I wake up in the morning with a sudden urge to gag. I push away the covers, ignoring the fact that Peeta isn't beside me. I puke into the sink everything in my stomach ever since last night's dinner. I'm into my 3rd month of pregnancy, and it isn't going as well as Peeta told me it would be. Morning sickness, back aches, mood swings, and the like. As I finish emptying everything inside me, I wash my mouth.
I walk back to our bed, and doze off even more. I overheard that they were throwing me a baby shower sometime this week; probably that's why Peeta's out of bed.
I tuck my head into the pillow, ignoring a meowing Buttercup at my feet. That cat has made history, for he has been living for as long as I can remember.
I sleep in for about an hour or so, but wake up to feel hungry. Stepping down the steps, I see a glistening room filled with guests. They're all rushing around, decorating, and even cooking. When they hear my footsteps, they begin to panic. They run around even more, and I notice Effie and my prep team is here, too.
As I finish down the steps, I can hear Peeta saying, "on three, say Surprise!" to everyone in the room. I gingerly finish the last step and they all yell "surprise!"
I pretend to get shocked, but truly, I knew what was in store. The room is decorated with soft hues of orange, peach, and yellow. It is truly beautiful in the living room.
"Did we surprise you?" Peeta nudges me, a smile plastered on his lips. "Yeah, a great surprise when I overheard about it!" I blurt out, and then Peeta turns into a shade of red no one's able to muster before. Everyone bursts into laughter, shouting comments like, "I knew it!" or "Poor Peeta!"
"But, it's the thought that counts, right Katniss?" He looks at me. I give a nod.
"Where's breakfast?" I whine, scanning the room for a trace of food. Peeta leaves and goes to the kitchen. He comes back with a mug of tea, the only thing I could keep down.
"Here you go." He says in his usual calm tone, handing the steaming cup to me. "Thank you," I instantly find myself slurping down the stuff, and Effie makes a comment about my manners and how much noise I was making while slurping the tea. Of course, I roll my eyes and imagine that she has duct tape on her mouth.
Once I finish, I get a glance at our guests. There's Annie and her son, a fifteen year old young man, and Johanna, all who took a trip from district 4. There's also my prep team, and Effie, who arrived by car. There's Haymitch, and I wonder who's the poor person who dragged him out of his trench. There's also Delly, standing there, a smile plastered on her face, with her daughter. Also mother is here, too. We have one full house on our hands.
"Well, now that you're finished, what's to do next?" Peeta says, picking up the mug from my hands. I hand it over to him. He brings it to the kitchen sink.
"Party time?" He asks me when he gets back. I nod.
We do some games, and they were actually amusing. One was when Haymitch couldn't pop the balloon, he started yelling at it. We all had a nice laugh. The other one when you're supposed to change the diaper the fastest, Johanna got angry at the doll and hurled it at the wall. Everyone was stunned at first, but then we laughed at how beet red she was getting. She was in full rage at that moment. Another laugh burst from us.
We girls started to talk, Peeta and Haymitch just chit chat.
I finally work up some courage to ask Annie something.
"Annie, how does it feel when, you know." I'm at a loss of words. Annie looks at me.
"Oh, it's alright, you'll be fine," She comforts me, though it isn't enough to bring me on with her. She registers the doubt on my face then works up something. "I mean, it is going to hurt a bit, but, it will all pay off once you get her in your arms." She reassures me. I am pretty nervous, judging by the fact she said 'hurt', who wouldn't be?
"Don't worry about a thing," Delly chimes in with her. They both nod. I nod back.
"Just as Annie said, it's going to be fine," She says, and I just nod.
After all the catching up, we decide to do something else. We decide to open the presents.
I sit on this glider, astonished about how much gifts are there. The boxes are big, small, wide and tall. All very different from each other.
"Let's get started." I say, picking up the first one. It's from Annie, and I gladly open it. Inside lays a beautiful crocheted blanket, with the word 'Mellark' sewn into it. It's yellow, dandelion yellow. Crocheting is what Annie does now, since she has more free time than she would need.
"Thank you, Annie." I smile her way. She gives me a smile back. I tuck it back into the box, but in the bottom, there's a rag knot doll, clearly the work of Finnick's hands, with a little help in the end by his son. Tears are on the brink of falling, but I keep them intact. The doll is a teddy bear, button eyes sewn into it.
"When we were back in 13, on our wedding night, Finnick told me to give this to you guys, if you ever had a baby, because he already had made so much." Annie chimes in, and I just nod. I feel like I want to keep this for myself, but it's a gift for the upcoming baby. I thank Annie again, and she returns with a warm smile.
"The end is made by me and Finn," she points to her son. "Because, it wasn't finished." She finishes. I just nod, and slip them back into the box.
The next one is from Johanna, and it's a bag. Inside lays bottles, pacifiers and everything a baby needs for feedings.
"I couldn't think of anything else, brainless." Johanna mutters, though you could see she meant this for me. "Thank you," I try to sound thankful, but it's funny how you receive something so gentle, from the person who you've seen as the most hostile woman you'll ever know.
"I couldn't think of getting anything else, so deal with it." She sounds like she's laughing. She has a faint blush on her cheeks.
The next one is in a glittery box, surely from my prep team.
"We thought it would be a girl!" Octavia squeals, pure excitement in her tone.
"So we got you this." Venia chimes in, the same excitement in her voice as Octavia's.
"Oh, we just can't wait!" Flavius beams. They all have smiles plastered on their faces, no more make up ridding their faces.
Curiosity wins over as I open the box, and there are 3 dresses there, cute little ones. One is yellow, with a green band, exactly fitting for a 2 month old child. The next one is orange, with a little tint of yellow, which will probably suit her when she's about a year old, and the last one is cute, which is green, and soft dandelions as designs.
"These are beautiful," I comment, not taking my eyes out of the dresses.
"We hope you like it!" The all chime together. "I like it." I nod my head.
"We're so excited! I'm betting it's a girl!" squeals Octavia, who can't even get a hold of her excitement.
"Well, I'm hoping it's a girl." Peeta comes in, and he puts an arm around me. "You, boy or girl?" He asks me, his blue eyes staring down at my grey ones.
"Um, girl…" I say. I'm not really sure, anything would be nice.
"Thanks a lot, you guys." I wink at my prep team, who looks like they're the expecting parents.
I move to another bag, a sophisticated beige one, clearly from Effie.
I open it carefully, and to see what I expect it to be. It's a small book, a book about manners. I give out a laugh and thank Effie for it. She says it's important for a young child to be educated on proper actions, though you could see her excitement id to match the prep team's.
The last one is from Haymitch, a baby blue bag. I open it and it's a small red dress saying 'cutie pie.' You would never expect this from Haymitch, who is by far the most drunken person in the whole world, to be giving a dress, with 'cutie pie' on it. That would never happen.
I give out a laugh, as if this is the funniest thing in the whole world. He shrugs and says, "It's a present, happy? But one condition, I will never baby-sit." We all have a nice laugh, so hard that I'm into tears.
I thank everyone, and then we all gather into a circle, where we decide on the baby name.
"Primrose would be nice," Peeta says, thinking deeply.
"Pair it with Rue," I say. But all that enters my mind is both the girls, two girls who are very special to me, the two girls who are obliterated from my sight because of the cruelty of the capitol. But, they both deserve justice, the justice of giving their names to my expected 'daughter.'
"That's nice," I consider. "Primrose Rue Mellark." I sound it out, clearing how it will sound when I call it out.
"What if it's a boy?" I quiz Peeta, who's already thinking.
"Cinna?" The prep team all says in a chorus, looking for my reply.
Cinna. It rings a bell. My stylist, whom sacrificed his life to make me the face of the rebellion. The prep team looks as if they're mortified; they look like they're going to cry.
"Second name?" Peeta asks me. I think for a while, and then lock eyes with Annie. "Finnick," I say promptly.
They all agree. "Cinna Finnick Mellark." I sound it out, just like what I did to the girl name.
"I'm sure Finnick would be proud to hear this from you, Katniss." Annie smiles my way. I smile back.
"But, I think it's going to be a girl!" Everyone apparently agrees with my prep team. "We'll see." I say.
After the long day, I thank everyone for coming, and then hey all depart with smiles on their faces. Octavia runs up to me to give me a hug, and tells me to notify her if it's a boy of a girl. Effie does too. So does Delly and Annie. Johanna just walks up to me and say, "Congratulations on getting knocked up, brainless." She jokes, nudging me in the rib.
"Oh really, now?" I raise an eyebrow at her. She nods, but then she gives in and tells me that if I don't update her about the baby's gender, she swears that she'll punch out all my teeth. I take this as a reminder, and then I consider that she really does care.
They all leave, and we have a night of rest.
Six months later, and we're greeted by another full house of people, delighted at the sight of our baby girl. Named Primrose Rue Mellark, as we decided. The prep team was thrilled, and they started talking about getting her into the newest trends. I just smile.