
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/12146430.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Hunger_Games_Trilogy_-_Suzanne_Collins
  Character:
      Mrs._Everdeen, Darius_(Hunger_Games)
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-09-20 Chapters: 5/5 Words: 1685
****** Age Doesn't Matter ******
by WildcatPacer
Summary
     When Mrs. Everdeen loses all off her loved ones after the war,
     including Katniss and Peeta and Prim and Haymitch, will she be able
     to find love again in exile in District 12's Victors' Village? Read
     to find out. Enjoy!
***** Chapter 1 *****
Chapter 1: Remembering One in Exile
I didn't want to come back to District 12. But I felt I had nowhere else to go.
There was nowhere to turn after I lost both my daughters, Katniss and Primrose,
to the war. After Peeta Mellark, my eldest girl's lover, was killed with her.
Everyone I love or even knew is dead. So I retreat to my daughter's former
mansion in the Victors' Village, now devoid of all its Victors, to live out the
rest of my life in exile and alone.
Not many people come back to District 12. Fewer than 800 people escaped the
bombings of our home after the Quarter Quell. That included my former
boyfriend, Steffan Mellark and his wife and two sons among the dead. And
several hundred more were claimed as war casualties. The district is still
mostly destroyed, with almost all of the homes needing to be rebuilt. The only
exception is the Victors' Village; the Seam and the Merchant Town were totally
leveled.
I try to help with the rebuilding as best I can, and also resume my Healing
practice to deal with the last of the war injuries. It gives me purpose, even
if I feel all but dead inside. And the nights in that big, empty house are
terribly lonely. Few people even come to visit me outside of business
transactions.
Except for one person. Darius was a former Peacekeeper in the Panem-Cray-Thread
regime here in District 12. He still is a Peacekeeper, but it means something
very different now than it did back then. He is more of a security official,
though some of his past duties he continues to do even after the destruction of
the previous government. One of them is patrolling Victors' Village.
The first night he knocks on my door, I am surprised as to what he's doing
there. "The war's over, you know," I tell him.
Darius is quite handsome. And still young - only 24. I, on the other hand, am
old enough to be his mother, at 43.
"Someone's gotta do it. Besides, you're up here all by yourself. It must get
pretty lonely."
"It does," I acknowledge. I hold the door open to him. "Would you like to come
in?"
Darius's patrol stop at my house soon turn into nightly conversations over tea.
He is a very engaging and kind person, and that is not something you could
always say about the Peacekeepers of the old regime.
It feels nice to have a friend again.
***** Eulogizing Our Victors *****
Chapter 2: Eulogizing Our Victors
I feel humbled that District 12 has thought to put together this memorial
service. Never mind that all the other districts have been undergoing similar
gatherings in recent moths. For a backwater place like District 12, it feels
nice.
District 12 is holding proper funerals for our four Victors of the Hunger
Games. In every Victors' Village, there has always been a Fallen Tributes'
Graveyard, for tributes who failed to win. Now, a separate resting place for
the four people from District 12 who did win: Cassiope Fletch, Victor of the
16th Hunger Games. Haymitch Abernathy, Victor of the 50th Hunger Games, or
Second Quarter Quell. Katniss Everdeen, Co-Victor of the 74th Hunger Games - my
daughter. Peeta Mellark, Co-Victor of the 74th Hunger Games - her lover.
The Mayor gives introductory remarks. In the crowd, I feel glad to have Darius
standing next to me, rubbing my arm for comfort, as the Mayor says: "Today we
honor four heroes of this district, who gave us hope in a hopeless regime. And
now, I would like to introduce the woman who gave birth to one of our four
Victors: Mrs. Lillian Everdeen."
I shockingly take the podium, next to the gravesite where my daughter and her
predecessors will be finally laid to rest. Cassiope has already been laid here
- she died when my eldest girl was a small baby still.
"150 people from District 12 went into the arena to participate in the Hunger
Games. Four were saved from its deathly clutches, my daughter included. Four.
Out of 150. While we remember our Victors, let us also not forgot of all the
tributes who came before and after them, senselessly sacrificed."
After the funeral service, I invite Darius back to my mansion alone for a cup
of tea. We sip our drinks in close to silence, just enjoying the stillness of
the afternoon and each other's accustomed company.
"I had a crush on your daughter, you know." Darius's sudden comment makes me
raise my eyes to his. He must think I'm shocked, for he smiles sadly. "I always
admired her for the hunting she did to feed you and Prim. But Gale was always
around her, and I assumed... I never stood a chance."
I am actually not as shocked by Darius's declaration as he perceives me to be.
I recall one New Years' Eve when Katniss came home and told me that a redheaded
Peacekeeper had asked her for a kiss. It had been a party in the Hob that Gale
had practically dragged her to. I never knew whether Katniss accepted or
rejected the kiss. Darius's revelation helps me to guess the latter outcome. My
eldest girl was never into men or romance.
I can actually recall that now with something like acceptance instead of
sadness. Maybe I am starting to heal, slowly but surely.
***** Older Woman Asked Out *****
Chapter 3: Older Woman Asked Out
One night, Darius arrives for his evening patrol with a bandage on his arm.
When I ask him what happened, he explains it away as just an accident. He
sliced it on something while making his rounds. Nevertheless, the Healer in me
insists that I put medicine on it, and I seat the young Peacekeeper up on my
kitchen table and apply medicine and herbs to it before re-applying an bandage
to it.
"Thanks, Lillian. I owe you one."
I smile. "No need, Darius."
"I still say I owe you," he banters back. "In fact: there's a party tomorrow
night in the Hob. Why don't you come with me? It's no fun going alone."
I blink and stare at him in surprise. Why would Darius be asking me, the
middle-aged un-beautiful spinster who lost her husband long ago and now both
her children? Our clear age differences would make a date a little weird.
Except it doesn't have to be a date. It could just be an outing between
friends.
So I accept. "Yes, Darius. Pick me up here after your patrol."
===============================================================================
Darius comes calling during his patrol, as normal, the next evening. Only this
time, he escorts me into Town on his arm.
The Hob party is very lively and fun and we dance the night away. I begin to
smile and have fun for the first time since at least before my husband was
killed in a mining accident a good seven years ago.
[Darius and Lillian]
***** Boldly Courted by a Younger Man *****
Chapter 4: Boldly Courted by a Younger Man
The next evening, I am in my kitchen fixing a late dinner when Darius bursts
into my house, presumably on his patrol without knocking. His sudden presence
startles me, as I was expecting a knock.
"Darius? What are you doing here?"
But Darius comes forward with something nervous and even desperate in his eyes.
"I love you, Lillian. I had to tell you." And then he suddenly swoops me into
his arms and kisses me full on the mouth.
"Hmmm!" I squeak into his lips. This is quite an orthodox way to kiss someone.
And Darius is an orthodox kisser. Specifically, he is almost two decades
younger than me!
[Coaxing a Response]But as his lips dance over my frozen ones, coaxing a
response, I realize what a good kisser he is. How handsome he is - with his
large muscles and the way his soft hands hold me at my waist gently. How
accustomed I have become to having him around my house and how he has made me
feel less lonely.
So I do the only thing I would logically do, and the one thing I have not done
since before my husband passed away. I kiss this man back.[Kiss Him Back][Kiss
2]
"Hmmm..." I know moan in pleasure. My hand shakes up to his shoulder and plays
near the nape of his neck as I begin to kiss him back. Encouraged, Darius's
hands wander lower. He cups my ass and squeezes the tender flesh there. I
squirm in his embrace, certain about kissing him, but uncertain if I want to
take our romantic exchanges to the next level.
"No... no..." I moan.
"Yes..." Darius hisses into my mouth. Then he boldly raises my leg to his
waist.
I feel wet. And I haven't had sex in years. So though I might be out of
practice, I leap into his arms, folding both of my legs around his waist.[Leap
Into His Arms] We strip each other and, naked, awkwardly explore each other and
kiss and make love in my shower.[Shower Sex] We finish on my bed and fall
asleep in each other's arms.
***** Age Doesn't Matter *****
Chapter 5: Age Doesn't Matter
When Darius asks me to marry him several months into our relationship, I
actually surprise myself when I don't hesitate to say Yes. When we first
started going out, I was tentative initially about dating a much younger man.
But even though he is almost twenty years younger, Darius and I eventually came
to the mutual conclusion that age doesn't matter.
I don the same wedding dress that I married my first husband in, back when I
was only 19. Darius arrives one night after his patrol, as always, but now
dressed in a tuxedo and not a uniform. Kneeling by the fireplace, we toast a
bit of bread and share an almost indecent kiss with each other. Then my second
husband takes me to bed and sleeps with me.
I thought that after the war, I had lost everything. But instead, I gained
something to get me through the middle and then twilight years of my life. A
new partner. I just didn't expect him to be young and handsome and a former
Peacekeeper.
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