Reprisal

CHAPTER TEN

     Snow lands on top .

Coriolanus' jaw clenches and relaxes, repeating the words to himself throughout the reaping, his leg shaking lightly with the impatient, silent pattering of his shoe against the marbled floor.

" They've replaced Dr. Crane's subject with Martia Glint's, and only revealed they had done so in front of the President. " Philo had said only that, randomly, out of nowhere, Snow having not even realized he had snuck back inside.

It was laughable, almost.

Almost .

Livia glances at her husband, his chest just barely heaving, his leg just barely moving, and her dark blonde brows furrow in concern, her own thoughts running wild with whatever might be the issue – though she has her suspicions.

Certainly it's due to her surprising him at breakfast with a little red dress, trimmed in delicate lace, the garment waiting on the table beside his coffee and breakfast.

She watched his blue eyes study it, picking it up and staring before looking at her.

" . . . That's why I cut my trip short." She had explained, smiling. "Mother took me to the clinic yesterday because I wasn't feeling right . . . I'm so far along they could see it was a girl ."

He swallowed the lump in his throat, his mind actually drew a blank line as he thought of his future, her future, now that they'd have a child to raise and incorporate into it, as well.

Then his thoughts began to turn.

Had she known and just not told him? Had they not agreed to hold off on children until they'd accomplished the goal in their careers that they were already so near to reaching?

Had she planned to do this without telling him?

Snow started to feel somewhat trapped, but nevertheless, he bore a smile and watery eyes – filled with tears of joy or sorrow, he couldn't tell for certain.

" Is she healthy? " He asked, his question sparked delight in Livia's grey-blue eyes.

" She is. " She assured him. " I counted all ten toes and fingers myself, her heart sounds strong . . . she's healthy, and she's beautiful. " She added.

He could at least appreciate the poetry of finding out he'd take part in bringing a new life into the world on the same day District children would be reaped to be possibly taken out of it.

His hand had come up to splay across her stomach that hadn't grown much at all, not enough to make either of them think she had been pregnant.

Horror stories had been heard of women going the entirety of their pregnancy without realizing it, only to deliver it themselves.

His lips turned downward at the thought of his wife ruining the sparkling white of their bathroom with the mess that is birth, bringing their baby into the world on the cold floor, no medication to dull the pain he can only imagine to be excruciating.

Coriolanus had then thought of his mother, sweet and naive as she had been, too good to die the way that she had.

Livia would be different, he had decided then and there, as he wrapped his arms around her where he sat at the table, and pressed his cheek against her while her soft hands had rubbed at his shoulders.

One of those same hands now rest on his thigh, stopping the motion of his leg.

He looks at her, seeing the worry on her made-up face.

She thinks you're this way because of her, because of her pregnancy, he tells himself.

He'll explain it all when they leave.