Here's chapter 8…I literally had to flip a coin to decide the sex of the baby (that's why it took so long). Originally it was super boring, so I added a little detail when Katniss calls Johanna to tell her about the baby to make it a little more interesting. ;) Anyway, as always…please read and review!
"Congratulations you two! You have a perfect little baby boy!"
I feel my face light up. I have a son. We have a son. Peeta's face is glowing as Mrs. Hobbs holds up our son.
"Here you go little guy, would you like to meet your momma and daddy?" she says handing him to me. I hesitate at first, but feel more confident after she shows me how to hold him and support his head properly.
"Luka." I whisper staring at the beautiful baby boy in my arms. I turn my head to look at Peeta.
"Katniss he's beautiful." Peeta says staring into my eyes. "Luka Mellark, I love it."
"He is perfect." I say. Every doubt I've ever had about having children is gone in this moment as I watch this tiny bundle of perfection sleep in my arms. I know I've never been more in love with anyone in my life. I can't imagine going through life never feeling this overwhelming sensation of love surging through my body. I'm suddenly sorry I waited fifteen years to say yes.
Peeta lets Haymitch in to meet him before Mrs. Hobbs takes him out to clean him up. As soon as she and Haymitch have left us alone I grab the phone and dial my mother's number in four.
"Hello." She says calmly.
"Mom it's me."
"Oh, hi sweetie. Isn't it a little early in the week for you to call?"
"Well this is kind of a special circumstance." I reply watching my baby boy sleep in his daddy's arms.
"Oh really?" she says. I can tell by the tone of her voice that she has an idea as to what I'm talking about.
"Your grandson is here." I say.
"Grandson? It's a boy?" I can feel her excitement and I hear another excited squeal coming from her end of the phone, Annie must be there with her.
"Yes, it's a beautiful little boy named Luka." I say. She begins firing all the typical questions. How much does he weigh? How long is he? What color are his eyes? What color is his hair? Who does he look more like? Eventually she hands the phone off to Annie who asks all of the same questions. I let her talk to Peeta then we hang up and call Johanna's home in 7. She doesn't answer, so we call the second number she gave us about a month ago saying she could always be reached there when we couldn't get her at her house.
"Hello?" a deep male voice says. It seems vaguely familiar, but I can't place where I've heard it before.
"Hello, I'm trying to reach Johanna Mason." I say.
"Oh yeah, she's right outside. Hold on I'll send someone to get her." I hear him talking to someone about going out to get her. I hear him call the person by name, for some reason it all sounds too familiar to me. Like it's someone I should know, but it isn't registering with me.
"She'll be here in a moment, I just sent my brother out to get her and dad from a hunting trip."
"Thank you." I say. Why do I feel like I'm experiencing déjà vu? Why can't I remember where I've heard this man speak before?
"Hello?" Johanna's gruff voice comes on the line several minutes later.
"Jo, it's me."
"Oh hey brainless, what can I do ya for?"
"I just thought you'd want to know the baby is here."
"Boy or baby Peeta?" I roll my eyes and choose to ignore her comment.
"It's a boy," I answer, "his name is Luka."
"I knew what his name would be from the television spot."
"Well he's here, and he's perfect." I say looking at my beautiful little boy who's sleeping peacefully in his daddy's arms.
"Well, well, well looks like I was right after all. You do love him."
"Yes Johanna I love him, more than anything. I love both of my boys." I say giving Peeta a flirtatious wink. He grins and goes back to memorizing every detail of our son's perfect face.
"Well congratulations or whatever is appropriate for this particular occasion. I'll be watching for you three on the news."
"Thanks," Is all I say. Jo hangs up swiftly, and I'm somewhat grateful, but a part of me wanted desperately to ask her about the man who answered the phone when I called. I couldn't help but wonder where she was. But my concern with the subject is dropped after Peeta and I put Luka to bed in his beautiful nursery and we're finally able to get some sleep.
Two days later Peeta comes home from work with a surprise for me and Luka.
"Mom!" I cry out moving to hug her. She wraps her arms tightly around me.
"Oh honey it's so good to see you. I can't wait to meet my grandson." She says. It takes a minute to dawn on me, this is the first time I've seen my mom since the wedding. I'm even more shocked when I see Annie and Finn coming in behind Peeta.
"Oh! It's so good to see all of you!" I say hugging each of them.
"Ok enough of this, where is my beautiful little grandson?"
"He's sleeping in his nursery." I say leading them all upstairs. They spend the entire night fawning all over him until I tell them it's his bedtime. My mother also spends quite a few minutes telling Peeta how beautiful his work in the nursery is.
The next day Peeta takes Finn and Annie to the bakery with them, so my mother and I have a chance to talk.
"Well mom, what do you think?" I ask.
"I think you've made a beautiful life for yourself here, and I think you have a beautiful son here. I just hope you know how proud I am of you." she replies with a smile. I can almost see the light back in her eyes.
"Thanks mom. You know I really miss having you around all the time."
"I miss you too sweetie. I wish I could move back here, or talk you into moving to four."
"I doubt we'd like it there, Peeta and I are both happy here."
"I know you don't think you'll ever be happy anywhere else, I just miss you."
"I know, but maybe now we can come and visit more, I'm sure you're anxious to spend more time with Luka."
"I most certainly am. I want to spend as much time with him as possible. Him and any future siblings he may have."
"You don't think you'll have any more children?"
"I don't know yet. I'm positive Peeta will want as many as I'm willing to have, I'm just not sure how many I'm willing to have."
"Why do you say that?"
"Mom I never wanted kids in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I love my son more than anything, but every time I look at him I see all of the hurt and worry that I was filled with from the time I was able to understand what having kids in this world meant."
"But Katniss the games are over forever, they're illegal. It's never going to happen again."
"It doesn't matter; I'll never be able to think of it as really being over. You weren't in that arena mom. You didn't feel the starvation. You didn't ever have to learn what it is like to take a person's life for another's entertainment. You weren't there for the end of the war." I say taking in a deep breath, I hadn't planned on going here with her. "It's the kind of thing that never leaves you. You never forget the face of a person whom you have murdered."
She's silent after that. I know my words have struck her hard. She's never heard me talk so openly about the games and the things I saw during the war before. I've never felt like I could open up to her before either, or at least not since my father died.
"I'm sorry. I just thought that you would want more after this."
"I'm not saying I won't, I'm saying I'm not sure. It's something Peeta and I will have to talk over and decide together. But for now we're focusing on Luka and taking care of him."
"That sounds like a good idea. You really are going to be a wonderful mother."
"Yeah well that remains to be seen."
"Don't be so negative, you have a natural care giver's instinct and you have a natural protective instinct. Those are great qualities in a mother."
"You sound like Peeta."
"Well you should listen to him." I roll my eyes with a laugh.
The week goes by and they are gone all too quickly for me. It's nice for Peeta and me to have the time with Luka, but I still miss my mother.
Over the next day I find myself becoming a bit depressed. I brush it off at first, assuming it's just because I miss my mom and Annie...but it doesn't take me long to realize that's not the problem. Eventually Peeta is fed up with my depression.
"What is wrong with you?" he asks one night as we're getting into bed.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you've been really distant and depressed lately, and it's really starting to bother me." I sigh before giving him the only response I can manage.
"Peeta you wouldn't understand."
"Oh come on! Just because I 'wouldn't understand' doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to me about it. Help me understand, please." I sigh again.
"It's just that being with Luka is reminding me a lot of Prim lately. I miss her; I haven't felt this kind of motherly protective instinct since I had to take care of her."
He doesn't say a word, just pulls me into his arms and holds be against his chest. I can feel the front of his pajama shirt getting wet from the tears I didn't even realize were flowing. I cry for a long time, too long really. But Peeta never says a word. He knows that my relationship with Prim was something he could never really relate to because not only was he the youngest in his family, but he and his brothers had never been close. He's never asked me about her, and he never brings her up to me. He always just lets me vent whenever I need to, and lets it go when I'm done. A quality that is one of the many things I love about him.
Things are going wonderfully, until the night that the phone rings as we're sitting down to dinner. I move to answer it and immediately wish I hadn't.
"Hello?"
"Why hello, how is my favorite mockingjay-slash-new-mommy today?" my gut tightens and I shoot Peeta a distressed look. It's Plutarch…I hadn't even realized that it had been almost a month since Luka had made his grand appearance. I knew it was too good to be true…
I am so sorry it took me so long to get this posted, but in my defense I was busy prepping for finals at school and was a little too busy to write. I know there were a lot of people who were anxious to know if it was a boy or girl and I apologize for ending it there, I just couldn't help myself. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter (it seemed kind of boring to me). Please read & review! Thanks! :)