Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, I am not Suzanne Collins.
A/N: I promise I haven't been neglecting the story. I've just been so busy. I had a bit of a block too. Forgive me if this sucks, I really hope it doesn't. Enjoy!
Chapter Three.
I'm lying in the forest. The heat is excruciating and my limbs feel heavy. I manage to sit up and I'm alone. I can hear mockingjays singing and then suddenly stop. I push myself to my feet, unarmed and terrified. Something's about to happen and I don't know where I should run.
I hear crying, but I can't find where it's coming from. I glance around me and do a double-take to my left. My eyes instantly widen when I see a baby cradle in plain sight, completely vulnerable. I don't even think before I start to sprint towards it, the mockingjays are still silent and all my instincts are telling me that I have to save this baby.
When I reach it, the baby is whaling. I pick it up gently and try to coax it to calm down. I'm even more afraid than I was before now that I'm out in the open. The baby finally stops crying and I look down at it to find bright blue eyes beaming up at me. Its blonde hair is so shiny in the sunlight and I'm mesmerized by it.
It's smiling at me, but it doesn't seem happy. It has an evil look about its face and I don't hesitate to place it back in the cradle quickly. I take a few steps back when it giggles. Then I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders as if it was a signal. I'm frozen with fear until I remember the feeling of the hands and realize it is only Peeta. I sigh in relief and try to turn to meet him. His hands are holding me in place and I start to feel them getting closer to my neck as the baby in the cradle giggles more. Its eyes glimmer so much they look as if they could sparkle.
I get the wind knocked out of me when Peeta's hands wrap tightly around my throat and block any air from reaching my lungs. I try and pull him off but he's much stronger than I am. I can't take my eyes off the shiny baby.
Shiny. The word sticks in my mind as I'm fighting for air. I heard Peeta's voice saying something about his memories being shiny. Then I can't see anything at all but darkness.
I spring up in the bed, knocking Peeta's arm off me and startling him awake. I'm sweaty and breathing heavy trying to take in as much air as I can. I feel my neck to see that it's not sore at all and confirm I was just having another nightmare.
"I thought the nightmares stopped lately." Peeta whispers as he sits up next to me. He places his arm over my shoulder and pulls me close to his side. The shiny Capitol baby keeps appearing in my thoughts and I press a hand to my stomach. It's swollen and hard to the touch. It sticks out and only reminds me of the nightmare more and more vividly.
I finally catch my breath and just sit there. I'm too anxious to fall back asleep and the sun is beginning to rise anyway. Peeta lies back down, tugging my hand to do the same. I do, eventually. Though, I still feel his hands around my throat in my mind.
It was only a dream. Peeta wouldn't hurt you. The thought it reassuring and I continue to repeat it in my head.
I rub my eyes, trying to keep myself awake, but I'm always so tired lately that I drift back asleep. I made sure I was tucked closely to Peeta. Hopefully the nightmares would stay away if I continued to feel the slow rising and falling of his chest as he breathes.
I only wake up an hour or so later because I feel Peeta shifting slightly. I let my eyes flutter open and he notices, wearing a face that looks like he was trying not to be caught.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." He says softly as he finishes climbing out of the bed. I stretch and notice how much my back hurts in the position I'm sleeping in and roll over, but it only hurts more.
"It's fine. I think I need to get up and walk around anyway." I wince when I sit up and try and crack the joints in my lower back. It's no use. I just suck in a breath and stand up on the opposite side of the bed as Peeta. He looks at me with sympathy but I just ignore it. Everyone gives me these looks like it must be so hard to be in my condition. It's beginning to get on my last nerve. I'm perfectly capable of doing the same things I was able to do before I got pregnant. I hate being looked at and thought of as weak. Because, I most definitely was not weak.
Walking around the house helps a little bit. I walk past the baby's room a few times. It's still incredibly strange to walk into it; it still sets my nerves on edge a bit. Especially now that there's a crib set up directly under the sun, which was painted on the wall. It's even stranger since the crib was a gift from Haymitch.
I guess everyone, but me, was truly excited for this baby.
I think back to the night when I finally agreed to have a baby with Peeta. Sometimes I wish that I wouldn't have conceived. Most of the time, I try to justify what was going through my mind when I had agreed. I usually shake the thoughts away though. I would be five months pregnant in a week and there was absolutely no turning back.
Everyone in District 12 knows now, of course. I hear people talking about a little mockingjay and roll my eyes. I thought we were years past this. But, I guess when you were the symbol of the rebellion that changed everyone's life; there isn't exactly much luck in trying to break free of that title.
I start to worry more often about what Haymitch told me. If people in District 12 were talking about me, I'm sure it wasn't going to take long for word to get to the other Districts, and eventually the people in the Capitol. It wasn't that I was afraid of them. It was more along the lines that I was afraid of what they were going to do.
I didn't want my whole life to be broadcasted on nation television again. I certainly didn't want visits from strange, unfamiliar faces and reporters, just like what happened at our wedding. Even if they did decide to come visit me, I had no idea who they would send. Surely the Secretary of Communications, also know as Plutarch Heavensbee, would make an appearance if word spread far enough.
Knowing him, I wouldn't even doubt that there would be a team of stylists to pluck and scrub me down and then make-me over to stick me in front of a dozen cameras and talk about how excited I was for this baby. If I was lucky they'd let Peeta do all the talking, but I sure there's only a handful of questions he can answer for us.
I could only try not to think about that for now. Soon enough, I knew they would find out.
"I don't suppose you have any liquor, do you sweetheart?" I jumped when Haymitch's voice broke the silence that filled the living room. Peeta had gone to work hours ago. I figured he would have locked the door; apparently not, though.
"Why? Have you officially run out of your stash for the month?" Trains came less frequently in the winter months. Haymitch had no choice but to stock up on his liquor to last him. He didn't answer my question. He simply strolled through the living room and into the kitchen.
I pushed myself off of the couch and felt a pain that was like daggers in my lower back. I rubbed where the pain hurt the most with no success in getting it to subside. I walked into the kitchen to find Haymitch rummaging through the cabinets.
"You're not going to find anything." Haymitch looked at me confused. I stifled a laugh. "You took all but a few bottles, which Peeta threw away." I rested a hand on my lower stomach to help him realize why Peeta felt there shouldn't be any alcohol left in the house. I actually agreed with him. Not because I was worried that an infant would somehow manage to open a bottle of wine and drink it, but because after all these years I was beginning to worry about the health effects from drinking so excessively.
Haymitch mumbled something under his breath and hand through his dirty, graying hair. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"Well, I don't know." I said sarcastically. "Have your geese died from lack of nourishment yet?" He laughed at that and walked past me into the living room. He dropped himself into the couch and reached to the remote. I shook my head, but the pain in my back was so agonizing that I couldn't fight the urge to drop my body on the other cushion.
I watched him flipping through the channels. It was mostly just news reports. In the more recent years, television had taken a turn to before Panem took control. There were programs designed for entertainment with actors and story lines. It was actually real entertainment.
"Katniss Mellark, Peeta Mellark, and a baby? Keep watching for the details." I heard a voice say as Haymitch went to change the channel again. He didn't move a muscle when we both realized what was on the television.
The screen faded to black then a young woman with long, curly blonde hair in a skin-tight dress with red high-heeled shoes on was standing in front of a camera. She had the whitest smile and the straightest teeth I'd ever seen, she would have been beautiful if it wasn't for the anger already beginning to bubble inside me.
"Hi guys, welcome back, I'm your host Delaniey Ward. And today we're just going to jump right into the story, because it's almost shocking at first." A box in the corner of the screen showed Peeta and me kissing on our wedding day, but I didn't dare to take my eyes off the host. "Well, according to rumors, the former mockingjay, Katniss Mellark, and her star-crossed lover, Peeta Mellark, may finally be adding a new addition to their family after nearly 16 years of marriage. The pregnancy rumors first were started when the two were spotted in District 12 a few weeks ago," the picture flashed to Peeta and I holding hands while walking home from the bakery one night, "Katniss seemed to be sporting a over sized jacket. Perhaps it was meant to conceal a swollen baby bump?" The jacket I was wearing was my father's hunting jacket. It was always too big on me, but that night I was wearing it to hide my stomach. "Though talk throughout the Districts doesn't confirm the rumors, we're just putting the information out there for all those interested. Now, the question is, do you think there's any truth to this reported story? And do you think that, after all these years, Katniss and Peeta have finally decided their ready to have a baby? I'm Delaniey Ward, thanks for tuning in." Credits began to roll as the camera pulled away from the blonde girls face.
Haymitch and I didn't say a word. The whole house was silent until the sound of the door opening pulled me out of my thoughts. Peeta entered the living room with a smile until he saw our faces.
"What's wrong? What happened?" His voice hinted panic and I notice his eyes snap from my stomach to my face.
"I told you that the Capitol would love to hear about this." Haymitch said, I could hear the smugness in his tone and it only added to my anger.
"Well, why don't you rub it in some more, then? Since you're all-knowing and knew this is what was going to happen since the beginning? If you think they're so interested, why don't you go down there and just confirm everything then?" I snapped with a little too much power to my voice. Haymitch just stared at me before walking out with a smirk slipping onto his face. The door slammed shut and I buried my head into my hands in frustration while letting out a groan.
"Do you mind explaining to me what I missed?" Peeta asked cautiously as he neared me. I was just so irritated and I felt so violated. I had no idea that people were still watching us for so long. Our life wasn't even that interesting. Tears began to spill over without my control. I tried to wipe them away before Peeta could notice but they only persisted.
"Katniss don't cry." Peeta spoke softly as he opened his arms for me to come closer to him. I didn't hesitate to wrap my arms around him and bury my face into his shirt while I tried to calm down this emotion break-down I seemed to be having. I think it was just the hormones messing with me again. That was one I remember from when my mother was pregnant with Prim, she would always having these sudden changes in her moods and mumble something about hormones.
"Just tell me what's wrong." I pulled my head away to look at his face and fought the sensation to cry even harder.
"Everyone knows." I whispered and wiped my tears. He looked at me puzzled. "Everyone, in the Districts and the Capitol, they did a whole report about us on television." I expanded but his expression remained the same.
"Why are you so upset over this?" Peeta asked. I sighed and pulled out of his embrace. Of course he wouldn't be upset over this, he was always more comfortable around cameras than I was.
"Don't you get it? They won't leave us alone! Our whole life is being displayed on nation television! It doesn't bother you at all? It doesn't bother you that this also means our baby is going to be harassed by the media just as much as us? Why can't we just be treated as normal for once?" I was on the verge of screaming and I stopped to turn around and compose myself. He didn't speak a word. I felt his arms slip around my waist and then he pressed his lips to my temple. That was all I needed to know he understood, and that he was also thinking about what was about to happen to us.
There weren't any doubts that we were going to be placed into the middle of media frenzy once again.