After the Rebellion

I Can't Imagine Life Without Them

*Katniss's POV*

When Peeta, Willow, and I walk out the front doors of the hospital, there are many reporters and such from the Capitol. Not enough to swarm us, but it's enough to make Willow cry out.

"That sounded like a baby!"

"I think there's a baby Mellark!"

"You have to get a picture!"

Peeta engulfs me and Willow in his arms, hiding us from the public eye, and pushes his way through the crowd to get to our car. There are camera people there as well. And an old friend or two.

"Katniss Everdeen! It's so good to see you again!" Caesar Flickerman says. "Though I wish it had been under different circumstances. And I wish you would've told me about your baby!" He sounds hurt.

"Caesar, I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but we wanted to do our best to keep the Capitol from finding out. And it's Katniss Mellark now."

"Oh, yes yes. I forgot." He brings me into a hug while I'm still holding Willow.

"Katniss," I hear a different voice say. Still from the Capitol, but so familiar and kind. It could only be...

"Effie! I haven't seen you in ages!" I give her a side hug, sort of, preventing Willow from getting crushed again. Caesar talks to Peeta while I talk to Effie.

"If it's not too much of a bother, I'd like to stay with you and Peeta. And this little one! What's her name?"

"Willow Anabelle Mellark," I whisper to her, not wanting any of the other Capitol people to here.

"Such a beautiful name for a beautiful... baby." I make a mental note to thank her later for not specifying son or daughter.

"Well, you better be off now. You all will need all the rest you can get. Peeta. Katniss. Effie. And little Mellark!" Caesar bows his head to all of us but Willow, who he pokes his finger at. Him and his Capitol posse leave soon after, and I finally can go home and rest. In my own bed.

**************************************

I see her standing in front of me. She's beautiful as always. Brown hair like mine. Almost a complete clone of me. But she has Peeta's eyes. We're playing in the Meadow, spinning around and dancing. That's when I notice her pupils getting larger. Her blue eyes now taken over by complete blackness. She looks just like Peeta when he was hijacked. Suddenly, her hands come to my throat, and I see Peeta. I fall to the ground, my vision clouding around the edges, and black spots appear, but not before I see the form choking me turn to Clove from my first Games. I try to fight, but it was my daughter first, and even though I see Clove, I can't kill her. I've killed too many. Watched too many die. I'm afraid that if I kill "Clove" that I'll see Peeta and Willow dead too. But I'm about to die, so I take action.

I'm not pinned down at the legs this time, so I knee her between her legs, and she jumps and rolls off of me. I try to recover from being choked, but I still feel the pressure of hands on my throat. 'Is this real?' I think to myself. Then I realise it's not. But the pressure doesn't leave. Peeta can't wake me up it seems. I. Can't. Wake. Up.

I wake with the pressure still on my neck, and I see that Peeta is on top of me, having another episode. Things were going so well, that I had thrown out all but one syringe of medication that would calm him down; get him out of his hijacked state long enough that I could recover and help him.

My hand sprawls around on my nightstand, searching for the drawer and inside, the last syringe. Just before I lose all of my air, I stab the needle into Peeta's side, pressing down the plunger. His grip loosens on my neck, but I can only take shallow breaths, and even those are painful.

I hear a cry coming from the nursery, but I still can't get up. I have to help Peeta first before I see to Willow. He may come after both of us if I don't.

I roll onto my side and position Peeta so that he's looking at me, his eyes still black pits of nothingness. I take his face into my hands, forcing him to focus on me.

"Peeta. Peeta, I know you can hear me. You have to fight this. You trying to kill me, me being a mutt, it isn't real. You know what is real? We're married. We have a daughter now. You have the girl you've always dreamed of marrying. That girl is me, and I'm not a mutt." I press my lips to his, hoping that his love for me will break the hijacking. I feel Peeta's arms wrap around my waist and I know that I have him back.

"Did I hurt you? Did I hurt Willow?" Peeta says after we break apart. He looks at my neck and rolls onto his other side, facing away from me.

"I'm sorry, Katniss. You don't need me in your life. I'm just going to hurt you, and I may even hurt Willow." I cover my neck up and walk over to his side of the bed.

"Peeta, you have nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault. You can't control what the Capitol did to you. And if anything, I'm the one that doesn't deserve you. You've been there for me for years, and you were that only one that really loved me. And the only one I ever loved. There's only one thing that's your fault," I say. A scream comes from the nursery. "I love you too much that we had a baby. And now I won't get any sleep," I say playfully, but Peeta takes seriously.

"I sorry, Katniss."

"Peeta, it's okay. We have a daughter that we'll love forever. I didn't mean anything negative by it."

Peeta gets up out of bed, kisses me once more before we both go into the nursery to tend to our newborn daughter.