I'm Already There

Chapter 7

Peeta

I groan as I walk into the waiting room to get a cup of coffee. Katniss' water broke at three in the morning and she's been in labor for nearly fifteen hours. She's with her mom and Prim while I get some air. It's been so long and stressful day and I just couldn't sit there and watch her go through that anymore.

"Hey kid," A man in his early 40's says as I sit down in one of the old vinyl chairs. "Long night?" I nod, looking across at him.

"My fiancé went into labor about three this morning," I say.

"Fiancé? How old are you?" He asks.

"19, sir," I reply. "We were both 18 when we got engaged."

"You gettin' hitched cause of the kid?" He asks. I immediately shake my head.

"No, we were engaged long before we found out she was pregnant," I say and then look down at my feet. "She actually told me just before I went over seas."

"You're a soldier?" He asks.

"Yeah," I say. "I just got home around Christmas, which was fine with me. I got two months alone with her before our daughter was born. Then I get to be with them for four more before I have to go back."

"Well, I can't say I envy you son, but I wish you two the best," he says standing and offering his hand to me. "It was nice meeting you, soldier." I nod and shake his hand.

"You too, sir," I say and he walks away. Leaving me alone again.

That is until Prim comes running in.

"There you are!" She says. "I've been looking everywhere."

"I told you I was just going to get some coffee," I say. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal? The big deal?!" She asks. "The big deal is that about two minutes after you left, that baby that was taking her sweet old time being born decided she wanted out then and now."

"She's here?" I ask. "I missed it?"

"You didn't miss much," she says. "Just Katniss screaming at Mom to get that 'thing' out of her. And you heard that and more over the last how many hours." She then kind of shrugs. "Besides, now she'll be cleaned up when you see her and not covered in Katniss' insides."

"Where are they?" I ask.

"They moved Katniss into a private room and the baby should be getting all her measurements and tests run," she says. "Come on. She sent me after you so you could see the baby together when they bring her in." I stand up and Prim leads me towards a long, cream colored hallway. She stops at room 7475 and knocks softly. A muffled 'Come in' sounds through the door and Prim opens it. I follow her in and see Katniss' mother walking around the hospital bed, arranging her blanks to help Katniss get comfortable after this whole ordeal. Katniss plays restlessly with the hem of the blanket covering her still quite rounded abdomen. When she sees me, her eyes light up though.

"Why do you always run off when I need you?" She asks.

"You told me to get out," I say as I walk over to her side. "I didn't know you were gonna pop her out the moment I left." She rolls her eyes and laughs.

"Okay," she says. "Maybe you got me there. But for your information, that baby did not just pop out. I'm ninety percent sure she tried to pull part of me out with her."

"That bad huh?" I ask.

"I'll be alright after a day or too," she says. "Besides, when we see the reward of all this, I'm sure I'll see it as the price I had to pay like any other mother."

"You haven't seen her?" I ask.

"I wanted to see her the first time with you," she says. "But I've got to tell you, that kid has got a pair of lungs on her."

"Maybe she'll be a singer like you," I say taking her hand. She clasps it tightly and smiles.

"Maybe, but I think it's entirely possible for her to be an amazing artist like you some day," she says.

"There's no reason we can't have both," I say kissing her cheek. There's a knock on the door and a nurse comes in with a tightly wrapped pink bundle. She sees us standing together and smiles.

"7 pounds 4 ounces," she says. "And all her tests went very, very well." She smiles at the baby and then looks back at us. "Would you guys like to hold her now?" I look at Katniss and she nods.

"Give her to her father," she says. "He's waited long enough for her." The young nurse walks over to me and carefully lays the tiny, fragile bundle in my arms.

"Just be careful of her head," she says. "The rest will follow." Tiffany squirms a little and I look down at her tiny face. She looks like Katniss in more ways then one, like her lips and ears and dark hair. But I think she has my nose and maybe my cheek bones. I turn to Katniss and smile at her.

"She's beautiful," I say and she nods.

"She's your daughter," she says. "She couldn't be anything less than perfect." I walk over to her and lay our daughter in her slender arms. She smiles and lightly touching Tiffany's face. She looks at me and I can't help but see some uneasiness in her eyes.

"How are we going to take care of her?" She asks. "We're barely out of school. How can we take care of something so vulnerable, Peeta."

"We'll be fine, Kitten," I say. "She'll teach us as we go. You used to babysit all the time. You know the basics and you have good instincts. It'll all fall into place. You'll see."

"I pray you're right," she says. "Because I don't think I could ever give her up, even if it was the best thing for her."

"We won't," I say. "She is and always will be ours." I gently touch Tiffany's cheek and smile as she opens her eyes, small sapphires like my own staring up at me and her mother. I smile again at Katniss and her gentle lips meet mine.