Katniss&Peeta-Forever&Always

Not the only one

September 24th

KATNISS POV

I stare blankly into space as I lay in the hot bath filled with bubbles. I have stopped taking showers now as it hurts my back if I stay standing for too long. My swollen stomach peaks out of the water, and I pour the warm water over it as my babies always seem happy when warm water runs over my stomach. Peeta always questions me on how I know when they are happy. Gut feeling, I guess.

When I feel that my fingers are starting to get wrinkly I call for Peeta to help me out of the bath. Peeta has been so amazing as I can barely do anything by myself because my stomach is so big. I can hear his heavy footsteps running up the stairs. He is taking two at a time and I think he trips a few times; He tries his best with his prosthetic leg, but I know it's difficult for him.

He appears at the bathroom door a minute later and I can't help but smile at him. He walks over to the bath and I gather some bubbles and blow them in his face. He laughs and leans down to kiss me. There are bubbles on his lips and the kiss tastes soapy. We break away and I reach out my hands, signalling for him to help me out of the bath. He wraps an arm around my waist and holds one of my hands as I get out of the bath. The cold breeze hits me immediately and Peeta wraps a towel around my shivering body.

"Thank you." I say and he kisses me on the forehead.

"No problem." He says and leads me into our bedroom and helps me get dressed. It is so hard to do anything with my ever-growing stomach.

+++++

Peeta places a meal of beef stew and cheese buns in front of me and sits down opposite with the same thing.

"It's so weird having my family live across the street." Peeta says. His family moved into one of the empty houses in the victors village last week.

"I know. I mean, even I find it odd. I can't imagine what it's like for you." I say.

"Sometimes, I wish they never came back." He says, staring at his stew. It catches me off guard and I start to get quite defensive.

"Why?" I say, raising my voice more than I should have, but I don't stop. "Do you know what I would do to have my family back?"

"Katniss calm down-" He begins but my anger takes over.

"Don't tell me to calm down. My sister is dead, Peeta! My innocent thirteen year old sister was killed in the war. My father was blown to bits in a mining explosion and my mother died from a disease!" I shout, getting more angry with every word that falls out.

My voice must anger Peeta as he stands up and shouts, "At least your family actually loved you, Katniss. I was abused by my mother for years and there was nothing I could do about it! Don't talk to me about losing your family Katniss because if you had forgotten I lost mine too. For years I had believed they were dead, only to find out they were alive."

We have never gotten this angry with each other before, but arguing about our families is a sensitive subject for both of us and it hurts even more.

I am also on my feet now and before I can even think about it, I blurt out, "You're so selfish Peeta! You know sometimes, I wonder why the hell I married you!" With that I walk out of the front door, slamming it in Peeta's face.

I stand on the steps outside our house and the reality of what I just said to Peeta is dawning on me. The tears begin to fall and I run to the only place I can think of, Haymitch's house.

I walk as fast as I can to Haymitch's house. Every tear I wipe from my cheek is immediately replaced by another and soon they become sobs.

I burst through the door and stand in the door way sobbing. Effie must have been visiting Haymitch as she wraps her arms around me. I cry into her shoulder for a while before she leads me over to the couch.

I calm down enough for Effie to begin questioning me.

"Darling, what happened?" She asks, rubbing my back.

My voice quivers but I answer her question. "Peeta and I got into an argument about our families." I should say more but I can't, the memories are too painful.

"It couldn't have been that bad." Haymitch says from his arm chair that has been used so much it has changed to fit his shape.

"It was horrible." I say. "He didn't mean anything by what he said, I just took it the wrong way and got really angry and I said the most awful things to him."

"What did you say sweetie?" Effie asks softly.

"I told him that he was selfish and-" I begin but I can't get the rest out.

"And what?" Haymitch asks.

"I told him that sometimes I wonder why I married him." I say, tears falling down my face.

"Do you?" Haymitch says.

My head shoots up to look at him, to see if he is serious; he is.

I shake my head. "No of course not. I love him more than anything."

Effie seems to relax a little, knowing I really do love Peeta.

"Can I stay here tonight? I can't face him yet." I ask Haymitch

"Yeah, course you can, sweetheart." He says

"You need to relax a little, darling. You're lucky these babies didn't come today. Sometimes that happens with stress." Effie tells me, rubbing my stomach.

I realise that I should be more careful so when Effie says she's going to head home, I go to bed and try to get some sleep.

I lay in the bed in Haymitch's spare bedroom and stare at the ceiling, rubbing my stomach, when Haymitch comes in.

I show a small smile in thanks for letting me stay here. He walks over and sits on the edge of the bed. "I phoned Peeta, letting him know that you're staying here tonight so he didn't worry."

I nod but feeling a little ashamed that I didn't think of that. "How did he sound?"

"All right, I think. He was more worried about you though. Asking if you and the babies were okay."

"And I called him selfish." I say.

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. He isn't angry." He says. "Get some sleep."

I nod and he kisses me lightly on the forehead; like my father used to do.

AUTHORS NOTE:

I hope you all had a good Christmas (or whatever you celebrate!) Also, a good new year!!

First update of 2015, woo!!

Thank you for reading, commenting and voting! It means so much!!

Twitter - @peetasbread7

- Megan x