No Games Left to Play

28: Kicking and Screaming

WARNING: this has NOT been edited!!!

*Katniss is 20 weeks*

"Peeta!" I yell for him, feeling frightened. "Peeta, please hurry!"

I hear a loud bang noise come from upstairs and the muffled sound of his footsteps sprinting down the hallway before speedily clunking down the steps.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" he asks, shock and concern filling his wide eyes.

"Something's wrong," I say on the verge of tears while clutching my bump.

"What's happening?"

"I think I'm losing the baby."

"Are you sure?" he asks, squatting down beside me, griping my thighs to help him keep his balance.

"No," I frown, my lower lip trembling.

"Why do you think you're losing the baby?" he tucks some fallen strands of hair behind my ear.

"I just do. Something just isn't right."

"Honey, I can't help you if you don't give me more information."

"Can't you just trust me?" I snap.

"I'm only trying to help," Peeta says, calmly.

I don't elaborate on the discomfort I'm feeling. I just sit there, continuing to hold my cramping stomach. Peeta reaches out to take my hand, and I know what he's doing. He's trying to get my hand away from my stomach, thinking it will help calm me down if my body isn't so tense but in reality all it will do is make this situation worse. I need something to ground me and the protection of my hand over the place my unborn baby lies is exactly what is going to help. When his hand touches mine, I flinch and turn my body slightly away from him. He immediately takes his hand back and holds it up in the air in a truths manner before settling it back on my leg.

"Let me help," he looks at me longingly. "Please."

"I've had this weird cramping feeling in my belly."

"Are you hungry?"

"No, I've eaten pretty consistently today."

"Do you feel sick? Maybe it's just a tummy ache," he offers.

"No, it's more than that. Something feels really off Peeta and I'm super scared," I start tearing up. "I thought maybe spending the day resting up on the couch would help, but as I got more relaxed this strange eery feeling would appear in my stomach— it was like a really big cramp followed by a... muscle twice I guess."

Peeta frowns, pressing a hand to my abdomen to feel up my baby bump. The pressure from his hand causes the odd feeling to strengthen and it makes me begin to cry harder than I ever have before.

I see him swallow really hard, "What did it feel like when you had the miscarriage?"

My whole body just slumps down and sinks in, and I feel my heart collapse to my gut.

"I remember feeling really woozy. I had really bad stomach cramps," I say, thinking back to that awful day a little more than 9 years ago.

"Is it normal to have cramps?" I ask my mother.

"It depends," she says. "It could just be from the embryo implanting in the uterine wall. But it could also be something more severe. How bad are they?"

"Not terrible. Just uncomfortable."

"You need to let me know if they get any worse, ok?"