Chapter 13 - That's A Wrap!

Following Peeta was his brother Rye. Her brother-in-law's skin had a glow about it that Katniss recognized. He'd obviously gone through prepping in the remake center.

So Cressida hadn't lied. Effie was going to reveal the truth on tomorrow's show. She'd even brought Rye to the Capitol to explain it himself.

As soon as Peeta reached her side, more Peacekeepers arrived to escort the president and Cashmere from the penthouse. Medics appeared and put Haymitch on a stretcher to take him to the hospital. Katniss and Peeta followed after the medics but Plutarch was in the lobby, stopping them before they could leave the building.

"He'll be fine. You two need to be prepped for the cameras."

They followed him back to the penthouse that was already being turned into a mini-studio with bright portable lights being set up around the living room. Katniss and Peeta were sent to their room to be made up by Octavia, Venia, and Flavius. When they returned to the living area, Caesar Flickerman was seated in the chair where Peeta had been bound only a couple of hours earlier. He looked festive with his neon green hair and suit.

The couple sat across from him on the sofa. Katniss fielded a larger portion of the interview questions because Peeta had been locked away while the main action had occurred. Still she was grateful to have him by her side as she described the scene that had taken place only a short time ago.

"You've helped to save our country from a depraved dictator," Caesar said at the close of the interview. "How will we ever repay you?"

Katniss paused. She knew that whatever she said would be replayed as a sound bite over and over on television, probably for the rest of her life.

"Oh that's a hard one." She gave a faint, breathy laugh. Help me Peeta, she thought as she threw him a frantic glance.

As if he could read her mind, Peeta answered for her. "We'd like to return to our regular lives and enjoy our privacy. We're still newlyweds after all."

Katniss turned to her husband, leaned in close, and kissed him on the lips. "Thank you," she murmured.

"Aww," Caesar said, his hands covering his heart. "Of course you are. How quickly we forget."

The interview ended. Katniss stood up and turned to see Delly seated next to Rye at the dining table. She, too, had that remake glow about her. Amazingly the preps had made that pasty-faced girl look attractive.

Anger swept over her. If those two had taken care of their business on the slag heap instead of in her house, she and Peeta would never have been forced to come to the Capitol to defend themselves. She began to walk over to them, prepared to give them a piece of her mind when Peeta reached for her hand, forcing her to stop.

"I've already talked to my brother about everything."

"What did he say?"

"He apologized."

That didn't seem like enough, but she knew that for her husband it would suffice. He was just too damn nice.

Later, when everyone else had left the penthouse and Peeta had cooked dinner for the four of them, Katniss listened to her brother-in-law and new sister-in-law tell of the fallout of their actions.

"We had a quickie toasting in front of the oven in the bakery before Good Morning Panem was even over," Delly said. "Once my parents saw that tape, they shut up the shoe shop and marched me straight to the bakery. I didn't even have time to comb my hair."

"It was awful," Rye admitted. "Mom hit my head so hard with the rolling pin, I don't even remember the toasting."

Delly side-eyed her husband. "Your mother gave us stale onion buns to toast." She grimaced before continuing, "when we kissed afterward...well yuck."

As Katniss listened to the couple describe their pathetic wedding, she pitied them. Granted she'd been coerced into marrying as well, but at least she'd had a beautiful extravaganza, and she'd certainly gotten the best of the Mellark men. She had not a single doubt about Peeta's love for her, while she wondered at Rye's devotion to Delly. He'd clearly been ordered to marry her by both sets of parents. And if Haymitch was right and they were expecting a child…poor Delly. Katniss hoped for Delly's sake that Rye would settle down now and give up his playboy ways.

She looked across the table at Peeta and smiled at him. Yes, she was very lucky to have him, even if he was too nice. Of course she could be mean, so maybe they balanced each other out.

The two couples spent the remainder of the evening watching the latest updates on television. According to Claudius Templesmith, there hadn't been this much excitement in Panem since the assassination of President Snow and the overthrow of his administration three years earlier. There was so much news to cover.

Claudius mentioned that Haymitch's wounds had been stitched up and he was resting comfortably in his hospital bed.

Gloss, who had been shooting a series of magazine advertisements that afternoon, had been taken in for questioning after his sister Cashmere accused him of joining her in the murder of several victors and most recently the two preps. Both were now behind bars.

President Crane had been moved to an undisclosed location in District 2 where he was being confined and questioned. His office had already been searched and audio and video tapes of an incriminating nature had been found.

But most important, an emergency election was being called so that all of Panem could vote for a new leader who would serve a limited term. Hastily prepared ads for candidates were airing at every commercial break.

Finally, when it was very late, Rye and Delly stood up to leave.

"We should go now," Rye said. "We're supposed to do the show tomorrow."

Peeta nodded, and turned off the television.

"Can we cut through…" Rye began, and Peeta nodded.

"They're using the stairs between the two floors," he explained to Katniss.

The two couples set off down the hall. As Rye and Delly turned to go through Haymitch's room, Katniss remembered. "There are cameras in the walls of this building. You might want to avoid any…"

"Oh damn," Rye blurted out, his cheeks flushing pink. "I wish we'd known that."

Much later when Katniss and Peeta were cuddled in their own bed with the mockingjay pin set to the "on" position, Peeta explained that one of the Peacekeepers had revealed that the pair was working for Plutarch before they shut him in the bedroom.

"So I went down the stairwell to get into the apartment on eleven to look for a weapon in case the Peacekeepers needed my help. I found Rye in the kitchen with Delly making cookies."

"Making cookies. Were they dressed?"

"Very funny Katniss, but they really were making cookies." He grinned. "We're bakers after all. We know how to keep our women happy."

"By plying them with food."

"Well, it works."

Katniss swatted at him, but he grabbed at her wrist and she was very glad for the pin.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Effie was in a terrible mood the next morning as she sat in the makeup chair. "The overthrow of the government has ruined everything," she pouted. "We have to tape today's episode. I don't know when it will air. All they're showing on t.v. are stories about the downfall of President Crane."

"Well he is responsible for several deaths," Delly pointed out.

Effie scowled at her guest. "I know, and it's a terrible thing he did to the victors and those dear preps but all the coverage is interfering with my show."

And while Katniss thought that Effie was being ridiculous, she had to admit that she, too, was disappointed that the big reveal wouldn't be aired live today. She wanted to clear Peeta's name. Who knew if the episode would ever be shown and put everything straight?

The set was rearranged yet again for this last show. Two sofas faced each other and Effie's throne chair was placed at the head.

Katniss was surprised to see that Peeta's hair had been lightened to his natural color, but then she realized it was likely done because now it matched Rye's exactly.

The show opened with the grainy footage of Rye and Delly on the sofa in their home.

Delly flinched and Rye looked uncomfortable.

"It appears there was a some confusion in the secret footage we gathered," Effie said to the camera. "It was assumed that Peeta Mellark was cheating on his wife Katniss. But after careful study it was determined that it was actually Peeta's brother Rye and his lovely wife Delly meeting up in romantic tryst that caught our attention."

She made both men stand up and turn their backs to the camera.

"They look so much alike," she chirped. "Don't they ladies?"

"Oh yes," Delly agreed.

Except for the obvious height difference, Peeta was at least three inches shorter than his brother, both men did look alike from the back. But they were brothers and both had been star wrestlers in school and lifted a lot of heavy sacks of flour. Of course they would have similar builds.

Katniss was surprised Effie didn't ask Peeta and Rye to take off their shirts as well, but then Cressida called "cut" for a commercial break. When the red light went back on, Effie had moved to another topic.

Effie didn't even point out that Delly's and Rye's televised "tryst" led to a quickie wedding back in District 12, but maybe, Katniss thought, she didn't know. It was obvious that research wasn't considered necessary when producing Capitol t.v. shows.

When the theme music played and Effie's signature closing, "chins up and smiles on," was uttered, Katniss breathed a sigh of relief. Her contractual obligations to Panem's television network were over.

A stagehand collected everyone's microphones and the two couples said their goodbye's to each other. Effie's show was sending Rye and Delly for an all expenses-paid trip to the District 4 to make up for the national humiliation they'd faced.

"Wouldn't you like to join them?" Effie asked Katniss and Peeta.

Katniss grimaced, thinking how awkward it would be to pretend to get along for days with Delly and Rye. While Katniss had made up her mind to try to befriend her old schoolmate because it definitely would help to have an ally in the event she had to interact with her mother-in-law in the future, she wasn't ready to spend more then a couple of hours with the pair just yet. She'd rather wait and visit Four later when she and Peeta could spend their time with Annie and Finnick.

"We can't," Peeta explained. "I need to get back to the bakery. With Rye away my dad needs the help."

"You're such a good person." Effie turned to Katniss, "Now take good care of him."

Katniss nodded. That was her plan exactly. To put Peeta somewhere safe, and never let him out of her sight.

They still had some things to take care of before they left the Capitol, though. As soon as they stepped into the car, Peeta asked the driver to take them to the hospital so they could visit Haymitch.

With the shocking actions of President Crane revealed, public opinion regarding the status of the victors had changed overnight. They'd gone from leeches on the Capitol coffers to revered "national treasures." The evidence could be seen in the number of floral displays, balloons, and cards that decorated Haymitch's hospital room.

The visit with their neighbor, who was awake and asking for liquor, was cut short when Plutarch showed up.

He looked gleeful. "This is just the kind of story that is a ratings bonanza." He went on to explain that Cashmere and Seneca had been secret lovers for years. But with her arrest, she'd turned against the man and was talking freely about the matter.

"She claims that Seneca had told her the murders were part of a special television series that would be sold to select subscribers who are interested in that sort of thing," Plutarch explained.

"Initially Brutus was involved, too. He'd poisoned Lyme, but when he failed to kill your neighbor here," Plutarch nodded toward Haymitch, "Seneca ordered Cashmere and Gloss to take care of him."

Katniss felt queasy as she remembered Brutus' body in the bathtub. From the weird angle of his neck, it was clear it had been broken. She supposed Gloss had done it.

"One fascinating aspect to the story is that Cashmere claims that some of the victims didn't die from stabbing." Plutarch's eyes lit up in excitement. "Apparently they committed unintentional suicide when they were offered food laced with nightlock. The knife wounds were done after the victors were already dead."

"We'll have to study those tapes very carefully," Plutarch continued. "Then all the bodies will need to be exhumed and more research done. This could go on for months. Expect forensics to become a very popular topic in Panem. I've got several dramatic shows already planned."

"What about the murder of the preps and the knife with Haymitch's fingerprints on it?" Peeta asked.

Plutarch waved his hand dismissively. "Cashmere and Gloss. The Capitol has all the victors' fingerprints on file. It would be easy enough to place a print on the knife and plant it as false evidence."

"Was The Consortium group that kidnapped Haymitch involved as well?" Katniss asked.

Plutarch shook his head. "No. But Seneca took advantage of their actions to shape the public's opinion about victors and The Games.

"Why pin it on Haymitch, though?" Katniss questioned.

"I think all of them were furious at being outwitted by this fellow here." Plutarch patted Haymitch's shoulder.

Outwitted by Haymitch? Katniss nearly burst out laughing. She suspected her neighbor was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing more.

The victor smiled however, seemingly pleased at Plutarch's compliment.

"Now hurry up and get better Haymitch," Plutarch added. "Caesar can't wait to interview you."

Haymitch rolled his eyes.

"It's a happy ending all around," Plutarch crowed. "A chance for a new beginning for the county. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the contract Katniss had signed many months earlier when she agreed to star in The Match Game.

As she reached out for it, Katniss pondered her new beginning as well. Her life had changed in such a short span of time. She'd found love and inadvertently helped to rid Panem of a loathsome president. But now she was ready to return to her private life. She tore the contract in half.

"Thank you," she said to Plutarch. "I'm glad to be done with this place."

Plutarch cleared his throat. "Well, actually you're not done with us. You'll need to come back once Seneca's trial starts. You're one of the star witnesses."

Katniss groaned.

Peeta reached for her hand, squeezing it reassuring. "It will be okay. We have each other." He leaned in close and whispered. "We have the pin."

She nodded. Although to be on the safe side, she intended to dig every camera out of the walls of their house when they got back to District 12.

After saying goodbye to their neighbor who would be recuperating in the Capitol for a week longer, they went in search of Cinna. But the nurse said he'd improved greatly since their visit and had been released.

As they got into the car to return to the penthouse, pack up, and then leave the Capitol, the driver asked if they wanted to make any more stops.

"Just one more," Katniss said.

A puzzled look appeared on Peeta's face.

"We have to go to a furniture store and order a new sofa and dining table."

Epilogue

"You're back," Plutarch greeted Fulvia.

"Yes, and I'm eager to get to work. I had the most wonderful idea for a show while I was away in rehab."

"What is it?" Plutarch leaned forward in his chair. He needed another hit. Ratings for Effie's show had taken a dive after the first week.

"I call it Keeping up with the Mellarks. We move the entire Mellark clan to the Victor's Village and follow their every..."

"I have to stop you Fulvia; I ended Katniss' contract."

Fulvia shook her head. "That doesn't matter. This show won't revolve around Katniss. It will focus on the petty drama that ensues between a bossy matriarch, her mild-mannered husband, and her handsome children and their love interests."

"Do you think anyone would watch such shallow drivel?"

Fulvia grinned. "I'm sure of it."

THE END

Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, or left a review for this story. I greatly appreciate your feedback, as I love hearing from readers. Your kind words motivate me to continue writing Everlark. My next story will, hopefully, be finished in the next month. It's an historic AU set in Wyoming Territory in 1870. If you'd like to be notified when the first chapter is posted, check the "follow author" button at the bottom of this page.

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