"No, that goes in the guest bedroom," I tell Nan. He rolls his eyes but dutifully picks the box back up and heads up the stairs.
Today, we're starting to move into our new house. Once our family and friends found out we were building it, it magically got done ridiculously fast.
I'm directing everyone today, a clipboard in my hands, barking out orders left and right. Peeta refuses to allow me to do any physical labor. I can't honestly say I mind.
Almost all the furniture is brand new. We're keeping our old house in Victor's Village. Mostly, we'll use it to house guests, family, and friends, but I'm sure sometime we'll need to use it.
The house turned out, well, perfectly. It looks like it belongs here, on the shores of the lake. We used lumber from the woods outside 12 to build it. Inside, it's warm and homely, but Beetee, as promised, has been hard at work installing all kinds of gadgetry. The one that I'm most excited about is the security measures he's installed in both the twins' nursery and the nursery we built for the baby I'm currently lugging around. He even put in night vision cameras, so Peeta and I can check in on our children right from our bed.
"Where does this one go Kat?" Peeta asks me. I can't see his face as it's hidden by the box he's holding.
"Our linen closet," I check it off on my list.
He begins to walk by me to the stairs, but I reach out and grab his shirt. I pull him down and kiss him.
"What was that for?" He smiles.
"What, I need a reason to kiss my husband?" I smile back.
"No, certainly not, Mrs. Mellark."
With that, I kiss him again before slapping him on the butt.
"Get moving," I chide playfully.
Soon it's midday and I declare a stoppage so everybody can be fed. We eat outside by the lake, the sun shining down from a clear blue sky.
I finish my sandwich, Josh propped on my shoulder, and glance at Peeta next to me.
He's making funny faces at Eve and she's having a ball. He blows a raspberry on her tummy and she bursts out with her baby laugh, causing everyone to look and grin.
"That's how your mommy reacts too," he tells her. I slap his arm. "Hey! What was that for?"
"I do not react like that," I say indignantly, sticking my chin up in the air with defiance.
"Oh yea?" He smirks. He turns back to Eve. "Shall we see if mommy is telling the truth baby? Yeah? Sorry Kat, your daughter thinks you're lying."
He takes me by surprise when he leans over and somehow manages to blow a raspberry on my tummy. The giggles that escape my mouth are entirely involuntary.
"Aha!" He declares triumphantly. "You were right my beautiful girl. I guess you take after her, huh?"
"You caught me off guard!"
"How else was I supposed to get a genuine reaction out of you?" He grins. Looking around, I realize almost everyone is watching us with huge smiles on their faces.
"What?" I shrug at them. "Eat your food!"
We all laugh and I can't help but think this is what my life is going to be like for the next sixty or so years. Spending my days with my family and friends. Laughing at the smallest things. Raising our children with Peeta. Being surrounded by loved ones.
I remember back to the Reaping, when I volunteered for Prim. I knew what I was doing, and when I took her place, I never expected to see 12 again. I resigned myself to dying in the Arena so that my baby sister could live the life she deserves.
But fate had other plans. Those were in the form of the blond haired, blue eyed boy sitting next to me in the grass.
He went into the Arena prepared to never come out too. Except he was prepared to do whatever it took to make sure that I was the one who went home. From the second he was Reaped, that was his only goal. My survival.
I'm well aware that logically, we shouldn't be here right now. Not only did we go into the Arena and come out together, we fought and eventually led a revolution. Both of us received multiple injuries and wounds along the way, but we always made it back to one another.
I'm also fully aware of how lucky I am. Peeta would just shrug it off, but I know it's true. From Peeta being willing to listen to why I lied to none of our injuries being too serious, I know we've literally dodged a lot of bullets getting here. The thing that I feel most lucky about, however, is our children.
Whenever I hold them, or look at them, or even think about them, my heart skips a beat. Sometimes I lose myself gazing at how beautiful and perfect they are. Peeta gave me this wonderful gift, the gift of a family.
After lunch the moving resumes. By the time the sun starts to set, we're almost completely moved in. Most of our volunteers head home. Finnick, Annie, Johanna, Prim, Peeta's parents and brothers, and my mom stay behind. Peeta fires up the grill and I start making a huge salad with Annie and Prim's help. Johanna scoffed when I asked her to help. Typical.
We decide to utilize our huge wrap around porch, so everyone finds a seat and laughter fills the air as we eat.
Peeta is telling his brothers and Finnick a funny story about the twins. A few days ago I had morning sickness and they picked that exact moment to both soil their diapers. Peeta was almost tearing his hair out trying to do a million things at once, and I ended up on the bathroom floor laughing so hard I thought I was going to cry.
Suddenly, my finely tuned hearing registers a twig snapping maybe fifty feet away.
"Hey kid, got any leftovers?"
Everyone turns at the voice, and, standing near the front steps is the President.
"Haymitch!" I yelp, immediately darting out of my seat, bounding down the steps, and almost tackling him. We haven't seen him in a few weeks, and we all missed him terribly.
"Hey sweetheart," he smiles as he hugs me back. He gives me a soft, almost fatherly kiss on the cheek. "Nice place you got here."
"Thank you," I smile back. I wrap my arms around his arm and escort him up to the porch. "No protection detail?" I ask, looking around for his usual retinue.
"Nah, I told them to stay at my house in the Village. I wanted to come here as Haymitch, not as the President."
"Well you always have a place to stay here," Peeta grins as he gives Haymitch a hug.
After he's greeted everyone, I fix him a plate, and he sits down next to me. Without even asking, he reaches down into they playpen we have set up and scoops Eve into his arms, giving her a soft kiss on the head.
"I missed you," he whispers to her. She's recognized him quickly and her face lights up. "I hope you've been giving your mommy a hard time. Lord knows she's an expert at dishing it out herself."
The joy I feel watching my mentor with my daughter is indescribable. He truly loves my children, and they love him right back. It's like he was meant to be their godfather.
Eventually, Peeta and I put the twins to sleep in their new nursery. Everyone departs, promising to come over in the morning to finish odds and ends. Soon, it's just Peeta, Haymitch and me. We sit on the porch, looking out over the lake. It's illuminated by a radiant full moon. The peacefulness is exactly what Peeta and I craved.
"So how's everything in the other Districts?" Peeta asks.
"Coming along," Haymitch answers. "It's been a tough transition, trying to create an entirely new government, but the support we get from the citizens is overwhelming."
"Sorry we turned down the Governor's job," Peeta says quietly.
"Whoa whoa whoa there kid," Haymitch puts his hand up to stop Peeta. "You are exactly where you're needed. Right here. With your family. Besides, I honestly wouldn't want you to take the job."
"What? Why not?" I ask.
"You really think I want to have to listen to you bitch and moan to me?" He teases.
We laugh and I jokingly punch his upper arm.
"There is one thing I need to speak with you two about," he says seriously.
"Okay," Peeta and I say in unison.
"I need you to come to the Capitol next week."
Even hearing the word 'Capitol' sends a shiver down my spine. Haymitch notices.
"I know," he nods sympathetically.
"Why?" Peeta asks the obvious.
"Beetee, Plutarch and I have been planning a television special," he explains. "The people, well, got used to seeing you two on TV. We'd like it if you would agree to do an interview."
"With Caesar Flickerman?" I can't hide the disdain in my voice.
"No."
"Then who?"
"Effie."
Once Peeta and I climb into our new bed in our new house, Haymitch has headed back to the District. Peeta wraps me up in his arms with my head on his chest. He gently kisses the crown of my head.
"You were a pretty good foreman today," he smiles.
"Johanna didn't really like doing what she was told," I grin.
"Either way, we're almost completely moved in."
"I know. It's almost surreal. I remember when you showed me the nursery and told me your idea to build this house. There were a few times between then and now I thought it'd never be possible."
"I promised you we would," he points out. "You know I do everything I can to not break a promise to you."
"That you do," I confirm, kissing his bare chest.
"So, um, about this whole interview thing," he starts unsurely. "How do you feel about it?"
"I don't really know yet," I honestly answer. "I know going back to the Capitol will be tough, but at least we have each other and the kids."
"Remember the first time we went there?" He whispers.
I nod.
"I thought I'd never see 12 again," he continues.
"You were already planning on dying to save me," I state. It's not a question.
"Yeah," he nods guiltily. "Even if you were, um, well, cold to me to begin with."
"I knew if I got to know you it would make it that much harder…..," I can't continue the sentence.
"To kill me," he finishes. It's not accusatory. He's just stating the facts.
"Yeah," it's my turn to nod guiltily.
"You don't need to feel bad about it," he assures me. "In case you forgot, I did tell you to kill me and go home when they revoked the rule change."
"I know. When you let me go after the trakerjacker incident and fought Cato, I figured it out. You were the only person in that Arena trying to get somebody else other than themselves out alive."
Silence envelops us, and I inwardly curse myself for bringing up our rocky beginning. Truthfully, no matter what he says, I think I'll always feel guilty. Guilty for not believing in him. Guilty for lying, for breaking his heart.
I hate that we have to go to the Capitol. I'm excited to see Effie, which blows my mind, but the Capitol is something completely different. The people there aren't the hugest supporters of the Rebellion. They're terrified of what the rest of the Districts will do to them now that Snow is gone. Now that the Districts aren't under the Capitol's thumb, bending to their every whim.
Not only was the Capitol where we were taken after we were reaped, it's also where Gale's trial was held.
It seems like it was so long ago, but in reality it's only been a matter of months. I remember the crowds outside the courthouse. I remember the looks Gale gave me during the proceedings. I remember breaking down on the stand telling the story of how Gale almost took everything from me. I remember the verdict, him getting sentenced to death.
I wasn't lying to Peeta when I said that I'd left Gale behind, that the part of my life involving him was over. But it still brings various emotions bubbling to the surface when I think about the Gale I met in the woods all those years ago, to the Gale that tried to kill us. It's like he was two different people. Or maybe I just never knew him at all.
Hopefully we won't have to spend all that much time in the Capitol. In my opinion, we could never set foot in it again and that would be perfectly fine. I love our home. I love 12, the woods, the lake, the serenity. The Capitol is cold, uniform, unwelcoming.
As I slowly drift off to sleep, my husband's arms protectively on my stomach where our third child slowly grows, I know that in the end we'll be okay.
Because, as always, we have each other.
