Part 2 – Morphling

~Gale~

The purpose of the drug morphling is to eliminate pain. Physical or mental. I heard that it helped Katniss pull through in District 13. It helped her in both ways. Many victors turn to morphling after they win-to try and settle the pain of remembering. I've had it myself. It was my savior after I got whipped. But then, I was taking it for physical, torturous pain.

Now, Delly has me on it once again, trying desperately to ease my aching heart. This pain is worse than when I was whipped. Much worse. There is no drug to erase this pain. The pain of depression.

I open my eyes and sit up on my cot. I've only been here for a few days, but it feels like forever. Ever since Delly Cartwright found me screaming in the woods, I've been getting a steady stream of morphling. The first day it was non-stop into my bloodstream. She knew she had to calm me down before anything else could be done. The second day, I got 3 or 4 injections, and today it seems like I have just woken up from my first shot.

"Good morning, Gale!" Delly says cheerfully, as she enters the room. I've only seen her a few times before either in school or just around. I seem to recall her always hanging around the bakery. She was always smiling. Always laughing. As if trying to hide the horrible world we lived in. (still live in) She smiles at me now, but there's something in those big blue eyes that tell me she is sad. I look around at my surroundings the room looks vaguely familiar. It feels familiar.

Delly comes over to me holding a tray of food.

"Are you hungry?" she asks.

"Uh…yeah…I guess," my voice sounds unfamiliar…it sounds hollow.

She places the tray on my lap. I look at the food. There's a small bowl of oatmeal, an orange, some milk, and…bread.

"No, no I'm not hungry," I stare at the bread. Part of me wants to throw it as far away as possible, and the other part wants to crush it into 5 million pieces. But I doubt I would even be able to touch it.

"Are you sure? You haven't eaten in days." Delly replies.

I look up at her. She's staring at me intently with her striking blue eyes. Anger fills up in me. Blue eyes, bread, what else could remind me of that moron? That idiot baker who stole my girl?

The fire crackles. My head jerks towards that side of the room. Then I remember exactly where I am. I'm in the our cabin. This is where me and Katniss me up, when she told me she wanted to run away, when I told her I loved her…

"NOOOO!" I start howling as loud as I can. Making noises I've never heard before. Then I feel another needle.

~Katniss~

When I am finally all cried out, and my pillow is completely drenched in tears, I sit up on my bed. Peeta gave up on comforting me after about an hour and it's probably time for me to go talk to him. I find him downstairs sitting on the couch staring blankly into the fire.

"Peeta?"

"Yes, Katniss?"

"We need to talk about Gale,"

"Yes, I know,"

I walk over and sit down beside him.

"We have to go find him,"

Peeta continues to stare at the dancing flames. He looks thoughtful as if trying to carefully formulate each word in his mind before speaking.

"Katniss, we just got away from him. Why would you want to go find him?"

He still refrains from looking at me. I want to know so badly what he's thinking right now. But then again, I already know.

"Peeta, you don't have to be jealous. I just want to make sure he's okay,"

He whips his head around towards me.

"What makes you think I'm jealous? He's a creep, Katniss. A complete physco path,"

"This is exactly why we need to go find him! He could be living in a hole going into some depression!"

"Ok let's say we do find him. We find him back up in the woods somewhere barely hanging on to life. Then what? We bring him back here? Let him talk to you about his problems?"

"What's wrong with that?" I shoot back defensively.

"Well you would be at his mercy, because there is no way I'm gonna be around Gale. I can already feel the awkwardness."

"At his mercy? Peeta, he's not a serial killer,"

"No, but look at what happened today. He's obviously mad about…us and…the baby. But there's nothing we can do about it."

"We can make sure that he didn't go crazy. He looked pretty crazy today when he kissed me…or tried to."

"Katniss! What would you possibly say to him? He wants you, but he can't have you. The only thing you could say would be…"I love you"

We sit in silence for what feels like hours. I am shocked that Peeta has said this. It makes no sense.

"Do you want to know something?" I finally ask.

"What?"

"I've known Gale for a long time and I never once told him I loved him,"

Peeta smiles and leans towards me slightly.

"You kissed him," he says.

I smile back and lean in too.

"Kissed you first."

He chuckles. "Oh yeah…that's right…"

He closes the distance between us and his lips come down on mine hard.

It's another one of those moments when I feel a stirring deep down inside of me, and I realized what a wonderful father Peeta will be. I fill my mind with dreams of our future child running in meadows and singing sweet songs. And for the moment I completely forget about Gale.

~Delly~

When I'm sure that my little sister is asleep, I ever so slowly get up from the rocking chair and make my way over to Gale. I quietly sit myself down on the edge of the cot.

He seems so peaceful when he's sleeping. The complete opposite of the creature who wakes up. When he isn't sedated, he's either picking at the food we give, (that isn't bread-he freaks out if he sees it) or he's moaning and groaning about Katniss.

Katniss, Katniss, Katniss. That's all we ever hear. When I try to talk to him about what happened back in the woods, he just shakes his head and says "Katniss." Then he goes completely physco and I have to drug him.

Now I'm watching him sleep peacefully beside me. You would have never thought that days before, this boy had been hysterical in the woods. I lean over a little, and take his hand. It's rough and callused but warm and soothing. I want so badly to take the pain away. I wan't him to be in peace. To be happy. But I want to be happy, too. And if Gale's gone…where does that leave me?

I think back to my school days. How everybody always thought me and Peeta were meant to be together. Peeta was all right an di played along, glad for the attention. But only Autumn, my sister knew who I really had my eye on. And the only reason she knew was because she caught me staring at him in school one day. I was mad and embarrassed at first, but I relaxed after she promised not to tell. Autumn was like my best friend and I knew I could trust her. That's why it was a real piece of luck that she was with me the day I found him. Screaming in agony. She understood why I just had to help him. Why every cry that escaped him hurt me as well as him.

"Katniss…" Gale's whisper startles me into the present. "I love you, Katniss."

"Way to ruin the moment," I think.

I was sick of hearing about Katniss. If she doesn't want him, he needs to get over it. I will gladly take him for her. For the first time, I actually fell jealous of Katniss. I always knew her and Gale went hunting together. But they never acted like there was some love affair going on. I wonder how long Gale has felt this way. I can't remember how long I have.

He stirs beside me, and I grip his hand tighter. Not willing to let him go.

"Shh…its ok I'm here…" I whisper. I brush some of his dark hair out of his eyes, with my freehand and they fly open. I don't move. I keep waiting for him to freak out or something, but he doesn't. Instead he sits up, and just stares at me with his big dark eyes. I'm not sure what to do, so I slowly untwine my fingers from his. I'm about to ease myself off the cot, when Gale grabs me in his arms and pulls me into his embrace. I'm overwhelmed by his scent and body heat. He's gripping me so tightly it's hard to breathe.

"It's ok, Gale. It's ok," I say soothingly. I can't believe he's actually…hugging me. He doesn't even know me. How could I be of comfort to him?

He loosens his arms from around my body, and pulls away to look at my face. His fingers trace my forehead and down to my cheekbones. They finger my long strands of blonde hair. One hand goes down my arm all the way to my wrist, leaving a trail of goose bumps behind. My heart starts beating faster and faster. I've never been touched like this before. Not by Gale not by anybody. I'm terrified and excited and anxious and thrilled all at the same time. I sit as still as a statue across from Gale, scared out of my mind. Without really realizing it, I start to tremble as Gale puts a hand under my chin and tilts it up toward his face, forcing me to look at him. This was happening way to fast. I was not expecting any of this.

"I…I'm not Katniss…" I manage to get out. "I'm …I'm not…who you think…"

"Shh…" Gale puts a finger to my lips. His eyes are glistening in the moonlight. Even in the dark Gale looks beautiful. He leans down and whispers in my ear, "I know."

The next thing I know, he's kissing me.