"Would you stop shaking her!" Taiya snapped at Gloss.

"I am not shaking her," he argued back.

"Celestia," Taiya addressed the teenage girl clinging to Gloss' back. "Is he shaking you?"

"Uh…" she nervously stuttered. She didn't know what to say. She didn't want to upset anyone and get sent back. "Just a little bit, but it's fine."

"You see! I told you so, you're shaking her."

"Well, I'm not meaning to," Gloss rolled his eyes. "I can feel her hair poking out the top of my jacket, I'm just trying to cover it up."

Gloss and Taiya had broken Celestia out of that cell immediately. They hadn't hesitated. However, Taiya couldn't help but feel a twinge of frustration that she'd played right into Snow's hands yet again. At least this time it was for a good cause.

They'd decided the most discrete way to sneak her around the mansion was to put her on Gloss' back and cover her with his coat. It really wasn't the best plan, but they couldn't exactly parade her around. Unfortunately as oversized as Gloss' coat was today, it wasn't quite enough to conceal her, so they just had to hope no one crossed their path.

Taiya walked closer to Gloss's shoulder and saw that Celestia's hair was indeed sticking out of the top of the coat.

"Okay, you may have a point," Taiya admitted, tucking Celestia's braided pigtail back under Gloss' jacket. "Perfect!" she admired. "What?" she asked, noticing Gloss staring at her with disbelief.

"I don't think you can use the word 'perfect' for this."

"Well, why not?" Taiya pouted.

"Because you've got to admit, even for us this is ridiculous and stupid."

"I'm sorry," Celestia sniffled.

"Oh no, I don't mean you," Gloss reassured her before redirecting his ire to Taiya. "I mean how we're hiding you. I think if someone walks past they're going to have questions about the human-sized lump underneath my coat."

"And I told you, we'll tell them it's just a backpack."

"This kid does not look like a backpack, fish brain."

"Oh please, these people follow Coin, they'll believe anything," Taiya dismissed. "Although I will admit, we have had better ideas than this," she trailed off, noticing Celestia's foot peaking out the side of Gloss' coat. "Look, so long as we don't cross paths with anyone before we get to my room we'll be fine. Stop stressing shiny boy."

"I'm not stressing."

"You seem stressed. Celestia, does he seem stressed?"

"Please don't make me answer," she replied quietly.

"You get on my nerves," Gloss glared at Taiya.

"I intend to," she smirked back at him.

"Hey Taiya!"

"Ah!" Taiya yelped, spinning around to see Peeta standing there. "Peeta!"

"Are you okay?" he asked, frowning.

"Swell and dandy, of course. Why would you ask?"

"You just seem stressed."

"Ha!" Gloss loudly laughed.

"Oh, shut up," Taiya hissed back at him.

"What's on your back?" Peeta asked, noticing the lump on Gloss' back. Both Taiya and Gloss stiffened as they exchanged a nervous glance.

"A backpack," Taiya answered after a brief moment.

"A backpack…" Peeta frowned in confusion. It didn't look like a backpack.

"Gloss is worried about pickpockets, so he keeps it hidden under his coat."

"Even inside the mansion?"

"You never know," Taiya chuckled. "Can't trust anyone these days. People are shifty. Buck's known to have sticky fingers," Taiya lied, throwing her friend under the bus.

"Really? I never imagined Buck like that," Peeta sighed, debating whether this was worth questioning further.

"Told you. People are shifty."

"What can we do for you, Peeta?" Gloss asked, hoping to end Taiya's useless rambling.

"I just wanted to see if Taiya wanted to come and visit Beetee with me. He mentioned yesterday that he hadn't seen her in a while. But if you're busy it's fine," Peeta smiled. Johanna had told him sometimes it was best not to ask questions. He had a feeling this was one of those times.

"Right now is not the best time sorry Peeta," Taiya smiled at him softly.

"Taiya," Gloss hissed. "I think now is a good time."

Taiya slowly turned around to look at him with a glare. Was he insane? This was NOT a good time. But when their eyes met, he jerked his head to the corner of the room.

Security cameras.

Oh.

Turns out it was an excellent time to go and see Beetee; she and Gloss would need some help deleting evidence of their crimes.

"Let's go see Beetee," Taiya turned back to Peeta with a wide grin.

He looked slightly concerned at Taiya's change of mind, he hadn't understood what her and Gloss' silent communication was about. He just nodded to appease them both.

"Gloss," Taiya spoke over her shoulder. "I think that backpack should go in my room, and you should stay with it until I get back. Pickpockets," she emphasised for Peeta as she wrapped her hand around his elbow and started to walk away with him.

"I don't need to know," he shook his head. He most definitely did not want to be involved.

"Taiya," Beetee greeted with a grin as she and Peeta walked into his office. "It's so lovely to see you up and about."

"You know me," she winked. "Getting shot couldn't keep me down!"

"It did," Peeta deadpanned. "For three weeks."

Taiya slowly turned her head to look over at him. She was far from impressed. "Shut up," she whined, but he just smirked.

"I'm going to get a glass of water. Do you two want anything?" Peeta asked.

"I'll get one of those please!" Taiya nodded whilst Beetee shook his head.

"I'll be back," Peeta nodded, heading over to the little kitchenette. This was Taiya's chance.

"So, remember how you owe me that favour?" Taiya said quietly as she moved closer.

"I don't owe you a favour, do I?" Beetee frowned, puzzled. He did not have a clue what she was talking about.

"Dang it," Taiya frowned. That tactic usually worked on Haymitch. "How about this: I need a favour."

Beetee's frown deepened. If she was coming to him for help, it was likely because she needed help with security cameras again. "What did you do?"

"How important is that to you?"

"Quite."

"I um…" Taiya hesitated. It wasn't like she could lie. He'd see the evidence on the camera. "I may have knocked out some guards, broken in to see Snow and then broken his granddaughter out of the prisons. But I did it all with good intentions."

Beetee was speechless. He kept waiting for her to laugh and tell him it was a joke. But she said nothing.

"Oh god," he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Was Finnick with you as well when you did this?" At least if Finnick helped, he knew any cover story they'd come up with would at least be plausible and wouldn't fall apart. They wouldn't give each other up and Finnick was quick-witted enough to come up with a believable lie, whereas Taiya on her own tended to lean more towards the dramatic.

"No, he wasn't. But Gloss was."

"Hm," Beetee slid his glasses back on with a huff. He didn't like Gloss, especially not after what he'd done to Wiress in the Games. "You two will need a good cover story," he turned to his computer to begin deleting the footage.

"You'll need to delete Gloss going into my room with her as well," Taiya looked over his shoulder. "And of course we'll come up with a good story. We always do."

"Plutarch did not believe you the other day when you told him you and Gloss were sneaking around to look for more hot chocolate. Just because he didn't call you out on it, doesn't mean he believed your lie."

Taiya looked over at him offended. She thought Plutarch had bought that lie.

"You know the hot chocolate is in the kitchen, you and Gloss were on the opposite side of the mansion. It didn't make sense so he came here to check the cameras. You should give me some notice before you do something like that again. At least I could apply other methods of removing the footage. Repeated deletion may begin to look suspicious."

"Alright," Taiya rolled her eyes. "Noted for the future. Besides, we have some time to come up with a better story for today."

"I am going to need this favour returned, though," Beetee said hesitantly.

"Ooo, what are you up to, Beetroot?" Taiya's eyes lit up with excitement.

"I need you to say you were with me tomorrow evening if anyone asks and to stay in your room from 4 pm-6 pm. If anyone sees you wandering around, my cover's blown."

"I can do that. Where are you headed?"

"I need to speak with Gale," he fidgeted uncomfortably in his wheelchair. "But I need to check something in the armoury first so I have evidence. I'll have to break in. Now that the war's over my pass has been revoked. Easily reactivated if you have the right skillset though."

"Oh, Dale's in District 2. Sorry bud," she tapped his shoulder.

"Gale's back in the Capitol," Beetee frowned. "He arrived this morning." He was so sure someone would've already told her, the last thing any of them needed was for her to run into him in the hallway.

"WHAT!" Taiya yelled.

"Did you tell her Gale was back?" Peeta ran back over, putting down two glasses of water.

"You knew?" Taiya turned to look at him with feigned betrayal.

"That's why I was looking for you. Buck sent me to come and tell you. He said he didn't want to do it. I was hoping if I hung around over there long enough, Beetee might let it slip so I wouldn't have to tell you. Thank you for that," he nodded at Beetee.

"Real brave, Mellark," Taiya pursed her lips.

Peeta just shrugged. He didn't want to get in the way of her Gale revenge path, but he certainly didn't want to be involved.

"Taiya…" Beetee interrupted. "Tyler and Finnick seem to have returned," Beetee pointed out on the camera. The two men were walking back into the mansion. They headed out together in the morning to look for Romulus and Kenna, just like they did most days. When they returned, they'd always head straight for Taiya to give her the news that they'd been unsuccessful in finding them.

Of course, they had been unsuccessful, Romulus and Kenna were being kept locked up by Coin.

"Oh crap," Taiya breathed. Gloss and Celestia were in her room. They wouldn't be expecting Finnick or Tyler to walk on in. "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go," she panicked. "I've got you covered for tomorrow," Taiya assured Beetee. "Bye, Peeta bread," she waved before sprinting out of Beetee's office.

"Hide, hide, hide!" Taiya squeaked as she burst into her bedroom. "Finnick and Tyler will be here any minute!"

Gloss immediately leapt up from the chair he'd been sitting in and looked at the clock.

"They shouldn't be back for hours!"

"I know, but Beetee saw them on the cameras. Gloss, you need to go! We can't let her be seen on camera again, so she needs to stay. But if Tyler sees you here he'll think we're up to something so get out of here!" she pushed him towards the door.

"Where are you going to hide her?" he asked.

"Crap!" Taiya exclaimed, turning back to the room. "I'll figure it out. She's a lot easier to hide than you. Go!" she snapped, ripping open the door before quickly slamming it closed. She could hear Finnick and Tyler's voices. "No time."

"Balcony," Gloss suggested, racing over to the glass doors.

"You reckon you can catapult yourself across to Haymitch's balcony?" Taiya looked at him doubtfully.

"No," he immediately shook his head. "I'm just going to stand here. It's freezing out, those two fish men won't want to come out here."

"Good point. Stay there," Taiya went to shut the doors on him.

"Taiya?"

"Yeah?"

"Be quick, it's cold."

"Oh my god!" she groaned and slammed the doors. "Ok," Taiya grabbed Celestia's hand, pulling her off the couch and towards the wardrobe. "Nope, that's not going to work," Taiya groaned as she looked inside. Taiya had thrown all of the ridiculous Capitol dresses onto the floor of the cupboard. There was no way Celestia would fit comfortably amonst all that tulle, and Finnick would ask questions if he saw all the dresses on the floor.

"Tyler!" she heard Finnick whine through the door.

They were out of time.

"Under the bed, under the bed," Taiya urged the girl, pulling her down to crawl under.

"They'll see!" Celestia's voice shook with fear. She was scared of getting re-imprisoned.

"Um…" Taiya stumbled up before she grabbed the duvet cover of the neatly made bed and threw it over the edge. "Ta-da, all covered!" she frowned. It wasn't the best spot, but Celestia wouldn't be visible from the doorway at least. As long as neither man walked over to the other side of the bed and saw her feet, it should be fine. "For good measure," Taiya grabbed a throw pillow and leant down to place it in front.

Just as she finished, the door swung open.

"I have had enough!" Tyler yelled, storming into the room with such speed and anger that Taiya barely had a moment to jump back up from the ground. "All I have ever asked was for you both to just keep your heads down and not piss anyone off! We are at the tail end of this whole war, and you two are testing every last nerve I have!"

How had he found out so quickly? Beetee would have wiped the cameras before anyone checked them. Had they already discovered Celestia had gone missing and assumed Taiya had something to do with it?

That didn't seem reasonable. If there was one thing she doubted she'd be accused of, it was helping President Snow.

"Look, Tyler…" Taiya began to defend herself when she was cut off by Finnick.

"I said I was sorry," her husband sulked as he followed their friend into the room. "It's not like he didn't have it coming."

Maybe it wasn't Taiya who was in trouble this time.

"What's going on?" Taiya asked, frowning.

"Your husband is an idiot," Tyler threw his hands up dramatically before his head whipped to look in her direction. "You thought you were in trouble," he realised, pointing a finger at her. "What did you do?"

"Who? Me? Nothing," she shook her head frantically. The man was furious enough already and she did not want to be on the receiving end of that wrath. "What did he do?" she asked, looking over at Finnick. Let him take the hit this time.

"He pushed Gale into the frozen lake."

"No way!" Taiya jumped in the air with excitement.

"Oh, by the way, don't know if you've heard, Gale's back," Tyler told her quickly. He hadn't had a chance to tell her yet.

"I know. Buck put Peeta in charge of telling me."

"Buck's a coward," Tyler muttered. "And you. You're an idiot," he looked over at Finnick.

"What, so you get to beat him up and I can't?" Finnick put his hands on his hips, before quickly dropping them when Tyler glared at him.

"Can I get in line for beating up Gale?" Taiya raised her hand in the air.

"No," Tyler shook his head. "I got disciplined for doing that if you remember."

"I'll take discipline," Finnick shrugged defiantly. "He shot Taiya. He can't just walk around here like he owns the place."

"Exactly!" Taiya cheered.

"What's pushing him into the frozen lake going to do?" Tyler ran his hand through his hair.

"Make him cold," Finnick retorted.

"Oh," Taiya grimaced. That was not a good comeback. "Did he get hurt at least?"

"Bloody nose," Finnick smiled, clearly proud of himself.

"Look at you go!" Taiya nodded in approval.

"No, no, no!" Tyler pointed his finger between the two of them. "We're not encouraging this."

"Oh, but I definitely am. Sorry, Tyler. Seriously, you pushing Dale in the lake just made you even hotter to me" Taiya smiled at her husband before turning back to Tyler. "Why's he back anyway? Why can't the ass just stay away?"

"He won't be here long," Tyler assured. "He's just back for Snow's execu-"

"BLAH!" Taiya yelled, cutting him off, and making both him and Finnick jump.

"You right?" Tyler stared at her, confused. That was weird, even for her.

But she had to cut him off. Snow's granddaughter, unbeknownst to him, was hiding under the bed, and she did not need to hear anything about her grandfather's upcoming execution. Taiya didn't give a hoot about the old man being skewered by Katniss, but she didn't want to upset the kid any more than she already would be about the impending death of her relative.

"I thought I saw a spider," Taiya coughed. "Don't worry. I didn't."

"You two are giving me a headache," Tyler closed his eyes. "I just don't have the energy for this right now. Tay, I'm sorry, we didn't even get outside the gates to look for Romulus and Kenna today. This idiot attacked Gale as soon as we left, and we've spent the past two hours waiting for Plutarch to discipline us."

"What was the punishment?" Taiya asked nervously. At least it wasn't Coin that they'd had to answer to.

"Finnick's not allowed to leave the mansion's grounds for a week."

"Oh, that's easy an easy punishment. Everyone could take their own shot at Dale if that's all the punishment will be. Katniss will be in line for that now as well."

"Katniss?" Tyler tilted his head. They hadn't told him about Gale's war crimes yet. She and Finnick planned to do it at the District meeting later in the evening. "Whatever, Plutarch wants you two to help him with propos, so don't think he's being nice and taking it easy on Finnick out of the kindness of his heart," Tyler frowned in Finnick's direction. "Please, for the love of god, the both of you, don't do anything else stupid today. I need a nap, and I don't want to be disrupted by you two blowing anything up. Am I clear?"

"Fine," Finnick agreed.

"Taiya?" Tyler turned to her.

"Agreed," she smiled nervously. Technically she wasn't lying. He only asked that they not do anything else stupid. She'd already done something stupid.

"Good," he nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Maybe I'll get Buck to come look for Kenna with me tomorrow since Finnick's now out," he mumbled as he let himself out of the Odair's room.

"What did you do?" Finnick asked as soon as the door closed.

"What are you talking about?" Taiya frowned.

"Oh, I know you," he smirked. "When you thought Tyler was telling you off, it was because you've already done something. Come on. Fess up."

"It's nothing major," Taiya tried to underplay the severity of what she'd done.

"Well, that's comforting," he nodded. "And also, what the hell, I made the bed all nicely this morning and you've already ruined it," he complained, walking towards it and throwing the duvet back on properly.

Taiya immediately drew in a breath. The only thing blocking Celestia now was the throw pillow she'd put on the ground. She genuinely had no idea how Finnick would react to all this.

Beetee obviously had been distracted with something else on his mind that he wanted to talk over with Gale because he didn't seem too phased by what she'd done. She didn't think he'd processed it yet. There was the initial shock, but he seemed to get over it quickly.

But Finnick would definitely have something to say.

She couldn't even call out to him to stop; he was already leaning down to grab the pillow. When he picked it up, Celestia's face was in full view.

"AH!" he yelled, leaping back in fright. "There's a girl under our bed," his eyes widened as he looked over at Taiya. "Wh.. why is there a girl under our bed?" he asked, eyes quickly flicking between the two.

"So, you know how Gloss has always wanted a cat," Taiya tried to explain as she walked over and helped Celestia out from under the bed. "And he's always said that if he found a stray cat that needed a home on the street he most definitely would take it in and adopt it."

"I didn't know that, no, and I don't know how that explains a girl being under our bed."

"Well, it's a similar thing, right? I found a stray kid and took her in. It's just a human, not a cat," Taiya tried to grin.

"I'm sorry, you've completely lost me. Can I get the full, non-confusing story?" Finnick asked after a moment. He hadn't understood a thing she just said.

"Well, I mean, the stray cat needs help, right? Because it has no one to look after it, and it's not being treated with the care it should be. This is a similar thing. I found a kid that wasn't being treated right, so I took her with me."

"Did you kidnap this kid?" Finnick gasped.

"What! No! I mean, I don't think I did?" Taiya frowned in confusion. "I'm trying to say I saved her. She's a stray kid, so I took her in as a foster. Or at least I think that's what I'm trying to say…"

"Where did you find her?" Finnick asked.

"Well now, that's the funny part. Because technically, I found her in the prisons in the mansion."

"She was wandering around the prisons? How'd she get in there? How'd you get in there?"

"She wasn't exactly roaming around the prison," Taiya scratched her cheek nervously. "I found her locked up in a cell."

Finnick's face went blank. "In a cell? She's a prisoner? Oh my god! She's Snow's granddaughter," he recognised her face now that the girl looked up from the floor. He had nothing else to say as he ran a hand down his face. "Ok, ok, this isn't so bad. We can fix this."

"That seems… optimistic," Taiya sniggered. This was indeed bad.

"I… I just… what is she doing here?" Finnick asked after he seemed to reboot himself.

Celestia moved slightly behind Taiya, not feeling any comfort in this situation at all. She admired all these victors, but she didn't actually know any of them. She'd met them on occasion at some formal events when her grandfather would let her come along for a bit, but it was only brief. She had no idea if this man was going to send her back to Coin, and back to the cells.

Taiya hadn't seemed to notice Celestia's fear yet; she was busy staring at her husband, trying to help him calm down.

"We're going to help her out," she smiled widely.

"Taiya, I'm a little confused," Finnick scratched his head. He'd only been gone a couple of hours hadn't he? How'd it gone so pear-shaped in a couple of hours?

A loud bang came from the balcony as Gloss began protesting about being locked out in the cold.

"AH!" Finnick squeaked with a high-pitched squeal as he quickly moved in front of the two girls.

"It's just Gloss," Taiya chuckled as she lowered his outstretched arm. "Coming! Just be patient!" she yelled out to him.

"Gloss," Finnick grimaced as he turned to stare at the wall. "Of course, Gloss is involved."

"Oh, um Finn," Taiya grabbed his arm before he could throw himself face-first onto the bed. "Probably best we don't tell Tyler about this."

He stared at her incredulously. There was absolutely no way in hell they were telling Tyler this. No way. If she thought Finnick wasn't handling this well, one could only imagine Tyler's reaction. Finnick thought they'd see a Tyler-shaped hole in the ceiling if he found out, that's how angry he would be. He would literally hit the roof.

"We are absolutely not telling Tyler," Finnick huffed before flopping down onto the bed.

"Oh my god! I'm coming!" Taiya yelled as another bang came from the balcony. "So impatient," she muttered as she walked over and let him back inside.

"Did you break trident boy?" Gloss immediately asked as he saw the man flaked out on the bed.

"I used you wanting to adopt a stray cat as an analogy for taking in a stray kid, but I don't think it went down very well," Taiya muttered.

Gloss looked down at her blankly. "I don't think me wanting to adopt a rescue cat and us breaking a teenage girl out of a jail cell really compare…"

"I thought the reference to cats would soften the blow?"

"I think you've had a few too many blows to the head," he muttered under his breath as he walked away.

"I heard that!"

"You were meant to."

"I'm really sorry…" Celestia interrupted them nervously. "I just… I want to know what's happening please."

Finnick sat up, looking at Gloss. But Gloss was looking at Taiya. And Taiya was looking at Finnick.

Good question.

Amezing: Don't worry, they haven't been hijacked! Coin's just keeping them up her sleeve so she can use them to hold over the heads of the District 4 victors as a bargaining chip to keep them in line, right out of Snow's playbook. We hate Coin.

ShiaraS46: No one will miss Coin, let's just say that... Kenna wasn't a victor, but she is Taiya's childhood friend from home that Snow used against her when she was captive in the Capitol. We all hate Coin. No one will miss her.

Musical1Booklover: OMG thank youuuu!