Chapter 15

The Reaping:Part I

I scooped the cereal out of my bowl, avoiding Cato's gaze. He watched me closely from across the table.

"Can I help you with something?' I finally asked, my spoon clattering into my cereal bowl.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine!" I assured him for the fifth time since we got home.

"Positive?" he glanced at me.

"Yes, stop asking!" he ducked his head, abandoning the subject reluctantly. I stood up, picking up my bowl. I placed a hand on his. "You done? I asked. He nodded and I took the dishes to the sink, beginning to wash them.

"So just because we start training again, you decide to stop making actual dinners? Seriously, what is this cereal stuff?" he tipped his chair back on two legs.

"Hey," I pointed a spoon at him with a smile. "We aren't married yet. You can't boss me around just yet." Cato stood up, pacing to my side. He pulled me towards him and my face was dangerously close to his. His sweet breath hit my face like a cold wind in the morning, awakening my senses. All I wanted to do was reach up and kiss those lips. Take the smirk away and relax.

"yes," he smirked. "But I have ways to," his lips brushed my ear sending chills down my spine. ", of persuading you." I stood there for a moment but finally got up the strength to push him away, when actually, all I wanted to do was pull him closer.

"I have to do dishes, Cato." I started to wash them again and he laughed, taking the spoon and placing it in the sink, cutting off the water.

"You're stubborn." he cooed.

"You're persistent."

"Clove?" Cato asked from the other side of the door. I dry heaved into the toilet again. I hadn't eaten a thing in days, which probably wasn't a good idea, seeing as how my nerves were already on end at the fact that the reaping was today.

"Just one sec." I dry heaved again. I had been hiding the morning sickness episodes from Cato as best as possible. I sat for a moment until I decided it was safe to pull back from the toilet bowl. I considered that maybe this false morning sickness may very well be an annual thing, seeing as how it happened last year.

I pulled my sleek navy blue dress over my head, adjusting the bottom so it could cover my butt. It was tight to begin with, but the dress was almost suffocating. I couldn't even breath right. But I couldn't possibly be gaining weight, after all the training I had been doing. I left my hair natural and wavy, resting on my shoulders, with a couple sweeps of mascara on my lashes.

"Clove, come on, you're taking forever." Cato laughed. I pulled the door open.

"It takes a lot of effort to look this fabulous." I extended onto my tiptoes to kiss him, but he stopped me with his fingers.

"You'll ruin my lipstick." he teased, brushing past me into the bathroom. I scoffed as he just fixed his hair, studying it from every angle.

I walked downstairs to find Sam holding two grocery bags. "Breakfast?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am" she replied.

"Where's the beau?" I asked still disgusted at the fact that Sam and Derrick were a thing.

"Doesn't get up until twelve." she shrugged, placing the bags on the table. "Where's the hubby?"

"Fiance." I corrected. "Fixing his hair." I laughed.

"You nervous about today?" she asked nervously.

"Not really." I reached into the bag, pulling out a bagel and ripping off a piece with my teeth. I glanced in the bag again and then a bit closer "What's this?" I asked, pulling it out of the bag.

"Well I just thought between the morning sickness you've been telling me about and the episode at the training center we should be sure." I looked closely at the blue pregnancy test box.

"I'm telling you Sam, it's just an annual thing. Nothing to worry about." I put the box back on the counter.

"But. Between the morning sickness, the episode, and the weight gain, aren't you a little concerned?" she asked.

"No" I shrugged.

"Just take the test." she picked it up, handing it towards me.

"No"

"Morning sickness?" Cato stepped out of the shadowed doorway.

'Yeah, but it's nothing. It happened last year." I shrugged it off, continuing to eat my bagel.

"You're taking that test Clove" he said grimly.

"But Cato-"

"Now!" he insisted with such ferocity in his voice that I jumped. I took the test from Sam and walking into the bathroom.

I stared at the two pink lines closely. What could they mean? I tried to decipher the bigger meaning, turning it this way and that. I thought for a moment. Well, there were two pink lines with a white pathway in the middle. A clear, white pathway. So maybe it meant all clear.

"Well?" Cato insisted from the other side of the door.

"Sam," I opened the door and walked out. ", I think this one's broken."

"Broken?" she took it, studying it, then the box, then back again about four times. "It's not broken" she said in a way that made me seem absurd for thinking so. She looked from the box to the test again. "It's not broken." she insisted again, whispering again.

"Meaning?" Cato drawled.

"Meaning Clove," she looked directly at me. Looking me straight int he eye. I'll never forget the look she gave. "Clove, you're pregnant."

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sorry I didn't post last weekend, i was in California. :DDDD