Gale's POV
"Ready to go?" I call upstairs. We have to get to the Justice Building soon for the Victory Tour. Enobaria's tribute won the Games this year that we didn't see because Katniss was in labor, and we have to go meet her tribute before her speech. We eventually did see what happened that day in the recap. Frasier came in third, the girl's eye catching him hiding in the tall grasses. He put up a good fight, but from the sheer strength of a Career she finally tore his stomach up with her mace and pushed him into a bog. His cannon went off a few minutes later. District 12 was distraught when we came home, knowing that we were so close to winning and failing the last day. We're lucky that the tailor's wife is a forgiving woman-she came to greet us when we got off the train with tears in her eyes, but thanked us for doing all we could for her son. Even congratulated us on being new parents. Her forgiveness didn't make me feel less guilty, but it's nice to know that maybe all of our dead tributes' families don't despise us.
Coming home after the Games with Makenna was probably the best thing that could have happened, even with no Victor. Our families were ecstatic to meet her, and Makenna was gently passed from person to person and oohed and aahed over. When my mother held her for the first time I saw her crack the first real smile I've seen on her since Vick died. It doesn't make Vick's death (or my hatred for Snow and my own guilt) any better, but it helps. Having a baby can only help heal everyone's sad hearts.
"Coming!" Katniss answers, our sleeping five month old in her arms as she goes down the stairs. Once in the hallway she zips up Makenna's tiny jacket and hands her to me so she can put on her own before we leave.
We walk to the Justice Building hand in hand, me with a newly woken Makenna on my hip. We walk there quickly to get out of the chill and we're grateful for the warmth of the room where we wait with Haymitch for the newest Victor to arrive with the Wicked Bitch in tow.
When they come, it's safe to say that the two of them are hostile. The new Victor, I think her name's Minerva, stiffly holds out her hand to shake to the three of us and eyes Makenna with a look of annoyance. Instead of talking to us, she ignores us and goes back to Enobaria where they spend the rest of the time until the speech whispering to each other and occasionally glancing our way with distaste. Oh you have got to be fucking kid me. I mean I know Enobaria doesn't like us, but this is just ridiculous. Not like I really wanted to talk to her anyway, but still. Katniss and I glance at each other in confusion and fail to guess what that's about other than Enobaria doesn't like us and obviously poisoned the mind of her Victor against us. I look to Haymitch to see if he has a clue and he gives me an amused smirk in return but doesn't say anything.
Once Enobaria and Minerva leave, however, he easily lets out a string of guffaws.
"What was that?" Katniss questions him.
"She's pissed cause Squirt here overshadowed her Victory in the Capitol. Guess they still aren't over that." Haymitch informs us with a laugh.
Oh well…that's kind of funny actually. Katniss and I didn't even realize that we might be 'stealing her glory' or whatever because Frasier didn't win, Enobaria's tribute did. Guess Makenna was more exciting than the newest Victor. And Makenna did basically choose her own birthday because she came two weeks early-it just happened to be the last day of the Games this year. I bet Snow was kind of pissed at that too, but hey, it's sort of his fault. If he didn't want us to be entertainment in the first place we wouldn't have overshadowed his stupid Hunger Games.
When it comes to the dinner and ball, the Wicked Bitch and her minion still ignore us when they aren't looking at us with disgust, so we ignore them completely in return. Instead, we talk to the mayor and his wife through dinner. They are still sad over Madge's death, but with heavy hearts they seem to be getting along alright. The mayor assures us that when we want to teach our daughter our 'skills' (it's not like he can outright say what they are here even if most people know) he'll be sure to do what he can. It makes me glad that he likes us because that can only help-I think we have Madge to thank for that. When we have to start teaching (in no way am I going to say training) Makenna what we know, we will need that fence to be off for longer. The crackdown is still in full effect in 12, so having the mayor on our side is a blessing. Perhaps he even wants to help because he loved to help Madge with things. He can't possibly know what we know about her guaranteed reaping, could he? I don't think Haymitch talks to him too much so probably not.
Katniss's POV
We're on stage once again for the reaping, my eyes never leaving Prim in the sixteen year old section as the mayor does his speech before Effie sentences two children to the Hunger Games. Wow, my little duck is sixteen-the same age that I was when I went into the Games. It makes me feel old. Well, I guess so much has changed since then that it comes as no surprise. I'm married, have an almost one year old, and I'm twenty years old; the first two being things I would have laughed at you when I went into the Hunger Games if you told me that would be me in four years. If only I had known…
My mind is so occupied with thoughts of all the changes I've gone through that I miss the names completely. Luckily Prim is still in the sixteen year old section and when I glance at the stage I see that the boy is far too short to be Rory so I know that they are both safe for another year. One less worry on our chests as bad as that sounds. There are still two tributes we have to mentor, at least one of them sure to be dead all too soon and another face or two to haunt my nightmares.
Once the Mayor's final speech is complete and the tributes shake hands, Gale and I walk over to where our families are in the crowd to say goodbye. We hug and kiss all of them and once Prim and Rory find their way to us through the crowd we do the same to them. We take Makenna from my mother's arms and wave last goodbyes before walking to the car that will take us to the train.
Normally Makenna wouldn't be allowed to come to the Capitol, as Victor children are required to stay home while the Victor's are mentoring or just 'visiting.' Since our job is entertainment for the Capitol, however, apparently that means that Makenna is as well. We were 'requested' by Snow to come to a first birthday party at his mansion and bring the guest of honor, so this means that we will have her with us throughout the Games.
Really, I think this is just an excuse to abuse us for him to get money from the Capitolites, but this is one request I don't mind as much. I wouldn't have wanted to leave her for that long anyway so the exception is alright with me. What worries me is that if Snow continues these birthday parties through the years then Makenna will have to experience the Games from the Mentor Room every year. I know it stupid because the Games are required to watch for everyone, but when she's a little older she'll remember the tributes, see all their deaths from multiple screens and start asking questions. I'm worried how this will affect her. Luckily she's too young to remember this year and she wouldn't know what's going on anyway so for this year it will be better.
Our tributes are surprisingly young this year, what with tesserae participants skyrocketing from the crackdown and the older reaped children having far more slips. We have a fourteen year old girl and a thirteen year old boy, both Seam. The girl, Esme, tells us at dinner that first night on the train that she has five younger siblings and two parents to feed from tesserae, so I guess that sort of explains why she might have gotten chosen over an older girl. She had twenty four slips in the reaping bowl at the age of fourteen, more than even I had at the age of sixteen. The boy, Willard, doesn't talk much and quietly picks at his food.
Throughout the week Willard still doesn't talk much, but Esme tries at least. It makes me think that she hasn't given up even though I know she's terrified to die (understandable under the circumstances). Makenna helps her a lot, distracts her from her most likely impending death. Esme plays with her, talks to her and chasing my little girl around while she wobbles on her still a little unsteady legs with a smile on her face. It makes me think that Esme would make a great mother and as soon as I think that my mood darkens to realize that she probably will never get the chance to be.
On the first day of the Games, Gale and I go down to the Mentor Room with Makenna holding onto my hand as she slowly walks on her own. The Mentor Room is already a busy place but I can tell that the appearance of our little girl brings smiles to the stressed out mentors' faces. Finnick comes over instantly, abandoning his station to pick up Makenna and spin her around while she laughs happily. He smacks a big kiss on her cheek before settling her on his hip.
"Well I must say you have the cutest mentor in the room." Finnick jokes.
I roll my eyes but smile. "She's not a mentor Finnick."
"Well I'll take her as mine then." he grins back, "Say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy, Kennie!"
To our amusement, Makenna waves with a smile and says, "Bye bye!" We all laugh but Finnick doesn't actually take her away. Instead he gives her another kiss on her head and puts her down.
"So how's parenting?" Finnick questions us.
"Not bad." Gale says.
It's certainly not a walk in the park to have a baby after all. Makenna didn't sleep through the night until last month, but even that wasn't so horrible. It's not like Gale or I have slept well since our Games anyway, so getting up at random times during the night wasn't too different. Once she started crawling around and biting things we had to move a lot of stuff, trying to keep sharp objects out of her reach. The crying is what flustered me the most, because it took me a long time to figure out if she was hungry, tired, or just mad about something. She's been better about the crying in the last few months, but it still happens. And she needs so much attention and watching that it takes most of our time. Luckily we have time since we don't have to work, but still. It sounds bad, but I'll be glad when she's a little older so I can hunt again every day. Does that make me a bad mother for wanting that? Maybe, but I never thought I would be the best mother anyway.
"You're lucky to have her." Finnick replies almost jealously.
"Why don't you and Annie have kids?" I ask him. I mean, it's really the obvious solution.
He shakes his head, "I…I couldn't do that. Not to my own kids. With Annie being a Victor too, any kid of ours would be guaranteed to be re-" Finnick begins but cuts himself off when he realizes who he's talking to.
"We know." Gale replies in a low voice, assuring him that he shouldn't beat himself up for bringing up that point. "Snow's…already told us."
"What a surprise." Finnick mutters darkly, his eyes finding Makenna and not leaving her. "What are you going to do?"
"Teach her everything we know. You're from a Career District; you know how this sort of thing works better than we do." Gale replies bitterly.
"You're right." Finnick replies, "Teach her early, teach her everything. I'll help with what I can too."
We nod in response-we'll take all the help we can get on this matter. Gale and I hadn't really talked about when to start teaching her things, but if we should start early then we better begin in a few years.
"Do you have an idea when he'll do it?" he questions.
I frown with a shake of my head. "Haymitch doesn't think it will be when she's twelve because that would be too obvious, but he's pretty certain it will be no later than fifteen." And I guess that sort of makes sense. Snow would want her on the younger side so that she would be at more of a disadvantage and we wouldn't have her as long.
With that in mind, we remember our own young tributes and realize that we should probably actually look at the arena since the Games start in about half an hour, so Finnick goes back to his station and we take a quick look the arena at ours.
The Games begin and unsurprisingly, Willard dies in the bloodbath. Esme, however, miraculously misses being hit with a knife coming right at her and sprints into the woods with a small sack in hand. She makes it through the first night but on the second the Careers find her, and I turn Makenna's face to my chest so she won't see anything even if she won't remember anyway.
For the rest of the Games Gale and I help Finnick along with Johanna, and Makenna is a very helpful distraction to most of the mentors in the room. On her birthday, Cecelia and several of the other mentors who no longer have tributes (the Games are down to five now) bring a cake with one candle on it. I blow out the candle for her because she doesn't know how and let her taste her first cake. She ends up putting her hand in it and gets icing and cake all over her, much to everyone's amusement.
The Games end three days later with the boy from District 1 winning, and Gale, Makenna, and I go to wait for the birthday party tomorrow at Snow's mansion while the other Victors prepare to leave for home aside from District 1. Since no one knew when the Games would end, Snow apparently decided that the party would take place while the newest Victor was being put back together before their recap and interview. I'm sort of glad it's not her real birthday because the cake in the Mentor Room I'm certain will be a lot nicer of a celebration than the one tomorrow. At least those are people who know us.
Cinna has designed her dress for the party and I'm glad that he at least will be there. Once again we're going to a party where we basically know no one and it's for something that the guests shouldn't even be at. Her dress is pink with a glittery green one on the chest of it (I looked at Cinna strangely at that but he explained that this is what Capitolites expect at a birthday party. Apparently it's so when they're drunk out of their minds they still know how old the birthday kid is), and a pink flower headband on her soft head of ebony hair.
We arrive at the mansion for the party and Makenna is the delight of all the Capitolites. They all want a chance to take a picture with her, hold her (which I hate) and pinch her little cheeks. Gale and I have to control ourselves to not rip our daughter out of their colorful and tattooed arms, but somehow manage. It helps that none of them clearly mean any harm to Makenna, as they talk to her like she's the most precious and adorable child ever and no one drops her or anything. In fact, it's not until I smell that scent of blood and roses that I've come to hate (the scent has made Gale choke on it since his first meeting with him but I've certainly caught up to that by now) that I freeze and squeeze Makenna a little closer to me.
"So I finally get to meet the newest Hawthorne." Snow's voice says. I turn around and see that he's smiling and he says it so happily, but in his eyes I can see him boring into her. It makes me almost cringe so he can see it. In fact, I do hold my breath. "Won't you let me hold your adorable daughter?"
No. No you are certainly not allowed to hold her. But there are cameras flashing at the President actually showing up to the party at his own home (it rarely happens) and everyone is waiting for me to give her to him. He holds out his hands as his eyes look almost like vultures waiting to attack its prey with a smile and I want to run with her. Make her disappear so that this vile evil man who already assured me that she's going into the Games can't take her away from me. But I know if I did that it would only make things far far worse. So barely controlling my shaking, I hold Makenna out to him. He holds her, smiles for the cameras as Gale and I fight with every instinct we have to rip her out of his arms. We put on fake smiles for the cameras as Snow enjoys making us feel awful.
He caresses her little cheek and I want to strangle him. "What an adorable little girl you are Makenna." he says in a sickeningly sweet voice. He turns to the crowd, "What do you think about a birthday party every year?" he offers, to which they cheer. What? As if this wasn't enough, he's got to torture us more? Make us come here to celebrate her getting older when he's already numbered her years? That sick bastard. He finally hands her back to me and I press her a little too quickly into my arms. Snow chuckles at my protectiveness before leaving with a satisfied smile on his face.