Gale ran into the Hob, hoping that Katniss hadn't followed him. He walks over to Greasy Sae's stall, still panting. Gale looked back still hoping that his wife hadn't followed him. After two two had gotten home from yelling at Rory and Prim, which was a bizarre occurrence for them to see their younger siblings kissing, Katniss's mother had come out and pulled Katniss away for about ten minutes. The next thing he knows, Katniss is pushing him against the wall yelling at him and crying. She was said that it was all his fault. She slapped him hard, which left the current red mark on his cheek. He managed to escape from her and ran off towards the Hob. Her mother had told him that if she yells and hits leave until she calms down. So he ran off to the Hob. When Sae saw him she seemed confused.
"Where's your wife?" she asked, in hopes of sorting this out.
"Hopefully not chasing me," he said, still trying to catch his breath.
"She pregnant?" Sae guessed.
"How'd you know?" Gale said with mock shock.
"Her father came running in here for the same reason 18 years ago," Sae explained.
"I guess yelling at the father is a tradition in her family," Gale observed.
"It is in most families. Just ask you mother. Your father did the same nearly 20 years ago," the old woman said, reciting wisdom.
About six years after that, what happened to be shortly after the 61st Games, Jacob Everdeen made another panicked visit to his black-market refuge. Thomas Hawthorne knew the signs, having repeated that ritual with his beloved Hazelle a few months prior. "Your fathers talked for hours," Greasy Sae explained. "They had a lot in common. A child on the way, hunting illegally, and working in the mines. They became friends after that. I even heard their plans to introduce you to Katniss a few weeks before the, well you know, the explosion." Sae was one of those who knew damn well it was no accident, having been rigged to take out those two troublemakers, the Capitol not worrying about how many more people it slaughtered in the process. "You met anyway, a few months after. Never saw friends as close as you two. Your fathers would be proud, starting a family together," she chattered on. Gale was still in shock. Their fathers had been friends. So no matter how it would've been, fathers or no fathers, they probably would've end up married and starting a family.
"Thanks Sae. Could I get some soup please?" Gale said, saying something simple because he was still taking it in.
"Sure thing," she said pouring him some soup. He ate and relaxed, smiling to himself because he was going to be a father, hopefully one as good as his own had been.
Meanwhile, in the woods, Prim and Rory were freaking out over what Katniss had said.
"What...how... don't tell Gale...," Rory had stuttered.
"I won't. I actually think it's cute. But be careful, I don't want a niece or nephew for at least another two years. And do it when Gale and I aren't in the woods. I'll tell when we aren't planning to come out here or at least to the lake. Try and be quiet, you don't want to scare off game or attract danger. Go into the house next time, you'll be safer. And cover up your tracks," she explained. Prim and Rory stood there wide-eyed and shocked at how well Katniss was handling it.
"Uhhh... Katniss we weren't exactly planning on doing it more...," Prim says.
"We weren't?" Rory asks innocently. Prim elbows him in the ribs.
"No we weren't. Now shut up," Prim says. Rory rubs his ribs and heads towards the fence. "Where do you think you're going? We still have to split the game," Prim pointed out.
"Whatever," Rory muttered, his teenage hormones rather disappointed.
"Rory, you need to calm down. I will tell your brother what happened. I actually should as an apology for slapping him. Bye," Katniss says, running off towards the fence. Neither of them knows what she said, so they brush it off. They split the game evenly when they reach the fence 45 minutes later. Rory kisses Prim goodbye when they split to go home.
When he gets home, Hazelle is sitting at the table with Gale. Rory realizes that is about 8 o'clock. "Sorry I'm late I was..," Rory starts to explain to them, but Gale cuts him off.
"Katniss told me what happened at the lake," Gale states. Rory's face flushed and he drops the game bag.
"Yeah, about Katniss, I guess a congratulations is in order," he says, trying to lighten the mood.
"Thanks, but that's not what we are talking about," His brother growled.
"Look, we didn't mean for it to happen, it was an..." Rory starts, but is interrupted by Gale slamming him into the wall.
"Gale! Be careful with him!" Hazelle exclaims.
"He deserves it!" Gale yells. He back to Rory and yells, "Rory, you're a fucking idiot!"
"But!" Rory countered.
"There are no buts about this! You're only 14! If she gets pregnant Rory, I swear, I will...," Gale said, firmly ensconced in his familiar ranting mode.
"Gale! Enough!" their mother chastises.
Katniss, who had just been let in by Hazelle, says. "They made a mistake! They are old enough to take care of themselves, we were at their age. We were doing basically whatever we wanted by the same point in our lives."
"But we weren't having sex!" Gale points out.
"You want to rethink that, 'king of the slag heap?'" she asked, causing her husband to blush.
"Those girls meant nothing! I only ever loved you!" Gale explains. "And I was only kissing them!"
"As furiously as you bawled out Rory for doing?" Katniss points out.
"I was a hormone charged teenage boy then!" Gale insists.
"And Rory isn't?" Katniss said, again deflating her husband with the right of the matter.
"Well I suppose he is, but it was your sister!" Gale says defensively.
"I would've killed him by now if I was angry," Katniss explains.
"Where's one of your mood swings when I need it?" Gale muttered.
"That's how you end up sleeping on the couch," Katniss said, turning away and marching out the door.
"I'm sorry, Catnip! I love you!" Gale yelled after his wife and followed her.
Rory had been left alone with his mother.
"Is that what married life is like?" Rory asked, looking to his mother.
"Yes it is, well when you really love each other," she responds. "Now about Prim... what exactly happened?"
"We had started splashing each other at first in the lake. We started kissing, well, making out. We had been basically ambushed by Gale, who was taken away by Katniss. We had started kissing again, even deeper than before. After that, we caught up. We did it Mom, and I'm so mad at myself."
"It's okay Rory. Was she mad? And did you, well, pull out before, you know, released?" Hazelle asks, a bit embarrassed that she had to ask this"
"No, she wasn't upset. She was actually a bit happy. And I did pull out..." Rory says, defending himself quite accurately.
"That's good, Rory," Hazelle said, relieved. "Now, what's this I hear about Gale being the so called 'King of the Slag Heap?' I know about the slag heap, but I didn't know he had ties to it." she wondered.
"He would go there at lunch twice a week and every day during free period," Rory began.
"Ok, I would see why Katniss would be upset, especially considering how much she loves him, at least by now. I swear, those two are like an old married couple. Now do you want dinner? You should be hungry after the day's activities."
"Nice, mom, nice," Rory says sarcastically.
The next day at school, everyone had heard what happened with Prim and Rory, thanks to Gale's yelling. Prim and Rory walked to school holding hands. When they reached their friends, they were cornered.
"Is it true?!" Holly, their friend, exclaimed. Prim and Rory both quirked an eyebrow at the hyperactive girl.
"She means 'did you have sex?'. Some neighbors heard Gale yelling last night. Whoever they were, they told some blabbermouth and she told the whole school," another friend, Juzer, explained. He said to Holly, "Back off them."
Prim looked to Rory, hoping he would answer, which he did. "Yes, we did. Now that we are clear, can we talk about something else other than my and Prim's intimacy?"
"Fine, whatever. When are you getting married?" Juzer asks with a smirk on his face.
"When are you going to shut up?" Prim asks, with a fake smile on her face.
"Ooo, Primy got some sass. Girl gonna be a bitchy whore like her sister," some passing 17 year old girl says.
"What the fuck did you say about my sister?" Prim growls after her. The girl turns around.
"I said that she was a bitchy whore. The only reason that Hawthorne stayed with her is because he knocked her up," the seventeen year old said, digging herself in deeper. Juzer and Holly made the mistake of holding Rory back instead of Prim. Prim dropped the books she was holding and knocked the girl down. Prim threw punches left and right. The girl tried fighting back, but only got a few good punches in. The fight had attracted a crowd, who were watching in awe. They never thought that the kindest girl in school would be in a fight, let alone winning one. Even a few teachers hadn't stopped the fight yet because they were still in awe. It had been Rory to pull Prim away. He had gotten an elbow to the nose, causing it to bleed.
Rory had just pulled Prim off when Juzer yelled, "Nothing to see here! Get a move on!" The teachers snapped out of it and had helped the girl up. Rory had to restrain Prim from going animal on her again.
"Prim, you need to calm down," Rory whispered into her ear. She stopped struggling against him and sighed.
"Sorry, Rory," she muttered.
The dean had just arrived to see what happened. She was a kind woman in her mid-50's. When she saw who was in the fight she frowned. She pointed to Rory and said, "Go get her sister." Rory nodded and left Prim with a teacher.
As soon as he was out of the school, he sprinted to Katniss and Gale's house. Still panting, he knocked on their door and heard someone moving inside. Gale answered the door. When he saw Rory, a frowned formed on his face. "What the hell are you doing here, Rory? You need to be in school."
Still panting he answered, "The dean sent me to get Katniss. Prim was in a fight."
"Prim? Why did the dean want Katniss?" Gale asked, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"I don't know," Rory admitted. "She just sent me. Can you get her? I've probably already missed math and half of gym," Rory says, getting annoyed.
Gale glares at him and says, "Fine. I'll be back in a second. If you get slapped for bugging her, don't blame me." Gale turns and goes inside. Rory hears Gale speaking to Katniss. "The dean sent Rory. Apparently Prim was in a fight," Gale says.
"What? First off, why is she sending my brother-in-law, and second, why was Prim in a fight?" Katniss snaps.
"I guess you'll have to find out. Rory was sent for you," Gale said with resignation.
"Darnit, get the crazy pregnant lady, that's a great idea when she has this many mood swings," Rory hears her mutter. Katniss comes out of the house pretty quickly.
She looks at Rory and says, "Our little Prim gets tougher by the day," frankly somewhat proud of her little duck. Katniss then puts her hands to her stomach automatically, then starts walking. Perhaps 'waddling' would be more appropriate, she pretty big for only a couple months along. Nevertheless, she was pretty fast for her size. She isn't that angry, which surprises Rory. He catches up to her and all of the sudden she stops.
"Are you okay, Katniss?" Rory asks with serious concern.
"Yeah... It's nothing, lets hurry," Katniss says, starting to walk faster than before.
Luckily the school isn't far away. They reach it in ten minutes and Rory escorts her to the office. When they get inside, they see that Prim is still being restrained by a teacher who has a bloody nose. When Katniss sees the other girl who seems to be taunting Prim, her jaw drops. The girl has a swollen cheek, the beginning of a black eye, and what looks to be a broken nose, which is pouring out blood. Katniss then looks to Prim, who has nothing but a bruised, swollen cheek. The door slams behind Rory and Katniss, causing the three people in the room to look at them. Rory runs over to Prim, to take the place the teacher was in. The teacher let's Rory take his place, and strides over to Katniss.
"This wouldn't be Katniss Everdeen, now would it?" He says. Katniss recognizes the man who looks to be in his 30's. He had been her math teacher when she was 16. His name was Mr. Holden, and had been her favorite teacher.
"Yes it would be. But its Katniss Hawthorne now," she replies with a polite smile. She hears the injured girl snort, causing Prim to struggle against Rory. "Now what happened between my sister and the girl with the messed up face?" Katniss asked as politely as she could.
"Ah... well I think I should let them tell you because I'm getting rather light headed from the blood coming out of my nose. I shall see you later," Mr. Holden answered.
"Goodbye, Mr. Holden it was nice seeing you," Katniss said.
"Farewell," he agreed.
Katniss turned to the group of teenagers before her. "Rory will explain what happened."
"Umm... Okay, well that girl there said that Prim would turn into a bitchy whore like you. She also said the only reason Gale married you because he knocked you up...," Rory explained, rather afraid of how Katniss would react.
Many different things came across her face, but ended with anger. Prim and Rory looked to each other and ran over to Katniss who had looked as if she was about to kill the girl. They were using all their combined strength to hold her back, but it barely worked. It just so happened that Gale would come that moment. He looked at the scene before him and confusion clouded his mind. Instead of trying to sort it out he took the 14 year olds' spot and held her back easily. The girl laughed, causing Prim to go back to try and injure her more. Luckily Rory had gotten a hold of Prim just in time before she could. Both Everdeen girls were struggling against the Hawthorne boys when the dean came out and took in the scene before her.
"Enough!" she shrilled, causing everyone to become stop moving. "I've had enough of Miss Sanding's behavior. You have gotten into three fights before this and I'm quite sick of it. It's time someone taught you a lesson. And Ms. Everdeen, your sister is not to come back for three days. Mr. Hawthorne, your brother seemed to be a part of this as well, he cannot come back for three days as well."
"Okay, Ms. Jeritza. I'll tell Rory's mother. I'm Mrs. Hawthorne now by the way," Katniss responded.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hawthorne. You can go to class now, Miss Sanding." The girl stood up and awkwardly left the room. "She got her lesson," the dean continued. "Being injured like that is punishment enough. I think you deserve time off school, you two. Why don't you two go off and hunt. I'd like to catch up with your siblings here," she instructs. The two 14 year olds leave in shock.