DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.

Chapter 102-Revelations IV

May 8 (Saturday)

"I hope you enjoyed your birthday present" Gale says teasingly while Katniss curled up to him while running her fingers along his chest.

Still breathing heavily she says, "I hope I don't have to wait for my next birthday for you to do that to me again."

"Oh I don't know-maybe" he says grinning and bends down and engulfs her in a loving kiss.

They eventually force themselves to get out of bed and get ready for Gale had a big day planned for her. After breakfast they were going to walk with Harper across town to see the plot of land Gale had been looking at buying. Afterwards the plan was to drop Harper off at Kimber's house and head to the train station to go to Hazelle's for Katniss's birthday celebration.

When they arrive on the other side of the lake, Katniss sees the homes here are much closer to the mountains though there is still an abundance of trees and land to explore. The homes are also much more spread out here, and much larger. Gale walks Katniss to an area on the far edge of the lake, a good distance from the nearest house off to the right. The area is big and she sees a large meadow right before the edge of the forest.

She stops and takes a deep breath, she knows this meadow. This is the meadow she saw in her first vision, unable to believe that was over four years ago. The meadow she saw her three children playing on.

Noticing her sudden change in demeanor Gale moves closer and wraps his arm around her shoulders and says, "Everything alright?"

She blinks a few times and says, "Yes it's just….this meadow reminds me of 12."

"Yeah, it's one of the reasons I have been eyeing it. It is 8 acres of land."

"And the house would go there?" Katniss points to an area right before the meadow, an area with a few trees.

"Yep, the trees would have to come down of course, but at least we'd have some wood to use for a little while once winter comes."

"How long will it take to build?"

"The contractor told me once the sale is finalized five months."

"So…October if we are lucky?"

"Possibly November if things get delayed."

She nods her head not saying anything further. She moves away from him and continues to look out at the area around her. Feeling unsure if she is on board with his plan he says, "Do you like it? We can look at different models of houses if you want, but there was one I found that I think you will like."

She doesn't turn around when she says, "It's perfect."

He smiles and comes up behind her wrapping his arms around her stomach and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. They then walk to Kimber's small cottage near their house and see her sitting on her porch swing reading as they walk up.

"Hey Mama how you feeling" Kimber says with a smile as she stands up and puts her book down. She had found out Katniss was pregnant on Monday at work and started teasingly calling her "Mama" since.

"Same as always" Katniss says with a small smile.

Kimber leads them into her house, both of them had been there numerous times before. Kimber bends down and pets Harper before going to her small kitchen table and handing Katniss a card and small bag.

"Happy Birthday!" she says cheerily. "Go on-open it."

Katniss looks slightly uncomfortable as she opens her card and reads the brief, but sweet birthday message inside. She then opens up the small bag and sees a gift card to the Stone Garden Inn.

Katniss smiles at Kimber as she says, "Figured you two could have a nice dinner there, you know, before a screaming infant takes over your home."

Katniss gives her a quick hug and says, "Thank you, but you know you didn't have to get me anything."

"You said that last year too."

Katniss snickers as she says, "Yeah I guess I did."

"It's not like you never get me gifts either and besides, I like getting gifts for my friends. I only have two of them in this town you know."

While Katniss still loved the peace and quiet of Silver Lake, she accepted the fact that she and Kimber will never be truly accepted in the community. Gale and Livia had an easier time, though it wasn't a lot better for them. The four of them spent quite a bit of time together on Friday and Saturday's as a result.

"So how does it feel to be 29?" Kimber asks.

"No different than 28."

"Well, enjoy it, the big 3-0 looms" Kimber says dramatically.

"Hey, 30 is not so bad" Gale pipes in.

They chat for a few before heading off, wanting to stop by the cottage first before heading to the train station. Katniss and Gale say their goodbyes to Harper and tell them they will see him first thing in the morning.

Gale grabs the blueprints of the different homes they could build and slips it in his bag. While on the train he shows them to Katniss. She sees a total of six different home styles to choose from. All of them two story, some with large living rooms and bedrooms.

They all looked expensive.

"Gale-how much is all this going to cost?"

"The house itself is not too bad, it is more the land that is expensive."

"Maybe we should look at a different area."

"Why? We can afford it. You know I've saved my income from the military after buying my Mom's townhouse."

Katniss knows he is right, but she still wasn't used to the idea. Living in her large house in the Victor's Village was different. For one, she deserved that house after everything she and Peeta had been through. Renting their small cottage was affordable, but building a large home, a home larger than her house back in 12 was overwhelming. She wasn't expecting the homes to be this big, or this fancy. The master bedroom in the house Gale liked had a large jet tub. She had been seen jet tubs while in the Capitol during the hunger games and knew that since the rebellion, people could have smaller versions of those tubs in their homes. Of course, most of the people who had them lived in Districts 1, 2 and some in 4.

Looking at all this made her realize just how much things had changed for the two of them in the last eleven years, never in her wildest dreams did she ever think they would be looking to build such a large house. If anything, she thought back when she asked him to run away with her they would be in a small cabin similar to what Marlon lived in.

After looking through all the blueprints she agrees that the one Gale picked out would be the best one. It was the largest, with over 3000 square feet. The front of the house had a porch and when you walk inside, there is a large combined area that serves as the living room and dining room. A good sized office was across the hall for which she knows Gale needs for he was now working from home three days a week. A small bathroom was beside the office and down the hall lead into the open kitchen and family room. From the blueprints she could see the kitchen area was big, with a large island in the middle. A good sized food pantry was in the corner and behind the kitchen was an attached open room that had a lot of windows in it. She sees from the blue print the room was called a "sun room." The family room attached to the kitchen was large as well, and she knows if the details of her vision come to fruition like they had so far, they would definitely need the space. The blueprints showed an area for a fireplace. Upstairs was five bedrooms, the master suite which was the largest bedroom had an attached bathroom. The bathroom was almost as big as their spare bedroom in the cottage. It had two sinks, a toilet, the large jet tub, a linen closet and a stand up shower. She saw two smaller bedrooms across from the master, and larger bedroom on the other side. A bathroom was between the larger bedroom and a medium sized fifth bedroom. All of the bedrooms had walk in closets in them. And finally, a laundry room was between the Master and the medium sized bedroom. A laundry room on the second floor! Not even her house in the Victor's Village had that. The house also had an extremely large basemen for storage. Gale informed Katniss the plan was to finish part of the basement and to install a bathroom down there as well.

"I take it this is our forever home?" Katniss asks knowing full well what all of this was going to cost.

"That's the plan" he says with a bright smile.

Once they arrive at Hazelle's, Katniss sees a banner that says, "Happy Birthday" overhead with a cake covered in light green icing on the table. Hazelle, Posy, and Layla shout "Happy Birthday!" once she and Gale walk into the room.

They have a nice visit followed by a wonderful dinner from Hazelle, lamb stew. Now that she was pregnant, she was craving it even more. After dinner Gale shows them the blueprints for the house. All of them showing their excitement.

"This one can be my room to visit" Posy says pointing to the second largest bedroom diagonal from the master.

"I'm thinking you and I will probably be in these smaller rooms Pose" Hazelle says.

"When is the ground going to be dug?" Layla asks Gale.

"As soon as I buy the property from the District" Gale says. "Being the government official definitely helps with speeding that process up."

After the cake is cut Katniss opens her gifts. She receives from Layla a scrapbook for a baby's first year and a pair of green earrings. She then opens up a group gift from Gale, Hazelle, Vick, Posy, and Rory.

"We know by the end of June school will be done and you'll be on break, we figured this will help keep you busy" Gale says as she begins looking at the items they have given her.

She sees inside a book about pregnancy and motherhood, and also sees gift cards to visit some of the museums in the Capitol. Finally, she opens up an envelope with a round trip train ticket to go to District 4.

Touched by the thoughtfulness of the gifts Katniss looks at everyone and says, "Thank you" so softly they could barely hear her. Her hormones were still all over the place at times and she didn't want to start crying hysterically if she said anything more.

They then finish the night by digging into the cake, Katniss and Gale playfully feeding each other cake when no one was looking.


10 weeks later (July 18)

Katniss gets off the train and heads to a café in the Capitol. She is on summer break and Gale was currently on a brief trip to District 6 to follow up on the train situation from last year. All of the trains had been fixed and no other reported incidents had occurred since her accident, but Gale was instructed by Paylor to continue to heavily monitor the activity of what was happening in the District.

She was on her way to meet Johanna for lunch for she had a doctor's appointment that morning. Johanna's headaches had continued with no luck in reducing the pain and intensity despite being prescribed medication. In order to help cheer her up Katniss had recommended they get lunch and head to one of the many museums in the downtown square.

Now 27 weeks along, her stomach was larger, but not overly huge. From far away depending on the clothes she was wearing she didn't look pregnant until up close. It was warm outside, so she had a loose fitting gray maxi dress on with flat, comfortable sandals. This is the first time she has come to the Capitol since Gale's abduction, so she knows she will be drawing attention to herself once people see her small baby bump. She walks into the café quickly and takes a seat in the back, putting her bag across her stomach to help conceal as much as she can.

Twenty minutes go by and still no sign of Johanna, thinking her doctor appointment has run over, Katniss orders a water and small salad to begin eating for she was starving. While sipping her water she notices from the corner of her eye someone staring at her from across the way, irritated, she looks over to see who it is and gasps at who she sees. Peeta.

He looks his usual self though his eyes appeared sunken in. Katniss smiles at him as he comes over to her.

"Sorry didn't mean to stare, just wanted to make sure it was you" he says smiling as he approached her.

She instinctively gets up to hug him, totally forgetting that she hadn't written to him yet informing him of her pregnancy. The minute she gets up and reaches her arms out she sees his gaze move from her face down to her stomach. His smile fading.

Not knowing why, she suddenly feels embarrassed unsure of what to say and without thinking, places her hands on her stomach. The baby had begun moving quite a bit in the last few weeks. Every time she felt the baby move she would instinctively place her hands on her stomach.

"It finally happened didn't it? He got you pregnant" Peeta says in a curt tone.

"Peeta" Katniss says surprised, not liking the tone that he was insinuating that Gale had impregnated her against her will.

"When were you going to tell me? Or were you not going to?"

"I was going to tell you, truly I was. I just….wasn't ready."

"Surely you knew coming here to the Capitol people would see and start to talk."

She looks down in shame, knowing she is coward and unable to look him in the eyes she says, "I didn't know how to tell you."

"You wrote to me when you got married."

"Yes but….this….is different."

"I get it, you don't want to hurt me. But you are hurting me Katniss by keeping things from me."

"We are not exactly friends Peeta."

"What are we then?"

She doesn't know how to answer. She still cared for him, still asked Haymitch how he was doing, but friends? That was something she knows she could never be given their history.

Being friends was complicated. Yet, it killed her inside knowing she was hurting him like this.

"I know I denied you the one thing you wanted most" she says finally getting the courage to look at him.

"What I wanted was you. To be with you."

"You also wanted us to have a baby. Something I couldn't give you."

"Yet here I see that you are giving Gale what you never could give me."

"It's not like that."

"So he forced you to have a baby with him?"

"You know that's not what happened."

"Just more proof that you really do love him. That you were only with me because you were mad at him all those years."

She sighs as she sits back down, her back suddenly aching. He sees her discomfort and sits down across from her without asking.

"It's why I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I feel so guilty."

"Don't. This is supposed to be a happy time for you."

"I'm scared."

"About what?"

"That I won't make a good Mother."

"Katniss, you'll make an excellent Mother. Why do you think I wanted us to have a baby as badly as I did? Because you have a lot of love in you, even though you don't think you do."

"Thanks" she says smiling softly. "Are you here visiting your doctor?" she asks.

"Yeah. I have an appointment this afternoon."

"Are you feeling better? How are your seizures?"

"I still have them, though not as frequent. I am in the back of the bakery most of the time and Delly works in the front in case I have an episode."

"I'm sorry" she says, sadness evident in her voice.

"How's teaching? You are on break I take it?"

"Yes. Teaching is going well, now that I've done it for two years I think I finally am no longer second guessing myself."

"Why hello there" Johanna says suddenly appearing at the table.

"Johanna, good to see you" Peeta says smiling brightly and giving her a hug.

"Hey Peeta, wasn't expecting to see you here" Johanna says.

"Doctor's appointment."

"Ugh, I know how that is." She then turns to Katniss and bends down to hug her, Katniss getting up from her chair. Johanna not having seen Katniss in some time is startled by her bump and says, "Whoa! You're knocked up!"

Katniss blushes as she looks at her and says, "Six months."

"Oh…..oohhhhhh" Johanna says looking at Katniss then Peeta realizing what she just walked in on.

"It's okay Johanna, I was just leaving. I already ate. Katniss, do you mind if I have a quick word with you?" Peeta asks as he pushes the chair back under the table.

"I'm going to go to the ladies room, I'll be back in a few" Johanna says quickly leaving.

"I see you didn't tell her either" Peeta says smiling, no longer appearing angry with her.

"No, besides the Hawthorne's and the people of Silver Lake, no one else knows. I was planning on….just letting people see for themselves. You know I'm not good announcing this kind of stuff."

"Does Haymitch know?"

"Yes" she says admittedly. "It's a long story but, I had to tell him earlier than I wanted to."

"Can't believe he was actually able to keep that a secret from me. Guess he's more composed when drunk than I give him credit for."

"Don't be angry at Haymitch, he's just trying to be a good friend. To both of us."

"I'm not angry with him, I'm glad you still have him as a friend."

"Thanks."

"Well, I better go. Tell Gale I said congratulations" and before she can respond he turns and quickly walks away.

She wants to call out to him, but knows she needs to give him space, deciding instead to call Haymitch in a couple of days to make sure he is alright.


When Peeta reaches the memorial site, he looks for a bench and sits down. His mind is racing with emotion. While he was officially dating Delly, he knew he wasn't the best boyfriend to her and that she deserved more. He didn't know why he couldn't let go of Katniss but seeing her just now, seeing her beautiful smile reminded him why he couldn't.

He decided to begin dating Delly after finding out Katniss got married. He still lived in the Victor's Village, but spent a lot of time at her small house that she shared with her brother. They got along great as they always did, but he still wasn't truly happy.

Seeing what Gale had achieved in less than two years what he couldn't do in seven crushed him. He so badly wanted that to be his baby growing inside of her, not Gale's. While he always knew Gale loved her and she loved him, he never thought she would act upon her feelings. Much less leave the only home she has ever known to go to a District where she was unwanted.

He knows Delly deserves more than he can give, that she deserves to have a man be totally committed to her and only her. And for that reason he forces himself to stand up and head for the President's mansion.