DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.

A/N: Yikes! So it looks like Katniss getting into the dating scene didn't go over well. I'm surprised. Keep in mind it had been 8 months, she hadn't heard from Gale, and decided to go on a date to see what it is like, the dates were not supposed to be anything serious. And as you can see, he's a bad guy. I pre-warned that some might not like the direction Katniss/Gale end up going in, but I hope you will stick with the story. Thanks as always for the reviews!

Chapter 54-Scared

When Katniss finally wakes, she finds herself in a room, a very small room. She is tied to a bed, her hands bound over her head. She feels the distress watch around her wrist, but she cannot reach it, the ropes are tied around her hands and up her elbows. 'At least it is still on' she thinks to herself. She curses herself for being so careless and trusting Magnus. She wishes she had listened to her gut before getting on the boat. 'What if Geffen is here?' she thinks to herself, becoming terrified. The first time she was captured, she knew the tribe would come looking for them right away. This time, she is alone, if she doesn't get the distress watch activated, no one will know how to find her.

She sits and thinks about her current situation. Suddenly remembering the dream she had when Gale told her to trust no one in District 4. She also remembers the vision after taking the herb for the second time and being in a room with her hands tied up and a man glaring down at her whipping her wrists. She realizes that the vision was about to become a reality.

She begins moving her hands frantically, trying desperately to get the ropes to loosen. Her skin begins burning from her actions. She eventually gives up-for now.

She ends up dozing off and jolting awake when she hears the door open, her body on high alert. The man who introduced himself as Chet walks in.

"You're awake finally."

Katniss doesn't respond and glares at him. She was not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her scared, instead trying her best to show her anger.

"He should be here any minute, can't wait for you to meet him."

She continues to glare, still unresponsive.

"Not much of a talker are you? Well, you never were, your interviews were always terrible. But we will get you talking once Geffen gets here, that's a promise girl on fire."

Katniss watches as he turns around and walks out, closing the door behind him.

Finally alone, she breaks down and begins crying softly. Still cursing herself for being so stupid. For caring more about trying to get Gale off her mind by going out with Magnus than her own safety.

She begins thinking about Gale and wonders if she does manage to get the distress signal turned on, would he even come or send someone else? While she knows she needed to write that letter to him to get all of her feelings out, she sees the consequences of the letter was her relationship with him. He has not spoken to her beyond brief conversation since, and that brief conversation happened only once. She never thought he would completely cut her off, obviously making his point he was choosing Dez. She wasn't surprised that he chose Dez, she was just surprised he would end their friendship as well.

She realizes she needs to stop crying and pull herself together before Geffen gets here, she gave herself her brief moment to show weakness. Now it was time for her to get her game face on. She mentally puts her mind back in the arena, ready to fight for her life. Only this time, the odds were definitely not in her favor.

She doesn't know how long she had been in this room, but she figures it has to be approaching dawn if the sun hasn't already risen. The room she is in has no windows, only feeling the gentle rocking motion of the boat still tied to the dock.

Geffen didn't come as soon as she thought, figuring at least another couple of hours had to have passed. Finally, the door opens slowly and a figure comes in.

A man she assumes is Geffen appears. He's older than she expected, looking at least in his mid-50's, possibly older. While she didn't want to admit it, he was handsome, with black hair that was graying. The gray didn't look bad though, it actually is what made him look handsome. He was tall, not as tall as Gale though-looking about a few inches shorter. He is dressed casually in jeans and a tight fitting shirt with a black leather jacket.

"Well, how about that, it's true, you are here" he says shutting the door behind him.

"You didn't think I would be?" Katniss asked in the most standoffish tone she could muster given the circumstances.

"I have been searching for you for over a year, I've wanted you dead for almost 10 years. I was just being extra cautious, not wanting to get my hopes up."

"Well, I'm glad to see I didn't disappoint" Katniss says mockingly.

"You will be taking back what you said real soon. Time to go" Geffen says happily.

He quickly leaves the room and a few minutes later she hears thumping outside. She then feels the boat start to move, backing up, then moving forward. She knows they are heading out into the ocean. Wanting to get far away from land, so that no one can see or hear what is the Jay Killers have planned for her.


Katniss could feel the boat move on the water, the boat hitting the waves over and over. She guesses they must have been cruising 3-4 hours before finally stopping and anchoring. Hearing the anchor being lowered to the bottom, she knows whatever Geffen plans to do to her, he would be doing it soon.

As expected, but not welcomed, the door opens and Magnus comes in. He begins to untie her, once Katniss feels the ropes loosened she immediately spits in his eyes, distracting him. His hands immediately raise to his face and begins wiping his eyes furiously.

"Bitch!" Magnus cries out and slaps Katniss across the face, stinging immediately.

While Magnus was scrambling to clean the spit out of his eyes, Katniss quickly loosened the ropes enough for her to reach with her right hand for her distress watch. Her fingers fumbling trying to find the switch. After a few seconds she finds the switch and flips it, activating it. She quickly puts her hands down to her side, shaking her arms and hands trying to get the feeling back in her limbs.

Magnus grabs Katniss by the arm and drags her off the bed, forcing her to stand. Her legs are wobbly and she stumbles, falling to her knees. Magnus kicks Katniss in the abdomen and grabs her by her hair. He gets in her face and says, "You have no idea how much I hated pretending to be nice to you these last 3 months. But even you have to admit, my acting skills are pretty good. Took a while, but I fooled you. It's pathetic how quickly you latch onto a man."

Katniss spits in his face again, unable to move trying to still recover from his assault and regaining her strength back. She was weak, fatigued, and starving. But she now has a new sense of hope, she activated Gale's distress watch and she knows he will be coming. If not him, someone else at least, but she hoped against all hope it would be him.

Magnus as expected, starts loudly cursing at Katniss as he wipes the saliva off his face. He was so loud she hears Chet's voice call out, "What is going on down there?"

"Nothing, she is just mad that I told her the truth; that I'd be disgusted having to fuck her" Magnus calls out in response.

"Well, you know that's what she can't live without, she so easily falls for whoever gives her the slightest bit of attention. But never mind that, get up here, he's waiting and becoming impatient."

Magnus gets Katniss on her feet and begins dragging her out of the room, she sees another bedroom right across from the one she just exited and feels herself getting pushed by Magnus to go up the steps. When she reaches the top, she sees she is on the main floor of the boat, the room she was originally in when she introduced herself to Chet. She sees Chet waiting for her with an angry look on his face.

"Is she finally up here?" Katniss hears Geffen call out, descending the steps from the main deck.

"Yeah, she's here." Chet responds, not taking his eyes off Katniss.

Geffen stands in front of Katniss, eyeing her hungrily. Like a cat eyeing its prey.

"Are you ready to have some fun?" he asks with an evil smile forming on his face, his grin getting wider and wider

Katniss gulps in response, not saying a word. Suddenly, she sees nothing but darkness, blacking out again.


Gale woke up early on Saturday morning, Dez sleeping soundly beside him. Tonight he was going with Dez to an important dinner for her parents. Her Father's retirement dinner.

Dez's Mother did not work, being a housewife Dez's entire life. Her Father however was a successful stonemason in the District. He was one of the head stonemason's for the District under Snow's rule. After the rebellion, he decided to stay in stonemasonry, despite the fact that the rebels had destroyed his home and he and his family were forced into government housing. He was a hard worker and enjoyed his work immensely, taking great pride in it. He decided however, it was time for him to retire. He had saved up enough money since the rebellion to live comfortably with his wife. Dez's Father had not been concerned financially for Dez, for his daughter was marrying a government official and would be taken care of very well. Dez's sister had a job and had her own condo in District 2 working in real estate. That only left the youngest-Dez's brother who would be graduating high school at the end of May, and hopefully getting enrolled in the apprenticeship program for stonemasonry, following in his Father's footsteps. Because this was such a huge event for Dez's family, Dez's Mom had planned a huge surprise retirement party for her Father tonight. Dez and Gale were expected to be at the venue at 5 pm, for her Father would be showing up at 6 pm.

He spends the morning taking Harper out for a bit and running errands as he usually does. Around lunch time he comes home and fixes sandwiches for himself and Dez. She eats half a sandwich, telling Gale she is saving her appetite for tonight. In the almost 9 months since Katniss had been gone, Gale guesses Dez had gained about 10 pounds back of the weight she lost. While he wished she would have gained more, he realizes that's progress and he was happy she was continuing to see her therapist. It still bothered him however, that her weight continued to be an issue. He knows that this issue with her weight has to do with control, and that when Katniss was here she felt she was losing control, but he never faltered on his loyalty to her and that is what upset him the most. That even with his fierce loyalty and the many times he defended her behavior to Katniss even when he agreed with Katniss, it still wasn't good enough.

It is because of his commitment to Dez that he cut Katniss off, despite not wanting to. While he was initially angry with her letter and feels some of what she said he might not ever forgive, not talking to her was something he never thought he'd do. He learned just as he had learned when he first arrived in District 2, having Katniss out of sight and out of mind made him think about her less and less. It amazed him how easily one could forget another person when time passed, and he could see how all those years Katniss harbored her feelings of hatred at him because she refused to forget about Prim.

Some days though, he could not forget about her, no matter how hard he tried. Knowing he'd be with Dez's family tonight made him think how much easier it was for him to acclimate with the Everdeen's, with the Mills family it was just not the same. For he knows that deep down, he just comes from a different way of life than them. They could never in a million years ever understand or imagine a young man going out into the wilderness to feed himself and his family. While that life was long gone, it still was ingrained in his personality, to fight and to survive, no matter what the cost. He knows if the Mills family had ever lived in District 12, they'd be merchants and most likely would have sold their souls to the Capitol if they could in order to live their cozy lifestyle. He knows Dez's Father is a hard worker, but they were also a very entitled family. But he often told himself, he was marrying Dez, not her parents, and Dez's sister and brother were pretty easy going despite the household they had been brought up in. Gale knows though, that it is because of the lifestyle she grew up in, is the reason she has a hard time not coping well when things don't go her way. And District 2's close proximity to the Capitol and the Capitol's obsession with their superficial definition of beauty is one of the reason's she starves herself, to look good for him, and her need for control. It was a constant reminder of why he hated the former Capitol and everything they stood for.

He knows if he had chosen Katniss, she would want to be away from all of that. But he was not going to give up his job for her and ultimately, Katniss came back into his life too late, he was already committed to someone else and he does not break his commitments. It was his biggest pride, his loyalty.

He managed to relax with Dez on the couch after lunch, watching TV until 2:30 pm when they both got up to get ready for tonight. She joins him in the shower, which actually does not happen too often. Since she works late morning to early evenings she is often asleep when he is up and showering in the morning. They make the most of their time, he scoops her up and her legs wrap around his waist and she holds onto him while he positions himself. He places her back up against the tile. He quickly enters her and puts one hand on the tile wall, trying to steady himself while the water pounds down on them. He notices she seems to be enjoying herself, with the heels of her feet digging into his backside, almost to the point it started to be bothersome. He raises her up higher and begins kissing her, so that her feet slide up his back. She kisses him deeply, biting his tongue in the process. He whimpers softly. He is used to it, sex with her was often raw and sensual. When they finish, he lowers her to the ground and kisses her one final time, her arms going around his shoulders. She starts to inch up trying to mount him again when he says, "I think we better get ready."

She pouts in response but releases her hold on him. Gale thinking her pouts are insanely cute. It is what he loves about her, her willingness to show love and emotion. He knows getting that from Katniss would be like pulling teeth.

After they are showered and dressed, he sees it is 4 pm, almost time to go. He is in their room about to put his shoes on when he hears his tracking device go off, beeping steadily every two seconds.

"Shit" he says aloud as he reaches for the device in the first drawer of his nightstand. He hopes it is not what he thinks it is, that Katniss is in trouble and has set the tracker off. Once he reaches the device and looks at it, he indeed sees that the beeping is from Katniss's device, the device starting to calculate her coordinates.

"What is it?" Dez asks hearing the beeping and him cursing.

He gives her a distressed look and says, "I have to go, someone is in trouble."

"Go? You can't go! Tonight is my Father's party."

"I know, and I'm so, so sorry Dez, but the person in trouble-it's Katniss."

"Katniss?" Dez screams at the top of her lungs, Gale never hearing her scream like that before.

"Yes. I gave her a distress watch about a year ago, she is to activate it when she is in trouble. That beeping you are hearing is from her watch."

"Send someone else Gale, you are not the only soldier in Panem's military" Dez says tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry baby, but I can't. I have to go. I made a promise to Katniss and her Mother and Prim a long time ago that I would always protect them. I failed Prim, I won't fail again."

"What about me? What about things that are important in my life? Or does that not matter?"

"You have every right to be angry, but it is just a party Dez, if this turns out to be a false alarm I will come straight to your Father's party I promise."

"What if it is a false alarm?"

"Then I will never speak to Katniss again, and she will be dis-invited to the wedding, you have my word."

"I never wanted to invite her in the first place, you forced me to!"

"And I appreciate it, now I have to go" he says quickly kissing her, but he realizes she doesn't kiss him back, tears rolling down her face. He wants to comfort her, but he cannot waste any more time. He turns around to leave.

"Gale" Dez cries out following him into the living room.

He turns around and looks at her, with a pained look on his face.

"If you walk out that door, I don't think I can forgive you for this. You don't talk to her for months, and now you are running to save her…again!"

"I didn't talk to her for you, to make you happy. She needs my help, I'm going. If you can't forgive that, then that's your problem."

He turns and walks out the door, not looking back.