~Chapter 3~
A/N: Hey, guys! Just as a side note before we begin, I do not own the Hunger Games or any of its characters except Maysilee, Kale, and some other characters that will enter the story shortly. I do not own Maysilee Donner, I own Maysilee Mellark, who is simply and purely mine, without a doubt. Well, technically, I don't exactly own her, because she is made up of Peeta and Katniss, but I do own her personality and name and everything unique about her. Anyway, read and review! And don't forget to enjoy, of course!
"Hey, Catnip," he says in his deep voice that always makes me melt on the inside, no matter how much I don't want to admit it. I blush deeply as memories of me and Gale in the woods hunting before the Games, of him kissing me after I got back, of him being unconscious on our kitchen table, of him kissing me in 13; every happy memory associated with swirls around in my mind.
Then I remember what I had promised myself earlier. How ironic that he's here now, all the way from 2. He can't know it's Maysilee's birthday. He can't even know I have a daughter. Unless he saw on the news that day...
No. He can't have been keeping track of me! But why else would he be here right now...?
He slowly loses his small smile as he decides I've waited too long. But I won't give him the opportunity to leave. Not just yet.
"Gale...?" If it is Gale, then he has changed a lot. The only thing that stands prominently as his own against the tanner skin and darker hair and aged features is his gray eyes that will never ever change.
"Yeah. You don't look the same yourself, Catnip. You look so... girly." He smiles at me, and I begin to smile back when I realize my mother is standing somewhere in this room, most likely mourning over her daughter. And so is Annie, who is surely having bad memories associated with the war and Finnick and Gale right now, with everyone here.
My almost smile turns into a frown quickly. "Gale... why are you here?"
He frowns, too. "Katniss, we need to talk."
"We are talking."
"You know what I mean." He looks me in the eyes with that heart melting look of longing that I know from those days on the hunt, when he would see a deer, aim the arrow, and shoot it, but the deer had left before the arrow pierced its flesh.
I glance back at the others in the room. Greasy Sae has arrived with Hazelle while I was upstairs, and them along with everyone else in the room, including the two kids, have stopped to stare at us. Us. Me and Gale. Looking at each other with longing and need, knowing we need to talk, but knowing we can't.
I look over at Peeta and raise an eyebrow. He knows what I want. There's a long pause as hr searches my eyes for something.
"Well, who wants burgers and ice cream?" he declares. Delly follows his lead and marches into the kitchen first, followed by the kids and everyone else, even stubborn old Haymitch.
"Can we-" I begin.
"Yeah," he finishes, starting off toward the meadow, where we know no one will see us.
When we get there, he is first to speak. "Do you have any idea how much I've missed you?"
"No. But I know how much I've missed you."
He smiles that sweet smile that he used to get back in the woods in our special place overlooking the valley. I smile back and he walks toward me. Before I know it, he's hugging me tight and blabbering on about how much he's missed me and all of that.
"Gale," I say after a couple of minutes.
He looks down at me. "Hmm?"
"I can't."
He raises an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Because. Peeta..."
"Peeta doesn't matter," he growls, getting a fierce look in his eyes.
"Gale... It does. I have a daughter now. I can't hurt my family like this. It's not safe for us to be alone out here anyway. People are watching..."
"I have something to show you," he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward my old house in the Seam. I stop right in front of the door.
"Gale..."
"Trust me," he whispers.
I nod in answer, tears slipping down my cheeks.
"Why are you crying?" he asks.
"I haven't seen her since-"
"She won't remember you. She needs to know her mother."
We look into each other's eyes for a long moment before I break the gaze and turn the doorknob.
I look around the room, searching for the tiny life that is in my old home. "See her?"
I look up, and then I do. Right smack on the old cushioned chair, the only one we could afford back before I won the Games.
Tears fill my eyes and I try to blink them back, but it's no use. "She's ours?"
Gale nods in response and I waste no time in pressing my lips to his and making our first kiss in what seems like forever worth something.
He's the one that breaks away, and looks down at me. "Well, do you want to meet your daughter or not?"
I laugh quietly. "You mean our daughter?" I walk over to the chair and look down into the mess of blankets that wraps around this small bundle of warmth. Our baby girl, the one I forced Gale to keep after she was born three months ago, is finally back in my arms.
"Did you name her?" I ask. I look up at him and see he's smiling at the sight of his baby in its mother's arms.
He nods. I raise an eyebrow and he says, "Kale."
"Kale. Where's you get that?"
He laughs. "Well, I sorta of put our names together and it formed something." I laugh quietly and begin bonding with our tiny little baby. Her little chubby hand wraps around my index finger and she makes noises that make me smile happily down at her. The beauty of this little baby, with that Seam look to her since both of her parents are from the Seam, is overwhelming.
"Kale Hawthorne. Middle name?" I ask.
"You're not going to like it," he says.
"I like everything you come up with," I respond, smiling.
"Hazelle," he answers, grinning at me. "You like it?"
"It's beautiful." I look up and smile, then look back down at my baby, now asleep in my arms, but still clutching to my finger. Gale places a hand on my shoulder and I turn to find him gazing at me.
"I love you," he says.
"I know," I say. I know what answer he was expecting but I can't give it to him.
"Gale, really. I've got to get back home. People will think something's going on." I begin to hand him Kale, but his hands stop me.
"No. You keep the baby."
"And how am I supposed to explain going off with you for an hour and coming back with a baby?" I exclaim.
"Say you found it outside."
"Sure. I found a baby outside that looks exactly like me. Nice job, Gale," I laugh sarcastically. "Now take her."
"Katniss, I want her to live with her mother! I'm not in a good situation to care for children right now!"
"Oh, is that why you came here, then?" I ask, tears filling my eyes. "So you can dump a baby onto my shoulders? Gale, it's my daughter's birthday, and I'm not going to ruin it for an idiot like you." I turn around and run out the door before he can stop me.
I can hear the baby wailing in the distance as I head out into the pouring rain that has begun to fall. It's dark as night outside, it's so dark, and there's thunder every couple of seconds that about scares me to death.
I can hear talking and playing and exclamations of joy before I even near the house, and a smile begins to form on my face as I come closer and closer. But then I get inside.
"Did you have fun with Gale?"
"Where's Gale?"
"Haven't seen him in awhile."
Then Peeta approaches me, not making the slightest effort to go to somewhere private for affection. He's right next to me, brushing against my side. "Have fun?"
"I don't want to talk about it," I say quietly, looking down. Johanna is staring at me with wide eyes, probably thinking something bad about me that I honestly don't think I want to know.
Haymitch, who has obviously had too much to drink today by the way he slurs his words, says, "Heart breaker, is he, sweetheart?"
Hazelle gasps, obviously not having even considered this situation. "Oh, honey, what'd he do?" My eyes are starting to get wet now.
Haymitch, who I'm starting to regret inviting, takes notice of this, too. "Why you crying?"
"He didn't do anything. It's just rain on my face. You know it's pouring out there," I say, pointing to the window.
Hazelle, Delly, my mother, Effie, and for some reason even Peeta don't question this. But everyone else knows the truth. It doesn't take a detective to figure out it wasn't something good. But they don't know what happened exactly. And to be perfectly honest, I don't either. I guess the fact that I can't have him and that he was shoving my baby in my face after my not having seen her in months just really set me off.
But today isn't about me. It's about my real daughter. The only one that's really mine, and who I really live for.
A/N: So…. How did you like it? I am proud of it, if I do say so myself, lol! Please review! I accept constructive criticism, and of course I accept compliments and just plain out comments! I like to have my fans PM me, so if you want to, go right ahead, though I don't check my PM often. I will make an attempt to check it more often from now on, though! I hope you liked this story, and may the odds be ever in your favor!