AN: This is my first solo story, just meant to be a bit of fun. Working on other chapters, will upload ASAP! Hope people enjoy it, reviews are always welcome!
Which of my 3 lovers is the father of my 12 year-old child? DNA results reveal the truth.
"Hello, and welcome to today's Jeremy Kyle show. Today we welcome Katniss Everdeen and her daughter Rue. After 12 years of not knowing the true identity of the father, Katniss and her 3 potential fathers have come to us today for answers. Let's hope the DNA tests give them what they need."
The camera panned to Katniss sitting in the trademark orange chairs, with little Rue on the chair next to her mother. Since coming out of the arena nearly 15 years ago, life had taken its toll on her. Her experience of the Hunger Games had clearly caused distress, grey hairs were beginning to form prematurely and you could already see small wrinkles on her forehead and around the eyes. To make matters worse, little Rue's name would be in the next Reaping. Every mother's nightmare.
Everyone thought that after the death of president snow, that the games would be gone forever. They were wrong. There was an uprising in the Capitol only a few years later and a new President was instated, but he was marginally better than Snow. He had loved the Games as entertainment purposes, and so reinstated them, one Hunger Games every 6 years, ensuring that tributes were only entered once.
Before Jeremy even asked the first question, Katniss addressed the cameras; "I just want to say before we start, I don't want people judging me on the amount of possible fathers. It was a rough time for all of us, things just sort of happened. I'm not like that normally, I'm in a loving marriage with Peeta now, I just pray to God that he's the biological father of little Rue here, named after my ally in the first Games."
It was Jeremy's turn to speak now. " And how will you feel if it turns out today that Peeta is not Rue's father, is your relationship strong enough to survive that?"
"Absolutely Jeremy," argued Katniss strongly "He has been her dad for 12 years, he may not be the biological father, but he's the man she's grown up looking up to. Nothing will change that, right Rue?" The little girl nodded in silence, she seemed to be confused by the whole situation. I guess finding out that your dad might not be your real dad can do that to you.
"Well I'm glad to see you have faith in your relationship, many of the couples that come on here don't. Now, why don't you tell me, and the audience, a bit about each of the fathers and how this confusion arose?"
Katniss launched into an immense monologue, documenting the events from after the mockinjay battle until the news of her pregnancy.
"There are 3 possible fathers; Peeta, Gale and Haymitch. Now, its not surprising that Peeta could be the father, we've been together ever since then, so he's a prime candidate. But like I said, everything was mental back then and accidents happened. Emotions were running high in the weeks following the battle. I'd just lost my sister…" Katniss welled up at the thought of Prim, blown to pieces in the Capitol "I needed people to comfort me. Even though Gale produced the bomb that eventually killed her, I know it was never his intention to hurt Prim. He stayed with me on nights that Peeta couldn't, it was his arms that stopped the nightmares from coming. Then one night, and I know it sounds cliché, one thing led to another. There'd always been chemistry between us, I'd be mad denying that. That night, I just needed to feel loved and Gale was the one there to help me."
"OK so that's 2 fathers, obvious ones. I'm intrigued as to how Haymitch comes into this," probed Jeremy. He was always so brilliant at getting to the bottom of these mysteries, with the help of DNA and the lie-detector.
"That one is slightly embarrassing. It was only a few days after the night with Gale. I was upset at what I'd done and was terrified of Peeta leaving me. By this time I saw Haymitch as a father figure, and he was the first person I turned to. He was drinking again, and that night he plied me with alcohol. I got horrifically drunk. Haymitch tells me that we had sex that night, but I honestly don't remember it if we did. For all I know he could be lying, which is why I requested he took a lie detector test."
"And we have the results of that test along with the DNA results in this envelope here," Jeremy Kyle waved a blue envelope in the air in front of the cameras. "First, let's get the 3 fathers out here and let's get their opinions…"
The audience burst into applause as the 3 men walked onto the stage. Peeta came first and took his seat right next to Katniss. Gale followed and set next to him. Finally Haymitch staggered onto the stage, evidently rather tipsy, and sat on the end. The crowd booed as he sat down.
"We've heard from you Katniss, I think it's time we heard from each of the dads. Peeta, would you like to start us off?" asked Jeremy.
"Well, Katniss and I have been together since the first Games, on and off. Everyone here knows the story of how we got together..." the audience swoon as they remember our love blossoming in the first arena "I've been faithful to her and I thought she had been to me, that's why I assumed I was the father." At this comment the audience began booing at Katniss, calling her a Slag. Peeta had always had a way of getting the audience on his side, if it turned out he wasn't the father, all hell would break lose in the studio.
"Katniss has told us that whatever happens today, you will always be her dad, the man she's grown up with for 12 years. How do you feel about that?" inquired Jeremy.
"Well I'd hope that even if I'm not the father that I can still be a part of Rue's life. I know Katniss and I can work through it, if we survived the Hunger Games together, we can do this."
Jeremy took that as his cue to move on to Gale Hawthorne, the next possible father. "So Gale, you and Katniss have been friends for years. Tell me how you became to be a potential father to her child."
"Well..." began Gale "It's pretty much as Catnip described it. There's always been something between us, we'd shared a few kisses before then. After Prim died, Katniss was inconsolable. I knew I played a part in her death so I had to be there to comfort her. I kissed her, but I couldn't stop there. I'm sorry it happened, for Peeta's sake, he's a good guy and I shouldn't have done that to him. But it happened, and I can't change the past."
"And how will you feel if Rue is yours? You'll have missed a lot of her life already, will you be able to bond with her?" It was an important question. Missing 12 years of someone's life was a big deal, not something you easily made up.
"Honestly, I have no idea. Part of me hopes I'm not her father, that way life can carry on as normal. Katniss, Peeta and Rue; the happy family." It was a bold statement from Gale, claiming he'd be happy not to have a daughter.
Next it was Haymitch's turn. Katniss requested that the lie detector results were revealed immediately, she wanted to know the truth as soon as possible. Haymitch wasn't going to be given a chance to give his opinion until the lie detector had confirmed or denied his position as a potential father.
"Ok in this envelope are the lie detector results. I'm going to waste no time on this, so here goes…" Jeremy ripped open the envelope and pulled the piece of paper from inside. "We asked Haymitch, 'On the night in question you claimed to have sexual contact (anything from kissing to intercourse itself) with Katniss Everdeen?' Haymitch answered Yes. I can reveal that he was telling the truth. We then asked 'On the night in question did you have sexual intercourse with Katniss Everdeen?' Haymitch answered Yes. I can reveal that he was in fact lying." There was a massive intake of breath from the audience. Why would he lie?
Katniss' face showed a look of relief. She was the first to ask the question on everyone's lips, "Haymitch, why would you lie about that? You bastard!" She got up to hit him, Peeta stood to calm her down. He pulled her into an embrace and stroked her hair. Haymitch was staring at the floor the whole time, he wouldn't look up at all.
Jeremy Kyle repeated the question angrily, "What was the point in lying about it? You've just wasted everyone's time…"
He looked up slowly from the floor, his face was flushed with embarrassment, "I'm so sorry. Katniss has been my favourite tribute I've ever mentored. After the mockingjay success, I knew our lives were going different ways, and I just couldn't stand the thought of life without her. I saw an opportunity to make sure that I'd always be a part of her. I never thought Rue would come along, and once she was born I couldn't go back on my lie. I just had to carry on with it, the biggest mistake of my life. I'm sorry, Katniss, I really am. I've ruined everything…."
"Yeah, too bloody right you have!" yelled Katniss. "There were other ways to keep in my life. How could you make me think for the last 12 years that poor Rue had such a pitiful drunk for a father? Can you please leave? I don't want you here anymore." She turned her head in the opposite direction so she didn't have to look at him, once he had left the stage (accompanied by security) she faced centre stage again.
Jeremy showed some tact by not pursuing that conversation anymore, instead he cut to the chase and opened the envelope containing the DNA results. "I guess we should just go straight for this. I wish all of you the best of luck with whatever happens. I know you're a strong trio, you'll do well to support little Rue."
Katniss joined hands with Peeta in anticipation of the news they were about to receive. It was a tense moment in the studio that had the potential to make or break their relationship.
"Katniss Everdeen you came here today in the hope of finding out who is the biological father of your daughter, Rue. I can now tell you that the DNA paternity test confirms that the biological father of Rue is… Gale Hawthorne."
There was silence in the studio as everyone absorbed that shock information. Everyone was in such a state of shock that no-one noticed Peeta forming the fist until Gale hit the floor.