The Killer Queen

Chapter 9

Katniss

I blink open my eyes and the first thingI notice is the needle in my arm. I wince at it as I sit up and must make some sort of noise because a curly blonde head pops up from the cot laying beside my bed.

"You stayed?" I ask and Peeta nods.

"I told you I was going to," he says as he gets up. "Looks like they brought you in breakfast." I glance at the tray and shake my head, laying back down.

"I'm not hungry," I say. "You can eat it."

"Katniss, I know you hurt but you need to eat something," he says and I just look at him and he helps me sit up.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," I say quietly and he shakes his head.

"We can talk about all that after you get discharged," Peeta says. "But I do need to apologize to you."

"About what?" I ask. "You handled everything fairly well last night."

"Well, I feel really bad about asking you if you wanted to kill our baby, especially when you were going through what you were at the moment." I just close my eyes a second and then nod.

"I know," I say softly. "That was a really big pile of bricks I laid on you when you found me in that bathroom. A lot of pressure to put on you all at once. If I hadn't been such a reck, I probably would have said some things I didn't mean too."

"Like asking for me?" I hear a voice I never thought I'd hear again. I look up and when I see her I groan and lokk up at the ceiling.

"Peeta, can you," he nods and reaches over to grab his coat.

"I'm gonna go get us some coffee and pick up a change of clothes for you when you get discharged," he says before kissing my cheek and walking past her out the door. I just look at my mother for a while and she takes a step in and shuts the door.

"Hello, Kathy," she says and I frown at her.

"Willa," I reply. "Or should I say Billy. I thought only Daddy could call you that." She just shakes her head.

"Your boyfriend seems polite enough," she says. "Not at all what I would expect, seeing as you've turned yourself into a human sketchbook." I roll my eyes

"He isn't my boyfriend," I say.

"He was the father, though," she says, "wasn't he. I mean, don't tell me you hop from guy to guy that fast."

"No, Mother, I am not so much of a whore that the boy I am currently shacking up with was not also the father of the baby I just misscarried." I watch as she sits in the chair next to me and yet again groan. "Isn't there someone with a hole in their heart or something that needs you to go crack open their chest or something. After all, thats what you ran away from home to do wasn't it? I mean, when's the last time you even called Grandma and Prim. Its been a few years right?"

"Kathy," she says in a warning tone and I snap at her.

"Do not call me that!" I say. "I don't go by Kathy. You called me that, but I go by the name my father gave me. You left us because you couldn't handle the fact that he was gone and didn't want the last two reminders of your life with him."

"Yeah, and pregnant at 17 shows that you are just such a stable girl," my mother says. "Does your boyfriend know you aren't 18 for a few more weeks? If I wanted to, I could have him arrested for statutory."

"I pursued him," I say. "He didn't come after me. And he's only 18 so he's still kind of in that grey area."

"Why did you ask them to tell me you were here?" She asks with a sigh.