She still wore her father's hunting jacket. She always would, no matter if it was too big like it had been before, or if it was getting too small, like it was now. Her father was her hunting partner now, and she was okay with that.
She hadn't been out here long. Really she was out here for form, as a way to clear her head. Peeta didn't want her to come but knew she had been miserable these past few weeks being stuck in the house. But they had enough meat to last for months, some of it from the Capitol.
He didn't know any of this though. All he knew was that she still belonged in these woods, and she still looked at home. She was still a natural, with the way she was holding her bow, her arrows on her back, her hair in its long, signature chocolate braid.
He wanted to call out to her but he knew how important being quiet was. She had aimed her bow at something, and it proved how out of sync he was with all of it, because he hadn't seen anything.
And then, before he knew it, she had spun around, the arrow pointing at him, her eyes dark, her fingers tense, like she was about to let her arrow fly.
"Woe! Don't shoot," he said, his hands rising in the air to show he was defenseless.
Her eyes were wide as she took in his appearance. Her grey eyes scanned him from head to toe, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. In all reality, she probably thought he was losing it. His heart sped up at the thought that maybe she was used to seeing him here, in the woods.
"Either I'm not as quiet as I used to be, or your ears have gotten better," he said, pushing his previous thought aside. She kept silent, which was not unexpected, but he found that he was immensely relieved she hadn't shot him. He slowly put his hands down and offered her a slow smile. "Hello, Catnip."
XxXxXx
It must have been the old nickname that finally made her lower her weapon. She still kept her eyes on him, their steely grey eyes piercing his identical ones.
"What are you doing here?" Those were the first words she spoke to him, and she kept her voice neutral, her eyes guarded, so he couldn't tell if she was happy to see him or not.
In fifteen years, he couldn't tell if she had forgiven him.
"I was… in the neighborhood," he told her, and she only arched an eyebrow. "I went by your place and when no one answered I figured you were here, so…." He shrugged casually.
"My place?"
"Yah. In Victor's Village."
She eyed him for a few moments, the soft spring wind blowing her hair. "You hungry?" asked Katniss.
"A little."
"Come on," Katniss said, and the two of them walked out of the woods and headed back towards Victor's Village.
XxXxXx
She didn't hide her bow and arrow in her secret spot anymore. Instead she kept her arrows on her back, her bow clutched firmly in her hand.
He could tell there was something different about her, and it wasn't just the streaks of silver that lined her hair now. She was walking slower than normal, her breath a little more labored, and her scowl wasn't as dark as it used to be.
Another gust of wind blew, warmer than in the forest now that there was actual sun and no leaves blocking it, and Gale pulled his light jacket a little closer around him. He forgot how harsh the winters could be in 12, and how they sometimes lingered into spring.
Gale walked next to Katniss in silence, trying not to think too hard about anything. Yet his eyes slid to hers questioningly as she walked passed the house he knew she had stayed in and kept walking. He blinked away his confusion, looking back at the house with the primroses out front.
They passed a few more houses and then Katniss turned into another house. There were primroses blooming, as well as dandelions, and before he could make sense of it, she was opening the door and they were walking inside.
The first thing he smelled were cookies, but before he could understand what that meant, someone spoke.
"Katniss? Is that you?" called a familiar voice, and Gale felt his heart drop in his stomach. "You're home early."
His voice was getting closer, and sure enough, Gale's suspicions were confirmed a few seconds later when Peeta Mellark came out of the kitchen, a bowl in his hands. He had flour on his face and on his jeans and a few wet stains on his shirt, but other than that, he looked just as perfect as he always had.
He stopped in his tracks, though, and for a quick moment his perfection dissolved and there was shock on his face. It was gone quickly, but Gale was a trained soldier. It was his job to pick up on things like that.
"Gale," said Peeta with a smile. He looked between Gale and Katniss, clearly confused, but still trying to be polite.
"I guess I bought more than squirrel home for dinner," Katniss muttered, and the fact that she was joking made Peeta visibly relax.
Gale still just stood there, watching as Katniss took off her hunting shoes and sat down her bow and arrow, clearly at home.
Peeta had said she'd gotten home early.
Home.
"I just took some cookies out of the oven," said Peeta. "Hold on and I'll bring them out. Katniss, you okay?" She nodded, offering him a small smile, a beautiful smile, really, and then Peeta was gone, back into the kitchen.
Finally Gale turned to Katniss and nearly did a double take.
"Oh my God." Those were the first words he'd been able to speak since realizing Katniss and Peeta at the very least lived together.
But at the sight of her rounded belly he realized they did a lot more than live together.
"What?" asked Katniss, and she followed his gaze and looked down at her stomach. "Oh. I know right. I'm fat." And much to his shock when she looked back up at him her eyes were filled with tears. "I know I'm fat. I'm huge. I've never been so huge." She sniffed, and Gale started to back away, realizing this was a huge mistake. "Peeta says I'm not fat, but he has to say things like that, right? I mean he is my husband."
"Husband?"
She stared at him curiously, and then he noticed the pearl ring on her hand.
Was that—?
No… it couldn't be.
There's no way she was wearing the pearl Peeta had given her in the Quarter Quell.
"Catnip…" Gale tried to keep his voice even. "What happened to never getting married and having kids?"
At that moment Peeta walked in with a plate of cheese buns and another plate of cookies, clearly having heard what Gale had just said.
Katniss smiled and shrugged, walking up to Peeta. "He made me cheese buns," she said, and Peeta smirked.
Gale could feel his cheeks warming. He couldn't believe he ever even came here. What had he expected? For Katniss to see him and fall into his arms, whispering sweet nothings about how much she had missed him?
Looking at them, he knew how stupid that was now.
He had just never heard anything about them being together, let alone married with a child on the way, not even from Paylor, his boss, and if anyone knew about them it was Paylor, because Haymitch and Paylor were still in contact, and Haymitch definitely knew.
They invited him to sit down, which he accepted so that they wouldn't think he was rude, when really all he wanted to do was sprint out the door. He was a soldier though, damn it, and he had endured worse than this.
Besides, he was here to make things right with Katniss, because he did genuinely miss her.
So he suffered through small talk, about how they'd had a private toasting with just Mrs. Everdeen, Haymitch, and Effie, right here, in front of the fireplace, three years after they had returned to 12.
He told them about being in charge of reconstructing the Districts and how Johanna and Beetee worked in 2 as well, Beetee in weaponry while Johanna worked as a builder under Gale.
He stayed for dinner and by the time he left, he had gotten what he was looking for. Catnip—Katniss—had found the one she couldn't survive without. It had just shocked him initially, because he'd never known that she'd gotten with Peeta. They had kept it quiet, because if anybody knew all of Panem would go crazy, especially about the baby.
When Gale stood up to leave he turned to shake Peeta's hand.
"You don't have to be a stranger," Peeta told him. Gale nodded his understanding. "I'm gonna head upstairs and shower. I'll see you in a little while, Katniss." Gale watched as he brushed her lips over her temple, his hand resting on the small of her back, softly, intimately, comfortably. He watched her lean into his brief touch, and then proceeded to watch him as he made his way upstairs.
"I'm really happy for you two, Katniss," said Gale at the door. "You seem happy. You deserve to be happy."
"It's not all springtime and dandelions," Katniss admitted. "It's still hard. Really, really hard."
"Katniss, I—"
"Don't. Don't apologize, Gale. I've made peace with it. Johanna helped. She told me about your drinking and the nightmares. I wanted to call and reach out, but… I was fighting my own demons. I could barely help Peeta half the time. But I'm glad you got it together."
"I'm glad we both did." He gave her a soft smile and pulled her into a hug.
"Give Johanna a chance. She's been pining for you for at least ten years."
Gale pulled away, shocked, and she smiled sheepishly at him.
He was halfway down the steps when Katniss called out. "Like Peeta said, don't be a stranger."
He gave her a wave to acknowledge what she said, and made his way back into Town and to his hotel to checkout.
He wouldn't be staying in 12. Maybe he'd be back, maybe he wouldn't.
There wasn't really anything left for him. Maybe he'd stop in 4 for a little bit. It'd been a while since he'd seen his family. Maybe things could be repaired between him and Rory. If Katniss could forgive him, then surely his brother could.
Before he made his way back to the train station, though, he stopped at the small memorial he had helped construct.
He had one more person to say goodbye to.
He searched for her name, brushing his fingers across the letters when he found it. He placed his lips to the plaque, kissing goodbye the girl he lost to a bomb, long before his bomb took the innocent life of a little girl in the Capitol.
"Goodbye, Madge," he whispered, and with his bag swung over his shoulder, he made his way back to the station.
Love didn't live here anymore.
At least not for him.
So I'm afraid I'm becoming obsessed with Hunger Games. I can't stop writing fan fic. Stories/ideas keep entering my brain, and as a writer, I have to finish them or they'll rive me crazy LOL.
Don't ask me why I wrote a Gale fan fic. I hate his guts in the books LOL. I'm totally attracted to Liam Hemsworth though. He's like some Greek god. Oh wait, that's Chris LOL. Same difference, they look like twins haha.
Hope you guys like this one!
-thamockingjayandpeeta