A/N

I'm adopting a story abandoned by Stella's Little Rebels. Before continuing the story, I'm rewriting the existing portion in my style and headcanon, although I'm maintaining her plot.

Chapter

The Reapings for the 76th Annual Hunger Games have come to an end in the dusty little corner of Panem known as District Twelve. As soon as Katniss realizes that none of their names were called, she relaxes. All 28 of her slips had escaped the perfect manicured nails of Effie Trinket forever. Prim and Rory's measly 3 each had escaped their third reaping; and as for Vick, his one slip escaped her nails as well. The crowd soon breaks up and the square is filled with the hustle and bustle of Peacekeepers trying to clean up. The Everdeen and Hawthorne families meet behind the Hob. Gale embraces Katniss in a bear hug.

"I told you that you'd be okay. See Catnip, you will never go through the Games, not when I'm around," he whispers into her ear. He had survived his first two reapings before she met him, and the last five afterwards, his final one being two years ago.

"I should've listened to you - you never lie," she whispers back.

"Prim and Rory, will you go pick up the cookies from Mr. Mellark?" Mrs. Everdeen asks the two 14 year olds.

"Okay!" they exclaim in unison.

Gale and Katniss break from their embrace and face their families. Katniss has an elusive feeling that she has never felt when Gale doesn't release her hand. She looks up to him and sees that he seems to be having a silent, eye-to-eye, conversation with Hazelle, his mother. Katniss notices that Hazelle nods and Gale smiles. Gale leans down and whispers into Katniss' ear, "I need to take you somewhere."

Before she can object, he whisks her away towards the direction of the meadow. A bundle of thoughts go through her mind at the time. Why he is being so secretive? Where is he taking me? Why does his touch feel so good? To her it feels like sparks that would start a fire, yet some kind of odd serenity. They arrive at the meadow under a large tree, a willow, she thinks. Gale releases her hand and starts pacing. She watches him go back and forth, back and forth.

She finally sorting out her confusing thoughts and speaks, "Gale, what is this all about?"

"Uhhh... I need to know something, if you were forced to marry someone, anyone in the whole district, including Cray, Darius, one of the Mellark brothers, or anyone, who would it be?" Gale answered nervously.

Katniss was shocked – Gale knew that she had never wanted marriage. He knew that she would sooner go into the Hunger Games, but he hoped for an answer that would make him float away in happiness. "Gale! What is wrong with you? You know me better than anyone and you ask a stupid question like that!" she exclaims, addressing that with brutal honesty. Gale virtually can feel his heart breaking. "But if I had to choose someone I guess it would be you," she says, the last word barely audible, but his trained ears pick it up. Katniss of all people would know how sensitive his hearing was.

In a way, she was as nervous as he was. Katniss's heart seems to grow to fill a gaping hole in it left by the death of her father and Gale's heart seems to heal all the parts that have once been broken and scarred. She cracks a slight grin, while he has a full blown out smile.

"Really?" he asks her with that smile he saves only for her.

"Yes. I feel so, well, I don't really know," Katniss admitted.

"I love you," he blurts out, causing all traces of smiles to leave.

"Gale, I... damn, I never wanted this to happen. You make things complicated!" Katniss confessed.

"Oh, I'm the one who makes things complicated! I blurt right out that I love you, and I'm the complicated one! Darn it, Katniss, I've loved you since the first time you laughed! I love every bit of you, the anger, the stubbornness, and all the heartache that you bring with you! But if I can get through that, I get the loving, caring, strong, girl, no woman, you really are!" Gale said, ranting about something besides the Capitol's injustices for once. "How could anyone who knows you as deeply as I do not fall in love with you?"

"The complicated part is that I love you too, idiot!" she exclaims. She then wraps her arms around his neck and smashes her lips into his. He instinctively wraps his arms around her waist and kisses back. They move as one, like they do in the woods.

He pulls back for air and sighs. "I really am an idiot," he says. For not saying this sooner? he wonders. Some young lovers were ready to marry after their last reapings, not merely confess their feelings at that point. That may have been too soon for Catnip even had he moved quicker. This choice of words left him feeling a bit devious. What I want to do with this beautiful woman won't be quick, oh no.

"I know," she says, laughing ever quietly. She rests her head on his chest and grasps one of his hands with both of hers. "Why did you choose to take me here?" she asks as they're holding hands sitting under the tree.

"Uhhh... Your mother told me to come here. This is where your father told your mother that he loved her," he replied.

"Really?" Katniss wondered. "Wait, my mother? You mean that you have been planning this?" she realized.

"Since you were 16, right after that reaping, when you were wearing the blue dress and your hair was done beautifully. Your mother actually planned for you to wear the dress you are wearing now," he explains, readying his ears in case she yells at him.

"That long? Why did my mother plan for me to wear this dress?" she asks, looking down at her cream colored, knee length dress with one-inch straps.

"That's the dress that she wore when your father said that he loved her," Gale explained with a special smile.

"Gale, you did all this for me? You didn't even know what I would say. Hell, I could've killed you!" she exclaims, making gestures with her hands.

"It would have been worth a shot. Plus you said you loved me back," Gale countered.

"Anyway, what now for us? Are we together?" she questions, after a couple seconds of thinking about what he said.

"We've always been together in a way, so I'd say yes, but the question is do we tell everyone?"

"We should... I mean think about it, Posy will tell everyone anyway. We will just be saving time and energy," Katniss pointed out, thinking about Gale's excitable little sister.

"Yeah, Posy does say things that she shouldn't a lot," Gale admitted. That's one good reason to keep the rebellious statements to outside the district – Gale and Katniss didn't know who would repeat what. "Oh, just wait for the bets at the Hob to be paid," he added.

That reminded Katniss of how many people expected to see them as a couple. "I know, I wonder how many lost those bets," she said.

"Probably not a lot of people," Gale suggested. Someone had to take the other end of a bet, but there were probably a few doubters doing that for a lot of bets.

"Yeah... We should get going, they'll think something wrong of it, and by 'they' I mean Prim and Rory," she says while getting up along with Gale.

"They just have stupid, immature 14 year old minds," Gale pointed out. Though looking at Katniss' glistening olive skin, he kind of wished his brother's dirty mind was accurate.