Timotheus and his girls

by DrWandel

Time-AU – Many decades after the final rebellion in Panem, Timotheus Sinterguth is confronted with memories of the dark times and the Hunger Games in Europe, and he wants to make a difference. His ultra-rich family descends from the Mellarks, and his life ultimately changes when he encounters a girl with the same name and looks as Katniss Everdeen's sister – Primrose. [ABANDONED]

1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Rating: T

Categories: Romance / Drama / Humor

Disclaimer: The 'Hunger Games' trilogy and the characters therein are owned by Suzanne Collins. My compliments and thanks to her for writing the books,
and I admit to using the book background and characters in this story. Any errors I make by not describing the characters as well and properly as in the books are mine alone.

[Extended summary, with some minor spoilers: About one century after the final and successful rebellion in Panem happened, rebuilding has been done both in Panem and in other areas of the world. Timotheus Sinterguth descends from the Mellark family in Panem, and he attends university in Erlangen in Central Europe, which was hit less hard by the big war, although lots of land was lost, too, due to the apocalypse and ocean level rising. A chance encounter triggers a friendship with a family who claims to have Rue, the female district 11 tribute for the 74th Hunger Games, as an ancestor. After the prologue, they will eventually meet again, in a fictional country far, far away, and destiny will tell what's going to happen. Meanwhile, while completing his education and preparing to work further with his favorite professor, Timotheus also meets a girl with the name Primrose, and she also looks a lot like Katniss Everdeen's younger sister from a century ago. All of a sudden he finds himself confronted with feelings he is not prepared for, and life will certainly never be boring again. Over time, more references to the Hunger Games time will come up, too.]

[Author's Notes: I do not think that there are many stories going into potential events long after the time of the books, and I am curious where this will lead. I have attempted to provide some explanations on how the political, geographical, and technological situation looks like in this hypothetical future time.

The story has some references to one of my other stories - 'Finding comfort in the baker's son' - but it can be read and enjoyed without knowledge of the other story. There are also a few humorous scenes, and I hope that you like them. A few analogies exist between Timotheus' life and my own, but I won't tell in what respect, except for two aspects: I am certainly not a billionaire and I do like teddy bears.

There is some (positive) mentioning of religious topics – Lutheran Christian – in the story, just in case somebody has a problem with that.

Some of you may notice that there are a few similarities to an earlier story of mine which is now abandoned; I do hope that this one is much better and finds more readers. If it's not good enough, please let me know; I always appreciate reviews and try to learn if constructive feedback is given.

I will keep chapters mostly between 3k and 5k words, and I will aim to publish a new chapter on a biweekly basis, at least until I am running out of ideas. I will need to split my time between this story and the two others I am still working on and expanding, and then there's real life, too.]

Chapter 1: My 'little girlfriend' (Prologue)

[October 2257 – November 2258 AD]

A few days before my final semester at university started, I walked along one of the main city streets and enjoyed the view of the nice park on the other side of the road. I liked to live here in the city of 'Erlangen', although it was much different from the old prewar times, as I had been told. I was attending lessons to study 'Öko-Ingenieurwesen' (eco-engineering) at the local university, which had mostly survived the big war, the apocalypse, and the long dark times afterwards, and I was quite looking forward to completing my studies, which was most likely going to happen before Christmas this year. My parents and my grandfather, patriarch of the 'Sinterguth Holding', one of the largest privately owned companies in the world, had been proud of my choice, as it fit nicely into our ecological orientation, specifically for the large non-profit foundation we were running in parallel to the main business. I was only 22 years old at this time, and my professor had already offered me a position at the institute which would enable me to work towards my doctor's degree. My professor, or more precisely the professor overseeing the area of my main and final topics of studying, was well known for not only being good in knowledge and expertise in his field, but also for being able to transfer this knowledge to others quite well. Lectures from him were always interesting and entertaining, and I wanted to learn more from him, so that I was almost certain that I'd accept the offer rather than find a suitable task for me in one of the family's companies or somewhere else.

Deep in my thoughts, thinking mostly about the chores I intended to get done later today, I barely noticed a family coming the other way. A light skinned woman and a dark skinned man together with a very young child of about three or four and an older child were just about to pass in the other direction, when I heard the young child shouting with excitement in her voice:

"Look! A park and a playground!"

Indeed there was a nice little city park on the other side of the street, and part of a playground was clearly visible from here. Before her parents had a chance to react, the little girl removed herself from her father's hand and started running, right towards the street. There was no traffic light and no pedestrian crossing, and many cars were passing, and despite my absentmindedness I realized that the child's life was in acute danger. The girl had to pass close to me, though, as I was closer to the road, and as I noticed that the child's father had started to move way too late, I reached out and managed to grab the child at the collar and stop it. The little girl had been running fast and I was almost afraid that the my hold might slip, but it did not, and I could hand the girl over to her relieved parents.

"Rue!" the father shouted. "What got into you to just start running?"

"But there is a playground!"

"Yes, and there is a busy street in between. One of the cars would have hit you, if that nice man had not stopped you!"

The mother turned towards me: "Sir, many thanks for catching our youngest. She is kind of a tomboy, and she sometimes runs off when we least expect it."

"You are welcome; I am glad that I was in a position to assist" I replied.

The lady had addressed me in English, like it was spoken in Panem, rather than the local German, but as I had been raised with both languages and could consider myself bilingual, that did not matter to me, and I easily replied in the same language.

"Maybe we can invite you to a snack or an ice cream over there in the park, so that we can talk a little?" the child's father suggested.

"If you have the time to do so, that is" the mother added.

"I do not have any appointments at this time, and I would gladly join you" I responded. My chores could certainly wait; I was not exactly looking forward to doing the laundry.

We made another attempt to cross the road, this time with both girls taking one parent's hand, and we safely arrived in the park. The two kids ran off towards the playground, and their parents and I found a small table at a snack bar.

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves first" the girls' mother suggested.

"We are the Madisons. The tomboy daughter is Rue, and her older sister is Lily; Rue is three years old and Lily is seven. We moved over here from Panem just a couple of years ago, and our knowledge of the German language is still quite limited. Lily, as she's in second grade and speaks it at school all of the time, is much better already than we are."

"My name is Timotheus Sinterguth," I replied, "and I am a student at the local university here."

Mr. Madison got curious:

"Sinterguth is not a common name at all. Are you by chance related to the Sinterguth family owning the big holding?"

"Guilty, I am afraid. By the way, with your name, you do not by chance have an ancestor named 'Rue Madison' who was the female District Eleven tribute in Panem՚s 74th Hunger Games?"

"Yes, we do indeed. How would you know that name?"

"My own ancestors include the Mellark family from District Twelve, and we cherish the knowledge of those interesting times in our family."

At this time the two daughters came over, and the little girl addressed me:

"Sir, my sister told me that I need to say 'Thank you' to you – so here you go: 'Thank you for saving my life'!"

"You are Rue, right?" I replied. When she nodded, I continued: "You are very much welcome. It does not happen every day that I can do something for such a pretty young girl."

Rue now smiled widely, and I assumed that not many others would call her pretty. Her skin color was medium brown, like her sister's, and although racism was officially something which had only happened in the distant past, at the very least a non-white skin did not adhere to the local standards, and quite a few people looked down on non-white citizens or at least harbored negative thoughts about them. Our own family had different branches in different countries, and specifically the Panem branch had many dark skinned and valued family members; at least in our family, such thoughts were not common at all, or at least I thought so.

I talked on, addressing both girls: "And by the way, there is no need to call me 'Sir' - for the two of you I am Timotheus, or if you like, Tim; all right?"

In general I preferred to be called by my full name and hated nicknames. Specifically, I always objected when somebody tried to anglify my name to 'Timothy'. For children only, I usually allowed them to call me 'Tim', as I understood that the proper pronunciation of my name was not easy for everybody, specifically for those who were not native German speakers.

"Yes, Tim!" they both shouted.

"Can you play with me, Tim?" Rue asked.

The girl's mother told me that I did not have to if I did not want to, but I assured her that it was all right, and I went over to the playground with the two girls. I spent more than one hour playing with the kids and talking to the parents, and before they left, I was very cordially invited to their apartment for tea and cake on next Sunday afternoon, which I happily accepted.

I easily found the address I had been given and rang the doorbell. When I walked up the stairs, a blurry something came down in the other direction, and that something turned out to be little Rue, more falling than running down, until I caught her.

Laughing I carried her up again and entered the Madison apartment on the second floor. I had even bought some flowers as a present to them, but only because my mother had suggested that when I had talked to her about recent events on the phone. My own social life was somewhat limited, and I had to admit that I was something like a 'nerd' at that time.

When we were sitting around the table to eat the cake, Rue was about to be placed into a highchair, but she complained:

"Dad! I am too big for the highchair! I am three!"

Her father objected: "But on a normal chair you are sitting too low; that's not going to work!"

Rue looked around and finally focused on me: "Tim, can I sit on your lap?"

I was quite surprised to hear that. I was not really used to have girls asking to sit on my lap, neither very young ones nor older ones, and I had no idea how to handle that. My surprise must have been written on my face, and Rue's father told her off right away:

"Rue, you cannot impose on him like that! It is his first visit here, and he's supposed to enjoy that!"

As a matter of fact, I was enjoying this already, and I spontaneously decided to humor the little girl:

"Mr. Madison, I assure you that I am enjoying my time here so far, and I would not mind having Rue on my lap at all, at least to find out if this works."

Mr. Madison still hesitated, so that I decided to be a little forward, stood up, took little Rue out of the highchair and placed her right on my lap after sitting down again.

"So, Rue, what would you like to eat?"

"Cake!"

The answer was quite easy and obvious, and soon we were attacking one large piece of cake on my plate with two pastry forks. Rue's parents looked at us, and her mother finally commented:

"This is quite surprising. She has not done anything like that with any strangers so far, only with us."

"Well, I do not mind, and it appears that we are getting along quite well, thank you."

After exchanging a few words on common topics like the weather, Mr. Madison asked:

"Mr. Sinterguth, there is something I am curious about. I was briefed on that quickly before we moved here, and I was roughly told what happened here in Central Europe after the war and the climatic change. But I wonder if you could tell us about your own view on all that?"

Well, that was quite a question, but I tried to provide some insight at least:

"This whole area used to be Germany, and the southeastern state – right where we are at this time – was Bavaria. When the sea level rose during the climatic cataclysm, Germany lost a lot of its area, mostly in the North of course. Bavaria, with almost all of it being on higher ground, survived almost fully intact. It had always valued some kind of independence, and when the German and Austrian governments collapsed, the Bavarian leadership grabbed the opportunity to annex what was left of both countries, plus some other areas, like former Italy down where the sea had flooded the 'Po' river valley. This was by no means some kind of hostile action – people in all involved countries and regions were happy to get a stable and operational government again. Since that time, 'Greater Bavaria', as it soon called itself, has been a center of stability and progress in Central Europe, and although not all of the leadership decisions have been popular, it has been democratic all of the time, which is more than can be said for other regions, like Panem."

"And how was life here during that time?"

"That was before my time, of course, but according to what I learned from my grandparents and their own ancestors, Central Europe was not hit as hard by the war as other regions of the world, and although we lost a significant part of the population, too, most of the infrastructure was still intact. We still had many records on current technology, and as the Green party was part of the government coalition, they made sure that we did not repeat some of the earlier mistakes. The government restricted the population to a new level which was much lower than before the War, so that it is now possible to grow food, for instance, exclusively in a natural way. Where cows used to be crowded in the barns almost all of the time before, they nowadays spend almost all of their lives on meadows to eat fresh grass. They go into their barns only to get protection against adverse weather or for milking. Also, the world wide technology race of the prewar times, forcing companies to innovate and produce more and more, thus draining lots of resources, has not been continued, so that we can focus on what we really need and want rather than longing for the latest and greatest cool gadgets."

The Madisons continued to ask related questions, and I also asked about how Panem was doing nowadays; I learned that they had also made quite some progress after the final rebellion. We found out on that day that we liked being together, and time flowed quickly. Before I even noticed, a few hours had passed and I felt that I needed to take my leave. The girls insisted that I come again soon, and I promised to do that. I had made new friends, and I was quite happy about that.

We had a few more invitations after that one, and we spent quite a lot of time also on the playground. The Madisons also got a chance to see my place. Due to my status as Sinterguth family member, my place was not a small and simple standard student quarter, but I had a nice two bedroom apartment with fireplace and all kind of amenities.

A few months later I got a call from Mrs. Madison:

"Mr. Sinterguth, I am sorry to bother you, but I would like to ask a favor. Are you free on Friday evening?"

I quickly checked my calendar and confirmed: "Yes, I am; what can I do for you?"

"My husband and I have an important appointment, and we need to leave our two daughters at home in the evening. Lily is old enough to get to bed on her own, but Rue is not. Our usual babysitter has called in sick, and we seem to have trouble finding a replacement on short notice. Would you mind to step in, as Rue behaves so nicely with you?"

"Actually, I am available, and it will be a pleasure. Which time would you like me to be there`"

"Around 19:00 would be great – thank you!

Well, on Friday evening I arrived there right on time, looking forward to the evening. To be on the safe side I had brought a bag with a few essentials, like clothes to change and a toothbrush and such. The Madisons promised to back around 23:00 and left in a hurry after they had told me that Lily would know where things were.

"Well, girls, what's the plan to do tonight?"

Maybe this was the wrong question to ask, as I was offered many choices. I denied watching a movie which was intended for teenagers and older, but we played with some dolls and also found an easy board game. Eventually, though, Rue started to yawn. Lily and Rue shared a bedroom, with Lily's bed being a full size one and Rue in a smaller child bed. Lily showed me where to find Rue's stuff in the bathroom, and I helped Rue to brush her teeth properly and change into her night clothes.

When I had her in the bed, I was asked to sing a lullaby and pray with her, and I managed both to her satisfaction. Lily was sitting in her bed reading a book, and sometimes she was looking over at me, kind of verifying that I handled her sister properly, I guessed.

Once Rue was sound asleep, I asked Lily if she also needed a lullaby, but she just looked at me: "I am a big girl, you know!"

As this evening had worked out well and the Madison's former babysitter had given up entirely, I got asked again from time to time to look after the two young girls, and when I was not otherwise occupied, gladly accepted. On one evening Rue was very tired and got to be sleep early, while her sister was still doing some homework at the table in the living room. I looked over her shoulder and noticed her doing mathematics with a skill I would not have expected to see from a seven year old. When I asked her about that, she told me that she was best in class in mathematics, reading and writing at least, not so good in sports, social studies, and memorizing things.

A few weeks later I was there again, and the Madisons had told me that they'd come back home very late, after midnight most likely. "If you want, make yourself comfortable on the couch" they had told me. Well, I'd think about it. When Rue and Lily were both in their beds, I kept the door open, sat down on the couch and continued to read the book I had brought with me. When I looked up, I could see a thunderstorm approaching, with the lightning clearly visible. A few minutes later also the thunder could be heard, and I started to enjoy the atmosphere, as it nicely matched the events in my book. Mr. and Mrs. Madison were not back home yet and I had just decided to stay here for the night and came back from the bathroom where I had brushed my teeth and changed into more comfortable clothes, when I heard some whimpering from the kids' room. Hm, maybe Rue was afraid of the thunderstorm, I thought. Well, my assumption was wrong. Rue was happily sleeping in a totally cute toddler position, but Lily was sitting in her bed and looking very uneasy.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

"Sorry, I just can't help it, but I am totally scared of thunderstorms."

The next thunder hit, and she squeaked.

"What do your parents usually do about it?"

"They let me sleep in their bed and I cuddle up to them until it's over."

"Well, their bed is empty, and your parents aren't home yet. Would you like to join me on the couch? I am afraid that's all I can offer."

She nodded timidly, and I moved back to the couch, once I had verified that Rue was still asleep. I found a nice and comfortable position and expected her to get down next to me, but she climbed right on my chest and wrapped her blanket around her body and head. Unsure about what to do, as I did not have a clue about how to comfort a child, I wrapped my arms around her, and this seemed to help. The whimpering stopped, and she seemed to be all right again.

Half an hour later the thunderstorm had passed, and I wanted to bring Lily back into her bed, but she had wrapped her arms so tightly around me that I was afraid to wake her if I tried to move. As our current position on the couch was not uncomfortable at all for me, I decided to just stay like this, and before I even noticed I also fell asleep.

Sunlight woke me up on the next morning and I heard voices talking. Sleepily I opened my eyes, not realizing at first where I was, but when I attempted to move and felt a light load on my chest, I noticed a bundle wrapped in a blanket on me and recalled what had happened.

Mr. and Mrs. Madison stood next to me, and Lily's mother asked with a smirk: "Is this bundle here by chance our daughter Lily?"

"Well, it should be. Last night, she seemed to have trouble coping with the thunderstorm, and this was the only approach I could think off to calm her down. I guess that it worked."

We carefully unwrapped the bundle and Lily also woke up. She looked around and showed some embarrassment when finding herself on me rather than in her own bed, but she explained to her parents that she really had been scared and that she had needed the body contact to calm down.

"I am really surprised that this worked with you," Mrs. Madison told me, "as she normally is quite shy with non family and avoids body contact with other people."

I had to admit to myself that I had actually slept very well with the 'bundle' on my chest, which was also somewhat surprising – usually, I only allowed one of my teddy bears to share my bed, and I had never ever brought a girlfriend home and into my bed. Of course, to be honest, except for one attempt which failed badly after less than one year, I had never really had a girlfriend.

Over the next months, the Madison family and I spent a lot of time together, and when Rue had her fourth birthday, I was invited. I felt a little out of place, being the only adult guest next to a group of very young girls, but Rue started to introduce me as her 'boyfriend', which I actually liked, and I did not mind at all playing with the kids, with dolls and such. I called Rue 'my little girlfriend', and she giggled and like that, too. When Rue's mother saw me fully involved in playing she said:

"Mr. Sinterguth, you are not really an adult, I think. You are a kid with a driver's license."

During summer we had a week of vacation on the beach together. We shared a large apartment, and while I had my own bedroom, it happened a few times that Rue, when she woke up in the morning, came over from the room she shared with Lily and hopped into my bed to talk and get some attention. The girls knew that their parents were not morning persons and that I was much more likely to welcome them at this early time. Once we had a thunderstorm during the night, and Lily vanished into her parents' bed to seek comfort. Rue, suddenly left alone in her room and not liking that at all, decided to have me for company and stayed with me in my bed for the entire night, and we got along splendidly. I felt like being her big brother and was almost proud of that. When her parents looked for her on the next morning, Rue was still at my side and smiling in her sleep.

We spent many hours on the beach, and I was happily playing in the sand with little Rue, building roads, towers and sandcastles, and taking her for a swim, allowing her to cling to my neck when she got exhausted. I would never have expected that playing with a four year old girl could be that much fun, but it was. Her parents were delighted to see her that close with me and did not mind at all. In the last years, their vacation time had been mostly dominated by parenting rather than anything else, and they were quite happy to find some time for themselves for a change, specifically as Lily was old enough to not require constant supervision any longer.

At another time, we visited the local zoo together. This was a lot of fun, and some of the animals looked strangely at us. When we got to the brown bear exhibit, we were all looking forward to see the young cubs we had read about in the local newspaper, but one of the employees told us that Mama bear had not shown them outside since giving birth, and we'd probably not be able to see them today. Little Rue looked at Mama bear who was outside on her own at this time, and the bear looked back, and it almost looked like they were communicating with each other. After five minutes or so, when we were about to leave that place, Rue asked us to wait:

"Wait, please – she is going to bring the cubs out now!"

"How would you know?" Rue's mother wanted to know.

"I just know!" was the answer.

The adult bear went inside, and indeed, after a few minutes it came out again with the two cubs in tow. Everybody around was happy and clapping, and Rue beamed.

"How could you have known, really?" I also asked now.

"I asked her to bring them out for us to see!"

Okay, that was weird, but probably just coincidence.

Later on, when our time in the zoo was almost over, Lily stumbled over a root close to a tree and scratched her left knee, so that some blood showed. I expected some whining or so, but she took it easy, and her parents did not even apply a band-aid or similar. When I asked if something should be done to stop the bleeding, I was told by her mother:

"No reason to do anything; Lily heals very quickly."

And indeed, the bleeding had already stopped, and when we got home, the skin was almost as good as new. That was almost a little bit scary, but kids did heal much more quickly than adults, and I guess that this was a good capability to have.

About a year after I had first met them, the Madisons told me that it was time for them to move back to Panem, and I was not happy to hear that at all. Rue was in tears when she learned about that, and Lily had a strange look for me; when they took their leave from me, the girl even jumped into my arms for a moment and planted a quick kiss on my lips. If I did not know better, I'd suspect her to have a little bit of a crush on me, but at the age of eight? Not really, right?

Saying 'Good bye' was sad, but I promised to write when I got their new address. A few weeks later, I got a letter indeed, and wrote back, and this worked well for a few months; most of the time either Lily or Mrs. Madison wrote letters, and I always replied. Eventually, though, there was another letter saying that they'd move again, and that was the end of the conversation – no more letters arrived, although that had told me before that they'd write again from the new address. I was concerned and sad, but maybe they were getting too busy. Anyway, I needed to focus on my work and could not afford to reflect on them too much. However, the one year I had spent with them would never be forgotten, and the two girls would stay in my memory forever. Maybe I'd get a chance to meet them again later on in my life – who could know.

[Author's Notes: Erlangen is a real city in Bavaria, Germany, and I attended university there in real life. The whole idea of 'Greater Bavaria' is entirely fictional, of course. The non-profit foundation mentioned at the beginning of the chapter is supposed to be somewhat similar to the 'Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation' in real life.]