"You're getting better," Johanna mused as she and Rini took a break from training. She was right; the weeks of non-stop training were sticking with the redhead. She went to bed with sore muscles every night and woke with even more soreness, but she felt strong.
Renata sighed and sipped at her water, feeling sick to her stomach. She was pushing herself harder and harder every day and she didn't plan on stopping. Things were still awkward with Finnick. He tried his best not to touch her at all; he only did when he absolutely had to. While Rini trained from sun up to sun down with Johanna, he was off whispering with the other rebels. Meeting in secret to plan with Plutarch, she guessed. The rebellion was still foreign to her, but she trusted that Finnick would fill her in on the things that she needed to know.
"You still in there?" Johanna broke her out of her daze, eyebrows raised curiously.
Renata nodded and rubbed her shoulder, sighing. "Just thinking."
"About training, I hope?"
Renata smiled a little and she gave Johanna a sideways glance. "Everything, I guess."
"And by everything, you mean Finnick?" Johanna sighed and she leaned back against the wall, stretching her arms above her head. "He's still ignoring you."
"I don't know if it's because of the swingers or because I'm doing this. I've been giving him some time, but…I don't know. You've known him longer than I have."
She just shrugged and stood up. "He doesn't want to hurt you." She went to the weapon rack that spanned the entire wall and lifted a spear off of it, handing it to Renata.
Renata stood up and she took it, having become quite accustomed to the way it felt in her hands. She had tried swords, axes, and even a trident, but the spear felt natural to her. Johanna had said that she needed to find a weapon that she was comfortable with, one that could be an extension of her body, and it seemed that she had found the right one.
Johanna came at her suddenly with a slash of an axe and Renata moved instantly to block it with the shaft, pushing her weight forward and knocking the young woman backwards.
"I don't see why he should be worried about you," she said, cocking a brow at Renata. Her curls were frizzing around her face and the gleam in her blue eyes was something that Johanna too had possessed. "You aren't exactly helpless anymore."
"How have you been feeling, Finnick?" Dr. Kaznik asked.
He shrugged and held onto the edge of the examination table, having no issue being in only his underwear in front of the doctor. "Okay, I guess. You found something in the birth control?" He blinked when the doctor only nodded. "Something…bad?"
"You could say that. I've been calling in every victor that was on this rotation, they all got this shot, and…" He trailed off and set aside his tablet. "How many partners did you have on your last date here?"
Finnick pursed his lips. "It was only Marielle. And Rini," he added. "That's it. It wasn't one of my crazier nights, unless you count someone seizing as crazy."
Dr. Kaznik smiled faintly and he nodded. "We're not exactly sure how this happened, but it is serious. The birth control didn't inhibit your fertility like it's supposed to. It did the opposite, it made your sperm even more potent. Did you happen to use another method of birth control? A condom, or-"
"There's never been a reason to." He pursed his lips. "Customers don't want them since they know they can't get pregnant." He was quiet as he took in the meaning of the doctor's words. "So you're saying that I'm going to have a kid running around the Capitol?"
"We don't know for sure, I want you to go to Marielle and give her the news and have her take a pregnancy test. If it's positive, we'll have it taken care of." He stood up and grabbed his tablet, pausing before opening his mouth. "Renata was more susceptible to pregnancy as well. Higher than Marielle."
Finnick felt his heart sink to his stomach. "Oh. So…there's a chance that Rini is pregnant."
"With the increased fertility rate, I wouldn't call it just a chance. I'll bring her in for a test and see what she wants to do. For now, you go sort things out with Marielle."
He rose to his feet when the doctor left and he felt like his insides had gone hollow. There was a chance - a very high chance - that he had gotten Renata pregnant. He had never considered the possibility of it happening. He couldn't even look at her without imagining her seizing beneath him, so how the hell was he supposed to have a child with her? How could something like this come from such an awful circumstance? His hands shook as he dressed himself, trying to focus on seeing Marielle, but he couldn't. Now all he saw in his mind was Renata, round with his child. Of course he had entertained the idea of having a family – one with Rini - but not now. They were at the start of an uprising! This would throw a wrench in everything. Dr. Kaznik's words echoed in his head. He would have it "taken care of." Killed.
Finnick swallowed and left the room, his head held high, with no indication of the storm warring inside of him. He had dreamed of the rebellion since he had first heard the whispers. He wanted freedom; he wanted it enough to fight for it, to die for it even. But the thought of sacrificing something this big for it seemed like too great a price. He loved Renata, that much he knew. And he did want a future with her, preferably in a free world. As he approached Marielle's home, he sighed heavily and willed himself to stop thinking about Rini. She would make the decision and it could be like he had never known about it in the first place. His fist faltered in knocking and he saw that it was trembling. In everything he had ever faced, this not knowing, this thing he'd been completely blindsided with was on a whole different level. It could change everything. He blew out a long breath and knocked at the door.
"Hello, Rini," Dr. Kaznik smiled at her as he walked in the examining room. He sat down on the stool and set aside his tablet, resting his hands on his knees. "Have you spoken with Finnick?"
"I had to get on the train right when he got back, there wasn't any time to say much." She shrugged. She didn't think she needed to add that he wasn't really himself around her lately. "Why, is something wrong?"
"Let's not worry about that right now. I just want to ask you a couple of questions. Have you been feeling sick since your visit last month?"
"Sometimes, but I've been working really hard. Does this have something to do with the birth control?"
"Have you noticed any tenderness or swelling in your breasts?"
Renata made a face. "Can you stop asking me these questions and just tell me what this is about?"
He smiled apologetically and scooted closer to her. "Renata, there were adverse effects in the birth control you were given. You and Finnick both, your fertility was exponentially greater than normal." He paused when she raised her eyebrows. "I want you to take a pregnancy test, and we can see for sure."
"Did you tell Finnick this?" she asked with furrowed brows.
He nodded. "He knows of the possibility. He approached the other woman you two were servicing that night and it turns out that she wasn't pregnant. Still, your chances are a lot higher than hers were. We'll just take some blood and that'll let us know for sure."
"No, that's okay."
The doctor turned away from the equipment he was preparing and gave her a strange look. "No?"
"I don't want to do that, but thank you for your concern." She got up from the table and smiled. He head was spinning. She couldn't deal with this right now. It could explain her nausea, but she wouldn't let anyone confirm anything. "I'll see you again soon." She left the room before Kaznik could answer, his mouth hanging open in bewilderment.
She was getting tired of the silence. It was like she was living in a completely different world from Finnick. She watched him move around the kitchen, washing an already cleaned dish and then drying it and putting it away in a cabinet. Every couple of seconds he would glance at her and smile before looking away. He wanted to talk to her about the doctor, that much she knew for sure.
"How about instead of wasting water, you come here and talk to me," Renata spoke, raising her eyebrow.
He smiled sheepishly and nodded, going and sitting beside her. "What did the doctor say?"
"I assume the same things he said to you. That I had a high chance of getting pregnant, especially since you had some super sperm going on."
His cheeks turned a little pink and he wrinkled his nose. "So did you…did he take the baby out?"
"Oh, I didn't get a pregnancy test."
"You…what?"
Renata shrugged. "Marielle wasn't pregnant, and even if I had a higher chance, I still could maybe not be pregnant. So I didn't want to know. After the games, I'll find out."
Finnick stared at her like she had sprouted another head, his mouth hanging open a little. "You're…what? You aren't serious."
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "I've been working myself to the bone, I'm not going to let this stop me when it's so close. It's only a couple more weeks, it's not that big of a deal."
"Not that big of a deal?!" Finnick exclaimed and he jumped to his feet, holding his hair in his fists. "Renata, you could be carrying around a baby in you! How is that not a big deal? And you want to just…you want to go into the arena in that condition?"
She crossed her legs, observing how angry he looked. "Yes." Her voice was soft but steady. "Why?"
"Because! Do you realize how selfish, how stupid that is? What if something goes wrong? That's not just your decision to make! What about me? It's my kid, too!"
"If there is a kid," she interjected, which just made him angrier.
"You are being a child! You're so thirsty for blood that you can't see that you're being an idiot!"
Renata got to her feet, her face red with anger. "So what would you have me do? Stay here? Let someone else go?"
Finnick looked like his head was going to explode. "Yes! Is that so difficult for you to do?" He was panting, not realizing how loud he had been yelling. "Just please…if you are pregnant…Remember it's my child, too."
She swallowed and looked at her hands, her heart pounding. "Nothing has changed. I'm still going in."
He stared at her in disbelief, hardly able to recognize her. This wasn't the woman he loved. This difficult, arrogant child wasn't his Rini. He closed his eyes tightly and hissed out a breath between gritted teeth. "Then get out of my house."
Her eyes widened and she didn't think she had heard him correctly. "What?"
"If you won't be reasonable about this, if you insist on being a child, then I don't want any part in it. Get out," he said, his voice low and even.
"By reasonable you mean bending to your will. I didn't realize how alike you and Seneca were," she snapped, her voice as cold as ice.
Finnick's nostrils flared with anger and he grabbed Rini by her upper arm, pulling her towards the front door. He opened it and shoved her out onto the front step, the look on her face not hindering him any. "Go home, Renata," he muttered before slamming the door shut.
Hello hello! I hope there are still some of you out there who will be happy for this update! School was an absolute killer this semester, namely Human Anatomy! I managed to pass it despite how difficult it was, and i'm happy to say that as of this Saturday, I will be graduating with my associates degree! Woohoo! So its safe to say that you can anticipate much less time in between updates :D
Hope you enjoy the chapter and leave a review pretty please!
-Kelsey xx