A/N: HEEY! New story, based off of Jane the Virgin!

Tell me what you think!

Follow, favorite, review…

-RC

(UPDATED as of 01/06/15)


Every day, something tough happens, whether it's an accident or not, these bumps in life are something you just have to get over. For one Katniss Everdeen, that just might be a challenge.

Let's go back to a young girl of ten, standing in her bedroom, grey eyes shining up at her grandmother. The girl's appearance everything her the woman is not. The not-so-elderly lady bends down passing off an immaculate white flower to the girl, it's center a deep plum. "Katniss," the kind woman says, "this is the flower you were named after. Isn't it lovely?" The grinning little girl nods excitedly, her face one of awe, as every child's is when seeing something new. She hold it in her hands, staring at it, wondering why she has been given this gift.

Out of the corner of Katniss's eye, she sees her heavily pregnant mom sigh and roll her eyes at her mother's antics, "Really mom?" the blonde asks harshly before walking passed her daughter's room with a huff.

Katniss ignores her mother, whom, at this time she'd been upset with, for a reason she cannot remember today. She turns back to the only real female role model she knows, raising her eyebrows in explanation. The aged woman smiles pleasantly, placing her hands underneath the girl's and pulling them towards her.

"Look at this flower in your hand, Katniss." She whispers, "Notice how perfect it is," She leans forward, looking into the grey eyes intently, "how pure it is." She stand up, knees cracking in protest, and sits on the twin bed, tugging Katniss beside her. "Now, crumple it up."

The head of thick brown curls snaps up quickly, eyebrows lifted. "Why?" she asks innocently, saddened by the thought of ruining this beautiful jewel. She looks into the blue eyes of her grandmother, the determination she sees makes her clench her fist around the three petals, rippling, wrinkling, and tearing the once immaculate pieces. She forces her eyes to meet the blue ones in front of her, lips pouting just slightly.

"Good." She places a comforting hand on the girl's narrow shoulders, "Now, try to make it look new again."

Katniss looks down at the flower, using one hand to flatten out the petals, and straighten the tearing, when she looks at her final product, she sighs, "I can't."

"That's right. You can't." She sits up and kneels before her granddaughter, "Remember, my darling, you can never go back. And this is what happens when you lose your virginity, you can't get it back." The brunette nods roughly, eyes widened, "I just want what's best for you never forget this." and Katniss never did.


Thirteen and a half years later…


He kisses her roughly, caught up in the moment, passion fueling his every move. He runs his hands down her long toned thighs and across her back. He soon trails down her neck, nibbling on her collar bone. "Katniss." he pants when she quickly jerks away, fear in her eyes. He slowly removes his hands from her slender waist, realization dawning on him.

"I- I think we should stop. For now." Her swollen lips in a tight line, chest heaving. He knew she was right but… damnit. He nods in reply, getting off her body reluctantly and standing beside the now-queen-sized bed. "I'm sorry." she tells him, dejected. Her tone shakes as she tells him, "I just can't. You know that, Gale."

He shakes his head, clears his throat, and nods, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Here," she smiles, fixing his rumpled shirt, "let me walk you out." The 23 year old then turned to the mirror, shifting her own mispositioned sleep shorts and tank top. Unbeknownst to her, he admires her ass while she does this.

At the door, she gives him one last, passionate kiss, and laughs when they part. "Don't forget this." she says, handing him his badge with a small shy smile. "Thanks for coming by." she says, before pecking his lips again and opening the door. She shivers as the cold air hits her and wraps her arms around him in one last good-bye hug.

"Katniss," comes a shout in the living room, "it's on!" They jump apart again and she ushers him out for good before running back inside. "Kat-" she begins again.

"Prim!" yells back joking, telling her sister that she's right here, "Okay, so what'd I miss." Then, the 13 year old goes on and on about their favorite soap opera, how the two main characters in the show who are having a secret relationship decided to tell their spouses that they want a divorce.

Katniss rolled her eyes, her motto always, 'If he's cheating with you, sometime in the near future, he'll probably cheat on you'. Of course, that's thinking in reality. Most likely in the show, the guy's wife will be murdered unexpectedly and he'll get blamed when it's really the butler or something just as dumb.

Truthfully, she just used these shows as bonding time with her sister. Her ten year old self didn't take into account how little the sisters would have in common with the vast age difference, so she took any time she could get with Prim. Even if it was watching these crappy shows.


Meanwhile…


8.2 miles away from where Katniss lives, stands a young man. His hands haphazardly crossed as he leans against the balcony railing. He sighs, looking down at the laughing pool party below him. He jumps when arms circle his waist. Delly giggles and he immediately untenses. "Baby, come inside." she purrs and he follows, not letting her see the look of sadness pass over his face.

The childhood friends got married early. Fresh out of high school to be exact. Peeta always wanted kids and they'd had plans to build upon their family. They thought they had time. They didn't. Two years ago all their plans for future abruptly stopped when he was diagnosed. He'd never been much of a playboy but knowing he'd only have a few months left if the chemo didn't work, he tried to live life to the fullest. He didn't enjoy it. During or after.

6 months ago, the chemo worked, all the cancer was declared gone, but then he was told he was infertile and ever since he's been clinically depressed. Truthfully, he just wants to let Delly go. Let her live her life. But every time he brought it up, she'd shoot him down, telling him she loves him.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks softly as he sits on the bed, back slouched and head in his hands. "If you're worrying about the hotel, you shouldn't. You know if anything happens your father will help." The blonde crawled across the bed, and tucked her head into his shoulder. He tried to feel something for her, but he just… couldn't. He turned around and hugged her back, staring behind her blankly. When they separated he gave her a look of uncertainty. "Peeta, he's happy to help." he shook his head and laid back in the bed turning away from her.

You could say he's trapped in this marriage with a girl he barely feels for anymore. But that was just because he didn't feel much of anything now. He wishes she would just leave. She has had enough of him and his erratic behavior. "Delly?" he whispers after all the lights are out and he's alone with his thoughts.

"Yes?" she asks hesitantly, looking at his muscled back in the darkness.

"Do you still love me?" His voice is that of a little boy's, fragile and innocent.

"Of course. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

"We do have a pretty sweet prenup." he sighs and she laughs, tears almost forming in her eyes because he just made a joke.

They lay in the darkness. Him, back facing her and blocking her out, and she lying towards his hulking body, reaching out to him.


"Maybe Gale's gonna propose." Madge- almost- squeals. "Guys usually get all cheeseball before they propose."

Katniss shakes her head with a small grin, "No way. You don't propose to a girl you've only been dating six months."

The girl beside her shrugs, "I don't know, I mean you guys have known eachother for so long, he's like your best friend. And… you know, the whole… pure thing." Katniss rolls her eyes.

"I'll have you know, I'm not pure, just a virgin." And they laugh.

Katniss Everdeen works at a hotel. She wore a tight green dress and served drinks to the rich people who stayed at Mellark's. Which weirdly enough, had started as a bakery, then turned B&B, and was now one of the largest most expensive hotel chains in the nation. They were known to have the best food at a hotel ever. She's never tried it. Anyway, this was just a temporary job until she got her teaching degree. She planned on something fitness related, she wasn't 100% sure yet.

"Everyone decent?" a rugged male voice called, running a hand through his cropped blonde hair.

Madge quickly yelled no and ran around to the other side of the lockers. When she came back around, wearing her dress, and doneing red cheeks which Katniss couldn't decide if it was caused by anger or embarrassment, she growled at him, "Who the hell are you?"

HIs eyebrows shot up his head at the girl in front of him and he calmly replied, "Cato Ludwig. But, all of you can call me Boss." he grinned evilly, at least that's what the brunette interpreted, as he flirted. "I work for the new manager." In his hands he held a bunch of straws and she almost groaned aloud at the prospect, "All of you are going to pick one, and this shouldn't be anything you have to worry about as long as you're outstanding at your job." When he walks up to Katniss and Madge, he has no qualms checking them out, all the way down to the toes and back. He walks back so he could see all ten of them and smirked. "Alright, let see those straws." She scowled at hers, shorter than the rest, and crossed her arms.

Fuck.

He walked up to her and grinned, "What's your name?' he asked confidently.

"Katniss." she groans.

"Okay, Kat. Congratulations, you get the tail."

Fuck.

An hour later, she sat out at the little island in the middle of the pool, mermaid costume hugging her slight curves, and smiling away. Of course, she wasn't really happy, just acting. Bubbles blew in her face and she held a bottle of champagne to refill the glasses of awaiting swimmers. Every now and then, she'd scowl, blowing the bubbles away from her face.


"Peet," his older brother says sadly, "you're not happy. End it."

"It's hard. She wants to stay together." He tells Rye, looking downcast, per the usual these days.

"That doesn't mean you should. Or under any circumstances, have to"

"I know, but it's not that I'm not happy with her. It's that I'm not happy." Rye just shrugged and looked away. The brothers sat outside, near the pool, getting looks from the women who recognized them. Neither didn't look back.

"Look, bro, you've changed. And she just has to understand that. And, maybe it's not for the better, but it's okay, because you've had a tough couple of years. So, if you do get a divorce, it wouldn't be your fault." Peeta nods and with that Rye stands and leaves the younger Mellark alone, going home to his wife.

He stretches when Katniss sees him, it's a rare moment to see his face up in the light and maybe it's due to that fact that she instantly recognizes him. She sees somebody hand him a champagne glass and that's when she loses it.

She runs, well swims away after rolling off the little island she'd been laying on. He gets up, looks confused as there is no mermaid at the pool in that moment, and then sits back down. Dripping wet, she climbs out of the pool and waddles over to her blonde best friend. The girl jumps, looks her up and down and raises and eyebrow incredulously. "Um," she begins walking, beside her, "So, uh, do you remember that guy that used to have a membership at the yacht club we worked at in our teens?"

"Who? The blonde you had a super huge crush on?" Madge smirks and Katniss scowls.

"I did not!"

"Oh, come on. Remember what you told me? 'It was a magical kiss.' Huge crush." she reiterates.

"Ugh, whatever, but-"

That's when the bartender calls to the girls telling them to deliver more champagne to the main room. She volunteers, doing anything to get away from this area of the pool but she doesn't count on him having moved from his spot by force from his wife.

As she pours glasses, dripping water onto the floor, he walks up behind her, noticing the costume, and laughs, "You're the mermaid that I wasn't able to get champagne from earlier." She jumps at his voice and untucks the hair from behind her ear, covering the side of her face he'd be able to see. He slides beside her, grabbing a glass and sipping it. He looks over to her and tips his head to the side, "You look really familiar." he tells her and she just shakes her head.

"Really? Couldn't imagine why." she says, in a small voice, wishing to disappear, "Hmm… not sure." But she doesn't look at him, keeping her eyes on the glasses.

He peeks around her hair, smiling before turning completely serious, "No, now I'm certain we've met before." She shakes her head and is luckily able to sneak away with the ring of silverware against glass.

His head snaps up when Delly says, "A toast to my husband. Welcome back." it's mostly for the party go-ers' sake. As soon as he does the obligatory wave and kisses his wife, he hurries away, hoping to find the girl again.


Dr. Rye Mellark. Now he's a large part of this story of circumstances.

He opens the door quietly, hoping not to wake his sleeping wife given it's well after midnight and she's usually in bed by 10.

He doesn't hear the soft moans coming from his bedroom.

He doesn't notice the dress shoes by the door that aren't his.

He doesn't see the two dirty wine glasses on the dining room table.

He doesn't even think for a few seconds upon entry to his bedroom.

He's blindsided by the fact that his wife is in bed with another man.


She texts Gale as she gets into her bed. For some unknown reason, Prim lays next to her, sleeping on her bed. Everyone else is sleeping as well given how late it is.

I'm home. In bed. Katniss 4:23am

Phone Sex? Gale 4:23am

She smiles and shakes her head. Of course that's where he'd lead.

Prim's sleeping in here tonight. Katniss 4:23am

Soundly? Gale 4:24

She almost bursts out laughing.

Ew. No. Katniss 4:24

So, I had to wear a mermaid outfit tonight. Too bad you couldn't see it. Katniss 4:25

No way! I missed that?! Gale 4:25

She tucks under the covers, plugging her phone in, and texts him back.

Yep. Didn't get to see me in all my glory. Katniss 4:25

Oh, damn. I didn't see how late it was. You should get some sleep. You have that appointment tomorrow at 9a and class at noon. Gale 4:25

She smiles, happy to know he listened when she told him that today.

Love you. Goodnight. Katniss 4:26

You too. Gale 4:26

She snuggles under the covers, a bit glad for Prim's heat, and sleeps blissfully.


The alarm wakes her roughly at 7:00am and she quickly calculates about 2 and a half hours of sleep. She sighs and gets out of bed, eyelids drooping, refusing to stay open. She slips on jeans and a tan button down after showering. Nothing helps and she even falls asleep on the bus.


This is about where Rye Mellark gets important.

His eyes are red and puffy as he looks in the mirror, mind a buzz. He quickly walks out of the bathroom, hoping his colleagues don't think he's drunk. He isn't, just… distracted. As he walks down the hall, his thoughts somewhere else, his assistant walks up to him. "You have an insemination in 8 and a PAP in 7."

Oh, yeah. Dr. Rye Mellark is a gynecologist.

He nods grabbing the files. "Insemination and a PAP." he says when he sees her concerned gaze. He walks away leaving the girl behind.

When his phone rings he sighs and shakes his head, answering the phone. He hears the frantic cries of his wife, "Please Rye! I messed up- I messed up! I swear he meant nothing to me! I didn't even care-" He hangs up then, breathing in deeply before opening the door, grabbing the file on his way in.

He doesn't hear the soft snores coming from the patient when he asks, "Nice to meet you, Ms. Everdeen. Are you ready for your insemination?" He smiles voice shaky and it's only the shut of the door that wakes Katniss.

She jumps a bit, hurriedly saying, "Hi, yes. I'm Katniss. Sorry, I'm a little tired..." She smiles but then scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. "I- I uh, usually see Dr. Petran?" She phrases it like a question, looking at the obviously distraught man.

"Oh, um, yeah, I'm filling in for her while she's on her…" He looks at the young girl with a tight smile, "honeymoon." He shakes his head quickly, "Anyway, I'm doctor Mellark."

She looks at him and asks, "Oh, Mellark? I work-" she begins as small talk with the new doctor, she only stops when she hears a quiet sniffle coming from the man in front of her. "Are you okay?"

He sits in the round chair in front of her, putting on the gloves on the side table. "Um, yes. I'm fine. Totally fine." He clears his throat before asking, "Did- did you bring anyone with you?"

Now, even more confused, the grey eyed girl replies, "Here? Uh, nope. Just me."

He takes another deep breath, "Oh, you're doing it alone. Good for you. It's probably easiest that-" he stops mid sentence, keeping his voice from cracking, "way…" He puts his head down, trying not to cry.

"Um, Doctor Mellark, are you sure you're okay?"

He put a hand up, hiding his head behind the sheet draped over her legs. "I- Oh, god- I'm so sorry. Just, uh, some personal problems."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She tells him. He nods quickly grabbing something Katniss can't see. "Um, if you want I can come back another ti-"

"No." He says the same time she says, "Oh, it's starting okay." She jerks up, toes curling.

"No, because you'd have to wait a whole month and that's not fair to you." Now she's just utterly confused and uncomfortable. But, a minute later he tells her, "That's it. You should get your results in two weeks."

And she looks up perplexed. "That's it?"

"Yep. That's it." He says, standing up and taking off his glove. "Oh, good luck and once again, I'm so sorry." he gestures to his face.

"No, no. It's fine. And I hope that this all works out for you."

He just sighs, "Yeah." and leaves, closing the door behind him. He doesn't realize his mistake until a moment later, opening the door to room 8 and seeing Mrs. Delly Mellark. His eyes widen and he says, "Oh, I didn't know you were coming in today."

'Yeah, I had the nurse unfreeze Peeta's sperm. It's um, a surprise for him. I know you guys are so close and I didn't want to put you in an awkward position." He nods and tells her to hang on for a second, leaving the room in a daze.

He couldn't undo what he'd just done and just like that, Katniss' life turned upside down, like something out of those shows her sister loves to watch.


Naturally, Rye's first reaction was to call his lawyer. Okay, maybe not his lawyer, but a lawyer nonetheless. So that's why instead of his usual, the pretty redhead walks in. "I didn't know who else to call." He tells her, heart beating erratically.

"You said it was an emergency."

He talks so fast, Lavinia barely understands him, "I accidentally artificially inseminated the wrong woman. So… I need a lawyer."

The woman eye's bug out of her head, but she replies calmly, "I don't practice law, anymore. You know that."

"I am scared. I need someone to talk to."

"Your wife. Your brothers."

"I- walked in on Alison last night. In bed… with her assistant." He looks at the ground, not meeting her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry that happened."

"And… it was Peeta's sperm." he begrudgingly admits.

"What?" She breathes, stepping closer.

"Delly came in for an insemination and I accidentally used his specimen on someone named Katniss Everdeen." The two just stare at eachother, not knowing what to say.

Finally, Lavinia looks his in the eye, "Were you drinking?"

"No! My god, no." He tells her truthfully.

"Okay, fine. What did you tell Delly?"

"I- I didn't tell her anything. I panicked. I inseminated her with saline."

"What are the chances that it takes."

"20%" he sighs.

"Okay, so, you don't say anything. You're already on probation, you could lose your license."

"But- but what about Peet? I mean it was his only sample."

"Well it's gone. How will telling him change that?"


"You might be a father." Peeta read aloud from a small strip of paper in his hands. He looks across the table at Delly who's smiling from ear to ear. "What?" He asks puzzled.

"I used your sample. We'll know in two weeks. I just wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted something about to be romantic given the way we had to do it."

He nods along with her still not smiling because inside he's about to panic.


15 days later…


The two girls ride on the bus side by side, Prim looks around them, not noticing her sister swallow thickly, "Oh, man." Prim begins, laughing to herself, "So you know that guy who's been dating Twill. Well, he found out that she's also been going out with Eddy, well she like tried to deny it but there's this text she sent him, and oh, god, do you wanna see?"

Katniss laughed and shook her head, taking a sip of water, "I think I'll pass Prim."

"Oops, I already sent it." the little girl giggles. Her sister gulped again and took more water, "You okay?"

"Just nauseous." She smiles at her sister for good measure. "Wait, why are you talking to Twill, I thought you hated her."

"I do, but me and Rue found out that she's the cousin of the bassist in this band we like so…"

"Ha, okay." Then this poor crippled boy and his mother get on the next but stop and Katniss gets up giving up her seat. She's only standing for a minute when she faints.


"Nausea and dizzy spell solved." The male ER doctor walks up to them, eyebrows lifted. "You're pregnant."

They just burst out laughing.

"Haha, no. Sorry."

"I did a urine test." He tells them, "False negatives are frequent, false positives are rare."

"Well, it's wrong buddy." Katniss huffs, arms crossed.

"Yeah, my sister's a virgin."

He looks toward Prim, and then back at Katniss, "Maybe we need to speak privately?"

"No, we don't need to speak privately, I need to call my mother and we need to do another test."

An hour later, when all the Everdeen girls were there, the dipped the little strip of paper into the yellow liquid, "Pink mean pregnant." he told them, and sure enough…

All the color drained from her face and she shook her head. "That's not possible. It- it's just hormones or something." she gasped.

"Yeah, pregnancy hormones." he replied dryly. "Look I know this is unplanned, but-"

She got out her phone in the middle of bickering between her mother, grandmother, and the doctor and called the office, "Hello, I need to speak with Dr. Mellark because I have this crazy person here telling me I'm pregnant!" She says sternly looking at the man intently.


Rye Mellark sat across from his brother and sister-in-law, there faces ones of hope, and excitement and dread. Just tell me, Delly pleads, "I'm not pregnant, am I?."

"No." he swallows, "You're not. I'm sorry."

Peeta looks down, sadly, "No, Rye. It's not your fault."

"Well, you see, it is actually."

His head snaps up in bewilderment, "What do you mean?"

"Two weeks ago, when I walked in on Alison… I used your specimen on the wrong person." he states bluntly.

"Excuse me?" Delly pipes up.

"I used your sperm to inseminate the wrong girl."The door opens and his assistant nods to him, "She's uh, here." He puts his head in his hands shaking his head.


"Hey, there…" Rye says, opening the door and approaching the group of silent Everdeens. Upon seeing Dr. Mellark, Katniss begins to talk, fast and panicky.

"Thank you for seeing me. It's the craziest thing, right? These pregnancy tests keep coming back positive, and there's got to a reason. Right?" Her heart was beating erratically, she didn't know what to think.

"There is a reason. And that reason is, I artificially inseminated you two weeks ago." At this all the women except Katniss began yelling, and he just took it all, knowing he definitely deserved it. When they quieted down he continued, "It was a mistake. I made a mistake and there was only a- a 20% chance it would take so I- I was hoping you wouldn't have to know but things turned out differently."

"What?" Katniss breathed again, looking down, head in hands.

"I- I am so sorry, Katniss."

"You're sorry!" He mother yelled. "You're sorry?! You should be in jail, or locked up or something! You can't do this to a person!"

"Mom." Katniss said softly, hand in front of her mother's waist.

"There are a multitude of options that you have. There- there's a pill you can take, or um, you can, uh…" He paused, seeing that the girl in front of him was basically unresponsive, "And you are under no obligation to consult the father, but he does know."

"The father?" Katniss whispered, mind somewhere else. "The father?... I- I need to go."


She knocked at his door, arms crossed and breathing deeply. "Hey babe." He greeted, and she walked inside slowly, her hands busy taking off her jacket, steeling herself to tell him. "Gale-" she started, turning around, only to find him on one knee…

"Okay, ground rules: You're not allowed to freak out, 'cause this is a moment we're gonna be telling our kids and grandkids about." He smiles, his crooked smile and she holds her chest, still on the verge of a break down.

"Gale, what are you doing?" She gasps.

"I'm proposing." He tells her with a laugh. "Who cares that, you know, you don't have your teaching degree or that I haven't established my career, or that we have debts, or whatever other reasons we have for waiting. As of today, we've been together for six months, and I know. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Gale just-"

"Wait, wait, before you say anything I'm not doing this because I want to have sex with you, okay? I mean, I- I do want to have sex with you, but that's not why I'm proposing, okay? I'm proposing because I want to spend my life with you. And raise children with you. And have sex with you. So, Katniss Everdeen will will you-?"

"Gale, I'm pregnant!"


"I need another drink." Peeta sighs, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm sure." Cato remarks. Marvel and Thresh laugh lightly, but it didn't grab Peeta's attention.

"I want it."

"The kid?" Thresh asks quickly.

"An unexpected by-product of cancer. They should put that in the brochure." he sighs and huffs, "Being told you can't have kids makes you want them even more. But I don't think Delly'll go for it."

Cato laughs as if it's the most ridiculous thing ever and pats his back, "Dude this is the same girl who would not leave your side when you were going through chemo."

Marvel joined his chuckles, "I'm not gonna lie I thought she'd bolt."

"Look, I'm just saying maybe you're underestimating her."