Katniss POV-
"Momma! I'm hot!" Willow complains from the back seat. It's the middle of summer and she refuses to not have her favorite blanket on her and her lamb with her too.
"Take that blanket off and you won't be hot." I say to her.
Peeta just laughs as he keeps driving down the road.
Willow groans, "But I love my blanket and Daddy said I can't take it to school or my lamb so I want to spend time with it now."
"Okay, but don't complain that you're hot if you won't take your blanket off." I say.
I swear this little girl.
"Daddy....When are we gonna be there?" Willow asks impatiently.
It's not like she didn't ask just a few minutes before she complained about being hot for the thirtieth time since we left this morning.
Peeta sighs, "Willow, I already told you we got just a little bit longer."
"I'm hot." She whines.
I turn around, "Seriously?" I say trying to be serious but end up laughing because she starts grinning.
"Here, Mom. You take my blanket and keep it safe." She says handing it to me. Her cheeks are bright red and she's sweating but hopefully she will cool down without that dumb blanket on.
I shake my head, "Here, I'll put it right here between me and Daddy and we will keep it safe for you."
She smiles, "Thank you, Mommy."
She sighs, "Daddy, how come you and Mommy always hold hands when you drive?"
Peeta laughs, "Because I love Mommy."
"You don't hold my hand though." Willow says narrowing her eyebrows at him, almost angry with him.
I scoff and Peeta laughs.
"That's because you're back there."
"Oh." She says laughing.
"You're crazy, Willow."
"Nope. Momma, you're crazy!" She says.
"No way!" I say back and she laughs her adorable laugh.
"Huh, Daddy! Mommy is crazy sometimes?!" She says and I look at Peeta.
He laughs a little.
"You're both pretty crazy sometimes." Peeta says to her and I roll my eyes, laughing.
A few hours later we arrive at our first official stop where we will be staying for the rest of the day and tonight where we have decided to camp out for some reason, which I don't mind a bit.
District Seven.
"Those trees are so big!!" Willow says as we get out of the car and she takes my hand. Holding onto her lamb with the other one.
"We are gonna sleep outside?" Willow asks me.
"Yep. It's really fun, I bet you'll like it a lot." I tell her truthfully, I haven't done it since I was real little with my Dad but its some of my fondest memories.
It's the first time Peeta and I have ever camped outside. I don't know why, because we always have outdoor dates and stuff. But we've never had the idea to camp outside until we decided to come on this trip, so it should be interesting.
"What about animals? What if there's snakes and they eat us?" Willow asks, her eyes wide and her face worried.
"Daddy will protect us and we will make sure to zip the tent up real good so nothing gets in." I assure her.
"Good, because I'm scared of snakes."
"In a bit, you want to go hiking with me, Willow?" I ask her.
I'm so eager to start exploring this place.
Peeta and I use to come to Seven often but we never really did anything but drive through or stay in a hotel so it's the first time we've really been out and about here.
"Is Daddy gonna come?"
"If he wants to." I say.
She looks over at Peeta and he shakes his head, "I'm gonna stay here and make sure we have everything."
Willow sighs and looks at me.
"Can we go now?"
I nod, "Let's go." I say and she smiles.
"I'm just gonna walk around with her for a little while. I have my phone." I tell Peeta and I peck his lips. He kisses Willow on the top of head.
"You stay with Momma and listen to her, okay?" Peeta says sternly.
She nods her head.
"And be careful." Peeta says to me.
"I will. We won't go that far." I say and he nods.
Willow hands him her lamb and off we go, hand in hand.
"You gotta be real quiet here, remember, like we do at home?" I whisper to Willow and she nods, putting a finger over her mouth.
We start softly walking through the trees and see a few animals.
A squirrel or two and even a huge buck.
"Momma, that was a big deer!" Willow says, freaking out in a loud whisper.
I hear a bunch of animals running away from us through the branches and grass and laugh a little, "I saw."
"Wow." Willow says looking up the fifty foot tall trees.
"You know what we should do?" I say.
She looks up, "What?"
"We should climb up one of these trees." I say.
Willow's eyes grow wide.
"But Daddy will be mad, he don't like us doing stuff like that cause it's dangerous."
"Not if we are careful and we can climb a small tree." I tell her.
She gives me a look, "I don't know, Mommy. I think Daddy will be really sad if we climbed any trees."
"It'll be okay." I say and find a tree closer to where we left Peeta.
I convince Willow on my back and start up the shortest tree I can find, the first branch is barely 8 foot up, if I'm guessing.
"Momma! Look! There's Daddy!!" Willow yells excitedly, pointing down at him, then quickly puts her hands over her mouth, realizing what she did. Then she looks at me and I sigh.
Peeta looks around and then up and rushes over the bottom of our tree.
"What are you girls doing up there?" Peeta says, freaking out, even though we aren't really that high up.
"We are being bad." Willow says bluntly.
I scoff, she got that right.
"Katniss, get down here. You're both scaring me to death." Peeta says seriously, his face angry and worried, as it is everytime I do this.
"It's only like 8 feet, Peeta. It's not as high as I could've gone." I say nonchalantly.
"Katniss, get down. Now." He says sternly. I climb about half way down and hand him Willow and then climb the rest of the way down myself.
Peeta gives me a go-to-hell look and I can't help but to laugh at him.
"It's not funny."
"Yes, it is. You always freak out." I laugh.
"Well, I don't want you or Willow getting hurt."
"I've never fallen out of a tree before and I definitely wouldn't have done that if I wasn't confident in myself."
"Katniss...." Peeta groans.
"Stop being a cranky butt." I say to him and Willow just looks at us.
"Yeah, Mommy said cranky butts don't get to do fun stuff." Willow says and Peeta cracks a smile.
"I'm not cranky I just don't want you hurt." He tells her and picks her up.
"Mommy is a good climber though and she's strong too."
"I know, baby." Peeta says.
We go on a family hike, Peeta makes sure I don't get into any more trouble and Willow helps him.
"Momma." Willow says, grabbing my hand and pulling me down.
I bend down, "The sky looks super pretty. It looks like Daddy's eyes." She whispers in my ear.
I glance over at Peeta who's clueless to what his daughter is saying and I smile.
"It looks like yours too." I whisper back and she smiles.
Soon, the sun starts to set so Peeta sets up the tent and Willow helps him while I make us a fire. Luckily, Peeta went to the store earlier and bought us things to makes s'mores with and some hot dogs too.
Willow snuggles up to me, kind of frightened by the dark and the moon, and she helps me roast marshmallows while Peeta roasts hotdogs. I put the marshmallows in the fire and in between chocolate and a graham crackers that Willow holds for me and has fun squishing together.
"This is yummy." Willow tells me as she eats her first s'more.
She must love it because she's gotten chocolate all over her lips and her shirt.
I giggle and wipe the chocolate off her mouth.
Peeta chuckles, "You're so messy, Willow."
"I'm sorry..." Willow says in her most sarcastic tone of voice.
"No you're not." Peeta laughs.
She's defiantly gonna give us a run for our money when she get a little older. She is five years old and has understood sarcasm since she was about two and has been using it about that long too.
After we eat, we settle into the tent. Willow makes Peeta check it for any bugs or snakes or anything else her imagination has conjured up that may be lurking in our tent and he finds nothing but a cricket.
Peeta and I lay down, Willow falls asleep on my chest.
"You awake?" I ask Peeta after I hear her little snores in my ear.
I hear rustling next to me, "Yep. Are you?"
I chuckle, "No. I'm sleeping." I say sarcastically.
Peeta scoffs, "Ha. Ha."
"I love you." I say to him and smile to myself.
"I love you too, sweetheart." Peeta says softly, I hear a smile in his voice.
"What are we doing tomorrow?" I ask.
"I thought we'd go into town and get us some breakfast and then head to Four." He says.
"She's gonna love that." I say.
He chuckles, "I bet so."
"You better get some rest." I say softly to him, nudging his side with my elbow.
He laughs, "So had you."
Our legs tangle up and he holds my hand tight and we soon fall asleep to the noise of Willow's cricket buddy and his.
(The next morning)
"Daddy...?" I hear Willow whispering loudly.
"Momma...?" Willow whispers dragging out her words.
I open my eyes and lift up my head. She's sitting in between Peeta and I and looking over us both.
"What are you doing, Willow?" I ask her and let out a yawn, the sun shine illuminating the tent.
"I'm wanting you guys to wake up." She says.
Peeta stirs and opens his eyes.
"Hi." Willow says to him.
He laughs a little, his eyes still half closed.
"Hi, Willow." He says softly.
I smile a little.
"When are we leaving?" She asks.
"We are gonna go eat breakfast whenever Momma wakes up and then we can go." Peeta says.
Having not a clue I'm already awake.
Willow looks over at me and points, "Mommy is already up."
Peeta opens his eyes wider and looks at me, "Well, good morning." He says smirking and I laugh.
"Good morning." I say back.
Peeta sits up, "How was your sleep?" He ask me with a laugh.
"Just fabulous. What about you?" I ask him with a smirk.
Willow sighs deeply, probably annoyed with our unnecessary conversation.
"Super great." He say sarcastically.
Willow doesn't sleep with us that often anymore but when she does, we can barley sleep because she's always kicking one of us in the back or her elbow is poking my rib cage or her hair is in Peeta's face, as if he doesn't deal with my hair on a nightly basis.
"What about you, sweet girl?" I ask her.
"I slept-ed good." Willow says sweetly.
We get up and soon head into town for breakfast and then we are on the road again.
"That was fun sleeping outside! You could hear all the bugs and stuff making noises! Did you hear them?" She asks.
Willow goes on and on about how much fun she had and all the pretty things she saw in Seven, so if she's this excited about Seven, then she will be ecstatic about Four.
She's been there lots of times but she wasn't really old enough to remember any of it.
"Yeah, I heard them and you know what else I heard?" Peeta says.
"What?"
"I heard you and Mommy snoring!! I thought there were bears in our tent!" Peeta exaggerates and teases us.
I start to laugh and so does Willow.
"Sometimes you sound like that too." She tells Peeta and she's got that right.
Peeta laughs, "Okay, maybe."
"A lot, actually."
He squeezes my hand.
On the way, Willow request at least three bathroom breaks between District Seven and District Four and of course Peeta stops each time for her.
It wastes a lot of time but it's nice to stop and walk around, even if it is just to take her to the bathroom.
We stop at a gas station in Six and go in while Peeta waits in the car.
"Hello." A man behind the counter says, giving a somewhat creepy smile.
I smile and nod as I walk Willow straight to the bathroom. I lock the door behind us and she does her thing.
When she gets finished, I let her pick out some candy, and buy us all three something to drink too.
We go check out, after I noticed the worker has been watching Willow and I the entire time.
"This all?" The guy asks, looking me over.
"Yes." I say, holding onto Willow's hand tighter.
He looks down at Willow, "Is this your mom?"
She nods.
"Drinks and a candy?" He says looking at Willow.
Then he looks at me, "That's all you want?" He asks me softly, no doubt trying to sound deductive.
"How much is it?" I ask him, feeling so scared.
I glance out the clear doors and see Peeta is watching, maybe realizing I'm kind of freaked out. It makes me feel better, knowing he's watching. I shoot him a bit of a look and he nods, trying to get a better view of what's going on. I see his hand move to the handle of the door.
"It's free." The man insists.
"No, I have money. How much is it?" I say.
Willow gets closer to me, her hands shaky.
"Just. Take. The. Stuff. It's. Free. But maybe you can do me a favor?" He says trying to grab at the top of my shirt.
I slap his hand away, "No. Don't touch me." I say angrily, knowing it's best to forget the damn stuff and get myself and Willow out of here.
"Come on." I say to Willow and scoop her up, and try to walk out but the guy runs around to the doors, blocking my exit.
"You're not leaving until you at least kiss me." He says.
I feel like I'm about to puke.
Luckily Peeta started running in from the second he saw the man grab at me and luckily the doors open from behind.
"Do we have a problem here?" Peeta asks angrily, getting in his face. The man seems startled at first.
Peeta is a lot bigger than him.
Taller and more built.
"This beauty won't take free stuff." The guy says, not even backing away.
"I was trying to be nice and buy something since we used your restroom but next time I won't buy a fucking thing." I mumble angrily, wishing I would've rethought my recent decisions.
"You wouldn't have had to buy it. All I was asking was for a little kiss right here on the cheek." He says.
I want so badly for Peeta to give this guy a kiss on the cheek with his fist. Or I want to do it myself.
"You're a creep and it's not like she didn't have the money to give you. Our daughter is right here, you seriously were gonna try something?" Peeta says, so angry.
I haven't seen him this angry with someone since we were in college and he got into it with that Dylan guy for flirting with me and chasing me around the place.
"I didn't want her money. I wanted her."
Peeta tosses me the car keys and I know that's my cue to get out of here and let him handle it.
Willow is freaking out, screaming for me not to leave Peeta inside but I force us into the car, her in my lap and we watch.
"Mommy, that man was scary and you left Daddy in there!" Willow cries to me, and doesn't take her eyes off Peeta the whole time and neither do I.
"Why'd you leave him in there? What if that guy hurts him?" She yells at me.
"I can't believe you left him." Willow cries.
"Look at that guy, he's mad at Daddy." Willow points out.
I take a deep breath and hope and pray nothing else happens and that Peeta will come out in a few minutes.
"I know, baby, but Daddy will be okay." I assure her but she refuses to tell me anything but how angry she is at me for leaving Peeta in there.
A few minutes later, which seems like hours to me, he walks out and gets into the car and locks all the doors. He frantically starts it up and we go, not even caring that Willow is in the front seat with me.
"Are you both okay?" He asks, out of breath and obviously angry.
"Yeah." I say softly and Willow hangs onto me and stares at Peeta.
A few minutes later he pulls over on the side of the road. Peeta reports it to the police and I put Willow in the back seat and buckle her up, and stay back there with her because she's still pretty scared.
"Daddy, did that man hurt you?" She asks Peeta, sniffling.
She's still so concerned.
"No, baby, he didn't hurt me. Did he hurt you or Momma?" Peeta asks.
Willow shakes her head then looks at me.
"Did he hurt you?" Willow asks me.
I shake my head but Peeta knows he grabbed at me.
"That was so scary, Mommy. I'm sorry I asked to go potty again but I had to really bad." Willow cries into her blanket.
"It's okay. Next time Daddy will go inside with us to make sure nothing like that happens ever again." I assure her and Peeta agrees.
She nods and I wipe away her tears and kiss her cheek.
"How come he didn't let you pay money and he wanted you to kiss him?" She asks me.
Before I can speak, she goes on, "You couldn't kiss him because he was ugly and he wasn't Daddy." Willow states.
She's right and it's not like I would ever do that sort of thing anyways.
"Yes and because some people are just weird. That's why Daddy and I always make you hold our hands when we go places." I tell her truthfully.
Luckily, she's never complained about it.
"That was so scary, my hands are wiggling." Willow says looking at her shaky hands.
"I know, baby. Just calm down. We are safe now." I assure her softly and she hugs my head.
I'm still shaking, so is Willow and I'm sure Peeta is too.
After awhile Willow falls asleep and I climb back into the front seat with Peeta.
"You okay?" I ask him softly and put my hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine. It just scared the hell out of me. I should've gone in as soon as you looked at me, I knew then something was up but I thought you had it." Peeta says softly.
"It's okay, no one got hurt and that's all that matters." I say truthfully.
"But it scared Willow to death." He says.
"She will be alright. She was more concerned for you than anything. I really didn't think she would talk to me again after we walked out and I brought her to the car. She was so mad at me for leaving you in there." I tell him.
Peeta smiles sadly.
"Thank you for watching and for coming to help us when you did." I say truthfully.
"I'm sorry I didn't go in there sooner. He didn't do anything but grab your shirt?" He asks.
I nod my head.
"Gosh, Katniss. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have even let him do that." Peeta says, looking like he's about to cry.
"It's okay, baby. It wasn't your fault and you came right in time. Don't worry about it, please. Willow and I are both alright." I assure him.
He sighs, "What a great way to start off our vacation." He says sarcastically.
"Well, now we will know not to stop in District 6 anymore, well at least not to get gas or use the bathroom."
Peeta sighs deeply, "I'm definitely not letting you girls out of my sight anymore unless we are at home."
"Things like that could happen in Twelve." I say truthfully.
"But it's less likely. At least we know everyone there and its always busy." He says.
I sigh, "True."
A little while later we arrive in Four.
"Wow!" Willow says excitedly as we come into the outskirts of District Four. We drive past Finnick and Annie's old house and go straight to our hotel.
After we get settled in there, we all get our bathing suits on and I douce Willow up in lots of sunscreen and we head to the beach.
When we get there Willow is super excited and luckily, it's not too awful busy.
Peeta takes her out to the water and they splash around for a little bit and I sit on the sand, watching.
I love them so much.
"Momma! Look!" Willow squeals as she splashes a bunch of water in Peeta's face.
I giggle and Peeta splashes her back, "Come on, Katniss!" Peeta calls and I get up and swim out to where they are. When I get there Willow slings her wet hands at me, getting my face more wet with the ocean water.
I grab a handful of water and let it dribble on her head.
She giggles and hangs on to Peeta tight as the waves in the water grows higher and higher.
"Ew! This water tastes gross!" Willow says spitting the water she got in her mouth out.
I laugh a little and we decide we better get out and get some real water since it's super hot today and we've been playing for hours.
"Mommy you're hair looks pretty." Willow tells me.
"Thanks so does yours." I say.
The salt water has made our curls more compressed and tighter than they usually are.
"What about mine?" Peeta asks and flicks his short hair back.
Willow gives him a look and scrunches her nose at him, giving him a hard time.
"What? You don't like it?" Peeta asks her. Willow shakes her head and Peeta scoffs, putting his hand over his heart like he's been told the worst news.
"I bet Mommy loves it." Peeta tells her and she laughs.
"I bet not." She says to him and Peeta looks at me and gives me a puppy-dog face. I put my hand on his head and he smiles and batts his eyelashes.
"I love Daddy's hair, Willow. I think it's adorable." I say running my fingers through it.
Peeta laughs and sticks his tongue out at her as a 'haha.'
After that we go play in the sand and Willow picks up a bunch of sea shells to take home with her. She got one for everyone I think. Even Finnick, Annie and Finn, whose been here millions of times and whose house is full of them. She picked Peeta and I out a bunch too and herself some too.
"Here's one for Carter and Bristle and baby Carson." Willow says handing me sea shell by sea shell at the hotel room.
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Willow asks, climbing in bed with me. Peeta comes back and turns the lights out.
"We have four more days so we can stay here longer or go to the Capital." He says.
"What's the Capital?" Willow asks.
"It's a really big place where a lot of crazy people live but it's super pretty and fun." Peeta says and that's pretty much the only way to describe the place, honestly.
The next morning, Willow has decided that we shall stay another day in D4 and head to the Capital tomorrow morning.
So that's what we do.