A/N: Thanks to xxxBeeressxxx's suggestion, I am adding some fluff mixed in with the continued suspense in the story :D
"Stelle? Steeeeeelle!" Grinning, Noah leaned close to his sister's ear as she sighed and wiggled her feet under her covers. "ESTELLE, GET UP! YOU'RE LATE FOR SCHOOL! THEY'RE STARTING AGAIN!"
"NOAH!" Estelle screamed bolting upright. "OH MY WIRES, IT'S 9:15 - wait -" She paused staring at her clock. Various light patterns around the digital display blinked indicating the day as well as the time. She stared at the particular pattern before glaring at her brother. "NOAH TERRIMAX, IT'S SATURDAY!"
"Fooled youuuu!" Noah sang before he dodged a purple fluffy pillow while running down the hallway. "MOM! DAD! I PRANKED ESTELLE REALLY BAD!" Beetee and Wiress rolled their eyes in loving exasperation as they made breakfast in the kitchen. Beetee walked into the dining room just as he saw Noah mount the banister for the upteenth time.
"NOAH, OFF THE BANISTER!" Beetee yelped yanking his son sideways as he neared the bottom.
"Ooooow! Daaaad! You whacked - well - my - on the banister!" Noah gasped as he waddled toward the dining room table.
"I know." Beetee stated. In spite of himself, he grinned.
"Daaaaaaaaaad! Moooom!" Estelle whined as she stomped down the stairs glowering at her brother. "Did you hear what Noah did?" Her pout lasted half a second before she giggled and cuffed her brother on the side of his head. After returning from the Capitol, the family lived in fear for a week wondering what form Snow's punishment would take. It was Noah who pranked his parents by re-arranging the kitchen drawers who reminded them all that living in fear would mean the Capitol had won. For the next week, life went on in the Tesla household, and most of each day was spent in the basement workroom.
"Well, it is time for breakfast -" Wiress began smiling. "Children, Beetee. Sit." Each person had a pancake and some apple slices for breakfast. As it was the second week of the district lock-down, each family was making their food supplies last as long as they could. The Teslas were saving their food supplies in case they had an opportunity to help the rest of the district. Earlier in the week, a factory manager had taken a few cans from a shallow hole near their front porch. He had given the cans to some families so they could have something other than a meager amount of tesserae grain.
"So, since you kids aren't in school, your mother and I have been talking." Beetee began. "We have developed this." Wiress unfolded a piece of notebook paper from her pocket.
"A lesson schedule!" Noah groaned. "Mo-om! Why can't we all just work in our shop?"
"Because we both know what you should learn at the -" Wiress began looking out the window where the streets and the district were eerily silent.
"At the Engineering Academy. And we don't know if the teachers will jump ahead of the lessons or begin where you two left off. At any rate, we decided you two needed some structure to your day."
"We work hard on our inventions, dad!" Estelle groaned.
"Well, wiring a circuit-board to read: 'hi mom' is creative, however, there are more productive things you can do."
"You guys are just bored!" Noah quipped grinning at his parents.
"Well -" Wiress began before blushing. Without access to new supplies, she and Beetee were quickly running out of material for their machines in the shop.
"Well, we can't do much calculus, dad." Estelle pointed out. "My calculator is at school." Smiling Beetee pulled a piece of engineering paper out of his pocket.
"Estelle, I thought we could refresh your memory on how to work equations by hand." Groaning, Estelle kicked a snickering Noah under the table before burying her face in her hands. Though she dearly loved her parents, she hoped the lock-down would end very soon.
"Wow! We're through chapter five?" Noah asked as he and his father finished a chapter in his Intro to Engineering text.
"You're making good progress son!" Beetee said beaming. "As are you, Estelle!"
"Dad, this is nuts! The equation goes on for half a page!" Estelle groaned. "I want my calculator back!"
"Estelle!" Wiress called.
"Yes, mom!" Estelle asked as her mother opened the door to the Tesla workroom.
"You can take a break -" Breathing a sigh of relief, Estelle put down her pencil. "I'm cleaning the bathrooms -"
"No, mom!" Estelle groaned. "That's gross! You'll make me clean the floors and Noah still sometimes misses!" To her satisfaction, Noah turned bright red.
"I do not!" He yelped as his dad chuckled.
"Well, it's that or fold the load of underwear -" Sighing, Estelle followed her mother up the stairs. Though Estelle would never admit it, there was something calming about doing chores alongside her mother who would hum as she worked. As the lock-down wore on, she and Noah both knew that studying or doing chores with their parents kept their mind off of the uncertainty to come.