A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and subscriptions! You guys are all awesome! I hope you like this chapter! You should all be super proud of me for updating this story so often! Normally, I give up on stuff like this after a few days! But I promise, I will not give up on this until the story is finished! Let me know how you like it! Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Gale and Cato

"Katniss, are you even listening to me?" I'm brought back to reality by my sister's annoyed voice.

"Sorry, little duck. I'm just trying to soak it all in. What were you saying again? I promise I'll listen this time." I say, putting my arm around her and pulling her close.

"I was telling you how awesome Gale was. As soon as he heard the rumor about the Capitol bombing District 11, he started preparing everyone for an evacuation. We made it like ten miles out into the woods when Brose's people finally found us! And Gale was so calm the whole time, making sure everyone was still following and had enough water and food. It was really heroic of him." She gushes to me.

"Gale is a very strong person. I'm sure if you guys didn't run into Brose's people, he would still have kept you all safe." And I smile, thinking of how all of this is true of my best friend, who I still haven't seen yet.

"What ever happened to that Cato boy you were 'so in love with'?" Prim asks, looking up at me.

"He's a few doors down from the main hallway, I think. I'll introduce you to him."

"You mean, you actually like the guy? He seemed so horrible during the games. I was sure the whole love story was made up." There's disappointment in Prim's eyes and I'm not sure how to explain it all to her.

"It isn't like that Prim. We all had to do horrible things in the arena. I can't blame him for what happened in there. And the love story was made up. I didn't even get to know him until a few days ago. He really isn't that bad of a guy, Prim." I say, looking down at her.

She shrugs. "Can we go see him now?"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. He's being reunited with his family. He might want some alone time." I say, but Prim is already pulling me by my hand and down our hallway. "Prim, we can meet him later, I promise." But she's still ignoring me.

"What door is it?" She questions, but then opens the correct door anyways. I can't help but smile at how direct Prim is, how well she can read my face. I honestly don't know which door he is in, so at least my facial expressions can't give that information away.

"What are you planning on doing, Prim? Are you going to knock on every door until you find him?"

"I will if I have to. I want to meet Cato. I did watch you guys in the arena. And on television for your interview. He's really cute."

"You aren't old enough to think boys are cute yet, little duck." I cluck at her and she sticks her tongue out at me. She's about to start knocking on doors when I hear his voice. There's laughter coming from a few doors down. Prim hears it too and makes a bee line right for it.

She knocks on the door and the laughter stops for a second. When the door opens, my heart skips a beat. I know I haven't been away from Cato for more than a few hours, but seeing his face lit up like that makes me all warm inside. He looks genuinely happy.

"Katniss." He says, seeing me first. Prim clears her throat and he looks down at her. "You must be Primrose. I'm Cato. It's nice to meet you." He gives her an award winning smile and I'm almost sure she's going to faint. "Why don't you two come in? I'd like to introduce you to a few people." Prim steps right in and I hesitate. Cato looks at me with a knowing smile before gesturing for me to come in too. When I pass him, he grabs my arm and whispers in my ear. "You know, you look really beautiful when you're embarrassed." This makes my cheeks turn bright red, and I know there's no way I can hide my embarrassment before I make eye contact with an older version of Cato, except with grey eyes similar to mine.

"You must be Katniss. I'm Julius, Cato's father. This is my wife, Marigold and our other two children Briar and Ryker. It's nice to finally meet the girl on fire." He says the last part with a little bit of spit, and I can tell he's still upset that his family was in danger because of something I had done.

"Oh Julius, knock it off. You know it wasn't the poor girl's fault. You'd have to blame Cato too if you're going to blame her." Marigold says, stepping from behind her husband to playfully slap him on the arm. She looks absolutely stunning. She looks almost too young to be Cato's mother, with long flowing auburn hair, and sparkling blue eyes that match Cato's. Her cheekbones are prominent, and her body is long and slender. If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed that she had work done in the Capitol. But so many of her beautiful, unique features show in her three children. I look from their mother to them.

Briar is just as beautiful as her mom. She's almost an exact replica, except she has her father's grey eyes and stern jaw line. Ryker looks like the odd one out with his mother's auburn hair. He's also a lot shorter than the rest of them, but he looks like he's a lot younger than them as well. Maybe Prim's age.

"It's nice to meet you all." I say politely.

"Can you really shoot an animal through the eye with a bow and arrow?" Ryker blurts out as his sister hushes him. Cato chuckles at how direct his brother is.

"Yes, I can. I've been hunting in my district for years now. It gets easy with a lot of practice." I say, smiling back at them.

Ryker's eyes widen. Briar speaks up next. "Isn't it illegal to hunt in your district? It was in ours. We had a lot of rules back home."

"It was still illegal in our district too, but the Peacekeepers in District 12 weren't treated very well by the Capitol, so they let a lot of things slide. Quite a few of them even bought stuff from me weekly." I raise my eyebrows at them and smile, and they seem content.

Prim butts in, wanting to be part of the conversation. "Katniss is amazing! She basically fed our whole district with the stuff her and Gale caught! She even bought me a goat! But we had to leave her behind." Prim frowns and Ryker frowns with her. Briar seems like she wants to frown too, but doesn't want to seem like a child. She must only be about a year or two younger than me and is trying to act like the children's conversation isn't interesting her.

"I'm sorry we barged in like that. Prim just really wanted to meet you. But we'll leave. I haven't had a chance to see my mother yet. But when she comes back up to our room, I'll have to introduce you to her. We're a few doors down in the main hallway." I say, backing out with Prim in tow. They all said goodbye, and I saw a glimmer in Cato's eyes as he admired the interaction between his family and mine.

As we walk back down the hallway, Prim looks up at me and smiles. "I like him. And his family. I didn't think I would."

I put my arm around her and bump her with my hip. "I told you he wasn't that bad. You should never judge a book by its cover, little duck."

She smiles up at me, and then looks back towards them. "Do you want me to take you down to see mom now? I'm sure the infirmary has calmed down, and she'll want to look at your elbow." I glance down at my elbow, I completely forgot about it. They were supposed to take us down there before we met with our families. I guess the new shipment of injured people took priority over us. Which was fine with me until just now, when I realize how much pain my elbow is really in.

"That sounds like a great idea. I could use a little touch up on my bandages." And with that, we follow the spiral of hallway down to the bottom floor. There are only a few doors here. Prim tells me where they lead. One leads to the cafeteria, another leads to a large assembly room, another leads to the infirmary, and the last few doors lead to classrooms and lecture halls.

We make our way into the infirmary, and see there are many doors and half walls, hiding doctors and nurses and patients. Everyone smiles and waves at Prim, and I give her a questioning look.

"I spend a lot of time here with mom. They told me that if I go to all my classes, I can work here after school and learn to be a doctor, just like mom is." There's pride in her voice, and my heart swells a little. At least one good thing came from this whole rebellion thing. Prim and my mother both get a chance to do something better for their lives.

We go around a few corners and find my mother, helping a man who looks a little older than me with dark seam hair. When he looks up, my heart flip-flops.

Gale.

He sees me, and gets up, pushing my mother aside. He comes right to me, pulling me into his arms. We stand like that for what seems like forever. Then he pulls me away from him so he can look at my face. "Katniss! I'm so glad you made it. We had communication with Haymitch after you got shot, but I didn't realize you'd be here so quickly. Are you alright?" He asks, tears in his eyes. "I really missed you Katniss. And I hated what they did to you. We should have run away when you asked me to. We could have found this place and then you would have never had to go into the arena at all."

I'm overwhelmed by his admissions, but I just nod and pull him in for another hug before I make eye contact with my mother. Our relationship has been strained since my father died, but I still worried about her when I was gone. I walk up to her and we embrace awkwardly. Then Prim joins us and I feel complete. My family and my friends are safe. At least, I think they are.

I turn back to Gale. "Is Madge alright?"

"Well, she's here. But I don't know if you would consider her 'alright'. Her parents—well, her mom wouldn't come. And her dad wouldn't leave her mom. So she had to leave them back home. The bombs hit too quickly for us to go back for them." He hangs his head, and I see that he feels guilty that he didn't get everyone out.

"You did an amazing job, Gale. You saved so many lives." I assure him, placing my hand on his arm. He looks down at it and I pull my arm away quickly. We should be used to each other's bodies from spending so much time out in the woods hunting, but now things are different. I'm a different person than I was. But even just looking into Gale's eyes, I remember my old friend. I remember how horrible I felt when I kissed Peeta in the arena, knowing Gale would have to watch it. I don't know why I thought it would bother him, but it bothered me just knowing he saw it all.

"Thanks. Katniss, can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Gale asks, pulling me aside. Prim and my mother exchange looks, then Prim turns to nod to me. We walk further down the hallway into the infirmary, until we come to an empty exam room. Gale turns to look at me. "Are you really alright? I mean, what the Capitol made you do, pretending to love Cato. That must have been horrible. Especially after you watched him kill Peeta."

"Gale, no. Just stop, please. I'm fine. Pretending to be in love with Cato wasn't even really that hard. He's not as bad as you think he is." I don't want to get into this with Gale. I know he would never befriend the person he thinks Cato is, but he doesn't know Cato like I do.

"Are you serious? He snapped Peeta's neck right in front of you. He would have killed you too!" I flinch at his words, and can't help but defend Cato.

"I killed people too, Gale. We all did things we didn't want to do in that arena. You have no right to judge him like that if you aren't going to judge me the same."

"How can you say something like that? He volunteered to go into the arena just so he could kill people. He trained for it. You only did it because you had to." There's anger in his face.

"You just don't understand. Cato is not who you think he is. We all put up a front for the games. You don't know Cato like I do." I mutter, about to turn around. But Gale grabs my arm and pulls me back towards him. His grip hurts, but I don't let him see the pain in my eyes.

"And exactly how well do you know him? You met him, what, three days ago?" Gale spat back.

"You know what, Gale? Forget it. You have no idea what went on in that arena. While you were safe at home, we were all fighting for our lives. So you have no right to judge anyone who had to live through that. Go screw yourself." I say, ripping my arm from his grip. I fight back the tears that are threatening to fall down my cheeks as I make my way back to my mother.

"Are you okay, dear?" She asks me, and I nod silently. Thankfully, my mother isn't one to, well, be motherly. "Let's inspect that elbow, shall we?" And for the rest of my visit down at the infirmary, we're silent. Prim had decided to go back up to the room to check up on Buttercup while I was talking with Gale. After about an hour of getting my elbow treated, my mother looks up at me and smiles. "All done! It should heal pretty quickly. Now, there was a boy in your group who got shot, wasn't there? He hasn't come down to get treated yet. Can you go get him for me?"

"His name is Cato. And yes, I'll go get him." I say, hopping off the table and heading back up the spiral hallway to Cato's door. It's pretty quiet behind his door, but I can still hear talking. I knock, and Briar opens the door.

"Hey Katniss! Back so soon?" She greets me, opening the door wide for me to come in.

"I just came back from the infirmary. My mother wants to check out Cato's wounds, just to make sure they're healing right." I say, searching the room for him. But he's nowhere to be found. Ryker sits on the floor in front of the bed that Marigold is laying on. Briar notices me looking at her.

"She has a bad headache. This whole living underground thing is hard on her. But Cato isn't here. He left with my dad an hour or so ago to take a tour. But I'll let him know you stopped by. If he hasn't gone down there before he gets back, I'll send him your way!" She says, trying to be cheerful. But I can see the sorrow in all of their eyes, having to leave their life back in District 2 to come live underground for a cause they really don't even care about. Who could blame them? District 2 is well fed, the Capitol takes care of them. This is like prison for them, whereas it's more of a godsend for us.

I stop by our room to see if Prim is there, but she's gone. Buttercup hisses at me when I open the door, so I decide against staying in there to wait for her. I head back down to the infirmary instead, to tell my mom that Cato will be by later. I hear screaming to my left as I enter the infirmary, and I almost recognize who it's coming from. I follow the scream down a few hallways and into a room, where a girl is strapped to a bed. She looks at me and her glare softens.

"Katniss. You're alive?"

"Madge. What happened?" I ask, in awe. Madge and I weren't really close, but she was my only other friend besides Gale. And she had always been calm and collected. Now, her hair is a knotted mess, there are scratches all over her face and her arms, and she is completely strapped down to a hospital bed.

"I—I don't know. I guess I just kind of lose it every now and then. It's hard being here alone. I mean, my mom wasn't much of a mom. But my dad—my dad was my best friend. And now he's gone. Forever. And some times, I feel okay about it. But most of the time, I guess I go a little crazy. So they've been keeping me strapped to this bed since right after I got here."

"I'm so sorry." I mumble, taking her hand in mine.

"Don't be. None if this is your fault. I saw what happened in the arena. You weren't trying to start a rebellion. I know that. So no matter what I say to you on my bad days just know I don't blame you. It's good to see a familiar face, though. The only other person who's come to see me besides the doctors and nurses has been Gale. I barely knew him back home, but he checks on me almost every day. You're a lucky girl, Katniss. You know that?" She looks up at me, half smiling, half tearing up.

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused. Lucky wouldn't be one of the words I would use to describe myself.

"Gale. He's in love with you. Watching the games was so hard on him. He couldn't wait for you to come home. When we came here a few weeks ago, he asked them to take him straight to the Capitol to get you." I blink at her a few times, before shaking my head.

"Gale isn't in love with me. He was just trying to be my friend, except he thinks being my friend means he can control me. I have to go talk to my mom, but I promise I'll come back tomorrow to see you." I say, squeezing her hand. She seems sad that I'm leaving, but lets me go.

When I finally find my mom, she's examining someone's side. They're laying down so I can't see who they are until I get closer. I see his chest first, and realize I would recognize that chest anywhere. Then I make my way up to his strong jawline, his beautiful face, and his piercing blue eyes.

"I see you found my mother okay." I say, smiling at him. He tries to sit up but my mother places her hand on his chest and pushes him back down.

"Actually, your sister found me and dragged me down here. She's just as bad as you. My wound isn't even that bad anymore." My mom laughs a little, but continues to work on putting new sutures in.

"Well you obviously ripped your stitches, or my mother wouldn't be giving you more." My mother nods her head, as if agreeing with me.

"I wasn't bleeding much. It would have been okay. I'm tough, I can handle it." He flexes his biceps, which ripple almost perfectly. I laugh at him and sit down across from my mom.

"I met Gale." He says, looking at me. I raise an eyebrow, asking him to continue. "He didn't seem to happy to meet me. Was he good friends with Peeta? I've noticed Peeta had a lot of friends. Everyone's been giving me death glares." He looks down.

I grab his hand and scoot closer to him. "No, Gale is just being stubborn. And yes, Peeta had quite a few friends. But don't worry about them. They'll warm up to you soon. I mean, come on. If I can forgive you, they can too. Plus, they probably don't like me much either right now. " I give him an encouraging smile, and I can see he's faking a smile to make me happy. I squeeze his hand before turning back to my mom. "How much longer is this going to take? I'm starting to get hungry." And with that, my stomach grumbles loudly. We all laugh.

"Perfect timing." My mother says. "I'm almost done. I just need to spray something on it and bandage it up and he'll be good to go. You know how to find the cafeteria, right?"

"Prim showed me when she brought me down here." I say, standing up as she sprays Cato's bullet wound. He stands up so she can wrap a bandage all the way around his torso. The bullet went straight through his body, but the hole in the back wasn't too bad. He'd only ripped the front stitches anyways. I'm almost disappointed when Cato pulls his shirt back over his head, and he looks at me before I can hide the look on my face.

He grins cockily at me, before grabbing my hand. We wave goodbye to my mother, and start heading towards the cafeteria. He leans down to whisper in my ear. "I would leave my shirt off, but I think there are already too many jealous girls giving you dirty looks." I look around and notice there are a lot of girls staring at me. But I think it's more because I'm holding hands with someone who killed the person I was supposed to be in love with. I can tell no one believed our love affair story. Either that or they didn't see it on television. I've only seem a few televisions since I've been here, and I highly doubt they are used very often.

When we walk into the cafeteria, there's a line for food. We're waiting in line, just looking around, but the people staring at us are starting to get to me. I notice one of them, in particular, that looks really familiar. He starts to get up and I realize what's happening, but it's too late to stop it.

I see another boy, younger than the first one but similar in looks, grab his arm and shake his head. "You don't want to do this, Crispin." But the older boy or more of a man really, named Crispin apparently, shakes his brother off and continues walking towards us.

"Sayer, if you try to stop me again, I will knock you out." He calls back, without taking his glare off of Cato and I. Cato hasn't noticed, so I tug on his arm. He turns just in time to see Crispin step over the rope for the line and charge right into him, slamming him against the wall. I scream for help, but no one is moving. Crispin is punching Cato in the face, repeatedly.

"Cato! Fight back!" I scream at him. But he doesn't. So I jump onto Crispin's back, latching onto him with my legs and my good arm, and begin clawing at his face. He rips me off his back and throws me to the ground. And this time, people come to break up the fight.

Two large men grab onto a now screaming Crispin, who is kicking and trying to break free. Sayer follows them, looking at me with sad eyes. I know those eyes, but I can't place where I know them from.

Cato is barely conscious, and I rush to him, leaning down on my knees. His face is covered in blood, and I notice his shirt is starting to seep with blood also, probably from his bullet wound. "Cato, stay with me. We're going to get you to the infirmary and you'll be as good as new."

"I deserved it, Katniss. I killed his brother." He says before shutting his eyes.