The next morning, Katniss headed out to the woods to find Gale. She was certain he'd be out here somewhere.

Sure enough, she found him in one of their regular hunting spots. He was sitting on a log, cutting the end of a stick into a sharp point with his knife, to use in a trap. He was deep in concentration, cutting in short, sharp strokes, like he was taking out his anger on the stick.

Uh oh, Katniss thought. He's pissed off about something, and it's probably me.

"Hey Gale," she said softly.

He didn't even look up from his cutting.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Peeta?"

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

"Why bother?" he asked sharply. "I asked you a question, and you told me the truth. What more is there to say?"

Shit, Katniss thought. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. Gale knows.

He still wouldn't look at her. He just kept slicing at the stick with his knife.

"Gale, stop doing that for a minute and look at me. Please?"

He threw down the stick and the knife and he looked up at her. His gray eyes looked like storm clouds... turbulent, conflicted. She could see the pain behind his eyes. He might as well have twisted that knife right into her heart.

She took a deep breath. "Why were you at my house last night?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Gale, I know you were there, I saw you."

He stood up and walked towards her, never breaking eye contact.

"Fine, I was there. And I saw you too, Katniss." he hissed at her.

"You saw me? That's creepy, Gale!"

"Well, I'm not the one who was fooling around with my window wide open!"

"Why were you even at my window?" she demanded.

"I came over because I wanted to talk to you. But before I could get to your door, I heard you. Stupid me, I thought you were crying and I was worried, so I looked in. Turns out you were doing just fine."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"I heard what you said about me, too." Gale continued. "That Peeta doesn't need to worry about me being any competition, because 'I don't see you like that'."

"I didn't mean to hurt you Gale," she said. "I was just telling him the truth."

"Except that it's not the truth!" he yelled.

"What?" she squeaked out, confused.

"It's not the truth, Katniss." he said, lowering his voice as he moved in closer, just inches from her now.

"I do see you that way. That's what I came over to tell you last night."

She couldn't speak. Her head was spinning.

"I wanted you to know how I felt, before you acted on your threat, but I saw that I was already too late."

"Oh, Gale," she whispered, reaching out and putting her hand on his cheek. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "How long have you felt that way?" she asked.

"A while. A couple years, I don't know." he said in a low voice.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He broke away from her and started pacing back and forth like a caged animal as he spoke.

"When could I, Katniss? There was never time for that before. We had to hunt and work together to survive and feed our families! What would I have said, 'Come on, Katniss, instead of finding food today, let's have a roll in the hay?' We had too much responsibility to think about love! It was hard enough just trying to live!"

She swallowed. He was right about that.

"And then, when you went to the Games, I was devastated. I thought the worst might happen, that you might die in the arena, and I'd have to live without you. But I don't know which would have been worse for me, watching you die when I was helpless to protect you, or watching you fall all over Peeta!"

Now her tears spilled over and ran down her face.

"I'm so sorry Gale, I had no idea..."

Gale's anger faded into guilt for making her cry.

"I know you didn't. I hid it well," he said bitterly. He returned to her side and wiped the tears off her face with his hands.

"Just tell me honestly," he asked softly. "If you had known, would I have had a chance with you? Could you have seen me as more than just your friend?"

She nodded. "Yes, Gale. If you had told me before the reaping, I would have loved you."

He could no longer hold back his emotions. He threw his arms around Katniss, and their bodies fell backwards against a tree. His lips crashed into hers, kissing her ravenously. His tongue sought entry into her mouth, and to his surprise, she allowed it. Then she began kissing him back, their tongues exploring each others mouths with urgency, as if making up for lost time. His hands were in her hair, pulling her closer, like he couldn't kiss her deeply enough to quench his desire.

Gale moved his hands down her sides to her waist, pulled her body tight against his, and he started grinding against her hips.

Kissing Gale was so different from kissing Peeta. While Peeta was passionate, Gale was aggressive, lustful, dominant.

Peeta...

Katniss suddenly broke the kiss and pulled away.

"I'm sorry Gale, I can't do this." she whispered. "I can't hurt Peeta."

"But you can hurt me?"

"That's not fair, I don't want to hurt you either. But it's too late for us!"

"Why? It doesn't have to be too late. Break up with him. Choose me."

"It's not that easy, Gale. Remember, I told you, Snow is forcing us to be engaged, in retaliation for us winning the games together. He still thinks that we don't really care about each other. But if it was ever discovered that I had defied the engagement order and was involved with another man- especially one they've been calling my 'cousin' in the media- it wouldn't be only my life in danger, but my family's too. He could have my mom killed, or Prim, or you! It's a risk I just can't take."

Gale got angry and kicked the log that he had been sitting on earlier. "I hate this fucking government! I hate that they can control us, run our lives!"

Katniss just stood there in silence and let him vent.

Then it dawned on him. He knew his friend's heart. She wasn't telling him the whole truth, because she was trying to spare his feelings. But he wanted her to say it.

He turned back to her. "But it doesn't matter anyway, does it? That's all just a convenient excuse. The truth is, you don't want to leave him for me, do you?"

"No." she quietly admitted.

"Do you love him?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Does he love you?"

"Yes."

Gale ran his hands through his hair. He couldn't decide whether to be angry or heartbroken.

"Go home to him Katniss. I'll see you around." And he stalked off into the woods, leaving her all alone.