Hi there! Thanks for taking time to read this- I haven't written in a while so bare with me. I don't own the Games (that's all Suzanne Collins) but I have made up my own characters. Please review!

"Tate, get back here!" I looked back, sneered, looked ahead then ran. There was no way I was going back, not in that house with that man and her. I picked up my pace to a fast run and headed for the only place worth going. I smiled and continued to run.

"Tate," He said, looking over his tanned, muscular shoulder. His white teeth were pulled into a smile. I meet his eyes with mine but keep going. I strip off my cardigan and shoes and dive right into the water. With each stroke of my arm and kick of my leg, I felt my body being pushed through the liquid. I felt my muscles work and when my lungs were screaming for air, I finally broke the surface. I took a deep breath and continued my swim. At my normal stopping point, I pushed through and kept going.

I got to the island and stumbled out to the small beach. I was out of breath because of the extra-long swim. Everyone always said that expression 'like a fish in water' was about me. I had always felt at home swimming, with the water all around me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and put my arms around them.

"Trouble at home, minnow?" I heard his voice a couple of minutes later. I opened my eyes to see him climbing onto the sand.

"You know I don't like being called that." I replied. Growing up, all the kids would play sharks and minnows in the pool or ocean. I was always the last minnow still 'alive' and everyone hated when I was a shark. He smirked at my response.

"That was a longer swim than usual; something's got to be wrong." He sat down in the sand next to me. He took off his shirt and started to ring it out.

"Okay, so you don't want to tell me about it." He said, twisting his shirt out over me to make me get even wetter. I got up, annoyed and walked away. I ventured into the jungle-like forest from the beach. I walked for a couple of minutes and found the cave I was looking for. I sat at the entrance of it.

I really hadn't meant to run off, away from him. If anything, he was the one person I actually wanted to talk to. While I was mentally kicking myself, debating if I should go back to get him, and trying to figure out the probability that he didn't just swim back, I heard him come through the clearing. I sighed, getting up.

"Gage, I'm sorry." I told him.

"Bad day, I get it." He replied. He had no resentment in his voice, but instead it was full of understanding. He ran his hand through his blonde hair. His green eyes looked at a tree, as if it were really that interesting. I walked over to him. Gage had rock hard abs from training and from hard labor at work. He had strong cheekbones, and a strong chin. His overall appearance with narrow, green eyes made him look like a Greek God and that was why women fell all over him. That and he's a descendent of our District's most favored male Victor, Finnick Odair. It doesn't matter that Finnick died in the Rebellion, women openly mourned him. Everyone in the 4 became heartbroken for Annie; crazy, pregnant and now a widow. Finnick was Gage's three-times-great-grandfather and from the pictures I've seen, they look pretty similar. I guess it's just in the Odair genes.

I kissed him. His lips crashed back into mine. Gage dropped his shirt on the ground to weave his fingers in my hair. I still couldn't believe after all this time, he still chose me. I smiled and kept kissing him. He tasted like the salt water we had just swam in. I could tell he was really into it, so I teased him by running off into the forest again. I heard his footsteps behind me and laughed. He caught up with me at the beach, where we laid tangled in legs and arms for hours.

Before the sun began to set, he wanted to make a fire. I caught us some muscles and we ate them over the fire. Almost no one came to this island, so we didn't need to be worried about anyone catching us. We on our beach, talking, kissing and sleeping on and off for hours. He's in a light sleep while I stare up at the stars. It's funny to think how they're the same everywhere. The stars I'm seeing can be viewed all over Panham. Gage begins toss around. I look over at him and seeing his eyebrows furred together, I know he's having another nightmare. I wonder if it's about mutts or other mutants this time.

I stroke his cheek, trying to wake him gently.

"Gage, it's just a dream. Come back to me." I tell him. I stroke his cheek again. His green eyes open in a panic and he swings towards the only thing near him, me. I jump back before he can make contact.

"It's just me." I tell him. It takes him a couple of seconds to realize he's not back in the Games.

"Tatum," He said, trying to calm himself down. "I'm sorry." He apologizes. I think it's silly that he's apologizing for something that he can't help and I've told him that, but he continues to do it. He's still lying down, so I lay on my stomach next to him. I rest my head on my arm and look at him.

"I came here tonight because of him." I admitted. "He thinks bossing all of us around while he's drunk beating our mother will hide the fact he's a monster. He knows what he's doing is wrong, that's why he tries to get us out of the house when he does it. Today, he threw his liquor bottles at me. And she's just so pathetic; she puts up with him and acts like we need him. I think she keeps telling herself that she loves him. If she stays with him much longer, I'm afraid he'll kill her." I told him the reason for running out of my house, running out on my family.

"The truth is, we don't need him. Moira, mom and I are all working so we don't need his income. Moira and I take care of Lela, Bianca, Violet, and Eliza when she's not home. So there, that's why I was so mad when we first got here." I sighed again and looked at him. Even in the firelight, I could see the golden ray around his iris stand out.

" This time it was a mutt but it was a killer Jabberjay. They had their heads on the Jabberjay bodies." He explained. He had won the 101th Hunger Games, just four years ago. We'd been acquaintances then, and he came back a superstar. I'd always find him hanging around the docks, but it looked like he was never going to go anywhere, so I invited him to the first of the small islands with me. We took the boat out to the first one and walked around it. This became routine for a while and then he started talking to me. He told me about the Games and the things he had to go through. Even though I watched everything on the television, it was different to hear it coming out of a victor.

He helped me train, and taught me things that he had learned in training. My family let me run off with him because who better to train their daughter than a victor himself? We became fast friends and in the midst of everything, we fell in love. Gage took on more kids to train, and hid our romance, even from them.

The Capitol took him away from me every year for the Games. Women threw themselves at him there, but I refuse to ask any questions. I knew the power the President possessed, and I couldn't afford for Gage to get hurt on account of me. When he was here in 4, he was mine and only mine. We had made up a cover of him having 'girlfriends' in other districts. I started to bite my thumbnail. He leaned in and kissed me. While rolled me over to my back I smiled, knowing he was mine, at least for another day. Then it hit me.

I gasped and pushed his chest for him to stop.

"Stop," I told him, sitting up.

"What's wrong?" He was confused. I jumped up and tried to find my shorts and shirt I had let dry in the sun earlier.

"Here," I grabbed his shorts and threw them at him. I put on my clothes.

"I forgot what tomorrow is. We have to go." I told him, starting to cover the fire with sand.

"Tomorrow… reaping." It hit him. He pulled up his shorts, but as we walked down to the water I saw the look in his eye.

"I have to get back to them." I said. He was speechless.

"It's going to be okay, it'll just be a couple of days and then you'll be here at home." I told him, smiling and kissing him.

"I left a boat here last time." He told me. We walked to where he had left it. As I climbed in, the look in his eyes was still there.

"It'll be a couple of days and then you'll come back to me." I said, holding him. He must have found that reassuring because he started the small fishing boat and we were on our way back across to land. On the way back, I let the sea water spray my face. I started to think about my family.

Moira was too old now to be reaped, so I could breathe easy about her. Even though we had both carried jobs, we had still needed to sign up for rations. My name was in there the most with five, Lela and Bianca (the twins) had two each and sweet, little Violet who had just turned twelve had to put her name in, Eliza was too young. I was ashamed to have her sign up but we really needed it. What would happen if I was chosen? I knew that it killed Gage a little inside that he couldn't help us, and he had tried every possible way, but unless we wanted our secret to get out, he couldn't. I looked at the moon, the rest of our trip back. He cut the engine and glided into the deserted dock. I went to the spot I had thrown my shoes and cardigan.

"Hey," He said, grabbing my hand. I stopped and looked at him.

"You're eighteen, you're name has only been in there a couple of times. Same with the girls. They won't pick any of you. If they do, you know some crazy idiot will volunteer anyways, like they always do." He told me, pulling me in for a hug.

"Remember we're District 4, a career district, people always volunteer." He told me. I nodded and let him go, not wanting to blow our cover.

"Your right," I told him. He walked me to my house, which wasn't odd considering it was on the way to the Victor's Village.

"I'll see you tomorrow, at the Reaping." He told me. I nodded my head.

"Sleep well Tatum."

"If you say so,"

"I do." He replied. I looked into his eyes that seemed to pierce my soul. I nodded my head and headed inside. The girls were getting the kitchen ready. Every year, the night before the Reaping, we had a giant feast.