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Chapter Text

The kids ran ahead while Peeta dragged his feet as he trudged over to the house, feeling a coiling in the pit of his stomach. He watched them enter their home and sighed. Speaking to Katniss wasn't going to be that bad. They had done enough therapy and had done enough exercises to understand how to communicate with each other.

They had learned the hard way that it was imperative for them to communicate. During the Victory Tour, there had been so much that she kept to herself, for fear of losing him and those they loved. In the end, it was fruitless because between Snow, Coin, and the war, nearly everyone that they loved, cherished, or found important was wiped out.

Katniss wasn't much of a talker, but when she spoke, people listened. It was why the entire nation followed her. She exemplified the compassion and heart of many people around the nation who marveled at the way she sang to a dying little girl. Or how she tried to carry Mags when she had no energy left. His partner in life was amazing, and Peeta hated hurting Katniss. They had shed enough tears from the pain of having to go through two Hunger Games, a war, and two despots. Katniss had even shed tears over him and his hijacking, and Peeta was determined for her not to cry over something he said or did. She was happy with their hard-won life.

Opening up the door, he smiled brightly when he smelled the aroma of a fresh rabbit roasting in the oven. He called out, "Katniss?"

"In here," Katniss called from the kitchen.

Peeta walked into the kitchen to see Katniss smile at him. He loved the way her gray eyes twinkled with happiness. There was a time she only smiled in the woods or around her sister. Now, smiles came easier for her, because they had so much.

"Hey, is Haymitch coming over for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, he is." Peeta cleared his throat, "So what are you making for dinner?"

"I'm making roasted rabbit with baby carrots and mashed potatoes."

"Do you need help?" He was trying to find a way to speak to her about her cooking.

"Hi, mommy," Meadow ran into the kitchen. She was followed by Ryley. "Ryley, our babies are in there." Meadow pointed to Katniss's middle.

Ryley clapped and shouted, "Ba-be."

Peeta was shocked. "He knows how to say Baby, but not Dada?"

"Meadow showed him how to say it," Katniss said.

"Ba-be," Ryley giggled.

"Yes, Ryley, mommy has babies," Meadow smiled brilliantly.

Katniss sighed. "Meadow, we've talked about this. Mommy is not having a baby."

"Mommy," Meadow took Katniss' hand and gave her a reassuring look. "Mommy, you are, you just don't know it yet."

"Baby, baby," Ryley did that toddler dance that was half walk, half butt wiggle around Katniss.

Peeta stood blinking, then he smelled it, the faint smell of smoke.

"Oh no, not again," Katniss glanced toward the kitchen, then at their daughter. "Peeta, the food."

"Got it." Peeta ran to the oven, turned it off and quickly put on some oven mitts, and took out the pan. Luckily, it wasn't ruined. Behind him, the chaos continued.

"It's okay, mommy," Meadow said, "they understand, you're taking good care of them."

"Ba-be, ba-be, ba-be, ba-be," Ryley chanted as he wound his way around Katniss.

"Meadow, your Dada and I are not having more babies."

Peeta saw that the water with the potatoes was boiling over. He quickly turned off the stove. And brought the boiling pot to the sink. On his way there, he observed Meadow standing with her little arms crossed across her chest. Her little foot was tapping, and her small chin was jutting out.

"Yes, we are, MOMMY!"

Peeta had to stop himself from ginning. Meadow looked like Katniss when she was annoyed.

Katniss hunched down and gently embraced their daughter. "Meadow, love, I know you're upset. Dada and I love you, but you have to stop saying things like this."

"Mommy, there are babies in there."

"Ba-be," Ryley shouted loudly as he tried to jump. His fat little legs didn't allow him much height, but every time he jumped, he yelled, causing Katniss to wince.

"Meadow, we've talked about this. I've taken two exams, one at home and one with Dr. Terry, and both were negative."

"Ba-be!" Ryley shouted as he stopped jumping and smiled at Katniss and Meadow.

"But there are babies in your tummy."

Ryley then began to run around them again. Every time he went around, he would shout 'ba-be' even louder.

Peeta was stunned by what he saw.

"No, Meadow, there aren't." Katniss stood and gently and sternly said. "I need you to go wash up. Dinner's almost ready."

"But, mommy."

"Meadow, please," Katniss pleaded. She rubbed her temples. "No more baby talk."

"Ba-be! Ba-be! Ba-be! BA-BE!" Ryley was now shouting and laughing at a decibel Peeta had never heard his son use.

It dawned on Peeta why Katniss was distracted. Their daughter was innocently causing Katniss to stress about something that wasn't real while she was trying to cook. Their daughter was stubborn, just like both of them. The only thing she did have was an uncanny ability to predict certain things, like announcing Ryley when Katniss herself didn't have a clue.

"Hey, Meadow," Peeta put down the pot and kneeled down to speak to his daughter. "Why don't you help mommy and me by getting you and Ryley ready for dinner?" Peeta then called for their son, Ryley. "Come here, buddy."

Ryley ran to him. Peeta caught him easily. "Go with your sister to get washed up, okay?"

Ryley nodded.

"Come on, Ryley," Meadow said. "No getting too wet. Mommy doesn't like us to look drowned."

Katniss hid her laughter as Meadow led Ryley out of the kitchen, toward the bathroom. Peeta stood and opened his arms to Katniss, who half groaned and half moaned as soon as his arms closed around her.

Katniss sighed and pushed away.

"So this is why you've been burning every single meal?"

Katniss crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive position. "I'm sorry, I should have told you what's been going on with Meadow. I thought I would be able to handle it, but she's so insistent that I'm pregnant. She's up before you, and when I'm making breakfast, she wants to speak to my tummy. Every time I'm making dinner, it's the same thing, and before you ask, yes, Ryley does that every single time, at full lung capacity."

"I'm sorry, Katniss, I should have brought it up a long time ago, but I didn't. You shouldn't have to go through this alone. We're a team."

Katniss nodded; she let down her arms. She slid them around his middle, and Peeta wrapped his arms around her again.

"Peeta, I know you don't feel it's necessary to take the tests again because we've been careful, and I already took two of them. But, we need to go to the doctors with Meadow, get tested, and show Meadow that she's wrong."

Peeta hadn't wanted to go to the doctors again, but if going to the doctors was the only way to stop their daughter from harassing Katniss, it was what they needed to do. "We're responsible adults fighting a battle against a little girl."

"Have you met this little girl's parents?"

"No. Are they boring?"

"No, they started a war and toppled the government," Katniss chuckled.

"Ah, then extreme measures are necessary."

"Ugh, I hate going to the doctors." Katniss wrinkled her face.

"I know you don't like getting poked and prodded."

"I hate needles. The pregnancy test Dr. Terry does involves blood tests." They usually had to wait for the results to come in, as they didn't have the equipment. Before the war, the old way of testing if a woman was pregnant was the rabbit test. The home test kits sold in the Apothecary were too expensive for the residents to use.

Peeta kissed Katniss's forehead. "You can hold my hand."

Katniss looked up at him, then gave him a sly smile. "Maybe we can do more than just hand-holding later on?"

"Any time, Sweetheart."

"But first, dinner?"

They separated and began working on finishing up dinner. Katniss mashed the potatoes while Peeta cut the rabbit. "You know we're going to have to run the whole gamut, including an ultrasound, just to show her that mommy and dada are not pregnant." He watched Katniss mull it in her head.

"I just don't want to disappoint her."

"Katniss, our daughter, is astute enough to understand the truth, and frankly, I can't take any more burnt meals.

Katniss chuckled. "Neither can I."

The next morning, Peeta called Dr. Terry and explained the situation. The plan was hatched out. Dr. Terry needed to have a special machine that they used in the Capitol that provided instant results during the appointment. Two weeks later, all four of them sat in Dr. Terry's office.

"Now, sugar-cookie," Peeta said, haunching down to speak to his daughter at eye level. "Dr. Terry is doing this to see if mommy has a baby inside of her tummy." The physician's assistant had taken the samples of Katniss's urine and blood to perform the test on the machine. As the tests ran, the doctor was going to perform the ultrasound.

"My brother and sister are excited for you to see them." Meadow gave Peeta a smile that he'd seen on Haymitch's face a few times.

Peeta winked at Katniss to reassure her that everything was going to be well. Katniss had been anxious about letting their daughter down. Katniss was resting on the examination table; her shirt was pooled up to show her midsection. Their son was in the walker, taking a nap.

"Okay," Dr. Terry said, "Let's get this show on the road. Are you ready, Meadow?"

"Oh yes," Meadow's blue eyes shone with happiness. Peeta recalled how they had brought Meadow to all of these appointments before Ryley was born.

"Okay, Katniss, you know this might be cold." Dr. Terry spread the jelly on Katniss's belly. "This is your mommy's tummy as you can see," Dr. Terry said, "There is…" her voice drifted off as she frowned.

"There is nothing inside," Peeta supplied.

"What the," the Doctor muttered. She moved the wand over Katniss's womb. Peeta wasn't sure what they were looking at.

"Doc, what's going on?"

"It's them," Meadow said, smiling.

The doctor flipped a switch on the machine, and the room was filled with the swishy sound of an unmistakable heartbeat followed by another sound.

The physician assistant ran into the room, waving a tablet. "Doc, you're not going to believe this…"

The doctor took the tablet and read the results. Dr. Terry turned to Katniss and Peeta. "Congratulations, you're going to be parents to twins," the doctor said. Then glanced at Meadow. "I owe you an apology, Meadow. You really are going to be a big sister again. How did you know, though?"

Meadow laughed. "The babies were playing hide and seek the last two times. I told them it wasn't a nice thing to do since mommy is such a good mommy. Melody and Levi are very sad. They've been waiting to be found all of this time."

After he got over the initial shock, Peeta's first instinct was to check on Katniss. She had tears in her eyes. He took her hand. "Are you okay?"

"Twins, Peeta, we're having twins." Her voice contained awe. She wiped her face before glancing up at him. "All this time, and I didn't know."

Peeta glanced around at his family, and it occurred to him that Haymitch was never going to believe this.