Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games therefore I am not Suzanne Collins.

I let my fingers brush against the keys and lost myself to the music. Every stroke was familiar and comforting to me. I hadn't realized how much I had missed this.

I sat at my piano playing and let the music penetrate into the walls of my new house. I didn't really consider it my home yet since I always found myself going back to my real house to visit mom and dad whenever I wasn't doing anything, and that seemed like more often than I thought. When we came home both Gale and I were given a house in the Victor's village. It had seemed really unnecessary that they decided to give me one since I already lived in luxury but somehow my mom convinced me to come and live on my own. Well, not totally alone because she had asked Judith, my nana, to come and live with me to keep me company.

To say things have changed would be an understatement. Since Gale, Haymitch and I live next to each other I see them almost every day. I go visit Haymitch and try to help him clean up around since he doesn't want to do it himself. He has begun to drink again and most of the time he is in his house passed out. It's no problem getting in since he leaves the door unlocked but I have to be careful not wake him up because he sleeps with a knife in his hand.

My dad on the other hand wasn't so thrilled about having me live on my own and the idea of living next to Gale wasn't such good news to him. He was grateful to Gale for keeping me alive in the arena, he even shook hands with him at our homecoming in the train station, but he didn't like all the public affection we had to show. Ever since then we've been more reserved on that account. There are things that have changed between us here at home, like we knew they would, but I can still say I'm as much in love with him or even more as I was before.

I close my eyes and let my hands glide themselves on the keys as if they had a mind on their own. They play a soft, tender sound that makes me feel calm and relaxed. In the back of my mind I remember the first time I laid eyes on this instrument without even knowing what it was. I was about five and my curiosity about things had started to grow. Every time I passed this object I had a desire to touch it and see what it did, but even back then I was very reserved, I didn't want to get punished for touching something I wasn't allowed to.

One day, though, the curiosity won over. I remember approaching it cautiously and quietly fearing it might come alive. I circled around it, touching the smooth surface on the sides and came around again to the bench and just as I was going to lift the cover of the keys I heard a voice behind me.

"Pretty isn't it," my dad said and stepped in the room.

I stared at him with wide eyes fearing he might start yelling at me for even touching it, but he just came and sat next to me on the bench. He slid the cover back on the keys and brushed his hand on top of them without pushing down. Then, very hesitantly, he began to play. I watched him with amazement as his fingers grazed over the keys without thought. It was something like I had never seen. I remember his placid face and how my desire of wanting to learn how to play began. He came down to the last note and let it linger between us. He studied my face for some time and then asked, "Would you like to learn how to do that?"

I felt myself nod enthusiastically without thinking and a smile tugged at my dad's lips. "Maybe when your older you'll be able to do what I just did, okay?"

"Okay," I whispered letting my disappointment show and let my head fall.

I heard him sigh and placed a finger under my chin, making me look up at him. "Be patient," he said in a gentle voice, "Everything has it's time Madge."

I nodded and smiled a small smile. "Can you play again?" I asked.

This time his lips pulled up into a full smile and said, "Of course, just for you."

A knock interrupts my thoughts and my playing. I begin to get up but Judith appears from the kitchen. "I'll get it Madge! Keep playing," she yells as she passes by. I sit back down and resume playing. I hear as she opens and shuts the door but nothing more. I think nothing of it first but after a few minutes I sense something behind me. He's wearing a clean new shirt and old jeans with his hunter's jacket on. His hair has grown out since we've arrived and he has started to grow a beard. He looks almost exactly the way he did before the Games, before both our lives change.

"Why'd you stop?" he asks in his deep voice, his eyebrows lowering down on his stormy gray eyes.

"How long have your been standing there?" I retort.

"Long enough," he says and leans away from his position against the doorway and walks toward me. He comes to my side to sit beside me on the bench. He presses down on random keys making me cringe inwardly. "Come on," he says bumping me with his arm and continues pressing keys.

"No," I say stubbornly and reach to take his hands off the keys, "Can you stop."

I take his hands off but he doesn't let go of mine. "Here, look," he says a smile forming in his lips and puts my hands on the keys. When I make no further movement he moves my fingers so they press down on the keys. "Now is that so hard," he says.

I can't help the smile that appears on my lips. "No, but it sounds horrible," I say glancing at him sideways.

He rolls his eyes and lets go of my hands. I pull the cover over the keys and turn to him. "Are you ever going to let me listen to you play?" he asks with obvious doubt in his voice.

"You have," I point out, "Just now before I even noticed your intrusion.

He snorts at my comment and says, "To an actual full song."

"Maybe," I reply, "Just not today."

"So stubborn," he complains and pulls me by the waist towards him and rests his forehead against mine.

Electricity courses through me and I feel heat rush up to my face. "No more than you."

"True," he agrees, his breath on my face, "But remember that you had promised."

"I never promised anything," I say defiant, "And if I did, then I don't remember."

"Stubborn and a liar," he says shaking his head from side to side, our foreheads still touching, "Who would have known Madge Undersee, the mayor's daughter, could be like this."

I push back from him and frown. "You'd better stop there," I say warning, "You're about to cross the line."

"Okay, okay," he says holding up his hands as if in defeat, "I give up." He reaches for me again but I resist against his pull. "Come on Madge, don't be like that."

"I'm waiting for an apology first," I say staring at him directly.

He stares back pursing his lips in a tight line. It must be one of the hardest things Gale ever had to do, apologizing, and knowing this I take advantage of it.

After a few moments he sighs heavily and almost closes his eyes like he doesn't want to her what he's about to say. "I'm sorry," he says quickly exhaling, "There I said it, are you happy?"

I pretend to think about it for a while, making him even more irritated by the minutes. "Umm, I'll accept that."

Very gently, I meet my lips with his once and pull back a few inches. He sighs again, all his tension and irritation melting away, and cups my face in his hands. He returns my kiss with more pressure, his hands icy on my face, but heat starts building up slowly between us. My arms around his neck pull him closer as our lips move together in synchronization. This is one of the few things that hasn't changed. Every time we kiss, it's as if the whole world around us has disappeared and there isn't anything more important than being here in this moment together as one.

A sudden cough behind us makes us jump apart. Judith stands in the doorway with a basket of clothes on her hands and a small frown on her face. A flush covers my face from embarrassment and I say, "We were just…talking nana."

She raises her eyebrows and says, "Is that so? Didn't look like much talking to me."

Her expression is so hard that I have to look away. Gale is already looking away, his head down with a light shade of red covering his cheeks. It's a rare sight to see when Gale gets embarrassed and this makes me smile.

"No wonder your dad insisted on me coming to live with you," she says and then sighs, "Now, why don't you two get out of here before I decide whether to tell him of what I saw."

Gale lifts his head saying, "Yes, ma'am."

He gets of the bench and starts walking towards the front door. I follow suit. "Thanks nana," I say as I pass her and plant a kiss on her cheek.

"Uhuh," she responds shaking her head, but her lips pull up into a small smile.

Gale waits as I pull on my boots and coat and then we head out. He slips his hand into mind entwining our fingers. It's the afternoon and its' been snowing all day so it's already pulled up high. It's chilly enough that I can see my breath as it goes in and out.

Gale looks like he has something on his mind so I don't bother trying to make conversation for a while. It isn't until we're about to come to the square that he speaks up.

"I have something to tell you," he says and the tone he uses worries me. It's cautious. I can see his eyes tighten as he says the next words. "President Snow came to visit me today."

I skid to a stop, yanking him back with me. "What?" I say in a gasp, my eyes wide.

He turns to face me then and says, "Today in the morning when I came home he was there waiting for me."

I keep looking at him with wide eyes. "Why?" I ask my breath uneven, "What did he want."

"He came to talk," he says, his voice tight, "Actually more like a warning."

He's making no sense. I frown up at him and say, "Explain."

He sighs and when he speaks, his voice is just above a whisper. "Lately things have been a bit out of control in the districts," he says and with my questioning look he continues in a lower voice, "There have been uprisings all over the country."

He waits for a response but all I can do is stare openmouthed at him. "Remember what Haymitch had said about things not turning out the way the president wanted them to?" he says and I nod, "Well it appears he's still unhappy about that and thinks the uprisings are our fault."

Finally, I am able to recover my composure. "He told you that upfront?" I ask.

"No, of course not," he says shaking his head, "But I could tell by the way he was killing me with his eyes.

I think about it for a second, unable to wrap my head around it, and then decide to go back to what he said earlier. "What did you mean by a warning?"

His eyes tighten again and his voice turns hard then, "He said there would be 'consequences' if we didn't do our job during the tour."

The tour, I think with dread. We'll be on our way tomorrow, meaning we'll be seeing Cinna and the rest of the team. This also means we'll have to be seeing the families of the others and make the people celebrate our victory even though we well know they despise us for living while their own are dead. "What do you mean by doing our job? What do we have to do?"

He sighs again only this time in defeat. "He wants us to show off how deeply we feel about each other," he says looking at me gently, "He thinks they'll believe we were both allowed to live because they felt compassion and pity for us and not because they didn't have a choice."

"But that wasn't our fault," I say, my voice angry now. "It was the Gamemakers. They were the ones that decided to let us live instead of choosing which of us should die." I storm around with angry steps ignoring the cold wind that hits me in the face like a blow.

"He knows that," Gale says, "He even told me he had already dealt with that. He joked how he had to get started finding a new headmaker."

His words stop me and turn towards him in a quick shift. I don't know why this surprises me but it does. It shouldn't really. Of course Seneca Crane would have been punished for this. He was the one who was calling all the shots and in the end he made the decision. To say the truth I don't feel sorry for him. In his hands laid the many lives of those innocent children who just wanted to survive and he watched them with amusement giving them their last blow.

Surely President Snow didn't have to think twice about disposing of him so what would stop him from doing the same to us. We were just two kids from district 12 who were causing trouble. I shudder but not from the cold.

Gale approaches me and wraps his arms around my shoulders. I shudder again and he pulls me closer. "Don't worry, everything will work out," he says but his tone isn't very convincing.

I nod into his chest but I still have a question I'm afraid to ask. "Did he specifically mention the consequences?"

"No," he says in a low voice, "But I'm pretty sure it involves us and both our families."

Horror ad fear fill me, making me tremble. "No," I gasp, "We can't let him Gale. We can't."

"I know, I know," he says reassuringly, "And we won't. We won't." He rubs my back comforting for a minutes and pulls back to look at me. He stares right into my eyes with an intense gaze. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life," I whisper knowing these words were true. After everything we've been through together there isn't a way that's not possible.

"Then trust me when I tell you we'll keep them safe," he says with the same intensity.

I stare at him back matching his expression and with the same determination. "We'll keep them safe," I say nodding.

A/N: Ah, it's good to be back. For some reason I was just out of it for some time but it feels good to be writing again. I'm really excited about where I want to take this story so thanks to all of you guys that have stuck with me. Hope you guys enjoyed the Gadge in this first chapter. It's kind of short for my taste actually. The chapters I'm writing are much longer than this one. Next one will be a filler though. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to upload more so I will try not to keep you guys waiting long.

Again thanks to everyone and please REVIEW! :)