Together

Chapter 8

Katniss P.O.V.

I close my eyes and try my best to doze off, but I can't. I have way too much on my mind. That doesn't keep Willow from napping, though.

She lays beside of me on mine and Peeta's bed. Even though I can't sleep, I have nothing better to do than lay here beside of her. I try my best to clear my mind, but nothing works. I sit on the edge of the bed and put my fingertips to my temples. By the time Peeta gets home, I'm a nervous wreck. When I hear the front door open, I carefully stand up off the bed so I don't wake Willow up, and I go downstairs to greet Peeta at the door.

When I reach the last step, Peeta looks up at me and smiles. "Hey," he says.

I go over to him and wrap my arms around his neck as I bury my face in his shoulder. "We need to talk."

He pulls me back and gives me a concerned look. "Is everything okay?"

I take a deep breath. "I don't know," I choke out.

"Come here," Peeta say as he places a hand on my back. He leads me over to the couch and we both sit down facing each other. "Kat, what's wrong? Is Willow okay?"

"She's okay. She's upstairs sleeping," I say. As if on cue, Willow lets out a loud squeal. I laugh a little. "Well, she was sleeping. I'll go get her."

Before I can stand up, Peeta puts his hand on my arm. "She'll be okay for right now," Peeta says. "Just tell me what's bothering you."

"Okay," I say as I take a deep breath. "Peeta, I..." I can feel myslef begin to shake and I decide to just say it and get it over with. "I think I'm pregnant again." A huge grin spreads across Peeta's face, and I can't help but feel myself relax a little bit. "You're not mad?"

Peeta chuckles. "Of course not," he says as he takes my hands in his. "Honey, why on earth would I be mad about this?"

"Well, we haven't really talked about having another baby," I reply. "This is sort of a surprise. I mean, we weren't trying for a baby."

"Katniss, if you are pregnant, it is definitely unplanned," Peeta says. "But I'll still love the baby as much as I love Willow, and I certainly don't see it as a mistake."

"I know," I say.

"Then why are you still shaking?" Peeta asks. His expression falls into a frown. "You don't see this as a mistake, do you?"

"No! No way!" I reply quickly. "I guess I'm just nervous. Willow's only eighteen months old. Could we really handle her and a newborn baby right now?"

"Katniss, we've survived two Hunger Games together. I'm pretty sure we can survive raising two kids together," Peeta says.

I smile at him and shake my head. "I worry too much, don't I?"

Peeta shrugs. "Maybe just a little bit," he says as he smiles back at me. Willow squeals out again and I laugh.

"I'd better go get her before she starts crying," I say.

"Wait a minute," Peeta says. "Have you made an appointment with the doctor yet?"

"Yeah," I reply. "I go tomorrow at three. I also called Mom to see if she could watch Willow for us, but I only told her that you and I had somewhere we needed to be. She replied with she'd be happy to watch Willow for us, but only if we'd let her stay all night." Peeta laughs and shakes his head. He opens his mouth to say something, but that's when we hear a loud thud and the sound of glass breaking coming from upstairs.

"Willow!" I say as I jump up off the couch. I go racing up the stairs with Peeta following me close behind. I run to our bedroom to find Willow sitting on the edge of the bed and looking down at the lamp laying on the floor.

When I go racing across the room, I'm not thinking about the glass from the broken light bulb.

"Hold on," Peeta says as he pulls back on my arm. "I'll get her. You just stay here." Peeta walks over to the bed and Willow starts backing up. "Come here," Peeta says as he sits down on the bed. "You're not in trouble."

Willow slowly crawls over to Peeta and he picks her up. "Mama," Willow squeals as she reaches out for me. Peeta brings Willow over to me and she jumps out of his arms and into mine.

"What happened?" I ask Willow. "Did you just decide you didn't like the lamp?"

"I think she was trying to get this," Peeta says as he picks Willow's bear up off the floor.

I can't help but to roll my eyes. "She hasn't let that out of her sight since her birthday," I say.

When Willow sees her bear, her eyes widen. "Mine," she says as she points to it. Peeta laughs and hands it to her.

"I'm going to go downstairs and start fixing supper," I say.

"Okay," Peeta replies. "I'm going to clean this up."

"All right. Just make sure you get all the glass picked up."

"I will," Peeta assures me. I nod my head and walk downstairs with Willow. I sit Willow down in her high chair before I begin to cook.

Willow stays content until we start eating. That's when she decides to start throwing her cup onto the ground. When Peeta picks Willow's cup up for the fifth time, he sets it on the table out of Willow's reach. Of course, Willow starts throwing an absolute fit.

"Settle down," Peeta tells her. She pushes her plate off her high chair tray and it hits the floor. I turn my head away because I know what's going to happen if she doesn't stop. Peeta picks her plate up and sets it down on the table beside of her cup.

"Willow," I say softly, trying to calm her down. She looks at me but continues to fuss. "You need to stop so you don't get in trouble." Willow starts hitting her little fists against her high chair.

Peeta finally stands up. "Okay, I think it's bed time," Peeta says as he picks Willow up out of her high chair. He takes Willow upstairs and I just sit and listen to her cries get quieter and quieter. I eventually start cleaning up the kitchen.

I'm finishing cleaning Willow's mess up when I hear Peeta coming down the stairs. It's not long until his strong arms wrap around my waist from behind. I lay my head on his shoulder and look up at him.

"She's still crying," I say.

"I know," Peeta replies softly. "I tried to get her to go to sleep, but she refused. I don't know why she's so grumpy all of a sudden."

I shrug my shoulders. "She's probably just tired, or she may not be feeling too good," I say. Everything's quiet for a while. Just the sounds of Willow's muffled crying that's slowly killing me on the inside.

Peeta turns me around by my waist so I'm facing him. "What we were talking about earlier," Peeta says. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah," I reply. "I'll just feel a lot better after tomorrow once we know for sure and we make sure everything is okay."

"Well, let me tell you something," Peeta says as he takes both of my hands and pulls me into a tight embrace. "Everything is just fine." All I can do is rest my head against his chest and hope that he's right.

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I was going to make this chapter a little longer, but week before last was my fall break. We went camping with my family and I didn't get anything done so I had to quickly get the chapter wrote when I had the chance.