Disclaimer: See previous, please.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! Getting more interesting from here, I think. If you're reading, please take just a second to let me know what you've enjoyed. Makes my day!

Chapter Three: The Girl

"I should have volunteered for him." Peeta paced the length of the room.

"They never would have allowed it." Katniss threw out at once, deadpan. She had already steeled herself after saying a quick word her sister and mother. 'I'm sorry. I love you. Take care of yourself,' was the sum of it. Her arms were crossed in the waiting room. She was mostly sure, but either way, she did not want Peeta torturing himself.

"I should have tried." He berated himself again.

"Forget it." Katniss snapped. Peeta paused.

Gale barged into the room at that moment. It appeared he had shoved his way past peacekeepers from his own waiting room. Somewhere behind in the hall that quickly disappeared stood his siblings. Katniss felt a pang seeing them. Gale had to live, she knew then. If Gale made it out, he would look after her family. So would Peeta and Haymitch. If she made it out, Gale's family would struggle. She was not sure she could survive the games or provide for them all if she did.

"If you had not volunteered again," Gale immediately told Katniss. "I could have protected Prim in the games."

"She was drawn first." Haymitch reminded him. He knew that. Gale was just angry at the situation. He scrunched his face in frustration, tightening and loosening his fists. She wished it didn't make his face look cute, the awkward way it went all young and sweet on such a large, sturdy body.

"You have to protect her now." Peeta turned on him, beseeching before Katniss could get a word out.

"I'm here, you know." She told them.

"Of course I will." Gale said, insulted.

Peeta nodded once. "Good. Then, we need to get started." He walked to the table where Haymitch stood. The eldest victor arms were folded as he watched the interaction through his curtain of messy hair.

"You have three mentors which is more than most," Peeta informed Gale who was pulling himself up to full height. "And you're big. That will help."

"Whoa. We are going to talk about this." Katniss protested.

"I don't need your help." Gale told Peeta flatly. Everyone in the room froze.

"Oh, come on, this will help save your life. Now is no time to be petty." Peeta said, losing his sweet demeanor the way he did when he was particularly annoyed.

Gale's head was down, his eyes harsh as his deep voice rumbled. "He used Katniss to save his own skin." He said with disgust.

"I used…" Peeta began, stumbling over the words, stunned. Gale took a step forward.

"Hey, okay, okay." Haymitch interrupted.

"Stop it. Stop it." Katniss told them both. "He's right, Gale. You will to listen to them, to all of us. You will have a whole team to help you win. And you will have your size and your hunting experience on your side."

"Katniss," He said plainly, shaking his head once, his lips pouting out as his eyebrows furrowed together as he approached her. "The only reason for me to even make it through the end is to protect you."

"No, Gale." She was firm, taking a step near him.

"It's not up for debate, Catnip." He told her, pinching her chin in his fingers. It infuriated her; he was almost smiling he was so pleased with his plan as he walked away.

"Gale," She began.

"Don't waste your breath." He crossed his arms against his chest, obstinate.

She strode across the room in a moment, her hand thumping his chest in desperation. "If you make it, you can look after my family. Even if I could win again, which I doubt especially with the number of people hating me at the moment, Snow included, I couldn't look after them all. It's not just about us!"

Gale and Peeta caught each other's eye a moment, exchanging a look that made her narrow her eyes. Haymitch too spotted it and took the cue to finally push his rump off the spot where he leaned on the wall. "We do have the disadvantage of him being the other man." Haymitch said, bringing their hope down a notch. He was right. It would be hard to get sponsors for the man that killed the victor's love in the eyes of the Capitol.

"But he's so handsome!" Effie sang, startling them all. "We will try to keep that quiet," She waved it off, taking a step towards her new tribute with each excited word. "But once they see him, they will love him!" She squeezed him by the biceps. "Trust me." Effie looked much happier with this potential than her past tributes, Katniss could not help but notice.

"Gale, let's have a talk." Haymitch clapped him on the back guiding him to the door that was opened at once by peacekeepers. "Gentleman." He slurred ironically as they passed them headed towards the train.

Peeta glanced at Katniss, a look he returned, and they headed that way too, following Effie in her bright outfit. It stood out against the more austere than normal district twelve and its soot and gloom.

"Gale has to make it out." Katniss said quietly.

Peeta looked at the gravel underneath their feet. "Katniss, you know I can't do that." He sighed.

"No you have to, Peeta." She stopped, turning to him. Peeta looks up, away, anywhere but at her. "You know I'm right. Snow won't let me win and even if I can, Gale's family will be…"

"Exactly, Katniss, you will have everything going against you the second you enter the arena. And you're basically asking me to help my tribute win and let him kill the girl I…care about." He finished lamely. "Besides, I have something else to worry about too." He reminded her, his voice sad. "We're about to bring another person into this misery."

"Snow is." She corrected.

"Yeah. Katniss," he stressed. "Right now there is a girl our age out there." He pointed off somewhere. "She just stood there like the rest of us, terrified of being reaped maybe of her family being reaped, hell maybe they were. And she's about to find herself leaving her home to be with me."

"I get that, okay?" She snapped, leaning closer. "But you have to help Gale. I've been in there before, and you know he'll help me."

"Only one person will come out this time; you know it."

"Peeta please." She begged.

His hands were in his pockets. "I can't. I'm sorry." He walked to the waiting train.

"Then Gale dies." She called after him. He did not stop. Well, she supposed, she could still do something.

Peeta sat across the dark, brooding man in the train car. They were alone, surveying the room over and over in awkward silence until Peeta broke it, trying again to offer his help. He had to do something, after all. "You know you could probably get something from the center at the beginning."

"Why are we discussing this?" Gale asked, opening his hands that rested on his knees.

Peeta snorted out a breath, answering slowly. "I just thought—"

"We agree Katniss has to win, right?"

"Right."

"Then, why are we talking?" He asked coldly.

Peeta leaned back. "Well, you will need to survive long enough to protect her."

"I'd kill for her Peeta."

"I know."

"I'm going to die for her."

"I know!" He whispered harsher. "I know, but it's not all size. You're going to need know about the games."

"I watch them every year."

"Watching and being there are different. Take what you can learn. Haymitch knows logistics and competition, Effie can get you sponsors. I can help too because I'm the only one that's going to be working for the same thing you are."

"Okay." Gale ran a hand over his mouth. "Okay." He gave in, sitting back as well with his big arms wrapped around himself. "What about you?" He reached his hand in Peeta's direction, clapping back against his own arm with a smack.

"What about me?" He asked, defensive.

"This business with this girl. Snow really forcing you into that?"

"Looks like it." He sighed. "I'm not the only one he's forcing."

"There are worse fates." Gale shrugged, not taking it very seriously either. Peeta guessed from what he knew of the other boy he'd lived near their whole lives, Gale would be more outraged about this idea and what it might lead to if they were not more pressing matters. That was probably no coincidence; Snow would be counting on it.

Something else occurred to him. Peeta looked skeptically at Gale. "I think that was a compliment." He blinked.

"Come on, the only thing I really have against you is we love the same girl. Maybe that will change." He added slowly.

"I don't think so." Peeta admitted as the compartment slid open, making them both move.

"Oh, it's just you, Haymitch." Peeta rubbed his thighs.

"Yeah it's just me." Haymitch drawled, closing the door behind him.

"You know what I mean."

"Oh, I know what you mean alright. Glad to see you two are getting along."

Peeta picked at his meal as the train approached the Capitol. He couldn't eat. Katniss was going back into the games. He wasn't. Worse, Gale was. Gale was his responsibility; he knew exactly what that man was about to face, and he was going to let him die.

At that moment, sitting on beach somewhere or maybe perched in a tree, was a girl whose life was about to be ripped away from her as his had been. And he would sort of be responsible for her too.

He was not an idiot. He could sense as easily as the others did that something was coming. He had heard Snow, visited the districts himself. If the President of Panem was taking that much to offset it, the threat could not be small. He still was not sure why Snow was thinking of this plan.

Maybe it was worth it, to him, taking that girl's liberty away just to make himself look wise and benevolent. That shouldn't come as too great a shock. After all, he took a couple dozen children a year to please a crowd and make a point.

But there had to be something more.

Gale was not prepared for the Capitol. He gawked at their freakish clothing; jerked away from one woman who tried to pet him.

"Enjoy the best!" Effie waved proudly over the spread of food on their table in their rooms. Towers of sticky sweets, two meats on the table steaming hot, baskets of breads, a large silver bowl of soup. The smell of it after such a long day was making their stomachs growl. Effie scrunched her nose at the sounds but did not comment.

Gale glanced at them as if to ask if they were seeing the same thing he was. Peeta remembered this reaction. In the districts, they always thought of food as being scarce, but to see it in plenty in the Capitol was a shock. But Peeta had grown up around food. He was an only child. Gale's family had less and more to feed. The man had probably never gone a day in life without feeling at least a little bit hungry.

"Is this real?" Gale balked.

"And it's all for you." Effie smiled. "And Katniss." She added as an afterthought. Katniss rolled her eyes.

His anger was quick. "Incredible. People are starving in the districts, and this is a party. You didn't tell me about this Katniss."

"I didn't think it mattered." She said quietly. Of all the things to mention, telling him how much she ate was not the first or even hundredth thing to come to mind, Peeta figured.

"Of course it matters." He scoffed, shaking his head. "I'm not eating this."

"Just enjoy it for them." Peeta clapped the other guys back.

"Is that what you did?" He shot back.

The blonde did not appreciate it. "You aren't going to be much use if you're starving in the arena." He said.

Gale loosened up, and eventually Haymitch and Katniss had him laughing. When he wasn't arguing with Peeta, he could laugh at his jokes about the Capitol. Effie was pleased as usual. The food was good. He'd guessed several of the recipes he'd had there and given them a try back home. Peeta thought with a pang of guilt if the girl out there—that girl—was eating that night or if she was laying somewhere like Katniss had been that day he'd seen her. Outside in the rain. By the pigs. When he'd thrown her the bread.

"Tonight," Caesar announced in his usual theatrical manner. "Tonight," He repeated as the roar of the crowd died down. "We have something a little special, a little different than past years. Now, a few weeks ago we checked in with last year's victors, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen the girl on fire. But many of you were distressed—no, heartbroken—to hear that poor Peeta was suffering."

He made a sad face, clutching his chest, as the clip of Peeta played where he admitted Katniss and he were just friends.

"Now, as much as we all love Katniss." He said solemnly. A few cries from the audience disagreed. "And we do, we do love Katniss, we all felt especially sorry for our charming, brave champion Peeta. So, ladies and gentleman," His voice grew soft. "Tonight, President Snow is his wisdom and in the spirit of charity and love, has set out to give us all a little happiness at this time when it can be so easy to focus on the dark, can't it?"

They applauded. "Yes, it can be easy to concentrate on the negative on fear and loss instead of trusting in Panem, in our leadership, in our future." Everyone was silent, not understanding. The lights had slowly dimmed in the room. "But being brave is not easy."

Sounds of agreement echoed.

"Being strong is not easy."

"No!" They chanted.

Caesar grew more enthusiastic. "The Games are never easy." Cheering. "But sometimes," He held them in suspense, "neither is love."

Lights came up at the end of the stage. Applause died instantly upon seeing a line of twelve girls. They were not as decorated as the tributes would soon be, but they were lovely. Some were smiling. Others tried. A few stood uneasy in place, gazing out on the lights and the sea of faces like startled deer.

Backstage, the trio from twelve watched in horror. "The crowd doesn't know?" Peeta asked.

"Look at them." Gale leaned in, squinting. "Lined up like cattle."

"I can't watch this." Peeta turned away just as Haymitch came over, munching on the olives that came in drinks.

"See anything you like?" He joked, clearly already drunk.

"Wow." Katniss finally had a moment to sympathize. "The little one looks scared out her wits."

Peeta gave up trying to stay away, letting out a growl of frustration and taking his fingers from his mouth, returning to the screen. "Which little one? They sent a little one? What is he, crazy?"

"Tonight, tonight!" Caesar held up his hands for quiet in the commotion and confusion. "Tonight, President Snow has taken these wonderful ladies, one form each district, and offered them the chance many of you can only dream of… in an attempt to assuage the pain from his recent trials, after all that he has been through, the Capitol carefully selected the perfect match for our very own Peeta Mellark!"

The Capitol erupted.

"They are going nuts." Gale watched, mystified.

"Hang on; is that Siobhan Mordecai from 12?"

"Have to be, wouldn't it?"

"One lucky lady will be spending the Games with Peeta, and if things go well, who knows, maybe more…" He could barely be heard over the ruckus. Once it finally died down, Caesar opened an envelope.

"And that very, very lucky lady is…"

A/N: Do review, please! Shall we vote? The girl shall be named: Tilda Whitley, Shanti Honer, or Mara Wessex. You pick.

Other thoughts are welcome: What is Snow plotting? What is Katniss going to do in the arena? What do you most want to see/not want to see next? Please let me know.