"Hal? Honey, are you ready?" I ask.
"Okay Mama!" She walks out of her bedroom in the dress I laid out for her, which is a white dress that goes to an inch above her knees, and its lace, and he boots. Her hair is long and wavy and dark like mine, and anyone with eyes can tell she's my daughter, because she's literally me with blue eyes. She's so beautiful. I'm in a skintight white dress that goes to a few inches above my knees, and a silver bracelet. It's not inappropriate. I literally look no different from when I was twenty five.
Seriously though, when I put this dress on, it took five minutes of making out with Peeta for him to take it right back off. That was earlier though, before anyone else was awake. I have boots on too, and my hair is exactly like her's. Bailee is going to wear a white dress with pink flowers on it, her hair is curlier than Hal's because she's got Peeta's curls and hair color, and she's wearing a purple headband. Brennan is going to wear a blue shirt and pants.
I adjust my purse and take Hal's hand and pull her downstairs, kissing Peeta goodbye on the way out. He's struggling to keep his eyes on mine, instead of my body. I lead Hal to my car and make sure she's in her seat, and I head out.
"So what stores do you want to go to?" I ask, holding her hand as we walk through the parking lot and into the mall.
"Um…I want to go to Gap, the Disney store, Yankee Candle, Bath and Body Works and…Justice." She smiles.
"And Claire's? You love that store too, right?" I ask.
"Yeah, and Claire's," she says.
I drag her all around the mall, to all the stores she loves and I distract her as best I can. I'm the best at procrastination, and the entire family agreed I need to take her to the mall, because I'm the best at distraction.
"Mama, I have to go potty." She says. We're in Yankee Candle, and I'm making her smell all of them. She's an honest child, and she gives me her honest opinion on everything. "That smells terrible," she says. I laugh and put it back.
"Alright, let's go potty." I take her hand and pull her towards the bathroom. I make sure she washes her hands. "Want to go back to Yankee Candle?" I ask.
"No, let's go to Bath and Body Works." She says. She loves Yankee Candle and Bath and Body Works because it smells amazing. I successfully spend an hour in that store with her.
My phone beeps.
Baby: are you going to be able to distract her for like…two more hours? My Mom forgot to get the cake, so now we have to make it.
Me: yeah, I kept her in Bath and Body Works for an hour. Next is Justice, then Claire's, and then the Disney Store. She's going to be in there for at least two hours, so don't worry.
Baby: okay, love you
Me: love you too
"Mama, can I call Grandma?" asks Hallie.
"Sure," I dial my mother.
"What? Is there a problem?" she asks.
"Hallie wants to talk to you." I tell her.
"Oh…EVERYONE SHUT UP, HALLIE WANTS TO TALK TO ME!" she shouts. "Okay, put her on."
"Here Hal," I hand her my phone as I drag her to Justice.
"Hi Grandma!" she exclaims. I zone out their conversation, knowing my mother won't spoil anything. "Love you bye." She hangs up on her and hands me the phone.
We really need to work on the way she ends a conversation. Someone could be in mid-sentence and she'll just be like 'love you goodnight bye' and then she hangs up on them before the person on the other line can process. She starts to obsess over the dresses and everything for two hours straight. Then I drag her to Claire's and get her a necklace that she begged me to get for her.
It almost makes me cry because it says "A Mama is a forever friend" and she wears that, and it comes with another that says "A Daughter is a forever friend" and she makes me wear it. I already have one from Bailee, but it's a bracelet, and it's actually the one I'm wearing now. We leave Claire's, and by now we're late to the party. We get to the Disney store, and she insists on looking at everything, so we're stuck here for three more hours, and the whole time I'm texting Peeta.
Me: okay, were heading home now.
Baby: text when you'll be here in five
Me: k love you
Baby: k love you too
I get her in the car, and head home. She sings along with the songs she knows, and when we're five minutes away, I text Peeta.
Me: five minutes
Baby: k
When we're in the driveway, I make sure to slam the door as hard as I can. I slam hers too, and she insists on holding her stuff. "No Mama!" she says loudly. "I want to!"
"Okay," I shrug. I lock the door four times to make the horn honks, and then I walk to the front door. She opens the door herself. There isn't a single decoration in the house because the party is out in the backyard, but everyone is in here, and they're all hidden. I slam the front door. The second it clicks behind me, everyone pops up.
"Surprise!" they shout together. She jumps and drops her things, staring at them. Then she starts crying, but I know it's happy tears.
"Oh my gosh!" she chokes out. She looks at me, and then at Peeta and everyone else. "Who came up with this?" she asks. It was me, but I'm not gonna say it. Everyone points at me, and she turns to face me. "Mama!" she cries, jumping into my arms and hugging me. "Thank you Mama!" she kisses my cheek. I laugh.
"You're welcome, but it wasn't only me, it was everyone." I sit her down, and she starts to run around, kissing everyone and hugging all of them, including her siblings. I take her things to her room and go back downstairs. We move outside, where there is a bouncy house. All the children ditch their shoes and run for it.
Mama hugs me. "You never age." She shakes her head. "You're so lucky." She laughs and I smile.
"Hey Mama," I say, going around and hugging everyone hello.
"Where's my hug?" Peeta demands.
"I already saw you today." I reply with a smirk. He knows I'm playing with him. I wrap my arms around his neck anyways and hug him. Her pulls me flush against him and kisses my forehead, and then my lips.
"Hi," he whispers.
"Hi," I grin.
The sprinklers come on out in the field, and before I can stop the kids, they're fleeing the bouncy house and completely soaking themselves.
Hallie is hanging out with Justin Hawthorne, her teachers Grandson, Gale and Madge Hawthorne's son. Narrow my eyes.
"Look familiar guys?" I nod at Hallie and Justice, thinking of Peeta and I.
"Yes. She needs to stay away from him," Peeta says.
"Oh calm down." I wave him off. "She's six. They're not getting pregnant, they're not having sex. They're just like us." I say.
"Yeah, and we're married with three kids." he replies.
"Yeah, and we're also in our thirties." I reply. He sighs.
"Fine. I'll drop it. If they hug though-"
"Then they hug." I cut him off.
PEETA'S POV
I remain silent, although I don't want my little girl over there with some boy. I don't care if she's eighty. She's never allowed to date or get married or anything. She's going to stay at home, single.
Katniss glares at me, and the rest of the family just stares, and that's when I realize I just said that out loud.
"Fine, then the same goes with Brennan."
"Oh come on, he can date. He's a boy. Boy's have needs."
"So do girls." She snaps.
"Whatever, lets all go inside and get the everything ready."
..s..
KATNISS'S POV
I'm sent outside to retrieve the children. The oldest is Audrey, who is twelve.
"Kids, come on!" I shout. Then I realize the bouncy house is empty. I frown and step all the way out the door. "Kids?" I walk around for a while but don't see any sign of them.
I mean, there's footprints, but they couldn't possibly be one of the kids. These are big footprints.
The footprints of a man.
I follow the footprints and realize they're followed by a dragging. They trail all the way to the driveway, and where they stop, is where Bailee's headband rests.
I pick it up, my heart pounding.
The kids are gone, there's footprints of a big man in the dirt, and theres notice that someone was dragged, and Bailee's headband was left in te dirt. Tears start to pour down my cheeks from the pain in my chest.
Someone took the kids. They took Justin and Olivia and Chase and Nick and Alyssa and Audrey.
And Hallie, and Bailee, and Brennan.
"Peeta! Someone!" I shout, starting to run around, calling for anybody.
"Katniss, Katniss, calm down, what? Where are the kids?" Peeta puts both hands on my arms.
'They're gone! I found Bailee's headband by the driveway and there's some man's footprints in the dirt and theirs dragging marks!" I say.
'They're gone?" Prim repeats.
"I can't fucking find them!" I shout.
"Okay, alright, it's okay Kat honey, lets go look," Mama soothes. We split up and run around the town, shouting for the kids, asking anyone we pass if they've seen them.
When we don't come out lucky and we get back to the house, I shove everyone away from me and call the police.
"911, what is your emergency?" The secretary asks.
"Someone kidnapped all of the kids in my family." I say, forcing myself to stay calm.
She starts asking me all kinds of questions, and after a while, I get annoyed. "Just talking to me about random shit isn't going to find the kids, get a fucking cop here." And then I hang up.