Hello guys! My name is Isabelle and this is my first Gadge fanfic. I have unashamedly read just about every single this website and this is my attempt at one. I haven't written in a while, so please don't be too harsh. I am also about a week away from my final year twelve exams. So I really should be studying. In terms of updating I will try to do some weekly. This is AU, the rebellion did not occur but Katniss and Peeta are Victors. They did not go back for the Quarter Quell and have been mentoring since. This is set four years after the Quarter Quell, so Madge, Peeta and Katniss are 21 while Gale would be 23. Peeta's middle brother is called Rye and he would also be around 23.

I would really appreciate if you guys you review this, I am welcome to criticism. Also this was not Betaed so I'm sorry for any mistakes here.

Enjoy!

Isabelle

I smooth down the cloth of the dainty blue fabric of my dress absentmindedly, as I flick the pages of a catalogue on my dining room table. "Decisions, decisions," I mutter to myself as I pick up another one of the many Capitol Magazines Effie Trinket has posted to me.

Knock, Knock

The harsh, rapid tapping of my back door was a familiar sound, one I often waited for great anticipation. Though it's been years since I've heard it, as no one has entered through the back door since the end of the last Quarter Quell. I cautiously rise from my seat and amble towards the noise. As I open it, my stomach drops.

"Gale," his name comes out a breathless whisper, almost foreign on my tongue. It had been four years since I had been in such close proximity to him. Though, I am surprised to see that he has come empty handed. No game, no strawberries. So if not to trade, why is he here? I give him a soft smile, in hopes that he would answer my unspoken question. But to no avail and he simply gives me an intense stare which made me question if I had offended him in some unintentional way or another.

"Can I help you?" I prompt, probably sounding like some Merchant clerk.

"Catnip said… she said that you…" his husky voice stumbling over the words. Who knew Gale Hawthorne could be rendered unable to form coherent sentences.

"I what? Would you like to come inside and explain?" and he follows me inside the house. He stands awkwardly in my kitchen as I fumble through the cupboards on the other side of the room looking for the tea set. I gesture him to sit down on a bar stool, his knees clumsily pressed against the island bench. Taking deliberate steps towards him with a tray of refreshments I ask the million dollar question. "Gale, I doubt this is a social visit. What is it?" the concern in my voice evident.

I catch him staring at my hand as I set carefully set the tray down on the marble bench top. I can feel my mouth forming a circle as I let out a quiet, "Oh." Of course Katniss told him. Though I'm surprised someone else didn't tell him first the whole town was buzzing with the news.

"So you really are getting hitched?" his voice is full of disappointment as I begin to nervously play with my engagement ring. "Who is he?" the words were barely audibly but the anger in his molten eyes is visible and growing by the second.

"Rye Mellark" I never knew that just three syllables could cause this much chaos.

"A Mellark? As in dough boy's brother?" his voice rising with each word as he angrily gets up from his seat only to turn around and spy the magazines on the dining table. He is livid and he storms out of the house, closing the back door with a solid thud on his way out.

All I could do is stand there in shock, staring at the now shut door attempting to comprehend what exactly just happened.

After leaving the Undersee mansion I quickly slip under the 'electrocuted' fence and slip into the woods. The need to escape the District was great that I had even forgotten to listen to the buzzing to check if was live wired, thank god for the unreliable electricity in the Seam.

I make my way to a clearing, my footsteps loud not caring if I scare my prey away. I can't believe Madge Undersee is getting married. The covers of the Capitol magazines she had lying around flashing through my head, taunting me with their titles "Capitol Bride" and "Panem Weddings" as they whisper dangerous thoughts.

It's been four years Gale

You left her Gale

You crushed her Gale

I shake my head, attempting to ignore their voices in my head. They are magazines for goodness sake, they can't talk.

To make matters worse, I had to hear it from Catnip! Catnip of all people! Who is soon going to be Madge's sister-in-law. She told me when Rory dragged me along to their house in Victor Village so he could go visit Prim. I don't know why I always agree to this trip because I spent most of my time attempting to ignore the giggles from the sickening lovebirds out on the porch. We were sitting in a comfortable silence in her living room and I was contemplating how much coal dust I would leave on their pristine couch after I got up, and then she dropped it. It created an explosion bigger than anything we've ever used down in the mines.

"Did you know Madge is getting married?" She said it so casually it took me a while to process exactly what her words meant. My head shot up, I gaped at her, almost daring her to say she was joking. But of course Katniss doesn't say "Just kidding" afterwards, she only gave this peculiar glance and we sit in awkward silence.

That is, until Mellark comes back from the bakery. He picked up on the tense atmosphere straight away as he drops his bag on a nearby table top.

"Ah, so I take it she told you?" he asked an eyebrow arched in amusement. I nodded with a grimace plastered on my face. This is not funny dough boy.

"Well, you snooze you lose," and with that he set up the stairs.

Somehow that afternoon after a quite dramatic start to my Sunday morning, I manage to make my way up to Victor's Village. Just as I am about to press the doorbell, Katniss opens her door. I walk straight past her, not even bothering with a hello as I walk into their foyer. "I'm sorry I've been so rude, it's just… Gale visited me today." I pant; only just realising I must have run here.

Recognition dawns upon her face as we take a seat in her living room; this means my assumption was correct she did tell Gale.
"He came first thing this morning, knocked on my door then he came in and he stared at my ring and asked me if I was getting 'hitched'!" I begin to laugh hysterically at my own words, "Then I told him I was and he was so angry! I told him it was Rye and he just left, stormed right out of there." The tears have begun to fall; they taste salty and warm on my lips.
"Just give me a second Madge," she says to me as she calls up the stairs, "Peeta! I know you are listening, come down here."
I can hear the shuffling from the second story as Peeta makes his way down to join us on the couch with a sheepish smile. Katniss silently shifts towards me, enwrapping me in a hug and nods for me to continue.
"He has no right to be angry. He broke up with me four years ago Katniss. Four years! He just can't come back into my life demanding answers when I am happy," I rant looking frantically between the star crossed lovers.

Peeta reaches out to my hand with a comforting pat, as he offers his words of comfort "Madge, Gale doesn't do feelings very well. We both know that. He obviously let you go for some supposedly selfless reason and now he regrets it. Though the important thing is you've moved on and you have Rye now. You love him and you are getting married to him, right?"

"Right," I respond, my voice seems so confident on the matter, but now I'm not quite as sure.

First chapter up! Please review with suggestions! I've fixed up issues with the break lines that didn't get uploaded for some weird reason, sorry about that :(