In Another's Eyes

Chapter 10

Peeta

I sit in the waiting room, terrified of what just happened. I knew he wasn't a nice guy. I even suspected he was beating her. But I couldn't imagine this happening.

"Peeta?" I hear my wife say and I raise my head to look up at her from where I sit holding my head.

"I want to apologize to you," I say. "But I can't. I'm not sorry that I fell in love with her. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, but I will never regret any of it. I love her. But I'm the reason this happened to her." Delly just shakes her head.

"Peeta, I've known about her for months," she says. "I'm long past being mad."

"You never said anything," I say.

"I was waiting for you to be honest with me," she says.

"I didn't know how to tell you," I say. "You're my best friend. I cheated on you. I didn't know how to tell you that I wanted to leave you." She looks down.

"She's pregnant," she says. "I don't know how far along. I only know she is and she's sure you're the father."I look at her in shock.

"What?" I ask her.

"You knocked up your mistress!" She says with scorn in her voice. "Is that why you cheated? Because I couldn't give you another one after we lost our daughter?"

"No," I say. "I would never do that. I can't believe you would think that. Katniss never wanted kids. Not with me and defiantly not with her husband. And I didn't try to get her pregnant. I didn't know about any of this."

"Why would you lie to me right now?" She screams at me. "You've been sneaking around with her for months and now she's freaking pregnant! I know I should be mad at her, at that piece of trash that's sitting in there being questioned by the police. But I can't. Because she's not a piece of trash. She is a strong, beautiful woman who just went through something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. So who am I supposed to blame?!"

"Cartwright!" A strong, female voice says and I look up to see a woman who looks vaguely familiar. Her pale blue eyes look commanding and her blonde, nearly white hair is woven into a tight bun beneath a pink and green scrub cap. "Take a walk!"

"Willa," she starts and the attendee just shakes her head and points towards the hall.

"You need to go cool off, right now!" She says. "This an order from your attendee. Go. Take. A Walk!" Delly sends one last glare my way and then turns to her and nods.

"Yes Dr. Everdeen," she says and she walks away, her arms crossed over her chest. As Katniss' mother turns to me, I realize why she seemed so familiar. Katniss shares her bone structure in her cheeks and jaw, she also has the same full lips and long eyelashes. Even though her face has hardened and worry lines cross her face, I can tell she was once a very beautiful woman.

"So," she says. "You must be the one my daughter has been sleeping with, huh?" I look down. Somehow, being spoken to by someone who holds so much authority makes me feel like a child who was called to the principal's office.

"Yes mam," I say looking down.

"You brought her here, so obviously you aren't the one that did this," she says. I just nod.

"She, she said it was Gale," I say. She nods.

"I was there when the police were questioning her," she says. "He confronted her about you, he had caught you two about two weeks ago. She, as you know, is quite defiant. They fought and he is a great deal bigger and stronger than her. I won't hurt you with the details. I'm sure what you think happened is pretty much exactly what happened to her."

"Is she gonna be okay?" I ask.

"They gave her some sedation, so she can maybe get some sleep tonight," she says. "But I think she's still in quite a bit of shock."

"And the, the baby?" I ask. She sighs.

"One of my formal pupils, Addison Montgomery, is going to monitor her for the next few days, but she's very optimistic that it wasn't harmed," she says. "If you're going to worry about one of them, I'd worry about Katniss. She's not gonna just get over this." I nod.

"Can I see her?" I ask. She nods.

"Of course," she says. "I may not be a fan of you. This would never, ever have happened to my daughter. But she is having your child and she needs you right now. She's been asking for you, at least she was before she got a little hazy from the meds." I stand up and she turns her back to me. She starts walking towards the hall opposite of the one she sent Delly down. I follow her to a room and the redhead from earlier exits. She looks grimly at me and then to Katniss' mother.

"He can see her for a while, but she's trying really hard to rest," she says.

"Thank you for taking care of her, Addison," Dr. Everdeen says and she nods.

"It was my pleasure, Willa," she says and she walks away. Willa looks at me with discern and maybe a pity. Then she leaves. I open the door and Katniss groans a little.

"Can't you all just leave me alone?" She says. "I just want to sleep and let this all be over." Her back is turned to me and she pulls her furry blanket that she brought from home closer around her.

"I just wanted to make sure were okay," I say and she rolls over to look at me.

"Peeta?" She asks. I nod.

"I was worried about you," I say.

"I'll be alright," she says. "You shouldn't worry too much. But we do need to talk about something." She sits herself higher in her bed and I just smile as I sit in the chair next to her.

"If it's that I'm gonna be a dad, my very likely soon to be ex-wife kind of beat you to it," I say and a tear slides down her cheek. She buries her face in her hands as she lets out a strangled sob.

"I was going to tell you tonight, I swear," she says. "I wanted to be sure. I didn't want to get your hopes up and then something like what happened to you before happened. Especially given my history."

"History?" I ask her and she shutters a little.

"About a year after we got married," she says. "I got pregnant with Gale's baby. I miscarried about 10 weeks in. I hate to say this, but I was actually kind of relived. I didn't even have my teaching license yet. That gave him all the more reason to try to make me that perfect little housewife he wanted. But as soon as I lost it, I went and studied my butt off, to make sure my second chance wasn't wasted." She looks down at her hands. "But there are still times when I wonder what would have happened had I actually had it. What I would have named him or her and just, would I like my life."

"Well, you get to see now I guess, if that's your choice," I say and she nods.

"I'm not going to get rid of it," she says. "I wouldn't ever do that to you. But I'm not sure if I'm going to want to be in its life."

"What?" I ask her.

"If something happens and we don't make this work and work well before he or she is born, I'm going to give you sole custody," she says. "I don't want confuse things as they grow up. They need someone stable to take care of them."

"We don't need to worry about that though," I say. "Because we've been found out. There's no more hiding and sneaking around. We're both probably gonna go through some really messy divorces, but then, we're gonna finally be happy and be able to raise our little boy or girl like a real family." She looks up at me and nods. I reach out and gently touch her flushed cheek. "You should get some sleep." She shakes her head.

"Every time I close my eyes, he's here," she says.

"Do you want me to stay here with you?" I ask her.

"Are you allowed?" She asks. "You aren't technically family."

"Since when have we followed the rules?" I ask her and a small smile graces her face. She moves over and I get up and lay down in the bed next to her. She curls as close to me as humanly possible, only a stuffed dog separating me from her. I kiss her cheek and smile as she slowly falls into a peaceful sleep aided by the hospital sedatives.

(Song of the Chapter: "Heaven" ~Bryan Adams)