DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.

A/N: It does seem like Katniss gets hurt all the time doesn't it? LOL. Got to keep the drama going right? I thought some of you would rather it be Katniss hurt than Gale!

Chapter 92-Start of Summer

Katniss awakens the next morning feeling sore. She had never felt such soreness in her life despite the fact that she had endured the arena twice and fought in the war. She looks over and sees Gale sleeping soundly, a chair pulled up beside the bed, holding her hand while he slept. She shifts her hand away trying not to wake him but he immediately opens his eyes the minute her hand is away from his.

He blinks as he sits up and says, "You're awake."

She forces a smile through her soreness and pain and says, "Yeah."

"You were in a train accident" he says softly, tucking her loose hair behind her ear.

"I know, I heard you when you were speaking to me last night. I remember only being awake for a little bit."

He tells her the details about what he knows, what Haymitch suspects, and the reason he was in District 6.

"I'm so sorry, I'm responsible for getting you almost killed and for the those who were killed" he says tears starting to swell up in his eyes.

She reaches for his hand, too sore to move any further and says, "No, you're not. You gave them specific instructions what they were to do, they should have followed them."

"I should have stayed and made sure that they did as they were told. Instead I was too focused on getting back home to you."

"You were gone for almost a month. I would have done the same. How were you supposed to know they would go against a direct order of a government official?"

Just then they are interrupted by the nurse. Gale gets up and quickly wipes his eyes and says, "I'm going to see who is still in the waiting room" and walks out.

Gale comes back a few minutes later along with her Mom.

"Mom" Katniss says surprised to see her.

"Hello Katniss. How are you feeling?"

"Sore, unbelievably sore."

"Well, you were thrown into a window while moving over 200 miles per hour" her Mom says in a calm manner. Katniss figures she must have spoken with the doctor about her recovery.

Katniss is told the doctor has ordered more testing to be done on her brain before she can be released. Later that afternoon she was discharged. The three of them head back to Hazelle's townhouse for the ride was shorter and no trains were heading to Silver Lake that late in the day.

Gale informs Katniss on the way there that every train has been checked and the ones showing mechanical failure have been taken off the fleet. They waited longer than usual for a train to come, but that was fine as far as Katniss was concerned. She nervously held Gale's hand, anxious to get off the train as fast as she could though she would be on it for the next hour. Sensing her discomfort, he pulled her close to him; and she buried her face into his shoulder while he stroked her back.

The next day the three of them head back to Silver Lake. Her Mother and Gale spend the next week with her while she recovers from her injuries. She is given the same non habit forming pain medication she was prescribed in District 9. The following week she returns to work while her Mother returns to District 4. Gale, being allowed to work from home the week Katniss recovered, returns to the office.

Despite her injuries, she somehow manages to make it through the day teaching, each day getting easier and easier.


June 15

Katniss comes home with feelings of excitement and accomplishment. Today was her final day teaching as a first year teacher for Silver Lake's elementary school. She along with Livia and Kimber, all passed their first year probationary period. That meant when she returned from summer break on Sept 8th, she would be in charge of the classroom on her own, Julia no longer offering her assistance or observing her.

Gale takes her out to dinner that night to celebrate. They end up at the nicest restaurant of the only six places to eat in the entire town. As expected, they eat together in the back corner of the restaurant, out of view from others. And also as expected, people continued to keep their distance from her though some were slightly friendlier to Gale.

Neither one of them cared. Living in Silver Lake for eight months, they were used to being ignored by people. And both of them preferred it that way. In a lot of ways it reminded them of the days in District 12, when they often were seen together in the Hob, just the two of them, chatting with some people such as Geasy Sae, but never friendly with too many people.

While they never displayed too much affection while out in public, it was nice for Gale to be able to hold her hand or put his arm around her with no one paying attention. At first she had to get used to showing affection, but over time it became second nature. There were times though, that Katniss saw that she was the recipient of nasty looks from some of the women in town. Knowing that more likely than not, she was receiving glares due to the women being jealous that she was with Gale. Now almost 30, he looked just as handsome as he did when he was younger, thought his face was starting to age ever so slightly. Due to the fact he shaved every day, he still had his boyish looks especially when he smiled.

Her hair was much longer now, and was half way down her back. When she didn't wear it down, she would braid it the way the tribe braided their hair, two long braids down the front. At school she would start the braid at the top and had two braids coming down the back of her head. She often received looks when she wore her hair the way the tribe did, not caring in the slightest that people found it odd. One time, she overheard someone say, "Maybe she thinks she will start a trend again like she did before."

Nothing could be further from the truth. She never wanted to start a trend before, she sure as hell didn't want to start one now.

While stopping for ice cream on the walk back to their house, Gale asks while they sit in the only ice cream shop in Silver Lake what she wanted to do now that her probationary period was over.

"Do we want to stay here in Silver Lake?"

"Well, I still need to meet with the school's administrator next week to re-sign with the school. They said I would still teach first grade."

"Is that what you want?"

"I didn't mind it. They are so young and innocent, it's hard not to get attached. It was hard adjusting to teaching first graders in the beginning, but it ended up not being so bad."

"We still have the house until September, unless we say we want to resign."

"Do you want to leave Silver Lake?" Katniss asks.

"Well, the commute can be really tiring, but being home two days a week helps. I think by the end of the year I can work here three days a week. And the house and land we have is great for Harper. So-I'm fine with whatever you decide."

She pauses before saying, "Can we stay in Silver Lake then?"

"Of course" he says smiling.

"Should we re-sign on the house?"

"I think that would be easiest. At least for another year. We can decide after that what we want to do."

She takes his hand and squeezes it before happily finishing her ice cream. While walking home, she notices his demeanor seemed a little different and she asks him what was wrong.

"Nothing. Just thinking about some things."

"What kind of things?"

"Work stuff mostly. And the Jay Killers."

Katniss knew he was frustrated that he was not privy to as much information as he usually was back when he was a solider. Though being the government official, he still had access to certain classified information.

She couldn't shake the feeling that he was not being truthful with his answer but decided to let it slide, figuring he would tell her what was really bothering him at a later time.


Gale hated to lie to Katniss, but he had agreed with Haymitch that it was best if she didn't know right now that Peeta had asked for his memory of her to be erased from his mind.

He initially thought Peeta's decision to ask for such a thing was weak. That it proved that his life completely revolved around Katniss. While he definitely understood the heartache of losing her, he was able to move forward with his life despite missing her. For Peeta, it seemed his life completely stopped because she was no longer with him in District 12. He always found their relationship to be unhealthy, and told her that once. Surprisingly she didn't get mad, but made it very clear to Gale that while it might not have been healthy, it was what both of them needed to survive.

He forced himself to remember how much Peeta had gone through in the last twelve years. He lost his family and Katniss, remembering how he had told Katniss that day on the beach when she kissed him that no one needed him. Gale couldn't imagine that level of loneliness and sadness for he always had his family. And his family had helped him get over Katniss.

He knows a part of Katniss will always need Peeta. And how it would devastate her to find out he wanted to forget her. But the President had decided that now was not the time to give Peeta the memory pill. She had said to Peeta that if he still felt the same way a year from now, she would re-visit the subject with him. She also offered him counseling free of charge in the Capitol for the next year. Last he heard, Peeta had accepted the offer.

He couldn't help but wonder if Peeta happened to run into Katniss whenever she was in the Capitol, would he tell her what he had asked for?

That night, while sitting in front of the TV watching Panem News Network, a station that reported the daily events of the Capitol and surrounding Districts, they see a segment about the Jay Killers and their continued protests. Though the group was not called the Jay Killers, but referred to themselves as concerned citizens for the direction Panem was going in. They see protests happening in Districts 1 and 2, as well as District 6 for which Gale said was the result of their government official being let go and replaced by someone close to President Paylor, a general she worked with during the rebellion.

"District 6 is angry that their district looks bad right now because of what happened with the trains, and their government official being fired and replaced by an outsider" he says to Katniss while petting Harper who was sitting between the two of them on the couch.

"They are making a mistake associating themselves with them" Katniss says.

"Yeah but they don't know that. Only the people sent to the compound to train know what the group is really about. These protests, are a just a way for them to be loud and spew their hatred openly knowing the President can't do anything about it."

Now that Katniss had the next two and a half months off, she planned to become more involved with Haymitch in regards to the Jay Killers, knowing she will need to come face to face with Enobaria, someone she hadn't seen in ten years. On the plus side, she will get to see Johanna as well, for she had found out from Haymitch the threat the Jay Killers posed to Panem and agreed to help in any way she could. She had continued to make trips to the Capitol every month in regards to her headaches and fainting spells.

Suddenly while the news segment continued to show scenes from the different protests, Gale shouts, "That bastard!" while leaning forward, eyes glued to the TV.

"What is it?" Katniss asks, confused as to what would cause him to shout at the TV without warning.

"See that older man in the front with the sign that says, 'Let us choose our leaders'?"

Katniss looks and sees a man who was indeed older but handsome. He had gray hair and bright green eyes.

"Yeah?"

"That's Dez's Father" Gale says bitterly.

Katniss sees where Dez got her green eyes from.

"You mean he's…"

"Possibly a Jay Killer" Gale says in disgust.