(A/N at the end of chapter)
Chapter 35—the Everdeen Stubborn
Killing that hog felt like a turning point for Peeta. He spent the rest of that day making bread, while Nikki cooked a feast of pork loin and vegetables. They had Rye, the Everdeens and Mr. Brown over for dinner.
Very few things in Peeta's life had ever felt as good as watching the people he loved eat the food he'd provided. The house was filled with laughter and talking.
Even Katniss had calmed down by the time she, Rosemary and Prim arrived for supper. She'd been pretty ticked off in the woods. "Damnit, Peeta! You scared me to death, risking your life like that!" Honestly, it was kinda hot, seeing her all worked up over his safety like that. If Gale hadn't been there, Peeta would have kissed her silly.
When Prim accepted seconds of everything at dinner, the look of gratitude Katniss sent his way let Peeta know that all was forgiven.
Before she left that night, Mrs. Everdeen cleared Peeta to return to wrestling. His first day back, the coach had him spar with Will, who was being an absolute cocksucker. The two of them were on the mat, facing each other. "Hey, Peeta," Will said loud enough for everyone to hear. "When you fuck your girlfriend, does your dick get covered in coal dust?" Several other wrestlers howled with laughter just as the whistle blew.
A cold rage overtook him. It wasn't like the night of the rolling-pin, when he had genuinely wanted to kill Marigold. Peeta didn't want to kill Will; he wanted to punish him.
He spent the next hour throwing Will around the mat. Behind every throw, every joint lock, every pinfall was a controlled fury that came from years of having to hear the sneers and catcalls aimed at Katniss and her people. By the end of practice, Will had two black eyes, a bloody nose and a pronounced limp. The squad silently watched as Will hobbled up to the coach to complain.
Coach had no sympathy. "You shot off your mouth, you were handed your ass. Quit bitching."
Will confronted Peeta after school. "You better watch yourself, Mellark. You're lucky coach was there today to protect you," Will glared at Peeta through swollen, black eyes.
"His presence protected you," Peeta retorted. "If you'd said that to me outside of school, I'd have knocked out every single one of your teeth."
"Hey, dumbfuck!" Rye's cheerful greeting to Will interrupted the stare-down. Will turned to glare at Rye, who was sauntering up to them. Katniss and Prim were behind him. Prim looked a little shocked at Rye's language.
Katniss, on the other hand, had schooled her face into a look of indifference. Peeta's heart sank when he saw it. She knows. She knows what he said about her.
"What did you call me?" Will challenged.
"Dumbfuck." Rye beamed a big, shiny smile at him. Katniss tried to cover Prim's ears, but Prim slipped out of her older sister's grasp to stand next to Rye.
Rye looked absolutely delighted with the condition of Will's face. "Wow. That is a good look for you, dumbfuck. You're like a walking advertisement of dumbfuckery."
"Shut up, asshole!"
"Listen. Dumbfuck." Rye placed one hand on Will's shoulder in mock earnestness. "You're trying to pick a fight with a guy who beat your ass into the ground for an hour while everybody watched, and his girlfriend, who kills predators in her spare time. Guess what that makes you?"
Will managed to glare at Peeta and Rye, but his gaze faltered when it landed on Katniss. A mixture of guilt and fear flashed across his face. He mumbled something about homework and wandered off.
"See ya later, dumbfuck!" Rye called after him. "Welp," he said turning back to Peeta, Katniss and Prim, "I have shit to do. See you two tonight," he said, indicating Peeta and Katniss. He gave a quick hug to Prim, who was looking at him with no small amount of admiration on her face. "You should come tonight too, beautiful. Class the place up a bit." He sauntered off in the direction of the bakery.
"I really wish he would watch his language around Prim," Katniss muttered
"I don't care about that, Katniss. Besides, you have to admit," Prim sighed happily, "Rye is kinda awesome."
Prim held Rye in high esteem for almost four whole hours. Five to Twelve was right in the middle of rehearsing "Sweet Child o' Mine" when Madge and the Mayor looked up at the ceiling. They could all hear frantic pounding on the front door. The Mayor hurried upstairs. Moments later, a terrified-looking Bannock burst into the basement. "Primrose? Nikki's in labor!"
Prim took charge. "Katniss, go get Mom," she said calmly. "I'll go with Bannock."
"Your mother isn't home. I tried there first," Bannock gasped.
"Wait. Nikki's been alone this whole time?" Prim looked at Bannock like he was an idiot.
"She told me to get your mother!"
Prim paled but kept her composure. "All right, Katniss, go home and get my medical bag. Leave a note for Mom telling her where we are." Katniss flew out of the basement. "Rye, Peeta, you're coming with me."
"Uh...we are?" Rye said, timidly.
Prim frowned at him. "I can't do this alone. If I could, I wouldn't ask."
"I don't recall being asked, do you?" Rye muttered to Peeta as he packed up his guitar. They trotted after Bannock and Prim.
Prim questioned Bannock as they jogged back to the house. He told her that Nikki had been complaining of mild back pain most of the day but nothing much worse than what she'd had for the last few weeks of her pregnancy. "Then her water broke about an hour ago and things got real bad, real fast. She told me to go get Mrs. Everdeen. I did, but she wasn't home. Then I ran to the Mayor's hoping you'd be there."
When they got to the house just a few minutes later, Prim scrubbed up and headed into the bedroom. Nikki was laying on her side, groaning in pain, while Bannock looked at her helplessly. "Bannock," Prim said gently, "go wash your hands and then come back." Bannock hurried towards the sink while Prim helped Nikki sit up and scootch towards the foot of the bed. "Rye, Peeta, you do the same. Wash your hands."
"Prim," Rye began, "seriously. I can't deliver a baby."
"I'm not asking you to deliver a baby, Rye. I'm asking you to wash your hands."
Rye had started to back towards the front door, "Can't Peeta help you? I'm not good at this kind of...thing."
Prim lost her patience. She whirled on Rye. "Look. Even if my mother were here, we'd still need extra help. I need you and Peeta to do things like find towels and boil water. If that's too much for you to handle, then go ahead and leave. Otherwise, shut up and and wash your hands." She dismissed them with a toss of her braids.
"Dude," Rye whispered to Peeta as they washed their hands, "I am not up for this."
"What, you'd leave the 12-year-old to handle this on her own?"
Rye made a face. "Well, aren't you the asshole for putting it like that. Besides, that 12-year-old is scaring the shit out of me."
"Fine. Tell her you're leaving."
"Peeta?" Rye dried his hands. "Fuck all the way off."
Over the next forty-five minutes, Primrose barked orders at Rye and Peeta, soothed Bannock and coached Nikki through her increasingly frequent contractions. Peeta and Rye boiled water, fetched towels and sheets, located buckets, emptied or refilled basins and generally did whatever Prim demanded they do.
They came into the bedroom at one point, Rye carrying a stack of towels and Peeta holding a basin of clean water. Bannock was kneeling on the bed. Nikki, wearing only a sweat-soaked shift that left nothing to the imagination, was leaning up against her husband, her butt on the edge of the mattress, a bucket on the floor right under her and her feet resting on a couple of footstools.
Prim had one hand on Nikki's belly and the other one inside her like it was no big deal. "You're fully dilated and almost fully effaced" Prim was saying. "These babies are in a hurry. You'll be ready to push soon." When she pulled her hand out, it was covered in pink-tinged slime.
"Did you just have your hand in there?" Rye looked revolted. "I am never having sex again," he told Peeta.
"That's probably for the best," Prim said acidly while she washed her hands in the basin Peeta had just brought in.
Rye's jaw dropped a little. He looked at Prim like he was seeing her for the first time. She coolly returned his gaze while she dried her hands with one of the towels he was holding.
Katniss, with some rather excellent timing, arrived at that moment, out of breath, with Prim's medical bag. "Right on," Rye announced. "Help has arrived. I'm outta here." He grabbed his guitar and stormed out of the house.
Nikki groaned through another huge contraction. Prim wiped the disappointment off of her face and turned to a very frightened looking Katniss. "Katniss, please sterilize everything you find rolled up in the flannel in my bag. And wash your hands. I hate to ask this, but I need you in here. These babies are coming now." Katniss paled but obeyed. Had Mrs. Everdeen been present, Katniss would have sprinted right back home but she'd never run out on Prim.
Nikki had another big contraction while they waited for Katniss. "Don't push yet, Nikki," Prim told her calmly. "I know you want to but you can't quite yet." Katniss returned to the room with sterilized suction bulbs, scissors, a couple of needles, some thread and something that reminded Peeta of salad tongs. Her hands shaking, she knelt on the floor next to Prim and laid everything out on a clean towel.
Prim turned to Nikki. "OK, Nikki, next contraction, you're going to push. Bannock and Peeta will help, OK?" And by "help," she meant that Peeta and Bannock would hold Nikki's legs back while she pushed. "Don't be super gentle about it," Prim advised, "We're basically trying to fold her in half."
Peeta and Bannock placed a hand behind each of Nikki's sweaty knees and pulled them back towards her shoulders during contractions. Nikki's screams had been replaced with a silent, primal concentration. In between contractions, she leaned against Bannock, who kissed her forehead and told her how much he loved her.
Bannock looked very scared and very, very young. "Are you sure she's going to be all right?" he kept asking Prim.
"She's doing great, Bannock," Prim kept telling him. "Truly, she is." Her calm demeanor, as much as her reassuring words, told Peeta that Nikki wasn't in any danger.
Even with the reassurances, though, Bannock was so scared for Nikki that he didn't even care that everybody in the house had now seen her her more or less totally naked. Not that it mattered. What Peeta could see of Nikki looked completely alien to him. This wasn't anything like the those delicate pink parts he'd seen in Rye's girlie magazines.
"The baby's crowned!" Prim announced. Even though he'd been expecting it, Peeta was still shocked when the baby's head appeared during the next contraction. One push later and Heather Marie Mellark was born in a rush of fluids. Peeta found himself laughing and crying at the same time, along with Bannock and Nikki.
Katniss on the other hand, had turned her head away and looked like she was trying to not puke. Still, she immediately handed Prim everything she asked for. Katniss even held the kicking and screaming infant while Prim expertly suctioned goo out of the baby's nose and mouth (which annoyed the baby), and then tied off and cut the umbilical cord.
Prim toweled off the worst of the gunk off of the baby, wrapped her in a clean towel and handed the hollering infant to Bannock and Nikki.
The new parents didn't get much time to admire their daughter before another contraction announced the pending arrival of their son. Baby Heather was off to Bannock, who held his daughter in one arm and held back his wife's leg with the other. Nathan Cedar was born several minutes later. He was as quiet as his sister was loud.
After Nathan had been wrapped up in a clean towel of his own and placed in his father's other arm, Prim ushered everybody out so she could help Nikki get cleaned up. "Peet," Bannock asked, his voice choking with tears, "take one of them for a moment, would you? I'm afraid to walk with them both."
Peeta gently took Heather. He and Bannock sat next to each other on the sofa so that Bannock could admire both of his children at once. Some instinct took over Peeta and he found himself gently rocking his niece, who gripped his pinky with a surprising amount of strength. "Look at you," he heard himself cooing. "Look at you."
Baby Heather stared up at Peeta with slate-blue eyes, and he felt a fiercely protective urge well up within him. We might only have them for twelve years. The thought of having to stand next to Bannock and Nikki while Effie Trinket called out the name "Heather Mellark!" or "Nathan Mellark!" made his eyes water with grief.
Katniss sat down next to him. He glanced up at her. He saw a deep sadness in her eyes that he suddenly recognized in himself.
Prim and Nikki walked out of the bedroom. Nikki was pale and a little unsteady on her feet, but she'd managed to clean up and change clothes. "Gimme them babies," she ordered as she sat in her rocking chair. Bannock gave Nathan to her. The baby started rooting for his mother's breast.
"Let's help Prim," Katniss suggested. Peeta handed his niece over to Bannock, then he and and Katniss helped Prim empty buckets, gather up soiled linens, and change the bedding.
"I'm so proud of you, Prim," Katniss said when they were finished, giving her a hug. "You aren't going to be an amazing healer. You already are an amazing healer."
"Thanks," Prim said, "but honestly, Nikki did most of the work. And thank you for staying. I know it wasn't easy for you."
Somebody knocked on the front door. Bannock answered it with his daughter in his arms, then beamed at Mrs. Everdeen as he let her in.
"I'm so sorry, I got here as soon as I could. Oh my god." Rosemary looked at the baby in his arms and saw Nikki nursing Nathan. "They're both here already?"
Prim walked over to Rosemary and threw her arms around her mother's waist. Now that her mother was here and in charge, Prim could finally release all of the pressure and responsibilty she'd supported on her narrow shoulders for the last few hours. She started to cry.
Bannock and Nikki filled Rosemary in on the births, while Rosemary comforted Prim. Prim settled down fairly quickly and was adamant that she had a lot of help from everybody else.
Rosemary asked, "Peeta, would you please walk Katniss back home? I'm going to be here a while longer. I need to check the babies, and discuss a few things with Nikki and Bannock." She gave Prim the option of staying with her or leaving with Katniss and Peeta. Prim opted to stay.
Katniss and Peeta said their goodbyes to everybody, then headed out into the night. After all the noise and intensity of the last few hours, the quiet darkness was welcome. Neither of them said much on the walk home, each taking comfort in the other's presence but lost in their own thoughts.
Peeta felt a new, bittersweet connection to the girl next to him. He remembered an argument he and Katniss had when they were discussing her decision to never have children. She'd tried to explain her decision by telling him, Know which Reapings terrify me the most? Prim's last four. I'll be too old to volunteer in her place.
At the time, he hadn't really given a lot of thought about the tangible fear Katniss exhibited when discussing children, Prim and the Games. He'd been too focused on how Katniss' decision reflected on the Capitol.
Tonight, though, he'd felt that same terror himself. Now he understood Katniss' choice about becoming a mother.
When they got to Katniss' house, he pulled her into his arms. It'll be all right. Everything's fine. Don't be afraid. You're safe. I'm safe. The babies are safe. Prim is safe. All things he wanted to say to her. None of them true.
Instead, he kissed her goodnight with some of the passion he usually kept in check. A disheveled and blushing Katniss ordered him off the porch a few minutes later. "It's getting late," she said, gently pushing him towards the steps. She was doing a bad job of hiding her smile.
"Oh my god. I'm making some major moves here, and you're kicking me off your porch."
"My mom can tell time, you know." She walked him to the bottom step.
"Fine. Reject me. I get it."
"Good night, Peeta."
He pretended to pull her in for one last hug, and instead he dipped her. She threw her head back and laughed. He placed a quick kiss on her throat. "Good night, my love," he replied. The endearment just slipped out but Katniss was too busy laughing to have heard.
After the babies were born, Peeta found himself spending more and more time at the Everdeens.
It wasn't that Peeta didn't like being around the babies. He loved it, actually. The twins had a habit of being fussy at the same time, so he would often take one to the porch swing while Nikki or Bannock took the other. He kept up a running commentary for whatever baby he had in hand. "I got a 93 on my math test. Oh! And I got a 60 on the history exam. You know what that means, don't you? It means Uncle Peeta knows fact from fiction. Yes, it does."
Heather paid close attention to him when he talked. Nate usually fell asleep. "Always knew you was a ladies' man," Nikki teased.
Peeta helped Nikki and Bannock when and where he could. When Peeta was at the paint-shop, he'd bring Bannock a thermos of tea. When he was at the house, he prepared meals, did laundry and ran errands. He didn't even mind changing diapers. Changing Nate was more dangerous than changing Heather. The first time Bannock showed Peeta how to change a diaper, he forgot to cover Nate's penis with a towel, and Nate fire-hosed them both.
Still, Peeta felt like he was underfoot all of the time now. The babies were up every couple of hours at night. Bannock was tired and short-tempered. Nikki was tired and cried a lot. Peeta was just plain tired.
Nikki didn't put up any bullshit from Bannock. The first time Bannock said something Marigold-like to Nikki, she called him on it right away. "You want a clean house when you get home from work, Bannock Mellark, hire a housekeeper. I got two new people ta take care of every day, in case that escaped your notice. And the next time you call me 'worthless' is the last time you'll call me 'wife.' You wanna live with that kinda ugly talk, go move back in with your momma. She'll be right proud of how well she taught ya, I expect."
That night, Peeta lay on the sofa and tried very hard not to hear his brother's whispered, sobbing apologies.
It was better at the Everdeens. Just a few weeks ago, Katniss had been so embarrassed by their poverty that she was reluctant to have him in the house at all. Now, she'd go hunting with Gale and leave him there with her mom and sister. The first time Rosemary left him alone with Prim while she went on a house call, all she said was, "Do you homework, both of you. I'll be back in an hour or so."
He and Prim double checked each others homework. Prim tried to teach him a couple of basic herbal remedies using plants he already recognized. When Katniss came home, the three of them played cards.
Happiness bubbled up inside Peeta. He felt loved here.
On the days Peeta went to the Everdeens, he'd do his homework, drink their tea and chop their wood. He taught them how to make crackers out of tessera grain. On rainy days when Katniss couldn't hunt, the two of them worked on her father's plant book. Sometimes, he'd catch Katniss staring at him. She'd always blush and look away when she got caught.
The one thing he wouldn't do is eat dinner with them. Katniss' birthday was coming up. He wanted this to be the first birthday she'd had in four years where she didn't need to take out any tessera.
He was getting to know Prim a lot better, too. Katniss might see Prim as being her polar (and better) opposite, but Peeta found the sisters actually had a great deal in common. Yes, they had different talents and outlooks. Prim hated to see any animal suffer and wanted to nurse them back to health. Katniss mostly saw animals as a potential source of food. Katniss had an unhealthy distrust of strangers. Prim saw everyone as a friend, or a potential friend.
But they were two of the most stubborn women he'd ever met. He even gave it a name—the Everdeen Stubborn. And nothing brought out the Everdeen Stubborn in Prim like Rye Mellark.
The night the twins were born was the last rehearsal Prim went to for quite a while. Peeta had noted her absence, but didn't realize it was connected to Rye until Madge brought it up at lunch.
"Katniss, why won't Prim come to rehearsals anymore?" Madge had extended several invitations.
Katniss frowned. "I don't know. I asked if everything was all right and she said yes, but that's about all she said."
"Well, tell her I miss having somebody to braid hair with. And tell her that I'll make Rye bring cookies, too. You'll make cookies for you again, won't you?"
Rye took a bit longer than necessary to swallow what he was chewing before he answered, "Uh, sure. If she wants cookies, I'll bring them."
"Good. Well, that's solved, then," Madge said.
Except it wasn't. Rye brought cookies that night, but Prim didn't show. Rye looked disappointed when Katniss arrived alone. He held back four cookies, then gave them to Katniss after rehearsal. "These are for Prim," he explained.
"Oh! Great! I'll make sure she gets them," Katniss beamed. Anything that involved Prim getting to eat made her happy.
The following day, when Peeta saw the uneaten cookies on the Everdeen's table, he said something to Prim. Katniss was hunting, and Rosemary wasn't home. Prim had just finished her homework and went outside to feed Lady. He followed her and sat down on the back steps.
"Something wrong with the cookies, Primrose?"
"No, I'm sure they're perfectly fine," she said, filling a bucket with Lady's feed.
"Are they?" He watched her carefully.
She ignored him.
"Something wrong with Rye, Primrose?"
"I'm sure he's perfectly fine, too." Her voice was steady but her cheeks had gone rather pink.
"And I'm sure he's perfectly miserable. I'm also pretty sure I've never seen you waste food."
"It won't go to waste."
He studied Prim as she pointedly ignored him. It wasn't unusual for 12-year-old girls to act moody, but there was something else going on. In fact, she was behaving a lot like Katniss had when Peeta had hurt her feelings.
Oh. Duh.
"Prim? Does this have something to do with what Rye said to you when Nikki was in labor?" Peeta couldn't remember exactly what Rye had said but he did remember Rye basically insulting Prim for doing what midwives have to do, and then walking out.
Prim grabbed a broom and started sweeping out Lady's pen.
"Prim, you do realize that Rye is notorious for saying deeply stupid and offensive things, right? You've seen it yourself, remember? He ticked off the Mayor in his own home."
Prim kept sweeping.
"Fine, don't tell me. How about I have Rye hand-deliver some bread to your house?"
Prim whirled around, a familiar scowl on her face, and pointed the end of the broom at him. "How about I tell Mom who Katniss is really spending Sundays with?"
Katniss never did tell her mother that she was spent Sundays in the woods with Peeta. Gale still went hunting on Sundays, but he and Madge spent a few hours together before any hunting took place. The four teens had come to an unspoken agreement—until somebody asked them directly, they were going to let Mrs. Hawthorne and Mrs. Everdeen continue to assume that Gale and Katniss were hunting together on Sundays.
"You could certainly tell her. I can't stop you," Peeta said reasonably. "But busting me and Katniss gets Gale and Madge in trouble, too. And it doesn't have anything to do with Rye."
He watched Prim dejectedly put the broom away. She sat next to him on the back steps. He bumped her with his shoulder. "Does Rye owe you an apology? Need me to kick his ass for you?"
That at least got a smile out of her, but it faded quickly. "Rye doesn't owe me anything."
"Then why on earth are you so upset with him?"
"Because Rye doesn't owe me anything." Prim's blue eyes filled with tears, which she dashed away with the back of her hand.
"Oh, Prim," Peeta said, suddenly understanding what was really going on here. He put arm around her and let her cry. If there was one thing he related to, it was unrequited love.
"I'm being so stupid!" she sniffled. "Even if he was my age, it's not like Mom would allow me to have a boyfriend. And by the time I am old enough to date, he'll probably be married and have his own children."
"Rye says he's never getting married or having kids. He thinks our upbringing caused too much damage."
"Really?" Prim brightened up considerably at this news.
"Really. But listen, sweetheart. Don't waste the next several years pining for Rye. You're too beautiful and too amazing to be sitting around collecting dust."
"You waited for Katniss," she replied, giving him a pointed look. "You collected dust for 10 years. And I know a lot of girls liked you."
"Yeah, well, that's different. Katniss is amazing. Rye's an idiot."
Prim giggled and gave him a squeeze. "Thanks, Peeta."
"You're welcome."
"And just so you know, I never would have said anything to Mom about Sundays."
Peeta was glad to hear it. Sundays were far and way his favorite day of the week.
They went back inside the house and Peeta made them tea. And when he placed one of Rye's cookies in front of Prim, she only hesitated for a moment before picking it up and taking a bite.
Prim went to the rehearsal that night. Rye asked Prim to step outside with him. After an encouraging look from Peeta, she followed Rye upstairs.
"What's all that about?" Katniss asked, starting to follow them.
Peeta gently held her back. "Rye hurt Prim's feelings the night the twins were born. It's why she hasn't come to the rehearsals. Let him apologize to her."
"What did he do?"
"He said something stupid about what was doing to help deliver the babies."
"Oh. Why didn't she tell me?" she frowned.
"Probably because you feel the same was about that sort of thing as Rye does."
It was only a partial explanation, but it was enough for Katniss. He knew it would be. When Prim and Rye returned a few minutes later, Rye was acting like a goofball and Prim was giggling again.
Rehearsal went well. Madge and Prim braided each other's hair. The Mayor listened and tapped his foot and hummed along. Things seemed to be back to normal.
But when Peeta looked at Prim, he saw something in the set of her shoulder, or maybe it was something in her eyes. The Everdeen Stubborn was alive and well in this girl. She may have made her peace with the age differences for the moment, but she hadn't changed her mind one bit.
Rye was hers. Whether he knew it or not.
A/N: A short ton of cheesebuns goes to greenwool, who midwifed me through this chapter. My professional life ramped up rather unexpectedly (and not in a good way) hours after I posted the last chapter. It took a couple of weeks before I was able to get enough breathing space to write anything worth a damn. This chapter underwent two changes of POV and three re-writes before it was something I could live with. Greenwool deserves a lot of credit for encouraging me to hold off on posting an earlier version. (The subject in the email I sent to her read, "my shittiest chapter yet!")
I also want to give a shout-out to Erieniel for her songlist suggestions. This chapter was originally written from a very differnet POV and had a long list of songs that Five to Twelve played. That chapter was scrapped, recycyled or set aside for later use. I did at least manage to squeeze in "Sweet Child o' Mine."
Thank you also everybody who followed, faved and reviewed while I maintained radio silence. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take so bloody long.