Here it is! I am so excited! I really am! This is my new fic, which I also submitted this first chapter to be part of PIP, day seven black and white of color week over on tumblr.
This is cannon. Mr. Everdeen and Mr. Hawthorne will still be killed in the mines. Prim will still be reaped, Katniss will still volunteer, and her and Peeta will still win the games when they are sixteen.
Oh, Mrs. Mellark is quite nasty in this one. There is abuse. That is why I rated it T.
As always I need to thank sohypothetically. She has become a great friend, and with her help, she has made this better. And my friend Miss. She still listens to me when I start talking about this, and will read when I ask her to. I know you dont have to, but you still do. Thank you! and I need to thank the hubs. He kept small people busy so I could work on this while sitting in the woods last weekend. let me know what you think...
It is a crisp September day in the district. Instead of walking by the bakery to see the cupcakes in the window, Katniss and Prim rush home because Daddy is supposed to be there. The miners are having to work mandatory overtime these days, but he said last night that he is going to get off early today. Daddy also promised Katniss that he is going to take her to the forest because he just might have a surprise for her.
They run into the house to both of their parents sitting at the kitchen table. "Daddy you're home!" Katniss exclaims.
He pulls her in for a hug. "I told you I would be. I even told the supervisor that I had to see my girls today before the sun goes down."
That is when Katniss notices that he is sitting there in what he calls his hunting clothes; his dark green shirt, pants and his boots. Not the ones he wears in the mines, but the soft, well, worn ones he wears into the forest. Daddy watches her expression and asks, "What is a matter Kit-Kat?"
She gives him a shrug and wraps her arms around his neck. Prim comes to join them and to be a part of their hug. "Nothing is wrong, Daddy. I'm just glad that you are here."
He pulls back so he can look at both of them. Giving them quick kisses on their upturned noses, he says, "I'm glad to be here too. Katniss, if you are coming with me then go change." He sees the pout that Prim gives him. He swoops her up to sit on his lap. "Now while she is doing that, tell me what Mama has been teaching you lately." Katniss can hear Prim start to recite the different plants she has been studying.
She quickly puts on her hunting clothes that Mama just finished taking in for her. Daddy's old shirt swallows her whole, but the pants fit now. And she doesn't even have to wear her belt. She picks up her boots to put on in the kitchen, when she hears Prim asking if he could bring her home a bit of witch hazel because they are running low.
They all look up when she comes back to the table and puts on her boots. Lily asks Katniss, "How was school?"
"It was alright. Mrs. Cartwright was the substitute teacher today. Delly said something to Peeta during class and Mrs. Cartwright almost took Delly outside to spank her. Peeta said that it was his fault and nothing else happened. It was weird, Daddy."
"What was weird, Kit-Kat?"
"Well, why would Mrs. Cartwright be ready to spank Delly, but when Peeta said that something was his fault, she dropped it. Why didn't she spank Peeta? Or at least send him to the principal?"
Lily and Jack's eyes meet, and a knowing glance passes between them. There has been rumors for years about how Anna Mellark treats her boys. It seems that Beth knows about the rumors too. And since the shoe store is next to the bakery, she might have seen the abuse too. With it as good as being confirmed, Lily says, "I don't know. Maybe she would have talked to Peeta after class about it? What did they do?"
Katniss shrugged. "They were just talking, I guess. But Mrs. Cartwright was in the middle of telling us our partners for the project that we are starting next week."
Prim breaks in, "Who is your partner?"
With a shrug, Katniss says, "I don't know. Mrs. Cartwright didn't get a chance to tell us because of Peeta and Delly."
Everyone laughs. Lily says, "Well, no wonder she wanted to spank Delly. She was just trying to get her work done. Are you two going into the woods?"
Jack looks at Katniss who is bouncing with excitement. "Yeah, I guess I'll take her into the woods…" and he is cut off when Katniss punches him in the arm. With mock hurt, he rubs his arm. He says jokingly, "Don't hit your poor old man. I get to teach you how to shoot with that arm."
Katniss scowls at him as he laughs.
Prim interrupts their banter and says, with worry in her voice, "Mama, do you think Peeta really gets more than spanked at home? He seems so nice."
Jack sees the distress on her face and pulls her to sit on his lap. He pulls her into a hug. "My little Primrose, always worried about everyone else. The Mellark's will be fine. Peeta will be fine." He kisses her on the forehead. "Go with your mother. Greasy Sae got hurt today. She might need stiches."
"Ok, Daddy. You and Katniss be careful in the woods."
"What do you mean Beth had to tell you to be quiet today?"
"Mother—" Peeta stutters.
'Don't Mother me. I told you that you better not make me angry this week. And here it is, you are doing it on purpose! You should be ashamed of doing that to me!"
"M-mother. I didn't do anything. Delly asked—"
She slaps him across the cheek. "Look, I know that Delly is a friend of yours. But she is doing nothing but getting you into trouble. What were you two talking about?"
Peeta's little heart clenches. He can't tell Mother that they were talking about if Katniss and her family are coming to the Harvest Festival this year. So he pauses for a moment to think of something else besides Katniss. Mother takes that as him not wanting to tell her. He is surprised when her hand grabs his arm, and jerks him around so he is facing the bread table behind him. His breath catches in his chest when she says quietly so the customers up front won't hear her, "Bram, bring me Daddy's shaving strap. Peeta, put your hands on the table and don't move. You need to learn a lesson and I'm going to teach it to you."
Bram pales at her words. When she gets quiet, that is when you know you are in trouble. Besides she is asking for the shaving strap. And all the boys know by now, that if you get it with that, you aren't going to sit down for a while. Bram goes quickly and tries to think of something he can do to make Peeta's punishment less harsh. Before he can think of something, mother grabs the strap out of his hands.
It swings through the air so fast and makes contact that it takes Peeta's breath away. He knows that he can't cry out, what if a customer hears? So he keeps his cries in. Besides, she isn't going to see him cry. Not when she is spanking him because of Katniss Everdeen.
"I asked you a question. When I ask you a question, I expect an answer. Not for you to be silent. Now tell me, what were you and Delly talking about?"
"The Harvest Festival, Mother. That is all." he chokes out as he looks down at the floor.
She lifts his chin with her finger so she can look into his eyes. "I don't like it when you disappoint me. Please don't do that again."
His little eleven-year-old, heart has come to grips that his mother isn't going to hug and kiss him like other mama's do. But he doesn't understand why she has to be so hard on them. They are good boys. At least that is what Daddy says. He gets so confused sometimes. The teachers at school always brag about how the Mellark boys are so wonderful. But then Mother tells them things like this. All he knows is he needs to go somewhere besides the bakery. "Am I dismissed?" he asks quietly.
"You can go to your room. Do you have any homework?"
"Yes, ma'am." And he goes quietly up to their room with Bram following.
"Are you ok?" Bram asks.
Peeta shrugs. "Yeah, I'm fine." He goes into their room and shuts the door in Bram's face, wanting to be left alone. Peeta is glad that their room faces the fence, and not the town side. He opens the window and leans out to see if anyone is behind the bakery. When he sees no one, he throws down the end of the rope the boys pooled their allowance together and bought. He slowly shimmies down the rope, and grunts when he lands on his sore bottom. He feels something wet back there, and hopes that he landed in a puddle and that it's not blood. Without another thought about anything but getting away, he leaves his back yard.
Katniss and her daddy walk to the meadow. It's close to where their Capital-assigned house is in the Seam. She follows him in the faint path around the edge of it to the opening in the fence. "Kit-Kat, remember that you always need to listen to see if the fence is on. You don't want to be touching it."
"Yes, Daddy." And she scoots under while he holds it for her. He looks behind him again, and follows her.
They walk about five hundred feet until they come to the hollow log that he uses to store his bow. Jack reaches in and pulls out his bow, and then gives Katniss a big grin. "Reach in Kat. There is something in there I can't quite reach."
She reaches into the log and feels something wrapped in cloth. She looks at her dad in confusion and pulls it out. It's almost as tall as she is, and very light. "Go ahead and open it." Slowly she pulls the fabric and underneath is a shiny bow.
"What is this?" she asks.
"It's your bow, Kat. I just finished carving it. I would have waited until the winter holiday, but I figure that the Harvest Festival is good enough!"
She throws her arms around him and says, "It is the best present ever! Thank you, Daddy!"
Jack wishes so much. Living in district 12 is hard. He has been hearing the rumors that something is going to happen. It needed to happen years ago. He loves his girls so much. It kills him more and more every day to think about them maybe having to go into the games. He hopes he never has to see that day. But just in case, he is going to teach the both of them how to defend themselves. Though he can't imagine either one them in the arena.
Katniss feels Daddy's arms tighten around her before he lets her go. She loves her parents like any normal kid does, and she loves her mama. But her daddy is her hero. He always has been. She is starting to get an idea of how much he actually works for them in the mines. They are supposed to start the field trip into the mine that the upper grades get to take this year. She hopes that she will finally get to see her daddy hard at work.
"Are you ready to try it out?" He pulls a quiver full of arrows out of the tree.
"Yes! Let's go, Daddy!
His cheek throbs from where Mother hit it. He has rough-housed with his brothers and some of the guys at school, but they have never hurt him like Mother does. He knows when it hurts like this, it's going to be a black eye. He doesn't pay attention to where he is going until he ends up in the meadow.
He walks to the middle and sits down slowly. He knows that it's not ok for mothers to hit their sons like she does. No one had ever told him this, but he knows. The other kids don't come to school all bruised up like they do. Even the butcher's son's and there are four of them and they fight and wrestle all the time.
He sits there until he hears other voices coming into the meadow. He doesn't want anyone to see him so he goes over to the fence. He gently reaches out to touch it, and isn't really surprised when there isn't a shock of electricity. After all, they only have power at the bakery part of the time. that is why they still use the old ovens his grandfather built out of stone years and years ago and not the new one's the capital gave them to bake bread for the peacekeepers.
He just wants to get away from whoever is coming up behind him, so he wiggles his way through one of the openings in the fence. He quickly dives into the bushes right before him, so that whoever is looking for him doesn't see him.
He hears the voices coming closer to the fence, and peeking out he can see Rye and Delly walking by. "I hope he's not mad at me," Rye says.
"I hope he's not mad at me. I was telling you what happened today. I didn't know your mama was listening to us." Delly says. He can hear the tears in her voice and when he looks at her, he can see the streaks where they have been. "Where did he go?" she asks.
"He probably just needs some air. I want to tell him that Daddy is looking for him. Let's just walk around some more. He will come home when he's ready to." And they continue walking along the fence. Peeta also knows that Rye won't really tell Delly what happened. And if daddy is looking for him, Bram must have told him what Mother did.
Peeta slowly gets up and looks to the meadow to see if there is anyone else out there. He starts to walk back to the fence. He catches a glimpse of the mountains behind him for the first time without a fence getting in the way. He decides to walk towards the forest.
With an artist's eye, he sees the trees that seem to welcome him to their home. He loves the different shades of colors, because he already knows how Katniss loves the forest, and so he loves it too. Fall is coming quickly, and the trees are getting dressed for their finest time of the year. He loves the yellows and the reds and most of all the oranges that pepper the countryside.
He takes one last look behind him to the meadow on the other side of the fence. He isn't ready to go back yet. The forest calls out to him to come close and she will protect him. So he listens with a powerful need of his own to be accepted and loved.
There are many in her woods that day. Almost too many. She knows the tall, dark one. He leaves her small presents, knowing that she will watch over him, and bring him game. She catches his scent on the small, dark one. That must be his offspring. She will continue to watch over them.
There is a new human in her woods today. The fear rolls off of him in waves. It washes over her, reaching every crevice of her twisted, ancient soul. And she loves it. She feeds off of it like a tick on a stray dog. "
This boy is the one she will have to watch.
Katniss follows Daddy through the trees, along the familiar path going towards the lake. "The other day when I came in here, I saw some snares set up where we used to go. So we are going to start going this way to hunt."
"But why all the way over here?"
"Well mostly because we need to share the forest with our neighbors." He stops so she can catch up. "There are a couple of other families that have been brave enough to come in here too. We can get other animals because of our bows. Besides, if we go all the way to the lake, there might be some katniss roots ready to eat."
Her little mouth starts to water. "Ohh maybe we can get a turkey?"
He laughs. "That would be good. We will just have to see what else we come across." He throws his arm around her shoulders, and they continue down the path.
When Peeta enters the tree line, he has to stop and look around for a minute. He instantly has the feeling that something is watching him. He shrugs, and thinks it must be the animals. He always thought that the forest was just everything growing everywhere. He didn't think that under the trees, the ground was pretty much bare. Well except for this fine grass growing. It reminded him of a story book they saw once at school. His first-year teacher would read to them stories about fairies and mermaids. The Principal found out about it, and she never read from it again, saying that she could only read Capital-approved books in the classroom.
He keeps walking, amazed at everything that is around him. He doesn't really pay attention to where he is going, he just walks. One day, he thinks, when he is grown, he will buy himself those fancy Capital paint sets and come back and paint this. Even the air seems sweeter out here.
He looks down and sees a faint path in the fine, fairy grass. He follows it, just to see where it goes, without a thought as to how far he is going from the fence that leads to home.
The woods still when she walks through it. The animals know to stay out of her way, not because she will harm them, but they flee out of the fear that is her essence.
She silently stands behind the boy as he examines her woods. When he walks, she follows behind, wondering where he is going.
They continue down the path towards the lake. Jack notices how late it's getting, but since there hasn't been anything decent to shoot at yet, he keeps on going. Katniss spots what looks like small deer hoof prints in the mud.
"Daddy, look. Is that a deer?" she whispers.
He comes back over to look. "It looks like it. Good job Kit-Kat." He wants to teach her more about tracking, so he points out, "Do you see how those branches are broken on the ends?" She looks past them, not seeing what he is pointing out to her. "They are right there Kit-Kat. See them?"
Her face lights up when she finally sees them. "I see them now. Do we go after it?"
"Yeah, come on. Shhhh though. We don't want to scare it."
They only have to go about 200 feet before they see the doe standing there munching on some leaves. Jack slowly pulls an arrow from his quiver, and notches it in his bow. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his Kit-Kat doing the same thing. "Don't release until I say three. Ok?" she gives him a short nod in reply. They both take aim with the deer not even noticing them at all. "One," he breathes. "Two," he looks to see if she is ready. His heart swells with pride when he sees her touch the string to her lips. "Three," He whispers. Their arrows go flying through the air, with his sinking into the doe's neck, and hers going into its eye.
They both stand there and watch the creature fall. Then with a whoop, he is picking her up and swinging her around. Their giggles fill the forest so, that a blond-haired baker's son wonders if it's the fairies who are laughing as it surrounds him.
Jack looks around and sees that they are fairly close to the lake. "We are almost there. Let's go clean this up, wash our hands, and then head back?"
"Ok, Daddy. Are we going to trade for it? Maybe tomorrow?"
"Of course. And before you ask, yes you can come with me."
"Thank you, Daddy. I would hug you, but you are covered in blood."
"Come on. Let's go wash."
Soon they are at the lake. He sets down the deer, and pulls out his knife so he can field dress it. Katniss, meanwhile, pulls off her boots and socks. She rolls up her pants, and starts to wade in the shallow water at the shore. She finds several potatoes quickly, and puts them in the game bag. She throws it over her shoulder, Daddy puts the deer back over his, and they start back towards the fence.
They walk for about twenty minutes, when Katniss sees a flock of mockingjays land in the trees above her. She stops and watches them situate themselves on the branches. She doesn't even notice Daddy moving away from her. She quickly sings a couple of lines from the Valley Song. And soon they are echoing it back to her.
"Daddy—" she looks at where she thought he was standing beside her. She calls again, louder this time, "Daddy! Come here! Where are you?"
The mockingjays pick up her, "Come here." and sing it back to her. She looks at them, annoyed. "Oh hush, you stupid birds."
They shower her with, "Stupid birds, stupid birds."
She ignores them and keeps on walking down the path towards what she thinks is the fence.
Not too far away, Peeta can hear something saying stupid. He really can't make out anymore except that they keep saying stupid over and over, and it worries him for a minute that maybe Mother has found him in the woods, and is now coming after him; instead of going towards the voices and the giggles he just heard, he takes a sharp right and goes that way.
By now in the forest, he has reached the part where it's the forest floor and there isn't really much undergrowth at all. So he doesn't really have to worry about a path. He hears the voice that is calling him stupid come to where it sits above him. He swallows his panic, and carefully looks up. About five feet above him, perched in a pine tree sits, a mockingjay.
"Stupid birds," It says to him.
"No, I'm a stupid boy," he says relieved, that it was only a bird.
"I'm a stupid boy. I'm a stupid boy." The bird parrots back to him. "I'm a stupid boy." And then it is joined by other mockingjays. When they are all together on the branch they begin to sing, "Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a soft green pillow—"
Peeta looks up at them in surprise. There is only one person who comes into the forest to sing to the birds like that. And she is the reason why he is out here to begin with. He looks towards the area the birds flew from and starts to make his way towards it.
"Daddy!" she screams again. "Great," she mutters under her breath. "Daddy! Where did you go?"
The silence is what answers her back. She holds her breath for just a moment and listens. She doesn't ever remember the woods being that quiet. The hair on the back of her neck feels like it is standing up and then she is so cold; like she jumped into the lake in the early spring.
All of a sudden the noise in the woods is overwhelming her senses. She frantically looks around, trying to see who might be out there. In a blind panic, she starts to run away from where the noise is the loudest. She isn't really paying attention to where she is going, but just wants to get away…
He is running towards the noise. He isn't really sure how far he runs, he isn't really paying attention to where he is going when he runs into something…
She runs into something slightly taller than her, certainly more solid than she is…
They both land on their bottoms and look up in surprise at one another.
"Katniss—" he says in amazement.
"Peeta—" she says annoyed.