Oh no, what's the board going to do? This chapter is in Haymitch's POV. I have a newfound respect for people who consistently write his POV, because I had a really hard time writing one chapter in it. But I wanted to give it a shot, so sorry if it's a little iffy!

Claim: I OWN THE HUNGER GAMES!

I feel a shaking and my eyes fly open from my drunken sleep, then I start slashing my hidden knife around in defense until I see who woke me. Just Peeta, who knows me well enough that he's jumped several feet out of the way after waking me. Smart boy, I wouldn't want to near my knife either. I see an open bottle next to a loaf of fresh bread near where my head was on the table, and take a long sip of the liquor before acknowledging him.

"What do you want, boy?" I ask gruffly, still pissed he woke me up.

"It's time to go to the Capitol. Train leaves in a hour." he informs. Oh yeah, the meeting. The board doesn't believe Hawthorne followed the rules, and don't think he's good for Katniss. Idiots, the lot of them.

"You know it won't matter what the board decides. They'll just run away if they try to separate them." Peeta predicts after a minute with a frown.

I just nod in response. Poor kid, I don't think he's had a moment's happiness since Katniss chose Gale. I can't help feeling somewhat responsible for this. But he's probably right; they would just take off if things don't go their way at the meeting. And I doubt any two people in the country are more capable of doing it. Those two practically lived in the woods until Katniss volunteered for the Games, and no one can deny their survival skills-or their stubbornness. There's no way they're going to let the board decide against them and just comply.

Peeta leaves, but makes sure to inform me that I need to take a bath and he'll be back in half an hour to make sure I go to the train station. Once I hear the door close, I take another swig, and ignore his advice, and instead start to pack up some liquor bottles for the trip. I'll need it to get through this hell of a meeting. Not to mention going back to the damn Capitol, pre or post rebellion, I hate it.

On the train to the Capitol, the four of us sit in complete silence. Peeta looks out the window the whole time, clearly uncomfortable being in Katniss and Gale's presence. Those two sit on the seat opposite me, her sitting on his lap and their arms around each other. They say nothing the whole time, but appear to be having a conversation anyway by the way they look at each other. I slouch down on my cushioned seat and alternate between observing them and attempting to not finish my whole bottle before I get to the Capitol. I know I should be sober enough for this meeting to get things straight. Because I have decided to fight for them, despite not originally thinking it was a good idea. I know I have a part in this meeting occurring in the first place because of my original plan, but I'm going to fix it now. Because after all Katniss has been through, she deserves to have a life, and she needs that boy to have it. And he needs her. You only have to look at them to know it's true.

The Meeting

I've waited for two hours outside the meeting room in the Capitol while Gale, Katniss, and Peeta go in first. I knew I would go last because I get a vote, though I don't like having to be patient about it. Two hours is a long time to wait when you left all but one bottle in your room and you ran out 20 minutes ago. Gale, being the main reason for this meeting, went in first, and came out looking a lot angrier than he went in about an hour later. Probably gave them a piece of his mind. Katniss said nothing, but squeezed his hand as she passed him on the way in. She comes out almost in tears after 40 minutes, and leaves with Hawthorne to go presumably to our floor in the training center to wait the verdict. Not that I think any verdict will matter; Peeta's right, they would just run away. But I'll do my damn best to make sure they don't have to, even though I feel bad for Peeta. It's sorta my fault he's in this situation anyway. But I can't fix anything until the kid comes out, and he's sure taking his sweet time about it. What could he possibly say in their defense? His opinion would be obvious to anyone, him being the one losing in this love triangle thing he basically created. And no one would blame him for being angry, doing all he can to break up the happy couple. But he wouldn't do that; all he wants is Katniss to be happy, because that's the kind of person he is.

Ten more long minutes pass before Peeta comes out. Finally; I know there's alcohol in that meeting room and I plan on taking a whole bottle the second I get in there. I give him a pat on the back on my way in, and slam the door behind me. Once inside the room, I take my seat at the long oval table, grabbing the much needed bottle of wine in front of me. Drinking straight from it, I see them all looking at me, waiting for me to speak. For my opinion, which they all think they know.

"I'm with the Mockingjay." I state clearly. It brings me back to the last time I said those words, when Coin had us vote for the Capitol Hunger Games. Katniss knows what she's doing, and I should never have tried to influence that. I take a long swig from the bottle before I look up at the board's reactions. It's actually pretty funny; they look a bit dumbstruck at what I said. They start arguing with me immediately, all at once.

"What!"

"Why?"

"Doesn't make sense…"

"You think that they should be together? Isn't that a bit hypocritical?" Teeg Hale, a former District 13 commander asks loudly. His question is the one I answer.

"Yeah, I do." I respond.

"It was your idea that Peeta would be better for her. Why the change?" he asks. What, can't a guy change his opinion?

"Yeah, it was my idea. But it didn't work." I admit, guilty as charged. I thought the boy would be good for her. Bring her out of her depression. But all he did was get her to look halfway decent, he didn't help her mental state much. "Peeta didn't help her like I thought. You know how she was like here, after her sister died. Well it didn't get much better, even when you sent the boy back. She returned from her state of dead with Hawthorne; no one else could do that."

"It's true, what Haymitch said." Dr. Aurelius pipes up in my defense, "Gale is the best therapy someone could have given to her. She seems alive again, like her life has some purpose. Taking him away from her might decline her health to an unstable state again."

I don't say a word; I just nod with his logic. I'm not going to be the one to tell the board my suspicion, that it doesn't matter what the verdict is. Those two will run away if this vote doesn't go in their favor, and I won't take that option away from them.

"Yes, I suppose she is better mentally." Hale concedes grudgingly, "But we have to take into account the boy breaking our rules. We all agreed that he shouldn't go back to district 12, and he deliberately disobeyed them." Seriously, is this guy really going to break them up because of some dumb rule? He doesn't even know them, so who is he to judge.

"He didn't break the rules really." I say in Gale's defense, "And I'm the one who helped Katniss make the decision to go to 2 to see him." I confess.

"Why'd you do that?" Hale cries back.

"Did you ever wonder that maybe they needed the closure? That we might not be sitting here discussing this if anyone had agreed with me back then?" I yell back. Not that I think this wouldn't have happened eventually anyway, closure or not. I might have dragged Hawthorne to 12 myself if Katniss hadn't come out of her depression on her own after a year or so.

"He tried to kill her! He-" Livia, one of the Capitolite's on the board starts.

"And she defended him!" I roar back, cutting her off, "They had a pact, to save the other from capture and torture by shooting them."

"We were never going to torture her. I'm sure she knew that." Livia scoffs. Really, do all these Capitolites believe everyone is so optimistic? If they had gone through a few reapings, that would make them a bit pessimistic too. I thought they would do something to hurt Katniss too, after killing the President and all.

"They didn't know that. Why do you think she screamed for him in the first place?" I ask rhetorically. Luckily, silence is her only answer. Good, at least I convinced one of these dumbasses into sense. Feeling pretty content with this small victory, I take another drink from my wine. Why can't the rest of them be convinced?

"Oh of course, she needs her sister's murderer around to be normal." Hale states sarcastically, "We need to separate them for her own good." he proclaims with all the authority he can muster. Oh yeah, that's why they can't be convinced-some moron from 13 thinks he runs the show. Well if he wants to fight with sarcasm, I can give him plenty.

"Yes, let's expect the two biggest rule breakers in all of Panem to follow authority. Let's rip away that girl's only chance I can see at a happy life from her. Let's take away that chance because some of us still believe he murdered her sister, when in fact, he was framed. And everyone here knows it. So I agree, let's all listen to some idiot who doesn't even know either of them and vote to break them up." I state, staring down Hale as I do so. He looks pissed, and appears to have some comeback on the tip of his tongue. Bring it, I got plenty more insults where that came from, I think.

"Alright, enough. I'm calling for a vote now." President Paylor declares, eyeing both me and Hale. She's been relatively quiet all meeting, just soaking up all the information and opinions. I don't really know how she will vote, but she's a no nonsense and surprisingly wise woman for her age. But she's personally seen Katniss and Gale together before, knows the bond they have. Hopefully she understands that he's the only thing keeping Katniss from falling apart now.

Some are still grumbling, but all submit to the demand. Once we all write separate or together on a piece of paper, a box is passed around for us all to put our vote in. Once it gets back to Paylor, she takes them all out and places them in two piles. One pile means they're left alone, and one pile means they run. And the piles are so close in number I can't even tell the verdict by just looking. Hopefully I knocked enough sense into the majority to vote in their favor.

Once the verdict is made, I finish my wine off, shove the bottle away from me on the table, and walk out without a word to give Katniss and Gale the news.

Disclaimer: After much consideration, I have decided to revoke my claim. Any Gale fan would be a hypocrite to say otherwise, so I don't want to own THG!