Chapter 7
(Gale POV)
What the hell? Tripp's going after Madge now? Would he really do that? Would he take advantage of her lack of memory like that? Was he going to finally get to make the move on her that he'd always wanted to make? Would it work? I lean my head back against the stairwell wall, close my eyes and force myself to take slow, deep breaths. No need for me to get all worked up. Not just yet. Just because I overheard part of that conversation does not mean I need to panic. I tell myself this even as I feel my temper beginning to boil.
I need to get to Madge and just see her. I need to talk to her, let her know that I'm sorry for being thoughtless last night when I made that comment about how great she used to be. And I need to be sure she knows it wasn't intentional that I didn't come home last night. I pray she doesn't think it was something I did out of ill intent. Please be home, please be home. I take the stairs two at a time as I hurry to our unit. Once I get to our floor, I push past the crowd of people waiting at the elevators and go straight to our door. I jab the buttons on the keypad and burst through the door as soon as it unlocks only to find an empty room. She isn't here.
Breakfast. She must already be at breakfast! If I hurry, I should be able to catch her. My feet are taking me as fast as they can to the cafeteria when I bump into Katniss.
"Gale! Hey, glad to bump in to you. I need to talk to you"
"I'm sorta in a hurry, can it wait?" I tell her impatiently as all I want to do right now is find Madge.
"Actually, no. I need to show you something. Trust me, you'll want to see it."
"Catnip, I really have to find Madge. I'm sorry. I'll come find you as soon as I can, I promise." I apologize as I hurry passed her, sending her my most apologetic look before I continue to make my way to the cafeteria. She calls my name out in frustration one more time but I don't stop and I don't look back. I can't right now. I just can't.
In the crowded cafeteria I scan around for her to no avail. Marah Krull finds me though. And she knows I'm looking for Madge.
"You looking for Madge?" She asks feigning ignorance.
I glare at her, afraid if I speak I might just outright punch her instead. And as much as I'd like to do that, I know it isn't the solution I need at the moment.
"Because if you are, she isn't here. She was eating with Tripp but you've just missed her. Sorry." She gloats as she wipes down a table and flits passed me.
I hate her. I really hate her. I clench my jaw shut and storm off towards the Medical Center. She had breakfast with Tripp, huh? Well isn't that just perfect. He's gonna do it. He's making his move and trying to steal her away from me. Well I won't let that happen. No way in hell is anyone taking her away from me. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. I'll fight for her. I'll win her back, memory or no memory, she belongs with me.
I fight back stinging tears in my eyes as I board the elevator for the Medical Center. I'm about to get off on that floor when I'm headed off by Katniss, this time with Haymitch too.
"Come on Kiddo, we need you to see something. The princess can wait." He tells me as he blocks my exit of the elevator and they instead climb aboard with me.
I go to push passed them but they stop me. Haymitch with his grip on my arm, Katniss with her voice. "Gale, please."
"Fine. Just get this over with fast. I need to get to Madge." I cave as I fold my arms over my chest.
"If you'd cooperate, we'd get finished much faster." Haymitch points out as he casually leans against the wall of the elevator.
"Look, you will want to see this. Come with us to the Defense Center, watch this video clip and then you can go find Madge. She's with her therapist right now anyway so you couldn't talk to her for at least an hour." Katniss reasons with me.
I silently follow them to the Defense Center where they have to get a special pass for me to enter with them since I don't have clearance for this Department. It takes forever as I wait impatiently for the man behind the desk to fill out a form with all my information. Finally, he hands me a temporary pass that I must wear around my neck so long as I'm in here and must surrender it before leaving.
With that nonsense all squared away, the three of us make our way to Haymitch's office. He has an office? That drunken fool of a Victor actually has an office? That's something I never would have imagined. He sits at his desk, props his feet up on the desk and Katniss gestures for me to sit in a chair next to hers.
"Alright, show me whatever it is already."
"This kiddo, is footage obtained from the Capitol. It aired all over Panem last night." He tells me as he clicks a remote and a video begins to play.
I watch as Snow gives a lengthy speech about the sabotage on the arena during the Games and the escape of not only Tributes, but their families as well. He's careful not to mention that 13 is where we escaped to or that they were our saving grace. He makes it sound more as if we all are hiding somewhere in the Capitol lands between one of the districts. He does make certain to warn that the penalty for such actions can be death if seen fitting by the Capitol. The video then switches to an interview of Madge's father. He looks awful. Thinner, paler with heavy bags under his glazed over eyes. I can tell that stylists have tried to cover it up but I know him well enough to know that he isn't well or being taken care of.
In the interview he speaks in such monotones that it doesn't even sound like his voice. His eyes don't move or blink. He seems drugged almost. Or hypnotized. I don't know, altered somehow. He speaks directly to Madge.
"Where ever you are my darling daughter, I ask that you please show yourself. Find a peacekeeper or loyal citizen and identify yourself. If you act accordingly, the President will be willing to offer you immunity for your help in bringing justice upon those who have acted against Panem."
And then the video clip ends with a posting of pictures of all of us. Those of us that disappeared. Those of us charged with kidnapping of tributes, destruction of Capitol grounds, and treason. One by one, each of our faces appears on the screen so that anyone watching knows exactly what we look like. And then Snow places a bounty on our heads. Anyone who sees us and provides information leading to our capture will be richly rewarded by Snow himself.
Haymitch clicks off the video and looks to me. "So, I guess you can see our dilemma. Do we tell her or not tell her?"
"You can't. She's barely holding herself together as it is now. This would crush her, seeing her father like that. She cried for so long just finding out that he was in prison. She won't be able to deal with this on top of everything else she has going on right now. Does Snow know where we are?"
"Snow doesn't have a clue where we are. If he did, they'd already be on us. He's trying to bait Madge with her father. But don't buy that load of bull he's selling about giving her immunity. If they get their hands on her, she's a goner for sure. And so are the rest of us. They'll break her down, pick her little beat up brain for info and then discard her like trash as they hunt us all down."
"We wanted your input on this because we weren't all on the same page about how to proceed."
"The Defense Department wants my input?" I inquire skeptically.
"Not with our Defense plans. We've got that handled. Your input is needed with how we should proceed with Madge."
"What do you mean?"
"Obviously Madge is in a delicate state with her memory missing a few things and all. This video is classified information, stuff not privy to the rest of 13. If we tell her about it, she has to keep it confidential. She won't be able to discuss it with anyone. Not her doctors, not her friends, not a soul."
"We were only even considering showing this to her because it directly involved her family." Katniss adds quietly.
"You really can't show this to her. She isn't in a good place right now and she gets so overwhelmed. Even playing with Posy was too much for her the other day. I'm telling you, she can't handle this. Not right now anyway. Maybe later, maybe when she's got a better grasp of everything, but not yet."
"Alrighty then, the video waits until you say the word." Haymitch says as he pulls his feet from his desk, sitting upright in his chair.
"Come on, I'll get you signed out and walk over to Medical with you." Katniss says. I follow her out of the room and back to the front desk where I again have to go through all the paperwork and hoops to get signed out and turn in my temporary pass. It takes nearly an hour, which is beyond insane.
By the time we get back to the Medical Center, Madge is already gone. I've just missed her for the second time today. I bang my fist against the concrete wall in frustration, blooding my knuckles. The woman working the front desk of the Medical Center notices then insists that I have my hand looked at by a medic before I leave. I protest but she's already on her phone, paging someone for me.
I roll my eyes and sit down in a chair. Katniss takes a seat and waits with me. I look over at her and she gives me the most unsympathetic look ever.
"What? It's your own stupid fault you know. Probably oughta do something about that temper of yours. What's up with you anyway?"
"Just really need to talk to Madge is all."
"Sure. That's all it is."
"Can we not talk about this?" I ask her, annoyed at this whole day so far.
"Fine. Wanna hear about other problems then?"
"Shoot." I tell her, happy to hear about anything other than things relating to Madge.
"You know the other day when you sat down at the table with Peeta and I and it was all weird? Well, it was like that because Peeta got some bad news about his family."
"Wait, they aren't here too?" I ask, only now realizing I hadn't seen any of them since we got to 13.
"No. His mother was deemed too great of a risk to try and bring here. She's too much of a Capitol supporter. When plans were being made, all the families were secretly evaluated and the board here in 13 wasn't comfortable that she could be trusted."
"What happened to them?"
"After we all vanished,the Capitol picked them up. Closed down the bakery and summoned them all to the Capitol. They're probably all being held in the prison and interrogated. Peeta's a wreck. He agrees that his mother wouldn't have wanted to come here, but he feels for them all the same. They're still his family."
"Aww man. No wonder he looked so upset." I can't even imagine being here without my family, knowing I'd never see them again.
"Yeah. He's been a total wreck. So if you see him at work maybe you could be extra nice to him?"
I nod and realize when she mentions work that I'm going to be late for my first day if I don't wrap it up here soon. Thankfully, the medic arrives and quickly cleans and bandages my hand so I can go.
As I hurry to the cafeteria, I remember that I still haven't seen Ballard anywhere and I'm sure Katniss knows his whereabouts. "Hey, what happened to that Ballard kid from 4?"
"Ballard? He's one of the insiders for 13. We had to leave him behind otherwise his cover would've been blown."
"That kid was an insider? Wow." I just assumed 13 only had connections with adults.
"Yeah, like they told us, there are insiders all over the place." She shrugs as if she's already accepted the fact that it's just how it is, spies walking amongst us our whole lives while we're none the wiser.
Once I arrive in the cafeteria, I do a quick search for Madge but once again, I fail to find her. I do notice that Tripp isn't anywhere to be seen either. He better not be with her, wherever she is. Not if he's worming his way into her heart.
I check in with my supervisor and get sent straight over to the sink that's rapidly filling with dirty dishes. As I wash the dishes, my mind gets me more and more worked up about this whole Tripp thing. Before, back when Madge and I were just dating and he'd tried to make a move with those stupid flowers, I was so pissed off. I'd cut out of school and gotten in a fight with Madge over it. Oh, and I'd knocked the daylights out him too. And for awhile, that had worked, up until I overheard that stairwell conversation between him and Marah this morning. I thought he was just being a good friend to her. Even after I found out that he was in love with her, I still trusted him not to act on it. I did, I really did. And apparently, I'm a flipping idiot. And now I'm up here scrubbing dishes while he's off somewhere being the sleaze that I originally thought he was. If he so much as lays a hand on her, I'm gonna kick his face in all over again. She may not remember it, but she is my wife and he does need to remember that even if she doesn't.
After the lunch service clean up ends and dinner prep completed, we are given a short break to eat an early dinner since we'll be working through the dinner shift and I remember what Katniss said earlier about Peeta's family. I go over to where he's sitting and join him for our break.
"Feel like some company?"
"Katniss told you, huh?" He says knowingly as he eyes me.
I shrug and sit down anyway and start chowing down on my meal. The food here is plentiful enough but it's not exactly delicious. I eat it anyway because at the end of the day, food is still food.
"I'm stuck on dish duty. What'd they stick you with?"
"Baking. Nothing fancy though. Just doing mass quantity loaves of bread."
"Well, that beats doing dishes." I offer up for lack of any other conversation starters.
"I guess. So how's it going with Madge?"
I grumble a little as I feel this is going to be the new question I get asked whenever I see anyone who knows us. I know everyone means well but it's sort of a difficult question for me to answer. "Okay. Could be better but it could also be a lot worse."
"Any memory yet?"
"Nope. Right now she doesn't know me, or us rather, at all." I reply trying not to sound as pitiful as I feel.
"You should take her on a date."
"A what?" I ask in surprise.
"I said, you should ask her out on a date. It's gotta feel funny being married to someone you don't feel like you know so take her out, let her get to know you all over again."
I sit back in my chair and stare at him, mouth half open. It never occurred to me to do anything like that. And it's brilliant! That's exactly what I need to do!
"Mellark, you just may be a genius!" I proclaim as a wide grin spreads across my face.
"I do what I can." He says looking pleased that he may have helped out with my situation.
I fly through the rest of my shift just wanting to be done as soon as possible. The dinner rush keeps me so busy that I don't get a chance to peek out into the cafeteria to look for Madge. I should have thought ahead to tell Katniss to meet up with her so she'd have someone she actually knows to eat with but of course I was too busy to stewing about Tripp and Marah too think of it. Hopefully, Tripp didn't think of it and offer to eat with her. I try to focus on Peeta's idea of taking her on a date instead of focusing on Tripp. It's probably best if I'm not incredibly ticked off when I finally get to talk to her today.
When my shift ends, I rip off my apron and rubber gloves, tossing them aside, and haul it as fast as I can up to our floor. First I'm going to apologize and straighten out last night and then I'm going to just ask her out. Tell her I want to take her on a date, let her get to know me all over again.
I'm all amped up with excitement until I round the corner and see Tripp Krull coming out of my unit! Oh hell no! He was not just in there with Madge! In my own home! Rage burns through me and the next thing I know, I have him pinned against the wall, my forearm tight against his neck.
"You keep your hands off my wife!" I snarl at him.
He looks at me, eyes wide and scared, and tries to speak to me but I have my arm pressed so hard against his throat that he can't. I pull back my arm but maintain my stance.
"I…I didn't touch her! I just…we were just…a video." He stammers, caught completely off guard by my actions.
"I heard you and Marah talking this morning and I'm warning you right now that if you do anything, your ass is mine!"
His eyes get even wider and he opens his mouth to say something else but I shove away from him, giving him one last threat-bearing glare and let myself into the unit.
Inside, I don't see Madge but when she hears the door open, she steps out of the bathroom. Just the sight of her melts my anger away, makes me calm down. She's here. She's here and she's beautiful and I love her.
"Hey." Is all I can say, not taking my eyes from hers.
"Hey." She offers up in return as she gazes back at me.
"I've been chasing you down all day trying to find you."
"You were?"
"Mmhmm. Kept just missing you everywhere I went. I needed to explain about last night, I'm sorry it took me until now to find you."
"I looked for you too. At first anyway. Then I kind of thought maybe you didn't want to be found." She tells me softly, sounding unsure about how I'll feel.
"I always want you to find me. I'd never hide from you." I tell her, taking steps until I'm closer to her. I want to pull her into my arms and kiss her. Want to kiss her more than anything. She doesn't step backwards but I can tell my closeness to her makes her nervous as I see her swallow, eyes studying my every move. She can tell I want to kiss her. I don't though, I hold back.
"Can we talk?" I ask her.
She nods, eyes still watching me as I gesture for us to sit down. She sits on the bed and I sit facing her, still close to her but not as close as when I first came in.
"About last night, look, I left because I was mad at myself for what I said or for how it came out and I knew I'd upset you. I ended up falling asleep on a bench in the agriculture center and didn't wake up until this morning. I never meant to not come back last night and I'm sorry that I didn't."
"I'm sorry that I got so upset. I really did know that you didn't mean it the way I took it."
"So we're okay then?" I ask giving her a hopeful smile.
She bites her bottom lip and smiles as she nods. I smile back and decide this is the perfect time to ask her on a date.
"Well now that we have that all squared away, I have something to ask you."
"What's that?"
"Well, I wanted to ask if you would go on a date with me."
I watch as her cheeks flush pink and she bites her bottom lip again, a smile lingering underneath. "You want me to go on a date with you?"
"I was thinking it would be good. I want you to get to know me all over again."
Her cheeks still pink, she smiles fully now and nods. "I'd like that a lot."
"Alright, it's date then. Tomorrow night."
"Okay, it's a date." She repeats, still smiling. And now I find it even more difficult not to kiss her.