Damn it was so long ago that I got this review that I forgot who to give credit to but I'll look and see if I can find it but if you gave me the pig's pen idea then review or PM me and I'll give you the credit you deserve :D

Gale's POV

"I have to WHAT!" Ryan exclaims in anger at finding out his new job.

"There's a farmer here named Phil who needs a farm-hand and I signed you up. Mitch and I will be trying to get every cent we can get but you're going to work for this man for the next few months unless that is, you want us to call the peacekeepers," he just flicks me off and walks up to Phil's door.

Phil opens the door and the first thing he sees is Ryan, he glares. I told him everything that happened and he isn't too happy with him but he's willing to give him work because he really does need the help and this is as brutal a punishment I could legally give.

"I'll keep him in his place Gale!" Phil shouts around Ryan and pushes him inside. As well as a punishment, this will be a test of Ryan's self-control because Phil's got a daughter whose Ryan's age that helps around the house. Oh this should be good.

I run off to the Nut where Beetee is waiting outside for me and holds out a stack of blue-prints for me to approve and edit. I run past him, grabbing the stack as I go and rush into my office where I immediately start going over the ideas of how these weapons should work and what purpose they would be used for.

I do this for 3 hours straight before I run out of stuff to work on, so I organize all the blueprints and my notes and bring them back to Beetee in his office.

"Done already? I wasn't expecting the-"

"Do you have anything else for me to work on? I really need the money, quick." He looks taken back by my eagerness.

"Gale… what's up with you? You've been acting odd lately and taking your problems out on your job isn't good for you. Talk to me, it'll probably help a lot." Sighing, I start to tell him everything that's happened over the last few days, starting with the day I shot Madge in the woods.

Half an hour later

"I guess I'm just anxious to get that last bit of money for her surgery," for the last half hour he's sat in his chair and listened and I almost feel bad for taking up his time but it really did feel good to get all that off my chest.

"But why are you doing all this for a girl you never liked when you were younger?" I shrugged.

"I guess I just feel responsible for all that's happened to her and she didn't deserve all that stuff I said to her when we were kids…" he pauses a moment and soaks all this in but then gets an all knowing smile on him and looks at me like he knows something that I don't.

"Gale there has to be some other reason you're doing this for her," it takes me a moment to understand what he's talking about but then it clicks, "No! I'm not interested in her Beetee, I can't even think about other girls like that after…Katniss," I knew this was a bad idea, I'm somehow always digging up bad memories of Katniss, the Katniss I loved, the Katniss I left, the Katniss that hates me. Scratch all previous feelings of relief, I feel even worse now than I did before I started talking.

"Gale listen, I'm not trying to tell you who you should be with but I know you do care about her and after hearing about all the trouble you've gone through just for her I think I'll pay for her whole surgery, as a gift for you both." I guess I'll have Ryan work off 5 thousand on the farm and I could take it as repayment for what he owes me and as debt for putting Madge in the hospital in the first place but I can give Mitch back his money … "No, not all of it, I'm still going to pay for a bit of it, as much as I can. I owe it to her and I hate owing people things."He handed me 10,000 dollars and tells me I have the next week off work to help Madge recover, 'paid leave' he called it so I guess that's sort of a plus.

Taking a deep breath, I walk over to the hospital and pay for her surgery, now all there's left to do it wait for them to let me see her.

After surgery: Madge's POV

Everything hurts.

After my I woke up in the recovery wing I saw Gale asleep in a chair in a corner.

I try and grab the glass of water on the table next to me but when I reach for it I just hurt myself and gasp loudly.

Falling back onto my pillow I stare at the pattern on the ceiling, counting the dots.

After what feels like an eternity, Gale finally wakes up.

Groaning, I roll over onto my side to see him better.

"Hi," I whisper in pain.

"Hey," he says through a yawn, "How you feel?"

"Just peachy, I just love having my insides scooped out, messed with, and put back inside me. I should do this more often."

"Sorry, dumb question."I nod, "Ya think?" I gasp again as another wave of pain wracks my body.

"On a scale of 1-10 how bad does it hurt with 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life?" he asks me.

"Three!" I almost yell. "Wimp!" he begins, "How is a three that bad of a pain you're almost crying?"

I stare angrily at him, he may never understand, "The Capitol is…was a very cruel place full of unspeakable means of torture, don't call me a wimp, I would've taken your lashings all those years ago over the pain and suffering I went through in the Capitol." He just stares at me solemnly, most likely remembering the whipping he endured but I'm right. He has never, nor ever will, feel the same pains I did and always will feel because of them.

"I'm sor-" "Sorry doesn't cut it!" I yell, "You can't even begin to understand the pain I went through there!" he pauses for a long time and clenches and unclenches his fists at his sides, probably debating whether or not to punch me right now.

"Then tell me so I can understand. Please Madge." He begs.

I give up! He won't get it until I tell him so I might as well get this over with.

"The first week they didn't give me anything to eat and only gave me water every other day, that part was to make me weak so I couldn't fight back, then they blindfolded me and questioned me about the rebellion and who was involved and when I didn't give them the answers they were looking for they would slice me, it was somewhere different every time, that part was to break me down mentally," tears well up in my eyes and Gale starts to tell me to stop but I just hold up my hand, take a drink of water when he hands me the glass and continue.

"By the third week I was bloody, tired, hungry, thirsty, and sick. I had an infection in all of the cuts and I hadn't seen any form of light since they kidnapped me. I wasn't alone though, they had also grabbed my parents and I could hear their screams but they weren't the fake ones that the Capitol creates, I watched them torture my parents right in front of me," this time a tear escapes my left eye but I quickly wipe it away hoping Gale didn't see but I know he probably did.

"After what I had guessed had been a month they had killed my parents in front of me, cut me, electrocuted me, violated me, broken every bone in my body at least 3 times, whipped me, kicked me, deprived me, and chained me to a wall that when I moved more than 4 feet from I would get burned on my wrists and ankles. Then the President wanted to see me. He and 4 peacekeepers came to my cell and each peacekeeper took either a leg or an arm and carried me to his dining room where he questioned me…about you and Katniss," he flinches at her name but doesn't do anything else so I keep going, "I knew that you both were involved but I protected you, and do you know why?" he stayed silent, "Because you both worked hard to survive when we were kids and then into your teens, the Capitol needed to be stopped and if I had told him exactly who you were he would've kept pressing for information until I told him everything. So I didn't tell him…he stabbed me in the leg, the same spot where Peeta was cut by Cato in the games and as the peacekeepers carried me back to my cell I watched the ground as I left a trail of blood. Once I was back in my cell there was always a peacekeeper there." I can see anger boiling in Gale's eyes while I speak and it kind of frightens me but I need to be strong and keep going.

"He said I deserved that and that I was so spoiled growing up while everyone else suffered that I should just have died right then and there and I started to believe him after a while. I couldn't feel any pain anymore and they stopped feeding me, I could see all my crooked bones and could even tell where each spot where they had broken them was. I had lost all hope of ever leaving and one day I just decided I was going to die so I went to sleep and fully intended to never wake up." This time I think I can see tears welling up in Gale's eyes but that must be my eyes playing tricks on me.

"I obviously didn't end up dying, but when I did wake up I was in a hospital in 13, they caught me up to speed on everything that had happened and told me that we had won the Rebellion, I was so happy I cried. Over several more months I had gone into many more surgeries where they fixed all of my bones so I wouldn't have much more trouble with them and then I was released from the hospital. I left for here, District 2, thinking nobody I knew besides Katniss and Peeta had made it out of the rebellion alive and I knew that I would be assumed dead so if I ran into them here I could just pretend I was someone else but then I saw you and I just didn't know what I should do so I ran and watched you to be sure I hadn't just seen someone else who looked like you but it was the day you shot me I was sure," we both chuckle a bit but I try my hardest not to since it just hurts my side more, "Then all this crap started happening to me and I'm starting to believe that the world is just dead set against me ever wanting to be happy again so I've just come to accept that I don't deserve happiness and that I should just stay out of everyone else's lives or I end up hurt."

" I never kne-" "I'm sorry sir but visiting hours ended 30 minutes ago, I have to ask you to leave," a nurse interrupts Gale when he finally gets .

"You should go, just be sure to come back early tomorrow," I say trying my hardest to maintain a smile while he goes but it's hard seeing my only visitor leave so soon after he got here.

"Night Madge," he says as he shuts the door behind him, "Night," I say even though he's already gone and probably won't hear me.

Gale's POV on the way back home

She's so stupid; of course she deserves to be happy! Yet another reason to hate the Capitol, they put all those false thoughts in her head. It's like Peeta's hijacking only I guess with less murderous intent.

By the time I get home Ryan's waiting by the door, leaning on the side of my house, looking pissed. "Here's my pay for today, I'll stop by every day until I've paid you everything I owe. Bye." He says before stalking off.

I count out everything he gave me and it adds up to about 200 dollars, at least I'll get it all back soon I guess.

Leaving the money on my table I head up to my room to go to sleep.

I change into some comfortable pajamas and lay down on the bed but no matter how hard I try I just can't fall asleep because of how guilty I feel that she thinks she deserves to be miserable for the rest of her life. Ugh how can one girl do this to me, I thought I would only think about Katniss like this but I guess I never really got close enough to any other girls to think so much about them and their lives.

This is going to be a long night.

Yes, yes I'm evil I know. I starved you of my story but don't worry because it's back and I made up for all the wait with a super long chapter so yay! *dances in a little circle* now click that little review button down there and make me smile :)