Chapter 7
My heart stops and I find that I can't catch my breath. My hand is shaky as I reach across the desk to pick up the picture. Peeta scoots his chair closer to mine and we both peer at the little printout.
I break out into a cold sweat and embarrassment takes over my face. I can feel my emotions get the better of me and my face starts to flush and my eyes begin to tear. My voice cracks as I blurt out, "I can't see her! I don't know what I'm looking at."
Peeta looks at the doctor with huge eyes, "I don't get it either."
Dr. Pine chuckles, "It's okay, I should have explained." He takes the pen in his hand and leans over the desk to point out the different images on the page. "This is your uterus that we are looking at." Then he points to an odd shaped blob. "And this is your little girl, she's about half an inch long."
I stroke the part of the picture that he says is her. I start giggling. I can't believe myself. This isn't how I normally act. I'm never this emotional, going from crying to giggling. I'm not sure if this is because of hormones or I've been possessed, but I'm not liking either option.
Peeta gets a huge grin on his face and his bright blue eyes are staring into mine. I suddenly hope to myself she has his eyes, they're beautiful. I sweep his hair away from his brow, and give him a soft kiss on the lips, forgetting the doctor is there, forgetting anything else in this world exists. At this moment, it is just Peeta, our baby, and me. Our family, it's the first time I realize our family is together. Peeta has been my family for years, but at this moment it feels complete. It feels so right and I hate myself for not having this feeling years ago. I'm angry that I denied us this opportunity for so long.
Sometimes, he scares me with the what seems like the ability to read my mind. He speaks in a soft whisper, "This was worth the wait."
The doctor clears his throat and stands up. "I have an 11:30 appointment. It was a pleasure meeting you both. I will need to see you in about four weeks, Katniss. Please call Mini at my office and she will schedule the appointment. If possible, I'd like you to come to my office. I have some other tests I would like to run at that point, and I can't bring that equipment with me."
I nod and look at Peeta. "I guess I could go by myself. I don't want you to have go through that again."
Peeta shakes his head, "No, I'd like to go. I'm sure it will be okay. I haven't had an episode in so long, that I'm sure it was just time for another and the hospital was the trigger. I'm going to try."
We all walk out of the room and see Mini and Dr. Pine out the door. We turn back into the house and head towards the kitchen to see a very upset and sore Haymitch sitting at our table.
"What the hell was all that about?" Haymitch asks while adjusting the towel filled with ice on his face.
Peeta looks at me and tilts his head towards the picture then at Haymitch. I let out a deep sigh and hand the paper over to him. I make sure my tone lets him know I really don't want him a part of this day, "Here, see for yourself, old man."
He snatches it from my hand, "What the hell is it? It looks like a lima bean."
I roll my eyes, "I'm pregnant, you idiot. What do you think a doctor was doing here?"
"I didn't really have time to process it, some asshole punched me in the nose." He glares at Peeta who is already starting to laugh.
"You know the rules, you walked in when you weren't supposed to. You had to pay the price. And, I don't understand how you haven't figured out by now, if you'd knock, this wouldn't happen." Peeta says after regaining his composure.
Haymitch grunts in acknowledgement, "Well, good to know you aren't shooting blanks. Congrats, I guess. Now you two will know first hand the special kind of hell that is raising children."
I look at him like he has lost his mind, "You don't know anything about child rearing. And I think we will do just fine. We've survived much worse."
"I practically had to raise two ungrateful teenages and look at me now."
I snatch the picture back from him, "Don't think for a second this kid will call you grandpa."
He looks at me in disgust, "Who the hell said I'd want that?" He sets the towel with ice on the table, "I came over here for a reason, you know. I had just gotten off the phone with Joanna, Annie's had another accident."
My mind immediately goes to the darkest of places. Annie has had several "accidents" over the years. One time it was her trying to drown herself, once she cut herself, once she took too many pills, the list is unfortunately long. She's been in and out of the mental hospital in District 4 too many times to even remember. Dr. Aurelius could not reach her like he could the rest of us. Her pain was too deep and her mind too frail. The loss of Finnick and raising Finn turned out to be too much for her to handle. Joanna agreed to move to Four to be with her and help take care of Finn, but Joanna wasn't too much better. She had her own demons and was never really one for children. We've taken care of Finn off and on through the years. He's a gentle and sweet boy, but cannot stay out of trouble. He tries to do his best, but how well can he do being raised by two people who can barely take care of themselves? With a mother that constantly wishes for death? We've offered to have Finn live with us on several occasions, but he feels guilty leaving his mother and I don't really think she could lose both her husband and only child.
I cross my arms over my chest and Peeta puts his arm around me. I take a deep breath and ask Haymitch, "What was it this time?"
"She tried to jump out a window. Finn caught her in time. She probably would have only broken a few bones, but it was enough to land her back in the loony bin."
Peeta starts getting red in his face, "Haymitch, don't say that about her. This could be the fate of any one of us, and you know it."
Haymitch gets up from the table and starts walking out of the kitchen. "You guys may need to take Finn for a while. It looks like she'll be there for a while and Joanna can't handle him right now. He's gotten in with some bad kids and she can't focus on both Annie and him."
Peeta nods, "He will be here in time to start the new school year. He can help out in the bakery, its about to be our busy time of year . It'll be fine. I'll call Joanna and get him a train ticket."
Haymitch pats Peeta on the shoulder, "You're a good man, Mellark. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a little nurse to call." He takes a long pause and then surprises us both, "And, I really am happy for you two, you're going to make great parents. I always thought you would." He sees the shock on our faces and gets a broad smile on his face, "The little shit can even call me Uncle."
I push Haymitch out the door and shut it behind him. I turn to Peeta, "The thought of Haymitch dating is quite disturbing. I almost feel bad for her."
Peeta shudders, "I'm pretty sure most of my nightmares now consist of Haymitch and Effie after finding out they were apparently, what did he call it, fuck buddies?"
I stick my tongue out, repulsed by the imagery. "Ugh, don't remind me." Then I think a minute, and laugh knowing exactly how to tease Peeta, "Do you think she had the makeup on the whole time? I wonder if she took off the wig." I laugh even louder, and say in my best Effie voice, "Oh, Haymitch, don't stop!"
Peeta walks away from me, "You're disgusting. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I have calls to make."
A/N: I hope you guys liked a little more sassy Haymitch. I actually toned him down quite a bit, I think he got a little too raunchy in the first draft. But, I like to think that Katniss has lightened up over the years and can now joke more and actually poke fun at Peeta every once in a while. If you have any suggestions or anything you'd like to see, let me know! I'd really love to see more comments. (I'll even dance if that will get me more, I'm shameless). And I really appreciate everyone who has been following this story, commenting, and favoritting (yeah, I like to make up words...) it. My husband is actually going to be working out of town in the next few weeks, so hopefully, that will give me more time to update quicker. :)
