Together

Chapter 7

Peeta P.O.V.

"Come on, Willow. Walk to Daddy," I say as Katniss lets go of her. Willow sits down and takes off crawling towards me.

"No, Willow," Katniss says as she stands up off the ground and picks Willow up. "You're supposed to walk to Daddy. Not crawl "

"We might as well give up, Katniss," I say as I also stand up off the floor. "We've been at this for almost two hours and she hasn't showed the slightest interest in walking."

We both sit down on the couch and Willow crawls over to my lap.

"I was hoping she'd be walking at least by her first birthday," Katniss says.

"I don't think that's going to happen," I say with a laugh. "Her birthday is tomorrow, you know."

"I know," Katniss sighs.

"What's the rush anyways? I mean, don't we want her to stay little as long as she can?"

"Yes," Katniss laughs. "But she's got to learn to walk sometime, and most kids are walking by their first birthday."

"Well, our baby will be an exception then," I say.

Katniss shakes her head and looks down at Willow. "She's out of it," she says smiling. I look at Willow to see her little eyes are closed and her little mouth is hanging open.

"I knew she was getting tired," I say as I move Willow's hair out of her face.

"She wouldn't take a nap this afternoon and she almost fell asleep during dinner," Katniss says.

"She didn't sleep good last night either," I add.

"Which reminds me," Katniss says. "I meant to ask you this morning if you had any nightmares last night."

I shake my head. "Katniss, you don't have to ask me every day."

"I know," she says as she leans her head over on my shoulder. "I was just wondering." I laugh and wrap my free arm around her shoulders. I lay my head over on Katniss's head, and it's not long until we're all three asleep.

I wake up when Willow starts crying, but Katniss is already awake and tending to her.

"Shh. Go back to sleep baby girl," Katniss whispers to Willow. "You're okay." Willow continues to cry, and Katniss tries to calm her down. "You need to stop crying. You'll wake Daddy up."

"Too late," I chuckle as I sit up straighter. Willow looks up at me and I frown. "What's the matter?" I ask her. She looks around for a minute with a confused look on her face.

"She's so used to sleeping in the nursery, she probably woke up and didn't know where she was at," Katniss says.

"Probably," I say as I rub Willow's back to calm her down. "It's okay, Willow. Mommy and Daddy are right here." She lays her head back down on my shoulder and sniffles. "I'm going to take her on upstairs to the nursery," I say as I stand up off the couch.

Katniss follows me upstairs and goes into our bedroom, and I take Willow into the nursery. Surprisingly, she doesn't fuss when I lay her down. I make sure she's asleep before I go back to our bedroom. Katniss is already laying down, so I lay down beside of her and wrap my arms around her.

"Did she fall asleep?" Katniss asks as she turns over on her side to face me.

"Yeah, she did," I reply.

"Good. Maybe she'll sleep the rest if the night. She's been waking up crying a lot."

"I think she's figured out that when she cries, someone is going to run in there and pick her up."