A/N: I don't even know. Make of it what you'd like. Tis strange, but I enjoyed writing it and figured I needed an update. -Taryn

04: Reunion (AU)

Peeta paced back and forth, back and forth, knowing that Madge was standing and watching him and wondering why he was so nervous. But he couldn't stop himself from pacing.

Back and forth, back and forth.

One of his men came into the chamber with some trivial question and Peeta snarled at him. The man fled. Madge raised her eyebrows. Peeta made a gesture composed of equal parts frustration and impatience, and forced himself to sink into a chair.

He gripped the armrests, for otherwise Peeta thought he might have sprung up almost as soon as he had sat down. It had been six weeks since Madge had arrived, and in those six weeks little seemed to have been accomplished. It was hard for him to focus on the war at hand with all the other thoughts in his head. He had managed to consolidated his hold on the outlying districts of 11, 10 and 9, as well as secure the port of District 4, and he had moved on to the Capitol, but Peeta had not managed much else.

The Capitol was Peeta's prize, he wanted it desperately, but almost as desperately he did not want to destroy it in the taking. The Capitol was a fortified city, it could be defended, and it had by all accounts a good militia. The very last thing Peeta wanted was to become enmeshed in a siege that kept him from his kingship for months, if not years.

So, using his years of military training and his past of conquering, Peeta hedged and threatened and negotiated, moving his army eastward, swinging south below The Capitol, then marching west and across the mountains near District 2. From there Peeta moved his army to District 1. Here he had moved himself, Madge, and his immediate command into a large and comfortable abbey house while his army made do with sleeping more roughly in the frosty glades or, if they were lucky, the outbuildings and barns of local miners. And so at District 1, Peeta waited, until, two days ago, had come news that a delegation was moving west from The Capitol to meet him. And, perhaps, to surrender.

Heading the delegation was the dowager queen, Katniss.

They were due this afternoon; they had, in fact, arrived, and Peeta and Madge only waited for the delegation to be escorted into their presence.

Peeta, Madge thought, was far more nervous than he should be, and she wondered why.

Personally, Madge was more than looking forward to meeting Katniss. She'd heard so many intriguing things about the woman over the past years (although intimate, personal information about the queen had largely ceased to come her way after she had lost her spy within Katniss' ladies in waiting) that now Madge could barely restrain herself from hopping from foot to foot.

Was Katniss the reason Peeta was so nervous? Madge suddenly wondered. And if so, why? At least Katniss could not possibly be the threat that Madge knew Clove had posed. Since her arrival, Clove had kept her distance; from Madge, at least, although Madge had seen Clove talking to Peeta on two or three occasions when she managed to catch him at some distance from his wife. Madge refused to let that get to her; Peeta was loyal to her, she knew.

There was a knock at the door, and Thom of District 12, one of Peeta's senior commanders, entered. "They are here, waiting outside," he said.

Madge saw Peeta draw in a deep breath and slowly rise from the chair. She also saw him briefly clench and then relax his hands. "How many, and who?" Peeta said.

"The dowager queen," said Thom. "Gale's chancellor. Coriolanus Snow, the archbishop of The Capitol. And a small retinue, unarmed."

Peeta was silent, a little too long, for Thom glanced at Madge in concern. "Pray send in only the queen," Peeta said eventually. "Entertain the rest with good wine and food and warmth, and tell them that I shall receive them later."

Thom nodded, bowed, and left.

Madge watched as Peeta drew in yet another deep breath, and again clenched and relaxed his hands.

Sweet Christ Lord, she thought, what has he to be so nervous about?

Then the door opened, and Cato's queen and Gale's sister entered.

The first thing that Madge noticed as Katniss hesitated just inside the door was that the woman, if not stunningly beautiful according to court tastes, was nonetheless one of the most arresting figures Madge had ever laid eyes on. It was not her features so much, although Katniss' face and form, and most particularly her stunning grey eyes, were most pleasing, but that Katniss had a presence about her that was extraordinary. She was lovely in the manner of a still summer's day, and she carried about her a sense of peace and strength that Madge would have given her right arm to acquire.

She wore very simply-cut clothing, and had left her dark hair unveiled and unworked, save for a loosely bound plait that twisted over her left shoulder, but, even so, with her presence Katniss could be recognizable as nothing else but a queen.

The second thing Madge realized was that Katniss was as nervous and as tense as Peeta.

The third thing that Madge noticed was that Peeta and Katniss could not take their eyes off each other.

Madge was put out by this, only in the sense that it was so unexpected. She did not feel any presentiment of jealousy or of disquiet. She was consumed only by a sense of great curiosity and by a desire to understand what lay behind this extraordinary tension between her husband and Katniss.

"My lady queen," Madge said softly, but with enough strength to make Katniss' eyes flicker, then move away from Peeta to his duchess. "I do welcome you to District One, although"—Madge smiled, quite genuinely, and reached out both her hands as she walked over to Katniss—"I confess I feel most awkward in welcoming this land's queen into the presence of its invader."

Katniss returned Madge's smile. There was a tinge of annoyance in the back of those grey eyes. "I am but its forgotten queen," she said. "The wife of two kings past. Johanna should truly be here."

"No," Peeta said, and Madge was more than a little relieved to hear that his voice was strong. "You are this land's queen, whatever brief claim Johanna might have had to the title. Thus you are here now, not Johanna."

He had also walked over, and Katniss took her hands from Madge's and held them out for Peeta. As Peeta took them, Madge had the sense that both Peeta and Katniss had quite forgotten she was there.

And again, Madge's only reaction was one of deep curiosity. What went on here?

"I am sorry about Gale," Peeta said. Madge noticed he had not let go of Katniss' hands.

Katniss nodded, and tears sprang to her eyes.

"It was none of my doing," Peeta said.

"It was Clove's doing," said Katniss and Madge as one, and both women looked at each other, smiled, laughed softly, and, in that single moment, became friends and allies. "Gale told me so much of you," the two women said together, and their laughter deepened, and whatever awkwardness had been in the chamber dissipated, and Katniss let Peeta's hands go to lean forward and embrace Madge.

"Thank you," Katniss murmured for Madge's ears only, "for coming so quickly to Peeta's side. He is whole, thank all the gods."

"I would not allow the snake to take him," Madge muttered, and Katniss leaned back, her face sober now, and nodded at Madge.

"We should speak later," she said. "You and I." Madge smiled in agreement. "But now," Katniss turned back to Peeta, "my lord of District 12, I have come before you for two reasons."

He inclined his head, his blue eyes very steady on her face.

"The first," Katniss said, "is to beg for the lives of Gale's children, and that of his wife, Johanna. She is currently with child, and greatly fearful that you intend her harm."

"I did not wish him dead, Katniss. I would have done anything to prevent that."

"I know," she said softly.

"I vowed to Gale that Johanna and his children would remain safe, Katniss. And so they shall. As shall you. He asked for your life as well. Did you know that?"

"I do not fear you, Peeta."

Madge felt that she should say something, if only to reassert her presence in the chamber. "Peeta has already hammered his orders into the heads of every one of the commanders with us," she said. "They are not to be harmed, and given every assistance possible."

"Then thank you both," said Katniss. "The safety of Gale's family means a great deal to me. The second reason I stand before you is to hand you The Capitol." She paused. "It is, after all, yours."

Madge frowned at that. What did Katniss mean?

Peeta's mouth twitched into a tiny smile. "Then I will gladly accept The Capitol's surrender, madam."

"Other members of my party wait outside. Shall you–"

"No, leave them for now. Perhaps..."

"Perhaps Peeta and I can remember the more courtly among our manners," Madge put in smoothly, "and offer you a chance to sit and perhaps have a cup of fine wine. Will you accept?"

Katniss smiled. "Gladly, my lady."

They sat for some time, sipping wine, chatting, agreeably; every look, every spoken word reinforcing Madge's growing belief that her husband and this queen were only reacquainting themselves rather than establishing an acquaintance.

Peeta and Katniss also focused too much of their discussion on Madge. What Madge had expected (before Katniss had actually entered their chamber) was that there would be tense verbal parrying as the queen tried to ensure the safety of her people and country, and Peeta tried to ensure every concession possible. Instead, Madge found herself in the slightly surreal situation of fielding constant questions from both Katniss and Peeta as they both tried very desperately not to engage the other one in anything other than cliches about the weather or the state of the rushes on the floor.

Katniss asked a score of questions about Madge's children. Peeta asked Madge to relate amusing incidents from their life together, and from that time in their youth when they'd had to fight so hard to marry against what felt like all of Panem combined against them. It was only during this last topic that there came a very deep and personal interaction between Peeta and Katniss.

As Madge finished relating the three years of struggling with princely and papal objections, Katniss actually looked at Peeta directly. "How strange for you," she said, "that you had to spend so much energy and time fighting for the right to occupy your wife's bed. From what I know of you, I should have thought you would only have let it go when the road turned hard. I had no idea ambition had come to mean so much to you."

There was a stillness between them as Madge tried to frantically work out the hidden meaning in what Katniss had just said. She felt slightly off-kilter for what Katniss implied. Peeta wasn't a man who gave up easily. He was a man of responsibility and strength and unity.

Anxiously, Madge turned to her husband, wondering if he would be offended. He wasn't. He looked like he was trying to hide pain in his eyes; both women saw it anyway.

"My sensibilities have changed," Peeta finally said, voice groveled.

"How fortunate for Madge," said Katniss, and now there was a decided edge to her voice.

"There have been deeds in my past that I have come to regret," Peeta said. "I wish I had not let go of..."

He stopped suddenly, his eyes sliding his wife's way.

You! Madge thought, her face very calm. You! That's what you were about to say.

"I have learned from my mistakes," he said, and now his voice was as hard as Katniss'.

Katniss inclined her head toward Madge. "Patently, my lord of District Twelve."

"Madge," Peeta said very slowly, his eyes first on his goblet of wine and then lifting to Katniss, "has taught me how greatly I should have treasured..."

You! Madge felt like standing and screaming that single word that Peeta was so loathe to utter. Yet for all the implications of this conversation, Madge still did not feel a single pang of jealousy or of possessiveness. All she wanted was to somehow discover what these two were talking about, and how it was—Madge took a deep breath as she finally allowed the thought to form in her mind—how it was that Peeta and Katniss had come to love each other so deeply.

Then, as Madge struggled within herself, Katniss turned her lovely eyes to her and said, simply, "I am sorry..." A pause, as Madge wondered what that apology referred to. "I am tired," Katniss continued, "and I admit that my reception had worried me so excessively on the journey to District One that now I feel over-weary. I speak nonsense, my lady. Forgive me."

You weren't speaking nonsense to Peeta, Madge thought, for you have not begged forgiveness of him.