Madge was having a pretty good day. She was having a fantastic day, if you can say that while being pregnant. She was over at the Hawthorne's, watching Posy while Hazelle made her laundry runs.

Rory and Vick made it home before Hazelle did, and immediately started their homework. Rory said that all of his teachers were tense today, as if they knew something horrible was going to happen. Vick just agreed with everything Rory said.

Then, Hazelle bursts through the door.

"Madge, we need to get to the square." She immediately says, the fear evident in her stormy grey eyes. Then, Ian bursts in. Madge looks at him and then back to Hazelle.

"Stay here with the kids," Ian tells her, setting his wife down on the couch. "Madge, we need to go."

"Wh-what's happening?" Madge asks, her voice shaking.

Ian stares at her for a moment, and Madge's entire being shakes. "It's Gale. He was caught coming out of the woods this morning with a bag full of game. He, uh, he's," Madge doesn't even let him finish before she's waddling out the door. Ian hastily follows her, grabbing a couple thin jackets.

They hear him before they see him.

Madge hears the agony that comes from his grunts every time the whip makes contact with his back. She knows that no matter how much it hurts, he will never make a noise besides the grunting. Ian and Madge push their way through the crowd as people try to pull Madge back.

Crack!

Crack!

Madge loses count of how many lashes Gale receives in the time she watches.

Crack!

Crack!

Gale's vision begins to grow foggy and weak as the number of lashes increase. His hands are tied above his head and his knees dig into the gravel. He doesn't know what to do.

Crack!

Crack!

Once Madge sees her husband's back, she nearly faints and wants to throw up. "I-Ian..." She croaks, holding onto her father-in-law's shirt. There are bright red blood spots all down his back and the whip lashes look painful just looking at them. Every time the whip hits him Madge can see more of Gale getting destroyed, more of Gale being pushed down.

Finally, after what feels like hours, when in reality it's only several minutes, Ian pushes his way through the crowd just as Katniss does. "Don't you think that's enough?" The victor cries, standing in front of the peacekeeper. Gale's body shakes as Ian and Katniss persuade the peacekeeper to stop. Blue and gray collide momentarily before Gale passes out from the pain and exhaustion.

The Peacekeeper wipes Gale's blood off of his whip. "Next time," he growls to Ian, "It's the firing squad."

"Wonderful." Ian growls sarcastically.

"Get him out of here." Immediately, Ian and Katniss are undoing the chains and his body falls. Madge is sprinting to her old house. She knows that there's only one thing that can help Gale, and there's only one family that has possession of that drug.

She bursts through the door only to find her father staring out the window. "It's upstairs." The mayor says dryly, without even turning towards Madge. The pregnant woman goes up the stairs the fastest she can and hurries into her mother's old bedroom, ignoring the pain that hits her heart. Madge rummages through the medicine cabinet and finally finds the vials of morphling.

Then, she's gone.

Madge makes it to the Victors' Village before the snowstorm hits. She knocks the door open to Katniss' house and hurries into the kitchen where Gale lays on the table. "Take them." Madge thrusts the box of vials into Mrs. Everdeen's hands and immediately her fingers grasp onto Gale's weak ones. He moans in agony as Prim pours some alcohol on his back to clean the wounds. "Shh," Madge whispers to Gale, her free hand running through his hair.

Mrs. Everdeen's fingers shake as she attempts to get the morphling in the needle. Prim takes it from her and quickly injects it into his back. Instantly, Gale's body falls limp against the table.

Madge watches in agony as Prim and Mrs. Everdeen do everything that they can to save him. Hazelle and Ian talk quickly in the next room, until Hazelle rests a hand on Madge's shoulder. "You should go home, dear." Madge shakes her head quickly and stays by Gale's side, her hands tightening around his. "It's not good for the baby."

"I don't care," Madge forces out, tears pooling in her eyes, "I need to know that he's going to be okay. Going home is only going to make it worse." Hazelle looks towards her son and his wife before looking back towards Ian. Then, she nods.

"Okay, just be careful." Madge nods and Ian pulls a chair up next to Madge's resting a hand on Madge's back.

"He'll be fine." Tears blot the corners of Madge's eyes as Katniss hurries to collect the snow that's started to fall. Madge tries to wipe them away but it's no use. Gale's two biggest fears are the mines and being caught with game. And now he's had to deal with both of those. "Don't cry. Gale wouldn't want you to cry over him."

Madge and Ian sit by Gale's side through the night. Finally, Ian disappears at some point and leaves Madge and Gale alone. Madge finally let the tears fall down her face and the drip onto the table. The baby hasn't been kicking. Madge has no hope left.


Gale stirs sometime early morning. His entire body is numb; he can't move. If he does, a sharp bit of pain runs up his spine. Someone is holding onto his hand. Gale would recognize the soft skin everywhere.

"Madge," he sighs, his fingers grasping onto hers tighter than before. "Where'm I?"

"The Everdeen's," Madge sighs, her fingers twisting through his hair. The baby starts kicking as soon as Gale wakes up all the way. "How does your back feel?"

"Like shit," Gale admits and Madge smiles a tiny bit. "What did they give me?"

"Morphling." Madge answers curtly, resting her hand on her stomach while the baby kicks lightly.

Gale nods as well as he can. He's clearly a little loopy from the medicine. "How's the baby?"

Madge shrugs. She knows that the baby will respond to her emotions, and Madge is scared. "Scared, I guess. I am." Gale shakes his head and tries to reach to Madge but finds that even doing that causes sharp pain to shoot through him.

"Don't be. I'm fine."

Then, he's asleep again.

"He'll be okay." Madge whips her head around to find Katniss standing in the doorway. "It takes a lot more than a whipping to knock Gale down."

"I know. And for that I'm grateful."


Gale gets the OK to leave several days later. Madge doesn't leave his side the entire time and Gale knows that she's tired. Mrs. Everdeen examined his back and told him dully that it was going to scar. Gale has accepted that. They hurt and they're going to scar and he wishes that they don't, but it's just something he'll have to live with for the rest of his life.

He spends a lot of time lying on his stomach when they finally get home. He's out of the mines for a couple more days, and the couple suffers in those few days. Ian brings bits of game back from the woods, but he doesn't want to risk the Peacekeepers getting him.

When Gale finally goes back, it hurts. It hurts his back and it hurts his heart. He wants nothing more than to go home and curl up in bed with Madge. That's all that he wants.

Madge has to apply some sort of green cream on his back every night to help with the pain and the scarring. The first time she saw them she couldn't help but cry. The pain that they must be causing him astonishing.

The scars wrap around his shoulders and down his back. The damage that the whip inflicted on him will be there forever, even when the scars fade.

He wakes up with nightmares every other night about the incident. His back pains his entire being and hurts him entirely. Even Madge's comfort and smile can't help him with the pain. Gale will wake up shuddering and shaking and sweating with spikes of pain shooting through his body.

Madge grows much, much more in the next few weeks. She's huge, now. Mrs. Everdeen suspects that by the largeness of Madge's belly that the baby will be coming sooner rather than later. That scared both Gale and Madge.

Both of them prepare frantically for the incoming baby. They narrow down the choices of names for the boy or girl. Even Mrs. Everdeen doesn't know which gender it is; they'll just have to wait for the birth.

Hazelle and Mrs. Everdeen help prepare Madge for labor by teaching her some breathing techniques and such. Gale makes sure to steer clear of them when they're helping Madge.

The beginning of February comes with a bang. While the snow still remains, it starts to warm a bit, and Gale can feel an early spring coming on. He hopes that the baby is born in spring, to represent the new life that comes from it.

One day, the mines are particularly tiring. Gale and Ian work side by side, saying nothing. Gale's thoughts are filled with Madge and the baby. He's positive that the baby will have his skin, but he's hoping that Madge's features will shine more than his.

When the whistle blows to end shift, Gale lets out a deep sigh. His back hurts, and he wants nothing more than to crawl in bed with Madge and curl his fingers through her hair and feel for their baby. That's all he wants.

But, when he returns to his home, he finds his mother sitting on the couch, her leg tapping nervously.

"Ma? What—"

"Madge's water broke this morning. She's at the Everdeen's now, she's been there all day and there's still no sign of the baby. You need to go—" Gale's out the door before his mother can even finish.


Gale's feet pound out a heavy rhythm as he charges towards the Victors' Village. His breathing distracts him from the pain that's shooting up his back with every step he takes.

He makes it there in record time. Gale bursts through the door and frantically searches the house. Prim finds him first as she's bringing a pitcher of water upstairs.

"Gale," Prim says, motioning for the frantic father to follow. They hurry up the stairs into a spare bedroom. Prim quickly goes through the door to aide her mother in this. They've stripped the mattress of all sheets except a towel under Madge.

Madge looks tired. Her hair's up in some sort of ponytail and her fingers are gripping onto the mattress tightly. Her eyes pop open when she hears Prim enter and almost instantly Gale's by her side.

"You're doing great," Gale murmurs quietly, taking her hand tightly. "You'll be okay."

"This hurts, Gale." She chokes out, tears leaking down her face.

"I know, I know," Gale responds somewhat calmly, "and you'll be fine. I'll be right here for you. I'm not going anywhere."


A/N: This ones a bit shorter because next ones a long one.