One-Shots (The Hunger Games)

One Shot 5

Katniss

"Mommy?" My five-year-old daughter, Rosalyn, chirps dragging out the 'y'. She looks up at me with those big blue eyes that she got from Peeta. Her unkempt, raven hair sticks out at random places and is looking a bit too long for her small size. I remind myself to make an appointment at the hairdresser. I mean, she can't show off her Inside Out T-shirt when her hair is covering all the characters.

"Yes, love?" I ask, stirring the Minion-shaped Mac&Cheese in the cooking pot.

"Is the Macacheese ready yet?" Her stuffed animal, Stuffy, is being held on to by his ears which she sometimes tries to knot together. "Oh! And don't forget to leave some for Killian when he wakes up!"

"That's really sweet of you, honey, but Killian can't eat Mac&Cheese." I explain, turning off the stove and grabbing her favorite Doc McStuffins bowl.

"But...but why not?" She asks. Her eyes are now filled with pure disappointment and gloom. I smile when I think of the day we told her she was going to be a big sister. She thanked us and asked us where the baby was, but we told her she had to wait a long time. It saddened her, though it didn't stop her from bragging about it in school.

Then when the bump started to show, she told me not to eat too many cookies like I often tell her. I laughed and told her it was the baby. That information horrified her and she asked if it hurt. No, not yet, I thought. I didn't tell her that though. I said it didn't and that I was fine.

We went to visit Annie and Finnick when I was pregnant for 5 months. I had started feeling the stronger kicks around that time, which was earlier than I had felt Rosalyn. She liked to put her head against my stomach and pretend to have a conversation with the him.

She played with Kale, Annie and Finnick's son, who is 2 years older than her, but enjoyed the company. She told him how good of a sister she would be and how she would protect him from the dentist (she hates the dentist).

I guess after waiting 9 months, she is losing her patience and is constantly asking him to play on the swings to which he answers with a gurgle. Eventually Peeta goes to play with her on the swings and plays tag with her.

"Because he's not old enough." I fill the bowl with an amount I'm sure she will eat and leave the rest for if she wants more. I know for a fact she won't eat all of it and set the have of it in a plastic box and in the fridge. I squat down to her height and move her hair because her ears. "But I promise you that you can eat Mac&Cheese with him all the time once he is old enough."

"But if he can't eat Macacheese, what does he eat?" She shuffles to the corner of the kitchen and pushes the steps that her godmother, Johanna Mason, so kindly made for her, to where we the cups are. She goes up the steps and hands me her prefered cup that she chose from the variety of colors we bought.

"Uhm, well. He's bigger now and is learning to eat baby food." I fill her half her cup with icetea and hand her after she has moved the steps back in its place.

She pads over to the living room where we have our "Fun Fridays" as she likes to call it. It's not anything extravagant, just us watching Disney movies and bonding. Good ol' mommy-daughter time. I love it.

"Then, what did he eat when he wasn't bigger?" She hands me the remote and I turn on the TV, which is already on Disney Channel.

"He didn't really eat. He just drank milk. So did you."

"Oh." For a moment she doesn't say anything. Then she speaks up again. "Didn't I get hungry?"

"No. Babies are supposed to only drink milk." There currently aren't any shows playing that she likes, so I open Netflix and click on the Kids profile. "So, what do you wanna watch?"

"Uhm." She ponders for a moment and stares at the screen. "The mermaid one!" She points to the three girls laying on their stomach fins behind hem.

"Mako Mermaids? Okay." I press the button and find out it's a TV show. Oh, well. She won't know. "Do you believe in mermaids?"

"Yes, mommy. Kale says they're real. Kale's 7, so he knows everything." I says, calmly eating the food while talking.

"Don't talk while you're eating, love." I run my hands through her thick hair. She really is beautiful. Olive skin, long, dark hair, and piercing blue eyes aren't usually traits that a five-year-old has. I'm really not looking forward to her teen years.

I'm not actually looking at the show, just nodding and agreeing when she says, "WOW! Did you see that, mommy?! Did you see that?" In truth, I'm listening to the vague sounds of Peeta singing to Killian. He's not an award winning singer, but he isn't bad. Eventually Killian's crying simmers down and I smile at how Peeta managed to do that.

Only seconds later he walks in the living room and smiles at us. Rosalyn's head is resting against my arm and her short legs are resting on my thighs. Her bowl of Mac&Cheese has been set on the coffee table and she is as good as asleep.

Have I really been listening to Peeta all that time? Rosalyn isn't a fast eater and doesn't doze off just like that. But once she is asleep, she won't wake up until she has had at least 10 hours of sleep.

Peeta ambles to us and sits down next to me. Our lips meet and I still get that tingle I got when we first kissed as teenagers. Rosalyn wasn't exactly planned, but she is the best thing ever to happen to us along with Killian.

"Look at my beautiful wife and daughter, who I both love very, very much." I smile and peck him on the lips again. "You want me to bring her to bed?"

"No," I say. "Stay with us."

He hugs us tighter and says, "Always."