A/N - Some of you reviewers make me laugh, in the best way possible. I'm thinking that this will be the last chapter, but if there's a clamoring for more, I'll start up a new one :)
Over Peeta's shoulder, I see about a dozen people, all of which look mad. Plus, they are all looking straight at the five of us. I scoop Ari into my arms and she holds her little arms out for Peeta. He takes her but keeps his stance in front of me.
One dark blond man in a been-through-hell dark suit steps forward and points his finger at us, "We just want her. Her alone."
Gale and Peeta turn to the President and then me. "The Mockingjay bitch! She took our lives away from us!" He screams at them.
I try to step forward, but Peeta blocks me and shakes his head at me. He looks back at the small crowd and states, "She saved your children from a fate that was unnecessary! She voted to keep the Games from happening to your children!"
That isn't true, I never actually said no when it came to my turn for explanation, but they don't need to know that. The older blond man speaks again, his voice even angrier. "She is the reason why we have to live the way….you all were living! Everything's all 'equal' now and I want my home back!"
The President suddenly laughs and steps forward, or as much as she can since Gale won't let her past him either. "That's why you want her? You seriously think that she had anything to do with how the Capitol is running now? She's young and what she did or didn't do had nothing to with what is happening now."
I'm so confused. Snow had thought that the trick with the berries was a slap in the Capitol's face, his face. I had thought that maybe it would keep us from having to kill one another. Peeta and hundreds of others, maybe thousands, thought it was because I loved him too much to live without him. I still don't even understand how it came to a revolution, but here we are.
"Listen, lady, just turn her over and we'll leave you alone!" Out of the corner of my eye, I see five of the President's guards coming around the corner stealthily. I carefully turn my head the other way and see three more coming around from the other side of the house. Now I'm grateful that she had so much detail with her.
"It's not going to happen, sir. I suggest you calm yourself and your cronies down before you get yourselves into even more trouble." He just gives her the finger and in seconds, all but four of them are on their knees, having been shot with taser guns. The four just look at their partners in crime and kneel down quickly. I guess that means that they won't cause a fuss. Gale steps aside and Tess walks down to them. Picking a young handsome-looking man, she asks him, "Why did you really come here?"
He looks up at her, his eyes are a weird almost purple color; they can't be naturally that way. His voice is shaky when he answers, "David told us that if we got the Mockingjay that we might be able to use her to get our lives back to what they were."
"Did he tell you that the reason your life is now the way it is because a majority of the people voted on it? Did he tell you that even many in the Capitol were very understanding in the new way of life?" Her voice is very calm, but authoritative too. I would have voted for her had I known what was going on, but we really wanted nothing more to do with politics.
He just shakes his sandy blond hair and tears start to well up in his eyes. "He's my uncle. He said that no woman should ever have that much control over so many people and that it was a huge mistake for so many to have fallen for her tricks." He points a finger at me.
"I realize that having a woman in charge is scary for many people, but like I already said, there were a lot who voted fair and square on who would be in charge. Get up, the four of you, please." Some of the others who were tased start to groan and roll around. Tess' guards are surrounding them, so there's no need to worry about them at all. The four all stand, three men, one woman. They all look like they could easily be related now that I am looking at them. "Did any of you vote? Have your say in any way?"
The woman and one man nod their heads and the other two shake theirs. The young man did not vote and I wonder why he's complaining, so I ask, "How can any of you be mad if you didn't even bother to vote on your options?"
Peeta has finally moved and I am standing next to him, though still on the porch. The young man looks at me, "I'm not old enough to. I'm only sixteen."
"So, you could have been reaped had Coin still been in charge and there were another set of Games? Would that really have been better? She had every intention of making your lives much harder than they are now, I guarantee it." I'm pretty sure that's how it would have been anyway. She had a vindictive side, that's for sure.
The young man cocks his head to the side, thinking about what I said. He shakes his head and looks down at the ground. "I didn't think about it like that."
"Of course not, you only know how to always get what you want; it's how you were raised." I can't blame him, not really. Ever since the Capitol became how it was, children there never knew anything different. He looks at me again and nods his head, then looks at Tess.
"What will you do to us?"
She looks at him and the rest, who are starting to sit up, rubbing various parts of their bodies that had been tased. "Well, you didn't succeed in your mission, but you knew that I was coming here to see the Mellark family. This is something new, we will all go back to the Capitol and have to see if there's anything on the books for a punishment."
"Wait! This was all David's idea! Why would the rest of us get into trouble too?" The woman asks.
"He may have been…..I dare say, brains, of the operation, but you all followed him from the Capitol to District 12 with the intention of doing harm to another." Tess explains, she looks back at us and winks at me. She's trying to scare them, maybe get more information from them. It's hard for me to keep my face blank, but I manage. I notice Ari starting to squirm in Peeta's arms and take her.
"But we weren't going to actually hurt her, just take her." The woman explains, as if that is a better idea.
Tess can't help the smile that creeps onto her face with that admission. "Well, now that just changes everything, right?"
The woman nods happily, stupidly really.
"I guess we'll just throw you in jail for attempted kidnapping. Yep, that works. Guys go ahead, round them up and get them to a locked cart on the train. They can wait there until I'm ready to leave." Tess clarifies. Her guard puts cuffs on everyone and walks them away to the train station. All twelve of my would be captors are shaking their heads. Not a good idea to come after someone who was having dinner with the most powerful person in Panem.
Tess clasps her hands together and bursts out in laughter. Gale smiles at her and goes down to her, while Peeta and I look at one another. Is she having a breakdown of some kind? We go down the steps to them and I let Ari down, she just plops herself down in the grass and starts to rip it up.
"Wow, I hate to say it, but some Capitol people really make me wonder." She explains between fits of giggles. "Some are just so dumb! I mean, really, coming after you when I'm here? Dear God, what were they thinking?"
I start to laugh with her and soon all of us are laughing. Ari just looks at us like we're all crazy. I guess my life was never really in any danger with Tess being here. We decide to go back inside for dessert. A simple apple pie with pecans in the crust. There's even ice cream, which we hadn't had since we left the Capitol, so it's a real treat. By the time we're done with that, Ari is covered in ice cream and we make our departure.
"I am sorry that our dinner was marred by a few idiots. They always have a way of ruining a nice time. There was one thing that I would like to ask the both of you though." She mentions as we are walking towards the front door. I turn to her and Peeta stops.
"You want us to do something for the Capitol, don't you?" I ask her. She nods and smiles,
"It's nothing too big. I just wanted to send a crew over here to show how well you two are getting on with your lives here in twelve. Just follow you around for a couple of days. A couple of camera people with you and a couple with Peeta, just doing what you two do naturally, everyday stuff. A lot of people are curious what's happened since you two came back here." She explains. That doesn't seem too bad, better than when we were being followed with cameras during our last outing in the Capitol.
I look at Peeta and he shrugs his shoulders, leaving me to answer. "I suppose, as long as whoever is with me is extremely quiet when I go hunting. I can't have noisy people with me while I'm doing what I do."
Tess smiles and grabs my hands. "Great! I'm so glad. I will personally pick the camera crew. I'll let you know when they're coming."
We start to head towards the door again and Gale holds it open for us. "Never a dull moment with you around, Catnip." He shakes Peeta's free hand, as he's holding Ari again and smiles at me. I guess he's happier now, and I have never been happier since we got back here.
As soon as we get home, Peeta takes Ari up to bathe her and get her ready for bed, while I call Johanna just as I promised. She starts laughing so loudly that I have to hold the phone away from my ear when I tell her about the wannabe kidnappers.
"What a bunch of dicks! Really, Katniss, they thought that you hold that much power over the new President? Idiots, the whole lot of them!" I'm so glad she can laugh at them. I have to admit to her that I was scared for a moment. What if they had gotten to me?
"That was never going to happen, Katniss. You know as well as I do, that Peeta would have dropped Ari off with Sae and come after you. That man would go to the ends of the Earth for you and back if that's what it took."
"True." I hear from behind me and Peeta wraps his arms around my middle. "Bye Johanna, she'll talk to you this weekend." He takes the phone from me and hangs it up. "I think it's time to show you just how much I love you, Mrs. Mockingjay."
Before I know it, he scoops me up and carries me up the stairs, kissing me deeply the entire way. It's going to be a great way to end this eventful night.