I was washing dishes from the patchwork dinner I had made myself the night before when the doorbell rang. I frowned and wiped my hands off, throwing the rag over my shoulder and heading for the door.

I pulled it open with a frown at who it would be. It was past the time Peeta or Gran would be over, and they never used the doorbell anyways.

My frown was blown away by a look of surprise at the sight of little Posy Hawthorne on my doorstep, Gale right behind her.

"...Yes?"

"Aces!" Posy said, hopping up and down. "I got to use the doorbell!"

A small smile worked it's way across my lips. "You're the first one who has." I said. "Can I help you?" I added, looking back up at Gale questioningly.

He sighed and raised his arms up only to let them fall back to his sides. "She wouldn't leave us alone about wanting you to teach her piano. I was hoping you could tell her you were too busy, or something."

Seeing a chance to get on his nerves, I plastered a smile on my face. "Of course I'm not too busy."

"Yay! So you'll teach me how?" Posy said excitedly.

"Sure thing." I smirked at Gale, who looked about ready to smash his head in right there.

"Great," he gritted out. "I'll be back after my shift to pick her up."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll walk her home."

I watched as he ground his jaw back and forth before saying goodbye to Posy and hightailing it out of there. We waved goodbye after his retreating form before I brought her inside and closed the door.

"Are you hungry? I was about to make breakfast."

"Oh, that's alright." Posy tried to decline, but I shot her a look.

"I have more food than I know what to do with now, so I'll make us some breakfast."

She smiled. "Alright."

"So," I said, picking up a strawberry from the bowl on the table. Posy and I had made crepes for breakfast, with sugar and lime juice. "I don't really know how to teach piano, but I can try."

"Ok." She said, smiling around her bite of crepe. She finished chewing before looking back up at me with her head tilted curiously. "Mom says that Gale's really in love with you, he just doesn't want to admit it. And she's never wrong."

I choked on my strawberry. Kids say the damnedest things, don't they?

"Did- Did she now?" I wheezed.

"Mhm. She also told me Gale only thinks he's in love with Katniss cause he thinks that's what he should do."

I cleared my throat. "Interesting."

"Of course," she carried on, sounding for all the world like a gossiping town mother, "You can't tell him we said any of this. He gets very defensive."

"Mhm." I hummed in agreement before finishing my breakfast.

"Alright, come sit here." I said, motioning next to me on the bench. I placed my hands lightly on the keys.

"you want to cup your hands." I said softly. "Like you're holding an egg. Use the tips of your fingers to press the keys, not the pads." I played a few quick notes to demonstrate. "Go ahead, press a couple."

Posy turned to look at the keys in wonderment before pressing the first three carefully.

I pointed to a middle white key. "This is middle C. put your right thumb there, and the rest of your fingers on the keys after it." She did as I said, so I continued. "The next one is D, use your pointer finger for that, and your middle finger then for E. Play those three."

She did so, slowly, before looking back to me. "Alright, now take your thumb underneath your other fingers, and slide your hand down to press your thumb on the next key, which is G." Posy cast a look at her hand and positioned her thumb before playing the note.

"Good. And the rest goes the same way."

We sat at the piano- with a break for lunch- until I noticed the sun coming lower outside the window.

I dropped my hands from the piano and stood up. "We should get you back home."

Posy groaned but hopped up anyways. "Can I come back again tomorrow?"

I smiled. "Of course. You can come as much as you want. This old house gets lonely real easy." I said as we walked back down stairs. I turned into the kitchen once we reached the bottom, Posy following me curiously.

"What should we bring to make for dinner?" I asked her.

Her eyes grew wide. "Oh no, really! You don't have to. We've got the extra food already from Katniss and Peeta winning the games."

"I know, but it makes me feel better. I hate being in this prissy house with all this food provided by the capitol."

It didn't take too much longer to talk Posy into agreeing, and soon we had a basket full of the makings for spaghetti.

"Let's go."

We donned our jackets and stepped outside to start our way to the seam houses.

It had taken much less to get Mrs. Hawthorne to agree to the extra food, but not because she wasn't prideful or anything. Truth be told, I wasn't entirely sure why she agreed so quickly, but some part of me had an inkling that it was because she was making me stay for dinner since I was providing it, and Gale would be home soon. If what Posy had told me earlier was true, then that was most likely the reason for it.

We chatted as we worked in the kitchen, the children playing in the quaint living room. It felt wonderful to be in a house so full of life. Even Peeta's house, on the occasion that I spent time over there, hadn't felt so warm and full.

"Aces!" Vick said as him and Rory came sliding into the kitchen. "Posy says she can play the piano as good as you can now. Is that true?"

I smiled and met Posy's eyes, a glint of mischief in them. "I dare say it might be. Your little sister is a natural."

"See?" Posy cried. "I told you it was true."

Vick went back over to his sister, telling her she shouldn't be so cocky and the like as Rory tilted his head curiously.

"Do you think I could play piano?"

"If you wanted to, I don't see why not."

"Rory! You can't play piano! It's for girls!" Vick groaned, sticking out his tongue in disgust. Rory frowned at his brother and exited the kitchen to argue with him.

I turned to Mrs. Hawthorne with an amused smile. "Are they always like this?"

"Oh yes." She laughed. "They're a handful, but I wouldn't trade them for the biggest handful of gold." She shot a loving look at her children and I smiled wistfully.

She must have caught my look because next she was bumping my shoulder and saying, "You'll see someday, I'm sure. You'll be a grand mother, dear."

I could feel a faint blush cross my face as I looked down at the finished spaghetti. "Thank you."

"Dinner's ready, children!" She said, turning from the counter to grab bowls. She handed them to me and I filled them and passed them down the line, until we all sat at the table with our food.

"Who wants to say grace?" She asked, and Rory's hand shot into the air.

"I do!" At her nod, they all closed their eyes and clasped their hands. "Thank you for this food, and for our mama and our home. We thank you for our brother and for Aces who brought dinner tonight. Amen." And then the previous chatter from the three broke out again as everyone started to eat. I took a deep breath to calm the rising emotions in me. I hadn't even begun to eat yet, and somehow this was already the most wonderful dinner I had ever had.

The door opened halfway through the meal, and all the kids jumped from their seats, running to the newcomer.

"Gale!" They yelled happily, Posy jumping up for a hug.

There was a smile on his face, perhaps the most raw I had ever seen from him, but it fell the moment he saw me sitting at the table.

He turned his gaze on his mother. "What is she doing here?" He demanded.

Mrs. Hawthorne took a steady breath before answering. I supposed being his mother gave her the strength to not be frightened by the ice in his tone.

"Aces brought Posy home and offered dinner, so I invited her to stay and eat with us."

He looked at the bowls on the table and then to the pot on the stove that was still 1/3 full. Setting Posy down he glared at me.

"We don't need your charity." He nearly growled.

"Gale." His mother warned. "She didn't mean anything by it."

"Like hell she didn't! I can take care of us just fine, Smith."

"I never said you couldn't." I replied, my voice surprisingly stronger than I had even hoped it would sound. "I was only being kind."

"We have plenty of food from the winnings, thank you very much."

"I simply offered. Your mother accepted, and it's over now. You might as well just calm down, and-"

"Don't you tell me to calm down in my own house." He said, growing angrier by the moment. Not one to stand down, I rose from my chair and walked to the door, ignoring Mrs. Hawthorne's protests to stay.

I stepped over the threshold of the door and turned back to Gale.

"Calm down."

Silence rang out as Gale tried to stare me down. When I refused to look away he stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

"You better watch your step, Smith. Don't think that just because Katniss survived the game you get a free pass to go about as you please with my family. I don't want your food. We have our own."

"I only did it to be fair to the rest of you. Posy was at my house all day, did you expect me to let her sit there and not feed her? And I wasn't going to send her home without something for the others."

He grit his teeth and continued to glare at me. "Don't bring dinner again, Smith. That's my job. I can take care of my own family. You just watch your step."

With that he went back inside and slammed the door behind him. I raised an eyebrow at his childish behavior and crossed my arms.

Just as I expected, the door popped open a few seconds later and he practically threw my coat at me before closing the door again.

Looking up to the sky and shaking my head in exasperation, I turned and started home.

I brought Posy home with a cake from the Mellark bakery the next day. I told Mrs. Hawthorne to tell her son when he got home that I said it wasn't dinner.