Despite the publicity from Finnick's editorial and the new customers who had visited the store in October, by the end of the first week of November business had slowed back down to a normal pace. The number of customers that came through the door steadied to a flow similar to before the opening of Mellark's. Katniss chose to ignore the facts that she had to place fewer supply orders and that the shelves didn't need to be restocked as often.

The week after Thanksgiving, Haymitch came to her. "Sweetheart, we need to talk."

She looked at his face and knew. "Let's go back to my office."

He followed her to the back of the store into the cramped little supply closet that she had converted into an office years before. She took a seat at her desk as he sat in the other chair.

Haymitch took a swig from his flask.

"Please stop stalling. Rip off the Band-Aid already."

"While the number of customers making purchases has steadied to a rate similar to before Mellark's opened, the average of the total purchases in their market baskets has declined. In addition, while the café has increased business, the sales we lost in the pharmacy from prescription transfers have not come back. The café was always a break-even operation, and the pharmacy was our profit center. Long story short, sales still suck. The publicity delayed things, but I expect that we'll be operating in the red by mid-January. It's time for you to consider options."

Katniss sat there, starring at Haymitch as he ticked off the obvious options. Everdeen's already operated with the minimum staff required. To lay someone off would mean that she'd have to work every day and someone would have to be paid overtime. She could downsize. Perhaps lease the café to someone else, but often people dropped by for lunch and picked up incidentals in the store, so closing the café may further drive down sales. Closing was a last resort, but still an option.

"Thank you, Haymitch. You've given me a lot to consider. Can you close the door on your way out?"

He stood and opened the door, turning back to face her once more. "Sweetheart, no matter what, it will be alright. We will all be okay and so will you." He exited, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Katniss sat frozen in her chair, not moving until a long time later when her phone rang. After she finished her call with one of her produce suppliers, she turned to her laptop and opened her author e-mail account to draft a message.

Hello Serene-Pilot,

I hope your day is going better than mine is. Despite our best efforts and the publicity, I'm probably going to have to make some tough decisions soon. Sales and profits are still down. All of our efforts didn't matter.

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do. I really can't reduce staffing; we already work on a skeleton crew where my Uncle Haymitch helps so I can have some time off. Perhaps I'll lease out the café since we breakeven there. If I do that, I could probably move a couple of my staff to half time but that won't be enough for them to live. They will have to look for other work. Also, the café brings in store business, if I shut it down sales will decrease to an unsupportable point. Many pick up groceries during their lunch hour. Lastly, I could close the store.

I feel like such a failure right now. My parents would be so disappointed with me.

-Warrior-Woman

After sending the message, Katniss shut down her computer, grabbed her purse, and exited her office.

"Haymitch?" she called out.

"Yes, Sweetheart? I'm by the register."

"Can you handle things for the rest of today and close up?"

"Sure thing."

"Thanks. I'll see you all tomorrow," Katniss hollered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Once home, she made herself a pot of oolong tea and laid her laptop onto the dining room table, having decided to use writing to relax. She opened a blank document to start the next chapter of her current story, only to have her mind draw a blank. She referred to her outline, then went back to the document and continued to stare. No words were forthcoming. She was blocked. She tried writing a few drabbles. Again, she couldn't get past the first sentence. Her brain also kept straying to thoughts about the store. Finally giving up, she turned to Tumblr to escape, scrolling through twelve hours' worth of posts.

A new message popped into her Tumblr inbox. It was one sentence.

Check your e-mail.

-Serene-Pilot.

She switched over to her e-mail and opened the message he'd sent.

Dear Warrior-Woman,

I am truly sorry that you are going through this rough time. But you need to realize one simple fact. You are not a failure. I don't think your parents would think you were one either. You put your everything into your store and you fought valiantly for it. Whatever decision you make going forward will be the right one, and if your parents were alive and simply retired, they would say the same thing.

Now, I want to consider what I'm about to say. The store was your parent's dream, correct? However, it wasn't your dream. Did they ever expect you to be the one to keep it going? Or, did they want you to pursue your own passion? If you could go do something else, something that inspires you, what would that be?

Please think about all of this as you decide your path forward.

I'll be here if you need me.

-Serene-Pilot

Her beta's message made her uncomfortable, to the point where she had to get out of the house. She quickly changed into yoga pants, a sweatshirt, and her running shoes, before exiting her apartment to jog off her anxiety. It was dusk, so she headed toward a park nearby with a well-lit running trail. There would be plenty of runners who had just left work, so she wasn't worried about running by herself.

She kept up a good pace for about twenty minutes when she realized someone else was jogging up beside her.

"Good evening, Katniss."

Upon hearing his greeting, she grimaced. It was just her luck that she had to run into him tonight of all nights. She picked up her pace and Peeta met it. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just trying to run."

"Yeah. Me too. I hate it, but it's efficient."

"Well I don't but it helps me think. If you don't mind?"

"I don't. I'm just running too. Apparently in the same direction."

Katniss was starting to run out of breath from trying to keep her pace and talking, but he just kept going…and talking.

"I rewatched all of Firefly last weekend. That show really was brilliant. It ended way too soon."

Katniss grunted in agreement then slowed to a walk to cool down. She needed to be heading home soon and if she managed to ditch Peeta all the better. Peeta jogged back to her and started walking at her side.

"It wasn't a bad way to spend Thanksgiving. I cooked myself a little Cornish game hen and a sweet potato," Peeta prattled.

"Don't you have a family? Wasn't Mellark's originally called Mellark and Son's?" Katniss asked.

"Oh, yes. I do, but I decided to skip Thanksgiving this year. It would have been nice to see Pops and my brothers, but I didn't want to deal with my mother." The way he said the last part quietly did not go unnoticed.

"How come?" she inquired.

"I never quite measure up for her. But you don't want to hear that sad story. Did you have a nice holiday?"

"Yes. Gale and I had Annie and Finnick, Johanna, and Uncle Haymitch over."

"That's nice." Peeta smiled tightly at her. Something was obviously bothering him.

"Peeta, I need to be heading home. Good night." She then turned and walked off; reminding herself that she didn't care about him or anything that may be worrying him.

Two days later, she still hadn't made a decision as to what to do with the store, but she had considered her beta's e-mail. She needed to determine what she wanted before making a decision.

That night she accompanied Gale to a party celebrating the finish of the textile mill redevelopment project. She stuck close to Gale's side during the party as everyone walked up to congratulate him. Katniss watched him as he interacted with the architect on the team, Madge, again noticing their ease and comfort with each other.

As she watched him converse with the woman, sharing little inside jokes tied to the project, Katniss realized something. Gale's eyes sparkled when he spoke to Madge, in a way that they never had when he looked at her. Moreover, Katniss realized when Madge touched his arm and looked up at him, Madge's eyes held an awe as she spoke with him. Everything about this should have bothered her, but it hadn't in the least. Because it was then that she came to the realization that while she loved Gale, she wasn't in love with him.

After the party, the two of them went home and Katniss slid into bed beside her best friend. Gale had already switched off the light and turned away from her. She looked at him with a little half-smile then turned over and for once, fell promptly to sleep.

On Saturday night, Gale took her out to dinner. She'd been putting off talking to him, but she couldn't any longer. She waited until after the sommelier poured their wine and the waiter had taken their orders.

"Gale, I've been thinking. You are my best friend. I think you feel about me the same way I feel about you. I love you and I know you love me but –"

"I'm not in love with you and you aren't in love with me," Gale finished.

Katniss grinned. "Exactly."

They both looked away from each other. Gale studied his wine glass as Katniss straightened out her napkin onto her lap.

"So what now?" Gale broke the silence.

"Well, you probably should move out but we can still remain best friends."

Gale nodded. "I think we can do that." They both laughed and breathed sighs of relief. They had fallen into habit for too long.

"Also, it wouldn't be a bad thing if we started looking for someone we can be in love with, but I think you may have already found her," suggested Katniss.

Gale looked puzzled.

"You have a connection with Madge. It's electric. It's okay to admit it now."

A broad smile spread across his face as Gale allowed himself to consider something previously unthinkable while he and Katniss had been tied. He would have never strayed while they were together because he did love her and would never want to hurt her.

Gale's eyes ducked down and when looked back at Katniss he gave her a sheepish grin. "I really do like her."

"Well then go after her," Katniss encouraged.

The waiter delivered their first course and they joked and talked as they hadn't in a very long time.

Late into the night, Katniss crawled out of bed, which she still shared with Gale for practicality's sake. She hadn't wanted Gale stuck on the couch, especially since she was often out there in the middle of the night. She snuck out of the bedroom into the living room and booted up her laptop.

Dear Serene-Pilot,

I'm sorry it has taken me several days to respond. I will be honest in admitting that your e-mail was a bit tough to read because it required me to question myself. Something that was a long time coming. You are right. I've been living for other's expectations and dreams for years. This questioning has allowed me to make some decisions about my career and my life. I thank you for helping me do that.

This week I also realized something else. I love my boyfriend because he is my best friend but I'm not in love with him. Luckily, he felt the exact same way. So he is moving out and we are both really great about it. If I'm honest, I think the fact that we've maintained a relationship when we weren't in love created a barrier for us. It was so much work to be together that we stopped talking. Once we admitted the truth, it was as if a dam broke and conversation poured out. My best friend is talking to me again.

My Uncle Haymitch said something to me recently. He said, "We will all be alright."

I finally believe him.

Your friend,

Warrior-Woman

A/N:

Thank you very much to Pookieh for being an amazing beta. She turned around this story so fast and I'm grateful.

If you'd like more information about my fanfiction please visit my tumblr: dispatchesfromdistrict7

The characters are the property of the amazing Suzanne Collins and do not belong to me. I occasionally weave lines from her novels. Those totally belong to Ms. Collins too.

As I mentioned the plot is inspired by the movie You've Got Mail so I credit the creators of that film for the story idea – which I've adapted to modern times and Everlark.