Hey there guys so I've been working on this one since yesterday and I guess you could say its your very late valentines day surprise but I really like the way this one turned out. I hope you guys like it too and I thank you all so much for the reviews :)
I don't own the hunger games
enjoy!
Chapter 6- Her Last Words
Gale…
"Why are we talking about Willow, I'm not exactly here for grief counseling." I say fiddling with the chain around my neck. "Dr. Fields never made me talk about Willow."
"I have a different approach than Dr. Fields." Dr. Fay says crossing his legs and looking at me with his piercing amber colored eyes. When he looks at me like that it feels as if he's staring into my broken soul. "Did you bring me the picture I asked for?"
I nod and reach into my back pocket for my wallet. I open it and pull out the picture of me and Willow sitting on abandoned train tracks facing each other with our hands on our knees and chins resting on our palms. I hand him the picture and watch him look us over.
"She's beautiful." He says handing me the picture. I look down at Willow and nod, I know what's coming next. "She looks nothing like Katniss Everdeen."
"That's because she's not Katniss Everdeen." I say. I look down at the picture that was taken long before Willow and I were married, before she got sick. Her long wavy golden blonde hair is pulled into a neat side ponytail, there's a faint blush painted across her ivory colored skin, her sea green eyes are locked with mine, and her smile reaches her eyes. "You wanted to see if subconsciously I chose to date Willow because she looked like Katniss. What do you conclude Doc?"
"Katniss Everdeen had nothing to do with your choice to date Willow." He says and I feel like we've gotten to the topic that brought me to therapy twice a week. "Does Katniss know you were married?"
"No, why would she you've read my file?" I say angrily.
"I assumed that since her mother was your wife's primary caretaker she would know that you were married." Dr. Fay says.
"Never assume anything, the two of them don't talk." I say quietly though he can hear the bitterness in my voice that I really didn't bother to hide. "They haven't talked much since Primrose died."
"Talk about Primrose."
"I killed her."
"A bomb killed Primrose Everdeen." Dr. Fay says looking through my file.
Katniss…
Gale is lying on the floor playing with Finn and his array of toys, I can tell he's not really focused. Finn seems completely comfortable with Gale as if the two of them have met more than once. I ask Annie if Gale came around the house a lot.
"Yes, he lived here in the district for a while." Annie says looking at her son and Gale. "Your mother told you about Willow right?"
"How would my mother know about Willow?" I ask.
"She was at the wedding and she was the one who took care of Willow when she got really sick." Annie says. The fact that my mother knew my best friend was married bothers me it shouldn't but it does. "Are you going to see your mother?"
"I probably should." I say.
"Mommy look I can touch top." Finn squeals from the living room. "Gawle so big."
"I'm tall Bud not big." Gale laughs walking into the kitchen with Finn on his shoulders. "Alright Bud time to go to mommy, I have to go."
"No go Gawle." Finn pouts as Gale hands him over to Annie. "We have fun."
"Ah don't worry Finny I'll be back." Gale says crouching down to Finn's eye level. "I have to go see Willy and then I'll come back here and we can play with all of your toys before dinner okay?"
"Otay, say to Willy me love her." Finn says and it surprises me how much the little boy loves Gale and Willow. "Urple fower, pease."
"You got it Finny." Gale says. He looks at me for the first time since entering the kitchen. "You should see your mother today, its her day off."
I nod and he leaves without another word. I walk out after him intending to as him directions to my mother's since I have no idea where she lives or how to get there. He's standing outside looking out at the passersby, he turns around when he hears me close the door behind me.
"I don't know where I'm going." I say and he nods in understanding.
"I'll take you there." He says curtly.
"What's with the attitude?" I ask fed up with the attitude he was giving me. He digs his hands into the pockets of his jeans and remains silent. "Is this about how I reacted to Willow?"
"No." He spits out.
"What is it then?" I ask as he starts down the street. "You have no right to be angry with me."
"I have no right to be angry with you, right because you did nothing wrong. I am the only one who did something wrong." Gale says turning around. I stagger backward surprised by the look of rage on his face.
"You killed Prim!" I shout.
"And you killed her indirectly." He spits out with every intention of hurting me.
"You need help Gale." I yell at him.
"I've been getting help! For the past two years I've been seeing a damn therapist!" Gale shouts his face reddening with anger and a slight hint of shame. "Every day since I was given my job assignment a doctor has been psychoanalyzing me, so don't tell me I need help because I've been getting it!"
Gale…
I walk away from Katniss, staying there and yelling at her would be easier but I've spent too many hours of my life cooped up in a doctor's office talking about how shitty my life is most of the time. When Willow died, after the doctors had to forcibly remove me from the room, I spent a good hour sitting on the linoleum floor thinking that the only reason she was taken from me was because I took Prim away from her family. It was karma that slapped me hard in the face.
I buy the flowers I usually get when I visit Willow, purple irises and yellow daffodils. It seems like a weird combination but Willow loved them together because of their contrasting colors. I made my way down to the cemetery. Willow faces the ocean that she loved so much. There are fresh primroses on her headstone and I know that Mrs. Everdeen has been here. I lay the flowers I brought with me and take a seat beside her.
"Willy sweetheart, Finny sends you his love." I say.
"Why is she buried here?" I wasn't aware Katniss had followed me. I turn to look at her, she's trying hard not to look at the primroses. "Wasn't she from District 2?"
"Yes she was from District 2 but her father was a native of District 4, he's buried over there." I say pointing to the next grave over. "She wanted to be close to him."
Katniss…
"Gale can you tell me about her?" I ask. I want to know about her and how she was able to make my best friend feel better, how she was there for him in the way I can't for Peeta. "I can't guarantee that I'll ever get over what happened to Prim but I can tell you that since I've been with you I haven't thought or hallucinated about the Hunger Games. You make it easy to forget."
"Yeah because I bring up other memories." He says with a sad smile.
"Lets not fight here." I say not up for an argument while sitting beside his wife's grave. "Just talk about her. Do you have a picture of her so I can put a face to the name?"
He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a fancy leather wallet. He hands me four different pictures. The first is of the two of them sitting on train tracks looking at each other, it's a simple picture taken as the sun was beginning to set. In the second picture Gale has his arms wrapped around a smiling Willow, both of their eyes shone with happiness. He's wearing a navy blue long-sleeve t-shirt and black jeans and she's wearing a simple white sundress and her long blond hair in an elegant yet simple side ponytail. Both of them have smiles that reach their eyes. I really don't want to look at the third picture because of how pretty Willow was and how happy she and Gale looked together. I look at it anyway, it's a picture of Willow and Posy sitting cross-legged in a meadow, both of them are wearing flower crowns and seem unaware that the picture is being taken. The last picture makes me smile, it was taken the same day ask the picture of Willow and Posy but its of Gale and his siblings, it's a dog pile of the Hawthorne boys while Posy sits next to them a hand patting Gale's head.
"These two are my favorites." I say showing him the last two pictures. As much as I want to irrationally dislike Willow I know that I'll never be able too because while I hated Gale, she made him happy and brought a spark to his eyes. "She was beautiful."
"In more ways than one." He says looking at the pictures. "Do you want to know what her last request was?"
"Isn't that kind of personal?" I ask knowing that there was a time when Gale wouldn't have asked me if I wanted to know he's just tell me.
"I've been sharing every detail of my personal life with a near perfect stranger for the past two years now, you were my best friend and despite everything that's happened between us you know me the best." He says and I nod. "Her last words to me were 'Gale Hawthorne find her and set things right between you two. I don't doubt your love for me and if things had been different we might have gone on to have that happy ending we talked about. We would have had kids and lived in a nice house by the beach but the sad reality is that I don't have much time. Gale you can have that still and I want you to have that. Promise me that you'll find her and fight for that happy life we talked about. I love you and you've made me more happy in these past two years than I have ever been in my twenty years of life.' Those were her final words to me."
I really couldn't hate Willow now.
To be continued...
SO next chapter will have Peeta in it and I hope you guys stick around for that one. Please do review it makes me happy and gets the creative juices in my brain flowing :)