Hunger Games Fanfic

Katniss POV

"Katniss!" a familiar voice shouts. I look over in the direction of the voice, that can't be who I think it is… no, it's not him…

"Catnip!"

It is! Gale! At first I am overjoyed, I didn't think I'd ever see him again, Gale… my Gale!

And then the joy disappears just as fast as it came and is replaced with anger… How dare him! Coming here now, after more than twenty years, without so much as a letter or phone call! And he just shows up in my front yard without any warning? Using my old nickname too! I hate him, I literally hate his guts, screams my mind…

but then a little, tiny part of me says, Gale, I love you! Where have you been? And longs to hug him and never let go. But the anger is much bigger than the tiny bit of love.

He comes closer. I see his mouth move but I can't hear anything he says, because my mind is spinning so fast.

"Katniss?" he says, snapping me out of it, "Are you okay?" he sounds genuinely concerned.

"Gale… What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I came to see you, I'm sorry it took so long. My job is great but it doesn't pay much and train tickets are expensive, and they had to rebuild them after the Capital's firebombs and everything…" he stopped, probably realizing that he was rambling.

"So why didn't you call? Don't you know my number?" I ask sounding slightly demanding, as I realized later.

"I did call, a lot. But no one ever answered… it said that I was, 'Unable to call this number' for some reason," he answers. "

Well you could have written to me, you know, a letter or two? Or were stamps too expensive?" I say the last part in a very rude mocking voice, but I'm too angry to care at this point.

"Katniss," he says sounding concerned, "I wrote you all the time! You answered me a few times, so I know you got them, you can't deny it."

My mind was spinning again. Letters? He's a liar. What if he did write me? Who got the letters? What did they say?

This time I snap out of it when a little hand tugs on my skirt. I pick up my little girl and hold her for a minute, "Aw, who's this?"Gale asks her in a sweet voice.

"Rue," she says, and then she gets down and goes inside.

"Gale, come inside and sit down," I say and hold the door open for him.

We go in and I sit in my recliner, while Gale takes a seat on the couch beside my chair. He takes in the room and the photos on the walls. His face turns pale and tired looking, he gets up and slowly walks along the wall staring at the photographs. He eventually comes and sits back down, I look at his face, his cheeks and forehead are ghostly pale, and his eyes are empty.

"I… You're… married to… P-Peeta… Katniss…" my anger disappears, Oh my god… He's holding back tears… Gale never cries…

"Katniss… You have… kids… three… beautiful kids… Katniss" his voice breaks at the end and so does my heart.

"Oh, Gale… I'm so sorry… I thought you knew… I sent you a wedding invitation, and Holiday cards from the kids and Peeta and me… didn't you get them?" He shakes his head, and buries his face in his hands, seeming like he just lost everything he'd been living for.

Just then Primrose walks in holding Rue's hand, "Mommy, Who's that?" Prim whispers in my ear, pointing at Gale.

"He's a friend that I haven't seen in a long time. Why don't you go see Uncle Haymitch and show him your new book?" I tell her. She smiles and goes out the door clutching Rue's hand in one of her hands and a book in the other.

Gale looks up at me, "Uncle Haymitch? He's not drunk right now?" I shake my head, "No, he quit drinking nine years ago, right before I had Primrose." Gale manages a strained smile, "Good for him."

He stands up, without thinking I jump up and hug him. We stand there, in a hug for at least two minutes. I rest my head on his shoulder. He's at least six inches taller than me. And then I think, what would Peeta say if he saw me here with Gale? I gently pull away from him and ask if he's thirsty, he nods and I go into the kitchen to pour some tea for both of us.

When I sit back down Gale says, "Where is he?"

"Who?" I ask and then realize who he means, "Peeta? Oh, he took Mitch to see his friend, his dad's friends with Peeta." We sit in silence for a while, until Gale breaks it, "Why Katniss? Why would you lie to me? I know you got my letters. I have them in my bag at the motel… All of them."

I shake my head, "Gale, I don't know who those letters are from but, it's not me…"

That's the end of this chapter, I'll post the next chapter as soon as I finish it. Please review!