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The characters of The Hunger Games Trilogy do not belong to me.

Tides

Chapter Twenty-Four: Peeta

The quiet knock came in the early evening, right before dinner.

Peeta opened the front door to find himself face to face with Hattie's cheerful face. She was chewing on her fist and he tried not to laugh at the sight of the drooling baby.

"Hi Effie," Peeta called out.

Hattie's sweet face was quickly gone from his view and replaced with Effie's anxious one as she stepped in front of the door.

She had been hiding next to it; just in case Katniss answered.

Peeta knew that Effie wasn't ready to have the door slammed in her face—again.

"Hi Peeta," she said in a quiet voice. "I thought that I'd bring her with me—to soften the blow."

"Katniss is taking a nap." Peeta looked into the living room where Katniss was snoozing on the couch. She had a penchant for falling asleep at the drop of a hat. "Why don't we talk outside?"

Walking onto the porch, he joined Effie and Hattie on their bench. Hattie reached for him and instinctively, he took the little girl from her mother to seat her on his lap. She stared up at Peeta, her fingers going to her mouth.

"How mad is she today?" Effie asked anxiously.

The whole thing had been a simple mistake.

Effie, in her excitement, had called her assistants in Manhattan requesting every catalog with nursery-themed layouts as well as catalogs with baby furniture. The press had caught on due to a tip-off from one of her assistants—who had since then been fired.

The news had been online within the hour and in print by the next morning.

Immediately after Katniss had gotten the message from Johanna, she had been…upset.

Actually, upset was an understatement.

Katniss was pissed.

She had calmed down enough for them to pick Prim up and tell her the good news about the twins. His sister was surprised, but seemed happy by the news. However, it had been interrupted by the juggernaut of phone calls from Effie, who was apologizing and Johanna, who was asking her if she wanted to give the press a response.

Katniss had told Johanna and Cinna, who would also be fielding the press, to respond with 'No Comment'.

Which was basically an affirmative to the pregnancy question.

Effie had come to the house after they arrived from picking Prim up—and had just gotten the door slammed in her face. Katniss was tired, upset, and dealing with the realization that she was carrying two babies in her stomach.

That was two days ago.

"I have to say, Eff," he began. "You're persistent."

"I don't plan on backing down," Effie declared firmly. "I love Katniss and I never meant for any of this to happen." Effie turned to Peeta, her eyes watery. "I'm just really happy for her—for you. You both deserve this." Her face fell. "But, I hate that she's mad at me. Though, I can understand why."

Peeta adjusted Hattie in his arms before turning to her. "Why?"

"Because, she wanted this moment to be just for you, her, and Prim," Effie explained. "The press can be tough, too. And, Katniss is scared that if something happens—her pain is just going to be fodder for them. There were days that she wouldn't come out after she lost Helena. The press wasn't helping with all the photos of Cato with Clove and Glimmer. She never really got to mourn. Instead, Katniss would just have to pretend like none of that ever happened and paste a smile on her face."

"It wasn't fair." They looked up to find Katniss at the doorway. "I never got to just sit and be sad. And, it's happening all over again; it's difficult to have to hide that I'm happy or scared or confused by all of this!"

Effie jumped up from her seat and went to his fiancée. She placed her hands on Katniss' shoulders to steady her.

"You don't have to stop yourself from feeling anything but happy," Effie said to her. "This is your moment, sweetie. I'm sorry that I was so careless. I was just so excited about you having a baby—"

Katniss smiled at her. "Babies, actually."

Effie let out a squeal and pulled his fiancée into her arms. "Please tell me that I can still work on their nursery!"

"I was just going to tell you that I had a concept for the room." Katniss crossed her arms, her lips trying not to rise at Effie's exuberance. "But, no one but you helps out. Johanna mentioned last night that your assistant came crying to her about being fired—and she told the girl that she was lucky that you weren't really there or else she would be finished in Manhattan."

"Well, of course—I can be very unforgiving," Effie sniffed. "You must get that trait from me." The woman took a deep breath. "But, that's all in the past. Now, why don't you show me the nursery?"

Katniss turned to Peeta, her smile soft seeing him with Hattie. "Will you two be okay?"

"We'll be fine," he assured her.

Effie pulled Katniss into the house, talking quickly as she asked Katniss about her color preferences.

His eyes met Hattie's. "Do you think I'll be a good dad?"

She gurgled, taking her hand out of her mouth to press it to his cheek.

"I guess that's a yes." Peeta stood up and kissed the top of her head. "Let's get you some cheerios. I know that Prim used to like them when she was your age."

After Effie and Hattie left, Peeta found Katniss laying on the floor of the nursery—in the dark.

"What are you doing?" he asked at the doorway.

She continued to stare up. However, she pointed at the ceiling.

Peeta walked into the room curiously, staring at his supine fiancée before joining her on the floor.

He looked up and breathed out in amazement. "Wow."

"I know," she agreed and took his hand. "My Mom found it among all the other all things they had in storage. Some of the lights need to be replaced—one of the dippers is missing."

"I remember being under the same sky with you about ten…eleven years ago?" He looked over at her, seeing the outline of her burgeoning stomach in the dim room. Their eyes met and Katniss smiled softly at him, her finger reaching to brush his chin. "Sometimes, I can't remember a time when you weren't in my life."

"Maybe, we just prefer to not remember a time being without each other," she told him with a small smirk.

"I could see that." His eyes went back to the stars above them. "Or, I guess I just missed you that much."

Katniss giggled. "I have that effect on people."

"You really do," Peeta whispered into the air. Despite the quietness of his words, she heard him and squeezed his hand.

"I told Effie about my concept for the nursery," she suddenly said. "Specifically, I asked her to keep this here for the babies."

"I like that idea," he replied. "It would be nice to tell them that I fell in love with you under the stars."

The image of his fourteen-year-old self emerged in his mind and Peeta wished that he could tell that boy to hold out hope—even during the hard moments of his life.

Because, there were times when Peeta thought that he wouldn't be okay: the nights when he would hear Prim crying in her room for their mother or when he would wake up to nightmares of his father's blank eyes.

He would've told that boy that for awhile—life would be hell.

But to wait for heaven to come; she would be back soon enough.

His eyes went back to the stars. "Katniss?"

She caressed the top of his hand with her thumb. "Yes?"

"What do you think of one day getting married underneath the stars?"

Katniss turned to him. "I think…" Her lips rose into a smile. "…that would be perfect."

"I'm impressed," Finnick said to Peeta. He looked at the sonogram, his ivy-green eyes fascinated. "Twins!" He shook his friend's hand and kissed Katniss' cheek before handing back the photo. "You really went for the gold."

"I don't think we were trying for the gold," he replied. "I don't think we were trying for anything, really."

"You're going to love Mags. She's great and she'll get you through the pregnancy," Annie told them.

She sat down at the table and handed a glass of water to Katniss, who had been feeling a little queasy. They had just learned that she had an aversion to the ground beef, which their friend was prepping for dinner. It had been thrown out right away as Katniss rushed to the bathroom.

"She made me feel very comfortable during my pregnancy and encourages questions," their friend continued. "I almost asked her to come live with us because I was seriously scared of doing something wrong."

"And, she'll take your calls—all hours of the night," Finnick said. "I freaked out because I thought that Aidan was allergic to the formula we were giving him. Turned out I was making the formula the wrong way."

Aidan and Prim entered the kitchen. They had been playing with Aidan's new Wii and went to the fridge to grab some sodas.

"You excited, Prim?" Finnick asked with a grin. "Looks like your brother and Katniss are filling up the house."

"Sure," Prim responded curtly. She opened a can and took a sip from it before almost rolling her eyes. "Thrilled."

She walked out before any of the adults could respond. Aidan shrugged at them before following her out.

Peeta looked over at Katniss, who was caressing her stomach and staring at the spot where Prim once stood. She was obviously upset.

They had noticed that Prim seemed a little distant for the last few days. She didn't want Katniss to walk her to school anymore and spoke very little to either of them during dinner. After dinner, Prim did her own dishes and disappeared into her room, locking the door.

Katniss had suggested that maybe this was getting overwhelming for her. One baby seemed manageable, but two had thrown both of them off. So they could imagine that was maybe why Prim wasn't taking it so well.

She did not realize that she was hurting Katniss—who was already feeling very out of her element. His fiancée had been trying to stop the endless torrent of phone calls from invading their home.

However, the press was beginning to get hungry.

And, Katniss was getting to the end of her first trimester and was beginning to show. She wasn't ready to reveal herself just yet.

Peeta quickly stood up. "I'll be back." He went to the living room to find Aidan sitting on the couch. "Where did she go?"

Aidan pointed to the sliding door in the room. "Outside. She said she needed air."

He looked out to Prim sitting on the old swing that Finnick had put up for Aidan a few years ago. His sister was pushing herself using the tip of her foot for leverage.

Sliding the door open, Peeta walked out and slid the door closed before walking the few paces to get to Prim.

"Hey," he started nervously. "It's cold out here. Why don't you get inside?"

"I'm fine," Prim mumbled as she looked down at the ground.

Peeta sighed. "You know you can't keep ignoring me."

His sister looked up at him, her blue eyes frosty. "Who's ignoring who? Since your babies announced themselves—you haven't paid attention to me at all!"

"That's not true," Peeta replied. "Katniss and I have always been here if you had anything to tell us. You just haven't been speaking to us."

"I told you both that I was going to try out for the school play," she told him. "I even asked if you would rehearse with me!"

His mind searched for when she had told him about it and it came to him quickly—about a week ago when Effie had come to do some measurements for the nursery, Prim had told him about the annual play. It was going to be Romeo and Juliet; she was nervous about memorizing the lines and he had promised her that he would help her.

A week ago—he fucked up.

"I'm so sorry, Prim." Peeta knelt in front of her. "I never meant to make you feel like you were anything less than special to me—because you are. I know that it's been hectic with the twins and you're probably overwhelmed."

Prim suddenly swiped at her eyes. "I was fine with one…but two?" She looked down at the ground as she gripped the swing's ropes on each side of her. "You'll forget about me. And, if they're both girls? Two cute little babies against one of me—I can't compete with that."

"There is no competition—you are special in your own way," Peeta replied. His hands went to cover hers. "You are my sister—my one and only piece of what is left of our parents. That makes you so precious to me." Slowly, he stood up and her eyes went to his. Hers were filled with scared tears. "I know that this is different for you. It's different for all of us."

"You're getting everything you want, Peeta," his sister said to him. "I don't see a downside."

"We're just as scared." They both looked up to see Katniss in front of them. She went to Prim and gave her a sad smile. "I'm even more scared because I don't want you to hate me or to hate them. Because, I love you so much. You're my sister, Prim. At least I hope you'll let me be your sister."

Prim looked down. "I love you, too," she replied quietly. "I don't hate you, Katniss. I just don't want to be ignored."

"Neither do I," Katniss told her. "I was hoping that you would ask me to help out with costumes or something for the play."

Prim looked up at her. "You were?"

Peeta's fiancée smiled. "Yeah, but you were so upset with me and your brother." Katniss looked over at him. "But, I don't mind playing second fiddle to Peeta. I know that you were hoping that he would help you out."

"We're all going to have to adjust," Peeta told Prim. "I'm sorry that I forgot. I'm not perfect and once in awhile, you're going to have point these things out to me. But, don't ever feel like you're not special to me. That's the farthest thing from the truth."

"Talk to us, too," Katniss urged. "Because sulky Prim is not as fun as the Prim who talks about everything and nothing."

"Alright," Prim relented. She stood up and went to Katniss, who hugged her tightly. "I really do love the babies, you know."

"I know they're going to love you. Maybe at times—more than their uncool Mom," Katniss replied with a watery laugh.

Prim turned to go to Peeta and he found himself engulfed in the scent of daisies coming from his sister's perfume.

When did she start wearing perfume?

Soon, Prim would be in high school, then college—time was so, so precious with her. His arms tightened around his sister.

"You're holding on a little tight, big brother," Prim joked in a teary voice. "Ever plan on letting go?"

Peeta kissed the side of her head. "No."

"So, this is very important," Effie said to them.

"Hmm?" Katniss was sitting on an old rocking chair that her father had brought for the nursery. On her lap was a large sketch pad.

Peeta was sitting, running lines with Prim by playing the Nurse to Prim's Juliet. Yes, his sister had gotten the female lead which meant that she would be acting out a teenage romance with a lot of kissing, an elopement, and a suicide.

"So do you really have to kiss Rory?" he asked Prim.

His sister nodded, her eyes serious though her cheeks were spotted with red. "Yes—but all for the play!"

"I guess." He went to shuffling through the book when he found another scene that made his stomach churn. "Oh, damn it!"

"What is it?" Katniss asked.

"There's a S-E-X scene in this play," he told her.

Prim snorted. "I know how to spell and read, Peeta. And, it's more of an after S-E-X scene."

"You're very out of your element," Katniss told him with a smile. "But, I promise to keep you from jumping on stage whenever she has to pretend to have S-E-X, okay?" She turned to Prim and held up her sketch of the long maroon dress. "Does this dress look like a dress that you can pretend to drink poison in?"

"EVERYONE!" They turned to a red-faced Effie. "I need your help!"

"What has got you so worked up?" Katniss asked as she sat back in her chair.

Effie held out the paint swatches. "Buttercream or Butterscotch?"

"They both look the same," Peeta told her. He stood up and took the swatches from their friend.

"Not true," Effie argued. "One has a tinge of gold."

"This one kind of matches my hair," Prim said as she took the swatches from her brother and held the butterscotch swatch to her head. "Actually, wouldn't this be cute if I had this lighter one as a highlight?"

"That looks very pretty," Katniss told her with a smile.

"There will be no highlighting of your hair." Peeta took the swatch from his sister. "It's bad enough that I'll have to sit through a play where my sister makes out with the guy that she's kind of dating."

"It's Shakespeare," his fiancée replied.

"It's smut," he told her. Going to Effie, he handed her the paler yellow. "Buttercream."

"Finally, somebody is paying attention to how this nursery is going to be handled," Effie said before sticking the swatch to the wall. "Painting begins next week."

"I'm beginning to regret complaining about not getting enough attention," Prim suddenly said to her brother.

He put an arm around her. "You asked for it."

"And now you must pay the consequences," Katniss said. She pushed herself up from her chair to join them. She gave Prim a small smile. "Let me show you the fabrics that I want to use for the balcony scene."

Prim smirked as she linked their arms. "Will it give me boobs?"

"We'll work with what you have." The two left the nursery to head over to the den next to their bedroom.

"She seems a lot more relaxed," Effie said to him. "When's your next appointment?"

"We've hit the three month mark," he informed her. "So, we've scheduled something for next week."

"Lovely," Effie told him. "Can I go over Katniss' concept with you?"

He nodded and Effie began to explain the layout. Katniss wanted the room to be airy as if they were outside in the sun: soft yellow paint, white-wood furniture, sheer white curtains, and cream carpeting. They were going to put a plush cream couch with a trundle bed in the likely chance that they ended up sleeping in the nursery.

"She seemed very set on the furniture," Effie continued. "Especially the cribs."

He turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"The detailing—white furniture with gold accents—the dressers will have gold knobs, the changing tables will have posts with gold at the top, and the cribs—there's going to be a leafy filigree with the first letter of the babies names."

Peeta was surprised. "She knows the babies names?"

He didn't think that she was thinking so far ahead. On the other hand, there was something in her eyes that seemed very set about things—like Katniss knew these babies even before they happened.

Then, he remembered a conversation from awhile back; right after they had made love in the den/sewing room:

"Peeta?" she called out softly. "Do you know a Robin…or a James?"

He chuckled quietly. "Prim must have been showing you our parents' things for her project."

Katniss turned to him. "What project?"

"Her genealogy project," Peeta said. "She's been looking through our parents' papers along with our grandparents' things."

"What does that have to do with the names?"

"Robin is Mom's middle name and James is Dad's middle name."

"Let me guess," he said. "Are the letters 'R' and 'J'?"

Effie nodded, her lips growing into a grin. "How you know?"

He put an arm around her. "Fatherly instinct."

"PEETA! EFFIE! COME QUICK!"

They looked at one another before running out of the room towards the den. They found a panicked Prim on the floor, holding a limp Katniss in her arms.

Peeta fell to his knees before them, taking Katniss' hand to check her pulse. "What happened?"

"I'm calling 9-1-1," Effie informed them as she held her cell to her ear.

"We were talking and all a sudden, she wanted to sit down," Prim said. "Before we could get to the couch, Katniss just started to sink and so I went down with her." She began to cry, her eyes staring at his fiancée's growing belly. "I didn't mean to be jealous! Please don't go, babies!"

His arms were suddenly reaching to bring Katniss onto his lap. "Baby, wake up."

No response.

His eyes began to fill. "Come on, Katniss…wake up…"

Somewhere away from them, he could hear Effie speaking to the emergency operator.

His hand went to Katniss' full stomach, his lips against her ear.

"Robin…James…stay with us."

Who wants to kick me in the face? Probably everyone.

Thanks for your patience. First week of work went great and I have a feeling that this place is a keeper. As I adjust to the schedule, I am still diligently working on this fic and on "We Go Down"—so don't worry.

I know that this was a short one but I feel it was quite effective.

The italicized section comes from Chapter Twenty-One.

As always, hellos, comments and reviews are welcomed on Tumblr, FF, and AO3.

Next: Chapter Twenty-Five, Katniss—the continuation of…whatever happened to her.

Till then, JLaLa