Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games nor do I make any profit from this work.
Gravid
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Katniss kept her eyes down and mouth shut tight. If she caught anyone's gaze she would start screaming and wouldn't stop until she was in the arena. She saw her hands clenched tight around fistfuls of fabric and tried to force them open. Katniss didn't want to ruin the beautiful dress Cinna had made for her. It fit perfectly even with the extra weight she'd added since the Quarter Quell was announced.
Was that how Peeta knew? Did Cinna tell him? No, that didn't make sense. Peeta would have no reason to see Cinna just as Katniss had no reason to see Peeta's stylist, Portia. But someone had to have told. Katniss didn't know how mentoring worked—she would have learned how this year if not for Snow's machinations—but the results of their physical exams had to go to someone. Haymitch was the most likely answer.
The elevator reached their floor and stopped. They were getting off. Katniss assumed this was her last chance.
"I need to talk to Haymitch," she said. "Alone."
Peeta and Effie looked reluctant to leave her. She guessed she had been unnaturally quiet since the end of the interview. But they shuffled off the elevator all the same. Peeta shooting her one last lingering gaze as the doors closed.
Katniss whirled on Haymitch and stabbed a finger into his chest. "Who gave you the right?"
He tried to protest. "Katniss—"
"What did you think you were doing telling Peeta about it?" she hissed around clenched teeth.
"I haven't told Peeta anything!" said Haymitch pushing her away.
"Then how did he know?" demanded Katniss.
Haymitch looked annoyed now. "Know about what?"
"About the—" Katniss cut herself off. She couldn't bring herself to say the word aloud. Especially not now, the night before they entered the arena. She splayed a hand protectively over her stomach and glared up at Haymitch.
Haymitch's angry confusion faded to be replaced by understanding and horror. Katniss recognized the look from her own face in the mirror the day she realized she had missed two bleedings in a row. He hadn't known until now.
"You're actually pregnant?" Haymitch whispered. The shock of the revelation strangling his voice.
Katniss wished she could take it back. "I thought you knew. They did a health-check when we got here. I thought they told you and that you told Peeta to try to save me."
Haymitch dragged a hand over his face. "They did give me the results from your physical exams. But there was nothing about—about that. Snow must be trying to suppress it." He squinted at her. "Is Peeta the…"
"Of course Peeta is the father," snapped Katniss.
Haymitch held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't think you had that kind of relationship."
Katniss pressed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets as if she could squeeze out the memories. "After we got back from the Victory Tour, when you said we were going to have to be married, I was so angry. I told Peeta that if we had to be married for the capital, then I wanted to have a real ceremony just for us."
"So you really did toast bread together. Just not when Peeta said you did," said Haymitch almost amused.
Katniss nodded. "Peeta made the bread, and I asked Madge to say the words. She's heard her father say them enough. Prim was our witness. And then we were married."
Katniss didn't say: and married people have sex. Because she knew that wasn't always true. But she and Peeta had had sex. Katniss didn't want her first time to be recorded and sold to slavering perverts in the capital, and she knew that was what would happen. She had enjoyed the sex when she hadn't expected to, so they had done it several times since their wedding night.
"And you didn't use protection?" asked Haymitch.
"We did. Every time," said Katniss. They had been so careful to avoid something like this happening. Katniss had even mustered up the courage to talk to Peeta about it. "But condoms don't always work."
"Of course, you'd be in the .1%," said Haymitch with a sigh. He squinted at her suddenly awkward. "You wanted to keep it?"
Katniss flinched and curled in on herself. "No, no. I don't want children. I got everything I need to get rid of it. But after the Games, I just couldn't, another child…" Katniss swallowed hard around the words.
Haymitch let out a harsh, pained sound. That wasn't something they talked about. Katniss guessed it wasn't something any of the Victors ever talked about. But it was what had stopped Katniss when she knew an abortion would a kinder fate than life as a child of a Victor.
"But then after the Quarter Quell was announced. It didn't matter anymore," said Katniss. She knew she was going to die and that would be the end of everything.
Haymitch stared at her. "Are you going to tell Peeta?"
Katniss blinked and scowled. "No! And Haymitch, you don't tell him either. You promised to help me keep Peeta alive, and this will only give him an excuse to do something stupid."
"Right," said Haymitch.
"You promised me, Haymitch. Peeta's the good one. He gets out," said Katniss.
"I promised. I remember," agreed Haymitch. "Any other surprises for me?"
Katniss narrowed her eyes then grudgingly admitted, "I have morning sickness. That will slow me down in the arena."
"Alright, I'll see if we can afford some anti-nausea medication for you," said Haymitch. "You go spend some time with your secret husband."
Katniss nodded once and marched out of the elevator leaving Haymitch behind.
Haymitch watched her go, took a deep breath, and hit the button for floor three. He'd would keep this secret for Katniss. It was the one desire of hers he could fulfill.
When he walked into Beetee's room for the gathering and everyone frowned at him, Haymitch realized he should have given himself more time to settle his thoughts.
"What's wrong, Haymitch? You're white as a sheet," said Chaff.
"Katniss is pregnant," he blurted into the air.
There was a horrified silence only interrupted by the sounds of a variety of dropped items. Haymitch was glad know he wasn't the only one to have a bad reaction to the news.
"I thought that was a stunt," said Finnick slowly.
"So did I until Katniss went off on me for telling Peeta about it," said Haymitch. "The baby is his. No one tell him."
"What? So they really "toasted bread" together?" asked Johanna with a smirk.
Haymitch glared at her. Toasting bread was an important tradition for married couples in District Twelve. Before the Games, even he had daydreamed about who he would ask one day.
"They did," snapped Haymitch. "So their wedding would belong to them instead of to the Capital."
Johanna's expression shifted to mildly impressed. Haymitch was almost impressed himself at the kids' audacity. He just wished, well, Haymitch wished for a lot of things that were never going to be true.
The other Victors were slowly coming out of their funk. Chaff patted him sympathetically on the back and handed him a cup of something red. Haymitch sniffed at it. Non-alcoholic. They had remembered. Too bad.
"Does this change anything?" asked Beetee.
Wiress made a faint noise. "Pregnancy hormones have been known to mildly inhibit cognitive ability in combination with stress and sleep deprivation. There are also other physiological factors which can negatively affect physical performance."
Johanna rolled her eyes. "He didn't mean baby-brain and morning sickness."
Haymitch grimaced. No that wasn't what Beetee meant at all. "It doesn't change anything. It can't."
Katniss would hate him even more after, but Haymitch would have to live with that. And maybe Baby Everdeen-Mellark would too.
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End.
During their interview with Casear Flickerman before the Quarter Quell, Katniss is shocked by the Peeta tell everyone she's pregnant. Part of me wondered what it would be like if she was shocked because she hadn't told him she was pregnant.
I definitely do not have enough energy to write/imagine how the rest of the book(s) would play out under those circumstances. But the Haymitch/Katniss confrontation was really all I wanted to see.
Thanks for reading. Please review!