A/N: Hi everyone, I just wanted to thank you for being be so supportive! I reached 100 reviews and I'm so happy :) The next two chapters are a bit to do with the legal system, and I know a little about how the procedures work in Australia so hopefully things aren't too different in America. So sorry if I get any details wrong, I did my best!

Peeta's POV

I was having trouble processing things. One second Katniss and I were making out, really making out and she was about to tell me she thought she…I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I had a feeling I knew what she was going to say. I wanted to say it too. The next second, however, she was freaking out because Gale had just been arrested. What?

Katniss was mess, pacing around her room and asking Prim and Rory what they knew, but it was clear that they had just as much information as she did. The three of them were freaking out, and Prim looked close to tears. Rory put his arm around her, but it was obvious that he was trying not to let his true emotions show for her sake.

Katniss was talking at one hundred miles an hour. Trying to convince herself that Gale would be fine and that it wasn't that serious, but I had a feeling that there was something she wasn't telling me.

"Katniss!" I exclaimed, cutting through her thoughts. "You just need to calm down for a second."

"Calm down!" Katniss looked at me incredulously. "My best friend is behind bars and you're telling me to calm down?"

"We just need to think about things clearly." I said slowly. "We should go down to the police station, he'll probably be let out on bail."

It appeared that that thought hadn't dawned on any of them, and quickly we rushed out of the apartment. Katniss took the lead, directing us straight to the police station, but I knew that she wouldn't be able to talk to the police officer calmly enough as she was.

"It's okay." I said to reassure her, "I'll do the talking."

She looked relieved, and she, Prim and Rory stood back while I walked up to the front desk of the police station. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, my only reference being movies I had seen, so I wasn't sure if this was going to work. I tried to act as confident as I could as I began to speak.

"Hi. My name is Peeta Mellark." I said to the police woman at the front desk. "My friend got a call from Gale Hawthorne saying that he has been arrested."

"That's correct." The police woman said, her mouth a thin, stern line.

"Will he be released?" I continued, gulping back my fears.

"Gale Hawthorne has several charges, including breaking and entering and failing to co-operate. He can be released on bail, but there is a one thousand dollar surety required."

I nodded my head, my heart sinking. I returned to Katniss, Prim and Rory, who were huddled together, still trying not to cry.

"Gale can be released." I began, "But his surety is a thousand dollars."

"What does that mean?" Prim asked quickly.

"It means that one thousand dollars handed over as a promise that Gale will appear at trial. Otherwise he'll be held in custody until that day." I tried to explain it as best I could.

Katniss looked stricken, and she sunk into the chair in the waiting area. Rory started to cry at that point, and so did Prim.

"There is no way that either of our families can afford that." Katniss wailed. "Not to mention all the legal fees that will come after." She put her head in her hands, and it was killing me to see her in so much despair.

Not matter what Gale had said to me in the past, he obviously meant a lot to Katniss, and I decided that I would be the one to pay Gale's surety.

"Don't worry, Katniss." I said softly. "I'll take care of it."

Katniss looked up at me, tears in her eyes. "Peeta no- I couldn't make you do that. I got some money saved, we'll figure it out."

"Katniss, I want to do it." I replied.

"Peeta…" she tried to stop me as I turned to walk back over the desk.

"Let me do this, Katniss." I pleaded. "It's not a big deal."

I regretted saying that immediately. It was a big deal. To Katniss, one thousand dollars was months worth of groceries, a year of working at the pizza place, being able to rent her apartment…If I was to withdraw one thousand dollars from my savings account, well…it would hardly make a difference. I felt awful for saying that to Katniss, but at the same time, there was no way I could stand back and let Katniss and Gale's families struggle to afford all the legal expenses. It wouldn't be right.

So I went through the process of paying the surety, and finally after what felt like years, Gale appeared in the waiting room. He was holding a plastic bag of his possessions, ink still on his fingertips and he looked tired, more than tired, as if he had just been to Hell and back. I guess in a way this situation kind of was like that.

Katniss, Prim and Rory rushed to him, and Gale seemed to collapse a little into their arms. I stayed back, just watching, because although I had just paid for Gale's release, that was their moment to make sure he was all right.

No matter what my feelings were towards Katniss, and my motivations for helping Gale out, it actually felt nice to use the money I had to help someone, as apposed to the selfish ways money was usually spent on the Upper East Side.

We rushed back to Katniss' apartment to discuss what happened. We sat around her dining room table in silence for a moment, everyone in shock at the events that had just taken place.

"Gale…" Katniss began softly. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Gale scrunched his hands into fists as he started to recount the story, which began as he walked home from his day at a building site.

"It was one of our rival gangs…as I walked passed the alley way I heard them talking so some blonde girl." He looked at Katniss, "They said your name, and were pointing to the warehouse across from them." He took a breath. "Something didn't seem right, so I was going to go warn you, but that's when I saw the girl give them a whole stack of cash, like they were working for her. So I went in to figure out what was going on."

"Why didn't you just go?" Katniss groaned in dismay.

"Because then it would be you in this situation, not me! I couldn't let that happen. You have a better chance of getting out of this place than I do."

That made me feel sick. For Gale to risk his own future for the sake of Katniss', he must really, really love her. Whether it was romantic love or friendship love, I wasn't entirely sure, but that act of sacrifice said a lot none-the-less.

Katniss looked downcast as Gale continued. "Anyway, I walked into the warehouse and realised that someone had rewired the alarm system and broken into one of the safes." He inhaled sharply. "But as I went to leave, I tripped the alarm...the police were there before I could run."

"Gale…" Katniss burying her head in her hands. "I am so sorry."

"This isn't your fault Katniss, I'm glad that it wasn't you."

"No." Katniss shook her head, and I was getting the feeling that she knew more than she wanted to admit. I was guessing it had something to do with why someone was trying to frame her anyway. The whole thing didn't make sense to me at all. "I should have told you."

"Told me what?" Gale demanded.

"That girl you saw, she goes to my school." Katniss said slowly. "She found out about you and the Seam and threatened to tell everyone to give me a bad reputation. She must have set this up to ruin my chance at getting into college."

"She found out about the Seam?" Gale asked, exasperated. "Katniss, why didn't you tell me?"

"Things were good with us again…" Katniss trailed off.

Gale suddenly turned to me, pointing his finger. "Did you know about this?" He questioned forcefully.

"No! No, it didn't…" I stammered. This was all new information and I was starting to feel dizzy. I had no idea what 'the Seam' was, but Katniss and Gale seemed to be on the same page. I was starting to feel left out of this secret life Katniss seemed to have revealed, with 'rival gangs' and people wanting to ruin her. I was getting more and more confused as they continued to argue.

Gale slammed his fist down on the table. "Damn, Katniss." He growled, making Prim jump. "You knew how dangerous it would be if anyone found out about us. Did you even think about what it would do to our families if we got caught? You should have told me, so we could work something out together."

"Gale, I'm sorry!" Katniss cried.

"Yeah, now I'm sorry that I went into the warehouse in your place." He snarled.

"Don't talk to her like that!" I jumped in. I couldn't believe how horrible he was being.

To be honest, I was pretty upset that Katniss hadn't told me about any of this, and the way they were speaking about it, it was pretty serious. I decided to talk to her about it later, but in that moment I needed to stand up for her because Gale was obviously overpowering her.

Gale turned to me, seething. "Look, thanks for your money but I don't need you here acting like you're clearly better than me and telling me what to do, because you don't know anything, you hear me?"

I gulped. "This whole situation has been a mistake, the courts will see that."

Gale sighed. "This is something your privileged brain won't understand. The courts hate people like me, they love to lock us up because it keeps us from causing anymore trouble. I'm going to jail."

"I'll get you a lawyer, anything you need." I continued. I don't know why I was bothering, but there was no way I could sit back and watch them all struggle, regardless of what Gale said to me.

"Didn't you hear? I don't need your help!" Gale snapped.

I sighed angrily, dropping my hands onto the table. All I was trying to do was help him out, but I should have known that Gale was too proud to accept it, from an Upper East Sider of all people.

"Can everyone just calm down!" Prim yelled suddenly.

That was enough to quieten the room, and all eyes turned to little Prim, who I expected had never raised her voice in her entire life. She looked a little breathless, and eyed us all before continuing.

"I think everyone just needs a break to cool off. Go for a walk and meet back in an hour." she ordered us.

No one seemed to want to mess with an angry Prim, so we did what we were told, and Katniss motioned me for to follow her onto the roof of her apartment.

"Katniss, what's going on?" I asked as we looked out over the city.

"It's a long story." Katniss replied.

"Well, we have an hour." I tried to lighten the situation.

Katniss looked at me, as if struggling with whether to tell me or not. Finally she opened up and told me everything, starting from the Seam gang she and Gale had when they were younger, how they avoided getting caught stealing but gained a lot of enemies in the process, and then to Cashmere's threats about being with me and how she must have set up a trap to frame Katniss.

Honestly, it was a lot to take in, and I had no idea that Katniss had such a dark past behind her. It in no way changed the way I felt about her, but as she started to describe the conversations she had with Cashmere, I was hurt that she didn't tell me.

"Katniss, why didn't you tell me about Cashmere?" I asked sadly.

"Not you too." Katniss groaned.

"Seriously." I persisted, "Don't you trust me?"

She turned to me. "Of course I do, but what Gale and I did…I was ashamed. I didn't want anyone to know at all. I didn't think that Cashmere would do anything like this, so I stopped worrying…" she looked sad. "I'm an idiot, this is all my fault."

"It isn't your fault." I tried to reassure her, "But I wish you'd told me, I'm supposed to be your boyfriend, you can tell me anything."

"Peeta are you serious?" Katniss snapped. "Gale is probably going to jail and you're upset because you think I don't trust you."

She had a point, but I couldn't help but feel hurt. Not only that, I was beginning to realise just how deep Katniss' connection to Gale was, and all this talk about the Seam gang had started to make me feel more and more left out. Sure, I could supply the money to help Gale out, but I wouldn't never know Katniss like he did.

"That might not happen, Katniss." I told her. "And why do you care so much, I didn't even know you were talking to each other again!"

"So you're upset that I didn't tell you that either, Peeta?" Katniss shot back. "Gale is my best friend, of course I care, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you too!"

"Not enough to tell me about Cashmere." I muttered.

I knew I was being ridiculous and making a big deal out of it, when really I should be comforting Katniss and telling her that everything would be fine. There was just something about how well Katniss and Gale knew about each other and I was starting to feel more insecure by the second.

"Peeta, don't you see, I chose to be with you." she said slowly. "I ignored Cashmere's threats because I wasn't going to let her get in the way of us. If I didn't care about you I would have broken up with you months ago and none of this would have happened." She looked down. "But I didn't do that, did I?"

I was speechless for a moment. I was so caught up in the fact that Katniss had kept this from me that I hadn't even realised that despite the risks involved in being with me, Katniss stayed with me all the same. She must really, really like me, and I suddenly felt like the biggest asshole in the entire world.

"Oh God." I groaned, running my hands through my hair. "Katniss I'm sorry, I didn't even think about that…I'm such an idiot."

"Yeah, you are." Katniss crossed her arms.

"I get that Gale means a lot to you, I guess I was just feeling insecure about us." I said quickly, trying to backtrack what I had said.

"Well you don't have to be." Katniss said, her voice softer now.

I crossed to her. "Can we just forget about this?" I asked hopefully. I was really scared that she would say no, and I didn't blame her, but there was no way that I could lose her know.

Katniss sighed. "Fine." She scrunched up her nose. "But only because I like getting your free cupcakes so much."

"Thank you." I said, relieved. I kissed her gently.

"Come on, I think our hours up. You don't want to get on Prim's bad side, trust me."

Katniss took my hand in hers and led me back downstairs to her apartment. It was making my head spin- finding out about Katniss' past, fighting with her and then making up. What I really wanted we to lie down and process it all, but I knew that I needed to convince Gale to accept my help.

We sat back down at the table, and Katniss kept her hand in mine under the table.

"Look." I said, addressing Gale. "I know you hate where I come from and don't want my help, but honestly, it's the best chance you've got. I can get you a meeting with my father's lawyer and he'll do what he can to prove that you're innocent. If it hurts your ego too much to take the money, then you can pay me back whenever you can, but I really don't want you to do that. I just want you to stay out of jail."

Gale looked a little stunned, and I supposed I had said all of that pretty forcefully. There was no other way to get through to him though, and as he stared at me, thinking it over, I though that my direct approach had worked.

"Okay." Gale said finally. "I'll see your lawyer, but I'm going to pay you back. I know I don't really seem it, but I really appreciate your help. If it wasn't for you, I still be at the station, but I just don't want to owe you anything."

"I get it." I said. "I'll call the lawyer when I get home, I should probably go."

I stood up from the table and Katniss and Gale followed. Gale shook my hand, an unspoken understanding of 'thank you' passed between us. I was glad that he finally accepted my help.

Katniss walked me out to the front of her apartment, and we were still for a moment.

"So we're okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah." Katniss sighed. "You are very lucky I like you so much, mister."

"Oh I know it." I kissed her. She had no idea how much it meant for her to stay with me after how much of an idiot I was.

"Look, thanks for helping Gale. It means a lot."

"Don't worry about it."

Katniss reached up to kiss me again, and in a second we were almost back to the moment in the her bedroom before we found out about Gale.

"How about we take a raincheck on you coming over?" Katniss asked softly, her lips still close to mine.

I nodded. "As soon as possible, please."

Katniss laughed. "Definitely."

I kissed her again. "I better go."

I left Katniss' neighbourhood, my head still spinning about everything that had happened. Despite the craziness of the situation, which I had partly caused, at least I hadn't totally messed things up with Katniss.