|AN|: Hello there guys! Does anyone of you know what's my favorite book? Well some of you would probably say it is one of The Hunger Games trilogy, some of you would say that it's one of the Harry Potter books, but the truth is slightly different. As much as I adore THG trilogy and HP series and I really adore them A LOT, there is a book that warmed it's way into my heart a long time ago and never left it. The book was written by an amazing author named Nora Roberts and is called Montana Sky. If anyone of you wants to read a great funny/ sad/ thrilling/ romantic story, Montana Sky is just what you need. Why is the fanfic labeled The Hunger Games you may ask? Well, let's just say I took Katniss and Peeta and Gale and Johanna and Annie and Finnick and Haymitch and a lot of other THG characters and decided to play with them and fit them into the world of Montana Sky. So far, I've been having a blast like never before. I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I do, because if you don't it will break my heart into pieces. Please review and like and tell me everything you think of this story. That will really mean a lot to me!

Disclaimer: Anything you can recognize comes form either The Hunger Games or Montana Sky everything that you don't comes from me. The plot ideas mostly belong to Nora Roberts, the characters to Suzanne Collins. This story, because of containing a lot of somebody else's work will never be turned into original work to not be accused of plagiarism.

BETA READER: StephanieO (Steph, you're absolutely the best! Thank you!)

ENJOY!

WHO LAUGHS LAST

Chapter I:
The Funeral

Everyone in Montana knew that finding another person as fucked up as Coriolanus Snow would be considered a miracle… or a tragedy, really. That's exactly why Katniss Everdeen couldn't really find a person who attended his funeral because they truly cared for him.

She too wasn't really mourning; what caused her to have a hard time was deciding if she should be proud or disappointed in herself for not feeling too bad about her father's death.

Yes, Coriolanus Snow was Katniss' father and yes, she hated him and loved him at the same time.

She startled at a gentle touch of a tiny hand on her arm.

"I'm so sorry Katniss," said Primrose Mellark, a tiny 13-years-old girl. She was a daughter of the owner of the second biggest ranch in Montana- Three Meadows Ranch. Primrose was probably the sweetest child Katniss has ever met. She was gentle and kind and couldn't stand the thought of an animal being harmed. Prim, as family and friends called her, was also incapable of hating people, so Katniss was almost sure that she was the one who insisted on being present at the funeral and dragged her father along.

"Thanks Prim. I'm glad you came, even if my father never deserved it," replied Katniss, planting a gentle kiss on the girl's head. She used to babysit her when she was younger.

"Maybe your father didn't, but you do." Was Prim's only reply as she moved away to let her father envelope Katniss in a bone-crushing hug. It took her a long moment to understand what the little blonde meant, but when she did, she felt like crying for the first time that day.

"I'm sorry Katniss, how are you holding up?" asked the big blond rancher. His eyes were filled with genuine concern and the fact that this good man cared for her so much warmed her heart.

"Surprisingly relieved, for someone who just buried their father." She answered truthfully causing Mr. Mellark to send a gentle smile her way.

"Because we're not supposed to be saying anything bad about the dead, I'm just gonna say that I'm looking forward to doing business with you now, Katniss," he replied and this time it was her turn to smile.

She loved her father, even despite his harshness. Maybe she would even mourn him later, when there's nobody watching, but she wouldn't cry and she wouldn't grieve, because he would never, ever care if she was the one laying in the ground instead of him.

"Thank you, Mr. Mellark, for caring enough to come today. I know you hated my old man. Everybody did, but I also know that you and Prim are two of those very few people who came here without any hidden agenda."

"Oh Katniss, of course we came. The boys wanted to be here too, you know. But Delly went into labor in the morning and…" He didn't get to finish the sentence.

"Oh my God, Delly's in labor? What are you still doing here? Go! Go see her, be with your family!" exclaimed Katniss, suddenly feeling so much better. She loved Delly dearly and was very happy when she found out that the sweet addition to Mellark family was with child, so now she was delighted to find out that the baby girl is about to be born. Mr. Mellark chuckled lightly and kissed both of Katniss' cheeks.

"You're family too, my dear. The fact that you aren't mine doesn't change anything." He replied and with a final squeeze left her side with Prim following closely behind him.

"What are you doing here, girl?" asked Sae coming into Katniss' room without knocking. Sae was a rather plump, middle-aged woman who had been the housekeeper in Snow's Mansion for as long as Katniss could remember. She was a bit stern sometimes and very demanding, but she was a very good person and cared for Katniss more than her own father ever did. "Everyone is looking for you in your father's office. They're about to read the will. Plus, you should really just go up to your sisters and at least try to talk to them…"

"They are not my sisters, Sae," she cut in harshly. "The fact that we share a father doesn't necessarily make me want to meet them."

"Oh, Katniss. Don't judge them before you even look at them properly. You avoided their eyes for the whole funeral," commented Sae sternly.

"Oh, I looked at them all right." Replied Katniss whipping her head to look at Sae so hard that she smacked herself in the face with her thick brown braid. "The younger one looks scared of her own shadow and the elder- like she wants to murder somebody." She added throwing on a flannel shirt.

"And right now, young lady, you look like a stubborn petulant child and I know you're better than this. So you move your bum down there. The sooner you're there, the sooner it's done."

Katniss sighed loudly and sat on the bed hiding her face in her hands.

"I just don't want any of this, Sae." She started in an unnaturally weak voice. "I don't want them to be here, I don't want all of those people downstairs eating and drinking and talking shit about my father. I don't want any of this damn commotion. There's work to do. It's a ranch. I can't really let myself fall behind on work. Those men, my father's men… MY men, are going to look at my hands all the time now. Do you really think they're going to be just fine with the fact that a woman is running the ranch now? My father was an asshole, but he was a damn good rancher. They're not gonna accept any less." Sae shook her head a couple of times and sat beside Katniss, grabbing her chin lightly and turning it towards her.

"Listen to me, child and listen carefully," she started in the gentle maternal voice she used very rarely. "You are a very strong young woman, the strongest I've ever met. When I look at you I see your mother. You are as beautiful as she was, but your character is more your father's. You are strong, you are a leader, you have your head firmly on your shoulders. But you are also kind and gentle and loving. You're all those things your father decided not to be because he considered it a weakness. But the truth is Katniss that those things are only making you stronger and better and those men know it too. I believe that with you running the ranch, it's gonna hit its golden times, Katniss. You're gonna be the one who makes it better and if anybody thinks differently only because you're a woman, they are damn fools," said Sae and brushed her thumbs under Katniss' eyes. She didn't even notice that a couple of tears escaped from her eyes, but when she did she wiped the remains of them with her sleeve. She kissed Sae's slightly wrinkled cheek and whispered a quiet thank you into her ear.

"Don't thank me, but go downstairs and do what you have to do. After that you can just go and do all the stuff you claim are so important they can't wait," she added making Katniss smile slightly as she left the room.

"Poor baby," sighed Sae to herself as Katniss' slight form disappeared down the stairs. She knew that under the hard shell there was a delicate flower that was Katniss' soul. A fragile thing that felt and mourned and was very easy to break.

When Sae started to work for Coriolanus Snow she never thought she would spend the better part of her life on this ranch. He wasn't a bad boss, but he was a terrible person to be around. She wanted to quit the job for the first time a couple of months after she started it, but then a beautiful young woman fell in love with the rancher and not so long after that she gave him a cute little daughter. Ophelia Mason was a good, cheerful, full of life woman. She was a bit proud and loud at times, but she liked the ranch and surprisingly she loved its owner enough to want to marry him and carry his child. She even had a good influence on Snow. He seemed calmer and more polite when she was around, but when his first child turned out to be a girl… Let's just say Snow always wanted a son, so the little blond Johanna wasn't really his dream- child. A couple of weeks after Johanna was born, Ophelia left Coriolanus' office with tears in her eyes. After an hour she was all packed and she and the child left with only a thank you and a brief kiss to Sae's cheek.

The same happened two years later with sweet, gentle Lily Cresta. She was so different from Coriolanus' first wife. She was quiet and shy and it seemed strange she fell in love with someone like Snow, but apparently the dangerously beautiful bastard was someone who was not only incredibly handsome, but could also charm women into falling for him. History likes to repeat itself, so when Lily gave birth to beautiful baby girl with eyes like an ocean and a tuft of red hair on her little head, soon enough they both- Lily and little Annie, left at night without a word.

A year after this Coriolanus found himself a third wife, the one whom Sae definitely liked the most of all. She had something of an Indian in her, something mysterious and almost magical. She was uncommonly beautiful too with her long brown hair, her olive skin and eyes a color of rich chocolate. She was so beautiful, Sae thought, that for the first time Snow was the one who fell for the woman first, and fell for her so hard he didn't even care that she already had a child. Ethel Everdeen looked like a fairy on her wedding day, and her little four- year old son Gale was one of the most precious things Sae's seen in her entire life. A year later, little Katniss came to this world, but she didn't get to know her wonderful mother. Ethel Everdeen died a few hours after she gave life to her beautiful daughter, leaving her and her older brother with a man who never really wanted neither of them. So Katniss grew on the ranch, loved by Sae, who tried to raise her as well as she could; Haymitch- a rancher who she attached herself to and practically never left his side; and Gale Hawthorne- her elder brother who loved her more than anything on the planet and received the love right back.

All three daughters- Johanna Mason, Annie Cresta and Katniss Everdeen- were fortunate enough to grow up among people who loved them dearly, but neither of them was loved by their father. A father who even refused to give them his name.

TBC...

|AN2|: Please share your thoughts.