Chapter 17

(Gale POV)

My breath catches in my chest and I roll over to face Madge. Her eyes widen for just a second. I think she thought I'd already fallen asleep. She hadn't thought I'd hear her.

"What did you just say?" I ask, my face just inches from hers.

"I…I said I love you." She whispers again, stuttering as she speaks.

My lips don't wait one second before crashing into hers, kissing her intensely. Those words making it impossible for me to hold back. Making it impossible not to kiss her with all the emotion I feel right now. Those words I haven't heard cross her lips in so very long. My hands grab onto her, pulling her to me. Her response mirrors mine, kissing me back with equal emotion.

"I love you too. So much." I whisper in her ear as my lips trail down her jaw. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to hear you say that."

"I only just realized it today. When you left." Her breathless voice explains as my kisses find the curve of her neck, my hands on her waist. She arches her back, sighing softly. The sound of it ringing like music in my ears. Her hands clutch at my shirt and then I feel her mouth against the skin of my neck. A thrill surges through me and I need more. More of this. More of her. More of my Madge. I roll over and hover above her, my face just over hers. Even with the lights down low, I can see the look in her eyes. Vulnerable and dancing with excitement. She reaches up and pulls my face down to hers. Her lips pressing against mine as her fingers run through my hair and then trace over my neck and shoulders. I move my hands slowly down her sides until they rest on her hips, pressing against her, needing to be closer. When her hands tug at the hem of my shirt, I don't fight her on it. My arms raise and I let her slide it upwards, over my head, tossing it aside. When I feel her tongue graze over my collar bone, a moan escapes me. One of my hands finds one of hers and our fingers intertwine. It feels unbelievable to be able to be with her like this again, to have this closeness, this togetherness. My free hand moves, running up her thigh and she shudders beneath me.

"I've missed this so much." I breathe into her ear before planting kisses along her neck, down onto her shoulder. Every bit of my being wants to devour her, ravish her. I've held back for so long, waited so long, missed her so much. And it was all worth it. Every second of it. Somehow she's fallen in love with me all over again. Somehow she's completely mine again. Boldly, wantonly, I strip off her nightshirt, seeing her for the first time in so long, it takes my breath away. Our eyes lock with each other and I swear all time stands still. She's mine and I'm hers and for once, at long last, everything is exactly as it should be. Her lips meet mine again and we melt together, utterly lost and consumed in one another.

Later as she rests her head against my chest, I run my fingers through her long blonde hair. I'm a whole mess of emotions and feelings right now. Love, exhiliration, exhaustion, completeness. All because this one girl fell in love with me again.

"Hey, you asleep yet?" I whisper to her.

"Mmmm. Not quite yet." She murmurs, snuggling closer to me.

"I have something for you." I say softly as I slide out from under her. She yawns and sits up as I turn up the lights a little then go over to the drawer of the nightstand.

Back on the bed, I sit across from her and she eyes me curiously. "I've been holding onto this for you, until you might want to wear it again." I tell her as I hold out her wedding ring.

Stunned, she stares at it, looks up at me and then again at the ring before she finally can speak. "I have a wedding ring?"

I smile a little as I take her hand and slip it on her finger. "Of course you have a ring silly."

"I just assumed…I mean, I never even thought…Where did you…" She stammers making a mess of her words as her cheeks flush the loveliest shade of pink.

I laugh before explaining. "It's a family heirloom. When we got engaged, my mother gave it to me for you. It was my grandmother's before that. They took it off you in the Medical Center and gave it to me."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about it? It's so beautiful."

"I wasn't exactly trying to keep it a secret or anything. It's just that everything was so overwhelming for you. I mean, you wake up and find out you have a husband and a whole life you don't remember and I just figured the last thing you'd want was for me to expect you to wear this ring. I didn't want you to feel obligated about it."

"Oh Gale!" She exclaims as she leans forward, kissing me. "I love you."

"I'm never gonna tire of hearing you say that." I grin. And I mean it, I really mean it. After weeks of never being able to hear her say it, I hope nothing more than to hear her say it over and over again.

(Madge POV)

When I wake up, Gale's still fast asleep, his arms wrapped all around me as he hugs me against his chest. His bare chest. I close my eyes and inhale, taking in the memories of last night. It was more than I ever could have imagined. So perfectly perfect. Thrilling so that even now, hours later, I doubt I could hide the smile plastered across my face.

I hadn't meant for him to hear me say it. I'd thought he was sleeping. He'd been so exhausted and worn out when we got back here and the only reason I'd even whispered it was that it was all I could think about as he lay there next to me, safe and sound. Him leaving may have been scary for me, much more so than I expected it to be, but in the end I'm so glad that he went. After all, it was his leaving that brought me to recognize that what I was feeling was love. That I'd fallen for him all over again.

When he rolled over and asked me what I'd said it startled me. I knew then that he'd heard me. I repeated it for him and in a moment like no other I can remember, he'd kissed me so intensely, so deeply. He had definitely been hold back on me when we were kissing any time before this. This was so much more. And for once, when I wanted more of it, more of him, he hadn't stopped us. My admission was all he needed to feel comfortable going there with me again. For him it was revisiting territory we'd been too before. For me, it was all new. For me, it was as if it were the first time all over again. I had no idea it would be so incredible. It was like the floaty, blissful feeling I always felt when we kissed but better. Euphorically blissful.

And then, as I lay my head against his chest, drifting off to sleep, he'd surprised me. He'd returned my wedding ring. I didn't even know I had a ring. And it was so beautiful. So very, very beautiful. Delicate and simple. I'd always just assumed that I didn't have one, that it wasn't something Gale could have afforded. Most Seam marriages didn't have rings and if they did, it was just a plain band, never a diamond. The shock of it had me stumbling over my own words and thankfully, he hadn't been insulted but rather found it comical. He'd explained that it was a family heirloom. That his own mother gave it to us. This was hard to even fathom because Hazelle's husband had died in the mines years ago. This was very likely all she had left of him by way of material things. For her to offer that to me, to us, it meant so much. She truly thinks of me as part of her family.

I have no idea how my mind managed to forget such powerful, wonderful things as what I'd had last night. Head injury or not, it was had to imagine I would ever know what it felt like to be that loved so much. Being with Gale, like that, would not be something I'd forget about twice. Wouldn't be possible. I also have no idea how he, having not ever forgotten what it felt like, could manage to restrain himself, to hold back for my sake while I fell in love again. It's just one more way that shows just how much he does in fact love me. It's the only way he could have possibly held back like that. Because he loves me so very much.

But now that we were back on the same level again, now that we were whole again, I had no intentions of making him wait for anything ever again. God, I'm never going to be able to stop smiling, I think to myself. I'm so giddy that I find myself pressing kisses to his chest, lightly running my fingers up and down his stomach. I hadn't meant to wake him up, he was so tired but I was so lost in my thoughts and memories of last night, I'd kissed him awake.

"Hey there." His sleepy voice whispers as I feel his lips against my temple.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up." I say as I plant one more feathery kiss on his skin.

"Mmm, it's fine. You sleep good?" He yawns.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep if you want."

"No way." He smiles. "Feels like it could have all been a dream. I'm glad it wasn't."

I feel myself blush and I hide my face in his chest, biting my lip. "I'm glad it wasn't either." I tell him, still hiding my face.

"Don't go hiding that pretty face on me now." He teases only furthering my blushing as he pulls back a little so he can see me. He's smiling just as much as I am. We're going to look like two newlyweds with grins like this on our faces all day.

"Wanna go get some breakfast?" He asks me.

"Um, I think we missed that. We might still be able to make it to lunch though." I say as I gesture to the clock.

"Oh man, I had no idea we'd slept so long." He says, sitting up and then wincing as he did.

"You okay?" I ask, alarmed at his sudden wincing.

"Yeah, just really sore is all."

"What hurts?" I ask.

"Everything except my heart." He flirts.

I roll my eyes at his cheesiness but love it just the same. "Well after we eat maybe we can stop by the Medical Center and get something for that. I'm sure they have something to ease muscle pain."

"Okay. Come on, let's get up." He agrees, nodding to me.

He's about three steps away from the bathroom door when he stops and points at the floor. "Did Posy do that?"

I follow his finger's pointing and see the purple letters written on the floor. P-O-S-Y. "Yeah, don't be mad though. I told her it was okay."

"I'm not mad. I didn't even know she could write her name. Guess that school here is paying off."

"Nope, I taught her last night. She was practicing it and ran out of paper and in her excitement, it ended up on the floor. Rory was ready to kill her but I didn't care. Honestly, I kind of like it. Gives this place a little character."

"You taught my little sister to write her name?" He asks looking at me with amazement.

"Yes."

"God, I love you." He says shaking his head as he comes over, kisses me and grabs my hand, leading me into the bathroom with him, his arm slinking around my waist as he pulls me against him. He leads me into the shower, peeling away our clothes between kisses. The steamy water only amplifies the blissful feeling of his touch and I find myself leaning back against the shower wall as he kisses down my neck. By the time we're finished with one another the water has long since run cold and I'm almost certain we won't make it to lunch on time. We dress quickly after drying off, hoping we'll be able to catch the end of the lunch service if we hurry.

"You're going to make us miss lunch if you don't stop that." I tell him when he comes up behind me and I feel his lips against my neck, his arm around my waist, pulling me back against him.

"Lunch is overrated." He replies, his words muffled by my hair.

"Gale Hawthorne!" I giggle as I playfully pull away, resisting him. I would love to stay here like this with him all day but we should eat. Neither of us ate breakfast and he must be starving because I know for a fact I am.

He groans but takes my hand and leads us for the door anyway, stealing one more kiss before opening it. Out in the hall, smile like kids in love as we make our way to the cafeteria. There, we surprisingly make it in plenty of time to get our food trays and end up having to search for a place to sit because it's so crowded in here. All the new people from 12 are here and it's strange to see so many familiar faces. Not necessarily faces that I can personally put names with but faces I've seen in 12. And I get more than a few looks myself. Guess they recognize me too. We end up sitting with Gale's old friend Thom and a couple other guys he knew from the mines. I don't know Thom personally, or well, I don't remember him anyway, except that I always saw him around with Gale at school.

"Well if it isn't the lovebirds who started this whole mess." Thom teases as we sit down.

"Shut up. Would you rather be sitting down in the mines or sitting here eating lunch?" Gale jokingly reminds him.

"Point taken." Thom replies with a few accompanying nods from the other guys.

"Seriously though, this place isn't all bad once you get used to it. " Gale tells them. "You'll see."

"So what gives anyway man? You two know the whole time about this place? How on earth did you ever find it?"

"We were just as surprised about 13 being here as you were. Our escapes, mine from the arena and his from 12, were done without our having anything to do with them. Something my parents helped arrange a long time ago as a back up plan for the reaping." I explain as I swallow down my bite of sandwich.

"Really? Huh. You'd never know your father had anything to do with it, what with all his pleading videos and all. You'd think he knew nothing about where you were." Thom says.

I stop chewing my food and stare at him. Pleading videos? What is he talking about? Is there something I don't remember that Gale hasn't mentioned? What videos?

"Uh, Thom, we don't get video feeds down here. Madge hasn't seen any videos." Gale says quietly. I don't fail to notice that he says Madge hasn't seen any videos, not we haven't seen any videos. Something gives me a feeling he knows what Thom is talking about. Like I'm the only one at this table who doesn't know some big secret.

"What videos?" I ask. My voice is flat as I speak and I avoid making eye contact with Gale, looking only directly at Thom.

"Just some viewing stuff. Didn't, um, realize they don't show those here." He mumbles uncomfortable shifting in his chair.

"What videos?" I repeat.

"The Capitol went nuts when you guys all disappeared. They had your father tape some messages, asking you to turn yourself in." He finally tells me.

My father had a message for me? And no one told me about it? A message that apparently was on viewings for all of Panem? We may not get viewings here but Gale's looking awfully guilty. Like he's seen them or at the very least knew about them.

"If you'll excuse me." I say as I get up from the table. I refuse to sit there at a table full of basically strangers from 12 watch me get upset over this. As I'm walking away, I hear Thom tell Gale that he's sorry and I hear Gale's chair push back as he stands to follow me. He catches up to me, takes my hand and doesn't say anything. Once we're in the stairwell, he stops and I look at him waiting for him to explain.

"Madge, I didn't know there multiple videos. I only saw one, right after we got here. Haymitch and Katniss showed it to me and wanted to know if I thought you could handle seeing it yet."

"Obviously you decided I couldn't handle it." I point out, folding my arms over my chest. The happiness I was feeling prior to lunch fading, giving way to anger. How could he know something like this and keep it from me?

"It was too much. All of it. You were so overwhelmed with your head injury and with trying to adapt to having this whole life you can't remember and it just seemed like if I told you about it or showed it to you that you might break. You just seemed so fragile at that point."

"That doesn't mean I don't deserve to know about this. He's still my father."

"I know he is. But I also know that message isn't really him. It's not him talking to you, it's the Capitol. They're the ones making him say it. Trust me, it wasn't a message from him."

"Trust you?" I practically snort. "That's comical considering I just found out you've been keeping a secret like this from me. Is there anything else you think I'm not able to handle? Any more things you decided I don't need to know about?"

"Madge, please don't be upset about this. You have to understand, I just didn't want you to have to bare anymore upsetting news. You were struggling so much as it was in the beginning. I thought it would crush you." He pleads softly, desperately trying to get me to see his reasoning. He reaches out for my arms but I resist, keeping them folded across my chest.

I feel so betrayed and so anger right now and all I want is to be alone. I don't want to talk about this anymore with him and I just want to be by myself. I turn and begin making my way up the stairs as hot tears pool in the corners of my eyes. I hear Gale start to follow me and I know I can't look back at him without losing it right now. "Don't. Don't follow me right now." I choke out without looking back. And he doesn't.