Katniss POV- (May 8th)
"Happy birthday, to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Mommy. Happy birthday to you!!" Willow and Peeta sing to me as they burst through our bedroom door, holding a beautiful cake with lit candles.
I sit up, "Oh my gosh." I say wanting to cry.
Peeta puts Willow down on the bed and holds the cake up with his other hand, "Make a wish." He says to me and I do. Then I blow out the candles.
Willow claps and cheers for me as Peeta sets the cake on my bedside table and I take his hands. He leans down and presses a kiss to my lips.
"Happy birthday, honey." He says smiling sweetly.
I smile widely, "Thank you."
Willow moves over to me and embraces me, "Happy birthday, Momma."
I smile and kiss her cheek, "Thank you, baby girl. Did you help Daddy make my cake?"
"Yep." She smiles.
"She designed it and everything and helped me make it yesterday." Peeta tells me, proudly, practically bragging on her.
I smile and give her a pat on the back, "I love it, sweetheart."
"Thanks." She says smiling proudly at Peeta.
"She's my little baker." Peeta says proudly.
I smile softly.
"Momma, we should have cake for breakfast since it's your birthday." Willow says eyeing the cake.
I laugh, "Tell Daddy to make us some and we can!" I say to her and she gets excited.
I usually make her eat something healthy but it is my birthday and I think we could all use a treat.
"Let's go downstairs then, Mommy. Quit being lazy." Peeta teases me.
Willow jumps off the bed and Peeta stands up, grabbing my cake and I get up too and we all three go downstairs, Willow holds me hand.
"This is yummy, Willow." I tell her, taking a bite of my birthday cake.
"Daddy said you're getting old. He said that's why you had so many candles on your cake." Willow rats him out.
I turn and look at Peeta who just smirks, knowing I'll find humor in it.
"Is that what Daddy said?" I ask with a laugh. Peeta looks at me and grins cheesily, all teeth.
"Yup."
"That's funny because Daddy is older than me." I say to Willow and she giggles.
Peeta smiles again, "We are both old then."
I laugh at him, "You're so sweet."
"I know."
Willow gasps as if she's remembered something, jumping down and runs over to Peeta and whispers into his ear, he whispers back and she nods her head.
"We have some birthday presents for you." He says getting up and Willow climbs back into her chair as Peeta pulls a few bags out of the kitchen pantry.
I laugh a little.
"You guys didn't have to get me anything." I tell them truthfully.
"Yes, we did." Peeta insists.
"Yeah, Momma. You get us stuff on our birthdays." Willow says.
Peeta sets about 3 bags with green tissue paper poking out of them and then hands me two homemade birthday cards.
On the outside of Willow's is a cute little flower, a cake and a heart on it. Then I open it up and see she's tried her hardest to write some letters.
It says 'I love you Momma.'
My heart melts and I make a pouted lip, "Aw. Thank you, baby girl." I say.
I open Peeta's and see he wrote me a long note and has a beautiful sketch on the front of us three.
The end of the letter says, 'This is my favorite picture of us.'
I swear he's so sweet.
"Thank you, baby." I say patting his hand and he smiles shyly at me.
"We picked all this out and made this all last week so hopefully you like everything." He says, pushing a bag towards me.
I take the first bag and find a beautiful cream-colored dress inside. It's lacy and really beautiful and would be perfect for today, as it's suppose to be warm.
"Oh, I love this." I say truthfully, looking it over. Peeta glances at Willow and she smiles.
"This is cute, Willow. Did you pick it out?"
"Yes."
I fold it gently, "Thank you, sweetheart." I say smiling.
Peeta hands me another one, "More from Willow."
I open it up and find some really beautiful blouses inside, one is green, one is red, and one is blue but they're all three pretty.
"I love them! You have good taste in clothes, Willow." I tell her truthfully and she grins.
I open a few more and end up with a really pretty notebook and pen, these perfect diamond earrings from Peeta and then he painted me a beautiful recent picture of Willow and then Willow painted me a little purple flower.
"You're good bakers and artists, aren't you, my babies?" I say smiling, absolutely in love with their gifts and the thought they put into it all.
It really makes me feel special.
"What do you want to do today?" Peeta asks me.
"I think we should just stay here or go do something as a family." I say truthfully, not really caring as long as we are all together.
"We could go to the lake if you'd like." Peeta suggests.
I get really excited, "Can we really?"
"Yes, whatever you want to do." He smiles.
So we go.
When we get there, we immediately jump into the clear, lukewarm water of the lake. Willow on my hip and Peeta splashes us from a few feet away. Willow and I squeal and try to fight back.
"Daddy, quit being a brat!" Willow yells at him and splashes a big wave of water at him, looking completely serious.
I burst out laughing and Peeta just grins in somewhat of a shock, I guess.
"I'm not a brat!" He denies, coming closer to us.
Willow hangs on to me for dear life and he takes her from me as she squeals, knowing he's gonna antagonize her in some way.
"No!" She laughs as he starts tickling her. I start in on her two as she kicks and squeals loudly. The noise is no doubt scaring the animals but it's alright, it's worth it.
The sound of my daughter's laughter.
"Momma! Not you too!" Willow yells.
Peeta picks her up and holds her in the air as she kicks the water and waves it towards his hair.
"Willow, you messed up my hair! Now Mommy won't ever kiss me with my hair like this." Peeta whines.
Him and his hair.
Sometimes I think he likes it better than he likes mine and some days it's just there, not a word said. But today, must be special.
"But you messed up mine too!" She says crossing her arms at him.
"How about if you fix my hair back, I'll fix your braid?" Peeta suggests as we all sit on the waters edge. The sun soaking up the water droplets on our skin.
"But you don't know how to braid like Mommy does." She says.
He looks at me and then back at her.
"Willow, Daddy braids my hair all the time. When I was pregnant with you, he had to nearly everyday for me." I tell her truthfully.
Peeta is nearly a better braider than I am and I've been doing it since I was about 8.
"Really?" She asks, looking skeptical.
I nod my head.
Then she looks at Peeta, "You're not lying?"
"Nope." He says.
I smile to myself and his eyes meet mine and he winks.
"Fine. Let me do your hair first." She says standing up. She stands in front of him and combs his blonde hair back and pats it repeatedly until it looks parr to her and then nods.
"Okay, sit down." He says and she sits on his lap. He unravels her small, messy braid and starts redoing it.
It ends up looking just as good as the one I did this morning and she seems satisfied too.
"Told you." Peeta says poking her nose.
She giggles, "Does it look good, Mommy?"
I laugh a little, "I think so."
Willow grins and plops down in my lap again and hugs me tight.
"Is your day good so far?" She asks me sweetly.
"Yes, baby. It's been really fun." I tell her truthfully.
She smiles and kisses my cheek, "Good."
"How about we go to town and let Momma find some stuff if she would like." Peeta suggest to Willow and she looks at me.
"Do you want to go there?"
"I don't care what we do." I say truthfully.
"Whatever you want, Katniss." Peeta says.
I shrug and try to think.
"We could go to the park, Willow." I suggest.
"Why? You can't play at the park and we are having fun right here." She says.
I sigh, "What if we went to book store?"
"Is there anything you've been wanting to read?" Peeta asks me.
I shake my head, "No. It was just a thought." I laugh.
Peeta smiles, "Katniss, come on. There's probably something you want to do." He says but I don't have a clue.
"We could take Mommy to get her hair prettied and stuff." Willow suggests.
I scoff and Peeta chuckles, "What if we go get cleaned up at home and I take you both out to eat and then I can take you to get your hair fixed and get your nails painted?" He suggests.
Even though I am not crazy about girly stuff like that, it's something Willow would love to do so I am all for it. Plus, it gives us all three some quality time.
"I think that would be fun." I say truthfully.
Peeta smiles, "Sound good to you, Willow?"
She smiles, "Yep and Daddy you should cut your hair and your scratchies." She tells him, making a face.
I start laughing.
"I'm serious, Momma. His face hurts mine when he hugs me." She complains.
I laugh a little more and Peeta just laughs too.
"Well, when we get home while you and Mommy clean up, how about I shave?" He tells her.
Willow sighs, "I think Mommy would like it too."
"I would like that very much so." I tell her and wink at Peeta.
He chuckles, "So judgy." He shakes his head and gathers up our things.
Willow and I smile at each other and she hops on my back. I give her a piggy-back ride to through the woods, following Peeta to the car.
We go home and give Willow a bath and she takes a little nap while Peeta and I do our thing.
I shower while Peeta shaves his face and talks to me about our day so far.
It's only a little past noon.
"Haven't heard anything from Dr. Coles?" He asks.
"Nope." I say sighing.
It takes him a few seconds before he replies, "She will call soon. Maybe since she hasn't called that means good news."
"Or it means something bad."
"I think if it was bad she would've called immediately. Isn't that how those things work?"
I sigh, "I guess so. But I couldn't be pregnant. I haven't felt any different and I haven't been sick or anything."
"Remember with Willow you didn't start getting sick until like 4 or 5 months really."
I shrug, "I don't know. But I feel like I'm about to start my period, anyways."
"Well, we aren't gonna give up on this. Unless you just want to." Peeta says.
I sigh and shut off the water, wringing the excess out of my hair.
"I don't want to give up." I tell him truthfully.
I know he's smiling.
I open the shower curtain and he in fact is smiling a little as he hands me a towel, wrapping it around my body and hugging me from behind.
"Then we most definitely will not." Peeta says and kisses my wet shoulder.
I smile sadly at him.
"I don't know why we ever agree not to discuss things because we always bring that one subject up. Especially when it's this particular subject." I tell him laughing.
He chuckles, "I know. I'm sorry. I'm usually the one to-uh-"
"Don't be sorry. I am fine with it." I tell him truthfully.
He nods and I pat his now smooth face and kiss his cheek. Then I exit into our bedroom and get dressed. He follows.
"If you want we can take a nap too before we go." Peeta suggests.
"I'm fine. Unless you want to." I say.
"No, I was just asking." He smiles.
I throw my hair up and put on one of my new dresses that Willow picked out.
I'm so glad it's getting warmer again-it makes things easier for me and for Willow, as she loves being outside just as much as I do.
We go into her room and gently wake her up. She wakes up in a daze and Peeta takes us to lunch.
We are sitting down at the quiet restaurant when Willow spots Gale.
"Gale!!" Willow calls excitedly to him from across the restaurant where he sits with Madge.
He looks up and smiles, Madge turns around and waves. Peeta and I kind of embarrassedly wave back as Willow waves hugely.
Gale gets up and comes over, Madge follows.
"I was just about to call you, Catnip." He says embracing me.
"Oh yeah?" I ask him.
He laughs a little, "Yes. Happy birthday."
"Thank you."
Madge hugs me too, "Happy birthday, Katniss."
"Thank you, Madge." I say smiling.
Willow hugs Gale and he scoops her up, "Hey, kiddo."
"Hi, Gale." She smiles and pats his dark hair.
I smile and look at Peeta who seems so un-phased by it.
"It's my Mommy's birthday and we got to eat cake for breakfast." She tells him with wide eyes.
"Really? Cake for breakfast?" Gale asks in her 'shock.'
Willow nods, "I know. But it tasted yummy. Me and my Daddy made it for her."
"That's good, Willow. You're Daddy is a good baker." Gale says looking at Peeta. He smiles and they shake hands.
"Peeta." He says.
"Gale." Peeta says.
They haven't always been the best of friends, especially after Gale's little moves with me a long while back but they've both seemed to have gotten over it.
"I'm surprised this little monster here isn't chunky..." Gale teases Peeta and then he turns to me, "Or this one." He winks.
We all laugh a little and Peeta smiles, "They have a pretty fast metabolism. They must as much as they eat." He winks at me.
I smile. He always teases me for that but Gale doesn't seem to find it as humorous as I do.
"Yeah, well with mine and Katniss's dads dying and everything, Mellark. You know what happened." Gale mumbles.
Peeta frowns, "I didn't mean it like that, Gale."
"I know. I'm sorry," He sighs.
Peeta sighs and I give him a look, he returns it.
Gale sets Willow back down in her chair.
"Well, we will let you guys finish up. Happy birthday, Catnip. I'll see you later, Willow." He says patting her head and they walk back to their table.
I sit back down and look at Peeta who sits across from me and sighs.
"It's fine." I mouth to him.
He shrugs.
"Mommy, how old are you again?" Willow asks me.
"I am 27." I tell her.
Her eyes grow wide, "Woah. Daddy was right."
I scoff and slap Peeta playfully on the arm as he laughs, "Daddy is still older than me, though, sweetheart. Despite what he tells you."
Willow smiles softly, "Okay."
Peeta makes kissy faces at me and sticks his tongue out at me, making me laugh.
"Daddy, that's rude. Remember that's what you told Mommy one time." Willow scolds him.
I scoff and Peeta laughs, "Really, kiddo? You're either for me or against me."
Willow shrugs, but quickly perks back up at the sight of our lunch being brought to our table.
"Yummy lookin'." She says as the waiter sets a plate in front of her, then on in front of me and then Peeta.
"Can I get you guys anything else?"
We shake our head and thank him.
"This tastes real good." Willow tells us, devouring her meal.
I laugh, "I can see that."
After a very delicious meal, Peeta takes us to the mall where we go get our hair fixed.
"Momma, look at this braid." She says excitedly to me.
The people have curled hair brown hair and braided a section across the top of her head.
"I love it, baby. Maybe we can start curling your hair sometimes with the curlers I use to use on-" I cut myself of.
It reminds me of Prim.
I was going to say 'On your Aunt Prim.' But I stop myself because I know it'll only make me sad and her too, probably.
She knows I have a sister and that I get sad talking about her and she respects that. Even for a very curious five year old.
It reminded me of all the Sunday nights I use to stay up to roll her hair up so that when she woke up the next morning, her hair would be all curly. She absolutely loved it and I have a feeling Willow would too.
"I would love that." She smiles excitedly.
"Good. Then we can start doing it soon." I say to her and glance at Peeta who just sits there, staring at the ground.
The people insist to do my makeup and try to do Willow's too but Peeta and I only agree to some kind of lip gloss but that's good enough for her.
And Peeta sits back and watches me, Willow in his lap.
"You look beautiful." Peeta mumbles enough for me to hear him. I glance at him in the mirror and he smiles and laughs a little.
"Thank you." I say.
Willow nods, "Yeah, but she looks really pretty, without makeup, Daddy."
"Thank you, baby girl." I say, smiling.
Peeta nods, "I think she does too."
I shoot him a grin and he returns it.
After that Willow and I get our nails painted. She goes with a creamy orange, her choice, and I go with green, of course.
She's so excited it's unreal. Like I fix her hair everyday, and occasionally paint her nails if she wants and I've even let her have on some of my chap stick but she's just so excited about this all.
Which is good that she's grateful.
"Peeta, thank you for taking us to do that." I say to him on the way home.
"No problem, sweetheart. I think she had fun." He says looking back in the rear-view mirror and see her conked out.
"I think so too and so did I. Sorry it wasn't something you could really do with us." I shrug.
He pats my hand, "I was really wanting to get my hair done and my nails painted today but it's alright." He winks.
I laugh, "I love you."
He chuckles and rubs my thigh, "I love you too and I agree 100% that you look just as beautiful with no makeup on."
"Thank you, baby." I say.
"I have a surprise for you, actually." He tells me.
"Which is?"
"A surprise." Peeta chuckles and pats my leg.
"Peeta..." I groan.
He laughs, "It's not big or really something out of the ordinary but come on."
"Fine." I say.
And he drives us to Finnick and Annie's house, where everyone's cars are parked out front.
"Peeta, you guys didn't have to have a get together for my birthday."
"Yes we did."
"We don't all get together when it's someone else's birthday? Why is it always mine?" I ask him.
"Because we all love you and we all love a good party." He teases me.
I scoff.
"Come on, baby. It'll be fun. It will help us get our mind off of things." He tells me.
"Fine." I shrug, giving in.
***Okay this sucked and it literally took me all week to write and I'm sorry it sucked but I've been super duper damn busy but I am trying-trust me. I have a whole day tomorrow of school and half day Tuesday so I should have a tad more writing time this week and this weekend than I had this last. I'm so sorry guys! Hopefully y'all didn't all leave me but ideas would be fabulous!!! And none that involve Everlark baby # 2 bc I'm working on it!!!