A/N: Sorry i haven't uploaded in a while, have had school and stuff sooo yeh, shorter chapter this time but hoping to write some more stuff soon :) xox

I stayed in that cupboard for the next three days, coming out only for food and water.

I went down one day and heard Haymich in the office explaining to my mother that they needed more time to prepare for the games because there was double the amount of tributes this year. We would be getting the train sometime next week.

I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. I saw an unopened bottle of some type of alcohol and reached towards it before remembering that it wasn't only my body that I would be damaging. I grabbed a bottle of water and went back to my cupboard.

After three days I came out to find that it was the day of Effie's funeral, my mother and Prim had gone to the capital to pay their respects.

No one even told me.

On the third day Gale came to see me. He walked in using his key to unlock the door and I stood waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey katnip" he greeted me as usual but was giving me concerned looks, I knew it was because I didn't usually wait for him at the bottom of the stairs in the same clothes I had been wearing three days ago.

"We need to talk" I said bluntly, I realised this was the best time to do it. There was only us two in the house and I had to tell him before the games anyway.

"OK" he replied, drawing out both letters so that the one word lasted about seven seconds.

I walked into the kitchen where I knew he would follow me. I walked around the island so that it was between us and stood straight with my hands at my side, head up.

"What's going on?" Gale said lightly, but I knew him too well and could hear the worry in his voice even though he was smiling.

"I'm pregnant." I let out the breath I didn't realise I was holding and looked at him straight in the eye.

Gale's smile slid from his face,

"What," he whispered,

I scowled at him,

"I said I'm pregnant" I nearly shouted at him, it was hard enough to say it the first time, did he really have to make me say it again?

"I'm going to kill him!" he shouted so suddenly that it made me jump, I was used to the silent Gale that I hunted with in the woods.

"Wait. What?" I said, who did he want to kill? Himself? It was his fault after all. I then realised that maybe he didn't think it was his fault, maybe he thought it was Peter's. "Gale, it's yours!" I shouted at him.

"Oh," He blinked at me before rushing at me and lifting me off the ground. "Wait are you sure it's mine?" he rushed out, "because I mean if it's his then.." he scowled, "I mean I know you said it's mine but.."

"Gale, Gale!" I shouted as he mumbled on, he looked up at me, "Yes I'm sure it's yours." He lifted me off the ground again.

"Woahh Gale, are you forgetting where we're going next week?" He put me down and I saw the excitement leave his eyes.

"Oh." Was all he said.

"Oh?"

"Well then you'll just have to try and win"

"But what about Prim?"

"Well you and him came out the last time so why not again?"

I raised my eyebrows at him,

"Him? And who's him Gale?"

His cheeks reddened and he bowed his head, letting his hair fall into his eyes, "You know… Peeta"

He said Peeta's name so quietly that I nearly didn't hear him but I let the subject drop anyway, knowing that if I dragged it out I was only going to make it worse. I was also going to ask him if he remembered the last time me and him came out of the games alive. There was no way Snow was having two victors this year.

I pushed Gale away from me so that he would look at me instead of at the ground.

"You know that I have to tell Peeta about this"

"Yes" was all he said, but I could see the smirk he was trying to hold back. I walked away from him.

"Katniss come on!" He chased after me as I left the room.

I spun around to face him, "Peeta is going to be so devastated by this and all you can do is smile about it?" I shouted my voice getting higher and higher as I go.

"I'm not smiling" He said as he stood there grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes. You are." I frowned at him and turned to walk away again.

"Come on Katniss! Aren't you even a little bit happy about this?" He trudged after me.

"No Gale. No I am not." I heard him stop behind me and realised what I had just said wrong. I turned around slowly and saw him standing there. All traces of a smile gone from his face.

"I mean, I'm going back into the games!" I tried to recover from my mistake, why did I always have to say the wrong thing! I was always stumbling over my words, "I barely made it out the last time, and this time there's double the amount of people."

He came over to hug me and held my face against his chest, "It's OK Katniss," he whispered, "I'm not going to let anyone touch you."

Not exactly the reaction I was looking for but this would do.

"I need to tell him Gale," I said into his chest,

"I know. Do you want me to come?"

I pulled away and laughed, "Gale, Peeta is one of the friendliest people I know, he's not an axe murderer!"

"You never know," Gale's face creased in concentration, which made me laugh even harder, I tried to imagine Peeta holding anything more dangerous than a paintbrush but couldn't conjure the image. Gale smiled at me and I knew the awkward conversation had passed.

"So when are you going to tell him?"

My laughter died away and I sighed, "Now? There's no point in waiting, he's going to find out sooner or later."

"OK." He took a deep breath, "Wow," he said and looked towards my stomach, "I can't even believe it."

"This isn't a good thing you know!" I scowled at him again but he only laughed.

"OK if you say so Katniss"

"I do" I said and smirked at him. He grinned back at me before giving me one last friendly hug and left to go back home. I walked out after him and started to walk towards Peeta's house.

'Time for round two' I think as I knock three times on Peeta's front door.

"You're what!" Peeta shouted after I repeated those dreadful words for the third time. "But we haven't…" He trailed off, looking at me in horror. "You didn't"

I looked at the floor feeling like I was about to cry. I still didn't know what I felt for Peeta but I knew I was pretty damn close to loving him. I looked up and found him staring at me his eyebrows coming together which I knew meant that he was upset.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, I didn't know what else to say and I hated it when Peeta wasn't speaking to me.

"It's not your fault Katniss," He said as he looked anywhere but at me.

I had no idea what to say to him, it was obvious that it was my fault and it was obvious that he knew it was my fault. Even if he didn't want to admit it.

He would never do anything like this to you, a voice whispered in my head. I immediately stopped thinking, knowing that if I started thinking things like that, then I would break down here and now.

"I can't believe him!" He shouted, breaking the silence, his hands balling into fists at his side,

"No Peeta it wasn't his fault, it just happened. I didn't mean for it to happen!" I tried to defend my best friend/ father of my child.

"When?" He demanded,

"What?"

"When did it happen?" He shuddered.

"When you were visiting your parents," I whispered. He stared at me in shock and started to count on his fingers.

"Nearly two months," He mumbled looking back up at me. All of a sudden I couldn't look him in the eyes and I looked down at my feet, annoyed with myself that I was so weak. I heard Peeta walk out of the room but I didn't follow him. I looked up to where he had just left but could only see about a metre of the corridor leading from the kitchen to the front door. Suddenly Peeta was walking back past the front room towards the front door. With a knife clenched in his fingers.

Suddenly it wasn't a funny image anymore.

By the time it took for my brain to register what I had just seen I had run out of the door to stop Peeta, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I knew where he was headed and ran towards Gale's house. I knew all of the short cuts and just hoped that I would get there in time.

As soon as I reached his house, so similar to my old home, I slammed my fists against the door. It was opened by a very scared looking Hazelle whose frown instantly slid off her face when she realised that it was me.

"Gale, where is he?" I blurted out as soon as she opened the door.

"Hunting I think, although he had a pretty good haul yesterday so I'm pretty sure he didn't really need…" Her voice trailed off when she realised that I had shot off after the word 'Hunting.'

I ran as fast as I could towards the meadow where we normally entered the woods but skidded to a stop as soon as it was in view.

I could see clearly where Gale stood not ten metres from the other side of the fence, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

I could also see the bloody mess lying at his feet.

A/N: Please don't hate me!

R&R :) xx