Chapter eight.
Problems and Solutions.
"Katniss lived with her father in Kentucky actually. But five years ago she moved out and came here. This house was owned by a friend of mine who had also just moved and I told Mr. Everdeen and he bought this house for Katniss to live in. She was already pregnant at the time too I bet. I live only two houses down from here and I know all of my neighbors and none of us ever saw Katniss with any male company at all during those times, and not even eight months since she came here, she gave birth. I knew Katniss needed all the help she can get, seeing as her job could barely keep her up with all her kids, and since I am a widow with no children of my own, I volunteered to help in any way that I can. Everyone else around the neighborhood helped in every way they can too, like giving her advice or sending over some things for the babies. It wasn't easy for Katniss believe me, I mean, being a single mother taking care of three kids by herself? She broke down more than a dozen times early on but of course she's doing a lot better now. I really admire the girl, not a single complaint out of her from day one of motherhood. She's a real fighter."
Just talking about Katniss, Peeta noticed, brightened Sae's features. It was apparent at this point, that she sees herself as a grandmother for the kids and sees Katniss as somewhat like a daughter to her.
"What's Katniss's job anyway?" he asked, trying not to imagine Katniss weeping from all the stress of taking care of the kids. He couldn't- wouldn't be guilty. She brought it upon herself after all. She wouldn't have had such a rough time if she hadn't left in the first place.
The older woman's features brightened even more.
"She's a coach, she does voice lessons. She's one of the most popular music teachers around Los Angeles actually."
Somehow, Peeta wasn't surprised at this. But he was slightly surprised however that Katniss settled with giving singing lessons rather than pursuing a career of being an actual singer which he knew she wanted for as long as he knew her, or rather when he thought he knew her.
"But it isn't enough though," Sae continues, getting Peeta's attention yet again. "You can only earn so much at being a voice coach and it's never enough for her to support her kids, not to mention she's got three of them. So on weekends she sings at The Capitol, a theme restaurant for additional income."
"She can't support her own kids?" Peeta asked, trying to stop a frown from showing on his features. This thought alone was disturbing to him. He never knew Katniss had any sort of financial issues.
Sae shook her head. "That's why she, or rather, we are all grateful for Gale's help."
Peeta clenched his jaw at the mention of the man. "What about Katniss's parents?" he asked, trying not to think about Gale or Willow. He's had a hell of a time trying to control his temper on his way here. He drove like a maniac and It had taken him every ounce of control in him to not purposely hit someone whit his car along the streets.
The smile on her face faltered, replaced by a sad one.
"Mr. Everdeen died only just a year ago because of an illness. He had been helping Katniss in every way he could by visiting often, spending time with the kids, offering financial aid, so when he passed away, Katniss was left to fend for herself and take care of the children. I bet she would've broken down to no return if Gale weren't around for her. Without Gale, Willow would probably have- are you alright?"
Peeta snapped out of it and turned to her. Sae was looking down pointedly at his hand which were on the arms of the chair he was sitting on. They were both pale, as white as a sheet from his death grip on the wood.
"I-"
"Peeta?"
The two adults turned to the doorway where the boys were standing, watching them with questioning faces.
"What're you doing here?" Luke asked him before glancing at their nanny.
Sae smiled at them and set down Willow's dress. "We were just having a adult conversation boys. Now, you two get changed into you pajamas. It's about time you two get into bed. Katniss would have a fit if she found out you were still awake at this hour."
"We'll be back, don't leave yet okay?" Rye told Peeta before the two left and ran down the hallway to their room.
Sighing with a loving smile on her face, Sae shook her head and turned to Peeta.
"The boys really are taken with you. It's like they're treating you as if you were their father."
A smile tugged the corner of Peeta's lips as she said this. 'You have no idea', Peeta thought exasperatedly, before a thought entered his mind. "Do you have Katniss's cell number?"
Sae nodded and cocked her head to the side in question.
"I need to ask her something." He replied simply.
With a puzzled look, Sae searched Katniss's nave in her cell phone's phonebook and handed it to him.
"Thank you." He said before leaving towards the living room for some privacy.
XOXO
Gale looked at Katniss worriedly as she started to cry yet again.
"But Katniss," he said tentatively, "Mellark is their father, there's pretty much nothing you can do. As such, he has his right over them and he might do something about it. And now that he knows he's the father, what if he tries something to take them from you? You have to tell them."
Katniss looked up at him, her face frantic. "I know that," she said in barely a whisper. "It's just, I- I'm afraid the kids might hate me if they find out."
"I understand but think about it. Would it really be better finding out from him? Their supposedly- dead father? Or from you? Their mother whom they know and trust and have been by their side since they were born?"
Gale felt guilty as he saw the new tears starting to form in her eyes. He didn't know just how long they spent sitting by the chairs along the hallway outside Willow's room, but he was certainly been faced with the most confusing predicament he's ever heard for some time now. He knew Katniss didn't tell him the whole story, from everything she's said, there were a few holes in it that got him wondering. But what she's basically told him was that she and Peeta dated since they were teenagers, until they broke up when she was around 21 years old. She left him without knowing she was actually pregnant whit his kids and that marked their separation and Peeta's rise to fame as an actor. And now that Peeta's back, he found out that the kids were his but the kids didn't know he was their father.
The question that lingered in his mind and what he was itching to ask her was why did she even leave him in the first place? The way she's been talking about him got him thinking she loved him, so… why?
"What the heck am I gonna do?" Katniss asked helplessly before letting her face fall onto her palms yet again another round of tears.
'Maybe I'll ask later,' Gale thought before settling his arms around her shoulder and rubbing her arm up and down comfortingly.
XOXO
"W- What?"
"You heard me Katniss. The boys are going to change in their rooms, I want you to talk to them and tell them they have your permission. Early in the morning, I'll take them with me since you're busy doing God knows what with your other kid and that guy from before. I'll bring them back Sunday evening."
Katniss could feel new tears springing to her eyes. Just how many times has she cried in the last few hours?
"I…" she trailed off but Peeta was still silent in the other line. She didn't have a choice. "Okay, can I talk to Sae? I'll tell her about it so she can prepare a change of clothes for the boys."
There was a short pause before the older woman's voice spoke.
"Katniss?"
"Sae, Peeta will be there tomorrow morning to pick up the boys. They'll be staying over with him for a night. Can you please pack some overnight clothes for them?"
"Very well, what about you though? What time will you be coming back tomorrow?"
"Hold on," Katniss covered the phone and turned to Gale. "What time will Willow be able to leave?"
"I discussed it with the other doctors earlier. It'll depend on her test result that'll come tomorrow morning."
Katniss nodded at him before turning back to the phone. "I'm not sure yet. It'll depend on tomorrow's results. So I guess it really will be better for the boys to be with him for the weekend."
"Okay, I'll get right to it and- oh, the boys are back, do you want to tell them yourself?"
"Alright, put them on please."
XOXO
"Peeta!"
Glimmer glanced at the door leading to the master bedroom before looking back down at the day's paper and taking a sip of her usual morning coffee.
Frowning, she called out his nave yet again.
Still no answer.
Exhaling a long breath, Glimmer folded up the paper and got up from her seat.
"Peeta?" she called out with a knock on the door. "Peeta, are you in h-"
Glimmer stopped and took out her ringing phone from the pocket of her bathrobe that she wore over her night grow.
"Hello?" she answered with a hand on the doorknob. "Oh, hi… yes… of course, we are… he'll be happy to, he doesn't have anything scheduled for the day, I-"
She was cut off yet again, this time by a banging on the front door.
"Hold on a second," Glimmer said into her phone before dashing to the door and opening it, only to be greeted by Peeta's grinning face with two identical bags in his arms.
"Sorry, couldn't ring the bell. Hands full," he said before turning to his side. "Make yourselves at home boys."
Glimmer's frown was replaces by a bewildered look as two little twin boys dashed pass her and to the sofa, mouths smeared with what looked like ice cream and their hands just as dirty holding on to empty popsicles.
"I- I'll call you back," Glimmer muttered before pocketing her cell and closing the door behind Peeta.
"You boys get cleaned up first. You two are a mess!" he said with a laugh in his voice before heading into his bedroom. "The bathroom's through here."
"Wow! You have a nice place…!
"… do you live here alone?"
Glimmer cleared her throat as the twins said this. "Hey there kids." She greeted with a smile plastered on her face.
Luke and Rye turned to her with blank faces as if they had only just seen her there.
"Hi," they replied curtly.
"Peeta, may I speak with you?" she asked, looking at the older man with a serious face now.
Peeta raised a brow at her before turning to the boys. "You guys go into the bathroom while I speak with Glimmer," he said as he set down the twin's bags.
The boys nodded at him and went into the room he opened for them.
"Don't make a mess in there, alright?" Peeta called inside before closing the door and turning to Glimmer. "What's on your mind?" he asked casually.
"What's on yours?" Glimmer retorted, catching him off guard at her tone.
"Are you okay?"
Glimmer closed her eyes and breathed in deeply before looking at him yet again but more calmly now. "Why are those twins here?"
Peeta shrugged at this. "I just wanted them over that's all. You know, spend time with them."
"Peeta," she started, a little more seriously now, "What is your relationship with those kids? You're getting really attached to them. I mean, I understand the Saturday afternoon ice cream breaks, the Sunday outings, but now, you actually brought them here to spend the day with you? I mean, what if they tell other people you're staying here in this particular suite, your fans might try and-"
"I don't doubt that everyone knows I'm staying in this suite Glimmer. We've stayed here for a couple of months now, I'm pretty sure everyone know I stay in this hotel, and I won't be surprised if they know I'm staying in this floor, and in this room. It won't be much news to my fans or to the paparazzi," he pointed out, making Glimmer sigh and agree with him on that fact. "As for the boys' visit, we actually planned and overnight thing."
"Overnight?" she repeated, brows now knitted together in obvious disapproval, and Peeta saw it.
"Yeah, I planned on them staying over the night here but then we wouldn't want to disturb you, so we're gonna go check into another suite on the floor just for tonight and tomorrow."
"You don't have to do that, you can stay here, I wouldn't mind," she said halfheartedly.
"No, I think it would be better if we get another room. I'm pretty sure you can't take the racket," he said with a laugh just as the boys came out the bathroom.
"We're clean!"
"Alright, you boys ready to go?"
"Where are we going?" Luke asked.
"I thought we were staying over here?" Rye added.
"We wouldn't want to disturb Glimmer with her work. We'll stay in another room just down the hallway," he said, earning him even bigger smiles from the kids. "But first we have to go down to the lobby to ask for another room."
"I want to press the button this time!" they both replied in unison before raising a brow at the other.
Peeta laughed. "You two can't even reach the buttons!"
XOXO
Katniss tapped a foot on the ground restlessly and shifted on her seat once again.
"Mommy?" Willow looked at her mother worriedly as she jerked from her seat and turned to look at her. "Are you okay?"
"Yes dear, why do you ask?"
"You look worried," she pointed out rather bluntly, taking Katniss off guard.
"I'm fine. Just… slightly impatient that's all," she explained with a small grin. It's almost noon and still no one has come to tell her the results to Willow's tests, not Gale, one of the other doctors, no even just a nurse.
Willow nodded and turned to the doorway as the sound of someone knocking erupted from outside.
"Come in!" Katniss called out, trying to keep the impatient tone in her voice from showing.
The two girls listened as conversation of several voices escaped into the room until someone hushed them up and a nurse came inside alone, closing the door behind her gently.
"Ms. Everdeen, Dr. Hawthorne would like to have a word with you outside, " she informed with a smile.
Katniss nodded at her and planted a gentle kiss on Willow's head as she stood.
"I'll be back, alright? The nurse is here to keep you company while I'm gone."
Willow nodded at her then smiled and waved at the familiar nurse.
XOXO
Luke and Rye rolled around on the carpeted floor in a fit of laughter.
"What are you boys laughing at?" Peeta asked with feigned wonder at the boys.
The twin boys continued laughing, clutching their sides in pain and watched the older man scratch his head that was totally covered with pasta, nostrils covered with carrot sticks and a leaf of cabbage sticking out from his mouth.
Peeta raised a brow at them until he fell into a state of laugher himself.
After a few more minutes of more jokes and howls of laughter, the three finally settled on the carpeted floor in the middle of the living room of their new hotel room, their heads together and faces toward the ceiling, trying to catch their breaths.
"I guess that means we're eating out for lunch," Peeta said after exhaling a long breath out. "Making spaghetti and salad aren't as easy as I remember."
"We see that!" they chorused with laughter in their voices.
XOXO
Katniss smiled at the three other doctors who were talking to Gale when she closed the door behind her gently.
They stopped their conversation and all greeted her simultaneously.
"We'll see you down at the cafeteria," one of the older doctors, with a white head of hair and with beard, said with a manly pat on Gale's back. He and the other doctors nodded at Gale and at Katniss before starting back down the hallway and disappeared around a corner.
"So, how were the test results? Will she be fine this time?" Katniss asked, getting straight to the point.
Gale nodded with a smile, albeit a sad one.
"What is it?"
Gale sighed. "She's fine Katniss, but you do know that this can't go on like this?"
"What are you talking about?"
"This," he said, raising his hand that held a sheaf of papers that looked to be Willow's test results since it had her name at the top. "Before Mellark came around and showed himself, Willow's been better. She was getting better every time my team and I see her. Now, she's been in this hospital already twice as much as she had in the whole year last year."
Tears started welling up in Katniss's eyes as he said this, she hadn't even realized their hospital visits have gone up lately, and this piece of news terrified her. She's been so preoccupied with work, with Peeta, with getting away from Peeta, that she hadn't even realized Willow's condition worsening.
Now she just feels wretched.
"I'm the worst mother ever, " she said in barely a whisper, her head dropping, and tears now falling freely.
Now Gale felt awful. He hadn't meant for her to cry, he just wanted to give her the facts which he too hadn't notice at all until one of his colleagues pointed it out to him that very morning. His thoughts had been just as clouded as hers since he too was caught up whit the whole situation Katniss was in because she was her best friend and he loved her kids as well and he had been concerned all this time about what's been going on with their family.
"What am I going to do?" Katniss asked, trying to calm herself down.
"Do you know why Willow's visits had been more frequent lately?" Gale countered in a calmer voice.
She gulped, already knowing the answer but hoping he would say otherwise. "Peeta?"
He nodded, now looking serious. "At least that's what I thing the reason is."
"What do you mean?"
"Katniss, Willow's condition has been… unusual, since the very beginning. You already know that none of the doctors here including myself are experts on her case. But from everything we have gathered through these years, there are some things that we can conclude about it."
Katniss nodded for him to continue.
"Her emotions for example. At this point, all of us are quite sure that her emotions play a vital role to her existing condition. Maybe it won't affect her as much as she grows older, or maybe it will, we don't know. But for now, however, we are certain it does. The reason why I concluded that Mellark's the main reason for her growing number of trips here lately is because Mellark's the only thing that's new that came into all your lives lately and Mellark's presence in family has quite a number of effects, to Willow, to her brothers, and even to you."
"I don't understand," Katniss said, mainly confused at what she's got to do with all. She knew at some point that Willow might be feeling out of place where her brothers were concerned because of all the things they've gotten from Peeta but that was about it.
"Think about it," Gale said, speaking as if it were all so obvious. "Mellark's been seeing the boys for the past months in growing number of times. He's been seeing them more frequently and showering them with a lot of material things and a lot of attention and, though I don't know why, he's been leaving Willow out of it all. She hasn't seen much of the boys and haven't played with them as much as they did before Mellark came into the picture."
Katniss nodded in understanding. "But what did you mean about me? How am I affecting her on an emotional level where Peeta's concerned? I'm the one who's been with her almost every minute of everyday unless I'm at work like I always do since before, nothing's changed in that department."
"True, but remember Katniss, these kids of yours are smart. That doesn't only apply to the boys but also to Willow and you know it. All of them are very perceptive. I won't be surprised if all three of them know there's something different going on between you and Mellark. I mean, you might be civil with him when they're around but it's quite apparent to all of us that you've been avoiding him like the plague ever since the day you met him at the theme park."
"Do you think they know there's something bad going on between me and him?" she asked wit sagged shoulders.
"That's too far to assume. They're too young to know that much in my opinion, but they know you more than anyone else, so I'm sure they can tell if something's even slightly different going on where you're concerned."
With a long sigh, Katniss shook her head, trying to clear it of all the turmoil that seems to be afflicting her at the same time. "What do you propose I do? With Peeta I mean," she asked in a more serious and determined tone.
"What?" Gale asked, somewhat baffled that she's actually asking him what to do about her and Mellark's relationship.
"I know this is my issue with Peeta and it's personal, but you're my best friend and I trust your opinion and judgment. And since this concerned my kids and what's best for the health of one of the, I also what you, as Willow's doctor, to tell me what I should do that's best for her."
XOXO
I know, I know, I shouldn't even be talking to you guys… I'm so sorry! But here's the new chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.
For those who are a little bit confused about Willow's condition, don't worry; we'll start to understand in the next chapters.
Thanks for reading, and for your reviews… and everything.
DISCLAIMER.
As usual, THG characters don't belong to me, they belong to the amazing Suzanne Collins. And the plot of this incredible story belongs to The Dreamer.