"So, what do you think?" Peeta, Hal and I are in Vermont and we're in the house we want and the guy gave us a tour.
I'm obsessed with this house. I want this house so much.
It's even going to be furnished. Eleven whole acres.
"Can we have a minute?" Peeta asks.
"Of course, I'll just be in the kitchen." He walks away. I turn to Peeta.
"Yes. I want it, do you want it? Peeta, I want it."
"I want it too." He smiles.
"Yes then?" I ask.
"Yes." He smiles. "Come on," he pulls me to the kitchen.
"We want it." Peeta says. The man looks overjoyed. Him and Peeta begin to tie some knots in the deal, he gives Peeta the key and they continue to finish for almost two hours, and I just lay Hallie on the kitchen table with some toys and keep a close eye on her. She speaks gibberish, asking me questions even though I don't know what she's saying. The man leaves, and I look up at Peeta.
"It's ours already. I paid him." He says.
"Seriously?" I ask.
"Yup," he sits down across from me. "Hi," he taps Hallie's nose and she giggles.
I move so I'm next to Peeta. We've been trying to say words for her to say, and she struggles so hard. "Say hi?" I ask. Peeta and I keep trying to get her to say hi and she opens her mouth and makes squealing sounds. "Can you say hi?" I ask. I know babies can say "hi" at 3 months, because Chase said "Mama" at 2.
"Say Hi Hal!" Peeta exclaims. She giggles. I start a video as Peeta keeps begging her to say "hi"
"Baaoaaa!" she squeals. "Hi!" she squeaks. "Jobbbarujy!" she screams. "Hi!" I grab Peeta's arm.
"She just said Hi!" he says.
"She said it!" I gasp. "Come on Hal, say hi to Mama and Daddy!" I exclaim. She's on her belly. She grabs Peeta's index finger.
"Hi!" She screams. I end the video and send it to every single person in the family.
"Let's get home, pack our stuff and come here in time for Christmas."
...s...
Everyone comes a week early. Hallie lays on the floor on her belly as we pack the house, and she just screams "Hi" over and over and over again. We finish packing the truck. I pick Hallie up off the floor. She puts her fingers in my mouth. "HI!" She screams. I laugh.
"Hi," I smile at her, and she giggles and smiles back.
"Ready to go?" I ask Peeta.
"Yeah," he says.
The deal is, Peeta, Hal and I ride in the moving van, Mama and a ton of others squeeze into my car, Daddy and a ton of others squeeze into Peeta's, they squeeze into Finn and Annie's since they're taking their moving van, and into Prim's and Alex's and Johanna's. There's plenty of room. I put Hallie in her car seat, which is on my side, next to the window, and then I get into the middle on Peeta's side, and then he gets in the drivers. I start the radio as he gets in, and we set off for Vermont. Hallie continues to talk to us, gibberish and Hi, and falls silent, waiting for us to say something. "Yeah!" Peeta says. She goes back to her conversation. I start to fiddle with the radio.
I prop my feet up on the dashboard. Peeta and I sing along to songs, messing them up on purpose and bursting into hysterical laughter. Hallie drifts off eventually, and we keep singing terribly. Around five, I start to have to Peeta really bad and I become hungry.
I know if I'm hungry, then Hallie is starving. The problem is we're in the middle of the country. It takes six hours and fifty minutes to get to our house ins Vermont from the restaurant in New York City.
"Are we even in Vermont yet?" I ask.
"Um…I think we missed the sign." He laughs. I grin.
"Do we have an water in here?" I ask.
"No. We have milk though." He taps my boobs, and I laugh.
"This is not for us, this is for Hal." I say.
"I think we're in Connecticut. We have to drive up the whole state still baby. You know it's only been an hour, right?" he asks."
"It has?" I ask. He laughs.
"Yes." His phone starts ringing.
PEETA'S POV
She's so damn cute. I dig my phone out of my pocket and see its Johanna. "Hello?" I ask.
"Why isn't brainless answering her phone?" She asks.
"It never went off." I say.
"Oh. Can I talk to her?"
"Sure," I hand Kat my phone.
"Sup Jo." She says. "Why would I know?" she demands. "Probably, I mean…of course theres apartments there." She says. "Why?"
KATNISS'S POV
"You guys deserve your privacy. If I find a cheap apartment, I'm moving there."
…..s….
It's February Second. Hallie is four months and she can sit up now. Her eyes glue to the TV screen every morning as she gives all her attention to the baby shows. We don't let her watch the current ones, no, she watches Rugrats, and Clifford and Max and Ruby and Maggie and the Beast, and Dragon Tales. Johanna lives at her own apartment and is the manager of a Publix. Annie and Finn are working on opening a restaurant and Peeta and I don't have to do anything, simply because we have the restaurant. Prim and Alex…I don't even remember what they do.
And Peeta and I are screaming at one another. She doesn't even care.
It's about Valentine's Day. "No! You're not getting me anything!" I scream at him.
"Why not? Why?" he shouts back.
"Because I don't want shit from you!" I scream.
"Why? I'm getting you something anyways!" he shouts.
He doesn't know why I'm always so angry with him, or why I'm never letting him touch me.
"God dammit Katniss! Do you still love me? Are you done? Are we going to get a divorce and just be another failed relationship like my fucking parents?" he shouts.
"Of course I still love you, but I don't want anything because you've already given me anything I could ever fucking want!" I shout.
"What? What did I fucking give you?"
A huge wave of anger surges through my veins, and before I can even process what I'm doing, there's a red handprint on his cheek.
And my hand is stinging.