Don't let it fool you

Don't let it pull you down

Don't sit around, fall to the ground


Madge isn't particularly fond of waiting. Even if it's for good reason.

She's been sitting outside the train station on a bench for the last 30 minutes and not only is it freezing cold, but her rear is starting to go numb as well.

The train from the Capitol is late. And by association, so is Gale.

It's been a month or so since he left District 2. The cover story is that he's taking care of political unrest in Panem. The whole truth is that he's been having weekly sessions with a head doctor.

Apparently, in the Capitol, there are plenty of those. Just not any in the District.

So while Gale's been away, Madge has been waiting.

He was able to visit once, two weeks ago, but only for a weekend.

Madge likes to think he's getting better. He definitely wasn't as angry and broody as he usually is.

Oh he complained about having to talk to anyone at all, and has threatened to quit and come home over the phone multiple times, but everytime he does, Madge changes his mind.

It's a tiring game, but Madge plays it anyway.

She isn't one of those flouncy, half-hearted sort of girls. She's lost too much, and seen too many horrible things to ever throw away their relationship.

The girls at work think she's crazy and desperate.

But those girls don't know the value in damaged goods.

Living in 12 taught her that. Being with Gale taught her that.

When something breaks you don't throw it out and get a new one. You stick to it and fix it because that's all you've got.

Madge shifts on the bench, rubbing her gloved hands up and down her thighs rapidly. It's probably going to snow tonight, if the darkening sky and the chilly wind is any sign.

Gale isn't damaged, and as far as Madge is concerned, he just needs a little nudge every now and then.

Madge knows that when he calls her to say he wants to quit, it's only because he wants her to remind him why he won't.

Not that he'd ever say that.

Gale is seeing a therapist for his post traumatic stress, not his pride.

There's a whistling sound in the distance, and Madge perks up, straining to her the chugging noises as the train nears.

Gale is home for a month this time. Then he goes again to be assessed, then, if Gale's okay, he's home for good.

Madge can feel tiny pinpricks in the corner of her eyes already, but she scolds herself firmly. She will not cry.

(But Madge forgets her internal scolding and is crying in Gale's arms the second he's off the train.)

0000

They make it home in the jeep Gale was given for work, Madge can drive now, but she doesn't own a car.

She doesn't really need one, the hospital is right across the street from her apartment, and the library she's going to start working at is a block or two down the street.

Madge clutches the steering wheel and sniffles lightly, her cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment.

Gale hadn't laughed at her for crying. He'd just hugged her, rubbing her back lightly.

Blowing out her breath, Madge glances at Gale through the rearview mirror, he fell asleep about 15 minutes into the ride home, but she kind of like the silence.

She needs to pull herself together anyway.

Seeing him after so long was harder than she had anticipated. Especially after the phone calls. She feels closer to Gale than she ever has, and they've been 'together' a year now.

Madge just hopes Gale will still confide in her without the phone and thousands of miles between them.

0000

"Gale's home! Gale's home!"

Madge can hear Posy chanting at the top of her lungs before they're even pulled into the driveway.

She turns in her chair to eye Gale, who is still sleeping, and leans over to shake him awake.

"Hey," she shakes his arm, "Wake up. Your mom made all your favorite foods. I don't think you're allowed to sleep through dinner, no matter how tired you are."

Gale moans in his sleep and yawns, but eventually blinks his eyes drowsily. He shifts in his seat, unbuckling himself and leaning his head on the dashboard.

"Forgot where I was for a second," he mumbles, sitting up straight again. He quirked his lips up at her, his grey eyes droopy with fatigue.

Madge returns his smile and kisses his cheek quickly, "Well, it's understandable. You've been away for a while."

Gale opens his mouth to reply, but Posy chooses that exact moment to come rocketing out the door, black hair streaming behind as she runs toward the jeep.

She is barefoot, a little grimy, and missing her two front teeth, but Madge thinks Posy is the sweetest little girl in the world.

Posy latches herself onto the outside of the passenger side door, her upper body balanced through the window.

She grins at both of them as widely as she can.

"Hey there, Pose," Gale says softly, pulling her little body through the window and setting his little sister on his lap.

Posy tongue sticks out through her teeth when she smiles, "I mithed you," she mumbles, suddenly turning pink and shy. She wraps her arms around Gale's neck and hides her face.

Madge takes that as her cue to slip out of the car and give them a moment.

Gale has many sides, and she knows which ones he prefers to keep private.

Madge walks up the driveway into the little blue and white house the family owns in the outskirts of District Two.

There's a white fence surrounding the yard, the house pushed all the way to the back, and the grass trimmed and neat around it. It isn't huge by any means, but it's definitely homey, and very much Hawthorne.

Gale is staying at home with his family, for now. He told her, during one of their calls, that one of his biggest regrets of the past year was the lack of time he spent with his family.

He's their older brother, but more than that, he's the man of the house they look up to.

"Madge, honey, can you get the plates?"

Gale and Posy don't come inside for another 10 minutes, by that time, Madge has helped Hazelle get the table and food to rights on the table in the dining room.

Vick and Rory crowd around their brother for 'manly' hugs and back slapping. Looking at them now, Madge wonders how horribly lonely Gale must have felt while he was away in the Capitol.

"Alright, you dummies, move so I can say hi to Ma." Gale's voice pulls Madge from her thoughts.

He strides into the kitchen, looking a mix between bashful and content. Hazelle puts down the serving spoons she'd been laying beside the food dishes, and opens her arms with a teary eyed smile.

Gale's arms wrap around her tightly, and Madge watches as she whispers words into his ear, and strokes hair at the nape of his neck with her fingers.

As Hazelle kisses the side of Gale's head and hugs him tighter, Madge is struck with a sudden and intense longing to be somebody's daughter again.

She misses her parents immensely, but even before the firebombing she hadn't been someone's 'child'.

Her father had always been away, at the Justice Building or sequestered in his office, buried in work. Her mother had been sick most of her life, there are few, blurry memories of hugs and kisses, but that's it.

Madge is swallowing the urge to cry when Hazelle releases her son.

Gale allows his mom to pull his head down and kiss his forehead before he pulls away entirely, eyes going straight for the food on the table.

It's such a predictable move that Madge has to laugh out loud.

Hazelle shakes her head, "That's my children, always thinking with their stomachs. Can't keep their attention for long when foods around."
Soon they are all sitting around the table sharing a chaotic supper and funny stories about school and work.

Madge loves dinners with the Hawthornes. In fact, she's here more often than she isn't. Basking in the feeling of family and home.

She likes to think that one day... well, that one day she'll be apart of the family officially.

Gale hasn't said anything about it, and Madge supposes they haven't really had a chance to really talk about them. What with work and settling in. This time around though, this time Madge wants something in her life to be concrete.

She loves Gale, really she does, (though she hasn't told him,) but she can't keep stringing along forever.

Not that he has been, stringing her along, that is. But if he's doing better now, she really thinks the mature thing to do is to figure out where they are and if they even have the same idea about where this is going.

"Madge got a new job," says Vick, shoving a potato into his mouth as soon as the words are out.

Gale raises his eyebrows at her expectantly.

Oh... right, she hadn't told him yet.

"I applied at the library down the street from my apartment, I just found out they hired me the other day," she says, shrugging like it's not big deal.

It kind of is though. Jobs are hard to come by these days, especially because everyone is sort of figuring out what they can do besides what the Capitol forced them to. They're lucky to live in Two, this District is much more advanced compared to the others.

"Madge, that's great!" Gale exclaims, leaning across the corner of the table to kiss her. Madge turns pink and averts her eyes from everyone.

"Eeeewww," Posy groans, "No nasty kissing at the table!"

"Thanks," Madge mumbles.

Gale ruffles Posy's hair and kisses her cheek, "Don't be sourpuss, Posy."

"When do you start, Madge?" Hazelle asks, redirecting the conversation before Posy can make any other exaggerative statements.

Madge twirls her fork in the gravy from her stew, "Oh, tomorrow, they have to train me first, but I think I'll get the hang of it pretty quick. I spend enough time in there anyway."

Vick perks up at his end of the table, "Can you bring me more books then? Since you're working there now anyway?"

Madge nods, "Sure thing, Vick. But what about the last two I gave you?"

Last week she'd lent him a strange, little book called Sherlock Holmes and another called A Grief Observed.

The library didn't have very many books, but what they did have were delicate and old, donated from an underground collection a family in Two had started when things in Panem went south.

They were rather deep reading for a 13-year-old, but Madge thinks Vick is much more mature than his age. All the Hawthornes are.

Vick scrapes the last of his food from his plate, "Finished 'em. Can you see if you can find some other Sherlock Holmes books? I like those."

"I'll try," Madge says, but it is unlikely she will find one. Not all the books recovered could be salvaged.

"What do you say?" Hazelle asks Vick pointedly, nudging him with her finger.

Vick grins at her, "Thanks, Madgie."

Madge makes a face, and they all laugh.

She lets them, but turns her eyes towards Gale, catching his and sharing a secret smile.

"Welcome home." she mouths.

"I missed you." he replies.

0000

Not a month later, Madge is wringing her hands in anxiety, trying to calm her nerves as she waits for Gale to pick her up.

They're going out for a picnic. Apparently, the moon is the closest to Earth it will ever be, and Gale wants to stargaze in the man-made clearing in town everyone has taken to calling a park.

He does this alot now, stares up at the sky, silent and contemplative. Sometimes he'll take her with him, sometimes not. Sometimes when he's staring up at the sky, peaceful and content surrounded by trees and cricket sounds, he'll start talking about therapy in the Capitol.

When he tells her he sees all the faces of all the people he's seen killed or killed himself, Madge has to catch him up in a hug so tight she's sure he can't breathe.

She isn't sure the hug is for her or for him at first, but when his trembling fingers clutch her back, and he sighs in relief, she knows it helps them both.

Gale sounded overly serious on the phone when he'd called her about tonight though. And the result is a scrambling Madge.

It isn't that she thinks he's going to break up with her. They're way past that.

It's the realisation that this is the last date they'll have before he leaves for the Capitol again.

He's been doing really well. When he doesn't see her, he talks to her on the phone about his day. Confides in her about what he's struggling with at work.

The difference between their communication now and before is staggering.

It wasn't awful before, but they were still in the stilted and perfunctory conversation stage when he'd left for the Capitol.

Madge doesn't know what to expect tonight, but she knows it's a goodbye, (a short one, but still) and she loathes goodbyes.

Gale beeps when he's outside, which he usually doesn't, but Madge can't do much but lock her door behind her and head down the stairs.

"Come on, woman! We've got places to be, moons to see." Gale chuckles at his cleverness, and Madge purposefully walks slower as she approaches his car.

"Don't get your pants in a twist, Hawthorne," she grumbles half-heartedly, pulling open her door and sliding into the passenger seat, "The moon will still be there when we- mmmph!"

Gale presses his mouth to hers the minute she's settled in her seat, effectively shutting her up.

Which is exactly why he does it.

Gale pulls back after a moment, reaching out with a hand to sweep an escaped wisp of hair behind her ear. He leans his forehead against hers, "Hi," he breathes.

Madge can't help but smile, pulling his hand away from her ear to hold it, "Hi," she whispers back.

Gale pulls away, switching gears and backing out of the parking lot, "How was work?" he asks, pulling onto the road.

It's a short drive to town from here, but the clearing is a little further aways from the stores and shops that line the streets.

"Alright. Some other people donated books today. Cataloging stinks though, because we have to write it all down in this huge book, but it's nice that people are willing to share their books." She tells him, picking at her nails absently.

Gale's hand closed over hers to stop her. She'll pick them till they bleed without realising. She thinks it's a nervous tick she developed somewhere between the constant fear in 13, and the anxiety from moving out here.

She holds his hand as they drive.

0000

The moon hangs brightly in the sky. Fat and round, shining so bright the stars are faint.

They're sitting back to back, heads resting against each other's shoulders.

"You can't see the stars in the Capitol," Gale says suddenly, "The lights in the city are too bright."

"That's so sad."

Gale sighs heavily, "It is."

He's silent for a moment, then, "I don't want to go back, Madge."

She'd expected this. But she hasn't yet figured out suitable response.

Instead of talking, Madge lifts her head from his shoulder and turns around, crossing her legs Indian style and pulling him backwards until he is half leaning, half resting against her.

She wraps her arms around his chest and lays her cheek against the crown of his head.

"I-I know it feels weird... having to go there again," she starts tentatively, "But this time will be different. You've been doing so much better, and you haven't had a single panic attack. I am-"

She cuts off, letting out a shaky breath.

"Are you crying?" Gale asks, trying to look up at her.

She pinches his side, sniffling, "Shut up."

Gale laughs and settles against her again.

Madge forces herself to push through the lump in her throat, and the burning sensation creeping up her nose, "I am so proud of you. F-for admitting you needed help, and for going to the Capitol at all. I just- I know how hard it is for you to talk ab-about st-stuff to anyone, and-"

She is rapidly dissolving into a blubbering mess. All the things she's wanted to tell him the past two month come tumbling out of her mouth, accompanied by sniffing and tears.

Gale pulls away from her eventually, turning around and cupping her face in his hands.

"I did it for you," he says quietly.

Madge stops stammering.

"Because I-" he stops, breathing deeply and chuckling to himself, shaking his head, "Because I love you."

Madge gives up and cries freely. He loves her anyway, right? Might as well make sure he knows what he's getting himself into.

"I think you've been reading too many sappy books, Madge," Gale teases, pulling her legs over his lap, and cradling her.

Madge slaps at his chest half-heartedly and swipes at her eyes.

"I love you, too," she tells him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

They hug until Madge has to blow her nose.

AN: So just had to get some GADGE out of my system. I seriously have a lot of really good (in my head?) GADGE AU, today's America, HG fics in mind, but I don't know how much people will like them... Let me know? Prompts are great too! They help get rid of writers block.

Another thing, feel free to spam me with messages, tweets, or asks. Your responses always help with writing! It's easier to write when you know people enjoy your work.

Tumblr: thisgirlsgoingtoleakycon

Twitter: danamrohr