Anything she ate wouldn’t stay down. It wasn’t that the district thirteen food was horrible (which it was, sort of), or that she missed fish and their district four bread (even though she did), or that she was sick over Finnick being gone (because he would come back, over and over people assured her of that). It was because of what Mrs. Everdeen had told her when she was in the infirmary, a place that scared her just as bad as the hospitals at home or in the Capitol. Mrs. Everdeen helped when Finnick wasn’t there to keep her calm, though. She was a friendly face, her and little Primrose, a girl Annie got along with very well, and it was almost like she was being treated by family instead of strangers that were judging her. That was another reason she could actually get through an appointment- Mrs. Everdeen never made her feel like she was crazy. She understood her fears and helped try to reassure her as much as she could. Her words and thoughts weren’t just dismissed.
She couldn’t believe it when they told her she was pregnant. But each time she vomited after she ate, and each day she realized her chest was abnormally sensitive, it became a little more real. At least she was able to hide it, it was easy with Finnick being away, and she always told Ivory she was just going to pee, or say hello to Haymitch or Prim, or some other excuse that came to the top of her head. It was hard to keep such a secret from her sister, but she wanted Finn to be the first one she told. As soon as he returned and as soon as she was back in his arms, she’d tell him and the life they always wanted would finally be theirs. They would be free. Panem would be free.
Right now she was lid opposite her sister on Ivory’s bed, her bare feet up beside Ivory’s head and vice versa, fingers twisting around her wedding ring. All things considered, since Finnick left, she had been doing pretty well. The nights were the hardest, she hated sleeping alone with all the nightmares and most nights she padded across the hall and crawled in with Ivory, but in the day time she was okay. She whispered to her belly when she was alone and twisted her wedding ring over and over, usually lost in some daze of happiness because she was just that excited over what was to come. “What?” She asked, tipping her head to look at her younger half. “What’s that look?”
