Chapter 80

Peeta

"Wake up, it's time, little girl, wake up. All the best of what we've done is yet to come. Wake up, it's time, little girl, wake up. Just remember who I am in the morning." -Ryan Starr

After Katniss is taken from the room, a nurse looks at me pitifully now. "She's going to be okay, right?" I ask stupidly.She gives me her best shot at a reassuring smile, but it's a little unconvincing.

"We'll do the best we can. Emergency C-Sections aren't uncommon, it's just the situation. Chances are, she'll be fine." She says.I nod slightly and she exits the room wordlessly.

As I'm sitting anxiously in the waiting room, a familiar face comes to join me.Yes, as pink and sparkling as ever, Effie Trinket sits down next to me in a whirlwind."Peeta!" She says in her Capitol accent, "How are you, my boy? Excited?"

I give her a weak smile."You're here early." I say."I heard on the news! She was admitted and I figured I just had to be here when the little one arrived! Look, I even wore pink just for little... Little... Um..." Effie trails off, implicating she doesn't know the name yet."Willow." I finish for her.

She gasps."What a... Nice name!" She decides on."You really can't tell anyone. Nobody knows anything." I urge.She nods conspicuously."My lips are sealed." She replies, emphasizing the last word.

I thank her quietly and go back to worrying.

By 2:00 in the morning, there's not much word. A nurse, sometimes an attending surgeon, comes out to tell us if anything big has happened every hour.After one comes out, with not much to say except, "We're still working on her," Effie turns to me.

"You look tired." She says."I'm alright." I say quietly."How long, Peeta, has it been since you've slept?" She asks in a breathy voice."Effie, really, I'm fine." I say."You haven't slept, have you? You're tired, aren't you, boy?" She asks.

"I haven't slept, Effie, but there's no time to be tired right now." I reply, not looking at her.

"Get some sleep, you poor boy. You've got a big, big, big day ahead of you. You'll need it." She say, placing a gentle hand on top of mine."I can't sleep, Effie! Something could happen at any minute. I'm not a doctor, but I know that C-sections don't take this long. So I need to be awake. I can't miss anything." I say, getting angry.

She looks taken aback. I regret saying what I said, but I don't know how else to say it."I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you... I'm just... Worried." I settle on the word after a few moments.

She nods, her baby pink wig shedding a few sparkles onto the waiting room chairs we sit in."Have you thought about how you're going to face the paparazzi? They're going to be outside this hospital the very second you two walk out." Effie asks.

I turn my head to look at her."What?" I ask."The paparazzi, Peeta." She says as if it's a no-brainer."What should I do?" I ask her helplessly. I don't know what to do. The paparazzi... They're ruthless. They'll do anything to just snap one picture, to get one measly little word out of myself or my wife.

Luckily, Effie knows how to control a crowd. "The baby will be in a white blanket. I'll have them bring up a darkened car to take you to your house. They'll probably be there, too, but we'll keep them away from her. Everything will be a secret until you release a photo or statement." She suggests finally around 2:30.

I nod in agreement."Sounds okay to you, Peeta?" She asks."Yeah." I say sleepily.

At 3:00, I'm practically nodding off. Effie sits in her chair, and for the first time, not up straight. She's slumped over, sleeping soundly.My heart races and I check the time. It's 3:00 and nobody has come to tell me anything.My leg shakes and I put my elbows on my knees and my forehead in my hands.

Out of nowhere, a doctor comes over to me."Mr. Mellark?" She asks quietly, trying not to wake a sleeping Effie next to me.My head flies up, looking at her."Hi. Your wife is out of surgery now. She's doing pretty well for what she's been through." She says.

"And... The baby?" "As far as we know, the little girl is healthy. We need to run tests and get a good look at her, still, but in the morning you'll get to see her." She says.

Tears well up in my eyes."Thank you..." I say quietly.She smiles at me."Would you like to go see your wife? I'm sure it's been a rough night for the both of you." She asks.I nod and stand up. She leads me to the maternity wing and shows me in the door to her room.

"She's sleeping off the sedative. She should be awake within a few minutes." She says."Thank you." I say.She turns to walk out but I catch her arm."When was she born? Do you remember the time?" I ask."May 10th, 1:52AM." She replies before leaving.

I walk over to the bed silently. I hesitate for a moment before slipping into the bed next to her, careful not to move her or disturb her sleep. The minutes feel like years as they pass slowly. The clock reads 3:16 AM by the time she stirs.I glance over at her and find her eyes open a little.

"Hey, baby." I whisper.Her eyes open wider at the sound of my voice and she moves her head to look at me, as if she wasn't aware I was here before I spoke. She just stares at me, and I know what she's thinking.

"You're okay, Katniss. Baby girl, just like Doctor Lucia said. She's healthy, as far as they know so far. They're running tests just to make sure." I explain to her.

A small, weak smile spreads across her face. She doesn't speak a word. She's exhausted, I can tell.I take her hand in mine and kiss her lightly.

"You're a mother, now. She's here. You can get back on your medicine and it's going to be okay. She's here now. No more nausea and no more labor pains. You can meet her in a few hours, when you're ready. Life is going to be okay."  I say to her quietly.

Her eyes droop with exhaustion."Get some sleep, Katniss. When you wake up, it will all be different." I whisper into her ear.

--

Katniss

When I finally come to, I can't quite remember what the past twenty four hours have brought me.Peeta lies in the hospital bed next to me and looking at the clock, I determine that it's 6:00 AM. I didn't sleep much, but I'm awake now.

I try to rethink the last day, slowly, and it comes back to me piece by piece. I... I had a baby. Did I actually have a baby? I shake Peeta awake gently.At seeing me awake, his face lights up. "Katniss..." He says. "How are you feeling?"

For some reason I can't form words. I know exactly what I want to say to him, but between my brain and my mouth, the words get lost. I have so many questions I want to ask, because I can't remember anything.

All I can do is point to my stomach, which still looks swollen but the pain has since ceased. I raise my eyebrows at him and I see confusion spread across his face.

"Talk, Katniss. Say what you're asking." He says. I keep motioning to my stomach, not uttering a word."The baby?" He asks.I nod my head."I told you earlier this morning when I came in. She's okay. She was born this morning. 1:52 AM." He explains.

My eyes widen. She was born?

"You don't remember me telling you?" He asks.I shake my head. "Well, you were pretty drugged up. Can you talk, sweetheart?" Peeta asks.

I shake my head again."Why not? Do you feel okay?" He asks.I shrug my shoulders. I don't know why I can't talk. He looks disappointed."Are you still tired?" He asks.I nod my head."Can you sleep again?" He continues.I shake my head.

So we wait.

--

It seems like it's been decades since the nurses went to fetch Willow. She's finally done with all of the tests, and they've determined that she's perfectly healthy and will be ready to go home this afternoon.

The motion of the door to the hospital room startles me and makes my heart skip a beat. My head whips around to look at the door and then right back to Peeta's face, which looks nervous but so incredibly, indescribably happy. I look back towards the door and see a nurse holding a tiny infant in her arms, wrapped in a pink blanket.

My heart feels like it's in my throat. This is my baby. She's mine. Actually mine. I brought her into the world.The nurse smiles down at the baby in the blankets who starts to let out a cry, and then smiles over at Peeta and I. Peeta holds my hand and I throw glances over at him occasionally, although my focus is on the baby in the blanket.

"Would you like to hold her?" She asks us.I look to Peeta. A sudden wave of nervousness washes over me."No, Katniss. You first. This is your reward for everything you've been through. It's not fair for me to hold her first." He says.

My hands shake as I hold them out to the nurse. The baby begins to cry and the nurse places her into my arms.I hold her close to my body and immediately she stops crying. "Hello, beautiful." I say, tears welling in my eyes. It's the first words I've uttered since I went under for delivery. This little human is mine. She came from me. From me, of all people. From me.

The tears spill out of my eyes as I look down at her. Her little eyes are closed and almost covered by the hat that's a little big on her."She's a tiny one, that girl." An older nurse says to me. But I'm too busy staring at the little girl in my arms.

"What do you think, Peeta?" I ask."I think we did a good job at making a beautiful baby." He says smiling. I laugh through my endless stream of tears and look up at him. He's crying too.

"Your turn." I say to him. "My turn?" He asks quietly."Yes, Peeta. Your turn." I say.

I hand the baby off to Peeta carefully and watch my husband cry quietly as he looks at his child. My heart feels like it's ready to melt seeing his reaction. I've never seen him this happy. I know this is all he's ever wanted in life."She's ours." He says sniffling. I never see Peeta cry, let alone hear it, so this is a first for me.

When Peeta hands our daughter back to me, I hold her close. "Can we take the hat off of her for a moment?" I ask the one remaining nurse."Just for a moment." She says, smiling.

This is the moment of truth. She still hasn't opened her eyes since she's fallen asleep. My shaky hands slowly remove the baby pink hat covering her head, revealing a head of brown hair.Brown hair. She doesn't have blonde hair.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding."Brown hair, Peeta! Brown hair! Not blonde!" I say happily.He smiles at me."She's perfect." He says."Didn't want a blonde one?" The nurse asks.

Peeta throws me a look, but I tell the nurse honestly. "My little sister was 14 when she died during the war. She had blonde hair. I didn't want her to look like my sister. It would've been too hard." I say concisely, sparing the depressing details. The nurse nods slightly, knowing that it's not her business to pry anymore.

The baby opens her eyes slowly, and I gasp."She's waking up, Peeta!" I say."What color are her eyes?" He asks."They're... They're blue. Just like yours, Peeta. They're just like yours." I say happily.Peeta has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They're the most beautiful shade of blue that kept me hanging on in the Capitol.

"I think she looks like a Willow." Peeta says. "The name fits." "Willow Primrose Mellark." I say, staring at her in my arms."Perfect." Peeta says.

"Mr and Mrs Mellark?" A nurse says, poking her head in.We look over at her."There's a woman in the waiting room, quite distraught about Mr. Mellark's disappearance. And there's a man here, too. He seems a little wry... Oh! Sorry! That's besides the point. They'd like to come back and see you two and the baby. Is that alright, or do you want some more time?" She says.

"You can send them back." I voice.

I look down at my daughter, who's blue eyes have been covered once more by her eyelids. "Are those... Freckles?" I ask.Peeta examines her cheeks."Huh. I wonder where those came from." He says laughing. "Let's just enjoy our last couple of minutes alone. This is our little family." I say sighing. It's been a long time since I've felt this happy...

"Welcome to the world, Willow Primrose Mellark." Peeta says.

**Hey guys! So there it is! She's here! I hope you guys liked the chapter a lot. I tried to make it longer to make up for the long delays between my updates! Sorry about that. School is crazy. This week I had, like, 6 hours of homework every night. Not even exaggerating...  ://

Anyways, enjoy and let me know how you like it!! XOXO, Aly.**