Chapter 4
Katniss's POV
Peeta sits there, stunned. His hand falls slowly off my face and onto the bed. I want him to say something but it takes about a minute for him to answer. He must have gone in a small state of shock. "Katniss, are you serious?" He sounds happy and the smile now appearing upon his face confirms his tone. "Peeta, of course I'm serious. Why would I joke about something like this?" His eyes flickers down to my stomach.
"It is mine. Isn't it Katniss?" He must think it may be Gale's baby but it's definitely his, I love Peeta, not Gale. Whatever Gale and I had before the Quarter Quell all went away after the night Peeta and I conceived this child. "Yes Peeta. You're the father." I cry, starting to tear up, tears of joy- the best kind of tears. Peeta's face lights up with joy and he lets out a staggered breath "Oh my god! I'm going to be a father. I am a father." He is almost crying too. He is so overjoyed. That's exactly the reaction I was waiting for, I knew how much Peeta loves children. And now he has one of his own.
"Can I?" I points to my stomach, gesturing to touch our growing baby. "Yes! Yes!" He places his hand on my stomach and the tears that have been held back, spill onto my cheeks. His touch is uplifting and his hand on my stomach makes me so happy, it feels perfect. He then leans into my stomach a little and says, "Hello, I am your Daddy. I love you so much." He places his other hand on it too and my hands find his and I place them on top of his. I look down to the hands laying on my slightly swollen abdomen. I smile at him and he smiles back.
The next minute I feel a little kick under my hand. "Katniss, did she just kick?" He looks up at me. "Yeah, she did." I look down at him. With a big smile on my face. "So are we having a girl?" He asks. "I don't know. Do you want to know because I'm sure that I could get an ultrasound." He looks at me then down to my stomach. "No. I would like to wait to see if it's a girl or a boy. If that's okay with you?" He asks, blushing at his request. "Of course it is Peeta! Whatever you want or would like, I am already happy with that decision."
He rubs his thumb side to side with mine. "Katniss, we're a family." He stares into my eyes, still full of love and now extreme excitement. "Yes Peeta, we are." Tears fall down onto my cheeks. Peeta leans in and presses his lips to mine. He lifts his hands off our baby and onto my cheeks. I pull my hands off and put them on Peeta's neck. He pulls me in and we just sit there, kissing making up for lost time.
We end up kissing for a few minutes and then we interrupted by Haymitch. He pushes through the door and Peeta and I become alert back into the real world. Haymitch. I haven't seen him for months. I am very grateful for him fulfilling my wishes- to keep Peeta safe and alive. I jump off the bed and rush up to him. "Haymitch!" I jump into his embrace and he holds onto me tightly. We break away and Peeta comes and stands next to me "Hey sweetheart." He looks at us both. "You guys both look great! Before you got back, Peeta was an absolute wreck." Peeta pulls me close and me when I look to him.
"Haymitch, you'll never guess what happened." Peeta excitedly announces. "What? What have I missed now?" He looks at Peeta then I and then Peeta and I look at each other, smiling like absolute idiots. "Katniss is pregnant! We're going to be a family, for real!" Peeta makes it sound amazing, which it isn't anything less than. We are going to be family and I could not be any more excited for it to begin. Haymitch looks at me, stunned. "Really?" He sounds so surprised. Gosh, why is this such a surprise to people? "Yes, Haymitch. I'm pregnant, for real." He lights up a bit. "Congratulations you two! I'm so happy for you guys! I thought that the baby bomb was just for the cameras." He says. "Well, I only found out just before, but she was already pregnant at that stage." Peeta says.
After a little while of talking, my brain has a thought, Haymitch can be the godfather of our child. I tug on Peeta's shirt to grab his attention. "Can we speak over here for a minute please?" Peeta looks at me a bit confused. "Okay?" He answers, confusion filing his voice. "Haymitch we will be right back. Don't go anywhere!" "Okay sweetheart." I turn around and walk over to the other side of the room, with my hand laced with Peeta's.
I stop and look into Peeta's eyes and then my eyes glaze over to Haymitch who is looking around the room, in his own little world. "I want Haymitch to be the godfather of our baby." I say quietly so he could not over hear us. "That's a great idea Katniss! And Effie could be the godmother. She would love that." I forgot about Effie, she must be here in 13. "Yes. That seems perfect!" Peeta places my cheek and we walk back to Haymitch. "Haymitch." Peeta pulls him from his thought and he looks at us, wondering where this conversation is going to lead. "We would like you to be the godfather of our baby." He looks at us, shocked
"Really? Oh, thank you!" He then pulls me into a tight embrace, he must be generally overjoyed, but he had to see this coming. He is like a father to Peeta and I. He lets go and starts to give a man hug to Peeta. "Thank you sweetheart." He thanks. "And we would like Effie to be the godmother." He lights up. "Oh she is going to have a little meltdown when she finds out." She will. She will be so overwhelmed from us thinking about her in such a big way. "We could tell her tomorrow. I'm getting tired" I state to the two of them.
"Okay. I'll leave you two alone. I'll check in tomorrow and I will take you to Effie's compartment. Bye." He starts to walk over to the door. "Bye Haymitch." We both say and then he is gone, leaving the door swinging. He places his arm around my arms, probably to keep me up since I'm still weak, it slipped my mind, I've been too excited to worry about these kind of things. Being tired and sore, as well as extremely weak in some areas of bodily functions.
We make our way to my bed and Peeta helps me onto it. I slip under the covers and my head falls onto the pillow and I sigh at contact. I look at Peeta he sits on the chair next to my bed, he looks tired. "What are you doing? Get up here. I haven't had you for months, I need you to help me sleep." I wave my arm to gesture him to join me. He gets up and slides under the covers with me. He puts his arm around my shoulder and the other on my stomach, slowly caressing it. I place my hand on his chest and whisper, "Peeta? Will you stay with me?"
This is the same question I asked him on the train on the Victory Tour. "Yeah. Always." "I will always stay with my family." He finishes. He looks down to me and I lean up and kiss him. I move back and put my head on his chest, listening to his beautiful heart. That I know only belongs to me and our baby. I close my eyes and start to think about Peeta and I, holding onto our little baby. I start to fall asleep and I hear Peeta whisper, "I love you Katniss. I will stay with you, always." I smile a bit at this, he always knows how to melt my heart. The last thought I have that night is about Peeta and our baby. They have been the only thing I let my mind think about for the last four terrible months. Even before that time! The last thing I remember is hearing Peeta's heart beating in his chest.