He meant everything to her. Three years later and she'd still do anything to keep him safe, sacrifice everything to protect him- even if that meant keeping him at an arm's length.
She was the one person who truly knew him. The one person he'd choos...
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To say that it had been a long evening and now night would be underselling how things had been in 13 since everyone had left. Kai had spent the day with Johanna and Haymitch, the three of them doing what they could to help squad 451. And it'd been a relatively serene evening up until dinner.
Then everything went wrong.
Kai had just gotten back to his cabin, unaware of what was taking place two bunks down from him. He was exhausted though. From staring at a computer screen for hours on end to listening to Beetee attempt to explain to them why comms were down, he felt like his head was going to explode. There was a dull beat, lightly tapping on the inside of his skull as he lay down on his bed. All he'd wanted was five minutes.
Five minutes was apparently a lot to ask for.
Only a few seconds had passed when it happened. He'd been mere moments from going down to dinner when his door flew open. There was no regard for privacy as Annie rushed inside his cabin, quickly reaching his bed. "Kai!" She shouted, grabbing onto his arm as he abruptly sat up.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked, eyes filling with concern.
The redhead just shook her head. "It's Lily. Her water broke."
Kai's face fell, panic rising in his throat. "Shit."
That was all he said before breaking out into a sprint. Annie was only a step behind him as he raced out the door, not even bothering to shut it. He didn't care in the slightest about something as trivial as closing his door. Not right now.
Lily wasn't due for another month. That's four weeks. Four weeks. She couldn't have the baby yet. It wasn't time. He couldn't come. Not now— not while the rest of their family was on the front lines. She needed them here. She needed them to be here.
The second he reached their room—door already open—his eyes found Lily. The eight-month pregnant woman was leaning over the slate gray slab next to her bed, chest heaving up and down.
"Lily!" Kai exclaimed, hastily making his way to her.
She glanced at him, an irritated expression crossing her face. "Took you long enough. I'm—" She groaned, hands clutching her belly. "I'm gonna die if this keeps up."
Kai placed a hand on her back, concern etched behind his eyes. "We gotta get you down to the hospital wing. Now."
"We've got her. There's nothing to worry about."
Kai turned back to the doorway, gaze landing on a nurse. She smiled at him as another nurse entered the room. "We'll take it from here." She reassured him.
Kai watched as his sister-in-law was loaded up into a stretcher and rolled out of the room. He was with her the entire time though. He grabbed hold of her hand as they entered the elevator, door closing with a ding.
