Disclaimer: Still don't own the characters. Ugh.

Madge starts training the day before we leave for 2, and I'm not exactly happy that she's going to have to fight, but I can't say anything about it because then Coin could use the fact that I love her against me. She would do that.

Haymitch said that Coin wants Delly and Madge to see Mellark this afternoon after lunch. I'm not very happy about that either. What if he freaks out and tries to strangle not only Delly but Madge too?

I'm fidgeting the entire morning during Command and training. I have trouble hitting the target and Thom keeps messing with me about it. He's not exactly doing any better but I don't mention it. He notices.

"What's with you today?"

"Nothing."

"I'm not an idiot." He pauses to clean off his gun, "Problems with Madge?"

I look at him like he's crazy, "Really? You honestly jump to that?" Of course, there aren't any problems between us, that's just Thom.

"I'm messing with you. What's really going on?"

"Remember how Mellark was hijacked and tries to strangle people?"

"Yeah?"

"Coin wants Madge and Delly Cartwright to go in and talk to them."

"Are you going to let her?" He shoots a few and I try to do the same but miss every one of them.

"Have no choice. If I tell Coin I don't want her to go in, she'll know that I'm dating her which would essentially cause Coin to use her against me." I drop my voice and Thom listens while reloading his gun before firing another round.

"Is that really a bad thing?"

"Yes," I stress to him as I finally hit the target, "That's bad. Coin uses people against them to get what she wants. I don't want her to use Madge against me so I'll, I dunno, vote for Coin or whatever."

"Well you're in trouble. What if he tries to strangle Madge?"

"Don't even go there." I force out, and then sigh, "I would be really mad, let's just go with that."

"Think you'd be more than mad, mate." Thom mutters, rolling his eyes before shooting some more.

Trying to get the subject away from Madge, I move on. "How's Bristel?"

He then proceeds to talk about how much better she is and how she's going to start training the same day as Madge and all that stuff.

"You remember how sore we were after the first day of training?" I ask and he stops short.

"Oh, God, Bristel's gonna die."

"I'm sure Madge isn't going to be much better, either."

"At least you're leaving the next day. You don't have to deal with them griping about it."

"I will for one day, Thom." I grumble and he chuckles about something. "What?"

"I wonder what they're going to have to do the first day."

"Probably the same thing we did." First day was a beating. Seven miles, weights, and then guns. Not fun. But Thom and I were used to the pain because of breaking our back everyday in the mines. Bristel and Madge have never been in the mines, so they don't know the pain. But, they did survive in the woods for weeks, even though they got themselves nearly killed in the process. Maybe they'll be able to handle it.

"How's Madge doing?"

"Good," I grin to myself, "She's on crutches and she hates them."

"Typical." Thom mutters, laughing. "She staying with you?" I nod and he quirks his eyebrows.

"Oh, shove off." I shove him away as he cackles at me. It's not like we'd try that when my family is in the same compartment as us; we're not idiots. That doesn't mean that we haven't done it before, because we have, but only once and that was the most amazing thing ever. That was before the Quell, after Katniss and Mellark left. I think it was a few days before they started.

"Earth to Gale?" Thom says, smirking at me while I pull my thoughts out of how beautiful Madge is.

"Sorry," I mutter, rolling my eyes, "I'm distracted today."

"Obviously." We quiet down and keep shooting, Thom most likely thinking about Bristel, and me definitely thinking about Madge. I can't wait for her to get off of the crutches, I hate them too. I feel really bad when I accidentally hurt her when I'm with her. She tries to hide it from me, but I can tell by how well I know Madge.

Training ends and I practically sprint to where Mellark is being held. Delly, or I'm assuming it's Delly, is getting ready to go in, Katniss is standing by the glass, peering in at Mellark. She gives me a tight nod and I return the gesture, looking away. I find Madge talking to Haymitch on what to say and what not to say.

He finishes talking to her and I approach her slowly, and she smiles at me. "You ready for this?" I murmur in her ear and she slowly shakes her head. I pull her aside quickly. "What's wrong?"

She rests her crutches on the wall and buries her face in my chest. My arms wrap around her shoulders, and then drop to her waist as I nuzzle her neck. "What's wrong, Madge?" I notice she's barely standing on her injured leg, but at least it can support her weight a little.

"What if Peeta tries to strangle me, or Delly?"

I sigh and then finally say, "Madge, if he so much as touches you, or screams at you, he'll be out before you even can blink, Madge. Plus, I'm not going to let him strangle you, okay?" She nods and I nuzzle her neck again. She murmurs something that I don't catch. "Hm?"

"I said I love you." She whispers, getting a smile out of me.

"I love you, too." I try to avoid the fact that I know Katniss is watching us. I know she is, I've known Katniss for years. I break our embrace and hand her the crutches again as Haymitch smirks at me from behind Madge. I roll my eyes at him as Delly enters Mellark's cell. Instantly, the atmosphere becomes tense, as Mellark's eyes snap open.

"Delly? What are you doing here?" He seems fine, but I doubt he is.

"Peeta!" I get the sense that this girl would annoy me beyond belief. My arm slips around Madge's waist the best it can with the crutches as Delly talks to Peeta. It ends in a one-sided screaming match and Delly comes out shaking. Mellark ends up sedated and Madge looks terrified to go in there. They wait twenty minutes before sending her in. I give her a small squeeze before letting her go in. He's awake now, looking confused.

"Madge." Mellark says, the complete anger from twenty minutes ago forgotten.

"Peeta."

"They got you too, huh?" He spits out, gesturing to Madge's crutches.

"No. I was in the woods. I broke my leg." She says, somewhat calmly. If I didn't know her at all, I would think that she's completely fine and isn't freaking out, but I do know her, and I know she's terrified.

"Oh." Mellark forces out, fists clenching and unclenching quickly.

"They say I can help you remember." She finally forces out and Peeta stops, staring at her.

"Delly tried. I'm sure you saw how that went." He spits out at her and she moves closer to him, leaning on her crutches.

"Yeah. I did."

"Did your family make it out?" He asks suddenly, his eyes diverting to hers and she stumbles on her words.

"I.. No. They didn't."

"Not even the Mayor?" He scoffs, attempting to cross his arms, but can't because of the restraints. I want to take Madge out of there now, and not let her go in again. I don't like this at all.

"N-no." Madge forces out and my jaw clenches. She hates talking about her parents. I try not to mention them much, but I am thinking about them. Her father liked me at first but then after the Victory Tour he thought I was going to get her killed by fratenizing with Katniss. I only met her mom once, and I think she liked me, I never asked Madge what her mother thought of me.

Mellark pauses, having an inner mental conversation with himself. "Did they burn up in the fire?"

She nods slowly and she swallows. I want her out of there now.

"Who's fault is it?" He forces out, nearly losing it again, but, somehow, keeps it under control.

"Peeta?" Madge asks gently, clenching the rung on her crutch.

"Who's fault is it?!" Peeta raises his voice at her and my fists are clenching. Katniss's knuckles are white on the frame of the window, and her eyes are closed shut.

"The Capitol's, Peeta!" She chokes out and Peeta loses it.

"No! It's her fault! She did this! Not the Capitol, but her! Katniss did this!" Now he's screaming at her completely and he suddenly goes lax. They sedated him. Madge is shaking now. She slowly wobbles back out and her eyes locate me immediately. Then, she's hobbling towards me and rests the crutches on the wall as my arms wrap around her shoulders. I hated that she was in there.

"That's not Peeta." She says into the air, and Haymitch scoffs.

"No shit, Sherlock." I narrow my eyes at him and he smirks. While everyone talks about what to do about Peeta, Katniss comes over to the two of us and Madge breaks our embrace.

"I'm so sorry, Katniss. I didn't realize how bad it was and.." She trails off and Katniss nods.

"I don't think anyone knew." She mumbles before locking eyes with me. In an instant, I know she's upset. She does love Peeta, even if she doesn't know it. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. She's just so oblivious to everything, really. It's a wonder how she didn't figure out Madge and I were dating. Katniss goes over to Haymitch and starts to talk. No one pays attention to Madge and I.

"You okay?" I ask gently, while pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear and then cupping her cheek. She nods.

"A little shaken up, but okay." She murmurs. I honestly don't think she's okay. One of her best friends just screamed at her, yelling horrible things, and she says she's okay.

I press a gentle kiss to her lips. "Are you sure you're okay?" I murmur and she nods yet again, burying her face into my chest. By now, people are clearing out, all that's left is a doctor and Haymitch.

"You smell bad." She mutters and I laugh a little.

"I did come straight from training, Madge." She lets out a bubble of laughter, before she pulls away.

"Well then that's why." I press my lips onto her forehead once, quickly and she smiles, "That's not going to get you out of a shower, Gale." Then, I kiss her nose. "Still not going to work." She smirks as my lips find hers, finally. Quickly, I deepen the kiss, but she laughs and shoves me away. "Take a shower. Then we'll see." She smirks again as I kiss below her ear.

"Fine. You're horrible, you know that?" I mutter and finally release her, even though I don't want too. She grabs her crutches, and starts to walk away. Once out the door, she turns around, smirking.

"Are you coming or not?" She smirks as I go to catch up to her.

A/N: Just a little fluff, there can never be too much fluff, in my opinion c: anyways, Madge's first day of training should be next chapter. This should be great. Review!