Gale's POV

The day after the confrontation between me and Gladen I was still shaking with anger. Katniss had returned, took one look at my furious face, and asked me what happened. The story eventually came out, and Katniss just told me to stop being jealous. When I woke up the next morning I still didn't understand what she meant by that.

I slipped off my futon and looked at Katniss's sleeping form on the ground next to me. She was wrapped up in a ratty, moth-eaten sleeping bag, but she seemed perfectly content. When she first came back to 12, I have to admit, the old feelings rushed back. But then she explained why she had really returned. Apparently, she still didn't feel anything for me, and surprisingly, I didn't feel a thing. No anger, pain, nothing.

"Katniss!" I whisper screamed, trying to be quiet. After all, Madge was right there on the couch, and although she refused to talk to me it didn't mean she refused to eavesdrop on our conversation.
Katniss was instantly awake, another reminder of her time in the arena. She'd been paranoid about being killed while sleeping, and it stuck, even when she wasn't in an arena full of killers.

"What?" She asked me blearily. She rubbed at her eyes vigorously. "Everything alright?"

"I need to ask you something." I nodded my head at Madge, who was still sleeping. "Privately."

Katniss yawned, but being a good friend, she followed me into the bathroom. When the door was safely closed behind us I clamped my hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes, and said, "What did you mean by jealous?"

Katniss raised an eyebrow. "You mean, from last night?" I nodded, and she laughed. "Gale, you know me. I'm not good with this mushy feeling stuff. I meant what I said, stop being jealous."

"Of what?" I asked her in exasperation.

"Uh, Gladen?" She told me, a "duh!" look crossing her face.

"Why would I be jealous of Gladen?" I mused. And then it hit me. "You mean..." I stared at her. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yep." She nodded, and then glanced out the bathroom window. "Geez, Gale. It must be 6 in the morning. Why'd you wake me up so early?"

I ignored her. "I like Madge?" I asked her dazedly. "Silly, naive little Madge?"

She sighed. "Gale, she's not so silly. Now I'm going back to bed." She wearily left the bathroom, leaving me in a confused state. That couldn't be the reason I hated Gladen so much, why I wanted to punch him whenever he gave Madge that idiotic grin... It was because he was a traitor, that's why. I squared my shoulders and returned to the living room. Katniss was on the floor, once again curled in her blanket. Madge was sprawled on the couch, her blanket in a heap on the floor and her hair a tangled golden mess. I suppressed a smile and started our daily chores, brainstorming on what to do about this Gladen boy.

He'd have to be taken care of.

But first, we needed to find Greasy.

"Alright, everybody up!" I shouted after I'd fed the animals. "It's person-savin' time." Katniss jumped out of bed, startled, but Madge just glared at me sullenly before walking towards the bathroom.

Katniss burst out laughing. "You've changed so much, Gale." She glanced at the closed bathroom door. "She has, too. But maybe not in a good way." She began to fold up her sleeping bag, leaving me confused and unhappy.

After a quick breakfast we headed to the village. Not many people lived in 12, so finding the brutes that took Greasy wouldn't be hard. Now that we had Katniss with us, I felt better about getting Greasy back. Maybe this way they'd let Greasy go more willingly.

It wasn't hard to find Greasy. We just followed the sounds of yelling. We eventually reached a large open area, and I realized with a pang that it was the charred ruins of the Hob. I glanced at Katniss and saw her pain, too. This wasn't going to be easy on our emotions. Madge just stared stonily ahead.

Seriously, how long could this girl hold a grudge?

And then we heard more yells. An old woman's angry, terrifying yells.
"You git off a me, you big brute!" Katniss glanced at me, and we took off towards the sounds of Greasy's flurry of curses and threats. I clenched my jaw at the thought of anyone hurting Greasy.

However, when we rounded a corner, we saw that Greasy was in full control. 5 men were sprawled on the ground, each one unconcious and injured in some way. We watched in jaw-dropped awe as she hit the last one across the cheek with a large frying pan, and he slumped to the ground.

"G-Greasy?" I called out. "What'd they do to you?"

"I aint cookin' for them!" She snapped. "I washed their clothes, n' I cleaned their filthy tents, but their aint no way I am goin' tuh cook for them!" She waddled right past us, disappearing around the corner with a few snarls. I felt my mouth fall open, but my amazement was interrupted by a giggle. I turned to see Madge laughing, straight-out laughing. It then occurred to me that I hadn't seen her laugh in a very, very long time, if ever.

My joy was ruined by the arrival of a certain someone.

"BOO!" Gladen appeared out of nowhere, grinning from ear to ear. Madge squealed and Katniss jumped, but I just glared at him. No good, dirty, rotten, traitorous, girl-stealing... Boy.

"Hey, Gladen!" Madge greeted him happily.

"Hey, Madge. I was wondering if you wanted to-"

"She can't." I told him with a mean smirk. "We have to work on her speech."

He glanced between us. "Ah. Alright."

"Gale!" Madge hissed as I grabbed her wrist and started pulling her away. "That was rude!"

"Whatever. We only have a few weeks before you make the speech. You only just started talking, anyhow." I stopped for a moment, checking that we had privacy. We were on a small forest path, and I had no idea how we'd got there. "Speaking of, how are you feeling?"

"Huh?"

"Look, Madge." I stared at the ground. "Your family died, and you almost did. Are you sure you're alright?"

She bit her lip, the tears already starting to come. I realized that throughout the weeks she'd been suffering so much.

"I'm fine." She finally stuttered out. I gave her a lopsided grin.

"C'mon, Madge. You can talk to me."

She took a deep breath, and picked absently at the hem of her dress.

"Remember the day when Katniss got here? A few days ago, I mean." I nodded. "We almost kissed, Gale, and you just forgot about it." I stared at her for a moment. "Is it just me, Gale? I've like you for ages... I just wanted to let you know that..." She looked me right in the eyes. "I want it to stop. As of right now, I don't have any feelings for you." She turned and walked away, smiling in relief.

But I stayed right where I was. Here it was, the pain I'd felt when Katniss rejected me.

Hey everyone. This was a bit of a mushy chapter, but we got Greasy back! Next chapter will be back on track what with the big speech coming... And we find out what Gladen's true intentions are.

Please fav/follow/review! I've got a few very good ideas for this story, and it's going to start speeding up, now.