GALE'S POV

Katniss says she was ready to go hunting again today, so I'm helping her get to the woods. Her arms are clinging to my waist and my right arm is around her. She says it's kind of painful to limp on her sore leg, so I'm trying to help her as much as I can while still letting her practice walking.

When we get to the hole in the fence, I climb through first, and then I hold her hands while she crawls under. Then when we're walking to our meeting spot, I lift her over fallen trees and carry her over small streams. Katniss is starting to get really frustrated with her leg, so whenever I see her eyes welling up in frustration I gently kiss her temple, and she smiles again.

True, we're probably scaring off all the prey, but who cares. To be honest, my hands are all over her. On her hips, shoulders, stomach, sometimes even her legs when I'm hoisting her over an obstacle. And Katniss doesn't even mind. So take that, Peeta, I think.

At a hollow log, Katniss bends down and retrieves her bow and arrows.

"The only way I can hunt is if we split up. I'm scaring away all your prey, so I should just wait and see if I can shoot something from a tree," she says. Katniss walks to a tree, and I see her initials carved into the base of the tree. What if she sees?

But she doesn't; it's too far down. Katniss tries to reach for the lowest branch, but she can't reach it. She would be able to reach it if she jumped, but jumping would hurt her knee. I walk up to her and lift her up, my hands on her waist. Katniss reaches the branch, and hoists herself up. When she turns around, I see her face, and she's blushing. I wink at her and say, "I'll check on you every now and then. Be careful." Katniss nods. So I walk off to check our snares, fishing poles, nets, and traps.

TIME PASSES

I'm walking back to check on Katniss when I see somebody else talking to her. What? I duck behind a bush to listen.

"You should come check it out sometime. Maybe I could pick you up?" he asks. There's a pause.

"Yeah… Maybe," Katniss says. She sounds like she's smiling. Another pause. Then I hear a kiss. I peer from behind the tree, angrily, and see Peeta (Peeta!) holding Katniss's hand with his lips pressed to it. Peeta releases her hand and winks at Katniss. She blushes and giggles, and Peeta walks away. I wait a while to go "check" on Katniss, even though I know exactly how she is.

"Hey," I say, walking into the clearing. "Hey," she says back, messing with a dead raccoon, trying to get the arrow from its eye socket.

"Nice catch," I say.

"Thanks," she replies. We stand there awkwardly. Does she know I saw everything?

"What did you get?" Katniss asks. I hold up 2 rabbits and 4 fish. She nods. Then we stand around awkwardly some more.

"Okay, I'm just going to cut to the chase-" I start to say when Katniss interrupts me.

"I shot the raccoon and was just climbing down to get it when Peeta came walking by and then he started talking to me. He was talking about the fair that is going to be happening in The Square tomorrow afternoon and he wanted to invite me but I didn't really want to go because of my knee and all…," Katniss said quickly. I take her in my arms and give her a hug.

"It's okay, Katniss. You can go to the fair if you want to…" I say, secretly wishing she wouldn't go.

But instead she gushes, "Oh, really? I've always really wanted to go, but before I've always been so busy with having to hunt and take care of Prim that I never really could. Thanks, Gale!" Katniss hugs me tightly.

Even with the hug, I feel depressed. Why does Katniss want to go to the fair with Peeta?

"I know we will hardly be able to hunt tomorrow with the fair, but-" Katniss says.

"What? We?" I ask.

"Yeah. Or don't you want to go with me?" Katniss asks, hurt in her eyes.

"Of course I do! I just thought you meant you wanted to go with Peeta…" I explain. Katniss shoos the thought away with a wave of her hand.

"I would feel too weird letting Peeta help me limp around The Square," Katniss giggles. I feel relief shoot through my body. Katniss wants me, not Peeta. Ha. I smile.

So Katniss and I walk off through the woods, my arm around her waist, and Katniss clinging to my stomach.