A.N. Dedicated to my best friend Melissa_212 thanks for being a huge supporter of my story.
There are certain people in this world that run away from their problems, but there are also the ones who go at them head on. I like to think of myself as a runner, I never stay put when things start to look bad, I flee.
I shake Peeta's arms off of me and bolt for the door, I have to get out of here.
"Katniss!" I hear Peeta yelling after me, but I don't stop running, I can't. One part of me wishes he would chase after me and hold my tired body, while another part is glad he didn't follow me. I just don't know which part is right.
The sound of my feet hitting the frozen ground fills the air and eventually my sobs join it.
The cellar is damp and cold, but I don't move to leave. Instead, I wrap a work sheet around my body and lay on the hard ground. All victor's houses look the same, so it wasn't hard to find the basement window and break through. A gust of wind goes by, and I pull my legs against my chest, letting the icy wind take away my pain.
The tears begin to fall, but I don't bother wiping them away, there is no point. Maybe I could wrap my head around the fact of going back into the arena, if I wasn't pregnant, but I am. I'd be killing my child too. My cries turn into sobs and my sobs turn into hysteria, but they stop when I think of him. Peeta. Oh poor Peeta, here I am wallowing in the bottom of a basement when he is going into the arena as well. Even if Haymitch was reaped, Peeta would volunteer. It's just his nature, a nature that I adore. I have to save him, even if it means dying in the process.
"Haymitch!" The stench of vomit and stale bread, no longer lingers in the house. Instead it's a lemony smell, with a hint of whiskey. I find him sitting at the table with a half full bottle of liquor.
"So you finally did the math, realized two of us are going back into the arena. And you're here to what, ask me to die?" His words are slurred, but still understandable. I shake my head and sit in the chair across from him.
"We have to save him," I reach for the bottle of liquor, but Haymitch holds it tight.
"No way am I letting you drink this, you've got a little one in you. You can drown your sorrows with something else." He says while pointing towards my small tummy. "And why should I save him?" He asks while taking another sip.
"You choose me in the arena, but you always liked Peeta better. Haymitch, you owe me, he has to live." He stares at me until I start to fidget in my seat.
"You could live a hundred lifetimes and still not deserve that boy." His words cut deep, but I don't let it show.
He takes another drink and stares into the liquid with such intensity, I'm sure it'll explode.
"If he gets chosen, I'll volunteer, but if I'm chosen and he takes my place. Then there is nothing I can do." He motions for me to leave and continues to drink. Maybe he should find another way to drown his sorrows, as well.
I hear voices shouting my name, but I simply stand on Haymitch's front porch watching the moon. I place my hand on my small, round stomach and start to whisper. "You're daddy will love you. I was never cut out to be a mom, maybe it's a good thing I won't be." My head fills with jumbled thoughts and my vision begins to blur.
I can't tell if it's the tears, or my headache, but I begin to see spots and my stomach clenches.
"Katniss!" I hear the yelling again and this time I try to reach them, but my feet won't move. The two tall figures move closer towards me and break out into a run.
"Peeta!" I shout back to the voice.
The first Peeta is tall and burly with dark brown hair and seam gray eyes. Peeta number two is a tad shorter, but more muscular, with blonde, curly hair and blue eyes. I think I prefer the second one better.
"Peeta, I don't feel so good." I tell the closest one before stumbling down the steps and falling into their arms, except it isn't Peeta who catches me.
"Catnip, wake up!" Is all I here before the sky above me becomes black.
Peeta's POV-
"Katniss!" I yell after her, but she continues to run from me.
"Leave her be, she'll come to you." Prim tells me from the couch. "She'll never forgive you if you chase after her." I nod my head and walk out of the room, towards my mentors house.
"Haymitch, where are you!" I yell with a slight edge of anger in my voice. He sits with a bottle of alcohol at his reach and blood shot eyes. "You better sober up, because you can't help us get out of the arena if you're drunk." He takes another swig and motions for me to sit.
"I did last year and there was no complaining." I stare at him and wonder why he choose alcohol. So many of the victors are hooked on something to make them feel better. There's the unfortunate ones who get attached to morphling, the ones who get addicted to killing, and then the drunks. I shake away the thoughts and glare at him.
"Haymitch, this year it's different and you know it. It's not just Katniss anymore." I look down sadly at my shoes, trying not to think of the baby I'll never meet. "And that's why you have to get her out. If she dies and I live, I wouldn't just be loosing my wife. I'd be loosing my child." He sighs and nods his head, but I can see just the slightest tear coming out of his eye.
"Don't worry boy, I'll get her out." I nod my head and extend my hand towards his. The handshake is firm and solid, filled with more gratitude then I could express.
"Have you seen her? She ran, as soon as she heard the announcement." I start to scoot my chair back across the wooden floor and stand up.
"No, sorry." He shakes his head and I begin to panic. I turn around and run out of his house, and down his porch when I see the tall figure coming towards me.
"Gale!" I shout running towards him.
"Have you seen her?" I ask him, hoping he'll say yes, but he doesn't.
"No, I thought she was with you! Man, how could you let her go!" He yells at me with an angered filled face. My face becomes heavy with sorrow and I shake my head.
"She ran from me, I thought I could help her, but she left." He shakes his head runs his hand through his hair.
Muttering under his breath something along the lines of "dang it Catnip."
"If we start searching right now, we might be able to find her before it gets dark. Are you in?" He stares at me with a cold face, but somewhere in his stone gray eyes I see him finally accepting the fact that I'm in her life. That it isn't just him and her anymore, she has me now, and the baby. He nods his head and starts to turn away, for the woods.
"She'd go to the place she feels safe." He tells me as he walks towards the entrance, but I freeze half way. She promised me she wouldn't go back in the woods after the incident with the two women. She wouldn't break a promise to me.
"She's not there. She's still in the village." I start to run back to our home when Gale stops me and spins me around.
"I know her better, and trust me when I tell you that she is in the woods." His teeth are clenched and it's as if he is trying to prove something. But I ignore the thought and shake my head.
"She promised me she wouldn't go back there. And I believe her."
Gale spots her first, pointing and yelling towards her. "Katniss, what the heck." I tell her as we are mere inches from her. Her eyes gloss over and she grabs her tummy, stumbling down the steps. I run as fast as I can, trying to catch her, but I know I won't make it. But he does, and he grabs her before she hits the solid ground.
"Catnip, wake up!" Gale tells her as he scopes her up in his arms and gently prods her. "We need to get her home." He tells me as he moves towards her house, but she doesn't live there anymore.
"Gale, she doesn't live there anymore." I tell him while pointing toward my house. His eyes begin to fill with a burning fire of hatred, and maybe jealousy. He nods his head and we take her back to my house, our house.
"Just place her on the bed, I need to go grab her mom. Her hand looks pretty bad and I don't think my skills are able to fix it." I tell him while grabbing a warm wash cloth and dabbing at the wound on her hand. "Can you grab her a pair of pajamas? They are in the top drawer." I continue to inspect the cut and pull the pieces of glass out of the wound.
"These are your shirts, there aren't any clothes of hers." He tells me with a bewildered look. I feel a smile tug at my lips at the statement. I nod my head and motion for him to grab a shirt.
"Sorry about that, she tends to wear my clothes a lot." I say chuckling. He nods his head and glances around the room, it's filled with a mixture of Katniss and myself. Her pants hang over my desk chair, and my belt is underneath them. Flowers she picked with Prim, sit in a vase on the nightstand and the shoes are at the end of the bed, stacked together.
"I better go get her mom, I'll be back."
"The baby seems to be fine, she probably passed out from the panic and stressing." Mrs. Everdeen tells me as she pulls the covers up over the small bump. "Call me if anything changes." I nod my head and she kisses my check goodnight. The door closes and I turn to face my wife, who looks so small in the large bed.
"Anything you want to say?" I ask her as I sit down next to her. She cracks open an eye and frowns at me.
"How did you know I was awake?" She asks grumpily. I shake my head and chuckle, lying down beside her.
"Your breathing changes, besides; your my wife and I know you better than anyone." She places her head on my chest and rubs her stomach.
"I should have died, that's what Snow wanted me to do. If I had just listened, then nothing like this would have happened." She whimpers into my chest.
"Don't ever say that, Katniss. If you had died, we wouldn't be married and we wouldn't have this baby." I tell her, placing my hand on top of her stomach. "You're going to get out of this arena, you and the baby. I'd do anything for you two." She shakes her head and wipes her eyes.
"I never asked you to die for me." She tells me the same words, she said the night she was trapped in the woods.
"You didn't have too." I kiss her head and begin to rub her stomach.
"I always sleep better when you're near me." I whisper into her ear, but she's already falling asleep, away from the nightmare of a life we have.
A.N. Hi everyone! As you can see, I wrote in Peeta's pov also. I won't do that often, but I wanted to write what was going through his mind as well in this chapter. Also if y'all have an opinion on Mockingjay, then comment or message me. Do you want Peeta hijacked? Star and comment as always! Bye you guys!
Quote from the next chapter is from....Haymitch!!
"I'm your mentor, I know all the secrets between you two."