The Aftermath(a post-mockingjay story)

Chapter 8

Annie POV

Katniss and Peeta are out on a date. I get to babysit Primrose, but luckily she is still little. The harder part of it was to get Finn to leave her alone. He is so fascinated by her. His terrible two's have lasted way longer than expected.

All I really have to do is feed Primrose and change her diaper once or twice. Seems easy enough. I mean, I did have a baby myself, how hard could another one be. It was actually really easy. Babies sleep a lot. And by a lot, I mean more than half of the day!

Katniss and Peeta came home around 7:00 to put her to bed. Soon it was Finn's turn. Putting him to bed is NEVER easy. Ever. He asks questions every night. Most of them are about his father. When he asks them, I ignore the questions, put my hands over my ears as always, and curl up into a ball and cry. I hate for Finn to see me like this. Oliver is always away on business trips now in other districts. Its a one on one game, alright. The guilt of being a bad mother builds up inside of me until I cant take it anymore. I just want to explode with anger, sadness, grief, guilt... But I know I cant. I have to be here, for Finn's sake.

He needs a father figure to help him with the things I cant. Sometimes Peeta takes him out and they just talk. He is so sweet to Finn. I would never be able to thank Katniss and Peeta enough for all they have done for me. Its wonderful to know I have a shoulder to cry on.

Then I think of Finnick again. Here is our story: When I was young, my mother and I went out to sea to test the nets we made for a living. Suddenly I fell out of the boat. Neither of us can swim. I feel a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me to shore. Their owner says,"Its ok, I've got you. Its all right." We introduce ourselves and stay in touch. A few years later, he gets called to the reaping. I will have to watch the boy who saved my life, die at the hands of a kid. I cried every day and prayed for his safe return. He did it. He won! Then my name was chosen. After I had won, I came to the beach every day, just to stare at the water. Finnick made a promise to me, after we were friends, that he would make a net of rope all by himself. Every single day, as I watched the waves, he would sit down next to me, put a flower behind my ear, and get to work on his net. None of us spoke, but we knew what each other had been through. Watching your fellow teens kill each other without regrets. The whole idea still sickens me. When we picked up talking again,we went out on our first date. It was love at first sight. Ive never had so many butterflies in my stomach before. 2 years later, we were married. Then he was killed. At the hands of the Capitol. I regret everything, ever. Especially not talking those few weeks on the beach. Our beach.

Katniss POV

We come to Annie's to find 2 sleeping children. They look so peaceful. I know one of them is mine, and I love it. I love being a mother. The feeling that I created something wonderful after all the Capitol stuff that went on before, it gives me a sense of joy and security. Secure being that I, Katniss Everdeen, am a good person.

My date with Peeta was amazing, as always. We didn't really do much, but its the thought that counts. The Capitol made a movie about my life with Peeta during the Games, so we cuddled up to each other, watching it on a projection screen in the meadow.

I will have to teach Peeta how to hunt, since I will be the one taking care of Prim. He does better than expected, actually. I teach him how to make snares, traps, and others of the sort. While they are waiting to catch prey, I teach him about edible berries. Every nightlock bush I see reminds me of our last few minutes in the arena. I pull up all the bushes' roots, and burn them. They make a nice fire, but have to clear out in case the smoke fumes are toxic. We start with simple things, like how to detect poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. Wouldnt want to eat that. Back when I was ten, my father made the mistake of letting me bring home our greens for dinner that night. Guess what, of all the plants in the entire world, I picked up for my family to eat? Poison ivy. The scratching at our throats lasted for 2 agonizingly long, 24-hour days. I scratched myself so hard I actually bled. It wasn't life threatening, just some treatable scratches.

Peeta finds bluberries, the strawberry bush that Gale and I used to sell to the mayor, and the blackberry bush Gale and I shared before the reaping. The one where I volunteered, as some would say out of stupidity, but it was not stupid. I couldnt watch my helpless little sister die. If she did die in the arena, I would lock myself up like my mother did when my father died. Now she is dead, I feel I want to lock up too, but I have Peeta to help me through it. I also have a family, a baby, now. She needs my help more than ever. I could never even bring the thoughts of shutting down to my mind anymore.

Once Peeta has picked up a good-sized basket of berries and mint leaves, we check his snares. He is a natural at it. He learned faster than I did when I was trying to learn. He catches two squirrels and a rabbit. Not bad for his first time. We take my game bag back to the house, and walk over to Annie's to pick up Primrose.

We get home and go to bed early. Its been an exhausting day. I wake up to the sound of crying. That cant be good. Prim never wakes up during the night now. Shes old enough to sleep all through the night, if you call four months old. Finn doesn't cry this late because he is sound asleep by now. I look at the clock on my bedside table. 1:28 am. I walk down the hall just to make sure Prim is ok. But she isnt. She is the one crying. She feels a little feverish, so I wake Peeta, bundle Prim in a blanket, and drive to Dr. Aurelius.

"Prim has colic."

"What is that?" Peeta asks, sounding genuinely concerned.

"It happens with a baby's stomach. It usually developes at her age, and is not life-threatening. She will have an upset stomach frequently for the next six months, and her side effects will wear off by the time she is about a year."

"What are the side effects?" I ask.

"Just the usual upset stomach problems, minor vomiting, spitting up milk more, because of the air in her bottle, so make sure to burp her every 3 minutes or so. The best thing to do for her is to rock her, sing to her, get her mind off the pain."

"Thank you so much!" We say in unison.

"Im glad you came when you did and took care of the situation."

"What would happen if we didnt come on time?" Peeta asks.

"The important thing is, you got her here." He says, dodging the question. But Peeta and I both know what the answer to his question is, without saying anything. Its all my fault. Prim(sister) and I both had colic when we were infants, just about the sam age as the newer Prim. Peeta says I cant blame myself for this, but I ignore it.

We go home and rest. Dr. Aurelius gave me some medicine to help Prim while shes sleeping. It takes some of the pain away, but not all of it. She wakes us both up at least 3 nights a week. But its ok. I just get that feeling that Im doing an ok job of taking care of my baby.