"Beetee -" Beetee's eyes shot open at his barely whispered name. "Beetee -" Opening his eyes, he looked at the small figure curled up on the plush blue carpet in the tribute train dining car.

"Wiress, we're going home." Beetee said pushing her bangs back from her pale forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." Wiress whispered, her large eyes taking in the environment.

"We're in this car until we get to District Three." Beetee explained looking at the dining room table. There was no Avox to prepare meals. "Are you hungry, squirt?" Wiress shrugged. "I'll see what we have." Standing up, Beetee stretched his muscles cramped from hunching over Wiress watching her as she slept. "We have some crackers. Can you sit at the table?" He helped Wiress to her feet and put an arm around her waist as she slowly walked to the table. Pulling out her chair, he settled her at the table before putting some crackers on a plate. They were the fancy ones with different spices meant to be part of a larger crackers and cheese plate. "There you are, sweetie." Nodding, Wiress nibbled a cracker. Hesitantly she placed her hand on her stomach.

"I think -" Wiress began slowly. "It's ok. For now." Beetee nodded. Pulling his chair closer to her, he held her hands. They rode to the district in silence. Peacekeepers approached the car as they pulled into the station. Picking up a whimpering Wiress, Beetee carried her as the Peacekeepers escorted him through the streets toward his invention shed.

"Here we are." Beetee said carrying her inside and setting her on the cot in the corner of the room. He set her bag with her notebooks on a long wooden table covered with blueprints, books, and paper. A metal table in the middle of the room held wooden models of machines. Metal shelves along one wall held baskets with various gears and electronic parts. A small counter space was in the far corner consisting of a sink, some cabinets, and a mini-fridge. A propane-fueled camp stove rested on a piece of wood on top of the fridge.

"Beetee - my - your - home -" Wiress stammered looking around the small room puzzled.

"Wiress," Beetee whispered kneeling next to Wiress as she curled up on the small bed. "We - We're not allowed in our houses."

"Punishment." Wiress whispered. "Beetee - my parents?" Her fearful large eyes scanned the small room. "Mom and Dad -" As her gaze settled on Beetee's heartbroken face, she knew the terrible answer to her question. Clinging to her fellow inventor and only family she had left, she clutched his shirt and wailed as he held her long after the sun went down.

A month later, silence filled the small invention shed as Wiress and Beetee worked. Beetee blinked back tears watching his fourteen year old protege working. Her large eyes that once sparkled with joy and eagerness were now vacant as she worked almost robotically. Beetee's gaze dropped under the table as Wiress rubbed her belly that began protruding from her small body. "How are you doing?" He asked worriedly.

"Moving." She whispered setting her pencil and notebook on the table. Pressing her small hands to her abdomen, she felt the movements of the tiny person inside. "Moving, Beetee." Kneeling by her chair, Beetee placed a hand near hers.

"He or she sure is." Beetee chuckled. "Better take a break. You should eat if it wants energy to move." Going to the stove, he cooked a can of soup. Cutting a piece of bread for himself and two for Wiress, he brought lunch to the wooden work table.

"We will keep it -" Wiress began looking around the shed.

"I've been saving up for a furniture sale." Beetee said. On the weekends, families would sell old belongings outside their apartment buildings. Much of Beetee's shop had been furnished this way from factory owners selling materials they no longer needed. In the month since the Victors had returned, sympathetic citizens paid both of them to fix their electronic equipment and work on new projects. Though they didn't know why Wiress and Beetee were being punished, they wanted to help the young man who was barely twenty one and the young teenager who were both thrust into the cruel world of Panem alone.

"Hey, Wiress! I'm home!" Beetee called setting his cloth grocery bag on the portion of the wooden table they used as their dining area three weeks later. "Wiress?" He called. Her small purse was hanging from her chair, so he knew she was in the shed. "Wiress?" He asked knocking on the bathroom door. "I'm home, squirt."

"Beetee -" At the panicked cry, Beetee hastily picked the lock with a wire and a thin metal tool. "Beetee -" Wiress was sitting on the toilet rocking back and forth with her hands over her abdomen.

"What is it, honey?" Beetee asked. Wiress let out a high strangled cry and grasped Beetee's hand with a white knuckled grip.

"Baby -" Wiress gasped. In one motion, Beetee picked her up and carried her to the bed.

"I'm getting help!" Beetee gasped.

"DON'T LEAVE ME!" Wiress shrieked as she curled up in pain. "BEETEE!"

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Beetee screamed out the door. "PLEASE! IT'S WIRESS!" A lone figure began running down the street toward the shed. "Please!" He gasped as he looked into the face of Mrs. Jones, the mother of Max and Terrin Jones who were tributes during Beetee's first two years mentoring.

"Beetee, what's going on, son?" She asked as Beetee beckoned her in. Her gaze fell on Wiress who was sobbing white-faced while curled up on the bed. "Wiress? Sweetie, it's Mrs. Jones. Terrin and Max's mom." She said gently taking Wiress' hand and sitting on the bed next to her.

"M - Mommy -" Wiress cried.

"Wiress - Mrs. Jones - um - gave birth."

"What - Beetee, what are you talking about?" Mrs. Jones asked sharply.

"They did it." Beetee whispered in fury with clenched fists. Turning away so Wiress wouldn't see his angry face, he explained. "She was used. In the Capitol. She's pregnant."

"Oh - Wiress, honey, I can help you, ok? I had both Max and Terrin at home." Mrs. Jones said gently. "Beetee, get me a bowl of cold water and a wash cloth, please." She helped Wiress lay comfortably on the bed. "There, hold Beetee's hand, ok? I need to see how far along you are. Is it coming early, Beetee?"

"I - I dunno. She found out during the Games."

"It's early then." Mrs. Jones said worriedly.

"Can you get a doctor?" Beetee asked as Wiress whimpered.

"I can see. I'll be right back." A long twenty minutes later, Mrs. Jones was accompanied by a nurse-practitioner from a nearby clinic.

"I usually deal with factory injuries, but I have helped with one or two deliveries." She said gently. "My name is Kelly."

"W - Wiress -" Wiress whispered before she cried out in pain.

"And you're thirteen or fourteen?"

"Four - teen -" Wiress gasped before clutching Beetee's hand and screaming.

"Your body is working really hard to have this baby, Wiress." Kelly said. "I need you to push when I tell you to. Beetee and Mrs. Jones are right here for you. Did the Capitol know what you were having? A girl or boy?"

"I dunno - just - Kevius - "

"She just knows it's Kevius's." Beetee muttered. He hoped the terror he felt wasn't reflected in his face as he watched his co-inventor cry with pain as she struggled to bring a small life into the world.

"Sweetie, you have a boy." Kelly said as she cradled a palm-sized baby in her hands. Mrs. Jones swaddled it in a soft dishcloth. He sqwawked as he was passed to Wiress.

"Honey, what do you want to name him?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"T - Ter - Max." Wiress stammered. "Terrimax. Terrin - and - Max."

"Terrimax Carpenter?" Kelly asked. Wiress nodded meeting Mrs. Jone's eyes that were bright with tears. "That sounds like a really nice name."

"Henry." Wiress whispered as little Terrimax squirmed as he was nestled in the crook of Wiress' elbow.

"Terrimax Henry Carpenter?" Kelly asked as Wiress slowly nodded. Getting a piece of paper, she made a birth certificate. "Honey, who did you say the father was?"

"K - Kevius Nixion." Wiress stammered. "In - the Capitol." Kelly wrote that down.

"He's dead." Beetee spat. His expression softened as he saw Wiress holding her son while watching him grasp her small fingers.

"Wiress, I wonder if Terrimax is hungry." Mrs. Jones said watching Terrimax struggle and fuss in his small blanket. Beetee gave them space as Wiress attempted to feed him. Terrimax gave a small cry before gasping for air.

"Wiress, Terrimax came really early." Kelly said gently. "Do you hear his breathing getting harder?" Tears came to Wiress as she watched her small son gasp for air.

"The hospital?" Wiress asked, her large eyes pleading Kelly for help.

"Honey, we don't have the technology for premature infants. That's only in the Capitol."

"N - No -" Wiress wept as Terrimax began crying. Mrs. Jones sat on the other side of the bed and held Wiress in a hug.

"Come here, buddy." Beetee said taking the small bundle from Wiress as she leaned against Mrs. Jones sobbing. Walking the length of the bed and back, Beetee spoke to the small boy. "Wiress cares about you, buddy. That's why she's crying. I'm glad I got to meet you - even just for a bit. Hey, I'll give you back to your mom, ok?" Ever so gently, he placed Terrimax in Wiress' arms. Through her tears, Wiress hummed a lullaby to her son for the last few minutes of his brief life.

"Wiress, I'm going to let you and Beetee have some time with him. Kelly and I will be right outside the door, ok?" Mrs. Jones said. Beetee nodded his thanks before embracing Wiress as she leaned against him crying and holding the small bundle that was warm yet eerily silent.

The day that began warm and sunny turned cold and rainy by mid afternoon. Beetee closed his toolkit where he had etched: Terrimax Henry Carpenter into a piece of metal before it was welded to a stake driven into the ground. His hands were raw from digging a small hole outside his shed. Mrs. Jones had left to take care of some things in her apartment but promised she would be back the next day. After examining Wiress one more time, Kelly had returned to the clinic. A Peacekeeper stopped by the shed around 5pm with document confirming Terrimax's birth and death certificates that Kelly prepared were filed with the Vital Records Clerk in the Justice Building. The rain began blowing as a late summer storm worsened around 8pm. "Wiress?" Beetee asked. Taking a flashlight and blanket, he opened his umbrella and went to the back of the shed.

Tears mingle with rain as Wiress knelt by the freshly turned earth and sobbed. With a small hand nearly blue from the cold, she traced the letters of her son's name. "Wiress, come on." Beetee said gently. "You'll get really cold outside." The emotions from the day hit him like a flood. He had helped his friend and co-inventor who was still a child herself give birth. That same day, he held her as she mourned her small child. "Oh - Wiress -" He sobbed wrapping her in a hug. "Wiress, look at me, Look into my eyes." Slowly, Wiress' grief filled large eyes met his causing his heart to rip in two. "I promise, with every breath I have, I will fight the Capitol with you. For you. Because they took everything from you." Through sobs that racked her body, Wiress nodded and allowed Beetee to wrap her up and carry her inside. The Capitol had used her, taken her family, killed her tributes, and taken away her son. Yet she would not break like the Capitol wanted her to. Instead, she vowed to stay by her mentor's side and fight them until their cruel grasp on their lives and the lives of all the citizens of Panem was defeated. Forever.

A/N: The sequel Large Eyes Loving is now up!