Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine. Any lines from the books are hers too.
AN: This mess is the lighter, happier version of another story I've since abandoned. This mish-mash of stories has had enough emotionally painful stories lately. I know it's not great, but its been in production for a while and since I'm going to try to move on to a request and my sw fic, I wanted to get it out of my head. So...yeah. Sorry.
Changes
"Dad, can we stop for ice cream?"
Gale sighs.
Remi does this every time he picks him up from Katniss' house. He thinks the guilt of the divorce, having to shuttle between his parents, is enough to get him and Easton a treat each time they get picked up.
And damned if he isn't right.
"Fine," Gale mutters, glancing in the rearview mirror and smiling, knowing he's being played like a song. "Where from?"
Easton is more interested in his new toy, his prize, like the ice cream, from his mom for having the misfortune of having divorcing parents. He doesn't even look up, just continues his discussion with the stuffed dinosaur in his hands.
Remington grins, knowing he's about to ruin his dinner.
"The place next to Pizza Man!"
Gale frowns.
"Herschel's?" He shakes his head. "Bud, Herschel's is closed, remember?"
The old man that ran it, Herschel Donner, had died a month ago and the shop has sat closed since. The boys had spent several minutes peeking in the dusty window just the weekend before.
Clearly the electric bill hadn't been paid.
All the chocolate was melted in the cases, forming gloopy ponds and spilling over to the next shelves, and the ice cream had curdled and oozed out, dripping in sticky pools below the freezers.
As there wasn't much revenue in a candy shop in a dead end town, Gale doubts it'll open back up. Herschel had kept it open part time on sheer stubbornness and love of the kids. No one else is likely to do the same.
"It's not," Remi tells him. "Mom took us to the bakery yesterday for cupcakes and it was open."
Certain his son's six year old mind is fabricating its own fantasy, Gale rolls his eyes.
"Fine, we'll go there, but when it's closed we aren't going anywhere else for ice cream."
Not a bad deal in Gale's mind.
"And when-when it is, I get double scoops," Remi counters.
"Deal," Gale laughs, sure he's about to win this bargain.
Turning down Main, they pass empty shop fronts, going out of business signs, and a few help wanted posters before Pizza Man comes into view. Gale groans when he spots the door to Herschel's propped open.
Damn.
Remi grins. "See? I told you."
Pulling in, shifting into park, Gale gets out and unbuckles Easton from his booster seat as Remi scrambles out over him.
"Slow down," Gale warns him, catching him by the arm and holding him in place as he picks Easton up. "Walk."
Shooting Gale a sulky glare, Remi trails behind him for a moment before hurrying past him and through the door.
All the melted candy and ruined ice cream have been mopped up. Every speck of dust is gone. Even the ever present hand prints from the glass cases have been wiped away. Herschel's looks like a new shop from the first step Gale takes into it.
Herschel's daughter must've decided to come home and take over the business after all.
Squirming away, Easton runs over to the counter where his brother is, eyeing the new treats behind the glass eagerly.
"Imma eat tha, an tha, an tha…" he mumbles to himself, making little finger smears on the glass with each 'tha' he says.
"E, don't touch," Gale whispers as he drops down to his son's level. "What's on your hands?"
Remi starts to answer for him, but gets cut short by a soft voice.
"What can I get you boys?"
Looking up, Gale almost loses his balance.
It isn't Herschel's kooky daughter behind the counter, but his granddaughter.
"Undersee? Is that you?" He asks as he stands, not able to take his eyes off her.
She'd been a few years behind him in school, Katniss' class, so he hadn't really known her, just of her, and that was plenty.
Madge was pretty, rich, and a bit of a snob.
Katniss had liked her well enough, had been her partner on a few class projects, but she hadn't considered her enough of a friend to invite her to their wedding.
She'd been too far above his social circle to bother with, and so he hadn't. Beyond a few grunted 'excuse me's' and 'thank you's' he doesn't think he ever really spoke with her.
He hasn't thought of her since she'd given her valedictory speech and vanished off to college, rode off into the sunset as far from their hometown as possible.
The ten years since high school have clearly been kinder to her than him. There isn't a single strand of gray in her hair and from what he can see her figure hasn't suffered the pangs of adulthood. If it weren't for the few, almost imperceptible wrinkles at the edges of her eyes, he'd say she looked no different than she had the last time he'd seen her.
She flinches, probably at his incredulous tone, and nods.
"In the flesh," she answers, folding her arms on the top of the counter and forcing a smile. It vanishes once her eyes focus on him. "Gale?"
Her eyes drop to the two dark haired boys still hovering in front of her chocolate display.
Lips twitching up into a smile that seems more wary than happy, she looks back up.
"Yours?"
Nodding, Gale points at each of them.
"Remington and Easton."
Madge makes a face, but quickly schools her features back into a pleasant expression.
"Did Katniss contribute any genetics?"
Chuckling, Gale shrugs, scratches at the back of his head. He doesn't remember her being funny.
Leaning over the counter, Madge smiles down at the boys. "Now what do the two of you want?"
Remi holds up two fingers. "Two scoops of chocolate. With sprinkles. Dad lost a bet. He said this place was closed 'cause that guy died, but I told him it wasn't, and he didn't believe me."
Smile freezing, Madge doesn't move, just stares at Remi before finally looking at Gale.
"Two scoops for both?"
Her eyes are bright, like she might blink out tears at any moment, her voice is brittle, but it doesn't crack. She's holding herself together through sheer will. Gale would've never thought she had it in her.
Nodding, Gale looks at Easton. "Same thing as Remi?"
"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah."
The boys chatter while Madge scoops the ice cream, dips them in sprinkles, then hands them to Gale.
"Thanks," he mumbles, passing the cups to the boys before reaching for his billfold. "How much?"
She waves a hand.
"Don't worry about it." She sighs, smiles at the boys, now messily eating the ice cream, Easton dropping generous globs on the freshly cleaned floor. "Tell Katniss I said 'hi'."
"We don't see mom 'til next week," Remi chimes in, through a mouthful of ice cream. "It's dad's week."
Frowning, Madge looks at Gale, obviously confused.
"We-uh-we just finalized our divorce," he mumbles.
Lips pulling up onto a sad smile, she nods. "Oh."
Oh.
He almost laughs.
When they'd gotten married, just a few years after Katniss graduated, Gale had thought it was forever, and so had most people they'd known. The two of them had been best friends since they'd been little and dated through most of high school. Marriage had seemed like the next logical step. That's just how things were.
Neither one had planned on Remington, a drunk accident on Memorial Day, but kids were expected, so they rolled with it. They hadn't been ready, but who was where kids were concerned?
Things had deteriorated from there.
Little disagreements turned into big fights. Katniss would vanish into the woods behind their house and Gale would go to his parents, and Remi was shuffled between them.
In retrospect, they should've divorced then, but they'd both been too stubborn to admit that the decision they'd made, the commitment they'd made when they'd been little more than teenagers, had been between two very different people.
They'd tried counseling, church, retreats, but nothing helped. They had stretches of good days, followed by stormy months filled with frustrated, angry words.
It wasn't until Katniss found out she was pregnant with Easton, after the first time they'd slept together in nearly a year, that they'd discussed what they both knew.
"I love you," Gale told her. "But I'm not in love."
It was sappy and stupid, but it was the truth. What they had wasn't what his parents had, wasn't what he wanted, and they were both miserable.
They'd been separated for the last year, leading separate lives, attempting reconciliation before finally settling on the divorce.
"It was amicable," Gale assures her. "We just...grew apart."
Madge nods, looks at the boys then up at Gale.
"People change."
Gale sighs, eyes tracing along the curve of her face, how long her hair has gotten, trying to remember if she'd been quite this gorgeous when they'd been in school, and if so how he'd missed it.
"Yeah." They do.
#######
Gale goes by the candy shop every afternoon when he gets off work.
He buys chocolates mostly, sets of candies for the boys, because despite the fact that he hardly knew her and hasn't seen her in ten years, he wants to. She's familiar and new all at once. It'll wear off, his sudden infatuation with her, but for the time being, he's okay with indulging it
"You came back to run the place?" He asks her as she hands him a brownie sundae.
She shrugs. "It passed to me and my mom in the will. The store has been in the Donner family since the town was founded."
"That doesn't mean you have to come back to run it," he points out.
It feels odd talking to her, but in a strangely pleasant way. They'd never been friends, but she'd seemed friendlier, despite Remi's childish carelessness about her granddad.
Maybe the years had just shown him someone being quiet doesn't mean they're snobs.
Her lips quirk up in a rueful smile. "Not like I had much else going on."
Taking a bite of his sundae, Gale frowns. "How's that? I heard you were running the show out there in Vegas."
She was a small town success story. College degree and a six figure job.
Laughing, she nods. "I was. I am, actually. The wild thing about my work is, I don't even have to be around to do it. The joy of telecommuting."
Somehow, Gale gets the impression that's not as amazing to her as it sounds.
"I was gone, taking care of my poppa after his stroke," she explains when she sees his baffled look. "No one even noticed."
Two months, she tells him. She'd been gone for two months and no one had so much as asked her how she was or if her granddad as doing okay.
"It's such a big company...it's easy to get lost in the shuffle." She begins rearranging the chocolate covered strawberries. "When poppa was in the hospital, when this place closed, it didn't get lost. People cared. He got cards and flowers, the lady that owned the burger place sent us dinner...I came back because this place matters to people, it mattered to poppa."
Unsure what to say to that, Gale takes another bite of ice cream.
#######
"So, you make all the candy?" Remi asks Madge, wide eyes on the case.
Madge nods. "Every single piece."
Popping a caramel cluster in his mouth, he says something, though what that may be is anyone's guess.
"I take it that means you approve?" She laughs.
"Yarh," Remi answers, dribbling chocolate down his front.
"Yar, yar, yar," Easton mimics him, squishing his cluster in his hands before handing it to Gale.
"Sorry about the mess," Gale tells her as he tries to contain the melting chocolate dripping off his hand.
She laughs and grabs a wet rag from the sink, comes around and wipes the sticky mess from his hand before chasing Easton down and cleaning his face.
"You have more on you than in you," she teases. "I guess that means you need to take an extra with you, doesn't it?"
Easton cheers, stomping his feet and running to the counter, jabbing a still sticky finger at what he wants.
Scooping him up, Madge carries him around the counter and sits him on her hip, wetting her rag again and trying to get the rest of the chocolate off him.
Gale would tell her it's a losing battle, Easton is sticky no matter how often anyone cleans him, but holds his tongue.
They've been in so often all his warnings fall on deaf ears. She's determined to do her best to get the chocolate off Easton no matter what, just like she'll refuse payment for their treats.
"I can't charge my best customers," she joked, swatting playfully at his hand as he'd tried to push some cash at her.
Easton giggles as Madge gently cleans the stickiness off him, then sets him down and takes his hand, leads him to the cabinet and lets him pick out his treat to take home before calling Remi over and letting him choose something as well.
Gale watches her with them, the way her eyes light up and how the boys climb on her, how patient she is.
She'd be a good mom, he thinks idly.
Once they're in the truck, both boys strapped in their seats and bags of candy in the passenger side seat, Remi sighs.
"I think I love her."
"Who?" Gale asks.
"Madge," Remi answers. "She's perfect. She makes candy, and she owns a candy store, and she gives me candy. She's perfect."
Gale chuckles. "She's a little old for you, isn't she?"
"Age is jus' a number, dad."
Laughing, Gale shakes his head. That's easy for a six year old to say.
#######
Gale pulls up to Madge's house, eyeing the crumbling porch and downed guttering critically.
It's another thing Madge had inherited from her granddad. An old gabled house with peeling paint and probably rusted plumbing.
Still, for all the problems it undoubtedly has, Madge has cleaned it up. The flower beds are spilling over with bright blooms and the lawn is well maintained.
Getting out, he grabs the two cartons of eggs and heads toward the back.
He starts to call out, see if she's outside, but then he spots her, straw hat peeking out from behind a tangled tomato cage.
Gale's mouth goes dry.
She's wearing a sundress, pink and yellow, that hits just above her knees and hitches up in the back each time she leans over to inspect something.
Katniss never wore dresses. They weren't practical in her life, and really, it's probably a poor choice for Madge too. All that exposed skin in what is probably a bug and weed infested garden is asking for trouble. There's no good reason for her dress to be so low cut along her top either.
Despite that, Gale doesn't care.
Surely she's bright enough to have on gobs of sunscreen, as fair as she is, and if not he'll gladly volunteer to help with the aloe vera later.
"Pretty dress," he finally calls out, once he's leered enough to make himself feel like a creep.
When she stands and turns, puts her dirty gloves hands to her hips and grins, Gale gestures to her head.
"And the hat. Good look."
She laughs, steps over a squash plant, adjust the hat.
"Oh good, I was worried."
Reaching out, Gale tips the brim down a bit, shading the distracting exposed stretch of her breast pushed up at the top of her dress.
He almost asks her if she needs help putting on sunscreen. He volunteers.
"I picked some of the strawberries," she tells him, taking the eggs from him and gesturing for him to follow her. "But there's more if you want."
They step up onto the porch, to where she has an old plastic grocery bag over flowing with strawberries beside another, filled with zucchini and a few tomatoes.
"I figured you and the boys will eat these before me."
Gale squints out at her garden, spilling over with a ridiculous abundance of vegetables she has no hope of eating and shakes his head.
"You should go sell some of this at the farmers market," he tells her. "Your granddad did."
She shakes her head. "As much as there is, it's a bit more of an undertaking than I'm ready for."
Pointing toward the shed at the back of the yard, she smiles.
"I've got watermelons coming on, if you think the boys would like one. When they're ready."
Gale nods. "Yeah, they like them."
He likes his soaked with everclear, but leaves that out. If she remembers his reputation for drinking in high school it might make it seem like he's a bit of an alcoholic.
"Lemonade?" She offers, smiling, hand on the screen door handle.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Gale shakes his head.
"I, uh, I gotta go get the boys."
He'd offered to take them early for Katniss so she could go help Prim with craft fair bull shit. An offer he's regretting now.
Her smile fades a little as she waves the offer away.
"Yeah, maybe-maybe next time."
Smiling, Gale nods. "Next time."
He likes the sound of a next time. He'll plan accordingly.
#######
"I didn't know who else to call," Madge tells him, eyes brimming with tears as Gale examines her car.
He'd given her his number a few weeks before, when she'd let it slip that her dad was still in California and her mom was in New York with her step-dad. She was alone and he felt like he owed her for her kindness to his boys.
If her calling led to him spending a little more time in her presence, so much the better. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make.
Getting in, he turns the key.
Nothing.
"It's the battery," he tells her.
"But...I tried to jump it-that nice old man helped me."
He shakes his head. "It probably needs a new one. Too dead to jump."
Eyeing her car, he taps his hand on the steering wheel, lets out a low whistle.
"The Hob is closed. Their batteries are the best, so you'll want to wait until the morning."
Sighing, she presses her fingers to her eyes before looking up, giving him a small smile. "Can I bother you for a ride?"
A very juvenile part of him wants to tell her he'd ride her all night if she'd let him, but he bites it back.
Clearly he's been out of the dating realm for too long. He's falling back on junior high bull shit.
"No problem," he tells her, gesturing to his truck.
The drive to Madge's is quiet, only the dim, crackle of Gale's barely functioning radio breaking the silence.
Gale tries to focus on the road, keeping his hands on the wheel, reciting state capitals, anything to distract himself from the fact that Madge's dress has ridden up on her thighs.
He can smell her strawberry shampoo, feel the heat from her body radiating at him, even hear her humming along with the radio. It's maddening.
It's too much. He feels like a kid taking a date home. Only he'd never felt this keyed up when he had been a kid taking his date home.
"The boys are at Katniss'," he finally says, though he isn't sure why.
Madge's humming stops and her nose wrinkles up. "Oh."
Despite not looking at her, Gale can sense she's confused why he's telling her that, even though, really, it's painfully obvious.
They pull into the gravel drive, up to the house.
"Your roof is shot," he tells her, squinting up at the roof, where the headlights of his truck shine on it. "I could fix it for you, and that guttering, keep the flower bed from flooding."
It would give him an excuse other than eggs to come over to her house.
She rolls her eyes, snorts.
"If I knew you were going to point out every flaw in my house I would've had you drop me off at the gate."
Chuckling, Gale sits back, smiles. "I'm just trying to pay you back for all the sugar my kids are leeching off you."
"They aren't leeching," she corrects him. "I like making them happy."
"They like you making them happy too," he tells her.
She smiles, looks down and toys with the hem of her dress.
"They're such good boys. You and Katniss are lucky." Her smile dims. "I kinda missed my moment for kids, I think, so it's nice to...connect with them, I guess."
"Missed your moment?" Gale looks her over. "I don't think so."
She's young, gorgeous, and available.
A faint pink blush spreads from her cheeks and down the front of her dress as she steadily avoids his eyes.
For a moment she silently debates something, chewing the inside of her cheek before finally looking up.
"Do you want to come in? I have coffee."
Gale wants to say yes. That's why he'd told her the boys were with Katniss, after all, he was alone for the night.
He's not a teenager anymore, though. His boys like Madge, and as much as he'd like to jump into something, as much as his body is begging him to, he can't. He's an adult, and he has to act like it.
Damn it.
"How about tomorrow morning?" He offers instead. "At Sae's."
She studies him for a moment, then her lips quirk up.
"Like a date?"
Gale grins. "Exactly."
She turns in her seat, sets him in a serious look. "Just to be clear, you, Gale Hawthorne, are asking me, Madge Undersee, on a date."
He nods, still grinning. "Nothing gets past you, college girl."
Her smile reappears, brighter than he's seen it.
"I'll need a ride."
"I'll ride you anywhere."
So much for being an adult.
She snorts. "There's the Gale I remember from school."
Laughing, Gale shrugs. "Not everything changes."
Madge rolls her eyes, smile not fading.
#######
They spend the entire day together.
Breakfast at Sae's, then to Gale's granddad's place to go fishing.
"You're really awful at this," he tells her, laughing as she makes a face, squeals as her catch flops around in the dirt and Gale has to get it off the hook for her.
She gags as he inspects the fish.
"In my defense, I've never been fishing before."
There are no demands to stop though, no complaints about the heat or the bugs. She happily fishes the afternoon away with him.
He fries their catches up that evening and they fall asleep in the old bench swing on her back porch, only waking when a thunderstorm rolls in, shuddering the house around them.
Stretching, Gale yawns, shakes the sleep from his head.
"I need to get home," he mumbles, more to himself than her.
He starts to get up, but stops when a cool hand wraps around his forearm.
"You don't have to go," Madge tells him, her voice barely carrying over the sound of the crickets around them.
In his chest, Gale feels his heart speed up.
Nothing would make him happier than to stay.
It's been so long since he's been wanted, the foreignness of the feeling is almost intoxicating.
He and Katniss had been together out of obligation, hoping the spark would flicker back to life between them, but it hadn't. Sex had turned into a chore, something they had to do to, but neither one really felt invested in.
There's no obligation with Madge.
There's a shyness he'd have seen as indifference when he was younger, a mix of uncertainty and hope in her eyes that Gale hasn't had directed at him in years.
Damn if he doesn't want to stay.
Reaching out, he brushes a strand of hair from her face.
"I want to," he admits, running a hand through his hair, standing it on end. "God I want to."
"But?"
He chuckles, studies the disappointment on her face.
"But I don't want to screw this up." He settles back in the swing, takes a long breath. "I've done one relationship too quickly, and as much good came from it, it failed. I'd kinda like that not to be my thing."
Her cheeks flush crimson.
"I-I don't normally-I don't ever ask guys to stay after the first date-but this doesn't feel like a first date, so I-"
"Madge," he cuts her off, trying not to laugh at the frantic edge to her voice. "I'm not judging you, I just-I want to do this slowly."
He wants to make it work. It's more than just himself he has to think about.
She nods, presses the backs of her hands to her cheeks.
"Okay," she finally says, expression still fragile.
Leaning over, Gale takes her hands in his, hesitating for a moment before pressing a kiss to her lips.
It lingers a little longer than he intends, but her lips are so soft, taste like strawberry chapstick, and he can feel her breath catch in her throat, that he can't help but let it last.
When he finally pulls back, Madge's eyes stay closed for a fraction longer, before finally cracking open, her lips easing into a smile.
"Slow?"
Gale chuckles, leans in again, his lips grazing hers.
"Slow."
#######
"So you're planning on telling the boys?" Katniss asks when he tells her about seeing Madge, after a few months, when he's certain he isn't going to screw things up.
She doesn't even look at him, just keeps gathering up Easton's toys and stuffing them in his bag.
"Yeah," he answers. "If you're okay with it."
She looks over her shoulder, shooting him an annoyed look. "Why would I care? We're divorced. Remember?"
"Still…"
He'd expected a reaction, or maybe a few questions. For all Katniss seems to care, Gale could've just given her a weather report.
"Gale, we're over. We've been over for a long time. If Madge makes you happy, be happy." She crosses her arms, gives him the smallest smile. "If you were dating a bitch, someone who'd be awful to the boys, then I'd at something, but Madge...the boys like her, and she seems as nice as she was in school when I've run into her."
Gale nods, let's his tense expression relax.
"She is. She's nice and funny, and she loves the boys, and she's just so different than…"
He lets his praise die.
"Different than me," Katniss finishes for him.
There's no irritation, just acceptance. He's gone from one end of the spectrum to the other, and she isn't angry at the comparison.
"Well," she shrugs, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm seeing someone too, and you two are revoltingly different."
Frowning, Gale arches an eyebrow. "Who?"
Her color rises. "Peeta Mellark."
Gale snorts. "Cupcake?"
"Don't call him that."
"The man dressed as a cupcake, Katniss, what else am I supposed to call him?"
It had been for Halloween, with his daughter, a chubby cheeked little girl who'd been dressed as a gingerbread girl cookie, but the fact still stands. The man was a cupcake.
She throws a stuffed dinosaur at him.
#######
"Are you coming to my birthday?" Remi asks Madge.
They'd come to her house for the least romantic Valentine's Day ever. Gale's only consolation was that Cupcake's daughter was interrupting his and Katniss' dinner date too.
He'd tried to convince her that since her evening was going to be ruined anyway, she might as well take the boys, but she'd just rolled her eyes.
"No."
So sticky treats and even stickier hands were Madge's valentine.
"I'll make it up to you," he promised as Easton dribbled melted chocolate onto her rug.
She'd laughed. "It's fine. I like having the boys."
He'd pressed a kiss to her strawberry lips, let his hands fumble with the hem of her shirt before Remi had yelled for him, ruining the moment.
"I don't know, Rem," she tells him, stirring the pot of bubbling sauce on the stove.
"You have to come," he insists. "Right, dad? She's your girlfriend so she has to come to my birthday."
"I don't think your mom-"
"Mom won't care," he assures her. "Cupcake is coming. He's making the cake and bringing Madeleine. You can make ice cream."
Madge gives him an uncertain smile.
She's still not sure of her place in their life, despite Gale's assurances.
"And Katniss is okay with everything, you can loosen up," he'd told her when he'd taken her to a bonfire at his cousin's place.
She didn't believe him, and despite what was a downright warm reception by Katniss, she's still got her doubts.
"You can either come on our invite or I'll call Katniss and have her send her human pastry over to your shop to give you a singing telegram invite," Gale whispers in her ear, letting his lips graze it and grinning when she shivers.
"Peeta's a sweetheart," she mumbles in response.
"He's a cupcake."
She snorts, turns and looks up at him through her lashes.
"You're sure?"
"I've seen the outfit. 100% sure he's a cupcake."
She swats his arm.
"Fine," she finally sighs, looking down at Remi. "Guess I'm coming to your birthday."
He whoops, then begins listing off the different ice creams he's expecting from her.
"Vanilla," Gale interrupts. "Cupcake said vanilla would go best with the cake."
And who is he to argue with the god of baked goods?
#######
Gale watches as Madge sweeps the floors of the shops, wipes away the dozens of fingerprints and smudges from the display case, then goes to the back to begins locking up before he goes in.
"We're closed!" She shouts from the back, sounding a little out of breath.
Gale laughs. "Even for your best customer?"
He hears her snort, then a moment later she emerges through the door frame, a gallon of freshly made ice cream in her hands.
She hands it off to him before tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, giving him a cautious look.
"Are you su-"
"Yes," answers before she can finish. "Remi wants you there, Easton wants you there, Katniss doesn't care, and I want you there."
He sets the ice cream down and pulls her into a hug, presses a kiss to her hair.
"We like you. If you haven't caught on yet, maybe you aren't as smart as you think."
Her laugh is muffled by his shoulder.
Pulling back, she nods, takes a deep breath.
"Does it make me an awful person that I'm happy you and Katniss' marriage fell apart?" Her eyes drop. "Because I feel like an awful person. But we wouldn't have this chance if you hadn't, but I know how hard divorces are on kids, and I don't-"
"You aren't awful," he quickly tells her. "Katniss and I wouldn't be any less divorced if you weren't here. For what it's worth, I'm glad it didn't work."
He was never going to have the kind of relationship he wanted if they had stuck it out. They're better off as friends. He wouldn't trade their time together, his boys, any of it, because he'd learned a lesson.
It showed him what he didn't want. Growing up and apart had given him some perspective.
What he wanted was right in front of him.
"I had to learn something from my marriage and you had to learn something out in the big, wide world," he adds. "I don't think the Gale or the Madge from high school would have gotten along like we do now."
The past wasn't for them, but the future...that holds some promise.
Popping up on her toes, Madge presses a kiss to his lips.
"Thank you," she murmurs, dropping back on her heels.
Leaning in, Gale catches her lips in another kiss.
"What for?" He finally asks, when air becomes a necessity.
Madge smiles, wraps her arms around him, holding him tight.
"For changing." She looks up, her chin presses to his chest. "For becoming you."
Lifting her up, Gale sets her on the counter and begins kissing her, letting his hands find their way under the hem of her skirt.
It isn't until the ridiculous cuckoo clock over the sink begins chiming, alerting them that they're going to be late if they don't leave now, that Gale remembers why there's a gallon of ice cream sweating beside them.
"We need to go to the birthday," Madge murmurs, her fingers still tangled in his hair.
Gale growls, presses a final kiss to her lips before hoisting her up and depositing her back on her feet.
He picks up the ice cream and takes her hand.
"Is Katniss keeping the boys tonight?"
Gale grins. "Yep."
Her fingers lace with his and a blush forms on her cheeks.
"Do you want-"
"God yes," Gale answers, earning a snort of laughter in response.
He wraps an arm around her shoulder and steers her to the truck, sets the ice cream in the back floorboard, then opens her door for her.
"You know, I just cleaned out the bed of the truck. We could go up to the lake after the party and try it out."
Madge snorts, rolls her eyes. "Aren't we a little old to be considering sex in a truck bed?"
Gale laughs.
"Age is just a number."
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AN: If anyone is wondering, the boys are named after a hunting rifle and arrows, because, well, of course they would be. Also, Peeta named his daughter after a cookie.