Hey everyone! This is my first fic on this site, I hope you'll all enjoy it! I look forward to getting people's thoughts as the story develops and the plot thickens.

Oh and I don't own anything besides the story I'm writing, I don't own the characters (besides the ones I make up) and so on. Thanks! Enjoy!

CHAPTER 1 - NEW JOB

"Rory? Could you do me a favour before you leave, please?" His mother called as he came down the stairs.

Heaving a sigh, the 18 year old changed his course toward the kitchen where he found her putting away some silverware. "Mom, I gotta go. Please tell me it's a quick one?" Rory groaned.

Hazelle rolled her eyes and gave him a smile. "I know, I know. I just need you to lift those boxes for me and put them on the counter so I can sort through them." She explained as she gestured towards the boxes and the counter

"Sure thing, Mom." He complied, moving to pick up the first box. They weren't very heavy boxes, one was even full of linens by the feel of it, but Rory understood why she needed help. His mother was in rough shape, despite having lived in the Capitol for the past few years and basically being waited on hand and knee 24/7. The Revolution really took its toll on her already fragile body and although she had always been a fighter, it was almost as if it decided that it was time to succumb to its abuse. It had started about a year and a half after they had moved to the Capitol with Gale and now she could hardly bend over to pick anything up off the ground, no matter how light or small.

"Alright, here you go." He said after lifting up the last - and heaviest - box onto the counter. "Seriously, Mom. We just moved in yesterday, you don't have to unpack everything today, ok?"

Hazelle gave her son a half smile. "Oh hush! Go on now, sweetie, you don't want to be late for your first day of work." She brushed off his concern, not unlike she would do with her eldest son. Rory heaved another sigh, deciding he did not have time to argue and bent down so she could give him a hug and a quick peck on the cheek before he ran out the door.

Today was his first day at his new job in District Twelve and it wasn't in the coal mines as it might have been when he had lived there before the Revolution. In the Capitol, Rory had gotten work with the building crews when he got old enough, despite Gale's insistence that he work with him. His brother had always had an analytical mind whereas Rory was more hands-on. Luckily, Twelve still had some rebuilding to do which had made it easy to find a job before the move.

By mid-afternoon, he was already roofing a new house with two other people. The first was his supervisor; a short, stoop-shouldered, redheaded man of about thirty-four named Dirk. He was nice enough and had a pocket full of stories to keep the day going although Rory had a hard time believing some had actually been true half the time.

His other crew mate was a girl named Serra. She had a strong build, broad shoulders and short brown hair that reached her chin. She was of an average height for a her age - which was only three years his junior - and she was always making remarks about Dirk's stories which made Rory laugh. It was all in good spirits, though, since Dirk was always laughing too.

Before he knew it, they had finished the roof and were gearing up to head home. Serra lived a few blocks away from his house, he found out, so they walked home together. It was a nice opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better, he supposed. Especially since they would be working together a lot.

"So, you said you moved back to town yesterday?" Serra asked as they made their way home. He nodded and she went on. "Where did you come from?"

"Um, the Capitol, actually... But, we only moved out there after the Revolution." Rory provided, making sure to explain that he was from Twelve before. He wasn't oblivious to the hate many people still had against the Capitol, even after these few years since the Revolution. Some old habits died hard, it would seem, and he wasn't going to put himself in a tricky situation with the wrong person because of a misunderstanding.

"Why the Capitol, though? Especially right after the fucking Revolution? Were your parents mad?" That was the thing about Serra, she was very crude at times and could be quite sarcastic. It didn't bother Rory much, though.

Rory sighed, pushing a hand through his hair, probably making it a little messy in the process. "My brother got a job out there when it all ended and convinced my mother to move with him." He shrugged. "After a while, my mom started getting homesick so he found us a nice place near where our old house used to be. I was already working in construction over there, so he helped me find a job with you guys... And that's it really." It really wasn't much of a story.

"And your brother's still over there." She concluded, not really asking.

He gave a nod. "Yeah, he's got a good job." And I don't think he could face this place, he didn't add.

Their way home took them through the town square which, aside from how new and clean all the shops were, was almost exactly as Rory remembered it. There was the Cartwrights' shoe shop and the tailor's next door, the handmade furniture store, the produce grocer and even the Mellarks' bakery, or what he assumed was still the Mellark's bakery. When he asked Serra about it she paused, looking over at the building before looking back at him and giving a shrug. "Never been in there my whole life, even now that I got some money." She admitted, glancing back again. "Let's go see!" And before he knew what was happening, she had already started jogging away from him.

"N-no. Serra!" Rory sighed in frustration. All he had been looking for was a simple yes or no answer, not to walk into the store and see that it might not be the same way he remembered it. He couldn't remember if he had even seen the Mellarks in District 13 — with the exception of Peeta. What if the Mellarks had not survived the bombing? Rory knew of no one else in Twelve who could really bake, so who could possibly be working the bakery? Unless they had survived, of course. Heaving yet another sigh, he followed her at a bit of a quicker jog. "Would you wait up?" Serra laughed but stopped when she reached the door, waiting for him to make his way up the front steps before she walked in.

Rory wasn't quite sure what he had hoped to find, or who he had expected to see, but as they walked in he found things had hardly changed. The layout was a little different; the counters where trimmed in stainless steal and topped with a cream coloured surface. The walls were a soft orange - not a bad orange, it was actually very welcoming - and every wooden surface was a light chestnut tone. To the right, Rory noticed there was an opening to a whole other room that had never been there before. It was vacant of people but filled with tables, chairs and booths. All the tables had the same cream colour tops as the front counter and were trimmed with metal, the chairs and booths were a dark blue colour and looked very comfortable. The walls were the same orange hue but there was white wainscoting almost halfway up the wall from the floor and a few pictures were hung here and there.

A bell rang as the door closed behind them and Rory could hear footsteps approaching. A sudden urge to run overcame him then; years ago, he and Vick would walk in sometimes to look at the cakes and pastries even though they could not afford them. If they were lucky, Mr. Mellark would walk out from the back room and give them half a cookie each and promise to share a quarter with Gale and Posy when they got home — which didn't always happen. However, if Mrs. Mellark walked out, they knew they were toast (pun not intended), which had always put the boys on edge when they walked into the store. This was a reflex that had obviously not gone away with time.

The door behind the counter swung open and none of the Mellarks emerged. Who did, however, was a skinny girl with light blue eyes, golden hair braided to one side that nearly reached her waist, in a light blue dress with a pink floral pattern and a dark blue apron over top. Rory stared at her, jaw slightly loose, wide-eyed and utterly dumbfounded. She was absolutely stunning... "Hi there! How can I—" She started before the bright smile dropped from her face and her eyes went wide. "...Rory?"

His heart started beating again after a few seconds. "Prim?" He answered and her smile started to creep back onto her face.