DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.

A/N: I know it may seem like Katniss having another baby is too soon, but the way I planned it was for Sienna and the new baby to be 18 months apart.

Chapter 110-Growing Up

Katniss, Gale, and Sienna arrive to Hazelle's house and are greeted by Hazelle who swiftly picks up Sienna from Gale's arms. This was common whenever they visited or Hazelle visited them. With Sienna free from Gale's arms he quickly goes to help Katniss bring their bags in along with Sienna's carrier.

"I swear she's gotten bigger" Hazelle says as she holds her Granddaughter who was smiling happily.

Now ten months old, Sienna was very independent which didn't surprise Katniss or Gale in the least given their personalities. She was crawling very quickly and Katniss was pretty sure she would be walking by September if not sooner. She could hold a bottle on her own and often pointed to what she wanted. She turned and pointed to Katniss's baby bag and made a babbling sound, signaling that she wanted her bottle.

Katniss kisses her on her cheek and reaches down into the bag and pulls out a bottle and formula mix. She quickly goes into Hazelle's kitchen and is greeted by Posy and Vick as she begins fixing Sienna's bottle. Katniss then hands the bottle to Sienna who takes it and begins drinking.

Leaving the baby bag in the living room Gale quickly takes their bags downstairs, Posy following him. Vick informs Katniss that Layla will be at the party tomorrow, she begins chatting with Vick while Hazelle continued to dote on Sienna. Katniss realizes quite a few minutes had passed before Gale and Posy came back upstairs, neither one saying a word. Posy heads over to Sienna and holds her while Hazelle gets dinner ready. Katniss notices as Gale comes over to her and Vick that he was not himself. She gives him a questioning look and he gives her a look back letting her know he would tell her later.

The five of them have dinner together, Sienna strapped in a booster seat Hazelle kept at her house, with Hazelle cutting small pieces of food for her to eat. While at times Katniss thought Hazelle over did it with the attention she showed Sienna, she appreciated the fact that her Mother in Law enjoyed spending time with Sienna and never considered it a burden to watch or take of her for them. Katniss also liked that when Hazelle was around, she could relax more. Gale had told Katniss that his Mother had confessed to him that if it wasn't for Posy still in school, she would be living in in a house in Silver Lake in order to be closer to them for she didn't like being so far away from Gale and Sienna.

Katniss wasn't sure how Hazelle would feel to hear that she was pregnant again. While she knew Hazelle would be thrilled to have another Grandchild, she couldn't help but wonder if it would make Hazelle want to move to Silver Lake despite the fact Posy was still in school. However, Posy was about to enter her final year in a few weeks and considering the fact that she wasn't due until the end of April, Hazelle would only have to wait not even three months until Posy graduates.

Once dinner was finished Vick and Gale begin cleaning up while Katniss goes to change Sienna in the downstairs bathroom. When Katniss opens the bathroom door she is startled when she sees Gale standing in front of her.

"Sorry didn't mean to startle you" he says smiling at his wife.

Katniss quickly waves it off and Gale bends down and asks her in a low voice, "How is your headache?"

"Not quite as bad, but it still hurts, it's a lingering pain."

"Do you want to go downstairs and lay down?"

Katniss couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to catch some sleep, but finds herself asking, "I don't want anyone to think that I don't want to spend time with them."

"We have all weekend to spend time with them, they'll understand."

Katniss smiles and gives Gale a quick kiss as she hands Sienna over to him along with Sienna's bag and quickly goes downstairs. Within minutes of lying down she falls asleep and is awakened by Gale's arms wrapping around her.

Realizing that she is still in her clothes she says, "I need to get out of these clothes" and forces her eyes open.

Gale releasing his embrace sits up as Katniss slowly gets up and changes. Realizing that Sienna is not with them she says, "I take it your Mom is with our daughter?"

"Yep, she's giving her a bath right now. Then I think she wants to read her a book."

"So that gives us a little bit of time to watch TV?" Katniss asks, not wanting to leave the comfort of the bed.

Gale nods his head and prompts the pillows up on the pull out bed while Katniss turns on the TV. The two of them snuggle up and begin to scroll through the channels before settling on a show to watch.

Curled up beside her, he bends his head down and asks her if she is feeling better for which Katniss responds, "Yeah, my headache is gone."

He gives her a quick kiss before turning his attention back to the TV. Curious as to what happened earlier between him and Posy she asks, "Everything okay between you and Posy?"

Gale sighs deeply and responds, "She and I….had a little disagreement."

"Concerning?"

"Her male friend that is now her boyfriend."

Last year, for Posy's 16 birthday Hazelle and Gale had planned a party for her in the back room of the Rosewood Café. Posy had invited quite a few of her friends from school, including male friends. Since Katniss had been almost eight months pregnant at the time, she spent most of her time sitting down during the party, and had observed that one of Posy's male friends seemed to be paying a lot of attention to her. Felix was his name, and he was medium height and had bright blue eyes and light brown hair. Katniss was not at all surprised when Gale told her Felix was now her boyfriend almost a year later, for Katniss wondered when he was going to find the courage to ask Posy out.

Seeing their interactions last year at the party, Katniss thought Posy and Felix would make a cute pair, Gale however, just wasn't having any of it.

"I think it is sweet that it took Felix almost year to ask her out" Katniss says.

"She's too young to be dating."

"Gale come on, she's seventeen in a few days. I was engaged when I was seventeen remember?" she says nudging him playfully.

Gale not amused by her response says, "It wasn't a real engagement, and you were forced into it."

"My point is that she is not too young to be dating. I'm sure Hazelle is keeping an eye on them."

"My Mom doesn't keep as close of an eye as you may think."

"Oh please, it was different when you were her age. You were in 12, your family was starving, you were given way more freedom because you were taking care of Rory, Vick, and Posy was three at the time. Your Mom had a lot going on then."

"She knew I was going to the slag heap Katniss."

"And spending time with me in the woods."

"She knew there was nothing going on between you and me."

"But if there had been?"

"She would have turned a blind eye to it."

Katniss wonders if her own Mother would have turned a blind eye if she and Gale had been more than just friends when Katniss was fifteen. She realizes, most likely her Mother would have given her herbs to help prevent pregnancy and not another word would have been said. Katniss being as independent as she was, knows her Mother would not have gotten very far had she prevented her from being with Gale.

Luckily for her Mother, that was never a concern.

"Gale-it is different with girls. Hazelle will want to make sure-"

"I know what you are going to say. But it shouldn't have been different. My Mom knew what I was doing, I could have gotten one of those girls pregnant."

"Yeah but you didn't. Your Mom trusted you, and even if you had, you would have taken care of her, and your child, Hazelle knew that."

"She needs to be setting more boundaries with Posy."

"Let me talk to Hazelle."

"Suit yourself."

Katniss doesn't discuss it further with Gale and decides she would try to speak to Hazelle when Sienna is ready for bed. Katniss looks at the wall and sees it is almost 9 pm. Sienna should be sleeping by now and Katniss gets up and tells Gale she is heading upstairs to get her.

"I'll get the crib ready" and he gets up off the bed as Katniss heads upstairs.

Once she enters the living room, she sees Vick and Hazelle sitting on the couch watching TV, Sienna sleeping on a blanket beside Hazelle.

"Hey Katniss" Vick says moving over to make room for her on the couch.

"Hi" Katniss says as she takes a seat.

"I take it you are ready to take this little one downstairs?" Hazelle asks, softly patting Sienna's stomach.

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could talk to you before I go back down-stairs?"

Vick getting the hint says, "I'm going to go upstairs and call Layla. See you guys tomorrow."

"Goodnight Vick" Katniss says as she watches him leave the living room.

"Posy is up in her room" Hazelle says as she sees Katniss look around to make sure no one else is with them.

"I figured. Look-I wanted to talk to you about Posy and Gale."

"What about them?"

"Well, I'm sure you know Gale is having a hard time accepting the fact that Posy is dating now."

"Oh yeah, I can see it on his face whenever Felix's name comes up."

"Gale is concerned….he is afraid…."

"That I am going to be as lenient with Posy as I was with him?"

"Yeah."

Hazelle sighs and looks at Sienna, sleeping soundly beside her. She continues looking down at Sienna as she says, "Back in the Seam, my biggest fear with having three sons was that, I would have a lot of these."

"I can imagine."

"And with Gale being the spitting image of his Father, I knew there was a chance it could happen sooner rather than later. Gale was always running off, either going into the woods with you to hunt illegally or trading at the hob or making out with girls at the slag heap."

Katniss feels herself start to blush. While she was close with Hazelle it was still uncomfortable to be talking with her about Gale in such a manner.

"I'm surprised you knew about that."

"About the slag heap? I grew up in the Seam, I knew everyone there. People talk, and gossip."

"Did you ever hear anything about the two of us?" Katniss was curious for her Mother was never up to date with what went on in the Seam for she didn't have the friendships that Hazelle did.

"People wondered, but no one knew for sure. I'll be honest, I flat out asked Gale once if the two of you were…more than just friends."

"Was this…"

"Before the games? Yes. I had asked him pretty early on after the two of you started hunting together, I knew you were only twelve but I had to make sure, he never spent so much time with a girl before. He laughed at me and said that you were just a friend. I never wondered anything more…until the day you volunteered for Prim."

"What do you mean?"

"Gale was so upset when he came home that day, the day you left to go to the Capitol. He stormed through the door and said that he would be hunting twice as much because he had to feed your Mother and Prim. And then he was hardly home when the games started, he was always over at your house."

"Nothing happened between us."

"I know. Like I said, I know my son. And I know he was doing more than just kissing girls in the slag heap."

"It is why he is concerned, he's worried about Posy. He thinks she needs more boundaries."

"She has boundaries. She is allowed to go out with Felix, but she has to be home by ten and she is only allowed to go out on Friday and Saturday nights."

"Do you think she and Felix are…."

"No, I don't think they are having sex. Posy has always been the baby of the family, and she still acts like it sometimes. I really don't think anything more than kissing has happened between the two of them. And I have observed Felix when he comes over, from my experience raising three boys, he is treating Posy with the upmost respect."

"Can I ask you, if you knew what Gale was doing back when we lived in the Seam, why did you not-"

"Talk with him about it? Gale had to grow up a lot a lot quicker than most boys his age. You had to grow up too. Everyone knew that your Mother was not well. Because Gale was feeding us, taking care of us, I knew I just had to…let him be. I probably should have set more boundaries but I treated him like an adult because he was forced to be an adult. I put my faith in him that he was careful, but a part of me always worried, would he come home and tell me he was marrying a young girl because he had been careless? After he began working in the mines I feared it even more. But it never happened."

"You did a great job raising him, raising all of your children."

Hazelle gives Katniss a warm smile and says, "Thanks. He takes after his Father, I think a lot of it was due to that, not so much what I did. And just so you know, my son might have had his eyes on other girls at the slag heap, but you were the only one who had his heart."

'Until he met Dez' Katniss thinks to herself. She quickly puts the thought aside because despite the fact that Gale loved Dez, he chose her. He broke Dez's heart in order for the two of them to be together. He commuted three hours a day when he wasn't working from home, took wonderful care of their daughter, and didn't hesitate or object to having another baby so soon. She knows he would agree to having ten children if that was what she wanted.

Katniss gently lifts Sienna up and says, "I better get her to bed."

Hazelle kisses her Granddaughter's head and says, "Goodnight Katniss."

"Goodnight" and Katniss heads down the stairs.

Sienna quickly wakes and begins crying once she reaches the bottom of the steps. Katniss rocks her and holds her close until she calms down and falls back asleep. She places Sienna in her crib and after she bends down and kisses her forehead, feels Gale's arms wrap around her from behind. She leans back into his chest and says, "I spoke with Hazelle."

"And?"

"She is setting boundaries with Posy. Also, it will do you well to remember your Mother raised you, Rory, and Vick."

"I know that Katniss."

"Your Mother told me she trusted you, but she was afraid….of something happening. But she wanted to treat you like an adult, because you were forced to be an adult."

"So were you" he says as his hands move to her stomach.

"I guess that's what made us two peas in a pod?" she asks smiling up at him.

He chuckles as he lifts her up and carries her to the bed. They get under the covers as she says, "I love you" before drifting off to sleep.