DISCLAIMER: HG CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME
"My name is Katniss Everdeen; I am 17 years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me. Peeta was taken prisoner, he is alive. He is a traitor but alive. I have to keep him alive" Katniss continues to say over and over in the supply closet.
Suddenly the light in the supply closet comes on, the light so bright she must put her hand up to her eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness. She hears a woman say, "You know you can't be in here; you need to leave now."
Still feeling anxiety and a sense of fear she cannot explain, she says, "I'll be out in a minute."
"You didn't report to the laundry room as instructed; you have one minute."
She takes a few deep breaths trying to calm herself before getting up. She looks at her arm and sees that she is supposed to head to Room 338 for weapons training. She is escorted by the woman who forced her out of the supply closet, the woman not saying a word to her as the elevator takes them downstairs.
Once she reaches room 338, she sees Gale waiting outside. "I will escort solider Everdeen inside" he says to the woman.
The woman nods and continues down the hall. Once she is out of sight, Gale says, "People have been looking for you, they asked me where to find you. You skipped your work assignment after breakfast."
"Did you tell them I was in the supply closet?" Katniss says bitterly.
"No! I made it clear to them I am not your babysitter. I'm sure someone said try the supply closet."
"There is no such thing as privacy here, all I wanted-was some-alone time. I cannot even get that. In some ways, it almost like being back in the arena, knowing someone is monitoring your every move."
She sees by the look on his face that he does not agree. She gives him a look, challenging him to respond but he remains silent, staring at her in response. In frustration she says, "I need you on my side, not Coin's!"
Giving her a look of disbelief, he says, "How am I not on your side?"
"You think I am wrong about Coin."
"I stand by what I said."
She knows there is no point trying to dictate what he should think or how he should feel, and deep down, she knows that is why she trusts him. And why he is the only person she can completely trust down here.
Desperate to hold onto whatever it was that they had, for he was not completely sure if they were in fact a couple, he says, "Just because I don't agree about Coin does not mean I'm not on your side, I will always be on your side."
She looks at him and gives a quick nod, letting him know she appreciated his support.
Before he can ask her if she will join him for dinner, she opens the door and heads inside. Knowing that they were already meeting with Beetee, he lets Katniss have her moment of reconnecting with the former Victor.
Once they are finished catching up, Beetee begins showing them the weapons he has created. He gives Katniss her weaponized bow and arrow, while Gale chooses a military bow and arrow. They both have fun trying out their new weapons, and before they know it, it is lunch time.
They head to the cafeteria together, and when neither one sees their family members anywhere, they both take a seat in the back corner. As they eat, they talk about the weapons Beetee designed.
"I wish I could have had a weapon like that in 12, I could have saved so many people who had been attached by peacekeepers, I could have saved you. I would have used that weapon and risked my own life to keep you out of the arena."
She gives him a gentle look, but does not respond, and continues to eat her food instead as he continues chatting away. She does not know how to explain to him the aftermath of killing someone, how it never leaves you.
She realizes she will need to talk to him about it another time, not when they are in the cafeteria surrounded by other people.
Katniss wakes up sweating and panting. She has woken up from a nightmare but is thankful she did not wake up screaming and has not woken up Prim or her Mother. Given the day she had and spending her morning in the supply closet, she is not surprised by this, but she is still frustrated because she had not had a nightmare in almost a week.
She looks at the clock on the wall and sees the time is just after 2 am. Needing a release to help ease the racing thoughts in her mind, she gets up and silently changes into a pair of pants a shirt and gets her shoes on and quietly goes out the door, heading down the hall quickly. Knowing she should head for the stairwell and walk alone; she finds herself quietly knocking on Gale's door instead.
Hoping that Rory and Vick will not wake up, she holds her breath as she continues to silently knock, fearful that the compartments nearby will hear. After a few moments, the door opens slightly, and she exhales once she sees Gale's head emerge from the door.
He quickly comes out and closes the door behind him. He is shirtless, and Katniss tries not stare, for she noticed that he had developed more defined muscled in his arms and upper torso since coming to District 13, looking even more handsome than he already did.
"What's wrong?" he says looking at her with concern.
She shrugs and says, "The usual-another nightmare."
He gives her a look of sympathy and says, "We heading to our place?"
She gives a small smile and says, "If you don't mind, I know it is late."
"I'll be right back" and she watches as he quickly heads back inside.
As they quickly head down the hall, they see a guard further down, near the entrance of the stairwell. Gale quickly turns them around and they quietly go around the corner and head in the opposite direction. Once they see a stairwell, they enter and begin heading up the stairs quickly.
After losing count of how many flights of stairs they have climbed, they take a break and sit on the stairwell, their late-night walks now a familiar routine. While they do not walk every night, except for today they have been walking the same set of steps at least once a week if not more.
As they sit side by side, Katniss tells Gale her feelings regarding what he said earlier today and living with the aftermath of killing someone. He stares at her intently as she talks, touching her shoulder gently as she explains in detail how she relives the moment over and over in her nightmares and sometimes, when she is awake, realizing she is seeing something that is not there.
Once she is finished talking, she can tell he is unsure what to say by the look on his face, knowing him as well she does, she also knows he is trying his best to be supportive, and she is thankful for that.
She leans in and begins kissing him, their kisses start off gentle, then become more passionate. She reaches underneath his shirt and touches his back, feeling his scars as his lips continue to devour hers. Before she knows it, his hand slips under her shirt and up her abdomen, as she feels his hand brush against her breast, she immediately pulls away, her lips breaking away from his.
Realizing why she has pulled away, he apologizes with his eyes, not needing to say a word. She puts her hand up to his face and says, "Not yet, I am not sure when-"
"You don't owe me an explanation" he says interrupting her.
"I do-I need to-feel something down here. I don't know when Coin will let us hunt again, I miss the feeling the sun on my face, I miss-daytime. And I-miss the time we had alone together, I miss it so much."
"I miss it too" he says, his gray eyes not leaving hers.
"But I cannot-be with you in that way here in 13."
He pauses before saying, "It's okay, you know I would never-"
But before he can finish she cuts him off and says, "There is no privacy here, it would be different if I had my own compartment, but even then-"
"I know" and he leans in and kisses her gently. "Ready to head back?"
She sighs and hugs him, wanting to feel his touch one last time before they leave.
The next day, Katniss heads into the large conference room. She has just finished her kitchen duties, and according to the tattoo on her arm she is to meet the President's staff in this room at 9 am.
She is surprised when the only staff person she sees in the room is Heavensbee. He tells her that others will be arriving by 10, and that he wanted to spend the hour with her alone.
He explains to her that today they will be doing a propaganda shot or propo as they call it and the propo planned for today is of her in her mockingjay costume rallying the people of panem to join the rebellion.
"Okay, will I be getting into my mockingjay outfit now" she asks.
"In a bit, there is something else I want to talk to you about."
She looks at him curiously, waiting for him to continue.
He motions for her to follow him over to a nearby desk, near a computer monitor. "Every thirty days someone here monitors security camera footage and yesterday, one of our soldiers saw this."
She looks at the monitor and sees her and Gale walking the stairwell, she then sees the camera footage change to show them heading down the stairs and out the door, and then the footage changes again, showing them standing by the stairwell door with their arms around each other, locked in a tight embrace as they kissed one another. She inhales sharply refusing to look at Heavensbee as the footage changes showing the two of them sitting on the steps, Gale's tall frame shielding her from the camera, with only her hands and arms in view as they gripped his shoulders and wrapped around his back, pulling him closer.
"I think you know, that roaming the stairwell and engaging in this type of behavior after hours is not permitted."
She looks at him incredulously, refusing to give him a response.
"If you want to spend time with Mr. Hawthorne alone you can follow the District's protocol for individuals dating and engaged couples."
"I cannot exactly do that can I? Isn't this District supposed to believe I am with Peeta?"
"If we get Peeta back it would probably help if people thought you two were a couple, I don't think the residents cared for his interview."
"If we get Peeta back?" she says angrily.
"Our priority is to get Peeta back, but we cannot just-storm the Capitol. You know we can't."
She glares at him in response, refusing to admit that he is right.
"I hope this is settled then. I think we can expect not to see you and Mr. Hawthorne on the security cameras again."
She does not answer, for her mind was racing to come up with a new plan of how she and Gale can be together. She was not going to go through the District's formal process of asking for permission for flexibility in their daily schedules to spend time together in a room doing events with other couples. It was always just her and Gale, their friendship began in the woods, a place that was forbidden. The two of them spent time together when they wanted to, not when they were told to. And she was not about to start District 13's formal dating process to spend alone time with him outside of the cafeteria.
She hopes Gale feels the same way.
A/N: I am debating whether or not to write a Galeniss one shot for V-day, let me know your thoughts and if this is something you would like to see. Thanks!