Peeta POV-
"Hi, Princess." I say softly as Willow runs into my arms.
I pick her up, hugging her tightly.
"I missed you." Willow says softly.
"I missed you too. Are you ready to go with me for a little bit?"
"Yes." She sighs.
"I'll bring her back later." I tell Annie.
She smiles and nods and I go.
"Did the baby make Momma sick?" Willow asks me as we go into the house.
"No, sweetheart. The baby had nothing to do with it. Momma is just regular sick right now." I explain.
"Oh. Is the baby sick too?"
"I'm not sure but I don't think so."
"Okay good." Willow sighs.
I go up the stairs and she follows me into our bedroom.
I grab my cellphone from the bed where I left it over a day ago and start packing a bag of new clothes for me for the next few days. I pack Katniss some clothes to leave in and some socks too. I also grab her phone and throw it in the bag.
I look at my phone and see that I have about 27 missed calls from Bristol, Annie, Finnick, and Thom. And a lot of texts.
I forgot to tell Thom that Katniss went to the hospital but I'm sure he figured something happened when I never showed up this morning. He knew she was sick because I had to take Willow to school yesterday because of it.
Oh well.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" I ask Willow.
She seems kind of down today.
"I'm just sad for Momma."
I frown, "I know. So am I, but I promise she will be all better soon."
"I had bad dreams last night." She informs me.
I frown, "I am sorry, sweetheart. Do you want to talk about them?"
She shakes her head, "No. Annie helped me to feel better but they were really sad and I'm so sleepy."
I sigh, "Well, I hope you get some better sleep tonight. I promise that those bad dreams aren't real."
"I know but they scared me so bad." She frowns.
"I know they can be super scary but remember me or Mommy or even Annie or Finnick or whoever is around will always be there to make you feel better." I assure her.
"I know, Daddy." She sighs.
I nod my head and busy myself again.
"Can I please please go see her?" Willow asks me.
I turn around, "What if you got sick?" I say.
She sighs, "I don't care, Daddy. I just want to make her feel better." Willow whines.
I sigh, "I know you do. I'll see what I can do?" I suggest.
"Will you now?" She asks me, puffing her bottom lip out.
"Give me a few minutes. I need to to put our bed stuff in the washer and clean up our room real quick, then I'll try and call." I say.
She nods.
"How about while I do that you go pack a bag for about 3 days. Make sure you out pajamas too." I remind her.
Willow groans, "Fine." She says sassily and goes across the hall to her bedroom.
I strip down our bed completely and take the trash can and tie it up. I take our bed stuff to the garage and put it in the washer. Then I take out the trash and Willow comes back down with a bag full of stuff that I know can't possible just be clothes.
"Did you put toys in your bag?" I laugh as I pick it up and put it on the kitchen table, it's quite heavy for a bag for three days.
"Only a couple, Dad. I putted my lamb and my blanket too." She adds in.
I smile a little, she plops down in a kitchen chair, laying her head on the table.
Buttercup comes running into the kitchen and starts mewing loudly once he realizes we are in the kitchen and he has no food. He's obviously ticked off with his sudden abandonment.
"Buttercup told me that him is mad we left him and didn't feed him." Willow tells me as I scoop some food into a bowl and Buttercup runs over, digging in.
I chuckle, "He told you all that?"
She nods, a hint of a smirk on her face.
"Did you?" I ask him, patting him on the head.
Willow smiles a little at me and I return it.
"Do you think you can be a good girl and go watch tv or play in your room while I take a super quick shower?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Because I haven't taken a shower in two days and Momma is gonna kick me out of her room if I smell bad-don't you think?" I joke.
"Probably so but if her does you can come live with me, Daddy." Willow says.
I chuckle, "Thanks. We will have to remember that when I'm old." I wink.
She looks at me.
"You are old though."
I scoff, "I'm not that old."
I go up the stairs and she follows me into our bedroom.
She nods her head, "Yes huh. Momma says you are."
"Momma doesn't know what she's talking about." I tease.
Willow giggles, "Mommy knows everything."
"So do I." I laugh.
She shakes her head, "You don't know how to sing real pretty to me when I'm sad."
I smile sadly, "I can't sing as pretty as Mommy but I could sing."
Her face drops, "Then will you sing to me now? Because I'm really sad." Willow says, her voice cracking.
Tears stroll down her little cheeks.
I frown and walk over, picking her up and sitting in her place. I hold her in my arms and she cries. I can't help but to tear up too at her sudden outburst.
I hate that we are going through this and I wish I could be here for Willow but I just can't leave Katniss by herself.
What if I wouldn't have been there last night when she couldn't breathe?
I don't want to think about it.
"Willow, I promise that everything is alright." I mumble softly to her.
"I don't care. I want Momma to be home and I want the baby to be with her too." She cries.
"Momma will be home in a few days and the baby is just fine." I assure her.
She looks up at me with tears streaming down her cheeks, "I just want them to be here already. I want my sister or brother already."
"I know you do but they still have awhile before than are ready to get here."
"How long?"
"About five or six more months."
Willow groans frustratedly, "Ugh, that's still forever." She cries.
I sigh, patting her back gently.
"It seems like a really long time but I promise it won't be that long." I tell her.
I'm having a hard time waiting too but there's nothing we can do.
She sighs, "Daddy, I'm just so sad with everything."
"But there's nothing to be sad about, Willow. There's so many reasons to be happy, even if things aren't very fun right now." I tell her softly.
This reminds me of many conversations I've had with Katniss in the past.
"Like what?" She asks me softly.
I sigh, trying to think.
"Well, we should be happy that Mommy is okay and so is the baby."
"But they're not okay, they are sick."
"But it could be worse. We just need to be happy that it wasn't as bad as it could be."
"What else?" She asks me softly, sniffling.
I fake a deep breath, "We should be happy me and you aren't sick and that we can make Momma feel better while she is."
Willow looks at me and gives me a Katniss-look.
I wipe away her tears with my thumbs, "What?"
"Nothing, I wish I was sick instead of Mommy and our baby."
I frown, "I wish I was sick instead of them too but we don't want you sick. Do you know why it's really important you don't get sick?"
"Why?"
"Because you're little and if you got sick with what Mommy has it would really really bad. Worse than what Momma is."
"But the baby is sick and it's smaller than me." She says.
"I know but it's different because it's in Mommy's belly and she's protecting it from getting sick."
"I still want to see her."
I sigh, "What if we called her?"
"I want to see her with my eyes. I want to see what her looks like and see if she is really okay."
I take a deep breath.
My stubborn little girl.
"I will ask but if they say no there's nothing I can do. And if you get sick, I'm gonna tell them to give you shots so you get better real fast." I tell her.
She sighs, "I don't care as long as I see my mom."
I smile sadly, "I love you." I say and kiss the top of her head.
"I love you too, Daddy. But will you please ask-ed the doctor already?" She complains.
I chuckle a little bit and pull my phone from my back pocket.
I search for the number and dial it.
(On the phone with the hospital)
"District Twelve Hospital." A lady answers immediately.
"Hi. This is Peeta Mellark. My wife Katniss Mellark is there and I needed to ask her doctor or nurse a question." I say, hoping and praying something gets done for Willow's sake, even though I don't really want her being in there but I'm not gonna be the bad guy and not let her see her mother, especially right now.
"Sure. I will transfer you over." She says and I hear the outgoing ring again and then another lady answers.
"Katniss Mellark's room, this is nurse Katherine."
"Hi, this is Peeta Mellark." I say.
"Hello. Katniss is still doing okay. She puked a few times but she thinks it was because of morning sickness."
"Oh. Okay, I should be back soon. Thank you. Also, I had a question too."
"Sure?"
"I know there's not suppose to be visitors under twelve but I needed to see if you could please bend the rules just this once?"
There's a long pause.
"Listen, I know that policy is for health reasons and I don't want her going in anymore than y'all do but could you please allow my five year old to go in for just a few minutes?" I ask her bluntly.
"Sir, that's against our policy."
"Please? She can do any kind safety precaution you need her to, wear a mask even. She really needs to see her mother." I say truthfully, knowing how badly Willow wants it.
Willow hugs me tight.
"Listen, if you come here at 12:30, I can try to sneak her in but it'll only be for a few minutes."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. She's just so close to her mother and has been worried sick about her since yesterday morning. She had a really rough night without us too so this is going to be good for them both. Thank you so much." I say, so glad she's letting it slip.
Hopefully it just goes alright.
I hear the nurse sigh, "I understand. I went through the same thing with my mother but with cancer. I was about 8 but felt the same way when I wasn't allowed in the room."
"You have no idea how much this means to us. Thank you so so much." I say gratefully.
Willow is going to be ecstatic but I'm gonna have to have a talk with her before we leave.
"No problem. Be here at 12:30 please. Make sure you have her wash her hands immediately afterwards."
"I will. I promise, I will." I say.
"Okay. If anything changes with your wife I will be sure to give you a call."
"Please do. Thank you."
"No problem." She says and I hang up.
As soon as I hang up Willow can't ask me fast enough what the answer is.
"The nurse said you could go see Mommy but only for a few minutes." I say.
She smiles widely then frowns.
"A few minutes?" She complains.
"Yes. It's better than nothing, isn't it?"
She nods, "Oh yes."
"And when you go you have to be really, really quiet. You can't jump on Momma or talk really loud or else the nurses may kick you out." I say truthfully.
"And you are gonna have to wash your hands really good and maybe even take a bath after you see Momma to make sure you don't have any germs on you."
"I don't care, Daddy-I'm just so happy I get to see Mommy." Willow says hugging me and giving me a kiss.
"But it may be the only time you get to see her while she's in there. You may have to wait until she's out of there before you get to see her again, okay?" I warn her.
She sighs, "Okay."
"Do you want to go watch tv or play in your room while I take a shower?" I ask.
"I want to watch tv." She sighs.
I nod, standing up. I carry her to the living room and set her on the couch and then find something for her to watch. Buttercup, who seems a lot happier now that he's been fed, jumps up on the couch and cuddles up to Willow.
I smile, "I will be back in just a few minutes. Don't leave the couch." I say.
"But what if I got to go to the potty?" She asks me.
I laugh, "Then you can go but I bet you won't have to because I won't be that long."
She smiles a little and I shake my head, going up stairs.
I take a quick shower, get dressed and then go back down stairs with everything I need to take to the hospital and to Annie's.
"Ready to go?" I ask her.
She picks Buttercup up and moves him to where she was sitting and jumps up excitedly.
I look at the clock and see that it's only 11:30 so we have an hour to waste. We go find something to eat and drive around until about 12:20 and then I head back to the hospital. I remind Willow of how to behave and we go in about a minute before 12:30.
I find the nurse in the hall and she nods. She gets down face to face with Willow and puts her finger over her mouth. Willow nods her head and I give the nurse I grateful look. She opens the door and Willow follows me in.
Katniss is awake when we walk in. She looks worse than she did when she left but the nurse said she had been puking. Her eyes get so much brighter when she sees Willow walk in.
Willow walks over to Katniss and she turns her head, "Hi, baby. What are you doing in here?" Katniss asks, giving me a look.
I nod my head letting her know it's fine.
"I came to make you feel better." Willow whispers to her.
Katniss smiles sadly at her and I go over and sit on the foot of Katniss's bed, patting her leg a little.
"How are you feeling now?" I ask her.
Willow climbs up and sits in my lap, looking Katniss over.
"Not too great. I puked some and my headache is back. I'm super sore too." She frowns, sighing deeply.
I frown, "Any better than yesterday?"
"A little bit." She shrugs.
Willow looks down at Katniss arm, "Ouch, Momma. Your arm is hurt." She says softly pointing to the spot where IVs have been put in her veins.
Katniss nods, "Yeah, I'm okay though. Those are making me feel better." She tells her.
Willow sighs and lays her head against my chest shyly.
"Is the baby still in there?" She asks Katniss.
She laughs a little tiredly, "Yes. The baby is still in my tummy."
"Good. What is that belt thingy on your belly?" She asks.
I point to the machine where the baby's heart rate is shown.
"Look, you know how you can sometimes hear the baby's heartbeat when Momma is at the doctor?"
Willow nods.
"That's around her belly to make sure the baby's heart is okay still while Momma is sick." I explain.
She frowns.
"Hopefully the next time we come to the hospital it will be to have the baby." Katniss tells her.
Willow looks over at her, "Yeah."
"How come you didn't go to school today?" She asks her.
Willow frowns, "Because I had really bad dreams last night so I couldn't sleep. And I missed-ed you so so much." Willow says dramatically.
She smiles sadly and laughs a little bit, "Aw, I missed you too." She says, sitting up a little.
Willow nods her head and pulls my head down to her mouth, "Daddy, I don't want to be in here no more because Momma is making me sad." She whispers softly.
I am pretty Katniss hears her words because I see her sad smile fall to a frown.
"Just a few more minutes and then we will go." I say softly.
I look up at Katniss who looks disappointed and I shrug.
"Willow, you better talk to Mommy before we have to go." I say, hoping she will use the time she has.
Willow nods, "Can I give her a hug?"
I sigh, "Yeah. Sure, if she wants you to." I say, knowing Katniss needs it. I just hope the nurse doesn't walk in or nothing gets to Willow.
Katniss nods her head and Willow carefully crawls over and leans down to Katniss and hugs her, careful not to touch her stomach. Katniss looks relieved and hugs her back.
"I love you." Katniss whispers.
"I love you too." Willow says and kisses Katniss's forehead.
Willow comes back over to me and sits in my lap again.
The nurse comes back in, "Sir, I really need her visit to be over like right now, the doctor is about to come in and she can't be here." She says kind of frantically.
I jump up, "I will be back soon and will explain everything." I tell Katniss and before she can answer I leave the room with Willow who starts throwing one of the biggest fits I've ever seen her throw.
I make it out the doors and to the car as she kicks and screams for me to go back. I sit her in her car seat and she screams angrily at me, literally turning into a child I've never seen.
"I want my mom!!!" Willow yells at me angrily.
I try to ignore her and buckle her up as quickly as I can, hoping ignorance will make her quit.
It doesn't.
Willow starts kicking the back of the driver seat and pushing me away from her.
"Willow Mellark, you stop that right now." I say sternly, having to use my "bad-guy" voice. I think I've only had to use my most stern, most authoritative voice I have on her just a few times.
She screams loudly in my face.
I am just about to shut the car door when she rears her hand back, slapping me right across the face.
I am shocked.
I don't even think or hesitate to pull her out of the car and bust her butt.
She cries like I've never seen her cry before but doesn't fight as I buckle her up.
I can not believe she just did that and I have ever been so disappointed in her.
"I want to see Mommy!!!!!" Willow screams at the top of her lungs, coughing from being so upset. Gagging like she's going to puke. I ignore her cries and apologies the entire way home, so angry with her-I'm shaking.
"Daddy!! I want Mommy!!" She cries hysterically.
I don't say anything.
"Ugh!!!"
"I don't know what has gotten into you but you need to stop." I say growing angrier as the minutes go by.
I can usually talk to her and it's fine. But Katniss is usually the disciplinarian because for some reason she's more scared of Katniss getting onto her than me and I am not sure why because Katniss is usually pretty calm with her. Most of the time I can talk to Willow without a problem but today is not the case.
I'm not sure what to really do about it because she's never behaved this way.
After awhile she is only sobbing. She isn't screaming or yelling anymore, thankfully.
"I'm sorry." She says after a few minutes, sniffling.
"You know better than to act like that. You've never acted like this and you know it's not okay to hit anyone, especially not me." I say angrily.
"But you hit me twice." Willow says.
"That's because you were acting like a total brat and slapped me across the face." I say furiously.
Willow doesn't say anything after that.
When we get home, we go inside and I get her a bath ready and she gets in it.
She hasn't tried talking to me and I haven't said anything to her.
I have never been so frustrated with being a parent more than I am now.
I have no idea what to do about it other than what I did but I want to make sure it never happens again.
No other tantrum she's thrown before tops this one.
She's never hit or even acted like she would hit me or Katniss or anyone so I have no idea what has gotten into her today.
I sit in there and make sure she actually gets clean and she looks over at me.
I notice and look down.
"Daddy, I am so sorry I hitted you." Willow tells me, her voice croaking and tears stream down her cheeks.
I don't say anything for a few seconds, I try to keep a stern look on my face but it softens.
"You better not hit me or anyone ever again. I am disappointed with you right now." I tell her truthfully.
She frowns.
Willow knows that she messed up really bad with me and I don't think she will do it again but I honestly never thought she would pull anything like this.
"Your mother is gonna be really mad at you when I tell her."
Willow bursts into tears, "Please don't tell Mommy?"
I shake my head, "I am telling her, Willow. That was so disrespectful what you did to me and Momma is gonna be really upset with you."
"But Daddy I said I am so sorry."
"I'm sure you are sorry but I am still mad at you."
She sighs.
"Willow, you are my little girl and you are one of the sweetest kids there is and you were not at all acting nice. That was so mean of you and you know better than to do that. I don't know what you were thinking." I say.
She frowns, "I don't know what I was thinking either, I just did it. I'm sorry."
She must have inherited my temper.
Well, she must've inherited my teenage temper at five.
I sigh deeply, "I will think about forgiving you but you better not do anything like that ever again or you will be in even more trouble than you already are."
"Yes, sir." Willow says, not making any eye contact with me.
"I love you so much and I would never hit you the way you hit me. There's a different between hitting and spanking because you did something bad." I tell her truthfully.
"Okay." She says softly, not even attempting to argue with me.
"Now let's get out so we can get you back to Annie." I say.
She nods her head, not arguing.
I give her a towel and she gets dressed while I wait in the living room.
After she comes out she mopes over to me.
She gives me a hug.
"I am really really really sorry, Daddy." Willow says and I know she means it.
I nod my head, "I forgive you but I don't want that to ever happen again."
"It won't. I promise." She says.
I pull her into my lap and kiss her on the forehead.
"I love you no matter how mad you make me. Don't you ever forget that." I tell her softly, pushing some of her brown hair out of her face.
"I love you too." She says.
"Go get your brush and a hair tie and I'll fix your hair before we go." I say.
She gets up and runs upstairs into her room and gets her hair stuff. She comes back down and I fix her hair in simple braids on each side of her head.
"Okay, now when I drop you off at Annie's I need you to be a big girl and go be on your best behavior, she better not have to tell me you acted up." I say.
"I will be good."
I drop her off at Annie's without a problem and head back up to Katniss.
I get in her room and it's about 2 o'clock and she's awake surprisingly.
"What took so long?" She asks me as I walk in.
I sigh and drag the plastic chair over to her bedside and sit down.
"Well, you're gonna be absolutely shocked when I tell you what our daughter did when we left." I start out, forgetting the roots of this whole story.
Katniss sighs, "What did she do?"
I groan, "Well, she was pissed when we left here and I got her into the car and was trying to put her in. She was kicking the seats, screaming and yelling at me and slapped me across the face." I inform her.
Katniss's eyes grow wide.
"Are you serious?" She asks me, growing angry.
"I'm serious."
"Did you spank her?" She asks.
"Oh, you bet I did. I think it hurt me to do it more than it hurt her but I have never been so mad at her before. Then I listened to her yelling at me the whole way home." I say.
"Oh my gosh. I can't believe her." Katniss groans.
"Yeah, neither could I. I don't know what has gotten into her but she did apologize to me a lot and we talked it over."
"Good. I can't believe she slapped you."
I sigh, "Yeah, her attitude was defiantly a slap in the face. Literally." I joke.
Katniss laughs a little bit, "As long as you took care of it."
"I did. Hopefully we never have that problem again." I say hopeful.
"Ugh, I am so mad at her now."
"I'm more disappointed than mad, I think. She's never acted like that before or done anything. I mean don't get me wrong she's had her tantrums, her bad tantrums even but this was like a whole new kid."
Katniss frowns, "You should've grounded her or something."
"I would've but there's nothing we can really do since she's not at home. I don't think it will happen again but if it does she's getting more than a spanking."
"When we get home I am gonna have a long talk with her about it and I may even ground her from something, I'm not sure."
I sigh, "I don't know, Katniss. I guess we just need to see how it goes once we get home."
Katniss sighs, "I'm too sick to even be as mad as I want to be."
I frown, "You're not feeling any better at all?"
"I think the only thing they've done for me is give me fluids in this stupid IV that is hurting me so bad. I am still dizzy when I sit up and nauseated. I haven't puked as many times as yesterday. I still have a fever and a headache too. I have a cough still and can barely breathe through my mouth, let alone my nose. It's like it's getting worse, besides the puking every five minutes." She tells me.
I frown, "I'm sorry, baby. Is there anything you need me to do?"
She shakes her head, "I wish you would give me some sleeping pills but I know you can't and I can't even take anything unless they prescribe it to me."
"I wish I could too and if you weren't pregnant and in the hospital I might."
She sighs and closes her eyes, "They're not doing anything for me really. I could be at home sitting here and at least save money."
"The money doesn't matter and they're keeping you hydrated and giving the nutrients you can't keep down to the baby and you."
She nods, "I know. I just wanted to complain."
I laugh a little at her and she smiles sleepily.
"I'm so sleepy, Peeta."
"Then go to sleep. I won't go anywhere."
She lets out a groan, "I just wish you could lay with me and we could be in our bed."
"I wish that too but I can't."
"It's stupid they won't let you sleep with me."
"They use to let me, maybe it's because you're sick or maybe it's because you're pregnant?" I shrug.
"I don't know." She sighs, opening her heavy-looking eyes.
"Not to be mean but you look like you don't feel good at all."
"I don't." She mumbles.
"I know you don't. I just thought I would let you know." I tease her.
She manages a little tired laugh.
"Go to sleep, Katniss."
"I can like lay here but I never actually fall asleep and I can't get comfortable and they won't let me turn."
I sigh, "I don't know what to say but I will let you sleep as much as you want after you get out."
Katniss smiles a little, "Good. Get ready to sleep more then too because I'm making you take naps with me to keep me warm."
"Are you cold right now?"
"I'm freezing." She says.
"Do you want me to ask for another blanket?"
She shakes her head and closes her eyes.
***Long, crappy not much happened other than willows fit lol oh well sorry y'all it's something though :P ideas y'all. I needem ain't gotem deez nuts