AN: *peeks out from behind hiding place* Um hi anyone that might possibly be left reading this, I know that it's been, like, a year and a half since I updated, and I'm reeeeaaaaallllly sorry. Work kinda caught up to me, and writer's block was being a real bitch... again, sorry.

So yeah, here's actually the next chapter! There's a wee bit of swearing, but other than that, it's a fairly sedate chapter, discounting an angry Gale. Please, enjoy! (I can't guarantee when the next update will be, so please don't hold up too much hope!)

Disclaimer: If I owned THG, then things probably would have ended a lot differently

After our shower we quickly have breakfast and head out in our separate cars, so that we don't turn up at the same time, in the same car. On the way to work, we come across a traffic jam, typical of rush hour in the city centre. The traffic seemed to be pretty stationary, so I put the handbrake on and sat back in my seat. Almost instantly, my phone beeped with a text. I rummage through my bag and find my phone to see the text is from Cato. As I open the message, I roll my eyes. Typical Cato, sending me a text when he's like two cars in front of me, I think. The text opens and I almost drop my phone in surprise.

BTW, you know that interview you have this morning? It's with me :)just thought I'd let you know xxx

Shocked, I quickly text him back with Really? Xxx

He replies almost instantly: Yeah, mainly because I think that I would do an amazing job. And because I wanted to get away from Gale xxx

Cocky much ;) but you might do a fairly good job xxx

Haha cheers :) traffic's moving, see you later xxx

At this text I glance up and see that the traffic is indeed moving, so I stuff my phone back in my bag and move off.

After much more stopping and starting, I finally arrive at work at about 8:30. I see Cato's car and park near it, in my spot.

As I walk into the building, I see Cato talking to Effie, so I stand behind him as he finishes his chat and heads over to the lift. Effie sees me stood there and smiles.

"Good morning, Miss Everdeen! Early this morning, I see," she says, and I smile back.

"Yeah, I have some work to do before the interview this morning. Is there any post for me this morning?"

"I do believe that there is. Let me just go and get it," she replies before she goes to the pigeon holes and takes some envelopes out of mine and hands them to me. "Here you are, Miss Everdeen."

"Thank you Effie," I say as I tale the envelopes. "Do you know if Gale is in yet?"

"No, I don't think he is. Do you need to talk to him?"

"Yeah. When he arrives, could you tell him to come straight to my office please?"

"Of course, no problem, Miss Everdeen."

"Thank you Effie," I say and begin to walk away.

"You're welcome Miss Everdeen. Have a good day," she says, smiling brightly in the way only Effie can.

"You too." I give her a little wave and press the button to call the lift. As I wait for the lift to arrive, I see Jo walk in and speak to Effie, getting her mail and then coming over to me.

"Hey Brainless," she says casually.

I send her a glare for using that nickname. "Hey Jo. You alright?"

She sighs. "Yeah, I suppose. Just tired, really."

"And that would be because?" I ask.

"That would be because I stayed up late last night looking on dating sites trying to find someone for you. After yesterday and our little chat about a certain Mr Ludwig after the meeting, I decided that it is time for you to move on and the only way you would do that is if someone does it for you."

I roll my eyes at her as the lift doors open. "Really, Jo? I'm perfectly fine on my own and besides, I have Sophia to think of," I say as we step into the lift.

"So? Sophia's like what? Seven? Eight?"

"She's six."

"Exactly! She's old enough now to understand that you might want someone to be with for when she grows up and moves out."

"That's like, over ten years away Jo! That's plenty of time for me to find someone without you needing to intervene. I'm sorry Jo, but I'm just not ready to be in a relationship!"

She sighs. "Fine. I understand. I don't like it, but I'll back off. You'll find someone when you're ready. As long as you tell me EVERYTHING," she says, grinning.

"Fine, I'll tell you everything. When I get to that point," I say, rolling my eyes.

"Yay! Thanks Katniss!" She says giving me a small hug as the lift doors open on the floor of my office. "See you later!"

"Bye Jo," I say as I step out of the lift, grinning at her childishness, and breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that Gale hasn't seemed to have contacted her. I quickly unlock my office and stride in, turning on my computer as I sit down. As I wait for the computer to boot up, I look through the pile of envelopes Effie gave to me. Deciding that none of them are that important, I shove them in a drawer. As I am closing the drawer, there is a knock at the door. I yell a quick "come in" and watch as Gale walks in, his face still covered in bruises and cuts from last night.

He sees me looking and glares at me. "Well?" He asks, "Effie said you wanted to see me."

I sigh. Gale was being blunt, never a good sign. "Gale, sit down so we can talk about this like adults," I say, but he refuses to, so I sigh again and stand up, saying "fine" as I do so.

"If we are going to talk about this like 'adults', then shouldn't he be here?" He asks, still glaring at me.

"No, Gale, because if he's here, you'll just be focussed on yelling at him again, and not on what I want to talk to you about," I deadpan.

He rolls his eyes. "Well talk then."

I sigh. "Gale, I know that you're pissed that I didn't tell you about mine and Cato's relationship," at this, Gale snorts. "And I know you're pissed that I lied to you about spending time with him. I can take a pretty good guess that basically all of your anger is stemming from what Cato did in high school, but that's the thing, Gale – it was high school! That was like ten years ago! If I've managed to look past what he did to me, don't you think that maybe you should as well? Because it was me he cheated on, not you! Don't you think that maybe you should consider forgiving him as well? If not for his sake, or yours, but for mine?"

Gale shakes his head in disbelief. "That still doesn't fucking change what he did, Katniss! And before I consider forgiveness, maybe I need to hear his reasoning for what he did all those fucking years ago!"

I scoff. "Gale, if you were even listening to what Cato said last night, you would have heard his reasoning. But I guess, as usual, you didn't listen. Because when someone is saying something you don't want to hear, you just don't listen! And you know what, it's really fucking annoying!"

He narrows his eyes. "So what were those reasons, then?"

"I'm not about to tell you something you should have listened to yesterday. If you really want to know, break the icy silence in your office and ask Cato!"

Gale scoffs. "Like that's ever going to happen."

"Well maybe it needs to happen," I respond in a biting tone.

He snorts. "So, presumably you still want me to not tell anyone about this… relationship that you have with him?"

"That is what I would like, Gale, but I realise that is probably highly unlikely with how you seem to be feeling today," I reply snidely.

"Well you've got that right. I still think that Finnick and Jo would be fascinated to hear what I uncovered last night."

I sigh. "Gale, why are you doing this?"

"Because I just know he's going to hurt you again! He did it once, so he's extremely likely to do it again."

"Then that's my issue to deal with. Not that I think that's going to happen, I trust Cato completely. And do you really think sending him to jail is the best course of action? Could you not just take him to court and make him pay a fine? Do you even have to take this to court?"

"I don't trust him one bit."

"I can guess that Gale," I interrupt.

"And yes, I'm taking him to court. Nothing is going to change that. But I might consider just making him pay a fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." He stands and leaves.

Once the door has closed, I sigh and rest my head in my hands, shaking my head. I glance at the clock. 9 o'clock. One hour until Cato's interview. I get my work up on my computer, thinking that Finnick will be arriving soon to get the pre-interview prep done.

After a few minutes, there's a knock at my door. I mumble a "come in" and the door opens to reveal Finnick grinning. I roll my eyes good-naturedly, knowing that he's always too happy in a morning.

"Morning Kitty! How was your birthday evening?" He asks as he plonks himself down in the chair across from my desk.

"Yeah, it was good, just watched films all night, you know, typical birthday. What about you, did you have a good evening?"

"Ah that's good, glad you had a good day," he says, still grinning. "And yeah, my evening was good, thanks."

"Awesome. Do you want to get going on this interview stuff then?"

"Of course! We only have, like forty minutes until we need to go to the interview room!" He says and we focus on preparing for the interview, Finnick unknowing that I was also preparing to spend an hour pretending to hate Cato.

AN: Again, I am very very sorry for the year and a half long wait... please forgive me...

Thanks for reading (if there's anyone left reading haha)

Ruth xx