Chapter Four: Against or Protection

A/N: Thanks to RoryFaller and Belle543and for their support and betas. As always, thank you to Swishy Willow Wand for her brilliant initial idea.

Disclaimer: I do not own the HG trilogy or any of the characters created by Suzanne Collins, although I sure wish I did.

Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death. The term comes from the Greek words ἀνά ana, against, and φύλαξις phylaxis, protection.

Today was the last day of Tan's receptionist assignment. For a change, it was not a cause for celebration. How ironic was it that when the office manager elected to use temps, instead of hiring permanent receptionists, that they finally find a good one? The entire office would miss Tan and everyone dreaded Monday when the new receptionist would start, although Tan encouraged them to "project positivity." In the eight weeks that Tan had worked at the clinic, he had left a lasting impression on the staff members; if for nothing else than for being the first competent receptionist to ever sit behind the desk in a very, very long time. He had actually boosted morale and motivated several staff members to make some positive changes.

No one's life was more improved than Madge's. Thanks to Tan's encouragement and positive affirmations, Madge agreed to a date with Gale and she had never been happier. Their first date went so well that it led to another. And another. And another. At the end of each shift, at exactly 5:30, Gale arrived to take Madge to dinner. They found that they had more in common than not and that they genuinely enjoyed talking to each other.

There wasn't much privacy in District 13 available, so they were in public 99% of the time. Gale lived in the barracks with the other soldiers because the Hawthorne living quarters were already crowded and because this was supposed to be a temporary assignment. Madge lived in the dormitory style housing available to the single women. Initially, Madge and Gale both viewed this as a good thing, because they were terrified of each other. This all changed after their first kiss.

It was after their disastrous third date-which was their first real date, as far as Gale was concerned-that Madge plucked up the courage. Earlier in the evening, Gale had held her hand and remained by her side when things got rough after she sprained her ankle. Tan's mantra that day had been "Seize the day." With that in mind, at the end of the date Madge decided to go for broke.

Although it was Madge who initiated the kiss, Gale quickly took control and he was in no hurry to finish it. He had kissed a lot of women, but this kiss was easily the best kiss of his entire life. In that moment, he knew Madge was everything he had ever wanted.

After that kiss, Madge finally understood her mother's morphling addiction. Gale's kisses were like a drug and she wanted more. They haunted her dreams, waking and sleeping. On more than one occasion, Tan found her staring off in to space with a dreamy look on her face.

In the last few weeks, Madge had quickly become part of the Hawthorne family. It was no surprise to anyone when Madge was invited to a small family party for Hazelle's birthday, which would be held in the Hawthorne's living quarters. Madge was looking forward to getting to know Gale's family better, outside of the medical center.

**LGIAS**

Gale would have worn a hole in the rug from pacing, if their living quarters had a rug. He wanted tonight to be special, but in the gray world of District 13, special was hard to come by. Lucky for Gale, he had Robespierre "Leech" O'Loughlin. The Hob had nothing on Leech; that man could get his hands on anything for anybody, so long as you had the money and didn't ask too many questions. Foods from other districts were available now, although most of the residents of the underground district didn't bother.

"It's called shrimp," Leech said, as he showed Gale the final item on his list of contraband items. He assured Gale that it would be a hit, "It's an aphrodisiac, if you know what I mean," Leech leered. Gale glared at the drooling idiot. "It's for my mom's birthday party! Didn't you notice the cake on the list?" Leech gave him the creeps sometimes and he was dumb as a box of rocks.

Leech quickly backtracked. "Um, right. OK. Well, it tastes really good and it's loaded with protein and all kinds of healthy crap. And get this: it turns pink when you cook it, so the ladies will definitely love that." Leech thought Gale was an idiot—why would Gale spend his night off with his family when he could be with that hot blonde nurse?

Although Gale and his family had never had seafood before, it sounded exotic and Leech assured him multiple times that "the ladies love it." The pink thing was a plus because it was Posy's favorite color. The little girl wasn't big on trying new things, but Gale thought he would have a better chance if it was pink and, of course, if Madge ate it. The little girl hero worshipped Madge.

Gale was startled by his brothers bursting through door. "We got it," Vick proclaimed excitedly. Rory held up the rectangular box with a triumphant look on his face. "The guy at the market said it's fun and it has most of the pieces" Vick added, as he grabbed the game from Rory and proudly presented it to Gale. The words "Monopoly" jumped out at him, as did a small box with the words "Plan a Family Game Night." Game Night was a Hawthorne family tradition but they had never tried this whole "board game" idea. However, Madge had talked about playing board games as a child and so Gale had dispatched Rory and Vick to the marketplace to find one.

The box contained a rather beaten up board, some square pieces of plastic that looked like houses and a few metal trinkets. There were also some brightly colored rectangular pieces of paper with numbers. All Gale wanted was directions so he would have some idea what he was doing. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found a battered piece of paper with the title "MONOPOLY: Parker Brothers Real Estate Trading Game." Gale skimmed through the directions, until determining that the goal of the game was to become the richest player through buying, renting and selling property. It sounded so Capital that it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he could suck it up for a night if it made Madge happy.

**LGIAS**

"Dinner was wonderful, thank you everyone," Hazelle said, with a smile. "I loved the shrimp. I feel so sophisticated!" Madge had brought something called cocktail sauce to dip the shrimp in and the whole family gobbled it down. Everyone enjoyed the cake and there was a happy chatter around the table as the boys began clearing the table and setting up the game.

Posy claimed the dog trinket and was happily playing with it, but the boys bickered over the race car. "I called dibs on it, it's mine," Vick exclaimed, dodging Rory's grab for the game piece. "Mo-om, tell him it's mine," Vick whined. Gale smacked Rory on the back of the head, which would normally be Hazelle's cue to tell the boys to behave. That didn't happen and the three brothers continued to argue. Hazelle uncharacteristically quiet and that was when Madge knew that something was very, very wrong.

The older woman was now flushed and hives were beginning to dot her chest, as she itched the skin. Madge could tell that Hazelle was beginning to have difficulty breathing and the nurse's trained ears could detect a slight wheeze. "Hazelle, how are you feeling right now," Madge asked, although she already knew the answer to the question. "I'm fine dear, I just feel a little warm," Hazelle began to stand, only to grip on to the table when she became unsteady. "I'm fine," she said began, but was cut off by sharp look from young woman, who was suddenly at her side and guiding her back to a seated position. Madge checked Hazelle's pulse, which was racing. Her worst fears were confirmed with this last bit of information.

"Hazelle, it looks like you are having an allergic reaction to the shrimp. You are going to be OK, but I need to call for help." Madge said, as she motioned a very scared looking Posy over to sit with her mother. "Posy, can you help me? I have to call for help and need you to sit with you mom," she said. Posy nodded her head and held on to her mother's hand, as Hazelle's distress was now obvious to everyone. Madge briskly activated her communicuff. "This is Nurse Madge Undersee, ID number 2000534. I need a medical team STAT to living quarters 607, level H. I have a 42 year old female going into anaphylactic shock, repeat, I have a woman going in to anaphylactic shock."

Madge turned to Rory and Vick and instructed them to wait in the hallway and flag down the medical team when they arrived. The boys scurried to the door, grateful to have something to do. She was left with Gale, who was frozen in his seat. "You wouldn't happen to have an epi-pen around, would you," she asked, only to be met with a vigorous side to side shake of his head. Madge applied a cool washrag to Hazelle's neck. Her speech was now slurred, as her tongue was starting to swell. The hives were getting worse, as was her breathing. Where the hell is the medical team? She cursed herself for not bringing her own med kit, which did have an epi-pen. Hazelle's breathing was getting worse, as Madge could tell from the now audible wheezing that the woman's airways were constricting.

"Does your mother have any allergies that you are aware of,' Madge asked. "Has anything like this every happened before?" Again, Gale shook his head from side to side. One look at Gale told her that he was just as scared as his siblings and she needed him to focus. Madge put her hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look in to her eyes. "Help is on the way," she calmly said. "Breathe," she ordered. That was enough to bring him back. Gale rose from his chair and forced out "What do you need me to do?"

Suddenly, Rory and Vick dragged the medical team in to the cramped living quarters and Madge visibly relaxed. Hazelle was stabilized with a shot from an epi-pen and placed on supplemental oxygen, before she was whisked away to the medical center. As her next of kin, Gale was sent with Hazelle and Madge remained in the living quarters with Rory, Vick and Posy.

"Good job guys, you all pulled together and your mom is going to be OK," Madge said, based on her previous experience with anaphylaxis. Usually cases were triggered by exposure to a new medication or a food like peanuts. It never occurred to Madge that shellfish could cause a problem because it was so rare in the district. Hazelle was in good hands now and Madge just needed to keep the children busy for a while longer. "Who's up for a game of Monopoly," Madge said, as she took the race car from Rory and said "By the way, I'm ALWAYS the race care and I ALWAYS put hotels on Boardwalk, so watch out!"

**LGIAS**

Several hours later, Madge heard the front door open from her spot on the sofa and saw a haggard looking Gale leaning on the doorway. "They're keeping her overnight because her reaction was so severe," he said, as soon as Madge reached his side. "She was breathing a lot better and she finally fell asleep right before I left," he added. He looked like hell. "How are the kids?"

"They're OK," Madge said as she hugged him. "That game was a godsend! Rory is going to be a real estate tycoon some day and Vick didn't want to give back his "Get Out of Jail Free" card because he thought it was real. Even Posy did well, once she got the hang of it." Madge could tell that Gale didn't really want update about the game, but he was glad that his siblings were distracted. He hugged her tighter and buried his face in her hair.

"Thank you for staying with them and for everything you did…before," he started. "I just wanted to do something special. Why the hell does everything I do blow up in my face?" He broke away from Madge and started pacing. "If I had just left things alone, instead of trying to show off, this wouldn't have happened," he said. Gale shuddered as he remembered how shallow his mother's breathing was and how low her blood pressure dropped at one point. "Damn it, Madge! She could have died and it would have been my fault."

"It wasn't your fault," she started. "You said that this had never happened before. How would you have known she was allergic to shellfish?" Madge started. Gale had made such progress with his therapy, but she knew that this could set him back. She had to do something. "This was NOT your fault, Gale," she said, firmly.

"I'm supposed to protect them, Madge, and now I can't even do that anymore," he said. The physicians at the medical center had rattled off a seemingly endless list of things that could trigger another anaphylaxic reaction and it scared the hell out of him. In that moment, his mother changed from an indomitable force of nature to very human, very fragile woman. In the past, the scarcity of food was the threat and starvation never far away; now that food was plentiful, the variety could possibly kill them. Gale scrubbed his face in frustration, as Madge gently guided him to sit next to her on the small sofa.

"I'm not ready to lose my mother, Madge," he whispered. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. Gale had lost so much already and the pain he felt was so clearly etched on his face that it broke her heart. The toll of the war, of his life before the war was so evident that she almost couldn't imagine how he was still standing. Even though Gale had to become a man long before he should have, there still a frightened little boy inside.

"You never are," she said, as she enveloped him in a hug. Madge knew all too well the pain of recognizing a parent's mortality, of knowing that your time with someone you love is finite. "But I don't think that you have to worry about that right now." Madge knew that Hazelle would bounce back from this. "Your mom will be issued an epi-pen just in case this ever happens again," she said. "Now you know what to expect and you know that you need to stay away from shell fish from now on, which I don't think will be a problem for any of us. Posy said that she will never eat anything pink again!"

That got a small laugh from Gale. "Somehow I doubt she will EVER turn down a pink lollypop from her favorite nurse," he said with a smile, as he put his long legs up on the sofa and pulled Madge to him. "I think we're gonna be OK." Madge would be spending the night, as they were way past curfew now and she had already settled herself in on the couch for the night before Gale returned.

"You know, I don't think that we should try to do anything special for our dates anymore," Madge teased. "Every time we do, something crazy happens." Not that she totally minded crazy, but she was fine with not crazy. She was fine with vegetable soup dinners in the dining hall and walks on the nice, flat, paved part of the promenade.

"You know, you very well might be right, but you also know I've never been smart," he said. One of these days he would catch a break and he wouldn't stop trying. "I just want to do special things for the people I love," Gale said, without thinking. Madge raised her head from Gale's chest and smiled. There it was, just like that. He slipped his finger under her chin and took the plunge. "I love you, Madge Undersee, and falling in love with you is the smartest thing I've ever done," he said, as he drew her in for a sweet kiss as they snuggled in to the sofa together.

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