(A/N): Hello, we're back with more one-shots as we return you to the world of pre-Games Kate Bishop, written as always by robbiepoo2341. Robbie's taking us on a nice little tour of life in District Twelve over the years for Kate, and we hope you enjoy it.

Thanks again to sailorraven34 for the review. We hope you continue to love the world we're working to create here!

Susie

Kate Bishop of District Twelve

Written by robbiepoo2341

"There can be no situation in life in which the conversation of my dear sister will not administer some comfort to me." –Mary Montagu

"That's the best thing about little sisters: They spend so much time wishing they were elder sisters that in the end they're far wiser than the elder ones could ever be." --Gemma Gurgess

"Susie, how come Dad bought you a new dress?"

Kate was sitting on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs back and forth. Kate didn't have a new dress to wear, even though she was getting taller every day — Susan said so! — so why shouldn't she have her own new dress?

Susan had a pretty dress, and it was purple, which was Kate's favourite colour. Daddy was always getting that mixed up — Susan liked pink, and Kate liked purple. Why was that so hard?

Kate wore her own pink, frilly, lacy thing. The lace at the edges of the sleeves itched where it met her bare skin, and she hated it, and she told Susan so.

Susan just laughed and picked Kate up underneath her arms. (Kate hated it when Susan did that, but Susan was five years older than she was, so what could she do to fight? The answer was obviously to lick Susan's hand to gross her out and make her let go, but Kate didn't do that this time.) When Susan set her down again, she was crouching so that she and Kate were looking each other in the eyes. "I get a new dress because I'm awesomer than you, obviously," she said.

Kate stuck her tongue out at her older sister. "That's a lie," she said.

Susan giggled. Then, without warning, she pounced. She grabbed Kate around the middle and started tickling.

Kate gasped, bending every which way in an attempt to get away, to breathe. When Susan finally let go, Kate's hair had come down out of its braids, and she was missing a shoe.

While Kate continued to giggle, Susan helped her into a chair so that she could redo the braids. Susan had always been really good at doing hair and at making clothes look pretty.

"I got a new dress," Susan said quietly, "because today's my first Reaping where my name's in."

Kate nodded sagely, even though she didn't quite understand. She knew that lots of kids had their names in the Reaping bowl, but Daddy was always saying that his girls would never get picked. And Daddy might have been annoying, but he was usually right when it came to the important stuff. Except when he was wrong and Kate was right, because Kate was always right.

"I wanted purple," Kate said, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

Susan laughed, then reached up to take the purple ribbon out of her own hair. She had intricately braided it into her hair, too, so that meant Susan would have to redo her own locks, but Kate didn't care, because it looked so cool in her own, black braid.

Kate went searching for her missing shoe while Susan fixed up her hair in the mirror. She found it behind the table and slipped it onto her foot.

"Susie?" she called over.

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to be scared," Kate said. She had crossed the room to come give her sister a hug, because hugs always worked when Kate was scared, so they would probably work on Susan. "Somebody else will go die, and you'll just be home looking really pretty and making lots of boyfriends," she teased.

But Susan looked like she might cry, so Kate's hugs must not have worked.

Kate frowned. She wrapped her arms around her big sister's middle so that the older Bishop couldn't go anywhere.

"Kate…"

"You're my best friend," Kate said into the folds of her sister's dress. "And I'm pretty sure that means I get to keep you forever, okay?"

"Okay." Susan reached down and ruffled Kate's hair — but not too much, since she probably didn't want to have to redo it.

Kate didn't really understand why Susan was so upset this year. She sat down at the kitchen table and played with the hem of her skirt (purple this year, at last) while her older sister hemmed and hawed over her reflection in the mirror.

"Susie?" she asked quietly. "Would you do my hair?"

Susan stopped looking in the mirror and looked over at Kate, and her entire expression changed. A huge grin broke out over her face, and she practically skipped across the room.

"You didn't think I forgot about you, did you, Katie?"

Katie made a face. She hated it when Susan called her that, and maybe when she was twelve and old enough to go to her own Reaping, Susan would think she was grown up enough to stop calling her that.

Although, come to think of it, Kate still called her sister Susie…

Susan worked her magic, and it always felt nice for Kate when she got her hair done. Susan never pulled or hurt her head, and she always made Kate look so pretty!

"You're thinking about a boy," Kate said as Susan put the finishing touches on Kate's hair. This year, Susan had curled Kate's hair into a cool little design that pulled through in the back. It looked really pretty. All the other girls in school were always telling Kate that she was so lucky to have a sister who did her hair like that, and Kate knew it was true.

Susan sighed as she took one more look in the mirror. "Is it that obvious?"

"I've known you my whole life, Susie. You always look like a nincompoop when you're thinking about a boy."

"Nincompoop? Who taught you that word?"

Kate snorted. "I'm ten years old, Susie. I'm not a kid anymore."

Susan laughed and gave Kate a huge hug, snuggling right in so that their noses were almost touching. "Don't say things like that," Susan teased. "You're never going to grow up, okay? You'll always be my baby sister."

Kate made a face. "I'm not a baby."

"Oh, yes you are," Susan teased. She swept Kate up in her arms, pulling her legs out from underneath her so that she was carrying Kate bridal style.

Kate pushed against her sister, laughing as they both tumbled into a heap. It took several long minutes for the wave of giggling and pushing and tickling to subside, and when it did, they fell into silence.

Finally, Kate said, "I think it's that boy from school."

Susan looked over at Kate with raised eyebrows.

"I think he's cute," Kate continued, undeterred. "I think you should get married."

"Look at you in your new dress."

Susan was waiting for Kate outside Kate's bedroom door. Kate was wearing pink again this year, because Daddy had bought her a new dress and forgot again that her favourite colour was purple.

Kate shifted uncomfortably in the dress. It was really poufy, and she didn't like it.

"You look gorgeous," Susan gushed, drawing her into a huge hug. But her eyes were full of tears, and Kate knew why.

This was Kate's first Reaping. She hadn't understood, before, what that meant. When Susan had gone, it had all seemed so distant, so unreal. Even though she knew in her head that her sister might get drawn, it was different actually being part of it. Her name was only in there once, but it was still … scary.

"You really do," said a new voice from the hallway. It was Jack, Susan's boyfriend. He was nice, and Kate liked him, but it was still weird. He'd been hanging out in their house almost every single day, and while Kate appreciated that he would play with her and sometimes picked her up and swung her around or gave her piggyback rides, it wasn't the same as having her older sister all to herself.

"It's that growth spurt," Susan said, suddenly standing up a little straighter and speaking with a little more of an airy tone. She turned into such a flirt when Jack was around — it was almost funny. "People are already saying she looks at least fourteen."

Kate grinned at that. She liked that people thought she was older. It made her feel less like the baby of the family.

Jack laughed. "Don't go rushing too fast," he said. He always sounded like he was smiling, even when he wasn't. Kate liked that, and she was trying to be like that, too. "Next thing you know, she'll be dating."

Susan gasped in mock terror and flung her arms around Kate. "Oh, that's horrid!" she exclaimed. Then, turning to Kate, she said, "Well, there's nothing for it. We're just going to have to lock you up until you're twenty-nine."

Kate stuck her tongue out at her sister. She'd heard it all before, and she knew they were just teasing her because it was her first Reaping, and she knew she looked scared. And she knew Susan was scared for her, because Susan looked like she was going to cry again. She'd cried and cried all last night when she thought Kate couldn't hear.

Susan hadn't always been like that. But she had such a tender heart that the older she got, the more she saw of the world. And Susan didn't like it.

Kate knew more than Susan gave her credit for knowing. She knew that Susan cried when people died in the mines. She knew that Susan cried through the whole Avenger Games. She knew that Susan cried every time Daddy got a new girlfriend. She knew that Susan cried every time she saw someone who had died overnight of hunger. Susan wasn't built to stand a place like District Twelve, and Kate privately thought that only Jack was keeping her from going insane.

It was a good thing they were going to get married.

Kate had overheard them talking about it. This year was Jack's last Reaping, and next year was Susan's. As soon as they were both old enough not to get Reaped, they were going to hold a big wedding. Lots of people — the day after Reaping Day. Kate hadn't asked yet, but she really wanted to be the flower girl, and she was sure Susan would say yes.

Kate took her usual seat in the kitchen chair and let Susan do her hair. Susan had decided to do a particularly tricky braid that went all the way around Kate's head and then came back into a neat little rose-shaped thing at the back. It took Susan a long time to learn, and Kate's head had been pretty sore from letting Susan practice, but Susan had seen it on TV, so she wanted to try it out.

Susan was always watching TV. Kate thought that secretly Susan was always pretending that she lived in the Capitol and not in District Twelve.

"There, now. All done! Doesn't she look amazing?" Susan declared.

Kate turned to look at herself in the mirror and then rushed to give her sister the most arm-crunching hug she could manage. She didn't let go for a long time, not until Jack cleared his throat and said that they should really get going. They didn't want to miss the Reaping.

Susan and Jack walked arm-in-arm all the way to the Reaping, with Kate trailing along behind — but when they had to separate, Susan switched into Big Sister mode.

Kate liked Big Sister mode better than Girlfriend Mode.

Susan looped her arm through Kate's as they walked toward the lady who was supposed to prick their fingers and take their blood.

"Now, don't worry, Katie," Susan was saying in Kate's ear, but Kate didn't need anyone to hold her hand. She strolled right up and held out her finger and even managed not to cry out when the needle hurt more than she had expected.

Kate was trying to be brave. For Susan's sake.

But when the time came, she realized that she was still holding one of Susan's hands in her own, and her fingers just wouldn't let go.

Susan crouched down so that their eyes were level. She looked at Kate and said, "Do you remember what you told me on my first Reaping Day?"

Kate shook her head. There were so many people, and they were all staring at the kids, and Kate could see people she knew from school, and how awful would it be if they were chosen?

Susan must have known that Kate was spiralling, because she pulled her little sister in closer for a hug. "Listen to me," she said, and her voice sounded stronger and better than Kate had heard it in a long time. Kate wanted to stay there in that hug for forever and never go back.

"You're my best friend," Susan said. "And I'm pretty sure that means I get to keep you forever."

Kate went to go stand in line with the other twelve-year-olds, and ten minutes of holding her breath later, she wasn't sure why she was ever so scared, because she and Susan and Jack were all safe, and it was easy to forget how scared she was when they got home and Jack and Susan picked her up by her arms and legs and played airplanes.

Kate was really too old for airplanes, but it was fun anyway.

It was Susan's last Reaping Day, which meant that Kate's big sister was getting married tomorrow.

They didn't have new dresses just for the Reaping this time, which meant Kate had to wear the pink thing that Dad bought her last year again. But that was okay. She was going to wear a pretty purple and pink dress that Susan had picked out just for her so that she could be the flower girl. And besides, she was getting too old now to really care about pink and purple. She had even gone out near the fence to pick some flowers.

Of course, the prettiest flowers were over the fence, but Kate didn't know yet how to get to the other side of it. She thought about it a lot, because Susan was gone all the time now, and Kate was looking for something new to occupy her time. Something more adventurous. Being alone in the house when Dad was always gone was so boring.

And of course, that was how it should be. Susan was supposed to spend all her time with the boy who was going to be her husband. But it didn't make the hurt sting any less.

Susan didn't have time to do Kate's hair this Reaping Day, and it was the first year that had ever happened. But that was okay, too. Kate had pulled her big sister aside and explained, in no uncertain terms, that Susan was going to be married, and that meant that she needed to focus on her own family now. And make little baby Susans so she could do their hair.

Susan had cried and told Kate that she was so grown up. Kate had cried only after Susan was gone into the other room.

So Kate stood in her bedroom, facing her mirror. She didn't really know how to do hair, but she had brushed it out so that it laid flat and then stuck a headband on top. That was passable.

When she came down to the kitchen, Daddy and his girlfriend had already gone, which meant she had to walk to the Reaping by herself. It wasn't that Kate minded, really. It just would have been nice to have somebody to walk with.

She saw a few people that she knew from school on her way, but they didn't stop to say hello to her or anything. Kate had lots of friends at school, but as they got older, a lot of them spent less time at school, and Kate didn't see them as much. A few of them were home taking care of their parents or their siblings. One girl had starved, and Kate hadn't learned about it until three days later.

That was awful.

Kate pulled down the hem of her dress, wishing that it would go past her knees. She hadn't realized that she'd had another growth spurt, and now her legs were too long for the rest of her, knobby knees sticking out and looking awkward. She hoped that she would grow up into the beauty that her sister was, but for now, she was stuck in the weird-looking stage.

Not that you'd know it, if the looks one of the Sentinels gave her as she passed by were anything to judge by. Kate shuddered. She didn't like being looked at that way. It made her feel … uneasy.

She met up with Susan close to where everyone was gathering. Jack had given her one last hug before he went off to stand with the adults, and Susan was standing there looking over the crowd, probably trying to spot Kate.

Kate sidled up to her sister and gave her a big hug. "Are you excited for tomorrow?" she asked.

Susan's entire face broke out into a grin. "You know it," she said. "Everybody's going to be there! And Daddy sprang for the apple crisps that I asked him to get. You know how he likes to spoil us. And I asked Jack about the colours…"

Kate smiled as her sister droned on and on about the wedding preparations. She'd heard it all before, and it was nice to see Susan get so excited about things like that. Kate didn't really care much about fashion, but she'd learned so much from Susan that she could hardly keep from noticing the way their Capitol escort, Ian Boothby, was dressed. Susan was right — orange was currently the "in" colour.

Kate wandered over to stand with the 13-year-olds, and she daydreamed through the entire Reaping. It was much easier to daydream through things like that when the little blonde girl they called up — her name was Cassandra — burst into tears. She looked like she was maybe Kate's age.

There was a girl in the 13-year-olds section, one that Kate had never seen before — so she probably didn't go to school. She had bushy, black hair and an expression on her face that screamed "murder." Kate wondered if this girl and Cassandra had been friends, but she didn't dwell on it too much. Instead, she thought about what kind of music there would be at Susan's wedding.

It was different this year — going to the Reaping. Less lonely, somehow. Maybe it was because Kate knew more of the faces in the crowd.

But it was also terrifying.

Kate had always been terrified of the Reaping, of course, but in more of an abstract way. She'd been scared that Susan would end up going, but as she got older, she understood why that wasn't very likely. And she'd been scared that she would get her name drawn, but she only had her name in three times this year.

Billy Kaplan, over there in the 13-year-old boys section — he already had his name in thirteen times. Kate didn't want him to get picked. He was really nice to her, and he and Teddy had made a real effort to make Kate feel included in their group, even though she had only been with them for a year. Billy's brother, Tommy, had his name in about thirty times (maybe more; he said he lost track), but that was because Tommy was always getting in trouble with the Sentinels, so sometimes he had to put his name in more often to get as much food as Billy got.

Teddy, standing next to Billy, as usual, had his name in twenty times, even though this was only his second Reaping. He didn't have foster parents like Billy and Tommy did, so he and America (who also didn't have parents) hung out in the abandoned storm cellar that their group called their base. Eli sort of lived there, too, and so did Nathaniel Richards, sometimes, but mostly Teddy and America hung out there.

America was standing next to Kate. She was wearing the same dress that she wore last year, and it was too tight in the sleeves, so she'd torn the sleeves off. Kate could only imagine what Susan was probably saying, somewhere in the crowd of adults, about "that wild girl next to Kate."

Susan didn't really know any of Kate's new friends, and Kate didn't think she would even introduce them. Here were two worlds that definitely didn't need to cross. Susan probably couldn't handle knowing that Kate was hanging out with kids who were — how would she put it? — so far beneath them on the social ladder?

Kate smiled at the thought and then turned her attention to Ian Boothby, who had shuffled forward to begin the Reaping. He called out the names of two kids that Kate didn't know, and Kate pretended not to be ridiculously relieved as she turned to America and grinned.

"Well," America said with a grim smile, "at least this year they didn't get another one of us."

Kate frowned. She hadn't really known Cassie before she'd been sent to the Games, but she and her newly acquired group of friends had watched that year's Games more intensely than Kate had ever watched them before.

It was different, watching the Games with people who'd been close to the girl on the screen. It made it more real.

Billy had cried for a week after Cassie died, and so had Teddy, though he made everyone swear not to tell Billy, because Teddy had been a crutch for Billy that whole week. Tommy disappeared somewhere and didn't show up again for a month. Eli went after him, and Nathaniel locked himself up in his room to tinker.

America had taken a different approach. She went the beat-everything-in-sight-to-a-pulp route, and that meant Kate had become target practice. Kate had learned the basics of fighting pretty fast after that.

And it never really went away, Kate knew, because she could see it on the looks on all her friends' faces as they filed out of the square, away from the hated podium where the glass bowls were still standing. It had been a year, and the pain was still there.

Kate was just about to go talk to Tommy, who looked like he wanted to talk to her, but Susan got to her first.

Susan wrapped her arms around Kate and pulled her into a big hug, and Kate just melted into her big sister without meaning to. She forgot about Tommy — she'd see him later — and focused instead on her sister.

"You made it through another year," Susan breathed into Kate's hair as she hugged Kate even tighter.

"Susie, I can't breathe," Kate complained.

Susan released her and laughed girlishly. "Sorry," she said. She surveyed Kate. "Where did you get that dress?" she asked. "I thought you were going to wear your flower girl dress this year."

Kate had a harder time smiling now as she thought of the dress, which was strung out in pieces all over the forest floor beyond the fence. She'd ripped it to shreds and donated the shreds to Richards' traps so that she and America could find them more easily. Just look for the little pink ribbons, and you're about two steps from a trap, she knew.

But she didn't tell Susan that. She didn't want Susan to know that she'd never, ever wear that dress again, because the last time she'd worn it had been the day she… had been the day that Sentinel…

Well, it had been the day she joined Eli Bradley's little band of adventurers.

So she just shrugged. "I grew out of it," she said. "It didn't fit me anymore."

Susan sighed. "You should have brought it to me! I could have fixed it up no problem," she said. Her eyes were gleaming. "I told you about the sewing business I've got going, didn't I?"

Kate shook her head. Susan and Jack often came over for Sunday dinners, but Jack and Dad spent most of the time talking shop (since Jack was following his father-in-law into the merchant business), so Kate usually didn't pay much attention during dinner.

"Oh! I thought I'd mentioned it," Susan said, looking dismayed. But then she brightened up. "Oh, but it's such a good business. I don't charge very much, of course, because, you see, there's so many people in this district who can't afford to pay what I'd like to charge, but just before Reaping Day I'm always so busy with dresses and dress shirts and all sorts of things that people are trying to make last for one more year."

Susan launched into a discussion of the different types of alterations and fabrics that she had been going through for the past few weeks, and Kate found herself walking arm in arm through the district with her big sister — something she hadn't done in what felt like ages.

It was strange, talking with Susan again. Like nothing had changed. Like Susan was still just her big sister and not a married woman with her own problems and life to deal with. Like Kate was still just the little sister and not a thrill-seeking adventurer who got into fights with her friends almost every day and could hit almost every target America had set up for teaching her the bow and arrow.

But Kate couldn't tell Susan about how much she loved archery. She couldn't talk about the bow Richards had given her or the arrows that Tommy was always running around collecting for her because he was always trying to be nice to her. She couldn't talk about how America had tried to teach Kate more hand-to-hand, and Kate was pretty good at that… But nothing was as wonderful as archery.

But Kate could talk with Susan about fashion, and so they walked past the fence (Kate spotted her hiding spot for her bow as they walked) and chatted about how green was the latest "in" colour and how Susan was sure that someday it would be purple, and wouldn't that be so nice for Kate?

Kate dropped Susan off at her house with promises to come visit more often, and then she took off running to go catch up with Tommy. He'd promised to take her to go see a lake somewhere outside the fence, and they needed America to help boost them over.

"Well."

"Well."

Kate was sitting in the receiving room, her head still reeling. Her father was standing in the corner, talking with Jack about what an outrage this was, how absurd it was that Kate's name had been drawn. But Susan? Susan was quiet.

Susan had squatted down so that she was eye-level with Kate, the way she used to do when they were little. Only this time she was doing it because Kate couldn't bring herself to leave her chair.

"I…" Susan paused, searching for words. Kate didn't have any to give her. "I…brought a brush."

Kate stared at her sister, surprised. Of all the things she had expected, that was the last on her list. She watched, still silent, as Susan brought a little hairbrush out of her dress pocket.

"I thought… I thought maybe I might do your hair."

Kate didn't trust herself to speak. She was too scared that she would cry. So she bit her lip and nodded, and Susan, who had been crying this whole time, came to stand behind Kate's chair.

Susan set to work, brushing out Kate's long locks. She was gentle, as always, but she didn't take as long as she usually did. It used to be that Susan would spend hours brushing through Kate's hair, until it shone like new roof shingles in the sun. But they only had ten minutes.

With each brush stroke, Kate could feel something wet on her head, like big, fat raindrops. She knew it was because Susan was crying, and Kate wiped at her own eyes, determined to make it through this without breaking.

When Susan finished, she walked around to face Kate again and surveyed her handiwork. "There," she said. "They'll … they'll love you in the Capitol." Her face contorted again, and she started to sob, but when Kate reached up to hug her sister, Susan pushed her away.

"Wait. I've got one more thing."

Susan reached into her bag and pulled out a purple headband. "I know you're awful at braids and twists," Susan explained. "So I thought maybe you could take this. It's more your style anyway."

Wordlessly, Kate took the headband. It had teeth on the inside that prickled her, but she didn't tell Susan that her gift was probably disadvantageous. She just smiled and tried not to cry.

"Everyone will want to wear the 'Kate Bishop look' when you get home," Susan said, before she burst into tears again.

This time, Susan didn't stop Kate when she rushed over to wrap her arms around her big sister. This time, Kate didn't stop herself from crying. This time, the two sisters knelt next to each other on the floor, with nothing but the sound of the men in their lives whispering words of comfort nearby.

"Susie?" Kate whispered underneath her sister's arms.

Susan looked down at Kate, her eyes glistening. "Yeah?"

"Remember what I told you, on your first Reaping Day?"

Susan's voice broke. "Yeah."

"You're my best friend," Kate said. "I'm pretty sure that means I get to keep you forever." She rested her head on her sister's shoulder as she added, "So don't worry. When I get back, I'll even let you design some outfits for me, okay?"

Susan had gone quiet, like she didn't trust herself to respond, and Kate looked up to say something, anything more to her sister. But the Sentinel arrived to announce that their time was up, and Kate could only stare down at the headband in her lap.