I got some of the coolest reviews for the last two chapters! xD Well, I'm not going to keep you people waiting.

It was almost as if a giant ball of cotton was shoved into my brain. I didn't understand any of it, but at the same time, I understood it so well I felt like I was about to throw up. It wasn't as if the news was worse than any other news I have had in my lifetime. It just seemed too unreal and cruel to use a small child as a tool to destroy Panem. It was unthinkable.

"Katniss?" Besides from sounding shocked, Peeta seemed to have his voice. "You look green. Should we go back?"

I clamped my jaw down tight. If I tried opening my mouth now and trying to say something, I was sure to either say some very nasty things to my doctor, or puke all over his desk. I'm not sure which would be worse.

Peeta seemed to be trying hard not to snap as well. He flared his nostrils and stared icily at the doctor. "I take it you saved the best for last, huh? No more bad news?"

Dr. Longarden fidgeted in his chair. "Er…No. You are dismissed."

With clenched teeth, I watched as Peeta stood up and gently helped me out of my chair as well. Actually he more of picked me up from my chair and set me back down on my feet. I didn't quite feel like moving right away. Fragile things around me were in danger of being launched across the room.

Carefully, so I didn't say the wrong thing or throw up, I unclenched my teeth and said, "He is still hiding something from us."

Peeta swallowed down his anger. His hands were visible shaking. "I can tell. And if he doesn't tell us what exactly he is hiding, there will be some serious consequences."

Even though his choice of words weren't very threatening, his voice said otherwise.

I could see the doctor actually quivering. "I don't think…" He started to get up.

Finally, Peeta snapped. He walked briskly around the desk and—to my surprise—pinned the doctor to the wall by the tops of his arms. "We'll talk, and you will tell me everything you didn't say, or you lied about." Still holding the doctors arms, he kicked open the door to a separate little office and pushed the doctor inside.

I have to admit Peeta was overdoing it just a little. But I probably would have done the same thing if the doctor hadn't been a foot taller than me. Even Peeta's 5"8 height looked silly to Dr. Longarden's 6"3.

The door swung shut after them, but instead of closing, it slowed down and just tapped against the wall. After a moment of staring after Peeta and Dr. Longarden, I carefully got up from the chair and leaned close to the miniscule crack in the doorway.

"…Katniss." Peeta's voice whispered.

I held my breath.

"She wouldn't understand! I am not even sure you, Peeta, understand. It has to be destroyed."

"No!" He pounded his fist against some type of surface and I winced. What had to be destroyed? "You don't know what she is like! She gets attached to things! There is no way I am letting you near her!"

"The Capitol wants this!" The doctors' voice was growing harsh. "They knew Katniss would be too maternal to give it up, but you can't win."

"Well, I can try." Peeta sounded desperate now. Desperate and heartbroken. "And I will. She's our only daughter. We can't just… get rid of her because of the Capitol. There is a chance that she won't be the end of Panem or whatever. We have a chance."

My heart seemed to thud to a stop. It. They were talking about Alexis. Destroying her? What would that accomplish? My heart started up again, this time raging almost painfully in my chest. If the doctors of District Thirteen want to kill Alexis, I am going to have to get to her before anyone else does.

Before I could catch any other part of Peeta's and the doctors' conversation, I held back a sob and ran from the room, slamming the door behind me. Though we were in a slightly unfamiliar part of the hospital, I knew my way around enough to know in which direction Alexis most likely is: The horrible room with the giant glass cylinder and wire contraptions.

I tore through the hallways, unsure if I was being followed or not. My guess was that Peeta was following closely, one or two corners behind me. Running up to the nastily familiar door of Alexis' testing room, I skidded to a halt, breathing heavily. My hand reached to the doorknob and I jiggled it. Locked.

My aching legs slid out from under me and I buried my head in my hands. Maybe Alexis was in another room. Maybe I was being silly and irrational. Maybe the doctors hadn't already taken her away. And maybe Peeta was a girl.

I heard rapid footsteps just past the corner, but I didn't wait to see who's they were. I stood up, despite my shaky legs, and bolted the opposite direction.

It took an unusually longer time to understand where I was once I got out of the hospital. Mostly because I had never gone that opposite way going in or out. But the other reason was because I was concentrating so hard on not throwing up, my brain was extra-slow. With hopes my follower had gotten lost in the halls of the great hospital, I slowed my pace and headed back to my room, constantly in danger of bursting out in tears.

Peeta and I have gone through this routine often; I run away from him and go hide in my room. He comes in a while later and comforts me.

Once I made it to my room, I just curled up under the blankets and stared dry-eyed up at the ceiling. A few minutes ago I felt like bawling my eyes out, but now I just felt like lying here and feeling sorry for myself. It helped when all you feel like doing is dying.

To my immense surprise, only about thirty seconds after I had collapsed onto the bed, there was a knock on the door. I didn't say anything. Someone knocked again. I knew it was Peeta. He didn't even have to knock, but there wasn't any reason to be chivalrous. He knocked for the third time.

"You don't have to knock, Peeta." I cast my gloomy voice across the room. "It's your room as well as mine."

"Um...It's-it's not Peeta." A distinctly male voice replied.

I frowned. The voice was so utterly familiar, yet I didn't really know any other men besides Peeta and Finnick, but the voice was not Finnick's. Finnick's voice was smooth and semi-deep, but the voice at my door was deep and rough. But something about it triggered some sort of pull. Yet, if it wasn't Peeta I didn't want to see anyone else, being the wreck I am.

"This is a bad time." I sniffled. "Come back tomorrow."

"Katniss…"

My whole body froze rigid. I know where I have heard that voice. For the second time today, my heart thudded to a stop inside my throat.

"Please, Katniss? Can I come in?" He lightly tapped on my door again.

"I—" My throat was too jammed with my heart to speak.

Even though I didn't give permission for him to come in, the door opened and I was once again shocked so much that I nearly wet my pants.

"Hey Catnip." Gale leaned awkwardly against the wall and gave me a shy smile.

For some reason unknown to me, I shrank against my pillows. "What's going on? I need you to tell me. I feel like I'm going crazy. One minute I am staring at your dead body, the next you're holding me, and after that Peeta tells me I'm dreaming. What the heck is going on?"

Gale bit his bottom lip. "Like I said before, I can't tell you. All that I can tell you, though, is that I am lucky to get to see you at all."

Hot tears began to blur my vision and I attempted to fight them away. Crying right now in front of Gale wouldn't help anything. I wiped my eyes and looked back up at my best friend. "Gale?"

"Yeah, Katniss?" He looked at me with a slightly hopeful face on.

"Have—" I paused, unsure, but then I kicked back the blankets over me and smoothed out a spot on the left side of the bed. "Come and sit."

Gale crossed the room and spread out on the bed next to me. He gently reached over and laced his fingers with mine. "I used to think that there might come a time when love would be the only thing standing in between you and I."

Even though I hadn't a clue what he meant, it brought shivers running up and down my spine.

"That was when I would stop wanting you. That was when I would stop needing you." The light in Gale's eyes must have been the brightest I have ever seen them.

"I'm not sure…"

"That is the deal that I made myself." Gale laughed quietly. "The very day I realized I loved you, was the day I knew nothing would stand in between us, except for love itself." The air around us seemed to stop flowing. "And here we are. And I have let you go."

"Gale…" Okay, so what was he saying? Did he love me or not love me? And what was with the whole 'love standing in our way' thing?

"I see how much you love Peeta. I see how much he loves you. And I can't ever beat that." He smiled at me sadly. "Okay, being dead is a slight setback, but even if I wasn't I couldn't be with you in real life, every day and night like Peeta does. I have let you go."

"I don't understand." Great, right now was just the perfect time to start crying. "How come you are giving up?"

"Not giving up." Gale corrected. "Like I said: There will come a time when love will be the only thing standing in between you and me. That is when I will stop wanting you. That is when I will I will stop needing you. I have let go, Katniss."

I understood it more now, but instead of saying something intelligent like, "Ohh, I see…" or "Gale, you're so sweet". Instead I wrapped my arms around Gale's familiar lean chest and allowed myself to be held by him, for what seemed like the last time.

I didn't quite like the way that chapter planned out. That's okay. All in good time, people. Next chapter will go into detail about reactions from Peeta and Katniss about Alexis' current position. So, please read and review! And thanks again to all of my faithful readers. I would list them but…. Anyways. This chapter was actually sort of helped on by my best friend junbug24, so thank you and I love you!