ER AU.

"Your mother is going to kill me," Madge mutters, continuing to dab an antibacterial wipe over the scrape on Dylan's brow, as they sit in the communal emergency room at Panem Memorial. He has a sling on his arm, where his shoulder was dislocated and his wrist was broken in two places.

"Nah," Dylan says cheerfully, doped up on pain medications. Although, to be fair, he's a happy-go-lucky kid, completely taking after his mother. "Pop will convince her."

Madge sighs, leaning back. It was a good thing she was Uncle Haymitch's favorite niece. Although to be fair, she's his only niece. Aunt Maysilee was a sweetheart, too, but fiercely protective of her little boy.

"I'll tell her it was all my fault, Madge, don't worry," Dylan says, leaning his head against her shoulder. Madge smiles. She doesn't have any siblings of her own, but she absolutely adores her cousin. Hence their bi-weekly outings together… which hopefully will continue, given that under her care, Dylan got into a little accident while on the playground.

A loud wail gets their attention as Madge sees a tall man carrying a little girl, about Dylan's age, into the ER. He's handsome, Madge thinks, and awfully familiar…

"I know her!" Dylan exclaims loudly. "That's Posy Hawthorne."

"Shhh," Madge says. "Dylan." She remembers seeing him at Dylan's Christmas play. Posy must be in Dylan's class.

"What?" Dylan cocks his head at her, reminding Madge of her cocker spaniel. "What's wrong with her, Madge?"

"I don't know, kid," Madge says, abandoning the wipe and picking up the last of the paperwork the nurse handed over a few minutes prior. She tries to fill it in the best she can, but there's some info only her aunt and uncle know— both of whom aren't answering their cell phones.

"My leg hu-urts, Gale," Posy cries as the doctor examines her leg.

"We'll need to do x-rays," the doctor says, "but I'm pretty sure it's broken."

Gale swears. "Great," he mutters, thinking of casts and kid-sized crutches. "Ma is gonna kill me."

Dylan turns his big eyes on Madge. "Is she gonna be okay, Madge?" He wants to know.

Madge fondly runs her hand through his tawny curls. "She will be, sweetheart," she says. "And it looks like you two will be cast twins."

"Yeah!" To her shock, just as the doctor finishes administering numbing medicine to Posy, Dylan goes over to Posy and, digging into his pocket, pulls out a lollipop that Madge had given him after lunch, still pristine and wrapped up.

"Hi, Posy," Dylan says, giving her the lollipop. "Don't be sad. I got hurt, too, and the doctor made me better!"

Posy rewards Dylan with a big grin and Gale swivels downward to eye this interloper. "Who's this, Pose?" He says with all of the irrational suspicion of an elder brother.

"Dylan Abernathy!" Posy says, now happily unwrapping the lollipop. "He was one of the three wise men in the Christmas play, 'member?"

"Um," Gale is clearly bewildered, and Madge decides to insert herself here.

"Dylan," at a voice, Gale turns around to see a pretty blonde, who's looking at Dylan with fond exasperation. "Are you ready to go?"

"I wanna stay with Posy," Dylan says, pouting a little, "we can get matching cast colors!"

"It might be a while," Madge glances at Gale and holds out her hand. "Hi, I'm Dylan's cousin," she says, "Madge Undersee."

"Gale Hawthorne, Posy's brother," he wraps his large, brown hand around hers. For some reason he thought her hands would be cold, but they're warm. "Nice to meet you. I guess, uh, our young invalids know each other?"

"Same class, I think," Madge says with a smile, "and perhaps a similar penchant for mischief?"

Gale grimaces. "Posy fell off the counter while trying to reach the jar of cookies. I was supposed to be babysitting, but I was outside doing yard work."

Madge nods solemnly. "Understandable."

"Yeah," Gale rubs the back of his neck. "Let's hope my mother sees it that way."

Madge and Dylan end up waiting for the Hawthorne's, and Posy, while not getting the same color as Dylan, got one that, after much deliberation with Madge, was declared 'complementary'.

"Hey," Gale says, running his hand through his hair, a bit nervous, "these kids have had quite the day. What do you say we meet up at the ice cream shop? I can treat you guys to ice cream."

Madge smiles at him. "Sure, that sounds good. That's nice of you."

"And maybe," he clears his throat, "after we drop them off with much more responsible adults than ourselves… I can take you out to dinner?"

"Sounds even better," Madge beams.