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Katniss Everdeen
He reads the name on the chart a mere moment after entering the small room, and his wide smile, frozen on his face, falls just as he looks up to find her sitting on the exam table, fiddling nervously with the hem of her paper gown. Her still slight frame does nothing to hide the small swell of her belly, and he knows he’s staring at her, at it, but he can’t seem to stop.
She’s the one he never could forget; even after they went off to separate colleges, even after his years in medical school, she was still the one he wondered about more often than what’s probably considered healthy. Now here is his clandestine fantasy realized-a surprise reunion with the girl he still carried a torch for- and she’s pregnant.
A quick look at her chart tells him that she’s about 16 weeks along, and after he places her medical records on the instrument table, he has to flex his hands to stop their slight tremor.
She recognizes him instantly, too, and her beautiful grey eyes are wide as she watches him carefully. Her mouth is slightly gaping before she seems to realize it, and then she snaps it closed as her pale pink lips settle into that familiar scowl.
“Dr. Aurelius had a family emergency, so I was asked to cover his afternoon appointments,” he explains. “If you’d like to reschedule, I completely understand.”
“Maybe that would be for the best. Prim and Thom weren’t able to make it today, anyhow.”
Thom. So that’s his name. Peeta nods once and then starts to slowly back out of the room. “I’ll let Effie know, and you can set up another appointment with her after you redress.”
“Okay.”
Once he’s in the hallway, he thumps his head against the door, wondering how he’s going to make it through these next hectic hours after a jolt like that.
xxXXxx
“I love you.”
He whispered it after he was inside of her. There was no way he wasn’t going to say those words. Not when he’d been thinking it since he was five; especially not now that he was sure of it after these past few months.
They were seventeen and right in the middle of losing their virginity to each other-her idea, not his- but it didn’t make those three little words any less genuine.
She looked back at him, her eyes a little more glazed than they were when they were making out, and then she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, unable to face him as he continued to move above her. Katniss wasn’t big on talking whenever they were being physical, so he tried to limit himself to asking, “Are you okay?” or “Does that hurt?” but not saying another 'I love you' even if he was thinking it with every passing second.
So after, when she was being characteristically quiet as he redressed, he hadn’t thought too much of it. He hadn’t said it just to trigger a response from her; he said it because he meant it. He absolutely meant it.
The next morning, when she took her assigned seat next to him in their biology class, she asked him to come over again after school to “finish up the project.” But when he arrived at her house that evening (Prim in the kitchen, diligently working on her homework, and still no sign of Mrs. Everdeen from behind her closed bedroom door), Katniss was acting...different.
“Peeta, I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”
In less than 24 hours, he went from the greatest moment of his life to the worst, and his head was still spinning as she practically pushed him out of the house.
“We don’t want the same things,” she said when they were out on her front stoop. Her eyes darted back inside, always watchful for Prim, and then she turned her attention to him. “I’m never getting married. I don’t want children.”
“Children?” he choked out. “Katniss, I don’t want to have kids right now, I just want to take you to prom.”
“Well I don’t want that either,” she told him, her voice breaking.
“Then we’ll skip it,” he said hopefully, reaching for her hand.
“You’re either going to hate me later if we keep doing this, or hate me now if I end it,” she said as she pulled roughly out of his grasp. “So hate me now.”
The worst part is that for a while he ended up doing just that. He’s ashamed of how cold he had been towards her in those following months: pretending to ignore her in the hallway, never speaking to her in their other classes, and only addressing her if it pertained to their project.
He was also desperate to make her jealous, so he bragged to his friends, loudly and within her earshot, about his excitement over taking the “hottest girl in school” to the prom. But when the time came, he spent most of the night sitting at the table, depressed beyond belief as Clove Anderson was forced to dance with all her friends.
It was only after growing up some in college that he was able to see the situation for what it was. Katniss hadn’t set out to use him or hurt him, he realized. It wasn’t that she was made of stone, or that she was actually in love with Gale Hawthorne, or any of the other scenarios he’d concocted in the midst of heartbreak. She was just a young girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders, and while Peeta’s family had a myriad of their own issues, it still didn’t compare to what Katniss had experienced.
And then there was her sister. Primrose Everdeen ended up skipping a grade in high school, three semesters in college, and an entire year of medical school. While a lot of that had to do with her own brilliance, which was stuff of legend even among the upperclassmen, Peeta also knew that it would have been impossible for her to achieve all she had without Katniss bearing the brunt of their childhood woes.
During his residency, Peeta worked with Prim a few times as they rotated through a couple of the same blocks. If she remembered him as the high school boy in love with her sister, she never brought it up, but any of their time together helped reignite his interest in Katniss. As he trudged through the grueling 80 hour work weeks, he daydreamed about running into her again and fixing everything he broke years before.
Now he’s in the middle of what’s turning into a 100 hour work week as he takes on Dr. Aurelius’s patient load, and while he got his wish by seeing Katniss again, he hadn’t expected it to turn out like this. He’s actually thankful for the relentless schedule, because at least it helps keep his mind off of her.
“Hey, Peet,” Dr. Heavensbee says, poking his head through Peeta’s cracked door. “You’re covering for Jonathan, right?”
“Until the weekend,” he sighs.
“One of his patients is in the ED with vaginal bleeding. They’re swamped right now, so I told them I could see her here, but I just got the call to scrub in.”
He’s up in an instant, yanking his white coat off the back of his office chair and pulling it on over his ciel blue scrubs. “How far along is she?”
“Sixteen weeks. She’s Dr. Everdeen’s sister. A nurse is bringing her over now.”
Oh no, he thinks as he races up the stairs to Aurelius’s office. No, no, no. Please be okay, please be okay.
He’s panting by the time he makes it to the floor, his mind racing as the RN directs him to the exam room where Katniss is waiting. He opens the door cautiously, knowing she wasn’t thrilled to see him yesterday so she definitely won’t be happy to see him now, but-unless he’s completely off- she almost looks relieved when he walks in.
“Dr. Aurelius won’t be back until Saturday,” he begins apologetically, but she stops him with a dismissive wave, so he moves to the sink to wash his hands. “Did they check for a heartbeat in the ER?”
“No. There was a six car pile-up on the interstate. I didn’t even get to see a doctor.”
He reaches over her to recline the table, and then helps her lie back. “Did you hear it at the last appointment you had with Dr. Aurelius?”
“Yeah, and we went for the first ultrasound last month.” He watches her cautiously as he pulls up the bottom of her sweater and gently lowers the waistband of her leggings. Her hands are pale and shaking, and that right there terrifies him.
“How badly are you bleeding?” he asks quietly as he spreads the thick gel on the Doppler.
“Um, not much. Just a little spotting, I guess?”
“When did it start?”
“Today.”
“Any cramping?”
She shakes her head, and he presses the probe to her stomach, right underneath her belly button. He lays his other palm flat against her abdomen as he slowly moves the wand. They’re both listening intently for that tell-tale thump, and he presses the probe deeper, softly apologizing when he sees her grimace.
“How was the ultrasound?”
“Good. Everything’s been pretty good so far,” she whispers. “The morning sickness stopped a few weeks ago. I’m gaining the right amount of weight. Prim says I’m doing great.”
The hand on her stomach moves to gently pat hers, which is clutched around the fabric of her sweater as she holds it above her ribcage, and then he quickly moves it back to the soft skin of her belly. He’s preoccupied as he waits for the sound that they both want to hear so badly, and the soft swoosh of Katniss’s blood is unnervingly loud in the small room.
He wishes he read her records, but he had no business doing it when she technically wasn’t his patient and he wouldn’t be seeing her again. He also wishes that he could comfort her now with more than a superficial tap on the back of her hand. He used to be able to make her laugh all the time, and he still thinks that’s what made her lean over their textbooks one day and plant a gentle, unsure kiss on him as he froze up in surprise. Beautiful, ecstatic surprise.
Oh, but he really wishes he could find the heartbeat. It’s been no more than a minute, but it’s felt like 20. Dammit, he’s good at this. He knows that.
“There,” he says a second later when he’s absolutely sure it’s the sound he was searching for. They’re both silent as the thump echoes throughout the room, and as he calculates the heart rate in his head, he and Katniss share a wide, relieved smile.
“That’s a strong heartbeat,” he tells her. “161. That’s good. That’s really good.”
“So everything’s okay?”
He doesn’t get the chance to assure her before Dr. Primrose Everdeen bursts into the room with a tall, dark and handsome type hot on her heels. “Katniss! What happened! Are you okay?”
Peeta slinks back into the corner as Katniss and Prim talk, and as Katniss rambles on an apology, Prim envelops her in a hug before brushing away her tears.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, ever,” Prim declares. The man who arrived with her steps in and rubs Prim’s shoulders as he echoes her sentiments.
It’s at this point Peeta remembers that he’s a professional, too, so he steps in and reintroduces himself to Katniss’s baby sister. She smiles sweetly as she shakes his hand and asks for the run down on the situation, doctor-to-doctor. He meets Katniss’s gaze over her shoulder, and asks if it’s okay to discuss it with her family.
“Uh, of course,” she says with an annoyed expression. “It’s their baby.”
xxXXxx
Peeta always hoped to run into Katniss again. Maybe it would happen at a crowded coffeehouse, where they’d bump shoulders in line. Or at the grocery store, where her cart would ram into his and he’d be annoyed until he looked up and saw those familiar grey eyes.
He thought maybe she would be at their ten year high school reunion the previous fall, but she wasn’t.
He was sure she would be at Prim’s lecture in the hospital auditorium in the spring, but, surprisingly, she was absent.
And, stupidly, he always scanned the crowd for her face at Panem Memorial’s annual charity ball. He imagined her looking uncomfortable and out of place, but determined to be there because of her sister. She’d be beautiful no matter what she wore, but he often pictured her in a dark gown, her long, straight black hair loose down her back. And of course she’d be at the buffet.
As he makes his way across the banquet hall, wishing he could trade in the stiff tux for his comfortable scrubs, he sees her.
She’s at the buffet. Her long, straight black hair is loose down her back. She’s wearing a dark gown. And her pregnant belly is so large that he wonders how she’s not toppling over into the outlandish food spread in front of her.
“I hear the kabobs are awesome,” he says as he stands next to her.
She throws him a quick smile before turning her attention back to the food. “I want to try everything.”
He walks with her along the table as they peruse the options, and she rattles off a list of her first picks. “Bacon wraps...cream of sweet potato soup...chocolate mousse truffles.”
“Quite the spread for a banquet raising awareness of heart disease and diabetes.” He looks over at her, stone faced, and she bursts out laughing.
“If Prim asks, I was eating salad.”
“Do you want me to hold the extra plates for you?”
“Yes,” she says seriously as she beckons him to keep following her.
Once she has her food, he asks her to sit with him, and to his delight, she agrees. They make their way through the throngs of people, most of whom are fellow doctors who stop Peeta to say hello, and then finally find refuge at his table.
“Are you expecting anyone else?” she asks timidly, eyeing the place cards with his name and ‘guest’ etched underneath.
He passes her plates over and smiles. “Nope.”
She doesn't seem to react to that. “Prim has a table, too. It’s up front.”
“Yeah, surgeons always get the tables up front,” he says with mock annoyance, and she licks the orange cream from her spoon and grins.
“Underachiever.”
He laughs, then steals a chocolate mousse truffle off her plate, narrowly missing injury as she takes a swipe at him with the back of the spoon.
“What made you go into obstetrics?” she asks.
'Great way to meet women' is how every male OBGYN he's ever known likes to jokingly answer the question. He hates that. So he chews thoughtfully before telling her the story of how he wanted to be a trauma doctor until the first time he helped deliver a baby in the ER. "The doctor I was working with was so stressed," he laughs. "The poor woman was calming him down between pushes. And I was just standing there off to the side, wide-eyed, no idea what to do, and he told me to be ready to catch the baby if it slipped out of his hands.
"And I did. I caught the baby," he says with a smile. "And holding him, and passing him over to his mother for the first time...that was the most amazing moment. Dr. Abernathy, my mentor at the time, told me he knew I'd switch the second he saw me with the baby, because I looked happy and not terrified."
She laughs again, the most wondrous sound, and they continue to catch up. He tells her more about medical school and the years since, and she briefly describes her job with the park before discussing her next food picks.
“I haven’t seen Prim yet,” he says as they make their way back to the buffet.
“I think she’s talking with people from the board, or something,” she replies, ladling gravy over a high pile of buttery mashed potatoes.
“Is Thom with her?” he wonders.
“No, he had a business meeting. I’m her date tonight.” She hands him the full plate and takes an empty one to start again.
“Lucky her.” It’s said with a bit too much reverence to be considered teasing, but she seems to dismiss it as such before waddling back down the line.
He chases after her, wanting to keep the conversation flowing. “So what does Thom do?”
“He’s a contractor,” she says as she tries to choose between canapes before ultimately taking one of each. “He’s probably built half of this town.”
“Impressive.”
“Yet still less intimidating than being in a roomful of doctors.”
He smiles ruefully. “I got to say, it’s hard to imagine you intimidated by anyone.”
She shrugs, staring down forlornly at her full plate, which he then takes from her. “You want to go for a walk with me?” he asks. “The food will still be here when we get back, I promise.”
“It’s freezing outside.”
“So we’ll tour the lobby.”
She follows him, and after taking her plates back their table, he presses his palm to the small of her back and leads her to the main exit, deftly dodging well-meaning co-workers along the way.
It’s a lot cooler in the empty lobby, and he notices when goosebumps breakout on her arms, from the edge of her cap sleeves to her wrists. “Are you cold?” he asks, already removing his tuxedo jacket to drape it around her shoulders. He secures the top button, smiling down softly at her.
“Wow, this fits,” she says, snuggling into his jacket, and he laughs, trying not to openly admire the way she looks in it.
He gestures to her stomach. “So how’ve you been?” Her eyes narrow back at him, so he holds up his hands defensively. “I’m just asking as a friend, not a doctor.”
“I'm fine,” she relents. “It’s been fine. I did everything you said, and there haven’t been any scares since.”
“Good. I’m really glad to hear that.”
She stops walking to take a seat on one of the couches near the hotel’s front desk. “You’re dying to ask,” she says with a laugh.
“Ask what?” He was actually thinking back to that day when she started bleeding, nearly three months ago now. After confirming everything was okay, he suggested bed rest, a follow-up with Dr. Aurelius, and abstaining from sex for awhile. Of course he hadn’t meant to embarrass her-it was standard advice in that situation-but she was definitely flustered.
Now she doesn’t seem so sure about her earlier declaration. “Why I did it,” she clarifies.
“Did what? Become a surrogate for Prim?”
“Yeah.”
“Nah, I know why you did it,” he says with a shrug. “You’d do anything for her.”
Katniss is pensive for a long while, and he soaks up the silence, enjoying it simply because it’s being shared with her. Finally she sighs, pulling his jacket tighter around her. “She didn’t even have to ask. I volunteered.”
“You’re gunning pretty hard for that ‘World’s Best Sister’ coffee mug, huh?”
“Yeah,” she laughs. “That’s it.”
He inches a little closer to her on the couch, his knee knocking hers for attention. When she looks up at him, he smiles again, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Katniss, I always wanted to tell you...I’m just, I’m really sorry for how I treated you back in high school.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. I ended things.”
“No, you did what was best for you at the time. And I acted like an asshole because I couldn’t deal with it.”
She twists in her seat to face him, her expression considerably softer. “It wasn’t what was best for me at the time. Truth is, you were probably what was best for me at the time. I was just scared by how much I liked you, and scared by how much you liked me, too.”
He could tell her what an understatement that is, that he was head over heels in love, not like, but a part of him is pretty sure she already knows that. He could also tell her that he always hoped for a reunion like this one, and that he still thinks about her and wonders what could have been and what might be.
But she's nearly 8 months pregnant with her sister and brother-in-law's baby, and there are four plates of food waiting for her at the table. Back in high school, he made it all about him. He doesn't want to make that mistake again. So he offers a smile and his hand to help her up, telling her that the buffet awaits. She keeps hold of his hand until they're back inside the ballroom, gripping it like she wishes she didn't have to let go.
xxXXxx
He's exhausted and famished as he makes his way to the nursery window. After a night like he's had, he needs to reassure himself by seeing the healthy newborns fast asleep in their cradles, free of any machines and lines. He's been pretty lucky in his career so far, but that afternoon he delivered a baby to a methadone addict; it's happened before and it will happen again, but it never gets easier.
He stops dead in his tracks when he sees her leaning against the ledge and staring through the glass, one of her hands pressed against it. She's in a hospital gown and robe, but he can tell her belly is significantly smaller now. "Katniss," he breathes, quickly heading toward her. He looks out at the babies, to where her niece or nephew lies sleeping. "When did you deliver?"
"This morning," she sighs, turning away from the window for the first time since he approached her. She looks as tired as he feels.
"Which one?" he asks with a smile, but it falls when he notices how sad she seems, and he reaches out to steady her with his hand against her back. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"
She shakes her head and tries to smile. "No, everything's fine. He's not here. He's with Prim and Thom, in a private room."
"And he's healthy?"
"He's perfect," she says, and this smile comes easily and is real.
"How are you?"
She turns away from the window and sticks her hands in the pockets of the robe. "I'm fine. I just needed to take a walk. They say I can go home tomorrow." She looks back quickly at the nursery, and Peeta's heart drops.
She can go home tomorrow. Alone. It's a harsh reality for most surrogates, and he knows she has a rough road ahead. He wants to comfort her as much as possible. Obviously the first thing that pops into his head is food.
"Hungry?" he asks hopefully, and she nods.
The cafeteria is closed, but there are several vending machines in the dining hall. The offerings are meager this late, so she picks the cobb salad, and he decides on a yogurt parfait for himself as he feeds the machine money. They sit at a nearby table, and she's quiet as she opens the package and pours ranch dressing over the wilted lettuce. He doesn't know what to say, so he just watches her closely as she takes bite after bite and tries to ignore the tears in her eyes. When she can't do it anymore, she drops the plastic fork and covers her face, and he reaches out to rub her arm.
"I'm such a terrible person," she sobs.
"What? No you're not. Katniss, what you did is amazing."
"All I can do is feel sorry for myself. And I know how hard it was on her, missing out on the pregnancy. Every time the baby kicked, I could see how upset it made her to not be able to feel it from the inside. She tried to hide it, but I know her too well.
“But when he was born, and they gave him right to her-before I even saw him, they gave him right to her-she never looked happier. There weren’t any conflicting feelings or anything. It was pure happiness.”
“And you’re upset with yourself because you’re upset,” he says. “You wanted to see him and hold him, and maybe it hurt to see her with him like that.” He rubs his thumb back and forth against the rough terry cloth of her robe, and she nods quickly, again dabbing at her eyes.
Peeta’s delivered for surrogates before, so he’s sensitive to the situation. “You’re not a bad person for feeling like that, Katniss. It’s completely natural. You just went through one of the most taxing things anyone can experience. And I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but your hormones are a factor here, too. You’ve got to be easy on yourself. Give yourself time and allow yourself to process all those emotions.”
“I don’t want to upset Prim.”
“You won’t,” he promises. “I’m sure she understands. And she might be in her own world right now with the baby and Thom, but she’ll come around soon.”
Katniss shakes her head fervently, swearing that’s not what she wants. “I want her to be able to enjoy all of this without worrying about me, really.”
“I know,” he says. “And I’m sure you tried to cover up your feelings just like she did for you. But you’re going to need her to get through this, Katniss. And there’s nothing wrong with that. She’ll want to be there for you.”
“How am I going to do this again?” she asks as she wipes the tears from her cheek. “They have more embyros, and they were talking about wanting a little brother or sister for him. I said I would, that’d I’d do it as many times as she needed me to, but now…”
He watches her helplessly, and again takes her hand. “I’m sorry, Katniss. But I’m sure they’d understand if you said you couldn’t go through it again. Or maybe-after you’ve had time to heal in every way- it’ll be something you’ll want to reconsider. But it’s nothing for you to worry about now. Like I said, you have to give yourself time.”
She falls silent for awhile, still clutching his hand, and then she smiles slowly as she looks over at him. “So I’m an aunt.”
“Yeah,” he says with a grin. “Congratulations! You’re going to be an awesome aunt.” He uses his free hand to search the different pockets of his scrub pants for his phone, and when he locates it, he pulls up a photo of his nephew, Henry. “This is my oldest brother’s son,” he says, handing it to her. “My buddy. He just turned two. His first word was Peeta. Not that I’m bragging or anything.”
“Sounds like bragging to me,” she laughs. He scrolls through other pictures for her, and she laughs, a real genuine laugh, when he shows her the photo of them both sticking their tongues out at the camera.
When she yawns, he realizes that she really should get back to her room. He offers to walk her there, and she doesn’t fight it. At her bedside, he takes her hand one more time and squeezes it affectionately, but she doesn’t let go. “Stay with me,” she asks. “At least until I fall asleep?”
He pulls up a chair and sits next to her, their hands still entwined. “Of course,” he says. “I’ll stay as long as you want me to.” He’s been up for at least 24 hours at this point, but he doesn’t feel the least bit tired now.
She drifts off a few minutes later, and he leans his head back, vowing to close his eyes for just a minute.
He falls asleep, but his hand never slips from hers.
6 Years Later
Two relatively uneventful pregnancies and fairly easy natural deliveries when it’s for Prim and Thom, but when it’s their baby, she has to have a cesarean. “Good job,” she’d grumbled when they were told a vaginal delivery wasn’t going to happen. “This is your fault, you know. It probably has your wide shoulders and big head.” He realizes she’ll never let him live that down when she’s still bringing it up even after they’ve made the incision. But he’s thankful for her good-natured teasing in these tense moments because he needs the distraction. Even with it he keeps warily eyeing the curtain obstructing their view, and Dr. Heavensbee laughs when he notices Peeta tapping his foot. “You’re off the clock, Dr. Mellark,” he says. “She’s in good hands, I promise.”
Good hands or not, they’re someone else’s hands, and it makes him nervous. He tries to focus on his wife, whose teeth are chattering, her whole body now tremoring. He wipes the tears clinging to her dark eyelashes and promises this is normal, and that everything will be okay.
A c-section isn’t what they wanted, but they planned for it just in case. She wanted him to tell her what they’re doing and what to expect each step of the way, so he does just that, whispering comfortingly in her ear through it all. “Any second now, we’ll hear it,” he says, terrified out of his mind as they wait.
The sharp cry echoes throughout the operating room a few seconds later. Heavensbee jubiliantly announces that it’s a girl, and Peeta brushes away Katniss’s tears before doing the same with his own.
Everyone told him that it didn’t matter how many babies he delivered, that nothing would be able to prepare him for this moment. But he hadn’t believed them. They had extenuating circumstances, after all, with the birth of Prim and Thom’s second son, Jackson, three years before. So he’d been on this end before with Katniss, and while it wasn’t their child, it still had to count for something.
As soon as the nurse gave their daughter to him, he knew they had all been right. Nothing could prepare him. Nothing could compare.
“She’s beautiful,” he yells to Katniss from across the room, happier than he’s ever been in his life. “She’s so chubby, oh my god. And she has a headful of black hair.”
“Ten pounds, one ounce,” the nurse announces with a laugh after they weigh her. “You get the biggest baby of the day award, mama.”
Once she's bundled in her blanket and back in his arms, he takes her to Katniss and holds her up. She kisses the baby's fat cheek, one of her joyful tears landing on the baby's soft skin. "Remember what you promised," she tells him.
"I do."
He reluctantly leaves her with their baby in his arms, and he takes her straight to the room where their family awaits. He makes the same announcement Heavensbee had, and everyone cheers loudly as he fully enters the room. The first granddaughter on each side, and everyone wants to see her and hold her.
But he has a very important promise to keep, and nothing is going to stop him. He shows her off to everyone, but when his mother reaches to take her from him, he says, "Sorry, not yet." Her lips purse as her expression sours, but she surprisingly doesn't put up much of a fight.
"Can I see her, Uncle Peeta?" Jacob asks.
"Of course." He leans down, and Henry, Jacob, Jackson all gather around him. They all watch her in awe, and Henry asks if he could hold her, too. "I'll bring her back later, and you can all hold her."
"Me too?" Jackson asks.
Peeta shares a grin with him. "You too, Jack."
Jacob asks about aunt Katniss, and he tells her that she's in the observation room, but they'll be able to see her in a couple hours. He watches the clock as they all fawn over his daughter, and as soon as an hour is up, he rushes out with her still tightly in his arms.
She's settled back in her room, the bed inclined to help her up. She needs his help positioning the baby in her arms, and once she's there, they share another smile. She might not be the first one to hold her, but he made damn sure she is the second one to do it.
He kisses her on the forehead as she admires their baby. "Peeta," she says in awe, her smile one of pure joy. "We get to take this one home with us."
He gives her a soft kiss on the lips this time, unable to resist. "Yeah," he says. "We get to take this one home with us."