Chapter 3

We walk hand in hand into town. Our hospital should not even be considered a hospital. It is just couple rooms with a large waiting area. When we walk in, the door, it is empty but the receptionist at the front desk. She gives us paper work without even lifting her head. We sit down in the waiting area, and I look down at the clipboard, and feel my eyes well up with tears, but I hold them back and hand the clipboard to Peeta. I don't want to be here. Sitting here makes everything real. He looks me in the eyes and whispers everything is going to be okay. Peeta gets up and walks back to the receptionist, and hands her the unfinished paper work, and starts to walk back towards me with a huge grin.

"Excuse me!" The woman calls after Peeta, "You did not finish filling out the paperwork . . . Mrs." She started to say as she was looking for the name, "Mellark" she says under her breath, but just loud enough for us to hear. Her eyes practically pop out of her head when she puts it together. She quickly apologizes and walks into the back to where the doctor offices are.

After that everything happens quickly. We are taken back by Doctor Kaye, and are told to sit on the table. I sit on the table and Peeta sits on the chair on the side, and holds my hand. I look around the room; it is white on white with a florescent light hanging above us. I don't say anything because I know if I open my mouth to talk, I would start to cry. Peeta probably doesn't say anything because he knows how nervous I am.

"Peeta," I say and he turns his big blue eyes towards me.

"Katniss honey. It's okay," He says standing up whipping away the few tears the escaped.

"I can't do this," I say and more tears stain my cheeks.

"Yes, you can. You're the most brave person I know. You can do anything. Everything is going to be okay," He kisses my forehead at his last word.

"Not this," I say as I slide down the table onto my feet. Peeta grabs me and wraps his arms around me. I realize that I am shaking when she says soothing words into my ear. The door opens, and we break away to see Doctor Kaye standing in the room. He instructs me to sit on the bed again so he can have a look at my vitals. This time Peeta sits with me and holds me as doctor Kaye gets his stethoscope ready.

"So, how have these last two weeks been since I spoke to Peeta. Any symptoms starting?" He questioned, while taking my blood pressure.

The weeks didn't sound that long in the big picture, but when Dr. Kaye asked about them, they felt like each day dragged on. I wondered if I should tell him about the morning sickness. Didn't everyone just get that? It surely wasn't worth bringing up to make a fuss over, not in front of Peeta anyway. He'd already stayed home from the bakery three times this week because I couldn't keep anything down and was running back and forth to the toilet to vomit every hour, and on each occasion he would grit his teeth and try to stay strong for me. I could see how much it pained him to watch me heave repeatedly over the toilet, because of something he, initially, wanted.

I waved my hand dismissively. "Nothing out of the ordinary. I feel fine." I said, hoping he would buy it. I had bigger problems on my mind currently than the sickness that frequently took over. But of course, Peeta saw right through me.

"Katniss you don't have to lie to him, he's your doctor. You need to tell him everything." He said softly and nudged my arm in a gentle way. Why was Peeta always the one who had to do the right thing all the time?

The doctor stared at me, waiting for an answer.

"Well, actually, I've just been having a little nausea. But it's really not a big deal. It comes and goes pretty quickly." I said as nonchalantly as I could. Doctor Kaye scribbled something down on the paper in front of him.

"How many times have you actually vomited Katniss, if you don't mind me asking?" He asked patiently. I could tell he was only looking at it from a medical point of view, so I just thought of my baby. Everything I did now would have to be for it, and that included being honest, and getting past my trust and hospital issues.

"I can't really remember. It hasn't been that many." I shrugged before Peeta cut in again.

"Twelve. All at different times of the day but always every morning."

"It must be affecting your appetite Katniss. What foods can you keep down? The doctor questioned, keeping his gaze on me so that I would know that I had to be the one to answer, not Peeta.

"Nothing," I said as quietly as possible.

"I need to get you something for that. I will order it for you and you can come pick it up in two days. He gets up and writes the prescription and continues asking questions.

When he finishes the interrogation, and checking my vitals, he tells me to lay down. Peeta gets up and holds my hand next to me. Doctor Kaye asks me to pulls my shirt up to just above my bellybutton, and unbuttons my jeans. He puts cold jelly on my belly.

"This won't hurt, I just want to hear the baby's heart beat," Doctor Kaye says, "Unfortunately, I don't have more advance machines to look at the baby and do an ultrasound. This in my hand is called a Doppler. It will only allow us to hear the heartbeat. Don't be alarmed when it sounds very fast. It is supposed to sound like that." I look onto Peeta's eyes and see him looking at me with a huge smile. I know he is excited to hear it.

The room fills with a louds fast thumping sound. "That's your baby's heartbeat," He says. I looked back up to Peeta to see his eyes fill with water. He reaches to my face and wipes away my tears. I didn't even know I was crying until I see his hands wet with my tears. "It looks like you are about seven weeks pregnant," Doctor Kaye says and wipes the jelly off my belly.

"Okay Katniss, with that aside, I'd like to do a blood test today, that way I can send off the sample and have it back to you in a few days. Just to check the regular things like iron levels and so on. Is that okay?" He looked up at me over the top of his glasses for approval, but I did not give him any. I felt Peeta's hand close over my knee. Peeta knew what I was thinking, and my heart had been sent off into a panic.

Ever since all those times back in the hospital on various drips and being sedated on numerous occasions, I'd developed a complete phobia of them. To me, needles represented a means of control, a way of luring me into the awful blinding darkness that suffocated my soul. Needles meant reliving the past. I felt a lump rise in my throat and looked at Peeta. I knew what he would be saying if we weren't in the company of the doctor right now. "If I could take your place, I would go through it for you."

I shook my head.

"Katniss, this needs to be done, I need to make sure your healthy," Doctor Kaye said in as sweet of a voice as possible. Obviously trying to make my confortable.

"I-I-" I stuttered. That's when it hit me. My sister Prim was never going to see my baby. She is the only person who mattered in my life when I was younger. She was my only family besides my dad. My mother never cared about her so it was up to me to take care of her. That's when I heard it. Her screams. The filled the tiny white room, but when I looked up I did not see the florescent light above me, I saw a huge jabberjay perched on the light. It was the same bird that was in the 3rd quarter quell. I immediately curl up into a ball with my knees up to my chest, and my arms around my head. I hear Peeta's voice, but it is to far way to reach. I lift my head, reaching towards my back to grab my bow to kill the jabberjay, but my bow is missing. The voice in the distance is getting closer, but I still don't know who the voice belongs to. I feel warm arms circle around me, and a slight pinch on my thigh. Everything becomes fuzzy, and the jabberjay above me disappears as I fall into a black abyss.

. . . .

I'm aware of low voices off in the distance. I slowly open my eyes to see that I am on a couch. The walls are green like the trees in the woods, and the floor is white tiling. I slowly sit up, and feel a bandage on the crook of my arm. I focus my eyes on the two people sitting at the desk in the center of the room. I try tugging the bandage off of my arm when Peeta pulls my hand away.

"Peeta, what happened?" I asked looking deep into his eyes. I try to remember the last thing that happens, and that's when it hits me; I had a flashback of being in the 3rd quarter quell. Peeta probably sensed my discomfort of being in the hospital, and sits next to me on the couch wrapping his arms around me.

"Dr. Kaye just took a little blood from you," he pauses but continues, "He said that we can go as soon as you feel up to walking." That's the best news of the day! I can finally go home, curl up in a ball in our bed and cry. I just have to hold it together till them for Peeta's sake.

Peeta helps me to my feel, and I feel a little lightheaded but tell Peeta I'm fine. I don't want anything to stop us from getting home. As we near the exit, Dr. Kaye asks me if I'm okay, I lie and tell him yes and walk out, pulling Peeta with me.