The characters of The Hunger Games Trilogy belong to me.
The initial timeline of this story takes place about 16-17 years after Mockingjay.
She/Her
It was the pregnancy that came out of nowhere.
When Johanna had come to District 12, she didn't expect that she would end up staying longer than her customary eight weeks in the summer. Her own District often turned cold around that time so she traveled to see the only semi-normal people she knew and to bathe in the warmth of the once-upon-a-time grey town.
The Mellarks, though she never really knew if they made it official, usually invited her to stay in their house. However, it had been a surprise when Katniss' mother had shown up along with Annie and her son Rowan for the summer. With three kids in the house and two more adults, the crowd was enough for her to pass on sleeping in their den.
Reluctantly, Haymitch had agreed to let her into his home and into one of his dusty bedrooms.
She had been grateful, maybe too grateful.
It had happened only once, during one of those rainy nights that left her unable to sleep—almost unable to breathe, if that was possible. Wandering downstairs, Johanna found herself searching the kitchen for something to help her sleep—milk, alcohol, a hidden sedative that she was sure they gave Peeta whenever he got too out of hand…
Instead, Johanna found Haymitch.
He came in to find every cabinet open, canned goods on the counter, and her ass sticking out of the pantry when he arrived.
"What the hell are you looking for?"
Guiltily Johanna moved herself out of the food storage, sitting on the dirty floor, to meet his steely eyes.
"I can't sleep," she said simply.
She must've been a sight—long nightgown dirty, and her shoulder-length hair flying in every which direction because, for a moment, there was sympathy in Haymitch's eyes. He didn't look like he was getting much sleep either, based on the sunken bags underneath his own stare.
He held his hand out to her. "Get up."
It was all too easy to take his hand, press herself against him, and feel her nipples stiffen as she came into contact with the hard planes of his body. Haymitch wasn't a bad-looking man. Once a very attractive boy, his face had hardened leaving the effects of the Games and the losses lined in his olive skin.
Behind that, however, there was still the bit of handsome mischievousness that she saw only on special occasions.
Until now, Johanna couldn't remember how it all started—how she had ended up on one of the counters of the kitchen, nightgown hiked past her hips and panties off, as Haymitch thrusted into her. It had not been the least bit gentle, but that was how both of them seemed to like it.
Carelessness left to openness.
So, there was no shame to pressing her heels to his strong back to urge him deeper or crying out when Haymitch had pulled off the straps of her nightgown before quickly latching onto an aching nipple.
It had felt good. It had felt right.
When her two months passed in District 12 and Katniss' mother had told her she was pregnant, she realized that maybe it had felt too good and too right for something not to happen.
"Why are your feet so big?"
The question came from Willow, Katniss and Peeta's daughter. The little girl—who looked and acted too much like her mother, in her opinion—stared at her swollen ankles before poking at the tops of her feet with her finger to make an impression.
Johanna shrugged. "I don't know. Something to do with the baby, I guess."
She was going to be a horrible mother.
For all the advice that Annie and Katniss tried to give her, Johanna found herself unable to listen. She found herself at a loss on how to go about the pregnancy and part of herself was still angry over letting Haymitch convince her that it was good idea.
"It's water retention, sweetheart," came the voice from behind her.
The resounding bang of the screen door closing and the stealthy footsteps were followed by the tall figure of the father of her baby.
"Oh." Willow grinned, her eyes going to Johanna's stomach then to her chest. Jumping to her feet, the six-year-old approached Johanna before pressing a finger to one of her now-abundant breasts. "And, is this water, too?"
Johanna couldn't help but snort at Willow's curiosity. Too pure for her own good, just like Katniss.
"No, that's milk," she found herself saying. "And, if you poke too hard then you're likely to get shot in the eye."
"Really?" Willow looked at her chest in wonderment, her hand drawing back. "Then I won't touch. I don't want to waste anything for the baby."
Haymitch sat next to her on the porch seat, clapping his hands to the tops of his thighs. The little girl sat easily, making sure the skirt of her red dress was neat before settling on her Uncle's lap.
"Any more questions?" Haymitch asked Willow before glancing over at Johanna. He always thought that he was doing such a good job of not displaying his worry, but Haymitch was easily readable, his furrowed brows and probing eyes saying everything that his mouth couldn't seem to get out.
"How did the baby get in Johanna?"
"Didn't your mama explain this to you?" Johanna asked the girl.
"I asked before, but Mommy started pacing and then told Daddy to tell me," Willow informed them. "Then Daddy started talking about yeast and dough rising, then about putting buns in the oven...which was silly because I was asking them about babies, not baking!"
"Katniss and Peeta, for all their rebellious ways, actually learned through experimenting," Haymitch informed Johanna, the line of his mouth moving to keep his laughter in. "I have a feeling that they were a little surprised themselves on how children came about."
Willow tilted her head in confusion. "So that's the only way I'll learn? Through experimenting?"
"No," came the throaty voice of Katniss Mellark (or whatever she was calling herself). "You'll learn when you're old enough to understand, like your Dad and I said." Katniss looked to them, placing the bag of game on the ground next to her. "Did she almost trick you into telling her?"
"No, but she did tell us about Peeta's baking methods," Johanna told her friend, her lips pulling up in a smile.
"Very funny, Johanna," Katniss retorted. "Wait till your kid is asking you about babies."
Deep inside, she knew that she would probably screw it up. Her parents never explained sex to her; the Capitol did—in the worst way possible. That thought brought a chill to her spine, reminding her that any which way she put it, she was a ruined woman.
She was ruined way before this baby came into the picture.
"Johanna." Peeta's blue eyes on Willow's round face brought her back to reality. "Are you okay?"
She nodded after a moment. "Yes." Worrying the little girl wasn't going to do anything for her. "Willow, you just have to have patience to learn certain things. Wait. Wait for the rain and wait for the sunshine then spring will be here. Then everything is new and you'll be a little bit older and wiser. Then you'll come to understand. I promise."
Mini-Katniss stared at her for a moment before finally placing a kiss on her cheek and joining her mother in the courtyard.
And, Johanna felt his stare—the warm and inviting stare that put the baby inside of her in the first place.
There was a knock on her doorway and Johanna looked up to see Haymitch, his eyes on her. She realized that she had drifted off once more, her hands moving along her rounded belly. It was strange, the taut hard muscle of her swell; its feel similar to the six-pack she once sported.
"Can I come in?" he asked carefully.
"It's your house," she responded.
They didn't sleep in the same bed. She remained in the same dusty bedroom that she resided in for the last six or so months, choosing to remain altogether independent from Haymitch. After that one time, they had simply parted, each going to their respective bedrooms.
There was no mention of what had happened—until Johanna had gotten sick and Mrs. Everdeen had felt her swollen breasts and that little bit of life growing inside her.
"I don't go where I'm not wanted," he replied, remaining in the doorway.
"Come in." Johanna waved her hand out. "I would've cleaned up for you, but I'm still a little full of baby."
Haymitch nodded in understanding. "Can't really blame you for not wanting to get up. Your feet looked really swollen." He sat down on the empty side of the bed. "I was thinking that I should send for Mrs. Everdeen—"
"Damnit, Haymitch!" Johanna glared at him. "I don't want any more poking or prodding! I'm pregnant not incapacitated. I feel fine. It moves and everything!" She grabbed his hand, letting him feel the kicks that kept her up at night. "See? All good!"
Haymitch felt around. "I guess the baby is pretty active. I wouldn't know." He eyed her for a moment. "Since you refuse to talk to me."
"I thought we weren't the talking types," she retorted. "I thought we were just the fucking types."
"God!" Haymitch stood up from the bed, his grey eyes flashing with irritation. "You always have to fucking push me! I am trying to be nice to you!"
"No one asked you to be nice to me!" she yelled back. "Isn't it enough that I'm doing you a solid and having this baby? What else do you want from me?"
"I want you to stop acting like a stubborn bitch and realize that the people around you, including me, are trying to make sure that you're safe and healthy," Haymitch explained, each word puncturing at her hormonally wounded psyche.
"I'll never feel safe." Johanna looked down at the stomach. Against her will, the tears came and she forced back the sob rising in her throat. "And, you're not trying to make sure I'm safe and healthy. You're making sure that it is safe and healthy."
"Her."
Johanna looked up at the word, wiping her eyes hastily.
"Last month, when Katniss' mom came to check on you, she told me," Haymitch told her. "I didn't want to tell you because you weren't very happy with me then. You don't seem very happy a lot. I'm not sure if it's me or her. Either way, we're going to be in your life." He clucked his tongue before turning towards the door. "God help me if she's as ornery as you."
She bristled at his words. "Fuck you, Haymitch!"
He was already out the door when she heard his response.
"Isn't that how we got here in the first place?"
That night, Johanna dreamt of her.
Grey eyes that stared at her innocently, thick hair that came from her mother, and the smile that she used to have. The smile that spoke of hope and possibilities, the smile that made her believe that things like love were actually real.
Johanna could almost touch her, hear the girl call for her.
She in the sunny dress, singing softly…
Her eyes opened suddenly and Johanna shot up in her bed, cold sweat soaking her nightgown. There was movement in her stomach, the girl inside kicking and letting her mama know that she was not going anywhere.
"I know," Johanna whispered to her covered stomach. "I know that you're there. Even if I kept telling myself that I'm just retaining water, you're not going to let me forget, are you?"
There was one more firm kick.
"Then I guess we'll just have to learn to get along," she continued. "I suppose that you heard your father and me talking about you. Here's the truth—" Letting out a gentle sigh, Johanna said the one thing that one was never supposed to tell their children. "I'm not sure that I want you."
Another kick, a little less strong, as if she was upset with Johanna.
"It has nothing to do with you." Johanna put her hand to her stomach. "And, everything to do with me. I'm incapable of loving anything. I barely love myself. Sometimes, I think that I can just close my eyes and sleep forever uninterrupted with no one batting an eyelash. Do you want someone like that to be your mother?"
There were several protesting movements in her belly.
"Haymitch, though. He wants you." Her gaze went to the wall opposite her bed where Haymitch stayed. "When he found out…something just changed in him." Her eyes closed remembering the sweet light that filled those usually downtrodden greys. "Haymitch asked me to consider having you, he made a promise to take care of us. He gave up a lot." The bottles of alcohol had left the house and Haymitch had started working on his wood crafting. She suspected that he was trying to make furniture for the baby. "You are his sunshine and I'm his rain."
Johanna took a shaky breath.
"Eventually rain has to go away."
"I heard Haymitch talking to Peeta," Katniss said as they walked back towards Victors Village. Holding their hands was Rye, quiet and curious with a mop of messy blond curls grazing his grey eyes. The Mellark boy looked between the two women before watching his steps. "You were fighting again."
"When are we not fighting?" Johanna argued. "It's about the only way that we can communicate." She turned to look ahead of her. "That or the other thing."
"What other thing?"
"The thing that got me the thing in my stomach," she responded tersely.
Rye looked to her, his eyes going to the swell as if he just noticed her protruding belly.
"You have a stomach ache?"
"That's not what she meant," Katniss told her son. "The baby in Johanna's belly is moving around a lot."
The boy seemed satisfied with the answer he received as he ran ahead of them towards the arch leading to their home. Rye, like Peeta, was happy with making sure that everyone else around him was alright before enjoying everything around him. It sometimes amazed Johanna just what exactly she could pick out of Willow and Rye that were from their parents.
It made her wonder what she would be like. What would she get from Haymitch? And, what would she get from her?
Hopefully not too many of her negative traits, though there was more bad than good.
"He's hurt," her friend informed her gently. "And, he's really trying, Johanna. It's not easy to try to kick an alcohol problem at his age and especially when you're constantly fighting with one another. I know that this wasn't expected—not wanted, even—but you have to give him something."
"I'm giving him her," Johanna said, her hands going to her stomach where the girl seemed to notice her distress. "Why can't that be enough?"
"I don't know." Katniss looked at her, annoyance in expression. "Maybe because he wants you, too."
"Haymitch doesn't want me." The sentence stuck in her throat, drawing out the tears. "He just felt as crappy as I did that night and I was the willing person to let someone in-between her legs."
"Was it at least good?"
Johanna chuckled. "Many a masturbatory moment happened in honor of that night."
"I don't know if I should be happy for you or curious," Katniss said.
"Just remember if you're ever eating in our kitchen that your mentor humped a baby into me on one of the counters."
Her friend grimaced, blushing when she realized that Peeta and Haymitch along with kids were approaching.
"Mommy, your face is red," Willow pointed out immediately. "Are you sunburned?"
"No." Katniss gave her daughter a kiss on the top of her braided hair and then kissed Peeta. She suddenly looked to Johanna. "You said 'Our'."
Johanna scowled as Haymitch joined her side.
Now, she was red.
"Why weren't you asleep?"
Haymitch looked up from where he sat on the floor below her, his back against the bottom half of the couch.
"When?" Slowly, Haymitch stood before sitting next to her and letting out a slight groan. "Bad knees."
"The night we made…her." Johanna looked to her stomach, stretched even bigger to the point that she couldn't see her feet anymore. Her face had softened as well, her once-hollow cheeks now full because of water retention and her rabid appetite. "You looked like you hadn't slept in weeks."
"I didn't," he responded simply. "The sounds of the house kept me awake. When I was a mentor, there was always noise. The sound of the train, some Tribute crying, even Effie's nagging was a comfort…"
They never mentioned Effie, the Rebellion claiming so many lives that the escort's sudden illness and death took them all by surprise.
"Now all of that is gone. The quietness was unbearable," Haymitch explained. "And every summer you came with all your noise and spirit. Even if you weren't staying here, I felt like I could still hear you from across the way."
"You'll have a lot of noise around you now with her," Johanna assured him. "Babies cry."
"But, they laugh and they smile, too," he reasoned.
"Do you want her because you're afraid of the quiet?" she suddenly asked.
"I want her because, without rhyme or reason, we created her." Haymitch looked to her, his eyes so deep in the firelight that she ached to move towards him just feel his shoulder pressed to hers. "We are the two people who I would've never thought should be parents. Yet, here she is." His hand went to the top of her belly. "Growing beautifully inside you. I'm amazed by her—and by you."
"There is nothing amazing about me."
"Oh Johanna." Haymitch smiled sadly at her. "You have no idea what you do to me. Did you ever stop to think that I wasn't sleeping because you were in the house with me? I had thought for awhile what I would do if I had the chance."
"A chance for what?" she asked quietly, her throat dry and her heart beating in her ears.
"To have a little bit of your sun," was his only answer.
Johanna couldn't reply—what else was there to say?
That night, it rained.
But, it was the first time in a long time that she wasn't afraid.
It didn't stop her from going to his room and crawling into the empty side of his bed. Haymitch didn't say a word, his arm only going to draw her closer so she could sleep on her side, their child pressing against his long body.
And, so she came to stay in his bed for as long as he would let her.
Her eighth month came upon her suddenly, her waddling so prominent that Johanna was beginning to resemble one of the geese that Haymitch raised in the back of their house. She slept at random moments, so exhausted by the constant movement of the girl inside that Haymitch often found her passed out in strange parts of the house.
Sometimes if she found her way to the Mellarks, Johanna would awaken to Rye moving his toy cars atop her stomach as the sounds of a car engine revving escaped his tiny pink lips. Other times, it would be the tickle on her toes as Willow painted her feet with the waterproof paint that Peeta supplied for his daughter.
By the time Haymitch could get to her, the bottoms of her feet would be a whole different color or there would be wheel marks on her top.
They had settled into a quietness as she allowed him to take care of her, her body and mind no longer resisting the gentle massage of her shoulders or feet when needed. Mrs. Everdeen had come to stay with the Mellarks as it was getting close to her moment of implosion.
Johanna slept in his bed, content to watch the sunrise in his shadowed face. She woke up early as the little one often jumped on her bladder so that any sneeze would immediately force her to go. After Johanna got back to bed, her gaze would wander around Haymitch's features.
What would she get from him?
Honestly, Johanna hoped that the girl got everything from her father.
Every single part of Haymitch that she had come to care about and even love.
This was the only thing that she couldn't share with anyone but her.
Their child grew inside her—how could she not be nourished by the feelings that Johanna had come to grow in only a few short months?
Even at her worst, Haymitch kept her in mind. It seemed in his nature to just not bat an eyelash at whatever she threw at him. It made her think that there might the smallest chance that there was something more in his affectionate gaze than concern for the baby.
She pondered the question as they sat at the kitchen table.
The flapjacks were something that Peeta had taught his former mentor to make as Johanna craved them at all hours of the day. Today was no exception—even more so because the day was wet, keeping everyone in the district inside their homes.
"You have one more than me," she told him as he sat down for breakfast.
Haymitch glanced at his stack of flapjacks. "No, I don't."
"I have five, you have six." Johanna compared the stacks. "That's not fair."
"You're acting crazy," he responded before cutting into his stack.
"You want me to act crazy?" She didn't even blink as her plate crashed against a wall. "I will act crazy!"
"These are just hormones," Haymitch reasoned before settling back down before his plate. "Now—"
There wasn't even a chance to take a bite as she easily took the plate and threw it to the ground.
"Now we're both not eating!" she yelled at him.
If there was anything that Johanna couldn't stand, it was a passive-aggressive stance and Haymitch had baited her right into a tantrum. He knew that she couldn't take being ignored.
"Johanna, what the hell?" Haymitch loomed over her, his grey eyes blazing. "You and whatever is biting your ass are starting to piss me off!"
"What are you going to do about it?" she countered. "If anyone is going to win this fight, it's going to be me—"
His mouth was on hers, tasting the bit of sweet batter that she had sampled before breakfast had been prepared. His tongue moved roughly inside her mouth, delving to caress her own, leaving her body aching and her core tight.
Haymitch's hands moved along her skin, not bothering to ask for permission to cup her full breasts in his hands, thumbing her nipples until they were hard even in the heated air. He moved her against the edge of the table, pressing her bottom on the surface, before going down to his knees in front of the short nightshirt she wore.
"You owe me, woman," he breathed in between her thighs. "I'm hungry." Her panties were removed hastily and she felt his inhale, his lips teasing against her soaked folds.
Her eyes rolled back, feeling that ravenous suckle in her center. The satisfied moan coming from the man vibrated throughout her body causing a jolt of thick pleasure to take over her.
"Oh, fuck!" Johanna cried as he feasted against her sopping cunt. The millions of nerves in her body were lit, causing her to burn with an unsatisfied sensation. She wanted more, needed more, craved it like a hopeless addiction. "Haymitch, please!"
Placing her back on her feet, he stood up and her hands reached to hastily unbuckle his pants, desperate to feel him ready in her hands.
"Johanna…"
His forehead rested against hers, his eyes manic. She could smell herself against his lips, musky and strangely enticing. Johanna moved her mouth along his, quenching her curiosity and finding herself growing wet from tasting her own arousal on her tongue.
"What do you want, Haymitch?" she teased. "Do you want me to put you in my mouth? You want to come in my mouth?" The man growled at her words. "Or do you want to be inside me? You want to feel your cock wrapped inside my cunt?"
Haymitch looked into her eyes, his own stare aching. "Yes."
She took his hand leading him back to his chair, pushed hastily next to a nearby counter. Making him sit, her hands went to finish the job of removing his pants and throwing them to the other side of the room, following quickly with his shirt.
Haymitch sat in front of her, bare naked and obviously aroused. Every part of him was long, his limbs muscular from the constant activity and his abdomen well-muscled. Small scars from his time in the Arena remained but they look like they were part of him, imprinted from birth almost, and he let out a trembling gasp when her lips found one on the side of his stomach.
He was really a beautiful man.
Johanna wrapped her hand around his length as she went on her knees carefully to protect their child.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
Johanna looked up at him, her mouth just hovering to the thick head of his cock. "I'm hungry, too."
She took him in her mouth, the feel of him hard causing her core to throb. Johanna moaned around him, inciting a strangled cry to fall from Haymitch's lips. Her other hand moved in-between her legs, her index and middle finger moving around her clit.
"Are you touching yourself?" he asked her.
Pulling away, she nodded, her eyes on him. "You taste good."
"Come here," Haymitch demanded, his call strained. "Fuck yourself on my cock, I want to feel you come all over me."
Johanna stood, her legs shaky from his words and from being on the kitchen floor. She steadied herself, a hand on his shoulder as the other took hold of him so she could guide him inside of her. Her eyes closed as he filled her, her insides welcoming where he had not been in almost nine months.
"God, you're tight," he breathed out once she was fully straddling him. "Let go, Johanna. I'll be here. I promise. I'll hold on, even if you fall apart."
Johanna nodded, realizing in-between her lust-induced mind, that those words had nothing to do with the sex.
Slowly she began to move, her inner muscles tensing as they adjusted to Haymitch. His arm was wrapped around her waist as his other hand went to undo the front buttons of the shirt she wore. He revealed a swollen tit to the sex-heavy air before his lips moved to cover her rosy bud, his tongue teasing along the sensitive duct.
Johanna lost herself in the moment, her whole body focused on getting herself to that mind-shattering climax that she knew was coming. She was breathless, desperate to feel the cresting of her orgasm and to fall apart around this man who wanted nothing but her satisfaction.
Haymitch suddenly thrusted into her and Johanna crashed, her head falling back as his name escaped her lips in rushed whispers. Johanna could feel him, coating her cervix as she came down from her high.
It was quiet once more, except for the sound of their heavy breathing.
"Stay, please," he whispered against the sheen of her warm skin.
"I can't," Johanna told him.
"Why?" The brokenness in his voice caused something inside to crack.
She pulled away, her lips grazing his bare shoulder.
"Because I need to get off you, so you can get Katniss' mother—I think I'm going into labor."
"This hurts!" she told Mrs. Everdeen.
Whoever said that childbirth was a miracle was a fucking liar.
The whole miracle was that you didn't kill anyone in the process. Oh, but she had come close. When Katniss tried to put a towel to her forehead, Johanna nearly strangled her with it. Then, Mrs. Everdeen had told her that she would have to do it, sans drugs. Kicking the lady in the face sounded like good idea at that moment.
"Of course, it hurts," the woman currently peeking at her contracting vagina responded. "You're in the middle of giving birth." Mrs. Everdeen met her eyes and gave her a smile. "What were you doing that brought this on?"
Johanna looked to Haymitch, currently standing away from the destruction zone that was her vagina, and sitting by her side, his hand supporting her lower back.
"Nothing," they responded in unison.
Katniss, who sat at her opposite side, met her eyes doubtfully.
Mrs. Everdeen looked at them once more before going back to work.
"You know sex can cause labor, right?"
"I didn't read that in any of the books," Haymitch said.
Johanna turned to him, a touched smile replacing her grimace. "You read books? That's nice."
"Some help they were," he responded with a snort.
The pain that had once ebbed was slowly building, like blocks of pain being stacked. Her lower half was unbearably cramped and Johanna whimpered at the oncoming agony taking over her body. It came in undulating waves, sometimes soft, before a cresting of harsh spasms destroyed any cohesive thought in her mind.
"Oh, God…this kid hates me…" She looked between Haymitch and Katniss. "She really is mine…"
The door suddenly opened and Peeta unconsciously peeked into the bedroom.
"Thom told me to come to Haymitch's house. There's a mess in the kitchen. What's going—"
He almost fell apart against the doorway seeing Johanna, legs splayed in front of Mrs. Everdeen.
"Peeta, get the fuck out!" Johanna burst out.
"Might want to keep it down. The kids are downstairs, you know," Peeta responded quickly.
"Are you kidding me?" She looked to Katniss as a particular painful contraction happened. "I swear that I'll kill him right now!"
Katniss looked frostily at her husband. She finally admitted their marital status to Johanna, just a few weeks ago.
"Not if I do first," Katniss assured her before looking to the man currently paling against the doorway. "Please go downstairs and check on the kids. We'll talk later."
Peeta disappeared with a quick shut of the door.
"Is it over yet?" Johanna asked miserably. "I mean, how long has it been?"
"A few hours, give or take," Mrs. Everdeen informed her. "It's going to be one more big push and I think we're going to get the head out."
"You hear that?" Haymitch told her. "One more, just one more."
"Everything is going to change…"
Johanna looked over to him, tears of pain and exhaustion glistening on her face, as she bore down.
"I don't know how to do this! I have no patience and can barely stand kids. Except maybe Willow and Rye…Rowan, too. But, Annie says that he's getting into those weird teenage years. I don't think I can deal with a teenager."
"Johanna." His gaze remained on her. "You're thinking too far ahead. Neither of us is going to know what happens until you push her out." Haymitch took a slow breath. "When she's here, we'll figure it out. We always do. We always will."
"You said 'we'," she croaked out.
"I did." Haymitch nodded in agreement, giving her an encouraging smile "Do you think that you're ready to get her out?"
"Yes." Katniss helped her sit up before she settled back against Haymitch's chest. Her friend joined Mrs. Everdeen at the edge of the bed. "What does it look like down there?"
Katniss tilted her head in examination. "Like a clam with dark hair."
"That sounds horrendous," Johanna responded.
Her head pressed against Haymitch's shoulder as she felt the next tide of pain rising. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the solid thought of making the pain going away.
And, it happened so quickly—the feeling of something sliding out before a shrill cry filled the room.
"She's here," Haymitch announced thickly.
"I'm afraid of opening my eyes."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because when I open them, everything will be different."
"Just open them," Haymitch encouraged her. "Nothing bad is going to happen, not while I'm here."
So Johanna did.
Her eyes were as dark as night, her skin as rich and olive as her father's, and her hair was a thick ink.
She was perfect.
Katniss cooed at the baby before placing her in Johanna's arms. "You made that."
"I helped," Haymitch added indignantly.
"Yeah…yeah." Katniss grinned at her former mentor. "She definitely has your frown."
The baby's rose lips pursed at Johanna.
"So you're the one who's been kicking me," she said softly. "If you weren't so cute and I wasn't tired as hell, I'd probably be pissed."
The rainy day had cleared, bits of sunshine filtering through the gauzy curtains and warming the room.
"I think you like her," Haymitch remarked, his eyes on the baby in her arms.
Tentatively, his hand reached to touch the girl's round cheek and he laughed softly when a small smile rose, plumping her face even more.
Johanna closed her eyes, exhaustion finally taking over her as she accepted the lull of slumber.
"I think I might love her."
"She is small," Willow whispered so not to wake the baby in Haymitch's arms.
"You were once this small, sweetheart," Haymitch told her affectionately. "She's depending on you to teach her the ways of District 12."
"I'll do a good job," the little girl responded, her blue eyes solemn as she accepted her duty. "I promise."
"I'm real sorry about walking in on you," Peeta told Johanna from the foot of the bed.
"I feel sorrier for you," Johanna told him as Rye crawled over to her to look at the baby. "You had a full-frontal view."
"Well, that will teach him to enter rooms without thinking," Katniss said to her friend, sitting on Peeta's lap. "My mom is talking to Rowan and Annie right now, telling them to come visit."
"What's her name?" Rye asked, his eyes on the baby as his small fingers moved over her dark hair in curiosity.
Johanna turned to Haymitch. "Any thoughts?"
"Nope. I'm still reeling over the fact that she's currently snoring against me."
Willow looked to Johanna, her smile bright. "The rain stopped when she came—like you said." She went to Johanna, blue eyes looking very worldly. "And, it was pretty! Daddy let us stand out on the porch to look at the rays through the clouds. Then, we could hear her crying."
It came to Johanna suddenly.
"Rae."
Haymitch's eyes met her and he nodded in understanding. "Rae."
"But, her last name will be Mason-Abernathy," she said.
"That's a little complicated for a kid, don't you think?"
Katniss stood up. "I think this is our cue to leave."
Peeta joined her. "Come on, little ones. Haymitch and Johanna are about to have their first fight in front of Rae."
Willow and Rye rushed over to their parents and the Mellarks left the room, closing the door behind them.
"Abernathy is fine," Johanna told him. "Actually, Rae Abernathy sounds perfect."
Haymitch pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Fight over."
"Can I stay?"
He turned to her once more, grey eyes tired but full. "I thought that was the plan."
Johanna rested back against the cool pillows. "Okay."
Haymitch adjusted Rae's yellow bundling, his eyes hidden.
"Maybe you might think of adding Abernathy to your name…one day."
She took a solid breath before looking to Rae and then Haymitch.
"Okay."
FIN.