A/N: I don't know if people are insanely busy or didn't like my portrayal of Annie and Finnick. I will admit I'm a bit down because of the weak response to the last chapter. For the people who took time to review, add this to their alerts and favorites, I thank you.
James Undersee took a long drink of white liquor. He never developed a taste for the stuff in his years in the district, but the events of the last few days had him rattled. Snow was sending Thread to 12. His citizenry had already been terrorized by deteriorating mines, Hunger Games snatching their children away, starvation and would now face the fear of whippings, hangings and beheadings in the town square.
A knock at his office door pulled him from his dark thoughts. "Come in." It was late, so he had sent his assistant home to be with his new bride. The young couple had married earlier in the week, but the Mayor felt no joy for them.
"I have Oran like you asked, sir," Darius said after removing his Peacekeeper helmet.
"Thank you," the Mayor replied and motioned for Darius to leave once the large mining foreman stepped in.
"Mister Mayor," he said, his eyes flickering around the room.
"We don't have much time," James said, standing to shake Oran's hand.
"Time for what?" The huge man's hand shook as he glanced around the room.
"We can talk freely, but won't be able to in the near future. The President is sending a new head Peacekeeper and he's going to make life rougher than it already is." James noted the disbelief on Oran's haggard face. "Romulus Thread is more evil that Cray. He enjoys punishing people. I need you to spread the word through the Seam that everyone is to follow the new rules until we get through Madge and Gale's Victory Tour. I expect things to settle after then."
"Spread the word?" Oran's face went ashen.
"Jake Hawthorne and Clint Everdeen told me you were a man they trusted with their lives." James knew he was taking a big risk, but he trusted someone from the Seam far more than anyone in town at the moment.
"Jake and Clint?" Oran's square jaw fell open and his grey eyes rounded like two stones.
"They did a job for me a while back," James said. He closed his eyes and relived one of his greatest failures. "I will never forgive myself for their deaths."
"You had them dig that tunnel?"
"Yes, but that doesn't matter. Please spread the word about Thread," the Mayor pleaded. "We will be the center of attention when Madge and Gale get home next week."
"Okay," Oran agreed. "I never knew who they were working for, but they trusted you and that's good enough for me."
"Thank you." James hit a button and Darius appeared to take Oran home. "Don't tell anyone I told you about Thread."
"I'll say I overheard some Peacekeepers talking."
"Good idea." Once Oran left, James collapsed in his chair. His nerves were on edge since Audra was killed and his emotions were always inches below the surface. Tears poured down his cheeks as he realized the number of deaths on his soul. Please let me save someone in my lifetime.
After more kissing, Gale and Madge fell asleep on the beach. The stars, the soothing lap of waves on the shore and a feeling of security that they hadn't felt in a long time allowed them to sleep through the night.
As dawn was breaking, Gale opened his eyes and smiled. Madge's golden hair was spread out over his arm, which cushioned her head all night long. He might barely be able to feel it any longer, but it was worth it to protect her from the hard ground. The protectiveness that he always felt seemed to have been magnified a hundred fold after Finnick's confession. Gale would never allow the sweet, angelic woman in his arms to be used by anyone. Rage roared through him and he had to clench his fist to stop from screaming. Wasn't it bad enough kids had to kill each other? When he rolled onto his back and threw an arm over his head, Madge shifted and woke up. "Sorry to wake you," he muttered.
"Are you okay?" she asked, leaning over his chest. The blanket slid down so he felt her bare skin under his hands one again.
His eyes flew open and he touched her soft face. "You're even more beautiful in the early morning light." She smiled and Gale knew she was blushing.
"Did you sleep okay?" Madge asked, resting her head on his chest, one arm sliding across his chest. Her fingers traced patterns on the linen material of his shirt.
"Yes," he murmured, his anger dissipated rapidly under her calming touch. "How about you?"
"Good, thanks to you." She shifted so she was resting her chin on her hands, which now covered his heart. "Gale?"
"Yes?" He moved so one arm was behind his head and the other held her.
"If there is no way…" she paused and looked at his chin. "If we can't avoid our fate…"
"Don't!" he growled. Gale sat up and pulled Madge along with him. His hands took hers and held them firmly. "I won't let that happen."
"Gale, how many victors before us thought the same thing?"
"I don't give a damn about previous victors. They're all a bunch of cowards if you ask me." He shook his head in disgust at the thought of allowing his body to be used as a plaything.
"You know if Snow threatened your family and you could save them, you'd do it." Madge pulled back. "If it meant everyone would be safe, I'd…"
"No!" He grabbed her shoulders and made her face him. "Don't you get it? It doesn't matter. Finnick screwed half the Capitol but his sister and mother were still murdered. If Snow wants us, we have the power. Not him. Katniss and I were talking about how everyone has to watch the Games. What if no one did? What if nobody gave a damn about who won the Games? It would end."
Madge bit her lip and Gale knew he had her thinking. Her eyes looked off in the distance, obviously far away. "It wasn't always like that. When my ancestors and the country were free."
"I don't know anything about my ancestors except that they worked in the mines."
"My family has several books from hundreds of years ago," Madge lowered her voice. "Some of them were personal journals."
"Could I read them?" Gale longed for anything that spoke of a better world than they currently lived in. "The Capitol propaganda that we have in school made me sick."
"We need to do it at my house. They've been guarded for centuries. If the Capitol ever found out about them, they'd be destroyed." Madge's face fell after the enthusiasm of a moment ago. "My mother was the last of her family. With no male Donners left, the family name has finally died out."
"Not if you keep their memories alive," Gale pressed. "Tell me what you remember." His thirst for knowledge, especially knowledge to be shared with Madge, gave his voice the tone of a child begging for a bedtime story. "Please?"
"You should know I can't refuse you anything," Madge said with a soft laugh. "Especially when you say please."
"I know." He leaned in to softly brush her lips. "And the answer to the question I wouldn't let you ask before was yes."
"Yes?" Madge's brows rose.
"You were going to ask if I'd be your first if we had to… Argh. I can't say it because it won't happen." Gale felt his stomach twist and anger once again flood his veins. "I can assure you that I will share my first experience and all the rest of them only with you." Her eyes were huge before she looked away with a shy smile on her face. Her innocence and shyness changed Gale's anger. A calm that seemed out of place took over; it was the calm that came from knowing one's purpose in life. And mine is to protect Madge and all those thousands of innocents like her.
"Is it done?" Snow asked, his face filling the screen in Mayor Triton's office.
"No!" Finnick snapped. "There was a complication." He shook his head in disgust and turned to his companion.
"Rip attacked Madge and Finnick was forced to defend her, Mister President," Mayor Triton added. "We were concerned he snapped in the Games and it looks like we were right."
"How badly was he hurt?" Snow asked, his voice like steel.
"I'm afraid I killed him, Mister President." Finnick looked down like he was sorry. Groveling before Snow was something he learned to do right away in order to survive in the Capitol. "I lost my temper and before I knew it… Let's just day he looks like a sea creature got him."
"And that's just the story we'll tell everyone," Triton said.
Snow's eyes blazed as he steepled his hands. He turned slightly to seek out someone outside the camera's field. The unknown person received a clipped nod from Snow before he addressed his allies in District 4. "We can still use this. And perhaps Finnick can get another chance, now that you have their faith."
"Thank you." Finnick nodded, forcing a smile. "Without any others to interfere, the job would be done in no time."
"Very well. We'll try again." Snow seemed ready to dismiss them before he looked at the Mayor. "I want you to restrict your fishermen from sailing more than a mile from shore."
"What?" Triton gasped. "We'll never harvest enough fish for the Capitol and our own needs."
"Your people must be punished for the attempt on my Victors' lives." Snow cut off the transmission at that point.
"I told you all this was a stupid plan," Haymitch Abernathy said from his location in a dark corner of the Mayor's office. "Plutarch can figure out how to enact his grand plan from his plush Capitol office. I still want no part of it."
"Haymitch…" Triton began.
"Don't Haymitch me!" Abernathy threw his glass across the room. "Didn't any of you learn anything over the years? Snow is invincible!"
"Yet your tributes found a way to pull one over on him," Finnick countered.
"My dumb ass kids fell in love during the Hunger Games! What the hell was the chance of that?"
"Your dumb ass kids are more popular than Odair ever was." The Mayor drew his impressive six and a half foot height up and dared Haymitch to counter that.
"Thanks a lot, Triton." Finnick offered a smirk after his quip.
"You! Why did you have to attack Rip? Couldn't you control yourself! If Snow finds out about this infatuation that you have with Annie, he'll serve her up to those Capitol hounds…"
"I'll castrate any man who touches her!" Finnick stared down the larger white-haired Mayor.
"Oh yes," Haymitch mocked. "Big, bad Finnick Odair will castrate half the Capitol's citizenry for defiling…"
Finnick's punch came quicker than Haymitch could react and sent the older man falling back over the Mayor's couch. As he struggled to get up, Finnick leapt over the couch and had a death-grip on his throat. "Annie's never harmed another creature. Don't ever imply she could be touched by anything evil."
"Finnick," Triton soothed. "You know Haymitch is a drunken fool. We've already killed Rip because he might suspect something between you and Annie. Don't make me have to dump Abernathy in the sea."
Finnick got up and shook his head in disgust.
"Plutarch has a plan for the Quarter Quell. I don't know what it is, but you two need to be ready." The Mayor finally turned on all the lights to reveal two angry Victors.
"Forget it." Haymitch stood, brushing his shirtsleeves down and adjusting his hair. "I won't be involved and my kids won't either."
"Your kids?" Finnick laughed. "Mags was right. You do care about them."
"No! I don't."
"Then why are you here?" Triton asked.
"Because I'm on the same train they are. If Snow's going to send assassins after them, I want to know about it." Haymitch looked around and shook his head in disgust. "Don't you have anymore liquor in here?"
"Just give Plutarch's idea some thought," Triton suggested.
"How do you know it's not some Capitol plot to see who's really loyal?"
"I've known Plutarch Heavensbee since I he was a kid." Triton lowered his voice when he continued. "He never fit in with the Capitol crowd as a child. After he lost his wife and son that really did him in."
"I never knew he had a son," Finnick replied.
"He would be about eighteen now." Triton looked from Finnick's green eyes to Haymitch's grey. "His wife disappeared one day with the boy when Corn was nine. We all assumed one of Snow's lackeys was responsible, but no one knows."
"We've all lost people…" the District 12 Victor started.
"Sp Plutarch wants to avenge his son and thinks Gale and Madge can help?" Finnick summarized. "I will admit when I was in the Capitol that I was shocked at the response they got. The crowds were eating out of their hands. And then when they arrived in District 4, I was blown away by our District's response."
"Imagine when they get to 7, 8 and… 11?" the Mayor continued. "Some of those Districts are more populated that ours and already rebellious."
"I've heard enough," Haymitch growled. "I'm going to get drunk on the train and forget I ever heard you lunatics talk about rebellion." With a wave of his hand, he stalked out the door.
"Do you really trust him?" Finnick asked, looking at the closed door where Haymitch left.
"Yes…" A loud thud and the sound of someone rolling down some stairs interrupted his speech. "Besides, I doubt he'll even remember this conversation. Come help me carry him to the train."
The next few districts flew by for Madge and Gale. All their free time was spent discussing her knowledge of history. She learned that he loved learning and history as much as she did. It was a good thing they had a distraction because their visit to District 5 was hard on Gale. The family of the female tribute refused his apology. The mother sobbed and screamed he murdered their daughter who was only trying to help an injured Madge.
That night in his room on the train, she held him while he was consumed with remorse. It took a few hours of her gentle touch, a few kisses and a profession of her undying faith in his natural goodness to snap him out of it. Their chaperones had given up trying to keep them apart and Madge didn't care what they thought any longer. If the Capitol wants to make me into a whore, why should I care now?
After a depressing visit to District 6, which was heavily industrialized like 5, they grabbed food and retired to Madge's room.
"I don't know how they find anything to live for," Gale said as he sat on the floor biting an apple. "At least in 2, 3, 4 and 12 people can see more than buildings."
"Curie said that half the children in 5 are born with something wrong with them." Madge sat next to him and offered him some sandwiches that she made.
"Edison was too drunk to tell me anything," Gale replied as he took a sandwich from the plate and rewarded her with a devastating grin. "Is there anything you're not good at?"
"What?"
"The cooking."
"I didn't cook this. I only assembled it." Madge still blushed. Even though they practically lived together on the train and slept in the others arms, she still was getting used to having a boyfriend.
"I don't know if you noticed but the victors in 6 acted very strange," Gale said, getting back to discussing their visit.
"Morphling," Madge said, putting her sandwich down. Her appetite was gone.
"The pain killer?" Gale stopped eating.
"People become addicted to it. It kills all pain and eventually other feelings too." Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered all that the drug had taken from her mother over the years.
"What?" Gale nudged her with his shoulder.
"My mother is addicted to the stuff." Madge sniffed and fought back the tears forming in her eyes. "It's all that helps with her pain, but it took her away."
"I'm sorry, Madge." His arm slid around her shoulders and he pulled her to him.
Madge was powerless to stop her tears in his gentle embrace. "She barely knew who I was when I said goodbye. She thought I was her sister." Her fingers clutched his dark blue shirt, which was the color of the uniform of D6. "I missed her so much."
Gale stroked her back, kissed her head and let her cry for some time. She slowly realized that he released her hair from the French braid that Cinna put it in for their visit to the factories that made hovercrafts, cars and trains. His hands were sliding through and each stroke felt like weight being pulled off her chest. She snuggled against his strong chest and flattened her hands against his back.
"Better?" he whispered near her ear. The heat of his breath caused her to shiver.
"Thanks to you," she replied, smiling against the cloth.
"I am so sorry for what I thought about you before. I was an asshole."
"Gale?" Madge pushed back so she could see his face and was surprised to see anger in his features.
"I had no idea your mother was so sick." She wiped her tears and settled her hands in her lap. Gale shifted so he now sat facing her. "The one thing I've been blessed with my entire life was a family that loved me. My father always found time to take me hunting and show me how to be a man. My mother would do anything, including go without a meal, for me and the kids." His grey eyes filled with an emotion Madge didn't recognize. He took her hands and held them up to his chest. "I swear Madge that you'll know what a family that loves you feels like. My mother, brothers and sisters will love and adore you."
"So I'm now an honorary Hawthorne?" Tears were making a trail down her cheeks, but she let them.
"Sure." Gale laughed and kissed her fingers, but then seriousness took over his features. "You also have my time. As much as you need and whenever you need it."
"Even in the middle of the night during a blizzard?" she asked, her heart doing flips in her chest.
"Definitely. I'd love to snuggle with you during a long snow storm." He laughed and then grew serious. His grey eyes darkened as his hand brushed hair behind her ear.
Madge's heart beat furiously and her stomach began doing somersaults. Even though they'd kissed a lot in the last week, every time Gale took his time before kissing her it sent her body into a tailspin. Her mouth went dry and she unconsciously licked her lips.
His eyes zeroed in on the now moist flesh, a smirk spread over his face and the hand that had been tracing her ear cupped her chin. His steely gaze returned to Madge's azure one and the intensity caused her to gasp. "I'll never, ever let anyone hurt you again, Madge." Before she could respond, his mouth covered hers and his arms engulfed her.
Being held by Gale's arms was wonderful, but when it was coupled with one of his kisses, it literally blew her mind away. Her senses were overloaded with his presence. His muscular body provided her with much to explore, her hands traveled over his broad back and powerful arms. Her nostrils were filled with his soap, which had a woodsy odor to it. The smell of the forest would forever make her think of this man. On her tongue she tasted apple and the familiar flavor of Gale. A moan rose from deep in her chest to blend with Gale's. Hearing him react to her kiss in the same way that she reacted to him was a powerful aphrodisiac.
When Gale finally pulled back to gasp for breath, Madge had to rest her head on his shoulder. What would it be like to do more than kiss? If kissing makes me lose control of my senses, what would making love do to me? She was shocked her mind went to such a place. She was sixteen, far too young to think about giving herself to a boy. But Gale's not a boy.
"That was…" Gale paused and tilted her chin, "amazing."
His words brought her back from her deteriorating thoughts. She couldn't help but blush and smile.
Gale moved and rested his head on Madge's lap. "May I have a bedtime story? Please?"
Madge laughed as she attempted to regain control of her mind and tell him more stories of the heroic Donner clan as they braved an unknown frontier. After a kiss to his forehead, she began to thread her fingers through his hair and speak. The young couple had no idea where the path ahead of them would go, much like her ancestors. They too hoped to conquer the dangers together.
A/N: Thanks to Belle453 for letting me borrow Oran and Corn from her awesome story Eyes on the Future. Check it out!
If anyone can tell me about the historical Donner family or a famous fictional archer named Clint in a PM, I'll answer one spoiler question for the story ;-)