And here's the second chapter. I'll be honest, these last several months I have been dealing with writer's block and this was an idea that popped into my head as I was rereading some of my sister's hunger games books, and rewatching the movies, and some hunger games fanfics. I was hoping that writing this would help me get back to writing again and it has to an extent.

The viewer Radio Free Death made a few good points to this story. The relationship between Katniss and her parents is complicated and I'm hoping that this chapter will clear some of the confusion. If not there is a whole fanfic story to explain it as it goes. As for Gale's family, I don't know how much people charge for daycare services, but I have an aunt who watches children in her house and I would call it a daycare, and she charges $4 per hour per kid. Again I don't know how it is in other areas but that's how it is in mine.

Thank you all so much for reading this, and I hope you all will enjoy this update.

Chapter 2

Ms. Everdeen

I try to suppress a yawn as I go through the patients' files. I just had to send a patient home. It was a girl the same age as my daughter, Prim. She had developed pink eye, so I had to advise her mother on keeping her home and giving her eye drops until it cleared up. The girl had been upset because that had meant that she would be missing out on her school field trip to the Capital Hotel this weekend. The same field trip my elder daughter Katniss would be taking.

Ever since the divorce, it seems as if my daughter is growing up too fast for me to keep up. One day she was just a newborn baby gurgling at me, the next she was five years old skipping to school with the cutest little dimples, and now she's nearly a woman. I know that the divorce had forced her to grow up too soon in order to look after her sister, and I blame myself for that. She no longer did the things she use to love like singing in her school choir, or staying up late for me or her father to come home. No, she spent most of her time caring for her little sister, and doing her schoolwork. While a part of me was proud of her, another part was sad.

I started drinking my third cup of coffee since coming in at ten this morning. I had left very late last night from my shift, and hadn't been able to get as much sleep as I'd hoped this morning. Luckily, I only had to work a couple more hours before leaving to help Katniss carry her luggage to the bus. After that, I would go home and try to get some sleep.

I was looking through my notes to see who else I would have today when a knock sounded on my door. I turned and smiled when I recognized the person.

"Hey," Cinna, one of our best counselors here at the hospital, and one of my closest friends greeted me.

"Hey, Cinna," I greeted back.

He frowned at me in concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I tried to assure him. "Just tired."

He looked at me with sympathy. "It's that time of year isn't it?"

I nodded, my hand unconsciously making its way to the scar on my neck. "That and Marlin just called me on Madeline's treatment. They're still waiting for results."

We had just discovered that Madeline had been developing cancer these last several months, and Marline, my brother-in-law had been dealing with it and trying to keep me updated. I still hadn't told Katniss or Prim about it. Too much has been going on in their young lives, and I didn't want to lay another burden on them just yet.

Cinna placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. He didn't have to say anything else.

We talked about Katniss' birthday. I had only been able to wish her a happy birthday before leaving for work, but I knew that Cinna had gotten her that beautiful dress she had been secretly looking at for prom. I believe that she was planning on taking it with her on her trip. That led to us to talking about her upcoming field trip.

I was happy and excited for her. After all, going to the Capital Hotel would be an amazing experience for her. However, there was a part deep inside me that told me not to let her go, that something terrible could happen. Memories from a summer twenty-four years ago reminded me of how unpredictable and horrifying life can be. I had been haunted by those memories for so long, and I shouldn't allow my daughters to miss out on life experiences because of my paranoia. Even so, that scared part of me refused to go away.

The next few hours blurred by until I realized that I had to leave to help Katniss get to her bus. I was leaving the hospital, and going out onto the parking lot when I saw him.

He was standing next to one of the lights, his hands in his coat pocket. He looked like crap, but he still had the same steel gray eyes from youth even though they now carried ghosts, demons, and secrets that no one could ever know.

"Hello, Haymitch," I said, walking towards him.

He nodded to me. "Hello, Maysilee."

I wanted to yell and be angry at him. He didn't come by to say happy birthday to Katniss as he usually did. He didn't even call either from what I had heard, but when I looked at him, I couldn't bring myself to yell at him. After knowing him since we were teenagers, surviving a traumatic experience together, and being married for almost twelve years, I could tell when something was bothering him. That, and I was too tired to pick a fight with him.

"Are you alright?" I asked him in concern. Although the divorce had been nasty, I still cared what happened to him.

He waved it off. "I'm fine. I just wanted to let you know that I didn't forget Katniss' birthday." He showed me a little present in his hand along with a birthday card.

"Do you mind if I walk you home?" he asked. Was it my imagination or did my ex sound nervous?

I smiled and nodded.

We walked past the old buildings in the neighborhood mostly in comfortable silence.

"The girls miss you," I told him.

He looked at me.

"Katniss won't admit it, but she does, and so does Prim."

It broke my heart as I remembered how close Haymitch and the girls were before the divorce happened, especially Haymitch and Katniss. Before everything went downhill, Katniss had been a daddy's girl. When she was young, no matter how many times I tried to coax her to sleep, Katniss always insisted on staying up so Daddy could tuck her in and sing her to sleep. I can remember whenever we would go to the park, while I would be tending to a baby Prim, Haymitch would push Katniss on the swings, help her with the monkey bars, and catch her when she would come down the slides. Always his little girl. However, Haymitch would work long nights over cases to the point of obsession. He would forget important school events for the girls, he wouldn't talk to us, and not only that, but he lead a dangerous life too. In a lot of his cases he would tick off a lot of dangerous people, and that lead to them threatening not only Haymitch, but me, and worse Katniss and Prim. The fears I had been dealing with since the events from when I was sixteen came rushing back. I was so scared that someone would abduct Katniss or Prim. it nearly happened one day when Katniss came home from school and told me of a man that seemed to have followed her from school. I had begged Haymitch to have us move to a different city where the girls would be safer. That lead to our many arguments which lead to screaming matches which lead to filing for a divorce.

With the help of an old friend, Effie Trinket, one of Panem's best lawyers, I had my last name along with Katniss and Prim's changed from Abernathy to Everdeen, my mother's maiden name for our protection. Drastic? Maybe, but I wasn't going to take any chances with my children's safety. The final straw was suing for full custody. Now that I look back on it, I believe I had taken things too far. Even though Haymitch and I were no longer married, and his drinking habits grew more frequent, he was still Katniss and Prim's father, and he loved them more than anything. Katniss blamed me for the divorce, claiming that I kept her from her daddy and pushed him away. However, in recent years since I allowed Haymitch to see the girls, Katniss had begun to realize what Haymitch had become over the years. Our relationship had begun to improve, but at the cost of her relationship with her father. I believe that I'll always feel guilty for the pain I've caused even as I try to help Katniss and Prim reconnect with their father. If only that same father made it easier.

"What did they do last night?" Haymitch asked me as we continued our walk towards my house.

Although I had lived in the Seam for almost two decades now, I still felt more safe with Haymitch walking beside me in this neighborhood. The area was so poor it was no surprise for one or two persons to be mugged everyday.

I told Haymitch about the birthday cake Prim spent a whole evening making then how she and Katniss hung out at the Hawthorns until it got late. We laughed a bit as I told of Hazelle's description of Katniss' face when she opened Cinna's gift to her.

I felt tears in my eyes as I remembered the day she was born and noticed the sad expression on Haymitch's face to know that he was thinking the same thing. Pretty soon, our little girl would e graduating and living on her own.

When we finally made it to my house we saw Katniss carrying out her luggage with the help of Prim.

000{{*}}000

Katniss

Finally! Mom made it home. We were running late.

After school, Prim and I practically ran to the Hob to buy groceries for the weekend. Once we got them we had to be careful coming home because we had bought a carton of eggs as well, and the last thing we needed was for the eggs to be broken because they had been justled too much. After putting them away, Prim helped me double check to make sure I had everything I need packed.

Now, we had been waiting for Mom to come home for a while now, and we were running out of time. Prim and I alone could have managed to carry my bags on the local bus back to the school where the bus for the field trip would be waiting, but I know Mom would have wanted to be there when we took off and to make sure Prim didn't walk back home alone.

Even before the divorce, my mom and I haven't been what you would consider close. Not like it was for me and my dad before he choose the bottle. After the divorce I hated her and blamed her for pushing Dad away and breaking our family apart. With Dad gone, and Mom always busy I practically had to raise myself and Prim. Yes, Mom was busy trying to provide for us, and Dad wasn't allowed to see us unsupervised those first couple of years, but it felt so lonely. It felt like I had fallen into a whole new world that I was struggling to understand. All my eleven-year-old self wanted was for things to go back to the way they were, as selfish as that was. My relationship with my mother has slowly started to mend itself these last couple of years. However, the relationship I use to have with my father… is practically nonexistent.

Which is why I was surprised to see my father walking beside my mother as if they were old friends instead of ex spouses who were always at each other's throats.

"Dad?" Prim's voice was so soft, but I knew that she was just as surprised as me. Here was our father, worse for wear but not passed out drunk like he always was.

He nodded at us then motioned to the bags we were carrying. "Need any help with those?"

"We're fine," I quickly told him, pushing past him while carrying my beat up suitcase and my gym bag containing some of my clothes and toiletries.

I called over my shoulder to Prim and my Mom. "Let's go! We're running late!"

I continued to the bus stop, waiting for them to catch up. Prim had been carrying a pillow with a spare blanket stuffed in the pillowcase, but now my father was carrying it for her as the rest of my family caught up. In the nick of time too as the bus pulled in for us to board.

After paying the fee we sat down, me making sure that Prim and I sat together while our parents sat across from us.

I know it's petty, but a part of me still hates my father for the divorce as well. Just like Mom pushed him away, Dad didn't fight for us to stay together, didn't fight to see me and Prim more often, and never fought to overcome his alcoholism. True, before the divorce, my dad would drink from time to time but never enough to be intoxicated. Now he drinks so much it's a miracle he hasn't died from alcohol poisoning.

I didn't want to acknowledge that he was there, but when I noticed from the corner of my eye that he was reaching for something in his pocket, my curiosity beat me.

He took out a yellow envelope and a small wrapped box. "Happy Birthday, Katniss," he said to me.

I took them items, laying the card next to me and opening the small present. It was a small box you would expect to find jewelry in, and that's kind of what I found. It was a gold pin with a bird in a circle. It was beautiful, I will admit that, but I looked at my father puzzled.

He shifted uncomfortably, and I noticed my mother was looking at him with an expression I couldn't identify.

My dad rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I found it going through some of my old stuff a while back. I thought you might like it.

I didn't know what to say except, "Thank you."

It must have meant something to him a long time ago. I went back to looking at it much closer this time. I realized that the bird appeared to be a mockingjay, a fictional bird people in Panem like to use in the local stories, and our school's mascot. When I was young my dad actually use to call me his little mockingjay because I liked to sing with the birds I saw outside our home.

I realized I was smiling, and quickly stopped. I flipped the pin, studying the detail in it when I saw the numbers '1995' on the circle. Twenty-four years ago? I pushed that thought aside, fastening the pin on my shirt.

The bus stopped, and I realized it was time to get off. I grabbed my luggage, and we all walked the rest of the way to the school parking lot. It seemed we made it just in time too because they were just starting to load luggage on one of those fancy tour buses, and children were saying goodbye to their families.

I turned to my own family to say our goodbyes before I left for the weekend.

I hugged Prim tightly. "Don't let Buttercup get too comfortable on my side of the bed," I tell her. Prim laughs and we separate. I promised to bring her back some kind of souvenir.

I then turn to my mom who hugs me so fiercely I almost struggle to breath.

"Call me every night. If I'm not on the landline then call me at work, alright?" she tells me.

"Alright, I will," I promise her, a little puzzled by her behavior. Was she alright? It's not like I was joining the military.

I turned to my father, and we just stood there awkwardly. I wasn't as upset with him now as I was earlier, but that didn't mean I was comfortable with him.

My dad didn't seem to know what to do either. Do we hug? Shake hands? He settled for just a pat on my shoulder. "Have fun."

"Thanks." Although he had forgotten my birthday yesterday, it was nice that he came today.

I glanced behind me to see that they were almost done loading the luggage. I grabbed my stuff, trying to lug them over there.

"Love you guys!" I called out to them.

"Wait Katniss!" Prim's voice causes me to stop.

I turn and she rushes over to me, holding the envelope Dad had given to me. I must have dropped it. Prim pushes it into my pillowcase with my blanket inside. She leans over and kisses me on the cheek. "Have fun! I'll see you when you get back."

By the time I made it to the bus I was one of the last ones to put their luggage in. The bus driver took my suitcase and gym bag but I kept my pillowcase with me. Once the luggage was all packed we boarded the bus. The seats were quickly filled and left little for me to choose from. The popular kids had claimed the back row seats in the back, making the rest of us have to share, but I was able to claim a window seat near the front. No sooner had I sat down did I feel someone tap my shoulder. I turned to glare at the person only to meet a pair of stunning blue eyes and recognize Peeta Mellark.

We're not friends, but we're in the same grade and share a couple of classes together. However, I've never interacted with him, save for one occasion.

I can remember the day my parents sat me down and told me they were getting a divorce. It didn't mean that they don't love me or Prim anymore, but they just couldn't live together anymore. The same crap all parents tell their children when they're getting a divorce. Not only that, but Mom was changing mine and Prim's names from Abernathy to Everdeen. That's what made me snap. It was one thing to be separating, but changing their children's names was something else. My dad may not have been the best man lately, but I was proud of my name and didn't want anyone to take it from me. What's worse, my dad seemed okay with this. I was so angry at them. I called my mother selfish and my father a coward, and I hated them both. I then ran out of the house, ignoring their calls for me to come back.

I was crying as I ran down the road, not caring who saw me. I just wanted to run far away from my troubles. If I ran fast enough maybe I could fly like the mockingjays I heard so much about. It was raining in the last weeks of winter, and I had neglected to grab a jacket before I left the house. When I finally stopped running I was shivering like mad. How stupid I was not to bring a jacket, and not only that, but I had run so far I didn't know where I was. I must have wandered around for who knows how long before I finally found myself at the Mellark bakery. I was so cold and wet I wanted to go someplace to get dry and warm before I went back home and faced my parents. I could smell the delicious aroma of fresh baked bread hot out of the oven, but I noticed that they had the close sign up. Dejected, I made my way back around the bakery, cutting through the backyard when I slipped and fell into a mud puddle. A fresh wave of tears came back as I felt the pain in my hands and legs, and I began to sob once more. If I could make it back home I would apologize to my parents for being so mean and running off like that.

"Are you alright?"

I looked up to see a boy my age with blonde hair looking down at me. I got up and tried to wipe my nose, but my sleeve was soaking wet.

The boy reached out and touched my hand. "You're freezing!" he exclaimed.

Before I could protest he tugged my arm and pulled me inside the back door of the bakery. The heat nearly overwhelmed me, and my teeth chattered. He sat me down on a stool near the oven and threw a large jacket around me. He then got me a mug of hot chocolate and a plate of cut slices of bread still warm from the oven. Already, I could feel warmth seeping into my body to my bones as I drank the hot chocolate and ate the bread. I never realized how miserable I had been feeling not only from today, but these last several months when I looked up at the boy who was doing something so nice for me. I recognized him as one of the boys in my class. Then I wondered why he was doing this? We didn't know each other, and yet, he was treating me, a stranger as his closest friend.

Before I could ask him or even thank him, a woman came barging in. She was the baker's wife and the scariest woman I had ever seen. When she saw me she screamed at the boy. "You stupid boy! Why the f*** did you let a street urchin into our house?! How stupid are you?! Get out you brat! Get out!"

I was so scared of her I ran back outside into the cold rain. I heard more screaming and the sound of a blow that made me wince. Did she hit him? My parents never hit me or Prim no matter how angry they were. I ran again until I made it back to my house. My mother was crying and my father was ready to call a squad car to come find me, but they were both relieved to see me unharmed. While they were lecturing me, I realized I still had the jacket the boy had placed around me. I would have to give it back to him next time I saw him.

The clearing of a throat brought me back to the present, and I realized that I had been staring at Peeta when he had asked me something.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked would it be alright if I sit next to you? Everyone's already claimed their seats," he said.

"Oh, um, sure." I move my pillowcase onto my lap and sit up so he would have more room to sit. He's medium height and stocky built, but he doesn't take up so much room to be squishing me against the window.

Our teacher who would be chaperoning us, Miss Atala starts calling our names out. Most of us are here except one girl. When Miss Atala calls her out, one of the girls says she has pink eye and wouldn't be able to come. That meant there would only be twenty-four of us. Still a lot in my opinion.

After that the bus took off, and I took out my blanket and tried to arrange myself in a comfortable position. When I finally got into one, I closed my eyes to get some sleep. It was a two hour drive to the Capital Hotel.

One thing I knew then was that it was going to be a memorable field trip. What I did not know was that it would not be in a good way.

000{{*}}000

So what do you guys think? Sorry it took so long to update. The weather in my area has been difficult and I've been busy. I'm hoping that I haven't written Katniss and her parents too ooc, but it's a modern day fic. I also couldn't help writing the part on how Peeta and Katniss meet, I really love it in the book.