Life Will Go On - sequel to Our Love Will Remain

Chapter 4

Haymitch just stares at us. What he is seeing right now is Peeta holding my legs which are on both sides of him, and I am wearing worn out shorts and one of Peeta's old shirts, which is way too large for me. It must look weird. He lifts one of his eyebrows.

"Are you taking the monkey home? You've been gone for fifteen minutes and she's already started tearing the house down." he says.

"Oh, there's some important news we'd like to tell both of you." Peeta says, smiling. I kiss his cheek.

"Alright, alright, come in." Haymitch says and steps aside. The second we walk through the door Ivy comes storming towards us.

"Mommy! Daddy! Look what I painted!" she yells, showing us a paper. Peeta puts me down, and she hands the drawing to Peeta. He's the artistic one after all. He looks at it for a while, and then kneels in front of Ivy.

"It's beautiful, Ivy. If we go home, I can give you some real paint and a big paper to paint on. He says 'big paper' because Ivy wouldn't understand if he said 'canvas'.

"Yay!" she squeals and Peeta picks her up.

"We've got some news to tell you in the living room. Haymitch, would you come too?" Peeta says and looks at Haymitch.

"Sure. If you take the monkey with you when you leave." he says, and we walk into the living room. When we have sat down on the couch, placing Haymitch and Ivy on the couch opposite to us, we begin.

"Well, we've been thinking and..." I interrupt Peeta.

"We're having another baby." I blurt out. Ivy looks like she would want to jump up and down, and that is just what she does.

"Yay! Yay! Mommy, can you tell the baby that it should be a girl?" she says between jumps. I laugh a little.

"Honey, you can't choose the gender of the baby. It becomes what it becomes." I say. Ivy looks puzzled.

"What's gender mean, Mommy?" she asks, frowning.

"Gender means if it's a boy or a girl." I say. She looks a little disappointed, but soon lights up again.

"It's okay, Mommy, I'll love the baby even if it's a boy." she says, and jumps into my arms. I hug her tight, and rub her back.

"I love you, Mommy." she says. I kiss her head.

"I love you too, Ivy." I say. I look at Haymitch. He even looks a little excited. I frown. Can that be possible?

"So, when are you planning to start?" he says, raising his eyebrows and winking at us. I look at Peeta.

"As soon as she's sleeping." Peeta whispers to Haymitch so that Ivy won't hear. If she would have, she'll never sleep, waiting for what happens when we think she's sleeping. Haymitch nods and gets up.

"Well, tell me when it's happened." he says. Of course we'll tell him when I'm pregnant.

"Of course." I say. Ivy jumps over to Peeta's lap and he picks her up and gets up from the couch. We walk out of the house, waving goodbye to Haymitch. When we have walked through the door to our own house, Ivy jumps down from Peeta's arms and runs to the sofa. She turns on the TV. We join her, and end up watching some random Capitol talk-show. It soon gets boring, so we decide to go for a walk. We usually do that when we get bored. We walk to the Meadow. When we have passed the fence and sat down on the ground, Ivy asks a question I've been dreading.

"Mommy, where do babies come from?" she asks. Oh no. What should I tell her? I simply can't start explaining the whole progress to her, I would end up laughing or crying of whatever. I just can't do it, okay? Peeta seems to get it.

"Ivy, it's really complicated." he says. I whisper to him:

"You can tell her, but I don't want to hear. I'm not good with words and I couldn't do it. I can't talk about those things with my daughter." I say. I feel like a coward, not even wanting to hear, but Peeta seems to understand. So he grabs Ivy's hand and runs a little towards the woods. They stop when I can't hear them anymore, and he starts explaining. Ivy wrinkles her nose sometimes, but then looks at him with big eyes again. When he is ready, there is a pause. Then Ivy asks something, gesturing with her hands. Huh, I'm glad I don't have to be there. Peeta answers the question and then they walk towards me again. Ivy sits down in my lap and looks at me.

"Mommy, it's gross." she says, smiling a little. I laugh.

"I know. But you'll understand when you're older." I say. No one is expecting a four year old to understand sex. So I just leave it there. Ivy sighs and jumps up from my lap, starting to run towards Peeta. She slaps his leg and shouts:

"Got ya!" and then runs away again. I laugh, and so does Peeta. He takes off towards her. He is faster than her, of course, so he catches up pretty fast. She falls and they roll on the ground, laughing their heads off. I get up and run up to them, and then I throw myself on top of Peeta.

"Where did this beauty come from?" he says playfully, and rolls on top of me. He is careful not to put his whole weight on me. Just as he is about to lean in to kiss me, I roll back so that I am on top.

"I win." I say and smile. Then, I give him a generous kiss on the lips. When I break away, he whines:

"No, I want more." I roll my eyes and lean in again. This time, we kiss until we get interrupted. Ivy nudges my shoulder.

"Mommy, my stomach tells me I'm hungry." she says. I smile and break away. Peeta still doesn't seem satisfied, but he'll get more tonight. We get up and start walking back. Peeta holds my hand and Ivy runs ahead. We usually let her do that, but we don't let her run too far. We meet some of her friends on the way, so she stays to play with them for a while, while we chat with their parents. One of them is a teacher and will be teaching Ivy next year, when she starts kindergarten. When Ivy is ready, we walk home, and Peeta makes us dinner. It's already six o'clock, time has gone fast today. We eat, Peeta made mac and cheese, and then we watch some TV again. They switched peacekeepers for people named polices a few years ago, and now one of them has received an award for something big he's done. When we get bored and Ivy yawns too often, we decide to make her ready for bed and finish the story. So Peeta brushes her teeth and she puts her PJ on, and we tuck her in. We finish the story, happily ever after of course. Then I sing the Valley song for her, and she is sleeping like a log. Me and Peeta walk to our bedroom and I go to brush my teeth. Halfway through Peeta starts kissing my neck. Wow he's impatient. I don't give in, I've decided to brush my teeth. When I'm ready, I turn around and start kissing him. Okay, I admit, I'm not so patient either. We somehow make it back to the bedroom, and fall down onto the bed. Oh, I hope I won't get pregnant just yet. I like trying.