California Love

Chapter 43: The Baby

I open my eyes and see the whole ceiling roof of the hospital room. I sigh and slowly turn my head to the side. I see Prim sitting next to me, holding my hand. "Hey, Primmy." I say tiredly and she smiles widely. "Hey, Kat." She smiles.

"Where's Peeta?" I ask and she looks past me with a huge smile on her face.

I turn my head so I'm facing the other way and I see Peeta sitting in the chair on the opposite side of my bed to Prim. In his arms, he is cradling a small blue bundle of blankets. I feel my eyes fill with tears as Peeta leans down to give me a kiss.

"Do you want to hold Adrian?" He asks and I smile widely, tears pricking my eyes as I remember the name we picked out. I nod my head. "Yes." I whisper and Prim helps me to sit up in bed. Peeta carefully passes Adrian over to me and I wrap my arms around him, his small frame fitting into my arms perfectly. His eyes are closed and his tiny hands open and close until they fist around my finger.

He has a small amount of blond hair and looks exactly like a miniature of Peeta, I can tell already. I lean down and press a kiss to his forehead. I look up and see that Peeta is smiling adoringly down at both of us. "I love you." I say and he leans down and kisses me again. "I love you, too," he says. "I'm so proud of you."

"I'll go and get the others." Prim says as she stands up and walks out the door. Peeta and I stay staring at Adrian until the door bursts open and all our friends come in.

They take turns in passing Adrian around and he, surprisingly, never wakes up. After all our friends leave, both Peeta's and my family walk in. Mrs Mellark stands quietly off to the side as all the Mellarks, Prim and Haymitch hold Adrian. Despite everything she has done to everyone, I suddenly feel sorry for her as I see the tears and sorrow in her eyes.

When Adrian finally gets passed back to me, I hold him out in her direction. "Do you want to hold him?" I ask carefully and Peeta rubs my arm slowly. "Are you sure?" He breathes and I nod. Mrs Mellark takes a few careful steps forward until she smiles widely at me and takes Adrian from my arms.

She rocks him back and forth, smiling widely at him. "Thank you," she whispers to me and I smile. "You're a cute little boy." She coos at Adrian and Peeta wraps his arm around my shoulders. "He looks just like you." She says to Peeta and he smiles widely. Adrian suddenly wakes up, and at first he just makes a few gurgling noise, but eventually he starts to cry and scream.

Mrs Mellark passes him back to me and I rock him back and forth until eventually he calms down. This is the first time I've seen his eyes and I gasp when I see that they are a bright blue. "His eyes," I whisper and Peeta kisses my forehead.

"When can we take him home?" I ask and Peeta glances at the door. "The doctor said in a few days. Everything is fine with Adrian even though he was born early." He says and I sigh with relief.

After everyone has left, I hand Adrian over to Peeta and he puts him gently in the bassinet that is next to my bed. I remember that we were going to have twins and I can't stop myself from imagining having two little babies here instead of just one. We don't even know if it was a girl or boy, it was too early to tell. I feel a tear slip out and Peeta leans over.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asks as he wipes away the tear. "I'm just remembering our other child." I say and Peeta pulls me in for a hug. "We can get a memorial for the baby." He promises as he rubs soothing circles on my back and I nod into his shoulder as my tears soak his shirt.

"I'm sorry." I say as I pull away. "No, you have nothing to be sorry for." I smile gratefully at him and I lean back against the pillows and close my eyes tiredly.

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I groan as I wake up yet again from screaming. I roll away from Peeta as I glance at the clock: 2:04am. Has it really only been half an hour since he woke me up last? I prepare myself to get out of the warm bed until I feel Peeta shift beside me. "I'll get him." He says as he climbs out of bed. "Thanks." I mumble before I'm already half asleep again.

It's been a month since Adrian was born, and if I thought I was tired before he was born, that was nothing compared to this. Slowly I drift back off into another lousy sleep.

When I wake up again, I am surprised that it is morning. I can tell by the light streaming in through the curtains. I look over and see that Peeta is asleep on his back with Adrian lying on his stomach, his tiny hands clenched in fists on his chest.

I smile lazily as Adrian opens his eyes and grins widely at me. He has dribble around his chin.

I flip the covers back and climb out of bed. I slip on a dressing gown over my nightclothes and then walk over to Peeta's side of the bed. I reach down and pull a giggling Adrian off Peeta's chest. "Let's give Daddy some sleep." I say as I kiss Adrian's forehead. I am so thankful that Peeta got up for Adrian last night.

I carry Adrian out and place him in the high chair as I flip on the kettle and lean against the counter, pulling a funny face in Adrian's direction. He giggles and bangs his hand on the tray attached to his chair.

Once the kettle flicks off, I make myself and Peeta a coffee, then take Peeta's to the bedroom and place it on his bedside table. I go back and mix up some of the baby formula Adrian eats. It's disgusting stuff and I can't test it, but he seems to like it.

I sit down at the tables and feed Adrian and I sip my coffee. After I've finished feeding Adrian, I lift him out of the high chair and carry him into mine and Peeta's bedroom. I take a face washer and run it under the water in the bathroom before cleaning all the excess breakfast from Adrian's face. I change Adrian into new clothes and I see Peeta groan and open his eyes.

"Good morning." I say and he smiles lazily at me. "Hey." I lean over and kiss him. "I've got to get ready for work." I say as I hand a loud, giggling Adrian over to Peeta. Just like his father, Adrian is going to be a talker.

"Hey, buddy." Peeta says as he sits up in bed. I walk over to the cupboard and pull out some skinny jeans, a top and a jacket before walking in the bathroom and having a shower and getting ready.

Once I have had breakfast and am ready, I lean over and kiss Adrian's forehead and then kiss Peeta. "I love you, I'll see you soon." I say as I walk towards the door, grabbing my bag on my way. "Love you too!" Peeta shouts as I make my way out the door and to the car.

Once I arrive at work, I see Thresh and Clove are already there. "Hey guys." I say and Thresh looks at the clock. "Just on time." He says and I laugh. "I have a baby." I say with a smile and he laughs. "Yeah, that's why I give you the 11 o'clock shifts." I smile at him and put my bag in my locker out the back.

After a few hours of working behind the counter and serving people, two men walk in. I can't help but look at them suspiciously as they walk up to the counter. I look around for Clove or Thresh, but they are both out the back.

"Can I help you?" I ask and one of them leans closer. "Let's make a deal," he breathes, and his breath reeks of something bad. "You give us all the money here, and no one gets hurt." He says, and I don't know where my surge of confidence comes from, but I lean back and glare at him. "No." I say and and a look of anger spreads across both their faces.

"Did you hear me?" He replies angrily. "Give me the money and no one gets hurt." I am so shaken by the angry tone that I rush to get all the money out of the register and then, as they are leaving, I quickly pick up the phone and dial emergency. As it is ringing, they stop and turn around before they reach the door and I freeze.

"Are you calling the police?" They ask and I shake my head furiously but they don't believe me. The main guy dumps the money on the floor and pulls out a gun.

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Edited by SunshineRainbow7

So this book is really nearly finished and I can't believe how sad it actually is! But don't worry, I have another good plot in mind for my next book ;) hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know it was kinda rushed but I have to end it sooner or later and I'm trying not to drag it out too long. Sorry for the cliffy BTW ;)