Chapter 2
"Due to our losses, all of our trainees and military personal, whether ready for duty or not, will fight this last round. We screwed up last time, if you screw up again, we will loose." Coin scolded us starting the meeting, "Everyone in this room is captains of their squad. Each squad will be comprised of no more than five people. Due to lack of people, I will choose the captains, and they will choose their squad." Gale squeezed Katniss' had at the end of Coin's speech.
"I'm sure you're not a captain." Gale whispered in reassurance. They, like everyone else, knew they did better as a team.
"Adams, Arberth, Ace," Coin began her list of captains, which Katniss quickly zoned out on, "Hawthorne, Hodge."
"We all knew she would want you, you're her favorite." Katniss whispered after she heard Gale's name.
"It's kind of creepy actually." Gale whispered back, but Katniss could detect a smile behind his voice.
"Can I be on your squad, captain?"
"I don't know… I tend to pick the really ugly girls instead of the pretty ones, but I guess you can be an exception." Gale joked.
"You and your squads have five days to prepare. I will see every captain here after dinner." Coin dismissed the meeting. Gale discretely led Katniss out of the cramped tent.
"I need to find Johanna, Finnick and Thom." Gale told me once we left the tent. Katniss placed her hands on Gale's hips, and followed him as they weaved around tents. Gale's newly created system for her seemed to work well so far, but Katniss was worried that it wouldn't work so slick with bullets flying around them.
"Thom!" Gale's voice rang out in friendly greeting.
"Hey, Gale, Katniss!" She heard Thom's voice coming from her right.
"How're you doing?" Gale asked.
"Great, great. How about you two?" Thom asked.
"Fine. Um, we don't have a lot of time to catch up, I need to find Johanna and Finnick. Any idea where they might be?" Gale asked.
"Yep, the second fire from us. Hey see you later, right?" Thom asked.
"Yes, actually if you don't have anything to do now, want to join me? I need to make my squad." Gale explained.
"Sure thing, captain." Thom teased.
"I'm not going to live that down, am I?"
"Absolutely not."
"Ready, Catnip?" Gale asked me, since her hands had drifted off his hips.
"Yep." Katniss replied groping for his hips again. Chuckling softly, Gale led her hands to his hips before walking off to his destination.
"It's not that funny." She told Gale quietly but venomously.
"I never thought Katniss Everdeenee would be so intimate." Gale replied sarcastically.
"Only a dirty mind would think of that." She answered poking him in the side.
"Are you calling me a slut?" Gale asked.
"Might."
"Who is a slut?" Johanna asked.
"Oh, Johanna you're here." I greeted her.
"Actually you're here. Who is the slut?" Johanna asked again.
"Apparently I am." Gale answered, a broad grin crossed his face.
"Yea, I guess you are." She answered.
"What? Seriously you guys."
"We're in this together." Finnick joined in, jokingly.
"Down with the virgins." Gale replied.
"I never said I wasn't a virgin, I just never said I was a slut either." Johanna answered.
"We don't want the list, Johanna. If you did say this, then we would be here all night." Gale replied.
"Oh, shut up. How's blind over here." Johanna asked redirecting the conversation.
"Can still hear and speak." Katniss answered from Gale's side.
"Shame." Finnick replied sending himself and Gale into stifled laughs, though Gale quickly sobered as Katniss jabbed him with her elbow.
"Anyway… I need a squad, you interested?" Gale asked.
"Sure." Finnick answered standing up from his spot by the fire.
"If I'm going to die, might as well be near a few laughs." Johanna answered.
"Good. I'm going to start training tomorrow morning, so do you want to meet by my tent at 0600?" Gale asked.
"6 AM? Are you crazy?" Johanna asked.
"Yep. Oh, good you're here Thom." Gale turned to face Thom.
"Guys, this is Thom, a good friend of mine from the seem, incase you didn't know him." Gale introduced him.
"I don't believe I've meet you two in person, but I know you guys." Thom answered shaking hands with Finnick and Johanna.
"If your half the man Gale is we'll make a good squad." Finnick answered.
"So who's our fifth?" Thom asked.
"Me." Katniss answered.
"You? Katniss, you're blind." Thom laughed, but sobered immediately at the other's expressions, "You're serious. Katniss, you're going to get killed, you can't see."
"I need to kill Snow, so I will get through." Katniss answered.
"We'll see how she does at training, if she can figure how to shoot without seeing in five days then she's coming. If not then she not going." Gale answered.
"That wasn't our deal!" Katniss complained.
"I'm not letting you get yourself, or any of us, to let you kill Snow. You can stay here with Beetee and we'll make sure he's dead." Gale answered.
"You told me I could go regardless. Weren't your words that I'm not crazy for doing this, that I'm desperate for revenge? You can't do this to me." Katniss shot back.
"Actually I can since I'm your captain." Gale shot back.
"You know how much this is to me." Katniss hissed.
"You know how much you mean to me, I'm not going to waste your life for his."
"I need to. Please Gale." Katniss answered back in a whisper.
"Captain Slut," Johanna called.
"What?" Gale sighed turning toward Johanna.
"Ok first, you answered to that. Second, if we can figure out a way to smuggle ourselves into the capital with her, then we can get a shot at Snow and end the rebellion. Simple. Also there will be enough people there someone can hold off the guards while I take the shot Katniss will naturally miss." Johanna finished.
"That's actually good. We need some kind of diversion and maybe a secret entrance…" Gale trialed into thought.
"I know Snow, he would want me to find him, without a hitch. But only me." I answered.
"Your just as bonkers as the old man. This is Snow we're talking about, he would have the highest form of protection." Johanna answered.
"No, Katniss might have a point." Finnick answered, "He might be bonkers but he knows the end is coming soon, and would rather it be one on one with the Mockingjay, the girl who started this rebellion. It, in it's own crazy way, makes sense."
"Fine, we just have to get you field ready." Gale replied nodding towards me.
"Well that's not to hard." I answered.
"You are kidding me, right? You are blind." Johanna reminded me harshly.
"It's not that bad. Right Gale?" I asked turning towards my friend for support.
"Um, it's not that bad. I guess." Gale mumbled, obviously trying to squirm out of his predicament.
"Gale?" I asked again.
"We can get you ready." Gale replied.
"How serious is this condition?" I asked.
"Catnip, I think we should talk about this after we kill Snow. Right now, we have to finish our mission. And I will thank you, Johanna, for shutting up. I know it's been a rough couple of days, but I need everyone back here at 0500. Goodnight." Gale turned from the fire, his footsteps crunching on the leaves.
"Gale, wait!" I yelled turning towards his retreating body. Except I never managed to grab Gale as I stumbled over my carelessly done shoelace. The only feelings I felt as I hit the ground were a sickening crack, and my name being yelled.
"She is not ready for service, I'm sorry Private." Coin's voice was harsh yet hard to hear through the heavy tent.
"Sir, with all due respect, she is not a machine. Besides, she is the face of this rebellion. If she doesn't fight, they'll think she gave up and give up also." Gale replied.
"Like you said, she is not a machine. She cannot pickup where she left off with broken parts." Coin answered.
"So she tripped. Everyone trips."
"She is blind, Hawthorne. Blind. That explosion took her vision and who knows when it will come back. My answer is no, and that's final."
"Alma. Please." Gale begged.
"She's going to get herself killed. I know Prim was close to you, do you really want her dead too?" Coin asked.
Prim, dead? No, Gale said she was safe. Not dead. I must have heard wrong. I'm sure. Not Prim. Dear sweet Prim.
"No. No Sir." Gale answered in defeat.
"I expect you to tell her when she wakes. Until then, prepare you unit." Coin ordered.
"Thank you, Sir. Good day, Sir." Gale answered.
"And you too, Hawthorne." Alma replied before I heard footsteps leaving the tent.
Prims not dead. Gale would have told me. I reasoned.
"Hey Catnip, how are you feeling?" Gale asked making me jump in my cot.
"Geeze, bother knocking much?" I cursed.
"Well it is a tent." Gale replied, a smile creeping in his voice.
"Where's Prim?" I asked bluntly.
"You over heard us, didn't you?" Gale asked his voice becoming graver than it had in the last year, if possible.
"Gale, where is she?" I asked again, anger burning at me.
"She. I tried, honestly I did. She was like a sister to me. I wasn't quick enough." Gale's voice cracked, the first time I had heard him cry since his father died. Instantly I knew what happened to her, my worst fear. Everything I had done previously, in vain. I felt tears flooded my body.
"I'm so sorry Catnip. I- I. I should have saved her. And I didn't." Gale sobbed, his voice father away than before.
"The second one." I whispered remembering the white packages, bombs; the bombs that killed Prim.
"Yeah." Gale confirmed.
"Were they yours?" I asked dreading the answer. They seemed too much like something he had described to me multiple times in the woods.
"I. I was angry, and mad out of my mind. So I drew them. I created them… I kept them locked up. Only Coin and I knew they even existed. And I kept them locked up so securely. Mother didn't even know about them.
When I came back from our last hunting trip, I noticed they were missing. Nobody knew where I put them. I searched everywhere. Then I found them under the spring of my bed again. I though I just skipped past them. I was so stupid." Gale answered.
I didn't console him. I didn't tell him it wasn't his fault. I just cried and let him leave. Leave me.
I stayed at the camp for a few days, refusing to move anywhere. Finnick came in twice a day to try and force food down my throat, but never succeeded. Johanna came in on the third day and yelled at me about how I had destroyed something; I mainly blocked her out though. Thom came in the same day Johanna did and told me about their plan, and how Gale was going to lead them into Snow's mansion. I didn't care though. My life ended with Prim.
Before the attack, Coin sent me into another camp where I stayed for a few days. Then Haymitch came and took me home. I don't even remember the ride back, only stumbling thru the streets to the remains of my old house. The place where things were better; where Prim and Peeta were alive.
I was glad nobody forced me to leave. Nobody made me eat, or bothered me. I just sat in the rubble waiting for my body to finally quit. Ready to die, because there wasn't anything left to live for. Days passed, maybe weeks. People passed occasionally, muttering quietly to themselves or small children crying out in shock when they looked at me. But I didn't care. All I cared about is how long it would take to die.
"Katniss." The voice, familiar and firm, pulled me from my thoughts. I turned from my place to look at the speaker. When I turned to Gale, I heard an audible gasp escape him.
"What the hell, Katniss?" Gale whispered stepping closer to me.
"What do you want?" I asked, wishing so desperately I could see him so I could accurately attack him; the man who took my will to live from me.
"I came back to make sure you were ok." Gale answered.
"Well, you just wasted your time."
"You're injured."
"I don't care."
"You look like a skeleton with skin."
"Too bad I'm not a non breathing skeleton." I responded icily.
"What happened to my Catnip? Huh? What happened to the girl that survived thru hell and came back? What happened to the Girl on Fire?" Gale yelled.
"She's dead! You killed her, Gale. You killed her when you killed Prim!" I yelled standing up, a mistake. From a lack of nourishment and moving, I collapsed to the ground. Within a second, I felt my body being lifted off the ground by the arms I trusted and loved so much.
"Put me down." I pleaded weakly.
"No."
"Now."
"No."
"Gale."
"No."
"Where are we going?"
"You're place."
"We were just there."
"You're victors home."
"I don't want to go."
"Too bad you don't have that decision."
"I do. Put me down."
"Or what? You'll run?" Gale asked.
"I hate you."
"You made that pretty obvious."
"Not my fault you left me."
"I'm sorry." Gale whispered, his voice cracking.
"Is he dead?" I asked after a moment.
"Yes. Plutarch is the president now. The government is changing."
"I thought Coin was going to be president."
"She's dead."
"Who killed her?"
"I did."
"Why?"
"Why do you care?"
"Answer me."
"Because she admitted to stealing my blueprints to those bombs. I stabbed her over and over with a knife. The peacekeepers pulled me off her and I was sentenced to live her forever."
"District 12, worst prison ever." I added.
"It's not so bad. It's home." Gale answered climbing steps.
"Are you sorry?"
"That I killed her?" Gale asked opening the door, a small chuckle leaving his chest, "No. She deserved every piece of pain that she felt."
"Good." I answered. I don't know why I said that, but I felt like Gale was innocent.
By the time Gale carried me to the bathroom, I was exhausted. But when I sank into the warm water that Gale had prepared for me, pain coursed thru my body.
"Ow!" I hissed as he lowered me into the tub.
"Sorry, but we have to clean these cuts before they get worse." Gale apologized, carefully cleaning my body.
"It hurts. How come it hurts?" I asked my hunting partner.
"You're covered with cuts." Gale responded.
"Why?"
"I don't know, you're the one who got them." Gale chuckled.
"It's not funny."
"Actually it is."
"I forgive you." I said suddenly, the words slipping out. Gale stopped cleaning my cuts immediately, his body freezing.
"I don't expect you to." He said after a silence.
"I know, but she wasn't your fault." I replied, "I'm sorry."
"I know."
"Why did you come back?" I asked.
"I will always come back to you." Gale replied kissing the top of my head. I smiled under his embrace.
"I love you." I whispered, the words slipping out.
"I think you're delusional. Catnip, it's Gale Hawthorne, not-"
"I know who you are, geeze. And I love you, Gale." I responded as my hand roamed for his face. He gently guided my hand to his face, kissing my palm when they made contact. I smiled, again, and pulled his face towards me. I kissed him when our lips touched, a sweet and gently kiss. A notion that could never be told with words, so none shall describe it.
TEN YEARS LATER
"Katniss?" Gale's soft voice pulled me from my sleep.
"Mm." I groaned.
"Good morning to you too." Gale laughed rubbing his callused hand over my overlarge stomach.
"Why did you wake me up?" I asked opening my eyes and placing my hand over his.
"Because that's what normal people do. Sleep during the night and do stuff during the day." Gale responded.
"In that case, we should go to the lake today. I think the baby likes swimming." I nodded to my stomach.
"Being it's Saturday, whatever you want to do, we can do." Gale promised sealing it with a kiss.
"I love you, Mr. Hawthorne."
"I love you, Mrs. Hawthorne." Gale responded.
Life has passed in peace for the most part. Gale organized a construction team, and now the town has been rebuilt for the most part. Hazelle and the kids moved back to 12 and now Rory is married and living in 11, Vick engaged to a girl from 12 and Posy still teasing boys from 12 where she is a schoolteacher.
Gale and I were married nine years ago, and now are expecting our first child, and couldn't be happier.
There are still moments when I will have my haunting nightmares, but Gale always wakes me gently with awaiting lips to comfort me. My life is only complete with him by my side. And only him.