Hey guys! So I checked the traffic report and now were up to over 700 views! WOW... For those of you who have reviewed for me, you are literally the best people ever. I'm really sorry about the delay. I've had this typed up for weeks now and just not enought time to polish it up. It's hard being a one amn show and still managing school and life. I'm hoping to get a new chapter up before the end of the year. Let me know how ya'll like it. It's sort of like a filler. Next I want to go in a whole other direction. I'm seing a time lapse for maybe a year or so so that the story can do some flashbacks and pick up the pace. We still have to bring Bow, Flint and other newbies back into the story... Of course Something has been going on in the Mellark residence. But, just R&R first! 3 Love you guys...

Rye POV

Mom never brought up the topic again that night. I think it was in everyone's best interest if it was all dropped. Dad never seemed to be worried about the situation. For some odd reason he looked jealous of me spending time there with Gale. There's no way they could ever know I lied because I luckily inherited my mad lying skills from my father. I was extremely lucky at the end of the night. No one knew my secret but maybe Haymitch who I found constantly rising his eyebrows at me. I didn't necessarily worry about him though; Haymitch is good at keeping things from my Mom and Dad.

One person did worry me though. Blaze seemed to read right through each lie. He was more like me then I ever had thought. He was literally a male version of me two years younger. And every time he noticed my fibbing he scrawled more onto his little hidden notebook making my heartbeat speed up and ruin the lie altogether. Not even Dad can look through my lies! We need to talk later on about this entire situation. But, to take the spotlight off me and my trip, I whipped out Blaze's cookies.

"Look Mom! Blaze has an incredible talent with baking. We should all have one for dessert because they are just too beautiful to throw out. " Blaze's eyes widened and I knew I had finally caught him off guard. For the first time though, he wasn't angry with me for it. Mom and Dad practically cooed at him for his pretty cookies while stroking his silky brown hair. Blaze only smiled meekly blushing slightly from the attention. "Well if you don't mind I'm just going to hit the sack. Love you." It was the easiest clearance I had ever got from the kitchen table.

Right as I skipped up the first stairs someone grabbed my arm. Haymitch's large beefy hand easily locked my twiggy arm in his grasp. "My, my… someone's a lot like their mother. Mr. Hawthorne used to be her best friend too. "

"What are you talking about Haymitch?" I rolled my eyes and tried to duck out of the awkward prison.

"Grandma talks to me more than you think…" Grandma and I had made a deal to keep the entire situation a secret. Sometimes I would go to district two and other times I would actually go see Grandma. She trusted Gale because he helped her through so much during the pre-rebellion life. Hazelle was her best friend, and my mother wouldn't even have been as strong as she is today if she never met Gale.

"She promised… You won't tell them right? I'm not ever going back to district two again. I'm not going to hurt them; you saw how she reacted today. If she actually found out the truth then I will be dead meat. "

"Relax kiddo. I think you're actually smarter than your mother is. You're not centered around your own pride like she is. To this day, she would probably burn a thousand bushes Peeta plants just to show that she isn't completely infatuated to the point that she's vulnerable. You Rye, you have some common sense unlike you mental mother. " He winked at me and released my red throbbing arm. "Sorry about that… I still have a killer's grasp." I pretended to chuckle at his awkward comment and fled to my bedroom.

They would never know. Ever….

Blaze POV

I never knew that Rye could actually care about me. The way she took the attention off herself and gave it to me was by far the best she thing she has ever done for me. But of course, there was a catch. I saw the way she twiddled her fingers and blushed crimson. There was no way that Rye was being well, Rye. Something or someone had gotten to her. I remember how odd she was in the bakery and now this, nothing was right here. She slid herself right out of mom's attention and out the door. Maybe if I hadn't seen Haymitch smirk and roll his eyes as she left I wouldn't have assumed anything other than her being sick. But, I watched him exit the table just as stealthily as Rye and then I knew that something wasn't right.

Being the good brother I am and as skilled liar as my father, I managed to avoid any topic that could even relate to Rye now. Something told me that Rye and Haymitch shared a secret that Mom and Dad would be overall better off not knowing. My insides craved to inherit the secret as well though. If Haymitch could be trusted, than why couldn't her own flesh and blood brother be? Haymitch isn't even related to us technically. Maybe down the line of Seam people someone did "carry the gene" of Everdeens and Abernathy's together but now the family tree that could have existed somewhere along the line is nonexistent. I don't know why Rye confides in him over anyone else. What about Mom? She is always going hunting with her. Or even Dad his little angel that bakes the best cheese buns in all of Panem. Whatever she is hiding is something she can't tell mom or dad and that makes it even more interesting.

"How did you make these so intricate Blaze? Even my hands can't do designs this thin and complex. Sure I'm pretty good but I think there's a new Mellark taking over the Panem bakery…"

I couldn't help but blush at my father's compliment. Sometimes he nods in approval or smirks but three sentences of straight praises is like a dream come true and I can't help but get side tracked from Rye's whole secret dilemma.

"Well I make my icing tubes personally. I never use the thick ones and I have mastered the ability to never shake. You don't even know how many trays I use to fight with myself over because my own arms shook too much. The lines would be squiggly and not perfect like yours or Ryes and that made me well… envious."

"Blaze, baking is not a competition. It is an art of beauty and taste. It combines each sense of sight, smell, taste, sound and feels all together. "

"Dad you've told me this a million times. I couldn't help but be jealous of Rye. You praise her left and right. She is always your first. First born, first pick, first, first first. I'm always going to be the second in everything. Mom can't even look at me without cringing. Am I a disappointment, an accident?"

"Blaze, I never-" Mom tried to jump in.

"Save the lies! I want to know why you shudder when I hunt, smile, or even breathe! I have seen it since I was born. Did you cry from disappointment went I came out of the womb too?"

"Fine. I do get uncomfortable around you Blaze. It's not you though. Your personality is incredible. Almost everything you say or do reminds me of your father. The way you come home with flour in your hair and the way you can make a person melt inside by just introducing yourself. I have never been disappointed at my first and only son. You are soo handsome and I am incredibly pleased at how you have turned out." I noticed Dad breathe heavily when she called me handsome. How could dad be jealous of his own son? "It's just your looks are so familiar to me from the Seam. The people I lost dear to me that suffered… You look almost identical to him, I mean them. I love you so much Blaze and I would never change you at all. Rye is just so easy to be around because she looks just like her father and the people we still have today. You are like one big bundle of the past that probably any normal person would swoon over you for. I, Blaze, am most certainly not normal." Mom sucked in her breath and lifted her plates. She quickly rose and walked into the kitchen.

Dad scratched his scalp and gazed into the empty space. "I'll have Rye do the dishes tonight."

Shoutouts to my reviewers! (to my anonymous reviewers you still rock my socks off too)

Kayola15 for being so loyal throughout everything... 3