(17)
"The trackers have been deactivated," Plutarch announces as he hops on the hovercraft. "Go, go, go!" He yells over the intercom. All of sudden, there is a jolt and I feel the hovercraft leave the ground and rise into the air.
"Where's Beetee?" I ask Plutarch who is running wildly back and forth down the hallway.
"He's still keeping the shield down," Plutarch explains.
"Is he coming back? Are we picking him up?" I ask.
"No," Plutarch replies, turning a corner. He disappears in the same direction as Haymitch and my father.
"Katniss, I'm going to go get my tracker removed, ok?" Peeta says, grabbing my hand.
"Alright," I say.
Jezarra speaks up, "You know, you need some rest Miss, er, Mrs. Mellark. One doesn't give birth every day."
Peeta turns around. "Mrs. Mellark?" he chuckles lightly.
"Yeah," I smile. "As Leanore says, I'm just trying to be closer to you."
"Who's Leanore?" he asks, starting to head down the hallway with Jezarra, Revelyn and me.
"Me."
I turn around to see Leanore standing at the end of the hallway. She's got a small smirk on her face. "Oh, had the baby then, did you Katniss?"
"Yes."
She comes running for me and gives me a hug, "I'm so glad you're ok. So, let me see Mellibelle!"
A laugh escapes my lips as I catch a glimpse of Peeta's raised eyebrows. "Leanore, meet Revelyn Rue."
"Revelyn Rue?" she repeats. "That's a beautiful name. Isn't Rue a type of flower?"
"Yes," I answer. "She's also the female tribute from District 11 that I buried with flowers in the 74th Hunger Games."
"Oh, yes, I remember that. You really cared about her, didn't you?" Leanore asks.
"Very much," I drop my gaze and then look up over at Peeta. "And Peeta, you knew that. That's why you made her middle name Rue, right?"
"Of course. Her name is something significant to both of us," he looks over to Leanore. "It's nice to meet you Leanore."
"Pleasure to finally meet you too, Mr. Mellark," she says shaking his hand.
Jezarra and Peeta walk ahead and I whisper to Leanore, "So, does this mean we're cool with the sleeping medicine."
Leanore laughs, "Yes. We're 'cool.'" She gives me a small pat on the back and helps push me back to the hospital wing.
Jezarra takes Revelyn and puts her in a basket. She then carefully rolls me into a room so I can rest. Revelyn comes with me. I lay down on the bed and Jezarra says, "Time for dinner."
"I'm not hungry," I say.
"No, not you," she laughs at me a little. "Your baby is hungry."
I raise my eyebrow and look at Revelyn who is starting to cry.
Jezarra doesn't think I understand what this means. "Katniss, the baby gets milk from their mother."
I nod, "Alright, let's get this over with." I won't explain what happened during Revelyn's first feeding. I'll just say, at first it wasn't going so well, but it got much better towards the end. Eventually, Revelyn finishes and Jezarra puts her in my arms. I drift away into a peaceful sleep.
When I wake up again, Jezarra is gone and Revelyn is hungry again. As I feed her, I think about the rescue today. I must say it went very well, in fact, it went almost too well. Either everything went exactly as planned, or something is going on that I don't know about. I never expect anything in my life to go exactly as planned, so I decide to ask Haymitch the next time he sees me.
When the door opens, I've just finished feeding Revelyn. It's quite a surprise to see my father standing in the entryway.
"Hello there, Katniss," he says walking up to the bed.
"Hi," I say simply.
"I know you're probably not in the mood for talking right now, but I just wanted to meet my granddaughter," he extends his hand to touch her head.
"You want to hold her?" I offer, holding her up to his hands.
He takes her and smiles. "Has anyone told you how pretty she is?" he asks.
"Yes, a lot of people," I reply.
"It's something about the eyes. They twinkle, I think."
For a few minutes, we are both quiet. I give my father some time to bond with the newest member of our family. That's when it hits me. My mother has died. All this time, my father had been hoping to get back to my mother, to rescue her, to be with the one he loves again. Now, she is someplace else, a place neither he nor I can reach right now. Our small family has been split up again before it even got back together.
"I'm sorry about mom," I say.
"She's in a better place now, Katniss," he sighs. "Besides, in her place is something I'd never expected to have: a grandchild. You have given me the greatest gift in the world. I thank you for that."
"What's today's date?" I ask him. I want to make sure her birth is recorded somewhere.
"I believe it is March 18th," he answers. "What's her name?" he asks, stroking her head.
"Revelyn. Her name has a meaning. It means rebellion. Revelyn Rue Mellark," I answer him.
"That's the sweetest name I've ever heard. You're a spark, you know that?" he looks at Revelyn giving her a big smile.
She just stares back at him, trying to take in this new strange man.
"How is Revelyn a spark?" I wonder aloud.
"She is just another spark to the fire of rebellion. One more thing to keep the people rebelling, to help the Capitol understand the cruelty of their actions, to stop the Hunger Games and to set you free," he hands her back to me.
I take her in my hands and stare at my spark. I take a minute to thank God for the baby and for Peeta and Prim's safe return. Then I look back at her. Her eyes twinkle, just like my father said. My father mumbles something about letting me rest and then leaves the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
I fall back asleep with Revelyn in my arms.
When I wake again, Leanore and Jezarra are standing in the doorway.
"Oh, Katniss, you're up!" Leanore says, coming over to me.
"Good," Jezarra says. "Are you hungry?" she asks me.
"A little," I reply.
"Well, let's get you some food," she looks over to Leanore who scrambles out of the room, probably to get me something to eat.
"How are you feeling?" Jezarra puts her hand to my head to check my temperature.
"Fine," I answer.
"Excellent. How's the baby been?"
"Great," I say.
"Wonderful," she replies.
"Superb," I counter.
"Splendid."
"Marvelous!"
"Brilliant!"
I laugh and so does Jezarra. Sometimes you need something like that to make you feel better. "How's Peeta?" I ask her.
"He's just fine. Just taking a rest now, I hear," she answers.
"When can I see him?"
"Probably tomorrow," she responds just as Leanore is coming in the room with some food for me. "Now remember, eat slowly," Jezarra coaches me.
"Alright," I say as I take a small bite of toast.
Leanore and Jezarra sit down on the bed and watch me eat.
After awhile, I ask my question, "I confused. I thought that it seemed a little too easy to just get everyone out of the arena. Is there something else going on?"
Jezarra sighs. "I don't know. You'd have to ask someone else about that. Maybe Haymitch."
"Ask me what?" A voice says from outside the door. Sure enough, I look into the entryway and Haymitch is standing there, staring at me.
"What's going on?" I ask him simply.
"We're going back to District 13. There we have to prepare for the war," he answers.
"War? What war?"
"The war of rebellion against President Snow. Us versus them," says Haymitch.
"When will it be? Where will it be?" I toss out questions.
"I can't say yet. Only time will tell," he replies. "Now if that's your only question, I just wanted to have a word with Leanore for a moment."
Leanore gets off the bed and quickly walks over to Haymitch. They disappear behind the door and Haymitch shuts it.
"Go back to sleep Katniss," Jezarra says, taking my half-finished meal away from me.
I do as she says. I wake up a few times to feed Revelyn, but other than that, I get a peaceful night's sleep. When I wake up for breakfast, I feel much better than yesterday. Jezarra is gone and Leanore brings me my food again. As I eat some more toast, I ask Leanore, "Can I please see Peeta?"
"Sure," she says, giving me a warm smile. "I'll go get him."
She leaves and I eat my breakfast quickly. The thought of getting to spend some time alone with Peeta for the first time in so many months is very appealing.
He comes in and smiles at me. "Katniss," he says, climbing into bed.
"Peeta," I respond.
"This is our baby?" he asks in disbelief.
"Yes," I say, handing him Revelyn. "She looks so much like you."
"She does," he says, "except for the hair." That laugh that melts my heart fills the room.
"I never expected this," I say.
"Expected what?" Peeta asks.
"I never expected us to have a child," I look at him.
"Well, neither did I, Katniss. I hoped for it. But, never expected," he places Revelyn in her basket, putting it on the floor of the room.
"I have to tell you something," I say biting my lip.
He stares at me, not replying, just waiting for me to speak my mind.
And so I tell him for the first time, for real.
"I love you."
Peeta smiles and whispers, "I love you too."
We remain quiet for awhile, staring into each other's eyes. He slowly puts his arm around me and brings me closer to him. I feel his warmth for the first time in ages. It is a familiar, wonderful feeling. He holds me for a very long time and I think we start to drift off to sleep.
Before I fall into this sleep, I look into his eyes. He is still half-awake as well, so I sit up. I turn around to face him and he puts his hands on my shoulders. Slowly, I lean my face into his. My lips just brush against his when the scream of our baby interrupts the moment. Peeta exhales and smiles. I notice a smile cracks my lips as well. He lifts Revelyn out of her basket, handing her to me. I feed her and Peeta watches in fascination.
"You know, you really do make a fine mother," Peeta says, staring at Revelyn.
"Hey! This is my second day," I say in defense.
"No, I'm serious," he puts his arm back around me. "You seem to treat her gently and by the way you look at her, I can tell you care a lot about her."
"And what of you? Are you a good father? How am I to assess that?" I throw questions at him.
"I don't know. Maybe you should observe my interactions with her. You should be able to tell by that," he says.
"She's rather quiet, don't you think? At least for a baby. I expected more crying," I ask as Revelyn finishes her feeding.
"It depends on the baby, really. I don't have much experience with children," he says taking her from me again, "but I do think that she is very observant. She doesn't really want to cry."
"She doesn't want to cry? As if she has the choice to cry or not?" I say with a slight touch of frustration.
"Yes. Of course she has a choice," says Peeta, touching her nose.
I watch him with her, taking careful notice that he is gentle with her, just like me. "I'm tired," I announce with any thought. It was an involuntary line, but yet, so true. I feel like I could sleep for a whole week.
"You rest," he says, "I'd like some time to bond with Revelyn."
This strikes me as sweet. I realize right then just how much I've missed Peeta. He really couldn't get any nicer if he tried. The way he talks to me when he does the whole love 'act' (which was never really an act) is more charming than anything Gale could say. I guess he gets it from a combination of his way with words and overall cute appearance. Cute. Not a word I would ever use to describe any man but Peeta.
That's when I remember that Peeta is my husband. Or rather, Peeta should be my husband. "I think we should get married," I blurt out.
"Formally, you mean?" he asks.
I think about this for a moment and decide, "No. Just with a few witnesses. Nothing big. I just want it to happen; otherwise it's not quite official."
"Alright. Now, sleep," he commands me. I'm content to be in his arms again.
When I wake yet again, Peeta has placed Revelyn back in her basket. He sees me open my eyes and asks if I need anything. I shake my head and he gets up out of bed, stretching his legs. "We need to discuss the rebellion," he says flatly.
"Rebellion… right," I say.
"Unless you're too tired still?" he raises an eyebrow at me.
I yawn and stretch out my arms, "No, it's fine."
"Basically, there will be a war between the Capitol and the rebels," he explains.
"Yes. That's exactly what Haymitch told me," I reply.
"We'll need all the help from the other Districts we can get. The problem is transportation. District 13 doesn't have many hovercrafts, but the ones we do have are pretty large. I'm still slightly confused about what we're going to do, though," he touches his toes several times.
For once, I actually feel in on the plan. Now that my pregnancy is no longer an issue, I can be more involved with the rebellion. "When are we meeting to discuss this?" I ask him.
"Probably sometime right after we arrive," he replies.
"Then let's not worry about it until then. We have plenty of days to be worried. While we're still on the hovercraft, let's just try to relax, ok?" I say.
"Ok," he replies.
"This is exciting, though," I admit.
"What is?" he asks with a look of confusion on his face.
"The whole rebellion. It will be exciting to see how if unfolds. I'm starting to believe that everything really is going to be alright. The rebel side definitely has more supporters, so maybe we stand a chance," I feel something in my heart that resembles hope.
"We do stand a chance," Peeta says with finality.
"We can win," I realize.
"We can live."