I'm on my feet in seconds, pulling clothes on. "You have leukemia? When were you diagnosed?" Peeta immediately gets up and starts getting dressed.
"I was diagnosed last week."
"Mom, are you going to die?" I whisper.
She lets out a shaky breath. "Probably."
"Why? Leukemia is curable!"
"For lots and lots of money. Nobody has that kind of money. It's like a million dollars to completely cure me. Honey, there's no way. Your father and I are broke. We can hardly afford the phone I'm on now."
I start crying. "Mommy." I sound like a little girl again.
"I'm sorry honey. I'm so, so sorry."
Peeta takes the phone from my hand and pulls me into a tight hug.
"We're coming to visit." He says.
...8...
Everyone came with us. Rye and Graham and Christina, Graham's wife, and Emma, Graham's daughter who is six months and then Ashley, Rye's fiancé and then Jo and Blight and Mason and Finn and Ann and Ben and then my six kids and then Peeta obviously. I haven't spoken much in the last few days; I've just sat with my head in my hands. I know the kids have school, but if my Mom is going to die I want them to at least meet her.
I need to be positive. She only got diagnosed a week ago. She's my mommy, the woman who birthed me and fed me and brushed my hair and rid my fevers and dried my tears. She raised me and if I don't help her in going to lose her. Finn is taking it just as hard as I am. Peeta slips his hand under my shirt again and be starts rubbing my back.
"She's going to be okay." Peeta says. "Don't you worry."
...8...
I want into the house and know immediately something is up. It's nighttime and all the lights are off. It smells like all the food has gone bad. I reach over and feel for the light switch that I know is there and flip it on. It doesn't work.
"Maybe the power is out?" Finn suggests. I feel my way into the kitchen and the nauseating smell intensifies. Something tells me it isn't the power.
I try to turn on the sink and it doesn't work. That means they went broke and they haven't been paying bills.
"It smells like smoke." Ryan says. I hear the front door shut.
"There's a light in the backyard." Christina says. I walk out of the kitchen. We can't see each other at all.
I walk over to the backdoor and open it.
Mom is sitting in a chair, and she's skinny and pale, and Dad is sitting across from her. They're surviving on food from the woods. I walk all the way out of the house. Dad catches my eye and smiles. "I almost thought you weren't actually going to come." Mom turns around in her chair, and it takes every ounce of my willpower not to cry in front of the kids. She's so pale it's like she's a sheet of fresh printer paper, and she has bags under her eyes.
I connect the dots right away. "You weren't actually diagnosed last week, were you?" I ask.
She looks at Dad and sighs. "No."
"How long ago were you diagnosed?" I ask. Peeta comes outside, and then the triplets come running, and Elizabeth follows, and then everyone else comes. Ryan and Addi linger behind me. She doesn't answer me, and I feel my anger rise and my heart drop. "Mom."
"Last year."
I lose it.
"Last year!"
"Katniss," she sighs.
"Mom." I whisper, and I'm about to break down again. "You didn't tell me? You were diagnosed last year and you didn't tell me?"
She shrugs.
I shut my eyes and angrily wipe away the tears. "You're on deaths door, aren't you?"
"I wanted to tell you before it was too late."
"But you still can be cured." I walk over to her. "Right? TThere has to be something."
"It's way too expensive. We've tried everything. It's way too expensive sweetie, it's like half a million dollars."
"I have half a million."
"Well I'm not going to let you spend your money on me."
"Well you're not in charge of what I do."
"No, but Peeta is, and he won't let you spend half a million dollars."
"Actually um…" Peeta hesitates. "I was kind of going to do that anyways."
"Well you can't." Mom says. "Your father is in charge of what happens to me."
I look angrily at Dad, and the fire reflects off my eyes. "So you plan on letting her die?"
"No."
"What?" Mom asks.
"Lillian, this was my plan all along. I knew Katniss and Peeta were going to pay for it. Love, I know Katniss is way too stubborn to be told no."
"No. I won't let you."
"You don't have a choice. I'm not going to let you die." I say.
"I'll kill myself!" she stands up and wobbles slightly. She's only in her very early fifties. "I'm not going to let you spend all of your money." She starts shaking her head.
"I'm pregnant." I blurt.
Her eyes widen. "What?" she asks. Everyone has stopped what they're doing.
"You heard me. I'm pregnant. You're going to live. You're going to do it for me and Dad, for Juliette and Caden and Cody and Elizabeth and Addi and Ryan, and for Ben and Mason and Peeta and for the baby on the way. You are going to live because you are like the head of the family. We aren't a family without you. You're going to live for the baby."
She narrows her eyes. "You're lying." She says, "You aren't pregnant. You're lying."
"I'm not lying." I insist, and I know she's falling for it.
Prim walks out of the house out of nowhere. "If you have quadruplets I'm going to laugh my ass off." she pauses. "Mom, you aren't going to die."
"It's my time to go." She says. "God has made his choice."
"If god wanted you to die he wouldn't have given you a curable cancer." I retort. "Now I'm going to pick your ass off the cold hard ground and there isn't a single thing you can do about it."