DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.
Warning: First half has some smut but has an actual dialogue going on.
Chapter 80-Confrontation II
Katniss looks at herself in the mirror of the bathroom of the hotel room, she is naked and staring at her scars. She realizes she still needs to see a doctor possibly in the Capitol to see what treatments are available now. While she has never minded having scars and thought the Capitol erasing every blemish on her skin was ridiculous, she wants the scars on her chest and arms removed. Getting rid of the evidence of what the Jay Killers did to her.
She makes a mental note to ask her Mother if she knows anyone who she recommends when suddenly, Gale comes into view behind her in the mirror. Only in his boxers, he looks at her body in the mirror possessively. She realizes she likes it. Peeta only looked at her tenderly and lovingly. Gale was looking at her like she was his, which she was.
He reaches around and touches her side, bringing her into him. "What are you thinking about?" he says softly into her ear.
"Reminding myself to find a doctor who can remove these scars."
He looks at her with understanding and says, "Let me know the cost, I'll send the money over."
"Gale" she says sternly.
"I'm helping you Katniss, end of discussion" he responds with finality. Letting her know the topic was no longer up for discussion. It was another thing that was very different between him and Peeta.
She looks over and sees the water in the tub is ready, Gale noticing it as well suddenly picks her up and lowers her gently in the water. He helps lay her cast on the edge of the tub, careful not to get it wet. He kneels down and grabs the coffee pot and fills it up with water, letting the water run down her head. Once completely wet he grabs the shampoo and begins washing her hair. Katniss squeezes her eyes shut as he works, feeling his fingers run through her hair. After a few moments she finally blurts out, "Have you ever done this before? Wash a girl's hair?"
He laughs and says, "Quite a few times actually."
"Please tell me it was Posy."
He laughs harder and says, "She was a long time ago, back in the Seam days."
"And the most recent was….."
"My first girlfriend after I came to District 2."
"Oh?" she says in a tone letting him know she wants him to give more details.
"Gemma was her name."
She snorts in response and accidently inhales water as he has begun rinsing her hair out. She begins coughing and once the taste of bath water is out of her nose and mouth and says, "Fitting name for a girl from 2."
"Oh yeah, she was even more high maintenance than Dez."
"For real?" she says finding that hard to believe.
"Yeah! She was….also a blonde. She worked in an office downtown. I met her frequenting a local coffee shop that was right by her work and mine."
"So you have a type…. blondes I see."
"Had a type. You know why I would choose the opposite color of what I truly found attractive."
"So how did you end up washing her hair? Or do I not want to know?"
"I spent a lot of time at her place because I was living with my Mom, Posy, Vick and Rory. It was way too crowded there for me to be bringing her over, plus we never got to the point in our relationship that I wanted her meeting them. Anyway, she liked to-do it in the shower all the time. As part of the whole-foreplay thing she wanted us to wash each other's hair."
She thinks about the one and only time they had ever done it in the shower. How easily he lifted her up and positioned her along the wall. How good it felt as he was thrusting her up against the wall over and over. How she had never come so quickly in her life.
Now she knows how he became so good at it.
She looks down at the water as he grabs the soap and lathers up the sponge and begins washing her. He notices her sudden silence and says, "Catnip?"
Pulled back into the present she says, "Sorry-just….thinking about things."
"Jealous?"
"Maybe a little."
"Well don't be. I never loved her. I knew from the beginning there was never a chance she would be a long term girlfriend. We had fun, it was just sex-none of it mattered."
"Maybe it did for her."
"Well, she did punch me when I dumped her."
"Why did you dump her?"
"I had taken her out to dinner at a local place near her apartment. She was so rude and mean to our server that I realized-I can't be with someone so unkind. She acted different with me than with others. I had been told this by people but I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. I saw her true self when I returned to our table from the bathroom and saw her practically screaming at the server because her order was wrong. Two days later I told her it was over."
"And she never met Hazelle or the kids?"
"Nope."
She doesn't respond, realizing that while Dez was certainly not her favorite person, she wasn't mean and nasty as it sounded this Gemma person was.
Knowing she shouldn't broach the subject but due to her curiosity getting the best of her she asks, "Dez never had you wash her hair?"
"Oh no-no. A hair dresser having someone else touch her hair-never."
She laughs along with him at his response, realizing that he was joking yet not. She realizes how comfortable she has become with him when she sees he had just begun washing her most intimate areas when he has her lift herself out of the water. In order to stop herself from dragging him into the tub with her she says, "So-did you and Dez…..do it a lot in the shower?"
She sees a sudden look of discomfort on his face, her bringing up a subject that has usually caused arguments between the two of them. He gently guides her back down into the water and does not look at her and continues focusing on washing her when he says, "All the time."
She inhales deeply, jealousy sprouting out like water from a faucet. She curses the damn cast on her arm for it means no shower sex for the two of them for a while. She realizes Peeta was right when he says she has changed. For she now wants to do all kinds of things sexually she never had before.
"No more talking about Dez. Besides, we have the rest of our lives to have amazing sex in the shower right?"
She grins at him in response. Happy that he has acknowledged that he wants a future with her.
He takes her by surprise by playfully slapping her breast causing her to squeal "Gale!"
He grins at her and says, "All clean."
She pulls him over to kiss her, wrapping her only good arm around him as tight as she can. She begins kissing him deeply and getting back at him by biting his lip.
"Ouch!" he says looking at her playfully.
She grins and shrugs her shoulders in response. He reaches down and lifts her up, not caring that his boxers are getting wet and carries her out of the bathroom and lays her down on top of the bed. He continues an onslaught of kisses as he bends down over her, almost in a push up position so that the weight of his body is not on her. She wraps her legs around his waist, trying to move his boxers off with her legs.
"You are going to make us late" he says in between kisses.
It was exactly 7 am. They would have to leave by 7:45 in order to make it to Gale's office by 9.
"I thought you were the boss? Besides, this will probably be our last time together for a while."
Knowing that he probably will not see her again for a few weeks, and because he can never deny her, he slips off his boxers and tosses them onto the floor. He switches positions with her so that he is lying on his back and she is on top. Her hair dripping water down on him as she reaches down and guides him in her. He grabs her hips as she begins moving up and down. While he didn't like to rush their lovemaking, he knows they have very limited time so he moves his hand in front and begins stroking her clit hard, knowing the effect it has on her. He sees her tilt her head back as she begins to moan, her nipples hardening as he continues to stroke her. He then moves his other hand to her breast, squeezing it hard while they bounced up and down. He sees her start to unravel soon after and she quickly orgasms, the sounds she makes causes him to come soon after himself. He then sits up and pulls her close to him, sitting in his lap as they both breathe heavily, his arms around her holding her tight to his chest. His hand on her head and the other on her back.
He gives her a look of an apology in his eyes as he quickly kisses her and gets up off the bed, heading for the shower. She gets dressed and begins drying her hair in the bathroom while he showered. While continuing to fix her hair, he playfully smacks her butt as he leaves the bathroom to get dressed. Once her hair is braided for she didn't have time to do anything else with it, she leaves the bathroom and sees he has packed their breakfast to eat on the train.
It was 7:50 am when they check out. Relieved he is only running a few minutes behind. The walk to the train station was short, but they moved at a much slower pace than usual due to her injured leg. They get on the train and head downtown.
They get to his office by 9:10 am. He gets strange looks from the staff as he walks into the building carrying their bags and Katniss's bow and arrows. They head straight for his office. He introduces Katniss to Alexia. After their introductions Alexia tells Gale he has quite a few important phone messages he needs to listen to. Katniss hangs around outside of his office with Alexia while his door is shut. Katniss strikes up small talk with her when she realizes she needs to let her get back to work and goes and knocks on Gale's door. After a few seconds he yells it is okay for her to come in.
She can tell he is overwhelmed, having missed work for a couple of weeks again. She tells him since he is so busy that she wanted to grab a drink at a local coffee shop in order to help pass the time. Gale gives her easy directions to get to the coffee shop closest to the building, and tells her by the time she gets back he will hopefully have an answer in regards to what time and where a hovercraft will be taking her back to District 9.
When she arrives at the coffee shop, she realizes this most likely was the coffee shop Gale met Gemma at. She orders a medium drink and takes a seat at a small table. She wishes she had her journal with her though she hasn't written in it for a long time. While staring at her coffee cup deep in thought about who has possibly read her journal she sees a figure stand beside her. She looks up and gasps, realizing it is Dez staring down at her. And not in a friendly way.
"Dez" Katniss manages to get out in the most neutral tone she could summon. She sees that her hair is much shorter, to her shoulders and just as Gale said her hair was back to the blonde shade she had before.
"What are you doing here? Gale says the two of you were in High River."
"We were, but he had to get back to work. And I could ask you the same thing" Katniss says giving her a hard stare. She knows this area is nowhere near Dez's work.
Dez would not tell Katniss the real reason she was in the area, that she was about to head to her appointment with her therapist. She had begun going twice a week after Gale broke off their engagement.
Instead she tells Katniss she was running an errand.
She sees Katniss giving a look showing she wasn't sure if she believed that, but didn't say anything after. Dez however, was going to be anything but silent in this chance meeting that was suddenly upon the two of them.
"So-how is Harper? Katniss asks not knowing what else to say, becoming uneasy that Dez has not left.
"He's good. He misses Gale, but I guess all the drama going on in your life is more important than him."
"You should be thanking him he let you even see Harper. It is his dog after all" Katniss shoots back, realizing why Dez hadn't left.
"Excuse me, he was our dog. We raised him together. I was the one who took care of him while Gale was away on his never ending business trips."
"Well, he'll soon be mine and his dog now won't he?" Katniss says smirking. Another aspect of her personality that she realizes has changed. She never had to worry about an ex in the picture before. It was something foreign to her and she wanted to show Dez she was not intimidated.
"When you play house together? We'll see how long that lasts. I have no doubt you will find a way to break his heart again. Trust me, I heard all about it."
"And I heard quite a few things about you."
"Such as" Dez challenges not believing Katniss for one second.
"That you refuse eat and that it had been a problem in your relationship from the beginning."
If looks could kill, Katniss would have been dead in less than a second. She sees Dez's eyes go wide in shock as she says, "How dare you!"
"Me? I am not the one who caused him to worry constantly about whether or not you would decide to eat one day from the next."
"Shut up bitch! You know nothing about me."
"I saw it with my own eyes Dez. And I saw the tension it caused at times."
"No thanks to you! Tell me-does it give you pleasure knowing you stole Gale away from me?"
"No-it doesn't. It tears me up inside. And I didn't ask for it to happen."
"But you didn't say no when he said he wanted to be with you."
"We love each other."
"We loved each other too! That obviously wasn't enough."
"I think a part of him will always love you Dez. And I know he still worries about you." Katniss seeing that Dez is just as thin if not thinner than she was before.
"Well then perhaps it is you who should be worried. Gale will see your true colors again, right now he is just blinded by the fact that you two are an actual couple like he had always wanted. And when he does, I will be there for him."
"I'm surprised you would go back to someone who dumped you without warning like that. Do you have no pride?"
"Did my words strike a nerve?" Dez looks at Katniss in a challenging manner.
"Did mine?"
"I hear District 2 didn't offer a teaching job to you. What will you do if they don't offer one when you graduate?"
Katniss refusing to let it be known that it was something she was concerned greatly about says, "He will come with me wherever I end up." She says it was such certainty she almost believed it herself.
She sees a slight look of fear from Dez before she says, "I seriously doubt that. One doesn't give up the type of job he has."
"He and I could live off the grid anywhere you know that."
Dez has no response to that. Continuing her hard glare instead.
"Look, I have to go, Gale is expecting me" Katniss says getting up to throw out her coffee for it has gone cold.
"Let him know I will be out of the apartment by this afternoon, I will leave his spare key on the kitchen table."
"I will."
And without another word Dez storms off.
Katniss slowly walks back to Gale's office feeling defeated. While she didn't show it on the outside that Dez's words hurt her the truth was they had. She didn't like admitting to herself that she did steal Gale away, and caused Dez a lot of pain and embarrassment by her and Gale's actions.
While she was thrilled to hear that Gale wanted a future with her, she wondered if she could convince him to leave District 2 should the possibility of never finding a job there come to fruition. And if she couldn't what it would mean for the two of them.
