezed her hand gently before falling into silence as they walked again. this was a silence, a calm one, not tense like the last one.

They were getting close to town, a fact that Katniss realize she was sort of dreading.

"Do you wanna walk back together too?" She said softly, feeling quite a bit like a little girl.

He was really surprised how much he wanted to.

"Sure, in fact if you don't mind waiting for a few minutes I could just stay with you. We could spend the day together." He wasn't sure what he would do if she said no.

"Sure, I can do that."

She had no place to be today. Or, really, any day. Life wasn't exactly busy for a victor most of the time, apparently. No wonder Haymitch drank so much.

"Maybe we can pick stuff up for a pick nick, go to the woods this afternoon." It was funny how something he was dreading now seemed like the best possible way he could spend his day.

"That would be really...really good." Her fingers squeezed his, as she pressed closer.

She didn't know where she would take him. Not her and Gale's little outcropping. Maybe...she didn't know if Peeta could make it to the lake. But...she wanted to take him there, she realized.

"Good." He said smiling. This felt oddly like a date, if it was it was technically their first.

"Uhh...what...what kinda of food should we get."

Katniss knew where to buy the things to make food. And where to pay things like sweets. But she had no idea if there even was a place in town that sold ready made meals.

"Well we can get bread out my parents, Prim is letting them sell some of her cheese, so there's that." He stopped to make some sort of meal plan, mostly he just wanted to buy as many things as possible to help out the people in town.

"What would you like?" He asked hoping that Katniss could tell his intent.

"I...I dunno." She shook her head, not sure what to say now she was put on the spot.

"You're in town more often than me."

"Okay We'll just see what we can find." It was worth a shot but this was a good enough excuse he guessed.

She smiled, before starting to pay attention to where they were going as they entered town. More than one path, more people to run into, she couldn't just navigate by instinct.

"So, where to first, town boy?"

"Why don't we start at the bakery and then see what else we might need." He smiled at her, wondering if buying her flowers would be too much. Everything was so confusing with her, and even thought he knew it was wrong, part of him still thought she loved him. He knew things were complicated, and he could expect her to sort her feelings out right in the middle of everything that was going on. He just didn't want to cross boundaries and upset her. The hard part about that was not knowing where the boundaries were.

She shrugged.

"Sounds good."

Being around Peet'as family, especially his mother, was a little awkward. But she stayed near his side, hand locked in his, and smiled when it seemed right. His dad, at least made things easier.

Peeta made his visit quick and tried to avoid the barrage of awkward questions from his brothers. His mother thankfully excused herself almost as soon as she saw Katniss. He bought a few loaves of bread and some tarts, as well as goat cheese. He asked his father what else would be good on their little outing and he provided things from most of the stores around.

Peeta smiled his thanks, glad that his father could read his mind. He always could, and that made him sad. He missed his father, and it made him feel awful, but he was the only one. It was the only down side to not living there anymore, waking up early and baking with his dad. It was one of the few times he spoke freely and at length. He came back a few times, but it felt different. Almost like his dad was jealous that Peeta had gotten the girl that he had failed to in the previous generation. It broke his heart.

"Shall we?" He asked Katniss guiding her through the other stores grabbing odds and ends, with a new type of melancholy hanging around him.

"Let's."

She lead him through town, fingers still tangled together, and then down through the seam. As the houses began to be less numerous, she ducked into their old house, hissing back at Buttercup as the cat greeted them in similar.

"We can leave what we're not taking to the picnic here and pick it up on the way home."

Peeta was still chuckling at the fact that she hisses at the cat. He wasn't sure why, but that had to be just about the cutest thing he had ever seen. It astonished how easily she could put him in a better mood. He set down the thing they weren't taking and arranged them in the sack he had bought.

"I'm ready when you are." He said with a smile offering his hand again.

She grabbed what she needed, and lead him to the loose length of fence. On quick glance to be sure no one was around, followed by a quick pause to listen for the hum of the fence, and then she dipped under it, holding up the chain link for him.

"Come on Peeta, quickly."

Peeta followed her orders and then smiled at her when they were on their way to the woods.

"It's beautiful out here." He said looking around trying to not connect how much it reminded him of the arena.

"Where are we going?" It didn't really matter, he was with her.

Well, that was actually a good question.

It didn't feel right to take him to her and Gale's outcropping. On several levels. But they couldn't just hunker down any old place.

She glance back. "Think you're up for a hike?"

"Lead the way." Peeta smiled squeezing her hand. This was turning out to be a really nice day.

"While we hike we should get to know each other better." At least it would give them something to talk about.

"Ah...all right."

Oh god, she wasn't good at this kind of thing. Picking her way through the forest, and watching out for anything that might catch Peeta's leg, she tried to think of something to ask him.

"Tell me about your family."

Why that question first, it was like she found the string that was dangling and started to pull. He just hoped he didn't unravel.

"Well," he was starting to choke up already. "I'm not very close to my mother, as you may have guessed. My brothers are, well, dicks for the most part." He paused trying his best to not cry talking about his dad. Maybe she would just let him slide.

"I always liked your dad best." She said softly, realizing she had treaded on a sensitive subject, but not sure how to gracefully back out.

Good job Katniss. Starting this well.

"Me too, we just haven't seen each other much since I got back." He said sadly, picking up his pace to keep up with her. He wasn't sure if he wanted to continue this line of thought.

"How did you start hunting?" Changing subject, good move Peeta.