Kindred

Chapter Three

Thank you all for your wonderful support and making me pass 100 followers! There's been some technical difficulties with Wattpad so I'm sorry if the layout of this chapter is a bit confusing. Since I copied my work off a word document, new lines weren't taken and it was all smushed together. Usually this goes away when I press publish but it didn't this time. I've taken new lines as best as I can but I apologize if I've overlooked anything :)

Chapter Three

Katniss woke up to the sound of crying. She groaned into her pillow and stuck her head underneath, trying to ward away the unwanted sound. When it persisted and didn't make any attempt to stop, she peeked out through a gap in her cocoon and saw that it was bright outside. Huh. She thought if Willow was going to wake her up with crying, it would have been at four in the morning or something.

Clamouring out of bed on the assumption that Sae had made breakfast, Katniss detangled her slippers from the covers and stuffed them back on her feet before making her way downstairs.What she found was not Sae. Not even close to her.

Willow was in her basket on the islet, roaring like the mini beast she was. Peeta had his back turned to Katniss and Willow and was doing something by the kettle. As she got closer, Katniss realized that he was making milk. How in the hell . . . ?

Peeta turned around suddenly and Katniss stepped backwards, feeling like an intruder in her own home. "Oh hey, Katniss," he said. "Sae dropped off some powdered milk for Willow and a couple of bottles she found in her house."

"Oh, I see," Katniss replied. She slipped into the seat the farthest away from Willow and fiddled with her fingers. Peeta had a kitchen towel over his shoulder and shook the bottle filled with milk. Katniss didn't understand how he knew what to do. He was the youngest in his family. It wasn't like he remembered watching his mother care for his brothers or had any experience with younger family members."

This one has been refusing to sleep since five his morning," Peeta explained.

Katniss shot an icy look at Willow. The baby gurgled obliviously. "I'm sorry. I should be helping in some way," she said.

"Katniss, it's honestly fine. I've got it under control," Peeta smiled. "I know how you feel about kids."This didn't make Katniss feel any better. Peeta was going through the same situation as her yet she was hiding from an infant. She watched him go to the baby on the counter and move to put the bottle into Willow's mouth.

"Wait!" Katniss blurted out. Her shouting made Peeta jolt in surprise and he nearly dropped the bottle onto the floor."What?" he asked in surprise."Aren't you supposed to test the temperature or . . . something?" The image of Willow screaming because of her mouth being burned made Katniss wince. She reluctantly scooted closer to the basket and took the bottle from Peeta. She held her hand out and squeezed some milk onto it. Her mother used to do this when Prim had been a baby. The milk was hot and Katniss glanced at Peeta worriedly. "I think we should wait a moment. It's hot."

Peeta ran a tired hand over his face and cursed softly to himself. "I almost put that in her mouth," he said.

"Don't beat yourself up, Peeta. You don't know what you're doing, it's okay," Katniss insisted. She set the bottle down and resumed fiddling with her fingers. She wished she had a length of rope like she had in District 13. "We just need to make do until we find a home for her. Which we'll hopefully do today."

Peeta inhaled, eyes briefly closed, before exhaling and opening his eyes again. He went to the oven, where Katniss noticed a saucepan had been set on top of. "I made you breakfast. Sae came here to do it for you but I said I'd take care of it." He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Well technically its lunch. That's why I went into town and got that for you." He pointed at a tin which sat at the top of the trash can. Katniss stood up and walked around the islet. When she reached the trash, she saw what the label of the tin said. 'Lamb Stew'."