A/N: The update is a little early, but I couldn't wait. Enjoy!

On Monday, Madge goes to work. It's a job at a radio company, a company that manages a pop radio station in the city. Madge is an assistant to one of the producers, but she pulls more weight than she should.

One of the only perks about her week off from Dakota is that she can wake up later, so Madge takes her time getting out of bed and taking the subway to work. She doesn't have to take the long way around to Kota's school either, and when she makes it into the office there's still time to spare before work officially starts. Her colleagues are just starting to trickle in, so Madge can take a breath.

Her boss probably won't be here for a while, which is typical, so Madge decides to wander into the studios to enjoy her cup of coffee. It's always fun to listen into the station, which is why she makes her way down the hall where the production team is. She peeks her head into the studio and smiles at the man on the inside of the glass, talking into the microphone.

"Alright folks, I'm Finnick Odair and you're listening to 96.6 Capital Pop FM Radio, I hope you're having a great morning and I'll see you after this commercial break. Thanks!"

Madge almost laughs at how cheery Finnick has to act on air. He takes off his headphones and leaves the booth, letting out a sigh and giving her a friendly nod of a greeting. "Hey Madge, Haymitch isn't in yet?"

She shakes her head and checks her watch. "When is he ever at this hour?"

"I guess when you're the producer of a multi-million dollar media company, you're allowed some wiggle room," her friend deadpans, reaching for a bottle of water from a little craft services table they set out for all radio hosts. Hosts of the station practically have celebrity status, and Madge knows for a fact there are a couple of other companies trying to buy Finnick's voice from them.

"For sure," she replies to his remark. "But I wish I had a heads up every now and then, so that I can sleep in or go to the gym."

"The gym? What's that?" Finnick jokes.

"I don't know, I heard it does wonders for your body and your mind," she jibes back, and they both smile briefly at their shared, sarcastic sense of humour. When she looks at the countdown for the commercial break dwindling, she realizes she should probably leave him alone. "Okay, I think I'm going to go."

"Cool, I'll catch you after my segment," he nods, and Madge starts to walk out the door of the studio before Finnick interrupts. "Oh, Madge, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Sure, what's up?"

"You know Annie in publicity?"

"Yep."

"I want her number," he smirks playfully, and Madge rolls her eyes. Of course he wants Annie's number, she's just his type. Shy and quiet, mysterious apparently. "Could you talk to her a little bit, just to see if she's interested?"

"I can tell you now, she won't go for you," Madge laughs. "But sure, why not. If I see her I'll do a quick name drop."

Finnick gives her a million dollar smile. "Thanks Magdalene."

"That's not my name, it was never my name," she reminds for the hundredth time, shaking her head at the ridiculous fake name he decided to give her. It's sometimes hard for people to understand that "Madge" doesn't stand for anything, it's just what she's called. Finnick makes some silly comeback as she walks out of the studio and back to the office space where she's set up.

Madge probably won't say anything to Annie about it for now; knowing Finnick, he fluctuates quite frequently with his tastes and she'll give him time to let the idea settle in before he really makes up his mind.

Back at her desk, she spends some time just sorting through her emails and making sure she's up to date with company updates. Before a real day of work starts she likes to ensure that she's organized and prepared; almost two years of working here has taught her that much.

Haymitch is just coming into his office when she finished the task, and he grumbles an uttered thanks when he picks up the cup of coffee already sitting on the desk. It's been there for a couple of minutes already due to his tardiness, but that isn't Madge's fault and she doesn't really think he'll notice anyways, so she doesn't bother to say anything about it.

"Is there an agenda?" he asks routinely, and Madge places the list of organized meetings and sessions on his desk.

Haymitch reads it over quickly and shakes his head. "No this is wrong, it's out of date."

"What do you mean? I cross referenced all your calendars, this should be right."

Her boss scans his finger up and down the schedule and points his index down on one meeting around lunchtime. "We don't need to have this meeting anymore."

"Why is that?"

"I had drinks with those guys last night, we closed the deal and everything. Great guys." Of course, that explains why he's late and looks like trash. Haymitch is nothing if not proactive with any opportunity to go out for drinks, even if that means arranging his own last minute meetings.

"Okay, I wasn't made aware that you were doing that, I guess I can fix something else in that you have scheduled. Just give me a second," she responds politely. She leaves his office and returns to her desk just outside and begins to rewrite today's agenda.

Haymitch has a lot of people and companies waiting to see him, so it's no problem getting someone scheduled in for the original slot of that other meeting. She just needs to write up a few emails, make a few calls and wait for their responses. She's in the middle of doing so when her phone buzzes quietly in her purse. Madge isn't supposed to, but she takes it out and hides it under the desk to read what was sent.

It's from Gale: Hey, kota's doing show-and-tell at school and says she needs something at your place. Can we come by after school? Should be fast.

She keys in a quick reply: Yeah, np. Going out tonight though so don't be too late.

Madge doesn't mention that she's going out on a date with that guy she found on her little dating app. It's not a detail worth mentioning to her. And she knows that Gale said that they're going to stop by right after Dakota's school is out, but knowing Gale he'll probably find some way to get distracted and show up an hour later. He's reliable when it counts but really couldn't care less in any other circumstance.

Madge finishes up the agenda and forwards it to Haymitch, not bothering to print it out again because that would only waste time. It's frustrating that it looks like she's doing a bad job when really everything that goes wrong it out of her control. She feels like Haymitch's expectations of her work are already so low, following along with basic orders are almost an achievement. Which is stupid; Madge works hard and wants to show everyone what she can do, but clearly not everything works out the way we want them to.

After another gruesome day at work she hurries home on the subway, and she hears Jo in the kitchen before she opens the door. Surely, her roommate is at the stove watching over a pot while reading a book.

"Hey Jo, what are you making?" Madge asks curiously, trying to smell the aroma to pick up any hints.

Johanna picks up an empty can and reads it off. "Alphabet soup."

"Dammit Jo, that was for KoKo, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm hungry, long day at work," she replies. "Do you want some?"

"I'm good thanks. I have a date, remember?"

"Oh yeah, with Prince Charming #500. Totally forgot."

Madge ignores her friend's snide comment and hurries into her room and puts down her work stuff, and she begins to scour her closet for what she should wear tonight. She's meeting her date in an hour, which should be plenty of time to get ready and prepare herself for when he comes.

She decides on a little black dress, one that leaves her shoulders bare so that the sleeves start on her arms. It's comfortable and not too hard to pull off, and Madge doesn't feel like trying too hard on her outfit tonight. Instead, she concentrates on her hair and makeup, taking the time at her vanity to curl her hair and make herself look a little bit less tired, a bit more appealing.

She's halfway through drawing on her smoked out eyeliner when there's a knock on her door.

"Jo, can you answer it? It's Gale and Dakota."

She hears a slight groan and her friend thumping over to the door, clearly unhappy to see Gale. Johanna has no real grudge against him, but she's said so much shit about him while trying to cheer Madge up that she almost has to subscribe to the persona. They actually get along quite well in real life, friendly bickering included.

The door swings open and Madge can't help but listen in on their conversation.

"KoKo!" Johanna exclaims with an exaggerated excitement. She probably hugs her and tickles her too, because Madge hears her daughter squealing and giggling back.

"Auntie JoJo," Dakota greets playfully, and Madge smiles to herself in her room. She's so happy that her daughter loves her best friend too, no matter how blunt she can be. Honestly Kota probably hasn't picked up on it yet, Johanna's always sweet on the little girl.

"Hey Mason," Gale mutters. "Is Madge around?"

"Yeah, she's around. She's getting ready for a hot date," Johanna states, and Madge rolls her eyes. That was so unnecessary.

"Is Mommy in our room?" Dakota asks loudly. Johanna probably nods, because soon Madge hears tiny footsteps and Kota is in the room, running up to the vanity.

"Mommy," she greets simply, raising her arms up to indicate she wants to be placed on her lap. Madge puts down her eyelash curler and hoists her up, placing her daughter on her thighs so that they're both looking into the mirror. She tries to smooth out her daughter's pale hair, which is so fine that some strands are flying loose. Gale did a surprisingly good job gathering it into two pigtails, though. She kisses Kota's little cheek and bounces her up and down, happy that she's getting to see her even though it's not her week.

"Hey baby," she smiles lovingly.

"Can you give me a makeover?" Kota asks playfully, eyeing all of the beauty products longingly. Madge laughs softly, because her daughter already knows the answer to that question.

"Not until you're older. Besides, you're already so beautiful."

"Can I give you a makeover."

"On another day. I'm almost done, it wouldn't be any fun to not start from the beginning," Madge explains, and Kota nods obediently and continues to stare. So Madge bounces her legs up and down once more to get her attention. "What are you and Daddy up to today?"

"We're collecting stuff for my show-and-tell."

"And why are you here?"

"Because Ms. Trinket said that we need to find something that reminds us of our best friends, or has a story that has to do with our friends," Dakota explains, but she's also playing with a piece of her mom's curled hair.

"That sounds super cool, KoKo. Are you looking for anything in particular? Something from your adventures with Auntie Jo?"

"Yes. The magic rocks we found at the park," she explains simply, and Madge has no idea what she's talking about. Johanna always makes up harmless stories whenever she takes her places, and Kota rants on and on about them for weeks.

"Okay, why don't you go ask Johanna if she knows where the rocks are? I'm sure she can help you right now."

Dakota scurries off once again, and Madge hears her and Jo talking about the magic rocks. They're still in Johanna's room flipping through some stuff when Madge finishes her makeup and wanders out to the living room, where surely Gale is boring himself to death.

"Hey Gale," she greets coolly. Despite the fact that they've been broken up for almost half a decade, raising a kid together sure means they have to see each other an awful lot. It's frustrating, but Gale's not an unbearable person to be around. They're friends, they have to be, and they're good at small talk for what it's worth. It's just the big conversations that their horrible at.

Gale looks up from his phone and for a second he just stares at her, perhaps not used to seeing her outside of her disheveled workplace attires. "Hey Madge. You look good."

"Thank you."

"Hot date, eh?" he grins, and Madge rolls her eyes again to the same phrase.

"No, nothing that hot. Probably the opposite actually," she admits. Madge digs through the front closet and finds the clutch she was looking for, so she begins to transfer some of her essentials from her normal purse to the smaller one.

"Hey, you never know. Could be fruitful."

Madge thinks about it, decides he's wrong and gives him a hopeful shrug instead of refuting him. "How's your job?"

"Great, yeah, really awesome. I've been doing a lot of overseeing, but my boss gives me early shifts so I have a lot of afternoons off."

She knows very little about Gale's job as a structural engineer, except for the fact that he does the math and physics bit of construction projects. Even when they were in college, neither of them really took the time to ask about each other's studies. They were too wrapped up in their infatuated relationship to ask about menial things like that.

So she just nods enthusiastically. "Cool."

"It's alright," he shrugs back. "We're still good for Saturday, right?"

Madge nods obediently, dreading the dinner with Gale's pleasant but oblivious family. Then, Kota runs back out of the room with a couple of colourful rocks, which she hands to Gale.

"Daddy I got the rocks. Can you hold them for me?" she asks with an adorable smile. Gale nods and puts the rocks into his pocket, then bringing Kota up to sit on his lap. She hugs her dad's neck and when she looks over at Madge, her eyes light up. "Dad, she's pretty! Mommy is like a princess and you're the prince!"

"I know, she's beautiful. I already told her that," Gale responds, ignoring her hopeful tone.

"You might as well tell her that Madge's hideous, it would make things less confusing," Johanna snorts walking out of her room.

Gale looks right at Dakota with comically wide eyes, mouthing the words, "Don't listen to her!"

"KoKo, do you want some soup?" Jo asks over him, and Dakota nods and squeals, running off to the kitchen clearly loving all the attention.

It's absolute chaos in her own home, so Madge decides to dip out. "Okay, I'm going to be on my merry way."

She puts on a thin coat and examines herself one last time. It's a job well done, and Madge knows that when she looks at her reflection. It leaves her hopeful for a good date tonight, maybe it'll be different than usual. Gale's voice snaps her out of her train of thought, calling her name.

"Undersee."

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget dinner on Saturday, okay?"

"Of course," she nods, slipping on her heels and dropping her pair of keys into the clutch. "I could never forget, trust me."

"Have fun babe!" Johanna calls out from the kitchen counter where she's hanging with Dakota.

Her own daughter waves too. "Bye Momma!"

Madge can't help but smile to herself when she gets out of the door. Her home life might be complicated and dysfunctional, but it seems to work out somehow.

The date is fine. Well, it's typical of most of the dates she's been on lately. Only mildly unpleasant, and generally satisfying in the sense where Madge picked a great restaurant and he pays for her meal. She finds a new place every time, because she's disproportionately anxious about the waiters and waitresses seeing her twice with different men.

"What was it you said you did again?" this one asks. His name is Anthony, and he's dressed well. Madge was hopeful when she first saw him until she realized this one was a bit daft.

"I work at a radio company, Capital FM," Madge nods, picking at her pasta deliberately.

"Oh, no way! I listen to them all the time in my car," he exclaims, and Madge smiles politely. She hopes this one isn't crazy about Finnick too, because it wouldn't be the first time. "Are you a host?"

"No, I mostly do PR, behind the scenes stuff," she shrugs, and he looks impressed enough. But she knows he's probably dying to talk about his own work too, so she coughs. "What do you do?"

"Well, I work at a marketing firm," Anthony replies smugly.

"Cool," Madge responds shortly, realizing she's on a date with a marketing guy. They're always cocky or somehow convoluted in the ways of getting women, at least with the ones she's gone out with.

"Yeah, it's alright. I work pretty standard hours, but we're like a family, you know? All of us boys, it's a good place to be."

"Have you marketed anything I would recognize?"

He stops as if to think hard, and then he lights up. "You know the toothpaste jingle? The one that's been playing on television lately?"

"Yes, of course!" Madge replies, happy they've found common ground. "I know all the words."

"Really?"

"Really, my daughter loves it. She can't get enough," she laughs, casually planting the idea of her having a child into the conversation. His face doesn't show too much panic, but he's obviously very surprised.

"Daughter, eh?" he asks after a little bit of time. It's awkward.

"Yeah," Madge nods deliberately. "She's four."

"That's cool," he lies, as if she doesn't know he's ready to sprint out of the restaurant. This always happens, they realize that she's a mom and don't know how to tell her that she's not what they're looking for. Madge has long stopped caring though. She loves Dakota more than anything, and if a guy can't tolerate that she's not going to throw herself a pity party.

The date plays out ritualistically, with polite conversation and a couple of awkward pauses. Anthony actually doesn't seem like a horrible guy, he's funny and doesn't take things too seriously. If she had met him three years ago, she probably would've moped and felt sorry for herself because this guy doesn't want to date a mother.

And at the end they skip dessert and split the bill. They walk out of the restaurant briskly and Madge is more than ready to be on her way.

"It was nice to meet you," she says, and Anthony shrugs humbly.

"Yeah, right back at you. If at any point we're both not too busy, we should meet up again." It's an empty promise, but Madge doesn't call him out on it. What would be the point? They hug and she's gone, hailing a cab and heading home.

It's exhausting, dating to no avail. Madge wonders if Gale has the same trouble, but he definitely does not. He's a natural flirt, and girls are even more interested when they find out he's a loving father.

When she gets home, she expects Jo to be there, but the apartment is empty. Maybe hanging out with Delly is running particularly late, and Madge feels a lonely draft through their home. It's on nights like these when she really misses Dakota, misses having her there and watching her sleep. It's not a healthy thought, but she figures that 50% of her life right now is spent lonelily existing, living day by day just cycling through a routine. When her daughter is home she's busy, but she's also more excited, more eager to get up every morning.

It's exhausting, living one week while counting down the days until she gets to see her daughter and the next week is spent counting down the days she has left.

Madge shouldn't do this to herself, right? It seems like torture, it's been years and she should be used to the routine by now.

But four, is the answer. Four more days.

A/N: It's still a lot of setup, but the dinner is next week! Anyway, what did you guys think? Please let me know in the comments, opinions and words of motivation are always appreciated. Thanks so much for reading. :)