Thank you so much for your reviews of the last chapter. In my head Madge was never interested in Gale, I think that's fanon, but she never seemed interested in boys or anything, so I imagined her as either asexual or gay, which is why I didn't have her married in this fic. It's a cheap shot to mention it like this, but I want my version Madge to be "clean", heh.

As for their son's name, and how it's pronounced. I found this on google: "T-a(like apple)-luh-n". It means the claw of a bird, basically. I thought about a plant name, but didn't find one I liked, and wanted a word that reflected their hunting, wanting to be free, and nature. Talon was the best fit.

The summer crept by, and Katniss continued to take care of her son and do her rounds of laundry service. It was harder than anything she had done before, and as money started to grow thinner, life got even harder. Some nights she spent awake with her son, crying as she nursed him because she was so tired and worn thin. She wished she could rest for days, sometimes, lay down and rest, have someone else take over. But it wasn't possible.

Money would have been easier if Vittor had returned from the Capitol after the games, but he had remained, and she did not know how much longer he would stay. He had sent them letters, which was kind of him she thought, explaining that he would not need her services until after summer. Gale didn't share her view of it, believing that Vittor had tricked her into giving him a full day and then disappearing to the Capitol. Katniss knew him enough to know that this wasn't true. He would not disappear like that. But with the sudden lack of income for one day, they were hit harshly. Unable to provide help to his mother with money, Hazelle, Vick and Posy were suffering too. Vick was trying to make the ones running the logistics of the mines to budge the rules of when he could start working in there, but they refused. He wouldn't be able to start until after September. Like everybody else, because he was just as starving as everyone else in the Seam.

It was a relief, though, that their situation was only temporary. Soon Vittor would come back and she would earn more money, and Hazelle and Vick would become able to survive the year without any tesserae. Until now Vick had been able to go without a tesserae, but if things did not change, that would change soon.

Vittor arrived back in the district in September, the Sunday after Vick's first week in the mines. Instead of traveling straight to the victor's village he went to Katniss and Gale's house away. There he found them entranced with their son who was laughing at the noises Gale was making. To his mind that had been stuffed with sadness, the sound of a child's innocent and genuine laugh was just the thing he needed to pull through the ache that threatened to swallow him whole. He regretfully knocked on the door, knowing the sound would halt the laughter, but he needed to speak with Katniss. He was happy though when it was Katniss that opened the door with her son on her hip. He was a smiling, wide-eyed baby with a mop of dark hair on top of his head.

"Wow Katniss, you have a beautiful baby," he said, a smile spreading on his face.

"He is, isn't he?" Katniss smiled proudly.

"Ah, a son? Your husband was right then?" Gale appeared next to Katniss, to see who was at the door.

"Yes, I was," he said, frowning at him. He was still angry with the man for disappearing for the whole summer, leaving them struggling with money.

"I was just coming by to tell you that I was back, and I can't tell you why I was gone, I really wish I could but… I have money with me," he said. Gale's frown instantly relaxed in his confusion.

"For what?" Katniss asked, noticing the envelope in his hand.

"You've done such a good job, working so well despite everything, and given me a whole day, which I've left gaping open now, I can only hope that you're willing to return to working for me now." Katniss opened her mouth, but nothing left it. She was too shocked to say anything. "This is for the days you haven't been able to work, and extra for compensation that I hope will be enough to persuade you into come back working for me."

"How much is it?" Gale asked after a while, shock lacing his words.

"Pay for all seven weeks you should have worked while I was away, and five more days," he said. Katniss and Gale could only gape and him and the envelope, but eventually Katniss sprung into action, handing Talon over to Gale and telling him to go back into the house with him, it was starting to get a bit cold.

Katniss stepped out on the porch with Vittor and closed the door behind her.

"It's really kind Vittor, but that is a lot of money."

"I have a lot of money, more money than I know what to do with it, and I can't walk around handing it out," he said. "I want to, but it isn't allowed, and I don't think anyone would like it." The district didn't like to receive hand-outs, they were distrustful and were afraid of owing anyone anything. It was best to survive on your own.

"What makes you think I will like it then?" she asked him, arms crossed. A part of her wanted to grab the money straight away, but the other part was suspicious. The Seam girl who didn't trust anyone, who was just like everyone else in the Seam when it came to owing people. She remembered Peeta, the boy who died four years ago, the boy she wasn't able to repay for saving her life.

"Because we both know that you have worked to earn them, and that you will continue to work to earn them," he said, confident in his worth. And it was the truth, Katniss knew that she had worked hard for him, providing him with the best service she could, and she knew that she would continue to work to earn his money.

"Okay," she said then, somewhat reluctantly taking the money out of his hand. "Gale won't like it," she added.

"I'm sure you can convince him," he said, to which she nodded. "Are you still available on Fridays, odd weeks?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good."

"I will be brining Talon with me," she said.

"That's okay for me, I love kids," he said with a smile. Katniss only nodded, most people loved kids, but most loved them in small doses, not a full day. A full day would be enough for any non-parent to combust into irritation of not being in control. After three months of being a parent Katniss had gotten used to not being in control of her own life anymore, but it was still something that had her wanting to bang her head against the wall from time to time.

After exchanging pleasantries Katniss returned back into the house where Gale was sitting with Talon by the kitchen table, watching her with anticipation. When she put the envelope on the table he visibly relaxed, but he needed to swallow a lot of his pride to be able to accept that, which didn't come easy. Though, he'd rather lose his pride than for his family to suffer. He knew his mother had debts from this summer, and though Talon was still only three months there would soon be a time when he would have to eat proper food, and not just breast milk. It would be a while until that happened, if everything worked well with breastfeeding. His little sister Posy had been exclusively breastfed until she was one, and then her mother had continued, to fill her up a bit more, until she was almost three. It was a way to ensure that their child would get enough nutrients. There could be a shortage of food, and if only a little milk could help, they would do it. But that wouldn't be enough if none of them were able to eat. They were in need of money, and Katniss' employer had money.

"I start next Friday, again," she said taking Talon from Gale. "He needs to eat."

The dynamics at Vittor's house was different after that. Before he went to the Capitol he had been happy, joking and he would share stories with her along with the sweets, but now he was quiet. The only times he would light up was when Katniss asked him to hold Talon as she rested her back a little. Talon had started to grow heavy, favoring his father's strong built rather than her slight one. Talon had started to look a lot like his father, only a few of his features were from her and her family. Sometimes she would think that Talon looked like her father, the shape of his eyes and the way his lips would curl as he laughed.

Sometimes Katniss wished she would dare to ask Vittor what was troubling him, because the last time she neglected to ask a person if he or she was okay, she ended up being buried in a mahogany casket. There was something about his sadness that made her afraid to ask, though. It resembled Madge, the way she had moved, the way she looked around herself. Vittor would give friendly hugs to her as she came or went from his house, but nowadays the only person who was allowed to touch him was Talon.

"Don't you miss being a little kid?" he asked, a few weeks had gone by and they had settled into a routine again. She hadn't answered him, understanding that the question was rhetorical. "Before you knew what the hunger games was, before you were old enough to fear it… I miss that."

Katniss couldn't remember being that young, at times she believed she had been born with fear of the hunger games. Maybe that was the difference between Seam and Merchant? The Seam couldn't avoid it, but the Merchant could.

Katniss liked working at Vittor's house, though. It allowed Talon to be able to be down on the ground much more than in the washing room she usually worked in, where it was much too warm and he would become cranky. In Vittor's house he would lie on the floor, strengthening his back and head, so that he soon would be able to sit and hold some of his own weight up as she carried him. It was a nice contrast to the warm washing room, and she always looked forward to Fridays on odd weeks. Gale still had a hard time swallowing his pride, and if it weren't for the money that they got from Vittor he would've asked Katniss to find someone else to work for that day.

Vittor became even more important in their lives as winter drew in. It was mid week and Katniss had just laid Talon down for the night and started on dinner when Gale came home, his face bright red and anger coming off of him in waves.

"Those damn merchants, those little scumbags! They have no respect, they think they can just push us around and we will just sit there patiently," he roared, pacing up and down the room as Katniss watched him carefully. She knew Talon would wake up from the screaming, but also knew that any attempt to calm in down would be unsuccessful anyway. "I'm fed up with having to play their games and just smile as they insult our families, as they crack jokes about us, and I'm just supposed to be thankful I still have a job when they demote me back into the mines when I have done nothing wrong?"

She heard Talon's wails, and quickly hurried up to him, and Gale followed her, but she turned around quickly.

"Not while you're upset," she said.

"I can't see my son, is that what you're saying? I just found out I'm going back down in the mines and you're saying that I can't see my son?" he asked incredulously.

"You can see him when you've calmed down, but I have to get him back asleep now after you've woken him up," she said. She understood his frustrations, but she was furious with him. They were finally going to get their alone time, a short while when it was just the two of them, when they could be Gale and Katniss again, not mom and dad, when they would be able to try to find some normalcy in their chaotic lives. But instead she would have to spend that time calming down a child she had just gotten ready for bed.

Forty minutes later she got downstairs again, just as Gale was pulling the pot off of the stove. She glared at him as she sat down, grabbing her spoon and eating some of the soft vegetables in fuming silence. Gale, who was still angry, plopped down on his seat and did as she did. They sat there for a while in silence, both angry at each other and at the people at the mines who sent him down again for no good reason.

"Don't come home screaming again," she said halfway through their dinner, and he nodded. They ate the rest of their dinner in silence, Gale bowing his head in regret. The fear of returning down in the mines that had buried both of their fathers threatened to swallow him whole, but he knew that anger would do no good. He wished he could return to the woods, to take Katniss and Talon with him and run away. They would be able to live well out there, hunting animals and cooking them above a fire. Talon would love it, if he was anything like his parents. But the fence had been on for a long time, and no one understood why.

"Want to come to bed with me?" she asked as they had finished dinner, he nodded again. In bed he touched her as they did when they first got married, too afraid of going further, too afraid of creating another life which they could not provide for. She loved him, she truly did, she realized in that moment as he kissed her through her ecstasy. She had known for a long time that she had loved him, but the depth of her love was scary. Together they created a new whole, together they had made the most wonderful person alive; their son. He was her hunting mate, her best friend, her partner, her husband, the father to her son and a person that made her life so much more complete. Without him in her life she would be lost, unable to go any further. She wished so hard for him to never be involved in an accident like the one that took their father, and that if he were it wouldn't take his life. He would survive. He would be one of the men that returned up in the elevator with smoke in their lungs, but okay. Not dead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time Talon was 6 months old the winter had a strong grip on the district. It was the coldest winter in years, and with Gale down in the mines again it was hard for them to find clothes that kept them warm. Prim helped out with money for a snow suit to keep Talon warm. It was very big, and it almost fell off of him, so they had to tie it to him, but it was what they had to do, they wouldn't be able to afford another one the next winter. They both worried about the winters to come, about affording clothes for their growing child. They would have to set money aside for it, but they didn't know where that money would come from. Coal prices had gone up, as had most of the food prices in the district. They tried to buy cheaper food in the Hob, but with the state of the district it was slowly going out of business.

Vittor remained being more reclusive and quiet, but after a while he started to come out of his shell again. Though, he only lit up as he held Talon, they would play together on the floor as Katniss did his laundry, and he would happily change his diaper whenever needed. It was a welcome break for Katniss. She wondered a lot about other moms, the only moms she had spoken to were Hazelle and her own mom, and occasionally with Lys, but those other moms seemed to handle their motherhood with grace, whereas Katniss felt like she stumbled over everything. She loved her son, but didn't like motherhood, she didn't like being tied to anyone as much as she was tied to her own son, and she yearned for some sort of normalcy. She wondered how they handled it, how they managed to look so put together and at ease with their children. Was it because they chose to be parents, that they were able to accept their roles much easier than she did? Did that make parenthood easier, more manageable?

She didn't dare to ask anyone about it, scared of being told that she was a bad mother. Mothers should love their children, love being parents to their children, love them so much that giving up themselves was the natural and given thing to do. But Katniss wasn't willing to let go of herself. She wanted her nights with Gale, she wanted to be able to freely walk around the district at any time she wanted, she wanted to sleep a whole night, talk to Gale without interruption, not have to worry as much as she did.

There was a reason why Gale and her didn't want to become parents, and that reason stuck with her even after her son was born. It didn't fade, it didn't become less important. It was still there inside of her, reminding her everyday.

So when Vittor took Talon out of her arms for an hour she wanted to weep out of gratitude.

This was the reason to why Katniss accepted his offer of becoming his maid, full time, eagerly. It was February, just a week after Gale's 23rd birthday when he watched her sort his laundry with Talon asleep in the shawl she had wrapped around her that he blurted it out.

"Do you want to work for me full time?" he asked, gnawing on his lower lip and leaning against the door frame. She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him, and then down at the pile of laundry.

"Are you going to buy even more clothes? I don't think anyone has to wear that many clothes, or has time to wear that many clothes," she said, an amused smile on her face.

"No, I mean as a maid." She furrowed his eyes at him.

"I only know how to do laundry," she said. "No, it's true, this is the only house shore I can do," she explained when he laughed at her.

"You do nothing at home then, Gale takes care of the whole household?" The smile on his face showed his amusement.

"It's a bit different taking care of a small Seam house and this house." She swept with her hand, trying to make him see that this offer was ludicrous.

"You know how to do the dishes, how to sweep the floors, you know how to do my laundry, and I know you can cook," he said. "If there is anything you don't know, I know that you will learn it," he said, with a victorious smile that reminded her of the first time she saw him up on that stage.

"Why me?" she asked then. She understood why he had asked her to do his laundry, she was one of the few in the district who provided that specialized service, but he had been more than generous towards her ever since. It had never occurred to her before that he was giving her a special treatment, not until he was asking her to do something she was definitely not qualified to do.

"Because I know you, and I don't want a stranger in my house," he said simply. She nodded.

"But why did you chose me to do your laundry, why not Hazelle, she is far better at washing clothes than I am?" She continued to prod.

"After being in the hunger games, seeing kids my own age and younger die, I prefer the company of those my own age who are alive, and people Hazelle's age were sitting in the control room, making sure that everyone but me died." His lips curled in disgust as he spoke, eyes cast to the ground. "It doesn't make sense, but I feel safer with someone my own age."

"I guess it makes sense," she said, nervously starting to sort laundry again.

"It makes you uncomfortable," he said, and she tried to interrupt with a protest. "No, I don't mean it like that, I mean… the hunger games, it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, it makes me scared," she admitted. "In eleven years my son will be in that bowl, and I can't stop it." Tears started welling up in her eyes. "Prim has two more years in the bowl, Vick too, Posy is going into the bowl in three years, and one, or all of them, might get picked and die just like Rory. And I can't do a single thing about it." She threw black clothes into the washing machine.

"My little sister is fifteen this year, and I'm scared they'll pick her just because I'm her older brother," he said, his voice growing thin. "She lived with me for a while, but she thought the house was too quiet and my nightmares scared her… apparently I scream loud enough to wake her up."

Katniss stopped what she was doing and looked up at him as his shoulders started to shake as his tears began to fall.

"I'm sorry," Katniss said, watching him and not knowing what to do. "I'll be your maid, but I have to find a replacement first."

"Thank you."

"It might take a while," she warned, but knew that everyone in the Seam was looking for a job, so it would only take as long as a training period would take.

"Take as long as you need."

One of Prim's friend from school who was in the year above her was desperate for work. Her mother had gotten an infection in her feet and was unable to walk, and her father was unable to provide for his five daughters with only a meager handy-man's pay. Her eagerness to start working, and ability to learn quickly, made it so that she was able to start working just over a week after training period began. The thankfulness on her face had been priceless for Katniss, and she wished that she could grant more people's wishes like that. A job was the difference between death and life.

Prim's friend was the first one to admit to Katniss that prostitution was a thing in the district. Katniss has always suspected that Cray, the head peacekeeper, would give money for that sort of company, and there were enough young girls in the district who were in dire need of money. She didn't know that it was much bigger than that, that it wasn't just Cray, and that there were quite a few young women, and older women, in the Seam would turn to them for money. Mostly peacekeepers. Prim's friend said that the peacekeepers were better, they had some rubber thing that would prevent them from get pregnant.

Typical them, Katniss thought, of course they would be equipped with something that would prevent pregnancy while everyone else lived in fear of it.

This job would keep her away from that, or at least not have her rely on that job. It made Katniss sick to know that some people had to go to the same people who pushed them down to the ground, let them degrade them just because they were the ones with money. It had nothing to do with the Seam women wanting to, Katniss knew that, this was about life and death. Maybe some women preferred that profession though, Prim's friend hinted that some people did. It was something Katniss didn't understand, and didn't want to understand. So she was glad when training period ended, because she didn't have to hear about the women who worked at night, and she didn't have to think about it anymore. All she had to think about was keeping Vittor's house clean and keep it from falling down. Worrying about the girls at Clay's door would do no good.

"I miss the woods," Gale said in bed. It was March, and they had been listening to a bird singing outside their window. They'd watched the bird sing and flutter its wings before flying off again.

"It's been two and a half years," she said, sighing. She'd often dream about standing outside of the fence, holding the bow in her hand and feeling its weight. Now she was unsure if she still had it in her, if she still knew how to shoot straight and hit her target perfectly.

"Talon would love it," Gale said. Talon was lying between them, having a still moment while playing with his feet, babbling loudly about them.

"We would never get any game with him, though." She picked him up and held him above her, lowering him down to blow raspberries on his stomach that made him laugh loudly. "He'd wake up bears in winter."

Mornings were her favorite thing, when they woke up before having to get up, and Talon was in a great mood. He was a morning person, they had learnt as much now. Every morning at five thirty he would wake them up and refuse to let them fall back asleep, leaving them with forty five minutes just resting in bed before having to get up. Gale's shift started at seven am, and Katniss had to be at Vittor's a little after eight. But on days like that, Sundays, they would lay still in bed and let Talon play there until he fell back asleep at nine. It was a luxury to be as lazy, and they took great advantage of that opportunity. At nine they would crawl into each other's arm, gasp and moan quietly as their hands caressed the other.

"I wish I could have you on the ledge, our place in the woods, with the scent of pine needles and fresh air, away from all the coal dust, just you and me and the nature," he whispered in her ear, she stroked him softly.

"I want you," she moaned into his shoulder, tempted to bite the naked flesh. The desire growing inside of her was growing strong, the need from him unbearable. Nine months without him inside of her was too long, and she didn't care about the risks, all she knew was that she needed him, right then.

Without having been told twice he was settled between her legs, watching her face to see if she had any regrets, before entering her. At first it was uncomfortable, slightly painful since she was unused to the feeling. But it quickly changed to exactly what they needed and craved. Quietly, as not to wake their son sleeping, they found their rhythm, the familiarity. When he pulled out of her she caressed the hair at the back of his head, smiling at the dazed look in his eyes and the pinkness of his cheeks.

"I've missed you," she said.

And so life went back to normal. We're getting closer to the end, that's a bit sad... There's 3-5 chapters left now. Next chapter will be up on Monday or Tuesday.