About: Katniss has a daughter Willow Everdeen who's twelve but doesn't know who her father is, little did she know he was as close to her as she thought.
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"Mom! It's the first day of school and I don't want to be late!" Katniss's daughter shouts from downstairs as Katniss puts on her work uniform, Katniss works as a waitress at a local restaurant but she's no ordinary mom, she got pregnant with her daughter at eighteen and Willow is now twelve but has grown up with no father, she doesn't even know what he looks like due to her mother keeping pictures of him locked away in a box in her closet, through Willows entire childhood she's always tried to get it open so she could get at least a glimpse of a picture of her father but she always gets caught by her mother and till this day Willow still doesn't know why her mother doesn't want her seeing a picture of her dad, even though it's all Willow wants.
Katniss decided to stay in her hometown when she found out about being pregnant and with the help of her parents she was able to get an apartment that she still lives in today with Willow, Katniss thinks about Willows father almost all the time, they were both so in love, in fact they were so in love that they planned a future together but of course every relationship had it's difficulties, Peeta was chosen to go to a college that was across the country and they would've had to have a long distance relationship which they weren't sure they could've done and so Katniss had done the most hardest thing she's ever done, she broke them off thinking that it would've been better for them but what she didn't know was the baby that was already growing inside her. She hadn't found out for sure till the day after Peeta had left and she cried, every day and every night because she knew that she had to let Peeta go completely, she didn't want him to be tied down by a pregnant girlfriend when he could be getting somewhere and so she kept Willow a secret from everyone that knew Peeta just thinking that it was best.
Katniss pulls up to Willows school, Willow is in 7th grade which is just unable to process for Katniss, she doesn't want her daughter growing up too fast but she knows someday she'll have to let her go, Katniss watches as her daughter looks at the school nervously
"This place looks bigger than middle school..." She trails off making Katniss sigh
"I know it's scary sweetie but I promise that if you walk in there with your head held high and be the amazing and stubborn girl you are then you'll be just fine. Don't forget, you're my daughter" Katniss encourages and Willow smiles, they both embrace each other before they both say goodbye. After Katniss leaves Willow is able to have time to look around her school, find her locker and classes before the day starts. Willow is in her second class of the day which is art and she knows she's going to love it due to her passion towards art, the girls all giggle at the new teacher because of how good looking but Willow was never fazed, Willow sits next to her best friend and they discuss what they did in the Summer, Willow goes on about how she went on a family holiday with her mom and grandparents to Hawaii, her best friend Jessica then tells her how she went to California to Disneyland and they're interrupted by the teacher starting the class
"Good morning boys and girls! I'm Mr Mellark and I just moved here this Summer, now as I call the roll please say if you're here then I can mark you here" Mr Mellark introduces but gets distracted when he spots the girl who looks so much like the woman he once knew, his first ever love but he doubts that Katniss even still lives here but his confusion grows as he calls her name out
"Willow Everdeen?" He calls out, she calls out saying that she's here but all Peeta can do is stare at this girl before him who looks so much like Katniss but he chooses to let it go.... didn't Katniss have a sister? He thought maybe that's her sisters kid and maybe.... that's a sign saying I could get her sister to tell me where Katniss is he thought again. Peeta has started the class and teaching everyone the basics of drawing sketches, once he thinks they at least have an idea on how to do it he sets a small dog statue in the centre of where his students where sitting so that they can start, everyone asks for his help when they're stuck but only one of the students hasn't asked for help and so he walks over, looking over her shoulder he watches as she draws the statue, she has even drawn the students around it who she can see, Peeta is extremely impressed
"Wow, that's amazing" Mr Mellark says, Willow looks at him with a smile
"Thank you sir, I've been drawing for ages. I love it" she replies
"How long were you taking art classes?" He asks his student
"I don't take them" she answers which makes him freeze, this can't be what I think it is... he thinks to himself but he decides not to bring it up in front of everyone, he gives her a nod and then goes back to his desk, he goes through the photos in his computer of when he was in Willows age range and he can't believe it, as he looks at the picture of Katniss then at Willow they're almost identical except for Willows blue eyes that are so much similar to his own and so he's put the two and two together. After the bell goes he tells Willow to stay behind, when she's at his desk he gets a better look at her and can't believe how blue her eyes are
"May I ask what your mothers name is?" He asks her
"Yeah, my moms name is Katniss. Am I in trouble?" She frowns
"No! I just think you look a lot like your mom" he replies with a smile
"How do you know my mom?" She asks
"We went to school together" he says
"Really?! Then you might know my dad! My mom dated him in high school, they were like so in love but she said before she knew that I existed they broke up before my dad went to college, he went to... I think it was Mockingjay State College" she explains and Peeta feels his entire world spin ten times fast as the girl he's looking at is in fact his daughter
"Uh no-no I don't know him sorry, that's all I wanted you for. You're free to go" he replies, she then walks out thinking about how weird it was.... why did he look so pale when she told him about her mom and dad? But Willow just shrugged it off.
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When Katniss gets home she smiles as she sees Willow already doing home work at the table, she shuts the door and looks through the mail that Willow got when she got home, just bills.... she kisses the top of her daughters head and goes into the kitchen to get some water
"How was your first day?" Katniss asks as she pours the water into her glass
"It was great! But it started off a bit weird" she replies which makes Katniss chuckle, Willow debates if she should tell her mother why but eventually she decides to
"Did you know anyone with the last name Mellark?" Willow asks, Katniss drops the glass that she just drank from, she curses under her breath, Willow comes running in and immediately helps her mother clean up
"Why do you ask?" Katniss finally asks
"Cause my art teacher says that he's known you since school. I asked him if he knew who my dad was"
"You what?! What'd he say?!" Katniss replies frantically
"That he didn't know him.... what's going on?" Willow says
"Nothing... go upstairs to clean up before dinner so I can clean this up" Katniss sighs, Willow frowns as she sees a cut on her moms hand but she goes upstairs not wanting to upset her mother anymore than she is, Willow goes upstairs and decides that whatever is going on with her mom is in that box and so she sneaks into her moms room, takes the box into her room and then shuts and locks the door, she places the box on her desk before taking a nearby bobby pin which she uses to pick the lock, all those times she was too young to understand but earlier today her friend Daniel explained how easy it was to pick locks with things like bobby pins and luckily it works, with a click the box is unlocked and when she opens it she gasps, it's a younger version of her mom next to a younger version of her new art teacher, her teacher is kissing her mom on her cheek, her mom in a pretty blue bikini and her art teacher in nothing but board shorts, she turns it over and reads the writing 'Peeta and I at the beach, Summer of 1999', there's many photos of them kissing and then at the bottom Willow finds a diary
August 20th
Dear diary,
I just broke up with Peeta and it was the hardest thing that I had ever done in my life
the look on his face was heartbreaking but we both know that this is the best, we both
know that we won't be able to have a long distance relationship, he'll be leaving in
September and so will I but to completely different colleges. My parents say that I'll be okay
and that my heart will heal but if I'm honest.... I don't think I could get over my first love...
my first everything...
Willow flips to the next few pages ahead and the one she reads makes her cry and she imagines how her mother must've felt writing these words
September 23rd
Dear Diary,
Everyone I know in high school are all in college.... except for me, I just found out that
I'm pregnant with Peeta's baby, he's left for college two days ago and I would tell him
but I don't want him to be tied down by a pregnant girlfriend, no matter how bad I
want him to know about it.... I can't be selfish, I can't take away him being a teacher
away from him and so I'm going to keep this baby a secret, no one that Peeta's close
to will know. Baby.... if you're reading this, I'm sorry that I kept you from knowing your...
father, I just don't want you to be disappointed if he didn't want to be around, I love you
and I really hope that you don't hate me for this because I do love you a lot.
Willows tears fall onto the page as she reads the words that her mom wrote all that time ago... she can't believe that she's actually seen her father, she hears her mom knock at her door which makes her jump and she quickly grabs the photo of her dad and mom on the beach and place it in her desk and then quickly but silently shuts the box making it automatically lock, she walks over to her door and unlocks it, her mom opens it
"Willow, we've been over about the box" Katniss sighs, walking over to the box and picks it up
"I'm sorry... I know that I'm not allowed but I wasn't able to open it anyways. I'm sorry mom" Willow apologises
"It's fine sweetie, it's just.... I'm not ready to share the stuff in here" Katniss says and Willow nods, Katniss walks off into her own room and shuts her door, Willow lets out a deep breath but she smiles knowing that she has the picture and she knows who her father is...
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Willow walks into her father's classroom, the bell has gone and it's time for everyone to go home, she watches as he packs his things away to go home, Willow doesn't know what comes over her but she runs up to him and hugs him crying leaving Peeta very confused and worried
"Willow.... what's happened? Are you being picked on?" He asks but she shakes her head, he sits her in his chair and grabs a near by stool
"What's the matter?" He asks, she pulls the folded photo out from her pocket and hands it to him, he opens it and a sad smile spreads across his face as he looks at it but it then kicks in
"Willow. Where'd you get this?" He asks
"My mom has a box at home, I picked the lock and that picture along with a bunch of others with you both in them was in there and my moms diary. I don't want to make you freak out but.... I think you're my dad" she explains and Peeta feels something inside him ignite, he's always wanted a daughter, he pulls her to his embrace, not scared at all because he's actually for once in his life... he has a purpose
"My little girl, my daughter" he sighs hugging her, Willow is able to convince Peeta to go with her to her mom and her apartment, they get there and she shows him around, they both sit and talk getting to know each other, he makes her laugh till she cries and she makes him happy when she tells him how much she likes cooking and painting. When Katniss walks in she freezes as she sees her daughter sitting next to her father.... the man Katniss hasn't seen in years, Peeta quickly stands and they both look at each other
"Willow, go upstairs. I'll speak with you later" Katniss sternly tells her daughter and when Willow is upstairs Peeta speaks up
"Why didn't you tell me? Because of that I've missed out on twelve years of my daughters life" he says
"What was I suppose to do? You were going off to college and all of it would've tied you down, I done what was suppose to" she replies
"Have you heard of online classes? Jesus Katniss! I spent my entire college years with regret, I could hardly concentrate! College was miserable for me but here you were keeping my daughter from me! I can't believe you've done this to me! I thought we were in love...." he tells her making sure she knew just how hurt he is that he didn't know about Willow officially till three hours ago
"We were! You don't know how much I wanted to tell you! But I bailed every time I went to call you! Even my friends and family told me not to! That it was for the best! When I held Willow in my arms I immediately regretted listening to everyone instead of my own heart! But I knew that you'd hate me like you do right now if I had told you! I loved you Peeta! I loved you unconditionally but I didn't want you dropping everything to take care of me" Katniss cries, Peeta walks over and pulls her into his embrace
"I don't hate you, I never did. I'm still madly in love with you Katniss" he says and before Katniss could even process Peeta's words he joins their lips together, Katniss is shocked at first but she feels the same spark that she felt in high school and she loved it.