Hey guys. oh gosh I feel so bad for such a slow update esp when some of you were already asking me to be faster at this. But Know that I'm trying my hardest with updates but my busy schedule plus my indecisiveness about which direction I wanted to take this chapter made me update way slower than I wanted to. I'm really scared that you guys are gonna hate it, because i was honestly really stuck. By far one of the hardest chapters to write, but also really fun at the same time. K enough rambling sorry :s

Three weeks pass by since their last encounter and barely any of it is passed by without Gale Hawthorne being constantly at the back of Madge's head. It was like she back to her sixteen year oldself, and Madge hated it. She's been through so much and she thought that she had grown since then, but obviously she hasn't if she's now back exactly to where she started, at least when it came to Gale. Oh and minus her parents and most of the people she loved. Of course.

During these three weeks, in an effort to keep her mind on anything other than him, she finally decided to accept Toni's long due offer. The first time they "hung out" wasn't bad. He insisted on picking her up despite it not being a date, and took her out to one of the district's best restaurants. She had told him to just keep things simple but again he insisted. In the back of her mind, she almost finds it nice. It's been so long since she felt like she mattered, and to have someone show that they care. Despite her hatred towards the capitol and injustice of the country, she had still spent 17 years of her life living as the Mayor's only daughter, and no matter how much she might deny it, she'd be lying if she sad that she didn't miss her old life when people actually cared about her, and when she didn't have so many worries to tend to.

That night had passed by peacefully; they make small talk and share a couple laughs. She listens as he complains about those little troubles at work, and he would smile as she speaks of the little things that she's discovered and grown to love about the district. She almost forgets about Gale, but not quite.

WhenToni dropped her back at her apartment that night, he did not leave before giving her a hug. It's a simple gesture but it still worries Madge. She didn't want a relationship; at least not right now, and especially with Gale somehow still apart of her life. She didn't want to open up to anyone and have her already scarred heart be broken again. What she needed was to just have someone to talk to and have some fun with every once in a while. Not too much to ask for, she thinks.

Somehow Madge finds herself agreeing to hang out with Toni more and more often, and Friday night outs became almost a routine for the two. If anything it was able to keep Madge's mind off of the sadness temporarily, and if she wasn't sad then she was able to convince herself that she was close to happy.

And here she was tonight, getting ready for yet another Friday night out with Toni. Something that again isn't out of the normal for her as of lates. Toni had mentioned something about a show playing at the theater downtown. For this Madge decides to at least make some sort of an effort to dress decently, something that use to be so normal for her, but not anymore as she would normally just start the day throwing on whatever her eyes finds first in her closet. Madge enters the room and opens the single closet door, studying the contents within. It was nothing compared to the closet she had back home obviously, there was no longer the rows of party dresses or sparkly shoes, only some simple sweaters, tshirts and jeans that she had been given when she moved here, and a small section that she had saved for a couple of items that she'd managed to snag within one of the many vintage boutiques in the district. She pushes away the other stuff and pulls out the few dresses she had bought. They were pretty plain compared to her old ones, but to be honest she never liked how uncomfortable the capitol party dresses were; she had always liked the plain white dresses better. They were more comfortable, more fitting to her personality and most importantly it had at one point started to remind her of the time on the morning of Katniss' first reaping when Gale had commented on it with a simple "Pretty dress". It was meant to be sarcastic, she knew, but still it was the first time that Gale had shown a sign to noticing her.

And so she would walk into shops whenever she sees a white dress through the windows, and if she liked it enough and she had enough money to spare, she'd buy it. She secretly loved dresses and had worn them daily in district 12, but she rarely had the opportunities to nowadays, and the few white dresses have yet been able to leave their places in the closet.

She finally picks out one and put it on, walking over to her mirror to study her reflection. The dress had a slight v-neck and and skirt reached to the place right above her knees, a belt knotted into a bow fastened right at her waistline. It somewhat took her back in time, and the distinct memories just made her all the more sad and lonely. She blinks her eyes as they began to heat up, and applies her make up. After the whole transformation the reflection she sees in the mirror matches the Madge 2 years ago almost exactly. To complete her look she reaches for her earrings, the only pair she still owns only because it was the pair she had worn on the day when the bombs dropped. She hadn't worn it once after that because she didn't want any more reminders of that day than she already did. But since she had this reminiscing look going on anyways, she decided why not. When she goes to put the second when on her hand fumbles and she drops it. She quickly picks it up, horrified because the whole motion was so familiar, so much like what had happened the last time she had put it on. On he morning on the bombing. She hurriedly puts the earring on properly, and hopes that it wouldn't be a bad omen.

Outside her bedroom, the door bell rings announcing Toni's arrival and it's her signal to leave. With one last look in the mirror she grabs her coat and heads to the door, where Toni greets her cheerfully as usual.

Three weeks pass without hearing anything from her; and Gale has just about lost hope of having her show up at his doorsteps. He just wants to prove to Madge that he still cares, and to somehow make her believe that despite everything that's happened to her in the past, she can move on from it, and find her happiness again. After the talk he had with his mom, Gale considered going back to the hospital again to look for her but decided against it. He's thought about what he would say if they were to meet again, and how he can prove to her that he cared.

He's considered going back to the hospital to find her, he's prepared words in his head for what he would say the next time he sees her. Eventually though he just stops all the thinking, because he believes she would never come to him. So he just goes on with his life like he had before all this ever happened. He doesn't understand why he couldn't forget about her, because he sure seemed to be better at it in the past.

And it's exactly three weeks after, late at night when he was just about to call it a night and get some sleep, when he hears a soft knocking on his door. It surprises him as he was not usually one to get unexpected visits, especially not at this time of the night. He decides that it had to be either someone with the wrong address, or an emergency.

Whatever it was Gale decided to answer it, and what he didn't expect to find on the other side of the door was one tear stained Madge Undersee in a crinkled dress. The image takes him by surprise, and it's only after a couple of seconds of silence that he rushes her inside before shutting the door again. He doesn't fail to notice how her dress is white, and how much she looked like the old mayor's daughter right now. If it had been under any other circumstances, he couldn't have been able to resist saying something about it.

"Madge, what's going on, what happened?"

She doesn't say anything but instead just falls into his arms and sobs. Gale doesn't know what to do, so he just wraps his arms righter around her and holds her, gliding his hands along her arms, whispering that it's okay, even though she probably wasn't and even though he had no clue what had triggered this all.

Something about Gale's presence just makes Madge break down completely and she instinctively wraps her arms around him and really cries for the first time since all this had happened. She has let tears fall a couple of time, but she had quickly wiped them away and blinked her eyes dry. this time, she finally stopped caring, she sobbed and cried until her voice gave out and her eyes dried from no more tears. And the whole time Gale just holds her, comforts her in a way that only he knew how to. She was sure that she looked like a mess, and on the inside she felt like a bigger one. Her hair was probably in a disordered state as is her dress, and her make up was definitely running and she's horrified to see that she had gotten black mascara stains onto Gale's crisp white shirt.

"I'm sorry, I-I'm so sorry Gale," she stutters weakly, her voice obviously still shaky with the amount of crying. Even though she knows it's not gonna help much, she reaches up to try and wipe it off, her hands shaking uncontrollably as well.

She feels Gale's hands grab her wrist, pulling in back down, "It's okay Madge," he tells her softly while sobs still emit from her every few seconds, "Shh, I'm here, I've got you."

"I'm sorry, I probably ruined your n-night, but I just d-didn't wanna be alone and I-I had no where else to go to-" she continues to say.

"It's okay Madge, I told you that I'm here for you. You're okay now. Whatever happened, it's over now. You can tell me about it after you've calmed down." She nods, "why don't you go upstairs and take a shower, it'll probably make you feel a bit better, and then we can talk. Alright?" Again she nods, she tries to dry her eyes but she realizes that it'll just smudge the makeup even further. She get's up to go, but not before staring at Gale in the eyes and saying a sincere "Thanks Gale, really."

Cliffhanger! I'm sorry, I had to set it up so that it would lead to her coming to find Gale. I have the idea about what happened on her "hangout" with Toni, but i'm scared that you guys will hate it and I just couldn't decide so I thought I'd just leave the explanation to the next chapter. Do you guys have any idea what it was?

And also, you may notice that the Madge in my story is still a bit more accustomed to her old lifestyle. This is cuz I personally think it's more realistic that the mayor's daughter would not just easily be able to adapt after having a wealthy life like that...

So yea, favourite parts? Things you hated? Let me know!

I'll try to make my next update way faster than this one.

REVIEW!