Katniss waited almost half an hour before she realized that she might have to go and find Gale. At first she was angry he didn't keep fighting with her because she wanted to fight so badly. She wanted to let loose her rage. And she needed something to fixate it on...and out here, the only person she could do that to was Gale. And that wasn't fair. She knew that. Once her own anger subsided, she realize that Gale had a temper himself, and while she'd never crossed it before, she realized that she had probably just toed that line.

"Gale?" She got up to look for him. "Are you out there?" There was no response. "Gale, please...Can we talk? Please?" She tried to sound sincere, "Are you there? I'm ready to talk to you about this." Still no response. Katniss walked to the river and back to the tree line, continuously calling his name. "Ok, Gale, this isn't funny. Look, I know I was being impossible and I know you're mad." Still nothing. Katniss began to worry. "Gale? Gale? Please, Gale?" Her voice broke as she panicked. She started to look around to see if she could trace his footsteps. But she can't. Her heart started to beat quickly and she couldn't control it. "Gale," her voice trembled, "Gale, Oh my god, Gale, Please!"

She heard a stick break behind her and swung. Gale was emerging from the forest.

"Gale!" she shrieked and ran to him. "Oh my god! you scared me!" She threw her arms around him and held him desperately. After a moment she realized that he wasn't hugging her back. "Gale?" his name was this time a question. "Gale? Please, you have to understand, I'm just so scared and angry and uncertain-"

But Gale cut her off. "Are you sorry?"

"What?"

"Are you sorry?"

Gale's eyes were serious and deadly. Katniss steps back, not exactly afraid but apologetically. "Yes."

"You are?"

"Yes. Gale. I'm sorry. I know i'm not being fair and I know I'm being mean and I know I'm not being rational and I'm scared...in fact, I'm not scared, I'm terrified because I don't know anything."

Gale finally returned her hug. As his arms embraced her, she felt like things were alright for the first time in a long time.

"You always knew I was difficult," she muttered into his chest. She heard a faint chuckle from inside his chest. "Do we need to talk more about this?"

"Yeah," Gale answered, rubbing her back and letting go, "I think so."

Katniss took a step back and wiped a tear from her eye. "Okay."

"Are you ready?"

"No," she said honestly, "but we might as well get this over with."

Gale nodded and took her hand so they could sit down. "Talk to me, Catnip."

Katniss threw him a petulant stare. "I thought you were the one who had things to say." But as she said this, she realized that she was trying to be nice and that she couldn't keep snapping at Gale. "Sorry, I just, I'm not sure I have anything to say."

"Talk to me," he repeated, his gray eyes locked on hers, making her feel safe and at ease, and pulling out the truth.

She couldn't stop the tears from rising to her eyes. She felt stupid for crying so much, and cursed internally, blaming it on the hormones. "I'm scared, Gale. I'm scared and lost and confused." He reached out and wrapped his strong arms around her. "I don't know how to do this...I don't know what this means...I never wanted it, especially now, while we're out in the woods, trying to make our way back to fight a rebellion…" Gale reached in and kissed her on the side of her head, "it's just so...so...inconvenient." She could hear him chuckle softly. Gale was amused that in impracticality of the pregnancy was what upset her most. That made sense, that's the same reason the Capitol upset her too. In a strange way, it comforted him. It was good to know that she hated the inconvenience of pregnancy more than the idea of it. "I mean, how am I going to lead a rebellion if I'm pregnant?"

Gale laughed louder this time and pulled her closer. "I love you," he said.

"I know you do. I don't hate you." Gale threw her a quizzical look. "For getting me pregnant. I don't hate you."

"Um...Thanks." It sounded more like a question.

"I mean, I still blame you." She smiled as she said it.

"That's okay. I can deal with that." He pulled her in tighter. "We'll figure this out."

She looked up at him and only nodded. He leaned down to kiss her. Their lips remained locked for minutes.

"Do you want to tell me what you read?" Katniss finally asked.

"Yeah," Gale agreed, and he proceeded to tell her what he learned from the box, though he left the bit about the watermelon out. He'd just gotten Katniss to calm down for the first time in a long while. He didn't want to risk piquing her ire again. She nodded as she took it all in. He couldn't help but notice she felt detached.

"How much longer should the morning sickness last?"

"It normally only lasts a month or so," Gale told her, "and it usually starts four to six weeks in."

Katniss looked up at him and nodded. She thought back, trying to remember when the sickness started. "How long have we been by this lake?"

"About a week," Gale answered. She nodded again. She'd been getting sick for at least another week before that, though she thought it was mostly due to dehydration at the time. "So, I think you're at least five weeks along now." Gale told her his guess cautiously.

Katniss shook her head. "I was throwing at least a week before we got here." Gale looked alarmed. "I tried to hide it from you."

"You succeeded." He only sounded a bit upset.

"So, maybe six weeks?"

Gale nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Do you remember what we were doing six weeks ago?"

"Being stupid and irresponsible," Katniss huffed.

"And having fun," Gale's voice carried a note of playfulness.

She tried to scowl, but Gale's eyes pulled it down and turned it into a smile. "Yes, and having fun."

Gale walked closer to her and grabbed her in his arms. He held her tightly and kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him, her eyes now sparkling with that same hint of playfulness.

"Which night do you think it was then?" she looked down to her stomach, "when we did this?"

Gale smiled, eyes glistening as they sorted through clearly happy memories. As Katniss watched him think, she almost blushed, remembering the same nights.

Was it the night she took him sitting against a rock, drawing kisses along his jaw and chest, and begging him to help hold her up so she could mount him from the front….Or was it the night she playfully refused to share the squirrel she'd caught with him because he'd failed to nab one of his own, and childishly ran off with her food, taunting him, and leaving him no choice but to chase and catch her and claim her….or was it the night she asked him if there were any other positions he knew about and they fell on top of each other clumsily as they failed to make it work, laughing, and made love sweetly, and tenderly under the open stars.

She tried to shrug off the shivers that grasped her as she thought back, a bit surprised at what they stirred in her. She'd been so sick and angry recently that she'd forgotten how much she enjoyed being with Gale.

"Six weeks…" she almost whispered, wondering how many more weeks of this lied before her and what those weeks would hold. For Gale's sake, she tried not to dwell on all the darkness they could hold, at least for a few moments.