Hello, my little fiends. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, and even those who just read it. I am dedicating this chapter to my bff junbug. Some people were confused about what Katniss said at the end of the last chapter, and I'm sooo sorry I didn't elaborate. Katniss meant that she was sorry she… well…. She was "with" Gale instead of Peeta. Not that Peeta should have died instead of Gale. Hope you get it now… :D Well, here is this chapter and I hope you all aren't too disappointed. I, for one, am having a bunch of fun writing this story, and in response to a few of people who had reviewed with the question, I don't know how many chapters this is going on. I am writing it until I get bored, and unless you people stop reviewing, I don't have any slight plans to ever end this. So read, review, and reticulate, whatever that means. I think it is a verb….

With a slight twitch I awoke at six in the morning. At first I thought it was just an average morning, waking up with Peeta just like normal, but then the separate parts of the previous day came crashing down upon me. I peeled open my eyes and absorbed my current situation.

Under normal circumstances, I might have blushed or felt horrible awkward, but as I laid here curled comfortably around Peeta's naked chest, I only felt a smidge of what I should be feeling; Anxiety for my baby daughter being in the hospital, grief for Gale's passing, and frightened about the fact that there are murderers in district 13. But I only felt a tiny bit of each, which made me feel guiltier than all of them put together.

I closed my eyes again and pushed away that thought (which I'll surely be punished for later, being happy under the current circumstances) and adjusted my arm, which was lain carelessly across Peeta's chest. I felt him stir under me.

"You awake?" he whispered.

I felt his fingers gently brushing back my hair. "Almost." I mumbled and pressed my cheek against the bare skin of Peeta's shoulder. As weird as my observation was, my brain quietly noted how smooth his skin was when unclothed. "My brain hasn't started functioning yet, so I'm waiting for that to happen. In the meantime, I'm just going to lay here drooling on you."

I didn't hear it, but I felt the vibration of Peeta's silent laughter through his chest. "Right… So how are you feeling? Your incision didn't reopen did it?"

"No. I feel as healthy as a horse." I yawned. "Considering just a few days ago I nearly bled to death because of it."

Peeta inattentively traced his finger along the ridge of my spine. "Considering…"

"Maybe we should go to breakfast soon…" It was just a thought, which I wasn't necessarily keen to put into action. "…When it starts, sometime…maybe…"

"Are you hungry?"

"Honestly?" I snorted softly, "Not really."

Peeta laughed again.

But that wasn't exactly true, when I said I wasn't hungry. I didn't eat at all yesterday, but I didn't want to move. I was nice and cozy right where I was.

"We should go to the hospital…" Peeta shifted slightly to sit up against the back of the bed.

"Remind me why again?" Like I said before, my brain wasn't fully working. I bunched up the blanket to myself and sat up with Peeta.

He looked at me with a weird face on. "It just might be because your baby daughter is in the hospital. Possibly."

I blushed. "Oh. Right." With a big sigh (not because I have to get up in order to see my daughter, but because I have to get up at all), I held the blanket to me and swung my legs over the edge. I could sense Peeta keeping his eyes on me the whole time. "And Peeta…"

"Hm?" I knew he was grinning even though my back was to him.

"If you ever, ever, even think of drawing me naked I just might have to kill you."

Peeta snorted, but said nothing. I hope that meant an "okay".

I rolled my eyes and stole the top layer of blankets off the bed to wrap myself up in while I went over to the closet and rummaged around in it with one hand, holding the blanket to me with the other. It was heavy and got in the way, but I just didn't feel like walking around in the room without any clothes on.

Part of me was thankful I wasn't pregnant anymore so I can fit into my normal clothes. Peeta just sat on his bed while I slipped into the bathroom and changed into a pair of worn jeans and a green tank-top. In there, I examined myself in the mirror.

My hair was a rat's nest, flitting all around my head. I smoothed it down; there wasn't anything to do about my brilliantly red face other than splash it with cold water. Other than my whole body having the slight feeling that it fell asleep, I felt fine.

Adjusting my shirt again, I opened the bathroom door and to my surprise, Peeta was already up and clothed. Well, most of the way. There was still no top covering the pale skin of his chest.

"Good, you're out. I—" but Peeta was interrupted by a loud creaking noise. Frowning, we both turned to face the door, which had opened on its own. Peeta shrugged. "Anyways, I—"

His words were drowned out by my cry.

Into my room stepped a tall man, about 20 or 21. He had evenly tanned skin and a lean body, but my heart got jammed up in my throat when I saw the spill of jet-black and grey eyes.
"Katniss, what's wrong?" Peeta creased his brows and went over to me.

I sputtered and stared at Gale, who was standing as still as a statue in the middle of my room, no emotion betrayed in his eyes. He raised his head and glanced blankly at Peeta, who didn't seem to have notice Gale at all.

"I-He" I raised a finger and pointed it at Gale, who had a small smile playing on his lips. "You're not supposed to be here." That wasn't exactly what I wanted to say, but it came out that way.

Peeta gave me a peculiar look and glanced behind him to the door. "Who's not supposed to be here, Katniss? So the door opened by itself, but it has done that before. Why are you so freaked out?"

"You don't…?" My heart started to beat faster and faster as I whipped my head back and forth between my dead best friend and Peeta. "Oh, I get it." Something clicked in my head and my body began to relax again. "I'm still asleep. Interesting dream this is... It's no wonder, though." I stood up.

Peeta looked at me with a very skeptical look. "…You're not asleep. You woke up just a little bit ago. And you're being really weird."

Once again, my stomach dropped down to my toes. "I'm not…dreaming?"

"No." He attempted to put his arm around me, but I shook it off.

"I'm going mad…" My eyes flew wide and I began backing up hastily, hitting my shoulder on the edge of the bathroom doorframe, but I ignored the searing pain.

Gale was still standing exactly where he had entered.

"Katniss, what are you talking about?" Peeta took my hand and tried to lead me to the bed, probably to lie down and rest or something.

What could I do in this situation? Run? Close my eyes in hopes that it would go away? Instead of doing either of those, I just stood there, gaping stupidly at Gale.

Peeta shook his head and said, "Well, if you are okay with it, I need a shower."

I said nothing. How he could even think about having a shower when his wife is having a nervous breakdown, I have no clue.

"I'll be out in a bit." He briefly put his lips to mine and then ducked into the bathroom, letting the door swing shut behind him.

I made sure the door was actually closed, and Peeta was actually taking a shower before approaching my supposedly dead best friend. "You can't be here. I know you can't. You-You died." That wasn't exactly a very nice thing to say to your best friend jus the day after he died, but oh, well.

Gale shrugged, for the first time. "That is true. But that doesn't necessarily mean I can't be here."

"What…?" Maybe I was just going insane.

"I can't explain how, but here I am." He smiled sadly and opened his arms in a half-attempted sweeping gesture.

I took that chance to run into them and hug my arms tightly around Gale. "I don't give a crap if you are dead or not. Just don't go." Oh, goodie. My eyes seem to have sprung a leak for the billionth time this week.

Gale lifted me up and hugged me tightly back. Since Peeta hadn't seemed to have been able to see Gale, I was thankful he wasn't watching me now, in this awkward position hugging thin air. "What's going on here, Gale? Why are you here? Did you die or not? Why can't Peeta see you?"

"I can't answer those questions, Katniss." Then he frowned. "Well, most of them anyway. I did die, yes, but that doesn't automatically entitle me to unlimited answers to everything. I don't know how I am here. One moment I was looking down upon my dead body and you being dragged away by the doctors, and the next moment, it was like I'm in some freak dream world. I'm not totally here."

"Can you stay?" I pulled away from him and dried my eyes on the edge of his shirt.

"No." He shook his head. "I'm just asleep. It is almost time for me to wake up as well."

"As well?" I was puzzled. "Does that mean I am asleep still, too? And what do you mean by you being asleep?"

"No matter how hard you try, you cannot fail to wake me. After all," Gale turned towards the door and looked back to smile at me. "Living is just a dream for the dead."

You guys must be pretty confused right now, but that is the way it is suppose to be. By the way, that last sentence was a quote from lyrics by My Chemical Romance, so I don't own it. I just thought it would be cool in this situation. Anyways, thank you my readers, and if you have the time, please review!