AN: Right, I know it been AGES but I have recently re-read the books and it has sparked the continuing of this story. The M rating is for later chapters. Enjoy...
The living apartment was nothing special, but it had all what me and Prim would need. There was two small bedrooms, one for each of us. Never before had we not shared a room, and I could not tell if I was dreading the loneliness or looking forward to the privacy. I knew Prim favoured the latter, as she would not stop saying how "great" it will be. Mr Mellark had left us to settle in ourselves, I barely knew him but I had great respect for him, he instinctively knew what it was that me and Prim needed. I followed Prim into her room, helping her neatly fold away her clothes into the draws. The whole time she aimlessly chatted on about how great Mr Mellark was and how talented Peeta was at decorating the cakes.
After Prim had washed and changed for bedshe crawled under the crisp white covers of her new bed, I tucked her in.
"Goodnight Little Duck." I told her softly.
"Goodnight Katniss." She replied, closing her sleepy eyes. I left her room, I myself was exhausted. But I had to thank Mr Mellark before I went to bed. As I climbed down the stairs I could hear a gentle humming coming from the kitchen. Mr Mellark was bent over cleaning the work surface. I coughed alerting him to my presense.
"Oh Katniss, is everything alright sweetheart?" He stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me.
"Oh everything is fine sir. I just wanted to thank you for the kindness you have shown me and Prim." I retrieved my hunting bag and offered him the squirrels I had caught today. "I caught you these as a way to say thank-you." I explained whilst handing them over to him.
"Oh Katniss, you needn't of troubled yourself. But I do love a good squirrel soup, perhaps we can have it for our dinner tomorrow night. Me, you, Prim and the boys, what'd you say?"
"That sounds great Sir."
"Katniss, please call me Braedy. No need to be so formal." He paused smiling at me. "Right then I better let you get to sleep, you have an early start tomorrow, Saturday is our busiest day! If you need anything you know where I am."
"Ok, thank-you sir- Braedy. I'll see you tomorrow." With that I returned upstairs, the Mellarks used to live above the bakery before Mr Mellark became the mayor. They now lived in a medium sized house, closer to the justice building. I used to wonder why he still kept the bakery even though he was the mayor, but seeing him here today has made me realise he still does it because he loves baking. I submerged into my bed and for the first time in years fell straight to sleep, feeling safe.
The next morning I awoke to the calming melody of a mocking jay's song. I wondered where he had picked up the tune. I then did something I had not done since my father had died, I sung. It felt so refreshing and the bird copied the tune. I realised it was probably seven am. I could hear the gentle movement of people down stairs. I wondered if I was already late on my first day, not realising how early a bakery actually opened. I quickly washed and got dressed, re-braiding my messy hair. I hurried downstairs finding Mr Mellark, Peeta and two older boys who looked strikingly similar to Peeta.
"Ah Katniss there you are." Stated Mr Mellark. " I better introduce you to everyone, you've already met the youngest, Peeta. This here is Rye, the middlest. And this is Bran, the oldest. They all help out in the bakery, but the word help is used loosely." He chuckled. Bran and Rye both said quick hellos to me, returning to their work. I couldn't help noticing that neither Bran nor Rye had the same cobalt eyes as Peeta. "Right I'm heading out this morning, I have important business to attend to. I'm going to leave you here in the capable hands of Peeta. He'll show you where everything is and what jobs you may have to do. Unfortunately it's mostly washing up and doing the till. Right best be off see you later." And with that he left me and the three blonde boys in the kitchen.
"It's nice to have you here Katniss." The middlest boy, Rye said to me.
"Try not to mess everything up." The Bran said staring daggers at me.
"Bran, leave the girl alone and get back to your baking." Bran turned away. "Sorry Katniss, Bran can be a bit of a dick sometimes, but he'll grow on you." Said Rye. Throughout this whole exchange Peeta was silent in the corner, concentrating on his work. His eyebrows knit together in concentration. I walked over to him.
"Urm hi, what did you want me to do this morning?" I enquired politely. He stopped his work and looked up at me.
"Ur-I'll give you a tour of where everything is first." He then proceeded to showing me around the bakery. He said barely anything to me just pointing out where everything was kept and showed me how to operate the till.
"Right then I better get started." I told him.
"Ok, let me know if you have any problems with anything." I got to work washing the equipment, generally tidying and serving costumers in the store front. It took me a while to get used to how the till worked but after a hour or so I had it mastered. Before I knew it Rye was poking his head around the doorway that separated the kitchen from the store front.
"Hey Katniss, how you getting on?" He asked.
"Yeah, I think I've got the hang of this thing now." I pointed at the till and smiled at him.
"Aha good, right well did you want your lunch break now? I think Peeta fixed us up a couple of sandwiches. We normally eat together, but you don't have to."
"Oh, are you sure there would be enough for me?" I hesitatingly asked.
"Yeah sure, Bran could always do with less." He chuckled. I followed him into the kitchen. Peeta and Bran were already sat around the small dining table in the corner of the room. I sat and listened as the three boys chatted amongst each other, Peeta and Rye occasionally asking me questions. I couldn't help thinking how different their relationships with each other was compared to mine and Prim's relationship. Talking of Prim I had yet to see her this morning, I was hoping that she was sitting quietly doing her homework upstairs. It was already around 12 am so I asked if I could go check on her. Like I had thought, she was sitting quietly at the table in the kitchen doing her homework.
"How you doing, little duck?" I asked her.
"Katniss! I missed you this morning. I'm just working on my history homework Miss Miller wants the entire project in for Monday. How unfair is that?"
"That's not fair, can I help you with anything? Have you had your lunch yet?" She smiled brightly at me.
"Yeah, Peeta brought me up lunch. Oh Katniss it was so tasty and he also helped me a little with my homework."
"Oh that was nice of him." I smiled back at her.
"Katniss, I understand why she did it." She looked at me, her normally happy eyes tainted with sadness.
"Who are you talking about Prim?" I asked.
"Mum, I understand why she ended her life. I know you are angry with her for leaving us." She explained.
"Don't talk like that Prim. Oh course I'm angry at her she left her two daughters to fend for themselves, but you have to remember Prim we can't change anything now. We just have to focus on looking after ourselves. We basically lost mother when dad died. Come on, I have a few minutes left for lunch, I'll help you with that homework." I hugged her and we got to work for on her homework for ten minutes. "Oh Prim, I forgot to say Mr Mellark invited us to have dinner around the Mellark's tonight. Make sure you look smart." I tell her.
"Alright Katniss, have fun working." And with that I returned to the bakery. Rye and Peeta were then cleaning up their mess from the table.
"Thanks Peeta, for mine and Prim's lunch." I told him.
"Your welcome Katniss." He smiled at me.
"Urm Peeta, I was just wondering will your mother be eating with us tonight." He looked a bit shocked by my question. Everyone in district twelve knew that the mayor's wife was cruel, even to her own children apparently. I couldn't understand why someone as kind as Mr Mellark would marry an evil woman like her.
"Er, not tonight. She already had plans." He explained. I could tell that this was code that she didn't want to be in the company of Seam brats like me and Prim. I smiled at his politeness and continued working with in the store front until five o'clock when the bakery closed then helped tidy the kitchen. The others had already done a lot of it so it didn't take very long. After I was dismissed, quite rudely, by Bran I returned upstairs and proceeded into getting myself presentable for going to the mayor's house. Prim wore one of her dresses that she had had for years, that worryingly still fit her. I just wore a cleaner pair of pants and a clean shirt.
That evening we all sat around the Mellark's large dining room table and ate a delicious meal of squirrel soup and fresh bread. The conversation was pleasant and one you would expect around a family table. Mr Mellark frequently asked Prim and I questions regarding school and my hunting skills. He told me that he had always found it impressive that I always shot the squirrel right through the eye. I smiled at the compliment and couldn't help but thinking of my hunting partner. He was probably worried about me. We usually met up and hunted all of Sunday together.
" Excuse me, Braedy. I was just wondering if the bakery is open tomorrow?"
"No Katniss, it isn't. We aren't open Sundays and Mondays." He smiled at me.
"Would it be alright if I went hunting then?" Even though he was the mayor of district twelve and should be discouraging and preventing illegal behaviour my father always told me that the kind baker would trade and normally be generous.
"Of course, sweetheart." After we finished our soup, we each had a piece of cherry pie. Both myself and Prim had never eaten cherries before. We both ate every single crumb. After our meal Rye and Peeta walked us back to the apartment. I repeated what I had done the previous evening and tucked Prim into bed.
"Goodnight little duck."
AN: Hope you enjoyed it! Please review!