AN: This is going to be a resolute one-shot, just to tide me over into PTTA and Alice, once I find my copy of the latter.
I don't own anybody, they all belong to the lovely Suzanne Collins. I apoligize if the birth order for the chitlens are wrong, I lost my copy of Mockingjay on the tube a few days back.
As always my dear lovelies,
|ACP|
She stared out the window as she usually did, lost in a world of cannon fire and caves, the ticking of a clock and the shattering of a universe sounding behind her eardrums. "Why is mommy always so sad?" Primrose asked, and, almost smiling, Peeta picked up his only daughter and sat her on his lap. "Mommy isn't sad. She's remembering." he told her gently, tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind the child's ear. Prim sat quietly for a moment, digesting this information. "But you know what would make her so happy?" he went on, leaning down close and grinning widely. His daughter returned his grin and shook her head. It was a game they played, one of many. And Primrose loved them both in different ways, as a child often can love her parents. Mommy was the protector, the one who would hold her close when she cried and fight away the devils in the dark and soot of the empty world. Daddy was her buddy, her best friend and her greatest laugh. He was mommy's protector, her anchor to the house in the village and the suction to keep her out of the old memories.
"If you went over there and gave her a biiig hug. I bet you she would smile." Prim knew she would. Mommy always smiled when Prim was there. Even now, pregnant with her new baby sibling that the few other children in the other part of town told her would soon take her place, Prim knew that mommy would give her that special smile that she saved just for her.
Prim slid off of Peeta's lap and Katniss heard the thumping of the small girl's feet abusing the wooden floors, slamming down on her quick-paced way to see her mom. Primrose the second and Peeta had a sort of unspoken agreement of comrade, not unlike her own love for her late father. The two had been conspiring as they always did, naught but a moment before. The thought almost made her smile, the thought of them chattering away like little squirrels about nonsensical things. And then Prim was there, scrambling onto Katniss' lap, and struggling to wrap her spaghetti arms around her mother's swollen middle. The twitch at the side of her mouth was unfightable. The smile that followed gave the little girl such pleasure. One of the only things that can make mommy smile. "Gotcha mommy." said Prim, in the same loving, heartbreaking voice that echoed down through the halls of her memory so often. She finally tore her eyes away from the window and returned the hug, perhaps a bit harder than she meant to, but filled with love. "Got you too, little duck."