Gale rushes up the stairs so quickly that he's out of air by the time he reaches his father's office. He taps on the mayor's door and waits for it to open. His father emerges quickly and clicks the door shut behind him as fast as he can, but not before Gale can get a quick peek inside. There, on the monitors that are so often black, was something he had never seen before. Yelling was coming from somewhere and the screens had a fire that danced back and forth.

"What was that?" Gale blurts. He's been taught not to be nosy and regrets his question immediately.

"Nothing," his father answers coolly. He doesn't seem angry, but the mayor does cock an eyebrow at his son. "Do you need something?" Gale hesitates, looking at the door as though he'll be able to see through it and onto the screens. "Drop it, Gale," his father grunts, hints of annoyance in his voice.

Immediately Gale snaps to attention. "I'm sorry," he murmurs. "It's just that you once told me those screen only show important events." His mind is racing. "You said nothing good comes from them."

"And it's nothing good," his father says. "I have to get back. Did you need something?"

Gale hesitates. "I wanted to let you know I'm going out for a bit." The mayor cocks his eyebrow again. "I need some air," Gale says. It's not a total lie, he does need to get out of the house, but his father doesn't need to know who he'll be with or why. "Is that alright?"

Mayor Hawthorne fishes his pocket watch out and studies the time. "Be back by 11," his father says. Gale nods stiffly and then his father slips back into his office. Gale tries to get another view of the monitors but all he gets is more yelling and a mob of people storming across an open area.

Without trying to process it any further Gale remembers he has someone waiting for him and he quickly rushes back down the stairs to Madge.

As they start to walk Madge can't help but feel a little awkward. She isn't entirely sure why, out of all the people she could've found solace in, she went to Gale. It felt right at the time. His footsteps are slightly noisy next to hers and his tall figure by her side is almost unsettling.

"I figured you would be with Prim," Gale says. At least he's trying to ease the silence.

"She's asleep," Madge tells him. "Cried herself out. I waited until she was in bed before I left." Gale tips his head forward. "Thank you. For, um, coming. With me. You didn't have to, you know."

"I needed a walk too," is all he says. Madge nods awkwardly. "Where are we going?"

"Meadow."

"I used to go there a lot as a kid," he says. "I thought the route seemed familiar." He doesn't seem to think this is as awkward as Madge does and that makes it more relaxing for her. "Except I would normally go during the day, you know. It'll be weird being there at night. Do a lot of people go?"

"No."

"I just didn't know if it was like the slag heap or something." Madge halts immediately. She hears Gale exhale deeply before he turns around. "That isn't what I meant."

"Gale Hawthorne," she nearly growls, "if you are expecting anything like that out of this then just go back to your house. Now." He looks at her with tired eyes and she feels herself slightly deflating. "I just needed someone to talk to, okay? The meadow is quiet and it'll help me get my mind off of the fact that I just watched a 12 year old girl get speared through the stomach and—" he steps forward, his eyes warning her to be quiet. "Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not that easy."

"I didn't mean it that way," he repeats sternly. "I wanted to know if I was going to end up in a place full of drunken teenagers trying to make out with each other. Alright? Jesus, Undersee, I know you're better than that." She stares at him a long time before he jerks his head. "So are we going or not?"

Hesitantly, she starts to walk again. If he knows she's better than that, does that mean he doesn't think she got her hickeys from before from the slag heap? It's true that she didn't, but Madge has been there before. She never liked it too much. It was too public, too dirty. Things always escalate too quickly at the slag heap, boys trying to find their way down her pants. Madge has enough class that she isn't going to let some stranger take advantage of her.

Finally they reach the meadow. Gale sinks to the ground without hesitation and doesn't wait for her to follow. He stretches himself out and places his hands behind his head, staring up at the stars as though he does this on the daily.

"Are you going to join me or just stare at me, Undersee?" Madge frowns before easing next to him. She lies back like he is and looks up toward the starry sky. "You okay?" he whispers.

"I'm tired," she tells him. "But I feel like I'm always tired. It's no excuse."

"Maybe you're doing too much."

"I'm not doing enough," she grumbles. Gale tilts his head slightly to look at her, Madge can feel it, but she doesn't accept the challenge of looking back.

"What else could you possibly do?" he wonders. Madge thinks about this for a long time, trying to figure it out for herself. She should be in the woods collecting more to sell at the Hob so she can put more money in the next donation jar that's going to the Capitol. She should be making sure Prim isn't cationic, sitting by her bedside in case she wakes up screaming. She should be collecting plants for Mrs. Everdeen's medicines. She should— "The world isn't on your shoulders, Madge."

"Can we not talk about it?" she rasps. Gale finally looks away. They sit in silence. Madge blinks and sees the spear impaling Rue's stomach, the arrow that goes through Marvel's neck. "Ask me something," she blurts. "Anything. Get my mind off of it."

There's another silence before Gale shifts and asks, "How'd your family end up in the Seam?" Madge exhales deeply and he turns to face her again. "If you don't want to tell me—"

"No, no, it's fine. It just wasn't the sort of question I was expecting." She turns to face him this time, meeting his gaze. "My parents, they ran the candy shop in town. Family business, you know? My mom was… sick long before we moved to the Seam. It wasn't as bad then, though." At least he didn't ask her what's wrong there, she wouldn't have been able to answer him. "My dad did a lot of the jobs at the shop when she couldn't. It was my mom's family that ran the store so he was new at it, had to learn it all once they got married, but he was still pretty good at making the sweets, you know?"

"Sure," Gale nods.

"Anyway, the candy shop never made copious amounts of money. Who around here has extra cash to spend on lollipops?" Gale frowns and looks away briefly. The mayor's family has extra cash. "Sorry," she blurts. "I didn't mean—"

"No, it's okay, you're right. Posy loves the lollipops."

Madge smiles sheepishly in relief as his lips curve upward. "So," she starts again, "they weren't bringing in too much cash. Just enough to keep the shop running and a little extra for themselves. This was before I was born, by the way."

"I figured."

"My mom, she hasn't really been full steam ahead for a while, and my dad… he didn't like that. He started spending money that should've been for the shop on different medications for her hoping they would help." The question is clear on his face, what happened to your mom? But he doesn't ask, and for that she is grateful. "He messed up a few numbers more than once and ended up losing all of their money. My dad, he never realized how much all of the medicine cost. They were bankrupt before he could do anything about it and couldn't get it back up because business sucked and they were evicted."

Gale wrinkles his nose in disgust. "I didn't know that could happen."

"I don't think they did either," Madge murmurs. "They had no choice but to move to the Seam. My dad got a job as a coal miner but my mom, she was too weak. She has her good days but it's gotten so much harder since my dad…" she trails off and Gale reaches over, gently grabbing her hand. At first she plans to pull away but the feel of his smooth large hands encasing hers feels surprisingly nice. "And now we live in the Seam," she finishes lamely. "No medicine or clean air or anything. We lost it all." His thumb glides over hers. "I have nothing to compare it to but my mom, sometimes she'll tell me what it was like before."

"How different do you think you would be?" Gale asks. "If you had been raised in town?"

Madge shrugs. "I don't know. Pretty different." The chances of her and Katniss being friends would be slim to none; her father would probably still be alive. She wouldn't have to hop the fence to find dinner, either. "But I'm not, so I don't like to think about it much."

"Fair enough," Gale nods. They fall silent but his hand is still holding tight to hers, his thumb still moving beautifully over hers.

She's never had a moment like this, she realizes. Something so intimate and personal that doesn't need an explanation with someone she didn't consider family. Thom doesn't count. And Taftan, all they ever do is hook up without any depth. This is… nice. This is different.

"What about you?" Madge finally asks. She finds her voice low in her throat, her eyes focused on the way he twists his hand and laces fingers with her. "How did your dad end up as the mayor?"

The question freezes Gale, but only momentarily. No one's ever asked him that before, though he's sure plenty have wondered. Mayor Boone Hawthorne is clearly a man of the Seam, it's obvious by just looking at him. Gale resumes tracing his thumb over hers, wondering if she's as soothed by it as he or if she's not thinking about it at all.

"The mayor before my father, he was very old," Gale starts. "So old that he could hardly see anymore. It was clear that a new mayor would be needed soon. When the old guy fell sick a lot of people started talking about what was going to happen next. My father, he was full of ideas, bursting with enthusiasm. People looked to him when he spoke; people agreed with the things that he said that should be done about the District."

"I didn't think someone could run for mayor," Madge says.

"They can't. He was approached and offered the job. Apparently the people in the Capitol were looking for someone from District 12 who was capable of leading the District, someone who knew what it was like to live here. He had caught the attention of someone important. My father accepted the gig. That's that."

Madge sighs a little and her hand readjusts in his before she pulls it away entirely. Gale pretends not to notice as she examines her fingers.

"It seems like there's more to the story," she finally says.

"There probably is," Gale agrees, "but if so, I don't know it."

His father has most definitely changed since being appointed mayor. The picture on their fireplace of Boone and Hazelle at their wedding shows an entirely different man, but Gale doesn't like to think about that. His father's eyes have changed, they're much darker now.

"And you?" she asks. "Would you be different if you grew up in the Seam?"

"Definitely," he nods. "I'm not sure how, but I know things would be infinitely different." Again they fall into their comfortable silence. Gale glances over at Madge and finds her still fiddling with her fingers as though there's something she wants to say. "You're thinking about something," he says. "What is it?"

Madge tilts her head and meets his gaze immediately. "Nothing. Not really." He cocks an eyebrow and she smiles, and then he smiles too. "It's… silly."

"Well, go on."

"You know that pin you gave to Katniss?" she asks. "The mockingjay pin?"

"Sure," Gale nods.

"It was mine." Gale's smile falls immediately and his gaze narrows. What does she mean? "It was in my family for a while, actually."

"But I bought it off the jeweler," he blurts. No wonder she had been staring at it so intensely on the day of the Reaping. "If I had known, I—"

"Don't worry about it," Madge cuts him off. "If I still had it when Katniss went in I'd like to think I would've given it to her anyway."

Still, the thought is heavy on his shoulders. "Why'd the jeweler have it?" Gale questions.

"Use your imagination," Madge frowns, looking up toward the sky. "I pawned it." That's what the jeweler had told him, that the pin had been pawned for some quick cash. Suddenly Gale's stomach turns, he isn't sure he wants to hear this story. "After my dad died we ran out of food," Madge says quietly. "Selling it kept us alive for another few months before I braved the woods."

"Madge…" she shrugs and turns away from him. "If I had known then I would've—"

"Would've what, Gale? You would've given it back?"

"Yes," he says exasperatedly.

"No you wouldn't have, I wouldn't let you. You paid for it." Gale groans in frustration. "Besides, I would've ended up selling it. I've got no use for it. Someone like me doesn't need a fancy pin." He sucks his teeth and pushes himself into a sitting position to contain his anger. "But now it's Katniss' so it doesn't matter." Gale tears a bit of grass up from the ground and passes it between his fingers before throwing it a few feet away. Madge pushes herself up with her hands a few moments later. "Sometimes we would sing for them," Madge whispers. He turns to find her staring where he's thrown the grass. "Mockingjays."

"You and Katniss?"

Madge nods. "Once I caught her singing alone and she was so embarrassed. I told her I sang to them when I was alone, too. Whenever we were upset but couldn't find the words to talk about it would just… sing. It was rare, extremely rare for us to sing together, I mean you know how Katniss is, but I loved it all the same."

Gale hesitates at the way her voice falls softer with every word. He knows that they came here to avoid talking about Katniss or the Games and yet of course they've ended up here anyway. He wants to distract her further, give her some way to breathe, but just isn't sure how.

"What did you sing?" he asks her, hoping it will help.

And instead of answering him she just eases right into a song as though it had been on the tip of her tongue the entire time. Her voice is soft and sweet, reminiscent of a lullaby, beautifully smooth and overly breathtaking. She doesn't look toward him as she sings but he can't look away, hanging on every note of the tune she sings.

She sings The Hanging Tree.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Madge asks. The way she fidgets nervously is too adorable for him to handle, Gale has to step away before he does something stupid like kiss her. After she sang that damned song he nearly lost it, every fiber of his being screaming out for the blonde that was beside him. "It's dark and—"

"I know how to get home," he tells her with a low voice and a smile. "Besides, I look like I'm from the Seam, remember? No one will stop me. You're the one to be worried about."

Madge frowns, though her eyes are bright. "I can take care of myself," she says.

"There's no doubt in my mind."

They watch each other for a moment and Gale can't help but realize how vastly different the two of them have become around each other in such a short amount of time. What happened to the girl at his doorstep with her bitter remarks? She's still there, he's sure, just very subdued. She's still got that fire inside her, one similar to his though the glow may be a bit different. He wants to know her flame and tonight was the first step in the right direction.

"Well, goodnight," she finally blurts. Again he has to bite back his smile. Does she know how sweet she looks?

"Madge," he stops her before she runs and she hesitates to meet his eyes. "Tonight was nice." She nods in agreement, and then the smallest smile forms on her lips. Gale finds himself licking his own. "Remember my offer from the other day," he says. "You can come over whenever you'd like."

"Gale—"

"Just think about it," he sighs. She lets out a deep breath before nodding again. Gale reaches forward and grabs her fingertips, giving one quick squeeze before letting go. The gesture freezes her and once again leaves her staring at her hand. "Goodnight," he whispers, and then he walks away.

At home her mother is in bed. The candles are still lit, burning down to nothing, and some dinner has been left out for Madge. She sighs before blowing out a majority of the candles and walking into the back bedroom to make sure her mother is safe.

"Madgey?" Mrs. Undersee's voice is soft. "That you?"

"It's me," she answers. Madge paces over and sits on the edge of the bed. It's dark but she can see her mother's outline. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

"No, I'm okay," her mother responds. "I left the candles on for you. Where were you? With the boy? From the other night?" Madge tenses but the bed shakes as her mother laughs. "You can tell me, Sweetheart. I'm your mother."

"I was with a boy," Madge tells her quietly, "but not the same one."

"Oh, Madge," Mrs. Undersee goes to sit up but her daughter keeps her down. "Sweetheart, no. You can't do that, baby! It'll hurt your heart and theirs as well." Madge can feel her cheeks flushing and she tries to protest. "You're going to find a nice boy, Madge, and he's not going to need anyone but you. Don't you go hopping from boy to boy just because—"

"It's not like that!" Madge finally says. Her mother sighs and clearly doesn't like this answer. "The boy from the other night… that's complicated. But tonight I just went on a walk with a friend. I didn't want to think about the Games, okay? He's like… Thom."

Her mother hesitates before laughing again. "Thom's like your brother, even I can see that. If he was like Thom, sweetie, you wouldn't have made such a big deal out of it."

"Goodnight, Mom," Madge murmurs. She shakes out a sheet and lays it over her mother. "I'll see you in the morning."

Rory is sitting on Gale's bed when he returns home. The younger boy has his arms crossed over his chest in an attempt to seem sharp and his eyebrows are high on his forehead.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Gale asks as he saunters in.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Rory questions. Gale rolls his eyes, breezing past his brother and to the closet to change. "I saw you walking out the backdoor with Madge Undersee earlier," Rory says, "so you obviously weren't snoozing."

Gale spins around and narrows his gaze at his brother. He asks, "And why were you in the kitchen?"

"I went for a snack."

"I'm telling Ma."

"Then I'm telling her you went on a date with Madge Undersee!" he returns. Gale can't help but snort, turning back to the closet. He slinks his way out of his jacket before tossing it at his brother, who throws it on the ground. "Did you really go on a date with Madge?"

"No," Gale answers.

"Are you dating?"

"No, Rory. We just went on a walk."

"A walk is a date, Gale," Rory protests.

"Is not," Gale mutters. It might've been a date if he had been man enough to kiss her, or maybe walk her home, but none of that happened, so it was not a date. "She needed some air and so did I. We just went to the meadow and talked."

"That's definitely a date," Rory insists. "How cute, watching the stars together. Did you hold hands?"

Gale frowns and says, "Rory Hawthorne you are twelve years old. What the hell do you even know about dating?" Rory smirks, lifting his shoulders slightly. "Two people can go on a walk and have a conversation without it being considered a date."

"What did you talk about?" Rory pushes. He eases onto Gale's bed on his stomach and props himself up on his elbows with his legs swing in the air. "Future dates? The universe?" Gale growls in frustration and pulls the door to his walk in closet shut so he can change quickly out of his brother's view. He can't have him see his back. "Are you telling me that you haven't even considered taking Madge on a date?"

"Rory," Gale groans as he marches from the closet, now in pajamas. "Just drop it, okay?"

Rory's legs fall onto the bed and he pushes himself back into a sitting position. "Fine. I just wanted to know," his brother murmurs. "You never tell me anything anymore, that's all. And I see how you look at her."

Gale sighs and slinks onto the bed next to his brother. "She's pretty, yeah?" Rory smirks, peering over at his brother mischievously. "The hair. You know?"

"Sure," Rory's smile stretches. "It's the hair."

"Hey, you like a blonde too."

"Do not."

"Prim," Gale says.

"I don't like her."

"Just like I don't like Madge?" Gale asks. Rory smirks again, this time in victory. "I don't know, Rory, Madge is just… she's different. I've been on dates with other girls and tonight wasn't even a date but it felt so… right." When Gale looks at his brother who is smiling contently he lets out some sort of groan, reaching over and pushing Rory's shoulder causing him to fall onto the mattress. Why is he even talking to his younger brother about this? "Don't look at me like that."

"You never talk about girls," Rory says, shrugging innocently. "Do you think you would date her if you could?"

"Yeah," Gale nods. "But I don't think she'd want to date me."

Rory pushes himself into a sitting position again and asks, "Well how would you know if you've never tried?"

"I don't have time for a girlfriend anyway," Gale murmurs lamely. It's partially true, partially the reason why he keeps scolding himself for his feelings. "And so much is going on as it is." They're both quiet for a moment. "Do you like her? Madge?"

"No I like Prim, remember?"

Gale laughs and shakes his head, "You know what I meant, Rory."

"Yeah, I know what you meant," Rory laughs too. "Yeah. Madge is cool. She walks me home so I don't get lost. And is really nice. A lot nicer than you, anyway." Gale frowns and Rory laughs again. "Kidding. Kind of. Yeah, Gale I like Madge. I think you guys would be nice together."

"Yeah," Gale murmurs quietly. "I think so, too." But what is there to do about it in a time like this?

A/N: An opportunity for backstory, yay! A lot of you wanted some of that, so I wanted to offer some insight. I also really wanted some Rory/Gale time so I slipped that brotherly take into the end. Did you catch the beginning with the screens? Considering Rue just died I hope you can all figure out what's happening... and well, there's gadge too. Gale has a thing for Madge's hands. Heh. Thoughts?