Disclaimers:

I do not own the Hunger Games universe or characters. In fact, in a way, they own me.

Author's note:

This was inspired by—and is dedicated to—Belle and the amazing Gadge community. While this story can stand alone, it'll make more sense if you've read my other fics (especially Last Day on Earth).

Title:

Calm Before the Quell

Summary:

"He needs her to know that she is not just a distraction, not a just a consolation prize after Katniss, no, never."

Gale and Madge before the events of Last Day on Earth.

Sometimes Gale thinks Darius exists purely to torment him.

First of all, if it hadn't been for Darius teasing Katniss and asking for a kiss that day in the Hob, Gale might never have realized that his best friend and longtime hunting partner was, in fact, a girl and a very desirable one at that.

Then, when Gale utterly and hopelessly falls in love, not with Katniss but with someone completely unexpected, Darius has to go and ruin it again.

It's secondhand information, at first. Down in the mines, Bristel and Leevy's engagement announcement inevitably inspires a review of the remaining single ladies in their age group, which inevitably brings up the subject of Madge Undersee.

After the initial, unanimous appreciation of Madge's physical attributes, Thom declares that there is no point talking about her because not only is she a town girl and the mayor's daughter, she's also almost certainly going to end up with Darius.

Gale almost drops his pickaxe but composes himself in time, grateful for the coal dust camouflaging his facial expressions. He listens with growing consternation as his crew mates chime in with support for Thom's theory.

"I've seen them around town a few times. I don't think they're official, but you can tell there's something there."

"They look good together. Just... right, somehow."

"He doesn't hit on her at all. That's how you know it's serious."

"Maybe he's waiting until after her last Reaping. She's got, what, one or two more to go?"

"He's easily the most decent one we've had, but I wouldn't put it past a Peacekeeper, y'know?"

Gale feels even more claustrophobic than ever.

He hasn't been to Madge's house since Katniss and Mellark returned from the Games, but the moment work ends on Saturday evening, his feet take him there of their own accord.

He's about to ring the bell when he glimpses a shock of red hair through the window. Speaking of the ginger devil: Darius is there, he's not wearing his uniform and he's having dinner with Madge and her family at the kitchen table like it's the most normal thing in the world.

And his lame jokes must be working, because just then Madge tilts her head back in a peal of laughter, exposing her slender throat. Mayor Undersee thumps the young man's back in approval and Mrs. Undersee is thin and frail but alert, instead of in her default catatonic state, and there's no mistaking the tenderness in her eyes when she looks at the Peacekeeper like the son she never had.

Darius leans over and kisses Mrs. Undersee on the cheek, and Gale is certain he can hear his heart breaking.

Gale stalks back to the Seam.

That Sunday, he kisses Katniss in the woods, just once, just to see what it's like. It's nice enough, though Gale can't help but think he should be feeling more. But at least she didn't push him away like Madge did last year. "You love Katniss," Madge had insisted, the one time he tried. "Katniss is going to win, I know it and you know it. Don't do anything you might regret when she comes back."

Gale sees through the excuse now. He wishes Madge had the decency to tell him about Darius, instead of making him feel guilty about Katniss.

He turns his thoughts back to rebellion, and tries to ignore how even those thoughts are now inextricably linked to Madge and the friendship that had bloomed between them during last year's Games. He hated town kids on principle, and he'd been nothing but a Grade A jerk to her up until then, but Madge surprised him at every turn. Not only did she know about the rebellious symbolism of the mockingjay and what it meant when she gave Katniss her pin, but Gale found out that there was also a personal reason behind Madge's actions. Her mother's twin sister had been Reaped herself, had worn that very pin in the Second Quarter Quell, had been wearing it when she died in Haymitch's arms. Whenever Katniss wore the pin, Madge was sending the reluctant district mentor a message: You couldn't save my aunt, but you can and you will save my friend.

Gale pushes those memories aside and focuses on the now. Katniss says President Snow is after her because of the nightlock incident, and he's after Gale because he kissed her once and they're not cousins after all. She has a half-assed plan to run away, but Gale shoots it down because all of a sudden he has a death wish and wants to cause all sorts of trouble.

His death wish nearly comes true when he makes the mistake of bringing a turkey to the Head Peacekeeper's quarters, not knowing that corrupt old Cray was recently replaced by the monstrous Romulus Thread. The crack of Thread's whip on Gale's back erases all jealousy and petty heartaches from his mind and replaces it with an all-consuming desire to bring down the Capitol and—this scares him a little—a taste for blood he had never experienced in all his years of hunting.

He thinks he hears Darius step in to defend him, or maybe that was Katniss and Mellark and Haymitch, before he blacks out.

Sometime that night, whatever Mrs. Everdeen gave him for the pain finally kicks in, and Gale dreams of snowstorms and strawberries.

When he wakes up, Mellark looks devastated but resigned, and the old drunk can't stop glaring at Gale. Katniss is suddenly acting like she's his girlfriend and even though his mother cries tears of joy to have her eldest son back, Gale catches Hazelle frowning at his fingers awkwardly intertwined with Katniss's.

Darius is nowhere to be found, but Gale doesn't know how to react to Madge's newfound availability. Nor does he know how to feel, now that Katniss has apparently chosen him over Peeta. He supposes it's like the kiss in the woods—nice enough, but he should probably be feeling more.

He spends the next few days in a daze.

Until it's interrupted by announcements for the Third Quarter Quell. In a surprise move, President Snow declares that this year's Tributes will be selected from the pool of past Victors. Gale's best friend will yet again disappear into the Arena, and this time it might be for good.

Katniss goes off the deep end and Gale can only stand back and watch as Mellark coaxes her back to the world of the living like no one else, not even Prim, can. The baker's son convinces Katniss and Haymitch to train for the Games, like Careers. Gale and Madge are drafted to help the trio with survival skills and strategy, respectively, but the mayor's daughter is often gone by the time Gale shows up after work or on Sundays. He can't help but think she's avoiding him.

Katniss is Reaped and Mellark volunteers for Haymitch. They aren't even given a chance to say goodbye. As Madge comforts a sobbing Prim at the Justice Building, her eyes lock with Gale's for the first time in months. He's never seen her so sad.

"I'm sorry about Darius," he tells her, once he gets her alone.

Madge looks at him intently, and Gale shifts his weight uncomfortably. "What do you mean?" she asks.

Gale rubs the back of his neck self-consciously. "I, uh, found out about you. The two of you. He... he was a good guy."

Madge opens her mouth, but it feels like an eternity before any sound comes out. "Thank you, Gale... He thinks the world of you, too."

Thinks. Madge thinks Darius is still alive.

She reaches out and squeezes his hand. "And Katniss will survive this. I bet my life on it."

They fall back into the same routine they had for last year's Games. They don't stand together in the square, but together they visit the Everdeens every evening. Gale then takes her to visit his mother and siblings before walking her home. She always invites him in, and they always sit at the kitchen table and talk until it's almost curfew and Gale has to leave.

Their dynamic, however, is different. Last year, those kitchen table talks were heated debates, getting him so fired up that he tried to kiss her that one time. On the other hand, the mayor's daughter never lost her cool, and even Gale was hard pressed to match her passion and wit. Madge Undersee arguing with him, her blue eyes flashing and her cheeks pink, was the sexiest thing Gale ever witnessed.

This year, Madge is somber, withdrawn, discussing the interviews and the scores in clipped sentences, her eyes darting to and fro suspiciously.

The night before the bloodbath, as they're waving goodbye to Prim and Mrs. Everdeen, Madge asks him if they can go to Haymitch's house instead of visiting with Gale's family.

Since Hazelle started helping out, Abernathy's house isn't a pigsty anymore, but there are some things even Gale's mother can't fix. Madge stands in front of what looks like a recently broken full-length mirror, eyeing her own reflection warily and chewing on her lip.

Gale comes up behind her and puts his hands on her delicate shoulders. In the remaining shards of the mirror, he watches the expression on her face change from hesitation to determination. She reaches up behind her with one hand and grabs the back of his head, pulling him down for a kiss.

God, she tastes good. Gale claims her mouth hungrily, greedily. Her lips are soft but demanding; her tongue drives him wild. She smells of strawberries and cream. His hands move from her shoulders, down her bare arms, encircling her narrow waist possessively. Without breaking their kiss, he turns her body so that they're facing each other. Madge responds by pressing the full length of her pliant body against his.

She moans as he leaves a trail of kisses along her jaw and neck. The vibrations make him smile against her skin. "It's always been you, Gale," she whimpers. "There is nobody else... there was never anybody else... there will never be anyone else."

His heart almost too full to speak, he lifts his head so he can look into the endless depths of her eyes. He needs her to know that she is not just a distraction, not a just a consolation prize after Katniss, no, never. He cannot live without her. He will fight for her until the day he dies.

He searches for words perfect enough for his beautiful, brilliant girl, but he's no Mellark. So he says, simply, honestly: "I love you so goddamn much, Madge Undersee."

She says it back and they're kissing again, stumbling around Haymitch's living room and knocking into the furniture. Gale presses her up against a wall and brings her arms up over her head, pinning her hands with his own. Madge hisses when he pulls his mouth away from hers, but her protestations melt into pleasure when he skims his tongue beneath the scoop neck of her top and grinds his aching hips into hers.

Eyes dark with desire, he holds her gaze as he puts his hand on her waist, under her top. His fingers move upward, lifting the gray cotton, slowly revealing Madge's concave belly one delicious inch at a time.

Breathing heavily, her arms still above her head, Madge's creamy white breasts strain against the black lace of her bra. There's a mole visible just above the left cup. Gale presses his lips to it ever so tenderly and whispers, "Mine."

She smiles seductively through half-closed eyes. "Then take me, Hawthorne."

After years of reining in his hormones with random girls at the slag heap, in fear of having another mouth to feed and another round of Reapings to dread, Gale is an expert at holding back. But Madge's challenge blinds him with white-hot passion and he knows there is no turning back now.

Hours and hours later, Gale sleeps soundly for the first time since his father died.