Chapter 13
When Peeta returns from the Capitol, he looks drained. Ill even. I'm not sure what they did to him or who they made him have sex with but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he hasnt slept. I am the only person to meet him again at the train station. The first thing I notice though, is not the bags under his eyes or the tired facade he has going on. Its the bruises that cover most of his face. His right cheek has been split open and has stitches in it to keep it together. One of his eyes is completely swelled shut and he has to be guided off the train by Finnick. "He had a run in with some Mystery Midnight party crashers." He says to me as he hands me Peeta's bag. "We dont know who it was but last night we where at a party in the training centre with the new head Game-Maker and one minute he's going to get a drink and next I find him knocked out on the floor in the bathroom. He's a bit shook up so be careful."
"Okay. I'll look after him." I say to him and link my arm around Peeta's to guide him back to his house. When we get there, I help him to a chair and drop his bag on to the kitchen table, get him a glass of water and hand it to him. "Right, tell me what happened."
"I refused the last charge. She was abusive the first time and I didnt want to do it again. That night I was at the party and I only went to the bathroom and 3 guys attacked me. One of them said that he is going to hurt you." I see a tear fall from his swollen eye and I move a little closer to him.
"I'm not going anywhere." I reply and he attempts to smile. "You know, your family will want to see you." He starts to shake his head.
"Not tonight. I cant be around too many people." He says and I nod in understanding. After everything he has been through this past week, I'd be surprised if he is ever able to have sex with anyone that he actually likes again.
"Atleast let me get my mother, so she can look you over?" He turns his head towards me and after a couple of minutes, nods. "Okay, she's next door, I'll just use your phone." I leave him where he is and walk to the phone in the hallway. The number is speed dial number 1 so its not exactly hard to find. It rings about 3 times before someone answers.
"Hello?" I hear Uncle Haymitch ask from the other side.
"Hi. Its Katniss. Is mum still there?" I ask.
"Yeh, hold on a second." Whilst he goes to get my mother I think about the possible culprits behind this. I dont doubt that it was Snow's doing but It can't have been for the simple reason that he wouldnt have sex with one of the women. It must be something more. What if this is his way of torturing us all. Something inside of me is shouting and I dont want to listen to it. What if Snow was planning on killing Peeta? Why would he when the Games are just around the corner though?
"Katniss?" I hear my mum say, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Everything alright?"
"No, I'm at Peeta's can you come over. Its really important. Bring the medic kit." Then I hang up. She doesnt need anymore explanation than that. My mother knows that I will only ask for her help if it is really important.
When I walk back into the sitting room where Peeta is, I hear snoring. About time he got some sleep. I take my seat next to him and wait for my mother to come over. I cant stop thinking about how much this is going to wreck him. He is going to be different after all this and I know he is. He already is. I mean, he changed after the games but this is different. When he took my arm at the train station, I felt him stiffen at my touch. This is going to haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Katniss?" I hear from the hallway. My mum is finally here. I go out to meet her as to not wake Peeta up. "Hey, whats wrong?" Her eyes flitter to my stomach and I shake my head quickly.
"No, its not me, Its Peeta. Something happened to him whilst he was in the Capitol and I need you to take a look at him." She nods and follows me into the room. When she sees his face, hers drops and she lets out a gasp.
"Who would do this?" She asks, shocked. I shrug my shoulders and move aside to let her get on with the work. Surprisingly, he doesnt wake up at all whilst she looks him over, not even when she lifts up his pant legs to assess his legs. It turns out that his only good leg has been broken and nobody even realised. Its not a major break that stopped him from walking but one of the bones in his knee has snapped, compeltely in two. My mother shows me and I can see it moving underneath his skin. Thats when he wakes up with a cry of pain. "Calm down Peeta, Its fine." My mother says and I reach over and stroke his half leg. he freezes at my touch again and I pull away. He shoots me a look of sorrow and I smile sadly. I know he doesnt mean it but he has been through a lot at the hands of women, it is undertsandeable.
"Right, I'm sorry Peeta but its gonna have to moved back into its place. This is going to hurt!" My Mother says and I reach for Peeta's hand but he pulls away from me until My Mother actually clicks it back into place and his hand finds mine and squeezes tight. I have my own problem though. I can feel the sick rising up in my throat from the sound of his knee clicking. I pull my hand out of his as quick as I can and run from the room, down the hallway and into the bathroom. Before I know it I'm throwing up everything I had for Lunch about an hour ago.
I sit there for a while before my mother comes in to see how I am. "I'm here on request of a concerned boy." She says and I laugh slightly. Peeta cant make his own way here so he sent my mother.
"He's concerned? I think he needs to look in a mirror." I say and now its my mums turn to laugh. "Is he alright?" I ask her as she takes a seat on the edge of the bath.
"Yeh, he should be fine. When he wakes up, we will help him upstairs. He just needs rest. I brought sleeping pills. They should help." I nod and she smiles. "What about you? How you feeling?"
"I'm fine. Just sick 24/7. Its getting quite annoying actually." I say with a laugh. I dont know how much more of the throwing up I am actually going to be able to take. Ever since I've been pregnant, I've been throwing up almost every morning.
"Yeh it does. I remember when I was pregnant with you, all you ever did was kick and all I ever did was throw up. But once you hold the baby in your arms for the first time, all of it is worth it, trust me." She replies. I shut the toilet lid and pull myself up to sit on it, pulling the cord behind me to flush it.
"I do trust you. Can I ask you a question?" She nods. "When I read your book about pregnancy, it said that I should have already started growing a belly but I havent yet, is that normal?" Her eyebrows crease in concentration.
"I wouldnt say its normal but it can happen. I've only ever come across one case of it. Do you mind if I check?" She asks and I nod, my heart starting to pound in my chest. What if something is wrong with my baby? She pulls herself up off the bath and walks over to me, pushing me back against the toilet and pulling up my shirt. Her hands find my stomach and I wince slightly at how cold they are. "Hmm." She mumbles and one of her hands moves to my back. Then her face softens. "Well, it seems that everything is alright, its just that the baby is growing a little further back than normal. Which means that you will hardly get much of a bump during your entire pregnancy. It will come further on when you're at about 7 months and even then it will only be really small. Its nothing to worry about and the good news is that in about 2 weeks, I will be able to tell you the sex of your baby." She smiles as I pull my shirt back down.
"Really?" I ask. "How?" I know that normally the only way to tell the sex of a baby is throught an x-ray machine which no-one here has.
"Well, Boys and Girls sit differently inside your stomach but I'm warning you now, my predictions only have about 90% chance of being right." I smile at her and she nods before leaving the room again to check on Peeta.
I can't believe in 2 weeks, I'm gonna find out if I have a son or a daughter. She said that it might not be right but I trust her predictions and I know that whatever she tells me will be right. I just need to tell Peeta before Rye finds out. Maybe I could get my mum to do it here so that Peeta can be with me when I find out and we can find out together. I'd like that and I know that he would. I would like either sex but I would prefer to have a boy. I know that Peeta wants a little girl though.
"Katniss!" I here from outside the door and I walk out the bathroom to see who wants me. Mum is standing at the end of the hallway. "He's awake. You want to help me?" I nod and follow her into the sitting room. Peeta is sitting there, looking around. "Peeta, we are going to get you to bed. You need rest." He looks like he tries to answer but I guess the tiredness overcomes him and he just nods. I walk over to his side and pull him up off the sofa. My mother starts shaking her head. "No, thats my job, you dont need any more stress." She says and I am pretty much forced to pass him over to her. She is the only person that I ever tell anything to these days. I have told a couple things to Prim but she doesnt know anything about Peeta yet. She thinks the baby is Rye's just like everyone else.
My Mother helps Peeta up the stairs and I follow on behind. I dont understand why she asked for my help when I am literally doing nothing. I walk up behind her, regardless and follow her into Peeta's room where she drops him into a sitting postion on the edge of his bed. "Peeta, I got you some pills to help you sleep. I know you havent slept in a while." Mum says and dissapear into the bathroom to get some water. Peeta, however reaches down to take his shoes off but I put my hand up to stop him. He shouldnt be doing that now, so I do it for him. "Katniss, why dont you get back to the bakery, I'll finish up here. Tell Masan about Peeta will you?" I hear my mother say behind me but I dont turn around to look at her. I just cant seem to stop staring at Peeta.
"Okay, mum just promise me something?" I ask, finally turning around and leaning in close to whisper to her. "Dont leave him alone and ring me if anything happens?" She nods and I leave with one last look at Peeta.
"Hey Katniss, I thought you went to get Peeta? Where is he?" Rye says as I walk through the front door to the Bakery. I was so lost in thought that I didnt even realise I'd walked out of Peeta's house never mind walked all the way to the Bakery.
"I did go and get Peeta, he is at his house. I need to talk to your dad first though." I tell him and I see a flash of worry across his face. He can tell something is up.
"He's in the back with Lev." He motions towards the back with his head and I nod. "We shut the shop about half an hour ago so they are either tidying up or in the sitting room." I move to walk past him but he puts his arms on my shoulders. "Katniss, I know something is troubling you and I'm not going to ask questions because I know you dont like it so just know that I'm here for you forever." I nod again and he dips his head to kiss me before letting me go.
I find Masan in the sitting room by himself which is good. I dont have to ask anybody to leave or anything like that. He's hunched over, watching the floor and suddenly I'm brought back to the night of the Victory Tour when I found him crying in the kitchen. "Masan? Everything alright?" His head shoots up and he looks at me. I smile in reassurance.
"Where's Peeta?" He asks it so forcefully that I know he was thinking about Peeta when he was looking at the floor.
"Thats actually what I need to talk to you about." I say and take a seat across from him. "Something happened. Finnick had to bring him back to the district because 3 men attacked him. My mother looked him over and said that he should be fine as long as he has a lot of rest. I dont think he has slept since last time he was in the district. He can hardly see and his knee is broken. He said that he doesnt want to see too many people so it would be better if you go round to see him tomorrow." Masan nods in understanding but I can tell that he just wants to see his son.
"Thanks." He says and I smile before leaving the room. It just seems like all of our situations just keep getting worse and worse as time goes along but I have a feeling that whatever is happening is a lot bigger than any of us. I know that Uncle Haymitch and Peeta know something about this. Delly probably does too. I know that the Capitol have something to do with it but I'm not quite sure whats going on yet. I know that Peeta wouldnt tell me because he wants to 'keep me safe' or whatever. Uncle Haymicth doesnt like telling me anything about any of that. Not even his games. He told me once that he cant afford anymore mess ups because he has kept me and my family safe this long but he doesnt know how much longer he can and he also blames himself for me fathers death. He says that it wasnt an accident, it was all Snow. I hope to god that I never meet the President of Panem.
3 and a half weeks later, Peeta has almost completely healed but still finds it quite hard to walk. He is able to walk but has a limp in both legs so he just looks like an idiot. He still has a couple of bruises on his face though but my mother says they should be gone in a couple of days, which he is glad about. Too many people have been asking about what has happened to him. Plus, most of the school have found out that im pregnant so when Peeta ends up walking me to school on his days off, we get stared at by just about everyone. Snow rang him yesterday and asked him to come to the Capitol again, this time without Finnick and for 2 weeks instead of one. I'm really worried about him because I know that Snow ont let him get away with anything this time. Peeta is probably going to have to have sex with a lot more people and they will probably by worse than the other ones. He leaves in 5 days and I plan on spending as much time with him before he goes because who knows if he is even going to return alive.
About a week ago, Rye asked me to move into the Bakery. Brooke and Leaven finally got married and moved out only a couple days ago so I moved into the Bakery. Its going alright too except from the other night, Rye dissapeared again but this time he didnt come back until the next morning and he was wearing the same clothes as the night before.
"Katniss, lunch is ready?" Peeta says from the kitchen. Its my day off and I have the day off school too because my mother rang up. Rye thinks I'm at school though, mainly because today is the day that I find out the sex of my baby and what am I supposed to tell Rye. 'I was ill so my mother let me off school'? Then he would want me to stay at thr Bakery and I wouldnt be able to come here. My mother is due in about an hour so Peeta made me food before she gets here.
"Coming!" I shout back. As I leave the door, the phone rings. I check the tiny little screen to see who it is, mainly so that I dont answer the phone to the Bakery. The screen reads 'Finn.' So I pick up the phone off the reciever and place it to my ear. "Hello?"
"Katniss?" He asks. "I thought you would be there, Peeta told me about what is happening today. Good luck. Anyway is Peeta there?" I forgot that Finnick knows about who's baby it is. I also know that he is great at keeping secrets though.
"Yeh, but he's busy in the kitchen at the moment, do you want me to give him a message?" I ask.
"If its not a problem. Its not important. I just want him to know that I talked to Snow and I persuaded him to let me come to the Capitol for the last week that Peeta is there. After what happened last time, I'm worried about him. How is her by the way, he hardly ever answers his phone anymore." I hear Finnick asks.
"He's fine. Still a little off with people, which is completely understandeable. He's fine with me now though. His leg is better but he's still limping, other than that he's fine." I tell him.
"Well thanks Katniss, that means a lot that you told me that. Just make sure you tell him. Tell him that I will meet him on the Monday at the Hotel, He'll know which Hotel I mean."
"I will. Bye Finn." He hangs up and I put the phone back on the wall before joining Peeta in the kitchen.
When my mother shows up, we are still in the kitchen. We finished our food a while ago, we have just been talking since then. "Hey, You ready?" She asks, walking through the door and I share a look with Peeta, he nods and I smile. I cant believe we are going to find out today. Peeta clears the table so that I can lie on it. Then he takes a seat next to it and holds my hand in his. I squeeze his hand as my mother cold hands touch my belly, taking me slightly by surprise. Her hands stroke around for a while an then I feel her push into my side slightly and a smile appears on her face.
"What is it?" I ask her. She looks up at me with the smile still on her face and Peeta looks up at her too.
"I am delighted to say that you have a baby girl." I feel the tears come to my eyes and I look down at Peeta. His face has completel lit up. I know that he always wanted a girl. "Peeta, come and feel this." My mother say and Peeta pulls himself up and stands next to my mum. She guides his hands towards the correct place and shivers spread through my body. I dont know wether its the hormones or something like that but I just want his hands on my for the rest of my life. I want to feel his kiss atleast once more. "You feel that?" She asks and Peeta nods. "Thats your baby." The tear well up in Peeta's eyes and I'm about to smile but I feel something move in my stomach, shocking me. Peeta pulls his hands away quickly and my mother laughs.
"What was that?" Peeta asks, his eyes on my stomach like he just got hit in the face with a pan or something.
"That was your baby girl kicking." My mother says. "Has she ever done that before?" I shake my head and Peeta places his hands back on my stomach just as the baby kicks again. He smiles and I reach down to place my hands on top of his. She kicks again and I shiver. Its just like getting butterflies but a little harder, I dont think I'm ever going to get over this feeling. I dont think Peeta will either.
"This is amazing!" He says but then the baby stops kicking. He keeps his hands on my stomach for another minute, waiting for something else to happen but he gives up and pulls his hands away, I automaticaly crave his touch. I pull my shirt back down and Peeta helps me sit up even though I dont need his help.
"Okay, Now from what I can tell, the baby will be growing further back than normal for nearly all its time in there. Which means that you wont get a bump until you make it to about 7 months but I assure you that nothing is wrong with the baby and its very healthy. Also I think maybe you want to start thinking about baby names now." My mother says before walking over to the kettle to make herself a brew. She doesnt even need to ask, Peeta told her a while ago that she can just get whatever she wants, whenever she wants.
"I think tht maybe you and Rye should talk about the baby names." Peeta says, his smile dropping.
"I dont want to pick a name with anybody but you. I'm not even goint to tell him about it being a girl. Only you deserve to know that Peeta. I also need to talk to you about something." He nods and I pull myself up off the table. "Mum? Can you give me and Peeta a minute please?" She leaves the room once her brew is finished and I take a chair, pulling it round to sit next to Peeta and I take his hand. "I only figured this out today but you should know."
"Know what Katniss? Whats wrong?" He asks.
"I dont know wether its the hormones for the baby or something but I need you to know that I have started having feelings for you. Now you can try and talk me out of it but its not gonna work. I think its about time I broke up with Rye. I need to tell him everything Peeta and I know deep down, you know that too. The only person I want to raise this baby with is you Peeta. We could have a family. We do have a family."
"Oh come on Katniss, this isnt a family, this is the worlds worst hangover." He says a little harshly and every word he says goes straight to my heart. I thought he was excited for this baby but I guess not.
"Peeta please." I keep my eyes on him but his head drops and he looks at the floor.
"Katniss, this is just the hormones speaking. You dont mean any of this." He says and I feel the tears falling from my eyes. "We cant. You mean the world to me but I cant do that to Rye, I promised him Kat, that I would never date someone he has been out with and you are the only person he has ever loved, I cant do that to him."
I pull my hand away from him and stumble off my chair. "Yeh sure, whatever." He reaches out for me but I back away. "I think I'm gonna go now." He stands up aand walks over to me but I just walk away. I cant believe he said any of that to me.
"Katniss wait. I'm sorry, dont go." I know he tries to reach for me but I just grab my shoes and walk out the door as fast as I can. As soon as I set foot outside the house, I cry probably more than I have ever cried before. The tears get in my hair and on my clothes and most of all, stop me from seeing properly. "Katniss, I'm sorry, come back please!" I hear Peeta shout behind me but I just carry on walking faster until I'm out of the Victors Village. I know my mother is going to ask me about this later but I need to get away from here. I cant go to the Bakery because Rye will ask too many questions so I go to the only other person that I have, Prim. I know she's at school but I can just wait for her. Ita only half an our until she finishes anyway and its going to take me 15 minutes to get there anyway.
I know that deep down, Peeta still loves me. If he truly loved my enough then it wouldnt have gone away so quickly. I know that he doesnt anymore because if he did truly love me then he wouldnt have said that to me. He should be happy that we are having a baby not unhappy. I know that Rye was happy and if Peeta wasnt happy, is it really him that I should be in love with and not Rye? Rye has given me everything that I wanted and after one stupid little mistake, I fell in love with a different person. Rye can change, I know he can. He just needs support, which I havent been giving him because I have been totallu hung up on a different person and I know that now. Maybe now I can give him the support that he needs.
"Katniss?" I hear and look up through my tears. I'm in the school yard and Prim is standing infront of me. "Whats up?" She knows that I was off today but we didnt tell her why. I wipe away the tears on my face and walk over to her.
"Look, Prim. I need to talk to you." I decide to come out with everything. I dont even understand why I didnt tell her before this. After Gale, she was always the person I went to and now I've been keeping so many secrets from her that I'm surprised she still likes me. "I'll walk you home."
On the walk home, I tell her everything. About Peeta. About what has been happening with Rye. About how I felt about Peeta and what he did. How I'm going to fix things with Rye. After I finished, she smiles and stops to give me a hug. "I didnt realise you where going through so much but I promise that I'll be here for you." She says and I bury my face in her hair. I'm really surprised at how she has grown up so quicky. She used to be only up to my breasts but now I can lean my head on hers.
"Oh and on baby news, its a girl." I say and she sort of squeels. I smile and she throws her arms around my shoulders. "You're gonna have a neice."
"Can you stay the night at ours tonight?" She asks. I know she has been heart broken since I moved out. She probably knew that the day was going to come when I moved out.
"Of course I can Little Duck. How's having your own bedroom?" I ask. After I moved out I talked to my mother about giving Prim my bedroom because she is growing up and cant sleep with my mother her entire life.
"Its alright. Some nights I get lonely and have to sleep with mum though. I wish you where there more." Her face drops and I wrap my arm around her shoulders.
"Well what do you say, I spend every weekend with you?" Her smile appears again and she nods. "I used to leave my days off to go to Peeta's house but considering that we are fighting at the moment, I can come to yours." Its really strange not calling that house home but I guess it isnt my home anymore. I officially live at the Bakery.
"I'd love that!" She beams and hugs me again before we carry on walking into the Seam.
The next day, I have to work. I fell asleep with Prim last night without telling Rye so I'm expecting a mouthful from him. He's allowed to dissapear but I'm not,thats just how our relationship works apparently. I leave my Mother and Prim at about Midday as I'm only working half the day today. They are both still at Uncel Haymitch's so I wont feel bad when I leave them. It was horrible the first time. Prim didnt want to let go of my arm.
The cold air hits me and I tighten my jacket around my neck. There ar ekids running arouns playing. Its Saturday so everyone always has fun on a saturday. No school and only one parent to boss you around as most of their fathers are down in the mines all day. I remember being like that. Not thinking anything of my father going into the mines.
I make it to the Bakery at half 12 ready for work in half an hour. I sneak through the back door as quickly as I can but am caught straight away by Leaven. "Katniss? What are you doing?" I notice my position as I'm crouched almost too the ground. Lev looks down at me like I've one completely mad.
"Where's Rye?" I ask. Leaven knows that he goes off his head when I dont tell him where I am.
"Its alright Katniss, you dont have anything to worry about. He stayed at a friends last night, I stuck up for you when he got back, said you went to see your family for the morning. He's gone to the train yard with dad to pick up the Haul. I am just about to leave. I had to wait for you first." What friend? Rye never stays over at a friends house. Its starting again isnt it? Him dissapearing all the time?
"Where's Peeta?" I ask, remembering that I'm trying to hide from two of the Mellark boys.
"He's in the front, waiting for you. Why? Did you two have another falling out?" He asks. Peeta and I havent fallen out for a couple of years now but we used to fall out over stupid petty little things when we where younger.
"Something like that." I say with a nod.
"Well, good luck." He laughs and walks away. I know that I have to go and see Peeta. If I dont, I'm just gonna run into him anyway.
I walk into the front and almost bump into Peeta, he's standing that close to the door. "Hey." He says quietly.
"Hey. How are you?" I ask.
"Alright, I suppose. Has Leaven left?" I nod. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said last night. I didnt mean it. I am happy about all this. You mean more to me than anyone in this whole god damn place and if you say that telling Rye is the right thing to do then I support you."
"Really?" He nods in reply. "I promise you Peeta, If Rye falls out with you then I will be there every step of the way and I will not leave your side."
"Thanks Katniss." I smile.
"This is all just going to go downhill from here isnt it?" I ask and he smiles sadly.
"Everything will be fine." He says, moving cloer to me.
"But, what if Rye does actually hate you? What am I going to do then? I wouldnt be able to live with myself if I caused that." I collapse onto the little stool next to the cash register and drop my elbows onto the desk, placing my head in my hands. Why does everything have to be so complicated these days?
"I promise it will be fine in the end, you will see." I feel his arms slide around my shoulders, sending goosebumps trailing throughout my body and just to make it worse he kisses me on the side of the head and leans in close to my ear. "I'll be fine Katniss."
I keep my eyes closed, enjoying every little bit of it. "No you wont Peeta. You seem to forget that I know when you're lying. All out lives we have been best friends, You dont think I've noticed how much you love Rye? If he stopped talking to you then you would be a mess. Even more than you already are. I'm just scared." The tears fall from my eyes and Peeta's hold on me tightens. He always hated seeing my cry, he told me himself that I was the strongest person that he knew but he probably already knows that I just push all my feelings down. He is probably the only Mellark to ever see my properly cry.
"I know. I'm scared too. I told myself when I was younger that I would never date one of the people that either of my brothers have ever dated and now look what I'm doing..." He buries his face in the crook of my neck and I can feel his breathe on my bare skin, sending shivers through my body.
I pull myself up to stand infront of him. "This is all my fault. I'll take the blame." I say. As I recall, that night, I was the one that came onto him.
"Katniss you cant do that. He will hate you..." He says.
"Its not going to make any difference if he hates me but he is your brother Peeta and thats not right for him to hate you." I point out but he just starts shaking his head.
"Its both of our faults. It takes two people to make a baby Katniss. We share the blame." He says and I know that in no way am I going to win this argument. I quickly glance down to his mouth and I get a straneg sensation in my own body, almost like my mouth has gone dry but it hasnt.
"Can I just do one thing? Before this gets worse and everything falls apart?" He nods and before he even has time to process what is happening, I smash my lips into his, my hand on the back of his head, fused into his hair like my hand was made to be there. He is taken back at first but eventually he falls into the kiss and pulls me closer to him with his hands on my waist. Everything around me just falls away except from the feeling of his lips on mine. My whole body trembles with happiness. I havent felt this happy in 5 years. Rye has never made me feel like this. He kisses me with such gentleness and intensity at the same time that I know I will not be the first person to pull away.
"Katniss! Peeta! What is going on!" I hear from the door. I didnt even hear it open. But then again, I'm not surprised. I quicly pull away from Peeta and turn towards the door to see brooke standing there. My legs are still like Jelly and my head is racing but my face, I'm sure is covered in a look of shock.
"Brooke its not what it looks like! That wasnt meant to happen!" I say quickly but she just laughs slightly.
"Look I know the difference between a kiss that was meant to happen and a kiss that wasnt." She says.
"Okay fine, it was meant to happen but I started it. Peeta had nothing to do with it." I feel myself moving closer to the cabinet to try and reach over for her even though I know I cant. To be honest, i'm not really sure what I want at this moment in time, half of me just wants to feel Peeta's touch again but the other half knows that Rye cant be told second hand about this.
"I dont care but maybe you should find a better place to do it because if you are trying to keep it hidden from Rye, maybe the front of the Bakery isnt the best place." She laughs again and I glance quickly at Peeta.
"So youre not going to tell him?" Peeta asks.
"Of course not... but you should..." Brooke replies and I let out a sigh of relief. It actually feels quite good to not have to keep everything a secret from everyone.
"I know and I'm going to tell him as soon as I find the right time." I say calmer than before.
"Good... but I promise I wont mention anything. What about the baby?" She asks and my heart starts to race again.
"Its confusing." I say quietly.
"I got time." She shrugs her shoulder and moves closer to the counter.
"Okay. Erm... Peeta can I tell her?" I ask, turning towards him, trying not to look at his lips which probably feel as swollen as mine right now.
"If you want." He says and I look back to Brooke.
"The baby isnt... Rye's... Its Peeta's" I mumble. I'm not sure she caught it until I look in her eyes and see surprise there.
"Oh..." Is all she says.
"You have to promise not to tell anyone." I quickly say to her.
"I promise Katniss." She gives me a small reassuring smile and I nod.
"Thank you so much." Peeta replies and takes me hand. Thats when the baby starts to kick again, harder than last time and taking me by surprise. Wow! This little girl really does recognise her daddy.
"She's kicking." I say and Peeta's other hand shoots towards my belly.
"Let me feel!" Brooke shouts coming over and placing her hand on my stomach. I feel like some kind of Freakshow. But it also feels quite good. "Wow!" She looks up at me but Peeta's hand is still on my stomach. "How did you know it was a girl?"
"My Mother told me." I say. "Why dont you ask her?"
"I'm alright not knowing." She says and I nod.
I hope you liked it! It took me a while to write this chapter and I'm sorry for that but I didnt really know what to write. Stay tuned for the next chapter. We finally find out where Rye keeps dissapearing off to. Is it going to destroy his relationship with Katniss? Will anything ever be the same again? Will she tell Rye about the baby?