A/N: Hey guys! Keep the good reviews coming. I will be using them all as of right now. But it may be a while before I use yours. But don't worry I will return your favors as soon as I use your idea. Thanks soooooo much! This chapter will again be using the ideas of the guest user, Gale Lover. Now to chapter 12!

Chapter 12

The days at the cabin were bliss for the family. It was like our own safe haven. Everyone loved it there. But me. The days that we spent there opened my eyes to things that I didn't want to see, or better yet feel.

The next day after we arrived, Gale and Prim had left early to look for herbs for my mother. Gale's excuse when I asked why he didn't wake me? "You looked like you were sleeping so peacefully. It was kinda cute." He earned two slugs in the shoulder. One for calling me cute and the other for taking my little sister out in the woods with just the two of them. Turns out, a few minutes after they entered the woods, Prim fell and cut her knee open. After I found that out, Gale got another slug. In the head.

"Oh, come on, Katniss," Prim had complained hours later. We were in the bathroom changing our clothes for bed. "It isn't that bad of a cut. And I had bandages with me. Gale was very careful with me and cleaned it up like the good big brother he is."

I frowned. "He's not your brother," I say, looking at her through the mirror.

"He might as well be," she retorts. "He acts like a brother."

I sigh. As she exits she mutters, "And I actually thought he would be my brother one day." I see her glance back at me out of the corner of my eye but I don't respond.

Gale, John, dad, and I walk through the trees after a long day of hunting. When we break through the treeline to the cabin we find Posy with her back to the side of the house. She's peeking around the corner so she doesn't see us approach.

"Hey, Posy!" Gale says. "What are you doin'?"

She turns her head and her eyes grow wide. "Shh!" she exclaims quietly while placing one finger to her lips. But it's too late.

It isn't but a moment later we see Vick rounding the corner. "Aha! Found you!" Posy takes off running but doesn't make it far before Vick catches up and tags her on the back.

"Tag! You're it!" he exclaims.

"Aww! Shoot!" she huffs and places her hands on her hips, turning towards us. "Thanks a lot Gale Gales. He got me! You got me caught! That means you have to play with us now."

"Okay," he says happily and hands me his game bag.

"You want to play, Catnip?" he asks.

"No, I'm good," I reply.

Gale walks over to Posy and she takes his hand. As they are walking away I hear her explaining and pointing to the big tree that Prim, Rory, and Vick are sitting at. She says that it's the "Safe Zone".

A few minutes later I am in the kitchen with my mother and Hazelle stripping the meat when suddenly I hear a loud squeal. I look out the window, expecting it to be Posy but soon find out that it is far from it when I see the large figure run in front of the window to the big tree with little Posy trailing behind with her arm out. Gale slows down a bit but continues his squealing. Posy tags him on the back and starts jumping up and down. "I got him! I got him!" She turns to the window. "Did you see Kat Kat? I got him!"

"I saw!" I exclaim with the biggest smile on my face. Possibly even the first smile I have given since getting here.

"Oh man!" Gale frowns and stamps his feet and throws his hands to his sides just like his little sister did when she had gotten tagged earlier. It's then that I realize how much Gale and Posy resemble. Their facial expressions are almost identical and it's hard not to find them adorable.

All eleven of us are sitting around the fire a couple hours later enjoying our dinner, when suddenly Posy says something that appalls me.

"I like it here," she says. "Can we stay here forever?" she's looking at her parents with innocent eyes. She doesn't know the pressure that she is putting on us.

But soon Vick jumps in. "Yeah, I like it here!"

"Me too!" Rory adds.

The room is silent for several minutes before Gale attempts to answer. But I stop him with the shake of my head. To the other's it may look as if I'm telling him "No, we can't stay here." But being hunting partners and best friends for so long he and I both know I'm telling him "You don't need to answer. Let someone else."

And someone does. John steps up and says hesitantly, "I'm sorry guys. But we can't stay here. There's something in District Thirteen. We don't know what but there is. But I promise, if we go there and there is something bad there that we do not want to be apart of, we will come right back here and we will have a life here. I promise."

Both sets of parents share looks with each other. They all want what's best for us. And right now, the best is District Thirteen.

Gale and I are laying on pallets in the floor in front of the fire. Are backs are to each other. Posy and Prim's snores are the only things that are breaking the silence until Gale turns to his back and begins whispering to me.

"Why did you stop me from answering them earlier?" he asks.

"Because it was about time that someone else stood up." I answer.

"What do mean?"

I turn to my other side and place my elbow to the floor and my head to my hand. "I mean," I whisper. "That it's time for you to stop acting like a father."

"What are you talking about?" he exclaims.

"Shh! You'll wake them!" I exclaim quietly.

"What do you mean I need to stop acting like a father? I've never acted like a father."

"Yes you have, Gale. When your dad was taken you had to step up as the man of the house. And that included getting all the food, breaking up fights, and, like you have been doing, making the huge decisions that effect all of us. I understand why you keep doing it. It's because you are used to it. But Gale your dad has been back for almost three years. It's time for you to step down and just be a brother."

"I have been a brother. I played hide and seek with the kids today," he retorts.

"Yes, you did. And then you tried to tell the kids that we couldn't stay here. That needs to be your father's job, not yours. Some of the weight needs to be lifted off of your shoulders, Gale. Give the father responsibility back to your father and just focus on being the loving big brother. Not the loving big brother and the stern father."

A/N: Review and tell me what you think! And keep the ideas coming! Thanks!