HELLO!
I missed you guys sooo much! I'm so freaking happy to be back you have no idea. I have been out of school for three days with strep throat and all I have been doing is writing this story.
A few messages:
-I really need to know what day you guys want me to post because I can work around that. I only got one review that said Friday last time and I need to know if that day is good for more than just one person so tell me please!
- To the guest Lovey101 who asked if I was going to write another Everlark story, my answer is maybe! I would love to so if ANY of you have any suggestions you want to see in another story tell me! I will start it right after this one!
-Thank you to all the kind people who messaged me, you guys are really the absolute best readers in the entire world and I love you all!
Finally, I will be posting every TWO weeks on whatever day you guys choose starting this week, so pick a day and that's when you will get your next chapter!
Message me if you have any questions or review them.
Or review because you want to, they mean the world to me, as you know ;)
so read on my loves! Have fun! And Peeta does drop an F-bomb, BEWARE!
ch14
Blood.
All I can see is it mine? Where am I? What the hell is going on? Where's Peeta? Why am I chained to a dungeon wall? And that smell, it's overwhelming, enough to almost make me sick.
Roses.
"Hello Ms. Everdeen."
That voice. No, it can't be, he's dead. I look up to meet the eyes of a man who I never wanted to think about let alone see again.
In the corner of the cell stands President Snow, hiss figure distorted and menacing in the red light of the room. He smiles at me with bared teeth and it makes my stomach churn. His arms are crossed over his chest and he looks me up and down a few times and I cringe. All I can think about at the moment is how I would rather be anywhere in the world than in a room with Snow, let alone chained to a wall at his mercy.
"I killed you." I say through bared teeth. He laughs his most maniacal laugh and it sends a chill down my spine.
"A temporary set back I can assure you, I am not dead."
I pull at the chains on my wrist and feet and the metal bites into my skin. I try to kick a leg away from the wall to see if the chains would give but to no avail. Snow laughs at my attempts and stares at me with malice in his eyes, a trickle of blood on his white beard. A slight cough escapes his lips and his hand is wet with blood when he takes it away from his mouth. He places his hands behind his back and speaks.
"Now Ms. Everdeen-" he starts.
"Mellark." I spit back immediately.
"Mellark," he chuckles, "I do love a good Game. I'm actually in the middle of one right now and I need some help deciding on my next move. Would you like to play?"
"No!" I bark. This only makes Snow's smile widen but he starts to cough again soon after.
"Bring him in!" He shouts after he regains his composure. A moment later two very large and heavily armed guards walk through the door and station themselves on each side. Then two more guards drag in a man and throw him on the floor at my feet; his blond hair matted with sweat and dripping with blood.
"Peeta." I whisper.
"I'm fine Kat, I'm fine." He pants as he kneels on all fours. I can see in the dim red light that his face was covered in bruises and cuts.
"Now, Katniss this is my dilemma," Snow starts, "Iv'e got two captives, but only one has to die, the other gets to live. Here's the twist, one of them is with child. Both of these pawns are so much fun and I care for them deeply. That is why I am leaving the decision up to you. Who do I save? The blond, buff, and beautiful baker's boy, or the poor defenseless pregnant girl?"
"No!" I spit. I can't make this decision, I can't kill Peeta any more than I can kill my child! This is a joke, a sick joke someone is playing to try to break me; I won't break. If I just close my eyes it will be over soon. This must be a dream. If you go to sleep in a dream you wake up, right? So all I have to do is try to sleep and-
"You have thirty seconds or they both die." Snow taunts.
"Katniss save yourself." Peeta begs. He stands and I can see the pain on his face as he does but he persist on rising. He takes my face in his hands and kisses me softly.
"Peeta, it's okay, it's just a dream." I tell him.
He shakes his head, tears budding at the corner of his eye but not one falls.
"Katniss, listen to me. This is not a dream, you have to choose yourself." his voice was thick and I could tell he was trying not to cry.
"No, no. This isn't real. I'm going to wake up any second now, I promise-"
"Twenty seconds. Tick tock miss Everdeen, tick tock." Snow says as he stares at his watch.
What if this is real? I'm really here, I really have to choose. I can't choose! This is insane, this can't be happening to me. But it is. I've got to get a grip. I feel a tear slip down the side of my face and Peeta brushes it away. He must see the realization in my expression as he leans his forehead against mine because he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, always trying to be the strong one for the both of us.
"This is real." I say, still trying to wrap my head around the fact.
Peeta nods and the tears that have been wanting to spill start to stream down his cheeks. I can see Snow out of the corner of his eye watching his ticking watch. It feels like hours have passed since the time when I thought this was a dream to when I realized this was my reality, when in truth only a couple of seconds has passed.
"I can't lose you." I all but whisper. Tears stain my face and my nose is running and I must look like a mess but it doesn't matter.
"You never will. I'll always be with you. I love you so much." Peeta takes a hand off my face and places it on my stomach. The baby. The baby is a part of Peeta, I will always have a piece of him. But that's not good enough! I need him!
"Ten seconds."
"I can't Peeta! I can't let you die!" I sob, shaking my head.
"Yes you can, for the baby, for you. You can Katniss."
Everything at this point is about the baby. Must protect the baby. That's what Peeta wants. That's what I want, but I want them both.
"Five seconds."
"Me!" I scream. Relief fills Peeta's face but the tears keep a steady flow as he kisses me one last time.
"Save me." I say feebly. Snow's laughter fills the room but I block it out, all my my focus is on the man that stands before me. My husband. My boy with the bread, condemned by me.
"I love you." He says.
"I love you too."
The two armed guards at the door move to stand on either side of Snow. He leans over and whispers something in one guards ear and then the other. Without another word the one of the left pulls a knife from his belt and stabs Peeta straight through the back.
"No!" I scream as I watch him bleed out on the floor.
"Katniss!" He cries out, but it sounds somewhat distant.
"Peeta!" I call back. I start to shake against my will and my eyes begin to close.
"Katniss it's just a dream!" Peeta calls.
I shoot straight up in bed and immediately a pair of strong arms surround me. I lash out and try to fight my attacker when the warm smell of cinnamon reaches my senses. I turn and climb into his lap and bury my head in his chest. To my surprise not a single tear springs to my eye. Peeta's arms are tight but not uncomfortably so; I just let him hold me as I shake in his arms, still frightened from the dream.
His hands rub my back in circles as I cling to him, the images from the dream still fresh. It was so real, I thought it was real. Peeta's screams, him calling my name, him bleeding out in front of me. Snow. The face that keeps coming back is Snow's, and I know why.
At the moment I am painfully aware that we are not in our own bed. It's too soft, too big. The furniture too flashy. We have spent the last week in the Capitol due to the fact that there were no trains going to District 12 until the next Friday, today. It has been one of the hardest weeks we have ever been through. Peeta was exhausted from all the flashbacks he's been trying to fend off; I'm exhausted because of the unrelenting nightmares I've had every time I close my eyes. It's been terrible. To add to it all we have stayed in our hotel room basically the whole time because of the constant presence of reporters and Capitol fans wanting to see us day in and day out; we haven't had a moment of escape.
I take a deep breath and pull back from Peeta. His eyes are full of worry as he looks me over a couple of times, making sure I'm alright. He settles his hands on my waist and I move to straddle him to get into a more comfortable position. I realize now that he is covered in a sheen of sweat, as am I, and know that he was having a nightmare as well. His hair is a mess some of it matted to his head, like it was in my dream but this time not soaked in blood. I can't help but brush the hair from his face and his eyes drift shut as I do so.
"I'm fine." I say, but the shake in my voice says otherwise.
"No you're not." Peeta says with a sigh, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." I say. "Do you want to talk about yours?"
"No." he smiles. we are such a stubborn pair.
"Let's just go back to sleep, it's only two in the morning." He says as he looks over at the alarm clock. Six more hours until we are on a train back home.
I nod and he gives me a kiss on the forehead before pulling me off him and tucking me under his arm so that my back is pressed flush against him. He settles a hand on my stomach before giving me another kiss on the cheek and going back to sleep.
We wake up four and a half hours later to the sound of the alarm. For the first time since we have been in the Capitol I had no nightmares. Peeta on the other hand was anxious as ever. He doesn't thrash around and scream in his sleep like I do; no, my husband is usually paralyzed in his sleep, stuck in his dream until the morning or until he wakes up to my screams. I can tell that he has had another nightmare now. Every muscle in his body was tense when I woke up, it must have been a bad one.
We shower together, both of us trying not to rush since the train doesn't leave for another hour and a half. Peeta is very quiet which isn't all that unusual; he hasn't been very talkative during our stay here. We step out and he wraps a towel around my shoulders and one around his waist and goes to get us some clothes. When he's gone for an extended period of time I decide to go check on him.
He's sitting on the bed staring at the floor, the towel still hanging low on his hips and his hair wet. I walk towards him but he doesn't seem to notice me. Going over to the suitcase I throw on a shirt and a pair of lace panties before kneeling in front of my husband and taking his face in my hands. His eyes are shifting in and out of focus and his eyebrows are furrowed as he tried to concentrate on what was real and what was in his mind.
Peeta has two different kinds of flashbacks as of late. He either goes on a murderous rampage and scares everyone, or he reverts back into himself. He gets locked inside his own mind as he tries to tell the difference between what he is seeing in his head and what his eyes are actually perceiving. It's true that the murderous Peeta is the scariest form of flashbacks, but the kind that he is having right now are the ones that take the biggest toll on him. It takes all of his energy and strength to be able to pull himself out of it. All I can do is hold him and tell him that whatever he is seeing isn't real and that I am here, that I love him and that the baby and I are both safe.
"Peeta," I coo, "It's me, It's Katniss. I'm here. You are safe, I'm safe, the baby's safe. We are going home."
"Home." he says. His eyes begin to shift then he finds my face. He smiles at me weakly and runs a hand through his hair.
"Hey there." I smile and stand.
"Hey beautiful," he says and places his hands on my hips. "Let's get you home."
I kiss him quickly and wiggle out of his grasp and over to our cloths. I pick out a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt for him to put on with a pair of boxers and throw them at him. Then I slide on a pair of leggings and put a bra on, my husbands eyes trained on me the whole time.
"Like what you see?" I wiggle my eyebrows at him.
"I do actually." He smirks and he stands up and walks over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist as I wrap mine around his neck. "I'll show you how much when we get home." he says and his lips crash into mine. My fingers tangle in his hair as he pulls me against him. My lips part just as his do and he deepens the kiss. He pulls my bottom lip in between his teeth and bites lightly making my head spin. A familiar fire begins to burn in my stomach as Peeta's hands begin to wander. He pulls away and rest forehead against mine with a smile plastered on his face.
"Someone's feeling better." I breath. He chuckles and kisses me lightly one last time before letting me go and stepping behind me to pack up the suitcase. I throw on a green v-neck and go to get our stuff out of the bathroom but before I get the chance to take a step I'm in the air. Peeta places me on the bed and kisses me on the cheek.
"Sit." he says, "I've got it."
I pout at him but don't argue. He's under too much stress at the moment for me to argue with him about letting me help pack the suitcase. He's been like this all week, like if I stand up and move around I am in too much danger for him. He hasn't let me out of his sight ever since we set foot in the Capitol.
It takes him a while to get everything together. We didn't actually spend the entirety of our stay here in the hotel room. We took the time to go get some new baby clothes, in neutral colors of course, and some other items that we might need like bottles and diaper bags. The bigger things like the crib and changing table are being shipped to us some time in the next two weeks as well as some other equipment Peeta got for his bakery. We can get some of this stuff in 12 but it's all just so much nicer in the Capitol.
When he is finally done it's about seven thirty, a half hour from when we get on the train and go home at last. He takes my hand in his and we walk toward the door, Peeta carrying the suitcase of course. A quick rasp at the other side stops us in our tracks; can people really never leave us alone? We just want to go home.
I sigh and run a hand through my hair. Peeta kisses me on the cheek and says, "I got it." and drops my hand and the luggage to open the door. Effie Trinkets voice fills the room and I laugh to myself as I pick up the luggage and start towards Peeta. Whatever she has to say she can say on the train ride out of here.
"Oh you're ready!" Effie says in surprise, "Poo, I thought we were going to get to live the good old days and I could wake you two with a chirpy big big big day! Well, better late than never I always say! Come on you two, It's a big, big, big day! We're going home!"
Behind Effie stood a tired Haymitch, no doubt up earlier than he would have liked. He smiles at Peeta and I. Things are not the same yet between the three of us yet but progress is being made. Haymitch is making a conscious effort to be more aware of himself these days. I give him a warm smile but we don't maintain eye contact long. My husband and him shake hands and we are soon off to the train station, Effie talking away about train times, of which I am not very interested but Haymitch and Peeta are at least acting like they care.
Peeta had taken the luggage from my hand and laced his fingers with mine when we left the room. Effie and Haymitch lead the way to the train station in front of us.
When we arrive at the station it is absolutely mobbed with people. All of the different hair colors hurt my eyes, or maybe that's just the cameras flashing. I don't know. People were asking us question after question but I just try not to listen. Peeta pulls me closer into his side, no doubt weary due to the crowd. It takes what seems like forever for the train to finally pull in, whistles blaring, silencing all the commotion.
Peeta pulls me through the crowd and as quickly as we can we get on the train, our mentor and escort trailing behind us. Once inside we are shown to our compartments by Capitol employees. Peeta and I part ways with our companions and go to settle in. We put the luggage on the dresser and Peeta lays flat on the bed, his hands cupped behind his head, eyes closed. The way his shirt rides up so that I can see the bottom of his stomach is incredibly sexy, especially when he wears his jeans low on his hips like he is right now. A small smile graces his lips as I straddle him and place my palms on his chest.
"Just what do you think you're doing Mrs. Mellark?" he grins, his eyes still closed.
"Nothing, Mr. Mellark." I giggle and lean down to press my lips to his.
In one swift motion he flips us over so that he is hovering above me and my back is pressed against the soft bed.
"Well," I say, "someone is really feeling better."
Peeta chuckles, his eyes gliding over my body, lust filling them.
He brushes his lips against mine and then moves to my cheek, my jaw. He trails kisses down my neck as his hands slip under my shirt and rest on my waist. His lips find mine again and he kisses me as he's never kissed me before. I slide my hands under his shirt and revel in the fact that I can feel every one of his abs, all six of them. He grunts when I let my hands fall lower and tug on his belt and his lips leave mine but do not leave me. He sucks lightly on my neck as I undo his belt; I'm barely able to focus as his tongue glides over the soft and sensitive skin on my neck. He pulls my shirt over my head and his hands start to roam, all while his lips are attached to my body.
Just then a knock on the door stops us dead. It's amazing that this baby was even conceived with the amount of times that we get interrupted.
"I will fucking kill whoever it is behind that door right now." Peeta growls, his eyes trained on mine, panting slightly.
The person knocks once more and I laugh as Peeta gets up and goes to open it. "Wait!" I hiss and jump off the bed. I fix his hair and buckle up his belt which I had successfully undone. He smiles and kisses me on the head.
"You might want to go into the bathroom." he says with a smirk. For a second I think he is overdoing it on the overprotective father to be act but then I touch my head and realize my hair probably doesn't look the best. I look down and see that my clothes aren't in the right sort of order to be seeing anyone at the moment either. I grab my shirt and give him one last kiss and go off to get myself a little bit more presentable for lunch.
First I settle the hair issue, which wasn't such a hard fix. All I really had to do was put my hair back in its braid since most of it had fallen out. Then I put on a bit of light make-up that was already in the bathroom, compliments of the Capitol. I re-adjust my shirt and leggings and just when I finish I notice Peeta leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest.
"The Capitol Attendant will be my first victim. Shame, he had a good thing going for him." he says. He extends his arm and I take his hand and we head off for lunch.
The rest of the train ride home went by in a blurr. Every inch we get closer to home feels like another weight lifted off my shoulder. No more stress of the public, no more interruptions, just Peeta and I, getting ready to expand our family. I can physically see how the tension leaves Peeta the further away from the Capitol we get. He's starting to crack jokes and turn into his old self. Effie and Haymitch even seem to loosen up a but as we approach our home of District 12. It takes two days but we finally get there.
I'm at the window when the train breaks the trees and we can see the outskirts of District 12. Just five more minutes and I will finally be home. I jump when a pair of strong arms encircle me, large hands resting on my slightly protruding stomach. We don't speak, just enjoy each others company as we wait for to pull in and get back to our semi-normal lives.
The train finally stops and the four of us and two more passengers get off. All I can think about is getting home and locking myself in with my husband forever. Peeta and I walk painfully slow with Effie and Haymitch back to the victors village. After what seems like a lifetime we say our goodbye and walk up the steps to our house.
Peeta puts the key in the keyhole and I can hear the phone ringing from here. As soon as the door opens relief fills me. Peeta pulls me into the house and gives me a quick kiss before going to answer the phone. I sit on the barstool in the kitchen as he talks to whoever it is. My stomach is cramping from the walk here so all I really want to do is rest.
"Katniss," Peeta appears in front of me and holds the phone out, "It's for you."
A look of confusion washes over my face as I take the phone from his hands but he smiles in reassurance.
"Hello?" I say.
"Sup brainless?" the voice on the other line replies and I can't help but smile.
"Johanna Mason." I say.I rub my stomach as another cramp hits to try to sooth it and Peeta politely leaves the room and goes to unpack our stuff.
"In the flesh. Well, kind of." she replies. I can hear the smile in her voice as she talks.
"So," she continues, "baker boy finally got you knocked up for real, huh?"
"I guess you could say that, yeah." I reply.
"Good, happy for you. I'm coming to visit in two weeks. You better have a room ready for me." same old Johanna.
"How do you know I'll be free in two weeks?" I challenge.
"You will be." she laughs, "What else would you have to do with your life?"
"You got me there." I chuckle.
"See you in two weeks then brainless."
"See you then."
The phone goes dead just as another shooting pain goes through my abdomen. This time much worse than the others. I take a deep breath and stand to put the phone away when a pain comes with such force it makes my head spin and I grab the counter to keep my balance.
"Peeta!" I scream as another pain rips through me and I clutch my stomach. I hear him running down the stairs, obviously worried because I screamed. When he reaches the kitchen pure panic is written all over his face.
"Katniss you're bleeding." he says, his face white as a ghost. I look down and touch my thigh, my fingers wet with blood as I do so. A few drops of blood also fall to the floor at my feet.
"Oh."
I just love interrupting Everlark sex. It's my favorite pass time.
Oh crap, I left you on a cliffhanger again didn't I? That sucks *laughs evily*
So Johanna will show up in a latter chapter, I do love her, and she may have a man with her! :O
quote for next chapter comes from...Peeta!
"Is the baby going to be alright!?"
kisses,
-LM