239I run a brush through her thick, dark brown hair and carefully arrange it into two simple french braids as she sits on a stool in her bedroom. I then add two purple ribbons to the end of each braid, considering today is a pretty special day. I dress her in a brightly coloured flower print dress, mixed with yellow, purple, and blue daisies. I smile at just how precious she looks.
"Hurry momma! I want to leave now!" Aspen pleads.
"School doesn't start for another hour still," I explain to her as I help her down from the stool. "Daddy is making you a nice breakfast before we leave."
She grins and then dashes out of the room, heading towards the kitchen.
"You forgot something!" I holler to her gently.
Her little feet carry her back into the room and I hold up her book bag that she has left behind. Her blue eyes widen as she takes it from my hands and places it on her back. Together, we walk downstairs to eat breakfast before her first day of school begins.
When we walk into the kitchen, I see that Peeta is cutting up fruit and placing it on the high chair. Not for Aspen, of course; she is much too old to be sitting in a high chair. Instead, a tiny blonde-haired, grey-eyed one year old sits patting his hands against the surface. A month before Aspen turned five, I gave birth to our son. My experience giving birth to him was a little easier, but not by much. We chose to name him Calum, which was a name that Peeta had suggested for him. It means peace which was a perfect meaning coming from Peeta. It is also important to me, as I am glad to be bringing my children into a world that is peaceful. He is a pretty easy baby as long as Peeta and I are with him. He likes to be held and is quickly upset when left alone.
"Wow! Look at how pretty you are!" Peeta exclaims, smiling at Aspen.
She giggles and launches herself straight into his arms. Peeta lifts her off the ground and holds her tightly against his chest. Last night was an emotional one for us realizing that Aspen is now old enough to be heading off to school. Not only is she growing up immensely fast, but now she will be learning about the history of Panem from someone else. She already knows that Peeta and I played a part in something that helped bring peace back into the world, but she is not aware of all the losses that occurred. I was able to explain certain things to her in my own way to help her understand and to not become fearful, but now she will be learning from others. I have a desire to hold her back and wait until next year to enroll her in school, but Peeta ensures me that she is ready, and deep down, I know she is too.
"Big girls who go to school need a big breakfast in the morning!" Peeta exclaims as he places a plate of batter cakes in front of her. But, of course, knowing Peeta, these are not just normal batter cakes. He has used blue berries and small chocolate chips to create a happy face upon the cakes and has surrounded the edges with fresh strawberries.
I feed a smiling Calum his breakfast, but can't help watching Aspen staring at her plate. It takes her about five minutes to take her first bite because she is so amazed by this breakfast creation. She already has that eye for beauty that she inherits directly from her father.
"Good morning to you too," Peeta says, placing a mug of steaming tea down in front of me and kissing the top of my head. He then goes on to sit across the table from Aspen.
"Daddy, can I have some more chocolate chips?" Aspen asks in an innocent and sweet voice.
"Sweetie, chocolate is not a breakfast food." I tell her, giving Calum a spoonful of mushed pears.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Peeta hand her a small handful of chocolate chips. I roll my eyes, but allow it because I know this is a special day for her. And besides, Aspen has Peeta wrapped so tightly around her little finger that he would have baked her an entire chocolate cake if she asked for one. I hear the two of them giggling behind me.
When Calum is done, I lift him up from his high chair and kiss the top of his head, smoothing back his blonde hair. I hand him over to Peeta to clean up so I can finish with Aspen.
"Come on, Aspen. We have to get ready to leave for school." I tell her, holding out my hand to her.
She jumps out of her chair and the smile on her face grows. She runs to grab my hand and I help to scrub her teeth and adjust her dress. I am thankful that she is eager to go to school; she is a smart girl and I know she will excel. I make sure to spend time taking those extra glances to really study her. She seemed to have grown so quickly and I know this will only continue. So I take in the way she looks at this very moment. How she does not have a care in the world and is so easily pleased by simple things. She also has a great love for discovery. She loves learning and being outside. I take her into the woods often with me. At first I was nervous she has not going to be very fond of it because the idea of me taking down an animal with a weapon deeply frightened her. I instantly regretted showing her this but reminded myself that as she grows it will not seem as frightening. So instead I started slowly, I never hunted with her at my side again. Together we only gather berries and edible plants or dip our feet into the streams looking for katniss roots. Eventually she started to genuinely enjoy these outings, constantly asking me when we will venture out again. I feel glad that she is becoming acquainted with the woods because it is a place that means so much to me, that I only hope for it to have meaning for her.
"Aspen, are you going to be a good girl at school today?" Peeta asks, scooping Calum back up into his arms as Aspen crawls on top of the counter.
"Yes daddy!" She replies enthusiastically as I put her shoes on.
"And remember to be polite to your teacher and new friends," I instruct, placing her lunch into her book bag.
"I will, momma." She tells me.
I smile and kiss her cheek and suddenly the door bells rings.
"They're here!" Aspen exclaims.
I follow her and open the door. I watch his small frame dash through the threshold as he instantly begins running around with Aspen.
"He's a little excited," Replies a voice that I know belongs to Gale.
Six months after their return to District 2, Gale and Lila realized that they truthfully did not belong there. Their home is here with us; within the trees of District 12. They moved back into their rental house, which is no longer just a rental house anymore, but their permanent dwelling. It has been so joyous to watch our children grow up together. They were here for Calum's birth and all of Aspen's birthdays, which would not have been possible if they remained in 2. I was so thankful when they came back because I missed them immensely.
"I'm sure you're more nervous than her," Lila says nudging my shoulder.
"She doesn't even have a fear in the world," I reply.
"Brave like her mother." Gale adds, grinning at me.
I smile back at him and embrace them both before it is time to leave because I am so happy at the fact that Aspen and Asher will get to go to school together.
"Aspen, it's time for school!" I holler which causes her to come sprinting in my direction, followed by Asher. Peeta places Calum into a stroller and we head out to the road for the fifteen minute walk to school.
I walk holding onto Aspen's hand the entire way, dreading the moment when her small fingers will disconnect from mine. Every few minutes, she looks up and smiles at me; her excitement growing the closer we get to school.
As we round the corner to the school, we see many other families approaching the area getting ready to send their children off for the day. We spot Haymitch walking up towards us as well. It means a lot to me that he remembered that this was her first day and will be with us to send her off. When Aspen spots him she skips off into his direction with a large grin on her face.
"Looking good, sweetpea!" He says to her, bending down to give her a hug. "Are you excited for your big day?"
She nods her head happily and grabs back onto my hand. Gale and Lila quickly say goodbye to all of their older children as we approach the area of the primary students where Asher and Aspen will going.
We stop in front of the building and there are children dashing towards the entrance all around us. Asher kisses Lila on the cheek and sprints into the direction that the other children are going. You can tell he is also extremely excited about this new adventure. At the sight of him, Aspen lets go of my hand and starts to follow without even saying goodbye to us. There is a small pain in my chest as I want so badly to reach and pull her back to me. She gets about ten paces away from us before she stops. I am confused and am suddenly worried that perhaps her nerves are getting the best of her. She turns around with a smile still on her face, but runs straight into my arms. I bend down and cradle her close to me and savor the way she smells of maple syrup and the way her head rests upon my shoulder.
"I love you momma."She tells me, her voice whispers into my ear.
I close my eyes and hold her a little tighter.
"I love you so much, Aspen." I reply and we pull away from our embrace. I kiss her quickly as she jumps into Peeta's arms and ends by kissing Calum on the forehead. Peeta pulls me into his arms and we watch our daughter skip off into the school. Before she enters the building, she turns around and waves to us. I blow her a quick kiss and watch her disappear inside. My little baby is not really a baby anymore.
I watch Peeta bend down and pick something up from the grass. Dandelions always seem to grow even more immensely around the school.
"For you," He says handing me the petite flower.
It is a bright yellow colour; to me it means rebirth instead of destruction. It promises that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses are; that it can be good again. And only Peeta, Aspen, and Calum can give me that.
Acknowledgements
Wow, I am not even sure where to begin because I feel like there is so much that needs to be said. I started writing Guarding Daisies a little under one year ago and have grown so much as a writer and person because of it. It has been an honor to continue the journey that Suzanne Collins created. She is the one who truly created Aspen and Calum, and I simply just deepened our understanding of them as characters. For every Hunger Games related fanfiction that is created Suzanne deserves the majority of the credit.
Another person that can not be forgotten in my wonderful beta Carlie ,who has edited every single chapter of the Fanfiction for me. She does a brilliant job and helped to make this story everything it was. She also has an amazing story on Wattpad called Charlotte's Letter That everyone needs to check out because it is outstanding.
Finally and most importantly I want to thank all of my readers. I feel like we are a family and you guys are so important to me. Every tumbr post, instagram like, and twitter update is for you. I wanted my story to be more then just your average fanfiction which is why I was always updating on twitter and tumblr through out this process. Your comments were my motivation to write. The words you wrote me were so sweet and real and I cherish every one I received. Thank you to the people who participated in my contests and voted on the baby name polls. I am honored to share my writing with such amazing readers
I am so excited to continue my writing journey and hopefully you guys will be here with me. I have many one shots in the works and also a new project called "Letters To Annie" that will go up in June sometime. It is my first time writing anything Odesta so I am excited to share it with you.
I hope you guys loved meeting Aspen and do not worry her journey is not over! I will be continuing one shots about her life as well so please leave me your suggestions of what you would like to see. Thank you for being apart of my writing journey and I can not wait to see where we go from here.
With Love
-MrsMellark74
