AN: I've read some truly wonderful Gadge stories on ff that have made me fall completely in love with this pairing and I've even been inspired to try my hand at writing them.

This is not a songfic but the title is a Schuyler Fisk's song.

This takes place before the Reaping.

I don't own The Hunger Games, I'm just giving the characters a little bit of much needed fluff :)

The sounds of the piano floated airily throughout the house as Mrs. Undersee reclined on the chaise under a thick wooly blanket with her eyes closed.

Madge loved being able to play music to soothe her mother and it had been awhile since she had played for her seeing as her mother had not left the confines of her room in the past few weeks.

"Maggie darling."

Madge turned on the piano bench and saw her mother's lids slowly lift to reveal her tired blue eyes.

"Yes, Mamma. Are you ready to go upstairs now?"

"Yes, thank you sweety. That was very lovely playing tonight."

Madge rushed to her mother's side and wrapping an arm around her frail waist helped her up the stairs one at a time. "Thank you, Mamma."

"Are you still practicing every day?" she asked beaming with obvious pride.

"Yes, Mamma. I practice whenever I can."

'That's very good dear, one day, one day you will play for all of Panem. I know it."

"Yes, Mamma," was all she could manage to say. She didn't think that would ever happen but she wasn't about to argue with her mother when she could see that it made her perk up to imagine.

She helped her out of her robe and then settled her into her bed before going to the kitchen to fetch her a glass of water.

With her father away on Capital business for another week, caring for her ailing mother fell solely on Madge's shoulders. It gave her a purpose that she didn't otherwise experience when her father was home. She still cared for her mother daily but her father dictated all her tasks even after all these years. She knew her mother's routines but didn't resent her father overseeing her care because she suspected it helped him feel like he was somehow participating even though his mayoral duties pretty much ate up all his time.

Madge closed the window above the sink to keep the fall chill out so the kitchen wouldn't be freezing come morning. She had persuaded her father to let their staff have the week off while he was away. He had finally relented to the unusual request because as he had said, Madge had made her case so convincingly. She smiled at the thought of them being able to spend time with their families.

While filling the glass with water a loud knock on the backdoor made her jump and spill water all over her hand, the counter and the floor.

It was dark outside and much too late for house guests. The only people that used the back door besides the people that worked in the house and those that brought deliveries were Katniss and Gale, but she suspected it was much too late for a visit from them.

She dried her hand and went to the door tentatively. To her surprise she saw Katniss and Gale standing at the foot of the stairs. She looked down at their hands first but saw that they didn't have anything to sell.

From the small amount of light pouring out of the kitchen she could see Gale had an arm around Katniss' shoulder and was leaning into her. There was worry on Katniss' face but it wasn't until she looked at Gale that she made a sound unrecognizable to even herself and covered her mouth with her hands.

Gale's right eye was bruised and swollen shut. He had a large cut above his other eye and blood trickled from his nose and his mouth.

"Oh!" was all Madge could manage.

"Madge. We need your help. Can we come in?" Katniss pleaded.

It took a minute for Madge to react and then step aside making room for them to enter the house.

"I need you to keep Gale here for a few days. Your dad is out of town, right?" Katniss said in a rush.

"Yes, b... but I can't. My mother. Katniss I can't." She was desperately trying to think of why this was the worst idea she had ever heard in her whole life.

"Madge, you must. Please!" she implored as she leaned against the counter to take some of Gale's weight off her.

"Why don't you take him to your mother? She can take better care of him better than I can."

"That's the first place they'll look. Please Madge."

Madge considered Katniss to be her friend, though they had never shared their innermost secrets or asked each other for favors. No one had ever asked anything of Madge and the idea of being needed made her feel important for the first time.

There was a certain amount of importance in being the Mayor's only daughter, or so everyone always said, but that hadn't brought her anything but isolation and loneliness. She had often wished that she had more of a purpose in District Twelve, that she had a skill that she could use to help people.

It seemed that being the last place Peacekeepers would look for a poacher who'd overstepped his bounds was the most useful she could hope to be right now.

"Okay, follow me." She looked at Gale who had still not spoken and took the backstairs from the kitchen to the second floor so they would not have to pass her parent's bedroom to get to their destination.

There wasn't room for three to climb the stairs side by side so she didn't offer to aid them and instead went ahead as Katniss helped Gale up the steps.

They were slow getting to the second floor so she had time to lay a blanket down over her pink comforter and then help Katniss maneuver him onto her bed.

She hadn't really thought through putting Gale in her room. It had been the first place that had come to mind but with her father away she realized she should have put him in his study. It was too late to move him now though as he groaned and settled into the bed.

Katniss took Madge's arm and held on tight.

"Take care of him. I have to go in case they come looking for him. I don't want them to ask my mother or Prim too many questions."

"But... what am I supposed to do?" she said pleadingly. Taking care of her ailing mother was not the same as patching someone up who had been in a fist fight.

"Just wash his face and put some of this on it. It should prevent infection. Also cold clothes or ice if you have some on his eye to take the swelling down." Katniss produced a small jar from her coat pocket and placed it in Madge's palm wrapping her fingers around it as if she was bequeathing her the most valuable thing she owned.

"I'll be back when I can," she assured.

Then she turned and disappeared around the corner and down the stairs leaving Madge in shock.

By the time Madge regained her senses she rushed to catch up to Katniss but she was long gone. Madge locked the backdoor and then remembering her mother's water she wiped the spilled water off the counter and the floor and then dried off the side of the glass. She took another one out of the cupboard and filled them both.

She placed one on a table outside her room and walked on quietly to the other end of the floor. She opened her mother's door and to her relief found her asleep. She placed the glass next to the bed and tucking the covers around her, kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Mamma. Sweet dreams," she whispered.

She turned the hall lights out and once in her room she closed the door and leaned against it wondering what she had gotten herself into.

A boy had never been in her room let alone on her bed, but since the boy in question appeared unconscious it didn't seem quite so sordid as she would have expected.

She gathered her plush pink flannel pajamas from a drawer and changed in her dark closet. Once she had on matching wool socks she went into her private bathroom to brush her teeth and find a washcloth. Realizing she needed a bowl if she didn't want to make trips back to the sink she ran back down to the kitchen to get a metal one from the back of a low cupboard that no one would ever miss.

She sat on the edge of the bed her hip barely touching Gale's thigh and got to work gently washing away the dried blood and dirt that was on his face.

He moaned as she worked but didn't wake up.

She dabbed the ointment on his open sores with her finger tips and then folded a clean wet cloth around a few cubes of ice and placed it over his eye.

From what she could see of his features not obstructed by the pouch of ice, he seemed to be resting peacefully. She'd always thought he was handsome but she had never been so close to him before and had never had freedom to opening study every detail of his face. His eyelashes on his good eye were surprisingly long. She remembered years ago when her mother had cared about such things, that she had ordered makeup from the Capitol hoping to make her own lashes look so full and lush. Despite the bruising his tanned skin looked smooth and his well defined jaw appeared recently shaven. She ran her hand over his forehead, drawing his hair off his face. It was softer than she had expected it to be considering how unruly it always was.

She sat next to him for awhile holding the ice in place. When it started to melt she let the pieces roll into the bowl and wringing out the cloth she folded it up and placed in back over his eye.

She unlaced Gale's boots and sat them quietly at the foot of the bed. She contemplated removing his pants and his shirt since they were covered in dirt but decided to leave him be to sleep in them. She went to the hall closet for spare blankets, towels and more washclothes for the morning.

After covering him with one of the blankets she crossed the room to turn on a night light that she hadn't used in years but that was still plugged into the spot her father had put it when he had brought it home from a trip, in case Gale woke up in the middle of the night.

She turned off the lights and settled into the comfortable armchair in the corner of the room where she had fallen asleep many times before while reading. She covered herself with the other spare blanket and fell asleep.

tbc