A/N I've been WAAAAAY too hard on Gale! Thank you reviewers for pointing that out to me. I guess I just needed a villain and he was convenient. I needed to either, show early on in the story that he was more complicit in the bombings that originally thought, or made their feelings more appropriate to the situation. That's why reviews are so important to authors. We sometimes get caught up in our story and don't see the bigger picture. Thanks! I'll rethink the beginning chapters and update when I come up with a better way to work that plotline. BTW - There is forgiveness in a future chapter.
90% of this story is already written. That's why I have been able to post a chapter every day. It may be a few days before I post again, so I can rethink and possibly revise my first few chapters.
Two months later, Rory is awakened from a sound sleep by loud knocking at his door. He groggily gets up and rubs his eyes. He was up most of the night with a goat who was having troubled kidding. Healthy twins were born but the mother died. He almost trips over the box that the two kids are in as he walks through the living room. They were sleeping. But this infernal knocking is going to wake them up.
Rory answers the door in his pajamas and his hair is a fright. It doesn't register right away who is standing there.
"Hey, Rory. I thought farmers got up with the sun." After hearing the voice and a few more seconds of staring, Rory has a revelation.
"Vick! Is it really you?" Rory is stunned to see his younger brother standing in front of him. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" He hugs his brother. Rory calculates in his head that it has been more than a year and half since he seen him. He'd grown taller – significantly taller than Rory. He could probably look Gale in the eye.
After releasing him, he notices a beautiful dark-skinned girl with almond eyes.
"Who's this?" Rory asks his brother.
"This is Trixa."
"Larazo's daughter?"
Thinking back, he remembered seeing her when they lived in District 13. She was just a girl then. She looks all grown up now. His mother didn't start spending time with her father until after he had left for his military service in the rebellion.
"Where's everyone else? Mom, Posey, Larazo?" Rory assumed that if these two were here, everyone came with them.
"They're not here." Rory is confused. Why would these two come alone?
"Can we come in and sit down? Trixa is tired and she's not feeling well."
"Of course." Rory has a bad feeling about this.
Rory tells them to make themselves at home while he goes to change his clothes. When he comes out, Trixa is sitting on the couch holding one of the kids and feeding it from a bottle that he had left on the table. Vick is in the kitchen trying to rustle up something for lunch.
"What's going on Vick?" Rory whispers when he enters the kitchen.
"Can we talk about it after we eat?"
Rory agrees and takes over feeding the kids while they eat. Vick asks Rory if Trixa can go lay down in his bed and Rory agrees. After she goes in, Rory drags Vick outside and waits to hear the explanation while he is going about his chores.
"Well….?" Rory asks impatiently.
Vick won't look at him. Rory continues, "Is she not feeling well because she ate some bad food or she has a cold or is it some other reason?"
Vick looks guilty and quietly says, "some other reason."
"When is the baby coming?" demands Rory.
"Four and a half months."
"For God's sake, Vick. You're only 17! Do mom and Larazo know?" Vick nods yes. "Do they know where you are right now?" He shakes his head no. Rory doesn't say anything more about it. He just gives Vick some chores to do.
He goes into the house to check on the kids. He can hear Trixa vomiting through the closed door. His anger subsides a bit. He feels a bit sorry for the girl. Being around Primrose, he's picked up a few things about the pregnancy experience and realizes she probably shouldn't be having so much nausea at this point. It is usually only at the beginning.
He goes over and asks Mrs. Flannery to give Primrose a note when she goes into town this morning.
Primrose arrives a few hours later. He explains the situation and Primrose goes into the bedroom to look after the girl. Rory has Vick out splitting logs.
Primrose comes out to talk to Rory. "I think her nausea is just from the long train ride and the rich food they serve. I've given her something to calm her stomach and I'll give you a list of foods that should sit well like plain rice and dry toast. Just make sure she has plenty of water. I think she'll be fine in a day or two."
Just then Vick walks in the door. Primrose goes pale when she sees him and just sits down on the couch.
"Rosie, are you ok?" It's almost as if she has seen a ghost.
She doesn't speak at first. Finally she says, "He looks so much like Gale." She begins to cry.
Rory hugs her tight. Vick is flustered.
It takes Primrose a minute to recover but does. She apologizes for her rude behavior.
"Vick, this is Primrose Everdeen." This time it's Vick who sits down - his turn to be surprised. He didn't recognize her either. He realizes that her reaction is to be expected. He's heard the rumors about Gale being responsible for the attack on the children at the palace.
Trixia comes out of the bedroom to join them. She is looking a little better already. She sits down next to Primrose and leans over and lays her head on her shoulder. Primrose just puts her arms around the girl and talks to her.
"Rory, will you and Vick make us some dinner? Make sure there's a few things on the list for Trixia."
"While we do that, will you two feed the kids?" asks Rory.
The girls gladly take on the task and they talk and laugh like they are best friends as they do their job.
Rory decides to discuss logistics while they are getting things together for dinner. "Vick, you and Trixia are welcome to stay here for now. But my little house is not big enough for 3 adults – let alone 3 adults and a baby." Rory thinks he is using the term adults a little loosely, but these two have taken on an adult responsibility.
"I can feed you from the farm for now but I don't have extra money for the things you'll need for yourselves and especially for the baby. What are you going to do for money?" Rory hates to be so brutal so quickly but he knows he has to get his brother to comprehend the gravity of their situation.
"I don't know." Well, at least he's honest.
"What do you like to do? What were you good at in school?" Rory knows Vick wasn't much of a student but he's at a loss to know how to help him.
Vick thinks for minute. "I liked the woodworking classes we had at the detention center. I was getting putting good when my time was up."
"That's good." Rory thinks they can work with this. Vick wasn't very capable with most of the farm chores they did today but he was strong and split more logs in an hour than Rory could do in a half day. Like Gale could do.
Soon dinner was ready and the kids were back in their box napping.
Trixia makes an offer, "Rory, if you can get me some fabric, I can make you some new cushion covers for your couch and some real curtains for your windows. I was in seamstress training with your mom before we left."
Primrose smiles. Rory knows why. She's been nagging him to get rid of the old sheets that he had nailed up to the window frame when he moved in. And even he had to admit that the faded fabric on the couch looked terrible. The sturdy wooden frame was still in excellent shape and a little stain and new cushions would make it look like new. That gets the wheels turning inside Rory's head.
"I've got an idea. Do you remember old man Turner?"
Vick is thinking back. "Yeah, I think so. He made furniture."
"Yes, and he taught his son the trade but his son died during the bombings. He has no one to pass on his skills to. Maybe we can convince him to take you on as a sort of an apprentice. You and Trixia could work together. She can do upholstery."
The group decides it's a plan worth pursuing but soon Trixia starts looking droopy. Primrose offers to help her get ready for bed. But she doesn't come back. Rory softly knocks on the door but there is no answer. He finally peeks in and sees the two of them on the bed. Trixia is snuggled up to Primrose like a child would snuggle with a parent. She looks so young. Primrose looks so content in her sleep. It's kind of sad in a way. Primrose should be the one having a baby not this immature teenage runaway. Life's not fair sometimes.
Rory finds Vick standing next to him. "Well, Buddy, looks like I get the couch and you get the floor."
"Great…." says Vick pathetically.
Rory thinks ahead and realizes that Vick and Trixia will be taking over his bedroom and he is going to be stuck with the couch and the 'noisy neighbors.' He and Primrose will have one more thing in common.