Red married Marigold Lark three months after they both turned eighteen. Not known to them at the time Marigold was already expecting their first child. Jonathan Mason was born 8 months later and Red found himself unable to be taken away from the boy. Many nights he would fall asleep with Jonathan asleep on his chest, he wouldn't have it any other way. Red built the child's crib with his own two hands, he asked Mabel Ore to help him paint the walls with a mural of the town across the walls. Red even went as far as building a play set in the yard he knew the boy wouldn't be able to use for some time. Nothing was too much for his boy. Then when Jonathan turned one and Marigold stood in Red's arms, her head resting against his shoulder and she whispered to him that she was again expecting he couldn't help but pick his wife up and kiss her, swinging her around. Red picked Jonathan up and threw his arm around Marigold.

"This is just what I wanted." He smiled, and there sitting across the table from the new family was Jacqueline and Mabel. "Thank you." He said and Mabel just smiled back at him.

x-x-x

By the time Johanna came around Red had gotten his baby handling skills down pat. However when he found out that baby Mason number three was a girl he nearly passed out. His boys would end up being strapping young men just like him one day, he started seeing it already in the two and three year olds. John would follow Red around all day picking up the sticks he could and piling them next to his father's stack of logs. Younger Jax was a bit more adventurous than John, many times Red would find his neighbors wrestling the small boy back into his own yard, Jax would hold up his small toy sword and charge back out of his yard and after his next adventure. A girl however, he wished he didn't think this way, would be different. He wanted her to be just like Marigold, but on the other hand he wanted his daughter to be able to be tough and strong in case something terrible happened and she was called up to the games. He wanted her to be able to stand on her own two feet and not need help from anyone. These worries kept him awake at night and bothered him endlessly.

"Red that's the third tree that you've nearly gotten hit by today!" Zack said shoving the man's shoulder trying to snap him out of the stupor he was in.

"Sorry I just…"

"The baby is worrying you, I can see it. I didn't know it was a bad pregnancy." The man said and Red stopped him.

"I just can't stop worrying, it's not a hard time, and it's a girl." Red said and Zack threw his head back laughing.

"I know exactly what you mean. I had three boys before my girls started to come around. I threw up more than Arlene. Poor woman spent her whole pregnancy taking care of me." He chuckled. "Then I held that little girl in my arms and I knew it would all be ok."

"What about the games?" Red asked and Zack nodded.

"God I hate those stupid thing, but I realized that as long as I taught my daughters what I taught my sons they would all be just fine. You know Jay runs a great training session every weeknight after school for the kids."

"I'll have to look into it." Red agreed and Zack patted the man's shoulder.

"If anyone knows how to train for that it's Jay, after his daughter was reaped… I know Blight helps him too since winning."

"No one wants that again." Red said and Zack nodded. Blight had kept the young girl as safe as he could, he knew he had to get her somewhere safe so he could turn and face part of the career pack. He never would have guessed that the other part of the pack was circling back and found the girl. They used her to get to him, Blight had cut down two of the six members when the female from one stepped up with the child in her arms, a knife to her throat. They ordered him to drop his weapons and get down, Blight looked at the twelve year old and she gave a short shake of her head. In the blink of an eye Blight had jumped forward spearing the female tribute in the eye, killing her instantly. The male tribute from two lunged spear in hand toward the child and Blight parried it away, snapping his neck. While his back was turned the male from one slit the girl's throat. Blight killed the remaining two and leaned down to the child, he closed her eyes, grabbed her pack and left. District seven was so quiet that Red swore you could hear Blight's sobs from the arena wherever it was. The next morning Jay purchased the empty warehouse in the center of town and started training the school kids, all while telling the capitol officials he was just running a gym class. To Red he was the start of a revolution.

So Red joined the classes, taking time to learn and teaching the young children how to use an ax with as much power as they could. Jay told Red one day that Red was also teaching them things that are harder to teach, how to be humble and brave. By now all the kids knew the story of how Red ran into the building on fire to save young Jacqueline, who was their classmate. Here was a local hero teaching them personally how to be a hero.

When Johanna was born, kicking and screaming into the world, Red knew his life had changed forever once more. Not only since he had another child to raise but because this child was different, not because she was a girl, but because she always wanted him. From the start, she screamed till he held her in his arms, she'd refuse her bottle till she gave it to him, she would only attempt at words when he was around, she was as stubborn as her mother and as attached to Red like nothing he had ever seen before. Red even made a makeshift baby backpack to carry her while he worked the farm if she wouldn't calm down for Marigold. By two years old Johanna knew how to swing her toy ax and produce power to knock off small limbs on the trees Red had fallen earlier. Quickly his fears for her started to melt away.