The first thing I thought, as I felt the liquid trickle down my legs, (after 'oh crap'!) was that I'm glad that the dress I'm wearing all but covers my shoes but that was when the pain began to double.
"Katniss" Peeta whispers, frowning at me, as Johanna reaches Gale and the man, who'd conducted Finnick and Annie's wedding, tells us all to take our seats "are you alright?"
"Yeah" I lie, trying hard to keep my voice steady "why?"
"You're kinda crushing my hand right now."
"Oh" I loosen my grip on his hand "it's just emotional watching my best friend get married and watching our son being part of the ceremony."
He nods, telling me that he understands, but the look on his face tells me that he doesn't entirely believe me. He didn't press it which I was glad about because I didn't want to have to lie to him any more than I needed to.
It was actually a great place to go into labour, disregarding the fact that the timing was awful, because I could cry and everyone would just think that I was finding the wedding emotional because they all were as well.
The heat and the pain soon started to become more than I could handle and so, as soon as the vows were said and we were all dismissed to begin the preparations for the reception, I was prepared to make some excuse to go home but Peeta was one step ahead of me. As soon as a crowd had gathered around the newlyweds, he grabbed my mother, Prim and Haymitch and asked them to go back to the house to help bring over some food that had apparently been left there before asking Annie to watch Reed whilst we were gone. It took me a moment to figure out what he was doing, of course, because I knew that everything had already been placed in the bakery, along with the cake. "You're a crap liar, Katniss" he tells me as we begin the walk back to our house "but, this time, I love you for it."
"What do you mean?" I ask, panting through another contraction and hoping that it was coming off as over exertion from walking.
"I know you're in labour and I know that you stayed quiet about it so not to take the attention away from Gale and Jo" he says. I groan, no longer trying to pretend that I was fine, and stop to lean on a low wall. "Cinna!" Peeta calls my old stylist over, trying to make his voice sound chirpy and normal. "Just keep walking until we round the corner" Peeta tells him as joins us.
As soon as we're out of view Cinna, who seems to have pieced everything together, picks me up with strength I didn't know he had. "Come on, girl on fire" he says "let's get you home."
"Where's the food?" Prim asks as Peeta enters my mother's house, holding the door open for Cinna.
"Sorry" he tells them "I had to lie so not to draw attention to the fact that Katniss is in labour."
The three of them don't need telling twice. They jump into action; mother and Prim grabbing towels and starting to boil water and Haymitch leading the way up the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms that had been set up as a delivery room, ready for when Effie and Johanna need it.
"When did the pains start?" Haymitch asks
"About two hours ago" I say "and my waters broke about an hour ago."
Mo's birth was harder than Reed's. I was in labour with Reed for six hours or so but Mo was in no hurry to join us. It was gone midnight, the pain was almost unbearable and he still wasn't here. Mother assured me that she wasn't worried, that some babies just take their time.
By eight the next morning I was so annoyed, so uncomfortable and so tired that even Peeta's presence was pissing me off. I'd already shouted at Haymitch, screamed at Prim and my mother, shouting abuse that I would never even think about saying in any normal circumstance. "It'll be over soon, Katniss" he tells me, trying to comfort me but I wasn't having any of it.
I slapped his hand away from me as I said "just piss off, Peeta! You're not the one trying to push out a stubborn baby!"
"Go and get some sleep, Peeta" my mother suggests "it's still going to be a little while; I'll have Prim come and get you when it's time."
"No, I'm fine" he says, not wanting to leave me.
"Just go, Peeta!" I snap at him.
He looks at me with wounded eyes before nodding. "I love you, Katniss" he tells me before kissing my cheek and leaving the room.
Great, now I felt bad.
It was lunch time before anyone bothers to come back in and check on me; I'd scared most of them away with my insults and foul mouth. I can't say that I blame them, to be honest, I'd be scared of me too. "It's almost time" Haymitch tells me warily, pulling my gown back down and injecting some morphling into my arm.
"Where does Effie think you are?" I ask him as the drugs take effect. Everybody had been under strict instruction not to say anything to anyone.
"She thinks that I'm passed out drunk in your kitchen" he scowls "Cinna went to tell her. She's not happy."
"Wasn't there any other excuse that you could have used?" I ask.
"My being drunk is the only thing that will keep her away" he sighs "she'll wait till I return home before she banishes me to the sofa for a couple of days."
I frown "I'm sorry, Haymitch." Haymitch had been doing really well; he hadn't touched a single drop of liquor since Effie moved here from the Capitol, over a year ago.
He shrugs "it's fine, once you deliver I can tell her the truth; hopefully she won't hate me too much for lying to her." He checks me again half an hour later before announcing that it's finally time to push. Prim and my mother return with Cinna and Peeta and then, after twenty more minutes, Mozart Mellark finally enters the world screaming bloody murder.
"I'm so sorry, Peeta" I tell my husband as he curls up next to me on the bed whilst I feed our new son "I was so horrible to you."
Peeta runs a gentle hand over Mo's head and stares fondly at the baby before he looks at me. "Don't be silly" he tells me softly "I was getting frustrated watching you, I can't imagine how it was for you. You don't need to apologise." Once Mo is done feeding, I pass him over to Peeta and watch as he explores our son's features with his finger. Tracing down his nose, his lips, his ears. "I forget just how small they are" he mutters, measuring the tiny foot against his smallest finger.
Someone knocks on the door and Cinna's head appears. "You have some visitors downstairs" he tells us as he slips into the room "and I wanted an excuse to say hi properly" he admits, smiling.
Cinna stays for ten minutes or so, the first person besides family and Haymitch (who delivered him) to hold our new born before leaving.
Reed had been in earlier with Prim and our mother. He was ever so gentle with Mo and it was so sweet to watch him plant a kiss on his forehead.
The visitors turned out to be Effie, Johanna, Gale, Annie and Finnick. They didn't all come in at once, which I was glad about, but I was grateful for their company and their gifts.
"You should have said something" Gale tells me as I lay against him. Peeta had gone off somewhere with Mo to give me and Gale some time to talk "You should have-"
"I wasn't going to ruin your special day, Gale" I reply wearily. "It was beautiful, by the way, the ceremony."
"Yes" he smiles "but you missed the toasting."
"I know, I'm sorry; I really wanted to be there."
He moved his arms so that they were around me, enveloping me in his warm embrace. "An eye for an eye" he mutters "I wasn't at your toasting but I went to your ceremony."
"Oh" I laughed "I didn't really think of it like that."
Gale chuckles as he sighs and says "I never want this to change. I want to stay like this with you forever, Katniss; I never want out relationship to change. You'll always be my best best friend."
"You're like the annoying brother I never had" I murmur as sleep begins to take me.
"You think that, without the games, we could be more than what we were?"
"No, Gale" I say "without the games, I probably wouldn't even know you."
Gale chuckles. "I wish that I could see inside your head, Catnip" he sighs before squeezing my hand "I'd better go; you get some sleep, I'll tell Peeta to come back up."
And I do.
Mo turned out to be the baby from hell. Reed had been easy; he slept when we put him down, ate when we gave him food and he rarely ever cried. Mo, however, cried all the time. He refused to sleep during the night and slept on and off throughout the day and wouldn't latch on to my breast. Peeta and I were so tired that we spent most of the first few days sleep waking as we tried to juggle taking care of our new-born and paying attention to Reed.
"Why don't you try singing to him?" Peeta suggests as I sway around our bedroom with Mozart.
It was the fourth night of having almost no sleep and we were slowly going insane. "I tried that" I say, feeling a little stressed "he screamed even louder, remember?"
"What about trying him with some hot milk? Could put a drip of liquor in it and-"
"I am not giving him alcohol!" I reply before staring down at my new-born's red face as he continued to scream.
"It was just a suggestion" he shrugged, rubbing his red eyes.
I sighed before sitting down on the bed. "Your diaper is clean" I tell my son "I fed you ten minutes ago and you're warm enough so what do you want?!"
"Sweetheart," both Peeta and I jumped at the voice from the doorway and turned to see Haymitch standing there in just his underwear looking just as tired as we felt.
"I'm sorry" I groan. Haymitch lives closer to us than anyone else but I'd forgotten the fact that noise really does travel around here and, seeing as it's still sweltering hot, we have the windows open as well.
"Can I try something?" He asks.
"Please" I say, all but throwing Mo at him, desperate for some kind of relief from the incessant noise.
Haymitch took the inconsolable child, walked around the room to where the rocking chair and his crib had been moved to, took the blanket from where it hung on the crib; he stripped the baby down to his diaper before wrapping the blanket around Mo, tucking it around him tightly so that only his head was showing.
Peeta and I had avoided using the blanket because it had been so hot but, as it turns out, the blanket was the solution to our problems. The moment Haymitch had finished, Mo's cries died down and he lay there, slowly falling asleep. "How-" Peeta started but stopped, lost for words.
"Some babies like to be swaddled" Haymitch tells us, gently putting Mo down into the crib "it makes them feel safe."
"Well, we know that" I say "but, because it's been so hot we didn't want to do it."
Haymitch nodded, understanding our concerns. "He'll be fine, he'll tell you if he's too hot."
"Thanks" I sigh, my eyes now so heavy that they were closing of their own accord.
"Get some sleep" he states "I'll let myself out" but I was too far gone to even say goodbye.
After that, Mo settled into his routine. He still wasn't a dream, waking up every couple of hours but it was better than screaming all night. Plus now everyone in the village was getting some sleep and we were now starting to enjoy being his parents.