A/N: For now, I'll be putting chapters up back to back. Once I get to the tenth chapter, I'll do it slower. Thank you for those who have given me reviews for the last few chapters.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The Future Seemed So Bright

When I wake up, the first thing I'm aware of is the feeling of something across my chest. I eventually realize that Katniss woke up before me. She's resting her head right over my heart and tracing her hand down my body. Effie wasn't lying when she said that these beds were so comfortable. If I'm being honest, I have to say that this is the most relaxed and comfortable I ever felt. Then the cruel irony sinks in, I feel so relaxed and secure when in a matter of a week, I'll be in the most dangerous place possible, and I can't do anything about it. Before the tragedy at the reaping, out futures seemed comparably bright. But right now is all there is, and right now I'm with Katniss.

She whispers, "Morning, Gale."

"Morning, Catnip."

She looks at me through her shaded eyes, the look on her face screams contentment with the moment. I ask her, "How long do you think we have before Effie comes running in here?"

She looks at the clock, and she says, "More than enough."

Her eyes darken with desire when they return to mine, as I know mine do as well. She rolls herself on top of me and kisses me gently. This time we savor the moment, unlike our last time, where we just had at one another with animalistic desire, we do things slower. I reach my hands around her and reach for the clasp of her black bra. I break our kiss long enough to humorously groan, "Let's just hope she's smart enough to knock this time." We both give a nice little laugh at that, and then I undo and remove her bra and discard it. I push Katniss upright and start running my lips around her torso, ending at her nipples. I close my mouth around one of them, and suck at it. I give it a little nibble, forcing a groan from her. I repeat this with the other, and she starts begging me, "Fucking bite me harder, Gale." That's an order I follow with no question. When I finally break away from her breasts, she presses me down on my back, and holds my wrists down. Katniss lasciviously says, "Stay still."

She throws back the quilts and lowers her head to my chest, reciprocating my earlier gift to her, and then some. She bites me hard, and earns loud groans from me. She scratches down my chest hard enough to leave a trail of red paths down my body.

And then there was no more playing, she lowers herself further and lifts my hips to take my boxers off, reducing me to being completely nude. She takes me, hard and ready, in her hand and begins a slow stroking pace. My breathing completely goes arrhythmic, and she nearly brings me to oblivion before she pulls herself away. She ask me, "Did you like that?"

She already knows the answer, but I still give her one. I answer her by removing her skimpy underwear and throwing it to the floor. She seems determined to keep her control this time around, since she pushes my hands to the bed yet again. "Now be a good boy, and stay still," she lustfully commands me. She takes me in her hand again, and holds it to her wet entrance, before she lowers herself onto me to the hilt.

She sets a slow and steady pace, pressing down against my chest, leaving even more scratches than before. I respond with upward thrusts of my own, and this game of ours continues until I reach my hand to her most sensitive spot, and force her to her peak, bring myself with her. Unlike last time, this was more quiet, not sex, but lovemaking, much like our first time. She collapses against my chest, and wraps her arms around me, and wraps us in the quilts again.

"You should be like that more-"

Before I get the chance to finish my thought, Effie suddenly barges in. "Gale breakfast is rea-" She just stares at us, obviously noticing that we're both naked, and very well knowing what we just did.

We both just angrily ask her how her morning is going, and she responds by turning her back to us, saying that we have half an hour to get ready for breakfast, before storming out of the room. She's definitely gonna be knocking on the door from this point on. The look on Catnip's face means she thinks the same. She lowers her lips to mine, obviously wanting to go at it again. As much as I want too, as much I nearly give in, I have to be the more rational one. "Catnip, we need to. We gotta somehow get at least on her good side."

She grimaces in concession, and we get up to shower, with me reminding her of what we can do in the shower.

We finally emerge from the room in decent outfits we both feel lucky to find. When we get to the table, we find a huge buffet waiting for us. I guess breakfast is done yourself, and dinner is done for you. The bacon, sausages, eggs, and even the aroma of the hot chocolate and coffee is so tantalizing. Katniss never liked coffee, but she seems very drawn to the hot chocolate. The look on her face make sit clear she's still hesitant to indulge when the rest of 12 and our families are going hungry.

"Catnip, there's no point in starving ourselves here. We need to build our strength while we still can."

Her face collapses in acquiescence, and we fill our stomachs with bacon, sausages, and various other meat products. They taste so much more different than what we are used to, but meats are our best friends, since we've been living off of hunting for three years now.

We then savor our drinks. That's actually an understatement with Katniss, she's more than savoring her hot chocolate.

"I didn't know that you liked that stuff THAT much Catnip."

"Gale," she finally manages to croak when she swallows what's left in her mouth. "You of all people should know how much I like savoring what I love," she continues with an overt undercurrent of lust. I just smile in response.

With no one in the car with us, we find a soft chair nearby, where we relax into one another, until Effie and Haymitch walk in. I can't tell if we were earlier than they were, or if we were so late that they left for something and came back. Regardless, we take our places back at the buffet table, where the only thing Haymitch has with him is a bottle of what looks like water, but probably isn't. The way he smiles at us indicates that he knows of our little fiasco with Effie earlier.

I know I'm probably gonna be angry at his response, but I still ask, "Got any advice for us?"

"You want some advice lover boy. Stay. Alive."

I guess that was better "advice" than what he gave us yesterday.

My opinion drops even lower when all he does for two minutes is constantly eat. Katniss is clearly more enraged than I am even. She makes this obvious when she takes out a knife and stabs between his fingers into the placemat when his obsession turns to the jam.

Effie gasps, "This is mahogany." All I do is smile slightly.

Haymitch doesn't look scared, in fact, he's very nonchalant. "Congratulations," he says sarcastically, "just killed a perfectly good tablecloth." However I do see evidence of a smile on his face.

"Let's cut the bullshit. Are you gonna help us or not," Katniss says with a seriously deep tone of anger and resentment.

"Sweetheart, that depends. If you can learn to do something other than him."

My anger shoots through the roof. Taking another knife, I hurl it right at the bottle next to him, shattering it to pieces. Effie simply leaves the room, muttering something about not liking the impropriety here. He snidely murmurs, "Looks like you two are actually fighters. What else can both of you do?"

I take the initiative to clarify Catnip's strength, "Katniss is the best hunter I've ever met. She can shoot anything dead in one of their eyes every time. If she has a bow and arrow, she is the deadliest woman."

She smiles at my compliments to her before she gives her own for me. "Gale is strong in a hand-to-hand fight, and as you can see, a knife thrower. He is also the best trap setter I've ever met. If he sets a trap, you're never gonna see it. And they never fail."

Haymitch, in his annoying drunken voice, comments, "You do know that you're competitors here, right?"

We both give him a death stare, making it obvious even to his drunken self that we weren't, aren't, and will never be competitors.

Luckily, he gets the message and acquiesces. "Fine. You guys are strong with your skill sets, and can survive in the wilderness. You guys are used to going hungry, but you look like you've been well-fed for a time, you don't need anything handed to you. The careers will likely underestimate you. That and the story of the star-crossed lovers of District 12 will ring very well with the sponsors."

I can't believe it, the Capitol already wants to make sport and publicize our relationship, and now he wants to use our relationship as a strategy. "No."

"No, what?"

This is the most oblivious human being I ever met. "No. We are not using our relationship as a fucking strategy. The Capitol already wants to make sport of it."

"If we don't use it as a strategy, then it's a liability. And it doesn't matter, now that you're here, everyone about you is now the Capitol's business. And once you're in that arena, everything you do, will be filmed. I know you truly love each other, no one can deny it, but we can use it to your advantage."

I ultimately concede to his logic, though by no means am I even content with it. Katniss then interjects, "Do you actually have any advice for us, or are you gonna just tell us what we can learn from anyone?"

He looks at us, his face dropped in his thoughts. He ultimately decides to help us, and says, "Okay. This is gonna go on for a few days. I'll help you as the days go on. I'll also try to be sober to help. The most important thing are sponsors, and what you do over these next few days will determine how much help you get in that arena."

I glance to Katniss, and she shares my current look. We both currently find that he may be genuinely interested in our welfare after all. He tells us about how everything we do, except for what's in our rooms, will be monitored by the game makers, and that at the end of it all, we get a score, the higher the score, the better chance of getting sponsors to send us things like food, medicines, and even matches to make fires. He also clarified that fires are very dangerous, because the smoke and light act as a beacon to location for other tributes, especially the careers. Fires should be kept tiny enough that it will take a lot to notice, and are more for cooking than anything else. We continue this conversation for some time, until all three of us agree to go to our rooms for one last little respite.

When we were in our room, I realize that my emotions are starting to skyrocket in intensity. This whole time, I barely shed a tear for myself, and my own plight. But when Effie came and told us we had an hour until we reached the Capitol, and us reaching it would be marked by us going through a long tunnel, I realize how close to the end of my life I am. I impulsively retreated to the bathroom and stripped everything off, and stepped in, setting the water to the hottest temperature I could stand, letting the water cathartically wash over me, and attempt to allow my emotions to run free. My emotions skyrocket as I let tears fall from my eyes against my already wet face. I feel like I'm there forever, when I feel a pair of small hands trace across my chest, wrapping around me from behind.

Katniss asks me, with a tone of sorrow, "Are you ok, Gale?"

"No, Catnip. All this time we were talking, I realize that we kept conversing as if we were both capable of making it out alive. There is only a single victor that can emerge."

She turns me around to face her, and she pulls me down to her face, and quietly sings soothing melodies in my ear. It helps the rest of my emotions come out in a howl of sobs. When the emotion has been freed, I lower my lips to hers, in a gentle romantic union. She reaches behind me to turn the shower off, and she presses down on me with her arms and lifts herself up and wraps her legs around my back. I carry her directly to the bedroom, not caring that we were still soaking wet. I lower her to the silky sheets, where our lips continue to lock together, our tongues caught in a passionate and powerful dance. We lay there and let the world melt away from existence for the moment.

Right afterwards, we get partially redressed, and we simply just lay in bed together. I feel so much better that I'm not repressing anything now, I'm free from the burden of the emotion of the events of the previous two days. Suddenly, we see the area outside the window dramatically darken, into the tunnel, marking the end of our train ride, into the viper's nest called the Capitol.

Song credit: Love The Way You Lie, pt. II by Rihanna ft. Eminem