I think about waking Peeta, but decide against it, one because he's sick, and two because he will kill Cato, no doubt if left unattended, and I may be strong, but I am not strong enough to refrain my piss husband. Also, if I wake him, he could very easily terrify all the kids, and make them scared of him, and I know he'll be really upset if that happens.
But I'm scared…I don't want to scare my kids. Whatever, some foul language won't do much, right? If I tell them to go upstairs, they'll just eavesdrop.
"Why are you guys doing here?" I cross my arms tightly across my chest.
"Well, I came to see Peeta." Delly says.
"He doesn't want to see you." I reply coolly.
"He loves me." She says. All the kids are aware that Peeta was engaged, even the triplets.
"If he loved you, he wouldn't be married to me. We wouldn't have kids. I know Peeta better than you do, or anyone for that matter, and if he loved you, he would be with you."
All the kids must put two and two together about Delly. I see Addi starting to sneak upstairs. "Addison Violet Mellark, do not go wake your father." I look back at her and she shuts her eyes and turns to me.
"Why?"
"Because I said no." she huffs and stays downstairs.
Rose, Addi and Ryan know Cato's name.
"What do you want?" I hiss.
"You." He says. "Delly ad I figured if Peeta has Delly back and you have me back-"
"I don't want you back!" I snap, and I bite my tongue hard to keep from shouting.
"Why?" he takes a step closer to me and I hold my stance.
"You know damn well why."
He kisses me, and I hear all the kids gasp.
Fine, you want to play games.
I know I shouldn't, but Peeta's going to be really pissed when he finds out they were here. When he finds out Cato was here and he just kissed me, he's going to be pissed at me that I didn't wake him up to let him handle it. If Peeta was on deaths door, he would still handle Cato. "Ryan." I say, glaring at Cato. "You know what to do."
Without a word, he disappears.
"Come on Katty, you loved it. Even back when we were sixteen you loved it."
I guess Ryan was moving fast, because Peeta is standing behind me.
"What," he takes a deep breath, and looks so much healthier than he did last night, "The fuck…are you doing in our house around our children? He isn't even looking at Delly. He doesn't even acknowledge her. Why are you even anywhere near my wife?"
"Because I love her."
Peeta takes a step forward and I put a strong hand on his chest and shoot him a 'the kids are all watching' look. I see him give me a small nod and look back at Cato.
"Leave." He says.
"She wants me. I kissed her and she kissed me back."
"Bullshit." He says angrily.
"It's true. Look at her. You can see it in her eyes. Her eyes are black with desire."
Peeta looks into my eyes. "You can stay." He says suddenly.
What?
"What?" I blurt.
"Yes. You can stay."
….a….
Peeta locked the house and called the FBI because Cato is on the top wanted list because we found out from research that at the age of eighteen, he killed three little girls after molesting them.
I'm like a hawk. All of the family is here, and I just pace, glaring at Cato.
"Where are the girls?" he asks.
"Oh fuck off!" I shout. I put the kids, all of them, in Peeta and I's room to watch TV.
"Relax." He puts his hands up.
"Don't talk to her." Peeta says.
Cato sighs. "Come on Katty. I love you."
"Fuck. Off." I hiss. I hear a knock on the door. It's a casual knock, but Peeta opens the door and the FBI come flooding in. I see Cato's face flash in fury as they cuff him and order Delly to never come near us again. Then they leave.
I go upstairs immediately to check on my babies, and even though I know they're okay, I still hug all of them tightly for a good minute and kiss all of their cheeks and tell them I love them.
"Are they gone?" Ryan asks.
"Yes." I mumble.
"Okay." He says. He gets up and goes right downstairs, and all the kids leave.
I lay down on my side if the bed and wait. It doesn't take long for Peeta to come upstairs and slam the door. "Why the fuck didn't you wake me up right when you saw him?" He demands.
"Your sick...you get uncontrollably angry around Cato...the kids would get afraid..." I bite my lip.
"Katniss I don't care! He has taken advantage if you mentally and physically. I'm not going to stand for it anymore! From now on, if you see him or hear anything about him, you tell me, okay?" His voice is still very angry and sharp. I cringe.
"Okay."
"Okay." He sighs. "I want you to know that I'm not trying to be mean...it's just...you and the kids are my priority...you guys are my priority, and it's my job as the man of the house to protect my family. Okay?"
I nod again, and whisper, "Okay."
"Okay, now come here and stop acting like a scolded child."
I get up and wrap my arms around his middle.
He hugs me back, but it doesn't feel enough.
It's like I've been running for a long time and my lungs are trying for air, but every time I take a deep breath, I cough. The only way to relief the pain is by breathing. Right now, I'm struggling for air. I move my arms from his waist to his next, and then I jump up with my arms locked around his neck and I squeeze him tightly. He sighs lightly and puts his arms around the middle of my back and squeezes back. It feels good, like I've finally got that air, and I feel the relief. I sigh back.
"I love you." I mumble.
"I love you too honey." He whispers. He loosens his grip and I loosen mine, but he doesn't put me down, he just started walking towards the stairs.
"Ready?" He is about three steps away from the stairs.
"Um, okay?"
He lifts me up on his shoulder. "Let's sing."
"Peeta, what are you doing?" I ask. I know everyone in the living room is getting quieter to eavesdrop.
"Just sing!"
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
"Um, okay." He starts singing instead, I join in. He starts down the stairs quickly with me on his shoulders and halfway there, he trips.
Fuck.
I know he tried to grab me, but I fall right off of him and my boobs hit the stairs and I fall the rest of the way down. I just lay there because my boobs hurt so fucking bad and tears sting my eyes. Peeta must've caught himself.
Everyone is quiet for a couple moments, and then Peeta starts swearing profusely. The adults join in. I know the kids are sleeping though, because they're not crying, and the swear words that everyone is using. I don't even want to move.
"You knocked her out cold!" Rye says to Peeta. "You dumbass!"
I suppose I shouldn't be putting my weight on my boobs. I use my arms to force myself up into a sitting position.
"She's not unconscious." Peeta snaps back. I can tell he feels terrible.
"Did you break something?" Mom starts checking every bone in my body. "Your fine." She sits back.
"No she's not fine." Peeta says.
"Your pussy?" Jo guesses. I shake my head. "Ass?" I shake my head again. Her eyes widen. "Tits?" I nod.
"Oh fuck." She groans. "You hit the stairs on your tits each time?"
I groan again and nod.
…..a…
I'm so pissed off. Mom insisted I go to the hospital, and of course, everyone agreed with her because she's a nurse. Well, everyone except for me. I was stuck there for almost two days getting breast exams, which really sucked. There was nothing wrong, even my nurse told me that, but Mom and Peeta insisted, and since Mom is…well, my mother and Peeta is my husband, they listened to them, not me. Now the paparazzi know so I'm leaving my family on Haymitch's order to go to Ellen. He's rushing me so bad that I don't even get to go home and take a shower and not smell like a fucking white sterile, bleached hospital.
This is stupid. I'm going to be twenty eight in a couple of months. I should be allowed to make my own decisions.
….a….
"So you've been in the hospital?" Ellen cuts right to the chase.
"Yes." I sigh.
"Well, what happened?" she asks. I think about lying, but if I do, the truth will get exposed, so I'm just going to tell the truth.
"Okay, so…Peeta and I, when we are together and not in public, we kind of, well…we become toddlers."
"Unless the kids act up…" she trails off.
"Well we normally control ourselves around the kids. This time was different though. We were walking out of our room, and keep in mind that everyone, family and friends, were downstairs. He, being Peeta, picked me up and tld me to start singing. I kept asking him why, so he started scream singing, and I joined,"
"What song?" Ellen asks.
"Um…" I frown. "I don't know…I think it was Call Me When You're Sober by Evanescence. Anyways he was singing and so was I and he started going downstairs-"
"Were you still on his shoulders?" she asks, and her eyes are getting wider.
"Yeah, I was still on his shoulders." I nod. "Anyways, we were going downstairs and he tripped halfway down. He fell forwards, and he tried to catch me but he couldn't. When I hit the stairs…" I sigh. "Okay, the edge of the stair was here," I hold my right hand up. "And then my…chest was here." I put my left hand against the right."
"So your boobs caught your fall?" Ellen cringes and crosses her arms across her chest.
"Yes. I fell eight stars down, and then each time I passed a step, I hit another stair with my boobs. I was just lying face down on the floor. Everyone was freaking out because, again, they were all downstairs. It was all quiet for a second and then Peeta started just swearing nonstop, and I think it was at himself. He felt so bad! Obviously he didn't do I on purpose. I mean, he was going to start crying."
"I would've felt so bad I would've been crying." Ellen admits. "But I would have probably been laughing, too."
"Well he wasn't laughing because they thought I was unconscious, and I might have been holding my breath without meaning it."
"Oh." She nods. "Then I wouldn't have been laughing. So what happened after that? Did someone call an ambulance?"
"No, because Peeta and Rye started to bicker so I forced myself to sit up. My Mom was there, and she's a nurse, and she insisted I go to the hospital, when I think I was fine. But of course, she's a nurse so everyone listened to her. They practically forced to go to the hospital. I almost escaped but Peeta's too strong. He picked me up and I kept screaming at him and telling me to put me down, but he's stronger and he won. I spent almost two days in a hospital getting breast exams."
"And your boobs are…?" she trails off.
"Fine, they're fine." I laugh. She nods, pleased.