I'm trying to keep just enough left-over effect from the birth in the chapters, but it's hard. I'll put more Jace/Annie/Finnick in the story more when I have everything a little calmer, okay? Things are about to get…interesting. Wait—no, not interesting. HORNY. No, not quite… Fluffy? Nah, too weird. Meh. Anyways, just read.
oOo
I was exhausted. I was on edge. My stomach hurt. My brain wouldn't shut up. I wanted nothing more than to go back home and sleep for a week straight. But of course, I wasn't allowed. Not a minute after Peeta and I had stepped out of the hospital, my mother and Prim were seen barreling towards us. After a brief moment of embracing and funny looks at my choice of clothing, Mother took a breath.
"I got here as fast as the hovercrafts could go. I didn't miss anything, did I?" She seemed winded.
"Only everything." I offered her an apologetic frown. "Sorry."
Mother groaned and looked frazzled. "It went okay though, right?"
"The birth went perfectly. Healthy baby, no hemorrhaging. Both Annie and the baby were in tip-top shape when I Ieft." Of course, I didn't mention the breakdown I had…twice. I didn't feel in tip-top shape.
"Oh good." She let out a sigh of relief, but perked up again. "Ooh, I can't wait to hold him. Can you show us to the room?"
It was all I could do not to groan and flop my head onto Peeta's shoulder. Instead, I just nodded tiredly. On the way, I made a mental vow not to hold Jace again, because there is no doubt in my mind I would cry, and that is the last thing I wanted with my mother and Prim here.
We made it to the hospital room, Prim practically bouncing the entire way there. I gave a hesitant knock on the door, and a green scrubs clad doctor answered with a mask pulled over his mouth. Exactly what Annie didn't want.
Mother stepped forward. "We're here to see how Miss Cresta and the baby is doing." She used her formal voice and motioned to Primrose next to her, who straightened her back.
The doctor, knowing as everyone else did what my mother did for a living, pulled off his mask. "Of course, Ms. Everdeen." He stepped aside.
It was chaos all over again. Primrose and Mother started bawling and took turns holding a reluctant Jace at least five times each, while Peeta and I stood off in the corner with our arms around each other. Finnick just floated around the room, beaming, occasionally making a comment about how amazing his newborn son was. Annie said nothing, however. She laid still in her bed, sea green eyes following Jace wherever he was carried, keeping her tired face mutual.
Somewhere in the midst of all the ruckus, a nurse came into the room, wheeling a tray stacked to the brim with food. Sandwiches, juice boxes, slices of bread, small containers of berries, you name it. The food looked better than 90% of the food I'd ever seen in District 13. We all took a break to eat lunch, but once the trays were empty and our stomachs were full, the poor baby was passed around again.
It must have been seven o'clock at night when they finally decided they were done ogling. With tears on their cheeks and grins on their faces, Mother and Prim let me drag them out. We made it halfway out the hospital when an Official caught up to us.
"I was given orders to offer lodging for you and your family tonight, Miss Everdeen." He said, smiling shyly down at me.
Something about this certain guard sparked my memory, but I couldn't place where I had seen him. Mother opened her mouth to refuse or accept, I didn't know, but I interrupted. "No thank you. We are going home." I earned myself strange blinks from Prim and Mother, but the Official seemed fine with it.
He grinned down at me. "Of course, miss. May I escort you to the hovercraft chamber?"
Wrapping my arm firmly around Peeta's waist, I gave an indifferent nod.
After making sure our escort was too far ahead to hear, Peeta bent down closer to my ear. "I hate how he's flirting with you so much."
"Jealous much?" Part of me was smiling inside for making him envious. It was funny.
Peeta scrunched his eyebrows together annoyance. "Yes, I am. No one is allowed to flirt with you except me."
If I wasn't so occupied with thoughts of babies or tired from lack of sleep, I would have laughed. I spared a smile, though. "I get flirted with a lot, you just aren't there."
This seemed to miff him even more. "Do you flirt back?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Poor Peeta. I was making him upset. It wasn't my fault he was a jealous type. With a small smile, I amended myself by giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Because I don't want to. I'm yours."
Even though that was just a great ball of cheese, Peeta seemed to take it. He kissed me back. "Glad to hear it."
By then I was glad Mother and Prim decided to walk ahead of us, chatting lightly to the nice guard about baby Jace. Prim barely let him get a word in edgewise, jabbering about how sweet and adorable Jace was, how he looked nearly identical to his mother but had his father's nose and all that stuff.
Peeta, who seemed a great deal happier, kept his arm around my waist all the way to the hovercraft room. When we got to the giant set of metal double-doors, our lovely guard turned around to face the four of us.
"Here you are." He unlocked and opened the chamber for us. "Have a safe journey back home."
Mother and Prim, flustered by his chivalry, giggled and thanked him, then went inside. No one would have thought Mother was turning 49 in a month. She acted Prim's age.
Sighing at her schoolgirl-ish buoyancy, I followed after them. But not, of course, before I caught the charming wink from the Official. An exhausted grin flashed briefly on my face, only because I saw Peeta's expression.
"You really are enjoying this, aren't you?" He said, casting me a sideways glance.
"Almost as much as wh—"
"What are you four doing in here?" A harsh voice snapped my attention away from Peeta.
It was the head Official, Sergeant Harvan, in his usual buzz cut and scowl. There was no respect whatsoever for the Mockingjay and her family. We were all one in the same to him.
Mother, over her giggly attitude, straightened up. "We were sent here by Officials to get flown home."
Sergeant Harvan blinked once, but returned to his usual gruff composure. "Of course. "
He escorted me, Peeta, Mother, and Prim to the lowest fleet of hovercrafts and unplugged a professional-looking craft. As if on cue, a man vaporized behind us, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a hunk of white bread smeared with honey in the other. He took one look at me, then Sergeant Harvan, and shoved the rest of the bread in his mouth and swallowed.
"Take Miss Everdeen and her family back to District 12, okay Sheryl?" The sergeant laughed gruffly and ignored the flush of red that appeared on the man's cheeks. I wondered if that was his real last name, or if the sergeant was just toying with him.
"Yes sir." The pilot crawled into the front of the hovercraft, unaware of the stain he just made on the leg of his trousers with his coffee.
After nodding to us briefly, Sergeant Harvan left us to crawl into the craft after the embarrassed pilot.
The ride home was uneventful. Everyone kept silent, my head resting tiredly on Peeta's shoulder. He willingly let me use him as a pillow, but my nap only lasted the half-hour journey from D13 to D12. I was awoken by the gentle shaking of my shoulders.
"Hmm?" My eyes peeled open, and I found myself staring at Peeta.
"We're home." He put his arm around my shoulders and half-carried me out.
Once my feet were firmly on the ground it was easier to stand, but the feeling of fatigue didn't leave. Mother and Prim looked at me uncertainly, because I was leaning on Peeta's shoulder. They didn't know if I was going home with him or with them. But after only one more second of hesitation, Mother smiled slightly at us.
"It's fine. I'll drop a spare pair of her clothes off before we go to bed." She walked over and gave me a motherly kiss on my forehead. And, to my surprise, gave one to Peeta, too. He must be the only teenage boy in the world appreciating kisses from mothers. I thought it was sweet.
I forced my feet to move as I dragged myself into Peeta's house after him, and tromped up the stairs. In his room, Peeta gingerly laid me down and slid the shoes off my feet. He crawled in the covers next to me and folded the blankets up to my chin.
Though there was negative energy in my body, I still found enough to flop over on my other side and rested my cheek on his shoulder. "Mm…night." My voice was slurred, and I doubt he could understand me, but nevertheless, I received a gentle kiss on the lips.
"Sleep tight, love. I'll have a good breakfast for you in the morning." He settled down against me.
I could get used to this.
To my surprise, I was the first to wake in the morning. My eyes peeled open and I glanced over at Peeta, who had his cheek on the top of my head and was snoring lightly. It was so adorable when he did that.
Judging by the faint rays of sunlight peeking into the room from the window, it was morning, and later than we usually slept. I wasn't tired anymore, which was a relief, but I smelled bad and my hair was greasy. Careful not to wake up sleeping Peeta, I slid out from his arms and paused at the bathroom door. Mother had said she'd drop by a pair of my clothes before she went to bed.
Using quiet footsteps, I snuck downstairs and found the said clothing set lightly on the coffee table. When we didn't answer the door, Mother probably just went right in and set them here. Or maybe it was Prim. I didn't know, but took the clothing and went back upstairs.
To my relief, Peeta was still fast asleep when I went back into the room. Only pausing to give him a brief kiss on the cheek, I tiptoed into the bathroom.
I stripped myself of the T-shirt and shorts and stood under the warm spray of water, practically feeling the layer of grime run off my body. It was nothing like my first shower after the Games, but still. I used half of the bottle of shampoo, scrubbing my hair until it felt like I had yanked most of the hairs out. After I got clean, I plugged the bottom of the tub and sat under the shower jet as the water built up around me.
When I finally stepped out, it must have been an hour later. I dried myself off with a towel and dressed in my familiar button-up blouse and worn black trousers. My hair needed tending to, but I didn't feel like having to deal with the funny waves it would create if I put it back into a braid while it's still wet. So I just took a brief moment to comb it out before returning to the bedroom with bare feet.
Peeta wasn't there. The moment of confusion passed after a second, and I just continued downstairs.
The smell of fresh fruit and oatmeal hit me immediately as soon as I walked into the kitchen. Peeta was busy pouring sweet, white milk into tall glasses, and looked behind him when I entered.
A smile split his face. "Morning."
After giving him a small smile back, I peered around him to the food sitting on the counter in front of him. Two bowls of buttery oatmeal sat, steaming, with thin slices of apples decorating the top, melting into the grains. My mouth immediately started to water.
Peeta took a bowl in his hand and held it out to me. "Your breakfast, my queen."
I raised my eyebrows at him.
"Katniss." He corrected himself and set the glasses of milk on the table, sitting down after them.
We sat across from each other, savoring the tart fruit and washing down bits of creamy oats with milk. It was the best breakfast I'd had in a long while, and I was genuinely disappointed when it was all gone. I drained the rest of my milk and sat back in my chair, satisfied.
Peeta put the dishes in the sink and sat back down. "Feeling better?"
With a content smile, I said, "Much. That was amazing. I guess it pays having a guy with amazing culinary skills."
"It pays having a girl who actually appreciates it." Peeta flashed a brief grin at me, but then stood up and eyed the full sink with dissatisfaction. "I need to do the dishes."
"I'll help." Having the occasional moment of normalness was welcome in my hectic life, no matter how rare.
So we stood there at the kitchen sink, me washing, Peeta drying and putting away. We laughed and chatted while we did, but steering clear of what happened yesterday. Whenever we veer close, I could see the flash in his eyes he knew about it, but kept away from the topic.
I really needed to consider telling him some time. Maybe that is what's holding him back from asking me to marry him. Maybe he thinks I don't want children, so it's better to just stay like this. If that was the case, I needed to let him know right away. But it just wasn't something you'd pop up in a normal conversation. 'Yeah never mind your crazy rash, I want babies'. Okay, that wouldn't be a very normal conversation, but you get my point.
The thought made me actually laugh out loud.
Peeta, who was getting done drying the last plate, laughed with me. "What's so funny?"
I can't tell him that. I just shook my head. "Nothing. Nothing normal, that is."
"Right." He dried off his hands on a nice blue dishtowel, then offered it to me. "I was hoping to go to town today. You're coming, right?"
Of course, I automatically agreed. Party because I didn't like being away from him, partly because I might have wanted to maybe look at some baby stuff…maybe. I felt somewhat guilty for abandoning Mother and Prim so much, but they have no idea what goes through my mind and what I feel every time I'm away from Peeta. It's like physical pain. Surely that isn't good for me, being this dependant on him, but I was mentally unstable. And he was fine with it. Well…at least I think he was.
oOo
That ended pretty badly, sorry. Well, the immense amount of chapters I updated should take care of that. :DDD I think I'm going to time travel a bit next chapter and skip a few weeks, if that's okay with you guys. But now that that's out of the way, I LOVE ALL OF YOU! This story is going exactly how I wanted; tons of readers, heart-warming reviews, a fuzzy feeling inside, and I realized how much I depend on all you guys. There is no doubt I love every one of you. Honestly.
Happy fun virtual cookies to anyone who can figure out when the flirtatious guard popped up last in my story. (hint: it was in Lo and Behold)
With that said, pleasepleaseplease review, okaaayy?