A/N: Thanks to the amazing people who review this! Really, it means the world to me. THANK YOU! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: i do not own the Hunger Games.

I wake up and feel a slight happiness I somehow associate with Gale. I turn to see the clock. Eight. I have a full two hours to go until I can see my family and Gale.

I dress in black pants and a black shirt and head down to the dining room to find everyone's already there. I grab a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast and sit at the end of the table. Haymitch and Effie are talking quietly at the opposite end. I finish my plate and grab rolls and hot chocolate. I move to sit near them.

"So," I ask, "what's my strategy?"

"Just be nice. In a couple days the cameras will leave and you can do whatever you want. However, I suggest not actually kissing Gale until they leave," Haymitch says with a smirk.

Effie gasps and turns to me. "What?" She asks. "Who's Gale? Your best friend Gale?"

I frown. How did she know? Oh yeah. Interviews with the family and friends. "Yeah. He's just my friend though." I say, scowling at Haymitch.

Haymitch just laughs and orders a bottle of liquor which he uses to thin out the juice in front of him.

I finish the hot chocolate and rolls and grab myself a glass of orange juice. "So, Effie, do I have to wear anything special?"

"Not particularly- just a dress. Just braid your hair back- and wear your pin." I nod, and gulp down the juice before heading out to get ready.

By now I have only an hour. I hop in the shower where a sweet-smelling bubbles assault me. Until now, I have avoided thinking of Peeta by thinking of Gale- but I find it is impossible to now. I have nothing more to distract me for all my distractions have been exhausted. Instead, I interest myself with the pattern of the tiles in front of me.

I get out of the shower and dry my hair quickly with the machine attached over head. I go to my room and search through the drawers, looking for something suitable. Suddenly, I see it. My mothers dress. A kind attendant must have taken it from the tribute train and placed it on the victors train. I slide it on and braid my hair, then slip the pin into it's slot. With fifteen minutes to spare, I go see Effie.

"No!" she cries the moment she sees me. What? I think hazily. "No, Katniss, you need to wear a different dress, not that one. You can take it home, but not wear it.

And so I grumpily go change into a cream-colored one.

I get out at the last second. Effie throws me a bag to put my dress in, but its far too frilly and just won't do. I go searching until somewhere I find what seems to be a tribute parachute, but maybe I'm imagining it. I fold up the dress in the cloth and I'm ready.

A few minutes later the train slides to a stop. I run to the door, ready to jump off and see my family, but Effie restrains me.

"You have to look sad," she reminds me. " You have to look sad and for that you need to be calm."

I nod, forcing the anticipatory smile off my cheeks, and turning it into what hopefully looks like a somber expression.

Effie nods in approval and allows the door to be opened. At first all I can see is a thick blanket of gray smoke. Finally it clears, and I see my mother and Prim. I run off the train and hug them, tears dripping down my face.

"I missed you," I whisper.

"Katniss!" Prim shrieks with happiness. "You won! Just like I asked you to!"

"Yeah," I say, leaning back and laughing. "Just like you told me to."

She's laughing too and we hug again. A minute later, my mother pulls me up. "Katniss," she says and pulls me into a gentle hug. I see someone over her shoulder and I yank myself out of her tender grip.

"Gale!" I call, and he turns his head away from Posy to find me. I run to him, where his arms are ready. I hug him tightly. "I missed you Gale."

"I missed you too, Catnip." We stay like that for a minute until my mother taps me on the shoulder and reminds me I have a few more people I have to say hello to.

I get congratulations from practically everyone. Madge, Posy, Vick, Rory, Hazelle, Greasy Sae, even Darius the Peacekeeper comes to say hello. But I never let go of Gale's hand as I drag him around behind me.

I finally get away from the crowds and head to where my new house should be. Gale, Prim, and my mother follow. Prim and my mother have been living in our new house ever since it was announced I had won the Hunger Games.

I find it's an extravagant house with several rooms upstairs and even more down. Ten of my old house could have fit in this one.

Prim gives me the grand tour of the house, but still I never let go of Gale. Finally, the doorbell rings and a group of people with a extremely sick man in the middle go straight to the kitchen, and Prim follows. I can only assume my mother is working her apothecary shop from the house, now.

I hear a gulp and turn to see Gale has a nauseated expression on his face. I am sure I am wearing a twin expression. He catches me looking and laughs uneasily. " I'm fine," he says. But I know it's not true.

"Well, I'm not," I say. "Come on."

We go to the woods. We head to the little berry patch where we went the day of the Reaping. It seems right that I would start my journey as a tribute and end it here.

"So," I say as we sit there.

"So," he says.

We sit in silence for a few moments, staring into each others eyes.

"You must be pretty broken up about his death." I immediately know who he's talking about, and although I wanted to talk to him about this, I had hoped it wouldn't come up until much later.

"I- I don't know. I was never in love with him, Gale. I mean, he was my friend, but never my lover."

"No?" he asks with a frown of confusion. I know him well enough that I can detect the hint of relief in his eyes.

"No. Friends, so it's not exactly easy, but still."

"I'm sorry Katniss," he says and gently crushes me to his chest in a slightly awkward hug.

"Well, it's not that big a deal." Even as I say it, my eyes tear up. "In a few days the cameras will be gone and I can do whatever I want anyway."

He smiles sadly at me. " I hope so."

I frown. "What do you mean?" I ask.

"I just- I don't want you to change your whole life story because the Capitol is forcing you to. You don't have to go back there ever again!" He sounds excited, joyful even, and I know if what he said was true, I would also feel that way. But it's not.

I slump down in defeat. " No," I whisper. " That't not true."

"What are you talking about? It's true!" Gale protests.

I need only say one word. "Haymitch."

Suddenly, a look of understanding crosses his face. "Haymitch- wait, you have to be a mentor!"

I nod sadly. "I have to mentor the girl tribute. It's the rules."

"But- but that's not fair. Haymitch-" I cut him off.

"That's not fair to him. He still has to mentor the boy too, remember? It's not like I have to do it all by myself like he did."

Gale sighs and nods. "I guess you're right," he grudgingly agrees. "It wouldn't be fair to him."

We sit in silence a few more moments. Gale has a far away look in his eyes. "Gale?" I ask.

"What's the Capitol like?"

Instead of explaining, I grow angry. I don't care how out of character this is for him. I don't care that it might be the result of a blurted wondering. I don't care that he probably doesn't mean anything by it. It angers me immensely. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying much attention to the scenery. I was too busy preparing for what I thought would be my death," I snarl.

"Wait! I'm sorry. Katniss!" he calls, but I've already run off. I run in the direction of the cabin. I make it in and fall to the ground, sobbing. The events from the Capitol are clear in my mind, but it's Gale that hurts me the most. I thought I could trust him.

Finally I calm down enough to realize I'm starving. The long run to the cabin, and everything else today means it's been a while since breakfast. I walk outside and glance up and notice it seems to be almost one. I wade into the lake right next to the cabin and see a few katniss plants. I remember my dad saying, "If you can find yourself, you'll never starve." It seems so long ago.

I also thought to get my bow and arrows out of the log so I easily take down a rabbit.

I take them inside and set them on a couple leaves on the ground. I've never done this before, but the arena taught me how to start a fire. I add very little wood, and it quickly dies out. Then, leaving the katniss tubers wrapped in the leaf, I set them on the glowing embers. Finally, I fashion a spit out of some sticks lying on the floor and stick some rabbit on. In a little bit I have a decent meal, which I quickly gobble up, and I wrap up the remaining two-thirds of the rabbit in some leaves.

I turn to head back and find Gale standing in the door staring at me.

"Gale!" I say. The look of surprise on my face quickly hardens into anger.

"I'm sorry," he says. He looks remorseful.

I ignore him and, taking my rabbit, brush past him, heading back to District Twelve. Suddenly, a squirrel crosses my path, and before either I or it have any idea what happened, an arrow's in it's eye. I sling my bow back over my shoulder, pick it up, and continue.

Suddenly, Gale is beside me. "You've gotten better," he says. Again I ignore him. "And you've gotten better at cooking things too."

Finally, I spin around to face him. "What do you want?" I demand.

"I want to talk to you Katniss," he says. "I'm sorry. I was just curious."

"You want me to explain it to you? Fine. It's metallic, fake. People there are like mutants. They have pink skin, or full-body tattoos, or gems embedded into their hands. The animals are strange. Cawing, rainbow birds; colorless alligators. The plants aren't any more normal. Miniature trees forced to grow in grotesque positions; red berries that mimic the form of blackberries. And the worst part- they don't know what they're doing it wrong. They're all so clueless and stupid and they never show any remorse."

"I'm sorry." He's silent for a moment, then adds, "I- I wasn't thinking. I guess I was just thinking it was somewhere like District 11, you know? Not a terrible place."

"It's fine. Speaking of District 11, did you hear the part about that?"

"What?" Gale asks in confusion.

"Rue explained District 11 to me. Didn't you hear?"

"No, I didn't. After you agreed to be allies it went off you, and then came back at night."

"She was saying it's more strict there- they're more strict and they have a larger Peacekeeping force. It makes District 12 seem like some kind of safe haven."

"District 12, where you can starve to death in safety," Gale mutters in disagreement.

"Versus District 11 where you can starve to death in danger," I counter.

Gale sighs. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Gale." We're silent for an awkward moment, then: "What do you want to do?" I ask, changing the subject.

"I don't know. We could hunt a few squirrels, get some berries."

I nod, and we get to work. I give him the remains of my rabbit and he scarfs it down. He thought to bring his hunting bag, and we have another bag in there for the berries. We stuff it until it overflows, and then fill our stomachs until they're bursting as well.

I take the berry bag and attach it to my belt as Gale slings his game bag over his shoulder. We go to the hollow log to get Gale his weapons, then head back in until we get to the snare run. We check all the snares, and get rewarded by three fat rabbits and two thinner squirrels. We climb up a tree- although I get almost ten yards higher then Gale.

"Come on!" he complains. " Please?"

I laugh and clim down a little so I'm only a couple of yards above him.

"That's better," he laughs.

We quiet, and sit in silence, waiting for animals to cross our trail. A rabbit comes across and I hit it in the eye before Gale can prepare his bow. While I retrieve my kill, he complains to me. "You got waybetter. How am I ever going to get anything now?"

"You can take it all," I say. "And you can take some money too. I have plenty of food now- I don't need it."

He immediately shakes his head. "No. You get your usual share of the game and I get mine. And I am not taking any of your money."

I am about to argue when I see the look on his face and give up. There's no way he's going to give in.

Half an hour later we have a couple more squirrels and another rabbit but no big game. Suddenly, a young buck comes across the trail. Just like the one Gale and I got that I used to get Prim her goat, one arrow hit's the neck and another the chest.

I glance down at Gale and see the euphoric smile on his face. I can't help but smile.

"It's like the buck I used to get Lady," I say.

He glances up and smiles again. "Yeah."

It's eerie how similar it is. His arrow piercing it's chest, mine it's neck. The age of the buck. And even me and Gale, here in the woods, like best friends.

We lug the carcass to the edge of the woods so it's just concealed by the branches. But our parents don't know where we are. We agree Gale will go in and tell both our families.

I wait at the edge of the woods for over an hour. It's getting dark and I'm starting to think something kept him when he reappears. He slides under the fence. By now it's completely dark. I hold open a larger gap in the fence and he drags the buck through. I slide in after it and together we take the carcass to Rooba, the butcher.

"Ah," she says. "First day you're back and you're already back reaching high levels."

Gale and I laugh. From there, it's all business. She gives you one price and you can take it or leave it. You don't haggle with Rooba. It's a decent price and we take it, and, just like the first time we brought her a deer, she throws in a few venison steaks after butchering.

We hold in our hands more money then we've ever actually held. Even the first deer didn't catch this much. Despite now owning tons of money, I've never actually physically had this much.

I try to shove my coins into Gales hands but he closes his fists tight. I have to settle with walking him to his house and giving it to Hazelle.

"Hey Hazelle," I say. I always liked Hazelle. She was someone I looked up to after my father's death. The same explosion that killed my father killed her husband, leaving her with three kids and another coming any day. A week after she had Posy she was out on the streets looking for work.

"Hey Katniss," she says, interrupting my thoughts. "How are you?"

"Good," I say. We both know that isn't true. When Gale goes into the kitchen I take my chance.

"Hazelle," I whisper quickly. "We got a deer today. Rooba will have some venison steaks for you to pick up later. Here's the rest of the money. Gale has the other half. I don't need it now."

At first Hazelle doesn't want to take the money, but finally she nods and quickly hides the money under a bowl just as Gale enters the room.

"Well, I'll just be going," I say quickly and stand up, my chair scraping the floor. I head out the door and run to my old home before I realize Prim and my mother won't be there. I turn back around and walk towards Victors Village.

I don't which house is mine. I notice only two have lights on. I take a wild guess and head into one.

I can tell immediately that this is not my house. The floor is covered in debris. Animal bones, trash, and half eaten food lie everywhere. The stench rises up and envelopes me in a soft, smelly mist.

I turn and immediately leave. As I walk to the house I am now sure is mine, I think of ways I can improve Haymitch's living standard and ways to get Gale's family some more money. I'll continue to try to convince Gale to just let me give him money but I'm almost sure he won't give in.

With those two goals mingling in my head, it hits me. I should get Haymitch to hire Hazelle as his housekeeper!

I think about it, and the more I do the more it makes sense. It's a win-win-win situation. Haymitch gets a better living environment and Hazelle gets some extra money. Plus, I don't have to worry so much about them.

I find I am on my doorstep and quickly enter. I leave my shoes by the door and head upstairs to my bedroom, where I change to comfortable clothes before returning downstairs to eat supper.

I find my mother putting stew into bowls and Prim in the corner with a little girl and her mother. I head over to see what it's about.

When I get closer the first thing I notice is that both of them bear the signs of starvation, the girl more then the mom. It hits children harder.

Prim is slowly feeding a roll to the girl, and a bowl of stew sits on the counter waiting for her. The mother has a bowl of stew she is eating slowly herself, but her eyes are on her daughter.

My mother abandons the ladle in the pot and goes to the cupboard to prepare a bag of food for the girl. She stuffs it with bread and various other foods including crackers, apples, and berries. I turn back to the girl and find that Prim has given her the bowl of stew, which she slurps greedily.

She's soon done with the first serving, and my mother refills her bowl three times before she's finally finished. She hands the mother the overflowing bag of food and gives her a couple loaves of bread along with it.

After they leave I eat some stew with my mother and Prim. I feel tired, so I say good-night and go to bed.

As I go to sleep I keep thinking of how happy the girl looked after we filled her stomach and decide that's what I'll do with my spare riches. Although I'll keep enough for us, I can easily support ten other families along with Gale's and my own. I go to sleep thinking about my plan and how it will make a difference.

A/N: Review or PM me with comments :)