A/N: More stuff going on in this chapter and a super long one too, lucky you ;)
The Gale decision was literally 50:50 so I went with an 'upset and hopelessly in love with Katniss' Gale- basically normal Gale from the books
Also have been forgetting disclaimers so will be editing all my chapters :S

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all hunger games characters/ themes/ quotes are from the brilliant mind of Suzanne Collins; if I did own thg, FINNICK WOULD STILL BE ALIVE... :'(

R&R & check out my other story ;D xxx

I'm standing in a crowded room. There must be at least a hundred people here. I instantly recognised where I am; it was my wedding day again. Why I'm here I don't know but there must be a reason my subconscious would take me here so I decided to go along with it.

Everything is exactly as I remember it; white evening primroses scattered around the hall, my friends and family smiling at me as I walk down the aisle, Mayor Undersee standing at the end of it next to Gale and his best man. There was only one thing different this time. My father was walking down the aisle with me.

I never really thought about marriage before Gale proposed but I was definitely upset at the idea of not having my father give me away; which was most probably the reason he had appeared in my dream.

He looked exactly the same as I remembered him. Dark hair he kept cropped as it got so dirty down in the mines, a kind face you couldn't not love and my seam eyes staring back at me. It was strange and a bit eerie to have my father walking next to me but I was going to enjoy this moment with him as it was the only way I could see him now.

We carried on walking, almost at Gale, Mayor Undersee and Thom, Gale's best friend he works long shifts down in the mines with. As we reached them, my father puts my hand in Gale's warm strong palm, kisses my cheek and goes to stand beside my mother.

I look up into Gale's eyes and stay staring into them for the whole of the ceremony. They are full of love, happiness, and familiar comfort.

"By the power invested in me by the country of Panem and District 12, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife."

Gale smile a thousand watt smile and leans forward to kiss me, but this kiss is not as I remember. Firstly, he feels different, much gentler and, if possible, more loving. Then I notice he smells different- not his usual smokiness from the mines mixed with fresh outdoors from the woods but a sort of homey smell… like freshly made bread? My confusion only triples when I pull back and see it was not Gale I was kissing but Peeta Mellark!

I awake breathing heavily and raise a hand cautiously to my lips as if I could feel Peeta's kiss still lingering there…

I jumped out of bed still puzzling over the situation in my head, throwing on some comfy clothes for hunting and gather the rest of my stuff on the way out the door.

I run to my usual entrance to the woods, instinctively keeping an eye out for peacekeepers, waving to Rory Hawthorne as I pass him through the window of the Hawthorne house. I slide under the fence gap after listening carefully for the quiet tell-tale hum of electricity; as always, it's uncharged. As I walk to my usual clearing where my bow and sheath of arrows are hidden, I think of my dream

Why was Peeta in my dream? I hadn't spoken to this boy in 5 years before yesterday, he was practically a stranger. Why was I even dreaming of my wedding day in the first place? I suppose it had been on my mind since it was my one year divorce anniversary… but that still didn't explain why I was dreaming of marrying this boy I had only spoken to twice in my whole life.

There was something about Peeta Mellark that intrigued me. Like why he threw me the bread that day, why he chose to talk to me yesterday instead of mumbling an apology and walking away, how he could remember my face from school even though I dropped out when I turned 12 to hunt longer hours to feed my family. He was always a Good Samaritan and these things I noticed were just his average acts of kindness but I sensed it was more than that. The way he looked at me, like I was the only person in the world right then, like the world around us stood still. He looked at me the way my father used to look at my mother, with eyes full of… love? No. That's stupid. He was probably just a good guy who was waiting for me to thank him for everything.

The snap of a twig behind me snaps me out of my thoughts. I twirl around so fast I think I may have given myself whiplash, but the pain that hits me when I see who was standing behind me is much worse.

"Gale?" I know he wanted me to know he was there, for Gale walked almost as quietly as me.

"Hey Catnip."

At the use of his old nickname for me I feel my heart twinge. What is he doing here?

"What are you doing here Gale?"

"It's a free country Catnip"

Under different circumstances I would have laughed at his intentional joke, for this most certainly is not a free country.
He's smiling at me as if he expects me to run into his arms and tell him I love him and thank him for coming back to me and then we would live happily ever after blah blah blah.

Yeah. In your dreams, Hawthorne. I walk up to him with purpose and see his eyes light up. It's immediately extinguished when I slap him hard across his smug little face. The look on his face is priceless.

"What the hell Catnip! What was that?"

"Don't you 'Catnip' me. You expect to just turn up after a year and everything just be back to normal? You expect me to welcome you back into my life as it I'd had nothing better to do than sit around waiting for you to come back? No Gale. That's not what is going to happen. I know we both agreed to terminate our marriage but I don't remember anything about our friendship. I lost my best friend when you left Gale. I was lonely; I had no one to talk to, to hunt with, and to have endless rants about the stupidity of the Capitol. This isn't me pleading to get back together; we both know that's never going to happen" He cringes at this.
"But I want my hunting partner back, my best friend."

I am slightly shocked by my outburst and from what I can tell so is Gale. I take a deep breath as I seemed to have forgotten to breathe during my speech.

"Catnip… you really think there's no chance of trying this… us again?"

Not quite what I was expecting him to pick out from my ramble but at least he wasn't mad at me. He wasn't mad but hurt, and that upset me more than if he had shouted at me.

"No Gale, I'm sorry. There's a reason we broke up and you know I still feel the same way, and you still haven't answered my question; where have you been?"

"That's not important Catnip. I love you and I know you love me too and I don't care if it's 'not in the same way' or whatever. Why did you marry me then?"

"Because you are my best friend and if I had to spend the rest of my life with anybody, it would have been you Gale."

He takes a step closer to me.

"I just want to be with you again. Forever"

"Yes, and we can Gale just not like that"

"But that's not enough for me"

Before I can push him away he takes a step forward, caressing my face with his large, strong hands and presses his lips to mine. I let him kiss me but don't respond, not wanting to lead him on but knowing he has to get this out of his system. The kiss is full of urgency like he won't have the chance to do it again; he won't.

I pull away slowly, not wanting to hurt his feelings, but no longer feeling comfortable with his lips on mine.

I don't know what to say so I simply take a step back. I can see that this hurts him and a single tear falls down his hurt face. I'm not sure what to say to him and he just stares back at me so I decide it's time to leave.

"Goodbye Gale." I don't know if I mean forever or just for now but I know I have to leave before I do something stupid like cry.

I pick up my game bag and silently walk away. He makes no move to follow me but I hear his strangles tearful voice call to me once.

"Cat...Catnip?"

The emotion I can hear in his voice is enough to push mine over the edge. My walk turns into a jog, my jog a run, my run a sprint as tears stream down my face. I look for the nearest gap in the fence, not bothering to go all the way back to my usual one as that would mean possibly bumping into Gale again. The woods has always been my place of comfort, my safety zone but now it simply feels as if all the animals are watching me and all these trees are closing in on me, making it hard for me to breathe.

I slide under the first gap I see and end up the other side of town. I continue my sprint through town to get to the seam and the safety of my home as soon as possible where I can collapse on my bed. I find it hard to see through my teary eyes and I should probably slow down, as going at this speed I'm bound to bump into smooth…

"Oof!"

I can hear my own brain laughing at me; told you so!

I brace myself, expecting this person to start shouting at me, probably calling me seam trash once they notice my appearance. Instead I hear a familiar chuckle. I look up to see… oh god…

"We have to stop meeting like this."

I try to laugh it off and wipe the tears from my face before he notices.

"Sorry Peeta, I umm wasn't watching where I was going"

"More like sprinting, you ok? Look like you're running away from something."

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just want to get home is all."

I try to side step around him but he places around on my shoulder. I could easily pull away but the electricity that swirls around my body from where he touched me freezes me.

"Katniss, you can tell me what's wrong. It's what we do, help each other"

I snap my head around for the second time that day, staring into his eyes to see if he means what I think he does.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Yes. I did. The day he threw me the bread. I didn't even know he knew it was me.

My brain decides I can trust him before I can argue with it and my mouth starts spilling out words I can't stop.

"I ran into Gale in the woods and I haven't seen him since the divorce a year ago and he wanted to get back together even though I told him I didn't love him in that way and then he kissed me and he started crying and that made me cry and then I ran away and I don't know what to think because I do love Gale but not in that way and I don't want to lose my best friend but I'm scared I just did and I don't know what to do and then I ran into you…"

Peeta looks confused and he has a right to be. He looks like he has a million questions and doesn't know where to start. He settles with a simple "Huh?"

This makes me smile a little. I may not know much about Peeta Mellark but I do know he has a way with words, always has, so to see him dumbfounded is quite amusing. He looks deep in thought and then asks me a more specific question.

"What divorce; to Gale?"

"Yes. It was always expected that we would marry as we were so close but it didn't work out."

I'm guessing he expects me to continue. I don't.

"Why not?"

"I loved him as a friend, but not in the same way he did me. It never would have worked out, I just couldn't love him that way; he's like my brother."

"Oh."

He strangely looks relieved at this news. I still don't know why I'm blurting all this out to him; we aren't that close, hell we barely know each other! There's just an air about Peeta that makes me relax and trust him. I do decide I should go before I reveal too much to this kind boy.

"I- I should go now."

"Are you sure you want to be alone?"

This makes me angry.

"What, you think I'm some weak little girl who can't handle being on her own? I've been living alone for a year now. I've been the sole provider for my family since I was 10 years old so I don't need your help Peeta, I can handle myself just fine thanks."

With that I storm off. No longer upset but annoyed; at Peeta, at Gale, at the stupid birds tweeting; why are they so bloody happy all the time?

"Wait Katniss..."

I choose not to listen to him and keep walking away, mad that he thinks I'm so weak. Betrayal. That's the main thing I feel, which is ludicrous. For there to be betrayal, there would've had to have been trust first.

A/N: please review; see if u can spot this chapters quote- I have one hidden in most chapters (there may be more than one ;D)

Did you guys like Gale? Let me know- I can still change him a bit if you want :) xxxx