Disclaimer: I Don't Own the Hunger Games.

Chapter 6

The 10 days had passed since she had first discovered she was pregnant and a lot had happened in those ten days. She had discovered Peeta's horrific living conditions and was now doing everything in her power to help him recover, she had blanked Haymitch having not spoken to him since the argument over the miscarriage, she had calmed considerably since then and she was certain she probably owed him an apology but her pride and heart wouldn't do it, also Annie and Finnick where getting married and she was organising the entire thing.

She faced her mirror as she brushed her hair. She'd never liked her hair, it was so boring. Blonde, it was a dull colour almost lifeless she would have much preferred to be brunette like her sister but she had dull blonde hair and a Trinket wasn't dull. Her mother had bought her her first wig when she 8, it was light blue and simple but it was far prettier than her original hair, it had itched and it fallen off at a party her father had been hosting. Her mother was horrified. Effie smiled at the memory gently patting her head before sighing. She was just starting to see the very beginnings of a bump but to the eye of the unknown it was a little podge from over eating. Growing inside of her was a baby a beautiful tiny baby, and though she hated her own blonde hair all she could picture was a little girl with blonde curls.

A knock at the door removed her from her vision, and she called out "who is it?" before reaching for her neck scarf

"It's Katniss," upon realising it was her she laid the scarf back on the bed, she no longer felt the need to hide herself from those she really cared about.

"Door is unlocked you may enter," she said and the door slid open. Effie turned to face Katniss with a smile which was returned meekly. "What is wrong my dear," Effie asked patting the spot on the bed beside her.

Katniss sighed plopping down beside Effie, she stared at her blonde hair reaching out to touch it softly.

Effie found Katniss' actions odd but stayed silent, it had to be a District 12 thing as Haymitch used to do the same thing. "I've been thinking about Peeta," she said and Effie nodded.

"What about Peeta my dear?"

"I really want to see him but I know it's not wise, I've viewed every one of your meetings with him and he's almost like the Peeta I remember and then suddenly he changes and he despises me, and I just don't know what to think anymore."

Effie reached forwards and took Katniss' hand in hers, "Peeta may never be the same again, there is no guarantee that what we are doing will cure him, but I am confident he will not always consider you as a monster. However you may need to be prepared for a possible change of feelings towards you. Hold on to your memories and cherish every single one of them, write them down or even draw them. So when the time comes you can remind him of the two of you. He remembers things but he's finding it incredibly difficult to decipher what is real and what is fake."

"And you think I'll be able to help with that?" Effie smiled.

"He believes you've done all these horrible things but if you can remind him of the things you've done together and remind him of who he really is then in time we'll have more than just hope."

Katniss sat quietly thinking over everything Effie had said, she would love nothing more to help Peeta, to remind him of who he was, the boy with the bread, her boy with the bread. The boy who slept with the windows open who loved the colour orange; not like Effie's wig but like the Sunset. He loved to bake and draw and paint, but everytime she considered walking into his room and help, her throat would tighten as though his hands with squeezing the very last breathe out of her throat.

"Give him time dear, what he has been through will take time to heal." Katniss nodded, she could understand the power of time.

"Have you told Haymitch about the baby?" Katniss asked changing the subject.

Effie sighed and shook her head, "No dear, he approached me about the miscarriage and we had a fight he doesn't want children."

"He's just afraid,"

"Maybe dear, other than your mother you are the only person in the district that knows."

"Really?" she asked her eyebrows raising at the news. "You've told nobody else?"

"Peeta is sick and Haymitch and I aren't' talking and I don't really like anyone else."

"I thought you liked Annie and Finnick?" asked Katniss confused.

"I do dear, but they have enough on their plate at the minute, they are getting married, and Haymitch needs to know before anyone else."

"Do you want a boy or a girl?"

"A girl, I wouldn't have the faintest idea what I would do with a boy," she chuckled and Katniss smiled.

"How about you dear, have you a desire for children one day?" Katniss shook her head.

"Nope, I couldn't bring a child into this world. In 12 you struggle, it's always when will I get my next meal, will I survive the winter, what if I fall ill? Then there's the games, it's just selfish, to bring something so innocent in to this world with all knowledge that you have that they can be taken from you and publicly killed."

"But that's all going to change, what if the Hunger Games were gone for good and you weren't worried about the next meal or the winter." Katniss shrugged.

"Never given it any thought Effie, I never will until the rebellion is over and the games are gone for good and Panem is safe. I don't think I'd be a very good mum anyway."

Effie smiled softly and placed a hand on her belly, "I don't think I'm going to be very good myself, but I already love her."

"You are really screwed if it's a boy," chuckled Katniss. "Maybe you should give her a nickname in case she is a he."

"Maybe, any suggestions?"

Katniss nibbled on her lip, "Peanut, titch, little one, Bean, alien?"

"Alien?" Effie laughed, "I suppose a baby is alien to me but that's a little cruel," Katniss just smiled. "I like Peanut," she said softly.

"Well there you go, until you know whether it's a boy or a girl you can call the baby peanut."

"Little Peanut," Effie said softly.

"When is peanut due?" Katniss asked

"Sometime in April,"

"Spring a time for a new start and new life. It's rather fitting really."

"Yes, I suppose it is," Effie mused softly with her hand resting on her stomach.

"You don't look pregnant," Katniss said softly and Effie reached for her hand and smiled. Those four words were the kindest thing anyone had said to her in a long time.

XXX

She hadn't intended to find Haymitch, she had left Effie to her thoughts and had wondered off for space of her own, she knew there were talks of another propo around the corner and she wasn't sure she wanted to do it. She was certain people were keeping things from her. She didn't trust Coin, Effie's words about power and monsters from the other day made her wary of the District leader, was she warning her that Coin was more of an enemy than a friend. She really wished she had asked Effie when she was with her. Frowning and deep in thought she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings until she walked into someone. She glanced up ready to apologise until she realised who it was.

"Hello Haymitch," she said bluntly.

"You should pay more attention to where you are walking kid. I nearly flattened you," Katniss cocked an eyebrow and smirked amused and Haymitch rolled his eyes.

"Shut up," he muttered and her smirk grew wider. "Where have you been, people have been looking for you?"

"Sorry I was with Effie." She watched as he stiffened at her name before nodding. "Have you not spoken to her since her announcement last week?" She wasn't surprised when he didn't respond, she and Haymitch were very much alike and it seemed they needed people like Effie and Peeta around to bring them out of their brooding.

"How long have you and Effie been involved?" she asked, "Peeta once suspected there was something between the two of you but I thought he was barmy." Haymitch showed no interest in her and Katniss frowned. She had never been one for small talk or even gossip but Haymitch and Effie intrigued her. "Was it an attraction at first glance or an overtime kind of thing?"

"What is with all the questions!" snapped Haymitch pausing.

"Excuse me for trying to understand the shocking revelation that my Mentor has knocked up my escort…" She froze realising what she had said. Effie had wanted to tell Haymitch herself, and she had just blurted it out. She was really rubbish at socializing.

Haymitch sighed, "It was an overtime kind of thing. It was our third games together, we'd already lost both our tributes but the boy had died a nasty death and she took it badly. I woke in the middle of the night headed into the penthouse and found her in floods of tears, make up running down her face. Right then I stopped seeing her as a dumb escort and more of a friend."

"And then after friendship became romance?" she asked quietly, grateful that Haymitch missed her slip up, and he nodded. "I suppose I shouldn't ask but, do you love her?" he looked away from her, and she could tell he was thinking very hard on what she had said, it had taken her a long time to realise that she did indeed love Peeta, it had just happened too late.

"I suppose I do," he said softly and Katniss nodded.

"Have you ever told her?"

"Did you ever tell the boy how you felt?" he asked turning the questions back on to her.

Katniss sighed, "No, but I wish I had because now it's too late for me, but you and Effie have a chance at a happy ever after. You could be a proper family after all of this." She said and Haymitch frowned but nodded.

"Maybe kid, but I won't live in the capital and can you imagine Effie in 12?"

Katniss grinned, "no but it'd be hilarious to watch!"

Haymitch smirked, "c'mon kid you need to be in this meeting," Katniss sighed but followed after him.

XXX

Several hours passed and the meeting was over, all the way through the meeting what Katniss had said to him had stuck in his mind, 'It's too late for me but you and Effie have a chance at a happy ever after,' she was right, things were different here and he was free to be with Effie if he wanted. There was another thing that had stayed with him from their conversation and it that was the comment of a happy family. He had told Effie he didn't want kids, and was sure she had relayed the message to Katniss, he was too old now for them that was sure, and he wasn't even sure he could even produce a child, not with the damage all his drinking had done, but the gnawing sensation in his stomach made him want to apologise for his outburst. He rounded the corner to Effie's compartment in time to see her turn the corner and out of sight. He cursed and jogged to catch up with her but she seemed in a hurry to be wherever she was going.

Frowning he followed behind her, she took a few odd routes and it peaked his curiosity. What was she hiding? Fear encased him, she knew it was dangerous in 13. Hiding anything would come against her and he wasn't sure he was going to be able to protect her. He kept his distance making sure she was unaware that she was being followed. After five minutes of following he frowned when she reached her destination. The medical wing, she had told him everything was fine and that she was in perfect health, so why was she back...

She was nervous and excited, today was the day she was going to see her little peanut for the first time. As she approached Mrs Everdeen she smiled. She wasn't overly fond of the woman, she had heard how she had just given up once her husband had died leaving her two girls to fend for themselves, the betrayal had broken the bond Katniss and her mother's once had.

"Miss Trinket how are you?" Mrs Everdeen asked as she continued to prep the bed.

"I'm well thank you, yourself?"

"Very good. Please, make yourself comfortable on the bed," Effie nodded and she slipped off her shoes before lying carefully on the bed. She was surrounded by machines.

"What are all these machines for?" she asked.

"This one will show you the baby on the screen here and the machine to your right will allow you to hear the heartbeat." Mrs Everdeen explained softly and Effie nodded. "So anything you want to report? Any morning sickness, tiredness, mood swings…"
"Erm, no sickness. I have felt a little more tired and I feel like I have to urinate a little more frequently and my moods have altered quite considerably." Mrs Everdeen jotted down everything that Effie had said and smiled.

"Excellent, all perfectly normal in the first trimester of pregnancy. No pain anywhere?" Effie shook her head.

"Good. So I'm just going to check your blood pressure, during pregnancy your blood pressure can fluctuate, high is bad so we want to keep it as close to normal as we can."

Effie sat still on the bed, wincing slightly when the pressure around her arm increased. She had always hated medicals, as a young child she had been terrified of them.

"All normal, which is excellent. So I'm going to lift up your top and place a cold gel on to your stomach, and then we'll be able to see your little one."

Consciously Effie lifted her top, resting it just below her breasts before turning to face Mrs Everdeen. In her hand was a tube which she squeezed on to her stomach. Effie gasped from the cold and the other woman apologised.

"Are you ready?" she asked and Effie nodded. The machine flicked on and she stared at the image in front of her, she was expecting to see a baby but all that she could see was black and two white dots. Where was her baby?"

"Have I miscarried?" Effie asked quietly but Mrs Everdeen shook her head.

"Miss Trinket, there's no easy way for me to tell you this but… you are expecting twins."

Effie's jaw dropped and her eyes bulged out of her head. "There has to be some kind of mistake, I thought I was pregnant with only one child."

"I believed you were, but do you see these two tiny white dots?" Effie nodded. "They are two tiny foetuses, you're having twins." The rest of the scan flew by, she was no longer paying attention to what Mrs Everdeen was saying. Her little peanut was now, little peanuts. Twins… two babies… more than one baby… she was having twins… and she was going to kill Haymitch!

It has been so long since I updated this story. The last year and several months have been crazy and my ability to write has been very poor to say the least. I started writing this chapter ages ago and then my computer crashed and I lost the chapter and it was impossible for so long to actually write anything...

I was happy with this chapter until I started to re-read it and now I'm not too sure, it just feels a little awkward to me maybe a little too structured? I'm not sure... but the big news is out Peanut has a sibling!

Reviews are always welcome good or constructive. So I'd love to hear from you and if you've waited so long for this chapter, there's nothing I can do but apologise!