Someone remind me why I'm pre-med.

Mandatory viewing for District Twelve begins at seven o'clock sharp, no exceptions. In the middle of town square rows of chairs are set up, though not everyone gets a chair, mostly people sit on the ground trying desperately to hide away from the carnage. The families of the remaining tributes have front row seats to the show, all in one line staring up at the large portable screen.

People start flooding in around six fifteen, a rerun of Caesar's interview with Haymitch plays as almost a preshow exhibition. Nobody even listens to it as they flood the area. Peacekeepers line up around the square while others handle check ins to make sure everyone is accounted for. The Everdeens arrive before the Mellarks, as they have every day the past two weeks.

Mrs. Everdeen always sits next to Mr. Mellark, the two of them sharing brief glances at their children's romance. Prim sits on her other side, watching intently, a huge hope in her heart that her big sister will be alright. Beside her are four open seats, for the Hawthornes who have been decided to be Katniss's cousins. Rory sits next to Prim, he holds her hand and squeezes it firmly whenever she seems frightened. Beside him is Hazelle trying to keep Vick from seeing the worst of the games. On the end is Gale, usually with Posy asleep on his lap by the time the viewing is over, though she plays with the other children who are too young to understand the severity of the games.

The Hawthornes are quick to arrive, leaving the Mellarks last. Mr. Mellark beside Mrs. Everdeen, Mrs. Mellark beside him, always stoic, always watching intently. She only changed her expression once, she cried when she was certain her son was going to die. Beside her sits her second son, Rye; he doesn't watch much, he tries to avert his gaze for the most part, unable to bear the sight of the games. Beside him sits the oldest Mellark son Massa, he watches silently his sorrow evident in his posture. His wife sits next to him, Lidianna tries to comfort her husband, soft hushing in his ear, dragging his hand along her round stomach. Their unborn child never kicks during the viewing, as if they know it is not the time to make a fuss.

Panem's anthem blares out of the speakers as the camera pans over the arena. As the intro ends the screen shows Katniss and Peeta sitting across from one another.

Peeta's speaking kindly to her, "Any problem that you're having… I'm here for you. Okay?"

Gale feels a sort of anger brewing in his heart, he wishes that this bread boy would get away from his Catnip. He wishes he were the one with her, maybe he could protect her. Peeta can't protect her from anything.

Prim is already gripping Rory's hand, while her mother and Peeta's father share a knowing glance. Rye slumps in his seat trying to focus on the top of the screen, maybe he can avoid this torture. Massa clings to his wife's hand trying to ignore the guilt in his heart. His little brother, forced into the Games with the love of his life. There was no humanity left in Panem, he assumed.

"I just keep thinking… And I thought that doing what we've done was supposed to satisfy me."

The whole district perks up with curiosity at her words. Their thoughts wander to the stolen kisses that soon turned into sweet longing ones. The two lovers had truly captured the hearts of Twelve, mostly because they came from two different worlds, but were loved by all. The girl with the courage to hunt and fight for her family for the seam as a whole, and the boy whose kindness knows no bounds.

The district feels lucky in general, their tributes only had one true kill together. While Katniss could be attributed to Glimmer's death there is a silent consensus that she didn't mean for the girl to die. Their tributes have clean hands, and it terrifies them what might happen to these kids.

The audio cuts out, which is nothing new, the connection between Twelve and the Capitol is unreliable at best. But the film crews quickly remedy the situation.

"Don't say that." Peeta says quickly, his voice high and nervous. The crowd is the most intrigued they've ever been during a viewing. Their eyes wandering between each other, wondering what the tributes are talking about.

"Peeta?" Prim sees her sister look at Peeta in a new way, tender and almost adoring. She feels a bubble of joy in her stomach, her sister is at the very least, finding happiness in this situation. She sends a quick smile at Rory.

Gale notices the difference too, and he feels rage fill him up. Watching her like that… It's unimaginable pain. Mrs. Everdeen nudges Mr. Mellark playfully, the two of them will have to discuss wedding dates at some point. Massa shrugs off his upset to watch, hopefully this calm will remain. Rye still avoids the screen entirely.

"I do want you, I've always wanted you."

"So…?"

"So." Peeta's laugh hangs in the air like an empty promise. "We have some time before this rain lets up."

Prim remains joyous at her sister's seeming happiness, while Gale instantly becomes furious. He wouldn't dare touch her… Would he? Mr. Mellark feels a slight shock, surely his son, his good gentle boy wouldn't even think of… in the middle of a death match?

Mrs. Everdeen hopes that whatever his intentions are, they are good. And not what she thinks they are. Mrs. Mellark purses her lips, there was no way he would just…

Rye and Massa briefly glance at each other; they knew their little brother well. They remember the look on his face when they handed down their first porn magazine smuggled in by one of their friends. They gave him the masturbation talk; to only do it in the shower or at night when the risk of being walked in on was much lower.

Peeta had never been one to mess around, always the perfect mix of Massa and Rye. Practical but not ever too serious, but when it came to girls he never toyed with their hearts. So would the boy, who had admitted to being afraid of the Slag Heap at fifteen years old, really do all of the things he promised he'd wait until marriage to do?

"You really want to?" She asks with a broad grin.

"I really want you." He says kissing her gently.

"Come on then."

The district wearily passes glances to their neighbor trying to piece together what they mean. To most, it's obvious but to others they have to see Katniss get shoved into the cave wall to get the picture. This is really happening; their tributes are going to do what no tributes had ever done before… Well at least, never done on camera before.

Hazelle immediately covers both Vick and Rory's eyes with one hand each.

"Mama!" Rory complains.

"Hush up and close your eyes, do you hear me!?" She scolds him pulling Vick onto her lap to shield him away from the screen. Gale's eyes boar into the screen, anger coursing through his veins, he vows to kill that baker boy for forcing himself on Katniss.

"Prim close your eyes, Posey sweetheart come here." Mrs. Everdeen calls out to the little girl whose friends have all returned to their parents, likely to be shielded away from what was to come.

Prim pouts, and puts up a confused argument. "Why mama, they're just-"

"Primrose Everdeen you close your eyes and stop listening this instant do you hear me?" She scolds her daughter in a way that even she doesn't recognize. Prim obeys her mother, turning all the way around she speaks to Rory, who followed her example under his mother's harsh gaze.

"So in history class…"

"Mrs. Everdeen what's Katniss doing?" Posy asks her. Suddenly at a loss for words, Mr. Mellark answers for her.

"You know how you and your friends were just playing games sweetheart?"

"Yeah." She nods.

"Well, Katniss and Peeta are going to play a game together, but it's a private game, so we shouldn't watch them. Okay?"

"Okay." Posy buries her face in Mrs. Everdeen's chest. Mouthing a quick thank you, she starts to smooth down the young girl's hair.

Mrs. Mellark turns to her older two sons, "Do you two encourage this kind of behavior!?"

"Mom, no. Ew no way!" Rye shudders.

"I know that he's dumb but he's not this dumb! Don't lie to me, did you corrupt your baby brother!?"

"Of course we didn't!" Massa says, his eyes glued to the screen, like watching old war films where it's impossible to look away.

Rye mutters an almost inaudible, "Trust me we tried, didn't work."

The district watches in a shocked kind of horror as the couple gropes hungrily at one another. Children with their eyes and ears covered. Prim and Rory sat opposite the screen chatting loudly and animatedly about school. The whole thing is just absolutely ridiculous.

The only voice above a whisper is Mrs. Mellark's, her voice bellows out at her two sons. "You got your wife pregnant you must have told him something! Peeta would never do this on his own! He's a stupid boy, but he's a good boy nonetheless!"

"Mom, I swear we didn't tell him to boink Katniss." Massa says calmly.

"At least not in the arena." Rye mutters.

"What was that!?"

"Nothing mother!"

Peeta gets down level with her hips, and the whole district sits in anticipating horror. Well, not the whole district, the Peacekeepers have taken to making bets, who's going to cum first, which of them is going to get off to this later. Everyone else sits in aghast shock, covering a little one from the screen, mouth hung open in horror as Peeta disrobes Katniss.

Hazelle's face is red with rage and embarrassment; she wants to shout at the hoard of viewers to look away. To give them their moment, but even she can't look away from the screen. Gale listens to his heart beat fast in his chest, he's never seen Katniss in such a state, never seen the skin of her stomach. For some reason seeing the skin of her thighs and stomach make him feel perverted, like he should look away. However, he can't bring himself to, his absolute fury at the Mellark boy winning out.

Prim and Rory continue their loud talk though they grow curious at the sounds coming from the audio system… Mrs. Everdeen grips Posy to her chest worriedly watching her child be touched by a young man... No, Peeta is still a boy, and Katniss a girl. These two are children exploring something new and terrifying. Something that should be personal and intimate shared by the entire world. She hates every bit about it.

Mr. Mellark has hidden his face in his hands, believing if he doesn't watch the screen nothing is happening. His son is not having sex with Katniss Everdeen.

"How does he even know what sex is!? Which of you told him!? I know it was one of you!" Mrs. Mellark screeches at her boys who are watching in an uncomfortable curiosity at the screen.

"He's sixteen of course he knows what sex is woman!" Rye says in an awkward chuckle.

"Don't you dare speak to me that way! Tell me how my youngest boy, the kindest, gentlest soul on the planet learned how to do this!"

One wrongful glance at the screen and she sees Peeta slip Katniss's under garments off, she turns back immediately to scold the boys. The district gasps collectively, their eyes glued to the screen against their will. The scene is beautifully set, almost like it's choreographed, her fingers twisted up in his hair as his mouth explores parts of her Twelve never wanted to see. And Darius won twenty gold pieces.

Gale watches in disgust as Peeta's mouth takes up all of Katniss. She moans his name in a way the infuriates him, there's no way that Mellark is getting away with this. He's going to kill him, if Cato doesn't get to him first. The camera pans up to her face, a look of absolute pleasure possesses her features. Gale tries to tell himself that this can't be real, that she's just pretending, there's no way that his Catnip would give herself over so easily.

Suddenly, she rips his head away from her and kisses him with a surprising amount of force. "I need you in me. Now." She demands in such a low harsh voice the district almost mistakes her words as angry.

Gale grits his teeth the waves of anger now a steady ocean, full of pure rage he stares down the screen wondering when their stupid hour is up and they can all go home.

"GALE HAWTHORNE WHAT IS THAT!?" His mother screams at him. When he looks down he sees his pants tented, and only just now realizes that this whole time he's been turned on, despite his best efforts. But never in his whole life has he been so ashamed. He'd always found Katniss attractive, always, and watching her like that… Oops.

"Mama what's wrong with Gale?" Vick asks from Hazelle's chest.

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!" She screams, so furious she could beat her son into a still living pulp.

Gale crosses his legs trying to calm himself down, he cannot believe he just got a boner in public because of Katniss fucking Everdeen. Who is supposed to be his 'cousin', talk about awkward.

"Sorry mama." He mutters through ground teeth.

Prim suddenly gets worried by the sounds she's hearing. "Mama-"

"Stay turned around, Primrose, or so help me-"

"I think that I'm really going to like our new teacher!"

Luckily Posy has fallen asleep on Mrs. Everdeen's lap, she has taken to rubbing the little girl's back whispering soft kind words. She recalls when her own daughter was in this position and not in the one on the screen…

"Oh, he's a Mellark alright." Lidianna chuckles as Peeta's pants come off.

Massa looks at her in utter shock, "Darling, what are you saying?!"

"I'm saying it must run in the family." She chuckles.

"But I'm bigger than him right?" When she shrugs in response, he looks at Rye desperately. "Does Peeta have a bigger dick than me?"

"I don't know man, I just hope he's not bigger than me; my reputation would be ruined." Rye looks at the screen intently now. "I feel like I'm that big, but also this is a big screen-"

"Both of you stop watching this instant!" Mr. Mellark is still hiding in his hands as his wife berates their sons. "That is your little brother you will not watch him do this! And what reputation!?"

"Mom we know what sex is." Rye snorts avoiding the question.

"And how would you know that Rye!?"

"I'm nineteen!"

"And!? I don't know if I'll ever let you leave the house again! And you, Massa stop laughing and stop watching this instant!" She turns to her husband, "Tell them to stop watching this!"

"Boys listen to your mother!" Mr. Mellark doesn't look up as he says the words. His ears already being assaulted by his youngest son touching a girl in ways that he himself hadn't touched his own wife in years.

"See! Even your father has the common decency to not watch this! Now cover your eyes!" Mrs. Mellark has avoided looking at the screen and she expects her sons to have enough respect for their brother to turn away. As stupid as he could be, Peeta is and always will be her son, and she'll be damned if her own two sons were to watch him do this.

"I really think I'm bigger than him though." Rye says looking at Massa, "I mean there's no way he's that much bigger than us right?"

"I said you two stop this!"

On the other side of the row Hazelle is just near bursting with outrage at her oldest son.

"I cannot believe how little respect you have for her, she is your best friend and you are looking at her like she is a piece of meat! Don't pretend like you can't hear me young man! You turn away from the screen right now, don't make me cover your eyes like I did to Rory! Are you even listening to me!?"

Gale isn't listening to her, all he can hear is the sound of sex and the Capitol song layered over it to make the whole thing even more of an ordeal. He should be doing that, touching her that way, making her cum, her legs should be around his torso. Hazelle stands up, Vick still wrapped around her chest, his face deep in her breast. She wastes no time in backhanding her son so hard the whole district hears the contact of her rough hand meeting his cheek. Suddenly all eyes are on her.

"Ow!" Gale exclaims at the shock of being hit, his skin instantly burning red.

"Stop watching right this minute!" She growls, her eyes bright with fire. Gale feels like a little boy having disobeyed his mother one too many times. Hazelle has never hit him before, and it is enough of a shock to release the tension in his pants. He turns from the screen and holds his face in his hands. She sits down beside him. "She is your best friend. You be sure to keep it that way."

Her words sting as his heart become sore, he knows what she means, of course he does. His mother is a strong smart woman, she somehow always knows what to do and how to do it. She had always told him that Katniss would never marry him. Sure she didn't envision her getting off with some boy in the middle of The Hunger Games, (even she wasn't that good.) but she'd always known in her heart of hearts that Katniss and Gale were not meant to be.

By now the couple is cleaning up and settling in for the night, much to the relief of the entire district. The children are allowed to watch again, the Peacekeepers receiving their winnings. Without warning Katniss shoots up in her sleeping bag, the district wonders if one of the other tributes has found them.

"Oh no." She says frantically, "Oh no."

"What's wrong? What is it?" Peeta asks, his arm immediately around her waist.

She looks at him with wild uneasy eyes. "More than just the Capitol saw us."

Peeta's shock is immediate, his eyes large and shocked. "The Capitol just watched…"

"No, Peeta, not just the Capitol. District Twelve."

The whole district sinks in their seats, as if to hide away from the tributes they just watched corrupt each other. The most intimate thing in the world, broadcasted live for everyone to see. There is nothing more humiliating to them.

"Our parents!" Peeta gasps, the whole district watches his face suddenly burn scarlet. Mrs. Mellark looks at her other two sons with an absolute ferocity in her gaze.

"My mother just watched us… my baby sister!"

"What did we watch exactly?" Prim asks naïvely.

"Don't ask." Her mother says with a heavy sigh pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Oh my… my brothers, my brothers just watched that." Peeta sputters out the words with an almost disgust.

Rye and Massa look away from the screen trying to act as though they saw nothing. Mrs. Mellark is furious with her two children.

"All of our friends." Gale feels that statement right in his heart the utter mindlessness she says it with. Like she's ashamed… She's not wrong to be ashamed, but it still hurts that she seems to have wanted this kept away from him. A secret of sorts, and she is horrible with secrets.

"Effie…" Peeta says in a spaced out voice.

"Haymitch." They say together, this gets the whole district laughing. These poor children just had the whole world watch them have sex and they're worried about having subjected the town drunk to watching their wild sexcapade. It'd be adorable, if it wasn't a totally uncomfortable situation.

The rest of the viewing is boring compared to that, but the district is grateful for the change of pace. They are allowed to leave for the night, and most of them scurry away hoping their children don't ask too many questions.

Mrs. Mellark stands to face her sons, "You will not talk to him about this if he comes home, and I will repeat to get this stuck in your heads. Neither one of you will comment, tease, or in any way discuss what just happened. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am." The boys say in unison before walking off with their tails between their legs. Lidianna makes a rude comment about how Massa better treat her half as good as Peeta treated his woman when they get home. This does not improve the situation.

Mrs. Everdeen stands to apologize to Mr. Mellark. "I-"

"We're not going to talk about it." Mrs. Mellark steps in, "For their sakes and our own, I think it would be best if we let this go."

"We'll have to address it at some point." She says adjusting Posy in her arms.

"Not tonight, please." Mrs. Everdeen has never seen Mrs. Mellark so frail looking. As the other woman walks away, Mrs. Everdeen can't help but think she looks broken.

"Forgive her." Mr. Mellark stands up, "She's been affected by this more than anyone. You remember when her sister was reaped."

"I could never forget." Mrs. Everdeen says softly remembering the shattered look she'd seen worn by a younger Mrs. Mellark, when she was just a gentle town girl, new to marriage and an even newer mother to two sons. Her young sister was taken from her by the games. After that, she was never the same, tried desperately to leave the past in the past, and when she had Peeta she realized she may never be able to do so.

"Get this little one to bed, won't you? Come by the bakery in the morning, I feel as though we need to talk."

"Of course." She nods allowing him to join his family. Mrs. Everdeen is ready to hand Posy off to her mother, but Hazelle is busy scolding Gale. She takes the liberty of bringing the children back home, tucking the three young ones into bed, she and Prim wait for the other Hawthornes to return.

"Mama, why won't you tell me what they were doing?" Prim asks in a soft voice.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, darling. I promise, now is not the time nor the place."

Prim nods slightly at her mother as Gale walks into the house, his cheeks on fire.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Everdeen. I really am." He wears a face of guilty shame, his eyes unable to meet hers. He's a small child in this moment, not a hardened young man much larger than herself.

"Don't be, there's nothing to be sorry for. At least, not to me anyway."

"Thank you for bringing the kids home." Hazelle sighs, she looks tired and worn.

Mrs. Everdeen hugs her briefly, "Anytime." Before she and her daughter head home for the night. Prim asks to sleep beside her mother and she can't refuse her. Falling asleep that night, Mrs. Everdeen thinks of her oldest. Katniss is willing to do anything to save Prim, looking down at her sweet little girl, she understands why. The only thing she doesn't understand is why her oldest won't save herself.

President Snow watches the whole scene with none other than Seneca Crane. A devilish grin absorbing his whole face as the couple falls asleep for the night.

"Bravo, Seneca, bravo." He chuckles looking at the Gamemaker with an icy gaze.

"Thank you sir." He bows his head.

"I think we'll be able to make quite the profit off of this. And it's all thanks to your persistence. Tomorrow will be a glorious day indeed." He chuckles drinking a glass of wine. "Now go, try to keep this up."

"Yes sir." He turns and takes his leave.

President Snow calls to his assistant, "Make sure that District Twelve's mentor is free early tomorrow evening. I have a matter we must discuss." Turning back towards the screen he let a wicked snort escape his lips. "Miss. Everdeen, you might just make it out with your life… And just maybe a little bit more. We'll see, Girl on Fire"