That Ol' Wind

Chapter 12: Katniss

Peeta drives Joey and I to my doctor's appointment. When he heard that I was gonna get an ultra sound and would be able to see the baby, he begged Peeta and I to go. We decided that it might be nice if we see her (Peeta and I both think she's a girl) for the first time as a family. So when we pull up to the doctor's office, Joey started smiling.

"Is this were we're gonna see the baby?" he asks. I nod and he excitedly grabs my hand as I get out of the car. He starts pulling me towards the door and Peeta laughs.

"Joey, the baby's still gonna be in Momma's tummy what ever time we get there," he says.

"But I want to see it now," he pouts.

"We have to wait just a bit longer. There are people who've been waiting too," I say as Peeta takes my hand and walks me into the doctor's office.

When we get inside, Peeta and I both have to sign a bunch of paperwork and turn it back in to the front desk. While we wait, Joey sits kicking his legs back and forth impatiently.

"Why does it take so long?" he asks.

"I don't know sweetie, because it does," I answer. Eventually it's our turn and a nurse leads us back and says that Madge, my doctor, will be in in a moment. When she comes in the doors she gasps.

"Oh Katnisss!" she says,"This can't be Joey. There's no way he's this big already."

"It is," I say smiling,"He just turned ten in May."

"And I guess you're here to see what your little brother or sister looks like in your mothers tummy?" she says and Joey nods shyly.

"Well I'm Madge. I'm your mother's doctor. I even helped her deliver you and now I'm gonna help her with the new baby. It's very nice to formally meet you Joey," she says holding out her hand to shake which he does. "Now Katniss, I'm gonna have you lay back and lift up your shirt."
I do as she says and she gently rubs the gel on my stomach and tremble slightly.

"You okay?" Peeta asks taking my hand.

"I'm fine. It's just colder then I remember," I tell him and he smiles. I feel Madge press the remote to my stomach and move it around. After a few moments a hear something. The soft thumping sound I've heard before. But this time it's different. This time the father is here to hear it too.

"Now Katniss, I can tell you know what that is by your face but do you want to tell Peeta what we're hearing?" Madge asks. I turn to him and smile.

"That's her heartbeat," I say. Peeta just stares at me. His face almost the same as when he first saw Joey and knew instantly that he was his son.

"That's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard," he says kissing my knuckles. We don't notice Joey walk over to Madge's side and watch her work. He stares at the monitor.

"Where is it? I don't see a baby on the screen. Why can I hear it but not see it?" I hear him ask her and she laughs.

"Your looking at it, you just don't know what to look for to recognize it," she says. She turns the monitor so both Peeta and I can see it too. She points to a darkish blob in the middle of the screen and while I already know what it is having been through this before, but Peeta and Joey seem puzzled by what they see.

"You see this little peanut shape?" she asks them and they both nod."That's the baby. My guess is you're about six weeks along and doing quite well."

"That's my little brother or sister Momma?" Joey asks.

"Mmm Hmm," I nod.

"She's so tiny," Peeta says. "You can barely tell its a baby."

"I'll get you guys a picture made up so you can show your little peanut off when you start telling people," Madge says and hands Peeta some paper towels, "I'll let you clean her up and you guys can just meet me at the front desk she says.

"Could you take Joey with you? I'd like to talk to Katniss a moment," Peeta says. She nods and leads Joey out of the room with her. Peeta gently wipes the gel off me and throws away the paper towels as I sit up.

"What do you want to talk about?" I ask him and he frowns slightly.

"Who was with you when you were pregnant with Joey?" he asks.

"Nobody. I took care of myself. The only time I had anyone with me doing anything was Prim holding my hand in the delivery room," I say.

"Why not?" he asks

"Because I didn't want anyone but you with me. You weren't there so I didn't need anyone else," I say and I see the tears form in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Katniss," he says.

"It was impossible for you to be there Peeta. You didn't even know about Joey. I chose to stay. I chose to be alone for ten years because somewhere in my heart I knew I'd see you again. I didn't want anyone to be by my side if it was not you," I say and wrap my arms around him.

"I should have come back for you sooner. I had the power. I could have made them bring me here. But I didn't. I thought you hated me," he says.

"I broke your heart. Coming back and finding me pregnant wouldn't have helped that. All that matters it we're here together now. And after this baby's born, all four of us are going to be able to live that life that life that only seemed like a fantasy then. Now we can be what the wind wanted us to be. It brought you home," I say and kiss his cheek. "Come on, our ten year old is probably ready to go home."

And with that we walk out of the room and into the lobby to set up the next time we will see our baby.