Here's chapter 3. Hope you guys like it. It might be a little OOC with Katniss, but I tried my best to keep it as close as possible. I think you're all really going to like the next one so bear with me a bit. Anyways I'll ramble more at the end lol, here it is! :)
Peeta got home around 6 like he always did, and I was waiting for him on the couch. Wearing another dress I had left from the many Cinna once made me, only this time it was a little tight around my middle. Our eyes meet, his clear blue orbs see right through me. Without saying anything we run into each other's arms and just hold each other for a while. We pull apart and he pulls me into a long kiss. It feels so good to be in his arms again, I missed him so much today.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you." He says, pulling away and resting his forehead against mine. I shake my head at him.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled first." I reply.
"Neither of us should have yelled. We should have talked it out like adults, instead of yelling at each other like the stupid volatile teenagers we used to be. Anyway you were right. There is no way we'll be able to keep the press out of this. As soon as Plutarch and his news station get wind of it he'll be beating down our door for interviews and pictures."
"Well you were right too. We have to protect this baby. I'll never be able to live with myself if the same things that happened to us happen to him." I say sitting down on the couch.
"Her, and I know. But how do we do that?" he asks sitting down next to me.
"Well I'm not even through my first trimester yet, I won't really be visibly pregnant for another 2 or 3 months. I can just wear baggy clothes and try and hide it until then."
"And what happens after that?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, we keep it a secret. Nobody but you and I can know about this baby."
"And if anyone asks it's the same old story right? I'm still holding on to the hope that you'll change your mind and you're as stubborn as ever."
"Sounds like a plan to me." I say with a grin. He smiles back and pulls me in for another long kiss. After sitting together for another few minutes we go eat, then once again spend the night wrapped in each other's arms. I love the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around me. He keeps his hand resting on my belly all night as he holds me close against his body. I slowly let sleep come over me.
The next day goes back to normal. In fact everything was back to our normal routine. Well, almost everything. Morning sickness started a few days later. I would wake up early every morning and throw up for a couple hours. I couldn't keep anything down. I couldn't even hunt. I tried the first couple of days, but after to skinning and gutting the animals I took down my breakfast always came right back up.
I was miserable my breasts were swollen, my feet and muscles ached, my back hurt, and I was gaining weight like crazy. Peeta did everything he could to make me more comfortable but nothing seemed to help. I stayed away from Haymitch as well. The first day I saw him the smell of alcohol made me throw up. So it was up to Peeta to make sure he was eating and his house was clean enough for him to live in it. I mostly stayed home curled up in bed or on the couch.
Peeta and I spoke to Mrs. Hobbs, the closest thing we had to a midwife in town, about the baby. We met with her in the bakery one day and she agreed to keep it a secret, promising to check up on me every once in a while.
I felt bad that Peeta had to lie and keep the baby a secret from everyone, especially since I knew he was so excited. A month after I gave him the news he came home from town one day with three gallons of paint and cleaned out the spare bedroom next to our room. He declared it the baby's nursery, and made me promise I wouldn't go in there until it was finished. I agreed, but he still locked the door and took the key with him to the bakery with him every day. He worked on the nursery every night for at least an hour, but it was usually more. I had to admit, I was a bit curious to see what his expert painting skills were creating behind that door.
I still haven't forgiven myself for that day, the one day I decide my nausea is controlled enough to go hunting. I was into my second trimester, almost to my fifth month and my ever growing belly was getting harder and harder to hide. I made it to the woods without any problems and spent a couple hours out there. Everything went well so I decided to stop by the bakery and see Peeta. I was halfway there when I saw it…I saw the camera crew coming at me.
"Katniss!" the reporter called waving at me. I took off, running as fast as I could towards the bakery. They chased me down the road calling for a statement. When I heard the reporter ask about the baby, I felt the tears pressing to make an appearance. I ran faster, pushing myself as hard as I could.
My small baby bump was a bit of a hindrance, but I made it there in record time for a pregnant woman. I ran in and closed the door, locking it behind me and completely ignoring the fact that Peeta was with a customer.
"Katniss what in the world is wrong with you?" he asked. I yanked the blinds down and ran back behind the counter with tears running down my face. Peeta and the woman he was waiting on both looked puzzled as I cried.
"They know." I whispered falling into Peeta's arms.
"What are you talking about? Who knows what?" he asked.
"They know about the baby!" I said completely forgetting about the customer standing right there. But I didn't care, everyone would know soon enough anyway. It would only be a matter of time before reporters were calling and beating down our door begging for an interview.
Peeta's eyes widened and he looked at me sorrowfully.
"Oh no, Katniss I'm so sorry." He said. I just cried into the four-covered front of his apron. It took him a while to calm me down, but once he did he led me to the back room and had me sit down on the soft couch. I curled up as best as I could on one end and Peeta went back out front to deal with his customer. A few minutes later he returned to me and wrapped me in his arms.
We waited in the bakery until after dark before we headed home. We had only been there a few minutes when Haymitch busted through the front door, reeking of alcohol as usual.
"You two made the evening news!" he cried turning the television on and flipping to the right channel.
"Well as promised earlier ladies and gentlemen, we have an update for you on our mockingjay and her boy with the bread." The newscaster said. I recognized the station as the same one Plutarch was running now.
"Yesterday we received an anonymous tip from a resident of district 12 with some interesting information about everyone's favorite couple. Katniss Everdeen-Mellark was spotted out and about a few days ago sporting a very cute baby bump. That's right everybody our star-crossed lovers from district 12 are officially expecting a baby! Our reporters caught up with Mrs. Mellark in her district today and managed to snap a super adorable picture of this mommy-to-be heading to the bakery to visit her baby daddy." A picture of me walking from the woods appeared on screen. I cringed at the sight of my obviously pregnant belly. It had been weeks since I'd seen reporters here.
"Isn't she just the cutest little pregnant woman you've ever seen ladies and gentlemen? Unfortunately neither Katniss nor Peeta were available for an interview but I assure you all there will be more to come on this exciting news!" she finished and Peeta turned the set off.
"Well that was a fine thing to hear about on the news instead of from the two of you." Haymitch says. I glare at him as Peeta gets up to answer the phone that I just realized was ringing.
"Hello. Oh yeah. I'm sure it was a surprise. Yeah she's right here." He hands the phone to me. "It's your mom." Oh crap!
"H-Hello." I say shakily into the receiver.
"Sweetheart why didn't you call me!" she says. She actually sounds excited, instead of mad that we didn't tell her.
"I'm sorry, we were trying to keep it a secret as long as we could." I say. She seems to understand. We talk for a few minutes, she asks how I am, how I'm feeling, things like that before I'm interrupted by another call. I politely hang up with a promise to call her again soon and answer the other call a bit reluctantly.
"Hello?" I say again, a bit more timidly than I was with my mother.
"Well what did you think of the special? I know it wasn't very long, but you really didn't give me much to work with, I still think it turned out great don't you?"I recognize Plutarch's voice immediately and hand the phone off to Peeta, he's much better at dealing with people than I am.
He talks for a little while before he angrily hangs up the phone without his usual polite goodbye, that's not like him. I look up questioningly.
"He wanted to send a camera crew for a T.V. special and I said no. he pushed it, and I hung up." He says bluntly. I have never loved this man more.
I remember how hard it was to keep Plutarch away when it got out that we were getting married. We were dodging camera crews and phone calls for weeks. Finally, we got fed up with it and called him. He wanted us to have a big white wedding in the capitol to be broadcast live for the whole country to see. We argued with him about it forever. Eventually we came to an agreement. He was able to send one camera to film the ceremony in district 12, and broadcast it after we left for our honeymoon (a week in district 4 visiting with my mother, Annie, and Finnick Jr.), and by some miracle Peeta was able to talk him out of the post wedding interview and the "countdown to baby mockingjay" he wanted to do.
I had a feeling we wouldn't be so lucky this time. But I wasn't going down without a fight. I would do whatever was necessary to dodge the phone calls and reporters, which wound up being harder than I ever thought it would. I ended up spending almost all my time in the house with the door locked and the curtains pulled. Peeta went to work, did all the shopping, and still managed to work on the nursery every night. He took to leaving the house before the sun was up, and he wouldn't come home until after dark. He said it made it easier to avoid the cameras and reporters. This was hard on us both, but we were both willing to do whatever we could to protect this baby.
It only worked for about three weeks before it got out of hand. One day while Peeta was at work a film crew came into the bakery and tried to get an interview with him while he was with a customer. He called the police, then closed up early and came straight home.
"I can't take this!" he yelled. "I can't deal with being followed to work, I hate that you have to hide in the house all the time, and I cannot have them coming in while I'm trying to work."
"I know you're right. I think it's time to call Plutarch and try to hammer out an agreement with this. There has to be a compromise that will get us as little time on the news as possible." He nodded in agreement. And picked up the phone, knowing I'd want him to do most of the talking.
"Yes hello Plutarch, its Peeta. Yeah I'm sure you were looking forward to hearing from us. I'll have her pick up the other phone." He says handing me the cordless and picking up the other receiver from the kitchen wall.
"Hello." I say a bit aggressively into the phone.
"Why hello Katniss my dear." He says too cheerily for my taste. "I've been so looking forward to hearing from you."
"Uh-huh." I say. "Look let's cut to the chase. We want you to get your stupid cameras to get out of our district and to leave us alone. We just want to have this baby and live the rest of our lives in peace."
"Well darling I'm afraid that just isn't going to happen. You are the mockingjay. You will unfortunately have to deal with the cameras for the rest of your life. The ratings on the news spot from a few weeks ago were sky high, everyone loved hearing about how you're doing, and the video of you giving birth-" He begins, but I cut him off.
"Buddy you got another thing coming if you think you're getting a camera anywhere near me on the day I give birth!" I yell. "I won't stand for this Plutarch! We have a right to privacy!"
"She's right! We have a right to live our lives in peace, without having cameras shoved in our faces all the time." Peeta adds.
"I'm afraid I can't let this go." Plutarch says.
"There has to be some kind of compromise." Peeta says. "What can we do to get you to leave us alone?"
"I don't know…" he begins. Peeta gives me a sly grin and I know he has something good up his sleeve. He is ready to argue.
An hour later we're off the phone and we have the best deal we're going to get worked out. Plutarch will send Cressida and Pollux, two friends from the war, to film enough for a 1-hour special on us post-war and the baby. After that he leaves us alone until a month after the baby comes. Then we do one interview where we show the baby, tell everyone the name and talk about how having a baby has affected our lives. Then he leaves the baby alone. No more cameras or reporters or interviews or T.V. spots when our child is around.
Hey, so I'm really sorry I haven't updated for a while, I've had MAJOR writer's block, plus I recently became addicted to watching reruns of the 70's show so…yeah I haven't had a very productive couple weeks. Anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter I really liked it when I was writing it. There also might be an appearance from a certain district 7 native from the books in the next chapter. ;) So I'm really excited to write that. I'll finish it and get that posted ASAP, but I'm super busy with it being the end of my senior year and everything.