Pregnant In the Quell

Chapter Nineteen

As soon as my eyes flutter open, I notice Peeta is not next to me. I scan the room, but there is no sign of him.

"Peeta?" I say.

I begin to hear loud noises coming from the bathroom.

My pain has subsided for now, so I attempt to stand.

I check on Dahlia, who is safely sleeping in her cot.

I then hear Peeta mutter the words that I have nightmares about.

"She's a mutt! A stinking mutt!"

"No," I whisper to myself.

Peeta walks out of bathroom, eyes completely taken over by pools of gray. He grabs the chair sitting next to my bed and clenches it full force.

My first instinct is to protect Dahlia, but Peeta will only follow me as I leave the room with her.

I catch Peeta's attention again, and he comes towards me. He pushes me to the ground as hard as he can.

More pain overcomes me, but it's not the pain from my abdomen that is bothering me, it's my hip.

I only have one option. I begin to scream as loud as I can for Haymitch, knowing his room is only a few halls away.

"Haymitch!" I scream. "Please! Anyone! Help!"

It's not long before I regret screaming. Dahlia wakes and begins to cry.

Peeta's attention is immediately drawn to her, and he approaches her.

I begin to cry hysterically, the pain becoming numb, because I am so overcome with fear.

Haymitch busts through the door, and I know as soon as he sees my hysterical state, he knows what's happened. Haymitch grabs a shot to his left slowly, and injects it into Peeta's arm. He falls to the floor instantly.

"I'm going to get Boggs," Haymitch says. "I'll be back."

I attempt to stand, but it's no use. The pain from my abdomen is overcoming me again, along with my side pain.

I drag myself over to Dahlia and sit up on my knees. I pick her up, and sit on the ground, sobbing along with my two day old child.

As soon as Boggs arrives, Gale and Haymitch follow.

Boggs picks Peeta up and takes him to another hospital room.  I hand Dahlia to Haymitch, and Gale picks me up.

I cry into his chest and he does his best to calm me down.

He placed me back into the bed, and the pain worsens.

"Ahh!" I scream.

Doctors begin to fill the room as they begin to examine me.

"We're going to need to put her in a cast around her left hip," an unfamiliar doctor says.

Dor walks in, and begins to check on my stomach and uterus.

"My only concern is, Katniss, since the pain in your abdomen hasn't gone down much, there may be something wrong with your uterus. I'm going to check and see what's happening."

"What?" I say.

"The worst case scenario is, you just won't be able to have more children."

Though I hadn't even thought about another child yet, I begin to cry.

Crying is all I can do lately.

***

I wake up, and see Peeta sitting in the chair next to me, crying into his hands.

I look to my right, and see Dahlia laying in her cot, perfectly fine.

"Babe?" I say.

"Katniss!" Peeta says. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

Peeta strokes my long brown hair and I feel his tears fall onto my chest.

"I hate myself." I hear Peeta whisper.

"No, Peeta. Don't say that," I say sternly. "Don't you dare ever say that. I love you. This is something you can't control."

"I'm just so sorry, Katniss."

"It's okay, Peeta. We'll get through this."