To me Gale wouldn't be happy about Finnick and Katniss, but he also wouldn't be vicious and rude towards her. I think he would be open to reason and still maintain his friendship with Katniss. If he seems OOC please let me know. Thanks for the continued support from you guys!

And you get something special this chapter for all your love and support ;)

Chapter 10

A rabbit lays in front of me, its pink nose brushing along the snow, unaware that I am poised to make it dinner for tonight. I draw the string back, eyes focused on my prey. Something in the air shifts, a slight crack of a branch, I spin on my heel with the bow aimed at Gale's heart. I draw in a sharp breath, lower my bow, and let my muscles untwist before speaking. "Don't sneak up on me, Gale. I could have killed you." The rabbit scurries away from us. "Next time call my name or something."

"It would have scared of your game," he gives me a half-smile.

"Better than an arrow in your chest." I put the arrow away and set the bow against a tree, "I was hoping to see you today. We need to talk."

Gale's face falls, "I guess we do need to talk." He sits on a hollow log beside me and pats the space beside me.

"Gale, I know we haven't seen each other much since I got home from the Hunger Games. I'm sorry for that, truly." His face has lost its usual vigor, the mines have beaten him and worn him down. I can see the bags that have fallen under his eyes, the thin lines of coal settling into his hair. Coal here is inescapable.

Gale nods and looks at his hands, "I'm sorry too, Katniss. I'm sure your fiancé doesn't mind though." I can hear the bitterness in his voice, "first Peeta now Finnick. Is this an act too?"

"I never said it was an act. Peeta may have been act, but Finnick is not."

"And how am I supposed to know that, Katniss?" He looks up at the sky, "do you love me?" Gale stares at me, into my eyes.

"Gale...I love you, as my best friend."

He shakes his head, "so you have no romantic feelings for me at all?"

"I don't." I look at him, "I didn't want this to be an argument, I wanted to talk to you Gale. I wanted to tell you personally, of my engagement."

Gale snorts, "it's late for that don't you think." He faces me and frowns, "you really love him?"

"I love him, Gale. He makes me happy and loved."

Gale nods and stares at the tips of his shoes, "aren't you worried he might cheat on you? We all know his reputation."

"He wouldn't do that. I know him, better than anyone else." I cross my arms as Gale leans closer to me. He shuts his eyes and moves his face near mine. I stand up and back away from him. "Gale, what were you doing?"

Gale opens his eyes, "I was going to kiss you. I had to try it, at least once."

"Don't. Gale, just don't do this with me. I want us to maintain our friendship, don't make things more complicated than they already are."

He stands up, "Katniss I can't just pretend I feel nothing for you when I do." Gale runs his hand through his hair and stares up at the sky.

"Then maybe we should take some time apart. I don't want to hurt anyone, but if you need some time away from me then that's what it takes."

Gale frowns, "Katniss. I am not going to get over you overnight, I love you."

"No you don't Gale. You love the girl who hunted with you, the girl who understood your life. I'm not that girl in anymore, I'm not the girl who left you behind for the Games. I left as Katniss Everdeen, girl from District 12. I returned a Victor."

Gale's eyebrows shoot up, "perhaps we do need some time apart, then."

"I think we do," I look up at him and press a light kiss to his cheek, "when you are ready to move on as friends. You know where to find me." I grab my bow from the tree and walk out from the woods to the fence. Gale doesn't chase after me, he lets me go, did I just lose a friend? The thought brings a rush of emotions I can't separate, everything from fear to panic to stress. I crawl underneath it and leave soft white footprints in the snow. People walk past me, looking healthier than usual. The Victory Tour brought enough food to keep the people of District 12 full for much longer than normal. I walk past the bakery without a second glance, the smell alone is enough to make me remember that a piece of me is missing. It's a piece that won't ever come back to me since it died in that arena with the empty eyes and pale face of Peeta Mellark. By the time I reach home, I don't speak to anyone too upset with everything that has happened today, my conversation with Gale, the thought of Peeta's death. I fall asleep without so much as a single word to anyone.

I wake up and look over at Finnick sleeping beside me. I sweep my legs over the bed and pull my boots on, I need to catch some game for dinner tonight. When I ran into Gale, I forgot to catch something for today. Yesterdays, cheese buns are sitting on the counter, I decide to grab it maybe it will last me an entire day of hunting. The snow is falling slowly today and I hold the cheese buns closer to me, the smell wafting into my nostrils reminding me of Peeta. I get out to the woods and walk for a while looking to see if any animals got in the traps I set yesterday. My walk carries me far into the woods, I hear a branch break and draw my bow. Another set of branches break and my body tenses, an arrow is set against the bow and I pull the string back. The sound comes from my left, my body turns and the arrow is point at one of two women standing by a bush of blueberries. "Don't shoot! Please."

I lower my bow slightly, "who are you?" The two women are wearing oversized peacekeeper outfits, one upon closer examination is a young girl leaning on a tall branch. The young girl is small in stature, she reminds me of Rue. Something inside of me breaks at the thought of Rue.

The older woman puts her hands up, "we have no weapons..." She stares at me for a moment, her mouth opening slightly, "you're Katniss Everdeen." She searches her pockets and offers a hand to me. I set the bow down and walk towards her, she hands me a cracker.

I look at it and flip it over to see a Mockingjay pressed in the back. "What is this?"

"It's a Mockingjay, a sign of the rebellion."

"The rebellion?" I can only imagine what Snow is going to demand of Finnick and I when he hears about this. "What happened?"

The older woman sits on a log after helping the girl. "First things first, I'm Twill. And this young lady is Bonnie." I nod a hello to each. Twill plucks a blueberry from the bush, "we are coming from 8."

"District 8?" I ask.

Twill nods, "I am a teacher in 8 when I'm not working in the factory making uniforms for the peacekeepers. Bonnie and I were walking to the factory late because of school, by the time we arrived there the bombs had already gone off."

"You were the only survivors?"

Twill gives me a tearful glance, "Bonnie lost her entire family and I lost my husband. We had originally planned to leave, my husband and I, we had already stolen these uniforms. But I took Bonnie with me now that he was gone."

"Do you need food?" I reach into my bag and take out the cheese buns I had brought with me, "here." I hand one to each of them. Bonnie stares at it for a while then looks up at me.

"You mean I can have all of this?" She reminds me so much of Rue, I nearly cry. I nod my head and watch her tear into the bun as if she hasn't eaten in days. She probably hasn't. I take her branch and look it over, "I twisted my ankle." Bonnie frowns and looks at her foot.

I rip a piece of fabric off my coat and tie it around the branch, "you two don't have any warm clothes do you? It's amazing you have lasted this long with the snow."

Twill chuckles, "we are wearing a couple pairs of clothes underneath this." I take my gloves off and hand them to Twill, and give my scarf to Bonnie.

"I know how to last in these woods without those, besides my house is only a few minutes from here. Where are you headed, anyway?"

Twill smiles, "13."

I look at her, incredulous, "13? There's nothing in 13."

Twill shakes her head, "that's what the Capitol wants us to think. There have been rumors for years, but now we have proof... Next time they show footage of 13 for the Games pay attention to the screen in the background. It's the same bird every single time that goes past." I shake my head, this is ridiculous. These two are about to die trying to get to 13, a District that has been desolate and unlivable for years. "They have been using the same footage for years, Katniss."

"Oh." I decide not to step out the idea of their hope, who knows maybe there is a small band of people who escaped and are living in 13. "Do you need any other supplies?"

"No, we are fine. Thank you, Katniss."

"For what?" I ask, I only gave them two items and some food. It isn't much considering that they will be going to a desolate and charred place with no signs of life.

Bonnie and Twill stand up and begin to make their way deeper into the forest. Bonnie speaks up for the first time since I gave her the cheese bun, "for giving us hope." I stand there mouth agape, wondering what kind of hope I bring them. Because of hope their families are dead, because of hope they are out walking to an uncharted land without any hope of finding this great society to fix their lives. I grab my bow and catch some game before heading home, more worried about the next request Snow will have for me than about the District that has supposedly risen from the ashes. What was that all based on anyway? A bird that kept flying on the screen. I head home and give my mother the herbs I gathered. Finnick stares at me while I skin the game. "What?"

He smiles, "nothing, you're just beautiful."

"I'm skinning a rabbit."

"You're trying to seduce me."

I blush from embarrassment and look at my mother who is in her own world mixing herbs. "Once again, skinning a rabbit. It's not the most seductive thing to do. I have blood and guts all over my hands. There is an eyeball in the sink Finnick, that I put there."

He winks at me, "what? Is it wrong of me to think you're beautiful, even if your ripping a rabbit apart? It just means I love you, no matter what you are doing. By the way, I love you."

"I love you too."

Finnick POV

The bed shifts beside me as I pull my boots on. Turning my head slightly, I can see Katniss has turned to face me. She blinks a few times and gives me a sleepy smile, "are you okay?" Her voice is quiet, soft, even a trace of innocence can be found.

"Yeah, I just," I hate lying to her, yet I do. "I just had a nightmare."

She frowns and props herself up on her elbow, "do you want to talk about it?" She offers me a reassuring smile and grasps my hand across the sheets. Her eyes are such a breathtaking grey when the light barely reaches her face.

I shake my head, "no. Need some air, though." I give her hand a light kiss and stand up. She turns from me and I can hear her breathing slow again, I walk out the room quietly. I don't need to wake up Prim or Mrs. Everdeen. The sun hasn't even risen enough to make me visible from the windows, why did he insist on meeting so early? Snow blows in my face as I open the front door, the weather is so much nicer right now in 4. I tighten the scarf around my neck and walk across the street. I've stopped knocking on Haymitch's door when I come over, so when I thrust the door open all kinds of trash sweeps beneath my feet. "Haymitch?"

"In the kitchen!"

Making my way to the kitchen, avoiding tons of random objects and sleeping geese might be one of the hardest things I have ever done. Honestly, if they wanted to make the Hunger Games a real struggle they should put the contents of Haymitch's house around the pedestals surrounding the Cornucopia instead of the landmines. I laugh at my own thoughts, the Games do that to me. Make me laugh at my own dark and twisted pessimistic thoughts. I nearly trip over a bottle and manage to catch myself before falling into a pool of spilled water, at least I hope its water. Haymitch never cleans up after these geese. He motions to a chair across from him and pours scotch into a glass across from him. "Sit, Odair. We have a lot to discuss."

I fall into the seat and take a sip from the drink, I never been one for alcohol, but Haymitch is insistent that I share in his own addiction. "Let's get straight to the point, Haymitch. Why am I here?"

"First of all, the unrest in 8 turned into an actual uprising, so expect some pressure from Snow. I got news that they bombed one of the plants there this morning when I communicated with Plutarch. Of course, we don't know what the Games will be this year since its the Quarter Quell. I'm guessing that they will reap triple the amount of tributes or something. Regardless, it is the only time all the Victor's are together. That's when we get Katniss out."

I nod, "okay. Then we head to 13?" I wonder what Snow will demand of us to quiet this unrest now.

Haymitch takes a sip from the bottle, "yeah. We head to 13. Be prepared though, this is dangerous. Especially because we are taking all the Victor's who are supporting this revolution. You know the stakes."

"I know the stakes." My eyes drop to my hands, wrapped around the glass. I clear my throat, "how long do we have before this plan is put into action?"

"A few months, we have to see what the Quarter Quell announcement is, that will determine how we go about getting everyone out. If it's something outrageous like triple the amount of tributes, we can move without much notice. Everyone will be focused on the bloodbath that kind of thing will produce." Haymitch has always been fixated on the idea that the Quarter Quell for this year would be similar to his. The rest of us, are thinking much darker than that, we are conjuring up the most twisted arena's the Capitol could think of. Haymitch coughs, "you actually love her?"

I glance up at him, "what?"

"Do you actually love her?"

"Yes," my eyes move from his, "yes. I do. More than anything, Haymitch. Do you know how much it tears me apart to lie to her about this? To pretend like everything is perfect, like everything is going to be perfect and yet I know that it is going to fall apart? If I could give her the life she deserves I would do it without a second thought."

"You are, Finnick." Something in voice has changed. "It might not seem like it now, but you are giving her the life she, and everyone in this world, deserves. This revolution is going to end the Hunger Games, the starvation, the oppression in Panem. Just don't tell her about what's going on, that will keep her safe. Her safety is important to this whole plan working."

I frown, "I realize that. That doesn't make things any easier, I could die."

"You won't die. Katniss would lose it if she lost you. That girl loves you, I hope you know that. You are going to be okay, she will be okay. And all your little pompous and prideful kids will be okay, too. If it bothers you that much, just find a way to show her how much you love her."

An idea begins to sprout in my mind, I stand abruptly tipping my glass over, scotch bleeding down the table. "I have to go. Update me if anything changes." I run out the house, through the snow, and open the door to the house. I try to maintain my silence as I work my way up the stairs. When the door opens, Katniss hasn't moved a breath from where I left her. I pull off my boots and untie my scarf, before laying back down beside her. She lays still until I put my arm over her, the scent of lavender filling the air around me. Katniss turns to face me, "good morning, Kitty."

She rolls her eyes and smiles, "feel better?"

"Yeah, needed some air. Like I said." I stroke her cheek, "Katniss, why haven't we just gotten married?"

She lifts her eyes to my face, "maybe because we have only been engaged for a few weeks."

"What's stopping us though? Our love should be eternal, permanent. I don't want the Capitol to dictate when we get married."

"I know, isn't that why we were going to have something private and small?"

I nod, "but what is stopping us from having that?"

She wraps her hands around my neck, "what sparked this? I love the idea, I don't want the Capitol's hand in this any more than you do, but I need to know this isn't because you had a few drinks with Haymitch." She winks at me, "I can smell the spirits off your breath..." She lowers her voice, "I go to him too, sometimes. When the nightmares are bad."

"It has nothing to do with that. I just was thinking that I don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose you or our love...After I lost Annie-"

Katniss presses a finger to my lips, "tomorrow night? How does that sound? We have a ritual for this kind of thing here in District 12. Only one to two people are present. And a small dinner is held afterwards were only close friends and family have been invited. I think it will be perfect." Katniss lays her head on my shoulder, "I think it will make things easier for me, with the Quarter Quell. I'm not ready to mentor, particularly the year that they make the Games more horrific than usual."

I kiss her temple, "don't worry about the Quarter Quell, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I guess you're right. It can't be too awful."

I will try and update later on tonight. If not tomorrow morning I will. Thank you all again for your support!