Pregnant In the Quell

Chapter Twenty Two (five years forward)

Five Year Time Jump

Peeta and I lye under a willow tree.  I am coddled up in his strong embrace. He kisses my head softly, and we watch the sun set.

Things are good here in 12.

I remember Peeta saying that the night before the victory tour. The night before the week that Dahlia was conceived.

After the rebellion, District 12 was completely reconstructed. It's almost the same as it was before, but it is no longer a district of poverty, but a district of freedom and peace.

Things are still missing.

After losing our daughter, nothing has been the same. It's getting there, but we don't go a day without thinking about her.

Peeta is the mayor of District 12. It came to a shock to us, as Peeta hadn't even wanted to run, but everyone voted him, because they knew what an amazing person he is. It's worked out great. Peeta really changed this place around.

I spend most of my time with Peeta at the justice building or at home. If I'm not with Peeta, I'm with my best friends, Annie and Johanna.

Finnick, Annie's beloved husband, and my friend, passed away in the war, leaving Annie and her unborn son to live on their own. Annie's son, Finn, now five, has adjusted well without a father. Annie doesn't go a day without missing him, though.

Johanna, now married to her husband, Alder, have two children, Luna, who is three, and Flynn, who is turning five in about a month.

And Gale? I can't say much about Gale. After the explosions, and not knowing who's bombs they were, I've tried to forgive him, and I have, but things will never be the same. I've tried to keep my patience with Gale. We go hunting occasionally and he comes over for dinner once or twice a month, with his family. Gale married Cressida, and they have a one year old daughter named Posy, after Gale's sister.

"You ready to go, Katniss?" Peeta says as he lifts me up.

"Yeah," I say as I pick our blanket up and kiss Peeta on the lips.

He grins, and kisses me back.

We head back to our small house in victors village.

We live in the same home that we did before the games.

After our daughters death, Haymitch and Effie moved back to district 12 to be with Peeta and I.

Haymitch visits us almost daily.  I know he feels for us. He knows how broken we were after our only child's death.

And honestly, that brokenness hasn't stopped.

No one understands how terribly depressing it is to lose a child, until you do.

I wake up from nightmares every night, screaming at Prim to run. Sometimes, angry at her for taking Dahlia into a place like that.  I always know Peeta is there to comfort me.

There are still times that Peeta has to cling onto a chair, waiting for flashbacks to pass.

He often tells me what he had seen.

After Dahlia's passing, he sees me killing our child.

It's what President Snow would've wanted, and I know it.

But five years later, Peeta and I are ready to get back on our feet.