Katniss P.O.V.
"Peeta!" I say urgently as I shake his shoulder. His eyes fly open and he gives me a worried look.
"What's wrong?"
"Rye's fever has gone up," I say as tears fall down my face. Peeta quickly sits up and takes Rye from me. Rye is screaming to the top of his lungs, and his little hands are balled up into tight fists.
"Peeta, something's hurting him," I cry. Peeta places a hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eyes.
"Honey, listen to me," Peeta says softly. "He'll be fine. I'll call Ellen and see what she says. We'll take him to the doctor in the morning. Just calm down please." I nod and Peeta quickly leaves the room with Rye. It isn't long until Willow comes into the room.
"Mommy," she whines.
"What's the matter, baby girl?" I ask her. She walks over to me and I pick her up. She leans her head over on my shoulder and looks up at me.
"Mommy, I'm so tired and I can't sleep 'cause Rye keeps a cryin' and… and…" she starts crying and I pull her closer to me.
"Willow, I know you're tired, but that's no reason to cry."
"Yuh-huh," she whines. "'Cause I gots to go to stool if it not snows and I will be so, so tired," she says dramatically.
"Baby girl, I know it's been a rough night for all of us," I tell her. "So if you're still really tired in the morning, then Daddy and I will let you stay home and rest."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh," I say softly as I kiss the top of her head. "So don't worry about it. Go back to bed. Try to go to sleep." She nods and slowly starts back to her room. Peeta come back in carrying Rye and sits down beside of me on our bed.
"Ellen said that the hospital probably won't do anything until his fever gets really high since he hasn't had any other symptoms," Peeta says.
"So what do we do until morning?" I ask him.
"Keep a cold, wet rag on his forehead," Peeta says.
"Okay," I barely say as I nod my head.
"Here, you take Rye," Peeta says as he passes our baby boy to me caefully, "and I'll go fix a rag for him." I nod and cradle Rye close to me.
"You're okay," I say softly as I run a hand through Rye's blonde hair." Mommy and Daddy are going to take care of you. That's our job, you know. To always take care of you and your sister, and to make sure that you two are okay." Peeta comes back in and gently places the rag on Rye's forehead.
"There you go," Peeta says quietly as he sits back down beside of me. Rye continues to fuss, so I start to rock him.
"See. You'll be okay, baby boy," I tell him.
"Why don't I take him downstairs with me?" Peeta says. "That way you can get some sleep." I shrug my shoulders.
"It won't do any good," I say truthfully. "I can't sleep without you anyways." Peeta gives me a sad smile.
"Just try to relax. Okay?" I nod my head and Peeta takes Rye downstairs.
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I don't sleep. I knew I wouldn't. So when I look up at the clock to see it's seven in the morning, I'm not surprised that I'm more tired than I was when I went to bed.
"Katniss?" Peeta says softly as he comes into the room carrying Rye.
"Yeah?" I reply sleepily.
"Willow's school was called off this morning for snow, so I'm just going to stay home too," Peeta says. I nod my head and carefully take Rye from him.
"I'll call later and make an appointment for him."
"I'll take care of it," Peeta says as he lays down on the bed beside of me. "He seems to be a lot calmer now."
"Yeah," I reply. "I think his fever might be going down too." Peeta looks up at me and frowns.
"You look tired."
"So do you," I say. Peeta laughs a little bit.
"Rye, you kept all of us up last night," Peeta tells him.
"But it's worth it," I say. Peeta nods his head.
"Agreed."
"I think we both need to rest right now while he's content," I say as I lay Rye down in the bassinet. I lay my head over on Peeta's chest and he wraps an arm around me.
"Mommy," Willow says quietly. "Do I gots to go to stool?"
I laugh a little bit. "No, baby girl," I tell her. "It snowed last night."
She gasps excitedly. "Daddy, you were right." Peeta chuckles and I shake my head at her.
"Come here," I tell her. She crawls up into the bed and I hold her close to me. Willow falls asleep within minutes. "She's wore out," I say to Peeta, not getting a response. I turn my head a little bit to see that Peeta's also out of it.
I laugh a little and kiss the top of Willow's head before closing my own eyes.
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"But, Daddy. I wanna go outside and play," I hear Wilow whine .
"Later, Willow. You need to eat first," Peeta tells her. I open my eyes and Peeta looks over at me and smiles.
"Look, Mommy's awake," Peeta tells Willow. She shrugs her little shoulders.
"So?"
I scoff. "What do you mean 'so?'"
Willow sighs. "Mommy, I not want you. I wanna play in the snow."
"Willow, sometimes you're a little too honest," Peeta teases. But in some cases, it's true.
"Well, I think Daddy said you need to wait until after you eat," I tell Willow. She pouts and looks up at Peeta, hoping he'll cave. Peeta just shakes his head and Willow lets out a huge puff of air.
"Please?" she asks sweetly.
"No," Peeta says. "You'll wait until after lunch."
"But I don't want to," Willow whines.
"If you don't stop, you won't be going outside at all," Peeta tells her. Willow sulks and looks back at me.
"Don't look at me," I tell her. "This is between you and Daddy."
"But Daddy is not being fair," she complains.
"How am I being unfair?" Peeta asks her.
"'Cause you won't let me go outside."
"Willow, I said you can after lunch. Now you better drop it," Peeta warns her. Willow sighs and angrily stomps over to her room.
"What's gotten into her?" I ask Peeta. He just shrugs his shoulders.
"She woke up in a bad mood," he says.
"How's Rye?"
"His fever came back," Peeta says. "I made him an appointment for two-thirty this afternoon."
"Okay," I say as I sit up a little more. "You need me to do anything?"
"No," Peeta says as he shakes his head. "Lunch is almost ready, Rye's been fed, and Willow's pouting in her room." I laugh and smile at him. "I think I've got everything taken care of."
Rye starts crying and I laugh again. "Everything excpet Rye's dirty diaper," I say as I stand up. "But I'm pretty sure I can manage that." Peeta laughs and wraps an arm around my waist. He gives me a quick kiss before he heads downstairs and I start over to the nursery. I change Rye's diaper and hold him close to me.
"Baby boy, I wish I knew what's wrong with you," I say.
"Mommy, I'm hungry," Willow says as she comes over into the nursery.
"Okay," I tell her. Let's go see if Daddy has lunch ready." Willow nods and I take her hand before we walk downstairs.
After we eat, I take Willow outside to let her play in the snow, and Peeta takes Rye to his doctor's appointment.
"I'm cold, Mommy," Willow complains. I laugh a little.
"Well, duh, silly," I tell her. "It's gotta be cold if there's snow on the ground." She giggles. "You ready to go back inside?"
"Yep," Wilow says. I turn to head inside, when a snowball hits me in the back of my head.
"Hey!" I say as I turn arounf to face Willow. She gives me an innocent look.
"I not do it, Mommy."
"Mhm. I bet you didn't," I tell her. She tries to keep a straight face, but quickly bursts out laughing. I shake my head and roll my eyes at her.
"Get inside," I say. Willow laughs as we head back inside the house. Just as I'm shutting the front door, the car pulls up outside. "Go upstairs and take a warm bath," I tell Willow. "I'll be up in a minute." Willow nods and starts upstairs. Peeta walks in and I quickly take Rye out of his car seat.
"Well?" I ask anxiously.
"He has a sinus infection," Peeta says. They gave him some medicine, and he should be better in a couple days." I nod and look down at Rye. His little eyes are barely staying open, so I begin to rock him to sleep.
"Will you go check on Willow?" I ask Peeta. "She's upstairs taking a bath." Peeta nods his head and walks off.
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"Mommy, you said two stories," Willow whines.
"I read you two stories," I tell her.
"But one was short."
I shake my head at her. "Have Daddy tell you a really long story tomorrow night." Willow nods and I kiss her forehead. "I love you, Willow."
"Love you, Mommy." I turn off her lamp and head to bed.
"Rye's alseep," Peeta says as I lay down. "Goodnight. I love you." I lean over to kiss Peeta.
"I love you too." I'm just drifting off when Willow comes running into our room. "Willow?"
"Mommy!" she says quietly in a panicked voice. "Sum'ing is wrong with Rye!"
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AHHHH! Did any of you all watch WCTH Sunday night? I can't believe they ended the season without bringing Jack back. And I BAWLED when Cody called Abbigail "Mom."
If none of you all have ever watched When Calls the Heart, you need to when season 5 starts. It is SOOOOO good and Faith based. It comes on the Hallmark channel Sunday night's at 9/8c