DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.
Words not spoken in English will be italicized.
Chapter 108-Bleeding Heart
Katniss stared at Sienna as she squirmed around on the blanket while laying on her stomach. Katniss lying down beside her, was almost nose to nose with the infant. They were in another small shelter made by Hawk and White Wolf. Gale with the tribesmen outside. They had decided to stay near Marlon's cabin, which was now burned to the ground. It was early morning, and Katniss knew they would be heading out to leave soon.
She feels the tears start to form in her eyes again, she wished she could have felt Gale's arms around her last night, but keeping Sienna warm in the shelter was more important. Seeing Sienna begin to have trouble keeping her head up, Katniss sits up and picks her up and cradles her in her arms. She begins to softly sing one of the tribe's chants, to help soothe her sadness.
She tells herself that Marlon lived a content life. While she knew he was never truly happy after his wife died, he was able to find a sense of peace and calm living a secluded life in the wild territory. And most importantly, he did not die alone. In his final moments, he wanted her by his side and she was able to do that for him, it gave her comfort knowing that. Marlon however, was now another person added to the list of those she cared about that were now gone from her life. Her Father, Rue, Cinna, Finnick, Prim, Rain, and now him. And while he was not dead, there was another who was gone from her life-Peeta.
She begins to think about Peeta, still not knowing if he ended up erasing his memory of her or not, she wonders if he has finally found happiness with Delly. She hopes so, for the last thing she knows he needs is to be alone. As much as she didn't want to admit it at first, Delly was good for him.
She tries to picture Delly living in their home, tries to picture Delly having dinner with Peeta and Haymitch, and tries to picture Delly in their old bedroom. She didn't feel jealously thinking about Delly taking her place, but it did feel odd. But she knows it wouldn't feel odd to Peeta if he had no memory of her anymore. For Haymitch though, she imagines it would be very odd.
She knows when she returns she will need to reach out to Haymitch, arrange a day for them to meet. She thinks perhaps maybe she should invite him over to the house, for he had never come to visit her in District 2 before. With the new house, there was more than enough room, for he could stay in the finished basement if he didn't want to stay in one of their spare bedrooms.
She sees Sienna's eyes start to get heavy when all of the sudden she hears, "Katniss-you ready to go?" Gale's voice causing the infant to perk back up hearing her Father's voice.
"I'll be right there" she calls back as she starts to pack up Sienna's things and changes her before exiting the shelter.
They cover a lot of ground and make it back to the village the next day by midday. Relieved to see that they had returned safely, Katniss informs Strong Wind about Marlon's death, Strong Wind offering his condolences. Feeling that things between them had returned to normal, Katniss confides in him about what happened in the forest with Prim.
"The spirits of the ones we love are all around us. In the forest, it is easy to catch a glimpse of them."
Confused by his statement she asks, "You're saying I really saw her?"
"These lands are scared, it is one of the reasons our tribe settled here as you know. Spirits protect this land. Your sister was able to communicate with you, if only for a moment."
Resisting the urge go back out there, she tells herself that would be unwise. She had walked that path many times before and had never seen Prim. She knows more likely than not, if she goes back, Prim won't reappear.
"I realized not having her with me was the reason you saw sadness in me the last time we spoke, my child-will never know Prim."
"She will know her, from what you tell her."
Looking down in sadness she says, "It still hurts."
"It always will."
April 9 (Sunday)
Katniss finishes the page she was working on for the book she was creating for Sienna and hopefully her future children. Before she and Gale left the village she was told by Strong Wind that her heart will always bleed, and that she needs to find ways to comfort it.
Knowing that when she created the book the memories with Peeta and Haymitch helped heal her wounds, she decided to create a book about Prim that she could show her children. Still a work in progress, she had talked about her first memories of Prim and what life was like for them growing up in District 12. She only had a few pictures inside. She wished she had more, but unfortunately getting your picture taken was a rare occasion back in 12 and Katniss didn't want to have to ask her Mother to give up any of her precious pictures.
Putting the book back in the desk drawer and putting the rest of her supplies away, she heads downstairs and sees Gale feeding Sienna in her new high chair. Now almost six months old, Sienna was eating some solid foods and was much more active. Katniss and Gale were pretty sure she would be crawling in the next week from her movements and she loved to roll around.
"Look! It's Mommy" Gale says as he places the spoon full oatmeal into Sienna's mouth. Katniss smiling as she watches them.
"Finish your page?" Gale asks as he continues feeding his daughter.
"Mmmhmm, I am almost half way through."
"Are you hungry? I could make us lunch."
"I was thinking, how about we go down to the Lake? Have a picnic lunch?" It was the first nice spring day of the year and Katniss wanted to take advantage.
Once Sienna was finished with her oatmeal Gale begins preparing lunch while Katniss begins packing the picnic basket for the blanket, napkins, etc. Once the food is packed and Sienna's bag is ready they put her in her stroller and begin walking from their home to the Lake which was about a twenty minute walk. Gale pushed Sienna as Katniss carried the picnic basket.
They have a nice relaxing lunch sitting on the blanket, watching Sienna roll around. Katniss observes some Fathers and Sons fishing on the other side of the lake, but otherwise, there were hardly any people around. It was one thing Katniss could never understand about Silver Lake, the town had this beautiful lake and while it was sometimes used, mostly people kept to themselves on weekends staying inside to watch TV.
She hoped to explore the woods behind their house more this upcoming summer, for she and Gale were never able to go very far due to needing to be close by for Sienna. So far they had only been able to go about an hour's out, and want to see what's further out.
Now that she was back at work, she and Gale tried to make the most of their time on the weekends. One weekend a month he was at District 2's base for the military, and usually that weekend either her Mother or Posy and Hazelle would come stay. They were also able to go out more now that Sienna was taking a bottle, Katniss only breastfeeding her in the morning and in the evening.
They return home around 2 pm. Katniss sees she missed a call from Haymitch, and dials his number as Gale takes Sienna upstairs for her afternoon nap. The phone rings three times before Haymitch picks up. He informs Katniss that a meeting was taking place two weeks from now on Saturday and asked if Katniss could attend, stating that Enobaria had gotten information on Jasper's whereabouts.
"I will have to see if Hazelle can watch Sienna, I could bring her over to Hazelle's and take the train in."
"Sounds good. I uh-was thinking I could take you up on your offer to come see your house. Maybe after the meeting I could head to District 2 with you and finally see this-Silver Lake."
"That sounds great."
Two weeks later Katniss is on the short train ride from Hazelle's house to the Capitol. Getting off at the main station, she begins heading for the exit towards Capitol square. Just as she was about to go out the large doors she hears someone call out to her.
Not recognizing the voice, she quickly turns around and stares in shock when she sees who it was that was calling out to her. Standing there looking almost exactly the same as the last time she saw her, was Annie Cresta.
A/N: This chapter was a fill in chapter for what happens next.
