Author's Note:

I noticed yesterday (2/10) that even though I posted a chapter, the "updated" date for the story remained from Tuesday (2/9). Weird. So for anyone that didn't see I posted a chapter yesterday, I did! If you want to read it, it is there. :D

This is the last chapter before the epilogue. Fair warning: I will be traveling today, so it's possible the final chapter will not be posted tomorrow, but I will do my best!

Thank you to my awesome reviewers! You guys rock!

Hope you all enjoy :D

Chapter 14: Peeta

I desert my companions as soon as we reach the house. Leaping from the vehicle, I run as fast as I can, which is much slower than I'd like. Standing all day has been difficult for my leg sporting the prosthesis. The pain doesn't matter. I have to get to her as quickly as possible.

I run through our front door and up the stairs, my footsteps clomping loudly.

"Breathe, Katniss. Breathe. Peeta'll be here soon," I hear Haymitch say as I'm running up the stairs. I'm out of breath, my leg hurts where my prosthesis rubs wrong.

"Katniss, it's really time. You can't delay it any longer, you're going to need to push," I can here Prim say firmly. Push?

I burst into the room. Katniss is propped against the headboard. Her face is red, and I can tell she's slightly sweaty by the way her braid clings to her skin. I can tell she's holding her breath. She's frantically shaking her head at Prim, but the moment she sees me, she gasps. I rush to her side, grabbing on to her hand. "Breathe, love!" I say urgently. I stare into her eyes as she takes a deep breath, calmly letting the breath escape. I notice Haymitch is holding her hand, and Prim is sitting at the base of the bed.

"Peeta," she says, taking another deep breath, the relief showing in her eyes. "Where have you been?"

"When we couldn't find you anywhere around the bakery, I shut everything down and came home. Effie tried to call and Prim hadn't seen you. I came the fastest way I could. Darius brought me in that vehicle he and Johanna have. Why did you leave?"

She looks at me like I'm stupid. "My water broke," she says.

Oh. Obviously.

"Haymitch helped me home, and I didn't bother you with it because I thought we had a lot of time. I was wrong though. Looks like it's going to be quicker than I thought."

I must be panicking. I can't hear what she's saying to me. Why can't I seem to hear, or comprehend what she's saying?

Her water broke? What does that mean? How does water break?

I don't realize I'm hyperventilating until Katniss grabs my face in her hands and tells me to breathe.

"You're going to have the baby…now?" I ask.

"Yes dear. I'm going to have the baby. Now. That's usually how pregnancies go." For the first time since I realized Katniss was missing, I want to laugh. She's rolling her eyes at me and I can't help but think it's adorable.

I can hear Haymitch unsuccessfully attempting to cover a laugh with a cough from the other side of the bed.

"Of course. Ok. You're having the baby. What do I do?"

"You sit there, you hold her hand, and you should probably encourage her every now and then," Prim says from behind me. "Other than that, the work is mostly Katniss'."

Katniss smiles at me, encouragingly, and squeezes my hand. Even though I'm obviously the one that should be encouraging her.

"Katniss. Peeta is here, ok? It's beyond time to push. You have to breathe now. Take a really deep breath, and when I tell you to push, you push," Prim says calmly.

God, I'm so proud of Prim. She's calm, she's in charge, and as steady as Katniss seems right now, I know she needs someone to be steady with her. I'm so thankful I called for Prim and she came.

"I'm going to ask you to push as hard as you can, twice with the same contraction. Ok?" Prim asks. "So with each contraction, I want you to take one big breath, push as hard as you can, take another big breath, and push as hard as you can." I press my forehead to Katniss' temple, and I can feel her nod. She takes a deep breath, and I clutch onto her hand. Her fingers clench on mine.

"Push Katniss! Push, push, push, push," Prim encourages, and I hear Katniss faintly grunt. She's amazing. I've heard that women can scream, call their husband names, and generally be a beast when it comes to childbirth. I was prepared for all sorts of scenarios, and I would have been fine with whatever she could throw at me. But I can tell you I definitely wasn't prepared for this.

Katniss is phenomenal. She's very calm, she's breathing when Prim tells her to, she's pushing when Prim directs her to. She's not screaming. I thought at the very least, she would scream at me to vent her frustration that I haven't been here.

"Deep breath! And push," Prim encourages.

I hear people coming up the stairs, "Peeta!" Effie yells. "I've been to my house and can't find Haymitch or Katniss. Did you find them?"

I lift my head from Katniss' to reply when Effie, Darius, and Johanna come into the room.

"No. No. No. No. No. This room is full enough. You guys need to leave," Katniss says, suddenly forgetting to push when the newcomers enter the room. She ends up grunting through a contraction.

"Focus Katniss!" Prim encourages. "You need to take a deep breath and push."

Darius immediately starts backing out the door, and I know I would think his haste to get out of here is funny if my wife weren't literally about to deliver our baby. But I can tell Effie wants to say something. "I…" she begins.

"Please Effie. Johanna. You have to leave," Katniss whimpers.

"Ok, sweetheart, we'll go," Haymitch says, attempting to let go of Katniss' hand.

I see Katniss' eyes go wide with panic.

"Please stay, Haymitch. Please? I need you here," she whispers, clutching onto his hand tighter.

"Please, Haymitch," I repeat softly. Anything Katniss needs.

"Well shit," he says. He turns to Effie and Johanna. "Sorry ladies. But it looks like we're having a baby in here," I know he must be uncomfortable, but he can't stop the grin from forming on his face.

Effie smiles a brilliant smile, and I know she's glad Katniss has us with her. They back out of the room. "We'll wait downstairs, dears!"

"Ok Katniss. Now I really need you to focus. I can see the baby's head. A couple more contractions and your baby will be here," Prim says, confidently.

I don't know if I want to look. My wife having a baby is beautiful in theory, but actually witnessing a baby coming out of my wife? I'm not sure how well I'll handle that sight.

But I can't miss it. I can't miss the birth of my baby. So I take a deep breath, squeeze my wife's hand, and brace myself for a sight that might very well haunt me forever.

What I see is startling.

"Deep breath, Katniss! Now push," Prim demands. I can tell Katniss is pushing by the way she's squeezing my hand. She grips harder and harder, and I can hear the faintest grunt. But all the noise fades into the background as I see that tiny head. The baby has a mess of dark hair covering their head. Oh God. The baby has Katniss' dark hair. I hope the baby looks like Katniss.

I can't focus on anyone's words. All I can do to stay grounded is hold on to my wife. I know Prim is still encouraging Katniss to push, because not seconds after all the noise in the room fades into the background, my baby slips into Prim's hands. Oh my God.

I can faintly hear someone crying, and after glancing around the room, I quickly understand it's me. Tears are rolling down my face, and I make no move to stop them. My beautiful wife just gave birth to our baby.

The baby lets out a wail that finally penetrates the haze in my mind, and I'm so focused on that baby, I don't hear Katniss calling for me.

"Peeta!" Katniss says loudly.

My head snaps in her direction. "The baby Peeta. Is the baby a girl or a boy?"

Prim's cut the cord, wrapped the tiny little bundle in a blanket and has handed them to me. I look to Prim, almost asking permission to look at the baby.

"Go ahead and take a look, daddy," Prim says, with the widest smile on her face.

I'm holding my baby in the crook of my arm, and I open the front of the blanket the tiniest bit. Tears fill my eyes anew, as I look to my wife and tell her with a scratchy voice, full of emotion, "we have a daughter, love."

Katniss' eyes fill with tears, and the smile on her face lights up the room.

Haymitch sniffles. "Congratulations, sweetheart," he says, leaning over to kiss her head.

"Can I hold her?" Katniss reaches for our little bundle, and I gently cover our little girl and hand her to her mother.

The look on Katniss' face as our beautiful little girl settles on her chest makes my own chest clench. This is the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. My beautiful wife holding our beautiful daughter. I know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that my life will be forever changed. The widest smile breaks on my face when my little girl that was wailing moments ago, is immediately calmed as Katniss begins to sing.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow…" she sings, and I know that's it. That's our daughters name.

"Willow," I whisper.

Katniss looks up at me, smiles, and looks back to the baby. "Willow," she says softly.