Maybe It Can Be Real

Chapter 66

Ending of last chapter:

I'm going to make sure she has a good, happy, and fulfilling life. She will not grow up with the same fear and sadness that Peeta and I did. I'll be damned before that happens. I know Peeta feels the same way, so there's no doubt in my mind that she won't. If Peeta and I want something, we get it.

And we want that most in the world.

****

Frustrated, with tears brimming my eyes, I complain, "Willow, please baby, go to sleep! You cry all the time because you're tired, but you never want to go to sleep!" I stroke her cheek with my hand, gently rocking her back and forth in hopes to lull her to sleep. "Please sleep, sweet girl. You'll feel so much better!"

Amazingly, Willow falls silent after a moment, her striking blue eyes looking up at me, then flitting around the room. She's a curious little thing. Always wants to see everything she can.

Then she starts screaming again. Sighing, I just sit there for a moment, wondering how in the heck this baby is going to get anywhere in life with me as her mother. Yeah, I know what I said a few days ago - I want her to have a fantastic life. And I'll work for it. But this is a precarious stage in life right now - I need to raise her correctly so she can actually get to the good part in life.

"Katniss, why are you crying?", Peeta asks as he comes into the room, using his thumbs to wipe off my cheeks.

Sniffing, I reply, "I'm not crying - I don't know what you're talking about. Willow is the one who's crying."

He leans forward and presses a kiss to my forehead. Sending me a half smile, he says, "Okay, sorry, my mistake."

I send him a silent thank you. I don't want to be recognized for crying because I can't get my own child to stop crying.

Softly, he picks Willow up out of my arms. He cradles her against his chest, and she looks so tiny there. So tiny, so fragile. But he's so tender with her. He cradles her neck, and he rubs his thumb up and down her soft cheek. He slowly leans forward and kisses the thin layer of dark hair covering her small head.

"Have you fed her recently?", he asks quietly, not wanting to disturb Willow as she's finally falling asleep.

Nodding tiredly, I reply, "Yes, not too long ago. I was hoping that would make her sleepy, but you saw how well that went."

Peeta walks over to her cradle and gently lays her down in it. He looks at her for a moment, and whispers that he loves her. Then he walks over to me and grabs my hands, pulling me to our room. He doesn't say anything; he knows that I just need him there. He doesn't have to talk to me because his presence alone is enough. Peeta leaves both Willow's and our door open just in case she wakes up.

He pulls me onto the bed with him and pulls me close, cuddling me like we did when we were twenty years old. My, how the time has flown by. It feels like yesterday, when in reality that was, well, twenty years ago. He's not the same boy I knew back then, but then again I'm not the same girl he knew either. That girl, that Katniss, would never have agreed to children. Yet, now we have a little one just a couple doors away.

It's funny how much people change, isn't it? But without those changes, life would be boring. Peeta and I wouldn't have the same dynamic that we do now without Willow, and without our shared history. I wouldn't change much of anything, if I could.