Chapter 6: Welcoming Her Home

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Katniss' POV

I rock Willow in her room and look at her as she stares at me with my big blue eyes. Her hair has gotten longer and falls in a soft down of dark curls across her forehead.

"Why do you look at me like that?" I ask her as though she'll answer,"You act like you don't know who I am. As though you're trying to figure out what I'm capable of. You don't do that with your daddy. You just snuggle up to him and fall right to sleep." She just blinks up at me. I hear foot steps in the door way and when I look up, I'm surprised to see Peeta.

"Peeta? Why are you still here? I thought you'd have been at the bakery by now." I ask.

"Two years in a row huh," he says.

"No, I didn't forget my own birthday again. I just didn't care. I have Willow now. I don't have time for things like that," I say,"Don't I my little dandelion?" I say lifting her up as I stand, causing her to giggle.

"You made me celebrate mine. Why won't you celebrate yours?" he asks.

"Because we were both home and didn't really have anything to do. But today, you'd usually be at work and it'd just be me and Willow. Which I'm totally fine with," I say.

"Yeah but I though maybe you'd like to go out into the woods. It's been what, seven months?" he says.

"What about Willow?" I ask.

"She can go with us. There's two of us to look out for things. It's warm out. We could take her to the lake with us. You could show her your world," he says walking over to me."I heard you talking to her. About how she always stares at you like she doesn't know who you are. I think it's time to show her." I look at her and smile.

"Alright. If you go get things ready, I'll get Willow dressed and meet you down stairs," I say and Peeta kisses my cheek and leaves. I sigh and gently set Willow on the changing table and lay my hand on her stomach to keep her safe from rolling off. I put her in a pale blue onesie and place tiny socks my mother knit for her on her feet. While I'm sliding them on, she grips the end of my braid on pulls on it. It doesn't really feel like anything but it most defiantly gets my attention.

"Now what was that for?" I ask her gently releasing my hair from her tiny fist. She just gurgles at me making me smile."Come on Sunflower. Lets go see if Daddy's ready." I pick her up and take her down stairs. I find Peeta at the door and he opens it for me as I walk past with Willow. He follows me out and closes the door as I tie a bonnet on Willow's head to keep her face out of the sun.

"You've got her pretty coordinated today don't you?" Peeta says laughing.

"Just because I don't like to look nice doesn't mean I don't think she looks nice dressed up. It humors me to wonder what she's going to do to stain it or rip it," I say laughing.

"I'm sure it does. Well let's go before the sun gets to high. We don't really want Willow out in this heat," he says and as we walk of the porch, Luca bounds after us. When we get within sight of the fence, Luca barks and runs ahead of us wagging his tail. He hasn't been here since he was a puppy. He loves it almost as much as I do.

"Well someone knows where we're going," I say laughing.

"You know he loved when you two would hunt out here together," Peeta says.

"Yeah, maybe we'll get to do that again before winter hits," I say sighing as I shimmy under the fence and Peeta hands me Willow over it before climbing over it himself. Luca crawls under and all four of us walk through the woods.

"You know you can climb over the fence now. You don't have to crawl under it like you used to," Peeta says as I grab my bow from the hollowed out tree and sling it over my shoulder before fishing out my quiver and handing it to Peeta.

"Yeah, but there's no fun in that. It wouldn't be the same if I climbed over the fence," I say as I lead us towards the lake. When we get there I sit carefully on a log and slide my bow off my shoulder. I carefully take Willow's bonnet off since we're in the shade now and set Willow on my lap so she can look out over the lake.

"I'm gonna go see if I can find a stick for Luca to chase, let you get back into your element without us disturbing you," Peeta says kissing my cheek and walking away with our dog, his uneven tread because of his fake leg evident on the dead leaves that litter the ground from last fall.

I look at my daughter, who blinks up at me with the same blue eyes as her father. Her eyes suddenly move away from me and I follow them as she watches a doe and her fawn tip toe through the tree roots and bend their heads towards the lake to take a drink. Willow squeals happily and the does head shoots up and when she spots us, her and her fawn dash away.

"Willow, you need to be quiet," I say laughing because I know she has no idea what the deer were or what made them run away."I hope you and I can come out here together when you're older and I can teach you everything your grandfather taught me. About which plants were edible, which healed, where they grew," As I spot a willow tree on the edge of the lake, I get up and walk up underneath the branches. "I hope to teach you to climb this tree someday, even though we won't tell Daddy because he'll think its two dangerous."

Willow suddenly reaches towards something on a branch and when I look up, I see a large black mockingjay sitting proudly on a branch. Seeing him staring at us gives me an idea.

"But there is something I can show you now. I can show you the beauty of mockingjays," I say and make my way to the tree's trunk and sit there with Willow in my lap. As I do, I see more mockingjays flutter into the tree. They act as though they recognize me. As though they're waiting for my voice to copy. So I give them want.

"Momma told her baby, "Girl take it real slow"
Girl told her Momma, "Hey, I really gotta go
He's waitin' in the car"
Momma said, "Girl you won't get far"

Thus are the dreams of an average jane
Ninety miles an hour down a lovers lane
On a tank of dreams oh, if she could've only seen
But fate's got cards that it don't want to show

And that boy's just a walkaway joe
Born to be a leaver, tell you from the word go
Destined to deceive her, he's a wrong kinda paradise
She's gonna know it in a matter of time
That boy's just a walkaway joe

Now just a little while into Abilene
Pulls into a station and he robs it clean
She's waitin' in the car, underneath the Texaco Star
She only wanted love, didn't bargain for this

She can't help but love him for the way he is
She's only seventeen and there ain't no reasoning
So she'll ride this ride as far as it can go

'Cause that boy's just a walkaway joe
Born to be a leaver, tell you from the word go
Destined to deceive her, he's a wrong kinda paradise
She's gonna know it in a matter of time
That boy's just a walkaway joe

Somewhere in a roadside motel room
Alone in the silence, she wakes up too soon
And reaches for his arm but she'll just keep reachin' on
For the cold hard truth revealed what it had known

That boy's just a walkaway joe
Born to be a leaver, tell you from the word go
Destined to deceive her, he's a wrong kinda paradise
But it was just another lesson in life
That boy was a walkaway joe

Oh, babe, all he was a walkaway joe
Ooh, ooh, walkaway joe
He was a walkaway joe, hmm"

As I finish the first mockingjay looks at me as though he's waiting for more. When it doesn't come, he starts repeating my tune and the others follow. The song grows more beautiful with each bird that adds to it and by the end the whole tree broke into a chorus. When it's over I get up and Willow smiles at me.

"Come on my little Dandelion. Lets go see what Daddy's up to," I say and she gurgles happily sticking her fist in her mouth. I chuckle as I carry her out of the willow, my song still echoing in the mouths of songbirds as I walk away, as though they are welcoming me back home.

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I'm back! Yeah I currently don't have a wall charger so writing has been difficult. Its prom night here but since I'm only a sophomore, I'll entertain you guys. Until next time, I love you guys.

-Kayla

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