Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine. Any lines from the books are hers too.
AN: Yeah, a little soap opera-y. Sorry. Might get around to writing the other reactions, we shall see.
Kaleidoscope, pt 12
Madge hums to herself, the warm breeze of a dying summer ruffling her hair as she hangs the last of the laundry on the line. There aren't many more days left to dry it outside and she wants as much done as she can before the cool hits.
Smiling, she goes to the porch to work on her knitting.
It's a tiny little pair of socks, much less lumpy than the first set she'd knitted all those years ago, when she'd been trying to prove she was more than a warm body in Gale's bed. She's gotten more proficient over the years, five children encourage it, and now with Abilene several months into her first pregnancy she's putting that skill to use again.
"What if it's twins?" Sage had wondered aloud, looking horrified at the thought only minutes after he'd announced the news.
"They skip generations, from what I've read," Vick had told him. He'd shrugged. "I looked it up after you and Briar were born."
That hadn't seemed to comfort Sage as much as it was probably meant to, but he'd nodded all the same.
"At least you got that spot in the Engineering Corps," Daisy reminded him. "Even if it's twins, you'll be okay."
He has extra income and that means extra food. Times won't be as lean if he adds another mouth to the equation when the baby comes.
"Yeah," he'd nodded, still distracted by the prospect of having not only one but two babies.
While Sage was sick with worry about becoming a dad, Gale was past excited about being a grandpa. He'd told everyone at the Hob the day he'd found out, much to Miles' annoyance.
"Trust me, dad, they can tell you're a grandpa. Look at your hair." He'd reached up and plucked one of the silver threads of hair from Gale's head, holding it to his face. "You old."
Briar had rolled her eyes, always her dad's defender.
"Oh, shut up, Miles." She'd swatted his hand down. "It's a normal amount of gray."
That hadn't softened the blow much, and Gale had kept his cap on more and more. Plucking the gray was no longer an option. He could shave his head, the only way to guarantee the gray is gone, but Madge had already warned him against it.
"Don't even think about it." She'd leaned in, her lips to his ear as she'd nuzzled closer to him in bed. "I like your hair, whatever color it is."
After that she'd shown him just how much.
"Not bad for an old man, huh?" He'd growled against her shoulder, pressing kisses up her neck.
"Mmm," Madge had agreed, pulling him closer, kissing his graying temple.
She's so distracted by the memory that she doesn't notice someone coming to the back door until it creaks open.
"Mom?" Daisy frowns as Madge startles and drops the yarn, needles clattering on the wood porch and skittering away.
Leaning forward to save her knitting, Madge glances over her shoulder and smiles.
"You're early."
Normally, Daisy changes out of her school clothes after the last bell and heads to help either Hazelle or Mr. Abernathy, occasionally stopping at the Mellark bakery to help Abilene.
She doesn't get home until late most nights, sometimes after dark. Something Gale has complained about.
"It's not safe to be wandering around at this time." He'd eyed the wrinkles on her dress, the mud splatters in her shoes, probably imagining the filthy minded men lingering in the shadows, watching his child with less than pure thoughts.
"I'm fine, dad," she'd waved him off, when she'd arrived home, looking a little rumpled. "It's-I just tripped."
Wren's mouth had dropped open, and Madge had gotten the distinct feeling she was about to say something, but Daisy had silenced her with a look.
Daisy's school uniform is still on today though, not a wrinkle in sight, and she's a little pale, hair loose.
"Are you sick?" Madge asks, standing and pressing her hand to her daughter's forehead.
Shaking her head, Daisy grimaces. "No I-I'm fine, I just needed to talk to you."
A knot forms in the pit of Madge's stomach. It hardly sounds like a good conversation is about to happen.
"Okay," Madge nods, sitting back down and putting her knitting back in its basket.
Taking a breath, Daisy sits on the rickety footstool beside Madge. It wobbles for a moment as she fidgets with the hem of her dress before stilling and biting her lip.
"I-um-I've been-"she shakes her head, frustrated, then looks up at Madge, tears brimming in her eyes. "Mom...I'm pregnant."
For a moment Madge doesn't think she's heard her right, just stares at her in quiet confusion as she tries to put together just what her child has told her.
Daisy isn't pregnant. She can't be. She's never even been on a date.
"What-sweetie, what are you talking about?"
"I'm pregnant, mom." She gestures at her stomach, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I've got a baby in me. I'm going to have a baby."
She's ridiculous. Sage is the one with a baby on the way, not Daisy.
Madge shakes her head. "No, Daisy, you can't b-"
"I've been seeing someone," she cuts her off, voice cracking. "I didn't-I was afraid to tell anyone but Wren."
Her lip quivers for a moment and she seems poised to break when she buries her face in her hands, silently sobbing as Madge tries to make sense of what she's saying.
Not Daisy…
She's only a child. She's still in school. She can't be pregnant…
Reaching out, Madge pulls her onto her chair and into a hug, feeling her sobs shaking her body.
"Shhh, sweetheart, it's okay."
Daisy shakes her head, breath shuddering. "No it's not."
Madge winces. Really, she's right.
She's young and unmarried. This is a disaster by definition.
Immediately, Madge begins running through things they can do, trying to find a way to save her daughter. All the desperate thoughts she'd had when she'd found herself pregnant and alone all those years ago come flooding back, amplified by the fear of having a child ripped from her arms.
"Briar is going to kill me."
Frowning, Madge smoothes Daisy's hair, steadying herself in the present.
Briar is hardly the one Daisy needs to worry about. She'll be angry, mostly out of worry and frustration that her little sister is in trouble, but Gale is the bigger problem.
To say he's going to be furious that a boy has gotten his little girl pregnant is an understatement. The boy will be lucky if Gale doesn't beat him half to death before he drags him to the Justice Building for a very unplanned wedding.
Pulling back, Madge forces a smile. All that will come later, right now her daughter needs her and her reassurance.
"Briar won't be-"
"She will be!" Daisy half shouts, her eyes puffy, rubbing her nose, tears still coming. "She's gonna think I did it on purpose."
Madge shakes her head. Whatever their differences, Briar is hardly going to blame Daisy for this. She'll probably think she's stupid for getting in this situation, and will undoubtedly say just that, but she won't blame her.
These things happen. Briar and Sage are proof of that.
"Daisy," Madge sighs. "Why would Bri be mad?"
Sniffling, Daisy begins fidgeting with the hem of her dress again, chewing her lip hard enough that Madge expects blood before looking up.
"Because it's Rowan's," she whispers, eyes still downcast. "It's Rowan I've been seeing. I didn't want to say anything because I knew Briar would hate me."
Madge closes her eyes, almost groaning.
The Barrows boy. Why did it have to be the Barrows boy?
He's not a boy, not really anymore. He's Briar and Sage's age, and that's only the start of the problem.
Briar has had a crush on him for years. His flirting with Daisy when she'd only been little more than a child had triggered the first of many one sided fights between Briar and Daisy.
"What do all the guys see in her?" Briar had complained when Daisy had been asked to the Fall Festival a few years prior.
She'd never had any boys ask her, and clearly she was rankling under the snub and the constant unfavorable comparisons to her younger sister.
"She's not as cranky as you," Wren had answered, not even looking up from her coloring. "And she smiles."
"I smile!" Briar snapped.
"Yeah, and small animals flee," Miles muttered.
Over the past few years Rowan Barrows has continued to flirt with Daisy, much to Briar's annoyance.
She's continued to nurse her crush, despite his disinterest, and Daisy obviously knew.
It's no wonder she's kept her dating him a secret, but Madge wishes she'd have just not dated him at all. There are other boys, but her sister is her sister.
It's messy. Too much drama.
Daisy and Briar are sisters, they shouldn't hurt each other like this, over some stupid boy.
"Mom...I tried not to like him, I tried, but...I just...he was so always nice to me-he liked me, not Briar. He brings me flowers after he leaves the mines, he reads the same books I do, we both like music and-and he asked me to marry him-before I found out I was pregnant…" she sighs, energy spent, eyes closed. "I love him. He loves me. And Briar...she's gonna hate me for it."
"She won't hate-"
"Yes," Daisy stops her, voice stronger than it's been since she started her confession. "She's been looking for a reason for years, and now I've given it to her."
"No-"
"It's not even that she'll hate me," she laughs, tears spilling over again. "She's just gonna hate me more. She's always hated me."
Madge pulls her back into a hug, struggling to find the words to explain that her sister's misplaced jealousy isn't the same as hate, but falling short.
Briar's resentment will have to wait. Now isn't the time. She isn't even sure when the right time will be, if there ever will be.
She sighs.
She needs Gale. She needs him to help her help their children not to hate each other.
Rowan wants to marry Daisy, and she very much seems to want to marry him. That's one hurdle they won't have to worry about. Gale won't have to drag a man to a marriage of convenience, though Madge isn't sure that won't keep him from taking out his fury on him anyways.
"It'll be okay," Madge murmurs, not really sure if she believes it herself.
#######
Gale knows something is wrong the minute he steps through the front door.
His home is rarely quiet. Either the kids are shouting, talking loudly or arguing, or Madge is humming in the kitchen, cooking dinner.
Today it's silent, not so much as the scraping of a spatula on a pan to be heard.
Frowning, he takes of his coat and kicks off his boots, pulls his cap a little more snugly on his head before venturing deeper, into the kitchen.
Sitting at the table, eyes red rimmed and puffy, is Daisy.
Madge is at her side, pale faced and grim, smoothing their daughter's hair.
"What's going on?" He asks, feeling certain he isn't going to like the answer.
Briar is probably in the woods, but Madge has deliberately sent Miles and Wren off, to keep them from whatever shit is about to hit. It's a bad omen if there ever was.
Forcing a smile, the worry lines on her face creasing, Madge gets up and walks to him, wraps her arms around his middle and presses her cheek to his chest.
"I need you to stay calm," she whispers. "I need you to listen before you say anything."
Immediately Gale tenses, his heart speeds up as he eyes Daisy, certain someone has hurt her.
She's too sweet, too forgiving and trusting, and he'd known it was an invitation for someone to hurt her. Now one of his worst fears has come true.
"Gale…" Madge's warning tone pulls him back from starting an interrogation, asking who'd hurt her, how, when. Daisy is clearly already in a state, and his demanding answers won't help that.
Squeezing Madge, reassuring her he won't barrel in and upset Daisy, Gale presses a kiss to her hair and sighs.
"What happened?"
Pulling back, Madge gestures to one of the mismatched chairs
She wants him to sit. That's not good.
Certain his heart is going to beat out of his chest, Gale sits, takes a breath, and rests his arms on the table.
"Daisy?"
Tears well in her eyes and she glances at Madge, who has placed a hand on Gale's shoulder. Probably to keep him from flying out of his seat.
"Dad, I-I-you know, how you and mom…"she makes a frustrated noise, swats the tears from her eyes and takes a breath, eyes dropping to her hands. "Dad, I'm pregnant."
For a few minutes Gale isn't sure what she's said. His mind can't wrap around it.
Daisy is a child, just a little girl, she's never even been on a date.
Someone hurt her, it's the only explanation.
"Who?" He finally growls. "Who did this to you?"
Someone hurt his baby and he's going to make them pay.
He gets up, ready to fight, but Madge has him by the arm, telling him to listen and Daisy is up and around the table, tears dripping off her face, begging him not to be mad.
"Dad, he wants to marry me-he loves me…"
She stands in front of him, tears falling silently as she stares up at him, silent except for her sobs.
For a second she's just a little girl again, upset about someone being mean to her, asking Gale to make everything better. He can't help her now though, only that damned boy can.
Reaching out, Gale pulls her into a hug. It's all he has to offer at the moment.
"Briar is never gonna talk to me again," she finally whimpers, shuddering against him.
Gale smoothes her hair, uncertain what to say, unsure what she's even talking about at this point. He looks at Madge, silently asking her what their daughter is on about.
Madge mouths a name.
"Rowan Barrows."
Gale's arms tighten around Daisy.
That filthy piece of gutter trash did this.
Gale has hated that lousy boy since the first fight he'd caused between the girls. He's been nothing but trouble, flirting with Daisy and ignoring Briar, for years.
Briar had told him off a few times, but Gale got the impression she was too enamored with the idiot to be truly effective.
"He just keeps on," she'd complained. "What's so damn special about her?"
Gale hadn't answered. He didn't have an answer. He loves all his girls, and he can't pinpoint just what it is about Daisy that draws boys in. If he could, he'd put a stop to it.
In the back of his mind though, he has his suspicions.
Daisy's sweet, quiet, and the closest most boys from the Seam will ever get to a girl from Town.
Briar is tough, too much his child, and he's a bit worried he's made her a little too rough around the edges. While he appreciates her hearty nature, he'd been infatuated with Katniss for that very reason, he understands why most boys look past her to Daisy.
It's knowledge he never wants to say out loud. It would break Briar's heart.
"Briar loves you," Gale murmurs, pressing a kiss to her hair. "She's not gonn-"
Daisy pulls back, furiously swatting at her eyes.
"No-dad you don't understand." She shakes her head. "She hates me. She's hated me forever and now-now she's never going to forgive me."
Reaching out, Gale pulls her back into a hug, closes his eyes.
Briar loves her sister, but she's been jealous of her forever. It's strained their relationship for years. This is only going to feed that fire. That much Daisy has right.
Still, Briar will come around, but it will take time, and Gale isn't sure how much.
Grinding his teeth, Gale closes his eyes and silently wonders how long he's going to have to let the Barrows kid survive past his toasting before dragging him into the woods and showing him what happens when you mess with a man's children.