"Rise and shine, pretty boy, you feel like cooperating with us today?" a voice snickered.

Gale grunted and realized he was lying on his face, flat in a cool, dark cell. He tried to move and his body protested, weak and wounded. He blinked his eyes and tried to remember what was going on. He remembered: searching the houses in the Seam, seeing the hovercraft in the sky, running from the peacekeepers, fighting the peacekeepers...and Katniss. Pregnant, alone...or maybe worse, maybe they had her here.

"Katniss!" he tried to scream, though he tongue was thick and heavy and his mouth felt full of sand.

"What'd he just say?"

"Cat piss, he keeps mumbling about cat piss…"

"Why?"

"How the hell should I know?! Maybe it's his name. Is that your name, pretty boy? Cat Piss?"

Gale could hardly register the guards' voices as he tried to make himself move, but his body protested in pain. "Katniss," her image burned in his eyes.

"Yeah, Cat Piss, you know you took down three of my men and messed one of them up pretty good…"

Gale wasn't listening to the man, but focusing on Katniss's image until it brought him enough energy to move.

"You knocked out three of his teeth…"

Katniss, the thought, Katniss, he said, "Katniss," he screamed finally making himself jump up. "Where is she?" He lunged up and reached through the bars of his cell and falling back down just as quickly, his side splitting with pain. He moaned and started losing consciousness.

"if he does that again, zap him. He'll eventually be ready to talk to us."

"You know him?"

"Yeah, I know him," the second voice said with a heavy sigh.

Gale couldn't see, but he registered the voices and then the pain as he tried to move.

"He's with us."

"Are you sure, sir? He took out two of our men on the ground, and then one more on the craft."

The voice laughed. "Well, we need good fighters, right? He could probably teach your men a thing or two."

"Sir, I think he's dangerous."

"You bet he is, but he's the kind of dangerous we need."

Gale heard the footsteps get closer and he tried to open his eyes.

"Trust me boys, this one's on our side."

A white light shone on him.

"Well, if it's Gale Hawthorne. How nice of you to come back to us."

Gale blinked and blinked again until his eyes adjusted to the light and he made out a face. And not just any face, but one he recognized. "Hay...Haymitch?"

He thought he could hear Haymitch cackling as he passed out again.

When Gale awoke again, he was no longer in a dark, slimy cell, but in a white, bright hospital room. As he slowly came to, he heard the faint beeping of machines in the background and the sounds of footsteps. As he opened his eyes, he saw what he assumed was a nurse tending to him.

"I think he's awake, sir," the woman said softly.

"Is he now?" A chair scraped closer to him and Haymitch's face came into view. Gale had to blink several times before he believed it. "Cat piss," he laughed heartily, "that's what they thought you were saying, Cat piss…" he laughed again, "It's a damn good nickname for her, I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't think of it."

Gale struggled to process all his thoughts...Where was he? Why was Haymitch here? Was this the Capitol? Had Haymitch switched sides? And where was Katniss!?

"Haymitch," he finally choked out.

"Ah, there's your voice,."

"Where are we? Is this the Capitol?"

"I'd be drunk if we were in the Capitol." Haymitch said reaching, out to the bed and leaning closer. "Now tell me, boy," Haymitch said with a graver tone, "how's our girl?"

"She's," Gale struggled to speak, his throat felt thick and tangled, "she's okay, I think...you guys didn't take her?"

"Nope."

"Then she's back at Twelve. At least, she was before you got me." Gale suddenly realized, body and mind becoming more alert, "and who are you, anyway?" His tone assertive and clear.

Haymitch laughed. "I suppose what you really mean is where are we? Welcome to Thirteen, Gale Hawthorne, the new headquarters of the rebellion."

Gale opened his mouth to speak, but there were too many colliding questions to sort into words.

"I know you have a lot of questions, and I'll answer them all, I swear," Haymitch paused to consider how many questions Gale probably had, "or, I'll answer a few of them, at least three, if I can find the time...but before we get to all that, I know there are people here who want to see you." Gale's question was in his eyes. "Well, your family, for starters, and Katniss's too, her sister just might be more excited to see you than her...I think you have a young admirer." Haymitch winked and laughed again, getting up to leave. "I'll go send for them now and arrange for a team to pick up Katniss."

"Haymitch, Haymitch wait."

Gale must have had an imploring tone, because Haymitch turned around, curious.

"There's something you need to know." Gale took a deep breath, wishing he had more time and a better mind to phrase this.

"Yes…?"

Gale felt like he'd swallowed his tongue.

"Don't worry, kid, there isn't much you could say that'd surprise me."

Gale tried to scrounge up some courage and strength and the fact that he was currently injured and in immobile in a hospital gown wasn't helping him find any. But he reminded himself that he was a man, and that men do what needs to be done. "Katniss is pregnant."

He said it so quickly the words almost flew past Haymitch before he could catch them. "Come again?"

A bit slower this time, and, Gale hoped, a bit more confidently. "Katniss is pregnant."

A long pause. An uncomfortable pause. And almost damning pause. "Damn, kid, I'll give you credit. I sure wasn't expecting that," he laughed. "And it's yours, no doubt?"

Gale felt like he was confessing to a crime. "Yes."

"I thought you were smarter than that," he shook his head and Gale felt ashamed. "She's really pregnant, hunh?" Haymitch scratched himself and Gale only nodded, "You two picked a fine time to start a family." Another long pause, and Gale braced himself for some humiliation. "And I don't suppose her condition's done anything to brighten her personality?" Gale didn't know how to respond to that. "Well, I'll go tell Cinna we're going to need a bigger Mockingjay suit…" Haymitch turned to walk away, muttering to himself, "pregnant, and with a real baby…"

Gale wasn't sure what to make of Haymitch's reaction, or the fact that he was in Thirteen, and his family came bursting in before he could make sense of it all.

"Gale!" Posy screamed as she threw herself on top of him.

"Oh my god, dear, be careful," his mother added, worriedly.

"It's okay, mom," he said, scooting himself up in his bed to make room for his sister and trying to hide his pain. "Are Vick and Rory okay?" He asked, suddenly alarmed that they didn't enter.

"Oh, yes dear, they're fine, they're just working."

"Working?"

"Yes, Thirteen needs all the help they can get, after taking us in."

Gale nodded, supposing that made sense as his mother came over to him.

"I have so much to tell you!" Posy gushed as she squirmed beside him. Gale smiled at her.

"Oh yeah?" he said brightly, "I want to hear all about it. As he focused on his sister, he heard his mother sit next to him and felt her fingers brush through his hair.

"Gale…" She began, but he didn't look at her. He had that far away look in his eyes when he was struggling to figure something out, something that he didn't want to admit was hard for him to do. Hazelle had first noticed it after his father died, when she watched her son struggle to swallow his anger and pain and take over the role of providing for the family. She'd noticed it again when Katniss went off to the Games and he suddenly found himself doing twice the amount of work with her gone. But it wasn't the extra work that he struggled with, it was her absence. And Katniss's coming back didn't make it any better. Gale had that look on more than ever when Katniss came back, and the problem he faced then wasn't how to get something done, but how to figure out how to be...with her again, or if that was even possible.

"We were so worried about you," Hazelle said. She didn't know what was bothering him know, and she didn't know if he'd tell her, but she wanted to make him feel better.

"Sorry," he said almost dismissively, not of her, but of the situation.

"Gale," he was tickling Posy. "Honey," Hazelle's hand went to his chin, "look at me," she forced his face over to her. "What's wrong?"

Ever since his father had died, Hazelle had watched her oldest son become stronger, become a man in many rights and ways before he should have been. He worked hard and sacrificed and took care of the family. Sometimes she felt bad about how much responsibility she let him shoulder, but she honestly needed the help, and he honestly seemed to be able to handle it. It was only when he couldn't handle it, that she worried. Because he never asked for help, and just got that far away look in his eye, the same on he had now, as if he was searching the world for an answer.

"Gale," she said more commandingly, "what is it?"

Gale brought his eyes to her, though he didn't exactly meet them, "Everything's fine mom, I want to hear all about Thirteen. How did you get here? What exactly happened?"

Hazelle knew he was looking for a distraction. He son was able to hide his pain from most people, probably even Katniss, but not her. Something was worrying him. Something hurt.

"Posy, dear," she said, grabbing she squirming youngest, "why don't you go ask one of the nice nurses if we can have some food. I'm sure your brother's hungry."

Posy's face lit up and she happily agreed, almost tumbling over herself as she shot out the door.

"Talk to me, Gale," Hazelle said now that they had the room to themselves, she took her son's hands.

"What do you want to know, mom?"

"I want to know what's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me, mom, jeez," he scooted up in his bed, as if asserting himself somehow.

"Don't lie to me, boy." Hazelle was still the head of her family, Gale sometimes forgot that, but she could always remind him.

Boy. That word rankled. Haymitch had called him that too. He hated it. He wasn't a boy, but a man, a man about to be a father, and while the woman carrying his child, the woman he loved, was...he didn't even know what she was doing...crying? scared? alone? hiding? And he was being fed jello in a hospital gown.

Hazelle could see the anger flicker in her son's eyes. And she knew it was the worst kind-he was angry with himself. She reached out and tried to comfort him, "just tell me son, it's okay."

Gale struggled to look at his mother. Ever since his father had died, he worked to hide all his pain from her, all his weakness. He watched her work so hard, the weight of his father's death on her heart, the weight of her unborn baby in her belly, the weight of supporting the family now on her back, somehow, she always managed. If she could, he knew he could too. Gale picked up as much of it as he could. His mother had never disappointed him, and he promised himself he'd never disappoint her. Right now, he felt he had.

. . .

When he was about fourteen, she took him aside one evening, after the youngest were all tucked away and he was helping her clean the dishes. She thanked him for helping her with the work, with all the work, not just the dishes. Gale shrugged it off, not understanding, of course he would help. Why wouldn't he help? "Gale, honey, I'm saying this because it makes you a man."

He gulped. He never really thought about being a man before, but he always tried to do what was right. He realized he liked hearing his mother say this.

"As far as I'm concerned, you've been a man ever since your father died. The way you stepped up…" her voice cracked for a second and she had to wipe a tear from her eye.

Gale shifted uncomfortably, he didn't know how to make this better. Hazelle knew that was what he was thinking-of course that was what he was thinking-and she wiped away her own tears before he could.

"I'm telling you this, Gale, because other people are going to start seeing you as a man too soon, you're already so tall," she looked him down, "so handsome, and you're going to start noticing some girls as women."

Gale gulped almost audibly this time. Maybe he didn't like hearing his mother say this.

"Gale, honey, you're not a child…"

"Mom," he tried to deflect her.

"You're good looking, you're strong, you're tall, a lot of girls are going to like you…"

"Mom, please..."

"And you're going to like a lot of girls, and I know you'll be tempted…"

"Mom, I promise, I'm not having sex." He wanted to stop this conversation before it even started.

"Of course you're not having sex!" She threw down her dish towel, as if that settled the matter. "You're barely fourteen. You better not be having sex!"

"I'm not!"

"But you're going to start thinking about it."

He couldn't tell her he wasn't doing that. Hazelle noticed her son's silence.

She grabbed his chin and tilted it up to her. (This was the last year Hazelle was able to do that, the last year he was shorter than her.) "I know you don't want to hear this from me, but you need to hear it…"

"Mom," he tried to deflect her again, feeling his cheeks burning.

"Gale, I was barely sixteen when I had you. You're father was only a few months older than me. He had to drop out of school and go work in the mines. If your father'd been able to stay in school, he was brilliant, just like you, he could have been a manager or engineer or something, but he never qualified for jobs like that, so he had to keep mining…" Hazelle choked up again, she didn't say it, she didn't want Gale to ever think it, to blame himself. She certainly didn't blame him, his father didn't either, but she did blame herself. "I'm only telling you this, because I want you to understand, I know what's it like to be young, to be in love, but I also want you to know there are consequences, and life here is already hard enough as it is."

Gale met his mother's eyes. "I know, mom."

"Moments can change things, more than you know."

"I understand."

"And I see how some of the girls at school look at you."

"I don't like any of the girls at school, mom."

"I know, dear. But you like Katniss."

Gale wanted to refute that, but he couldn't. Hazelle noticed his silence then too, and smiled as she picked up the dish towel.

"All I'm saying is, be careful."

"I will mom. I promise."

. . .

Gale hadn't been careful. How was he going to explain this to his mother?

"Gale?" His mom's voice spoke to him from the present this time.

"Sorry, mom," he shook his head and refocused himself.

"It's Katniss, isn't it?"

He adverted his eyes, and then cursed himself for doing so. Why was this so hard for him? He wasn't a child anymore. He should just tell her...

Hazelle took a deep breath. It was the breath that said, "that girl…" Gale knew it well by now. Hazelle had sighed that breath a lot over the past two years. She never had anything against Katniss, per se, but she also never quite understood her son's fascination with her. And after everything that happened in the Games...if that girl had hurt him again, after everything he'd done for her...How many times had she found his bed empty either because too much work kept him out of bed or too much worry...

"Katniss is pregnant, mom."

With four children, Hazelle had learned the secret to good parenting was never letting her kids surprise her. As long as she could always stay one step ahead of them, she could stay in control. And she'd managed to do this for pretty successfully for almost twenty years.

Suffice it to say, Gale had just surprised her.

"What?"

"Katniss is having a baby."

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how hard that must have been on you. Out there taking care of her all these months...I'd been hoping that would have given you and her the time to, oh, I don't know, figure things out and make up, but, if she was carrying Peeta's baby the whole time…"

"What?" Gale almost laughed as he said it. "Oh, god, mom, no. No. It's not Peeta's baby. It's mine."

"What?" That word again, and again, a different tone.

"Yeah," Gale had suddenly found his confidence. "Look, it just happened, we were out in the woods together…"

"Things like that don't just happen, Gale!"

"Mom…they sometimes do..."

"Then tell me how, Gale! How?!"

Was she serious? "I'm not sure how you want me to respond to that.." She looked like she wanted to kill him.

"We thought the Capitol had taken you! I've been worried sick for the past six months, thinking the Capitol was torturing you, or worse, and it turns out you spent the whole time cavorting in the forest!"

"It wasn't the whole time, mom, and I don't know if cavorting is the right word..."

"What word would you use then!?"

He wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that, either. He didn't really want to use any of the words he was thinking in front of his mother.

"Look, mom, I'm sorry. We got lost…"

"You expect me to believe you got lost? You and Katniss…"

Gale suddenly understood why his mother was so upset, she thought he'd left her, abandoned her without so much as a word goodbye to anyone he loved to have fun with Katniss in the forest.

"Gale Linden Hawthorne!" She'd interpreted his silence as some sort of insult or disrespect.

Gale hated his middle name. And more, he hated his mother using it.

"Good god, woman, would you calm down."

Hazelle hated it when Gale called her woman.

"No, Gale, I won't calm down. I thought you were dead, or worse, being tortured…"

"I'm sorry."

"I thought you were suffering, Gale!"

"I was suffering some, if it makes you feel better."

He always did this when she was upset: he would try to make her laugh. She both loved him and hated him for it.

"You know Katniss, she isn't exactly the queen of sunshine on a normal day, so can you imagine her mood with morning sickness…"

Hazelle was not going to laugh. But when she looked at him, his smile was pulling one out of her.

"And she's been having these salt cravings recently, let me tell you, I think eating her cooking does count as torture…"

"Stop it, Gale," Hazelle said, struggling to stifle a laugh.

His eyes darted up to hers furtively, mischievously. "If you say so...grandma."

She hit him playfully and finally lost it. They were both laughing now.