"I should have volunteered," said Gale, "To take your place in the reaping."

"Well, I got out fine on my own, didn't I?" replied Katniss not sure whether to feel flattered or sorely offended.

"Yeah, you did. And now you're married to him." Katniss could hear the slight note of disgust in his voice.

"What's wrong with Peeta?" She was surprised at how abruptly defensive she had become.

"He's not me," Gale blurted out angrily, before he could take back his words. He turned around slightly taking his gaze off Katniss for a moment, immediately regretting his boldness.

Katniss just stared at Gale, allowing his words to sink in, trying to make sense of them.

"You wanted to marry me?" she asked incredulously.

There was an awkward pause, as Gale turned back to gaze locking his grey eyes onto hers, not fully knowing what to say next.

"Since when?" Katniss asked in an attempt to break the silence. "Since I had been dragged out into the arena?" she continued furrowing her eyebrows.

"No." said Gale, slightly taken aback by the hint of accusation and anger in her voice. "Long before that."

Katniss looked back at him disbelievingly, waiting for an explanation.

Gale gave a heavy sigh, before spilling out the secret he had fought to keep to himself for so long.

"It was 6 months before the reaping. We were sitting at Greasy Sae's having a meal. Then Darius came by, and he tried to get you to trade your game for one of his kisses. And I realized, that I minded." In his effort to tell this story, Gale's eyes jutted around, unable to keep focus on anything except the ground. Katniss could read the shame underlying his words. Just like Katniss, admitting his feelings was not his strong suit.

All of a sudden, his eyes swiveled back up to meet Katniss'. "That's when I realized that…I love you," he said with a voice barely above a whisper.

"I love you too" burst Katniss reassuringly, "As a hunting partner."

Gale heaved a heavy sigh, searching for the right words to make Katniss understand. "But, I love you, as a marriage partner," he explained, hoping that she would catch his gist.

"I'm not the marrying type," Katniss shook her head resiliently. She looked away for a moment as she continued, "Jenny, Sally, and Katherine. They seem like the marrying type," bringing up the names of a few of the girls that had held romantic relationships with Gale for a brief period of time.

"I would never marry them! Katniss, you're different. You're special. You're the only one I would ever want to marry," Gale said with conviction.

"No, I wouldn't make a good marriage partner," Katniss said trying to convince him otherwise, "For you or for anybody. You can ask Peeta, I make a horrible wife." She said this with a small smile on her face in an attempt to lighten the mood, but she stopped short when she realized what a horrible mistake she had made. That realization quickly wiped the smile off her face.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's what Peeta would say," Gale scoffed sarcastically. Fortunately, this did manage to bring a smile to his face, as he remembered just how emotionally clueless Katniss could be sometimes, and laughed at how even after all of her achievements, she simply couldn't manage to act appropriately when it came to dealing with emotions. She was still the old Katniss that he knew and loved.

Katniss wasn't sure how her failed attempt at lightening the mood actually worked, but she smiled anyway, so surprised to hear Gale laughing again.

"I think we should keep going," she said.

Gale agreed, and followed her out the door.