Everlasting

Chapter 19

Katniss P.O.V.

I open my eyes to see Peeta's still asleep. I give him a soft kiss, and he slowly wakes up. He smiles tiredly at me.

"Good morning," he says softly as he brings a hand up to caress my cheek.

"Good morning," I reply. Peeta runs his thumb over my cheek and I close my eyes.

"I love you," he says softly. I smile and open my eyes again.

"I love you too," I tell him. He kisses me again and moves a little so he's hovering over me. "I'm really considering asking Mom if she'll take the kids every othet weekend," I say.

Peeta laughs. "You know you'd miss them too much." I give him a look. "Fine," he says. "We'd both miss them too much."

"What about every third weekend?"

Peeta smiles at me. "Sounds good to me," he says.

"I'm surprised that mom hasn't called begging us to take them back."

Peeta chuckles. "Yeah. Like that's ever going to happen." I laugh a little and Peeta kisses me again. I wrap my arms around his back.

"I love you," I says softly. He smiles at me.

"I love you too," Peeta says. His lips move to my neck, and we spend the the rest of the morning proving just how much we love each other.
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"Willow, stop!" Peeta tells her sternly. Her and Rye haven't even been home for an hour, and Willow's already been in trouble twice.

"But I wants to play with Rye," Willow says as she clings to the bassinet.

"He's sleeping right now," I tell her.

"But, Mommy…"

"Willow, if you wake Rye up, then I'm going to spank you because I've already told you to leave him alone," Peeta tells her. "Now quit pulling on the basinet before you flip it over and hurt your brother." Willow jut stares at Peeta as she slowly reaches over to touch Rye.

I know what she's doing. She's testing Peeta to see how far she can push him.

"Willow," I warn her. But she doesn't listen. When Willow thinks we're not looking, she leans over the basinet again, flipping it over in the process. I gasp and quickly catch it before Rye falls out. He screams to the top of his lungs as I pick him up out of the bassinet.

Peeta doesn't say a word. He just stands up and scoops Willow up into his arms. He start upstairs with her and she starts screaming.

"No, Daddy! No!" Willow cries. "I promise I'll be good, Daddy! I promise!" When I hear her bedroom door shut, I take a deep breath and look back down at Rye.

"You're okay, baby boy," I says softly, trying to calm him down. "You're okay. Mommy's got you." I grab Rye's pacifier and put it in his mouth. He continues to let out small whimpers, but eventually stops. And that's when Willow lets out a loud cry. I flinch a little, but I knew it was coming.

Peeta never spanks Willow right away. He always talks to her first and makes sure she knows why she's in trouble. It's not long until Peeta comes down the steps and sits down beside of me on the couch.

"Are you okay?" Peeta asks when he sees that I'm shaking.

"Yeah," I reply. "My heart's just racing." Rye's paci falls out of his mouth, and his screams start again.

"Do you think he's okay?" I ask Peeta worriedly.

"He's fine," Peeta says. "He just got scared I think."

I laugh a little bit. "I think we all did." Peeta reaches over to wipe Rye's tears away with his thumbs. I look at Peeta and smile.

"Are you wanting to hold him?" I ask Peeta. He just smiles at me, and I pass Rye over to him. "I think I'll go upstairs and talk to Willow," I say. Peeta nods his head and I start upstairs.

"Willow, sweetie," I say as I open her door. She's sitting on her bed with her arms crossed and a pout on her face. She has tears falling down her face, and I can hear her sniffle every so often.

"Willow," I say as I sit down on the bed beside of her. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah," she says quietly. "I'm not mad at you."

"Then who are you mad at?" I ask her, even though the answer is obvious.

"Daddy."

"And why are you mad at Daddy?"

"'Cause him spanked me," she says. I take a deep breath.

"Willow, do you know that you could have hurt Rye really bad?" I ask her. She slowly nods her head.

"Daddy told me," she says.

"Honey, Rye's really small, and he's a lot more fragile than you think," I tell her. "He's not a baby doll, so you have to be really, really careful with him. You'd better be glad that Rye didn't hit the floor."

"I know," Willow says as tears falls own her face.

"Willow, I'm not trying to scare you," I tell her. "But Daddy told you to stop, and you didnt. You did something you weren't supposed to to…"

"I know," she says. "Daddy already told me."

"I know he did, Willow," I tell her. "But I'm trying to make you see that you shouldn't be mad at Daddy."

"But him hurt me."

"No he didn't, Willow," I tell her. "I know to you that it seems like he hurt you, but if Daddy hadn't spanked you, then you would've kept doing what you weren't supposed to do. Rye could have been seriously injured, but he wasn't because Daddy spanked you, and now you know not to do that anymore."

"I'm sorry," she says.

"Well, if you're really sorry, then you won't do that again, and you'll start minding Daddy." Willow nods and I kiss the top of her head. "You want to come back downstairs?"

"No," she says as she shakes her head. "Daddy said I gots to sit her until him says I don't gots to."

"Okay," I say as I give her a little hug.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, baby girl?"

"I not meant to almost hurt my brudder."

"I know, Willow," I tell her. "He's fine." Willow slowly nods her head, and I go back downstairs.