A/N: Here you go. Chapter 12!

Chapter 12: Melody

(KATNISS POV)

Oh my gosh. I am NOT ready to be a mom yet. Just thinking about someone calling me that scares me. I know Melody wouldn't really be my daughter, but I don't want to be a mom. Oh my gosh. How will I tell her I don't want to be her mom without hurting her feelings. She's such a sweet little girl and-

"Katniss," Cato said putting me back to reality.

"Huh," I ask looking at him.

"What do you think of my idea," He said.

"What idea," I asked, still not knowing what he was talking about.

"About us legally being Melody's mom and dad now since we'll be raising her, but not having her call us that because I'm not ready to be a father yet and I'm pretty sure you're freaking out about even the idea of being called 'Mom.' I'll be Cato and you'll be Katniss, her brother and almost sister-in-law that took custody of her," He said looking at me.

"Oh," I said looking at him. "Yeah. I like that."

"As long as you two treat me better then Mommy did, I'll be fine," Melody smiled.

Cato put her down and the three of us walked back to their house. We were almost there when I heard yelling and screaming. It sounded like a woman's voice. It sounded like their mother.

"LET GO OF ME," she screamed as she was dragged past us. "I'M A GREAT MOTHER! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME, BUT YOU'RE JUST LIKE HER! YOU DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT ANYONE! YOU'RE JUST USING US ALL FOR YOUR OWN LITTLE GAME! DON'T COME CRYING TO ME WHEN YOUR BROTHER IS A HORRIBLE FATHER OR YOUR NEW MOTHER IS THE SLUT I TOLD YOU SHE WAS!"

(MELODY POV)

The look on Katniss's face changed. She looked happy before, but now she looked angry and hurt. My mom had just insulted and hurt a victor, which as against the law! There was no way she was going to get away with that! Without giving it another thought, I walked over to my mother.

"How DARE you," I yelled. "Katniss has been better to me in the last couple hours then you have my whole life!"

With that, I slapped her and ran over to Katniss and Cato. What was I thinking?! I just slapped my mother! An eight year old just slapped her mother! Cato would be so mad at me! We were taught to respect our elders and I just SLAPPED one!

(CATO POV)

My sister just slapped our mother. It's not right to slap elders, but it's the fault of the parents until the age of twelve. My mother is her parent and she would get in trouble for Melody slapping her. I would have done it years ago, but I would have gotten in trouble myself and possibly kicked out of the academy. I would have to scold her and tell her it's wrong.

"Melody," I almost yelled, trying to sound mad. "Didn't she teach you to respect your elders, not matter what!"

"Yes, but-"

"No buts! You need to respect your elders! If you only listen to one thing she taught you, that should be the one," I yelled.

(KATNISS POV)

"Cato," I yelled at him. "You're scaring her!"

Getting down on one knee, I hugged Melody. She was shaking and I could feel tears falling down her face.

"Shh," I said trying to calm her down. "Shh! It's ok! He didn't mean to scare you! Shh!"

"She should know and she needed to hear it again," He said looking down at me.

"Well you didn't have to yell," I yelled, letting go of her. "She's only eight, Cato! You didn't need to yell and scare her because just scolding her would have been enough, but instead you let her see your Career side in person!"

"Mel-"

Before Cato could even finish her name, she bolted to the house. I got up and ran after her as fast as I could. I knew I shouldn't have let her go.

(CATO POV)

"MELODY," I yelled, running after her and Katniss.

I shouldn't have yelled. It brought out my Career side that I NEVER wanted Melody to see. She's now terrified of me and it's all my fault. I've been a worse guardian in the lest five minutes than my mother has her whole life.

"Melody," I said knocking on her door. "Melody please open the door."

"NO," She screamed. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Melody, please," Katniss said next to me.

"NO!"

"Melody, please," Katniss said again. "If we can't come and help you pack, how are you supposed to meet Prim?"

"I don't want to meet her!"

"Why not," I asked. "You seemed really excited earlier."

"I don't want to be yelled at again!"

"Melody, I only yelled because Peacekeepers were looking and I needed to show them I could discipline you! I didn't mean to scare you and I wouldn't have done it if the Peacekeepers weren't around," I said putting my head on the wall next to her door. "Melody, please, don't not go to District Twelve to meet Prim because of me."

(MELODY POV)

Don't not. Mom said that was a double negative which meant the opposite. Don't not, do. Do go because of me. What? That made no sense.

"What," I asked, tears still streaming down my face.

"He's saying if you want to go meet Prim them go and don't let what he said stop you," I heard Katniss say from behind the door.

I didn't want to let him in, but he would come in if I let Katniss in. Do I really want Katniss in here with me? Yes, I do. Him coming in was a chance I had to take.

(CATO POV)

I was just about to turn and walk away when I heard the door unlock. In the doorway was Melody, eyes red and watery. Katniss grabbed her and I walked into her room. Getting all of her clothes, I put the on the bed to grab later.

"Fold them," Katniss said walking over. "It will be easier to carry them later.."

I threw all the clothes on the floor, folded them, and put them back on the bed. I started quickly folding the rest of Melody's clothes and putting them on the bed as well. Before leaving the room, I put her pillow and blanket on top of her clothes.

"If you have anything else you need, put it on the bed so we don't forget it," I said looking at her. "Once we leave, this house will cease to be ours."

Katniss let go of Melody and she ran in her room, grabbing a stuffed bear the was on the floor. I could tell she thought it was strange that she would want that old thing.

"It was mine," Cato said looking at me. "It seems stupid that I gave her a stuffed bear, but it was the last thing my father gave me before he died. It was the most valuable thing I had, so I gave it to her when I left for the games. I told her that as long as she had it, she would always have a piece of me with her incase I didn't make it back from the games. I promised I'd come back, but it's hard to keep your promise when even your best friend is your greatest enemy. In the arena, I lost not just a friend, I lost the only person who meant it when they said they would do everything in their power to help me return home to Melody with honor, even if I wasn't alive to hold her.

A/N: Chapter 11 got 10 reviews so Chapter 12 is 1,300 words exactly! It was hard to get to 1,300, but I did it! I hope you all like it because I wrote about 700 words in my math class when I should have been paying attention! I know the POV changed a lot, but I wanted you guys to feel what each person was feeling. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!

1-3 reviews = 200 words each, 4-10 are 100 each, and 11+ is just whatever I can add but not 100 each.