Hello people. I have to stop writing twenty billion chapters before I can go online to check reviews because, once again, there is nothing for me to say except I hope you enjoy this chapter!
It was an hour before lunch, and I was standing in front of my mothers' bedroom door. I knocked twice.
The door opened and my mother was standing there, hair still wet from the shower, a comb in her hand.
"Oh, sorry. Is this a bad time?" I asked a little too formal.
"Not at all. Is anything wrong?" She stepped aside and let me into her room.
I organized my thought inside my mind as I sat down at the end of her bed. "I have been having… complications… and I have a favor to ask you."
Mother gave me her "you-have-been-hiding-something-from-me" look and said, "First tell me these 'complications' before you go asking favors."
I sighed, waiting for my mother to sit down next to me before saying, "He almost died yesterday. The doctor said I have to get him out sooner than we thought so he won't actually die."
"'Sooner' meaning how soon?" Now my mother wasn't looking accusing at me, but somewhat worried and a tiny bit sympathetic.
"Meaning…" I winced and took a deep breath. "…meaning tomorrow or the day after."
The reaction from my mother was more or less what I expected. She gasped and got all teary-eyed. When she was with her dying patients back in District 12, she was stiff and professional, but when it came to her children, my mother was as soft as Prim sometimes.
She bit her lip. "That…That's pretty soon."
I nodded, not looking her in the eyes.
"What is the favor?" she took a deep breath and composed herself.
I told her.
As I spoke, my mother was nodding slowly. "I think I can do that. Maybe with Gale's help it would be sooner rather than later."
"That would be really good. I will need it as soon as possible."
"Katniss?" My mother looked me square in the eye, which made it hard to look her in the eye back.
"Yes?" I was getting uncomfortable under the stare of Mother.
"You will let me know when you are going to the hospital, right?"
I suddenly felt a sharp stab of pity for my mother. I hadn't really been letting her in on all of the stuff that has been going on with me. Heck, Peeta knew more than she and Prim did at this point.
"Of course I will, Mother." I reached over and hugged her. Not as tight as I did last night with Peeta, so it wouldn't be deadly (literally), but tight enough to let my mother know I was sorry for all of the crap I have been putting her through.
She patted my back comfortingly. "I will get right on that favor." She smiled and I left the room feeling considerably lighter than I was when I came in.
When I came back into my room, Peeta was gone, but I wasn't too worried. The bathtub was calling me.
I sat in the full tub, with only my nose sticking out above the water, trying to comprehend the fact that I have only one more night childless. Tomorrow I will go to sleep in the hospital and wake up with a baby. That thought was sort of hard to wrap my mind around, but I did, and the act of doing that made me get out of the tub.
I dried off and slipped on a nightgown, although I had no intention of going to bed quite yet. I took a brief second to comb through my wet hair with my fingers before I padded through my room barefoot.
I was walking in the halls for only five minutes when I ran into (literally) Peeta. He looked excited.
"Are you ready enough to see what I wanted to show you earlier?" he asked me. "You seem more awake than you were a little bit ago."
I thought about it for a split second before agreeing to go. "Yeah, okay. I won't pass out on you."
Peeta took my hand and told me to close my eyes. I obeyed. We walked in a faintly familiar pattern through the halls, and when I heard the very quiet opening of a door, I said to Peeta, "Can I open my eyes now?"
"Hold on…" Peeta turned me a fraction and made me take a step back, then said, "Okay, open."
I did as I was told and gasped. We were in the astronomy lab, but Peeta had transformed it into something I almost didn't recognize.
The floor was covered in a thin layer of fabric, not quite like a carpet, but something that kept my feet off the cold cement. On the wall was a large picture that looked hastily done, but in a way so where it didn't look sloppy, but artful. Splashes of orange and yellow littered the page in swirly patterns, accompanied by the occasional shape like a butterfly. Gold paint framed the edges of it in a way that made it look like it was professionally framed.
In each corner were cheap-looking (but nonetheless pretty) oil lamps that casted a warm yellow glow into the dimly-lit room.
It appears as though someone had dragged in a shelf, and was in the process of being stocked with baby supplies, all I recognized to be the stuff I bought. On the bottom of the shelf, all of the little clothes I had gotten for my kid had been folded and organized.
What touched me the most though, was in the corner opposite to the shelf was the cradle, illuminated by the lamp that hung directly over it. A pillow was placed next to the head of the crib along with a few layers of quilts.
I stood staring at the beautiful room Peeta had turned into a nursery in just a day. Tears had formed in my eyes and had begun to spill down my cheeks. I was about to reach up and wipe them away, but then I realized that I had a perfectly adequate reason to cry, so I just let them come.
"Do you like it?" It was exactly what Peeta had said when he had polished the room to spotlessness yesterday.
I nodded and buried my face in my hands.
Peeta put his arms around me and allowed me to have a mental breakdown all over his shirt. That was no exaggeration, either. He patted my back and smoothed my hair down while I cried. The weird thing about Peeta was that he never worried about himself and he was so completely selfless, it made me ashamed. I owed him so much.
"I'm scared, Peeta." The words spilled from my mouth before I knew what I was saying.
"I am, too." He didn't make fun of me or anything of that sort. He just agreed with me and kissed the top of my head. I love Peeta.
AW my goodness I'm gonna cry because Peeta is just the sweetest thing… 8D go Team Peeta! Sorry, Gale fans. I love him too, but Peeta has to win for me, hands down. Anyways…. See you next chapter everyone!