Gale

Undersee was getting better at hunting but she still stomped around like a bear in the forest so he heard her coming all the way from the valley. She had snares in her hands and was looking rather pleased with herself she came across him.

"So this is where you have been hiding." She said looking at him.

"I am not hiding." Gale told her, but it sounded like a lie even to him.

"Oh so the fact that your mother, brothers and sister all saw the love of your life kiss another boy would have nothing to do with the fact that you slept out here?" Undersee pointed at the blankets and supplies that betrayed him.

"She isn't the love of my life." Gale snapped back.

"What would you prefer instead? Soul mate? Partner?" Undersee had an edge of venom in her voice. "Or is more along the lines of sister?"

"Who died and made you queen bitch?" Gale did not want to do this right now. It was his day off; he was in the woods and close to forgetting all of it. But stupid Madge Undersee would not leave him alone.

"I have always been the queen bitch, its just no one was paying attention. I am the great invisible bitch." Madge laughed and Gale was confused where this conversation was going. "But I was paying attention. I see it all and you don't get to lie to me, because I have seen the truth."

"What truth is that?"

"Now where would the fun be if I was the one you admitted it?" Madge smiled and then promptly ignored him. She did a full body turn so her back was to him and sat down to fiddle with the ropes.

Gale wanted to scream.

"I do love her." He growled but Undersee didn't even pause. "She is the only one that matters and she is mine."

"Hmm." Madge hummed.

"They took her from me!" He was surprised by how loud his shout was.

"Feel any better?" She asked when he was silent for a few moments.

"No." Gale didn't feel any better because he hadn't said it all.

"How about the whole truth this time?" Madge titled her head. "Lay it on my Hawthorne I wont sing."

"I was never going to marry her. It was never going to be the two of us in the end. I had been too lose with my affections for her to ever consider my devotion true." Gale paused and looked up at the blue sky that now reminded him of other things. "She was already half in love with Mellark back when we met. Looking back I can see it clear as day. She watched him and he watched her. I used to stand to block them after school but still they would lock eyes for a second."

"And?" He wanted to strangle Madge for interrupting.

"And it didn't matter that I love her the wrong way, that my need to posses her has so little to do with who she is and more to do with what she is. I got to have the other girls and Katniss at the same time. The girl who was everything my father would have wanted for me but not what I wanted for myself."

"And what do you want for yourself?" She asked when he hadn't said anything for a long time.

"I want some one I can come home to." It was the raw truth that ate at him at night. That no matter how much he loved Katniss she would never be that thing he secretly hoped and dreamed about. She would never be the one to greet him with a kiss and just make everything better by being there.

Gale had wanted so badly for it to be her. She had been the first person to fill the void his father left. To be is real friend. She was the only girl who hadn't just seen his face and body when she looked at him. So he had hung his hat on the idea of her. On the idea that he could make it work, if he just had the time.

But the older they got the harder it was to deny that something was missing. That she would just nod when he got angry and not ever try to understand why he was upset. Katniss would listen but she rarely heard. He could tell her everything and she would only hear half of it because she would tune most of it out.

"That was the truth." Madge pointed and gave a small smile that clicked something in the back of Gale's brain.

"I have always been more partial to blondes." It was worth the embarrassment if only for the look on her face.

"The next time you try to tease me I am going to shoot you in the knee." Madge stood collecting her ropes.

"Who said I was joking?" Gale wondered aloud trying for a look of innocence. She huffed and stormed off. "Good bye Madge." He shouted after her.

"Shut up Gale!" Madge shouted back at him.

Gale left the clearing feeling a little bit better than he had when he arrived the night before. Now the real question was what to do with Madge?

And how was he going to make Cato's life difficult just for fun?

Little chapter that was supposed to be part of the previous chapter. Ah! So Gale never really loved her properly. He is no longer an issue romantically. No I am not killing him. I like him. I do. I feel a weird sense of comradery with the boy and you guys just need to chill the fuck out.

Also I just had a huge revelation. My version of Cato is heavily influenced by a character called Judd Lauren in the Psy-Changling series by Nalini Singh. His main books is called Caressed by Ice for those interested. But he appears in almost all of the books that center on the Snow Dancer werewolf pack.

Okay there should be another chapter up shortly. This is a two-chapter kind of day. -E