Everdeen & Hawthorne Hunting & Gathering Co-Operative

(In association with Mellark Bakery)

Chapter 7: Dinner Party

Dinner finally arrives, a waitress carrying out the steak and the pasta. Madge can't stop smiling, and talking for that matter. Katniss and Peeta have been doing a good job of not drawing attention to each other, keeping quiet and pretending they never saw Gale.

Every now and again though, they create a disturbance, whether it's spilling a drink or Katniss slapping Peeta upside the head. Out of all the couples in the restaurant, they are definitely the most dysfunctional, and it's very humorous to watch.

"Why do you keep looking at her?" Madge suddenly asks, catching Gale staring them down. He almost gags on his steak, quickly turning back to Madge. He hadn't realized just how long he had been watching them.

He clears his throat, "I'm not, I'm just wondering where that waitress went! My champagne glass is almost empty!"

It's still nearly full, considering he never had time to drink any with how long he'd been looking at Peeta and Katniss. Madge notices too, shooting him a sad look.

"Are you trying to get drunk?" she asks in a depressed voice.

Gale quickly plays it off, "No-no! It's just, rather hot in here? Or is that just you?" he refrains from another face-palm. That had to be the cheapest pick-up line he's ever used. But it works, Madge blushes and returns to her pasta.

"Yeah, sorry, I just got a lot on my mind right now. I mean, here I am, trying to enjoy dinner with you, and two co-workers show up! How am I supposed to not think about work?" Gale shakes his head, glancing up once to see Madge frown. He takes a long sip of his champagne.

"Awe, it's alright baby, I can get your mind off it," she grins. Gale's eyes open wide and he fights to not copy Katniss and spray his champagne all over the table. But suddenly, there's another outburst, speak of the devil.

"You looking at me? Are you looking at me?" she shouts. The restaurant turns to see the fancy dressed Katniss scoot her chair back and stand up. She's staring down an old man, eating dinner with his wife a table away. They both have grey hair and glasses on with old-fashioned dress clothes. Katniss storms towards the man.

"I-I just thought I knew you, you're Katniss Everdeen," he stutters.

Peeta jumps out of his seat, walking over and cracking his knuckles on the way.

"I bet you knew her, I bet you did background checks on all of us! Bring it on old-man! BRING IT ON!" Peeta shouts. He flips the table away and the caterers are all rushing over and trying to calm down the very odd pair of entrepreneurs.

"One second," Gale motions for Madge to sit tight as he jumps up and jogs over. Gale grabs Peeta and pushes him away, but he can't get a hold of Katniss who takes the man's wife by the shirt and leans into her face.

"I ain't afraid of you! A bit surprised they sent such an old couple to do this kind of work…but perhaps these are disguises! That's a mask!" Katniss tries to get her hands on the woman's face but she fights back, screaming the whole time.

Before Gale can separate her, Katniss gets a hold of the woman's hair and yanks off a wig. She laughs madly and clutches onto it while the whole restaurant gasps.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" A caterer approaches from behind. Gale turns around to see a waiter carrying a knife, coming straight for Katniss. Something inside him clicks, and he realizes that maybe Peeta and Katniss were onto something that he didn't know. Maybe these are the loan-sharks!

He quickly intervenes, kicking the knife out of the man's hand and punching him in the gut. The man topples over and falls to the ground.

"Gale!" Madge shouts from the back. She's up and running their way, grabbing his hand and staring into his eyes. "What the hell are you doing?"

"No time to explain! Katniss, Peeta, it's the waiters! They're the ones! He had a knife!" Gale explains. They all look at the man on the ground, clutching his side with a steak-knife sitting on the ground next to him.

Madge snorts, "Gale! He was cutting that man's steak!" she points to an old-man a few tables away, who is ducking behind his chair and shivering.

Gale, Katniss, and Peeta all exchange confused looks. Who is it? Who is the hired gun for the loan-sharks? Before they have a chance to accuse anybody else, an army of chef's, waitresses, waiters, and staff members arrive to throw them out.

They don't bother fighting, they just give in as the staff shoves them away.

"I won't talk! I'll never talk!" Katniss hisses at them as they excavate her towards the door.


Arriving back at Katniss' old, crusty home on the opposite edge of District 12, the trio flips on the lights. Surprisingly, they still work, along with the well water. Katniss immediately yanks off her felt-lined gloves and opens a cabinet above the kitchen counter.

She retrieves a box of stale crackers and begins nibbling on one.

"Really?" Gale asks. Her only response is a shrug, and they both watch Peeta pace back and forth. Gale loosens his collar and rolls up his sleeves before crossing his arms.

"So, instead of blending in when we're in public, we should cause a scene?" Gale asks. He's mad at them both, considering he only later found out they had no evidence the old couple was the loan-sharks. So he punched out a waiter for nothing, and he completely ruined Madge's night.

She wanted to go straight home, and cried the whole way. No doubt, Gale will be dealing with the fallout tomorrow at work.

"Oh Galeford, you were in on it too! You knocked that guy down, which was pretty cool," Katniss points out. She winces as she bites down on a cracker that's rock hard.

"We should watch the Peacekeepers, they might start cracking down on us," Peeta laughs weakly. "I mean, they were the ones I was playing poker with after all…"


A/N: Originally, there was a fight scene with 'real' loan-sharks in this chapter. I decided it was a bit too much action and not so much funny. Would putting action in ruin it?

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 8 coming soon!

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- Legkicker