A/N: Sorry for this chapter. I haven't looked over it much, not feeling in tip-top shape so this is what goes. I've done maybe half of it. This chapter contains sex, mentions of violence.
After a few months Katniss found that marriage wasn't all too different from being friends with Gale, except that they lived together, ate together, and slept next to each other. With his working schedule he rarely had the energy to stay up more than an hour after he'd gotten home, so there wasn't much time to fool around like they did the first day they got married. It happened sometimes, mostly on Sundays which was his day off, after they had gotten back from the woods and left food at their respective families' houses. With Rory and Gale out of the house there were far less mouths to feed there, and Prim had managed to get an apprentice job at the bakery, which brought in a little money for the house. Because she looked like a merchant people weren't as uncomfortable with her working there. It put a bit less stress on Gale and Katniss to get enough food, but they still needed to hunt regularly so that everyone would be fed.
Though Katniss didn't like to admit it, she had begun to crave Gale's touch. Sometimes just a hug and breathing in his scent caused that knot in her stomach to rear its ugly head. She liked even less to admit that she was craving a different kind of touch, that she was wanting more. It scared her, but she couldn't help it. She started to wonder how it would feel like, and that would have her thoughts spiraling out of control.
The days she let her mind wander were the days when she pounced him as soon as dinner was over, and instead of talking she'd lead him upstairs and they'd make each other feel good, and he'd fall asleep afterwards. He claimed that those were the nights he slept the best. She'd wonder if he'd sleep even better if they went further.
It was a Saturday when she was on the way back from the woods, carrying five birds, a squirrel, a rabit and some apples in her satchel, when she started to feel like she was ready to burst. No matter how many times Gale and her made each other feel good it still didn't satisfy her. Maybe it was something biological, she had no idea. What she did know was that it was driving her insane.
Like every time after hunting she went to the Hob, she hoped that it would give her some distraction. She knew her mother needed wool and Hazelle needed coal for the cold weather that was predicted to come any day now. She traded two birds and the rabbit for wool, and the squirrel for coal. She sold some apples for a few coins before she stopped by Greasy Sae, but on the way she was stopped by the girl from her wedding, still very pregnant, but this time without her toddler.
"Hi, Katniss, how are you?" Without waiting for an answer she hugged Katniss awkwardly, her belly in the way. "It's Susy, I don't know if you remember me."
"No, I remember you," Katniss said. How could she forget the person who reminded her of the fact that she may be forced into motherhood on her wedding day?
"How are you?" she asked again.
"I'm good, how are you?" She didn't want to say it, but her very pregnant stomach caused her heart to want to take a leap out of her chest.
"Well, being pregnant sucks so that says it all." Susy laughed at herself. "I didn't want another kid, but my husband was being a jerk and here I am." She rolled her eyes.
"A jerk?" Katniss furrowed her eyebrows. Had her husband raped her, and was Susy really joking about it so easily in the middle of the hob? If anyone found out what her husband had done, he'd be in trouble.
"He didn't pull out, so I got pregnant." She smiled sadly. "Unfortunately that's what some of us get, jerks for husbands."
"Pull out?" She felt like she was just repeating what Susy was saying, but she didn't understand it.
"You know, before he comes, it's a way to prevent getting pregnant. Don't you know this?" Katniss shook her head. "Do you want to get pregnant?" Katniss shook her head again. "How about you follow me back to my house and I'll explain everything to you," she said hurriedly, "it's not something I can talk about here…" Both of them looked around at all of the people surrounding them people who could eavesdrop and rat them out for trying to prevent getting pregnant.
She followed Susy back to the Seam, walking slowly because, as Susy explained, pregnancy made you slow, and with a head pushing between your legs it was hard to walk without a waddle. It was awkward for Katniss, because the whole way Susy talked about her pregnancy, about the horrible nausea and how to cure it, and the first time she felt the baby kick, and how painful kicks to the ribs were, and that her bladder seemed to be constantly full when she was pregnant. It made Katniss want to be pregnant far less than before.
She didn't live too far from the Hob, to Katniss' great relief. Another relief was that as soon as they got inside Susy stopped talking about her pregnancy, mid sentence.
"I'm sorry for that, I just didn't want anyone to know what we would be talking about, and that's basically the only think I know that I can talk about for a long time." Susy hurried over to the stove and put on some hot water. "Want some mint tea?" Katniss nodded.
The two of them waited for the water to boil in silence, and then over tea Susy explained to Katniss how she and Gale would be able to have sex without risking pregnancy. She said that before Gale comes he has to pull out, so that nothing gets inside of her, and if they do that they have a big chance of avoiding pregnancy. She still stressed that Gale had the power, unless he pulled out in time they wouldn't be able to avoid pregnancy. That was what happened with her husband, after a while he decided that he couldn't be bothered to pull out. She was bitter when she said it, she really resented him for getting her pregnant again. She knew she'd love the child, but the risks of being pregnant and giving birth were big, and it was hard enough making everything work with one child, let alone two. Katniss was certain Gale would never do something like that. The two of them both wanted to avoid pregnancy, and she knew he respected her. He'd never do something against her wishes. Especially not something like that.
She'd talk to Gale about it when he got home, but before then she tried to waste sometime with her sister Prim, plucking the birds and carving them into files to divide for everyone. Hawthorn's would get a bigger portion because they were three, and smaller one for Prim and her mom, and a slightly bigger that her family's for her and Gale. Gale worked long shifts and needed to eat properly. Without eating he wouldn't manage down in the mines, and if he couldn't manage, he couldn't work.
She left her mother's a little after four, and then stopped by Hazelle's quickly, leaving a few files and the coal she had traded. Hazelle knew she would get more the next afternoon when both she and Gale had been out hunting.
By the time she got back to their house it was past five, but Gale wouldn't be home for an hour. While she started with food, thinking about what Susy said. If Gale knew when he was about to come, then they would be able to do what they wanted without risking pregnancy. After months of being close to throwing caution to the wind and giving into their desires regardless of the risks pregnancy, it was a welcome idea. Though, it did scare her. She was a virgin, and she was afraid that it would hurt. They hadn't been taught about it in school, but there had been talks about it on the school yard. She hadn't ever gotten involved in those conversations, believing she would never have sex, so it didn't matter to her. Now she tried to remember those conversations that she had eavesdropped on, where they said the first time hurt, that there could be blood, and it wasn't very pleasant. It perplexed her, if it hurt and wasn't pleasant, why did people keep doing it?
If she had a better relationship with her mother, she would talk to her mother about it, but ever since she had moved out she only saw her mother once in a while, and even less since one of the merchants in town got sick in the summer and needed constant care. The only time she had seen her mother was when she dropped off herbs that she had requested through Katniss' sister for her to pick. How much had she missed by not having her mother to talk to? And talking to Hazelle made her uncomfortable, she wasn't her mother, and it was her son she was sleeping with. As much as Katniss loved Hazelle, love didn't make her more comfortable.
When Gale got home she had weighed the pros and cons of trying what Susy had suggested, and come to the conclusion that she trusted Gale so she would try it. She wouldn't have married Gale if she didn't trust that Gale respected her, and did what was best for her always. He said hello, and immediately went into the washroom, as he always did to wash off the worst of the grime from the mines. The dust of coal was everywhere, and had seeped into their house, and she found herself covered in coal dust. She didn't mind, though, she had grown up with it and was used to it.
"What are you cooking?" he asked when he walked up beside her.
"Soup with some meat from birds I caught today." She smiled up at him. She'd talk about everything with him after dinner, they would continue their usual routine, and then she'd asked what he thought about it. So she pulled the pot off of the stove and filled two bowls with it, one bigger than the other. Gale talked about his supervisor at dinner, apparently he had gotten a badge of honor from the Capitol because the productivity of coal mining had been good the last six months, it had nothing to do with the supervisor, but he got the credit. It had apparently put halt to all kinds of anti-Capitol talk in his working group, with the threat of a whipping if anyone spoke badly of it.
District 12 had always been lenient with the rules, it was the reason they were able to go hunting in the woods. If this was a sign that the district were becoming stricter with the rules, it was definitely a bad thing. The two of them could at any moments notice be dragged off to execution for hunting in the woods. But they suspected it was just a supervisor that had gotten a big head and maybe a threat from someone to instill fear with the workers. It was common for the men in the mines to let off steam by ranting about the Capitol when they were deep under ground. Working so long hours anyone would feel the need to let out some frustrations.
They washed their plates after dinner, then silently moved upstairs, as if he'd read her mind. Up in the loft they didn't need to talk, he kissed her shoulder and undressed her silently, touching her soft skin and trailing his finger along her ribs that poked out a little less after the summer. The summer had been good to them, both of their families. They had food, an income. It made the loss of Rory a little easier to bear, but knowing that he didn't get to experience that summer would make them sad all over again.
"I talked to Susy Boyle today," she said as he kissed along her collar bone. He hummed in reply. "She told me about a way we could… have sex, without me getting pregnant." He stopped.
"What?" he asked.
"You just need to pull out in time," she said. "I don't know why we didn't think of that before…"
"I've heard people at work talk about that, but I don't know Katniss, I hear it takes a lot from a man to be able to do that." He looked at her wearily.
"I trust you, I know that you will not get me pregnant, I know you." She put her hand over his heart. "I've thought about it all day and I know that you wouldn't fail me, I love you." She kissed him again. He didn't protest, deepening the kiss with a low moan.
She had learned his weak spots long ago, learnt where to kiss him to elicit that low groan that targeted that knot in her stomach and twisted it around, learnt that kissing low on the left side of his throat drove him crazy and would never fail in making him flip her over and grind his hips against hers. He'd taken the time to figure her out, too. He knew that touching her inner thigh would make her look at him like he'd stolen her prey, if he nibbled her ear she would whisper obscenities.
Sometimes they were hurried, unable to wait for the release, other times they would do it slowly, caressing each other like they were pieces of art. This time they didn't know what they should settle for, a slow or a quick, if it was just go or if they needed to wait. She knew she wanted him, badly. For a long time she had wanted him, and she didn't feel like waiting.
While his fingers were close to bringing her to insanity if she didn't have her release soon, the knowledge that she could have more made her stop him. Her body needed and craved more than this, and she wasn't going to deny it this time.
"I need you," she simply said, and watched as his eyes darkened. He would be lying if he said he hadn't had sex before When he was sixteen he was seeing a girl, and they were foolish. Both of them were lucky she didn't end up pregnant, and that fear made him wait until now, for four years, for Katniss. He knew it would be worth the wait.
Quietly he settled between her legs, both looking between them, nervous and filled with anticipation. This was what people talked about, Katniss thought, she would experience the one thing people risked their lives for.
Gale kissed her, his soft lips reassuring her, and himself. They both wanted this. Then she felt him against her, pushing against her and into her. With a groan from him and a grunt from her. It wasn't very painful, she thought, but it was uncomfortable. She hadn't felt so full, ever, so close. The only pain was the slight stretching.
"Are you okay?" Gale whispered, holding himself up above her by his elbows. She nodded, though her eyes were clenched shut.
It didn't start feeling good for her until after a while, when she had gotten used to the feeling. It was then she felt exactly what her body had been craving, the need being sated. The friction was amazing, and she lost track of time, of herself and of everything. She wanted to hold on tight and never let go. It wasn't until he pulled out and spilled his seed over her stomach that she was brought back to reality, but he quickly chased it away with his hands, pulling her to an orgasm she wouldn't forget.
The next morning when they woke up they smiled at each other, and though there was a small ache she wanted him again. She didn't understand why people ever stopped, until he started to push into her and she winced at the pain. She realized that she may have escaped the worst of the pain the night before, but she was a bit sore today.
To make their day productive, as intended they headed off to the woods, they were going to try to catch enough to last most of the week and so they could trade for food that lasts longer in the winter. They needed jarred food, tried and pickled food, salt to keep the food they made from going old. Life continued just like it had before, only that now they had sex. Real sex.
Winter came, cold and traitorous. During winter they often found their way to their parents' house, huddling up with them for added warmth, and because they missed them so much.
Katniss would hunt as often as the weather let her, but the electric fence had started to turn on more often. The last time it had turned on was two weeks ago when she had been wading through the snow, just about to crawl to grab onto the fence and crawl under it when she heard the faint buzz of it. Had she been less attentive she would have missed it. Definitely not one to risk her life getting back in, she had to walk along the fence, trying to find a part that wasn't electrified, or somewhere she could climb over. It took close to half an hour for her to walkthrough the snow with her backpack filled with game before she found the tree she usually used to get back in again. Since the last time she got stuck outside she had only been able to get out five times, all the other times the fence had turned on.
Her mother, and Hazelle were worried about it, they all were. It wasn't much they could do about it, but Hazelle offered her a job as a washer woman alongside her. It would bring in some money, but they would live far from as luxuriously as before. They worked out that she could work four shifts a week, two of them alongside Hazelle, which would give Gale and her a decent enough income to support and feed themselves if the fences turned on permanently. It could expand to more hours if Hazelle got the word out that she had extra help, which would means she would be able to expand her clientele.
That winter was the first winter she found herself outside of a merchant's side door, in the freezing cold holding buckets of laundry, handed to them through the door so that they wouldn't be able to come in and warm themselves. They carried the buckets three blocks into a steam room where it was scorching hot. In there they scrubbed the clothes clean, hung them up to dry and then repeated with the rest of the clothes. It was a process that took several hours. Katniss had washed clothes before, but not even close to the quantities that they collected at the merchant's houses. Both her and Gale owned only about five pairs of clothing, so whenever they washed clothes it was only two of their pairs, towels and the sheet off of their bed. Not five pairs of clothing from each member of the house, sheets from each member of the house, along with towels, scarves and other things she had no idea what they were.
The first three weeks she worked with Hazelle on her days, learning the route, how to wash the clothes, how to hang them, when they needed to be returned to the house, which door to knock, who to ask for, and so on. At some houses they were nice and simply just handed the clothes without much to say, but at other houses they would always voice suspicion, say a warning that they know what they put in there so there wouldn't be any point in stealing.
Katniss liked the mayor's house the most, just like the mayor was kind when she brought him strawberries, he was kind when she picked up and left his clothes. He was the only one who was the head of the household that came to the servant door to give the laundry over themselves. In all other houses the maid came with the clothes. She sometimes wished she was a maid in his house, she thought that it was probably the only person she could stand to work for. Hadn't Hazelle been able to offer her a job, she would have probably had to seek out a maid position, but she probably would have ended up being throw out, and received a bad reputation amongst all of the merchants in the district, and thus being unable to get a job anywhere for them.
Winter crept on, and the fence stayed on for over a week in the middle of December, foreboding something bad. Most wouldn't be able to tell the difference now, since few ventured out so far as to the fence, but those that did and came face to face with an electrified fence more often did so with a feeling of dread. For years twelve had been seen as a small harmless district that didn't need much protection. The district had stayed at the same level of habitants for years, growth restricted because of the high mortality rates. Just that week three children and eight adults had died from the cold weather, so any kind of rebellion started wouldn't come from twelve. However, the newfound interest in twelve was disturbing to Katniss, and she and Gale spent their nights talking about it.
After attempting to get through the fence for a week she decided to make one last try for a while, lacing up her boots and dressing in as warm clothes as she could she headed out towards the fence. It was a much longer walk than it had been living with her mother. To get there she had to walk through most of the Seam, passing many houses were children were sitting in the windows with pale sunken cheeks and faraway looks in their eyes. Some houses children were happier, better fed, those were the houses that made her sigh in relief, knowing that there were children that had it alright, at least.
Her cheeks were already rosy and cold when she reached the fence. A meter in front of it she stopped and listened, a normal day she would have been met with nothing, but these days were far from normal. A faint buzzing sound could be heard from the fence, and when she threw a rock that she had picked up from the ground on the way at the fence it sparked. Most definitely it was on, and there was no way to get through unless you had a death wish. Once word got out that the fence was on there would probably be many people who would go there with just that intention. Death.
She walked back to the Seam, defeated and empty handed. While they managed okay now with their meager salaries, they wouldn't be able to handle any hurdles thrown at them. It made her thankful, once again, that it was only her and Gale in their little family. For now they didn't have to care for their parents, with them still being young and able, and their siblings were starting to be able to take care of themselves, except for Posy who was still only six years old.
Back at their house she stared at their small supply of coal, sighing because winter was only halfway through. They usually warmed a brick in the fire and put it under their sheets to keep warm at night, lying close to each other absorbing body heat. It was always hard to decide if they should wear clothes and keep warm, or lie naked next to each other. Most nights they stripped of their clothes, holding each other clothes. Those nights were the bearable nights, when they didn't wake up in the middle of the night either too hot or too cold. After a while they always did so, except when Katniss was bleeding, because she felt uncomfortable being naked during those periods.
During summer her periods had regulated because they had eaten more, and she had managed to put on some weight. It was still regular, though she expected it to become less now that the fence was on. The weight that had made her stomach a little softer was slowly starting to disappear, and it was another thing she felt uneasy about. Though now she could breathe easily, knowing that for now her body was content, because of the slow aching cramp in her lower belly.
As the day grew to an end she started boiling some potatoes and heating up soup stock, it wouldn't be much of a dinner, but it would keep them full. The clock passed the time Gale was usually home, and she started to grow worried. Outside of the window she could see men arriving home to their wives, they were about the same ages as her and Gale, having married at about the same time. In many houses the women stood by the door, some of them were pregnant. They gave their husbands a hug and caressed their cheeks before letting them into the house.
In this part of town there weren't children running around yet, there would be plenty of them soon enough, but back at her mother's house she knew there were children running up to their fathers in the snow, jumping up into his arms. It brought life to the neighborhood, and while she wouldn't wish a single child to be born into this, she missed the noise.
She saw the neighbor walk by, but instead of walking to his house next door he walked up the steps to theirs and knocked heavily on the door. Katniss was weary, they had never knocked on each other's doors, only talked to his wife Lys out in their yards when hanging the laundry, or when they ran into each other while doing errands, and she had rarely spoken to Lys's husband Poller.
When she opened the door he was quick to open his mouth.
"Your mother said to tell me that Gale took a whipping today, and he's at your mother's house," he said quickly.
"What?" It was the only questions he could get out.
"I wasn't there, but I heard his supervisor didn't like some things he said, so he sent him to be whipped." His face was apologetic, and worried. Whippings were rare here, and if one man got one the fear started growing in all of them, fear that was enough to keep men in line for a while.
Without answering she quickly threw on her boots and clothes, running past Poller on the steps in front of the house and through the snow towards her mother's house. The snow made it hard for her to run, she had only ran for five minutes when her legs already felt like led. Even if she hated walking slowly, it was the only way she would get there. It took almost fifteen minutes before she saw her mother's house, with smoke blowing out of the chimney.
Inside of the house she immediately saw Gale lying on the kitchen table face down, his teeth gritted tensely as her mother cleaned the wounds from the lashing. It was less severe than she had feared, but worse than what she had hoped. There were around twenty gashes and around ten angry red marks from the lashes. Quickly she rushed up to him, taking his hand in hers and squeezed it tightly.
"Katniss," he breathed, a relieved look on his face.
"Poller came by," she said, giving her mom a glance, a wordless thank you. "What happened?" She tenderly stroked the hair out of his sweaty forehead, watching his pained face.
"I talked badly of the capitol," he said through gritted teeth as her mother cleaned one of the deeper gashes. "Got five whips as a warning." He chuckled grimly.
"Gale," she breathed. "What did you say?" He didn't answer her, only shook his head. "You'd think they would give you some room to be bitter about them," she said.
"Katniss, no one is allowed," he said. She knew she wouldn't get an answer out of him, so instead of pressing it further she took a chair and sat down by his head, watching her mother carefully put bandages on him.
It pained her to see her husband like this. It had taken a while for her to get used to the thought of him being her husband, but with him lying on the table like this she was struck how dependent they were of each other, how much they needed the other, and just how deeply she cared for him. Any other person she would be sad for, and only be pained when they died, but for her family she was pained by anything bad that was inflicted upon them. Gale was her family, in every way, and she loved him in a way that she loved no one else. Her love for her sister was different, it was something linked and ingrained into her, it was like breathing, without her in her life she felt ready to combust, lying next to her in bed sleeping would have her heart soaring because she was so complete. She was incomplete without her sister. The love she had for her mother was conflicted, but no matter how much she resented her mother for what she had done, she still loved her, with a fierce protectiveness. With Gale there was something pulling her to him, an aching in her chest that didn't go away until she stroked his cheek or brushed by him as they got ready in the morning. It was an aching that could only be settled by his presence, his touch. When he touched her, her heart swelled, she felt happy with him. Different kinds of love, but none of them any less real than the other.
When he was bandaged he was given alcohol, to numb the pain. She knew he must have gotten a bit of it before, because some minutes later he was asleep and snoring. They would sleep here tonight.
An hour after he had fallen asleep Hazelle came to the house, having worked late hours to get all the laundry done today. She had wept over her oldest boy as he slept heavily on the table with drool dripping from his mouth. A side effect from the alcohol.
"Did he say why?" Hazelle asked her and her mother as they sat down by the fire. Vick was taking care of Posy for tonight, so she could stay here, too.
"Spoke badly of the capitol, we don't know what he said and he is unwilling to say it," her mother said. Either it was really bad, or he was too proud to admit why he got a whipping.
"Gale, he has always had a temper, I had hoped that after Rory… that he would calm it down a little." She sighed, leaning away from the hot fire to look at her son. "His father didn't help with that, he would always encourage bad mouthing about the capitol, and after the mining accident it got worse."
"He will be alright, Hazelle, just needs take it easy for at least a week so that the wounds heal properly," her mother said.
"You should probably come help me all week with the laundry then, Katniss, I know the money you get won't be enough to cover food for all of you, I'm trying to expand a little more but it's going slowly… hopefully by next winter you will be able to work full time," Hazelle said. "I know that eventually you will have children of your own, and the money you have now won't make it easy."
"Gale and I aren't having any kids," Katniss said quickly.
"Katniss, if that were a choice I wouldn't have had four of them," Hazelle said with a chuckle. That made her think of the fact that her mother was a rarity in the Seam with only two children, most others had between four and six children, some had many more.
"How come my mother only has two?" It was strange that she hadn't thought of that before, it was an oddity, after all, in the district.
"I lost many children while pregnant, Katniss, two years before you were born I gave birth to a stillborn son, it was hard for me to carry a child until birth, you and Prim were miracles," she said. Katniss thought, before she could stop herself, that she didn't exactly treat those miracles well, and almost killed them, too. "I meet many women who lose their children in the womb, some of them I feel like I see at least once or twice a year, the poverty, hard labor and lack of food makes it hard for many to complete the pregnancies."
Despite the fact that it may have been strange, or even disrespectful, Katniss hoped that if her and Gale were ever to make a mistake, she would be one of the women who would not make it to term. But Gale and her had it down to an art, and there hadn't been a slip-up even once. She had been right when she ´thought that Gale would respect her and take her wishes into account. He did right by her.
"I didn't know that," Katniss said in a low voice. Her mother gave her a reassuring smile from across the fire.
"At the time he was alive I thought you were too young to know, and I knew that it was for the better… less children means a better ability to provide for them," she concluded. Katniss nodded, that was true.
They quieted after that, not wanting to talk about the children they'd lost, and instead listened to the crackle of the fire. At some point Katniss fell asleep on the soft plaid by the fire, and woke up hours later by Gale moaning as her mother redressed the wounds. Within seconds she was standing by Gale, holding his hand, still wobbly from sleep. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, she wanted to yell at him for sounding off about the capitol in front of the man that had grown to like and defend the capitol. It was stupid of him. Though she knew that the whipping was the thing she was mad at, not him. There shouldn't have been a whipping, at all. Whippings were rare in the district, and a whipping for talking badly about the capitol was virtually unheard of.
It took the whole night and most of the day before Gale was able to sit up again, though as the skin and muscles in his back tightened and relaxed he winced. It would take a long time before anyone would forget the look on his face, or the way his back looked. Katniss vowed to do what she could to prevent him, and her, from getting a whipping. That would mean giving up hunting indefinitely. It would make the two of them restless, but it was better to wait until they were sure that no one was watching them and that the whippings were gone. If the whippings were gone, so would the threat of being punished by death. It had always been a real threat, but with the state of the district few minded that they bent the rules.
Gale and Katniss stayed another night at her mother's house, but Hazelle had to leave in the early morning to go back to work, despite her broken sleep. Prim helped out, making sure that the more shallow wounds were healing properly, and that the deeper ones were properly dressed. For the first time she saw how carefully she and her mother dressed the wounds, that they picked different kinds of gauzes for different wounds. When Katniss asked why she took certain ones Prim explained that the wounds needed to breathe, but at the same time they needed to be protected from bacteria from outside, which meant that different wounds required different gauzes. Some needed more care, others could just be plastered together with tape. It was enough for Katniss to realize that she would never be able to do what her family did, she didn't understand it, or have a drive for it, at all.
By the morning of the second night Gale was able to stand and walk for longer periods of time without his back giving him too much trouble, so they would be able to walk home. The wounds had started healing properly, but would need to be redressed in a couple of days. Katniss' mom told Gale sternly to come back on Saturday, and they all agreed.
Getting back home was a slow process. Gale felt weak, and couldn't maneuver as easily because any stretch of his back would cause him to wince in pain. It took close to an hour, and when they were home he immediately collapsed on his stomach on the bed. They both knew it would take a while for everything to get back to normal, but they would get there. For now they would have to take it a day at a time, and hope that what happened two days ago wouldn't have any repercussions for them, or anyone else in the district.
A/N: again... I wanted to explain my reasoning on a few things. Specifically Katniss' mother having lost children. Unless I am very mistaken and mixing fanon with canon, Peeta's father was in love with Katniss' mother, and gave up hope when she fell for Katniss' father. I don't believe he would've married his wife until he knew for sure that Katniss' mother wasn't going to become his wife. Peeta has older brothers, I suspect up to 4-6 years older than Katniss and Peeta, which suggests that Katniss' parents were married for quite a few years before having Katniss, which isn't plausible in my eyes. Not in a district like 12, and certainly not when they were as poor as they were.
Also the "Katniss, if that were a choice I wouldn't have had four of them" comes from my mother. I said to her that I only wanted one or two children, to which she scoofed and said that you can't choose that. My mother's got 5 children ;) Anyway, hope that the errors that inevitably are in this chapter weren't too major. I'm having a difficulty keeping my eyes open, but wanted to post this chapter so... here it is!
Leave me a review with what you think and make my day! :)