Soon before the 77th Reaping, Clove Hawkins faced a major decision related to it. Would she enter the arena this summer or the maternity ward late next winter? As her breakfast vacated her stomach, her younger sister Flavia observed "Had a little too much fun with Cato, did you?"
"There's no such thing as too much Cato," Clove shot back with her usual attitude. She was known as the girlfriend of 74th Hunger Games victor Cato Adams, and had long since loved him.
Clove had for even longer dreamed of being a victor herself. In fact, she met Cato and developed her crush on him after entering the Career training academy of her own accord. Her brother was a Peacekeeper and their father had been one; she wanted to do them one better.
She damn sure had let Cato know how she felt, although for awhile it hadn't worked. Her voice had been lost amongst the handsome boy's other admirers. Also, he had thought she was too young for him. This was somewhat odd by District Two standards, where the girl being only three years younger was a relatively minor age difference. Clove's father being nearly thirteen years older than her mother was fairly typical, although Cato's father had been about the same age as his mother. Young and middle-aged adults thought differently than teenagers. They didn't face age-of-consent issues, and most young adult men were off with the Peacekeepers, while fewer of the ladies were.
Shortly before his last reaping, Cato had finally seen how pretty she was and how well her attitude matched his own. Kissing her fiercely was the last thing he did before leaving as a tribute and the first thing he did when coming back as a Victor.
He had charmed many girls, which was to be expected looking at him, but she was about the only one to truly charm him. That aggressive young man seemed like the perfect match for the feisty little lady she was. She was sweet beneath her sarcastic exterior, and had brought out another aspect of him. Yet there was nothing tender about the way he buried himself rocks deep inside of her, pressing his hard chest up against her soft one, proving time and time again why Clove's crotch craved Cato's cock.
This went a long way towards explaining why, shortly before her last reaping, she was pregnant with his child. Also, someone in the birth control business had screwed up – and Clove used Castle injections, which worked a lot better than a lot of other methods. Clove had given Cato one heck of a good 21st birthday, but because of that wasn't so sure about her own 18th.
Cato was definitely the man she wanted a family with, so this was just a question of timing. Nurturing mothers and hardass Career tribute trainers agreed it would be a horrible idea to deliberately go into an arena even three months pregnant. So Clove could be a mother now and never a tribute, or a victor now and a mother later, but not both.
Doctors could stop the pregnancy. It was a medical procedure, although not the simplest one. It was one that most women in the Capitol and the richer districts had access to, let alone a Victor's beloved. The doctors knew that even the best birth control methods weren't perfect, whether in theory or in practice. They also understood that a woman faced with a baby was the best one to know whether she should have kids, more of them, or have them right now.
All Clove knew was that she faced the hardest decision of her life. The two major dreams of that life, being with Cato and being a victor, were in conflict.
Seventeen years ago, the District Eight female had married her sweetheart as part of her victor's homecoming. Maybe Clove would pull a Cecelia – although Hawkins and Weaver faced a multitude of different circumstances, that part would be the same.
Yet even for a Career of Clove's capabilities, victory wasn't absolutely assured. District Two's past winners, including her future husband, could ensure she had weak competition from her own district by choosing the worst of the male volunteers. However, One and Four had no such reservations, and there were usually a few threatening tributes from the other nine districts. With famous tributes, other districts and maybe even the district partner relished taking them down. Clove doubted they could, but would she let them try?
The rules for the 75th Hunger Games, 3rd Quarter Quell, had been "To remind the districts of both the Capitol's punishment and its mercy, if a tribute's district partner dies they both die, but the final remaining district pair wins together." The daughter and son of the District Two mayor were the ones to come back. Clove and Cato were good friends with both. They agreed with Clove's assessment of her chances and added that a Victor's life seemed good but not perfect. Mary might even end up as Clove's sister-in-law once Alexander Hawkins got off Peacekeeper active duty. Lieutenant Hawkins was currently posted to his home district to guard the mayor, his family and staff, and had fallen in love with one of his charges.
Her hope of being a victor was within reach, yet her dreams of a life with Cato were already coming to fruition. She was going to take the absolutely sure thing, rather than go for the nearly sure one and risk losing both. "You're going to be a father," she said simply.
"And a husband," he declared with the self-confidence that charmed her so. He had long since gotten the ring, although he had expected to present it in August instead of June. She used knives as craft tools on the rare occasions when she wasn't throwing them, and Cato had a jeweler imitate the pattern of one of her bracelets. She now had a gold and silver braid on her left ring finger much like the intertwined pieces of leather on her right wrist.
"I could volunteer this year instead," Flavia pointed out. She may not act quite like her big sister, but nevertheless shared in the Career academy dream with the odds in her favor to make it a reality.
"I'd really rather you didn't," Clove countered. "Think about how good you are now, imagine how much more dangerous you'd be in the 78th or 79th Games," the elder Hawkins girl explained. "Cato could've won earlier than the 74th, but he was unstoppable in his last year." Although maybe I could've stopped him if I had gotten tired of being rejected by him, Clove reminisced to herself.
Clove's 18th birthday would be very happy after all. June 20th was only a few days away, but District Two weddings were very simple. All thirteen of Cato's fellow living District Two victors were there, although some of them muttered about what his bride was thinking – a confident Career suddenly afraid, a woman overly focused on herself as a wife and mother, missing a chance to be Cato's equal, and so on – things Clove had also heard from non-victors. Lyme was normally so serious, yet she seemed downright cheerful about this. Clove was too - she had made her choice.