(Point of View: Beetee)

I watched Peeta as he sat in a green plastic chair waiting to hear if the baby had been delivered. His elbows rested on his legs near his knees. His head rested in his hands. Peeta had been very distant on our trip to District 13. I thought he was just worried, but he seemed confused a few times. Delly was watching him closely. Peeta had smiled when the ultra-sonographer told him the baby was a girl, but soon afterwards his eyes exhibited a dazed look again. Delly seized the opportunity to try to get him to talk about the baby. She noticeably steered the conversation away from Katniss.

Peeta must normally be much better than this. I thought. Otherwise Delly would not be so animated about his current demeanor. She's trying to keep him from losing it.

I hadn't been aware of Peeta's marriage to Katniss. He must have improved greatly since the last time I saw him. Otherwise, I doubt they would have married. The last time I saw Peeta he could barely have a conversation with Katniss. It sounded like they'd been able to rebuild their relationship, and I was glad for them.

I felt a little guilty that I hadn't thought of Peeta and Katniss much since the war ended. On the other hand, I'd never been good with people. I did pay attention to Katniss' trial and was pleased that she was not severely punished for executing President Coin. Make no mistake about it, it was an execution. It was not an assassination. President Coin would have been almost as bad as Snow. She would have stamped out our fledgling democracy. She had lived a cold, austere, militaristic, District 13 life for too long to understand freedom. We needed fresh ideas and full district participation. Coin would not have allowed that. She would have become a dictator and made District 13 the new "capitol" to rule over the other districts as well as the former "Capitol." Katniss did us all a favor by eliminating Coin. I assumed Katniss did it for personal reasons, but the effect was also political. I doubted if Katniss would ever understand how important her actions throughout the revolution were or recognize their impact on the formation of our new nation. She would almost certainly never be given credit. Peeta might understand, but he chose not to think about such matters much.

I turned my attention to Peeta again. He was very quiet. He stared down at the floor.

(Point of View: Peeta)

I felt my face crack into a smile as the woman at the hospital told me that the baby was a girl. I hadn't expected to know that information until after she was in our arms.

"A girl! Petta, that's so exciting!" Delly gushed.

I smiled more at Delly's reaction.

I'll get to meet her soon, I thought. Maybe once she is born they can figure out what to do for Katniss.

I felt a lump in my throat. Katniss, I thought. What is going to happen to her?

Delly rambled about baby girls, but I stopped listening. She was just trying to distract me. I agreed that baby girls were wonderful anyway! I felt another smile involuntarily creep across my face. Looking down, I examined the green tiles that covered the floor. They were not completely green. They contained barely perceptible orange flecks. I thought about how Katniss had told me that her favorite color was green when we first started the Victory Tour. We'd gone to look at my paintings on the train that day too. Most importantly, we'd agreed to be "friends." We were never really friends though, not just friends. I loved her. I'd loved her so long that I'd forgotten what it was like to not love her. She just had to survive this. She had to…I didn't know how I would manage without her.

The red-haired doctor appeared again. He'd changed clothes and he had a mask hanging around his neck. His shoes were covered with some kind of cloth like covering. He waved to us enthusiastically.

"Good news." He said. "The baby is in ICU and doing as well as we can expect at 31 weeks. You can go and see her now. Miss Everdeen tolerated the surgery well. Her condition is unchanged regarding the snake bite and complications. We'll get a specialist to see her. Congratulations on the birth of your daughter." He waved again and was gone.

A smiling nurse appeared and announced that she'd take me to see the baby. I motioned for Delly to come along.

We arrived in a room with many hissing machines. I couldn't help but notice some very sick looking babies hooked up to many machines as we walked further inside. My anxiety grew. I wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of my pants. Then the nurse pointed out my daughter, who did not seem to need as many machines as some others. A sigh of relief left me. I stood a few feet away from the baby, but I could see her tiny form. I was nervous about going closer. I wish Katniss were here, I thought. Katniss would want me to be with our baby though.

"Is she alright?" I said to the nurse, looking towards my daughter.

"It isn't ideal to be born at 31 weeks, but we'll be helping her get through it. She's able to keep herself warm on her own; that's good. We're giving her a little oxygen though. We haven't tried to feed her yet. You can stay for that if you want."

I still felt confused. I didn't really know that much about babies. I certainly didn't know anything about premature babies! Plus, my mind was just a jumbled mess. I had to try hard to stay focused.

The nurse seemed to sense my insecurity. "Most babies born at 31 weeks with this kind of care go home and have a normal life. They simply have to stay here with us until they are developed enough to go home" She said.

The baby will most likely live and be alright. That's what she's telling me. I thought. My chest started to relax with the partial relief.

My eyes became moist, and the lump in my throat rose. I nodded to the nurse and took a few more steps forward. My daughter came into full view. She was small, but she was beautiful. I thought she looked most like Katniss.