Gale POV

I walk away into the cold night, before I do something even more stupid. She's the freaking mayor's daughter, Gale, I think to myself. Jeez, what's wrong with me today? She just looked so beautiful, with her golden hair lapping in the wind, her pink lips shivering slightly in the freezing cold and she just looked so . . . innocent. I just couldn't help myself.

What am I even thinking? Jesus, Gale, focus. You cannot like Madge Undersee.

Man, what I wouldn't do to punch Fir Redwood again. If he had hurt her, I would've killed the piece of scum.

I try to forget about Madge, but even though I think of other things, she's still there in the corner of my mind, with her big blue eyes and perfect lips and . . .

Stop. You like Katniss, not Madge. I guess just seeing Katniss 'in love' with that town boy just made me feel like I should move on. But she doesn't love him, does she? No, I can see it in her eyes. It's the same look she gets when she's approaching prey on a hunt, pretending she's not going to hurt it then BAM, out of nowhere an arrow in the heart. I hope that's how she feels of Peeta.

I reach the dirty outskirts of Seam and slow my pace, as I realise I've basically been running all the way from town to home. I wipe the sweat off my brow, and rest for a minute by an old tree next to the Hob when I hear footsteps behind me.

"Alright, man?" asks Thom, sitting down next to me.

"Yeah, not bad, you?" I say, not really paying attention until I look at his arm which in a bloody, dirty sling. "Jesus, Thom what the hell did you do?"

Thom smiles and shakes his head. "Doesn't matter," he mutters.

I give him a pressing look that says it does matter. "Spill."

He sighs and unfolds his arms carefully, so not to hurt his injured arm. "Well, it's stupid really. I had a fight with Fir Redwood and . . ." he doesn't have time to finish his sentence.

"What?! That scum did this to you? Wait until I find him," I mumble to myself. Thom looks concerned by my sudden intake of intensity, and lifts an eyebrow.

"You okay, man?" he asks.

"It's nothing, I just really can't stand that guy," I say. "You see, I was walking back from the viewing, you know when everyone stopped celebrating. And I saw Redwood and Madge . . . and if I weren't having been there, I don't know what would've happened." I shudder.

"Madge Undersee? As in, the Mayor's daughter?" Thom repeats, picking at his mangled arm.

"The very one. Was a bit shook up so I walked her home." I left out the bit where I called her beautiful and touched her cheek.

"God, I hate Redwood. Glad you were there, man. She's an okay girl, you know. Obviously way out of our league, but she doesn't act like it, if you get what I'm trying to say."

"Yeah. Laid back, I guess," I sigh. What was I doing, backing Madge up? You like Katniss, stupid. But I can't help but think it.

"It's late, see you tomorrow Gale." he says.

"Yeah," I watch him leave. "Bye."

I sit motionless against the tree, and think of nothing. I just watch the brown and yellow leaves fly across the black, coal infested ground and let my mind go blank. Of course, after a bit I come to my senses and decide to head home, but it was nice, only for about half an hour just to have peace.

I walk the short distance to where there was a tiny, covered in coal (no matter how hard my mother scrubbed at it) home. When I open the rusty door, my mother embraces me.

"Don't ever do that to me again! I was worried sick, oh, my baby!" she hugs me.

"Mom, I'm fine. Just met up with Thom, I'm sorry if I worried you," I mutter, slightly embarrassed by her reaction.

"For the love of Panem, Gale, you could've at least told your old Ma! I was going half crazy with Pose to look after, and Vick going nuts." She nods to where they both sleep next to the blazing fireplace.

"Sorry, mom. Forgot. Where's Rory?" I ask. God, she makes me feel guilty, if only I could tell her I was actually saving the Mayor's daughter. But no, I wouldn't do that to Madge.

Why do I keep thinking about her? I do not like her. It's a mere fact.

"Sent 'em out looking for you a few hours back, actually. Oh, god, where is he?" she panics.

We wait hours, and I offer to go out looking for him but she doesn't let me.

"Just wait. He'll be back any second, and if I let you go he'll probably be back as soon as you leave the house. Please, Gale," she pleads. I look into her grey eyes, and know I'll stay. For her.

"Fine. But if he's not back in two hours, I'm going out looking."

We wait, but there's no sign of Rory. After an hour and a half, I start to think the worse. Taken by peacekeepers, beat up, kidnapped, killed, trapped behind the fence, unconscious somewhere, but the absolute worse thought I get is of Fir Redwood getting him. That is the moment I just couldn't take it anymore, but as soon as I reached the door, somebody was pushing against the door too.

Rory.

My mother shrieks and says the same sort of thing she told me, only she hugs Rory for longer, as he does not resist.

"Where the hell have you been?" I ask.

"I went looking for you!" he shouts. "Where were you?"

"I came back ages ago!" the kid looks frozen to death, so I pull him towards me and embrace him. "For Panem's sake, Rory, you're freezing."

I carry Rory as if he was Posy's age, and lay him next to the roasting fire and put a thick, old blanket around him. Should keep him warm.

Feeling relieved and very tired, I decide to sleep. All in all, it's been a pretty long day, what with Katniss and Peeta winning, the massive celebration, beating up Fir Redwood, being actually nice to Madge, not sullen as I am usually with her, running all the way back to the Seam, meeting Thom and Rory going missing – but it's actually been quite a good day. I lie back, and fall into blissful sleep.

A/N; So sorry I haven't updated very fast! Didn't think you guys liked it, but I did get some really nice reviews so I've decided to keep this story going, because I really do love Gadge :3 Thank you for all the support! Reviews mean so much to me, as do follows/faveourites. –erin.