I push his hand away and hold both of his arms to his sides, forcing him to look me in the eye. Just that much is enough for us to communicate, and he throws his arms around me, as I do the same to him. My feet aren't event on the ground anymore. We stand like that for what seems like hours until he finally tears himself away. His eyes are shining with tears.

"Catnip," he says, fighting to keep his voice steady.

"Gale," I blink, and the hand gripping my arm tightens. "I've missed you."

"I didn't think you would, after all I've done. I didn't think you'd ever want to see me again."

"We really shouldn't talk here." And suddenly, we both know where we want to be. In the woods, hunting. Without letting go of his hand, I make him run with me to the nearest woods. When we finally stop, he speaks. "I'm sorry." He's talking about the bomb.

"It wasn't really your fault, Gale. You know that."

"Yes it was! I'm heartless, I shouldn't have. Even if you forgive me, even if Prim does, I'll never forgive myself. I – I miss her."

And for the first time in my life, I see a tear run down his cheek. "GALE!" I yell. I sit beside him and run my hand up and down his back. Another tear.

"Gale, please stop. You know I've never seen you like this."

"I've never seen myself like this either. I hate me." And yet another one.

"Don't!" I cry. "Please? Look, it wasn't your fault and you're not heartless." I put my hand up to where his chest is. Right over his heart. "See, its right here. I can feel it."

"Catnip, do you hate me? It was my bomb, after all. I mean, I designed it."

"It's …okay. You didn't do it intentionally. And Prim was supposed to be safe under the Mockingjay Deal."

"So… you don't hate me?"

"Of course not. Why would I come to see you then, huh?" I wipe his three tears away.

"Now tell me. How have you been?"

"You can see," he replies, lifting his bad arm. "Someone accidentally put a saw right in. Neatly fractured." I wince.

"You saw Mother. I couldn't leave her, Catnip. Not even to come see you."

"You would've come to District 12 otherwise?"

"Maybe. I thought you'd never want to see me again, after I gave you that arrow. I could've come, Mother was all right then."

"Well, I've almost died because I have no one else to talk to!" Suddenly I'm very angry with him.

"You should've at least come to apologize, Gale! Every time I sat in that nook in the rock it seemed too wide!" I yell at him about other things, and he doesn't object to anything.

"Did you get my letters?" I finally say, sitting down, calm once more.

"You sent me letters?" I look up to see if he's genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, dozens of them. How come you didn't get any?"

"Those girls. They keep trying to buy me. Ever since Finnick died, I'm their next target." Finnick. I choke.

"So you didn't kiss anyone since you last kissed me?" He shakes his head.

"And those girls stole your mail?"

"Probably. Beetee said he'd write to me, but I never got any mail from him, either." He leans in and kisses my forehead, just like my father used to. "Sorry," he whispers.

"Don't be. And I need to tell you something else. But I need to know something first."

"What?"

"Do you still love me?"

"Katniss –"'

"Answer my question. Do you?"

"Yes. But like you're my sister, my best and oldest friend." I hug him tight.

"Me, too. You're like the brother I never had." I hug him tightly, and he puts his good arm around me protectively.

"That's settled, then."

"What did you want to tell me?"

"I'm with Peeta." He lifts me face, looking me in the eye.

"You're joking."

"No, I'm not. Look, Gale please don't be mad at me."

"Mad at you? Mad at you?" I expect him to yell at me.

But he beams instead. "I'm happy for you! I've never wanted you to die alone, and now you won't."

"Even if he wasn't there, I know you would be. You'd have to come back sometime." He simply shrugged.

"Is he in District 2?"

"Yeah. He didn't even mind me meeting you."

"Let's go see him then." I stand up and race up a tree.

"Catch me first." He runs his hand through his hair and says, "You're on."

I stumble, for the branch is slippery and unexpectedly fall. I'm near the ground, so I'm not really hurt, except for a twisted ankle. I try to stand, and fall over, spraining my good ankle too.

"You've lost practice." Gale observes. "Can you walk, or should I carry you?"

"Don't be silly. You can't carry me with that arm."

"I can. Sit up first." I shake my head.

"I'm not letting you carry me." He holds out his hand. I take it and stand up. He doesn't let go.

"Let go," I say, knotting my eyebrows in confusion.

"I'll help you walk to that log, but after that, I carry you. Look, you're bleeding." He's right. I am. But he will not carry me with a fractured arm.

"I won't let you carry me."

"Okay then." We get to the log, and he lets go of my hand, making me sit down. He walks ahead.

"Coming?"

"Hey, wait up. I need you to help me."

"Then let me carry you," he says stubbornly, his back still turned.

He is the boy I met in the woods so many years ago. "All right, you win." He walks over to me and picks me up, grinning.

"No need to get a swelled head, Galie." That's what all the girls used to call him in school, and what I used to call him to annoy him.

"I'll throw you in the strem if you say that again."

"All right, Galie."

"Catnip," he says, warningly.

"Galie." I mimic his tone. Suddenly, he walks back, past the log and past the place where we sat.

The bottom of his shirt is slick with blood. "Sorry about your shirt, Galie."

We're at a stream. Gale has made a tiny hut-like thing, sheltering some part of the pond from the sun. There's a rock jutting out under it, so you could wet your feet. It's beautiful.

So he wasn't joking about throwing me in. At least not about the stream part. He places me on the rock, gently as possible.

"Did you do all this? Like, the shade and all?"

"Yeah. I even got a small supply of food ready."

"Why? Don't you get enough food?"

"No, they're for an emergency." I nod, and he uses some moss to clean my foot, the same moss from the arena.

"Hey, you don't have to do that!" I cry, pushing him away.

"As your fake older brother, I do."

"No you don't, Galie."

"Stop it with the nick-name, will you?"

"Not unless you stop fussing over me like I'm five years old." I won. And the next second, I find myself surrounded by water. Gale has pulled me in. Maybe I didn't win. It's cool water, and since Gale had already cleaned up most of the blood, I'm not dirtying it or anything. I can even float easily.

Gale appears, shirtless. He tosses me a green, juicy fruit half with thin, rough brown skin.

"What's this?" I ask.

"Kiwi. Eat it, they're nice." I obey. He's right, its delicious.

"Remember in 13, I'd give you some of my food?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing. Just remembering." I slide over to him, resting my head on his bare chest. Sunset was always beautiful, but now, watching it after so long with Gale, it's even better.

Wait, sunset? I've been away for hours! Plus, I'm really hungry. I tell Gale this. He gets up and comes back a minute later with chopped rabbits with carrot pieces and peas in a bowl.

"You're wasting all of this on me, you know," I say. But I eat hungrily anyway. "We really should be getting back."

"Why?" he says, not caring.

"Well, everyone will be worried."

"Why will they? We haven't seen each other for ages, they'll understand."

He's right. They won't worry.

"So, Gale, will you come to District 12?"

"I don't know."

"That's not an answer."

"Okay, I might, but not permanently."

"Why not?"

"I can't bear to. It's changed too much."

"Yes, but it's nicer."

"Besides, I have a job here. What will I do in 12? Mining? Katniss, there's nothing left there for me anymore."

"What about me? I live in 12. Don't I count?"

"You do! I'll come to see you. But I can't leave Mother. She's not supposed to move about, and I'm still the only one working, the kids are still in school."

"Is it hard, being the only one to put food on the table?"

"Not now. I get paid more, and Rory sometimes does stuff too." Silence.

"How's Peeta?" Gale asks after a while.

"He's changed a lot. Getting back to his old self. He has flashbacks sometimes, and still doesn't really remember about the Games. You know, he had a picture of you in a locket he gifted me in the clock arena. You were smiling. I wondered how he managed that."

"He told me he'd look after you in the arena, that's how." I smiled.

"You're an idiot, you know?" I say.

"That's smart, coming from a girl who has forgotten how to braid her hair, something she's been doing for years." I'd left my hair that day; I'd forgotten to braid it. But I still know how.

"Smart comeback, genius," I say sarcastically.

"Hey, itwas good!"

"No, it wasn't. Now get up, my leg's all right. Put on your shirt."

"Are we going to the hospital or the Justice Building?"

"Hospital. Galie's gonna cry if he doesn't see his mommy soon." He grabs my legs before I can get out.

"Galie, you're just being a bit too childish now."

"Well, 'Galie' won't let you go unless you stop calling him that."

"Okay, Gale."

"I've missed fighting with you, Catnip."

"Bet you've missed my squirrels, too. There aren't any here, are they?"

Gale cocked his head to the right. "Yeah, that too."

We make our way back to the hospital, and after Gale has spent some time with Hazelle, we go back to the Justice Building. Peeta's in the lobby there, talking to an attendant.

"Peeta!" I yell. "Peeta, I'm back!"