A/N- Ok, so I'm ill. When I say ill, I don't mean a serious illness, so don't worry, I'm still able to write! Anyways, I had this really painful stomach ache this morning at about 4am...(the joy) and it got worse and blah blah blah, I ended up almost puking three times in school and got sent home (hurrah-ish) Fortunately, I haven't thrown up and am feeling a tad bit better... so, I had some spare time and managed to write chapter 10!

Well, enough with my blabbering and here ist chapter 10!

The next morning I wake to the sound of out-of-tune singing and a lit candle dangerously close to my face. I swear the flame is practically touching my nose, I can feel the heat intensely. When I flick my eyelids open, I'm greeted with enthusiastic smiles and multi-coloured ribbons.

"Happy birthday Zinny!" They all cheer simultaneously as I sit up in bed.

"Thanks..." I mumble back, still half asleep.

I'm not even given a chance to wake up properly, before a plate is thrust into my lap. I look down in surprise to see a stack of pancakes, drowned in sticky syrup and topped with a candle. I let out a little laugh, then blow out the fire.

"A pancake stack as a cake? Inventive..." I say, nodding my head in approval.

"Oh, that's not the cake, it's just breakfast. Peeta's working on the cake down at the bakery at this very moment" Mother tells me, sitting down on the bottom of the bed.

"That's even better then" I smile, my mouth watering slightly at the sight of the pancakes.

"Tuck in then" She says, standing up from the bed and heading towards the door. "We'll be waiting in the lounge with the presents"

I thank her again for the breakfast and watch the rest of the family trail out the room one by one. After the last person has left, I grin and begin ploughing through the pancake stack, syrup sticking to my lips.

Half an hour later, the plate has been licked clean, I'm dressed and on my way downstairs. I notice that the house is strangely quiet all of a sudden as I reach the lounge door. Pausing, holding my breath, I stand just outside the door, listening inside. It's silent for a few seconds, then I start to hear shuffles and murmurs bounce around the room.

"Are you sure you heard her?" A voice whispers sharply, presumably it belongs to Freddie.

"I think so. There were footsteps coming down the stairs" A reply comes back.

There's another short silence, followed by more shuffling and murmurs.

"Ouch" Clearly Ethan's moan comes next. "Mind the sling"

"Oh, sorry man"

I have to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing at their failed attempts of keeping quiet. They are so incredibly bad at it that it's almost embarrassing. Oh well, time to put them out of their misery...

"Hey, I know you're all here" I laugh, entering the lounge.

There's a mix between relieved, annoyed and tired sighs echoing round the room in response to my appearance. Then, one by one, heads pop out from behind sofas, tables and other pieces of furniture.

"See, I told you I heard her" Freddie huffs to Flynn, his arms crossed at his chest. "But no no no, you didn't believe me"

"Sorry. It's not that big a deal really" Flynn replies, his arms held up as if to surrender.

"But we were meant to scare Zinny! She's always the one playing tricks on us and this was supposed to be revenge" Freddie says, exasperated.

At this point, I cut in. "Ha ha... brothers, don't you understand? You'll never catch me out"

I give them a sly grin and walk over to the sofas, where the rest of the family are sitting. Peeta still hasn't made an appearance, but we start anyway.

"He's been working on the cake for hours, so he said to start without him" Mother explains when I ask of Peeta's whereabouts.

"Ok, sure" I smile, taking a seat.

Father comes in seconds later, carrying a large plate and placing on the coffee table. The smell of freshly baked biscuits enters my nostrils and my mouth begins releasing juices.

"Shortbread cookies" He pronounces in a posh voice. "The traditional way to celebrate present giving"

We all thank him and stare longingly at the cookies. I can even see small waves of steam rising from them, they're that fresh. I desperately want to eat one now, but it'll probably burn my mouth. Even so...

"Right, well shall we begin and eat the cookies once they've cooled?" Mother suggests.

"Yeah, ok" I agree.

First of all, Flynn comes forward and hands me a rather messily wrapped box. As I feel the shape in my hand, guessing what it may be, he adds, "It's from Freddie too"

I nod and begin unwrapping the box. My fingers get caught in the tape a few times, but finally I manage to remove the pink paper. Next, I open the box and pull out a slender glass bottle, filled with a clear liquid with a hint of pink.

"Thanks" I smile to my brothers, spraying some of the perfume on my wrist and giving it a sniff. "Mmm, smells lovely and sweet"

I put down the perfume on the table and then I'm passed another gift.

"Who's this one from?" I ask, looking around the room.

No-one replies.

"Um, anyone know who this is from?" I ask again, but again, no-one takes credit.

"Oh, I just found it on the front porch" Mother says. "It doesn't say who it's from..."

"Strange..." I say, holding the small gift in my hand. "Well, let's see what it is then"

The gift is wrapped in a brown paper bag, tied with a piece of frayed string. It seems so weird, how someone has just anonymously left it on my doorstep. It doesn't make sense.

Until I open it.

I almost let out a gasp, but manage to quickly hold it in. I don't want anyone else to know who it's from. Luckily no-one will understand what it means, except me. And I'm glad; I don't want anyone to find out any time soon.

"Ooh, what is it Zinny?" Mother asks, peering at the object.

"It's a piece of carved wood" I announce, holding it out on my palms. It's the perfect size to sit in the centre of my hand and balances easily. It's so amazingly carved as well; you can pick out the features that have been delicately shaped in.

"Is that an animal carving?" Ethan asks from across the table.

I hold it closer to the light. "Yup. It's a squirrel"

"Who would carve you a squirrel?"

"I have no idea, Ethan..."

That was a lie. Of course I know who would carve me a squirrel. Gale Hawthorne.

"My present next" Ethan announces, pulling out a tiny pouch. "Here you go, princess"

"Princess?" I repeat, my eyebrows raised.

"Only the finest" He winks at me.

I shake my head at him, sighing.

The pouch sits lightly in my hand, the material feeling soft against my fingers. I lace my fingertips around the bag, appreciating the velvety fabric. They then move on to the top of the bag, untying the ribbon fastening and sliding out the contents. A dainty silver piece of jewellery lies in my hand. I pick it up and look closely into it, then noticing tiny sparkled detail across the silver that glitters when caught by the light.

"It's an anklet" Ethan explains.

"It's beautiful, Ethan" I smile gratefully to him. "Thank you, I love it"

"Glad to hear it"

Looking down at the anklet, I pull my leg up to my chest. Carefully unfastening the anklet, I retie it around my ankle. It looks exemplary against my skin tone and I cant stop smiling while looking at it.

When I look up, I notice that my parents have left the room. I glance around, confused, but soon they re-enter, carrying a box with them. They place it on my lap and sit down.

"This is from your father and I" Mother tells me.

I look down at the box on my lap, so beautifully wrapped in silver paper, topped with an extravagant bow. Gently, I remove the bow and peel of the wrapping. The paper falls to reveal a box. Not just an average box, but a pristine white box, decorated in silver, gold and black patterns and coated in a dusting of glitter. I lift up the lid and instantly a graceful melody begins to play and inside the box, a tiny girl dressed in an emerald green dress spins around to the music. When I look closer, I can see her auburn flowing hair, sparkling green eyes and the dress... they all seem so familiar to me. I smile. The tiny girl is me and the dress is my reaping dress.

"Mother, Father, this is...it's wonderful" I say, almost speechless. "It's gorgeous"

"You're welcome, sweetie" Father says, beaming with happiness. "We thought you'd like it"

"Like it? I love it!" I exclaim, running over to hug them both. They seem a little startled at first, but that's because I haven't hugged either of them for so long.

After thanking everyone again, I hear the front door swing open. Moments later, Peeta enters the room, pulling along a cart with a covered object sitting on top.

"Happy birthday, sis" He smiles, coming over and hugging me, before returning to the cart.

"What's under the-" I begin.

"Aha, that is your cake ma dear" Peeta says, pulling it in front of me. "Now, would you do the honours...?"

"Of course" I reply, taking the cloth in my hand.

I pull off the cover and squeal in delight. It's amazing!

Three layers of soft sponge, sandwiching succulent berry jam and smothered in perfectly applied cream frosting. Fairly simple, but stunning.

"Wow! This has got to be the best cake I've ever seen, Peeta!" I gasp.

"It was a pleasure making it for you, then" He says, taking a small bow.

He starts to push the cart towards the kitchen, but suddenly stops in his tracks.

"I almost forgot! Zinny, let me show you your present" He says, turning to me.

"You got me a present as well as the cake?" I say in disbelief.

"I did indeed. Now, come with me"

Five minutes later and we're back in his 'hideout/art gallery'. This time there's more light and the place seems a little tidier.

"Why is my present here?" I ask, walking further into the room.

"Wait and see" Peeta tells me, disappearing behind a cabinet.

I hear some muffles and shuffles, then Peeta resurfaces. In his hands, he carries a large canvass. He brings it to me and places it on a painting stand.

"Ok, close your eyes while I position it" He orders me.

I do so and a few moments later, I'm told to open them again.

And standing on the stand is a painting. Only this time, there are no images of death, fear or despair. The only thing I see on the picture is happiness.

The painting is of our tree at the back of the bakery, standing exactly how it always has. Sitting underneath, within the shade of the branches, are two people. Me and Peeta. The sky is pure blue - no clouds - and we're both laughing. I can almost feel the heat from the sun and the cool breeze that rustles the leaves above us. It's just as I remember; when we used to do that in the summer. Just sit in the shade, beneath that tree and laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh.

This painting isn't just a painting. It's a memory taken outside the mind.

Later that afternoon, I'm sitting on the wall outside the house. Mother's inside preparing dinner; Peeta helping her. Flynn and Freddie are putting up Peeta's painting somewhere in the house. Father's pottering about somewhere. And Ethan - I don't know where he is.

I pull out the squirrel from my pocket and look at it for the billionth time. I look at it and think. Why would Gale think of me? Why would he remember? Why would he make this for me? And why now?

All of these questions, of course, are unanswerable alone. If I really wish to know why, then I'll need to ask. I'll need to ask Gale. I need to ask him.

Jumping down from the wall, I take off. Out of Victors' Village and into the main district. I'm running down streets, behind houses, behind shops. I'm running past people, old neighbours, old friends. Ok, maybe not the friends part, since I've never really had any apart from Peeta (who's my brother, so does that count?), Finnick (who currently hates me and who I'll never see again, so does that count?) and Ethan. Ethan. I don't even want to think about him right now.

I turn down a sort-of street and count the houses I pass. One, two, three, four, five...six. I stop in front of house number six. Taking a sharp breath, I walk up the three wooden stairs and knock on the door. I take a step back, nearly falling down the stairs, and wait for a response.

One comes shortly and the door is opened.

"Zinny?"

"Hi Gale"

"Oh, hi..." Gale says, frowning. "Um... why are you here?"

"Hmf. That's a weird way of saying 'happy birthday' " I say sarcastically.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Happy birthday"

"Gee, thanks Gale. I can't believe you remembered!"

"Ok, enough with the sarcasm... Why are you here?"

"Well, I could ask you the question: What are you doing leaving gifts on my doorstep?"

"I never left you-"

"Yes you did" I state, pulling out the squirrel. "Now, don't even try to deny it, Gale"

He doesn't.

"Ok, fine. I carved you the squirrel and left it on your doorstep" He says, sighing.

"Why?" I ask.

"Cuz it's your birthday"

"But you haven't given me a gift for years! We barely even speak to each other!"

"I know, but... Ah, I dunno. I just wanted to, I guess" He shrugs.

"But why Gale? Why?" I demand. "Why now?"

"Like I said, I just wanted to"

"Ohhhh, I get it. So one day you woke up and thought, 'hey, I think I'm gonna carve my ex girlfriend a squirrel and leave it on her doorstep'?"

"Umm..."

"No? Well you tell me why then"

"Err..."

A/N- Rightio, so there was chapter 10... What an eventful birthday... sort of. No, not really.

Well, you may have some questions floating around your head about Gale and the squirrel... well do you? If you have any commens of thoughts about any of the presents, or even just a nice encouraging review for me, then PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW :D

Thanks, FireflyLlama x