Always

Chapter 9

Katniss P.O.V.

The full weight of it hits me. I haven't said that out loud yet. Gale wraps his arms around me.

"Congratulations," he whispers.

"Thank you," I reply as he lets go of me.

"I'm sorry," he says. "If I had known that it was something this special, I wouldn't have tried to get you to tell me," he says.

"It's fine," I say smiling.

"We'll, I better get going," Gale says. "Take care of yourself and that baby Catnip," he says as he steps out the door.

"I will," I say. He closes the door and takes off. I sit down in the living room for few minutes until Mom comes bursting through the door.

"Katniss!" She says urgently.

"Yeah?" I ask as I jump up.

"They've opened District 12 back up again for this week only," she says. "They're moving all the patients to the Capitol so they can be easily transported to 12 when the hospital is built. I told them I wouldn't go to the Capitol, so they fired me. If it's okay, I'd like to come to 12 with you for a while," she says.

"Yeah," I reply, feeling happier by the second.

"Well we better get packing," she says. "The first train will be here in about two hours."

"Okay," I say as I go to my room and throw everything into my suitcase. I forgot to put my ring on this morning, so I carefully pick it up and place it on my finger. When I'm done, I stay by the door and wait for Mom. I get sick about five times before we leave. We throw our stuff in Mom's vehicle and take off.

The train's just now pulling in. We get out of the car and quickly load into the train.

"What about your car?" I ask her.

"It'll probably get taken away from me now anyways," Mom says smiling. Within just a few minutes, the train starts taking off.

I stay sick the whole trip. When we finally reach home, I'm exhausted. Peeta must have heard about the train and figured I'd be on it the first chance I got because he's waiting for me at the station.

The second the train doors open and I step out onto the platform, Peeta's arms wrap around me and I'm swept off my feet. I cuff his face in my hands and kiss him.

"I've missed you so much," I whisper.

"I've missed you too," he says. Mom steps off the train and Peeta looks over at her. He's wanting an explanation.

"I'll explain later," I whisper.

"Okay," he says. When we're finally back at the Victor's Village, Mom gets settled into Peeta's old house, and me and Peeta head to our own home. The second my luggage is dropped, we embrace each other again. I explain the whole situation with Mom before Peeta pulls me back.

"Why were you so sick?" He asks worriedly.

"Well, Peeta," I don't know what to say now. "You know how we talked about starting a family?" I ask.

"Yeah," he replies. I don't know what to say. For some reason, I don't want to just come right out and say it.

When I feel the baby move, I know that now's my chance. I take Peeta's hands and hold them over where our baby is kicking. I quickly press my lips to his.

"Are you serious?" He asks as he pulls his head back a little.

"Yeah," I reply smiling. Peeta pulls me in so close that I can't see his face. Still, I can tell by the wet drops falling onto my shoulder that he's crying. In just a matter of seconds, the tears start falling from my eyes too.