[For Finnick] I don't aim to blow your cover

[girlsolo]

William tugs at Kate's hand when they pass by the kitchen on the way from the Children's Office to home. "Hungry," he says in that quiet way he has, and Kate nods. "Okay, buddy." He's not scrawny like she imagines her and Will's son probably is at the end of the world being overrun by zombies, but she never says no when he wants to eat. "What do you want?"

The kid shrugs and gives her that soft-eyed look that pretty much means whatever since none of the stuff he usually likes to eat is here anymore.

"It's kinda rough, huh, the island changing all the time? Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water..." She quirks a little smile, and he smiles back even though he has no idea what she means. He just lifts his arms up and Kate hikes him up and sits him on her hip. "We'll find something." He rests his head on her shoulder and she kisses the top of his head. "Promise."

"Declan?" he asks suddenly. Perceptive little kid.

"Gone," she tells him.

"Like mama." He makes a sad face and says, "Sorry, Katie."

And if Kate holds him a little tighter when he calls her 'Katie', hugs him a little harder, is a little more affectionate than usual, William doesn't seem to mind.

*
Title ad cut lyrics from Dessa's Alibi.

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[girlsolo]

"Happened here or happened before and she was pregnant when she got here?" For once, she doesn't avoid the direct questions. It's hard enough to control the surge of emotion over hearing about another kid going to be born into this crazy-ass island world where people disappear without warning.

She's worried. Worried about Finnick. Worried about Annie. Worried about the kid that's probably smaller than her pinky right now. But she keeps it off her face.

"Is this a congratulations thing or a let's go get a few drinks while I reassure you it's going to be okay thing?" There's the curl of a smile, not fake, not a mask, because no matter what she thinks or feels, looking out for Finnick kinda matters.

[victorofthe65th]

Oddly, Finnick hadn't really considered that. Given the timeline Dr. Grey suggested, it's possible Annie could have arrived already pregnant, but it's just as likely they could've conceived here. He really doesn't know.

And, in the end, it really doesn't matter much.

"Uhm, I don't- I don't know," he answers, perfectly honest. "To both questions. I mean, I'm happy. And we both definitely want the baby,we're- we're going to get married soon. But it's just... it's a lot. And I don't really know what I'm doing."

[girlsolo]

That does make her smile. "Congratulations, definitely, on the wedding." She's not really your happily ever after girl. She made a grab for a brass ring and fell on her face when it got ripped from her hand. Or maybe she's just not cut out for it. Or maybe she is but he wasn't the right one, either way, but she's just not feeling it for herself right now. Doesn't mean she can't be happy for people who belong together as much as Finnick and Annie.

She slathers lard on the bread while she's watching him and then drops it into her fry pan. "And I don't think anyone really knows what they're doing. I mean, before I got here, the only kid I was ever around was my little brother." So what if she'd practically raised him through Mom's post-partum? It's not like she's an expert. "And I'm still not all aboard the baby-train, but...I found out something that made it hard to stop thinking about. So I started learning."

[victorofthe65th]

Her congratulations makes him relax a little and he lets out a soft breath as the muscles in his shoulders ease and he cracks another smile. As nervous as he is about the baby, he's absolutely sure about marrying Annie. That, he thinks, is at least something to hold onto tightly.

His head cocks a little as she continues talking, brow furrowing. "What did you find out?"

[girlsolo]

"About raising kids or that made me want to know?" Kate's mostly stalling for time, pulling her thoughts together, glancing at William to make sure he's okay, flipping the bread...steeling herself. She's pretty sure he wants to know what she found out and talking about Will and baby Magnus hasn't gotten any easier now that Declan's gone.

It hasn't gotten any easier knowing that when the island comes back to itself she's going to stalk the bookshelf for the reel that shows her what Magnus saw so she can know. So she can see for herself a Will who loved her enough to have a child with her. Because now, she believes it less than ever.

[victorofthe65th]

"Well- both, I guess," Finnick says, watching her carefully. She's intent on her task which, on one hand, Finnick is grateful for. He doesn't want her to burn herself or the food, after all. But he senses a strange sort of desperation in it, too. Like maybe, for once, he's getting a little too close.

He rests a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. "You don't have to tell me."

[girlsolo]

Kate's gaze flicks to Finnick's hand, a startled blink that does nothing to hide the quick move to control the violent self-protective impulse. Her fingers tighten on the spatula and she breathes out deliberately.

It's not Finnick. It's that without Declan around touching her all the time and with the topic what it is, yeah, old habits.

Once she's settled, she glances up to meet his gaze again, shrugging apologetically while she rolls the tension out of her shoulders. "You've heard about alternate universes, right? How sometimes people here are from worlds that are almost like each others' but different enough that they don't really know each other?"

[victorofthe65th]

She tenses under her touch, a quick, sharp movement that manages to catch him by surprise. He lets go immediately, concern and apology in his eyes as he backs off. It's a weird mix. Particularly in regards to Kate.

"Yes," he says, carefully giving her more room as he rests a hip against the counter. He thinks of Katniss and Annie both coming here from the future and, though it doesn't completely match what she's saying, the idea is still the same. "I feel like this whole island is one giant alternate universe." Or a dream. His dream. Even though he can't imagine how he ever came up with any of this.

[girlsolo]

"It kinda is." It's a good way to look at it. One that helps make sense of stuff like the reels or books or comics and stuff, if he ever finds anything like that. For now, because they've been through so much, Kate wants to protect him and Annie from all of that. And now there's a baby to think about it.

She carefully doesn't think about what will happen to the child if one or both of them leaves. Even more carefully hides from herself the promise that if anything happens to Finnick and Annie but their baby is here, she'll take care of it like her own. She tells herself the lie that she's all right with her friends having kids here as long as they're happy and she's so good, even now, at making herself believe it.

Her lips press together tightly and then she goes back to the grilled cheese so it won't burn, lifts her gaze to William, to make sure he's still reading happily. He is, but she can tell he's watching her, so she forces herself even looser and says, "There are lots of them. My boss, Helen, visited one before she came here. She told me about it. In it, me and Will had a son, Magnus." She can't remember if she's ever mentioned Will before, but it's not that important right now. "I died, fighting to save Will and Magnus. Will sent him away and then he died fighting too. Helen doesn't know what happened to our son. And..." Kate shrugs and flips one sandwich onto a plate. "He's not mine. Maybe he was never real at all. But for a long time I couldn't stop thinking about him."

[victorofthe65th]

"About the son you never met," Finnick says, trying to make sure he understands. He doesn't know who Will is, but that hardly matters. He remembers Annie telling him about reuniting with him in District 13 and that had been strange enough, like hearing a story about a different person entirely, one alike in every way but memory. To learn she had a child, one she died for and now can't even remember... that's something else entirely.

Frowning a little, he watches her carefully, holding his hand out for the plate so he can take it to the little boy sitting so patiently at the table. "Does it even matter if he was real or not?"

[girlsolo]

There's a struggle in her, a quiet war fought behind steady eyes, whether to give up the plate or take it to William herself. Take it to William, for the smile and the hug, and get the wordless it's okay, Katie that the kid seems to be about the only person who she believes it from. She gives it to Finnick, because she should be telling William that and not the other way around.

"No," she tells Finnick when she puts the plate in his hand. "It doesn't. It wasn't me. It wasn't the Will I know. I never met Magnus. But it didn't matter. When I found out...it changed everything I thought I knew about me." And now she prayed every damned day her son would show up here, safe, on this island, where even if they weren't together, he'd have both his parents to love and look after him.

[victorofthe65th]

Taking the plate, he watches her for only a second more before walking the few steps to give it to Will.

"That's a lot to take in," he says to Kate even as he rests a companionable hand on Will's back. Then to him, "Should probably let that cool for a second or two, kiddo. Don't want to burn yourself."

He wonders if he should cut it into small bites or even just in half. Or if Will is too old for that. Not for the first time, Finnick wonders if he really is cut out for being father. He knows next to nothing about children, only how to kill them.

[girlsolo]

"Thank you." William is one of the most polite kids Kate's ever known, and Kate figures that has to be Sam's military influence. He nods at Finnick and sets the plate aside for the sandwich to cool while he finishes 'reading' his book.

Kate grins and gives the kid a thumbs up and as Finnick isn't looking, William thumbs ups back at her. He probably doesn't know why he's doing it, but it's cute anyway.

"It's a lot. Especially since it's not anything I've ever wanted. But it's okay. It just... you'll see. Having a kid around changes how you see yourself."

[victorofthe65th]

He can't help but grin when the kid simply sets the plate aside and continues with his book, quiet and polite in a way Finnick is positive he wasn't at that age. At least if all the stories Kai ever told him are to be believed.

"It's already changing how I see myself," Finnick says as he walks back to Kate, again leaning against the edge of the counter. "It's... kind of scaring the hell out of me, to be honest. This isn't- Back home, this wasn't an option. I never even considered it." Not really, at least. Not in anything beyond ridiculous pipe dreams.

[girlsolo]

"You'll be great." Kate lies, yeah, but not to blow smoke up peoples' asses. Definitely not up the asses of people she cares about, and she's not lying now. The way he grins at William, the careful way he warned him about the sandwich, it's all instinct.

"Listen." She gestures at him with a spatula while she's making another grilled cheese. "You protect people. You do it with Annie. You did it with Effy. You try, dumbass that you are--" There's a flash of a grin for that. "To do it with me. That's what parents are supposed to do." Not what they always do. Sometimes they disappear, but she keeps that off her face for now. "Being scared, that's what keeps you alive. It's what's keeps you sharp. If you weren't scared, then I'd worry."

[victorofthe65th]

Eyebrows raising, Finnick rocks back a little when she waves the spatula at him and can't but feel like he's being scolded. Weirdly, though, it does make him feel a little better. Even if he's still not sure he agrees, especially in regards to Effy. All he's done is fail her so far.

"There's a difference between trying to keep someone safe and... and raising them. Remembering to keep them fed and rested and entertained and clean and happy. I don't- I have absolutely no experience in this at all."

[girlsolo]

Kate squashes the second sandwich down in the fry pan to make it cook faster. It smells good and she's hungry. Biggie would be laughing his head off at her cooking anything, but she's learned a lot of new things since she got here.

Like that she can help raise kids, and that she doesn't hate it.

"Hey," she says and picks up his gaze, locking in on it. "You're not going to be doing that all alone, all right? Annie's going to be the best mom in the universe probably, because she loves you like stupid and it's your baby. There's the Children's Office and Savannah's great with the kids. Everyone will pitch in. Even me. But it's not as different as you think. You're still protecting them. Just from different stuff."

[victorofthe65th]

For a moment, it's Kate's tone more than anything that catches his attention and forces him to focus. But then... she's right. Annie will make a great mother, he has no doubt about at all. And there is some kind of support system here, however strange it might feel. If he messes up, the kid should still, hopefully, have someone to fall back on.

"You're right," he says after a stilted pause, lips twitching into a faintly relieved smile. "You are. It's just... been a lot to take in, I guess."

He doesn't mention that he's afraid of what this 'different stuff' might be here. The things about the island he can't predict or control. In a weird way, it's not too different from protecting him or her from the Capitol; it makes him feel equally helpless.

[girlsolo]

That, Kate can totally get. So when she flips the next sandwich onto a plate, she gives it to him instead of taking it for herself. It's kind of a big sister thing, something she used to do for Thad, giving him the first bowl of cereal or whatever.

After she slaps her own together, she sets the flippy thing down to put her hand on his arm. "I suck at the talking thing. Not even gonna pretend I don't. But I don't suck as much at listening and I rock at secrets. If you get freaked out, you know where to find me." The I'll be there she hopes goes without saying, because it sounds way too fucking much like Will for her to even deal with it coming out of her own mouth.

[victorofthe65th]

'You're not the only one,' Finnick thinks with a slight grin, appreciating her all the more in that moment. Taking the plate, he wraps his other arm around her and pulls her in close to press a kiss to the top of her head. "You know that goes both ways, right? I promise I'm not just using you for your amazing sandwich-making skills."

[girlsolo]

This time, instinct stays quiet. Somehow, between taking a sandwich to William (who is smiling at them hugging; he likes hugs) and admitting he and Annie are pregnant, Finnick slipped inside her walls. Or maybe it's just been a shitty fucking few weeks, she misses Declan (and Will and Magnus) more than she wants to admit, and...

Whatever. She's totally ignoring the sting in her eyes and the ache in her chest when she hugs him back. She tells herself the lie she wants to let go and believes it enough to do it, then quirk a smartass grin back up at him. "You sure? I make a mean boar bacon, lettuce and tomato."

[victorofthe65th]

"Oh, I will never say no to more food," Finnick replies right away, not missing the way her eyes look a little watery, though not commenting on it either. He's fairly certain she wouldn't appreciate it. "I'm just saying it's not the only reason."

It's obvious (to him at least) that everything that's happened with her in the past month or so is weighing on her heavier than she wants to let on. But she's strong, as strong as any tribute he ever had to mentor, whether they came back to him or not. She'll pull through.