Forever [Prim/Cato]

Chapter 4 - The Confrontation

I never thought I'd see the Hadley's all together in one room, but here we were. I knew that it wouldn't be the best of situations, and that it would be mostly awkwardly, but the feeling in the air is much worse than anything I could've imagined.

I'm speechless, as is everyone else. The only person in the room who hasn't a clue what's going on is Charlie. He's not shy, though, in voicing his concern. "Mummy, who is he?" he asks from behind his mother's ear.

Carrick is going to speak up, but Alice interrupts him. "Don't you dare speak a word to my son," she says coldly. I'd never imagined seeing Cato's mother reacting in such a way. She always has a smile on her face, and would never cross anyone, no matter the circumstance.

I guess this was the exception. The look on her face is actually scaring me, and I'm the one that went through the Hunger Games.

"He's my son, too, Alice. He deserves the right to meet his father." Carrick frowns at his ex-wife.

Alice scoffs and shields Charlie with her arm. "After everything you did to me... everything you did to my family, you think you can call yourself a father?!" she almost shouts.

Carrick rolls his eyes. "Well, I helped create him didn't I? I think that's what the definition of a father is."

"I know exactly what to call you, but 'father' is far from the word I'm thinking right now."

Cato finally steps in-between his parents. "Ok, ok. Look, everyone... everyone just needs to take a breath and calm down. There is a lot going on right now, so let's just take this one step at a time, alright?"

Alice shakes her head, as does Carrick. All I can do is stand on the side, holding Willow.

Cato turns to his mother first. "Mum... what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be coming in for another week."

Alice glares over Cato's shoulder at Carrick before speaking. "I was able to change that to come in earlier once you called about Prim going into labor a bit early. I just really wanted to meet the baby, that's all."

"And you didn't think you should call and let us know first? There's enough going on with the baby and the Games still running."

Alice's face turns to guilt. "Oh. I didn't really think it all through. I just missed you so much, Pumpkin. It's been almost a year since the last time Charlie and I got to see you. We thought that the extra hand and support with the new baby was exactly what you needed. I'm sorry."

She pouts and Cato almost melts. He steps forward and pulls her in for a hug. "It's ok, Mum. You know you're always welcome here. I just wish we would've gotten a heads up about it. I know we both appreciate that you'd come here to help us out."

Alice pulls away and smiles lightly. "I'm wishing I would've given you that heads up. If I'd have known that he was here, I wouldn't have even considered coming."

Carrick scoffs and mumbles under his breath, and I almost want to smack him.

I swear, the audacity of this man...

Cato glances at his father and back to his mom with a shrug. "Yea... he was a bit of a surprise to us as well."

"Why is he here?" Alice asks.

Cato shrugs again. "Snow did all of this. He came back last night."

"Is he staying here?"

Before Cato can answer, I butt in. "No, we were actually discussing finding somewhere else for him to live." Both Cato and Carrick turn to me with surprised expressions. "I guess it worked out perfectly for you and Charlie, Alice. Of course, you're welcome to stay here."