I'm Already There

Chapter 3

Peeta

Right now, I'm sitting and waiting for Katniss to answer my Skype call. She promised she'd be home right now, but I can't really know with her. She could be sleeping for all I know. When I'm just about to lose hope, her face finally appears on the computer screen.

"Hi," she says and I notice that she's in her room at her house.

"Hi," I say. "You're at your house?" She nods.

"I transferred to the online classes so I can keep up better once the baby comes," she says. She looks down at her stomach and smiles.

"How is it?" I ask her, knowing she just had an appointment. She adjusts the camera before getting up and standing side and smiling at me. In her black sweatshirt, you can very clearly see her enlarged abdomen against her green wall.

"We're about half way through," she says. "The doctor says I'm doing great. Which reminds me," She turns back so she's facing me and slides her shirt over her swollen abdomen revealing where I can guess probably Prim by the handwriting, the words, "I'm a GIRL!" in sparkly pink paint.

"We're having a girl?" I ask anyway and she laughs, nodding as she pulls her shirt back down.

"A very, very active little girl," she says sitting down again after she moves the camera. "If someone wants to feel her, they usually don't have to wait very long for her to tell them to give her space."

"She sounds like her mom," I say and she sighs.

"I wish you were here," she says. "I know how much you wanted to go through all this too." I just smile sadly at her.

"Yeah, but complaining now isn't gonna change that," I say.

"I got to hear her heartbeat yesterday," she says softly and I smile.

"What was that like?" I ask.

"It was the absolute most wonderful sound I've ever heard," she says. "It was so calming. Just like yours."

"I'm sure it was," I say, longing for the world to be different and to have been there too.

"Now that we know that she's a girl, do you want to name her?" Katniss asks and I smile at her.

"If you want to, then of course we can," I say. "You got any ideas?"

"Only a few hundred," she says. "I've been trying to narrow it down since I found out, but you should get a say too you know. What about you?" I shrug.

"I found out just a couple minutes ago," I say. "I can't even begin to think about what we would call her." Katniss starts laughing and it feels so good to hear it again.

"We are quite the pair aren't we," she says.

"Yes, I believe we are," I say. "Since you do have ideas, are there any you like more than others. She shrugs.

"I don't really know," she says.

"Well, are there any you really like?" I ask and she smiles.

"I really like Cassandra, but I don't really know that that's her name, you know?" she says and I nod.

"Maybe it could be her middle name?" I suggest and she smiles

"Yeah, but she does need a first name too," she replies.

"What about Brittany?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"I don't really like the kind of reputation that name carries," she says. "While we're at it, let's strike out Lindsey and Miley." I find myself quite amused by her crudeness.

"Katniss, not everyone named Lindsey and Brittany and Miley, are like the three you're thinking of," I say.

"But our goal here is cut names out, not add more," she says.

"I get your point," I say and sigh, feeling like this is the hardest decision I've ever had to help her make. If I never make it home, I want to know my daughter's name. Then, like a whisper, a name comes to mind. A name that I already know well and have always liked a lot. "What about your middle name?"

"Tiffany?" she asks and I nod.

"I think it would suit her very well," I say and Katniss gives me a thoughtful look.

"Tiffany Cassandra Mellark," she says slowly, as though savor inch each syllable. "That does have a nice ring to it."

"That's what I thought," I say and she smiles at me before looking down at her swollen abdomen.

"Does that sound good baby girl?" she asks. "Do you like that name?" She laughs and looks back up at me. "I think she does."

"How can you tell?" I ask.

"When you've carried a baby around as long as I have, you learn how to communicate with them," she says. "The way she moves around in there tells me different things. And right now, I think she's very happy to have the beautiful name Daddy picked out for her." I feel myself tear up a little and sigh as I see the time.

"I need to go now," I say and I see Katniss' smile fall.

"I love you," she says like she always does and then looks back down again. "We both do."

"I love you both too," I say and then wave to her as she blows me a kiss and I turn the screen off. I get up and lay back down in my bunk. A bronze colored head from the bunk above me leans down and gives me a smirk.

"How was your talk with your girl?" he asks and I smile sadly.

"We're having a girl," I say. "Tiffany Cassandra Mellark." He smiles and reaches out my hand. I take it and he gives it a firm shake.

"Congrats man," he says. "I just last week found out Annie's carrying a boy."

"He got a name yet?" I ask. He nods.

"Jared Oliver Odair," he replies. "She wanted to name him in case I didn't," he stops himself, obviously not really wanting to continue the 'I don't come home' part.

"I thought thought the same thing," I say. "I hope I at least get to see what she looks like though Finnick." He nods.

"The first time is the hardest kid," he says and he pulls himself back onto his bunk. "It'll always be the hardest."