Our Love is Complete

Chapter 3

The whole drive to the hospital is agony. My stomach turns, doing flips, rolling down hills. I feel so weak and nauseous. When we finally pull into the parking lot, Peeta nearly has to carry me in the door. He sets me down in a chair and I sit with my head between my knees. I hear Peeta talk to the man at the front desk. The bile comes back up and I proceed to vomit into a garbage bucket next to me. The man's eyes grow wide and Peeta and he rush over to me.

"Hello, Katniss. My name is Jamie. Can you stand up for me?"

I nod, and slowly stand up on wobbly legs. Jamie exchanges a few words with Peeta I can't hear, and Peeta runs out of the room for a few minutes. He returns with a wheelchair. I feel relieved and panicked at the same time. Before long, I'm lying down on a bed in a room that smells of antiseptic and sleep syrup. Peeta comes and sits with me

while we wait for the doctor. No words are spoken. Peeta just strokes my braid as my head pounds and my eyes threaten to give way.

"I love you."

Those three words somehow escape my mouth. I wasn't thinking them and I wasn't even thinking of Peeta. I gaze into his eyes and think about the color blue. A lot of things have been blue in my past. The color of Prim's hair ribbon. The color of my reaping dress. The color of the ocean in my second Games. The color of the sky in the Meadow on a clear day. I get lost in thought until I feel a drip of water on my arm. I look at Peeta again and find that he's crying. I reach up with a shaky hand and caress his cheek. He then holds that hand and presses it to his lips. A few more tears.

"You're so beautiful and strong, I don't know how you do it," he whispers into my hand with a cry that sounds like a hiccup. "All I've ever done is nearly kill you a few times."

I'm angered by these words.

"Peeta," I say, trying to keep my words steady, "That is the biggest lie I have ever heard. Ever. You gave me something to fight for. You gave me something to do with my life. Most of all, you gave me a beautiful child and I love her so much. As I do you. Never think those words again. Seriously."

He's weeping silently now, holding my hand and letting the tears drip onto the back of it. I lift up my hand and wipe them away. He looks down at me, blue eyes glistening, and he looks about seven years old. His expression makes my lips tremble and it's all I can do to kiss him hard on the lips. He pulls back after a minute and says, "You'll get better. Real or not real?"

I reply, "Real."

Just as I settle myself in my bed again, the doctor comes in. She's older, probably around 50 or so. She has long gray hair, almost down to her behind and icy blue eyes. Small wrinkles line her eyes and it makes her look comforting, like my mother but with gray hair.

"Hello, Katniss. Peeta," she reaches over my bed and shakes Peeta hand. He's still a little red from the breakdown, but if the lady notices it, she's definatly not acknowledging it.

"My name is Janelle. So you're not feeling well. Let me tell you what the heck I'm going to do to you and then we'll get started, okay?"

She gives me a sweet smile. She explains to me that she's going to take my temperature just like Peeta did back at home. If I'm really sick, then she'll have me go home with some

medicine and stay in bed for a few days. Then, something dawns on me. What if...what if I'm pregnant?

Janelle takes my temperature, which went down quite a bit, down to 99.8. I don't feel like I have to throw up anymore. Then she asks me.

"This might be an awkward question for you two, but have you had intercourse recently?"

My face flushes instantly, but Peeta shows no sign of embaressment.

"Yes," he replies evenly.

Janelle nods, types something into a computer, then says, "Okay. So Katniss, I'm going to wheel you in your bed upstairs into the maternity wing. We need to see if you had a very intense morning sickness or if you really are sick."

Without another word, she goes to the foot of my bed, clicks something, then I'm being wheeled out of the room. I squeeze Peeta's hand and he squeezes back, letting him know I'm okay. When we reach the maternity wing, a rush of déjà vu runs through me. In minutes, I'm being brought into a new room, hooked up to the ultrasound, and the jelly is being rubbed on my tummy. The image pops up onto the screen, and all I see in my untrained civilian eyes is blackness. But Janelle with her doctor eyes can obviously see something.

She smiles big and says, "Mellarks, I'm happy to tell you you're expecting a baby."