Chapter 14

Katniss and Peeta sat patiently in the waiting room, the tick, tick, ticking of the clock echoed throughout the room and the hustle and bustle of all the doctors and nurses walking around helped distract Katniss as she nervously waited to be called. Peeta, had collected her that morning and babbled away In the car about how excited he was to finally get to see their baby and hear the heartbeat and although, Katniss has already seen the picture and heard the heartbeat before, something about going with Peeta made it seem a lot more real. She had hardly slept a wink the night before as she was plagued with nightmares, that had sketched several different scenarios where they went into to the room and instead of hearing the galloping sounds of a heartbeat and cheerful cries from Peeta, the room was silent instead. Even though she knew the possibility of not hearing the heartbeat was slim she was still fearful. And it didn't help that she had to drink a full litre of water before the scan and was now bursting for the toilet. Her knees bounced up and down as she tried to stay comfortable, even though she couldn't wait until the scan was over and she could pee.

As if sensing Katniss's unease Peeta reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a slight squeeze. Katniss looked over to him giving him a slight smile. Without saying any words Peeta knew she appreciated the gesture and was thankful he was here with her. Peeta went back to looking over the pamphlets he began to chuckle Katniss could feel the vibrations through the seat and she looked over at him,

"What's so funny?" she quizzed as her right eyebrow raised and her scowl appeared on her face.

Peeta, looked down at her slight curve and back to the pamphlet. Katniss felt self-conscious, her cheeks began to redden, and she wanted to know what he found so funny.

"Peeta Mellark, so help me tell me what you think is so funny" she said before she poked him on the shoulder.

Acting wounded and rubbing the spot where Katniss had poked him he cleared his throat and answered, "So according to my leaflet here, the baby is the size of an avacodo and I know it's not that funny but when I read it all I could picture was an avocado with your hair and my eyes but it was scowling just like you"

Katniss glared back at him "I do not Scowl" But Peeta couldn't help but laugh at her as she scowled at him, "There that's the face" he replied

Katniss burst out laughing "you're such a dork" she said in between her laughs. "That's not even funny, but I can't help but picture it now"

"Congratulations, the Everdeen- Mellark clan you've got a perfectly healthy baby avocado" Peeta said in an ever so slight professional manner, giving his best doctor impression.

They both were broken from their laughter when the nurse called Katniss's name. She instantly froze because although Peeta had broken the tension with his silly joke, she was now back to reality. All the what ifs swam through her head. Peeta squeezed her hand and escorted her into the room that the nurse had led them to. The room was a soft yellow, with posters lining the walls about stages of pregnancy and labour. Katniss glanced over at Peeta whose eyes were bulging from his head as he had spotted the picture of a woman's cervix at full dilation with the tip of a babies head.

"Remind me to not go below your waist during labour" Peeta said to Katniss. He was pale, but the tips of his ears were bright red, earning another chuckle from Katniss and the nurse who had accompanied them into the room.

"Don't worry, dad usually the mothers to busy squeezing your hand and yelling at you that you won't even get the far" The perky nurse said. "My name's Nurse Portia, you're here to see Doctor Trinket, is that correct? She asked.

Katniss nodded her head at the cheerful nurse, who had a comforting sort of demeanour. Her hair was a golden blonde and, on her eyes, she had a shimmer of gold eyeliner, almost to compliment her hair. She was a tall woman who you could tell had a bit of work done but none the less she was professional and talked her whole way through taking Katniss's blood pressure. It felt like no time had passed when she spoke up,

"Okay Miss Everdeen, I'm all finished with taking your blood work and blood pressure, I'll send them off to the lab and Miss Trinket will be in with you soon, make yourself comfortable and Mr Everdeen, you can take a seat right here"

"Aww thanks, but it's Peeta, Peeta Mellark" he said as he went to shake the nurse's hand.

"Oh, my mistake, Mr Mellark, it was nice meeting you two. She paused at the door before turning around and say "You know I shouldn't really say this in case I sound unprofessional but, your baby is lucky to have parents like you, you're adorable together" Portia said before leaving the room.

Leaving a slight blush on Katniss's face. "You hear that, we're the dream couple" Peeta said as he bumped Katniss with his shoulder. "Oh yes two star crossed lovers, caught up in a situation where we haven't even labelled out 'Relationship' " Katniss responded using her fingers to air quote the word "Relationship" Peeta said nothing as if shrugging off her comment and going back to reading the leaflet that was in his hands before entering the room. Katniss began to pick at the paper sheet that she was sitting on, hating herself for making such a comment, why did she have to ruin the day by saying something so stupid. Gosh she was an idiot she thought. Broken from her intrusive thoughts when the door opened and in walked the Doctor. Right off the bat Katniss could tell Dr Trinket was a tenacious woman, her energy was off the charts and going by her Vibrant orange hair and perky high heel shoes, Katniss could tell she was a stylish woman and she couldn't help but feel sorry for her because of how uncomfortable she must be wearing them shoes, but nerveless she was professional and courteous.

"Good afternoon, I'm Doctor Effie Trinket and I'll be your doctor throughout your whole pregnancy. Now going by your charts, I see you were referred to me by Doctor Alma Coin, is that correct?" Effie asked before eyeing up Katniss. Katniss felt uncomfortable at the mere mention of Doctor Coins name before she didn't want Effie to judge her decisions before knowing her.

"Aww, umm yes that's correct" Katniss stuttered not making eye contact with Effie.

Almost sensing Katniss guilt over almost considering ending her pregnancy, Effie placed her hand over Katniss's and said " Not to worry dear, you're not the first and you most certainly won't be the last person to ever have to rethink a decision and by the looks of it you made a pretty good one" before nudging her head over to Peeta and winking at Katniss, she then leaned over and whispered in Katniss's ear not very subtly " And with his bone structure my my girl, your baby is going to be gorgeous, I can already tell" this caused Katniss to laugh and for the first time ever she seen Peeta blush. She could already tell that Effie and she were going to get along.

" Now mama, if you could lift up your shirt for me and roll down your trousers just ever so slightly, I'm going to place some gel on your stomach which will be cold at first but it should be okay" doing what Dr Trinket said Katniss began rolling up her shirt and got comfortable on the bed. As soon as she was ready Effie placed the gel on her stomach and began rolling the probe along her stomach. It wasn't long until the room flooded with the sound of a racing heartbeat, Katniss released a breath she wasn't aware that she was holding and squeezed Peeta's hand. Effie was quiet for a second pressing buttons on the computer and taking measurements. This gave Katniss a chance to glance over at Peeta who had the biggest grin on his face. Peeta caught Katniss staring at him and he bent down and kissed her every so lightly on the hand. This caused butterflies to stir in Katniss and she felt the warmth of the kiss ebb its way through her whole body.

"Now mum and Dad, this right here, this little fluttering" Effie pointed to the screen "Is your babies heart, and here" she pointed again " is your babies feet, head and arms" it seems everything looks to healthy and according to your babies measurements you are around 4 months pregnant"

"Wow" Peeta said as he looked closer at the screen, "Katniss, that's our baby, right there, we made that" He said almost breathlessly.

Her heart was racing there was a spark between them, and this intimate moment captured that for her she reached for him and kissed him on the lips. Effie smiled at the couple giving them this moment, she broke the kiss with a slight cough, causing the pair to blush.

"Sorry" Katniss murmured before, diverting her gaze back to the screen not wanting to make eye contact with Effie. "Don't worry dear it's a special moment and you two seem to be a special couple" for the second time that day they were told they looked great together, so she knew they had to have a talk about what they were to each other. "It's too early to tell what the gender is, I can do that next month when you come back to see me, in the meantime here are a few pictures of the scan and I'll be in contact with you Katniss during the week if anything comes up in your blood results that seem worrying, but so far everything looks perfectly splendid, make sure to read this diet pamphlet and read over what vitamins I'd like you to take, other than that you're free to go" Effie said as she wiped the gel from Katniss stomach and rolled her shirt back down.

As the left the room Peeta, tugged Katniss by the hand and hugged her as if thanking him for this moment in his life. Katniss smiled at him, and although it was just a hug Katniss could tell that it was his way of solidifying to her that he was for sure all in. It was only then that she realised how much she needed to pee, so she told Peeta were she was going while he went to the desk to schedule their next appointment. While in the bathroom Katniss glanced at herself in the mirror, she noted the slight roundness in her cheeks, there was also a twinkle in her eyes and she couldn't help but feel good about herself, but she knew there was still that all familiar discussion she had to have with Peeta when they got into the car.

Leaving the bathroom, she met Peeta at the doors and hand in hand they walked to the car. During the drive home she knew she might as well bite the bullet and say what she was thinking.

"Peeta, I know we've talked about this before, but what are we to each other? I mean I hate putting labels on things, but it's been mentioned twice today, and it got me thinking and well…."

She was broken from her argument when Peeta looked over at her with that all too familiar charming smile, he placed his hand in hers and replied "Katniss Everdeen, the mother of my baby, would you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?"

Before processing what he just asked her, she spat out her answer "Yes!" not realising how fast she'd replied she placed her hand over her mouth.

"Good because I'm getting pretty attached to you Miss Everdeen" Peeta said as he winked at her.

Katniss felt herself smile from ear to ear, her heart done a little flip inside her chest and she couldn't help but think to herself, but not saying it out loud I'm pretty attached to you too Mr Mellark.