Mommy and Me

It was a beautiful fall day. The air was crisp. The sky was blue. Today was a day where I had no plans and I was going to spend it with my precious daughter. We were going to take a walk in the park and then down Broadway. Maybe a little shopping.

"You're in an exceptionally good mood today." Peeta said.

"Why shouldn't I be. I have nothing special planned for today. No stories to relay to Jo. No meetings with Effie. Not a care in the world. The only thing that would make it better would be for you to play hooky and go out with us."

I knew Peeta couldn't take the day off, but a little guilt went a long way. "We haven't seen you in a long time." I gave him my best pout. My sad brown eyes looked up at him. "Um, no I can't. But we're both free this weekend. It will be you, me and Lily for the day, then we can see a show in the evening." Yay! I still got it.

"I guess that'll be okay." I wrap my arms around him and send him off with a big kiss.

"Ouch!" And a little pinch on his ass. "I think I'll have a black and blue." And it was such a cute ass.

"I'll kiss your boo boo when you get home. Something to look forward to." He smiled broadly and kissed my forehead.

After I got up, showered and changed. I walked to the kitchen. "Good morning Mrs. Mellark." The ever cheerful Glimmer said. "Your tea is made." Glimmer is an amazing woman. She cleaned the apartment, did the laundry, cooked and took wonderful care of Lily. We really did luck out.

"Thank you Glimmer." I sipped my tea and ate my cereal. There was something missing though. I looked under the couch. "No. not here." In the refrigerator. "Not here either." In the other rooms. "Nope."

"What are you looking for?" She asked.

"That miniature girl that hangs with us. You know, the one with the blonde hair and blue eyes." Glimmer giggled.

"Your sister came by earlier and picked her up. She wanted to spend the morning with her."

"My sister? Are you sure it was Prim?" Glimmer just stared at me. "Prim is the full size version of Lily. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall. You sure it was her?" She shook her head. "Because my sister never volunteered to do anything like... babysit."

"Yup, it was her. I hope that was okay." I nodded yes. But now I have to rewind and redo my plans.

It was a beautiful fall day. The air was crisp. The sky was blue. Today was a day where I had no plans and I was going to spend it alone. This was okay. A little Katniss me time. I'll take a walk on Broadway and do a little shopping.

I put the bookstore, The Coffee Shoppe and dress shop on my list.

First to Westsider Books. They have used and rare books. It's a wonderful place to lose yourself and search the shelves. I have found books in the past that I didn't even know I was looking for.

"Hi Detective. Looking for a mystery today?" You might think that someone who solved real crimes might be tired of reading about fake crimes, but no.

"Maybe, we'll see." You never know what you'll find. And here was something that looked interesting. I'd recognize that backside anywhere. It hasn't changed since college. I tapped her shoulder. "Hi."

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"Jesus Christ Jo! What the fuck was that for?" I screamed. She scared me half to death. Jo turned around, grabbed my jacket and dragged me deeper into the store. "What's wrong with you Jo?" She peered around me.

"Anyone follow you here?" Since when did our editor and author become a secret agent. "Come on! Tell me. Did you lead her to me?" And we've left the bookstore and entered crazytown.

"Jo, what are you talking about?"

"Did Clove follow you?"

"No. Why?" Jo relaxed and sat down. She was wearing an oversized sweater that I didn't recognize. A hat, and she rarely wore hats. And dark sunglasses. "Are you hiding from Clove?"

"Katniss, she's driving me crazy. She's obsessed with NaNoWriMo. Every spare second I have is spent in front of the computer typing. She tracks every word I write. She's a tyrant. I haven't had a martini since October. Did you hear me Katniss! That's ten days!" She had clearly gone off the deep end.

"Jo, just talk to her. She'll understand..."

"No she won't Katniss. She's changed! She's tasted power and she won't give it up."

"Oh please Jo. You talk about Clove like she's some knife wielding murderer. She's one of the sweetest girls I know. Next to Annie, of course."

"Of course. But..."

"There you are! Oh hi Katniss. I thought I'd find you here. Come on, you have a big, big, big day." Jo tried to run, but we were in a dead-end. "Come on sweetheart. Let's go home and write. You're almost one-third done." Clove clamped onto Jo's arm and dragged her along. She was pretty strong for a little girl.

"Oh please Kit-Kt save me! You're a cop, do something. You owe me..."

"Hey Jo, what's you're word count?" I called out.

"12,604!" And there she went.

I meandered around but nothing caught my eye. Next... maybe I'll just window shop. I wandered down Broadway taking my time. I wasn't in a hurry. I had all day. Oh my God. What am I going to do all day all by myself? I haven't had this in so long I don't know what to do.

"No it's my turn." That sounded familiar. Almost like Prim. "No it's not. this is what we agreed to." And that might be Madge. "You're both wrong." Well, that was definitely Annie. I walked through the crowd, and I saw Prim, Madge and Annie arguing. Lily was in the stroller. They seemed to be arguing over... over... Oh isn't that sweet. They're arguing over whose turn it is to take care of Lily. Since all my friends are childless they all dote on Lily. She's very spoiled.

"This is his only session today and I plan on taking advantage of it." Hey! What does that mean. His only session. My eyes dart around. I looked at the stores. Barnes and Noble, no. The Gap, no. The Coffee shoppe, no. Mommy and Me exercise... Mommy and Me exercise, bingo! I move through he crowd until I'm just a few feet away.

"You three should be ashamed of yourselves. Using Lily as a prop so you could go to a class with some hot instructor." They all backed off, and their eyes got huge. I knew it. "You two are married to wonderful men and you just got engaged. I suggest you go home and count your blessings. I'm taking Lily now, and we're going to spend the day together." I leaned over and tucked the blanket around her. "Go. Go on." The three of them sulked and slinked away. The nerve of them.

I turned the stroller around and started to walk. I looked into the window and... and... and saw... wow! He was a hunk. That's who they must have been talking about. Well, it wouldn't hurt to check it out and maybe take a class. "Would it Lily."

"That was fun." I rubbed my face into her belly. She giggled. "Maybe we'll do that again."

"You should be ashamed of yourselves."

"Using Lily as a prop."

"You're married and engaged." Uh oh.

Sitting on the bench outside Mommy and Me are three stone-faced woman. Each holding a coffee or a latte or a cappuccino or whatever the hell they sell in The Coffee Shoppe.

"Alright, I went in there. Um, it was good for Lily and I to spend some time in together, and er, you all know I need to exercise, and well, okay, he is hot! Oh my God he's hot!" I finally confessed.

"He is, isn't he." Annie said.

"My God he's tall." Madge added.

"And buns of steel." Prim cooled herself off with her hand.

"So I think we could make out some sort of schedule. If we're all in agreement." He was hot, you know.

A/N: November is a busy month and I, like Jo, am writing a first draft of a novel for National Novel Writing Month. So because we're both a little busy I won't update until next weekend. Then a Thanksgiving story arc will start the weekend after that.

Wish Jo and I luck in getting to 50,000 words.

To give you an idea to how much 50,000 words is, this little chapter is almost 1,500 words. So about 34 times larger than this chapter. :)