"Katniss... you don't have to do this" my best friend Madge says as I sit in the waiting room, I've decided to have a baby but through sperm donation, I found the perfect guy for it, blonde hair, blue eyes, baker, painter and he enjoys helping people in need and that sounded like someone I honestly wouldn't mind helping me to have a baby
"Madge, I'm thirty-two, single and with no children or husband. I mean usually that wouldn't bother me but now it does" I reply
"Okay but remember that I'm here for you and every decision that you make" she smiles and I do too. It's not long till I'm called out and told to enter the room without Madge which is a little nerve racking but not so much at the same time
"Okay how've you been feeling?" The doctor old enough to be my dad asks
"I'm feeling okay, a little nervous" I admit
"That's completely normal" he comforts and I nod
"Now, let's get started"
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I walk around my apartment with my hand on my little swollen belly as I talk to my sister Prim on the phone, telling her and my parents about the whole sperm donor thing was hard, there was a little bit of freaking out but soon everyone was alright with it and I call them every week to update them of anything and send them pictures of the two sonogram pictures of the baby that were taken on my first and third month which they just adored
"So are you going to find out what the gender is going to be?" Prim asks
"No I've decided that I don't want to know till the baby's born" I sigh
"I wish you didn't live all the way in California, we miss you here in Colorado" Prim sadly admits
"I know little duck but there was nothing for me there, I love my job here but I'll visit all the time and so will you, mom and dad" I comfort and she sighs
"Yeah I guess" she says
"Listen, I gotta go but I'll call again next week okay?" I say
"Okay talk to you then, byyye" she replies, once I say goodbye I look down at my stomach and sigh feeling beyond hungry
"So what is it monkey? What do you want to eat at nine-thirty at night?" I chuckle but when I look in the cupboards the baby doesn't want any of it, even the usual Twinkie dipped in mayo and so I decide to go and check to see if and good places are open. I drive around in my car but hardly anywhere is open but there's one place we haven't checked, the bakery Bakers Bread and Delights, luckily it's open and so I pull into a parking spot but just as I get out a guy is starting to lock up, shit! I'm too hungry to let this person go home!
"Wait!" I cry out running up to the guy almost tripping on the porch stairs but he catches me and I thank the heavens that he did
"Woah! Easy there tiger" he chuckles standing me up
"I'm sorry it's just nowhere is open and I'm really really hungry" I admit but I notice he's looking at me strange
"Are you okay?" I ask him
"Yeah it's just I swear I've seen you before, I mean somewhere else" he replies
"Really? Well I have no idea where you could've seen me, do you maybe know my name from someone? I'm Katniss Everdeen" I suggest and his eyes grow wide
"Katniss?" He asks okay that is kind of weird how he said that
"Yeah? That's my name but who are you?" I reply
"Katniss! It's me! Peeta Mellark! From high school!" He smiles and it all comes to me
"Oh my god! Hi!" I smile too
"Do you want to go in or something?" He asks gesturing to the bakery
"Sure" I reply, he unlocks the door and lets me in, the baby settles for cheesebuns and so I ask for six of them and then be sit at one of the tables that's in his bakery I guess
"I didn't recognise you, you were...." I trail off trying to find a word for it
"Fat? Yeah I know, it's okay, I was use to it but after I moved here in eighth grade I went to fat camp and by the time I was in tenth grade I had lost it all" he replies
"Not to make this inappropriate but you've gotten so hot and you've worked real well on your body I mean... wow" I say which makes him chuckle
"Thanks you don't look all that bad yourself" he compliments
"Thank you, that's sweet of you" I smile but I can see him looking at my stomach, I know he knows I'm not fat and I know he's not stupid but I don't want him getting all freaked out that I got a sperm donor
"I know your questioning if I'm pregnant, yes I am" I state
"Oh yeah uh.... sorry I couldn't help it" he sighs
"It's fine, I don't mind" I smile
"So who's the father?" He asks
"Um.... my boyfriend.... Tom, he works on the other side of the country every year for two years but we FaceTime a lot so it's bearable" I sigh, wow, I didn't know that I was such a good liar
"Oh, well maybe we could go out for lunch this weekend? To catch up?" He asks, I think it over but I decide to agree and after lots of debating he makes me go home without paying for the cheesebuns saying that it was his treat which still made me feel bad about not paying...
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"Are you sure they'll be okay with me being here? I don't want to ruin their Fourth of July" I tell Peeta, luckily he has believed about my 'boyfriend' Tom but we've become good friends and already I'm meeting his family, what are they going to think about their son and brother just hanging out with a pregnant chick?
"I'm sure and there's no way you're ruining our Fourth of July, now come on, be yourself and everyone will love you" he chuckles and I nod, as we reach his arenas front door he knocks on it, a blonde man opens the door, he looks a lot like Peeta....
"Peeta my boy! Come here" the man cheerfully says pulling Peeta in for a hug
"Hey dad, this is Katniss Everdeen, the one I told you about" Peeta introduces
"Hello Katniss I'm Liam, Peeta's old man. You know I actually remember you, Peeta use to—"
"Okay dad can we come in now?!" Peeta asks embarrassed, we're let in but I don't leave Peeta's side at all which gives off to his family that we're a couple and it doesn't help with me being pregnant. Through the night we finally bump into his mom who I definitely remember hated me when I lived in Colorado, thought I'd never see her again,
"Peeta! You made it! How's my baby boy doing?" She coos
"Doing fine mama, you remember Katniss right?" Peeta smiles
"Indeed I do, does she not have her family around?" She asks
"She couldn't make it so I invited her her, dad said it was okay, right?" Peeta asks
"Of course! Excuse me but Susan is wanting to organise her baby shower, I'll talk to you later darling" she smiles kissing his cheek but making sure to bump shoulders with me as she passes
"Jeez, has she always hated me?" I say
"I believe so but I don't really know why" he replies, somehow through the night I'm sat down by Peeta's father and immediately shown pictures of Peeta as a baby and growing up, we come across one picture and it's Peeta's fifth birthday and I'm sitting in a chair next to him
"I didn't know we knew each other back then" I say looking at Peeta who sits next to me
"Yeah we were close up until the second grade, we got new friends and grew apart" he replies with a shrug and as we flip through more Peeta's weight increases until one picture and it's him in high school, my god was he gorgeous, I mean look at all that weight that was lost! Wow! After that I just can't get enough and look at more baby pictures of Peeta which is just the cutest.
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So I'm coming towards the end of my pregnancy, my feet are killing me 24/7, I'm bored all day everyday due to leaving work as soon as it got too hard but Peeta has been helping me through this entire thing which has made it easier and it's kind of sweet, he was there when the baby first kicked, he was there for all my ultrasound appointments and within all these months we've become much, much closer but what makes this harder is the whole Tom thing, Peeta's expecting to meet him when he gets home and I don't want to move just because of my lies, I've decided that after the baby's born I'll come clean....
I hear a knock at my apartment door and I feel another spark of pain when I walk over to the door and answer, I find that it's Peeta looking panicked seeing as I did tell him that the baby is on its way
"Are you okay? We need to go to the hospital" he panics rushing inside and starts pacing
"Peeta, calm down. This is just the early stage, there's no rushing" I giggle watching him freak out, we both sit on the couch and I lean my head on his shoulder as we talk which sort of distracts me from the contractions every 5-30 minutes and I actually find myself falling asleep.
Peeta POV
I look down at Katniss as she sleeps on my shoulder, it makes me smile just thinking that she's with me but I find myself regretting not asking her out in eighth grade but I was overweight and a nobody, she would've never wanted to date me but I'm too late... some guy has already got her and gotten her pregnant, I can't believe this happened... that could've been my baby in there if she wasn't dating anyone, I could've been living with her, sleeping with her... in both ways but I can't, not with a woman who's dating someone.
I lay her down on her side and put the blanket that was on the couch over her, I decide to have a look around her apartment, it's really... girly for a couple, I take a look in a room and see that it's a nursery, I smile as I look around but remember that the baby's not even mine... I go into her room even though I know I shouldn't have, I look at all the pictures but I see none of Katniss and any guy who she described to be her boyfriend, weird... I'm sure she has them somewhere else in boxes or something but the more I look the more I come up empty handed, has she been lying to me? Why would she? I mean I would still be friends even if this baby wasn't mine, I can't believe she lied though.... why would she lie about having a boyfriend?
It's not till it's real dark out when I hear moaning and groaning from the couch, I walk over and see that Katniss as an unsettled face as she sleeps, I wonder what's wrong? Her eyes shoot open and she sits up and cries out
"Katniss! What's the matter?! What's wrong?" I ask frantically
"The baby, it's coming. I need the hospital now" she breathes out and I nod, she tells me where her hospital bag is and after I get it I waste no time so I pick her up and run out of her apartment and down the stairs into my car, on the way to the hospital she uses my phone to call her family about what's happening. I rush her into the hospital but because I'm not her family, I'm not allowed to go in with her and I'm told to go home as she's in good hands and so I do.
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Katniss's POV
I lay in my hospital bed crying out in pain every now and again, after they told me that Peeta went home as they to,d him he wasn't allowed in here with me makes this entire process so much harder. This whole birth thing is killing me but the nurse distracts me easily and asks about my family then what I want to name the baby, I decided ages ago with the help of Peeta that for a girl Sarah and a boy James, at first I didn't like the name James but it actually stuck with me after some thinking, I can't believe that things between Peeta and I will change after I tell him that Tom isn't real... I feel bad already.
I decide after I'm seven centimetres dilated I ask for an epidural because I just can't take but of course it hurts even more when the needle goes into my back but after that I feel so relieved and I'm able to relax and get some sleep in but not much due to still being pregnant and not to mention the insanely uncomfortable hospital bed, in a matter of three hours my parents and Prim will be here, as soon as they got my call they decided to drive down to LA instead of flying but I told them that when they get here to check into a hotel and to get proper sleep and that I'll text them when the baby gets here which they agreed to which made me happy.
After an hour or two the epidural wears off and that's when I really start to feel the pain, I swear giving birth is the most painful yet beautiful thing in the world, during my time I take walks around the hospital, have a bath, bounce on a pregnancy ball and scroll through my social media on my phone. It's not till the pain becomes unbearable when the midwife tells me that it's time, so with my nurse by my side I push and push and push, I even push when I don't want too but after all that pushing I feel total relief and all I hear is the most amazing sound in the world my baby's first cries, the doctor cuts the cord and he gets cleaned while I push some more to get the placenta out, after all that my baby is brought over still crying in a white blanket
"Congratulations, you've got a baby boy" The midwife smiles and I silently cry as he's placed in my arms, my baby boy James, after I tell the doctor his name they take him to get his weight and all those tests taken but the thing that freaks the hell out of me is how much James looked like Peeta as a baby then it hits me, my sperm donor was a baker, blonde, blue eyes, love's to paint... oh my god, Peeta's my baby's father.
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I smile as my family take turns holding James which fills me with happiness but I can't stop thinking about how Peeta's the father or so I think he is but he can't be? This'll just make things awkward between us, but he needs to know... he's his baby too... I can't keep that from him... but I don't think now is the time. Prim and I talk to each other about how life is doing, Prim decided that her place was back at home in Colorado, she got married to my old best friends brother Rory and they have a four year old together, Susie, Prim stayed back due to dad's health and how mom isn't as strong anymore if something happens so Prim and Rory help out so I could live here in California and work as a Park Naturalist, Colorado didn't really have it as much as I wanted it too so that's why I moved here for college and stayed and I've been much happier here but what makes me happier is that it's not that far from Colorado at all, only a 16 hour drive and only an hour to fly by plane which is really convenient.
"Katniss he's just a perfect baby, you've done so well" my mom smiles as she kisses my forehead
"Thanks mom, I just can't believe that I have a baby" I sigh which makes her smile
"Trust me it's the most wonderful thing in the world, you'll definitely be perfect at it" she admits
"It's still so unbelievable to me, that I have a baby boy, my own little baby" I reply and we hug, I'll admit I've missed having the close comfort of my parents close by but that's what makes my family and I so close when we finally see each other but for some reason I'm still thinking of Peeta.
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I put James in his bassinet in my room with his stuffed animal toys, Peeta texted me that he's on his way up and I want to see if James wants to sleep so I can talk to Peeta before they met, I answer my door after there was a knock and there stands Peeta, I smile and let him in, I texted Peeta that we needed to have a serious talk and he agreed luckily. We sit on the couch at first in silence till he decides to talk
"Toms not real is he? It's okay Katniss, if he's not..." he says which makes me sigh
"It's true, he's not real. The truth is that... James was a sperm donor baby, the father had blonde hair, blue eyes, he's a baker, painter and loves helping people in need" I reply and Peeta's eyes grow wide
"W-what? Wait that can't be, they said that they weren't able to use mine cause no one wanted it" he doubts, I sigh and stand up, I go through the draws by my computer and pull out the donor file and give it to him and sit next to him as he reads it
"Your name wasn't written down neither was your phone number, they said that it was your first and only time doing it so I was just like what the hell and so I did it. You've got a son Peeta" I say
"I've got a son..." he breathes out and looks to me
"Why didn't you tell me when you were pregnant?" He asks and I shrug
"I didn't want to scare you away and I was even debating myself if I should've told you but I cared about you so much that I just couldn't lie to you any longer and it killed me to not say anything. I don't want to lose you" I admit tearing up, he pulls me to his chest and immediately I feel warm and fuzzy as he rubs my back
"It's okay, you haven't lost me and if you'll let me I want to be in Jame's life, and yours too" he says with a smile and that's the moment where we kiss, it's the most magical, tender and soft kiss I've ever had and as days, months and years pass James grows to love us both but also his baby sister who Peeta and I named Willow.
Wow... this was really long but I still hope you like it xxxx