Disclaimer: Hunger Games characters do not belong to me. I just borrow them every once in a while.


Madge felt horrible. Her throat was sore, her nose was stuffed, and her ears hurt. Apparently the cold she'd developed a week ago wasn't satisfied with restricting itself to the usual symptoms and had also given her an ear infection. She was glad that it was finally Friday and she could just stay in bed all day.

Madge had just settled down on her couch, hot tea and tissues close at hand, with a book when her cell phone started ringing. She looked over and saw an unrecognized number displayed on the screen. Madge had a strict rule with incoming cell phone calls. If she didn't recognize the number, she didn't answer. She let the phone ring out then went back to reading her book. About half an hour later, the phone rang again. It was the same number, Madge considered picking up then thought better of it. If this person really wanted to talk to her they'd leave a voicemail. As if hearing her thoughts the phone rang out and then a minute later gave its usual voicemail buzz. Madge picked it up, curious, and dialed in her passcode.

"Hey Madge, this is Gale. I'm in town until tomorrow morning and I just finished up my business. I know we've never hung out just the two of us before but I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner tonight and maybe catch a movie. Oh, and Katniss gave me your number, I'm not some creeper. I'll try again in a few minutes, ah, bye." The message crackled to an end, with Gale finishing off sounding tentative.

Madge was still staring at her phone in confusion about a minute later when it started ringing again. Hesitantly, she answered.

"Hi."

"Madge?"

"Yes, this is she."

She could hear Gale clear his throat. "So, I take it you listened to my message. Are you interested in dinner? My flight doesn't leave until tomorrow morning but I finished all my meetings today so I'm free tonight. I figured we could catch up, or something," he finished off hurriedly.

Madge sniffled, "I'm sorry Gale but I don't think I can tonight."

Their last interaction had gone well but Madge didn't think that was enough to explain a call and meal invite from Gale Hawthorne. It was probably just a pity call, Madge had recently been bemoaning to Katniss how little friends she had. Either way, she was pretty sure Gale didn't want to be hanging out with a girl who had fluids coming out of multiple orifices on her face.

"Oh, okay. Well maybe next time then." Madge really wished they were conversing face to face. It was so hard to read people over the phone, not that she'd ever been a pro at reading Gale face to face. He sounded disappointed though, maybe he had really wanted to hang out.

"Wait, Gale." She said, hoping she caught him before he hung up. "It's not that I don't want to. I've had this horrible cold all week and I don't really feel up to going out. I'm probably a biohazard anyways," she tried to joke.

"Do you need anything?" The concern was evident in Gale's voice, "Katniss said you live on your own now. I could pick medicine or food up for you."

Madge's heart swelled, her emotions always got more intense when she was sick, and her eyes started to tear up. She'd forgotten how nice it was to have someone to care for you. Trying to keep her voice calm, she answered, "No, that's alright Gale. I have everything I need: drugs, tissues, and books to keep me from boredom. Thank you for offering."

"Okay," he didn't sound convinced. "Well you can call me if you need something. I'll talk to you later Madge."

"Bye." She heard the line go dead. Bringing the phone down from her ear she looked at it. Had Gale Hawthorne actually called her and then offered to buy her supplies? Madge felt like she was hallucinating. She quickly saved his number under her contacts, then somewhat regretfully settled back down to her book.

She must have dozed off because she was startled awake by a knock on her door. Grumbling and head throbbing, Madge pulled the blankets off and stomped to the door. This better not be her neighbor trying to hit on her again. Honestly, no one actually asked their neighbor for a cup of sugar.

"What?" she croaked as she yanked open her door. Her mouth then dropped open in amazement.

Gale stood there with a grin on his face. "Is that how you great your visitors Undersee? I even brought gifts." He said, hefting the two grocery bags he was holding.

Mouth still open, she moved to the side and let Gale pass into her apartment. He confidently made his way through her living room into the adjoining kitchen. Placing the bags on one of the kitchen counters he began to unload them.

"I figured since you are the only friend I have in this city I wasn't going to let sickness get in the way of my visiting. Not that I wouldn't have come by even if I had other friends," he added hurriedly, glancing at her to see if she'd been offended.

By now Madge had regained enough of her senses to close the door and wander into the kitchen. She watched as he unpacked a variety of vegetables, chicken, noodles, and ginger ale.

"Also," Gale added, "my mom taught me how to make the best chicken noodle soup and I've taken care of my siblings when they were sick plenty of times. I felt I was just the man for the job of curing you."

Madge blinked at him. She really couldn't handle 'nice Gale' when her mind was dulled with medicine and sickness. "But," she began to protest weakly.

"No buts, just show me where your cutting board is, a knife and a big pot. Then it's back to the couch for you."

Madge pointed out the requisite objects then submitted as Gale pushed her back to the couch, set her down and tucked the blankets around her. She watched him for a while, moving around her kitchen. He fit there too well she decided, she should see if they sold robots like him at Ikea. A Gale Hawthorne for her kitchen was just what she needed.

She must have drifted off to sleep again because she woke up to Gale shaking her. "You'd better wake up princess. I worked myself to the bone making you this soup. And," he added, looking especially proud of himself, "I managed to hook my computer up to your TV so we can watch something online and I have just the thing! Have you seen Jericho?"

Madge groaned. "Are you sure you and Katniss aren't related? She forced me to watch it when we started rooming together."

Gale grinned. "Great minds think alike. Well I don't see any problem with watching it again." He peered at her, suddenly looking concerned. "You liked it didn't you? Because if you didn't, I don't think I can share this delicious soup with you."

She gaped at him. With how he was acting, it was like he was the one on cough medicine. "It was good. I just get annoyed that the sexy blonde who always needs saving also always gets the tall dark hero with the troubled past. I'm much more a Heather, the nerdy girl never gets the guy even though she's constantly helping him out." She giggled at his look of consternation. "Don't worry. I can put aside my dislike of the romances to enjoy the rest for the piece of art it is," she teased.

"I think you deserve more than a guy whose past haunts him but, I also think you deserve a hero. You never know," he added, "what would have happened if they hadn't canceled the show. Maybe he just needed more time to get his head straight and see what was right there in front of him."

They watched one another for a few moments, Gale still standing and towering above her, until Madge could no longer stand the intensity of his gaze. There was some other meaning in his words, she felt, but Madge had never been good at understanding the subliminal messages. She looked at the two bowls of soup sitting on her coffee table.

"Well, let's start eating before the soup gets cold. There's a chair in my room you can bring out to sit on."

"Nah," Gale handed her a bowl of soup then lifted her feet up and set himself down on her couch, "I'm fine right here". After positioning her feet across his lap, he leaned over and started the first episode of Jericho playing before grabbing his own bowl.

She must have drifted off sometime after the third episode because she woke up when her feet start moving on their own accord.

"Shh, go back to sleep Madge." Gale shushed, pulling the blankets back over her feet. "It's early morning but I have to head out to the airport now or I'll miss my flight."

She nodded groggily and settled down to sleep again. She stayed awake long enough to feel his lips pressed to her forehead and hear her front door click shut. Madge woke up a few hours later and saw a sheet of paper on her coffee table.

Madge,

I hope you feel better soon. I'll be back in about two months and I'm hoping we can do more that watch TV shows when I visit then. Maybe you can show me some of your favorite sights. My company is thinking about settling me down in one permanent spot, so I've got to gather some more information in order to make an informed decision about the best place for me. In the meantime, you'd better answer the emails I'm planning on sending you. I want to know your opinion on some other cult classic TV shows.

-Gale

P.S.: You might want to text me your email address. Otherwise I'll be a creep again and ask Katniss.


Author's Note: This is longer than I planned it to be. I'm planning on just one more chapter to this long-shot, then it's back to one-shots for me :)