Feeling better at last and I'm so sorry that it took me so long to get this up. Thank you to anyone/everyone who wished me a get well and I hope this explains Gale's behavior in the last chapter. There was a method to that madness, I promise! I wasn't trying to change his character, I swear!

Also, realized I haven't done this so I figured now is a good time.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games or the fantastic characters (seriously wish I owned Peeta and Finnick though...) and when I look in the mirror I don't see Suzanne Collins sadly...

Gale

I didn't know what came over me, it was unlike me to treat Katniss in such a demanding manner. She wasn't one of my possessions, she wasn't my property, she was Katniss Everdeen. To control her was to try and control fire itself, a reason I always found her Hunger Games nickname entertaining. She was beautiful and shimmered when you looked at her, but when you made her mad, she could burn you to a crisp and you would regret ever playing with her. I had done just that though, I had poked the fire too hard and now had created a wildfire.

Katniss had snapped at me for setting down rules with Peeta, telling me she wasn't going to let me near her or Leta until I apologized. I didn't know what was coming over her either, but then again she had just had Leta only a few hours before. I would have probably called her crazy and just dealt with her wrath, figuring she'd forgive me eventually, but I couldn't stand the thought of being separated from Leta for something so stupid, especially when I was going to have to leave soon anyway.

I groaned a little as I stepped off the elevator and made my way to Peeta's compartment. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to knock on the door and stand there patiently.

" Moment." I heard his groggy voice call from within, making me roll my eyes. I really didn't want to be here in the first place and didn't want to wait for hi either even though it was for a short period of time.

" Be warned, it's only me and I'm here on a peace mission." I told him, not wanting him to be surprised when he opened the door because I wasn't too sure he was really cured. Could seeing a baby born really be enough to overcome the amount of venom that had been pumped into him?

Peeta's eyes are wide and he looks suspicious as he opens his door. He had been pulling his shirt on and it was obvious that he'd been sleeping for a while because his hair was a mess. His eyes dropped to the two bottles of liquor I had snuck down as a peace offering. " Uh to what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked, his brows coming together as he looked back to my face.

" I thought you and I could have a talk and a bit of a celebration. We did just become dads and honestly I was a bit of a jerk earlier." I tell him, hoping it sounds like a good enough excuse, at least better than ' Katniss made me'.

" Where did you even get those?" He asks, moving aside though and allowing me in.

" I know this guy, Onyx. He smuggles me in some bottles of liquor and I help him a little more during our training by covering for him so he can leave earlier to be with his wife and baby." I explain, moving to sit in the chair at his desk.

" Oh yeah, I met him earlier. He wanted me to congratulate Katniss." He mumbled as he sat on the edge of his bed. He rubbed his knee and I saw his pant leg come up, revealing his fake leg. I did my best not to stare at him and I looked away quickly, it was easy to forget he had a fake leg sometimes.

" He's a good guy." I tell him with a shrug, handing him a bottle and opening my own. I hold it up for a toast so he opens his own and holds it up. " To shared fatherhood and the woman who has brought it upon us." I sigh before sipping the sharp liquid.

Peeta is a little hesitant, but eventually takes a drink as well. " Shared fatherhood? You're going to let me be involved with Leta?" He asks, obviously trying to hide the hope in his voice.

I take a deep breath before slowly nodding. " She's no longer my broken little bird, Katniss. She's a grown woman now. She's eighteen, has survived two Hunger Games, sparked a war, been shot, stood up to Coin and Snow and now has a daughter. She's stood up for everything she believes in, has risked her life for everybody but herself, I can't control her." I tell him softly, staring down the neck of the bottle in my hand.

" Wow… I never really thought about Katniss that way." He whispers taking another drink. " So I'm allowed to hold Leta, be around Katniss and help with Leta?"

" Yes, if Katniss will let you, I can't stop her." I explain and take another long drink of the liquor. It's not quite as hard to swallow like the stuff we had in twelve, but it still left a burning sensation on its way down. I was going to have to thank Onyx for it when I joined him in a couple of days, I liked this stuff from District one better.

Peeta seemed to guess something was up and was studying my face. " Gale this is more than just about not being able to control Katniss isn't it?"

I nod my head, figuring it was better to be honest with him since the odds were he wouldn't remember in the morning if I had it my way. " Correct… I'm leaving for the Capitol in three days." I tell him taking a couple more long drinks of the alcohol, ignoring the way it weighed heavily on my stomach, almost like a rock.

Peeta coughed on his drink and looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his head. " Does Katniss know?" He hisses, giving me a fearful look.

" No, I haven't told her yet. The deal was that I was to be deployed three days after Leta was born. Coin had come up with the idea herself because she didn't want to have to deal with Katniss or I should I have to leave before she gave birth." I explain, no real emotion in my voice.

" I can see why you'd keep this from her. She might get very upset and won't let you go without a fight." He agrees, taking a long drink before setting his bottle aside. " Coin wants me out of the field too, if only to make propos of me fighting. I don't think I can do it though. I don't like this fighting, I wish there was a more peaceful way to achieve our goals, I'm not very violent, even for the purpose of only a camera."

I can't fight him there, honestly I was positive he wouldn't have survived the games without Katniss. He was too peaceful, even for his own good. " Well then don't do it, fight her if you have to. Do whatever you can to not go Peeta. It's best you just stay out of this war if you don't think you can handle it. You didn't know what you were doing except trying to leave the arena with Katniss, none of this is because of you. You have no place in this war just like you had no place in the games." I tell him honestly, sure that the alcohol is starting to affect me.

He says nothing so the two of us just fall into a comfortable silence. We drink from our bottles and I can see he's trying as hard as I am not to think about the coming storm. The alcohol is really starting to affect me, I can tell for sure now. I close my eyes and set down my almost empty bottle.

" That Sunday that Katniss and I went on our little picnic, I knew what was going to happen, I had planned it all out. I carried her back to her house and set her on her couch without her mom and sister any wiser. I had made her cry and she claimed to hate me for not trying to save a poor little bird so I had thought my plan had gone wrong. I kissed her forehead, but she grabbed me and begged me to stay. I was only human Peeta, I couldn't turn her down." I whisper as I stare at my bottle absently.

" I couldn't stop myself from kissing her and promising her the world. I let her lead me up to her room. It was perfect, everything I had imagined it would be like with her and so much more. I had thought I was in heaven and drifted off into the best sleep I had ever had with her in my arms. That all changed when she woke up and screamed my freaking head off. Have you ever had an angry woman who believes she was wronged yell at you while it feels like all the miners in in the District are banging on your brain desperately?" I ask with a small chuckle, looking to him with a small smile.

Peeta shrugs and I notice his bottle is empty. I hadn't noticed but he had been drinking it heavily while I talked about Katniss. " No idea, but I'll see in the morning I'm sure. I planned on apologizing to Delly for kissing her." He sighs and tosses his bottle in a trash bin. " I know what you mean about Katniss though, you can't help but want to stay with her, protect her, hold her when that armor she burdens herself with cracks." He grumbles, shaking his head.

I nod and finish my bottle, tossing it with his. " I was going to ask her to marry me, but I heard you talking with your brothers and mom a few weeks after out not so little outing. The day after she told me she was pregnant was the day I had hoped to make her my wife to be exact… She skipped our Sunday hunt and I went to the bakery to trade some squirrels with your father for some of those cheese buns you make that she loves so much, hoping to at least earn a chance to talk with her by bribing my way in the house. I heard you saying she had finally accepted your proposal and you were making plans for a real wedding, not a Capitol affair. Your family sounded ecstatic to know you two were going to get married and have a baby together. I ran from the bakery without my bread, running to Haymitch and Katniss' houses. Haymitch and Prim told me the same thing, she moved in with you." I don't know why I'm telling him everything, I guess it was all to blame on the alcohol.

Peeta smiles a bit at the memory of his conversation. He had sounded so proud and overjoyed to be finally marrying the girl he had loved for eleven years, had saved the life of and was going to have a small family with her. He was going to get everything he had ever wanted that day it seemed and I had wanted nothing more than to take that all away from him.

I wasn't sure what else to say, but there was a sudden rapid, almost urgent knock on the door. Peeta rolls his eyes and lets out an annoyed huff before staggering to the door. ' He's as drunk as I am.' I think with a small snicker. There was no way either of us were going to remember our talk tonight in the morning.

" Soldier Mellark you're needed in command at once, Snow's sent out a message for you and soldier Everdeen." A gruff voice says, his voice breaking a bit so I know he's nervous about whatever's happened.

I'm on my feet in an instant and standing behind Peeta. I don't recognize the boy in front of us, he must have been one of the new recruits brought to thirteen, but his eyes go wide at the sight of me. " If it's about Katniss and from Snow, I have every right to know what it is. I'm engaged to Katniss so I'm coming along." I tell him firmly before pushing past both of them and hurrying to the elevator. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't even sure if we were still engaged but he didn't need to know that.

Peeta is as tense as I am as he joins me and the young soldier in the elevator. None of us say a word, but once we're on the correct floor, Peeta and I made a mad dash to the command room. Everyone is in there it seems, Boggs, Plutarch, Katniss, Coin, everyone important is in the room. Haymitch and Coin are the only ones sitting, everyone else looks too tense to sit down. Katniss runs to me and wraps her arms around my shoulders. I try to whisper words of comfort as I wrap my arms around her too and look to Haymitch with Leta sleeping in his arms.

I'm sober again, the second I heard the soldier say Katniss and Snow's names in the same sentence it had been like a bucket of ice water dumped on my head and everything was clear again. I look to Coin expectantly, I want to know what is going on. Katniss lets go of me to take one of my hands and with her other takes one of Peeta's. I try not to let it bother me, knowing Peeta needs support and she needs both of our supports as well.

" Very well now that Mellark and Hawthorne have been kind enough to grace us with their presence, show them the video." Coin grumbles and all our attentions move to the screen in the front of the room.

The Capitol seal comes up and the anthem plays, giving way to Snow lounging in his office. He gives his signature evil grin before getting right into things. " My dear people of Panem, I have glorious news for you. Today I received word of a most amazing event that took place just a few hours ago. I would love to extend my congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Mellark on the birth of their beautiful, healthy daughter Leta. It seems that they have fooled us all into thinking she had lost the baby, but I for one can not be happier for the young couple." He begins in a chipper, easy tone. His voice was too even, too cool to actually sound like he was trying to do something kind. He was trying to scare Katniss, taunt her, I guessed it worked though from the way she started to tremble.

Katniss seemed to be struggling to breathe and I looked to her seeing her pale instantly. I didn't hear the rest of the message, Katniss' eyes fluttered shut suddenly. She started to fall back and Peeta and I scrambled to catch and she fell into my arms. " Catnip!" I exclaimed as I slowly eased her back and went to my knees to support her in my lap.

I look to Peeta, but his eyes are now glued to the screen again. I look up just in time to see Snow stand up. " I will step down as my role of President of Panem if you bring me your child. Give me Leta and I will bring this war to an end." He vows.

All eyes turn to Peeta, Katniss and I. Peeta slowly lowers himself into a chair and I look to Katniss. ' Oh God…' is all I can think. ' We're screwed…'