Everlasting

Chapter 7

Katniss P.O.V.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," I say as I softly shake Willow's shoulder. "Time to get ready for school." She opens one eye and groans.

"Mommy, I wanna stay home," she says sleepily. I laugh a little and move her hair out of her eyes.

"After today, you get two days out of school for the weekend," I tell her. "Come on, lazy." I try to pull her up, but he flops back down on the bed. "I'll get Daddy up here."

"I not scared of him," Willow says.

I laugh at her. "I'll get Daddy to tickle you." Willow quickly sits up.

"I'm up!" she squeals. I laugh as she hurries out of her bed.

"Get dressed," I tell her. "Daddy's downstairs cooking breakfast." Willow nods and I leave her room to go check on Rye. He's still sleeping, thankfully so I go downstairs to the kitchen where Peeta's at. I walk over to him and wrap my arms around him from behind.

"Good morning," I say as I rest my head on Peeta's back between his shoulder blades. Peeta turns around to wrap his arms around me.

"Good morning," Peeta says as he kisses me. "Did you sleep good?"

I give him a look. "Peeta, we have a five week old son," I say. "None of us have slept good since Rye's been born." Peeta chuckles and rests his head against mine.

"You hear that?"

"Hear what?" I ask him.

"Exactly," Peeta says. "We have two kids. When things get this quiet, it can only mean one thing."

"Willow's up to something," I say Peeta laughs and nods his head. "I'd better go check on her then," I say as I kiss Peeta's cheek.

"Tell her breakfast is almost ready," Peeta says. I nod my head and start upstairs. I check in Willow's room first, but she's not there. I then go into the nursery, and my heart literally melts at the sight before me.

Willow is sitting in the floor beside Rye's crib with a book in her lap, reading to her little brother. I can tell by the way that she's looking at Rye and not the book, that she's not really reading. She's memorized the book where Peeta and I have read it to her, and she's reciting it to Rye.

I quietly go back downstairs to the kitchen.

"Peeta," I say quietly. He turns around to look back at me, and I nod toward the stairs. He gives me a look, but follows me anyways. When we reach the nursery, Peeta smiles real wide. He sets his hands on my shoulders, and I smile up at him.

"I knew she'd be a great big sister," I say. Peeta nods his head and leans down to kiss me. When Willow gets done, she stands up and reaches between the bars on the crib to gently grab Rye's little hand.

"I love you, baby Rye," Willow says softly. Peeta and I smile at her, and it's in this moment that I know we're definitely raising our babies up right. 
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"Mommy, guess what," Willow says as she comes running through the door.

"What?" I ask Willow as she crawls up into my lap.

"I did not cry today at stool!" she says excitedly. I smile at her.

"That's good, baby girl," I say as I kiss the top of her head. Peeta walks over to me and picks Rye up out of his bassinet.

"Do you have any homework?" Peeta asks her. She shakes her head and hops down out of my lap. "Where are you going?"

"To take my backpack to my room," Willow says. "I will be in trouble with Mommy if I leave it in the living room." Peeta laughs at her as she drags her backpack up to her room.

"So how'd he do today?" Peeta asks as he sits down beside of me.

"He was a good baby," I say as I run my thumb over Rye's cheek. Rye looks up at Peeta and his eyes widen. "Who is that, Rye?" I ask. He switches his attention to me and I smile at him. "Were you looking at Daddy?" Rye stretches out and makes that squeaking noise. "Oh goodness." Rye sticks his tongue out of his mouth and closes his eyes. "Are you sleepy?" I ask him.

"I think he is," Peeta says as he nods his head.

"You had a long nap while ago," I tell Rye.

"Mommy, I can rock Rye to sleep?" Willow asks as she comes back down the steps.

"Of course you can, Willow," I tell her as Peeta helps her up onto the couch. I go to lay Rye down in her arms, but she crawls up into my lap.

"I wanna hold Rye this way," Willow tells me. I smile at her and Peeta helps me lay Rye down in Willow's arms as I move my arms to go around Willow.

"Is that better?" I ask her. Willow nods her head and slowly starts to rock Rye back and forth. Peeta sits back down beside of us and wraps an arm around my shoulders. He puts his free arm under Willow's so he can help her support Rye. I lay my head over on Peeta's shoulder and he kisses my forehead. In a few minutes, Peeta looks down and chuckles.

"They're both asleep," he says. I look down to see that Willow's head has fallen to the side and her arms have gone limp. Rye is now laying in Peeta's free arm, sleeping peacefully.

"I'm glad she's feeling better," I say as I move Willow's hair out of her face. "I was so worried about her."

"I know," Peeta says. "But she seems to be doing a lot better now."

"Gosh, I can't believe how far we've come," I say. Peeta shakes his head.

"Me neither," he says. "I'm glad that they can grow up with a better childhood than we did." I look down at our babies and nod.

"It makes everything so worth it," I say. "If I knew that this was the outcome, I'd go through it all over again."

"Me too," Peeta says as he kisses me. "I'm glad we didn't give up." I look up at him and smile.

"Sometimes I wish that we hadn't had such a rough past," I admit. "But then I think about everything that would be different, and I realize that I wouldn't have it any other way."
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Okay. So I haven't forgotten that I told you all I'd write a Selection fanfiction, but it may still be a while because *drumroll* Im thinking about writing an actual book!! There's a program at the library near my house that helps you publish books and I'm checking into it!!