"What do you mean the boy doesn't know?" Haymitch huffed. "Blabbed the whole thing to the Capitol, remember?"

"H-we-he didn't think it was real." I throw my hands up. It had been a long ten minutes. And unlike Haymitch, I couldn't have a drink to calm my nerves. Though, to be honest, I had only ever had a glass of his liquor one time-and regretted it, mostly, in the morning.

"It was just one time," my voice is almost a whisper. "On the train. After Peeta volunteered for you."

"And it's real now?" Haymitch took a sip from his hidden flask, one that Coin had already confiscated twice, when he saw my unwavering expression. "Well, I'll be damned. Looks like the star-crossed lovers had it in them after all."

I shoot daggers with my eyes, my fingers curling the empty air in search of my bow. "This isn't funny, old man. Don't you see? This b-this thing is going to be just another pawn in their games. Snow with his war, the rebels with their cause, Coin with her Mockingjay symbol. I can't do it. I can't protect it on my own."

Haymitch nods. He and I both know that Peeta was the strong one, the brave one, the one who actually wanted children. "Who knows about this?"

"No one." I reply. "My mother brewed me up something to make sure, said she didn't trust Thirteen's leftover Capitol technology. So she knows. But I haven't even told Prim yet."

"Best to keep it that way for a little while longer. I'll deal with Coin when the time comes." Haymitch looked down at his flask when he spoke again. "And, your mother, could she brew something else up for you? I know girls in the Seam ask for this kind of thing all the time when they can't afford another mouth to feed."

The thought never occurred to me. I knew my mother could create such a tonic. It was horrible smelling and went down worse than molasses and seemed to come a little too late for most of the malnourished women who were farther along than they suspected. But I knew it would work for me. I was barely in my second month.

"I-I couldn't kill something of Peeta's." I say finally. Because no matter how much I don't want to bring children into the world, I could never take that away from Peeta. He was just so good. He deserved one thing in his life that would be able to love him properly.

"Well then. We'd better make sure to get Lover Boy back before that little one pops because you, sweetheart, look scared shitless."

Even though I try to keep it a secret from Prim, my little sister knows when I'm keeping something from her. While she's dressing for bed that night after my talk with Haymitch, she tells me about her day and gives me a funny look.

"Hey, Katniss, Mom let me help her today in the hospital and that nurse with the red hair that you call Ginger, but actually her name is Shelley, said that I had a knack for healing. Well, actually, she thought that I showed promise at re-bandaging the Coakley twins' knee scrapes, but I think that if we stay in Thirteen long enough, I could apply to be a nurse here or even a doctor."

"I think you will make a fine doctor one day, little duck." I reply, wrapping my arms around my little sister as she curls into bed with me. Her body is warm and familiar, even though she no longer smells like sunshine and coal.

"And I think you will make a fine mother one day, Katniss." Prim says, turning her body to face mine so our noses almost touch.

"I-wh-how do you know?" I whisper, astonished that my thirteen year old sister has figured it out.

"You're glowing!" Prim giggles. When I glance down at the normal olive coloring of my arm, she giggles even harder. "Not really, it's just something people say. Well, it's what we say to the merchant women who get pregnant," her voice softens sadly, "those in the Seam don't like to be reminded."

"Is it really that obvious?" I ask, terrified that the whole of District Thirteen and the hundred or so residents of District Twelve know that I'm pregnant.

"You're my sister, Katniss. Of course I would notice." Prim crinkles her nose, the only physical trait she seemed to have inherited from our father. "Are you not telling people? As far as I know, you're the first pregnant woman in District Thirteen since the measles outbreak the doctors keep talking about. My little niece or nephew is a miracle!"

"Shh, not so loud," I panic and cover her mouth with my left hand. She licks my palm playfully and I release my hold. "I'm sorry, but until I have to, I don't want anyone to know. People here already look at me like I'm a freak or, worse, their savior."

"Your secret is safe with me," Prim says and wiggles her tiny pinky finger in my eye line. I offer her my own and smile at the "Sister Swear."

She lays her head back on her half of the pillow, her eyes closed but a smile on her lips. "I'm gonna be the best aunt that kid has ever seen, just watch."

I do Coin's promos with Finnick for two months before it becomes apparent that I no longer fit into the beautiful Mockingjay costume that Cinna made for me. Probably his last traitorous act. And, when I realize this, I start openly weeping.

"Hey, shh, Katniss, it's okay," Finnick's calm green eyes keep me focused. "You don't have to shoot today."

"Bu-" Finnick stops all opposition from our camera crew with a murderous glare, one I had only seen him use in the Arena. They scurry away with their cameras and boom mics, but the tears don't stop.

"It's-just*hiccup*that-Cinna-made*hiccup*me-this-and-I-I-want-to-wear-it*hiccup*but-I'm-too-faaaat."

"Maybe I should get Annie, or your mom, or Prim." Finnick offers. "I'm not so good at this girl stuff. Because I could hardly call Katniss Everdeen fat." He jokes, poking me lightly in the stomach.

"Don't hurt it!" The words shoot out of my mouth before I have a chance to think about them.

"I'm not going to tear Cinna's cloth-" The Capitol favorite from Four teeters off. "Katniss, what can't I hurt?"

I let out a whimper when I think about someone hurting Peeta's baby and instinctively protect my stomach with both of my hands.

"You can't be more than, what, three or four months pregnant?" Finnick guesses. "Annie will be so thrilled to have someone going through the same thing. Wait, does Peet know?"

"Annie's pregnant, too?" I ask in a small voice. It seems this thing growing inside of me was also affecting my volume as well as my hormones.

"We weren't telling anyone until after we got Johanna and Peeta back from the Capitol, but, yes. Annie's pregnant." Finnick's grin split his entire face as he gushed about his future baby.

I tried to imagine a different smile at knowing he was going to be a proud papa, but Peeta had been gone so long that I was having trouble coming up with it. If they couldn't get him back, if, somehow I was left to raise this thing on my own...I tried not to think about that. Peeta was coming back. He had to.

"Catnip."

I whirl around from where Finnick and I are discussing Annie's own mild mood swings in comparison to my own when I hear Gale.

That one word is both an accusation and an astonishment.

"Gale, wait." He doesn't, though. He takes off into the woods where he came from, the two birds he shot for the district left abandoned where he dropped them.

I chase after him, restricted by the too-tight-suit and my own sluggishness. Though I'm not showing more than a small bump, I'm emotionally drained and it takes a toll on me. "Don't make me chase after you, idiot."

He sneaks up behind me, my heavy breathing blocking out the sound of his nearly-silent hunter's steps, and I gasp when I feel his breath on my neck. "Knocked up by Bread Boy, huh? I thought you said you didn't ever want children."

"I didn't-I don't." I face him, his expression hard. "But, here it is."

"Your mom could have made you a tonic, Katniss. Why do you never think until it's too late?"

Something primal comes out of my throat, almost like a growl. "I'm keeping it."

"Because it's his?" Gale raises a knowing eyebrow. "You don't owe him anything. I watched your latest promo, about the bread, and-"

"This isn't about owing anything."

Gale pauses for a few seconds and clears his throat. "If it had been different-"

"But it's not."

"I'm just saying, if it had been my baby and I was the one trapped in the Capitol, would you have kept it?"

I sigh. "That's not fair, Gale."

"I think you just answered my question."

"Wait-"

"No, I'm done waiting for you." Gale closed his eyes. "I've waited for years for you to take notice of me, Catnip, and the second you even seem to register me, there's Mellark. Even in the Capitol, he's winning right now."