AN: So, the very last part of the last chapter! I know it took a while, but it's a long 'un! A very very long one - it took a while to write, but I wanted to make sure I did it right.

As per, none of the characters belong to me, they are Suzanne Collins'

So please enjoy, and favourite and review, I really would love to hear some feedback on the story and my writing!

Chapter 3-Part 3

So now they were nearly 30.

Most of their friends had children, Delly had had a third child, another boy, Annie had a son with Finnick, and Madge had a daughter. Johanna hadn't had children, she was very adamant that she wouldn't, but she was happy to entertain them whenever they were all together. Which was something Katniss didn't like to do – if the children were playing together she wouldn't join Johanna and Peeta with them, she remained with the other adults in a separate room. It was understandable to everyone else, and they never brought up trying again. Peeta did on the odd occasion, usually when he'd had a little too much to drink, but Katniss was now able to brush those comments off lightly rather than take them the wrong way. If anyone met Katniss now they would assume she didn't like children at all.

One weekend Katniss had been getting dressed when she found her jeans wouldn't fit, she didn't make a deal of it though, and pulled out an old larger pair from the drawer and got them on easily – she smiled a little at this, she was glad some weight was finally going on and actually staying there. Since she lost all the weight after the last time it had been a never-ending struggle to maintain at a healthy number, no matter what she ate and did, nothing was working. She really didn't share this much, only with Peeta and eventually Annie, they knew how hard she was trying. It didn't help that on some days she just didn't like food or she just didn't feel hungry. It was bad when she went to the gym. She only went to try and gain muscle, but in the changing rooms some of the other women would shoot her looks, sometimes of disgust, and she knew they were thinking that she was another typical anorexic, obsessed with losing weight. It annoyed her that people judged so quickly when they didn't know her struggles.

So she went downstairs and stood in front of Peeta, who was at the dining table reading the newspaper, she put her hands on her hips and smiled triumphantly at him, he looked up with a bemused face, "What?" he questioned, "These are my old jeans" she said proudly. He stood up and pulled her to him, kissing her on the lips, "Well done" he said to her, "Do we need to celebrate or are we ok just doing regular weekend things?" she smacked him lightly on the arm and laughed a little.

A few weeks later she was happily still in the same jeans, she couldn't work out what she'd done differently, what food she'd eaten for the weight to stay, but maybe it was just age and her metabolism slowing down. If her friends noticed, they didn't say anything. This had happened a couple of times before, and then it suddenly all dropped off again and she'd end up disappointed – this time felt different though. Those other times she'd put it down to the medication, but she was off that now. After a few years it was a mutual decision between her and Peeta and her doctor that she could start coming off of it, it took a handful of months, but it felt like an achievement once it was over. It didn't come easily, and at the start of cutting down there were more hard days than she'd experienced before, but she got through it with Peeta by her side. So the medication wasn't affecting anything now. It had been Christmas fairly recently though, well a couple of months ago, and she had eaten a lot …

She pushed the thoughts off until early March when she couldn't get out of bed one morning, Peeta threw her worried glances and asked if she wanted him to stay, she said she was fine, just tired. It took a lot of convincing but eventually he left for work, promising he'd call to check she was ok. He thought she was maybe having a relapse, she knew she wasn't, she really was just tired and wanted more sleep. Something woke her mid-morning, she didn't know what it was, but there was a feeling somewhere inside that there was more to it. She pushed her exhaustion aside and took a shower before getting dressed. She knew Peeta would probably call and he would be hysterical if she didn't answer, but that was a risk she'd just have to take.

She wrapped her coat around her, cutting out the spring gusts, and walked towards Annie's house, stopping at the store on her way.

She pressed the bell and stood back from the door, waiting for Annie to answer it – she hoped that Annie was actually in, it hadn't occurred for her to check before just turning up. Thankfully she was, and the door opened to a smiling Annie, "Oh, hey Katniss, come on in" Annie had said, it was almost like she had been expected to go over. Katniss ignored this and went on in to the house, hanging up her coat and clutching her paper bag from the shop. Annie put on the kettle for tea and Katniss sat down at the counter, placing the bag in front of her. She held her hands tightly in her lap and glanced down more often than not.

"What's up?" Annie asked, Katniss took a deep breath and opened the bag, pulling out a boxed pregnancy test and placing it on top of the bag. She bit her lip and looked down nervously, "You think you're …" Annie started, Katniss just nodded, her throat seemed to have closed off. Annie threw her arms around Katniss while she shuddered and let out some sobs, "I can't … I just can't go through it again …" she spoke quietly into Annie, "I can't put Peeta through it" she hiccoughed. Annie was unsure what to say, she couldn't say 'It'll be fine' because of the two previous occasions where it just wasn't … "You won't know until you take it" she said as gently as she could, "And Peeta will always be with you." Katniss couldn't help but agree, Peeta would always be with her, but she didn't know if he would be with her still if they had to handle another loss.

Eventually Katniss made her way to the bathroom with the test in hand. She shook while she took it and placed it next to the sink as she washed her hands and waited the three minutes. She wrung her hands together while the time passed slowly, and she braced herself to look when the time was up.

Positive.

She froze in shock. Though she almost knew that's what it would say, she could just feel it inside. She just felt different. She felt herself stumble back a little against the door and sliding down to sit on the floor, "Katniss?" she could hear Annie question on the other side, "Are you ok?" She unlocked the door and moved to let Annie in, who locked the door behind her. Annie glanced at the test before sitting next to Katniss and holding her hand. "You'll be alright" she told her, wiping away a few of Katniss' silent tears with a tissue, "Think about the now, the right now" she told her further before Katniss crumpled against her in further tears.

They sat there most of the day, Finnick got home with their son and called out to Annie, "In here," she shouted back, "Just go entertain yourself for a while." He went up to the bathroom door, "What are you doing in the-" she cut him off, "It's fine. Go and watch TV, or make dinner, or … bake a cake or something." She hoped he'd get the message to call Peeta, but he wasn't exactly always on the ball. He walked away anyway and Annie hoped Peeta would be there soon.

Katniss hadn't realised how long they'd sat on the bathroom floor until she heard Annie talking to Finnick through the door. She looked up and sniffed, wiping her eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm acting like such an idiot" she told Annie, trying to laugh a little, but Annie waved her away speaking about her hormones. She swallowed. She would have to do this again. And she would need Peeta for it. She stretched her legs a little and stood up, "I better get going, Peeta will be out of his mind – I was in bed when he left this morning." Annie nodded, "Finnick might have called him, we'll have to see." Together they left the bathroom, Katniss checking her face was dry, although nothing could hide the red rims around her watery looking eyes. They found Finnick on the phone in the kitchen while trying to get the little boy to eat some sliced banana. "And I have her right here for you, they've been locked away together doing God knows what, painting toenails, facials, cheating on us … with each other" Finnick joked down the line, obviously speaking to Peeta. "I'll bring her home … bye." Finnick hung up, "You're going to have a lot of explaining to do, he's had Gale and Johanna out in the woods looking for you." Katniss grew red with embarrassment and guilt over what worry she'd caused Peeta, she nodded and went to put on her coat and boots.

Finnick drove her home, they didn't speak, she just gazed out of the window for the journey. She hadn't realised they'd stopped until Finnick put his hand on her knee, "You feeling ok?" he asked, it was a general enough question so she nodded and thanked him before getting out onto the street. When she slammed the car door closed, the front door to their house flew open and Peeta dashed out, pulling her quickly into him, clinging to her for dear life. Neither said anything, but she wrapped her arms around his body in return and placed kisses on his cheek. "I'm so sorry, I should have called, I was with Annie, I'm fine" she whispered to him, he kept his hold on her, "It's ok, we're ok, just … not again" he replied, to which she nodded.

Later on that night they lay in bed together, on their separate sides but holding hands in the middle. They were both exhausted and wanted to sleep, but Katniss wanted to tell Peeta the news and Peeta didn't want to let Katniss out of his sight. Just as she felt herself drifting off, she yawned and then sighed, "Peeta I'm pregnant" she revealed sleepily, blinking slowly. His eyes popped open, now wide awake, "W-what?" he stuttered out, and she lazily nodded, he hesitated before asking his next question, "Is this ok? Being pregnant, are you ok with it?" She opened her eyes and became more alert, she saw his eyes were watering and she immediately knew these were going to be tears of joy. She shook her head, and a flash of something crossed his face, "I'm terrified, we can't lose another … it might kill me." She admitted honestly to him before continuing, "But we'll take each step at a time, each day as its own and not look far ahead." He nods to her and smiles, pulling them together, muttering something about her being so wise, she didn't let on that it was pretty much what Annie had told her to do.

The next morning he was awake waiting for her, "I know you weren't sure if this was what you wanted, I'm not sure how it happened, but we'll do everything we can to make it work." She just nodded, knowing quite well how it happened – they weren't very consistent with protection and she often forget to take her birth control pills. The memory lapses had been a recurrence since her stay in the hospital all those years ago, it was just something that happened, less so now, but it was often just little things. They made an appointment with their doctor for the following week, and until then took every precaution to keep Katniss safe. She moved with trepidation and didn't leave their house, and she made sure to eat enough food, and get all the right vitamins. She wanted to be on the ball this time, it couldn't hurt their chances.

She was a nervous wreck by the day of their appointment. The morning sickness had started that day and she still felt a little uneasy as they went into the doctor's office. Peeta rubbed her back as they waited, and as they went through to the right room, where they sat in front of the doctor – the same one who had been with them both previous times. "What can I do for you today?" she asked them smiling, "We think I'm pregnant" Katniss told her anxiously. The doctor nodded and asked a few basic questions before asking to carry out an internal ultrasound. Katniss agreed, but felt the adrenaline circulating her body in fear of what they might, or might not, see.

But it was ok. There was a steady beating heart and a tiny baby who the doctor said was just about twelve weeks. They both let out small sighs of relief at the sight of the baby and the sound of the heart, but they both knew there was still a long road ahead of them. They asked the doctor what they could do to help promote the pregnancy, help it last, help stop the baby from … She gave them all the leaflets she had, but it was nothing more than they had done before, it opened a pit in their stomachs when it seemed like it was all to do with luck and chance. But she did offer them much more regular appointments to help keep Katniss calm and much more at ease, for stress of the mother can translate to the baby, and Katniss asked if she could come every week, just to be on the safe side, she had said, and the doctor happily complied.

They left with lots to discuss, mainly when they would say anything to anyone – if they would say anything to anyone. Peeta argued that they should tell her parents right away for they were an invaluable support system to them, Katniss agreed with this but still wanted to wait – he couldn't make her tell anyone, so he kept his mouth shut, trying to act normal around everyone as they went around their day to day lives.

Once she reached 15 weeks she decided she wanted to tell their parents, and Peeta couldn't help but smile. If it were up to him, he'd burst right on in to their houses and yell it at them, or sing it from the rooftops – but Katniss wanted to keep it very quiet still. The less people to know, the less who would hurt in the long run she thought. But she wanted to tell them creatively this time, so after much thought she decided to give them oranges – the size the baby currently was, and she attached labels saying 'You'll feel bad eating me knowing your grandchild is the same size as me!' She wasn't sure if this was far too cheesy, but Peeta told her it was cute so they went with it. So that night they took dinner to her parents' house and put an orange in the desert bag – Katniss shook her leg the whole time they sat at the dinner table, she found it nerve wracking knowing their announcement was sitting in the kitchen. Peeta held his hand on her knee for most of the dinner, but it didn't help.

Mrs Everdeen could tell something was up when the couple came over with dinner. She suspected it after they'd been in not five minutes, but she didn't say anything, she knew Katniss would tell them in her own time. She took the dessert bag to the dining table, Katniss stiffened and Peeta widened his smile. She took out the box of dessert from the bag and placed it on the table, then her eye caught something else. She pulled out the orange and held out the note attached, reading it, smiling, "What's that?" her husband asked, she thrust it into his hands and went and pulled her daughter up into a tight embrace.

"Congratulations, son" Mr Everdeen said to Peeta, shaking his hand and giving a firm pat on the back before he went to comfort a now crying Katniss. Peeta soon produced the latest ultrasound pictures from his pocket for them, and there was a lot of gushing about the little baby. Katniss was adamant that she wasn't showing and that it wasn't obvious, but her mother differed, saying that she was glowing, to which Katniss scowled, for she didn't see this glow that now her mother, in addition to Peeta, saw.

The following day they went to the Mellark bakery to see his parents. Peeta popped the orange in a bag with a couple of others, going around on the pretence that they had bought far too many and thought his father could make a cake with them. So they went in and Katniss stood choosing out some pastries while Peeta went through into the kitchen, "Hey dad, here's the oranges, there might be too many, just take what you want." He didn't wait long before going back out to the store front and lingering with Katniss. Mr Mellark finished up the dough he was kneading and poured the oranges out onto the counter, his eye immediately caught the one labelled and he picked it up curiously. He felt his eyes well a little as he took in the meaning of the note, and he went on through to the store where he knew they'd be waiting. "Congratulations" he proclaimed joyously pulling them both into a hug before giving Katniss a kiss on the cheek and slapping Peeta on the back, "Feeling ok so far?" he asked, Katniss nodded, "Just nervous." He gave her a sympathetic smile. Peeta brought the mood back up when he pulled out the ultrasound pictures which his father gushed over.

Katniss called Prim, who lived a few hours away, studying for her final year of medical school. Prim had been so excited, and Peeta could hear her screaming and crying down the phone. He and Katniss both had a good laugh at this, and it was nice to be much more relaxed.

It felt like a small weight had been lifted once their close families knew; the doctor had put emphasis on a good support network, no matter what the outcome of the pregnancy. And she reiterated that there was nothing indicating that anything would go wrong right now.

Katniss began showing when she was almost 17 weeks along, the sight of a bump made her mind numb and her hands shake with nerves, so she tried to look at Peeta instead and watch him marvel over it. It only helped a little, but it kept the stress level down. So far of their friends it was still only Annie who knew. They'd tried to keep away so it wouldn't be guessed, because unfortunately all of her female friends were very attune to noticing things, pregnancy could barely come into their line of vision unnoticed. So once she started showing, and at 19 weeks when it got difficult to hide, her and Peeta took a week long break to go and see Prim. It was about 3 hours driving, but Katniss had made up her mind that it was worth it to keep it protected for that little bit longer. Prim was ecstatic that they were coming to see her and she spent every minute that she wasn't in class showing them around the city and spending time with her sister. Prim had very much missed Katniss since she went off to college at 18, but she kind of missed the old Katniss more, Katniss from before all the troubles, she didn't share this though, but Peeta could tell.

Once they got back home after their break it was like a clear slate, and a refreshed air had joined them, so at 20 weeks, halfway through their journey, she felt ready to share with her friends. They had arranged a coffee morning for just the girls, and as she left the house, she felt a thrill of excitement run through her. It was end of April now and the weather was much warmer, so she had put on a sundress which easily gave away the secret. She gulped before going into the coffee shop and sat down at a free table waiting for her friends.

There were shocked faces and smiles and laughter, and maybe a few (or several) tears amongst the reactions. Annie of course had known already, but the others were amazed she'd kept it a secret so far. Delly squealed for a very long time, Katniss was sure there were words in there somewhere, but it was all a high pitched excited noise to her. She swallowed thickly, not wanting anyone to be too excited, for she'd been at this point before. She loosened up a little as they chatted and relaxed, and soon found herself laughing along with the rest of the group, it felt nice, good even, and she felt so normal. They parted ways as the coffee shop closed, and Johanna dropped Katniss off at home. As she walked up the street towards there house, she stopped for a moment and placed her hands across her growing stomach – she had felt the first proper kick. Pride swirled through her, and she quickly walked to the house, calling for Peeta once she was inside. He rushed to her, worrying something was wrong, but she grabbed his hands and put them on her stomach. He couldn't feel anything for a while and went to pull away, "Just wait" she said, and he smiled and knelt down. "Hello? Hello little one?" his said quietly, "I know you're quite small and it takes a lot of energy to kick or push, but could you do it again, just once?" his face got closer and closer to her stomach as he spoke, and eventually he felt a tiny bump against his hand. His face lit up and he wanted to cry tears of joy, "Thank you" he whispered, then kissed the spot where he felt the movement. He stood up and pulled Katniss to him, kissing her passionately and deeply over and over again. She let him do it, and she let herself do it.

Katniss told Peeta every time the baby kicked or moved, she liked keeping him up to date, and keeping him knowing that the baby was still alive. Peeta never got tired of the constant phone calls or texts when he was at work, they made his day better. He couldn't wait to start paternity leave, he was able to take 8 weeks from work before he would have to go back. He wished for more, but he'd need to keep working to provide for his family – well he didn't need to, but he liked to, he liked to know that it was him putting the food on the table. His grandparents had left him and each of his brothers substantial accounts which they had been able to access from when they were 21, so far Peeta hadn't used much of it, just the down payment for their house and for things when he'd taken time off to stay with Katniss, and there was still plenty left. They were keeping the rest of it for an emergency, or for their children – child.

At their next doctor's appointment, everything was going fine with the baby – Katniss gave a small smile and nod followed by a tiny rub of her stomach while Peeta grinned at her and kissed her forehead. The doctor suggested starting thinking of a birth plan, what sort of birth they would want, do some research, "it's a little earlier than we'd normally suggest, but I think it could be very beneficial for you, throw some ideas around, we can even arrange a tour of the maternity department at the hospital. With some mothers it can help put their minds at ease." She told them, but Katniss zoned her out. The doctor gave a sympathetic smile to them both, and Peeta returned an apologetic one. He wished Katniss would just treat this pregnancy better, she couldn't always think of the negatives. "Yes," he replied, "that would be good." She gave him a few print outs with the right details and Katniss just glared off into space. She was very distracted as they left, not speaking to Peeta, but nuzzling her face into his shoulder and neck as they walked together. "What's wrong?" he said to her, stopping her getting into the car, she looked up, seemingly shocked that he'd asked, she sighed, "I'm not making a birth plan" he looked at her for more, surely that's not all it was? "I'm not making one because I don't want to have to throw it away when it can't be fulfilled." Now he understood, he gripped her lightly by the shoulders, "For right now, forget all about that, just think of this baby, and this pregnancy. This little one needs to know that mommy and daddy love them, can't wait to meet them and have big hopes for them soon." He looked directly into her eyes and was met with fear and … realisation. "I'm so scared" she whispered leaning into him, "I know you're right – you usually are." They both smiled at this, "But I can't help but be scared, this world isn't safe." They got into the car quietly but just sat, "I read online and saw on some programmes that babies can live if they're born as early as 24 weeks, I just need to get to that point. I'm not thinking beyond. Not right now." That was still almost a month away, but Peeta felt like it would be an easy month, it's not that long at all, he picked up her hands in his and kissed them, "Ok" was all he said, they just got each other. There wasn't any way of explaining it, but he was happy to let Katniss go on that train of thought by herself, she wouldn't budge her opinion, and if she was looking to 24 weeks and 24 weeks alone, there was no point in trying to divert her sights.

When Peeta was at work she split her time between being alone and keeping her father company at his store. She helped out if she was needed, but she was quite happy just sitting somewhere different. She did spend time with her friends, which both she and them enjoyed, but she was always too cautious. She was just afraid, permanently. And her friends always wanted to talk about the baby, or their children, or things for the baby, or how she was feeling – it was fine for five minutes, but it grew frustrating much sooner rather than later. Johanna was easy to hang out with though, having no children nor plans for them, so they often walked in the woods, not straying too far – Katniss was adamant that they were close to either Gale's house or the edges of town, just in case she had reiterated to Johanna, who rolled her eyes in return, knowing it wouldn't be necessary.

24 weeks really crept up on them, and relief poured over them when at their appointment the doctor confirmed everything was looking great. Katniss let herself smile properly for the first time in a very long time, and Peeta relaxed at seeing a happy Katniss once again. Her belly was wonderfully rounded and Peeta thought she hadn't ever looked so beautiful, she of course pushed his compliments aside with her scowl, and Peeta just chuckled at her, pulling her close and telling her his love at every opportunity he could – even when it meant he was getting little sleep. It was the end of May and although the weather was no warmer than usual for the time of year, nights were always the worst. He woke several nights in a row to find her sitting in a thin nightshirt next to the wide open window, fanning herself with a magazine, "It's too hot Peeta" she would complain, "Can you get the thermometer, it's on the top shelf, I didn't want to reach, but I have to check my temperature, I can't get too hot …" she warbled on about temperatures, and Peeta wanted to listen to her every word, but one glance at the clock telling him it was 2am made him groan, "Come back to bed sweetheart, you're not too warm, it's just your body making you think you are, you'll be exhausted if you don't sleep." He usually drifted in and out of a light sleep while she debated with herself about what to do, and it would end soon with her climbing back into bed and lying on her side facing Peeta. She wished she could lie right tucked in to his side, unfortunately there was a little someone in the way, but Katniss tried to think ahead to when the baby would be in a bassinet by their bed and she could snuggle right in to Peeta's side – those thoughts usually drifted her off to sleep again. And when it wasn't feeling too warm keeping her awake, it was the baby having fun kicking her. It was like the baby could sense when she relaxed and thought she needed something to do – at first it was good, it was a reassurance, but when she couldn't sleep for countless nights in a row, she was exhausted. Trying to nap during the day didn't help either. What did help at night was Peeta – when he saw the discomfort Katniss was in he would kiss her on the cheek and move down the bed to face her bump, he whispered to it, and gently rubbed his hands over the surface, and it immediately calmed the baby. Unfortunately that meant Peeta had to keep at it for at least an hour until Katniss was in a deep enough sleep so that the baby wouldn't wake her. Katniss felt bad, but he didn't mind, he loved it.

Prim came back home for a two week visit in the summer, and she gawked as soon as she saw Katniss' round 28 week belly. "What?" Katniss huffed at her, crossing her arms awkwardly across her body, Prim smiled, "Nothing, it's just … wow" she said to Katniss, who rolled her eyes. Prim was seeing something that Katniss most definitely wasn't among all the pains that were happening over her body, it didn't help that her sleep pattern – or lack of sleep pattern – was all over the place. Sometimes she couldn't sleep until the early hours of the morning, and she'd wake by 7, not able to get back to sleep, other times she'd be asleep by 7 in the evening, but that meant waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning and being fully alert. This just made Katniss particularly irritable, which Peeta had no qualms about, he continue doting on her no matter how many scowls were thrown his way. "Would you please stop doing that so hard?" Katniss asked down to her belly, Prim looked up from her plate at the café they were sitting in "What?", Katniss sighed, "Not you," then she pointed at her belly, "Someone thinks my organs are playtoys." "Aw, that's cute!" Prim exclaimed, leaning over and running her hand over Katniss' stomach, trying to find movement. Katniss moved Prims hand to the right spot, and Prim smiled wider when she felt the baby. Katniss was very reserved when it came to letting people touch her, and her friends had learned to ask or be a little hesitant first. "Have you done anything for the nursery yet?" Prim asked, Katniss shook her head, "No, not for a while yet, I know Peeta wants to, but … I'm not letting him" Katniss kept her focus on the empty plate in front of her and her hands gripped then loosened around her glass of water, Prim smiled weakly, "And I'll be here for the shower obviously, I'm not missing that!" Katniss kept her head down, "I don't want one," she said, "It's not necessary, and it's a risk" "Of what?" Prim questioned, Katniss was keeping too much to herself, she did know this deep down, but she wasn't ready to admit it to herself, or anyone else, yet. "It's a sign I'm too comfortable, that's when things happen, I'm not getting comfortable for … for" she started choking on her words a little, "for something to happen again." Prim was by her side in and instant, holding Katniss' hands in one of hers, the belly in her second, and Katniss' head resting against Prims shoulder. And she sobbed. She hadn't been letting out enough emotions, not in the right way anyway – she put out most as anger and irritation, but sometimes something just needed to be let go and flow out. Prim didn't say anything, she just comforted Katniss. "Sorry," Katniss apologised 5 or 10 minutes later while wiping her eyes, "I think I just needed to get that out." "Yes" Prim said, sitting back in her seat, "You need to open up more, don't think I don't know what's been going on just because I've not been here, I can handle it, I can keep a secret if you want one to be kept-", but Katniss cut her off "You're too young Prim, too you-", "I'm no younger than you were." Katniss stops, she sometimes forgets that Prim is 4 years younger than her, she forgets that she ages too, she was sure last time she checked that Prim was just a little girl, always her 'Little duck'. "Sorry," Katniss apologises, biting on her lips, "I forget that you grow up too, I'll try harder, I'll tell you more." Katniss looked up to Prim with a hopeful expression, and they both stood and hugged as best they could before leaving the café.

Peeta was craftier than Katniss had thought. She came home one afternoon about a week later and couldn't find Peeta anywhere in the house. She knew he was in, his car was in the driveway and his shoes and keys were in the hallway by the door, but she couldn't hear him, "Peeta?" she called out loudly, first around the ground floor, then up the stairwell. She started heading up the stairs, calling his name again when she heard a bang from the end of the upstairs landing. She clutched the bannister of the stairs, frozen and eyes wide, if that wasn't Peeta then someone was robbing them. She was in no position to run or move quickly – at almost 29 weeks she was exhausted doing everyday tasks and found herself out of breath most of the time. And if the person caught her off guard she could easily fall backwards down the stairs. She willed her feet to take her up the remaining 5 steps and she moved away from the stairs completely, but not too closely to the noise. Suddenly the door to their second bedroom was flung open – it was Peeta. She gasped in relief and leaned on the wall, so glad it was him, "I thought it was a burglar! I called for you and you didn't reply!" His face reddened, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. He didn't move closer to Katniss, he remained at the door he'd come out of. Katniss grew suspicious, "Peeta, what are you doing? What's going on in there?" He couldn't look at her, and his face showed his nerves, "Uhm … I didn't think you'd be home so soon, I, err, wanted to wait for you to be ready … but I couldn't help it, I've been thinking about it for weeks. I can stop if you want, I can redo it all, but-" he stopped speaking and pushed open the door, holding his paint covered hand out to guide her inside.

She stopped when she took it all in, and Peeta held his breath, unsure of the reaction he would get from her. The walls were cream, and there were no other additions to the wall with the windows or the one opposite, but the wall furthest from the door had a beautiful woodland scene painted almost floating in the middle – it was filled with the most vibrant of colours and the freshest of greens. Katniss walked right up to it and took in every element, being careful not to touch it – she could easily see a crib placed beneath it, or maybe a rocking chair. She turned to speak to Peeta, but her words were stemmed before they could leave her mouth. On the wall opposite Peeta had painted two white doves flying alongside each other. Peeta watched her with anticipation, ready to leap to her aid should she need it – he hadn't asked if she'd want this and he knew it was still a sore topic, it was for them both, but he knew well that he dealt with it much better than Katniss had. She walked up to the wall slowly and took in the two birds, and finally noticed that along the tops of each of their wings two dates were written, the dates of their sons' births. The tears fell before she could even think and she turned, finding Peeta right behind her. They wrapped their arms around each other, "I'm sorry, it's too much-" Peeta started, but Katniss kissed him stopping his words, "It's perfect, it's all perfect." In that moment it felt like time had stopped as they shared this intimate moment, they both felt a change that they couldn't describe, but it seemed to push them in the right direction.

Katniss let him finish the room off, although there wasn't much left to do with the painting. When he was done he arranged for a new soft cream carpet to be put in, then hung new curtains up at the window. The room was still empty though. Furniture was too big of a step – even though at 29, almost 30 weeks she knew that this was when the bigger preparations took place. Peeta knew where to stop with Katniss, "All done" he said when he was completely finished minus any furniture, "All we need now is a little someone to live there!" he said, talking down at face height with the baby, and Katniss couldn't help but smile at him and his wonderfully positive outlook on all of life. Optimism was always his thing, and Katniss was usually the complete opposite, but being laden with the weight of her quickly growing baby she sometimes found her mind thinking otherwise, and a few times she thought of them sitting holding their baby together. But as quickly as these thoughts formed she shoved them from her mind, getting ahead of herself was not an option.

She wasn't very happy the day of their next appointment, it just wasn't her day. Peeta tried his best, but nothing could change her mood. The doctor went through all of the usual checks and questions before performing an ultrasound – "Everything looks good, baby is a healthy size and has a strong heartbeat." Peeta's smile radiated around the room, while Katniss' barely stayed on her face for longer than a few seconds. While Katniss wiped her belly of the ultrasound gel and got dressed again the doctor asked about any thoughts on their birth plan. Peeta was embarrassed that they hadn't done anything about it – he had searched their options at the hospitals website, but Katniss had been particularly stubborn on this matter and it was better for him to stem his interest so she wouldn't panic. Katniss seemed to have not heard the doctor asking, or selectively chose not to hear. The doctor waited a few moments for an answer, Peeta spoke up first, "Not too much, but we know we need to think about that soon, right Katniss?" she just ignored him, and he felt his stomach knot. "We'll probably go and have a look around the hospital, maybe get a feel for it." The doctor nodded, and Katniss still seemed oblivious to the conversation as she put her shoes on. The doctor followed them out and filed their notes at the desk while they made their next appointment, before any of them moved from the area, Katniss finally spoke up "Maybe a water birth" she said shrugging, she left both Peeta and the doctor a little stumped, and they both nodded before saying goodbye. "You can do whatever you like," Peeta said on the way to the car, "I'll always support you."

A few days later they were able to look around the maternity wards at the hospital. Peeta loved it, it made him so giddy and excited, he couldn't wait until they were here to have their baby, they would be like the couples who were there at that moment – happy, families. Katniss on the other hand just felt fear and a huge mixture of emotions, she was, in some parts, looking forward to having their baby, but being in a hospital just reminded her of so many bad memories – but they took it slow, and paused when she needed a moment and moved on when she didn't want to see something. She still liked the idea of a water birth, she wasn't sure why, but she liked swimming, it made her reminisce of her childhood when her dad had taught her to swim in the summer in a beautiful lake, these thoughts calmed her, and she hoped they would help when she would be giving birth. Walking around the hospital, holding one hand in Peeta's and the other on her belly and active baby, gave her somewhat a sense of reassurance, she had Peeta and could feel their unborn child still alive – it all became so much more real. After they left Katniss started on a proper birth plan, she searched online to see what she might need to include and she was relieved to find several online forums where there were people just as terrified as she was. She wasn't at a point where she could join and share her story, but there was a feel of alliance when she read what other people had to say. And she got lots of tips for things she should put in the plan and what she should say to the hospital – although it made her feel somewhat selfish and … greedy? The birth of their child was revolved around her so things should be comfortable for her and the hospital should try and accommodate things that they needed. The first thing she wanted set in stone was as little drugs or medications as possible – she didn't want to be out of it when she gave birth, she wanted to be able to see their child clearly as soon as it had left the habitat of her womb, she needed to see life.

Annie managed to drag Katniss out shopping one day to a department store which had the largest selection of baby related items Katniss had ever seen, "I know you don't want a shower, but you'll need to get things at some point, we can just see the options and I can show you what we used, ok?" Katniss sighed and agreed, she couldn't be bothered putting up an argument, it just used air that her lungs were struggling to hold. Although it was common to feel much more breathless as the baby took up more room, she didn't like it, it felt constricting. What Katniss didn't know was that Peeta had given Annie a small list of things to look out for, mainly furniture for the nursery and she was to report back to him on what Katniss thought of things – his plan was to sort everything out that they needed so she wouldn't have anything to worry about. They started at what Annie referred to as the 'fun' things, although Katniss didn't think anything about buying things for their baby as fun, she found it hard to put her feelings into words, and she knew her friends really did try to be understanding, but there was an aspect which they just didn't quite get. So they started at the clothes, "Oh Katniss look at this, isn't it adorable?" Annie said for what could easily have been the fiftieth time as she held up a tiny white sleep suit with little trees embroidered on it, Katniss looked over from the shelf she was skimming through, she nodded a yeah, it was actually quite cute … and it would please Peeta, "It's not … "she hesitated after starting, "not too early to buy anything?" Annie kept a hold of the item and came to Katniss, "Of course not! This little one will need something to wear, they could easily come early, I know that won't be a while yet, but preparation is key – we had nothing ready when our little monster decided he'd like to be here 2 weeks early! Finnick almost lost his head rushing around trying to sort things while asking me to just wait to push!" Katniss smiled a little at the thought, "I think Peeta would like it" she said after a while, Annie nodded enthusiastically and they continued around the shop. They got towards the cribs and bassinets when Katniss stopped behind Annie and put her hands on her belly as she felt a tightening, "Annie?" she said, her voice going up an octave as fear swirled in her blood, Annie was by her side in an instant and put her hand on Katniss' belly, "Braxton Hicks?" she asked Katniss, who couldn't see past her terror that something bad was happening. "I-I don't know … I haven't felt anything like that before, not … not this time" she said, her mind immediately going back to contractions, "I think so, it wasn't like … like before, not that sore, more uncomfortable." She swallowed thickly, "Sounds like it," Annie said, "Hey, it's ok" she rubbed Katniss' arm soothingly while Katniss looked like she was about to burst into tears, "We'll get this then go and have something to eat and you can relax" Katniss just nodded as they headed towards the cashier and paid for the tiny item of clothing.

As they sat in a nearby café Katniss didn't take her hands off her belly, "Just watch out for anymore today, if they're regular go and see your doctor, ok?" Annie said to her, Katniss knew she was being babied, but sometimes it had to be done – other times she needed someone to be tough to get through that shell that she had acquired.

Thankfully nothing came of the one contraction, and not long after she began to feel the regular movements of the baby turning around and knocking against her with a knee or an elbow. "So you're just waiting to find out the sex then?" Annie asked as they strolled around another baby shop, "Yeah, I'd rather not know, I can't explain it, but I just don't want to know right now. Peeta does, I can tell, but … I just can't." Their conversation was easy as they went around the rest of the isles of the shop, with Annie pointing out the things that she used, and what she knew that Delly and Madge had both used, she took note of Katniss' reactions to tell Peeta later, and eventually it did seem like Katniss was enjoying herself. They were getting ready to leave when Annie stopped, "I'm buying you this" she stated to Katniss who was ahead of her, Katniss looked around as Annie held up a large blanket with an almost identical pattern to the sleep suit, in addition to the trees were embroidered rabbits, "It would go perfectly with that beautiful mural Peeta did", Katniss found herself nodding – Peeta had been so overjoyed and overwhelmed by Katniss' reaction to it that he sent pictures to their friends, he must have asked them for their opinions before he'd gone for it on the wall itself. Katniss wanted to protest at being bought a gift, but before she knew it Annie was handing over the money at the pay point, "Don't even say it!" Annie said as Katniss approached, "It's a gift, just accept it – no buts! You're refusing the shower so you'll have to get used to being given gifts at all other times! People will still buy things for you and the baby!" Katniss mumbled and grumbled but Annie was being stubborn on this one.

Annie drove her home and came inside to see Peeta – Katniss could drive perfectly well herself, but she refused to with the baby, it was another risk, there could easily be an accident, and it would be even more her fault if something happened. Peeta was already there when they got back and he greeted Katniss and the baby with kisses and Annie with a hug, she whispered to him that they would talk later. "I got something for you" Katniss said with a hint of pride when they sat down in the kitchen, "Well it's not really for you, but it … kind of it, I don't know, just -here" she said, pushing the bag with the clothing in it towards him. He was shocked, he had guessed before looking that it would be something for the baby, but that Katniss had optionally bought something made him feel so joyous, it was a huge step for her, he hoped it would loosen her up more as she got more comfortable. He took the bag and pulled out the soft cotton baby suit, it was so … actually he couldn't determine the size. It looked like it could be small, but he couldn't help but think it was huge in comparison to the memories of their second son which had arisen in his mind, they knew first-hand what a small baby looked like. "It's so perfect" he said, tears beginning to cloud his vision, he got up and pulled Katniss tightly to him, "I'm so proud of you" he whispered into her hair. He wiped his eyes before pulling away, Annie was beaming at them, so happy to see them experience some joy, "I'll head off now," she said, feeling like she was intruding in an intimate moment, "I'll leave this here and see you both later." She kissed them both on the cheek and headed off, closing the front door behind her. Peeta pulled out the blanket that Annie had gotten, "They're perfect, little Mellark will love these" he said, before pulling Katniss into him to kiss her, and he felt so normal for the first time in a long time – they felt so normal. They held each other in their arms for a long while, soon enough Katniss started humming and Peeta melted as he heard the soft tones he had missed for so so long. "I had a Braxton hick contraction at the store" Katniss said once she finished her tune, his face fell, "Oh" he said, a little in shock, "No," Katniss smiled a little up at him, "It was fine, well, it was terrifying, but it was … alright. It wasn't sore like the real ones, but the discomfort was almost similar" she told him, he kissed her forehead comfortingly "Well you're ok now, we're all ok now" he reiterated, pressing his hand on her belly and is if on cue, he received a little push from the baby, they smiled between themselves and their bubble was filled with glee for once.

Katniss pulled out her very tattered copy of her pregnancy book and flipped to the '32 weeks' section – trying to figure out if this was normal. Her breasts had started to leak, and she knew it could happen but it was better to check. "Ok" she calmed herself when it was perfectly normal, just a sign that her body was preparing to produce milk for the baby – that thought made it seem like they were so close to the end, but 8 weeks, maybe more, was still quite a long time away. And it made her think just how quickly the first 32 weeks had gone. A part of her wished that she could have enjoyed it more, but that wasn't a possibility, too much had gone on to allow that. But she cherished the baby so much more than she thought she had done before, feeling the movements everyday kept her relaxed and reminded her to be thankful of what they have right now. Katniss moved over to the windows and slowly brought them up, hoping that a breeze would drift through the house – it was a boiling July, and the heat did not provide any comfort whatsoever. She was wearing her pyjama shorts and an old loose t-shirt of Peeta's, well it was a little loose on him, not so much her right now. She lowered herself to the sofa and tried to fan herself with a few magazines with no prevail. She groaned and threw her head back on the cushion, barely having time to get comfortable before there was a knock on the door, it was typical. She sighed, "Who is it?" she called out, if it was a stranger or a burglar they would have easily climbed in the wide open windows, and so far no one had entered. "It's Dad" she heard her father call, "You probably shouldn't leave the windows open like that sweetheart" he shouted nervously, "Hot and uncomfortable!" she moaned, "I'll get up in a minute." She closed her eyes for a few moments letting her tired body rest, how in the world would she do this, in this heat, for at least 8 more weeks?! It was closer to ten minutes when she eventually pushed off the sofa and opened the front door, revealing her father sitting on the step, "It's a lovely day" he says, getting up to hug her, she scowled at him, "Easy for you to say" she mumbled and walked back into the house, heading to the kitchen to get a drink. Her father closed the door and followed her, he sat down leisurely at the table while Katniss drank down a glass of water before refilling it, "Spoken to Prim recently?" he asked her, "I've no idea, I can barely remember what I did this morning let alone any time recently", her father gave her a smile that told her to relax, "Your mother thinks she's working too hard, but she's probably just off with friends, enjoying some of her free time" Katniss scoffed at this, "Men more likely!" Her fathers face reddened, he'd obviously been afraid of that, but in her mid twenties it shouldn't surprise him, "Not everyone's like me and Peeta" Katniss told him, "Some people like to … get around a bit" she realised who she was talking to, "Sorry" her face reddened, "She'll just be with friends, or working" Katniss tried to rectify with her father, "No, no, I should expect it, I mean you and Peeta were off doing your own thing when you were her age" the air seemed to still as he realised what he had said and it took Katniss a moment to catch up – when she was Prims age she had just lost their second baby. She swallowed a lump, "Sweetheart," her father started with a pained expression, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Katniss shook her head, rubbing her hands over her belly, "It's fine, right now we have this one to concentrate on" she told him. Her father was almost shocked, but also proud, of her reaction, he'd never known her to be so calm at any mention of their children, not ever. Not even when something had slipped from Primrose and Katniss hadn't spoken to her for almost a week. His girl was growing up. After he left in the early evening, Katniss began to feel … different, more confused – guilty? She put on a brave face for her father, and she almost felt that it was real, she played along with it for a few hours and just wished it could be a lifetime. It worried her though and she played with her fingers, then the hem of her shirt, and finally her hair until Peeta came home.

Peeta walked home excited to see Katniss after a long day, he noticed the open windows and looked through, but couldn't see her. It sent a quick stream of adrenaline through him, had someone broken in? His pace quickened as he walked from the street up to their front door and he let himself in. It was completely silent, "Katniss?" he called, no answer. His veins were full of adrenaline now, the memories of all those years ago, coming home, finding her bleeding and in pain on the kitchen floor, they became too fresh. He dumped his things down on the floor, and checked the living room, no sign of her. Relief flooded him when he saw her sitting at the dining table, her posture was tight and closed, her hands gripped one another and she wore a blank expression, "Oh darling, I was worried there for a moment" he said, going up to her, but he didn't get any response, "Katniss?" he said, standing right in front of her, "Katniss?" he repeated, crouching to her level, grazing his hand across her forehead trying to detect a temperature, that snapped her eyes up to his, and she recoiled a little, quickly glancing around a few times before looking back to him, "Sorry" she said, moving to stand up, but he pushed her gently back into the seat, "sorry, I was … just" he pulled out a chair and sat directly opposite her, dragging her on her chair between his legs, her bump fitting perfectly in the space between them, she still couldn't find her words, and the glancing continued except she looked upwards more often than not, "Lost?" Peeta tries to finish for her, she quickly shakes her head and he can see a slight confusion spread over her face and through her eyes before she drops them and lets go a few disheartened nods. "I was doing so much better, you have to know that" she said, he pulled her face up and kissed her, "I do know that, trust me I do, it's ok to not be better all the time, it's a process, like a learning curve." She accepted what he said and shut her eyes before resting her head against his body, "I'm tired" she said quietly into his chest, he gripped her firmly and helped her stand up, carefully walking her through the house and up to their bedroom before tucking her into their bed where she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She was embarrassed the next morning when they got up, and she gave muffled apologies into his neck where her head had been nestled. It was a routine. It had become something they dealt with together, and they were getting good at it, however they knew things would change once the baby arrived. They both secretly hoped it would shine over everything that had happened, but it was definitely a long shot.

That same week Peeta dragged Katniss along to birthing classes which she had been most reluctant to sign up for. But he eventually got her there, and it seemed like a whole different environment – they had never been in a room with so many pregnant couples. And they all just seemed to be able to walk up to each other and strike up conversations despite having never spoken before, and they actually seemed to get along. Not Katniss. She saw this as a frightening experience, she didn't know anyone which made her want to crawl into a shell, she couldn't just walk up to someone and start talking – most of the talking was likely to be about the pregnancies and the babies, but she just didn't think she'd be able to handle something like that. It wasn't her. Peeta on the other hand thought it was wonderful to speak to some of the other fathers while Katniss hung close to his side. He never shared too much, just the right amount, how far along they were, nursery ideas, and he spoke about all the different pastries and baked items he'd made to satisfy Katniss' cravings, which only made everyone drool over the sound of them. When the instructor was telling them things Katniss tried to listen for Peeta's sake, but she found her ears just passing the information through them and not much sticking in, she already felt she knew about giving birth, what more was there to know? There couldn't be anything worse that what she'd already done before. The session seemed to be more of an introduction for the future classes and before she knew it, it was over, and the instructor was reminding them when the next class was and if they had any questions or worries they could go up and speak to her. Peeta thought they really should, maybe get some reassurance, surely there were other couples in their situation? Katniss however sat on the other side of the fence on that one, the less she shared, the better. They were one of the last couples to leave, and the woman caught Peeta's eye as he helped Katniss from her chair, "Any questions?" she asked, heading towards them, Peeta glimpsed at Katniss who had her face morphed into a scowl and she gave a hard shake of her head, "Not this week, maybe next time though" Peeta said kindly to the woman. "That was alright," Peeta said as they headed home, "it was quite informative." Katniss just gave a 'Mmhmm' Peeta sighed, becoming tired of her constantly stuck in the past, he knew she was finding it hard, but sometimes it just seemed like she wasn't even trying, "You might find you have a lot of questions if you actually thought about it or looked over some of the reading, if you don't know something I know you'll be terrified when the time comes, I know you Katniss." She felt ashamed again for needing his firm words, she nodded, "Maybe later, at home" she said shakily. Peeta left a moments silence before asking his next question, "I was thinking, maybe … I could see you were uncomfortable there, I get it, it's not your thing, maybe we could do individual sessions with her, we could explain what's happened, and she could give us a more personalised time – it says they can do that under special circumstances, and I still think it's important that we both get informed about everything." Katniss thought this over, it wasn't actually a bad idea, that way she wouldn't need to meet anyone else and she could go at her own pace, and she surprised Peeta by saying "Yes, ok" in response as they got closer to home.

Katniss became more and more familiar with Braxton Hicks contractions over her 32nd and 33rd weeks – she had them usually 2 or 3 times a day, and sometimes 5 or 6. She checked online and in the books and with her mother, but she just came to the conclusion that every woman is different, so what is 'normal' for one, could be the complete opposite for another. They were having a long lie one weekend – well Peeta was having extra sleep, Katniss was lying next to him in bed. She hadn't felt anything yet that day, not the usual contraction that woke her, nor any of the movements which usually appeared afterwards, and she'd been awake for a good few hours now. She was propped up against the headboard, her pyjama top pushed up over her bump and she was softly passing her hands over the expanse of skin, every inch she could see, hoping it might entice a movement or anything! By the time it was 10AM and she'd been up for 4 hours, she felt like something wasn't right, "Peeta?" she said quietly, enough to hear, but probably not loud enough to wake him. She shuffled on the bed a little, shaking the mattress as she moved, thinking it might wake him, but no joy. "Peeta?" she said louder, then she shook his shoulder a little and could tell he was coming around a little, "Mmm, hi" he said sleepily, "I want to go to the doctors … please" she could hear the panic and pleading in her voice even though she was trying to keep calm and not alarm him, but it didn't work and he sat bolt upright immediately, "What?" he said, looking deep into her eyes and feeling her stomach, "I haven't felt anything since dinner last night" she told him, he got out of bed quickly and threw on pair of jeans then helped her up, tossing her some sweatpants and shirt then pulling on a sweater. He held a firm grip around her, as if to hold her up, as he helped her down the stairs and into the car.
They sat in silence on the drive to their doctors office, who were luckily open 7 days a week 9-5, and provided emergency appointments at any time. They got there and Katniss explained her worries and as soon as the receptionist had looked up the correct file, took them to an examination room. A doctor, not their own to Katniss' disappointment, was with them very swiftly, "What can I do for you today?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the exam bed that Katniss was lying on, "I think something's wrong," Katniss swallowed thickly, "I always have a Braxton hick contraction in the morning, always, for the past 2 weeks, but I didn't today, and there's always movements every couple of hours, I haven't felt anything since 6 or 7 last night." She held in the tears and clung to Peeta's hand with a death grip. "Ok, I'll just have a feel" the doctor said, and she pulled up her shirt. He pressed gently around her belly trying to find the baby's position before picking up a heart-rate monitor from the unit at the side of the room. He applied a little gel to the doppler before moving it around in the area which he had determined as where the heart would roughly be. It was a tense moment for Katniss and Peeta, and to them both it felt like time had stopped completely, but it suddenly sped up once the familiar sound could be heard filling the room. They both let out huge sighs of relief, Peeta hugged Katniss awkwardly as she still lay on the bed, and she let a few tears slip from her eyes. "Is it ok to stop?" the doctor asked, they both nodded, happy with the reassurance that everything was ok. The doctor asked some more questions, and focussed on her Braxton hicks contractions, "I've had them for 2, maybe almost 3 weeks now" Katniss told him, "There's always one in the mornings, it's not painful, but it's enough to wake me, then usually in the evenings, though sometimes there'll be 5 or 6 a day, they're not regular though and they really don't last very long." The doctor made a few notes, "Are they always giving the same feeling, the same discomfort, or do any feel particularly different?" he asked, "No they're always the same" she replied and he finished writing. "Can I just check inside?" he asked, and Katniss nodded, standing to remove her bottom half of clothing and Peeta draped the sheet over her legs once they were propped up. It surprised her that she was completely comfortable with this unknown doctor examining her, she didn't even know his name! She felt the slight pressure of his fingers on her and she closed her eyes trying to relax a little more, "So you're 33 weeks and 5 days?" he asked, Peeta replied with a yes, "Right, well you're two centimetres dilated" he told them removing his hand, Katniss' eyes flew open, "What?" she exclaimed quite loudly and with a hint of panic, Peeta's eyes were wide and his mouth open, but no sound came out. "Yep, two centimetres, it's not uncommon to start dilating, some women go a few centimetres then stop until closer to the time, but I understand it will concern you with your past history" the doctor reassures her, "You have an appointment on-" he checks her computer record, "next Monday, so that's 9 days …" he thinks for a moment, "What I'll do is book you in for another check this Wednesday as well, keep an eye on the dilation." They both nod at his suggestion and he gives them an appointment card, and Katniss put her clothes back on, "Just keep a track on the contractions and movements and if there's anything you're not sure about, don't hesitate to call or come on in." Peeta shakes the doctors hand firmly and thanks him before they leave. Katniss was very quiet after they left and made their way home, "Please sweetheart," Peeta said once they were sitting in their room again, "talk to me, keep open." She sighed and leaned into him, her hands on the bump, "I'm just trying to relax, I'm going to lie down, please talk to the baby, please make something happen." Peeta thought she might cry so he gently lay her down on the bed and she got comfortable, and then he lay next to her with his head at her stomach. He listened for her breathing pattern to slow into a steady rhythm, and he draped his hands over their baby and began to whisper close to her skin, "Hey in there little Mellark, we know you're ok, we heard your heartbeat earlier today, but your mommy would like a little more reassurance, you scare her a lot, especially when you don't do anything! Don't tell her, but it reminds her of your brothers, and we're not ready for you to meet them yet, not for a long long time. And I know the doctor says your mommy's cervix is starting to dilate, but that doesn't mean you need to make your way out any time soon, you still have at least six weeks of growing to do, and we're not really ready on this end either, your room is painted, we hope you like it, and you have a very nice blanket that your Auntie Annie got for you with a matching tiny sleep suit, but that's it!" He glanced up at Katniss who seemed to be asleep – her eyes were lightly shut and her mouth had fallen open a tad, and her face had completely relaxed. He continued on, "Your mommy is very worried, and it stresses her out a bit too much, she's been through a lot and she's been very brave, and she's very brave now bringing you into the world." He kissed a few spots around Katniss' belly, hoping one would reach their child for he didn't know what position was being occupied, "Anyway, we all love you very much, me and your mommy, and all your aunts and uncles, and your Grandma's and Grandpa's." He still hadn't felt any movements, "Come on little Mellark!" He said a little louder, "You don't need to be scared of anything!" He kept on saying his little speech over and over with variations each time, and he closed his eyes, as soon as he felt himself starting to drift off he felt a firm kick or push into one of his hands. It roused him immediately, he looked up and saw Katniss stirring and moving her hands down to caress her belly. She smiled in her light sleep and Peeta grinned to himself before shuffling up to encase her in his arms and napping with her.

Peeta took a leave from work so he could be with her until at least their appointment on Wednesday, he was afraid to leave her alone in case she worked herself up into something. She needed to keep as calm and chilled out as possible to help the baby feel the same. They enjoyed spending some leisurely time together, sitting in the garden under the shade of one of the large trees, going for walks around the city and up near Gales home in the woods – although it was far too hot to do any activity for very long, Katniss felt like it was the hottest summer she'd ever felt, and it looked like once they were into August it would only get worse. Katniss wore long sundresses to keep her skin cool and she was constantly guzzling down water to keep herself hydrated, it didn't bode well when the baby was already always squeezing on her bladder, so it felt like she constantly needed to pee, it annoyed her to no end, but Peeta soothed her out of her growing rage and reminded her that the baby was only vying for some space, her organs paid the price now, but it meant that, firstly, their baby was growing, and secondly that it would all be over soon, and with some optimism, she felt there would be a baby at the end. Katniss had only felt a few Braxton Hicks contractions since they rushed into the doctors office at the weekend, but the baby was moving quite regularly. After a long conversation with her mother, she decided that being dilated at this stage was seen more often than you'd think, and it didn't mean that the baby would be born soon, it was just how different womens bodies handled things.
So she felt more at ease by this, and pretty happy to be going into the appointment on Wednesday. It was with their usual doctor, who greeted them with smiles and discussed everything through from that weekend. Katniss praised the baby for the regular movements that she felt and the doctor nodded and clicked away on the computer, and then she gave her account of the Braxton hicks contractions she had felt (for she had kept a detailed diary of exactly when and for how long, and exactly what she was feeling and how they felt compared to the others – they all felt exactly the same, which seemed to be a good sign in Katniss' mind). The doctor began her exam, "Right, just relax Katniss" she said as she began the examination to check for dilation – although it was intrusive, Katniss found it was something she could deal with if it gave her peace of mind that the baby was staying put for now – "Ok, there's definite dilation, almost 3 centimetres" the doctor removed her hand and Katniss looked at Peeta with a worried expression. She hadn't felt anything unusual and yet she'd still dilated almost another centimetre without even being aware of it, Peeta gulped and reluctantly turned to the doctor, "What does this mean? That was pretty fast, I mean Katniss is only just 34 weeks" he garbled on a little aimlessly and the doctor reassured them, "I know this is seeming scary, but trust me, there are many woman around this time who present with dilation and go on to carry their babies until full term." "But what about my … history" Katniss said quietly, almost with a sad tone, "What if my body is preparing to …" she didn't need to finish her question for anyone to understand where it was going. The doctor sat on her chair right up at Katniss' head and put her hand on Katniss' shaking shoulder, "There's nothing to indicate that anything is going wrong, we're monitoring you closely now, and we will continue to do so. It's about taking each step as it comes, the baby is our priority and it will stay that way – if this one shows any signs of distress or shows a desire to make an early appearance we can handle those situations if they come. Alright?" Katniss kept her eyes locked on the doctors and slowly nodded her head, "Yes" she said.

Katniss' confidence was making progress, and Peeta felt so proud of her. She seemed so much more comfortable in her own skin – sure, she was still terrified, but two further appointments hearing the heartbeat managed to provide a pull for her, keeping her relaxed and at ease.

35 weeks and 3 days was when that changed though. Peeta had finally relented and gone back to work under Katniss' firm demands, all she did was wander around their house all day every day, talking to the baby, there was no point in Peeta staying with her when he could be out occupying himself. By lunchtime she'd had two of, what she thought, were Braxton hicks contractions, but when there was a much more defined tightening for a little longer a period in the early afternoon, she wasn't so sure of what she'd felt earlier. Peeta was due home at 5 or 6 in the evening, and by then Katniss had had 4 more contractions – there was no point in telling herself they were just Braxton hicks, it all just felt different this time, she couldn't hide that from her own mind. She tidied up a little to keep her thoughts away from her own body, and when the slight pain hit she would gently massage her stomach and walk slowly around whichever room she was in. She had seemed to find some rational thinking over the day, and what kept her calm were the constant movements of the baby, and the knowledge that she was let to lose her mucus plug or her waters. Thinking about it, it would have seemed logical to call someone – her mother, or any one of her friends, Peeta for goodness sakes! But there was something … nice about being in this, in this moment, alone.

She was sitting on their bed, her back facing the door, her body swaying a little to each side as she rubbed the tension from her stomach when Peeta got home, he called out to her, and from somewhere she managed to reply with an 'Upstairs', "Katniss?" he said cautiously, standing in the doorway to their room, "Mmmhmmm" she replied, still trying to clear the end of the contraction, "You ok?" he asked. Normally she was quite peaceful by the evenings, so to see her in such a tense place was odd, he really didn't know what to think, he often never did with Katniss these days. Katniss' eyes were still closed tightly, "I had a contraction, 4, 5, maybe 6? They're … fine though, I just need to relax", her voice wavered almost cracking, "What?!" Peeta almost yelled, rushing in front of her, she looked fearful and ever so terrified in her face, her body seemed glued in one position like she didn't want to move in case it did something. She swallowed thickly, "it's fine, the little one is still moving" she told him, Peeta felt his heart rate increase and a plan of action began forming in his head, "No Katniss, it's not fine, are you sure they're actual contractions? Are they worse than the previous ones?" She nodded her response and he could see her eyes well up, "We need to get you to the hospital, this little one" he placed his hand on her belly, "still has some growing to do. Come on." He said, but Katniss remained still, closing her eyes again and gently smoothing her hand over her belly. After a few moments she seems to come to her senses a little and opens her eyes, "Ok?" he asks and helps her stand, supporting her out to the car, picking up the emergency bag on the way.

She sits closed off in the silent car, seemingly unaware of the world, "Katniss, are you ok? Please keep talking to me" "Yeah," she said to him, not extending her answer. After another few blocks she spoke again, "it feels right though, natural, I think this is meant to happen." She dropped her head to keep her eyes on her belly, he could tell she was crying from panic and terror. He wasn't sure what she meant though with her last words, if she meant the miracle of giving birth felt natural, or if she meant that she was meant to give birth to their baby 5 weeks early, he hoped it was just the hormones that had her seemingly confused and it wasn't something else, something psychological. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it wasn't at the top of his list of concerns for that moment – the priority was to the hospital to check on the baby.

Peeta firmly held her up as they walked from the car into the hospital and continued to do so while they were directed to maternity where he helped her onto an examination bed in a consult room. A midwife came and spoke to them and listened to everything that had been going on, and she didn't hesitate to set up monitors for the baby's heart rate and the contractions, "These ones are just temporary," she told them, "if we decide you need to stay in we'll get you sorted with the better ones in a room." She smiled at them, trying to be a comfort, "Well there's a nice heartbeat" she said once all the machines were turned on and loaded, Peeta squeezed Katniss' hand and they both let out a breath of relief, "We'll keep this one on for about an hour to see if there's any more activity, we just have to see how it all plays out." She pulled open a folder and took down some details and asked some questions until she'd be able to access their records once they were pulled from the system, "So this is your first baby?" she asked, innocent to their past, Katniss turned her head away from the young midwife and watched the screens of the monitors, she willed herself not to get upset, but she couldn't help it, not when the last time they'd been in this situation they hadn't heard a heartbeat, hadn't been able to have happiness. Peeta looked at her worriedly before turning to the midwife, her face was blushed and she began to apologise for asking, he stopped her, "This is the furthest we've gotten, third pregnancy" he said rather quietly, she nodded and he could see a look in her eyes as she wrote it down briefly. She only asked the most important questions after that before leaving them to sort other things out.

She went back to the nurses station and tried to chase up the records on the Mellarks, she'd definitely have to be thorough with the history before she could go back there. It was only her second month qualified and she felt like she put her foot in almost everything. "You okay?" one of her colleagues asked, she nodded and gave a small smile, "Yeah, I just need to get these notes for the couple that just came in, I feel so bad for them. She's 35 weeks, having contractions – it's her third pregnancy but the most successful so far, and they're just so young" She was still waiting for the computer to load, and the colleague pulled the notes towards herself to see, "The Mellarks? I was with them back … must be maybe 8 years now, miscarriage about 12 weeks. They may seem young now, but they were practically just children back then, she had a really tough time." This stirred something in the young midwife, "Do you know who was with them the … second time?" she felt hesitant to ask, but if someone had been here who the Mellarks had bonded with that would be good, it could help ease them a little, but the older midwife shook her head "No, that was 5 years ago now, it wasn't here, 'bout 2 hours west, can't remember which hospital, but they had been away with family when it happened, she was 6 months along, poor girl." They ended their conversation as the history came through on Katniss Mellark. It was a very large folder, probably the largest she'd seen through her training, she could already tell this would be a tough and most likely heart wrenching patient, and she needed to put her best foot forward.

"I'm sorry" Peeta said to Katniss once they were alone, "I should have thought to bring our copy of your notes, that's my fault" but Katniss shook him off, "No, I could have handled it, but … it was just … the contractions are so much like last time." He holds her gently around the shoulders, her heading leaning onto his chest, tears soaking his shirt, "We'll be fine" she told him, putting on a brave face, he smiled down at her. They sat like that, occasionally chatting, for the hour they had to wait until their midwife came back. Peeta quite liked her, he thought she looked enthusiastic and willing to help, Katniss just felt reminded of Prim – the midwife was about her age and they had a similar build and hair colour, it made her long for Prim.

For the midwife it was a long hour, she could have probably done a few rounds on some of the women she had assisted with in their labours, but she spent it reading about Katniss Mellark. It was almost too dramatic and heartbreaking to be true, she almost couldn't believe the terrible luck they'd seemed to have – going into labour at 35 weeks was far from ideal, but considering the history, it seemed like a miracle. She read about their first loss when they were only in their early twenties, it had been a late first trimester miscarriage that Katniss had taken hard but managed to get through. After that there was nothing in the record until the first appointment with her second pregnancy when she was 25, before even reading about this she glanced at the end of the report, which stated that it was inconclusive as to what had happened. It had been a healthy pregnancy, she had no risk factors, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, there were no accidents, no traumas, it seemed to just … happen. The notes were considerably heavier after this, in more ways than one. It was deep and dark, and it almost made her want to hand the case over to one of her more experiences mentors, who would have at least maybe experienced something similar before, but she didn't. She wanted to do something to help this couple.

"Well there's a small contraction, twenty minutes ago – how did it feel? Worse than the previous ones?" Katniss replied, "The same as the last two, but a little stronger than the ones I was feeling this morning" the midwife nodded, "Ok, is it alright for me to check your dilation? I have here that you were 3cm at 34 weeks and 2cm not long before that?" "Sure, that's right" Katniss said, clinging to Peeta and only letting go to stand and remove her pyjama bottoms which she had embarrassingly come in wearing. Peeta helped her back onto the bed, and gently propped up her legs while the midwife got gloves on. "I know you're scared, but just relax as much as you can" the midwife told her softly, Katniss kept her eyes connected to Peeta's, searching the blue depths where she found some excitement and definitely a spring of hope. He only found terror in her eyes, terror for their child, terror for the possibility. The midwife was finished before they realised, "4cm dilated, I wasn't sure on your effacement though" she admitted to them, "How can I be dilating?" Katniss asked despairingly, "I haven't been feeling anything that bad", the midwife gave her a sympathetic smile, "I'm going to talk over things with the senior midwife, but I think we'll keep you in for observations, you're dilation is progressing, albeit slowly, but I think it would be best just to keep an eye on everything." At this point Katniss knew that she'd read absolutely everything on her that they had, probably everything that said she couldn't handle things and would essentially be a mess if they had to go home. Peeta was grateful that the midwife had paid attention to detail, this sort of thing would hopefully be of comfort to Katniss, knowing they were somewhere safe for their baby.

And they did end up staying. Peeta made all the calls to the right people rather late, it was close to midnight now, but they were glad he did call – her parents and his, well his father at least, didn't want to miss out, and they knew they'd have to be there just in case. It wasn't good to always think of the just in case, but it was a necessary evil unfortunately. They were all quite determined to go in right away, but Peeta told them they doubted anything would be happening right now so told them to wait until the morning. After making the calls, he went back to Katniss, who had a terrible frown on her face and her arms crossed on top of her belly – he almost wanted to laugh at the sight, it was so much like the old Katniss, and not even just from the months before this pregnancy, but from the months before any pregnancy, "They said I can't have the pool" Peeta gave her a small smile, "We both know they won't let anyone under 37 weeks in there, we knew that when we looked it up, remember?" She gave him one sharp nod, "But Peeta" she sounded exasperated now, "I can't -" she stopped and closed her eyes, arms unfolding from each other and being placed on the sides of her belly. Her facial muscles tensed and scrunched together. She relaxed a handful of seconds later, "They're getting worse" she admitted fearfully to him, they both knew what this meant, chances were that the baby would be coming soon. There were medications to stop contractions and try and keep the baby in until much closer to the due date, but they'd decided against them early on – if the baby decided to come while his or her heart was still working away nicely and it was generally close to full term, then they'd let nature take it's course. Katniss wasn't sure she wanted to stop something like this, keep the baby in longer, then risk something happening later – that would be the last straw, it would break her and she would only desire to go with her children, her life wouldn't be worth living. "I can't have it the same as before" she said, finishing her sentence from before, "I can't … give birth" her face hardened when she said this, "the same way I had to give birth to our sons." She was on her feet now and he could tell a fire was starting to burn inside, anger was quite good, he was sure, he had read some article or something online saying about how strong emotions could help progress the labour, he didn't want this prolonged agony on Katniss at all. She was pacing a little with her hands on her hips, "I wanted it to be different" she moaned, "this was supposed to be different!" He saddened at her words, it was so tough for her, he tried to gather her into his arms, but she wasn't having any of it, "I'm sorry Peeta, I just don't want to be touched." He couldn't help but feel rejection, though he had to let her have her way, the one in labour was always right.

She eventually managed to get five or six hours sleep and woke when her parents and Mr Mellark were all sitting in the room, "Hey" she said sleepily, feeling much less irritated now than she had in the early hours of the morning, and she felt bad for pushing Peeta away. She shuffled over a little in the bed and patted the free space for Peeta to come and join her. When he did she pulled his arm around her shoulder and nestled her head into his neck, muttering apologies to him, but he just kissed her on the forehead a few times before kissing her lips. It was an intimate moment for their parents to be present, but at this point she didn't care. They'd all seen her at the extremes, to see some glimmer of hope or joy would surely make their hearts smile, and it did. Plus it wasn't like they hadn't seen any intimacy between the couple before, they were pregnant, it was obvious they'd had sex for that to happen. Katniss had managed to come a long way in terms of showing intimacy in front of others, she remembered when Peeta had come over for dinner when they had been going out for six months and they were 16, they'd kissed a few times, but she shied away when he tried to kiss her goodnight on her porch – even though the door was closed and her parents weren't next to them, she still thought it was too much, too cringe worthy. It all changed of course not long after that when Peeta's father caught them one afternoon having come home early from work and the couple were being particularly loud in Peeta's bedroom – he made sure to have 'the talk' with them both before calling the Everdeen's and suggesting the same thing. Mrs Mellark of course never found out about this, much to their relief, she would surely have had their heads if she did. But after the initial embarrassment, it seemed to wear off to this comfortable point right now.

Other than the almost regular contractions, the day went by pretty uneventfully. They didn't check her dilation and seemed happy to go by the monitors – as long as the baby was happy, there was no point in stressing anyone out. Katniss seemed to become fixated by the numbers though, everytime someone came into the room she almost asked them to check, but Peeta placed his hand on her back and calmed her a little with his eyes. Her mother eventually had to be stern with her, warning her that the baby would react to her feeling worked up and strained, so she quietened down after that. An ultrasound technician came to take a scan at the end of the day to check the growth and to consider the need for any assistance for the baby when it was born, he told them the size was a little on the small side, so not to be concerned if the baby was taken in an incubator to the NICU – this did nothing for Katniss, who burst into a flood of tears as soon as he had left the room. Peeta was the only one to stay with her for a while after that, and he couldn't help but feel that just being there in the hospital was causing more stress than if they were at home. But it would always be a lose-lose situation as they wouldn't have the constant monitor of their baby at home. It took him a good hour to calm her down properly, the strengthening contractions which were now every 15 minutes or so also didn't help. But he knew this meant that it was getting closer. Katniss knew this too but wouldn't admit it to either of them.

Her water broke on their second full day in the hospital as she was pacing around their room. She froze as it happened, almost afraid that if she moved the baby might just slip out. "It's ok, Katniss, it's meant to happen" Peeta told her soothingly, but she just eyes him suspiciously as dribbles of the fluid dripped down her legs. Peeta held tightly onto her arms and guided her slow steps toward the bed where he made her sit down before calling for one of the midwives to let her know. "Looks like we might have a baby soon then!" one of them said cheerily as she entered the room. She checked on the charts and looked over the contraction history on the right monitor, they were about 5 minutes apart now, "I'll just have a check on your dilation, you're not in too much pain?" Just as she'd been asked, Katniss felt the now familiar ripple of a contraction moving through her body and she tensed and gripped the bed sheets, Peeta spoke to the midwife as it was happening, while his hands rubbed around Katniss' back, "They've been like this for an hour, maybe a little less" he said, "We can give you something, there's-" the midwife started, but Katniss cut her off quickly, "No drugs" she snapped, still in the contraction, and the midwife didn't bother finishing her sentence. She checked the dilation when Katniss was ready, although it felt much more uncomfortable now, even sitting was becoming awkward – it almost felt like she was going to sit on the baby and crush the head off of whatever surface it was she had sat on. "Almost 8cm, and just about fully effaced" the midwife told them, she checked the baby's heart rate tracing for over the past few hours, "The baby doesn't seem to be minding the contractions too much right now, this little one has a nice steady heart rate." Katniss ignored most of what the midwife was telling her, "I want a natural birth, please, I don't want any interference" the midwife nodded, "We can let you be alone as much as possible, but I'll have to come and check you regularly and need to be here once you're ready to push." Katniss nodded, accepting this, and the midwife left them alone. Her parents and his father were waiting in the waiting area, "Just us," she told Peeta, "we need to do this alone, so we can tell little Mellark just how special it was" She hugged him as close to her as she could, and they shared this moment of peace.

It was the last moment of peace they had though as her contractions picked up after that. It didn't even feel like she had time to breath when one finished before the next would start, "I have to get someone sweetheart, as much as you don't like it, I think it's time" Peeta told her nervously, he had forgotten until this point that it wasn't just Katniss becoming a mother once the baby was born, he would finally get to be a father. It dawned on him how little he knew, he'd never changed a diaper in his life, sure he played with their friends kids and looked after them and gave a good amount of attention, but he'd never had to properly look after one of them, not when they were a newborn. He visited each of their friends when they'd had their children, and he'd held them in their first few days, but he hadn't experienced this with Katniss, it was too painful for her heart, and though his ached for their own children, he believed one day there would be one of their own. Katniss hadn't responded to him, so he pressed the call button and the midwife bustled in a few minutes later, "All ready do you think?" Peeta nodded and Katniss remained in her position hunched over the side of the bed, moaning in pain. She had refused to scream so far, refused to admit that she was in pain all over, and that the worst pain wasn't physical. Her heart felt like it was sinking, and her mind was replaying her memories over and over and over again.

When she had a moment of rest she spoke up, "I want to be on the bed" she said, and Peeta assisted her onto it and tried to help her get some comfort, but there wasn't any to be had. She lifted her legs to allow the midwife to check her, "You're ready, now you can push if you really feel like you need to, but we don't want you pushing too long, you'll be using a lot of energy" To Katniss there didn't seem like a 'right' way to do this, if she started pushing too early she'd use all her energy, but she felt that if she didn't push that something was going wrong, she was broken out of her thoughts by Peeta, "What do you want me to do baby?" he asked her, she didn't know, she hadn't thought this far, a contraction came before she could give an answer. It was so much more painful than the others, and involuntarily she let out a scream grabbing for Peeta's hand. She found it and clamped her grip down, his other hand held her leg as the midwife was indicating – apparently it would help, "Come on Katniss, you're doing-" but she didn't hear the rest of this sentence, her mind flickered like a movie playing in her head, "Katniss, what the hell are you talking about? What the heck is wrong with you?" he angrily said loudly, she felt confused, this was someone different in front of her, she didn't hear his next words, "Please," she whispered, "don't. Please leave me along right now." She was crying now, not letting him see, he didn't move towards the door, "Peeta just go!" She froze, not knowing what was happening, not knowing what to believe, "I'm having a baby Peeta, that's what's wrong with me! Your baby!" she shouted furiously between gritted teeth, the contraction ended, "But just don't leave me again" she whispered, looking up at his face. He was confused at what she was talking about, it came out of nowhere, "It's ok, I'm not going anywhere, I'm here" Another contraction came and she bore down as instructed, she heard the midwife telling her she was doing well, but she couldn't care less about the woman right now, she wanted to just pause this so she could talk to Peeta, she panted when it ended, and took a few deep breaths to talk quickly before another came, "You shouted at me and left Peeta, I made you leave and you didn't come back-" the next contraction cut her off, Peeta tried not to be phased by what Katniss was talking about, the time he regretted so much from 5 years ago played in his mind and he knew she'd remembered, he had planned to tell her one day, but he just hadn't gotten around to it, there was just never a good time, not a time when she would be stable enough to take it without seeing it as something different. He supported her through the contraction, which quickly rolled into the next one, "Focus Katniss" the midwife said, "bring your chin down onto your chest when you push … good, good Katniss, keep going, just a little longer." Katniss huffed out when she could stop for a second of rest and she gulped air down. The midwife took a second to call for a second midwife who could set up and prepare the incubator, Peeta knew it would be soon, "I can see the head Katniss, Peeta do you want to look?" she asked him, the question surprised him, he hadn't actually thought about it, he looked to Katniss, he knew she mightn't be comfortable with that, though it wasn't surely going to be as bad as anything they'd been through, "Don't blame me if it scars you for life" Katniss remarked to him, he smiled a little and decided to wait, Katniss needed him right where he was.

"It's burning" Katniss moaned as she started to push again, the midwife didn't say anything and Peeta kept encouraging and praising Katniss, "Just starting to crown now, catch your breath and one more and the head will be out" Fear and adrenaline ran through both Katniss and Peeta's veins, they were terrified of everything at this point, their baby had always been fine on the monitor, but what if something happened as soon as it was outside the womb? Things happened, it could happen to them. Katniss began pushing on her own accord without any guidance, her screams loudened, Peeta was sure their parents would be able to hear from down the corridor, she swore loudly just once and the midwife began to prepare, "Good girl Katniss, that's the head out" Peeta took his opportunity to look and see this miracle, he wasn't sure what to expect, but he saw just the back of the head with a small covering of dark brown hair. The head itself looked quite small, but he didn't have much to compare it to, he went back to Katniss immediately, "It's beautiful" he whispered, kissing her forehead several times before getting back into his position as she began to push again, "Just the shoulders now" the midwife said, and everything else seemed to happen so quickly. Katniss flopped backwards with relief as she felt the baby move from her body completely. The midwife rubbed at the little body with a towel for what seemed like the longest second, and a tiny yet determined cry came from between her legs. Tears of joy and relief poured from both of their eyes, life was all they could think about. The life of their baby. How much it was wanted and loved already. And the two who were looking down in support of their new sibling. Neither of them had seen the baby yet and they already felt so much for it, "Congratulations, it's a girl" the midwife said joyously, holding the baby up for them to see before suddenly placing her onto Katniss' chest. More tears sprung from the pair of them. A girl. A sister for their two boys. Katniss' arms quickly found the baby, and the shook as she touched her daughter for the first time, "Hi" she whispered to the crying baby lying ontop of her, "hi." She didn't know what else to say. Peeta leaned down and gave the tiny baby a kiss on the forehead before turning to his wife, "I'm so proud of you, both of you" he emphasised their daughter, then kissed Katniss.

The placenta had been delivered in this time and neither of them had noticed, for the midwife was now clearing everything up. The second midwife approached the couple and their newborn carefully, she had been with them those years ago, when they lost their first child, "Congratulations" she said to them, "I just need to take the baby over there," she indicated the station across the room, in eyeline from the bed, "to check her over, but she's crying well, so it's a good sign her lungs are developed ok." Katniss didn't want to let her go, but she had to, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if there was something under the surface that was wrong and she hadn't let the baby be checked soon enough. Neither of their sets of eyes left their daughter, neither of them even wanted to blink. This midwife ran her checks twice and measured and weighed the baby, she wanted to be certain, she couldn't let this couple down, she knew how much this baby meant to them. When she was sure that the baby was alright, she wrapped her up in a soft blanket, placing a small white hat on her head, she turned to the couple who seemed to be staring her down, "She's as good as gold, she's quite small, but I think we expected that, 16.5 inches long and she weighs 4 pounds 10 ounces" The numbers sound so small to Katniss, all of their friends baby's had been at least 7 pounds, Annie's son had been almost 9 – she knew that Peeta thought she didn't pay attention to those things, but she did, and it did make her heart ache, but she still liked to know these things, she thought it would make Peeta happy. "Do you want to come and get her, Daddy?" the midwife spoke up, Peeta's face broke into a smile and he eagerly rushed to their daughter, she looked so small bundled in the blanket and little hat. The midwife placed her gently in his arms, and he became worried – it barely felt like he was holding anything at all. But he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Her own eyes were still closed, but she was making small cries, letting everyone know exactly where she was, he found that that was something he liked. She seemed to already know just what her parents needed from her. He took his steps carefully back over to Katniss, who watched on tiredly, he could see her eyes drooping a little, she needed rest, but he doubted she'd take any. He sat on the bed next to Katniss, holding their daughter out so she could see. Katniss' fingers ghosted over the tiny face, "She's so small" Katniss whispered, "she won't fit in the little suit." Peeta had completely forgotten about that – the beautiful little sleep suit that Katniss had allowed herself to buy a handful of weeks ago now. Then it dawned on him that nothing was ready at home for a baby. He had the furniture stored in boxes at the Everdeen's house, she hadn't let him buy any, so he'd bought it in secret and was waiting until closer to the time before setting it up. They had a few items of clothing that people had given them, although they were small, he knew they probably would be too big to fit their tiny early daughter. Katniss looked like she would fall asleep, "You can rest, why don't I take her to meet her grandparents?" Her eyes snapped open, "No, she's not leaving my sight" "Ok," Peeta gave a small smile, "You rest and we'll be right here" he said, moving to the chair next to the bed. She nodded sleepily and tried to keep her eyes open so she could watch Peeta marvel over the baby, but the exhaustion overcame her and she was asleep within seconds. Peeta couldn't help but stare at the life in his arms, she was so precious, he was sucked in as soon as he'd seen her. Her little fingers were moving around and her face was scrunched up. Her eyelids started to flicker open and closed a little, after a few times, they remained open. And he saw his own eyes staring back up at him – he couldn't even feel disappointed that they weren't Katniss' because she was just so beautiful. The time passed quickly, and she soon started fussing and crying, their midwife came back along, "I think it's time for something to eat" she said, Katniss had still been asleep, but woke at this, and Peeta placed the baby into her open arms. The midwife helped her move her clothes and showed her the right position to hold the baby in and to get the angle of her head right, Peeta watched in wonder, enthralled by this. It took a few attempts, but eventually the baby got the hang of it and latched on to Katniss' breast looking for her first meal.

The next few hours were very much a blur of people streaming in an out – doctors doing some checks on the baby, the midwives checking for any bleeding from Katniss, and then their parents of course, and a surprise visit from Prim. She'd arrived just in time to hear Katniss' screams and had gone and sat with her parents, waiting for the news. Eventually, after having let Katniss have some rest and then giving their baby her first meal, Peeta went down the hallway to bring their families to see their daughter. He couldn't contain his grin as he went to see them, "A girl!" he said, "You can come through and meet her" He received embraces from everyone and was surprised to see Prim there, "I wouldn't miss this for the world" she told him, wrapping her arms around him, "And don't worry about the nursery, everything's done and I have the car seat in my car" He thanked her, "There's a lot of stuff we still need to get, and we might need to buy some smaller things, she's very small, but she's doing well" he said, speaking more to the whole group. He led them back to the room and peaked his head around the door to see Katniss smiling down at their little baby whose eyes were wide open, he pushed the door fully open and let their parents and Prim come in. They all gushed and had turns at holding their daughter, commenting on how small she was – it worried Katniss, but her mother reassured her that she would grow soon and it would hardly be noticeable that she was tiny to start with. "What's her name?" Prim asked while rocking the baby, Peeta and Katniss shared a glance, "We haven't really decided" he said, "It wasn't worth the risk" Katniss added, and the subject was dropped as Prim cooed over the baby. After a few hours everyone left to give the happy new parents some more time alone and time to rest, even though their baby seemed quite content with all the different people to gaze at.

"What do we do now?" Katniss asked Peeta sleepily that night. Their daughter, who was still nameless, slept in a hospital bassinet between Katniss in the bed and Peeta on a chair. Katniss continued, "I'm so scared," she admitted to him in a whisper, "we have this now." She said, indicating the tiny baby, "I know" said Peeta, "Me too." Katniss sighed and looked longingly at the precious face before her, "I love her so much already, I feel so … so …", "Happy" Peeta finished for her, she nodded and their eyes met, tears fell down both of their cheeks. They were a mix of mourning for their pasts, yet happiness for their future, for what this daughter brought to them.