DISCLAIMER: HG CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME

A/N: Warning-sensitive subject matter implied towards the end of this chapter

Chapter 149-Avery

Avery feels her Father's hands on her back and shoulder as she kneels on the cement sidewalk outside. She forcefully moves his hands off her. Once she is finally finished throwing up, she slowly rises, again shrugging off her Father's help. "I'm fine" she says in an annoyed tone.

"You don't look fine" he says, concern apparent on his face.

"Must be something I ate."

"Let's get you home, come on" and he suddenly stops a taxi, helping her get inside before climbing in behind her.

She did not want him to come, but fearing she will throw up again, for she is still nauseous, she sits in silence refusing to look at him on the ride back. She hears his phone buzzing, but he does not pick it up. Knowing it is Cassandra calling him, she sees him type a message into his phone. Once his phone is put away, she feels his eyes on her again, but she continues staring straight ahead, still refusing to look at him.

Once they exit the taxi and head into her apartment building, he says to her, "What do you need me to get you from the store?"

"Maybe something for nausea" she says through gritted teeth, knowing she cannot refuse his help for she still feels miserable.

He nods and exits quickly. While he is gone, she changes into more comfortable clothes and sits on her couch, wrapping herself in a comfy blanket. When he returns, she sees him carrying a large brown bag. She watches as he takes some food out and puts it away, she sees he also bought medicine. He fixes her hot tea and brings it over to her along with nausea medication.

"Here, try this, it is supposed to be fast acting" he says as he hands her two small blue pills.

She swallows the pills down with the hot tea. She sighs deeply then says, "Thanks."

He looks down at her and says, "I'm going to fix something for you to eat for later, then I have to head back to the President's mansion."

"You are actually working today?" she finds herself saying in disbelief.

"Yeah-why else would I be here on a Monday?"

She gives him an extremely nasty look, he realizes, perhaps one of the nastiest looks she has ever given him in her life and says, "to be with your whore."

"I'm not going to discuss this subject with you any further" he says as he gets up to leave.

"I don't want that whore meeting Juniper" Avery says in a threatening tone as Gale walks away from her.

He turns around, walking quickly up to her on the couch and bending down he says, "I wasn't planning on it" glaring at her.

"Aww, too bad, so sad for her. I saw those googly eyes she made at you right before I-interrupted."

"What you did was uncalled for, you didn't have to make a scene like that in front of all those people."

"And you didn't have to lie to me-to all of us."

He pauses before saying, "It tore me up inside to lie to everyone."

"Yet you did it anyway."

"I love her Avery."

She puts her hand up for him to stop talking. "I can't hear anymore. This is the biggest betrayal to our family. Get out."

He turns around and heads for the door, as he walks out, he turns and says, "I hope you feel better" before walking out.

The next morning, Avery takes another dose of the nausea medication before heading into work. She is greeted by her co-workers asking if she is feeling better. Telling them she is, she asks one of the secretary's if her boss was here today, and if he was, if she could speak with him when he has time.


August 14 (Friday)

Avery awakens in an unknown room. Her head throbbing, she sits up and looks around and sees that she is in a small bedroom. Most likely a room from a multi-unit apartment. Beginning to panic, for she has no idea how she got here and where she is the door opens and a young man enters the room, smiling brightly when he sees she is awake.

"Oh hey-you are awake. I was going to let you sleep, I didn't know if you needed to get up at a certain time or not."

Sitting up in the bed, she notices she is only wearing an oversized shirt and no pants. Closing her eyes and breathing in deeply she says, "Where am I?"

"Uh-Lockhart Hall" he says awkwardly.

She groans, knowing she should not have gone to the party she had been invited to yesterday near the University. She had been invited by one of the models at work, after the week she had, she needed a night out. It appears she had too good of a night.

She sees her phone sitting over on the nightstand. She picks it up and sees the time is 8:06 am. She places her phone back down and says, "Where are my clothes?"

He points to her clothes, neatly folded on his computer desk. She gets up and begins stripping off the oversized shirt, figuring he probably saw more than just her in her bra and underwear last night. He shyly turns around while she changes, keeping his eyes down.

"In case you don't remember from last night, I'm Levi."

Knowing she cannot be rude though she just wants to get out of there as soon as possible she says, "Avery" watching him turn around to face her.

"Nice to meet you-again" he says with a goofy grin.

She stares at him. Standing at she guessed about 5'10, he was casually dressed and had an average build. He had dark skin and dark brown eyes. He did not look like a typical resident of the capitol for his attire was too plain.

"You don't look like someone from the Capitol" she says as she gets her shoes on.

"District 11, I'm in medical school here at the University-fifth year."

She realizes they are the same age, feeling better, knowing she did not have random sex with an 18-year-old.

"Good for you" she says, the sincerity apparent in her voice. She moves over to the window and opens the blind, peeking out. Recognizing the area, she says, "If I turn right out here and then make another right past the next building, I'll be at the train station correct?"

"Yep. Did you go to school here?"

"My Sister did, she was in Medical school as well. She graduated in June and is doing her residency now."

"What's her name? I might know her."

"Doubtful. My Sister does not interact with boys much, she's into girls." She looks over at him, gauging his response to what she just said.

"Oh well, that's cool- I don't-judge-" Levi says to her becoming nervous and stumbling over his words.

She smiles at him and says, "It's okay-I was just saying I doubt you would know her."

Seeing it is almost 8:15 am, she knows she needs to leave now to make it back to her apartment and shower to make it into work at a decent time.

"Well, I gotta go" she says as she heads for the door.

"Look I'm not doing anything today if you want to-"

"I have to get to work" she says as she walks out the door, he follows showing her to the main door.

Right before she heads out the door, he stops he and says, "Avery-wait."

She turns around and stares at him, "what?" waiting for him to say something for she really needed to get going.

"I'd really like to see you again, I mean-just to-hang out."

She sighs, she really didn't want to get into another relationship right now, after just having gotten out of a very bad one four weeks ago. But this guy seemed different, her gut told her not to throw away this opportunity and she finds herself saying, "can we try the friend's thing first?"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah-of course! I'd like to be friends."

She playfully laughs at him and they exchange numbers in their portable phones. She quickly leaves and heads to the station. Once she is back at her apartment, she quickly strips off her clothes, having worn tight black pants a pink sequined sleeveless shirt. She heads into the shower, hoping the steam will relieve her massive headache. It only relieves it a bit and she decides to take pain medication hoping it will help relieve her symptoms as she gets ready for work. She arrives at the office at 9:45 am. When she gets to the main reception area, the receptionist says, "still not feeling well?"

Avery shakes her head no and heads back to her office, quickly turning on her computer and jumping into her work. When it is time for lunch at 12:30, she stays in her office for she had arranged to have a virtual lunch call with Sienna and Jack. She takes out her phone, placing it on her desk while she takes her food out of her lunch bag. Suddenly, her phone rings loudly and she presses the button to begin the virtual call, Jack and Sienna's faces projecting out of her phone side by side.

"You're alive" Jack says sarcastically as he sees Avery tearing into her salad.

"How mad is he?" Avery asks as she chews.

"You mean given the fact that you won't answer his messages or calls? Or the fact that you apparently humiliated this new girlfriend of his in public? I think he is most upset thinking you are dead in an alley somewhere" Jack says.

"She's not new" Avery clarifies. Not wanting them to know she could have been left in an alley if not for randomly hooking up with Levi, for she wonders what happened to the supposed friend she arrived at the party with.

"Well he told me they became official like two weeks ago" Jack using air quotes around the word official.

"They were trying to hide the fact they were holding hands when I saw them walking down the street" Avery says.

"Look enough about if they are official or not-Dad has a girlfriend. We need to talk about this" Sienna says.

"Fuck buddy is more like" Avery says blankly.

"Whoa Sis" Jack says.

"She works here at AMB. I know her, well, I know her well enough. Here-this is what she looks like" and Avery moves her phone over to her design table, showing them a picture of Cassandra dressed in one of Avery's designs.

She sees Jack and Sienna's mouths drop open. "Holy shit! Dad is banging that! Look at her! I can't believe I am jealous of the old man" Jack says.

"Shut up Jack!" Avery roared.

Avery looks at Sienna and can tell her older Sister finds Cassandra attractive as well. "Sis?" Avery says waiting for Sienna to give her thoughts.

"She's striking, she's really, really, beautiful. I have to say though, I am a little concerned someone who obviously can have any man she wants would want to be with someone so much older" Sienna says.

Relieved that her older Sister was on her side, Avery says, "Exactly! It is not normal. She obviously has Daddy issues. We cannot have this relationship get to the point that Dad brings this woman around Juniper! Has Dad been back to the Capitol since Monday?"

"No, he's been at the house all week" Jack answers.

"Did he tell Juniper about Cassandra?" Sienna asks.

"No, he asked me not to say anything until after he talks to Grandma H. I think he wants to tell her first, then he plans to tell Juniper."

Avery knows the reason her Father told Jack and Sienna is because he knows she would have told them herself. Shortly after they found out, they both messaged her on her phone, Avery asking for this group virtual call in response.

"Well, I have a plan. I'm hoping Juniper might not ever have to find out about Cassandra. Look-we know how Dad is, and who he is. I did some research this week and I found a reputable prostitution service here in the Capitol that I think will work well for him-"

"Avery!" Sienna says

"What? I do not want Dad to be miserable. He has-needs-I know that" she says defensively.

"I think if Dad wanted prostitutes, he would have gotten them" Sienna says gently.

"Yeah it's not like it would have been hard for him" Jack adds.

"Well, I am still going to show this to him-eventually" Avery says, determined to move forward with her plan.

Avery decides to leave AMB at 4 pm that day. She usually leaves around 4:30 pm on Friday's, but considering she still was not feeling completely back to normal she decides to get an early start to her weekend. Once she arrives back to her apartment and changes out of her work clothes, she decides to take a chance on seeing if Levi is indeed serious about the friend thing and messages him.


Gale looks at the clock in his office and sees the time is 5 pm. He shuts his computer down, glad that he can now relax for the rest for the weekend. He wonders if Jack has returned from the lake, for he told Gale he was going out shortly after noon to head down there.

He knows he needs to begin cooking soon, for Juniper has invited her three best friends over for a sleepover tonight. Still on summer break from school, Gale allowed her to have her friends over this weekend since she only has a few more weeks left before school starts in September. He heads into the kitchen and sees Juniper in the great room watching TV, Smokey sitting happily in her lap getting petted.

"What time will everyone be here?" Gale asks from the kitchen.

"Around 7" she says.

"They like to eat hamburgers and shish kabobs, right?" Gale asks thinking the easiest thing for everyone might be grilling outside on the patio.

"Yeah"

Relieved that he has time to get everything ready, he heads upstairs to get a quick shower in before he begins prepping the food. Once he gets into the bedroom, he hears his phone ringing. He is upset it is not Avery for it is not her ringtone, he takes out his phone and sees it is Cassandra calling.

He figures it must be important if she is calling him when she knows he is at home. Closing the bedroom door, he answers the phone to the sound of her crying hysterically.

"Hey, calm down, talk to me, what's going on" he says gently yet sternly into the phone.

He continues to hear muffled words behind her uncontrolled sobs.

"Baby I can't help if you don't try to calm down and breathe. Is it Avery? Did she say something to you at AMB?"

But hearing his daughter's name got Cassandra to stop crying almost immediately. Gale hears her say clearly into the phone bitterly, "I'm out Gale. AMB cut my contract. I worked there for fourteen years and now I've been thrown out like yesterday's trash. No thanks to her!"


"I have to say I was surprised you called me" Levi says to Avery as they sit down in the café not far from the University's main campus area.

"Why? You scored last night-we must have hit it off somewhat okay" she says teasingly.

"I didn't though" he says looking at her in surprise.

"You mean, we didn't" she says as she connects the dots of what he is saying.

"No! You were completely wasted at that party last night."

"Then how did I end up with you?"

"You really don't remember? he says shocked.

"No" she says through gritted teeth.

"Well, the friend you had arrived with had left with someone else already. You were talking to a couple of guys and one of them started-" she sees the look of unease on his face.

"Started what-go on-tell me!"

"Started to feel you up, he was, touching your breasts under your shirt and stuff. You tried pushing him off, but you were outnumbered two to one. My friends and I saw, were in the same room on the other side. We came over and asked if you were okay, you immediately came over to me to get away from them. Seeing there was five of us and two of them, they backed off. So, then you stayed with our group, but then you also had more to drink. When the party ended you asked to come home with me. I figure it wasn't safe for you to be by yourself."

"So where did you sleep?"

"Out on the couch in the common area of the apartment." Levi's apartment had four bedrooms, and he and his roommates shared the kitchen and living area.

She closes her eyes, totally embarrassed by what she just heard. She was not at University anymore; she was smarter than this. Before she can respond she hears the buzzing and ringing of her phone, seeing it is Father calling. She turns the phone over ignoring his call.

"I see that's your Dad-do you want to get that?" he asks.

"No" she says firmly.

"Does he live here in the Capitol?"

"I'm not from the Capitol."

"Really? Could have fooled me. No offense but-you-are put together very similarly like someone from the Capitol. Minus the crazy hair and makeup."

Avery smiles, while she liked to wear bright colors, especially in the summer, she never cared for the pastel hair and makeup look some of the Capitol residents wore. Learning while studying in District 8 that the resurgence of the pastel hair and makeup started about twenty-five years ago, for right after the war it was an unpopular look for many years.

"So where are you from originally?" he asks, wanting to keep the conversation going.

"District 2" she says flatly, ignoring the now second call that has come in from her Father.

Observing the second call, he says, "Are you closer with your Mom?"

"Was."

"Was? he says in confusion.

She looks at him pointedly, beginning to wonder how this guy is in medical school. Suddenly realizing why she has said 'was' he says, "Oh-your Mom she-"

"Yeah, three years ago."

She sees a look of genuine sadness form in his eyes. She feels a sense of comfort seeing that he is sad for her, but she doesn't' know why she feels this way.

"I was close with both of my parents growing up though. We are all were, I had my Mom for you know- for girl stuff. My older Sister is my best friend, I adore my little Sister, I was even close with my younger Brother. But I always went to my Dad whenever I needed anything. I guess you could say I was a-Daddy's girl growing up. A lot of people told me I was."

"There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of people who accuse others of that say it because they are envious of what they do not have. Your Dad cares about you and loves you."

"Well, my younger Sister is really a Daddy's girl. Now especially that it is just her at the house with my Dad, she always was the baby of the family but now it is ridiculous. He gives her whatever she wants. My Dad is a total dog person and there's now three cats in the house thanks to my little Sister."

Their server comes over to take their order, after the server leaves Levi says, "You said you were close with your Brother, what happened?"

"He became very-introverted after my Mom died. He quit talking to us, was only talking to my cousin who is his best friend. He's now in school in District 3 and doing much better, it didn't help that I was in school in District 8 when my Mom died and now, he is away at school. Even though he is home for the summer, our paths just do not cross all that often unless I'm with my Dad and little Sister, and I don't plan to see my Dad anytime soon."

"You were in District 8 for school-you are a stylist" he says figuring out now why she looks so much like a Capitol resident.

She nods, "I am."

"I can definitely see that." Their server comes back with their drinks and sets them down.

After taking a sip of his flavored water he says, "What happened with your Dad?"

She sighs, taking a deep breath before saying, "He betrayed me. He betrayed my siblings and I. He lied to us. He has a-secret lover" cringing as the word lover comes out of her mouth.

His eyebrows raise as he says, "He lied about this relationship?"

"Yes! And what's worse, she is closer to my age than his! She's young enough to be his daughter. And she is one of the models I style! They met at one of my shows!"

"That's-a lot to unpack."

"Tell me about it-I cannot believe he would be with someone who is-so not like my Mom."

"Maybe that's the point" he says evenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe that is why he is with her, maybe that is why he is attracted to her, because she is so different from your Mom."

"You don't understand" she says in an irritated tone. Knowing he does not know who her parents are. "My parents-they weren't your typical couple; they were for all intents and purposes-made for each other. My Grandmother on my Mom's side has known my Father since he was 14. Now, my parents weren't-together then-but-that's how long they had been in each other's lives. And now-he's admitted to me he's fallen in love with someone else, how can that be?"

"Do you know if he was seeing anyone else prior to meeting this woman? Was he-"

"He wasn't hooking up with anyone to my knowledge-that's what I want him to do now actually. I found a reputable sex-on-demand service so to speak that I think he should use."

Levi laughs at what she has said. She glares at him and says, "I don't expect him to live out the rest of his days single."

"But you don't want him to be in another relationship?" he asks her, confused by her conflicting statements.

"I wish he would have at least waited until my little Sister is graduated and out of the house. That's why I said, if he cannot keep it in his pants until then, then he needs to find another outlet to get his rocks off."

"It doesn't sound like he was looking for this relationship. Sounds like the relationship found him. That's usually the way it works."

"I just-don't want her to become his wife. I cannot bear the thought of her moving into house I grew up in."

"You don't know that will happen. The relationship could run its course. And even if it does, it doesn't mean he loves your Mom any less, doesn't mean what they had is any less meaningful."

Their food comes, and Avery quickly changes the subject, asking him about his family and prior life back in District 11, continuing to ignore the now third call that was ringing from her Father.


August 21 (Friday)

Gale arrives to the Capitol at 6pm. He has just left his Mom's townhouse, for Juniper was spending the weekend there. Next weekend he and Vick would be moving Jack and Taran back to District 3 into their dorm room, so this weekend works for him to visit Cassandra. He still has not told his Mom or Vick about her, he knows time is running out, figuring eventually Jack will let it slip to Taran once they are in the dorms again.

After Avery's reaction, he was not going to try to predict what his other family members would think, for Vick and Layla adored Katniss and while it took his Mom a while to trust Katniss again, Katniss was in all sense of the word, a second daughter to his Mom. He and Cassandra's age difference also added another layer of complication, and he knew his Mother would not approve of that.

He also wanted to come to the Capitol, to stop by Avery's apartment to see if he can catch her before she heads out for the evening. Ignoring his calls for two weeks now, he figures the only way he can see her at this point is to ambush her. He decides he will try at her apartment first before making an unannounced visit to AMB. Since he is co-signer on the lease for her apartment, he has access into the building, he heads inside and up to the 99th floor.

He knocks and after a few seconds, he sighs in relief when he sees her open the door. He sees she has been crying, her eyes puffy and red. "What are you doing here?" she says in an unfriendly tone.

"We need to talk" he says, and he pushes open the door not waiting to be invited in. As far as he was concerned, this was just as much his place as hers given the fact he continued to pay despite her actively shutting him out.

He looks around and sees the complete disarray of the apartment. Her clothes are strewn about everywhere, her dishes are dirty and not put in the dishwasher, the blinds down with no light coming in. He immediately becomes even more worried than he already is.

"I have nothing to say to you" Avery says as she plops down on her couch, curling up into a ball.

"What's wrong with you, why does your apartment look like this? Have you been going to work?"

"Yes, but I didn't go today."

"Why not?"

"I had a doctor's appointment, I still have not been feeling well, been throwing up again this week."

Gale sees the paleness in her face, immediately knowing what this means, for he had seen it with Katniss four times and multiple times with his Mother growing up.

"Avery-" he says cautiously.

"I don't want to talk about it Dad."

"What did the doctor say?"

She stares straight ahead at the TV, refusing to respond.

He goes over and turns the TV off, causing her to curse at him in anger. "Get the fuck out!" she screams rising off the couch looking up at his tall frame.

"No-we have to talk about this."

"No" she says shaking her head.

"Avery-"

"Why do you care? I'm surprised you are even here-I thought your woman would forbid it-considering she is unemployed now."

"We are not talking about Cassandra right now; we are talking about you."

"I don't want to talk about me."

"You're pregnant, we are going to talk about it, who's the Father?"

"Someone I am no longer seeing, and I don't want to see him anymore" she says with finality in her voice.

"Did he hurt you?" Gale asks, his voice seething.

"Not physically-but-it was not a good relationship. I don't want him involved-ever."

Gale nods and says, "Okay-but I know you have the birth control implant; how did this happen?"

She gets an angry look on her face and says, "When I saw the doctor this morning, they told me, due to my lack of planning on getting the implant replaced in July like I was supposed to-the effects of the implant wore off. And with me being a young, fertile woman-it is easy for someone like me to get pregnant" she says bitterly.

Gale curses internally to himself, not wanting her to feel any worse than she already does. He knows now that Sienna was away, she did not have her Sister to remind her of the small reminders in life she had to keep up with, like doctor appointments. Ever since Katniss died, Sienna had taken over the role of reminding her of the things she needed to keep track of.

He sees her eyes start to water up as she says, "Mom would be so disappointed in me if she saw me now."

His heart breaking, he reaches out to her and says, "No-she'd hunt down and put an arrow in the thigh of whoever this guy is who is making her a Grandmother but-she'd be there for you-just like I will-whatever you decide to do-I'm here for you."

She wraps her arms around him, missing his embrace after all these weeks. Now crying uncontrollably, he gently sits her down on the couch as she holds onto him. He thinks to himself it is most certain he will be paying for her next apartment, for she will need a two bedroom if she decides to have the baby, and that he will be helping to raise another child.

While he can most certainly afford it, it was not something he was planning as he was working towards retirement, thinking he would be a Grandparent when he was much, much older.

A/N: As I said, I had no set schedule in posting, I was going to work on my other story and update that and work on this one this weekend, but-I changed my mind lol