The names Clay, Emmett and Teddy all were suggested by Peeta. "Teddy?" I say into the darkness "like Teddy Bear?"
"Yeah, I guess; I don't know why but I really like it, it has a ring to it."
"Yeah, it does" I admit, wondering why I really liked that name when I should hate it. "But I don't like the others, like at all. Clay just reminds of Cato and Clove; Emmett…what is that? The sound you make when you sneeze?"
Peeta laughs "I wasn't really thinking about that; I saw the name somewhere, in a book I think, and found that I quite liked it." Prim and I were named after flowers, Peeta and his brothers were named after (or around) bread…maybe we should start our own tradition. I suggest this to Peeta which gets him thinking. "What about mythological things? Haymitch has…or had…some books on mythology; I could ask him if he still has them, see if we can borrow them to have a look through."
"Yeah ok but if he doesn't?"
"Animals? Nature? I don't know; I suppose we need to find a few names that we like and go from there."
"Yeah, ok" I sigh, trying to stifle a yawn but failing "man, I'm tired."
"Let's go to sleep then" Peeta says, cuddling closer, wrapping his arms around my chest because my stomach is too big for him to even attempt it. "I love you, Katniss Mellark"
I smile, dipping my head to kiss his arm "love you too, Peeta."
"You want to name your kid after mythology?" Haymitch asks when we ask him as we sit down to eat breakfast.
"It was an idea we were toying with, yes" Peeta nods.
Haymitch sighs "yeah, I still have the books; I suppose I could lend them to you."
"Thanks, I-" I begin just as the televisions spring to life. I turn to the closest screen and gasp as I see Cinna sitting in a chair, opposite Caesar Flickerman, as though he was being interviewed about the games or something. Cinna looked fine but, at the same time, he didn't. He looked tired, broken and beaten down. But the he still had the spark he always greeted me with and I knew that, as long as the spark was still there, he would be ok. "Cinna" I groan, not listening to the interview; I was just staring at his face, lapping up as much of his features as I could.
"He's alive, Katniss" Peeta reminds me "don't think about anything else; he's alive and we're going to try to get him back."
"But when?" I ask, looking at Peeta "he's been there for months and they haven't gone for him yet."
We didn't see Cinna again until two weeks later; Snow was asking him to talk about the rebellion but all he said was what he would always say. "Don't put down your weapons! don't give up!" and then he warns district thirteen about an imminent attack. The show was cut but not before he's hit around the head, his blood splattering on the floor beside the fallen camera.
Thirteen went into lockdown and the doors, to the safe zone, were shut just minutes before the first bomb hit.
"It'll be ok" Peeta tells me, holding me on our bunk, and stroking my hair.
I didn't like being this deep underground in the best of times but being this deep underground whilst the Capitol rain bombs down on us was like a different kind of nightmare; not worse than the ones I already have but it's close.
Our bunk was opposite my mother's and Prim's; I stared at the both of them, huddled together and rocking. My mother comforting Prim as she have done when our father had died. That's when I felt it, wetness between my legs, seeping through my trousers. "Peeta" I whisper. Of course MJ would choose the most inconvenient time to make an appearance.
"It's ok" he soothes, thinking that I was still scared over the bombs.
"No, Peeta" I try again as a wave of pain runs through my lower back and abdomen. "Peeta!"
My tone was urgent this time and it alarmed him. "What is it?!" He asks, his hands running up and down my legs, still trying to comfort me. That's when he feels the wetness. "Katniss…" he starts "it's ok, you're scared, it's ok."
"Dammit, Peeta!" I curse loudly, causing people in the surrounding bunks to turn and stare at us "I have not wet myself!" I may have experienced a lot of things during this pregnancy but lack of bladder control was not one of them.
"Then what-" and then it dawns on him; I watch his eyes widen in realisation before my calm and rational Peeta Mellark starts to panic. "What do we do? It can't happen here! Katniss!"
"Well don't look at me!" I snap "It's not like there's a button I press to induce labour!"
Haymitch, Prim and my mother were at our bunk. "What's going on?" Haymitch asks.
"I think the baby is coming" I say with a sigh, gripping Peeta's hand as the pain shot through me again.
"Only you, Sweetheart" Haymitch chuckles, looking around at where we were.
"Well, we're going to have to make do with what we have here." My mother says "Prim, I think Coin put an emergency labour kit behind the desk." Prim nods before hurrying away to fetch it. "I need to know when you first started feeling twinges, Katniss."
"This morning" I say, thinking back to earlier on in the day but just disregarding the pains as I always did. I then turn to Peeta and glare at him "I can't believe you thought I'd wet myself!"
"What was I supposed to think?!" He asks "MJ isn't due for another week!"
"The due date is only an estimate" Haymitch tells him, chuckling at our exchange.
"Haymitch, Peeta tells me that you know a thing or two about labour." My mother states
"Well yes, I did some intensive reading on it, but I'm no way qualified to-"
"Tough" she tells him "we're lacking doctors at the moment, you'll have to do."
Prim returns with a bulky bag full of medical supplies for this specific occasion. "What do you want me to do?" She asks our mother.
"Translate" came her reply.
At her answer, I roll my eyes. I'm terrible when it comes to medical talk; Prim usually has to dumb it down for me. Peeta was told to sit up against the back of the bunk so that I could lean against him, whilst my mother ran a few basic tests.
I tried to ignore the fact that Haymitch was helping her; he's the last person I'd want to be observing the birth of my child. At least they'd set up portable screens around my bunk so that no one else could watch but, as time went on, I began to care less and less about Haymitch seeing that part of my anatomy; one, because the pain was becoming unbearable and, two, because he wasn't Haymitch anymore. He was being professional, taking charge, as he had done when Peeta and I had gone to him the first time, back when we didn't know whether or not I was pregnant and needed advice. I guess it was only like Cinna; I could stand, completely naked, before him and not feel embarrassed because he never looked at me in a way that would make me uncomfortable. He remained purely professional and that's what Haymitch was doing now.
"Have you thought of any names yet?" Prim asks, trying to distract me from where Haymitch was putting his hands.
"Reed for a boy" I groan "Lyra for a girl." Peeta and I had abandoned the mythological names, finding nothing we particularly liked, and went for musical themed instead.
"I like that" she says as mother says something. "You're ten centimetres dilated" Prim tells me, nodding at our mother "this means that the baby will be here soon; you need to say if you feel the urge to push."
"I've been feeling the urge to push for ages" I tell her angrily.
"Ok, then, when the pain starts again, you need to push" Haymitch tells me.
I huff in annoyance; we'd been at this for a long time. The bombing had stopped hours ago so there was nothing to distract me from how exhausted I felt. "You can do it" Peeta tells me softly, stroking my hair with the hand I wasn't slowly crushing.
Despite the fact that I'd yelled horribly at Peeta for the last couple of hours, he'd been nothing but supportive. Never complaining if I squeezed his hand too hard or if I hurt him when I accidently whacked the back of my head against his chest. He remained calm, despite the fact that he'd panicked to begin with, and was reassuring me the whole time. I knew that he felt useless though, even though he really was helping me, he hated seeing me in pain and this was the kind of pain that couldn't be cured with a hug or a kiss.
"But I'm so tired" I tell him miserably.
"I know, Katniss, but you need to do this and you can sleep when the baby is here. Ok?" I nod mutely as my grip on his hand tightens as the pain starts again.
I do as I'd been instructed and, after what felt like a life time, the pain and the pressure recedes as I hear my baby cry for the first time.
"Well done, Katniss" Peeta kisses my sweaty forehead "I love you, he's beautiful, Katniss. I'm so proud of you!" He gushes.
He? "MJ is a boy?" I ask, wearily, too tired to sit up.
"Yes" Peeta laughs "looks like we're naming him Reed, unless you've changed your mind?" I shake my head as my mother placed a bundle of towels on my chest, tears falling silently down her cheeks.
I look down at the face of my son; he was covered in blood and white and yellow gunk but he was still perfect, all squashed and screwed up as he protested his new surroundings. "Reed is perfect" I sigh, as I offer him my finger. I watch as he settles down almost immediately, wrapping his tiny fingers around the finger I'd placed in his palm and he stares up at me for a moment before his eyes slowly shut as he falls asleep; I find myself following shortly after.
Hey; I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could let me know how I'm doing. I literally feel as though I'm stumbling through it lol. I am trying to guide the story in the same way as the original but, obviously, it's going to take a bit longer.
Also, this is taking longer than Catching fire because I was writing Catching Fire for like two weeks before I decided to post it on here, hence why I was uploading quickly.
Thanks for reading!