I love Katniss and Peeta and their cuteness in the last chapter. Too bad trouble comes knocking at the door… :)

Suzanne Collins owns my favorite couple..

xxxxx

When you're young you never mean to befriend people. You meet other kids and you talk, but you never mean to find your best friend. It isn't in your plans to seek out another human being that you can call a friend for the rest of eternity. So when it happens, it's kind of strange. It's rare to find that other person so young in life that understands you exactly and can relate to how you feel. It's rare to meet that one person that knows just how to put things to make you smile. It's also kind of funny when you find another person whose father has just died the same exact way, shape and time as your own.

This is how I met Gale. I guess I really met him in the woods when I found his snare. He told me stealing was a crime. We actually weren't friends for a while, we didn't trust one another. That is until his father died with my own in the mines. There was an explosion, and poof, our dads were gone for the rest of our lives. It happens that fast. We were lucky enough, though, because our dads taught us how to hunt and survive on the wild before their deaths. Of course even the company of one another didn't smother the loneliness in our hearts caused by the loss of our parents. Despite it all, we still became friends, we even trusted one another to get game to trade and feed our families with.

People assumed we would get married, and maybe we would have, but I never felt that way about him. Neither of us wanted a life like that, well, I didn't anyways. We were always close friends so getting married made sense, but it didn't make me want to.

I think it was our closeness that, when Gale's bombs killed my sister, made it more painful to know it was by his hand that my sister was dead. I know he never dropped the bombs, I know he never planned for it, and I know he would never go out of his way to kill the only person in life I ever loved.

These things I know, but yet I still wish he wasn't standing at my front door. "Gale?" It was then I remembered the letter address to me, still sitting among my trash.

"Hey, Catnip!" He said with a huge grin. I still had the confused look on my face and when I didn't say anything he did, "I know I'm earlier than I had said in the letter, I had a job but it didn't take quite as long as I had anticipated. I didn't think you would mind me crashing in your nice, fancy house a few weeks early." The fact is I did care. I didn't want him here in the first place and I thought I had more time to tell him so.

Maybe the old me, the one before the Quarter Quell, before the fake pregnancy and marriage, before the Games, would have been just fine with this plan. The person I am right now though, does not care to spend time with him.

I had forgotten all about Peeta until he spoke, "You probably should have given her a little warning." He looks a little hardened since Gale's arrival on my front steps. It was then I realized he caught the part about the letter and he knows I didn't tell him about it. I feel horrible because he was just bombarded with this.

I look back at Gale and he has the same hard expression, his grin has completely disappeared. He takes a step into my house and with annoyance in his voice says, "What are you, her butler? Maybe we can fight about it." He tries to walk by me but I don't let him. What the hell is his problem? Instead I push Gale out onto my porch and I look back at Peeta, "Please just stay here. Don't leave. I know we need to talk later, okay?" He nods, but I know he's still hurt about the letter and Gale's reaction to him. I nod back and close the door behind me.

"What the hell, Gale? You can't just go and start fights four seconds after returning." I practically yell at him.

He looks hard back at me, "Well he shouldn't have interfered, and I wasn't talking to him."

I don't know what has gotten into him, but if Gale continues, all we are going to do is fight and I don't want to fight. Everything hurts too much to fight with my former best friend. I sigh and clutch my arm to hold the pain in.

"You can't stay at my house, Gale. You can stay in the empty house behind here, but you can't stay with me." I start to walk down the porch steps so he can follow me to the house.

"It's because of him, isn't it? Is that why I can't stay in your house? Or are you still going to hold Prim over my head?" he says. I can tell as soon as he said it he regretted it. Even so at the mention of my little sister's name I turn right around.

"Listen to me, and I'm not playing games here. I don't want you in my damn house. It has nothing to do with Peeta, even if it did, it is none of your business. And one more thing, never ever speak my sister's name. Now, if you want to sleep somewhere other than outside tonight, you will follow me and you will shut up."

"Well," he replies. "Now you seem like the girl I remember. I know I crossed the line though, and I'm sorry." I didn't acknowledge him anymore. I'm not who he remembers. He knows I'm mad and he knows that he can't talk me out of my anger. I realize now how different he is from Peeta. Peeta can probably talk me into feeling anyway he wanted. Gale, on the other hand, just makes me angry when he speaks.

How did things change so much?

We arrive at the empty house. It has started to become chilly outside so I turn the heat on. I turn to him and he surprises me by enveloping me in a weak hug. It was still enough to make me wince. My shoulder hasn't completely healed.

I had figured out what it struck when I went home. It was a stray nail that I had never noticed before. It must have held a picture at some point or something. It didn't pierce skin, but it did leave quite the nasty bruise.

Gale notices it and for the first time he asks me about my bandages, "What happened? Did he hurt you?" I kind of chuckle at this because he thinks Peeta was the one to hurt me.

"No, I had a nasty run in with a pack of wild dogs" I say. I probably could have said 'I walked into a door', like the common spousal response to questions asked of random bruises with the look Gale gave me. I hear him mutter something about killing Peeta and I become alarmed. I don't want anything to start while he's here and I surely won't allow him to lay a finger on Peeta. I'm not sure how to convince him, but I try.

"No really, he actually saved me. I went out to the woods and I never heard the dogs and they attacked me. He was brave enough to follow me into the woods and he fought off all of the dogs. He carried me back here and he even dressed my wounds. He has been my savior, so you have no reason to hurt him."

"You chose him over me that alone is enough." He said. It finally dawns on me why he acted as he did at my house and why he has been so jealous. I can't deal with this. I huff a frustrated sigh. If this is why he's here, he can leave. "Enjoy your stay." I say curtly and walk out.

I still have a slight limp from my calf injury, so stairs bring a little bit of pain. The pain and the frustration together make me irritable and I want to sleep. It seems foreign to me that I actually want to sleep. I make my way back, still a little angry at what Gale said. I walk into my house, Peeta completely forgotten in my mind, but when I see him it all comes back. If even possible, the sight of him makes me even more tired.

He has jumped off of the couch, probably to confront me, but I walk right past him. While doing so I grabbed his hand and held on while I walked towards the stairs. I know I caught him off guard and I know I have to say something. I don't even turn my head towards him, I just say, "I'm exhausted and I need to sleep. I'm going to bed and you are going with me." By the time I finished we were in my room. I lay down and after a few seconds have gone by without Peeta in my bed I look at him. He's shifting his weight from foot to foot and I know he wants to talk, but I can't even keep my eyes open for much longer. The day's events have gotten to me and I want to forget it as soon as possible. "Peeta," I start. "Please? I promise we will talk tomorrow, but for right now I'm extremely irritated and I hurt everywhere.." At that last part he was beside me at once.

"What hurts?" he asks.

"Nothing. Well, everything. I just want to sleep okay?" I tell him. He agrees by sliding in next to me. I curl up to him and he puts his right arm behind my head while pulling up the blankets at the same time. My head fits just right in the crook of his neck and I feel so warm and comfortable. He puts his left arm around my waist and it feels so right.

For the first time since I can remember I slept dreamlessly and I know it was Peeta's protective arms that kept them away.

xxxxx

Ohh Gale.. I had a hard time writing him because I never got much of a feel for him in the books.. Oh well, I tried and for that I deserve reviews haha What do you think will happen now? What can Gale possibly do to mess things up? Tell me what you think! Also I'm pretty stoaked because I got the soundtrack for the movie today.. Uhh excited? Why yes, yes I am. (sorry for the long note here) I have five other pages of this story done so updates will be plentiful don't worry :)