Our Love Will Remain - The story after Mockingjay

Chapter 16

"Because Sunny sneezed right over them just before you came down. Everyone else knows not to touch them." he says, chuckling again. I snort.

"You should keep better track of you daughters next time." I say jokingly. Gale chuckles again. He just seems like a friend now, he's totally changed from the last time I saw him, on our wedding. He isn't jealous anymore, now that he's got a wife and a family of his own. Their children are much older than ours, though. I guess his wife wanted kids right away. I sigh, and feel warm and muscular arms circle around my waist.

"So, what are you guys up to?" he asks and kisses my cheek. I laugh. I don't know why, but even a single small kiss given by those lips make me so happy I want to scream. Before I can answer, Gale does.

"Oh, Katniss is just telling me how to raise my children." he says with a smile.

"No I'm not." I say and hug Peeta tight. The baby kicks. I take his hand and place it on my stomach. Peeta smiles. The kicks aren't strong enough to hurt, and he knows it. I turn to Gale.

"Do you want to feel?" I ask. He looks surprised, but nods.

"Come on, then." I say, and Peeta lifts his hands off my belly. The kicks stop. I know how much she loves Peeta's hands. When Gale puts his big hands on my belly, she kicks a couple of times, but not so strongly. Gale smiles.

"Cool." he says. "she's kickin'. Wow, that's huge." he continues and grins at me.

"Ha ha ha. Really funny." I say, and Gale walks back to Marylee. Her name reminds me of a girl that was reaped for the second Quarter Quell, Maysilee. I push the thought away. I don't want to think about the Games now. Peeta hands me a muffin. I take it thankfully and start nibbling on it. It tastes good, but Peeta's muffins are better. When I'm done, I pull Peeta to the big dining room and sit down. Peeta leaves for a few minutes, and comes back with a huge plate full of food. It looks like healthy food, I've got to eat a lot of that while I'm pregnant. We eat and feed each other, laughing occassionally, and when we are done we head to our bedroom to change clothes. We've been wearing these in more that twenty-four hours already. I put on a swimsuit and normal clothes upon it. Peeta does the same. We have promised each other to go swimming whenever we get the chance. We walk back to the kitchen and see Effie and Haymitch arguing. I think Effie is trying to stop Haymitch from drinking. He is terribly drunk right now so i don't think there is any point in trying to do that.

"Oh, hello, Katniss dear, how are you feeling? Did we tell you that we are giving you the presents at the dinner tonight?" she says, quickly returning to her lovable self.

"No, you didn't. Umm... I guess I'm feeling okay, me and Peeta are going swimming." I say and grab Peeta's arm.

"Oh, how wonderful! Your mother should be out there on the beach also, if you would like to talk to her." Effie says and returns to Haymitch. I haven't talked to my mother much, I didn't have the energy to do that yesterday. All I did was hold on to Peeta and let everyone touch my stomach. Today, I'm going to talk to her, I decide. This is the first time I've seen her since the wedding. She has been really busy with her work. I slide my hand down to Peeta's and we walk together towards the water. When we are about ten metres from it, we take off our outter clothes and then dip our feet in the water.

"You go first." I say, wrinkling my nose.

"Uh-uh, this was your idea. I can't even swim properly." Peeta says, starting to tickle me. One of my biggest weaknesses.

"Okay, I'll go first and tell you how wonderful it is, and how sorry I feel for you when you can't swim." I say, smelling victory. I start to walk deeper into the water, but Peeta grabs my arm. He pulls me over so that my huge belly is againt his normal looking stomach. Wow. I really look awful with this tight swimsuit on.

"You're so beautiful, Katniss." he says.

"I was just thinking about how ugly I am." I say with a laugh. This makes Peeta to lift me up in his arms and starting to walk deeper and deeper into the water. When he stops, I start to suspect he is up to something.

"You called yourself ugly. Please stop doing that, I'll feel so much better." Peeta says, and I kiss him.

"Okay, but only if you put me do..." I haven't finished my sentence before Peeta throws me up in the air and I hit the water about a metre away. Peeta made sure that it was deep enough for me not to hit the floor, and I didn't. I'm glad Peeta isn't worried all the time, we have so much fun then. But now he is going to pay. He really frightened me, and now it's payback time. I get up, gasping for air. Peeta is laughing. But he isn't going to laugh for long, I tell myself. I walk towards him and say with a seductive voice:

"Do you want to take a swim with me, honey?" I smile and put my hands on his chest. First, he looks a little doubtful but then he buys it. He can't resist me when I'm seductive. He follows me deeper and then I jump onto his back. He didn't expect that. My sudden movement and my weight makes him fall under the surface and I laugh an evil laugh. I get off him, and he gets up from the water. He shakes the water out of his hair like a dog, and then pulls me close to him.

"Are we even now?" he asks and kisses me. I get such a euphoric feeling that I instantly give in. I throw my hands passionately around his neck and jump up to his arms. My legs are aroud his waist and he caresses my waist gently. Our tongues meet, and jolts shoot through my body and my skin starts to tickle. We kiss for a long time in the deep water, until we hear someone clear his throat on the beach. When we look there we see Gale and Marylee.

"Uhm, sorry to interrupt you, but dinner will be ready soon, and your mother would like to talk to you before that." Gale says. He looks a little awkward. But who wouldn't? He just interrupted us in a huge make-out session. I blush. A lot. But Peeta holds onto me and I answer Gale quickly.

"Oh, okay, well, I'll be up soon." I say. Gale nods and they walk away. I bury my face in Peeta's chest.

"That was so embarassing!" I say, and Peeta strokes my neck.

"Well, if you think about it, I don't think so." Peeta says with a smile.

"Oh, yeah right, men don't think anything is embarassing. They just laugh about it." I say. "I hope I would feel like that." I say, and kiss his soaking chest. "Well, I'll have to go up now, Mother's waiting for me." I say, and start walking up from the water.

"Oh, no, you're not going anywhere before I'm done with you." Peeta says, and pulls me back. He kisses me once, and then lets go of me.

"Now you're free to go." he says, and I laugh. I start walking up from the water, but not before taking my husband's hand and holding it tight. When we get to our clothes, Peeta puts his shirt on me and takes my clothes up to the house. Before he goes, he tells me that he loves me and I tell him the same. I sit down on the warm sand, and then I see Mother walking towards me. She sits down beside me, and says:

"Katniss, I'm so sorry for abandoning you."