Author's note: Welcome to another chapter featuring Gale and Madge. It's an important chapter and I am interested to see your thoughts.
A giant thank you to my beta JavisTG! Go check her out!
Happy reading!
Chapter Eighteen
Sam dragged her feet as they made their way to the window to buy tickets. Gale draped his arm over her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.
"You okay?" Gale asked.
Sam shrugged. "Why do we have to do this?"
"Because we wanted to have a little fun together." Gale said. "Aren't you having fun?"
"The pizza was good." Sam said reluctantly.
Becca jabbered on ahead of them. She'd slipped her hand into Madge's as soon as they got out of the car.
"I don't like the way you look at Madge." Sam admitted softly.
"I'm sorry. I'll try not to look at her." Gale paused and held Sam back. "Look, I know it's rough for you, Sami, but I'm going to do what I can to make us all happy. Okay?"
"That means you too?" Sam challenged.
"Yes, it means me." Gale said softly. He bent over and looked her in the eyes. "But that mostly means you. I'm keeping my distance from her as best I can for your sake, baby. I want you comfortable."
"Becca's comfortable enough for both of us." Sam pointed to where Madge was teaching Becca some sort of hand clapping game.
Gale pulled Sam to the front of the theater. "I thought you liked Madge."
"Things change." Sam didn't say anything else. She nodded in agreement when Becca picked a movie.
Madge paid for their tickets and passed them out.
Becca looked at hers a moment and then lifted it up toward Gale. "You better hold onto it, Daddy."
Gale grinned and took the bit of paper from her and slipped it into his pocket. "You got yours, Sam?"
After a moment of consideration, she handed it over.
Gale winked. "You're a smart kid."
"I take after my dad." Sam said, smiling a little.
"Okay, I got snacks." Gale said as they stepped toward concessions.
"Can I have candy?" Becca asked.
"You don't want popcorn?" Gale asked.
"I want both!" Becca announced.
"You ate half of a pizza by yourself." Madge teased. "You got a hollow leg or something?"
Becca giggled. "No, both my legs are full of bones." She slipped her hand into Madge's. "I want candy and popcorn."
"You will have both." Gale assured her. "What about you, Sami?"
"I'm so stuffed, I don't think I can even eat candy." Sam said, rubbing her belly.
Gale chuckled and nodded. "Soda?"
"I could always drink more soda." Sam said, stepping a little closer to her father.
Gale took Sam's hand and turned to Madge. "What about you?"
Madge shrugged. "I ate too much pizza, too. Just a coke for me."
They stepped forward and Gale pointed to the candy. "Which one, Becs?"
"Sour Patch Kids." Becca read slowly. "That's the candy I want." She looked up at Gale. "Please, Daddy?"
"How can I say no to that?" Gale chuckled and asked Sam, "Sure you don't want some candy? M&Ms?"
Sam's mouth curved up into a smile. "The peanut kind?"
"Whatever you want." Gale told the young man behind the counter.
"I changed my mind." Madge said as she placed her hand on Gale's sleeve. "Can I have some Twizzlers?"
"Sure." Gale smiled and finished out the transaction. His hands were full as they walked toward he person taking tickets.
Without any hesitation, Madge reached into his pocket to get the tickets he'd stuffed in there earlier. She caught Sam's glare as she passed them over with a contrite look.
"Sorry." She murmured, following the girls into the theater.
"Don't worry about it." Gale murmured, swallowing back any other comment he could have made.
"I want to sit my Madge and Daddy." Becca announced as they scooted into a row of chairs near the center.
Sam took a seat first and Gale sat beside her.
"Then you get to sit here by me." Gale said, pressing a quick kiss to her temple.
Sam crossed her arms and slumped down.
"Here, eat your M&Ms." Gale passed the box over.
"I don't want them anymore." Sam huffed.
"Sami, baby, please—"
"Leave me alone, Dad." Sam snatched the box from Gale's hand. "Talk the daughter that obviously doesn't care." She tore open the box and started to angrily eat the candy as the rest of the theater started filling up.
On the other side of Gale, Madge was busy showing Becca to bite the ends off a Twizzler, to make a straw. Becca was very impressed by that fact and finished off her entire drink in just a couple minutes.
"Can I have more coke?" Becca asked.
"Sure. Let's go." Madge stood and held out her hand. "We'll be right back."
Gale waited for them to go and then leaned toward Sam. "You wanna talk?"
"No." Sam said shortly.
Gale nodded. "Can I talk?"
"Whatever."
"I love you, Sami. I want you to know that. I'm never going to stop because you're my daughter. My first daughter. You made me a dad. And I never want to hurt you."
She said nothing in response.
He sighed and continued on. "Just try to have fun, Sami. That's all I want. When the movie's over, we'll go home."
Sam mumbled something and hunkered down for the duration of the movie. She didn't seem to be enjoying herself and it worried Gale. She still held his hand for a few minutes near the end.
The lights slowly came up after the movie was over. Madge and Becca talked animatedly about what they'd just seen. At least Becca enjoyed herself.
"Can we get ice cream, Daddy?" Becca asked when they were outside the building.
"I can't eat anything else." Gale said.
"But I could!" Becca said. "Please?"
"How about another time?" Madge suggested, swinging their hands back and forth.
Sam put her hand on the truck's door handle. "I'm ready to go home."
Gale nodded. "I know, Sami." He pressed the button to unlock the door and walked around to the other side.
Becca continued to babble on the ride home. Madge leaned over toward Gale and poked his hand. A buzz ran through his body. He turned his hand over and wrapped it around hers briefly before pulling away.
At the house, Madge followed the others inside.
"You can go now." Sam mumbled as she made her way up the stairs.
Gale saw Madge's face fall. "I guess I should be going. I had fun tonight."
"You need to apologize, Sam." Gale called up the stairs.
"Why?" Sam asked at the top of the stairs. "She's been around all night and I'm tired of looking at her face."
"Hey, Samantha, you watch it." Gale warned.
"It's fine, Gale." Madge reached out and touched his arm just above the wrist. "It is kind of late and you have to get them to bed."
"You get your butt down here and apologize, Samantha." Gale demanded.
Madge slipped her hand down into Gale's. That really got his attention. And it got Sam's too.
She yelled, "Why don't you just kiss her already?" And then she stomped into her room and slammed the door.
Gale heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, Madge."
"Gale, you have nothing to apologize for. She's upset and I understand." She squeezed his hand. "I'll call you later." She patted Becca's shoulder as she headed out of the house.
"It's late, Becs." Gale said as he placed a hand on her head. "Go get changed into your PJs and we'll call Mom."
Becca nodded and walked up the stairs.
Gale hurried out of the house and called to Madge. When she paused, he moved closer and slipped his hand into hers. "I'm sorry about Sam."
"It's fine. You know it is." She squeezed his fingers and let go. "I think she just needs some time."
"I don't know if time will do anything for her." He felt the strain in his voice.
She reached up and wiped at an escaping tear. "She's feeling this a lot more than any of us. You and Katniss are her world." She stepped around to the driver's side of her car. "I'll talk to you later. Go try to patch things up in there."
Gale went back inside and made his way up to Sam's room. "Can I come in?"
"I'm getting ready for bed." Sam called back.
Gale opened the door anyway and found Sam lying on her bed with her face in the pillow. He sat down on the side of the mattress. "I know you're mad, but the way you talked to Madge is out of line."
Sam turned her head. "I hate you."
Gale nodded. "I know. And you can hate me all you want. I'm your dad, I won't always be your favorite person. But anyone outside this family deserves respect."
"I don't care." She pressed her face in the pillow again. "You're such a jerk."
Gale opened his mouth to say something, but Becca jumped into the doorway. "I'm ready to call Mom." She announced.
Gale took out his phone and handed it over to Becca after finding Katniss's number. "Just push that button."
Becca skipped off toward her room with the phone and settled into bed. "Hi, Mommy!"
Gale walked out and leaned back against the wall between the rooms. He listened to Becca's soft chatter, recounting their evening. Her voice got softer and softer.
"Okay. Goodnight, Mommy. I love you." Becca said.
Gale walked into the room and took the phone from Becca. She yawned hugely, but continued to keep her eyes open. He smiled and walked into the hall. "Sami, you wanna talk to Mom?"
"Leave me alone." Sam said.
Gale sighed and pressed the phone to his ear. "Sorry, Sam's not happy right now." He walked out of the room. "She snapped at Madge."
"Well, I'm sure she was probably uncomfortable, Gale. You have to understand that." Katniss said.
"So we just let her be disrespectful to all of us?" Gale asked, walking down the stairs.
"No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying—"
"That Sam gets to be angry at all of us forever and get away with it."
She sighed. "I know. She's not a huge fan of Peeta either. But this is life now."
"It is." Gale sat down on the couch. "I'm just so ready for it all to settle down. Becca had a good time. Madge did. I tried to, but I was so worried about Sam that I really didn't as much."
"Sam's resilient, just like her father. She'll be fine. We just need to be patient."
"You know that patient isn't in my vocabulary. But Madge did say to give her some time, too." He sighed. "I'll let you go. Good night, Katniss."
"Good night, Gale. Give them both one more kiss for me, please."
"I will." He hung up the phone and made his way back up to the girls' rooms.
Becca was on her side crying softly.
"Hey, baby, what's wrong?" He asked as he sat beside her.
"I didn't ask Mommy for the song. She always sings me the song." She wailed.
Gale leaned down. "You want me to sing it for you?"
"It won't be the same." Becca sniffed.
"It might not be. But I really like the song." He smoothed his hand over her hair. "And you let me suing it the other day."
"I know." She wiped her nose.
He swiped his thumb under her eyes and started singing softly. He knew his voice wasn't anywhere near as strong as Katniss's, but it seemed like enough to lull Becca to sleep. He kissed her cheek. Then he whispered, "And this one's from your mom." Pressing one more kiss to her forehead, he stood and turned out her lamp.
Sam was still dressed all the way to her shoes, but Gale figured she was asleep. He removed her tennis shoes as gently as possible and pulled a blanket out of her chair up over her shoulders. He kissed her twice and murmured, "I love you, Sam."
"I'm sorry I said mean things to Madge." She turned her head and looked up at him. "And to you."
"It's fine. You can tell Madge when you see her." He patted her back. "Get some sleep."
"I love you, Dad." She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. "Good night."
"Sleep well, kiddo." He turned out her light.
He stood in the doorway to the master bedroom and looked around. So many memories in this house. It was going to be so hard to leave it.