Peeta's P.O.V.

I hate it when Katniss has nightmares, even more so now that she's well into her ninth month. So this time, I'm awake the second she starts thrashing around.

"Katniss," I say as I gently shake her shoulder. She starts screaming and I try that much harder to wake her up. "Kat, sweetie wake up." Her eyes open and she quickly sits up. She clings to me and looks at me with wide, panicked eyes.

"Peeta! They have our baby! They took our baby away from us!" Tears stream down Katniss's face as I rub her back.

"Shh. It's okay," I whisper.

""They took our baby!"

"It wasn't real. The baby's okay. It was a nightmare. It wasn't real." Katniss starts to call down a little, but she still has a tight grip on my shirt. She lays her head on my shoulder and I kiss the top of her head. "Are you okay?" I ask as I wrap my arms around her.

"I'm okay," she replies quietly. She lets go of my shirt and rests her hands on her stomach. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Don't be," I say. I take my thumb and wipe away a stray tear from her cheek. "I wasn't sleeping too good anyways."

"I don't think that either of us have slept the best since Mom told us that the baby could come any day," Katniss says. "I know I've asked this about about a hundred times, but are you sure everything is ready for this baby?"

"Yes, I'm sure," I reply. "The nursery has been ready since we moved back." We finally got settled back in 12 a week after Gale's trial. Ellen stayed with us long enough to help us move, then she moved to 12 herself. She bought a house outside of the Victor's Village, but it's not that far from us.

"Can we go take a quick look at the nursery?" Katniss asks. "Just to make sure?"

"Honey, it's four in the morning," I reply.

"So?"

"So why don't we go back to sleep for awhile, and then we can go check on the nursery?"

"Can we please go look at it now?" she asks.

"Katniss..." She looks at me and pouts and I sigh. "Fine," I say as I get up out of bed and walk over to her side. "As long as you promise me that you'll try to go back to sleep when we get done." She nods her head and holds her hands out for me to help her up. Once she's standing, she looks at me and smiles.

"You're not going to give into our baby like that, are you?" she asks.

"Katniss, if the baby is anything like you, I won't have a choice," I reply. She laughs and we start towards the nursery. We're halfway across the hall when she stops. "Katniss, are you okay?" She nods and takes a deep breath.

"I'm fine," she says after a few seconds. I give her a concerned look. "I promise I'm okay. They haven't got any worse since they started yesterday." My eyes widen.

"Yesterday?" I ask. She nods her head. "Katniss, why didn't you tell me?"

"I just did," she replies. I roll my eyes.

"You know what I mean. Why didn't you tell me when they first started?"

"Because they're still mild and very far apart, and I didn't want you to overreact like you are now."

"Katniss, I'm not overreacting. I'm just worried about you."

"Well don't be," she says. "I promise I'll tell you if they get worse."

"Okay," I say. "Now let's go back to bed."

"Peeta, it's gonna be a while before I have this baby. We have plenty of time to make sure that everything in the nursery is in order."

"Fine," I say. "But please hurry."

"You don't have to come with me," Katniss says. "You can go on back to bed if you're tired."

"Katniss, that's not why I want you to hurry," I say.

"I know. You're worried about me," Katniss says as she starts towards the nursery again. I shake my head and follow her.

She turns the light on and runs her hand over the wall. When I got around to painting the nursery, Katniss requested that I paint it to look like the Meadow. Of course, she got what she wanted.

She walks over to the closet and starts going through it. "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Inventory," Katniss replies. I chuckle and walk over to her.

"Does everything look like it's in order?" I ask after after a few minutes.

"Yeah," she replies. She closes the closet door and turns around to face me. "The only thing that's missing now is the baby," Katniss says smiling at me. I smile back at her and lay a hand on her stomach. My other hand rests on her cheek as I lean down and kiss her. I pull back when she takes in a sharp breath.

"Katniss?"

"I'm okay," she says.

"We better get you back to bed," I say. She nods her head and we walk back across the hall to our bedroom. "Are you sure you're okay?" I ask as we lay back down.

"I'm sure," Katniss replies. I wrap my arms around her and we both fall asleep. When I wake up, I'm thankful to find that Katniss is still asleep. She needs as much rest as she can get. I carefully get up and go downstairs to fix breakfast because I know that will be the first thing Katniss will want when she wakes up.

Breakfast is almost ready when someone starts banging on the front door. I don't even have to open the door to know who it is.

"Haymitch, do you have to knock so loud?" I ask as I turn the door knob.

"Yes, your door was locked," he says as he steps inside.

"It's supposed to be locked," I say. "And that isn't an excuse for you to tear the door down."

"Why are you so concerned with the volume of my knocking anyways?" Haymitch asks as he goes into the kitchen and helps himself to breakfast.

"Because Katniss is still sleeping," I reply. "I'll be right back. I'm going to go check on her." I go upstairs to our bedroom to find that Katniss is now awake. She stands in front of the mirror with both hands on her belly. I go over to her and wrap my arms around her, resting my hands right below hers.

"You are absolutely beautiful," I whisper in her ear. She looks at her reflection in the mirror and shakes her head.

"I'm fat," she says.

"No you're not," I say truthfully. "You're pregnant."

"Doesn't feel much different," she mumbles.

"But it is different," I say. She turns around and smiles at me.

"You have an answer for everything," she says.

"Maybe not everything," I reply. She laughs a little.

"I'm guessing Haymitch is downstairs eating already."

"You heard him beating on the door?" I ask.

"Who didn't?" Katniss says. I laugh and wrap an arm around her waist.

"You ready to go eat?" I ask. She nods her head. We barely make it five feet before Katniss grips my arm. "Katniss?"

"I'm okay," she says. "That one just caught me off guard. It was a little stronger than the others." Her grip loosens and we start walking again. We still don't make it far before she pulls back on my arm. "Peeta!" she gasps. "My water broke!"

She looks up at me with wide eyes, and I know she's scared. I lead her back over to the bed and she sits down.

"I'm going to go call Ellen and I'll be right back," I say. She nods her head.

"The phone should be laying on the counter in the kitchen. That's where I left it last night."

"Okay," I say. "Stay right here. It won't take me long." She nods her head and I take off down the stairs.

"Everything okay?" Haymitch asks as I rush into the kitchen and over to the phone.

"Katniss is in labor," I say as I quickly dial Ellen's number. The phone rings a couple times, then cuts off. I go to dial the number again, but quickly learn that I can't. "Phone's dead," I sigh.

"You trying to get ahold of her mom?" Haymitch asks.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I'll run home and call her for you."

"Thank you," I say. I quickly write Ellen's number down, hand it to Haymitch, and race back up the stairs. I go over to Katniss and kneel down in front of her.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah," she replies. "Did you call Mom?"

"Haymitch had to," I say. "The phone was dead."

"I'm sorry," she says. "I didn't mean to leave it laying there last night. I was carrying it around to see if the police called. I know I said the other day that I don't care if they never call, as long as our family stays safe. I just..."

"Katniss," I say gently.

"Yeah?" she asks as she quits her rambling and looks up at me.

"It's okay," I say. "We've got it taken care of." Katniss nods her head.

"I'm just nervous," she says.

"I know you are," I say. "But that's okay. I am too."

"Anyone can see that," Katniss says. "You've got that nervous look on your face." I give her a sad smile.

"You want me to help you get cleaned up?" I ask.

"Yeah," Katniss replies. I pull her up off the bed, and help her into the bathroom. Once she's cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes, I lead her back to bed. Haymitch comes in the room not long after that.

"Ellen is on her way," he says as he comes over and sits down on the other side of Katniss. I look down at her.

"Why don't you try to rest?" I ask.

"Okay," she says before she closes her eyes.