That Ol' Wind

Chapter 13: Peeta

I sit staring at the small black and white photographs in my hand. They don't look like much in the first ones but the newer ones, though grainy and fuzzy, show what still doesnt seem real. The little blob in them is Katniss' baby. My baby.

Hear Katniss walk over behind me and set her head on top of mine. She hands me a photo album and I take it from her.

"What's this?" I ask her.

"Open it and find out," she says walking around the couch and sitting next to me, holding her protruding belly gently. I open the cover and find pictures similar to the ones I hold in my hand, but they aren't quite the same.

"Is that?" I ask her and she nods.

"I made that for you. I was gonna send it to you a number of times but I didn't know if you'd get it. I thought you might want to see what Joey looked like when he was this little up until he started school. I know you've seen the other pictures before but since the ultra sound pictures are singles I searched a while and found them. I figured you'd want to see them," she says.

"So this is Joey," she nods and points to the oldest one.

"And this was the first time I saw him and cried because I thought you'd never get to hear his heartbeat or see him," she says and then flips the page to one where you can tell that the blob is a baby."And this is when I found out he was a boy and I hoped and prayed for him to look like you. A little while after that is when I first felt him kick."

"I wish I could have been there with you. That you didn't have to be alone," I say. She takes my hand and smiles at me.

"You know it couldn't have been helped. You're here now that's all that matters," she says. "Oh! I have something else for you!" She hands me a notepad.

"What's this?" I ask her.

"My side of what happened to us," she says and I read over the words. She wrote a song. About what happened before the second concert and how I stayed.

"You wrote a song?" I ask her.

"I took a stab at it yeah. I thought when we go, you could sing it," she says and I nod.

"I'd be honored, but only if you sang it with me," I say and she laughs.

"I'm still not sure that's gonna happen. I'm not quite good enough to sing up there and I don't want to embarrass you," she says.

"You won't embarrass me! I want you up there with me. I called my band and they are all for touring again, except for Delly, my back up. She got married and just wants to live a life that isn't surrounded by late nights and sleeping on a bus. I want you to be my harmony. I could even write a couple songs for you to sing the lead for," I say and she sighs.

"We'll see Peeta. We won't have to worry about that for a.. oh my gosh!" she says holding her stomach.

"What? Is something wrong?" I ask her and she shakes her head.

"No. Everything's perfect. She kicked!" she says.

"She kicked? As in our baby kicked?" I ask and she nods and takes my hand.

"Just hold your hand right about here," she says placing my hand on the side of her stomach. At first I don't feel anything and then I feel something from inside Katniss push against my hand.

"I felt it!" I say excitedly.

"I know, the baby is inside me remember?" she laughs. I feel another kick against my hand.

"She's really strong. Doesn't it hurt?" I ask her and she shakes her head.

"No, it feels a little weird but it's not hard enough to hurt," she says.

"What's it feel like?" I ask her and she ponders this for a moment.

"Give me your hand," she says and I hold it out to her. She holds my fingers in one hand and then taps two of her fingers on the heel of my hand.

"That's all you feel?" I ask her.

"That's all I feel. Like I said, it doesn't hurt, it just feels weird." she says.

"That's amazing," I say.

"Yeah, it really is," she says.

"Do you want to find out if its a boy or a girl?" I ask her.

"I don't think so. I kind of regretted it last time. I want to see what it's like to not know until the baby's born. Although if you want to know, I'd be fine with that," she says.

"No, we can wait. I'll be happy whatever our baby is so there's no real need to know," I say and she smiles.

"You're really happy about this, having a baby and going out on the road together, aren't you?" she says laying her head on my shoulder. I lay my head on top of her's and kiss her forehead.

"Yeah, I really am."