Chapter four: Teenage Years

I get up at six o clock am with my kids and ready myself for the day as they're getting ready for school. From my bedroom, I can hear their usual morning arguments.

"Cali, you're taking too long in the bathroom, get out of there!" Cile yells at his thirteen year old little sister.

"Wait a minute!" she yells back, irritated. Later, the arguments change to a new topic.

"Come on Cali! You're going to make us late for school" I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in my hand, trying to shove a piece of toast in my son's hand as he's walking away from me toward the door.

"It takes time to be a girl!" Cali says as she enters the kitchen. Cile scoffs as I chuckle. She accepts the toast easier than Cy did.

"Have a good day at school," I tell them as I kiss my daughter on the cheek and watch them head out for the day.

~HG~HG~HG~

I've returned from my morning fishing and just as I deposit the fish on the kitchen counter and kiss my wife, the phone rings. Since Annie is close enough, she's the one who answers it. I watch her for a moment as her eyes get big.

"Go pick up the other phone," she says urgently. I run upstairs to the phone in our room and pick it up.

"I got it Annie,"

"Good, Mr. Odair, this is Principal Gill. I have your son here in the office with me right now. He and another student have been involved a fist fight. Both boys are going to receive a week's worth of suspension. We ask that you come get Cile at the first available moment that you have"

"I'll be there in ten minutes sir." I respond. I hear Annie hang up the phone that she was listing to. "Can I go ahead and pick up my daughter while I'm there?" I ask

"Yes sir," Principal Gill responds. "We'll see you soon," he too hangs up the phone. Downstairs I find Annie crying on the couch.

"I'll straighten him out on the way home. Don't you worry."

"What if he's hurt Fin?" she asks. She's never dealt with the idea of either of our children in pain very well.

"I'm sure that they would have mentioned it if he was. He'll be alright. Do you want to go with me? I'm gonna bring Cal home too." she shakes her head. "I'll be back then. It's alright love." I hug her tightly and kiss the top of her head before leaving.

When I get to the school to pick up my kids, I find both of them outside the school building being watched by the assistant principal. Cile has his hands in his pockets and is kicking around at the rocks, stirring up the dirt. He doesn't look harmed. He looks angry. Cali is sitting calmly beside the assistant principal on the bench waiting. She looks worried.

"I'm just going to leave them with you then," the assistant principal stands up upon seeing me.

"Thank you," I say. Cali comes directly to me and hugs me. "Hey princess," I say hugging her back.

"Come on, walk and tell me what happened." I say to my son as I tuck my daughter under my arm and turn and start walking home. We walk slow enough to let Cile catch up. He's silent for a few minutes before he finally speaks, and he speaks to his sister, and not to me.

"I don't like that boy you've been hanging around." He says.

"Damien?" she asks.

"Yeah. Him. If you know what's good for you and for him, you'll stop hanging around him." He says darkly.

"Do not threaten your sister." I say.

"I took the first punch dad."

"You punched him?"

"Yeah Cal. I did. Do you want to know why?" He's still seething with anger. "I was walking to class, minding my own business and he and his little group of friends got in my way. He started saying things about mom and her mental condition. He started saying things about you. What he wanted to do to you." Cile's knuckles look white as he's still attempting to control his anger. "No one talks about my family like that. Cali, if you keep staying around him, if he hurts you, I'll do more than beat him up."

No one says anything more until we're almost home.

"Princess, go on up to your room and start on your homework. Cile, I'm going to get your mother and we need to talk." Cile makes no move to enter the house behind Cali and me. Annie's still sitting on the couch where I left her.

"He's alright Annie," she looks up and watches Cali head up the stairs.

"Where is he?" she asks.

"Outside." She follows me out, and upon seeing her son, she rushes over to him and envelops him in a hug that he willingly returns as he lets his mother sob in his arms. After a few moments of nothing but Annie's tears, he finally speaks up.

"I'm alright mom. I'm not hurt at all. As for the other kid, I can't say the same."

"I want to know what he said. It's not like you to be provoked by words. Tell your mother what you told us on the way home." I point to the chairs on the end of the porch indicating that I want him to come up and have a seat. He sits on the porch swing as I get Annie to sit beside me on the bench across from him.

"I told dad and Cal that I was walking to class, and the guy who Cal's been spending a lot of time with lately, and his group of friends got in my way. He started out saying things about you mom. Saying things like dad only married you because you're beautiful and that he never actually loved you. He said that I should be ashamed to have a mother who the whole District knows is mentally unstable. He doesn't get why the Capitol didn't just kill you already, because mentally insane people are a disgrace to this world. Then he moved on to talking about Cali and the things that he wants to do to her. He just hasn't been able to get her fully alone yet or he said he'd have already tried a few things. That's when I punched him. No one talks about my family like that. I'm serious dad. Talk to Cal about him. If he touches her or if he hurts her, I will kill him."

Annie had been sitting beside me, crying quietly to herself as Cile repeated what Damien had said that caused the fight, but at his last words, Annie goes off the deep end.

"Stay." I order Cile as I rush Annie inside before her screaming attracts a flock of people. Of course Cile doesn't stay outside. He follows us in the house in shock. Annie has been a lot better since we had our children. She hasn't had a full on attack like this since the night I left her to fight in the Capitol war, fifteen years ago.

"What did I say wrong?" Cile asks. I hear the fear in his voice, and just as I look up at him, I notice Annie's identical face pop her head around the corner. I see she too is upset about why her mother is screaming hysterically.

"You said you'd kill him." I answer. Mention of killing another human has always set Annie off onto one of her episodes. Never quite this bad, but always quite a fit. The mistake registers across his face, and then it turns to sorrow as he sits down on the other side of Annie.

"Mom, I'm sorry." He says as he begins to rub her back. Slowly, Annie detaches herself from me as Cile attempts to calm her down. She moves from my arms into his, and instead of me whispering to her, reminding her that it isn't real, he's comforting her, reminding her that it's okay and between me and him, nothing is going to hurt her or Cali.

Cali is still standing in the doorway, tears having finally made their way down her face. I lean over and kiss Annie's cheek before putting a hand on my sons shoulder for a moment and then crossing the room to my daughter. I hug her and hold her tight for a few minutes.

"Come on," I say to her as I take her back upstairs. "How much of what did you hear?" I ask when we get to her room.

"I couldn't hear anything with you guys outside." She sits down on her bed and wipes at her tears. I sit down at her desk.

"Tell me about this Damien kid." I say.

"Damien's Cy's age. He's funny, he's popular, I think he's nice, and he's friendly. I like spending time with him and his friends. He's never hurt me or acted like he wanted to. He's never touched me, not counting hugs. I don't know what he could have said about me or mom to make Cy so mad. I've never heard Damien talk badly about anyone." she explains.

"Cy's not one to be so easily provoked though,"
"I can provoke him pretty easily," she jokes.

"He doesn't ever get as mad as he looked today and you know it," I counter.

"Yeah, but it just doesn't make sense. Damien doesn't seem like he'd do something like that, but Cile wouldn't lie about something so serious either." I hear the confusion and confliction in her voice.

"Do you like him Cal?" I ask after a thoughtful moment of silence. "As more than a friend I mean," I clarify.

"I don't know. I've never thought of liking him more than a friend." She says thoughtfully.

"I'm going to go talk to Damien's parents and Damien himself tomorrow. Just be careful alright? Cy won't be able to forgive himself if something happens to you, and you're my baby girl. I don't want you to get hurt either. I want you to know that you can talk to me. Don't be afraid to tell me anything. You can talk to your mom too, but I know that she's not always in the right mind frame. I love you princess. Don't forget that either." I tell her as I stand up.
"I'm going to go check on your mother. She's pretty upset. Finish your homework and I'll call you down for dinner later." I cross the room and kiss my daughters forehead and then leave her room. Just as I'm about to close the door I hear her say:

"I love you daddy,"

Authors Note: Hey guys! It's been a while since ive updated any of my stories anywhere i know. Im sorry. I just moved in to college and ive been doing Orientation stuff and classes actually start in a few days. So, im pretty busy and will continue to be busy until i fully adjust to college life.
I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had a hard time writing it. I want this story to focus most on Finnick/Cali and i really felt like it focused more on Finnick/Cile.
i did write it from Cali's POV but after some help from my lovely Hillary_Izzy_Blair, i decided to keep it all Fin's POV.
Leave a review if you'd like! I'd appreciate it. :)