Sorry for the long wait, I've been a bit busy. This is a bit short, but don't worry. The action will start again in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I think you know the drill by now... Anything you recognize 'aint mine.

Chapter 18

Wedding

"We still need the cake! Where is it?"

"The cake? I thought Peeta had it! Who cares about the cake? I need that net!"

"Has anyone seen where the weavers put the dress?"

"Has anyone seen the cake?"

"Hello? Looking for flowers here. The hunters were meant to bring me back four bushels of wildflowers, where are they?"

"I saw them over-"

"Wildflowers? Surely a cake is more important! And I asked first!"

"Has anyone seen the vicar this morning?"

"Ugh!"

"Shush! You have to have flowers at a wedding; cakes are optional, especially when you're low on food. And you! Where? Where did you see them?"

"Over by the-"

"Are we absolutely sure that no-one has seen the CAKE?"

"Calm down, Casey, it's in the kitchen. I've just finished it." Peeta's soothing voice cut through the clamor of the dinning room, where it seemed like hundreds of people were trying to organise the wedding. "Jane, the hunters left the flowers over there on that table. Gabby, the vicar is in his room getting dressed, and you there – sorry, I don't know your name - Annie's dress is being delivered to her room as we speak. Now go on, get to it!"

I sighed in relief as the group of people left, but they were only replaced by another throng of frantic women.

"Honestly, I don't remember weddings being such an issue back in Twelve," I muttered as Peeta pushed his way towards me.

"This is a nightmare," he groaned as yet another women consulted him on the whereabouts of the cake. "If I ever get married, I'm having nothing to do with this nonsense."

"You won't have to," I laughed, "Finnick and Annie are currently being distracted. Or did you forget?"

"Well then, I refuse to put anybody else through this torture."

"How thoughtful of you."

"Uh huh. Didn't Annie want to help though?"

"I think she did, but Coin wanted the people to do it to 'help boost morale'. You know, give them something else to think about. And they do seem to be enjoying it, don't you think?" I eyed a group of three women as the rushed past, all clutching clumps of fabric in their hands. Peeta rolled his eyes, then grabbed my arm and pulled me through an equally busy hallway and into a mercifully empty room. I closed my eyes and lifted my head, sighing in relief. I could still hear the clamour going on outside, but it was much quieter.

"I do," answered Peeta, "but I still don't get why the entire district has to help!"

"Not the entire district. It just seems like most of the women – there aren't many men out there. I think they're all hiding."

"I don't blame them," he muttered. "But my question still stands."

"Well, besides the entire district volunteering to help-" Peeta snorted at this, and I rolled my eyes. "-they are Victors, and the marriage between two Victors is no small thing. Especially when one is Finnick Odair, and the other is, no offense to Annie at all, mentally unstable. This is going to be big news."

"Wait, you mean Coin wants the Capitol to find out about this?"

"Well, you'd think so, seeing as she's broadcasting it to the entire country. That's why everyone is helping; it's going to be massive."

"Well, I guess it makes sense. After his propo, the rest of Panem know that he only- wait. Did you just say that the wedding is going to be broadcast to the whole country?"

"I believe I did."

"But… Does Annie know about this?"

"No, she doesn't, no-one thinks she'll cope with it. Finnick does though," I added, correctly identifying the look on his face, "And he says it's fine. He's willing to do anything to help with the rebellion – just as long as Annie doesn't find out yet."

"When did you find out?"

"A little while ago, when I was talking to Finnick. You were doing the cake."

Peeta nodded.

"How many other people know?"

"A few, such as the main decorators and such. I think Finnick wants to tell Annie about the wedding being filmed after the ceremony, so she doesn't find out from the wrong person. He just doesn't want her to be more nervous than she needs to be during the actual thing, is all, so there isn't any need to hide it from to many people."

Peeta nodded again. I had nothing else to say, so I stretched out on the floor, tuning out the clamour and enjoying the relative peacefulness. I heard Peeta lie next to me, and smiled as he twinned or fingers together. We just lay there for a while, enjoying each others company, feeling like we were cut off from the world and the war, safe in our own little world, wishing we could stay there, away from everything.

To bad nothing like that every happens.

Haymitch, as usual, was the one that found us, and came bursting through the door, yelling that the entire district had stopped the wedding preparations in order to find us. I rolled my eyes as Peeta assured Haymitch we'd be out in a sec. Honestly. As if those wedding obsessed women would stop for anything other than the wedding itself.

I groaned as we stepped back out into the chaos. I would have thought they'd be done by now, what with the wedding being only an hour away, but apparently they weren't ready yet. Everything had to be perfect. I didn't get it. Why was there what seemed like hundreds of women charging through the hallways yelling about every little thing for just one wedding? I know it was for Annie and Finnick, and I know everything has to right for the cameras, but still. There aren't even this many people running the Hunger Games! But then, these people don't get much excitement in any form other than a bomb raid. I guess it's good for them to enjoy themselves for once.

An hour later, everything was, mercifully, silent. Well, silent compared to that morning – people were chattering, but it wasn't nearly as loud as before. Everyone had been shoved into the dining hall, with those that couldn't fit either standing in the hallways or watching on the T.V screens in other rooms. As we were both important and friends of Annie and Finnick, Peeta, Haymitch, Johanna and I had some of the best seats in the place. I also guess Coin wanted the cameras to have a good view of us, too. We were in the front, right up against the aisle.

The place no longer looked like a dining hall. It was, in one word, magnificent. All the chairs had been rearranged into rows with an aisle down the middle, and each chair was covered in white cloth. There were wonderful decorations covering the walls and ceiling, and there were several bunched of flowers surrounding the room. I thought this was a bit strange – people rarely went to the surface, and if they did, it was for missions or food, not flowers. It reflected the effort everyone had put into the wedding.

At the front of the room was the raised platform Coin sometimes made speeches on. It too had flowers on it, and a couple of shining decorations in the shape of fish. Standing in the center of the stage was Finnick. He was wearing similar clothes to the rest of us, except they had been died for longer to become black, rather than grey. It wasn't the clothes that made him look as amazing as he did. He seemed to be glowing, and there was such a smile on his face as if he couldn't be happier.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. And I mean quiet this time. A soft tune struck up, and Finnick's smile stretched into a grin as his eyes focused on something behind me. I turned and gasped as I caught sight of Annie. She was wearing a white dress, which, like Finnick's, was just the normal clothing, except hers wasn't died at all. Her face reflected Finnick's joy, and she too seemed to glow as she glided down the aisle towards Finnick. She was walking by herself, as she had no father, brother or other close relatives or even a friend to walk with her. But she didn't seem to mind. Her eyes were on Finnick, and she knew she would never be alone again.

I smiled as she climbed up the steps and took Finnick's hands. They deserved this. No other couple had been through what the Capitol had forced them through.

I was so focused on watching Finnick and Annie, I did not hear the Vicar begin to speak. When they had said their vows, the Vicar pulled out a large fishing net and wrapped it around the two of them. I figured it must have been a District Four tradition. Then, after they had kissed, grins still plastered across their faces, the two of them stumbled back down the aisle, finding it a little bit difficult to walk when tied together in a net.

The moment they were out of the room, there was a huge scuffle and a large amount of noise as everyone picked up their chair and hurried to move it to the sides of the room, where tables were being brought in. As the dinning room was the only room big enough for such an event, the ceremony and the reception were being held in the same room.

I sighed as Peeta and I stood out of the way. Weddings in District Twelve were so much more simple and practical. What did the huge parade matter? The main thing was being joined to the person you love, right?

A little while later, the tables were in place and the music started. All the tables had been arranged in a large circle, leaving an empty space in the center. This was where Annie and Finnick headed.

A soft, slow tune began to play and the couple began to dance. They were pretty good dancers, thanks to the training they'd received from the Capitol when they became Victors, but that wasn't what made everybody watch them so intently. They were just so absorbed in each other, as if there was nothing else in the entire world that mattered to them, that they glided around the room as if they were flying. I don't think I'd ever seen Finnick so happy before.

When the song was over, other people began to walk on to the dance floor. Peeta smiled and took my hand, and I quickly backed away, knowing what he was thinking.

"No."

"Aw, come on Katniss, you know it will be fun!"

"No, I don't."

"Katniss…"

"Peeta."

"Just one dance?"

"You know that if I say yes to one, you'll only blackmail me into doing more."

Peeta just smiled wider.

"Exactly." I crossed my arms defiantly.

"Please?"

"No!"

"Be a little quieter, you don't want to cause a scene do you?"

I looked around to see that he was right; people were watching us.

"You know the cameras will be wanting us to dance," he continued.

"But…"

"Just one."

"Promise?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"I promise. Now, would I ever break a promise to you?"

I looked up into his eyes, and I knew he wouldn't; even on something as trivial as this, he would do as I liked… well, to a point. He did just get me to agree to dance with him.

Still grinning, Peeta grabbed my hand and pulled me to the middle of the room, near where Finnick and Annie was, still lost in each other's eyes. We started to dance to the music the same way Finnick and Annie were; the way the Capitol had taught us. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he put his arms at my waist. After a while, I realized I was enjoying myself. I leaned against Peeta and he pulled me closer, pressing his forehead against my hair.

"See, this isn't so bad, is it?"

"Well…" I began. Peeta lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes wide. I laughed at his expression, "Okay, I agree with you. This isn't so bad at all."

"Good," he chuckled, "but just 'not so bad'?"

"No," I whispered. "It's more than just 'not so bad'."

Peeta leaned down, bringing our faces less than three centimetres apart. I stretched up a little, and our lips were about to touch when-

"May I cut in?"

I jumped away from Peeta and looked behind me to see who had interrupted us to see Johanna. She looked a little pale and stressed, and when I saw her, my annoyance faded. Peeta and I both nodded at the same time; she didn't look like she just wanted a dance, it seemed like she was on a mission or something. As it turned out, she was.

When I passed her, she whispered;

"Gale's been asking for you. Go to his room now, I'll keep Peeta here." I nodded, realising what she was doing. After the last time, Peeta wouldn't want me to go see Gale alone; he couldn't go in of course, but he would want to watch, and I felt like I needed to be alone with Gale. Well, as alone as we could get with all the doctors watching.

I walked out of hall so I didn't arouse suspicion, but the moment I was free of the crowds I took off at a run, taking the fastest route to the hospital. When I got to Gale's room, I was greeted by the same doctor as before, who ran me through a couple of things.

"He's made quite a bit of progress lately," he said, "and He's been asking for you a lot. Rory gave us the idea of showing him some images of you and Peeta while he was under the influence of morphling, which calms the body; kind of like the opposite to the tracker jacker venom. The only problem is, we don't have any footage of him interacting with you two. You see, the Capitol must have had cameras laced all throughout District Twelve, so they had footage of Gale in his normal life, talking to you and sometimes Peeta. However, we have none, and can only work off what the Capitol has broadcast, such as the Games – which isn't that useful due to it's violent nature – and our own filming. So we've hit a couple of snags. But he is still improving quite a bit. We just don't know what his reaction will be when he sees you though, but it should be better than last time.

An image of Gale yelling at me about how much I'd hurt him coursed through my mind, and I shuddered.

"I don't think it's possible to be worse than last time," I whispered. The doctor smiled sympathetically, and gestured to the door.

"You can go in when you're ready. Be careful, and good luck." I nodded, and pushed open the door. No point in putting it off.

I closed the door behind me before I turned to face him, and act that seemed to amuse him.

"You know, everybody does that, like they think I'll try to run away, killing everyone in my path."

"Well, you haven't given us much reason to think otherwise," I snapped, my anger already flaring up. Gale's eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched.

"You haven't seen me in a week, Katniss. How do you know nothing has changed?"

"Maybe the way you're talking to me now."

"I didn't want you to come here just so I could yell at you, you know. But now, I think I believe what the Capitol said. You're just an arrogant little girl who thinks she's the Queen of the universe. Maybe you should get a hold of yourself."

"Why did you ask me to come here then?"

"It doesn't matter now, just go."

"No."

"What?"

"Gale, you used to be my friend. I won't just give up on you!"

"Used to be?"

"Yes, used o be! After what you said last time, I'm not sure I want to be your friend anymore!"

"Well, at least your not sure," Gale took a deep breath. "That means you haven't made your mind up yet."

I stared at him. What?

"I'm sorry. I try to control it, but when I see you, in my mind I see you with him, and I can't help it. I hate it!"

"You hate it?"

"Yes. I don't want to, but I know when you aren't with me you're with him, and when I see you all I want to do is rip you apart for taking his side, he so… uh! I hate this! I hate him! He has to be destroyed! And you! You took his side! Get away from me!"

I stepped back. I expected to feel hurt, but I didn't. Maybe I had been expecting it. I felt my anger course through my body, and glared at him.

"Fine. If that's how you feel, then fine. Goodbye Gale." The anger in his eyes faded and was replaced by fear.

"No! Don't go! I'm sorry! I meant to say it before, but I didn't! I'm sorry I said all those things last time!"

"No, Gale," I said, turning away from him. "You shouldn't have. Now I know how you feel; you hate me now, and you don't mean it when you apologize. I'm going now, I hope Johanna and the doctors have better luck with you than I did; they'll need it."

"No! Come back! Katniss!"

"To late," I said, my voice strangely cold, "You had your chance."

"Fine!" He screamed, much like I had before. "Go to him. You'll soon realize I was right! Despite all you've done to me, I stood by you, and now you're throwing it away!"

"You stood by me? I hadn't noticed. Telling me to leave, and talking about murdering the man I love is not the right way to show me that."

Gale looked like he'd been slapped.

"L-love?" he whispered.

"Goodbye Gale," I said venomously. "Have a nice life."

I stormed out of the room, and, not even stopping to talk to the doctor, I ran to the room where Peeta and I had hid that morning. I sat on the floor and took several deep breaths. I had known Gale was gone for a long time, I just hadn't wanted to admit it. But now I had, and I would be able to move on.

I thought about the past few weeks, and realized that the whole time I'd been hoping that Gale would make a miraculous recovery. It wasn't going to happen, so I should just live my life. The old Gale was gone; this new Gale wanted nothing to do with me, and the only thing I could do to help him was stay away.

I spend a couple more minutes staring at the wall, then got up, and headed back to the wedding. This was a time for happiness – I didn't want to ruin it thinking about Gale. This was Finnick and Annie's big day.

I got back to the Dinning hall to find Peeta frantically searching the place, Johanna tailing behind him.

"Don't worry, she can look after herself. She's a big girl now you know."

"You know where she went!" exclaimed Peeta, rounding on Johanna. "I should have realiZed before! You were just distracting me, weren't you! Tell me where she is or I'll-"

"Peeta, calm down, I'm right here," I said, taking his hand. "No need to murder Johanna over it."

Peeta looked down sheepishly, and Johanna raised her eyebrows, silently asking how it went. I shook my head, and Johanna's eyes widened.

"Do you need to leave," she whispered. "I can cover for you if you want."

I was shocked. Where had this compassionate Johanna come from? I thought back to the Quell, just after the Jabberjays had attacked Finnick and I. She'd said that there was no-one left she cared about. Maybe she understood the way I felt.

"No," I said, telling her what I ad told myself a few minuted ago. "This is Finnick and Annie's day. I don't want to ruin for them." She nodded, and then walked away in the direction of Peeta's magnificent cake.

"What was that about?" I looked up to see Peeta staring at me intently. I sighed.

"Can I tell you later? As I told Johanna, I don't want to ruin this." He nodded, then took my hand and pulled me back onto the dance floor. I smiled – Peeta really did know what was good for me. Right now, I needed to get everything off my mind.

The doctor had said that Gale was improving, but to me he just seemed worse. Maybe the Capitol had made him hate me as well as Peeta.

I shook my head, and forced those thoughts away, enjoying the feel of Peeta's arms around me. I was safe there.

As Peeta spun us around, I felt the happiness I could feel before come back. This was a wedding, and I was with Peeta. And I was going to enjoy myself, and forget what Gale had said.

For now, at least.

And sorry for the lack of wedding vows: I tried, but anything I came up with was trash, and my sister's stolen my book again. I thought this ruined it less :)