A/N: Thanks for your patience sticking with this story :)
After the voting, Bear won't tell me who he voted for no matter how much I pester him. Mick, enjoying the game, is keeping quiet too. Only a couple days pass before the result is announced. It's been one long day after the next, and I'm glad to be home tonight with time to relax. Bear's not home for the broadcast; he's been working late with the medical teams lately, helping with some proposal they're sending to the Capitol for a new medical center in district 4. Mick and I are both home though, and I can't help pry.
"Come on. Who'd you vote for?" I ask again.
Evasively he answers, "Umm ... I dunno if I should tell you. Secret ballot yeah?"
"Still not gonna tell me? That's okay, I bet I can guess!" I challenge. I've been getting to know Mick and he's not that hard to figure out. I pause, looking at him critically as I run through the options in my mind. When I'm sure I've guessed right I say, "I bet you voted for Volta, didn't you?"
His expression is enough to tell me I'm right. "So? I can guess who you picked too," he retorts. Which is true, since I probably spent half of our time together this week trying to persuade him to vote for her. It's no surprise when he continues, "Everyone knows you voted for Paylor. You were campaigning for her hard enough."
"You got it," I agree. "She deserves to win. She'd be a great President." Mick rolls his eyes with frustration.
Mick starts to talk about his last night with the musicians at the old school building, but when the broadcast starts he grudgingly quiets down to watch. Tonight isn't like any other broadcast and I am anxious to hear the announcement; fortunately they don't keep us waiting long to learn who has won the election and will now be the new President of Panem. The reporters get straight to it, quickly announcing that the winner of the election is Commander Paylor.
"Yes!" I yell, throwing my arms in the air in excitement that energizes for the moment. I grin at Mick who shrugs grumpily.
"Whatever," he says.
"Just watch," I tell him. "She's going to be great."
We watch Paylor give a brief speech about putting the dark days behind us and working for the bright future of our nation. We've never seen a speech like this before; the closest we've witnessed were Coin's speeches at the end of the war. Paylor thanks the other candidates for their contributions to the war and credits President Coin with supporting the rebels and defeating the old regime. She talks about the importance of integrating the districts, including 13, and the Capitol into the new government. She announces the formation of an Executive Council with representatives from all districts as part of the new governing system. Once the Council members are appointed, they will coordinate a national rebuilding effort and investment in the districts.
About halfway through the speech, sometime when Paylor is talking about how the Executive Council will be formed, it hits me how tired I am from all the recent excitement. When the broadcast ends I head to bed early. I'm in bed but still awake when I hear muffled voices from the front room. I smile, guessing Bear is home and wondering what he thought of the speech. Thinking about the speech, my mind wanders across the possible changes and what will happen here in district 4. I drift off to sleep before seeing Bear.
In the morning I find myself suddenly awake, and can see Bear's shadowy silhouette in the dim light of dawn that seeps through the curtain. "Hey," I mumble.
He sounds tired when he answers, "Hi. Sorry I woke you."
"It's okay. What's going on?"
He chuckles quietly, leaning over the bed to kiss my cheek. "Nothing, just talking with Mick."
Faintly alarmed I ask, "You've been up all night?"
"Yeah," he answers, "but it's cool. We finished the proposal so they gave me the day off. You must be happy your girl won huh?"
His lips are moving toward mine when I lightly push him away in annoyance and ask, "Excuse me? She's not twelve. She's President!"
"Right, sorry. Commander Paylor." He tries to look contrite but can't quite pull it off as he hovers over me waiting for me to accept his apology.
I smile anticipating his next move. "That's better," I answer. "And yes, I'm happy." I am happy, both for Paylor's win and for Bear's presence. At my response Bear drops back down and I close my eyes as his lips meet mine.
Despite how much I enjoy the kiss, politics is back on my mind thanks to Bear's comment. Wondering what he thought of Paylor's win, I break off his kiss to ask, "What about you? Are you happy?"
He lifts his head enough to give me an amused look. "Happy now," he murmurs.
"Not what I meant," I reply pointedly. With one hand on his chest I persist, avoiding his lips to ask "Did you see her speech?"
He sits up further and sighs in resignation. "Didn't see it, but Mick filled me in on the highlights."
"Gonna tell me who you voted for?" I ask him, a smile creeping across my face. "The election's over, you might as well."
Bear smirks and settles in next to me, propping himself up on his elbow beside me. "When will you give up? I told you I'm not telling."
"Why not? I wouldn't approve?" I tease him.
"I didn't say that and you know it. I just don't see why you've gotta know everything."
I make a face at him. "Not everything."
"Then let it go. It's not that important."
"Then why not just tell me? I promise I won't hold it against you if it wasn't Paylor," I persist.
Cavalierly he answers, "Because you should love me no matter what. Besides a few weeks ago we were all happy to have President Coin."
"I love you. I just-" I run out of words but before I can find them he interrupts.
"Madge I'm exhausted and you're half awake. You really want to keep this up?" he asks me. "Besides, aren't you at all curious what Mick and I were talking about all night?"
"What?" I'm surprised to realize I didn't even think about it.
"Well, a lot of things, but mostly school." Seeing my reaction he continues, "Yeah, don't get all ahead of yourself but I think he's going to sign up. We talked about it and he's still not sure, but it sounds like he's going to try it. Just – don't bring it up, okay? He's already heard your arguments. He just needs time to feel happy about deciding for himself. It won't help if he thinks you're deciding for him. We talked about the musician group too. He's made some friends there you know, and he was worried they'd get kicked out of the old school building. I don't think they will though. The building's pretty empty, so why would they?"
I can't help but feel a little slighted. Why wouldn't Mick talk to me about any of that? "He didn't say anything to me…" I say, a little resentfully.
"Don't be mad," Bear cajoles. "You've been so caught up in this election and provisions that I don't think he had a chance. And he's a boy. Sometimes he's gonna want a male perspective."
I sigh. I guess I have been pretty busy lately. Now that I think back, I pretty much disappeared on him as soon as the broadcast was over last night. And Mick was trying to talk about the musicians before the broadcast started, wasn't he? I should be glad he feels free to talk with Bear, but it still grates on me. I guess I just liked the idea of Mick looking up to me. Even if he supported Volta, which was ridiculous. I don't know how he could even take that man seriously.
"Speaking of provisions … I guess I should be getting up," I groan. I give Bear a kiss, taking a moment to savor the trace of shivers his lips send through me and to feel his warmth before I roll myself out of bed. The cold floor makes me want to climb right back into bed, but unlike Bear I have to get to work.
Paylor quickly appoints her Executive Council, as well as Secretaries of main government agencies. We were a little surprised when President Paylor appointed a Capitol Gamemaker, Plutach Heavensbee, as Secretary of Communications, but apparently he was a key figure in the rebellion and played a part in orchestrating the rebel broadcasts during the war. Not a week after the elections, the sensationalist coverage of Katniss' trial begins.
The entire trial is being broadcast along with commentary from one of the regular reporters, meaning all-day broadcasts from the Capitol. On one hand, it's ridiculous. On the other hand, it's fascinating. I can't help but watch when I have the opportunity. Of course, I don't see everything but they've promised recaps in the nightly broadcasts for anyone who hasn't seen that day's events.
Based on the opening statements, the people defending Katniss are saying she's crazy, and that she hasn't been stable since the attacks on her squad in the Capitol. They say she's been traumatized and "shell shocked." I was hoping that I'd be able to see more of Katniss, but from the sound of it she's "too unstable" to appear in the courtroom let alone speak in her own defense.
Despite everything, I make an effort to pay more attention to Mick. The second day of the trial, I go with him to spend the evening with the musicians, talking with them, listening to the music, and occasionally joining Mick for a dance or two. We have a lot of fun, and I can see why he keeps coming back. By the time we leave both our faces have smiles stretched across them.
A couple days later Bear meets me at the store in the evening.
This morning there was a new message on the communicuff from Naiya, suggesting finally that we come by the apartment today after work, now that Rose has settled in and the family has returned to sector three. I've talked with Naiya about work, and she's even begun helping out again, but until now it had sounded like Rose was having a pretty rough time adjusting to being home.
Bear was perched on the edge of the bed this morning to send a message back agreeing, though almost as soon as it was sent he questioned going. I remember him suggesting I go alone.
I had asked him if he didn't want to go, and he's asked doubtfully if I thought Rose would want to see him. "After what's happened?" he had asked.
I knew he was thinking about Spinner. I hadn't known what Rose would want. She was overwhelmed with just me and Naiya at the train station and from what Naiya said it hasn't gotten any better. Sitting next to him, I had laced my fingers with his and leaned my chin on his shoulder. After a moment of thought I'd said, "I don't know. But we're her friends. I think we have to try."
At the time I'd been thinking just about how Rose would be feeling seeing us, but since then it's occurred to me that this will be just as awkward and hard on Bear as anyone else. "Are you okay with this?" I ask him.
Walking alongside me, Bear sighs. "Yeah. It's what he'd want."
Along the way, I try to distract us both from Spinner's memory by asking Bear about the proposal the medical team submitted, but there isn't much to say after he tells me they haven't heard anything from the Capitol - now, from Paylor's administration.
At the door, we both hesitate. I shake my head at my own doubts and say, "I'm sure she wants to see both of us. If it's too much or she wants us to leave, we will."
A/N: Thanks for reading. :) How do you think Rose will handle seeing Bear?