Next chapter! Sorry it wasn't up this morning; I haven't gotten a lot of sleep all week and fell asleep writing this chapter last night and had class this morning. Next chapter should be up tomorrow at a usual time. Enjoy!

We eat dinner and I go change into party clothes while Jullus tells the table about this fake party I'm going to, coming up with the most random details. Since he said that there actually are parties though, I'm guessing he just did his research and is describing one of them. I come out feeling ridiculous in my light blue tux, which Katniss tries to hold back a laugh about by covering her mouth. I roll my eyes at her so she knows that I don't approve of the apparel, and follow Jullus out after saying goodnight. When I get downstairs, Jullus hands me my real clothes for the evening and I change and follow him out to the car to my appointments.

I end up coming home much later than expected, at 4:15 AM, too exhausted to even take my burning shower. I simply shrug my clothes off and set my clock for eight so I can be at breakfast. It's a good thing I took that nap earlier, because I don't think I could have made it through tonight without it. But I didn't get a chance to ask another Victor how to deal with the nightmares. Well, I just hope I don't scream tonight. With that wish in mind, I willingly and easily slip into unconsciousness, praying for a dreamless night.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

What the fuck? I frantically wake up, my eyes burning from the lack of sleep. Oh, it's just the alarm clock. I turn it off, and drag myself out of bed. I change into something from the closet, not even paying attention to what I'm wearing but take a glance in the mirror before leaving. Shit I look awful. I have dark bags under my eyes and my hair is still mussed because I didn't bother taking a shower before sleeping. Which means of course that I also feel dirty without burning the Capitol grime away. But I don't have time for one now so I splash cold water on my face and comb my fingers through my hair. Better, but not great. Knowing that I'm not miraculously going to find energy or make myself look any better, I walk out to the dining room in a half daze. Naturally Katniss would notice what I tried in vain to hide.

"Gale, you look exhausted!" she claims when she takes me in. No shit.

"Couldn't sleep." I tell her vaguely, hoping she will just think its nightmares again. And that is part of it, but I didn't actually wake up last night from any. No, it's my quadrupled appointments and getting home so late that's causing this. But I can't stop-I won't. It's just for a few more days anyway that I have to do this, because once the Games start mentors have a respite on appointments until their tribute is dead or back a Victor. And Katniss isn't dying, so it's going to be a while before my next appointment after they do. I have to take advantage of these awful appointments I have to do in next couple days to get sponsors out of them. I feel like it's the only thing I can do to help.

"Oh." she replies in a way in which anyone else at the table would take as her accepting my explanation, but I know better. Her eyes are telling me that she's not buying it, that there's something I'm not elaborating on. And she's right, but I can't let her catch on-harder said than done in our case. One of the few disadvantages of our relationship is that it's extremely difficult to hide anything from each other, especially when we want to so badly. And I desperately don't want her to know what the real cause of my exhaustion is, so that only makes her more suspicious. Great. Hopefully I can find a way to help my exhaustion or at least keep our conversations away from the topic.

The conversation is luckily dropped and we continue to eat breakfast while Haymitch talks to Peeta and occasionally Katniss on training today. I try to pay attention so I can put in my own advice, but I'm going in and out of focus too often because of my lack of sleep the past few days that I don't say much. Effie eventually takes them to training, and I drop my fork and close my eyes as I lean back into the comfortable chair, hoping for a little more sleep before I leave in about half an hour.

"Gale I think you need to drop at least one appointment. You're lack of sleep isn't going to help hide it from Katniss nor help get sponsors." Jullus almost begs.

"No, I can do it. It's only a few more days." I insist stubbornly, not even bothering to open my eyes. When did these chairs get so soft? I could fall asleep right here.

"Well you at least need to seem awake. Hmm, I'll be back in a minute." Jullus sighs, and I barely register the chair pulling out before I slip into a half consciousness. After a minute I feel a shaking and force my eyes open. I would be annoyed at the interruption if I wasn't so damn tired. Or at least have glared at whoever is waking me up, but instead I don't do anything but look to see who my interrupter is. In front of me is Jullus, with some type of green wrapped food bar.

"Here eat this. It's called an Awake bar; it will help. It gives you energy for up to five hours instantly." Jullus says as he hands me the bar. I slowly rip it open and take a small bite.

Almost immediately after swallowing, I feel so much better. I feel focused, aware and actually pretty good. Damn, this thing is fucking amazing. I scarf down the rest of the bar quickly and feel good as new. Even better, I feel like I could run ten miles without stopping and not even be tired at the end.

"This is great! Why didn't you tell me about these before?" I ask him, excited about this new discovery. I can just eat these for the next few days and never get tired. I can hide the exhaustion and the appointments from Katniss, and I could probably even take on another appointment. Not that I would enjoy it; I just have the energy to do so and I could get more sponsors.

"They're dangerous if you eat them too often." Jullus warns me. "Really, they are just for an emergency; if you take more than one per day your evident crash once it wears off will be even stronger."

"Okay." I reply to pacify him, but I really don't feel like following that advice. I mean, if I just take them until I don't have to anymore, then I can avoid the crash before the interview day when I can sleep. I'm tough; I'll be fine.

When it's time for dinner that night, I'm actually feeling pretty good. That could be because I ate another Awake bar when the other one started wearing off, but I personally believe it's because of the list Jullus gave me about an hour ago. On it were a list of sponsors which I had to sign for to seal the deal, and I couldn't believe how many there were. Not only were there the names from the last few days of my appointments, but plenty more that I had nothing to do with. And all of them want to sponsor Katniss, the Girl on Fire. I don't even care that I still have to do my appointments tonight and the next few days; just seeing this list has given me the boost I'll need to get through, to know that all this work is actually paying off. So with my mood uplifted, I actually listen to the dinner conversation and even join in some myself.

"…and the girl from 2, I think her name is Clove, is amazing at knifes. I swear she never misses her target." Katniss continues as she and Peeta tell us what the other tributes skills seem to be. It's good for Haymitch and I to know this information while we are mentoring because it could give us the upper hand in what to send them, and who to look out for. Since we can see what all the tributes are doing at all times in the mentor room, it will help us know what could be coming. Not that we're allowed to send the hints or notes in the arena because that would be cheating, but it will help us nonetheless. In Katniss and I's case, we know each other so well that we wouldn't need notes anyway. I could send her something that would look random to anyone watching, but she would know exactly what I meant by it. For instance, I could send a parachute which contains a cup of beef stew. To all of Panem it would just be beef stew-to her it would be a message that someone from District 10, who raise cattle, is near her and she should be prepared.

"And then there's the little girl, the one from District 11. She's been following us around." Peeta continues to tell us about training with.

"She probably doesn't know what else to do. Most twelve-year-olds don't. It's best to just let her be. " Haymitch advises before kicking back his drink to finish it so that he can refill it again. I think back to the reaping, how awful it was when that little girl got up to the stage. How no one volunteered for her like Katniss did for Prim. I take a glance at Katniss, and see her avert her eyes from Haymitch as he says to let the little girl be. She looks up and I can tell exactly what she's thinking. I know that look-it's a look of compassion, but it also shows me she's planning something.

"Katniss." I say with a warning tone. I know exactly what she wants to do. She wants to be allies with that little girl. She wants to protect her because she reminds her so much of Prim. But she can't do that, not if she's going to win. I know she would protect that girl over herself because that's the kind of person she is, and she promised she would win. No, she needs to stay far away from that girl.

She meets my glare, and gives me a look of pity. I can almost hear the words she isn't saying-But she's only twelve, she's so much like Prim. She doesn't have anyone to help her. Why can't I help her?

In response, I give her my own silent pained look. You know why. You promised Prim and me you would win. Helping that little girl will not help you at all. Remember my games? Jacob, the thirteen year old from District 8 was the worst death for me to handle because I cared too much. I cared because he reminded me of Rory. You don't want to help her because her evident death will be even harder.

Well she will probably be a bloodbath anyway. Why can't I at least help her in training? Her challenging eyes ask me.

Yeah, that's what I said about Jacob. Just stay away from her. I see her falter at my look of confidence and I know I'm winning this battle (which is a rarity in itself-she almost always wins these kinds of things). I give her a slight smirk which she gets mad at, but she knows it's because I know I've won. She won't help that little girl, because I just gave her a foolproof example of why it's a bad idea.

"Fine." Katniss says out loud with a huff, and goes back to eating her food.

"Um what just happened?" Peeta asks, alternating between giving me and Katniss confused looks.

"What do you mean what just happened?" I question in confusion. I look around the table, trying to see if anything is oddly out of place. Instead I find every face at the table staring at Katniss and me.

"You two looked like you just had a conversation without talking." Jullus explains the table's confusion with. Shit. Katniss looks up at me, and I can tell that she looks a little embarrassed. Yeah, I guess it would be weird to see us converse without words. When we hunt we don't want to scare off the animals so we have almost perfected knowing what the other is feeling and usually thinking. But we aren't in the woods, nor are we in District 12; we're in the Capitol, at dinner with other people. Who most likely think we are the strangest people they have ever met right now. In response to the explanation, I just shrug it off and focus on my food again with the hope that everyone else follows suit. It's not like anyone's going to understand anyway, and I really don't have an explanation that will sound good to any of them.

The table follows my example, but the conversation is mostly nonexistent after that because the whole table feels awkward at Katniss and mine's silent conversing. Luckily dinner was almost done anyway, and I follow Katniss to her room afterwards.

"We really shouldn't do that anymore. Not in front of the others." Katniss suggests once the door's closed.

"Sorry I'm just used to it." I say, because I really don't have any other excuse.

"I know me too." she sighs, "Did you help that little boy in training last year."

I swallow before I answer. I really don't want to think about Jacob right now, because I feel so guilty that I didn't save him. But I did what I had to do. "No. I wanted to but I thought he would die the first day so I tried to stay away. If I had it would have been even worse."

"Oh." she says. "Well I guess I can't stop her from following us around. I'll try not to pay attention to her." she changes the subject with, knowing it's a difficult thing for me. Wait, there's that us again, which reminds me. Why the fuck is she helping Peeta?

"Why are you helping Peeta? You don't owe him anything, and it's just going to make it as hard as the little girl when he dies." I say.

"I..I do owe him actually." she tells me guiltily, and I realize she's been hiding something. I give her a look that says explain and she continues with a deep breath.

"It was a few months after the mine explosion. We were starving and I was sitting outside the bakery, defeated. Peeta burned bread on purpose and gave it to me, though I don't know why. His mother even hit him for it. That bread saved my life. It gave me hope, and the next day I remembered that I could get things to eat in the woods. That I could hunt and gather." she explains, her face an expression of pain and guilt.

"Katniss," I reply, my voice softening as I cup her cheek in my hand, "Owing him doesn't mean you have to help him at all costs. You promised Prim you would win-you promised me. Helping him is not going to help you."

"But how am I supposed to pay him back then? It's not like I have many other options here." she reminds me, exasperated. She hates owing people as much as I do. Hell, as much as anyone from Seam. I understand why she's doing it, but this is the Hunger Games; only one person can come home. Repaying a debt in a death match is kind of crossing the line, even for someone like us. There are other things she can do to repay him.

"Just…tell him thank you I guess. It's something at least." I offer as an alternative.

"Alright." she sighs after a minute, "It's not enough, but it's all I'll ever get to do."

I give her a pained smile back, and leave to change for my appointments tonight. At least now I know why she's been helping Peeta. I just hope she does what I say and leaves that baggage behind when she goes in. That will be one less distraction for her, and one less complication for me as a mentor. And neither of us need any other distraction or complication-hell, we have enough of our own without adding more.