Don't own Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay or any of their accessories.

BTW – Gale's excellent curse words (if I do say so myself) are courtesy of Medea Smyke. I point this out both to give credit where credit is due (she did give me permission to use them too), but also to make sure that you take a look at her "And So We Run" I & II and the on-going "An Extra Dividend."

Sunblock

I hadn't known how hard it was to hate Gale until I forgave him. I had been forcing an enormous load up a steep slope; now I'd just let it go. Effortlessly, we slid back into being friends. It was too easy. I had to be careful before I did something stupid.

What now? I hadn't thought I could forgive him, so I hadn't considered what would happen next. Part of me wanted to go back to being 14 again. We could go hunting, relax in the woods, throw berries at each other, act like none of the rest of it had ever happened.

But part of me was very aware that we weren't kids anymore.

I was asleep as soon as I slipped under the sheets in my room. Then I had a dream, a vivid dream, that involved kissing and skin. Gale and I were . . . together. I woke with a start and my hand flew to my mouth to quiet it. Had I called out his name? I didn't think so, but my heart was throbbing. How could I have a dream like that? I loved Peeta. I was a widow. I was in mourning. My own brain was conspiring against me.

I pulled on my robe and hurried into the bathroom, then jerked back in surprise. Gale was there, lying on the floor. Was I still asleep? I bit my lip and it hurt, so I must be awake. What was he doing? Had he heard me? He seemed to be doing something under the sink.

I stood there, stupidly, wondering what to do. I couldn't use the bathroom with him here. Should I say something, let him know I was here? He was wearing some jeans and an old t-shirt. His shirt was pulled up and I could see his taut stomach. I wondered if he was running a lot now. Great, I sounded like a stalker now. I was retying my bathrobe and trying to figure out what to do when he came out from under the sink.

It was so typical that he had asked Annie for a list of chores. Gale has never been able to do nothing. Even when we were just hanging around in the woods he always had to have something to do with his hands, tying a piece of grass into pointless knots, using a stick to dig holes in the dirt, always something. So I shouldn't have been surprised to find him tinkering under the sink.

The bathroom, however, was just too small for him. I'd never thought it was small before. I didn't notice until I pulled him to standing. The problem with Gale was that there was just so much of him. He'd always been tall and now, whatever they were doing in the army, his shoulders were broader than ever. He took up the entire bathroom. I looked up at him and for a moment . . . . Maybe we should spend more time outdoors where he didn't overwhelm me quite as much.

What I wanted was just to be friends, for now. It was too soon; I wasn't ready for anything else. Maybe I should get him to leave so we can be pen pals. That would be safer.

But he couldn't leave. He didn't get a lot of vacation. How long would it be before I could see him again?

Once I got him out of the bathroom I decided that I really needed a shower. I took my time because I wasn't sure how I was going to handle this day.

When I got into the kitchen Gale was on the back porch messing with the screen door. "Hey," he called in. "I made you breakfast. Annie took Finnie for a walk by the shore. Her mom is out gardening."

On the table was a plate laden with eggs and toast. How much did he think I needed to eat? "Thanks," I said, and poured myself some coffee. Annie's coffee was so much better than the stuff we had had in District 13 that I barely needed to add any sugar at all. I took a sip. I needed to be alert today.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" I asked him.

"No, I wasn't tired," he said, as he reached up to tighten the upper hinge. I looked away from his strong shoulders. I started eating my eggs. They were a touch overdone, but good. Before I knew it I'd eaten almost the whole plateful. I nibbled on a piece of toast as I watched Gale swinging the door back and forth, testing his work. Then he came in, got a drink of water and sat down.

"What's next on the list?" I asked.

"The next job's a big one, but it seems important so let's give it a shot," he said. "The door to the root cellar is rotted out. Annie thinks it could be dangerous to Finnie. It might not hold his weight if he crawled on it."

"So we need to build a whole new door? Do we have the stuff for that?" I asked.

"Annie said she'd show me where there's some scrap wood. Are you done? We can go ask her."

"Let me wash up the dishes, first," I said.

"Okay, you wash. I'll dry," he said.

As he stood next to me by the sink, once again I got the feeling that he was taking up the whole room. Yesterday I'd thought he seemed somehow smaller. Today I had no idea how I could have thought that. I couldn't stop being aware of where he was all of the time. And how close he was to touching me. Every time my elbow bumped into him I noticed it. Was I always like this with people? What was wrong with me? I needed to make some small talk.

"I have to bring my hat and sunblock if we are going to be outside," I said.

"Why? No more tanning for you?" Sunbathing was never a big deal in District 12, although my face and arms would get darker in the summer when we were outside a lot.

"No, it's my burned skin. I'm not supposed to let the scar tissue get sunburnt. I guess it's been burnt enough for a lifetime," I said, trying not to feel the flames licking my skin, not to think of the last time I saw Prim.

Gale's voice brought me back to reality. "So that's why the long sleeves?" he asked.

"What? Yeah, plus I tend to be colder now," I said.

"Even in August?"

"It's better now. Finish up. I'll run get my stuff and we can go find Annie."

Annie and Finnie were down by the shore. Gale splashed around with Finnie a bit while Annie explained to us where to find the wood. She told us she'd have lunch ready for us when we got hungry.

After we got the wood, we settled down to work. "So why don't you tell me about your last year. It sounds like it was pretty rough," Gale said.

"You really want to hear about all of that?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, as he measured the door we were replacing. He handed me one end of the tape measure and I held it in place for him. I didn't know what to say, where to begin. I looked up and saw Gale looking intently at me. "I want to know what's been going on in your life." I let go of the tape measure and he rolled it up. As he stared at it he said "My mom told me that Peeta was sick, but I didn't know it was anything serious."

So I poured out my horrible year to him. I obviously left out the more intimate moments between me and Peeta. I did skip some of the details, like how I hated seeing him on the covers of magazines, but other than that I told him everything.

While I was talking, we worked on the root cellar door. Actually, Gale did most of the work. I kept track of the old hinges, held boards in place for him, did what I could, but I didn't know much about door-making. At some point I had to go into the house to get some tissue because I was tearing up. I wondered if it bothered Gale to watch me crying over Peeta, but if it did he didn't let on. Overall, it felt good to just tell someone the whole story. Gale has always been a good listener. I liked to watch his hands while he worked.

We were almost done. Unbelievably, it had only taken a couple of hours. I was making my last trip, carrying the pieces of the old door back over to the wood pile.

"Hell's teeth!" Gale yelled. I ran back to see what had happened. He was cradling his left hand, which was bleeding. He had been cutting the last piece of wood for a crossbeam. The saw must have hit a knot or something. It had bounced out of the groove and bit into his thumb.

The cut wasn't too deep, but it was almost three inches long. Even though I'd never be a healer, this I could handle. I ran into the house and got a wet washcloth, some antiseptic and cotton balls, a big bandage, and a glass of ice water just because it was getting warm. When I got back I made Gale sit down and drink the water while I played nurse.

"Ow!" he exclaimed as I cleaned the cut with the antiseptic.

"At least you didn't curse this time."

"I'm trying to behave," he said with a smile. He must not have been hurting that much.

"Okay, now hold your fingers out while I put on the bandage." I couldn't help but notice how warm his hands were. Everything about Gale was warm. "There now, all done."

"What about a kiss to make it better?" he said.

"Okay," I said. I had given Gale tons of casual kisses before, when he was hurt, when he gave me gifts, and he had done the same to me. Of course, we had shared some less casual kisses, but that was a long time ago. So why did I have to turn red now? Maybe it was because he was giving me an intense look and his eyes had gotten very dark. I put his hand to my lips and kissed over the bandage. I could feel his warmth even through it. I put his hand down quickly and tried not to act flustered. He looked at me for a moment more and then said "Thanks."

I couldn't understand why I kept blushing. I decided I needed to keep a bit more space between us, although that was kind of hard to do when I was holding the door in place while he attached the hinges. As soon as it was stable I ran into the house. I needed some water. As I stood by the sink I had the bizarre sensation that Peeta was somehow watching me, smiling, laughing at me. The jerk.

Gale and I shared a lunch of turkey sandwiches and salad with Annie, Finnie and Susan. After we were done he said "Enough work. Let's go swimming."

"Annie," I said, "Do you have a swimsuit I can borrow?"

"Do you mean you haven't been swimming yet?" Gale looked shocked.

"No," said Annie. "Finnie and I go, but we haven't been able to get Katniss in the water yet."

"I'll go," I said. "Annie, Susan, why don't you and Finnie come, too?" That should keep things platonic.

"Sure," said Gale. "Let's teach Finnie to swim."

"Oh, he already knows how," said Annie. "He's a little fish."

"You're kidding. I was joking." Gale looked surprised. I had heard Annie crowing about Finnie's swimming before but hadn't really thought about it.

Susan explained. "Here in District 4 we think its bad luck if a baby can't swim before he walks. It makes sense. If we are going to live next to the ocean, do we want the water to be his friend or his enemy?"

Sure enough, a half hour later Finnie was paddling around in the water. Annie and Susan were both always nearby, but he seemed to love it. I was glad I had invited them, both because it was so funny to watch Finnie and because I had Annie to put sunblock on my back. She was very thorough. She even reminded me to put some on the scar on my cheek, the one from when Gale was whipped. It had faded a bit, but it was still there. I was a little self-conscious about my scarred skin, but Annie didn't mind and Gale had as many scars as I did so it didn't take me long to stop thinking about it.

It had been a long time since I'd been swimming. In fact, with a shudder I realized I hadn't been since I was in the Arena. I didn't think that was a good subject to bring up around Annie so I didn't say anything about it.

Gale was in a very good mood. He asked Annie all about teaching a baby that small to swim. He sounded like he was ready to move to District 4. Then we swam out to a sand bar. We waved to Annie and Finnie.

"I could get used to living here," said Gale, as he dug into the warm sand with one hand.

"Oh, so are you going to get a place here after you leave the army? Maybe build a little house down the road."

He ignored my teasing. "No, I think I want to go back to District 12. My family is there. I don't think any place else could feel like home." His eyes were dark again. I locked eyes with him, then had to turn away.

For the first time in my life, I wished I didn't know Gale so well. Because I knew that he missed District 12 and I was part of the reason he hadn't been back. His eyes let me know that what he meant was that he wanted was to go back to District 12 to live forever – with me. Worse than that, he knew me well enough that he knew what I had seen in his eyes.

I stared at my toes, pale and distorted in the shallow water. One look at Gale had changed everything. Suddenly I could see a new future blooming before me. My heart raced ahead of me, hopeful for the first time in almost a year. And it scared me.

So I said "Race you back to the beach," and dove into the water. He beat me even though I had a head start. Annie had brought some towels so we laid them out on the beach and sat on them. Gale lay on his stomach and dug holes in the sand with Finnie. Annie's eyes widened when she saw his scarred back, but I gave a shake of my head to keep her from bringing it up. It was too nice of a day for such bad memories.

"We were going to go hunting later," I said to Annie. "What should we get for dinner?"

"Mom, what do we have from the garden?" Annie asked.

"There are ripe tomatoes, and some carrots and peas," she answered.

"Sounds like that would go well with rabbit," said Annie.

"Think we can come up with some bunnies for Annie?" I asked Gale, but he didn't answer. I turned to look at him and laughed. He was asleep, even with Finnie playing right by his head.

Annie said "I should take Finnie up for his nap, too." She and Susan gathered their stuff and went inside. I decided to stay with Gale for a while. Maybe I could figure out what to do with him.

He looked so peaceful sleeping there. Handsome, too. I had been so used to him when we were kids that it took me a while to be able to see him as others did. His face was basically perfect. Even completely relaxed he had a strong jaw, sculpted cheekbones, now covered with a couple days' worth of stubble. No wonder he had found no shortage of girls to kiss in District 2. I should ask him about Johanna, I thought, but then, maybe not. Not if I wanted to avoid the subject of romance. I wondered if he might still be seeing her. Surely he would have mentioned something like that by now. But I'd spent the morning talking about my life. I hadn't asked him much about his life at all. What if he was seeing her? That would be fine with me, wouldn't it? I didn't think Johanna seemed like his type. I doubted she was interested in learning how to tie a snare. At least not one for rabbits.

Suddenly I was very curious. I wondered who his friends were now, what he did when he wasn't doing army stuff, what he did when he was doing army stuff. I was going to have to get him to talk about himself a bit more. In some ways he seemed just like the Gale who had been my best friend so many years ago. But there was also something different about him now. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He was somehow deeper. He joked around less than he used to. There was something about him that seemed . . . haunted.

He was probably going to sleep for a long time since he'd been up all night. I started to gather my stuff to go back to the house, then stopped to look at the sunblock. I had been glad that Gale didn't ask me to put sunblock on him earlier. But now, he would be completely burned if he just slept here in the sun all afternoon. We'd already been out here for more than an hour. I looked at him sleeping there. His back was all scars and it shouldn't get burnt. What kind of a friend would I be if I let that happen? I decided I would try not to wake him, but I had to put some lotion on him.

I took a deep breath and poured a bunch of sunblock into my hand. His eyes fluttered when he felt the cool lotion, but I whispered to him "Don't wake up. I'm just sun blocking you so you don't get burnt." His eyes closed again.

The deep scars on his back made me shudder. I wondered which mark was the first, which was the one that had made him pass out. They were no longer screaming red. Now they were pale, smooth, shaped like flames burning down his skin. I ran a lotion-covered finger down each one, trying not to count them. On his left side there was one that was more messed up than the others. I frowned until I remembered - this was a scar on top of a scar, where he had been hurt during Peeta's rescue. I filled in the blank spaces between the scars; there were just a few. Over the smell of the sunblock I could still make out the scent of the ocean mingled with sweat.

Then I covered each shoulder and arm. His right arm had more scars, from the burning of District 12. His skin was surprisingly sleek over his hard muscles. I wondered again what he had been doing in the army. Was it harder work than the mines? Or else maybe having enough to eat had helped. Gale used to be more slender, while Peeta was the stockier one. I shouldn't compare the two of them. It seemed wrong somehow.

I carefully coated his neck and the one ear showing. I hoped he wouldn't roll over since I couldn't get block onto his other side. My hand lingered on his face before I used a finger to smooth lotion into all the indentations. His cheek was scarred, too, also from District 12. I took a deep breath. I dipped my finger in the sunblock and touched his lips as lightly as I could. I could feel his warm breath on my skin. I tried to swallow and realized that my mouth had gone dry. Almost done. I needed to keep control of myself.

Now came another tricky part, his sides. I didn't want to wake him up. I tried to use enough pressure to keep it from tickling. I realized that I missed a strip of skin below his scars. I ran my finger just under the edge of his shorts. If he were to wake up now what would he think I was up to? I knew no sunblock could prevent the red in my face.

Finally, I covered his legs. Luckily his shorts were pretty long. The back of his leg, just above his knee had some more scars. I didn't even know what those were from. What kind of a friend was I? I'd never noticed his calves before. He must have been running a lot. His right calf had some small marks, again I didn't know what they were from. His left calf had an indentation, like something was usually strapped there. Did he still keep a knife strapped to his leg all of the time? His skin was warm. As I reached down to his ankle he let out a faint moan and I froze. I noticed that my heart was pounding. I needed to get into the house. What if he were to wake up and pull me toward him? I decided not to follow that thought. He seemed to still be asleep. I wondered what he was dreaming, then turned from that thought also.

As I got up and wiped my hands on my pants, I realized that they were shaking. I grabbed my stuff and hurried up to the house.

I spent the afternoon pacing around, getting in the way. I helped Susan pick ripe vegetables in her garden. I folded some laundry with Annie. I wondered how long Gale could sleep out there. I was considering going out to wake him, when he stumbled into the kitchen.

"How many days have I been out?" he asked, rubbing his face with one hand. "What time is it?"

"It's time to go hunting. Pull yourself together. Annie is counting on us to bring back something good for dinner. Do you want some coffee?" I offered.

"No," he said. "This'll work." He turned on the faucet and stuck his entire head under the cold running water. Then he jumped back and shook his head, sprinkling me and the entire kitchen with water.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Do that outside!"

"Let's go," he said as he grinned and threw me a towel.

I grabbed my bow and quiver from next to the back door. "What about you? Did you bring a bow?"

"No, I'll have to stick to my knife and some snares. Is there any twine around here?"

I found him some and we headed into the forest.

It felt great to hunt with Gale again. The years slipped away as we moved silently through the trees. I flushed when he asked me where my snares were. I had taken them all down when I was mad at him. I didn't tell him that. We went to a clearing I'd found. He stayed at the edge, setting traps near some bushes while I crept into the grass. Sure enough, there were a couple of rabbits happily grazing. I took them down, then held them up for Gale to see.

At first he gave me a strange and thoughtful look. It was part of the difference in him now. Sometimes I had no idea what was going through his head. Then he called out "Dinner?" and was back to normal.

We found a bush brimming with blackberries and filled my bag, while nibbling on some as we picked. It was already getting close to dinnertime so we headed back to Annie's. As we walked back I thought how nice it was to be with someone who could hunt. Then I winced. How could I be such a traitor to Peeta's memory? I had nothing to say to Gale the rest of the way back to the house.

Annie was thrilled with our catch. Gale got the rabbits ready for cooking while I chopped up some carrots and onions. I felt dizzy. Peeta was back in my head, but I didn't know what I was thinking. I hacked viciously at the innocent onion, nervous energy surging through my hands. My eyes stung with tears.

Gale looked over and asked "You okay?"

"Onions," I muttered, although I couldn't help but think "No, of course I'm not okay."

My calm, quiet, boring life was suddenly tumbling out of my control. I needed someone to talk to about all of this. Not Gale. I couldn't get advice from him about him. I wished Peeta was here. That was ridiculous. If Peeta was here, Gale wouldn't be here. But Peeta always had a way of calming me down, talking me through things until I knew what to do next. Then I thought of Prim. She'd never tried to tell me what to do, but I longed to be able to talk to her - have her put her arms around me and tell me it would be okay.

Annie decided that we should have a picnic. There was a flat, somewhat grassy area behind the house. Ocean breezes were cooling the warm air. We put out a tablecloth and brought out another feast. Two rabbits were too much for our small group, but Annie seemed to be showing off a bit lately. She'd also baked bread today. As I tore into the soft white loaf I thought of Peeta again. Would bread always remind me of him? Probably. Was he watching me from somewhere? What did he think? He'd tell me to live my life, be happy. Why did that thought annoy me so?

"So who built this house?" Gale asked. I was sitting on the far side of the tablecloth from him. He was done eating and was fiddling with some grass or something.

"My father and his brothers built it and the boys' house," said Susan. "Sixty-five years ago. They'd built ships and they decided to turn their skills to the land."

"You grew up here, then?" he asked. Now he had his back almost turned to us and was doing something I couldn't see with his hands.

"Yes, I learned to swim in the same water as Finnie. So did Annie. Although I don't think either of us took to it as quickly as he did. This little bay has seen a lot of children." Annie and Susan began recounting hoards of aunts, uncles, cousins, all of whom had swum in these waters.

"We need the boys to get married, so Finnie can have some cousins," said Annie. "When I was a girl, my cousins and I played king of the mountain on the big rock down on the beach."

Talk of marriage and children made my shoulders clench. Why was everyone always so anxious for everyone else to get married? How could Annie want to marry her brothers off just so Finnie could have playmates? Mostly I was afraid that Gale would chime in, say something about how wonderful it was to have swarms of children.

But he didn't. Instead he got up, came around behind me and put something on my head.

"I'll be the king of the mountain. You can be the queen," he said as he crowned me. I reached up and felt with my hand – he had made me a dandelion crown. My chest gripped in. Gale and Peeta were now working together, pressuring me. I couldn't breathe.

I jumped up and ran into the house, throwing the flowers onto the stairs as I fled.

Thanks again for all your great beta work, IrishLuck19. Someday I will get all my tenses right.

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers – happiness is an inbox full of reviews (and yes, even if some of them are con crit).

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