This chapter takes place in August of 2013. There are differences between the show and this story, but this chapter (part one of two) follows the pilot episode of the show. I split the chapter into two parts because it was incredibly long. I'm hoping the cadence and the interactions between the characters is fitting for both the show and the book that I'm trying to combine! This first part of the chapter is something like 4,000 words. Some of the lines are taken from the pilot episode, and I don't own any of them obviously.
15 years later
August 2013
"Mom. Mom. Mom!" Katniss groaned and rolled over, ignoring the annoying insistence of her daughter. She had long ago learned the difference between a "Mom" that meant Kit needed dire help and a "Mom" that meant Kit was just being Kit.
"Kit it is seven in the morning. ON A SATURDAY. Unless you are on fire, or the cute Backstreet Boy is here to ask for my hand in marriage, get out of here until 9." Katniss didn't open her eyes and snuggled down into her blankets.
"Mom, seriously? You're a grown woman. Feed me."
Katniss still didn't open her eyes, even as she felt Kit hovering over her.
"Me? What about you? You're nearly 16, if you cant' figure out how to fend for yourself how on earth am I supposed to marry you off?"
"Oh well, I'm sure I could just be an old spinster like you." Kit replied and Katniss gasped.
"Rude. That's so rude. Just for that, you don't get to have food for the rest of the week."
Kit snorted and Katniss finally opened her eyes, much to her dismay.
"You said we could go to Mellarks today." Kit said as she tried guilting Katniss with puppy dog eyes. It worked.
"Fine." Katniss threw the covers off of herself. "But don't say I never did anything for you when they ask."
"Oh? And who is they?" Kit asked following behind Katniss down the stairs.
"You know, the people. The ones who will want to know all about your fabulous mother when they are writing a wildly incorrect account of my life." Katniss replied, reaching the kitchen and starting the coffee.
"Why exactly are these people writing a book about your life?" Kit asked as she sat down in a chair at the table, propping her head in her hands, watching as Katniss reached into the cupboard for the Pop Tarts.
"Um because I'll have married the cute Backstreet Boy of course." Katniss scoffed at Kit mockingly, handing her a Pop Tart from the box before pulling the coffee pot out and replacing it with a mug instead.
Pouring herself a cup from what had been able to accumulate in the pot, she placed the pot back in its place, inhaling the smell of the coffee for a long moment.
"Would you like me to leave you two alone?" Kit quipped as she picked at the now unwrapped Pop Tart in front of her.
"Yes please, it's about to get very dirty between me and Joe here, the things that are going to happen are things you shouldn't ever see your mother do with a cup of coffee." Katniss deadpanned, sitting down next to Kit. She took a moment to reach over and smooth down a piece of stray hair on her daughters head, smiling to herself at how awake she was.
"How long have you been up? You seem very hyper, not to mention you managed to annoy me awake far to early."
"Not long I promise. I'm just hungry and I wanted to watch them try and install the stuff for the back to school festival in the square." Kit grinned at Katniss.
It was one of their favorite things to do in their small town. They seemed to find themselves in a town full of characters, and the people watching was it's own kind of sport. Katniss felt herself get excited just thinking about it.
"And you were just going to let me sit down here and ramble on about my future memoirs?" Katniss jumped up, coffee in hand rushing for the stairs in one swift motion.
"Mom what are you doing?" Kit shouted after her, following her path.
"I am going to shower and get dressed! Time me!" Katniss shouted back from behind the bathroom door.
"Mom, I am not going to time you. I will watch TV while you get ready though." Kit headed down the stairs, a small smile playing at her face.
"If you watch the next episode of Parks without me, you are dead!" Katniss shouted out over the sound of the shower. In her mind she could see Kit shaking her head in amusement, as she turned on the TV downstairs and settled on some boring documentary.
Going to Mellarks wasn't anything particularly special, seeing as they went every single day – most days more than once, but it was still something they both loved to do. The food was amazing, the coffee was the best either had ever had, and the owner was grumpy and fun to poke fun at. (It helped that he had a soft spot for them both, especially Kit, but then again, everyone in town had a soft spot for both of them).
When Katniss was finally ready she came down to find Kit immersed in a book while the television droned on in the background. She smiled to herself, almost tempted to not break Kit out of her trance. When she was reading, Kit had a concentration that was of another world. Katniss had made up a game for herself a long time ago where she did one ridiculous thing after another to see how long it took for Kit to even look up. The record was something crazy like 40 minutes.
"Ya ready bookworm?" She asked after standing there, staring at Kit adoringly for a good 10 minutes. Kit jerked her head up and looked at her mother standing at the base of the stairs.
"Yeah. How long have you been there? Please tell me just a minute and that you haven't been standing there staring at me like some deranged person." Kit shut her book and looked at Katniss expectantly.
"I dunno, an hour tops, just admiring my handiwork, or as you call it; your face. You know you drool a little when you read? That's not 50 Shades of Grey is it?" Kit blanched and Katniss smirked in her daughters direction as Kit stood to join her as they made their way out of the house.
"Yep, you now me, I love me a good Twlight fanfiction. Maybe one day I'll find my own Edward Cullen." Kit joked as they made their way down the familiar path into town.
"Yes, that's what a mother wants to hear. Maybe you can borrow some of Peeta's flannel to really complete the Bella look." Katniss replied putting her arm around Kit's shoulder.
"Yes that's a great idea, but then what would he wear?" Kit asked as they approached the front of the diner.
"A backwards baseball cap and hopefully nothing else?" Katniss answered and Kit groaned.
"Thanks for that image, now I won't be able to look him in the eye."
"I've told you once and I'll tell you again: You should never look a man in the eye, that is not what proper ladies do." Katniss just grinned at her daughter, holding the door open for her as they walked inside.
"Where should we sit?" Kit asked as they stood at the entrance.
There were a few tabled open in the small diner. Katniss had been ribbing the owner Peeta to expand for years now, but he wouldn't budge. It was the most popular place to eat in town despite his surely attitude and Katniss loved getting him riled up.
"Um how about the table in the middle right there?" Katniss nodded to a table meant for four people and Kit made a beeline for it.
Once they were both seated and had pushed the menus out of their way, Peeta approached, coffee pot in hand.
"You two expected company or are you just going to ignore that there are tables in here for two people?" He asked sarcastically. His notepad was tucked in the front of his jeans, his blonde hair sticking out from under his backwards baseball cap as per usual. He was the most attractive single man in town but he was completely unaware, busy being a business owner and whatever else contributed to his sunny disposition.
"Yes, we are expecting two gentlemen callers, one pale skinned and glittery, another tan with fangs." Katniss replied, looking up at Peeta holding out a coffee cup.
"Huh?" Peeta asked, a confused look on his face as he filled up Katniss' mug.
"Nothing, ignore her." Kit answered him, holding out her own cup. He hesitated to fill hers up looking at Katniss.
"She really shouldn't be drinking coffee, she's only 15. Do you even want to know what this stuff does to your central nervous system?"
"Yes please tell me. Is there a chart? I love charts. And I can think of worse things for a 15 year old to be doing, like, I don't know, getting pregnant." Katniss smiled a shit eating grin at him and he sighed, pouring Kit a cup.
"Fine your kid, your problem. Just don't come complaining to me when she's twitchy." Peeta growled at them but Katniss just rolled her eyes.
"What do you want to eat? Make it fast there are other people here." Peeta groused, unintentionally encouraging Katniss to draw the process out.
"Oh I don't know, what's on the menu?" Katniss batted her eyelashes at him and Peeta groaned.
"Read the menu. They exist for a reason." He answered.
"But I like when you tell me, things always sound better coming from a deep male voice. It's like March of the Penguins. You could just watch an hour and half movie of Penguins being cute, but add Morgan Freeman's voice and it's Oscar worthy!" Katniss declared, watching as Peeta tried to maintain his cool.
"I don't sound anything like Morgan Freeman." He countered, his hand going to adjust his baseball cap.
"Don't I know it." Katniss replied in a mocking voice. Peeta was about to launch into a full fledged argument with her when Kit spoke up.
"Just four donuts please. Chocolate!"
"Quite a refined palette you've got there." Peeta answered, looking over at Kit, but going to get the donuts anyways. He'd never deny Kit or Katniss anything, even if he would mush prefer handing them both halves of grapefruit.
As he sauntered away Katniss huffed in disappointment.
"What?" Kit asked and Katniss watched as Peeta grabbed four donuts for them, placing them on plates.
"That could have been very interesting is all." Katniss whined, knowing she sounded like a child, but she also knew Kit enjoyed her theatrics.
"Yeah well, I'm hungry and it could have taken up valuable eating time." Kit reasoned and Katniss nodded her head in agreement.
In a matter of minutes Peeta had placed two plates in front of them, two donuts on each, and Katniss was about to try to rile him up again when the sound of the bell ringing near the cook's station took him away.
They ate in relative silence for a few minutes, watching as the men outside argued over the best place to put the giant pencil decoration for the back to school festival. School had started almost a full month ago, but Panem did love it's parties so no one complained. Thinking about school Katniss turned and looked at Kit, who was laughing to herself at the spectacle in front of them.
"So you excited?" She asked her daughter as she munched on a donut.
"About what?" Kit responded, not tearing her eyes off the men now trying in vain to keep the pencil upright.
"Well you only have one more week at Panem High before you switch to Capitol, how you feeling?" Katniss asked.
Earlier in the week, Kit had been accepted into one of the most prestigious private schools in the country, and had been talking nonstop about how excited she was at the idea of actually being challenged at school. It filled Katniss with more pride than she knew what to do with, and she was as excited as her daughter was.
"Excited still. Nervous. But mostly excited." Kit replied, a smile growing on her face.
"Well, those kids have no idea how lucky they are to have you in their midst." Katniss told her, smiling warmly. Kit just rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure. I'm more worried about not being able to find my locker than I am the other kids." Kit replied and Katniss chuckled.
"Of course you are." She said and Kit just shrugged her shoulders.
They fell back into the quiet silence, content to watch the town leaders make a fool of themselves as the pencil in question took to rolling down the slightly sloped hill in front of the diner and they tried to stop it.
When they left the diner, Kit asked if she could run over to her best friends Sara's house and Katniss had told her to go. She liked Sara a lot, even if Sara's mother hated Katniss, an unwed mother. When she arrived at home she checked the mail, and was nervous to see a letter from Capitol amongst the bills and magazines.
When she was inside the house she ripped it open and felt her mouth drop.
"Holy shit that's a lot of zeroes." She mumbled to herself.
She had worked hard her entire life ensuring that Kit never wanted for much, but there was still a lot she couldn't afford. Kit was aware, and being the great kid she was, never asked for a lot or for anything that seemed wildly out of their means. There had been times Katniss had to force Kit to go to the book store with money in her pocket because Kit never wanted to be a burden, and right now as Katniss looked at the amount of money due for tuition she knew she could never tell Kit how much this new school was going to cost without Kit feeling immense guilt over it.
Katniss had no idea what to do however. This wasn't something she could cover right now, or maybe ever, but Kit had big dreams and Katniss was determined to help make them come true. Without a second thought, Katniss tucked the letter into the back pocket of her jeans and scribbled out a note for Kit before heading out of the house towards her best friends house.
She had met Annie at the Inn, where she had come on as the Chef almost ten years ago. Annie was a little off kilter, but that's what Katniss loved best about her. She may accidently cut her hand open or burn her bangs because she was too engrossed in whatever it was she was cooking at the moment, but she never failed Katniss, and she loved Kit more than anything.
When Katniss arrived outside of Annie's house she pounded on the door, gripping her jacket tightly, pacing back and forth. She was so engrossed in her thoughts she didn't hear the door open, and it wasn't until she saw Annie watching her in amusement that she stopped.
"Hey." Katniss said and Annie giggled.
"Well hello yourself. What's on your mind?" Annie asked as she gestured to the chairs on the porch, sitting down in one herself.
Katniss shook her head, handing Annie the letter as she continued her relentless pace.
"Wow, that's a lot of zeroes." Annie remarked after a few moments and Katniss shot her a look.
"That's what I said. I don't know what I'm going to do. She's so excited." Katniss said, finally taking a seat and placing her head in her hands.
"You can have anything I own. Take my car! Sell my car!" Annie offered and Katniss glanced over at her.
"Oh sweetie, no one wants your car." She remarked and Annie nodded in agreement.
"That's true. You know you do have another option." Annie led and Katniss shuddered.
"Yeah I know, but I don't know how I would explain my new prostitution job to Kit." She joked, not wanting to broach the subject.
"That's not what I meant. You could ask-" She began but Katniss placed a hand over her mouth the keep her from continuing.
"No. Don't say it. Don't even think it. I can't." Katniss responded, and Annie sighed against her hand.
"Maybe it wouldn't be that bad." She replied after Katniss had removed her hand.
"Yeah? And maybe they'll renew Veronica Mars, or maybe Texas will legalize abortion, or maybe Peeta will stop wearing that damn baseball hat." Katniss said in a monotone voice. Annie giggled a little at the thought of Peeta hatless but immediately put her own hand over her mouth to cover it.
Katniss sighed.
"I can't Annie. I just can't. " She said dejectedly. She felt Annie place a hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles there.
"You may have to, sweets." Was all she said, and Katniss sighed, feeling more lost than she had in years.
"Fuck." She finally muttered, and Annie hummed in agreement.
That Monday morning Katniss was jittery but hid it the best she could from Kit as they parted ways after breakfast at Mellar's, Kit towards the school and Katniss towards Hartford thirty minutes away.
She was taking a business class at the community college there, but it didn't start until 9. She figured if she had somewhere to be she could get what she had to do done and not have to linger around afterwards.
She followed the familiar path towards her childhood hometown, mentally forcing herself to take the correct turns and not chicken out. Her inner voice kept telling her she was walking into the bear's den for Kit, and that help qualm some of her anxiety, but not by much.
When she finally pulled up in front of the large white brick building she turned her car off, resting her head on the steering wheel. Every time she came back here her chest filled with utter dread and her mind hastily built up the barriers that had been in place for 16 solid years. After a last long minute she dragged herself out of the Jeep and headed towards the menacing wooden door, ringing the doorbell before she could turn around and run back into her car.
When the door opened she plastered a fake grin on her face and stared at the woman opposite her.
"Hey Mom."
Her mom looked startled but regained her composure fairly quickly.
"Katniss, hello. What, is it Thanksgiving already?" Her mother asked and Katniss bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something biting in return.
"No, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by." She saw in Margery's face that she didn't buy Katniss' lie, but curiosity won out and she invited Katniss in.
"Well come in, come in. Let me take your coat." She told Katniss, and Katniss shrugged out of it, immediately missing the warmth.
It could have been a thousand degrees inside the house but she somehow still felt very very cold.
She followed as her mother led her into the sitting room, taking a seat on the couch opposite her mother.
"So, you were in the neighborhood?" Margery asked stiffly and Katniss nodded.
"Yeah, I take a business class at the college. I could have sworn I told you." She said, trying with everything in her might to not play with the end of her braid.
"Well if you swear it, then I'm sure you did." Margery replied, a small smirk resting on her features.
"Would you like something to drink?" Her mother asked her, ever the hostess.
"I would love some coffee." Katniss replied, and Margery nodded, beckoning for the maid to come in.
"Sofia, can you please bring my daughter a coffee, and I'll take a hot tea. Thank you." She told the maid, who Katniss noticed was trembling slightly, before she basically ran out of the room. Her mother had that effect.
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure? It's not often we see you on a day the banks are open." Margery remarked and Katniss once again bit back whatever response was itching at her throat. Pissing her mother off was not a good idea at the moment, she at least knew that much.
"You know, just figured I'd stop in." Katniss said awkwardly, clutching her hands together. The silence had become stuffy, and she almost kissed the maid on the mouth when she reappeared with a coffee and the tea for her mother.
She took a large gulp of it, and closed her eyes for a split second, happy for it's warmth.
She was about to speak when out of the corner of her eye she saw her father walk into the sitting room.
"Robert, we have a guest." Her mother informed her father, an amused tone playing on her voice and Katniss sighed internally. Of course, this was some kind of game to her mother. Everything was.
"Oh. Katniss. Is it Christmas already?" Her father joked upon noticing her, and Katniss clutched the cup in her hands harder.
"No dear, she was in town for her business class. She told us, remember?" Her mother beat her to the punch, eyeing her the entire time, making sure she knew that her lie had not worked.
"No, I don't remember." Robert shook his head, heading towards the drink car.
Jesus it was only 8 in the morning, Katniss thought internally. Maybe having him liquored up would have its advantages thought.
"Actually guys, I had something I wanted to talk to you about." She began, nervously, trying to sit up straight.
"Oh?" Her mother asked amused, and Katniss imagined lounging across the space between them to choke her out.
"Yes. Kit, you know Kit…. Well, she got into Capitol!" She tried to sound excited, hoping it would rub off on her parents. Her mother's entire face lit up, and she felt herself relax a miniscule amount.
"Well that is wonderful news! That's only five minutes from here!" Margery exclaimed and Katniss nodded quickly.
"That's right! It is. We're both really excited, and Kit is through the moon." Katniss paused and her father looked her over for moment.
"So, you need money." He said in a monotone voice and Katniss flinched.
"Well, the tuition is high and I can't afford it at the exact moment but-"
"So, you need money." Robert stated again, crossing his arms over his chest, and Katniss deflated.
"Yeah. I need money. But it's not for me, it's for Kit, and I would pay you back eventually, every single cent. You know I would. I don't ask for help." She stated, her original argument lost in the back of her mind.
"Oh yes, we know that." Her mother answered, her face hard.
"I'll go and get the checkbook." Her father said, beginning to leave the room, and Katniss felt the majority of her body relax.
"Wait a moment Robert." Her mother broke in, causing Katniss' body to seize up once more, and she felt panic take over every part of her being. Fuck.
Her mother sat, considering something for a moment, or probably just enjoying watching Katniss squirm, before finally speaking.
"If we are to be financially involved in your life, I want to be actively involved as well." She finally said, a smile playing at her lips.
"What does that mean mother?" Kantiss asked, her tone biting, only causing her mother's grin to grow.
"I want a weekly dinner. Friday nights, you and Kit, here. If that's too much to ask, then I'm sorry but we can't help you." Margery crossed her arms, smug. She knew she had Katniss trapped and Katniss wanted nothing more than to reject the offer and march out but she knew she couldn't.
"I…. I don't want Kit to know I borrowed the money from you." Katniss replied quietly, not meeting either parent's eyes.
"It'll be our little secret." Margery replied mockingly. "Just show up here on Friday night at 7, and you can leave with the check in hand."
In her peripheral she saw Robert nod in agreement to his wife's evil plan. Katniss sighed, long and deep.
"Yes mother."
Next up is part two of this chapter, and for those of you reading this that are familiar with the show, I'm sure you understand how exciting it is to write the Friday night dinner scenes, and there will be one in part two!