Thank you reviewers! For all of you Hazelle Hawthorne fans, I think you will really enjoy this chapter ;)


Chapter 18

When I wake up, she's still lying next to me, and I feel like I can easily get used to this sleeping arrangement. When I start to think about last night, I wonder what she will be like when she wakes. We both opened up to each other more than we ever had before. I start to think it might be better if I'm not here when she wakes. I could go sneak off and go hunting but then realize I need her with me. I didn't set any snares last night and she's better with a bow. No matter how awkward it's going to be, I need to do it. Plus, she wasn't happy that I almost left her the last time.

"Katniss." I whisper, gently shaking her shoulder. She jumps as she wakes but seems to relax when she sees it's just me.

"You scared me." she tells me.

"Sorry." I apologize. "It's morning."

"I can tell." she says, causing me to regret my stupid comment.

"Was about to go hunting. Thought you could come with me." I explain to her.

"I'm tired Gale." she says closing her eyes.

"So you don't want to go?"

"Just give me a few minutes." she says.

"What am I going to do with you?" I murmur to her.

"Let me sleep." she says, her eyes still closed but a smile on her face. I like going back and forth with her. It makes me feel like we are more than just friends. It also fuels my desire for her. I then come to the conclusion that this is not enough for me. While this is nice, I want more from her. I want to be able to show her my affections whenever I feel like and without words.

"Breakfast isn't going to catch itself." I tell her.

"Ok, fine, I'm getting up." she snips, sitting up. I know she's not really mad at me, just a little grumpy. We locate our hunting tools and start our expedition. We manage to shoot a few squirrels but it won't be enough to feed both our families. We have to search for vegetation. This is another area where Katniss comes in handy. While she has taught me about some plants, she has the discerning eye.

"What about this one?" I ask pointing to a berry bush.

"No." she shakes her head.

"This?" I ask pointing to a leafy plant.

"What are you trying to do, kill us Hawthorne?" she says with a laugh. Something stirs inside of me. She's never addressed me by my last name, but I like it.

"You know I'm the snare man." I reply. 'And I'd just love to snare you.' I silently add.

"Have I taught you nothing, Gale?" she huffs with a raised brow. "Those are moonseed…we've been through this before." I try to rack my brain to think of when we encountered them.

"When?" I ask.

"A couple of years ago. You thought they were grapes." she tells me. It comes back to me now. I was about 13 and we had been hunting together. I broke off a bunch of the berries, believing them to be grapes. I showed her my discovery and she went into a panic, asking if I had consumed them. I told her no. That was the first day she started educating me about edible and non-edible plants.

"I guess it's a good thing you are here." I tell her. The only edible thing we find are some dandelion leaves. We collect all that we can find before making our way back to camp. Our families are inside the tent, hanging out. I enlist the help of Rory and Vick to find firewood while I prep the squirrels for cooking. Katniss shows the boys how to make the fire. My mother comes out of the tent and tells me she'll finish up and adds something about needing my rest. I wonder if she knew how late we were up. Maybe she even heard some of our conversation. I climb back into the tent and lay down in my spot. I'm surprised when I see Katniss crawling to the space she occupied the night before.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"You woke me up, remember?" she teases me.

"You have to whole tent to choose from." I say, a little stumped on why she chose the corner between me and the edge of the tent.

"I like it here." she comments.

'Next to you.' I think, completing what I'd really like for her to say. Katniss has never been one to outwardly express her emotions. Maybe she could very well mean this. She settles into her resting place and closes her eyes. I try to sleep but I cannot. Instead I just watch over her, getting as close to her as I can without touching her. About 15 minutes later, my mother pokes her head inside the tent, letting us know it's ready. Katniss slowly opens her eyes, still groggy.

"You were really out of it." I comment.

"I told you I was tired."

"You're lucky. I couldn't sleep a wink." I reveal.

"Not tired?" she asks.

"I don't know. We better get out there."

We join our families for breakfast, which is rather meager when split 8 ways. I volunteer to forgo my portion but my mother refuses. It's going to be a long day of traveling and I need my strength, according to her. Once breakfast is finished, we pack up the tent and start our journey. We make pretty good timing, but by mid-afternoon, the younger ones are complaining about being tired. My mother has a solution, that we rest for an hour before we continue. We lay out some blankets and the kids nap.

"You too, Gale." my mom insists.

"Mom." I huff.

"You have the heaviest load to carry. You need to be well rested. Don't worry, I'll stay up so you don't sleep too long."

"Ok." I give in. I prop myself besides the trunk of a tree and close my eyes. My body has other ideas. I feel like I will never drift off. Through the darkness, I hear Katniss address my mother.

"Hazelle, can I talk to you?" she asks.

"Of course." my mother sweetly tells her. There is silence and I hear footsteps coming towards me. Even though my eyes are closed, I know it's Katniss, perhaps checking to see if I'm really asleep.

"Just had to make sure." she says as she joins my mother.

"What is it, Katniss?"

"Gale told me the story last night about you and Mr. Hawthorne…how you started off as friends."

"We did."

"And that he told you he loved you before the Reaping."

"Much to my surprise." my mother says with a laugh.

"You had no idea?" Katniss asks.

"None at all. Looking back, I realize I was such a fool. There were so many little things I missed. I thought he did them to be nice…because he was my friend."

"Gale said you changed your mind about him after your last Reaping. I was wondering how you knew you really liked him. How it wasn't just because you were happy he was safe…"

"Something happened to me in that week that we spent apart before the Reaping. I realized I had missed him and not in the way a friend misses another friend. My heart ached for him. I felt like I made a huge mistake and that he'd never forgive me. That's why I hid from him that week. I didn't know what to say to him. Lucky for me, I had the chance to do so after the Reaping. Sometimes you don't know how incredibly right a person is for you until they are almost taken away. It was that day that I knew I had to stop lying to myself and accept my feelings for him."

"Were you ever afraid those feelings may be false?" Katniss asks.

"At some point, you have to forget about the future and live in the now. It's an important lesson I learned and I wouldn't have everything I have today without it." my mother explains. "You are full of questions, Katniss. Now I have one for you. Why are you asking me about this?"

There is quiet as I wait for Katniss to speak, waiting for her reveal anything about how she feels about me.

"I feel like things are different between Gale and I."

"How?" my mother asks.

"We seem closer than we've ever been. I'm not even sure I understand everything I'm feeling." she confides in my mom.

"What are you feeling?"

"I've never experienced these feeling before and they only happen when he's around." she says, followed by a long silence. "This isn't supposed to happen."

"It happens more often than you think." my mother gently tells her.

"What do I do now?"

"Honesty always works best in these cases."

"And what if he doesn't feel it? Has he mentioned anything to you?"

"No." my mother says, to my surprise. A part of me wishes she'd just spill the beans. It would be a lot easier for me. I then realize why she's doing this. She's always told us to confront our problems, and my secret love for Katniss is definitely a problem. Katniss will have to hear this from me. It's the only way. But when? I decide to wait until we have settled in one place. I've waited for such a long time that it shouldn't be too bad waiting a little longer.

I do manage to drift off and am woken by my mother when it's time to go. Katniss collects edible plants she sees on her way since we won't have time to hunt later. We walk until dusk, and set up for the night. We eat dinner and then turn in for the night, assuming our assigned sleeping spots. Katniss falls asleep almost instantly, leaving me without someone to talk to. It's probably better that I get my rest. I close my eyes and quickly fall asleep.

I am woken up in the middle night with a jolt. I hear noises outside our tent, footsteps and clinking of metal. My movements wake Katniss and I put my finger up to her mouth to keep her quiet.

"I think someone is outside our tent." I whisper as quietly as I can with my face close to hers. I see the fear flood her eyes. I sit up and she grabs onto my arm.

"No." she whispers back, holding onto me tightly.

"Stay here." I murmur. She looks around the tent for something for me to take to defend myself, I presume. "There's nothing in here, Katniss." I say into her ear.

"Be careful." she says, hugging me. I peel her off me and nod my head. I put my shoes on as quickly and quietly as I can before exiting the tent. I see a man hunched over our belonging, picking through them. He already has a collection under his arm.

"Drop it." I say as I approach him. He lets out and evil laugh before turning towards me, swinging an ax he must have found in my bag. He misses me by a few inches. I'd hate to think what would have happened if he had had both hands on the ax. He swings the ax at me a few more times, which I manage to dodge. I tackle him to the ground causing him to drop most of our belonging he had collected. He's a strong man and easily pushes me off of him. He grabs the ax and a few clothes before running away. I made an impulsive decision to chase him through the woods. He has the ax still…one of the most valuable things I brought.

In the distance I hear Katniss calling my name telling me to come back. She's fast and quickly catches up to me.

"Stop! Let him go Gale!" she says grabbing at my body to stop me.

"He has the ax, Katniss. I need it!" I tell her as I try to remove her from me.

"You'll get yourself lost if you go after him, or worse."

"How am I supposed to cut down trees without it?" I ask her worried.

"You still have the saw?" she asks me.

"Yes."

"Last time I checked, saws are good for cutting things." she says, trying to keep thing light.

"But it will be harder." I tell her.

"But it still can be done. Come on, let's get back." she says taking my hand. My fear and worry melts away with her touch. We hold hands until we get back to our camp, which is a mess; things are toss all over. I start walking towards our bags but she pulls me towards the tent.

"We can clean that up tomorrow."

"I don't want them to see this." I tell her. She nods her head and helps me to repack everything. When we are finished, I start to rummage through the bag that holds the building supplies. I feel her hand brush my shoulders.

"No sense in worrying about that. It's too late for that." she tells me. I suppose she's right. They will still be there tomorrow. She coaxes me back into the tent with her eyes and her touch. I take her hand again and follow her. We remove our shoes and lay next to each other. She scoots closer to me so that our bodies are against each other.

"None of that other stuff matters." she whispers. I shoot her a confused look. "The most important thing is that you are ok." she clarifies. I can't hide my grin when she reveals this. "We will be ok."

I can only hope that she's right.


Things are starting to happen :) Let me know your thoughts about this chapter!