Waking up to Haymitch by her side was the norm in Heather's life but waking up to the feeling of her bare skin touching his was another matter. Opening up her eyes heavily, she glanced at the sleeping face of her husband.

Husband.

It was weird, thinking about Haymitch that way but that was what he was to her now. They never talked about marriage before, but it was quite obvious that both wanted to marry each other. The butterflies returned once more to swirl around her stomach when she thought back to last night.

When she exited her house to go to Peeta's, she had had a hunch Haymitch planned something to cheer her up, but she didn't think he'd ask to marry her and do so on the same exact night. His words, she thought her heart was going to gush out of love for him as he spoke to her. Expressing his feelings to her with her loved ones as witnesses. The only thing that would've made that night more perfect was if Luke was there.

However, she knew that if he was there, there was a chance that he'd spill out their marriage to other people and she didn't want to risk that. Heather trusted Luke and he was a good kid but this was the thing, he was still a child so he wasn't responsible enough to deal with secrets.

Removing her hair from her face, Heather squirmed for a bit, stretching her sore body. Her face became flushed as she remembered the reason behind the soreness. Memories of how an innocent good night kiss steadily developed into a heated moment where they got rid of each other's clothes.

At first, Haymitch moved to stop but Heather could see in his eyes that he wanted to do this as much as she wanted to. Clearly, he thought that being intimate with her would make her uncomfortable because of her deal with Snow. And it was, but not with him. Haymitch made her feel things in a way a man has never done before. She wanted him.

And so, she got him. He was partly rough with her but then he'd notice and become gentle instead. But she didn't mind, Heather loved everything that happened. She loved all of him.

Suddenly, Haymitch moved and pulled her down, making her lie on her side. She let out a small laugh and immediately relaxed as he massaged her lower back, moving his thumb in slow lazy circle motions around her soft skin.

"Is this it's always going to be?" He murmured sleepily. "I have to wake up to you staring at me?"

"Maybe," she smiled and moved her hand to run it through his hair. "I can't help it that you're so handsome."

"You're probably the only one who thinks so," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Chaff told me about what girls thought of you back in the day."

"And that doesn't bother you?" he asked teasingly.

"No, I know you only have eyes for me," she said.

"Damn, right, I do," he said and they leaned towards each other to kiss but they both stopped at the remembrance of their morning breath.

Heather moved to get up and was hit by the cold air. Immediately, she missed the warmth Haymitch provided her.

"Where is my dress?" she said under her breath, looking around.

Haymitch heard her and he spotted it a few feet away on the floor, where he'd thrown it. He glanced at Heather and he wondered how she managed to still look so beautiful, even with her hair all over the place like a bird's nest. Seeing her like this, all naked and still acting naturally as she doesn't mind the fact that he could see her, warmed his heart.

More than anything, he loved the way she trusted him.

He got up and reached to grab the garment. "Here you go," he said, handing it to her.

She smiled, "Thank you."

"I'm going to the town to buy some things, do you need anything?" Heather asked, bending down to put on her winter boots.

"No, I'm good," Haymitch said, from where he was sitting next to Luke as he played with him.

"Okay, I'll be back in an hour or so."

The second she left the house, Heather tucked her hands inside her jacket, trying to reserve heat as much as she could. Every step she took, she felt the cold air of January hitting her and she was certain that by the time she reached the town, her face would be glowing pink.

Reaching the outskirts of the town, Heather could already feel the tension as she looked up to see a crowd formed around the square. She could immediately tell that something wrong was going on.

Still, she kept her composure, slightly picking up her steps as her curiosity drove her. Heather saw Peeta standing out of the crowd, looking quite worried and tired as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Peeta, what's going on?" Heather asked, approaching him. "What's happening?"

Peeta looked up at her, wearing a pained expression. For a moment, he looked like he was contemplating on whether to tell her or not but he knew that Heather was one of the few people who can handle this situation.

"It's… it's Gale," he said. "He's-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Heather heard it. The sound of the whip hitting harshly on bare flesh. Immediately, a painful cry of a man followed and with dread, Heather recognized it as Gale's voice.

Her stomach dropped to the ground and it felt like gravity was hitting hard on her as a heavyweight fell on her, preventing it from moving. Of course, it was all in her head but the shock of everything and of the situation happening had such an effect on her mentality that she couldn't explain.

She remembered an old conversation that happened years ago between her and Chaff where he was talking about domestic punishments in District 11. Drunken, he'd tell her about the hopelessness everyone would feel as they watched their fellow acquaintance, knowing that of the horrible consequences they would face if they tried to intervene.

Once again, it just reinforced the reality of the control the Capitol holds over the districts. It sounded dumb since she already knew of the cruel heinous acts the Capitol committed daily but living in the overshadowed district, Heather didn't have those realities sunk into her deeply.

But now, with Katniss, District 12 was no longer overshadowed.

Which, unfortunately, came with its determinants.

"No!"

Katniss cried out and as if her voice healed her from her temporary paralysis, Heather found herself moving rapidly through the crowd and muttering pardons. She was able to make it in front of the crowd just as the whip was about to hit Katniss.

With a speed that she didn't know she had in her, Heather ran and managed to grab the whip. The impact of it left an agonizing sting on her hand but she swallowed the pain as she stared dead into the man's eyes. He was a gray-haired man, dressed in the uniform usually worn by the Head Peacekeeper. It didn't take a genius to figure out that old Cray was out of the job.

"What do you think you're doing?" Heather asked with a cold hard tone.

The old man's face was also equally hard and a particularly angry expression was painted on him. However, just before he could respond, the realization of who he was speaking to dawned on him. "I was punishing a criminal before she stepped in."

Knowing the horrifying sight that would await her, Heather hesitantly glanced over at Gale. His wrists were bound to a wooden post with a wild turkey, that he clearly shot, hanging above him. His jacket was cast aside on the ground and his shirt torn away. He was unconsciously slumped on his knees, held up only by the ropes at his wrists.

Heather couldn't help out the gasp that escaped her as she saw the red-blood mess that was his back. If she wasn't used to imagery like this, she would've been sick to her stomach. But she could feel her heart bleeding out for him.

"How many times have you hit him?" Heather asked, somehow managing to keep her voice steady.

"What does that have to do with you?" he said arrogantly.

In response, Heather yanked the whip out of his hand, making him stagger forward in surprise at her strength. "I said, how many times have you hit him?"

His jaw clenched as he answered. "Forty."

It took a lot of power to hold back the rage and venom Heather felt towards the man and she willed herself to remain calm. "Well, whoever appointed you to your current position chose poorly as you clearly didn't bother to see how we do things here in District 12. This isn't District 11 nor 3, the lashes a first-time offender receives are ten, not forty. You would've done well to remember that."

He glared at her, the anger behind his eyes clear.

"Is that the standard protocol here?" he asked with his gaze still fixed on Heather. She simply stared back at him, showing no sign of fear caused by him.

"Yes, sire," one of the female Peacekeepers as others nod in agreement, making his jaw clenched.

"Uncuff him, now," Heather said, letting the whip fall onto the ground.

The new Head Peacekeeper narrowed his eyes at her but still went to go unbound Gale's wrist. Heather held the urge to hit him with the whip as he passed her by.

"Get this boy out of my sight and remind him that the next time he poaches off the Capitol's land, I'll assemble that firing squad personally," he said.

"I'll be sure to mention that," Heather handed him the whip before hurrying over to Gale.

Katniss was already by his side as she inspected his wounds. Heather dropped to her knees alongside her and her hands reached out to touch his face. She moved his hair from his face, holding on a sob as she found him burning out. Hearing light jogging sounds behind her, Heather caught a glimpse of Peeta

"We need to get him to your mother," she said to Katniss.

Thankfully, the old woman from the clothing stall sold them her countertop. By now, most of the people had cleared away from the square out of fear but there are still a handful of people left to help carry Gale to the Victor's Village.

Heather let a few tears fall before she quickly wiped them away, sniffing. Suddenly, she realized that Hazelle still didn't know what was going on and she looked around for Katniss, so she could go and call her over.

"Don't worry, someone went to go get Hazelle," Katniss told her.

"Who? And what about the kids?"

"It's Leevy, and she's going to stay with them," she said.

Heather nodded then glanced at Katniss, reaching out to take her hand. "Are you alright?"

Katniss looked away at the question. "I-I'm fine. I just feel useless for not being able to do anything."

"Kat, I understand how you feel but truthfully, there was nothing you could've done."

"Maybe but you," Katniss paused, not knowing how to proceed. "You actually stopped this. You-you always make things right and I wish I was like that."

"Thank you," Heather said. "But that doesn't mean you're not strong, because you are. We all have our flaws and strengths, it's just easier to see our flaws more."

Katniss didn't say anything as she stared at the ground and Heather took it as a hint to drop this talk. She still held her hand though so she took it that Katniss wasn't mad or angry, just confused and lost

As they walked, Heather was able to get the story from Gale's crewmates as they talked about how Gale must've gone to sell Cray the wild turkey, since he always paid well for that. Unfortunately, he found himself standing in front of the new Head Peacekeeper, Romulus Thread, who didn't hesitate to quickly arrest and punish Gale. No one knows what happened to Cray but they did see him buying liquor this morning in the Hob.

"I'll alert Amaryllis," Heather said, then left the ground and jogged to Katniss's house.

Somehow knowing that the door was unlocked, Heather opened it. "Amaryllis!"

It didn't take long for her to come, with Prim by her side. "Heather? What's going on? Did something happen?"

"It's Gale. There is a new Head and Gale was caught with a game he shot," Heather said breathlessly. "He got whipped."

Immediately, Amaryllis' expression turned sombre and though little Prim was obviously shocked and disturbed, she too tried to appear serious.

"Prim, go prep the kitchen table," she ordered.

Heather explained to her the severance of the wounds and they both start to discuss what remedies need to be used and how they'll go on to handle this situation. It's been a while since Heather has done severe cases like this but thankfully, all the information she's been reading from the Capitol libraries aided her.

Just as the others arrived, carrying Gale, Heather left to go to her house to get some effective medicine she got from the Capitol.

"There is a new Head, Gale's been hurt," that's all the information she offered to Haymitch and Luke as she quickly got all the stuff she needed and exited the house.

Back in Katniss's house, Heather immediately got to work with Amaryllis as they cleaned the wounds together. She blocked everyone around her and her feelings as she put all her concentration on Gale and him alone.

Feeling a presence beside her, she glanced at Hazelle, who was still flushed, and watched the mother pull her son's hand to her lips as she looked at him with pained eyes. Shaking her head, Heather returned to the task on hand.

She tried to remain as gentle and careful as possible as she applied salve to his back after they finished cleaning. Now that they had arranged the shredded skin, Heather could make out the lash marks on his skin and she imagined how much pain Gale had to take.

A low moan sound came from below and it took a second for Heather to realize that Gale was beginning to regain consciousness.

"We need to give him some painkillers," Heather said.

"A bit later though, I don't want it to interfere with the inflammation concoction," Amaryllis. Heather started to think about the risks before she heard Katniss's voice.

"Heather's right, give him the painkillers," she said. "I know how it feels. That will barely knock out a headache."

"We'll combine it with sleep syrup, Katniss, and he'll manage it. The herbs are more for the inflammation—" Amaryllis said calmly.

"Just give him the medicine!" Katniss suddenly screamed. "Give it to him! Who are you, anyway, to decide how much pain he can stand!"

Gale began stirring at the noise and his movement caused fresh blood to stain his bandages, ripping an agonized sound from his mouth. Heather's attention was immediately pulled to him and she reached out to push on his wound to stop the blood from leaking too much. She barely heard Amaryllis order Peeta to take Katniss out.

"Hazelle, talk to him," Heather said when Gale didn't stop moving.

After finally calming him down, Heather reapplied his bandages while Amaryllis went on to get the concoction ready.

"Can I give it to him?" Hazelle asked with tearful eyes.

"Of course," Amaryllis said.

Heather watched the mother feed her son and she couldn't imagine the pain she was feeling at this moment. She'd assume it was similar to the one she felt when she lost her brother but not as much. Wanting to forget about the pain of her brother's loss, Heather turned to Amaryllis.

"You should go check on Katniss now," she said. "Talk to her."

Amaryllis nodded and soon she left the room. Prim stayed for a moment before she followed after her mother.

Heather turned her back and started to clean the mess, putting everything she knew in order. While doing so, she thought of the side effects of giving Gale painkillers while the concoction was digesting in his stomach.

"Leevy told me about what you did," Hazelle suddenly spoke. Heather lifted her head and looked at her.

The woman clutched her son's hand and held Heather's gaze with tears slowly following from her eyes. "Thank you. I keep wondering how to repay and you've done so much for our family and I-"

Crossing to her in long strides, Heather reached Hazelle and pulled her by the shoulders. "Hazelle, you don't need to repay me, I didn't do these things so I can get you to owe me something," Heather wiped the tears off her eyes. "He's as much my family as he is yours. I love him too, you know."

Hazelle nodded and slightly bowed her head down as she started the sob. Heather held her in a warm embrace as the woman let all her feelings out. After had calmed down, Hazelle excused herself to go wash her face.

Heather glanced over at Gale and saw his teeth clenching from the pain. Frowning, she made up her mind and went to grab one vital morphling and filled the syringe with it. Picking a vein in his arm, Heather shoots it into him.

Immediately, his face relaxed and his breathing became normal and slow as he slept. Pressing a kiss on his forehead, Heather went back to her cleaning.

When the others returned, Heather was done and was in the middle of wearing her coat. "I gave him so morphling so he should be fine," she told them. "I left some more to give him later but not so much since he could get addicted. Peeta, you're coming with me, right?"

Peeta nodded.

"Won't you stay for dinner?" Prim asked.

"I'd love to but I have to go back to Haymitch and Luke," Heather said and went to hug everyone goodbye. "I'll come back to check up on him tomorrow."

As soon as she left the house with Peeta, Heather let her feelings out and felt her heart become heavy. The hopelessness of the situation dawned on her and the urge to call up District 13 so she could start the revolution. Even if it was selfish, Heather was thankful that she wasn't living in District 11, where it was much worse as this was the norm there.

"There is something I have to tell you," Peeta said. "I'll talk to you about it when we're alone with Haymitch.

"Okay, but what is it?" she asked worriedly.

"It's about Katniss," he said. "It's not that serious but it's still something important to talk about."

"Alright."

Entering the house, Heather noticed the immediate silence. However, instantly after hearing the door close, rapid footsteps echoed through the house as Luke made his way over to Heather and Peeta.

"Mommy!" he launched himself at her.

Heather laughed slightly as she hugged him close to her chest, leaning down to press a smooch on his temple. It was crazy that all it took was holding him to make her feel better.

"Hi there, my little love," Heather said. Luke glanced up at her and he picked her lips.

"Mommy, where were you?" Luke asked as he buried his face on the spot where her shoulder met her neck, keeping his arm around her.

"Someone got hurt today and I had to help them," she said.

"It was Gale, wasn't it?" Luke looked up at her. "You said his name when you came back before."

Heather chuckled, sometimes she forgot how smart Luke was. She was about to answer before she noticed Haymitch entering the room. "Yes, it was Gale."

"Is he okay now?"

"He is still hurt but he is going to be alright," Heather said, standing and picking him up. "Healing takes a lot of time."

"Why?" he asked.

"It's just the way our body is," she said simply. Of course, there was more to it but she had a feeling a five-year-old wouldn't understand. "Did you have dinner yet?"

"We were gonna but you came," Luke said.

"Well, Peeta and I are here now so we don't we all go eat together," Heather tickled him on the sides, inducing a laugh out of him.

Heather looked over at Haymitch and he tilted his head at her. She gave him a sad smile before she glanced away from him, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold in her true feelings around him.

After dinner, Peeta offered to put Luke to sleep, probably to give her and Haymitch some time to talk together. Heather wanted to decline but she knew that she had to fill in Haymitch on what happened in detail, and it was better hearing it from her than Peeta.

"How about we go talk in the living room?" Haymitch suggested, reaching out his hand to take hers.

"Okay."

Once they were seated, Heather began to tell him everything. From how she encountered Peeta to hearing Gale's cry to stopping Thread on her own and to how they took him to Katniss' mom to treat him. She told him about the helplessness she felt and how scared she was of these changes and new events. Most of all, she told him about the frustration of not being able to do anything when they already had the tools to.

"I know how you feel," Haymitch said, rubbing soft circles on her palm with his thumb. "But you know the importance of doing things at the right time."

"I do," she sighed. "But I just, I'm tired, Haymitch."

"Me too," he said. "But hey, you managed to stop him."

"She did," Peeta said as he walked towards them. "It was so surreal to watch."

"I can imagine," he chuckled. "This one's feisty when she's angry."

Heather rolled her eyes and turned to Peeta. "What did you want to tell us?"

"Katniss wants us to run away," Peeta said, taking a seat across from them.

Surprisingly enough, Haymitch stayed quiet and didn't say anything while Heather thought over this. Of course, she understood the place Katniss came from but running away wasn't an option. No matter where they went, the Capitol would be able to track them down with their technology and there would be hell to pay.

However, Heather had a feeling that after what happened to Gale, Katniss's mind might've changed. In what way, she wasn't sure but anyone that went through this incident would have a new perspective to look from.

One thing was clear though, Snow was done with the threats and warning and he was getting ready to torment Katniss more. A bad feeling hit Heather as she realized that the Quarter Quell was coming up and she could only imagine what twists the Capitol would spring upon them this time.

Things were looking worse for them day by day, and Heather needed to do something about it.

Hii guys!

So things are finally starting to happen and I'm sooo excited. Though I do feel bad for Heather and Haymitch because this is their first day as a married couple and they're already facing problems. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Leave some reviews if you got them thoughts.

P.S. Also, thank you so much to those who recently followed or favoured my story, it really means a lot to me that there are people out there enjoying my work insert a grateful face.