The sheer amount of people currently occupying Gale's little house has allowed me the ability to successfully avoid both of our mothers since our awkward exchange this morning. I have found that the easiest way to evade their paths is to simply remain busy at all times.

Get Posy washed and dressed.

Make sure Prim is ready.

Get myself washed and dressed.

Look for my shirt.

Fail to find my shirt.

Put Gale's t-shirt back on.

Break up some sibling bickering between Vick and Rory.

Eat breakfast without looking away from the table.

Wash the dishes.

Gale too, seems to have discovered that keeping busy makes it easier to avoid our parents, as he stands diligently at my side, drying the dishes from breakfast that I wash. Our place by the sink also allows us to face the window and look out onto the Seam, rather than at our families. Not that anything interesting is happening outside- no one is yet allowed to leave their properties or the square- but I'm doing everything in my power not to catch my mother's eye.

Gale nudges my side, whether by accident or on purpose I'm not sure, but I don't dare look at him, knowing the family are still hovering in the kitchen behind us. I'm too focused on my own humiliation from this morning to listen to the conversations taking place behind me, but a particularly loud groan and thud, catches my attention and I glance around to the table.

Rory has dramatically thrown himself across the kitchen table, much to the amusement of the kids and the irritation of his mother.

"Well, I'm sorry, Rory," Hazelle says to her son, "but it's not down to me."

"But I'm bored!" Rory emphasises with a hand gesture so extravagant that he almost hits Posy in the face.

"Me too!" Vick says, jumping on the bandwagon.

"Me too!" Posy choruses, standing on the chair closest to Gale. He easily lifts her off and back onto the floor, tea towel slung over his shoulder. She pouts at him.

"I know you're all bored!" Hazelle stands and throws her arms in the air in defeat.

My mother sits with Prim perched on her lap, due to the lack of chairs, and the same exasperated expression on her face.

Hazelle continues, "But you know how it works. We can't leave the house, until the Peacekeepers say so, and that means no one is going to climb trees and no one is leaving the boundaries surrounding this house." The tone of Hazelle's voice is so authoritative that none of the boys or Prim dare to question her. However, Posy takes advantage of the sudden silence following her mother's words.

"But, Mommy!" she whines, tugging on Hazelle's skirt.

"But nothing!" Hazelle shouts so loud it even make me jump slightly, and Posy seems to get the message. She lets go of her mother and shuffles around the table to stand next to me.

Posy's small frame leans against my hip and when I look down to her, she has a thumb in her mouth and a hand rubbing the hem of Gale's t-shirt that I am still dressed in. None of this is fair on the kids. It's almost impossible to keep the four of them cooped up in the house for two days, and although they can play in the back yard, it's really not big enough for any of them to run around and exploit their energy.

The room is quiet after Hazelle' outburst. I dry my hands on the tea towel Gale has removed from his shoulder and placed on the counter and place my hands on Posy's shoulders. She looks up at me at the contact and takes the thumb from her mouth.

"But why?" she asks me in a tiny voice.

I'm about to give her a bullshit answer that we feed all the kids, when Rory slides off the table and irritably barks "Because the stupid careers won't kill each other quick enough!"

"Rory!" Hazelle and Gale hiss at the same time. Rory shrugs and storms out of the kitchen, Prim on his heels. I hear the door from the living room to the back yard open and close forcefully, leaving the kitchen quiet again.

My mother and Hazelle are having a silent conversation involving shrugs and the rolling of eyes that is beyond me, Gale grips one of my hands, Posy watches the door where her brother and my sister have disappeared, and Vick stares at his feet from his position in the corner.

"He's not wrong." Vick mumbles as he leaves the kitchen. If Hazelle hears what he says, she doesn't show it.

I can't say I disagree with Vick.

The back door opens and closes again as Vick leaves.

The three of us, Posy, Gale and I, stand silently, looking over at our mothers. Posy has managed squeeze herself so far between Gale and I, that she's practically hidden behind us.

Hazelle sighs heavily and gives me a sad smile, before looking to Gale with the same expression. "Why don't you two take her into the living room to play?"

Gale nods and nudges me towards the door with our hands that are still entwined. He doesn't bother to hide the fact, but our parents seem more concerned about the other kids, following Rory's outburst.

I lead Posy into the living room and Gale let's go on my hand as we enter. I look to him questioningly.

"I'll be in in a second." He clarifies, putting a hand on my back, and I nod.

Gale has left the door open between the two rooms, so even as I sit Posy down on Gale's makeshift bed, next to the cardboard box filled with the 'toys', I can hear what is being said.

"I could talk to him?" Gale says, and I assume he means Rory.

"No, I'll do it, later." Hazelle replies. "Just watch Posy for a while, will you?"

"Okay." Gale appears at the door a second later and closes it behind him, coming to sit down on the pillows next to Posy and I. "So, what are we playing?" he smiles at his little sister, all evidence of the sombre conversation with his mother completely gone from the tone his voice.

Posy looks from Gale to me and back again, her expression the picture of concern, not tricked by Gale's false cheer.

"I don't get it." She says.

"What don't you get, Pose?" Gale asks, though from his expression and the slight crease between his eyebrows I can guess he already knows what she means.

"Why won't the Peacekeepers let us play with the other kids, outside?"

The fact that Posy's main concern is that she cannot currently play with her friends in the street, is somewhat of a consolation that this little four year old doesn't have the knowledge of the Hunger Games' terror that the others are already aware of. She's looking up at Gale questioningly, her thumb having made it back into her mouth.

Gale sighs heavily, his soft expression very reminiscent of Hazelle's earlier. "I'm sorry you can't play with your friends, Pose. But it's only a little while longer." He brushes some hair from his baby sister's face and she crawls into his lap, settling back against his chest. She looks to me.

"Tomorrow, after dinner," I say to the four year old, "this will all be over, and then we can go and climb some trees."

Posy smiles and the thumb falls out of her mouth. "Promise, Cat, that we can go and climb some trees tomorrow?" she demands. I look over to Gale and his chest rumbles in a laugh.

"Yes." I confirm. "After dinner, we'll go and climbs some trees."

"Promise?" Posy says very seriously and Gale laughs again.

"I promise." I smile, grabbing her little finger with my own and bringing it to my mouth to kiss it. She smiles brightly and copies my action, kissing my own pinkie.

"Now Gale." Posy says and does the same thing with Gale's little finger, which is almost bigger than Posy's hand. Gale kisses her finger, too, grinning at me at the whole audacity of the act. She drops his hand once the time-old ritual has been completed and looks at both of us expectantly.

"What?" I ask, still smiling like an idiot.

"We did the promise," Posy points to me, "and we did the promise," she points to Gale, "now you both need to do the promise."

"Do we now?" Gale raises a brow at her demands.

"Yes. Of course." Her emphasis makes me laugh and Posy's expression suddenly becomes stern. "I'm serious. It' the rule."

Gale rolls his eyes and holds his pinkie finger out for me to take. "It's the rule, Catnip." He mimics Posy.

"It is the rule, Catnip." She parrots and I can't help but grin at her use of the nickname.

I grab Gale's finger. "Well I guess if it's the rule." I sigh jokingly, pulling his finger to my lips to kiss it.

Gale dramatically pulls it back and kisses my own finger, making Posy laugh from her position in his lap. "And let it be decreed," he says in a weird Capitol accent, "that on this day, at the tenth hour-," he glances at the broken clock, "-ish, that Posy Hawthorne, Gale Hawthorne, and Katniss Everdeen, made the pinkie promise to climb trees after dinner, on the morrow." Gale finishes with a flourish of his hands that has Posy giggling hysterically, and me gasping for breath between bursts of laughter.

"You're ridiculous." I wheeze, swallowing hard in an attempt to get a handle on myself, "You know that, right?"

"You're ridiculous, Gale." Posy laughs, twisting to look up at her brother with a smirk on her face.

Gale raises a brow questioningly and looks back to me. "This is your doing, Everdeen." He points a finger at his sister and shrug helplessly. "You're turning her into a mini-you."

"Now, would that be so bad?" I taunt, lifting Posy from him and into my lap. She giggles and cuddles into me, wrapping her skinny arms around my waist and resting her head on my chest. "You want to grow up to be just like me, don't you, Pose?" Posy nods, smiling widely, tongue caught between her teeth. "Sorry, Hawthorne," I say, kissing Posy on the head, "she's all mine, now."

"Sorry, Hawthorne." She giggles. "Anyway," Posy's expression becomes contemplative and she cranes her neck around to look at me, "you're a Hawthorne, too."

I look to Gale and he seems to share the same confusion I'm feeling, shrugging and looking back to his sister.

"No, Pose. Katniss is an Everdeen, you know that. Like Prim, and Mrs Everdeen…" he shrugs again.

"But…" Posy twists her head to me, then back to Gale, whipping me in the face with her ponytail in the process, much to Gale's amusement. "…I thought when you're boyfriend and girlfriend you get married when you sleep in the same bed, then you have the same name." The logic of a four year old takes a second to register in my brain, and apparently a second longer to register on Gale's face. "Or are you 'Gale Everdeen' now?"

Gale seems to choke on nothing at Posy's words, where I can only stay silent. Words tend to fail me at the best of times, so it's no surprise to me that right now all I can do I watch Gale over Posy's head.

"Well, er…" he begins, eloquent with his words as always, "…you see, Pose." I do feel for Gale, attempting to explain this to Posy in a way which will both satisfy her, and not throw both of us into hot water, but all I can do is nod encouragingly and give a small smile, which I'm sure is actually a grimace. "The thing is, Katniss and I aren't actually married."

"But last night you slept in the same bed." She says to Gale, as if this concept is beyond him. A real smile is pulled from me at that.

"Yes, but, that doesn't make us married. Being married, that's something else." Gale says.

"What is it, then?" Posy asks.

"Two people, they get married when they've loved each other for a really long time. Like, lots of years. And you'll figure that out when you grow up. When you're older, much older, like thirty-five, and I approve of the person, and-,"

"Gale." I interject, attempting to get him back on topic.

"Right, sorry." He smiles at me apologetically and fixes his gaze back on his baby sister. "You understand, Posy? Marriage, it's special, really special. Those two people should love each other more than anything is the whole universe. They should want to be together forever."

I smile and Gale's description, dropping my head slightly to rest my cheek on the top of Posy's head so he can't see. It's a different description of marriage to the one I've been living with inside my head, and Gale knows this. Marriage makes you weak, makes you vulnerable. Look at our parents.

For both of us, for both of our families, marriage is a sore spot. The closest relationship myself, Gale, and the rest of the kids have to an adult are our mothers, and both of their marriages were affected in the same way. I try not to think about it. Maybe Gale's description is a nicer thought to focus on than my own, even if it is a significantly more terrifying concept.

Posy shifts beneath my cheek slightly and I lift up my head. She's looking up at me with the same considering expression she was wearing before.

"But," she looks at Gale, "that's you."

"What's me?" he asks.

"No, you and Katniss." She clarifies.

"Huh?" Gale raises his brows in question, voicing my thoughts exactly.

"You and Cat, you've loved each other for a long time and you love each other more than anything else." Posy says the words so casually that I wonder if this is not the first time she has voiced this opinion.

"Katniss and I aren't-," Gale looks to me, his cheeks red as my own feel. "We don't…I…" he trails off without voicing any coherent thoughts and rubs the back of his head.

Again, I'm not much help in this situation and when Gale looks at me, cheeks still blazing, it's all I can do to hold his gaze and not to look away. I owe him that much comfort.

It's the four-year-old little girl among us who relieves the tension. Posy lays her head on my chest and looks up at my with a wry grin. "It's okay," she whispers dramatically, and in no way quieter than her usual small voice, "I won't tell anyone that you're in love."

I cough to cover the fact that a smile has come out of left field and made residence on my face at her words. I chance a glance at Gale who is openly grinning at little Posy, though his blush has yet to dissipate.

"I promise." She says. "And I'm really good at keeping secrets. I won't ever tell my best friend's secret."

Gale raises his brows. "And who exactly is your best friend?"

"Katniss." Posy shrugs, and I feel a sudden, rather unfamiliar, swell of emotion at her words.

"Really?" I ask, hugging her slightly tighter.

"Mmm hmm. You're my best friend, Prim is my second best friend, Lucy, at school is my third-," she counts off on her fingers.

"And what about me?" Gale questions, crossing his arms.

"You're my brother." Posy smiles and I can't help but laugh.

Gale narrows his eyes at me.

"She's not wrong." I point out.

"But, I'm your best brother, right?" he questions.

Posy laughs, apparently taking great pleasure in teasing her eldest brother. "Well…" she puts a finger to her chin and pretends to think, "…maybe."

"Oh is that so? Maybe?" Gale says darkly, a glint of mischief in his eyes, getting onto his hands and knees and crawling over to us slowly. "And I promised tree climbing!"

I gasp, mostly for Posy's benefit, and tighten my grip on her, shuffling us both back. "Stay back, monster." I warn, and Posy giggles, but drops one arm from my waist and aims a warning fist towards her big brother.

"Stay back, monster." She imitates.

Gale moves closer towards us, growling and snarling as he moves. "I'm going to get you." He sings, reaching out for Posy.

She squeals and buries her face into my neck even as she laughs, swinging another fist at Gale.

"I'm coming to get you." He sings in the same tone, getting close enough to trap Posy and I against the wall.

Posy screams into my chest as Gale growls again, though the snarls are less threatening when interspersed with grumbles of laughter. I'm laughing too, partly at Posy's squeals, but mostly at Gale, half sprawled on the floor, an arm stretching out to grab at Posy.

Gale lifts her out of my lap with one hand, using only the back of her t-shirt. Her grip around my waist remains solid, and I playfully pull on her arms, the game suddenly becoming a very strange variation of tug-of-war where a small child has replaced the rope.

"Let go, little girl!" Gale says in his exaggerated Capitol accent. "Your precious, Katniss cannot save you now!"

"What are you doing?" Rory asks from the back door, Prim on one side of him, Vick on the other, all with equal expressions of confusion etched onto their faces.

We stop our game and Gale carefully puts Posy down. She sits up, a huge smile on her face and looks towards Rory, brushing hair out of her eyes. She grabs one of Gale's arms with one hand and one of mine with the other, wrapping them around her in an attempt to get the game started again.

"Gale is a monster, I'm a princess and Cat is a princess too, but she's not wearing a dress because she has to save me and it's too hard to do that in a dress." Posy says this to our siblings as if it were a well-rehearsed play we were all part of.

"I was not aware that that was the story-line we were working with." Gale says to me and I shrug.

Rory shakes his head and steps further into the house, letting the other two follow. "Whatever, it's starting to rain, so…" he trails off, gesturing vaguely at the door Vick is locking.

"You decided to come and play in the house?" Gale finishes for him.

"Something like that." Rory shrugs, kicking off his shoes and coming to sit on the couch where Prim has perched herself.

For several minutes we're all quiet. Prim and Rory sit on the couch, watching as Gale and I untangle ourselves from Posy's grasps and regain a more comfortable position on his make-shift bed. Vick leans over the back of the sofa, watching his oldest brother over the shoulder of his other brother. Posy looks around the room, now sitting in between Gale and I on the pillows, giving each person a questioning glance before deciding the game has in fact ended, and shuffling over to the 'toy box' to rummage through.

I catch Prim's eye for a second, but she looks away guiltily, focusing on a spot somewhere to my right. I frown at this, looking to Rory. He sighs heavily and claps once, leaning forward to look at Gale and I with equal measure.

"So, we've been talking." He indicates Vick and Prim, who still refuses to look my way. "And we've decided that if you two aren't going to acknowledge it, well, we are."

I look over at Gale, who mirrors my posture, glancing my way. I can't help but feel as though a lecture may be on the way from our younger siblings. If I weren't so worried about what Rory is planning to say next, I would find the way the twelve year old is looking at both of us rather hilarious. I almost feel as though we may be about to get into trouble.

Rory clears his throat and we both look back at him. He turns his attention to Gale, Vick's head practically on his shoulder. "Are you having sex with her or not?"

I think I may vomit.

Prim smirks slightly but doesn't alter her gaze.

Rory raises his brows in question.

Vick mirrors this.

Posy looks up from the box. "What's sex mean?"

"Holy shit." Gale says, and I drop my head into my hands.

I am not prepared to have this conversation.

"Gale said 'shit'!" Posy gasps.

"Fuck." Gale groans.

A/N: Hey guys, thanks for the reviews, they're much appreciated and really spur me on. It's exam time at uni so sorry for the long gap between updates. Sorry I'm always apologising. Sorry. Fuck. Sorry. Damnit!

Anyway, enjoy. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Love you, guys. xxx