Hey everyone! Happy New Year!
So, this chapter is quite different to any of the others I've done since it goes into Finnick's POV in it! It's quite a new experience and I apologise in advance if there's anything wrong with it! I also reveal Hope's middle name! I'd like to thank Belmione for inspiring me with the name - since she used its for their daughter's first name (go check out Belmione's fanfic 'Worse Games to Play'), although I'd always been sure that I would use a flower name, I just wasn't sure which one.
Also, check out my poll (on my profile) on which romantic tie you would like to see in the Show Games. I have a plot, I just don't know which boy to choose...
As always, enjoy x
I handed our daughter to Peeta while my mother cleaned. I wasn't much help, just moving every now and then to make my mother's life easier. After that was done, Peeta placed little Hope in my arms again. I cradled her while humming what I can only describe as a made up tune. I felt Peeta watching us both, smiling at his girls. Hope closed her eyes, and I could looked to see her features. She had small tufts of dark hair and her skin was then looking more olive than pinky-red. "I told you I wanted a mini you, and what do I get?" Peeta asked me, even though the answer was right in front of him.
"A mini me," I replied quietly. With that he got up and moved towards the door. He pointed at the door, mouthing 'shall I get them?' to me. I nodded swiftly, but my attention was darted back to my baby straight away. I heard the door swing open, and Peeta took two steps out into the corridor before breaking the news to our guests.
"We have a daughter," he told them. Before I knew what was happening, Peeta darted back to me, as to get out of the way of Johanna rushing in. Her jaw dropped when she saw me with Hope. Haymitch staggered in after her with Annie coming in, with Finn on her hip, last. Haymitch's face had a mere smile on it, while Annie was grinning a wide as she could. Finn seemed oblivious to anything that was happening and was shaking his head in a toddler-like way. I made eye contact with Johanna and I gestured for her to come over. When she did, I told her to form her arms into a cradle shape. I gently put Peeta's and my little bundle of joy in her arms, but told her some strict words of advice while doing so.
"Careful! She's very delicate!" When Johanna was holding her in a position I was happy with, I dropped my arms and let Johanna walk to the rest of our guests. Peeta sat down in the chair again, and we smiled at eachother before linking arms. Johanna was then standing with Haymitch and Annie either side of her, and he eyed them. Then the two women gasped and then all turned their heads to us. Haymitch also added a comment to whatever they were shocked about.
"Now I wonder where she got those eyes from!" he mocked in his sarcastic tone. I tilted my head at Peeta in reply. "So, whats the little munchkin's name then?"
"Hope," Peeta replied. All three of them stared at us with wide eyes, but they were all knowing eyes. They all understood the meaning behind it. Hope was cooed over for bit, before she was handed back to Peeta. Peeta then took over with his fatherly skills. Everything was quite quiet until little Finn started squirming and sqealing in Annie's arms. Johanna offered to take him outside the room for a bit, and Annie gratefully let her. It was then that my thoughts were turned to Annie. Not long now. I was the only person in the room that knew of Finnick's existance. Soon Peeta and I will not be the only people completely overjoyed.
Finnick POV
I strolled down to Katniss's room. 'Annie will be here' she had said. It took a while to get through the selection of corridors. My memory took me the right way, however, and soon I was just around the corner. Yet, I stopped just before the end of this corridor, when I heard a voice. "You know, Annie's lucky she has you." I knew that voice. It was Johanna's. except, my focus was on what she said. What did she mean? Had Annie found someone else? All the questions whirled around my head. It was then, out of nowhere, he came into view. Except he wasn't a man, not even a grown boy. It was a toddler. This confused me at first. The toddler had a shade of which I can only describe as mine. His skin was that golden colour that District 4 is represented by. The question was though, what was Annie doing with a - it hit me then. I was a father!
I'd left Annie pregnant! I began to panic, even more so when the little boy raised his arms and squealed. I couldn't wait any longer, so I walked straight over to him. He looked up at me and I stared back...into Annie's eyes. I knelt down so my face was level with the toddler. He squealed at me, painting a huge smile on his chubby little face and my own. I raised my hand and he responded by lifting his. He pressed his palm into mine. He was mine. No matter how hard it was to believe, he was my son.
I glanced to the right and tried to register what I was seeing. Johanna had been slowly backing up. I stood up again as we found eye contact. It was frozen, just for a second, before she screamed. "ANNIE!" She ran back down the short way to Katniss's room that reminded me, had Katniss given birth yet? A daughter or a son? Whatever, Katniss was not the only was who might have had to endure a big surprise. My thoughts were cut short as they all came out. Peeta, Johanna, Haymitch and the first one to appear, my beloved Annie. They all stared at me with utter shock and disbelief.
Peeta looked very different to the last time I saw him. In fact, he looked very much like he did at the start of the 75th Hunger Games, except he didn't look worried or sad. Johanna was still Johanna, except he hair was longer. This was expected since Johanna's head was shaved during her torture in the Capitol. Haymitch somehow looked different, but I honestly didn't know how. Yet, my eyes were focused on Annie. She looked the same as I had left her, except she looked a lot healthier and happier than before. The eyes were still the most beautiful I'd ever seen. Her hair was still the perfect shade. Her skin still glowed in the same way it had always done when I looked at her. She was shining.
She ran. She ran straight at me. I didn't run as that would have created the likelihood of us falling over. The impact was strong, but I didn't push her away. In fact I pulled her in tighter. For a long moment, it was just us. It was just us in this whole world; nobody else was here. Except nothing could get a toddler to leave his mother be. "Mommy!" the little voice cried out. My eyes shut tighter at his little voice. It was such a massive shock for me, all this, but I wouldn't have changed it a bit. The little boy wrapped his arms around Annie's leg, gripping on for dear life. Annie smiled, even chuckled slightly, and bent down to pick him up. She placed him on her hip, something she seemed to have done many times before, and looked back at me the same time our son did.
"This," pointing her arm and finger slightly at me and looking at the boy, "is Daddy." Daddy. I loved it already. Our son looked back at Annie with a slightly confused expression on his face, before pointing himself. "Yes, Daddy!" Annie urged. Then, with what seemed to be with all his effort, he replied.
"Daa-dee?" He said it very slowly, and struggled slightly on the syllabus, but it was amazing for me. I felt like I was going to cry any second. Annie looked the same way and asked him a question.
"What's your name?" He knew the answer to this very well.
"FINN!" Every second just made me want to smile even wider.
"Finnick Odair Jr. I couldn't not have your name there somewhere," Annie explained, directly at me. I wanted to hold them both, to escape the world, but Annie's face turned scared. "But...but...you can't be here! My husband died!" She sounded very upset and distraught when she said this and for the first time, I saw how much my 'death' had affected her. She took two steps back, still holding Finn close with one arm. I'd been afraid of this. They wouldn't comprehend with the very apparent and shocking fact that I was alive. I grasped her free hand and looked her very seriously in the eyes.
"Look, I know it's hard to explain, and I will tell you all the full story later, but you need to know, I'm real. It's really me. I never died; badly injured and left in a coma for what seems to be about two years, yes, but I never died. I'm alright. Your not in a dream. This is really happening, and I'm really alive." It was one of the most sincere things I'd ever said to her.
"Well you're right there! Who knows what's going to happen now that Finnick Odair's back!" a voice shouted from the room that many of the people staring at me were standing next to. I grinned and shouted back.
"Still alive yourself? Now that's something surprising! "
"Oy! Watch it! May I remind you that we all seem to be new parents today! You a father, as well as Peeta, and myself..." Katniss hesitated, "a mother..." The last two words were spoken much softer than the rest. I stared into Annie's eyes, and was overjoyed to see only happiness in her eyes. Unexpectedly, she leaned in and kissed me and I kissed her back. We stood there for a few seconds, alone again in our world, before everyone darted back into the room. Annie handed me Finn, to let us get the whole 'Father/Son' time, despite us going into a very crammed room. I smiled fondly at Finn, who grinned back. When we both eventually entered the room, I glanced at Katniss. She was staring up at me, before swinging her head back down to look at the small bundle in her arms.
"Girl or Boy?" I asked aloud.
"Girl," Haymitch replied almost instantly. Again, there was something different about him, but I still couldn't figure out what. Even his voice had changed ever so slightly.
"Hope Mellark," Johanna added, speaking in a much softer voice than her screaming of my wife's name.
"Hope Iris Mellark," Peeta corrected. It was weird hearing his voice so...normal again. He turned to Ms Everdeen. "We had to keep the flower theme somewhere," he commented. Ms Everdeen lightly nodded with a smile on her face. 'Hope...it's perfect' I thought.
