Author's Note: Hunger Games doesn't belong to me, neither does Pride and Prejudice. I feel like these two would fit so well into a Jane Austen novel. Hopefully you are all enjoying my attempts to put them partially in those roles.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a girl who is normally sensible is in want of a brain when crushing over a guy.
Why was it, Madge wondered, that girls always fall for the guys that ignore them or treat them like dirt? What was it in the female psyche that made them find this attractive? And why, she wondered, did guys so often think that the best way to a girls heart was by pulling her proverbial pig tails?
She sighed, her's was a hopeless case, Gale basically acted like she was invisible. Why couldn't she have fallen for a nice Peeta type character instead? Then she would have been guaranteed plenty of romance, someone who would make her feel special. Instead she was pining for a person who thought she was so low that there was no point in acknowledging her existence.
These dreary wonderings had come on when she was taking a break from reading the latest novel by her favorite fantasy writer. The genre was fantasy but she knew that if the author couldn't been counted on to add a nice romance into each story then Madge also wouldn't read the works as voraciously as she did. It was a combination then of the fantasy/romance novel and the late hour that could be blamed for the plan she came up with, she really shouldn't stay up late reading. Nothing good had ever come from it. There really was no good explanation for why she stuck to the hair-brained scheme, but one never could say that Madge Undersee wasn't committed to a plan once she'd made it. The plan was to go 'Mr. Darcy' on Gale. Maybe if it worked for guys, it would work for her too. She was going to take charge of her own destiny.
The first opportunity Madge got to try out her new persona was a week later. One of the student groups was hosting a Bollywood dance night. Somehow Peeta had convinced Katniss to go and Bristol had mentioned to Madge that she and Thom would also going. If Gale's two best friends were going to be there, Madge figured he'd be there too, which meant that so would she.
Madge had read enough regency romance novels to know that a dance was the perfect opportunity to begin scorning Gale.
Madge forced Peeta and Katniss to show up to the dance an hour after it started, she knew her role was to show up late, hopefully building up the anticipation to her arrival. Much to her disappointment, Gale wasn't there yet either. That's just like him, she thought, ruining her evening just because he could.
A few minutes later Gale showed up with Thom and Bristol.
"Hey, I just got your text, sorry we're a few minutes late. Why'd you guys want to come so late anyway?" Bristol asked Katniss.
Katniss shrugged. "I don't know. Madge insisted on it."
Peeta grinned, "I think she wanted to be fashionably late, isn't that right Madgey?"
Madge glared at him. "Nothing of the sort." With that she turned and stalked off to the bathroom. So the two groups had been in communication, this was going to be harder than she thought. No one seemed to understand that Madge had a plan for the evening! Maybe she should have let someone else into her plan. Unfourtunately she didn't have any friends ideal for helping with schemes like these, Katniss would have thought she was crazy and Peeta would have taken it too far. He probably would have insisted on showing up in breeches and a top hat!
After being antisocial for what she hoped was the correct amount of time, Madge went back to the dance floor. Finally, here was one bit of luck. Katniss and Peeta were dancing together and Gale was standing not too far from them.
Madge went up to Katniss and stood there awkwardly for a few moments, waiting for Katniss to suggest she find a partner to start dancing with. The suggestion that did come was from the wrong person and was the wrong one.
"Madge," Peeta asked, "Did you want to dance with us? We could do a group of three for the robot? Or," he added motioning Gale over, "we could do a foursome robot dance!"
It wasn't quite right, but at this point Madge would take what she could get. "No, you two are quite the best dancers in the room. I have no desire to dance as no one else here is good enough to tempt me as a partner."
"Ahh, sure. That's why I suggested we all dance together," Peeta said, puzzled as to Madge's uncharacteristic strangeness.
"Don't worry Undersee, I wouldn't dare dance with someone with skills as superior as yours. I wouldn't want to tarnish your reputation of being perfect at everything," Gale said bitingly and stalked off.
"Way to go Madge." Katniss admonished her. "Just so you know Gale is pretty insecure about his dancing. It was all Thom and I could do to convince him to come tonight."
Well, the interaction had kind of gone how she'd envisioned it but instead of elation Madge had a tight knot in her stomach. She hadn't thought that Gale would actually hurt by what she'd said, he'd never seemed self-conscious about anything to her.
"I'm sorry," Madge managed to stutter out. She could feel tears starting to fill her eyes. She really wasn't cut out for this Mr. Darcy business. She turned and ran off, making sure to take an entirely different direction from the one Gale had gone.
Madge was also nothing if not persistent. Her first Darcy plan hadn't gone over very well but she reasoned that didn't mean that she should give up already. She'd give it one more try and if things went as horribly as the first time she'd scrap the whole thing.
The next chance came during spring break. Gale and Katniss had convinced Peeta that they should all go on a week long camping trip and Peeta asked Madge to join them, he said on the hopes that between the two of them they could convinced Katniss and Gale that it wasn't necessary to do the whole trip isolated from society and modern forms of food. Madge figured this was the time to initiate blatant ignoring interspersed with intense gazing in the form of glares. She'd been practicing her gazing in the mirror and was sure that any Darcy fan would approve.
The trip had started out fine, Gale mostly grunted and stayed on one side of the campground whereas Madge stayed stoically quiet and stayed on the other. After two days of conversation carried out almost entirely by Katniss and Peeta, which meant that it was almost two whole days of Peeta monologue, they appeared to have had their fill of quiet.
"You two are hopeless!" Katniss burst out after breakfast on the third day. "Peeta and I are going on a hike together. I don't want either of you coming with and ruining today as well. We'll be back for dinner. Have something figured out by then or Peeta and I are getting our own campsite away from you two."
Madge figured Gale wouldn't take any notice of the warning and she wasn't planning on it either. She'd actually started enjoying the quiet surrounding them, allowing her to hear all the sounds of nature, and the glaring afforded her good opportunity to examine Gale in more detail. Each time she looked at him, he seemed more handsome and she noticed some additional detail about him that she liked. She knew him to be smart and caring person when he felt like it. She sighed, if only he wasn't a total jackass when it concerned her.
She took her book out from the tent and settled down on the lounge chair she'd claimed as her own. Her newest book was a series of Sherlock Holmes short stories and she was starting to wonder if she should have created a series of clues for Gale to solve instead of playing Darcy.
After about 30 minutes of reading she decided it was time to commence in the first staring portion of her day. Looking up she admired the way the wind blew through Gale's hair and the intense look of concentration as he too read. She hadn't known he liked to read until this trip. She wondered what it was and if she'd read it before or would like it.
There was something about the morning that made her more sluggishness so that when Gale looked up at her she wasn't fast enough at going back to peering down at her book.
"I knew it! You keep staring at me. Will you quit it!" Gale snapped. "It's driving me crazy."
Madge, startled to hear him actually speaking to her, dropped her book. Remember she thought to herself, you're Mr. Darcy. You are suave and insulting. "Why should I? It's not like you usually notice me when I'm around, and when you do you're usually the one doing the glaring. Anyways, why would I stare at you? I'm looking at all the nice trees behind." She almost smacked herself for that. Looking at the trees? She must be going crazy.
"Fine Undersee. You know, I thought if you came on this trip we could get to know each other better and be friends. If I'd known you were going to give me the silent treatment the whole time I wouldn't have suggested to Katniss and bread boy that we invite you." Gale snarled back.
"You! Wanting to be friends! And you're accusing me of giving you the silent treatment?" Madge gasped in outrage. "I'm pretty sure that almost every conversation we've had up until this point of knowing one another has been initiated by me! All you do is grunt and glare and accuse me of being a stuck up rich girl. I don't know what I ever saw in you but I'm done. I thought that giving you some of your own treatment in the Mr. Darcy style would make you see me differently but apparently you are just incapable of thinking of me in any thing other than a negative light!" She stood up and glared at him one last time. "You can tell Katniss and Peeta that I'll see them Sunday night. I'm going home." She stood up, turned on her heel, and stalked away.
Madge had every intention of hitchhiking back to the dorms if necessary. She had money, keys, and her cell phone in her pocket. She knew it was dangerous to hitchhike but she couldn't stand being stuck with Gale for another minute. She was certain she would have made it back too if only she hadn't gotten lost. Being Madge, she'd decided to take a short cut through the forest and had ended up getting turned around. It was just her luck that it started to rain.
At first Madge didn't realize there had been a change in the weather as she'd been crying and had assumed that the wetness she was feeling on her face was just due to tears. Soon enough though she was wet all over and she knew didn't think it was possible for anyone to cry that hard. Madge looked around for shelter and thought she spotted a building and started running towards it. About halfway to the dark shape she tripped over a slippery tree root. With a cry she landed on her side and felt a sharp pain on her shin. Looking down she saw that it had been scrapped up and was starting to form a welt. She took another look at the shape and saw it wasn't a house after all. What a mess I've made, she thought. Maybe I can just drown my sorrows in the rain if I sit here under this tree.
She must have been sitting there for at least 10 minutes before she heard someone calling her name. She didn't respond at first, her bravado about being safe alone in the woods suddenly gone. As she heard her name again though, she realized she recognized the voice, she'd just never heard Gale say her first name.
"Madge! Madge, can you hear me?"
She straightened somewhat from her hunched position and looked around. "Gale! I'm over here!"
She suddenly saw his blue raincoat come into view. He ran up to her. "Madge, are you okay? You're soaking! Don't you ever go running off like that again."
She looked up at him and tears began to well up again. "I'm sorry," she blubbered. "I wasn't thinking and I was angry. You can just leave me here. I'll be fine."
Gale sighed, "Come here Madge. I brought your coat. Are you hurt?"
She looked down at her leg and saw his hand move down to hover over it, hesitating before withdrawing. "Madge, do you think you can walk? Let me help you up."
She looked up and saw Gale lean in close. He grabbed her under the armpits and pulled her up. She tried taking a step and felt wobbly.
"Here, put on your raincoat. I'll carry you."
Madge tried protesting as she slipped the raincoat over her wet arms but Gale picker her up bridal style as soon as she'd zipped up the coat.
"No Madge. If I'd acted more like a normal person we never would have fought. If I hadn't been yelling too you never would have left. If I'd come looking for you sooner this never would have happened. Let me help you now to make up for being so stupid." As Gale carried her, Madge leaned into his chest. He was so warm and she felt so cold, she tried burying her head into his shoulder breathing in the forest smells of Gale.
After what she was sure was much less time than it had taken her to stomp away from the campsite, Gale had carried her back and deposited her in the tent. "Madge I'm going to stand outside while you change. You need to get into dry clothes and warm up. Let me know when I can come in."
She nodded and began to peel the wet layers off. Madge grabbed her towel and tried drying her arms and hair and gently blotting her legs. Thankfully she'd brought warm pajamas that she then pulled on. She hissed as the pant leg rubbed along her injured leg.
"You okay?" Gale asked, concern obvious in his voice.
"I'm fine," she looked at his shape through the tent wall. "You can come in now." She asked as he maneuvered in, "Did you want me to stand outside so you can change too?"
He grinned at her, "Thanks for the concern but I think I don't have to worry about you trying to get all handsy with me. You should stay warm and dry in here."
Madge turned around quickly as he began to unzip his coat. Did that mean that she had to worry about him getting handsy? Had Gale Hawthorne been protecting her honor? Madge tried to think of other things as she heard him first removing articles of clothing, toweling dry, and then putting on dry items.
"Alright, all done," came Gale's deep voice.
She turned around. "Do you think Katniss and Peeta are okay?"
"Yeah, Katniss knows where all the shelters are and she probably packed their raincoats. I wouldn't worry about them. They'll probably lay low for a while until the rain lets up a bit and then make their way back. I doubt they will get anywhere near as wet as you did."
She shivered, the initial warmth of dry clothes had already dissipated.
"You still cold?" Gale asked, scrutinizing her.
She nodded and looked around for additional layers. Gale seemed to make his mind up about something because he zipped open first his sleeping bag and then hers before arranging them one on top of the other. He lifted the edge of the top one and gestured for her to get inside.
"Thanks," Madge smiled at him. Her smile quickly disappeared as he proceeded to get in next to her. She looked at him questionly.
"Hey, I can't always be a gentleman. Besides, don't they always talk about sharing body heat to warm up?" Gale said in response to her gaze.
Madge nodded, "I suppose."
"Good," and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush with his body, her head tucked under his chin.
Madge stayed stiff for a few moments before relaxing into Gale. She had been dreaming about something like this happening for the last year or so, so she might as well enjoy it.
"Much better," Gale murmured, his breathe ghosting across her cheek. They lay there in silence for a few minutes as warmth began to buildup under the cover. "So Undersee," Madge could feel Gale's chest rumbling as he spoke and his voice had gotten husky, "if you're playing the part of Darcy, I supposed that makes me Elizabeth. Does that mean we have to go through the whole bit where I reject your proposal and then visit your house before deciding that I was misguided the whole time and am madly in love with you? Or can we just skip to the part where you kiss me? Before you answer, remember that I am saving you from hypothermia." Madge pulled away slightly to look up at him. Just as she imagined, he was smirking.
She pursed her lips, "Well my parents do have a pretty nice house, I suppose I could arrange for a visit." He didn't let her get any further, pulling her back against him but this time guiding her face to his at their lips met.
