Sorry for the delay in update! I started my new job and had a few things to do before starting, have started to workout more (trying to lose weight, woop), so I haven't really had much time for updating this. Anyway, here it is.

A few words about Katniss not knowing she was pregnant until she had it spelled out to her: denial is a very powerful thing. Frequent urination is just as likely a UTI, and it doesn't have to have symptoms such as burning etc. Also, denial... she didn't believe she could get pregnant, so obviously that wasn't it. Not knowing that you are pregnant is much more common than you'd think, finding out at 3 months isn't that hard to believe, but many don't know until they are five months (I read somewhere that it is more likely that you don't know you're pregnant until 5 months than it is to have triplets, lol), or until they give birth.

So... Katniss and pregnancy... how will that go?

After the initial chock of the news of her pregnancy, Katniss still had a hard time understanding that she was pregnant. Despite the nausea that had taken a hold of her, the exhaustion and her incessant need to run to the bathroom twice an hour, it was hard for her to take it in. With the help of her mother they had calculated that she was due late in late June. It was also by her mother that she was told that aborting a pregnancy in the middle of the winter was hard, because the herbs that made the pregnancy terminate itself weren't, of course, around in winter. An abortion during winter was risky, and not at all recommended to go through unless you were willing to die doing it. Some were.

Hazelle was both happy and sad about the news of a grandchild, for the same reasons Gale and Katniss were sad about the prospects of being parents. Together Hazelle and Katniss' mother were able to help with the early pregnancy complaints. A bit of ginger for her nausea, sleeping with a bra for her tender chest, and dried prunes to help with the constipation. Though Katniss didn't think it helped much, it was better than nothing, and for the first three months it helped her keep focus on seeing the end of it. But it did pass, as the new year began, Katniss woke up and the first feeling she had was not nausea.

It was also in the very beginning of the new year that a small bulge started to appear between her hip bones, stretching the skin and telling the world the story of that a small baby was growing inside of the hard to reach woman.

A side effect Katniss had not expected to feel until much later in the pregnancy, when the weight of her stomach would weigh her down, was how impossible it was to walk fast. It made her job much harder, since everything became slightly delayed, but no one complained about it, mostly because it was the servant people who accepted the freshly laundered clothes, and they weren't as punctual either. It did stress Katniss, her inability to get from A to B in a short enough time, and it irritated her how her feet just refused to go the speed she wanted them to.

Towards the end of January, a few days after Gale's 22nd birthday, which passed without any celebration other than the whole family gathered at their house, she had been asked by the mayor to run an errand in town for him. He needed her to pick up cough medicine for his daughter Madge, who was the same age as Katniss, and pain killers for his wife. No one had seen his wife for many years, she had been hiding in the house for many years with a mysterious illness no one talked about.

The pharmacy was clean, void of the coal dust that covered every other surface in the district, and smelled strongly of disinfectant solution that burned in Katniss' nose. She didn't know if she could blame it on her sensitive smell, or if it actually smelled that strong. Behind the counter stood a graying old man with a scowl on his face as he watched her approach.

"I'm picking up cough medicine, and pain killers for Mayor Undersee." She handed him the note given to her and signed by the mayor. The pharmacists read the note, but still looked back at her with a scowl.

"Don't touch anything," he said before he turned around and walked into the stockroom in the back. She did as he said and stood still in the middle of the store in front of the counter, watching the bottles lined up on white clean shelves around the store, the metallic shiny register and the impersonal atmosphere the store gave off. Suddenly the door behind her opened, and the bell above it gave a ring as it was shaken. She whipped around and saw Vittor Myle standing there, watching her with a smile.

"That's a pretty sight," he said, walking up to her with an extended hand. "I'm Vittor Myle," he said.

"I know, I'm Katniss Hawthorn," she replied, shaking his hand.

"Any chance you're related to Rory Hawthorn?" he asked with narrowed eyes. Few people remembered past tributes if they did not have any relationship with them, and maybe Vittor did, he was only a year younger than Rory.

"I'm married to his brother," she said, trying to get control of the sadness that spread in her chest.

"Ah, married…" he said, seeming to be disappointed, but Katniss didn't understand why he would be. "Are you running errands?"

"Yes, I'm picking up a few things for Mayor Undersee," she explained, so that he would know that she wasn't just in there loitering, she had a purpose.

"Do you work for him?" She shook her head. "What do you do, then?"

"I kind of work for him, I do laundry," she said.

"Right, Mrs Hawthorn runs that doesn't she?" Vittor mused. "Do you have any openings? You see, I have so much laundry but no idea how to do it, I would pay you for a whole day every other week, if you have the ability to."

"I'd love to, but I don't have a full day opening," she said. Except on Sundays, but those days were her and Gale's only day together. She didn't want to give those up.

"If I pay you double then?" he asked. Her eyes widened.

"Double?" He nodded. "I suppose I could…" she trailed off. Double the pay would be extraordinary with the baby coming, it was incredible luck for both her and Gale to be getting these opportunities, few people in the Seam had two people with good income in their families.

"Is that a deal then?" he asked.

"I just have to tell you first, I'm pregnant and due in June, if you still want me then I'll be happy to accept the offer," she said.

"That's okay, I won't be home most of June anyway, I have to travel to the capitol," he said, waving her concern off.

"Right, I forgot." She shook her head, but he only smiled.

"It's easy, I do so too sometimes." He winked, and that's when the older man walked back into the shop again from the stockroom.

"Here's the cough medicine and here's the painkillers," he said gruffly, putting the two white boxes on the counter and ringing up the totaling sum before she handed him the money, exactly enough to cover the medicine. "What are you doing here then Vittor?" he asked his son after handing Katniss a plastic bag to put everything in.

"Just came to see my pop and ma," he said, still a smile on his face. Vittor looked little like his father, Katniss thought, or maybe it was just the fact that he was smiling, the direct opposite of his father's scowling, that made him look so much different. Quietly she walked out of the door, but was stopped by Vittor calling her name before she closed it behind her. "What day are you able to give me?"

"Friday should work, odd weeks" she said. Friday during odd weeks she only went to two houses, and they were far from each other and neither of them were particularly nice or influential, so she could drop them without much, or any, consequences.

"Sounds great, see you next Friday then, just come by, I'll be waiting".

When she had left off the medicine at the mayor's house she was done for the day, and walked home. From town it wasn't longer than a ten minute walk, which she was thankful for. While the nausea had disappeared and frequent urination had lessened quite a bit, the exhaustion still lingered at the end of the day. She longed to curl up in bed next to Gale and fall asleep with him talking about their day while his hands rested on her stomach. It started to become easier for her to handle, the pregnancy and ultimately that she was becoming a mother. There was no way to change it so she could only try to find the positive parts of it.

No one outside her family knew of her pregnancy yet. When she was outside she always wore a jacket that kept her growing belly hid, but as the warmer months started to grow closer, and her belly grew bigger, people would soon know that by summer she would be a mother.

Back at the house she quickly started the fire to warm up the house, and started on food. It was Wednesday and it meant that she would be home before Gale, she was on duty to make food. As the house started to heat up she kicked off her shoes and took off her jacket, leaving her in a shirt that was becoming a bit too tight on her body. She unbuttoned her pants and let out a sigh of relief. Soon she would have to alter these pants to fit her expanding stomach, but she had no idea how. She'd have to go by her mother's house this weekend to have her look at them and help her. For now she would have to stuff herself into these pants.

After a while she heard Gale opening the door, and dusting off his shoes before walking towards her, she looked back at him, smiling in greeting.

"Wow, you look amazing," he said in awe, coming up behind her and wrapping her into a hug, his hands falling to her stomach. "I can't wait to feel him kick." She nudged him off with a shrug of her shoulder, teasingly.

"You don't know if it's a boy."

"Yes I do." He turned her around and dropped to his knees, planting a kiss on top of her stomach. "You're a boy, right?" She laughed at him. "You don't think it's a boy?"

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"You haven't thought about it?" She shrugged again, blushing. "Hey, Katniss…" He stood up, pulling her into a hug. "I know this is rough for you, but things are looking good, our child won't have to grow up as we did, I'm not in the mines, I earn more money, you have a job too."

"I talked to Vittor Myle today," she said then. "He will pay me for a whole day, double the pay, every other Friday for doing his laundry."

"That's amazing," she nodded in agreement. "That's really amazing," he kissed her suddenly, passionate and heartfelt. It pulled at her heartstrings and tightened in her belly, telling her to hold him close, pull him closer and never let go.

"We need to eat," she said against his lips, and he groaned.

"Do we have to?" he said as he drew away. She nodded and gave him one last peck.

"After dinner."

When dinner finished she made good on her promise, leading him upstairs and undressing before him. With him she felt worshiped, as he kissed her body tenderly, stroking her and eliciting pleasure from the simplest touches. He would have her shaking as she came, trembling and crying out. Afterwards she curled up under his arm, draping her leg across his waist. She loved these moments, as they lay next to each other naked and content, in post- coital bliss. As their heartbeats and breathing slowed down, and she stared at the wall in front of her, she felt something stir in her belly. A slight tickling almost making itself known to the world. She gasped at the sensation.

"Could you feel that?" she asked Gale, but he shook his head, not knowing what she was talking about. "It moved, I felt the baby move."

"You did?" A smile spread on his face, his other hand flew to rest on her stomach, too. "Wow, there's really someone in there."

"Yeah." Her voice trembled with how real it was, that there actually was someone inside of her, someone that would grow up and live, risk death, someone that she would love equally to, or more, than she loved her sister. "Promise you'll never leave me." She rose up on her elbows to look down on him.

"I promise Catnip," he said, stroking the hair out of her face. He loved seeing her without the braid, seeing her hair wild and free, with her cheeks still rosy after sex. "I promise I will do everything in my power to never leave you." He reached up and kissed her on her lips.

"That's all I'm asking."

"You have to promise me the same, to not leave me."

"I promise that I will do everything in my power to always stay with you," she said and kissed him.

At first she could only feel the baby move when she was lying down in bed at night or in the mornings, but after a few weeks she could feel the baby inside of her if she sat down, or stopped moving for a little while. Gale wasn't able to feel the baby yet, though, but not for lack of trying.

By the time March came around and the cold let up enough to allow for a thinner jacket, her stomach had grown enough to show that she was undoubtedly pregnant, even if she tried to hide it. It was a tough decision for her the first time she decided to go without a winter jacket, and choosing to use her thinner hunting jacket instead, knowing that it would mean everyone would know that she was pregnant.

She had barely walked outside before Lys stopped her with a huge smile on her face, and her six month old daughter in her arms.

"Wow, congrats Katniss, I didn't even know you were pregnant!" she gushed.

"Yeah," was all Katniss said. She had no idea how to respond to it. They hadn't hid the pregnancy intentionally, but at the same time they hadn't rushed to tell anyone.

"We were beginning to think you were having… troubles, you know," Lys whispered.

"Oh, no… no troubles," Katniss denied, though she had no idea what Lys meant with troubles.

"Ok, when are you due then?" she asked.

"My mother did the calculating and she said around June 24th."

"Wow, that's in less than four months!" she gushed. "Just let me know if you want any advice, help or anything, I know how tough breastfeeding can be in the beginning so just come by if you have any questions," Lys said, stroking Katniss arm. "This little girl absolutely refused to breastfeed at first." She playfully shook the little girl in her arms, making her laugh.

"I'll keep that in mind," Katniss said, smiling awkwardly at her. "Thank you. I really have to get to work now, though."

With a quick good bye she hurried to work, as fast as she could while pregnant. Every maid congratulated her, and some of them gave her advice, despite her not asking for it. She said thank you every time, but was unsure of what she was supposed to do with it. As it turned out, that was pretty common amongst everyone, not just maids. Wherever she went that week someone would either touch her belly, offer advice, tell a story of when they had their first child, or do all of the above. It was quite disturbing to Katniss, and it made her question her decision to shed the bulky winter jacket when she did.

By the time the end of the week came, and she was going to be in the Victor's village where only three people lived, she was thankful to get away from the people in town.

"Wow, look at that belly growing!" was the first thing Vittor said when he opened the door that Friday. She smiled tensely, but politely, at him before he welcomed her in. Compared to the other houses he had his own washing machine that did laundry in no time at all, but since he had adopted the capitol ways, as he said it, he had much more clothes than the average person in the district, so by the time she arrived every Friday she had enough clothes to wash to keep her busy. However, between the batches she was able to take it easy, and he would sit down with her in his living room, where he had plush couches and walls painted in lovely colors and patterns. The walls of the houses in the Seam were all a dull grey that did little to inspire anyone, but these walls were almost magical in Katniss' eyes.

They talked about their lives, growing up. While everyone went to the same school, their lives were completely separate from each other. Those who grew up in the Seam always grew up hungry for food, knowing that they were going without so much, and watching the merchants dress in clothes that weren't threadbare, and knowing that they were going home to eat a filling meal that night. But the story Vittor told of life as a merchant was different. Most of the money that they earned they had to pay the to the capitol for rent, or in taxes, and they had to count their money just as much as everyone else in the district. Sure, they did have it quite a bit easier that the Seam kids, but they lived far from luxurious lives where they could afford to buy desert everyday. As a victor he could buy whatever he wanted, and he did so. Every Friday he would have bought a new treat for her to try. It was anything from sweet soft chocolate that melted in her mouth to cakes and hard candies that you sucked on. Every treat he had her try he would then wrap up at the end of the day and tell her to take home and share with her husband. Every Friday night on odd weeks Katniss would bring it home, after protesting it, and both she and Gale would feel guilty about it because neither could repay him. Though, they still ate it, unable to resist them.

In late May as Katniss found it even harder to get around, and that her feet would swell up to an impossible size if she stood up for too long, she longed for the air conditioned house in the victor's village where Katniss had a small chair to sit on while she loaded and unloaded the washing machine.

It was during one of these visits that the house was suddenly invaded by capitolites and cameras, and the house erupted from the usual quiet into constant chatter. As this happened Katniss walked out of the laundry room in the back and towards the stairs to carry up the dried laundry, but her walk was cut short by the sight of all the colorful dresses, shirts, eyes and hair. One of the person's eyelashes were much too long to be considered normal, and were the color green.

"You're early," she heard Vittor say, walking from the living room into the hallway. Katniss stood still and stared at them. The baby in her belly was kicking her ribs, but she didn't even dare to wince. She had between two and six weeks left of the pregnancy, so it was starting to become very uncomfortable, especially as the baby had dropped, which caused her to waddle everywhere.

"We decided we needed to get away from the capitol a bit, it gets a little stuffed in there sometimes," the man with the long eyelashes said.

"Phst, it was Portia who couldn't wait to see you again," said a woman with unnaturally big irises.

"Fine, well go into the living room and I'll get you all some tea," Vittor said, waving them into the room he had been in before they arrived.

"Isn't that the maid's job?" the woman with the big irises said.

"That is Katniss, and she's not my maid, she only does my laundry and keeps me company from time to time, my sister moved back with our parents this winter, as you know," he said, and the two women and the man with the long eyelashes approached her with extended hands. Awkwardly she put the basket with laundry on the stairs, not as limber as she was only a few months ago, and extended her own hand to be shaken. She watched their faces as they shook her hand, not saying their names, they were examining her clothes, the old flowery dress that was Hazelle's when she was pregnant with Posy. It was pale, the colors faded and the bottom of the dress had started to get torn after rough hand washes. They cringed at the sight of it.

"Nice to meet you," Katniss lied, smiling at the three people in front of her.

"When are you due?" the woman who had not spoken before said. The only thing that was unnatural about her was the vibrant blue color her hair was, that matched her whole outfit.

"In about four weeks," she said. The woman nodded.

"You look very young, how old are you?" Katniss squirmed at the woman's questions

"I'm 20," she said. She had turned 20 just a few days ago, but it was with little celebration due to the fact that it was on a weekday and everyone was busy working.

"Wow, they start young here in 12," the man said, and laughed loudly. Katniss didn't quite understand what he meant, 20 was an average age for people to have a child, even be pregnant with their second child, it wasn't as if they could prevent it that easily. How did they do it in the capitol, did they have a way to avoid marriage, and didn't they have laws that forced them to procreate? Katniss guessed that they weren't forced to do so there, that they only wanted those in the districts to have more children, so that they would have more work force.

"Come on," Vittor said behind them, seeming to be annoyed with the turn the conversation has taken. When they had walked into the living room Vittor came up to her. "Is that the last batch?"

"No, there is another one in the drier," she said.

"I can take care of that, it's probably best if you go home now…" He looked behind him into the living room. "In two weeks I will be in the capitol, you know, so I was wondering if you could come by next Sunday and help me wash some clothes for my trip, I completely understand if you are too tired, but it won't hurt to ask." The smile on his face was so completely genuine.

"Yes, I can come by then, I'm trying to pick up a few Sunday shifts so that I will be able to take two or three weeks of when the baby comes, for recovery," she said. She knew that three weeks would be pushing it, but she also knew she needed to heal after the birth, something her mother said could take over six weeks to happen. Six weeks was far too long for anyone to take a break for, so half of it would have to due.

"Right, by the time I come back this little guy might be here," he said with a smile, gently brushing against her stomach. He was one of the few people she didn't mind touching her stomach, only Gale, hers, and Gale's family were allowed to touch it besides Vittor. Luckily Vittor didn't take that opportunity so often.

"Hopefully," she said. The baby in her stomach had woken her up early in the morning with kicks and squirms that made it seem like he was trying to dig his way out of her stomach.

They said their goodbye's after that, and she left the laundry basket on his bed, and then started the long walk home. During the months that had passed since she discovered that she was pregnant she had found a comfort in her pregnancy, knowing that as long as her baby was in there no one could take her baby from her. There were women who lost their children inside of them, during the months she was pregnant she had met plenty of them, some who had one month shared their joy of being pregnant with her, and the next month been seen with a flatter stomach, instead of bigger. But a child that died in the womb was a child that never had to experience hardships or starvation, Katniss thought. So while her child was in her womb, she considered her child safe. But the clock was ticking, and any day her baby could enter the world.

Gale was overjoyed with being a father, despite the circumstances. He believed that their child would have a better life than they did, that somehow they would be able to avoid all of the hardships and their child wouldn't have to take a single tesserae. Katniss' parents had thought the same, but when her dad died when she was 12, things changed. She didn't dare to hope. So while she hoped, despite the how uncomfortable she was, that the child in her belly would stay there until July, at least, but she knew that there was no way she would be able to have a say in that. Some children came weeks before they were due, some unfortunate children much too early to be able to make it, others came weeks after they were due. One woman she knew went over five weeks overdue before the child came. Everyone had expected the child to be a big baby, but it was very small and poorly child.

Gale always made it home before her, these days, and he had begged her to take on a smaller work-load, but she insisted to keep on working to make sure that they had enough money once their child was born. It was little that they could do if something happened, so it was best to save and work as hard as they could while they were still able to. She liked that by the time she was home dinner was ready, though, it was then she could finally relax, put her feet up and take a deep breath. Gale would come sit beside her, resting his head on her big belly while he sang songs for their baby.

It tore her apart, and made her remember her own dad. He had been dead for about seven years now, but the pain was still present in her chest, threatening to have her break down. There had been a few times during her pregnancy where the memory of him would have her sobbing, because the way Gale acted reminded her so much of her own father, and what she had missed out on. Her biggest fear in life was that Gale would die, too, and leave their child without a father. While she feared it for herself, too, losing her partner and love, having a child without a father was worse, because she knew what it was like to be a child and miss that.

That night Gale did exactly like he always did, curling up beside her in bed with a head on her belly.

"How was work?" he asked, instead of singing. She looked at him, surprised by the change of routine.

"It was fine," she said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"You usually come home with something, not today, I thought something might've happened," he said. Sighing she rubbed her eyes, trying to come up with a way to explain what happened when she didn't even know herself.

"Some people from the capitol showed up, so he sent me home, I would've been home much later if it weren't for that." He pursed his lips, deep in thought.

"I don't like you going that far away, where so few people live when you're this pregnant." The baby kicked him in the face, good baby, she thought, but he only smiled at it, lifting his head to run his hand over where the baby had kicked.

"I'm only going one more time, next Sunday, before he leaves for the capitol, then I'll probably won't go back until the baby is born."

"Sunday? But Sunday is your day off, you should be resting now, not working harder." The frown returned on his face.

"We need money more than I need rest." He stroked her belly, getting another kick.

"I'm worried," he said, planting a kiss on her belly button. "I don't want you to get hurt Katniss."

"I can manage myself, Gale, I don't need you to take care of me." She looked offended at his words. She didn't like him suggesting that she was weak an unable to care for herself.

"Catnip, it's not a bad thing to accept help sometimes," he said.

"Gale, you know exactly why I don't like getting help, you're exactly like me, why else would you have been distrustful of Vittor for just giving me some sweets to take home?" Gale groaned, lifting himself up and lying beside her.

"Katniss, I know everything about you, sometimes I think I might know you better than anyone else, but Katniss, look at yourself," he said, chuckling, and put a hand on the belly that seemed to protrude over a feet.

"What?" she said indignantly, wrapping her arms around her belly.

"You're 8 months pregnant, you're exhausted, you're uncomfortable, and I wish you'd slow down a little because before you know it this baby is here, and I don't want it to happen on the road from the victor's village."

"I don't think this baby will come for a while," she said, giving him a kiss.

"You don't know that." He rolled his eyes at her.

"Mother's intuition."

She worked the whole next week, just as she had up until that point. It was getting harder, but she didn't like to admit it. Sometimes she wanted to call it quits and just go home, but she needed the money, she needed to stay busy, so she kept working. By the time Sunday rolled around she was exhausted, but knew that there wouldn't be much work for her that day, so she got up and walked to Vittor's house despite her body's protests. He was busy with what he called a prep team, so she was sent to the laundry room where she did a very small batch of laundry, in comparison to the ones she usually had at his house, and was then sent home with money for the week.

It wasn't until she came home that she realized that he had given her seven times the usual sum he'd given her, so that was fourteen times what people would usually pay her for a day. When she saw all the money in the envelope she broke down crying, because this meant that she could at least take two weeks off without having to worry too much about money. When she showed it to Gale he was equally shocked by the amount of money in the envelope. Neither of them had seen that much money as a lump sum in their whole lives. He would have to work nine days to get this amount of money, and she would have to work over two weeks, so it was never enough money to save and see like that.

They carefully hid it under their mattress, almost afraid of having that much money. Money, while it gave you a lot of things, could give you a sense of false comfort, and neither wanted to rely on that money. They needed to try on their own first, if that failed they knew that the money was there.

As a note for this chapter. Due to the fact that I've never been pregnant (yet, thank god) I've had to rely a lot on theoretical knowledge. However, for those of you who are not parents, haven't been pregnant or are pregnant, a movie I've been told that depict real life as a parent quite well is the french movie "Un Heureux Evenement" (A Happy Occasion is the English title). I'm a sucker for these kinds of things, like realistic movies (you bet that L!fe Happens pissed me off haha), even if you're not watching to understand or to learn anything... it's a good movie :)

blablabla, now I'm going to stop talking. Next update is monday morning (Europe) or sometime on tuesday... :)