Two days later I'm helping Posy make dinner; I was hesitant at first to let her cook for all of us, but eventually I caved because she put up a great argument, (she wanted to show Gale how much she had grown up since he was still treating her as a four year old for the most part) and I guess I'm a bit of a pushover when it comes to my sister-in-law.

Its nothing extravagant, a simple pasta and red sauce since she's just 11 and its easy enough for her to make. I'm simply there to help her cut the vegetables she wants to have with it, which is fine by me because having a night off from preparing mediocre meals was something that didn't happen often.

We're making casual conversation, I'm leaning against the counter chewing on a piece of the onion she had me cut while she stirs the sauce to prevent it from burning while we wait for the pasta to be done.

I'm in the middle of a sentence, telling her about something that happened with one of my students today, when Vick comes running (okay, maybe it was more of a fast walk, but hey, technicalities) into the kitchen, Gale following closely behind. When they're seen, Posy jumps for the wooden spoon on the counter as she calls out to Gale. She

"Try this!"

He looks skeptical as he leans forward taking a small sample. It takes a minute, his lips pursed together as he tries to decide what he thinks. His eyes go wide before he's choking on her name.

"Posy, my God, that's amazing!" The look of pride in his face doesn't go missed and the brunette lights up when her brother praises her. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

She smiles gently, looking over to me and then back to Gale. "Madge gave me the recipe. All I had to do was follow the directions."

Gale smiles at me, but I pretend not to think much of it and shrug my shoulders as his eyes lock with mine. Truth be told, I was happy to give her the recipe, it was one that I had learned when I was younger and trying to help Quinn out in the kitchen to relieve myself of boredom. Giving it to Posy, who actually wanted real use of it, was something I did without a second thought.

"Can we eat now? I'm hungry." Vick interrupts, his tone slightly whiny.

"Vick." Posy scolds, crossing her arms across her chest. "We can't eat until Mom's ready." Her attempt at an authoritative tone causes everyone to chuckle, since she sounds like a child when she speaks. "Guys, I'm serious."

"Yes, Posy, we know you are." Gale concedes, placing his hand on her shoulder, but her pout doesn't disappear. "Vick will just have to wait."

"Come on, guys. The boy's hungry, give him some bread or something." I suggest, trying to mask the chuckle in my voice that is threatening to take over.

"I knew I liked you for a reason, Madge. This is why you're my favorite sister."

Posy casts a glare at Vick as he says those words, and her response is almost angrily spoken. "She's not even your sister."

He shrugs, "She's Gale's wife, it's close enough."

Posy groans, turning back to the sauce and stirring it for a moment before checking the pasta.

Vick grabs a slice of bread off of the plate that was on the counter, mumbling something about how easy it is to rile up his sister. As he begins to nibble on the bread he slides into a seat at the table, and before he even gets a chance to try to put his feet up, I scold him with just one word. "Vick."

At the simple mention of his name, he slouches back into the chair, which causes an accomplished look to appear on my face. I look over to Gale, who hasn't said much for a while. Not even when it was mentioned that I was his wife, which shocked me just a bit. Sometimes he'd mumble, groan, or make any sort of acknowledgment that he doesn't want to be married to me. As these thoughts run through my head, I try to tell myself that I'm reading too much into it, perhaps he just didn't listen or something else among those lines.

After dinner, however, we're sitting in the front room and are making small talk when something dawns on me; something that I knew I had to remember and can't believe I forgot to bring it up at dinner. I was slouching back against the couch, my hands resting on my stomach and I shoot up quickly. "Oh! I totally forgot!" All eyes are on my and I look to Gale. "Katniss called yesterday, she wants to know if we'll be able to go down to Twelve for the wedding next week."

"She did?" Gale asks, and as hard as I try I can't seem to figure out the facial expression or the tone he speaks in. It's a new one for me and it causes my insides to stir.

I swallow, rolling my lips together to try and retain my cool. "Do you want to go?"

There's a moment of silence, I can tell he's contemplating the offer. I know this can't be an easy decision for him. He has to decide if he wants to go to the wedding of the only girl he can recall loving.

"Yeah."

"Really?" My tone is more shocked than I wanted it to be, it's kind of high pitched and sounds as if Iit wasn't even me speaking.

He nods, "Mhmm. I mean, she's my best friend. Even though we haven't really talked in a while, and we've kind of fallen out I still want to, ah, support her."

"Kay. I was thinking we can go down this weekend to catch up a little bit before." I look over to Hazelle, raising a brow. "You guys wanna go home this weekend?"

"God, yes. I love you guys, but seriously, I'm so bored here." Vick gripes, and with a glare from his mother he sinks back into the foot of the chair he was leaning against, mumbling an apology.

"However rude that was of him, I think Vick is right. I don't think we're doing much good here, anymore. And they need to get back to school."

I purse my lips together, nodding once, before clapping my hands against my knees. "So, it's settled then. We're going to Twelve." And as I speak the words, I'm not entirely sure how excited I am.

There's a slight wave of sadness that has overcome me later that night as I'm sitting on my bed, clad with wet hair dripping down my back a loose shirt as a nightgown. It's been so great having Gale's family here with me, and realizing that this weekend they're leaving isn't something that has me jumping for joy. I mean, after all, they have helped Gale cope with everything, they've helped keep me sane so that none of us have to cope with this alone. Without them, I don't know how I would have gotten through this.

"Hey." I hear Gale from behind me as he walks into the room. I smile in response, and he walks over and sits next to me, a sympathetic look on his face as he questions "What are you thinking about?"

I shrug, my gaze dropping down to my hands resting on my stomach because of the discomfort that I've felt today. "Just your family." As I speak, I look up to him. "It's been awesome having them here, I see how happy they make you."

"They make you happy, too, Madge. They're your family, too." I don't miss the words he speaks and the honest tone he uses, the comforting attempt in them. "You wouldn't be thinking about them leaving with those sad eyes of yours if you didn't care about them and didn't want them to leave."

I attempt a smile, sighing, before nodding once. "I guess you're right. I just don't have any family, they're all I have. You guys and this little one."

There's silence between us as he stands up and moves over to the head of the bed. "Come here," he gestures, picking up a book from the bottom of the bedside table. I follow his command, slightly confused, but don't voice it.

As I sit next to him, he opens the book to a picture I'm very familiar with. A smile forms across my face as he slides it across my lap. The picture of my Dad and I is at one of the school recitals, I'm laughing at something, my cheeks a slight shade of red and hand clapped against my mouth. I wish I remember who took it, maybe they would remember what was said. "That was the last thing my Dad and I did together." I say, sadly.

He takes the book from my hands and I look up at him. "C'mere." Before I have a chance to move, he wraps his arms around me. "You've been so good at comforting me lately, helping me get through this whole amnesia stint thing, so I figured it's my turn to help you through it. It can't be easy for you, I was thinking about it the other day. How hard it must be, if I was in your shoes I'd be going crazy. "

I chuckle. "Oh, Gale, you should know by now that I've always been crazy."

I hear a chuckle escape from him, his breath warm on my neck as I sit next to him. I don't realize until that moment how much I missed being able to just sit with him. I close my eyes, exhaling gently, and relax into his side. He doesn't hesitate to tighten his grip on my side. We sit like that for a few minutes, there's no conversation between us or anything like that. It's just us sitting together, enjoying the company of the other.

"Gale?" I mumble a few minutes later.

"Hmm?"

"Do you really want to go to Katniss' wedding?" I was reluctant to ask, but the different scenarios playing around in my head won't leave me alone until I ask. The most vibrant one is him wanting to go to that wedding to try and convince Katniss she's not ready for it, she's making a mistake, and then playing the role of the hero and they fall in love and Gale and I, well, we're no longer the Hawthorne's.

Once again I feel his chest rise as he lets out a sigh. "Madge…" he starts, and I feel my heart rate quicken. "I know that Katniss is part of my past, I've accepted it. It's not been easy, as I'm sure you've realized, letting it go. Coming to terms with the fact that everything I know is completely different, that the person who I loved isn't the person who I now love. Realizing that I'm married and have a kid on the way. I want to be able to fully come to terms with that fact until I am able to see it and see that she is really happy, that this is really happening. And then, once I do, I'm going to try and move on with my life. With you, with our baby, our family."

Somewhere as he talked, I had sat up straight, and I can now feel tears prickling in my eyes. Our Family. Those two words, a few syllables, something said in only a few short moments. God, I had no idea how much effect they could have on me (maybe I'll blame it on the hormones), but as I was so overcome with emotion for what he'd said I wasn't sure how else to deal with it. Without a moments hesitation, I reach up and place both of my cold hands on his cheeks, pull his face closer to mine, and crash my lips against his.

*slow claps for Kota* Sorry for the delay in updating, life has gotten away from me lately. With school, preparing for graduation, reorganizing our house, and work it's been kind of hard to find time to sit down. Match that with the scratch I got on my hand while working Rock-O last weekend made it painfully hard to type anything and there was a part of this chapter I wasn't happy with after re-reading it. Anyway, thanks to Macie for being awesome and critiquing this with an honest eye, and here y'all go. Thanks for being patient, lovelies. In reward for your awesomeness anyone who messages me on my tumblr (organa-solo) with a prompt will get either a drabble or AU gifset. I won't promise it'll be right away, buuuut. I'm done talking now, and I'm going to continue to reblog every Ted x The Mother gifset on tumblr.