They say that when a couple argues, the guy's priority and goal is to make the girl cry, but that had never been Gale's intention and as he stares at Madge, his teary-eyed and shivering Madge, he's convinced he's never felt a greater pain in his chest.

"You...You know I didn't mean that, right?" he stutters, eyes wide. His large hands shake more than his wife and he longs to crush her to him, to hold her head to his chest and take it all back, but he knows he can't. "I-I don't know why I even said-"
He stops talking, knowing it's useless.

Madge's blue eyes shift towards the ground and her body stops trembling for a moment. She is frozen and dull. Her eyes have glazed over, her shoulders slumped, and her skin significantly paler.

"I should go," she mumbles, her voice softer than anything he's heard before.

All at once, she snaps out of her daze and turns quickly, picking up her coat from the couch and putting it on, giving Gale barely enough time to grab her arm before she's out the door

"Are you fucking crazy, Madge?" he asks her, his voice rising as anger beings coursing through his body all over again, but it's different, he's angry because he cares. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to walk out in the Seam at night by yourself? It's not even the fact that you could get robbed, there are wolves sometimes, wild dogs, and it's cold."

"I may not be the Seam girl you wanted to marry, but I can take care of myself, Hawthorne," she snarls, using his last name as an insult without caring about the fact that it's her surname as well now because, for a split second, she wishes she was an Undersee again.

In an instant, Gale's following her, forgetting about his jacket.

She's been walking around the Seam in the dark, cold night aimlessly for more than half an hour, the light snow falling from the sky giving her some joy. Throughout that time, she had gradually cooled down, not fueled by anger and hurt, and despite his hunter skills, she knew Gale was following her. At first, she hadn't noticed, too caught up in her emotions to hear his boots on the gravel behind her, but after a while she did notice and relaxed visibly. Although she might have wanted to rip his throat out less than fifteen minutes before, she felt safe with Gale near her and was glad he didn't try to talk to her again, just walked silently behind her to make sure she didn't get into trouble.

Unfortunately, that sweet serenity would dissipate into the cold air around them the moment she catches sight of something white and furry walking her way. It takes her brain a few moments, allowing the animal to get closer, before she realizes Gale was right and wolves did walk about the Seam during Winter. Her heart began to race as it got close enough for Madge to see the blue of its eyes and the black of its nose, its teeth baring slightly as it locked eyes with her and there was nothing she could do but stare back as it cautiously continued to get closer and closer, paralyzed as if her feet where sunk into the asphalt.

"Don't move," Gale whispered in her ear, his strong arms, bare apart from the long sleeved shirt he wore that offered little protection against the frigid weather, wrapped around her and pulled her into him. At once, the tension left her body and her head tilted back to look up at him, her hands finding the fabric of his shirt that covered his chest. His hand moved up and down her back through her coat and she melted against him, shifting closer while her gaze continued to lock with the wolf's, who had now stopped walking to examine Gale and her.

"Give it a moment, they usually walk away," he told her softly, tightening his hold around her as a form of apology for now, disregarding the situation they were in.

"Usually?" she repeated quietly, her breath coming out as a white cloud.

"If not it'll just come up to us, smell, and walk away," he mumbled, dipping his head to rest his forehead against hers, needing to distract her. "You can't be scared or it might get...interested."

"What else am I supposed to feel right now?" she whispered, exasperated.

"You can feel a lot of things," Gale replied, smirking mischievously as he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her neck, trailing his lips up to her jaw and then back down, kissing very softly occasionally. "Happy, confused, sad, angry..." he drifts off and grins, resting his forehead against hers again. "Aroused," he breathes.

Madge can't help the giggle that escapes her lips and she grins up at him, resting her hands on his cheeks and stroking them with her thumbs. Rising onto her tiptoes, she presses a soft, delicate kiss to his cold lips and smiles when she pulls back for a moment before moving in and giving him three more, always having loved giving him pecks. Just like she wanted, Gale returns every single one, trying to make them last longer and pouting each time she moved away. Finally, he pulls his hands back and slides them inside her coat, holding her hips as he brings her in again and claims his own kiss, angling his head further to the side than it was before and kissing his wife with everything he has. His tongue finds its way past her lips to hers with a mind of its own and he groans, snaking his arms around her and pulling her closer, lifting her off her feet.

A full minute and a half passes before he pulls away and smiles at her, feeling her gentle fingers through his hair. "Which one is it, Mrs. Hawthorne," he asks her, setting her down and stroking the hair on the back of her head, "my lovely wife?"

Quickly, she glances back to where the wolf had last been and, although it's gone, she responds, leaning in and kissing his chin with a smile. "Happy, sorry, and maybe just a little bit..." she pauses and grins, moving up to whisper in his ear. "Aroused."

Gale lets out a hearty laugh and pulls Madge into his side and he turns her and begins walking back to their home, his free hand finding hers and playing with her fingers, twisting the wedding band around her ring finger slowly until she laces her fingers through his.

"I'm sorry," he tells her, looking down at her moonlit face in the dark and swallowing the lump that forms in his throat. "I can only imagine how much that hurt you and I wasn't thinking clearly, I was so stupid. Believe me Madge, nothing has ever made me happier than the day you changed your last name to mine, okay? I would never change anything and would rather die before I was married to someone that wasn't you. I would never want to marry a girl from the Seam, okay? I've only ever wanted to marry you."

"I love you and all your little faults, Hawthorne," she tells him, except she's grinning this time and she uses his name lovingly, teasing him.

"I love you too, Hawthorne," he answers and chuckles to himself, joining her soft laughter which warmed him more than any coat ever could.