Chapter 10: The Protector
Peeta wakes up first and quietly slips out of bed so as not to disturb Katniss. He wants to surprise her and asks the Peacekeeper at the door if they can arrange for some breakfast to be brought to the room. He knows Katniss likes some of the Capitol food and remembers how she devoured it when they had arrived here for the 74th Hunger Games.
A short time later, the Peacekeeper is back with a tray of hot food for them both to share. There is some meat, eggs, a lovely large chunk of cheese, tomatoes and mushrooms, too. All this is served with a side of thick bread and there are two steaming mugs of tea for them to drink as well. Peeta is starving and decides to wake Katniss up because he wants to make sure she eats something, too.
"Breakfast" he says as he gently rolls her onto her back to wake her up.
"Oh", Katniss says. "I wasn't expecting this!"
"I wanted to surprise you"
"Thank you, Peeta" says Katniss as she kisses him passionately on the lips.
"You're welcome" he says. "Now you need to eat up Katniss, you have two mouths to feed now"
Katniss doesn't know how to tell him she can't stand the sight of food right now, but as he has gone to the trouble, she is going to make an attempt to eat something. She takes a little of the meat and cheese with some of the lovely thick bread. She wonders what Peeta will think about the Capitol bread and she is sure it will not be as good as the bread he bakes.
Peeta tucks into the breakfast with gusto and is finished before Katniss. In fact, he notices Katniss has hardly eating anything at all.
"Don't you like it?" he asks.
Katniss promptly replies by grabbing the paperbasket next to her and throwing up. Peeta leans across and holds her hair back while she is sick. He doesn't know why she can't keep her food down so he asks her:
"Are you OK?"
"I'm fine. It's the baby. Annie told me it's normal in the early months of a pregnancy so I guess you can expect more of that!" she says.
Peeta frowns. He doesn't like the idea of Katniss not being able to keep her food down, she really needs her strength right now. He decides there is not much he can do it except get Annie's advice on how to help Katniss right now.
The two of them wash up after breakfast and get ready for the day. Katniss is not sure if Plutarch has any more propos planned for her yet, but Peeta needs to get an explanation of what is going on first. Gale appears at the door and tells them that Paylor wants them to come to a meeting so Peeta can be debriefed. As they walk out the door to meet with Paylor, Katniss mouths the word "thank you" to Gale as she passes him by. For the first time, in a long time, Gale begins to feel she might be letting him back into her life.
Paylor asks them to sit down and starts explaining to Peeta why Katniss has been brought to the Capitol. She tells him that Capitol rebels are on the march and that there has been a threat made against her life. Peeta is shellshocked. Someone is making threats against Katniss. Why? Paylor explains to Peeta:
"Katniss was the face of the Rebellion. She is a high profile target for these people and we need to keep her safe"
That's my job thinks Peeta. I am the one who keeps Katniss safe.
"Even before the communications network went down the other night we knew these people were getting serious and the only way we can stop them is to have the Districts on our side. Since the war they have lost their sense of purpose and unity. We need The Mockingjay to help us re unify the Districts again".
"But if Katniss is a already a high profile target then you are putting her in even greater danger by asking her to do these Propos" Peeta says.
"We plan to keep her safe, Peeta. You, too. I give you my word on that. But, if we don't unify the Districts it will be much harder to fight the rebels and defeating them is the only way to really keep Katniss safe".
Some of what she says makes sense, but he doesn't want Katniss to be the face of the Rebellion again, anymore than Katniss, herself, wants that.
"Does Katniss have any choice in the matter?" Peeta asks.
"We have already explained to Katniss that she was given a very generous reprieve by the new government of Panem after she killed Alma Coin. We have asked her, on the basis of this reprieve, to help us again now".
Peeta senses a veiled threat in what Paylor is saying to him. He doesn't like it.
"What is happening about the rebels who have specifically made threats against the Mockingjay" he asks.
"We are doing all we can to track these people down, Peeta. For now both of you are safe in the Capitol and we would like to keep you here as long as possible. We will start working on the rest of the Propos today".
For Peeta, Katniss safety is paramount, especially now. He does not know how long they can go without telling Paylor about Katniss pregnancy, but they will wait while they see if the Propos have any effect on the Districts. If they can unify people again, there's less chance of a threat on the Mockingjay. Peeta will try to reassure Katniss that he is here with her and he is not going to let anyone do anything to harm her. Including the new government of Panem.