One Time Shot

Hey!

I last updated this fic years ago...sooo...surprise? I had a list of potential chapters saved on an old computer that I came across today, along with this finished drabble. Didn't really do much with it once I found it, other than read it through and figured I'd post it. Why not.

This has always been a fic I'd more or less figured that, of any of my unfinished pieces, I'd be back to. We'll see. I'd actually have to re-read it, because I was trying to do the drabbles in chronological order.

Stay safe, everyone. It's crazy in this world right now.

Cheers,

~HS1

They gather in the square on a lazy afternoon, late spring. Flies flutter on ragged screen doors, buzzing, bored, up and down. He is sitting on the steps of her porch when she emerges, slamming the door behind her. "Hey." He says, stretching his long legs and offering her a small smile.

Her lips twist into something that he supposes is a smile. She is pulling a khaki-colored jacket over a battered dirt-stained tank top, "Hi." She answers, trotting down the steps and turning to look at him, dark eyebrows up. "Are you coming?" Always so impatient, like the world will stop moving if she does.

He pauses, considering. Today is the day that the strike begins, and he wants to be there, wants to know what will happen. "Gale." She presses, stepping forward again. Her eyes narrow as they run over his face. "What are you thinking?"

"Catnip, I can't today."

The corner of her lips turn down and her glare becomes increasingly sharper. "Yeah?" She replies, voice raising an octave. He can't help but think that something is wrong, because he's not sure otherwise why she cares. Her lips purse. "The strike is today, isn't it?" And suddenly, he realizes that she knew all along, but was waiting to see if would rise to the bait or not. And she has him pinned now.

He stares at her haltingly and then says in a small voice. "Yeah."

She glowers down at him and then breathes, "Fine. Whatever. I'll see you 'round." She spins on her heel, and he can't help but wonder if he had gotten away with it, if she weren't mad.

He waits for her to stop walking, to offer a cruel word or a kind one, even. However, she is relentless in her pride and stature, and Gale is suddenly furious. He rips to his feet and goes after her. He snags her shoulder and abruptly turns her to face her, breathing heavily. She doesn't shrink away under his glare, but meets it full on. "What is it, Gale?" She challenges, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You tell me, Katniss." He growls at her. "What is so wrong with standing up for myself? This is the one shot I've got, this all I have."

"I'll tell you, Gale." She retorts, fury contorting her normally impassive features, "You will die, and you will get nowhere. And your family will lose you, I..." She trails off and rephrases her statement. "You will leave them. You may kill them." She stares unblinkingly, challengingly and he is so angry.

"I'd rather die to give them hope."

She snorts at him, "You really don't get it, do you?"

"I don't think you do. You just want to stand around and wait for things to get better." He is almost shouting now. "Newsflash, kid, it won't!"

"You're the one whose being immature, Gale." She yanks out of his grasp abruptly. "Think about it. Right now, they'll just squash you like you are nothing. You have to go about it differently."

"Chicken." He snarls.

"It's better than being stupid. Have fun accomplishing nothing and killing yourself. Hope that your hope is worth it." She says it like she doesn't care, and this actually nearly wounds him.

"Do you even care?" He calls after her in frustration, staring at her dark head against the gray, drab background. She pauses in the dirt roadway of the road, dips her head slightly. Now, he thinks triumphantly, he's got her.

She doesn't look at him, but replies, "A thousand times more than you realize."

And then he is aware that he never had her pinned, that she has him brutally beat at his own game. "You'd miss me, wouldn't you?" He says it almost like he's surprised.

She turns and looks at him as though he has completely lost it, because chuckling a little at his expense. "You really aren't that bright, are you?" They stare at each other across the gap, and she looks at him hard. "If you are going to go, just stay safe." She says.

He nods. He goes, but he can't bring himself to participate, to join in. He curses his weakness.

The strike is crushed by Peacekeepers carrying rifles and guns. They take control quickly, easily.