He Would Have Given Her the World
(Gale/Madge) (Katniss/Peeta)

Katniss came into her living room from the study around the corner with her hands to her chest and her nose sniffling. Peeta, who was watching the latest episode of Cake Boss, turned in his seat to see his wife of 15 years with tears running down her face and her fingers barely holding on together, her eyes were as red as the frosting he put on a cake earlier and her skin was a pale as a ghost.

"He's gone." She whimpers, her voice breaking and her knees wobbled, "He's g-g-gone, Peeta." Peeta slowly gets up off the couch, ignoring the pain from his prosthetic leg, and walked over to his wife with a blanket from the back of the couch. He carefully placed the fluffy blanket around her shoulders and drew her near. She collapses against his chest in pure agony of the loss of her friend. "He was doing so well, Peeta. He didn't even look sick!" she cried into her husband's chest and clutched him like a life raft.

Peeta slowly guides them to the couch, placing Katniss in his lap and wrapping his arms around her baby bump. It was so close to the due date too, he thought sadly, Gale would have loved her like his own. Katniss cried harder, almost like she was having the same thought as him. Even tears began to fill up in his eyes too.

Although they didn't see Gale much, hardly at all really, Katniss had made peace with him since the war. They were building their relationship back up and Peeta loved to see how happy he made Katniss. Katniss was starting to smile and laugh again with her best friend by her side. And now that was all taken away.

"He loved you; he wouldn't want you to be sad."

"I know," she cried, "I know, but-but he was doing so well." She sobs and sobs as Peeta runs his hands up and down her back soothingly in small circles. "If she hadn't left him – "

"Don't blame Madge." Peeta growled. He didn't mind that Katniss was mad at Madge because she broke up with Gale, but he didn't like it when she bashed his best friend. Peeta never said anything bad about Gale, even when Gale was being a major asshole.

"It was like he was a balloon…" she took a deep breath, bracing herself against the pain, "she blew him up bigger and bigger, and once she left he deflated. His body just gave up. He couldn't live anymore. Everything started to fail."

"Did she know?" his whispers into her hair, "Did Madge know?"

"About the cancer?" Peeta nods slowly, bracing himself for the worse. He didn't want to think bad about his friend, but god forbid, if she broke off things with Gale and she knew…ohh she'd be getting an ear full from him later. Peeta didn't get mad about a lot of things, but this one would have gone too far. And if anything, not that he wanted Gale to die; he didn't have much longer to live. At least she could have stayed. Sure the heartbreak would have been worse, but shouldn't he at least get to feel loved until the very end? Peeta would want that. "No, she didn't know. He never told her."

Peeta breathed out a sigh of relief, but it was also dejected. Peeta would never wish cancer on his own worst enemy, let alone Gale. But Gale was a fighter. He fought long and hard until the very end, Peeta knew that. Peeta believed that.

And he can't deny Katniss' account on what she saw. He was looking a lot healthier with Madge in his life, even throughout the cancer. And when they went to visit him after the breakup…well, too say he looked good was a long stretch. He didn't look too hot. Peeta saw it, the balloon, he deflated pretty quickly. The cancer only seemed to rage further throughout his body, this time capturing his lungs in a vice grip and stomach not too far after. Gale could barely breath, he couldn't eat, and he begged to die. Peeta's heart had shattered when he heard Gale beg for death to come. Gale never begged for anything.

Gale's olive skin turned gray like an old man's. His gray eyes stayed bright with fight and quiet determination, though. He had tubes coming out from every angle, in his legs, in his stomach to eat, in his arms. He had a breathing machine and heart monitor. He was on 24/7 surveillance and fluids up the wazoo. He looked like Satan came to visit and the floodgates of Hell was like a vacuum trying to suck him down. Only Gale, being Gale, held on with all he had.

Peeta felt awful to see Gale, a once strong fighter, a member of the Star Squad, a 5-star General, and businessman fall to pieces, to look weak and helpless. But towards the end, Gale couldn't do much but lay there on his bed and listen to the sounds of the machines beeping at him. He slept more than he was awake and barely had the energy to speak three words, but he did. He always told Katniss and Peeta he loved them. I love you; he would rasp out and then coughs. And Peeta believed it every damn time he forced those words out. Peeta just wished Gale had someone, more than Kat and him, to make him feel loved at such a difficult time.

And now he was gone…

Katniss laid against Peeta's chest silently crying. Her stomach felt like a monster had eaten it and she was slowly draining energy. Her body felt heavy but light at the same time, like Gale had taken half of it but she could still feel the presence of the other half. But she knew that he wouldn't return, that he was gone.

He had lost the fight against cancer. It was something she never thought would win against him. It was too simple, almost too easy, way of death. She would never say he didn't try hard enough, but he did lose his biggest supporter. Team Gale went from 7 to 6, and it nearly killed him. Well, not nearly, it did…

Madge was good for him, but he was becoming distant and refused to tell her why. Katniss knew the answers. Death was on the horizon and Gale had known that. He was like a cat; it's like he wanted to be alone when he died. He hides like a cat as death approached. And as the raging battle with chemo surged on, he became distant to deal with it on his own. It was just the way he was when times got hard, he closed off and furthered himself away from humanity.

"He would have given her the world." Katniss muttered under her breath, a faint voice in the still air of their living room.

"I know he would have." Peeta's voice was somber. And Gale would have.

It was early the next morning when Madge opened the paper. She was leisurely enjoying her morning cup of chai tea (something Gale got her hooked on). She wasn't upset or even dreading the long day ahead of her until she got to the obituary page of the District 2 Report. Her tea landed hard on the coffee table, its contents spilling over the sides onto the cherry wood surface. It made a sizzling sound as it splashed, still as hot as when she got it.

"Oh my god." She whispers, her heart sinking into her chest, tears spring to her eyes and she can't help the waterfall of salty tears sliding down her cheeks in a slow, sad succession. "Oh. My. God." She whimpers an awful half cough/half dying animal sound, "Gale…Gale…" she brings her knees to her chest as she continues to read on about his long battle with liver cancer, "Gale," she cries, "I never knew."

She curls into a ball and regrets breaking things off with him even more, especially when she was considering calling him to see if he would like to go out to dinner later this week. She never even knew he was admitted to hospital, or (during their relationship) that he was going to chemo sessions. She would have been there for him if she had known.

Everything fell into place. She understood his distance now. It was never her, as he had tried to explain, it was him after all. She was with him long enough to know withdrawal was his go-to thing when things got confusing and hard. She hadn't even considered it.

She felt awful, to say in the least.

"I'm so sorry." She whispers into the quiet, heavy air of her apartment. Tears overtook her and dark emotions ripped her heart. She feared she'd never stop crying. She also feared that the world was now missing a great person, a fighter, a role model, a family member. He was a flame, quieter since the war, but a raging flame all together. He would live on, she knew it. The impact of his words, actions, and memories won't die.

And as she tried to find the strength to get up and call in sick to work, she remembered something important that he once told her after he came back from a military tour: Deep sorrow fills the hearts of many. Everyone can survive it. Only the strongest will try.

And damn straight she would try. For him.

A/N: Just a little something. My grandma said he would have given her the world during some conversation and it struck up an idea. So here it is. Tell me what you think!