A/N: this is a prompt asked for on Tumblr by Belle453 (she has the same username on here). The prompt was Get Me, which, in short, means one character saving another. It was off a prompt list

Crumbling Home
(Gale/Madge)

"I know it's hard going through your parent's divorce, but that doesn't mean you can keep getting arrested, Gale." Madge chastises Gale for what feels like the millionth time that car ride back to her house. So what? He was out doing illegal activities while under the influence. Anything to escape the horrors of his home was better than reality. All his parents do is yell, scream, and cry while constantly bring the children into just to hurt the other's feelings. It was awful; Gale hated going home, so instead of it he made friends with the wrong crowd to avoid it. This isn't the first time his "friends" talked him into something. And this isn't the first time Gale ended up in the slammer. But Madge doesn't like that he now a smoke a bunch of different things she couldn't even begin to name and graffiti's everything. The Gale she knew since kindergarten had dropped off the grid a long time ago.

"Will you just shut up?" Gale murmurs against the car window, his warm breath fogging it up. He reeks of alcohol and drugs, it was a nasty stench that makes Madge's nose crinkle in disgust. On top of that, his head is pounding with immense pain and his stomach was rolling with every bump the car hit. Maybe he deserves the foul smell of himself and the nauseating roll of his stomach. Maybe he deserved everything that came his way.

"No, Gale, I won't. I'm sick of picking your sorry ass up every Friday night at the jailhouse. I'm sick of wasting my money on someone who says he won't end up there again just to end up there again!"

"Then why do you do it!" he yells, his chest heaving. Lately, his anger has been worse than ever. Everything set him off – dropping his pencil at school, someone bumping into him, someone saying good morning to him. Literally. Everything. People have started to avoid him and he was losing everyone. He pissed Thom off a month ago and they still aren't talking. Katniss told him to go someplace and fix himself before she would speak to him again. Delly Cartwright even handed him pamphlets for rehab centers and told him he was a dirty dog that deserved no one after he yelled at her for being kind to him. The only person he had left was Madge. And Madge was slowly drifting away too.

Everything he once had was now gone. His life used to be good. He was on the varsity baseball team with great chances of getting a full ride to the local state university, he was in National Honors Society (on probation for character and grades now), and he was even participating in Model UN. Now he didn't know anything about his country, let alone his own life. He was screwed and no one was trying to help him, or so it felted like that. In reality, he knew he pushed everyone away and that's why he was on his own now.

Madge reaches across the console and grabs Gale's hand tightly in her own. She risks a quick glance at him before darting her eyes back to the sleek, rainy road. His dark skin looked pale, he had bags under his bags, he had paint all over him, but mostly he just looked lost and exhausted. "Because I care about you." She said calmly, trying to sooth his anger. She knows it was useless because no one could calm him down when he was riled up, but she was trying her best.

He whips his head around to look at her, "No you don't! Nobody cares about me! Nobody, Madge, nobody." She doesn't look at him, although she should, she can hear the tears in his voice. This was it. This was moment he broke, the moment he lost everything. The moment he hit rock bottom with a big splat. She squeezes his hand tighter, trying to encompass all her love and care into him.

All he needs is someone to take care of him, someone that isn't trying to divorce his father or mother. He needs someone that shows loyalty and does his laundry when he pisses himself while he's drunk. He needs someone to show him what he can't see right now. And that's Madge, he knew that, but he still pushes he away.

"I wouldn't have come if I didn't care." She says softly but she leaves no room for arguments.

"No," he whispers. He's crying, she knows it, "No, you're just too nice to leave me there to rot." She feels sick to her stomach at the sound of his sniffles. Madge's own tears well up in her eyes. She pulls off to the side of the road, puts the car in park, and unbuckles her seatbelt.

She was right, he was crying and he wasn't a pretty crier. He keeps wiping his tears away furiously as if they aren't there, he was too tired to even look anger about the way his emotions were getting the better of him. He hiccups every time he tries to breathe properly. His frustrations were rising, you see it in the way he's face keeps morphing in and out of anger and depression. A tear falls down her own cheek as she takes both his hands from his face and kisses them both.

"I do care, Gale. I always have, I always will." They are both silent, the only sound is Gale's sniffles and hiccups; "I know this is hard for you. I can't even imagine going through this, but you can't keep doing bad things anymore, Gale. You're losing everyone because you keep pushing us all away when you need us the most. Gale…Gale, please stop hanging out with those people. They aren't you friends, they don't care about you. They care about having fun doing illegal activities, they left you and ran, Gale. What kind of friend does that?" he shrugs. His breath rattles in his chest as he heaves for air, more tears slipping down his face in a slow roll. She tugs his closer so he's leaning over the console, her arms tightly wine around him.

He's shaking. Not from crying or the chill night air. He's shaking because he's afraid of the future, he's shaking because he doesn't know what else to do, and he's shaking because he doesn't know where to go from here. He collapsing against Madge's warmth, trying to let it wrap around him like a blanket straight from the dryer. She was the only constant thing in his life anymore and he can't lose her too.

"I can't lose you, Madge. Please don't leave me." He whispers against her neck, his breath that smells foul with alcohol fanning across her neck and collarbones. "Please don't leave me."

"I won't. Now let's get you home –"

"No." he cuts her off short. The thought of stepping inside that crumbling home made him sick and angry at the same time. That place was a house without a home. It is a battlefield where no one was going to win. It is blood, sweat, and tears of disaster. It's like a bullet through your heart everything a word of hate slipped passed one's lips. They weren't a family anymore. They were a war zone with multiple different forces all fighting for something different. No, Gale did not want to go back. He never will.

"My house?" he nods and pushes off of Madge and buckles himself back in. She does the same and pulls back on the road after waiting for a line of cars to pass by.

…

She guides a sleepy Gale up the stairs to her room. They collapse in the middle of the bed, Gale pulling the covers tightly around them both. Since she has no other choice, she wraps her arms around his middle and lays her head against his chest. It wasn't like it was the first time they have shared a bed. It was completely platonic. Whenever someone had to share it was automatically thought that they would.

"Tomorrow we start lesson #1: taking care of yourself." She whispers against his hairline. She brushes away his silky, soft hair with one hand and pulled him closer with the other.

He snorts, whispering tiredly, "Whatever you say. I love you." She doesn't bother saying it back, he was already asleep.

Madge stays awake for a while longer; thoughts swimming pass her mind like a lazy day at the ocean. She thinks about Gale and all his problems. His parent's parting is going to be bad, it's inevitable. All they do is try to hurt each other. Mr. Hawthorne is drunk more often than he's sober, nowadays. Hazelle ignores the needs of the family just to piss off Marcus. It's a never ending cycle of one upping each other. That's all fine and great if it was between the two of them, instead they are now involving their children as leverage. Luckily, Posy is too young to understand what it means to be her mother's favorite now. But Rory and Vick aren't. Every time Marcus would call Gale his favorite it would cause a great tension between the three brothers. Now, not only were the parents at war, but the kids are now, too. Rory and Vick would do things just to piss Gale off ("What are you gonna do? Go complain to daddy, make him do all you hard work?" Rory sneers one day. Vick huffs out a laugh, "It's not like either one of them care what we do," he gestures between him and Rory, "We're not the favorites.")

All the while, Madge keeps brushing Gale's hair back with her fingers. The silky strands slip through her fingers easily. Her fingers would catch on a clump of paint here and there. He was a mess, not only emotionally, but physically. He smells disgusting; she really should have made him take a shower. Her parents would understand. But thinking about it, he probably would fall asleep in the shower. He is always tired now, never catching any sleep at home. This might be the only time he sleeps all week.

She dips down, presses a light, warm kiss to his forehead, "Night, Gale." She squeezes him closer before drifting off herself.

…

The next Friday night, Madge wasn't surprised to get a call from a random number. She was used to it by now. She was just happy it was the police this time. She answers after three rings to find a loud booming noise on the other side. It was so loud she has to pull the phone away from her ear just to bear the awful, loud, electronic sound.

"Hello?" she says into the phone. God, was Gale at another party?

"Madge?" his voices sound hollow, lifeless from the constant, vigorous pain at home. "Madge, please come pick me up. I've done something bad." It was clearly Gale; she knows by the way he says her name and the lift in his voice. He sounded awful and scared; it makes her heart squeeze tight in her chest and fear to fill her stomach with a bitter feel. "Madge, please." He begs her.

She sighs, rolling her eyes, "Where are you at?" she doesn't sound mad, just disappointed. Gale's used to that voice now. He gets it from everyone like it's an effort to talk to him, to pay attention to him. What he can't see passed her nonchalance; it is worried look in her eyes on the other end, or the way she frantically looks for her shoes and car keys. She tries not to sound too worried but she can feel it creeping up her throat like a spider, pushing against nothing to come out. All she can see is a dead body on the ground, beaten to death by Gale's hands. All she can see is him curled up in the corner of an alleyway using the dead guy's phone to call her because he was phone was dead again.

"I'm in the woods by High Street." she feels like she's going to throw up. The image in her head heightens to visualize a badly hidden body covered in leaves in dirt. Oh god, his fingerprints were everywhere.

"I'm on my way. Just sit still, meet me by the lake."

She drives like a safe maniac. She has the radio blaring to distract her, she's constantly switching lanes on the highway to get to the town an hour away and to him as quickly as possible. Everyone knows the High Street woods; it's where all the bad kids go to horrifying things like murder and other unmentionable things. God knows how he got there; he license was suspended months ago. Still, it doesn't matter how he got there, it's a matter of what he did while he was there. That sickening feeling in her stomach becomes worse as she gets off the exit into the medium size town that holds the High Street woods.

She pulls into one of the parking spaces across the street at the gas stations and hurries onto the dirt trail leading into the woods. She shakes her flashlight in her hand and clicks it on, the light shines on the damp ground and the dark trees. It leaves an eerie outline of the tree. She gulps, pushing down her fear as much as possible and continues onward.

When she finds him, he's on the ground soaked in blood. Oh god, she thinks she's going to be sick. At the sound of her flip flops snapping a twig, he looks up, tears streaking down his face and blood soaking his collar.

"What happened?" she whispers.

"The b-blood…it mine. I…I didn't kill anyone." He whispers, his eyes wide with fear of the assumption. "Madge." He opens his arms for her come to him, but she doesn't. For one, he's coated in blood and who wants to hug that, and for two, she still hasn't figured out where the blood is coming from. She moves towards him to get a better look and that's when she sees the large tear in his pants and darkest red spot on his body. He cut himself, or fell with a knife in his hand. Either way, his leg was bleeding badly and he was definitely going to need medical attention.

"What happened?" she asks again, this time slowly so he has time to process what she is saying. He seems to be moving in slow motion, more than likely because of the blood lost. Even in the flashlights glow he seems pale, paler than usual.

He opens his mouth to speak, but all that comes out is a whine so loud it shatters her soul. He's lost. Truly, completely lost in his own world. "I don't know." He whimpers, "I don't even know how I got here." The dam breaks in this precious moment. He begins to ramble like if he never stops talking she won't leave him, like if he keeps the silence away she won't cry out at him that he's a monster.

She kneels before him, taking his sweaty, tear strained face in her eyes and wipes away the salty tears, "Gale," she whispers so softly he hardly hears her, "we need to get you to a hospital." He nods slowly, clearly too exhausted to argue with her.

Madge carries him the second half of walk back. The blood lost is far too great for him to stand it any longer and his leg is completely numb by that point. She doesn't know how, but he manages to stay away all the way to the hospital. She talks to him, to make sure he was still with her.

The people in the emergency room look horrified when the pair walks in. They're both covered in blood and look like they took a turn for the worse. A nurse quickly walks up to them with a set up wheelchairs, demanding them both to sit down. She places in the wheelchair.

"Oh no, I'm fine. It's his blood on me."

The get Gale situated on his cot in the emergency room before drilling him with questions that make his head spin. Madge ends up answering them to the best of her ability for him as the doctors work profusely on leg. The nurse who calls him mom looks sympathetic when she does so, knowing the boy on the cot was gonna get ripped a new one when his mom gets here.

Madge toys with his hair while they wait. He doesn't sleep even though the doctors encourage him that he did. Instead he looks at the most beautiful girl in the world. He swears she has an invisible halo above her head right now.

"I love you." He whispers.

"Yeah, yeah, because I saved your ass again." She rolls her eyes and pokes him in the stomach. He winces in pain.

"No, Madge, not that."

"Then what, Gale?" she rolls her eyes again, but she takes his hand in her free one.

"You just keep continuing to save me, over and over again." With that, Gale's eyes slip close and his breathing levels out as he slips into a restless, pain reliever sleep. The last image he has before he's asleep Madge's face a few inches from his and the feeling of her hand running softly through his dirty locks. A small smile lifts the corners of his mouth as the pain reliever finally settles in.