I started school today… I suck at updating you guys I'm really sorry. Please leave a review! Check out my story Lovely Bones?
"It'd be good for you to sleep, Katniss. Do want to be with the twins? Or should we take them? Do you want to be alone?" He asked her before she went to sleep. Still drugged from morphling, Katniss just shrugged and murmured, "Okay," And let her head fall to the side. Peeta kissed her forehead and then took the twins downstairs with Prim while Lily stayed by Katniss's side until she fell asleep. Katniss wasn't sleeping now, but was drowsy and relaxed with the drugs. Lily and Katniss would ask each other questions. Lily asked about names for the twins.
"I don't… know…" Katniss moaned.
"Does Peeta have ideas, Katniss?"
"No. Yes. I don't know. Maybe. But I don't wanna name them." She yawned. "Why do I feel so weird?"
"We gave you morphling, remember? So you wouldn't feel pain. But you'll be better soon." Lily spoke. "How come you don't want to name your twins?"
"I don't know. Was it in Thirteen?"
"What?"
"Where Peeta and I… Peeta…"
Lily gulped. She wasn't sure what Katniss was asking. But she had a feeling she knew.
"Where Peeta and I made them?"
"…the twins…?" Lily asked quietly, feeling uncomfortable.
"Yeah."
"Um… yes? I mean, you were a month pregnant when we had spent over 4 months there, and Peeta had been there for a little over a month. So, yes. I suppose. That's… something you should ask him. Peeta, I mean."
Katniss nodded. "I remember that night. It was so different than I could have ever imagined. When he…"
Lily pursed her lips. This was getting strange. She didn't really want to know these kind of details. That was something only Katniss and Peeta should have knowledge of. But Katniss always said ridiculous things when she was drugged.
"When he—"
"Why don't you get some sleep?" Lily quickly cut Katniss off. "Your body must be exhausted after all that effort." Katniss nodded and accommodated herself a bit.
"Two babies…" She whispered as she closed her eyes.
Lily's lips stretched into a small smile. "Two babies." She echoed, smoothing back Katniss's hair as she was quickly taken by sleep. "It's gonna be okay." She wasn't sure why she had said that. But maybe Katniss was anxious about raising twins at the age of 18. Thankfully, there was not revolution to worry about anymore. Katniss felt grateful that she had never gotten pregnant before the Quarter Quell. That would mean that she would have been pregnant and the baby would have been born during the rebellion. Not that she had those kind of sexual interests in anyone at that time. She would have never had sex with anyone. By 'anyone', it only meant 2 young men.
…
"Katniss?" She felt a hand shake her shoulder, then a stroke on her cheek. "Katniss." Said the unmistakable voice. Peeta pressed his lips against her temple, then giving her a kiss there. He saw her eyes move under her eyelids. She breathed a bit harder, and her eyebrows wriggled. This was what she did every time she was waking up. Her eyelashes quivered, until she realized the curtains keeping the moonlight out had been closed, so it was completely dark. The light from downstairs illuminated the room with a soft orange glow. Her eyes opened slightly and she turned her head to where she could see Peeta's face. "Good evening, sleepy head. You feeling okay?"
"What time is it?" She asked, not answering his question.
"It's eleven. You slept for a good 7 hours. So did the twins. Actually, they're still making use of their time. Haymitch's here."
Katniss's eyes shot open. "Is he drinking?"
Peeta chuckled softly. "Mm hm. He's drunk."
"What?" Katniss hissed. "I told him not to—"
Peeta laughed again. "I'm just playing. He listened to what you wanted. He's sober."
Katniss sighed. "Good. That's all that matters. He can't have alcohol or be drunk in this house. Not with the twins here."
"I understand. I'd prefer he stick to it that way too."
"Why did you wake me, anyways? I was having some good sleep."
"Sorry. But your mom ordered you bathe. You still have blood down there. I'll help you, if that's okay with you."
Katniss yawned. "Yeah. That's fine."
Peeta warmed her hand in both of his. "So you feel okay?" He asked again.
"Yeah. Just tired."
"I can imagine." Peeta smiled. "I'll get your clothes, then I'll help you into the bathroom. Okay?"
"Okay." Katniss watched him close the door slightly, and then he left. One of the rays of light feel straight on one of her eyes. Her eyes watered with the light so she shifted her head to face the dark corner of the room. She found sleep again, but it felt like a matter of seconds until Peeta came back. He pulled the sheets away from Katniss and then slid his arms under her body and carried her out. She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes again. Peeta pushed open the bathroom door with his foot, and then set Katniss down on the cushioned stool. Katniss looked over at the bathtub to see that it was filled with water which had suds floating at the surface, floating. She looked back at Peeta, who was sitting in front of her. They looked into each other's eyes until Katniss looked away and her eyes flitted down at their intertwined hands. Peeta raised their hands to his lips.
They showed their love for each other with simple gestures. Peeta kissed each knuckle on Katniss's hands. She cupped his face with her hands and brought their faces together, then giving him a small peck on the nose. They embraced, pressing each other's lips against the other's shoulder or neck. Katniss released a breathy moan when Peeta nipped her neck with his lips. That was as far as they went. They couldn't do anything sensual. Not with Katniss's family downstairs after she had just given birth.
"Let's get you in that bath." Peeta murmured. Katniss smiled softly. They pulled away from each other and Peeta started to take her socks off. He undressed her with a bit of help from Katniss. She didn't mind doing this in front of Peeta anymore. They were both quite used to it, for they had seen each other's naked and scared bodies at least 5 times. Katniss got into the tub with Peeta's help. When she managed to sit down, she closed her eyes as the warm water relaxed her. Peeta ran his fingers through her hair. Peeta got a hold of the shampoo and Katniss's eyes opened at the sound of the bottle's snapping noise. She straightened her spine, her back facing Peeta as he started to scrub the sweet-smelling shampoo into her dark hair. The air was filled with a clean, minty aroma.
Katniss has already been bathed by Peeta twice, but those were times when they were together behind the shower curtain in 13, letting their hands run over each other's favorite places. Despite the touching, Katniss preferred it like this. Having the tub to herself. She was selfish.
Peeta finished washing her hair with conditioner which also had a minty fragrance to it. The water was no longer the clear color with suds but become a salmon pink color. It was because of the dried blood on her legs that was starting to come off as she bathed. Peeta handed her the bar of soap, and Katniss lathered it along her hands, then gave it back to him. She ran her hands along different parts of her body, which aroused Peeta slightly. Her hands passed along her collarbones, and then they would disappear under the water's surface, scraping at the stubborn blood inside of her thighs. The water got pinker. Peeta opened the tub's drain, allowing some of the bloody water to get out, and then he turned on the tap again so that clean water filled the half of the tub, so it wasn't all blood anymore. Katniss's bath ended with Peeta rubbing soap on her shoulders and back. Then he got a towel and drained the rest of the water, leaving Katniss cold in the tub. He took his socks off and stepped in next to a shivering Katniss. He wrapped her in the towel. "I'm going to lift you out, okay?" Katniss nodded. Peeta counted to three and he carried Katniss out, despite the water on her was dripping all over him. He set her down on the brown rug on the floor, and quickly got another towel to start drying her off as she kept warm in the towel that she was surrounded in. He started at her legs, and then Katniss voluntarily started to dry her torso, her arms and her crotch, staining the towel with a pale stain of red.
Katniss looked down at her stomach and gasped. She covered her stomach with her towel quickly.
"What is it?" Peeta asked.
"Something's wrong with my stomach."
"What? Let me see." Katniss hesitantly opened her towel, exposing her olive torso, which had saggy and wrinkled skin all over her stomach and abdomen. Her fingers poked her stomach.
"No, Katniss. That's normal."
"This?" She pulled at the skin and it stretched easily. "This is disgusting. How is this normal?"
"They're the left over skin form your pregnancy. Your skin stretched so much, that now you have… um… this. But don't worry, you just need to do exercise."
"Why are you such on expert on pregnancy?"
"Your mom told me a lot of things."
"And not me. I'm the one who should know. Why didn't she tell me?"
Peeta shrugged. "Who do you trust more, Katniss? Your mother? Or me?" Katniss stared at him confused.
"You. I trust my mom but…"
"Yeah, I know. That's why she told me. If she told you directly, you'd be hesitant to trusting her. It's hard for you trust her. I understand. But that's normal. Like a balloon, let's say. You get air into a balloon, it expands. But when the air is let out, it's stretchy. Same thing happened with your stomach."
"Oh." Katniss looked down again. "We need names for them, Peeta."
"Yes. But I wanna hear you try some names. You barely ever try. I don't think you ever have, actually. Give me some."
Katniss sighed and observed the tiled floor. As Peeta started to dry her hair with a towel.
"Well we know the girl is a fighter. Maybe we should name her something strong-sounding?" Peeta suggested. He reached for Katniss's clothes, and started to help her dress into a clean new nightgown.
"Like what? Thorns?"
"Thorne. Pretty name."
"I don't like the 'or' part. Too intense for our baby. I don't want them to be fighters, Peeta."
"Why not? You want them to be weak or something?"
"That's not what I meant. Like soldiers. I don't want them involved in any of that."
"And they won't be. We'll tell them the risks. They have us as examples in the future. Anyways. Give me some names that sound….. You know."
"Aster." Katniss said, as Peeta buttoned up her nightgown.
"That's a good one. Sounds pretty tough."
"Um… Here's some nature ones. Not tough or anything. Holly… Kalei, Olive. Violet. Flo. Flo means arrow in some old language. Not sure which one. Poppy. Fern, Briar—"
"Briar." Peeta said slowly, tasting the name.
"Briar? You like Briar?"
"It's pretty. What's briar?"
"A kind of pant that grows thorns, actually,"
Peeta smiled. "You want Briar? Do you like it?"
"It's nice."
"All that's left is the boy." Katniss smiled at him.
…
When Katniss's bath was over, they left the bathroom and heard voices in the guest room, where Katniss had been sleeping. Peeta helped Katniss walk there to find Lily, Prim and Haymitch. Prim was watching the twins, as they wriggled in their little blanket-covered tubs that acted as cribs. Lily and Haymitch spoke with each other. Haymitch caught sight of Katniss. "Hey sweetheart. Congratulations." Katniss smiled slightly as Peeta helped her sit in a chair.
"Thank you." She murmured.
"I've never really seen newborns before. But I'll tell you that those two sure are something. The boy has those pretty sweetheart eyes of yours." Katniss grinned. "And the girl has Peeta's eyes and it scares me. They're so insanely blue. Like sapphires or something. Bluer than Peeta's, if feels like. Maybe it's just the fact that I looked at her too long." Peeta chuckled at his mentor's comment. He walked towards the babies in their tubs and realized the twins had been changed into footie pyjamas with tiny knit hats on their heads and baby mitts on their hands. He smiled as they slept side by side on their backs. The baby boy twitched and yawned, but kept his mouth open, sticking his tongue out to lick his rosy lips. Peeta held his son's tiny mitt-covered hand. He could see that the baby's nose was pointed, but still a bit rounder than Katniss's, which probably meant he had his dad's nose. His tiny, silver grey Seam eyes opened and peered up at him, blinking slowly. They had flecks of dark grey and pale, feather white and thin silvery blue stripes around his black pupils.
Peeta could see Katniss in there clearly. He slowly picked up the fragile baby in his arms. Then the boy's lips formed into his mother's scowl.
In the next chapter: Peeta's little baby baker boy gets his name!
