A/N: In honor of Mother's Day. Wishing all of you and your families a happy day.
They were making do, barely - and largely thanks to what had been stored away and scrimped and saved thanks to Katniss' hunting. Back before the whipping. Gale was back to working in the mines, re-opening the scars on his back under the heavy physical exertion. There was no other option, though, and Rory helped him bandage his back when he needed it.
Hazelle was working at Haymitch's now. She never rested, constantly working to care for the family. Even on Sunday, she checked in on Haymitch after the victors trained. Right now Gale was thankful for that, this hour while his Ma was out of the house was the only time they'd have to prepare their surprise.
He had talked to each of his siblings two nights ago, tucking them in to bed. Posy had wanted to draw her a picture. Vick had wanted to sing her a song. Rory was going to pick flowers from the meadow. And Gale was going to make dinner.
He had checked half the mulberry trees in the district that morning, first thing before most of the district was awake, and had managed to collect a small bag of ripe berries for his trouble. Not enough for anything so fancy as a pie, but enough for something. He pulled every wild onion he found as he went - not many, but enough, since he dared to forage on the edge of the Victor's Village where many of the Seam residents didn't go. At least he could put some of what he'd learned about plants from Katniss to good use.
Today he'd gone to the victors' training session to work on snares again. He bought a small ball of goat cheese from Prim while he was there, and he'd even for once accepted a loaf of bread from Mellark, offered as usual in payment for teaching them snares, because this time it was for his Ma. He'd managed to sneak everything into a hiding place in the boy's bedroom without Hazelle knowing.
Soon after he returned from training, Hazelle handed the care of his siblings over to him and began her own journey to the Victor's Village to check on Haymitch. Rory was out the door and headed to the meadow the minute Ma left.
Once Ma was out of the house, Gale set to work. He settled Posy into her chair at the table, giving her two clean pages on which to color and the set of broken crayons he'd bought off a townie at the school, a teenager who no doubt had taken them from a sibling, but who probably had more laying around anyway.
Vick had been working on his song for days, so Gale had him wash the berries and heat them on the stove. He practiced his song for Gale as he stirred the berries so they wouldn't burn.
Gale fetched the bread and cheese and berries from his hiding place. He'd wrapped everything thoroughly to keep the rats away; luckily it had only been a short while and everything was untouched. He set it aside to deal with last. Then he sliced the wild onions and cut the green spots off of three small potatoes, chopping them and throwing them into a pan with a small bit of the oil from the remaining tesserae rations to cook together.
Rory returned, an old bag in one hand and his fist full of the wildflower bouquet he'd picked in the meadow. Giving the bag to Gale, Rory took an empty jar and put the flowers in water, and set them in the center of the table. Thanking him, Gale dumped the contents of the bag into an old, cracked bowl and quickly rinsed the pile of wild dandelion greens. The greens were added to the potatoes, along with some of the broth Hazelle had made the week before. Gale turned down the flame and helped Vick take the berries, cooked down into a thick sauce, off the stove. He could hear Rory talking to Posy at the table.
As the meager stew cooked, Gale looked sadly at the meatless pot and decided it would be enough. After all, it was more than they often had. They would save the rest of their depleted pantry for the coming days. He wished again for one more day in the woods; he longed to cross the fence out of the district. It was torture, knowing the plenty the spring offered just out of reach, but Sundays weren't for the woods anymore. It was too dangerous now.
The stew was still simmering and Gale was slicing the loaf of bread when Hazelle returned. He heard her come in and stopped what he was doing, realizing he hadn't checked on Posy or the table in a while. He did a double take when he saw the table. Rory and Vick had everything set for dinner. Rory's flowers were on the table, and the rest of the table was covered with crayon-decorated paper. Posy had drawn a picture of the family, awkward stick figures with round, smiling faces and little to distinguish one from the next, and another picture of some animal that Gale couldn't quite decipher. Along with Posy's colorful drawings, one of his brothers had written out two small messages in neat blocked print, one saying "Thank You Ma" and the other, "We Love You." Gale couldn't help but smile at the sight of it all.
"What's all this?" Hazelle asked, looking from one child to the next, her face glowing with astonishment and delight.
"I made you drawing!" Posy declared. "See? Look. There's me, and Vick, and Rory, and that's Gale. And You. And see I drawed you a kitty cat like the one in the garden. And Rory wrote those signs. And he got the flowers they're from the meadow. Aren't they pretty Ma?"
Hazelle smiled at Posy. "They are, Pose. Thank you so much for the drawings. They're really nice." She gave the girl a big hug and swung her up onto her hip. Then Hazelle looked at her three sons again - all now standing anxiously in anticipation of her reaction. Her eyes settled on Rory. "Thank you, hon," she said, holding an arm out to him.
He gave her a big hug and muttered, "Love you."
Next she pulled Vick into her arms, and he hugged her hard and then squirmed. "I made you a song Ma," he told her.
"I can't wait to hear it," she answered.
Vick, looking nervous, looked at Gale who nodded to him encouragingly. He took a deep breath and said, "Okay. I was gonna teach the others but we didn't have time so okay. Okay."
After another deep breath he began his song.
"I love my Ma, She loves me.
She takes care of you and me."
Vick smiled nervously at Gale and then hesitated. "Uhh ...," he closed his eyes and whispered to himself, "you and me," nodding to the beat. Having recovered his place, he continued.
"Makes us soup and mends our clothes.
If I'm good and when we fight.
I love my Ma, She loves me.
Thank you Ma you're really great."
Then he beamed up at their Ma, looking relieved.
"Oh sweetheart, that was beautiful," Hazelle gushed. She pulled him into another hug. She fussed over the three young ones again, and then Gale suggested it was time to eat, shooing the family to the table.
Hazelle moved aside the artwork while Rory and Gale fetched their dinner from the kitchen. "You did all this?" she asked them again as they laid dinner on the table. As Gale sat down next to her, she squeezed his hand. He smiled faintly and squeezed back.
"You do it all the time, Ma. You take care of us. We just wanted to give you a night off."
"Thank you, sweetheart," she answered quietly.
As they ate dinner, the kids talked more about their preparations - Posy explaining her cat picture in more detail, Hazelle asking Vick to write down his song for her and gushing over the pretty flowers from the meadow and the delicious meal. Posy, meanwhile, ate around her dandelion greens, leaving them in the bottom of her bowl. The rest of them ate everything, and Rory finished Posy's greens. The bread Gale had sliced was lightly frosted with the goat cheese and mulberry sauce (it wasn't thick enough to be called a jam, and it was tart and sweet with no sugar to add to it, but it was accepted as a treat for them all the same).
After the meal, Vick volunteered to do the dishes. Hazelle insisted on hugging each of them again. She hugged Gale tightly, caressing the back of his head briefly before releasing him. When they pulled away he saw she had a couple tears welled in her eyes.
Gale helped clear the dishes to the kitchen, then returned to the table to sit with their Ma. "Gale, thank you. This was amazing. You didn't have to do all this," she said quietly, fingering one of Posy's drawings.
"You deserve it Ma. You deserve more than this. You do so much for us. I wish ...," he cut off. He wished a lot of things but there wasn't much point to wishing.
"We have each other. We'll find a way, we always do. I love you so much," she answered.
(A/N: Vick's song is to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)