Wiress smiled as she snuggled further into her blankets. Holding a light well worn light blue kitchen towel, she blinked back tears. Terrimax would be four and a half. Thinking about her son, she looked around the small room. There was exactly a foot between her bed and the piece of plywood that divided her area from the rest of the house. If my son had lived, Beetee would've moved us into another place. Or built an addition to the shed. A groan came from the other side of the plywood as Wiress quietly padded over to the mat on the floor where Beetee lay tangled in his blankets. "Beetee?" Wiress asked quietly. "Beetee?" She looked into the twenty-six year old inventor's face as he wrinkled his nose in his sleep. With a snort, he opened his eyes.
"Mornin'." He muttered reaching for his glasses.
"Breakfast?" Wiress asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Mmkay." Smiling at Beetee, Wiress knew he would only be able to speak in coherent sentences once he was fed. Going over to the kitchen area, Wiress checked the propane levels in the two-burner portable stove before lighting a burner. Placing it on low, she heated a pan before adding a thin slice of butter. Scrambling two eggs from the small fridge, she began breakfast. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing the two metal bowls and plates on the shelves next to the sink versus piled in the sink. Beetee remembered - Sometimes when he would get absorbed in his inventing, he would forget about housework completely. After cutting some bread and pouring coffee from a coffee maker on the small counter next to the sink, she set breakfast on the wooden table and pulled their stools from the work area of the table to the small eating area. Beetee came out of the bathroom clothed and ready for the day before plopping onto his stool.
"Mm. Thanks, Wiress." Beetee said around his final slice of toast. "Breakfast is good when you cook it."
"Yes, well, you cook too -" Wiress began smiling.
"Oatmeal." Beetee said knowing all that was required was to bring the oatmeal to a boil and then turn off the burner after a few minutes. They looked around the one room shed that served as their living space and invention shop. "Wiress, today we need to have a device for the Victory Tour." Wiress nodded while sipping her coffee. "Do you have it?"
"Yes. And it detects the amounts -" Wiress began as she looked at her notebook on the end of the table.
"Of the types of minerals in the rock." Beetee finished. "Yes, I'll help you explain it." He said meeting the eighteen year old inventor's worried gaze. They would host the newest victor, Brutus during the Victory Tour.
"Beetee, will he come -" Wiress asked looking around the room.
"To the shed? I don't know, Wiress." Finishing her meal quickly, Wiress hastily did the dishes and wiped down the four cubic feet of counter space.
"Beetee!" Wiress yelped as she opened the bathroom door to get the mop and bucket. Scowling, she stomped out of the small room before tossing several pairs of Beetee's dirty underwear onto his mat.
"Sorry." He muttered sheepishly knowing she would check under the bathroom mat from now on.
"Wiress, you work on your invention. I'll clean." Wiress nodded before returning to her seat. She smiled watching Beetee sweep the shed and straighten his work space. Though he didn't move as many chairs and piles of books like she did while cleaning, and though he didn't add quite as much soap to the water and rinse out the mop as frequently as she did when moping the tile floor, Wiress was grateful for his help.
Beetee smiled as he watched Wiress put the finishing touches on her invention. For six months after Terrimax's birth, Wiress lay in bed hardly moving or eating and unable to speak. Beetee had watched the fourteen year old girl nearly wither away. Every day he told her not to give up and that Panem needed her inventions. Slowly, she regained her strength and desire to invent. Her major setbacks centered around the Games where the two mentors were forbidden to travel to the Capitol to help their tributes yet forced to watch them die in the bloodbath year after year. At age sixteen, Wiress submitted her first invention in two years. Now, at age eighteen Wiress pressed on with her inventing to give herself a purpose, and to show the Capitol that they couldn't take her down. Though she wasn't quite the bubbly giggling energetic tween that had wished him well in his Games, she had an energy and perseverance of a different sort that he still loved.