Thanks for reading! These are all unrelated one-shots and shorts that I didn't think were long enough to be worth their own story. Please assume that every chapter has Hunger Games level violence, I will warn specifically for chapters that are smut. If I decide to expand any of these stories, or cannibalize them for a longer work, i will delete that chapter and leave a note in my profile. Please review, I really appreciate it.

It took forever for Beetee to get away from his stylists. They were used to dressing teenagers, not a middle aged man who looked even nerdier now than when he first went into the arena around twenty five years ago. All of their suggestions looked ridiculous; he was going to keep some of his dignity, thank you very much. Now all he wanted was to find his partner and hold her for as much time as they had left. He opened the door to their suite. She was sitting there, still and silent, gazing off into nothingness. "Wiress? What's wrong, love? Other than the obvious, I mean." He knelt in front of her.

"I…" she took a deep breath."I'm pregnant."

"What?" Beetee couldn't stop himself from shouting. It was just so unexpected, so improbable, such bad timing. He grabbed her shoulders. He wanted to be happy, he wanted to hug her. In another world, they would be doing just that. "Are you sure?"

Wiress gave him that look. The you're-being-stupid look. "Of course I'm sure. They do a physical, don't they? There was a test."

Beetee kept his arms on her shoulders, as if by touching her, by holding on to her, everything could be alright. "What…what did they say?"

Wiress shrugged. "Other than a positive test, I don't know." She avoided his eyes.

"Why not?"

She still refused to meet his gaze. He recognized the stubborn set to her jaw. He wasn't going to like this answer. "We switched results," she said quietly. Beetee gently moved her head, made her look at him. "We switched results," she repeated, louder this time. "The rebellion. We switched with Katniss."

"Sparks, Wiress! What does that accomplish? What is happening!" He could barely register any of this information, it was all so surprising and strange and he didn't know what was going on anymore. All he had ever done was fall in love, fell in love with his partner and she happened to be a revolutionary. He agreed with the cause, he was ready to fight and even die for it, but there were times when he wondered if he would have been involved otherwise. If it weren't for the woman he loved.

Wiress explained in a calm, even voice. "Katniss is our symbol. She's the mockingjay, right?" Beetee nodded. "We need people behind us, need them angry. And Beetee, they don't care about me." Beetee opened his mouth to protest, and she placed a quieting finger to his lips. "They care about her. They will be mad if their young lovers are sent in again, a pregnant newlywed. That's the kind of anger that topples an empire."

She was speaking in whole sentences. That's what struck Beetee the most. If Wiress was speaking such complete thoughts, it was important, well thought out, serious. "It was Peeta's idea. He didn't know about the tests. That part was my idea."

"Wire." Beetee touched her face. He loved her so much. He already loved this baby, this baby they had wanted so much for so many years, if only they could have one in freedom. "Wire, we are going to get you out of that arena."

"I hope so."

"No. Not just hope." He touched his forehead to hers. "We're going to fight so you and our baby get out of there alive, hear me?"

"Not if it means losing Katniss and Peeta."

"Our child, Wire! Please tell me you will fight to save our child!" He had to beg, he had to try to get her to believe how important this was.

"Not at the risk of the rebellion." She pulled his hands away from her face, clasped them to her heart. "My top priority is to end the Capitol. To save lots of children. I won't look for trouble, Bee, I promise. But if I die for this cause, I'll be at peace."

He understood. He really did. But he also hated it. "I love you, livewire. You and your stupid beliefs." This earned him a laugh. He kissed her.

"We made a baby," she whispered, pulling him down to the bed. "Us." They didn't have much more time together, they had to make it last. The clock was ticking. Tick tock.

Why wouldn't they listen to her? They had to know. It was a clock. The arena was a clock. She tried to say it out loud, explain it calmly, but her mouth refused to make the words. Her brain kept showing the images of Beetee being stabbed at the cornucopia, over and over. Beetee covered in the blood rain. Beetee covered in blood. "Tick tock."

"Yes, tick tock." Katniss said, not understanding.

She touched her stomach. It was safe enough. The cameras might just think she was hungry. Might just think she was crazy. "Tick tock," she whispered to the baby. It was moving around. Wiress didn't know if babies were supposed to move around this much this early in the pregnancy. She didn't know if she was just imagining it. "Tick tock." She sang an old nursery rhyme to soothe the baby. She could only think of one about a clock. They needed to know it was a clock.

"Shut up, Nuts!" Johanna yelled.

"Tick tock."

It should have been Beetee that understood her, Beetee knew her so well. But he was hurt, he had been stabbed. He had been bleeding. Katniss was the one to finally figure it out. "A clock! The arena is a clock!"

Wiress nodded frantically. Finally! "Tick tock."

They moved, now there was a purpose. Beetee began to chart what terrors were in what hours, they knew quite a bit when they pooled their information. They could formulate a plan. Use the wire. It was still covered in blood. Wiress wrinkled her nose at the smell, it turned her stomach. Dried blood. The baby did not like that smell.

Beetee asked her to clean off the wire. An easy chore, the kind of thing they did for each other all the time when inventing together. He asked her thoughtlessly, and off she went.

It was a stupid move. When he cries himself to sleep at night in District 13, he still can't believe what a stupid move he made.