"Katniss, come here, we need to talk." Agent Paylor says. Of course I took up the offer of being an FBI agent. My ex-boyfriend, Peeta Mellark, he always said I would be an agent. I shake the thought from my head when I feel that pang of remorse. I never should have left. I walk into the meeting room with the rest of my team. "We have a woman who broke out of jail. She's going after her family, and she got one of her daughters, and she nearly killed her. The girl was found unconscious in an alleyway bleeding badly. We need to find this woman before she kills her whole family."

"This is terrible." Boggs grumbles. "I hate people like that. It's her family and her children. Why?"

"We don't know exactly. She has a past. She lost custody of…" she looks down at her clipboard. "Of her son, and she pretended her daughter was dead, the same one that was found in the alleyway."

Oh god, if this is who I think it is, I'll flip. My team is like my family and they've come to my house for dinner multiple times.

"Names, what's the woman's name?"

"Dixie Mellark."

Oh god dammit.

I run my fingers roughly through my hair. "I don't want in on this."

"You don't have a choice."

"Why not?"

"Because, you know all about that family, you know where they live. You know where the kids went to school. You can help us better. You need to be on this case. Katniss, you still love Peeta. You don't want him to die, do you?"

"Who'd she nearly kill, Colby or Cress?"

"Cress."

"Shit," I run my fingers through my hair and sigh. "Alright," I take a deep breath. "Peeta told me his mother was mental. He said she took drugs and all. He said she wanted her kids dead because they were the cause for her divorce. My guess I Dixie is going to kill the kids and kidnap Daniel."

"Well, looks like we'll be doing some traveling." Jackson says.

"Do they know why Cress was attacked?"

"No, they know none of this. Cress is out of the hospital and she doesn't remember what happened to her. She just remember someone hitting her in the head. Someone needs to tell them."

"I think we all need to go and tell them." Gale says.

"Alright, we need to get to them before Dixie does. She's on a roll."

"Where was Cress when she got her?"

"Um, New Orleans."

"Okay, we need to move fast. They live in Evangeline. If she finds them before we do, we're doomed."

...a...

"Why did you and Peeta break up?" Paylor asks. We're on the plane.

"We got into a fight. We got into a fight because he wasn't telling me something. He told me he was sick of me getting into his business. We were like…we were in our first year of college. We broke up when we were eighteen."

"So you haven't seen him since you were eighteen? You're twenty three." Gale says.

"Yeah, I know. Anyways, when he said that I got pissed and I left."

"Well maybe this case will bring you back together."

"Maybe." I sigh.

We sit quietly, making a plan.

"Alright," I load up all of my guns. "I say we knock on the door. If Dixie's mental like Peeta says she is, then she won't find them today. If nobody answers the door, we go in. If she's got them, we just follow procedure."

"And even if she did kill them…" Gale looks at me. "You don't break down until we're out of there and we've got her."

"Right."

We land, and we get in our black SUV's and everyone follows me.

I pull into the driveway and only bring in one gun, just in case. We get out, and I look at everyone. "Ready?" I ask.

"Yes."

We all go to the door, and I ring the doorbell.

We wait a few moments, and I ring it again, and then the door is pulled open by Mr. Mellark.

He stares at me for a very long time. "Well," he sighs. "Yes?"

"We need to talk." We all flash our badges.

"Is this about what happened to my youngest daughter?" he asks.

"Yes." Gale says.

"We need to speak with the whole family.

"Well, everyone is here so…" he looks at me, and then he steps aside.

He leans over and whispers in my ear, "Peeta still loves you. It's not too late."

I look at him and nod. "That's good news." I whisper.

"Hey! All of you need to come down here to the living room right now!" He leads us to the living room ad all of them start coming downstairs. Their eyes widen when they see me, but they must know I'm not here for Peeta.

Peeta comes down, and he stops short. "Um…" he looks at his Dad. "What's going on?"

"Sit down. I don't know yet." Mr. Mellark says. Peeta sits down.

"Okay, what's going on?" Mr. Mellark asks.

"Katniss, how about you tell them?" Gale says.

I scowl at him and Peeta snickers and mutters something to Cress, who laughs.

"Okay…" I take a deep breath. "We have good news and we have bad news." I pause. "The good news is we know who did all of that to you, Cress." Everyone sits up straighter. "And the bad news is…well…Dixie broke out of jail. She was the one that did it. And…she's after all of you."

"Wait, she's after us?" Peeta asks. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is…well I think that she wants to kill all of you and kidnap you because she still loves you. She hates the kids because she's blaming them for the divorce. I think that she was being abusive to you and Cress and Barely because she was blaming you. Cress, she was trying to kill you. Someone stopped her and she ran off. You were lucky."

"So she's going to kill us?" Colby looks terrified.

"No she isn't. She thinks she is, but she isn't. Did you honestly think we came all this way just to warn you guys?"

"No…" she bites her lip. "Where is she?"

"We don't know."

Peeta looks down at his hands. "Well if I know anything about my mother, I know she'll stop at nothing to get what she wants." He looks at me. "That thing I didn't tell you was that I visited my mother in jail. I told her about you…ii told her you make me happy. She knows about you. She knows about your family, and I think she's going for your Dad and Lisa and Katie and Brandon and Prim. One, because she knows you're a federal agent and two, because she knows your Dad knows where to find us."

Oh fuck, shit just got real.

"Dad won't tell." I say. "He'll get killed before he tells. He loves you like his own Peeta. He won't put you at risk for his own good."

"Well we need a plan."

"Well…" I lean back against the wall. "My best bet is she's probably already at Dad's house because he doesn't live far from New Orleans. Right now." I look down at my watch. "The kids are probably getting home from school. Dad isn't home, he's at work. Prim drives and the kids take the bus. Prim always stops at Starbucks on her way home. The bus gets there before she does. Prim should be home in a half hour the Katie and Brandon are probably home."

"What about Lisa?" Peeta asks.

"She's working."

"Hold old is Brandon and Katie?"

"Um…" I bite my lip. "Katie is fifteen and Brandon is like…twelve. No, Brandon is thirteen."

"Do they know where the house is?"

"No."

"Does Prim know where the house is?"

"No. Dad is the only one that knows."

"Well when the kids tell her they don't know where the house is, she'll kill them for sure."

"Well we need to move."

"Wait." I say. "Let's call the house. She'll answer the phone, right?"

"Probably because she's not right in the head so either she will or she'll make one of the kids."

"Actually," I say. "I think I should call Prim. I'm going to tell her to go home. I'm going to give her the address and I'm going to tell her to tell Dixie to come here."

"What? Are you trying to get us killed?"

"No. If she comes here, we can catch her."

"Yeah, I'm in." Gale says.

I call Prim. "Hey Kat." She says.

"Listen. Don't panic okay, just listen to me."

"Um…okay."

"Peeta's Mom broke out of jail. She's probably at Dad's. She's probably got Katie and Brandon. I need you to go home. Go home and tell her the address of Peeta's Dad's house."

"She's going to kill me." She says. "Katniss! She's going to kill me!"

"No she is not! Just tell her what she wants to know!"

"What if she kills me?"

"Then I kill her, okay?"

She lets out a long breath. "What's the address?"

I tell her, and hang up.

"We need a plan for when she gets here, right? You guys do that kind of stuff?" Barley asks.

"Yes." I say.

"And you've already got one, don't you?" Paylor smirks.

"Of course I do." I take my gun out. "We don't' want to kill her. Peeta, does she know we broke up?"

He looks in pain as he answers with just the shake of his head. "Well…if she thinks I'm your girlfriend, then I guess we better pretend I'm your girlfriend."

"Or my fiancé," He says. "She'll know it's legit if she thinks you're my fiancé.

"Well we don't have a ring."

"Just use mine." Paylor says. She hands me her wedding ring and I put it on.

"Wait, that makes you a target, doesn't it?" Peeta asks.

"Yes."

"But we don't want that."

"Just hear me out." I say. "I take your shirt and put it over my clothes and I get a chair and I sit on the porch. She pulls up and tries to kill me. I draw the gun, flash the badge and tell her to drop her weapon. If she doesn't, I shoot."

"And if something goes amiss? What if she shoots you in the head? She's got good aim." Peeta says, and he sounds frantic.

I look at him. "Then I'll be dying for a good cause."

"If she sees the cars, she'll leave." Cress warns.

"We move the cars." I say.

"Wait, what if she doesn't drop the gun? Are you going to kill her?" Rye asks.

"Do you want me to kill her?"

"Do you want to kill her?" Peeta asks. I know that this answer will answer more than one question racing through his head.

"Yeah, I do." I say.

"Why?" he says.

"Because nobody messes with the people that I love."

"Okay, there are a lot of faults in this plan." Gale says.

"Let's hear them."

"Well, she wants you guys dead. She can shoot you from the street. That would be easy. She's fast, so if you draw the gun she can kill you. She can sneak right past you and into the house. She can go around back."

"Yeah, he's right."

"Well…" I bite my lip. "Dammit."

"We should all hide." Gale says.

"Alright, I've got it." I say. "All of you go out someplace. Take the car and leave. Paylor, you go with them as guard and call if anything goes amiss. Gale, Boggs and I will hide. I'll stay in the house. Let her come in. Gale, you go on the roof, Boggs, you hide in here-"

A car door slams outside. "Or we just let her come in. It seems like we don't have a choice now."

"Wait, she needs to make Katniss a target. She'll mess with her the most because she hates Peeta! We need to make Katniss a target! Katniss is good at manipulation!"

"Quick, give me your shirt!" Peeta pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it to me. I pull it over my head.

"Do I look fat in this vest?"

"No, you look fine." Cress snickers.

"All of you guys need to go hide!

My team scatters. I undo my braid very quickly and make my hair all loose and crazy so it looks like I've just woken up. I put the hair tie on my wrist and they flick the TV on. I hear the front door open, and everyone looks afraid. I sit down in the chair and stare blankly at the TV.

A woman who is most definitely Peeta's mother comes walking into the room.

She's not alone.

She's pulling Prim, Katie and Brandon with her. Prim is all calm, but I know she's actually flipping out. Brandon and Katie are crying.

She looks right at me. "You know, I really can't stand you." She says. "I don't understand why you must make my family happy. I want to crush you like a bug. The only reason I went after Cress was so I could kill you. But the thing is…I want you to suffer. I'm going to make you watch me kill your siblings." She pauses and walks out the door, and then she drags Finnick in the room.

She puts a gun to his head.

Shit, what the hell do I do?

"You know, that's a really stupid idea." I say.

She laughs. "Why? You can't stop me. I don't know why your dating-" she looks at the ring on my finger. "Married, engaged, whatever. I don't know what you're doing with him. He's and idiot and he's pathetic."

"So are you, but I don't go saying that to your face now do I?" I ask. I stand up and she moves the gun from Finnick to me.

"Don't move or I kill you!"

"I don't care if you kill me."

"Then I'll just kill him. Peeta, stand up!"

He does, because Peeta will give his life for me without hesitation.

She puts him in a headlock and puts a gun right against his head.