whoo, tenth chapter. Been kind of blocked about how to continue after the last chapter, because honestly starting this story I never really planned the whole thing, and afterwards I really only thought up to that part. I got some new ideas though and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. I do have exams so the update is probably even slower the usual sorry. Some of you have been saying that you want me to write longer chapters. I'll try my best at writing longer ones, but sometimes I just thought that shorter chaps are better than never updating.
This chapter will be pretty fluffy, the last couple chapters were too but this one isn't that significant to the general plot. It's just something cute I decided to throw in after more intense conversations in the last couple of chapters and before a start a new arc. Hope you guys like it.
It's been two week since that night, a week since Madge and Gale finally got together after years of doubt and hidden feelings. They go to work during the day and save the evenings for each other. She'd go over to his place usually, the apartment somehow feeling more like home than hers ever did when she lived in it alone. They'd usually just sit tangled in each other and talk, catching up on the two years they've spent apart. She stayed the night a couple times, and when she did the two would take turns staying on the couch, keeping things fair as neither of them was ready for that next step. For the first time in a long time Madge could catch herself smiling for absolutely no reason at all. She was happy, truly happy.
She hadn't talked to Toni yet since their whole incident, and Madge is really more relieved than anything. She didn't want anything to ruin the bliss she was in. So she'd avoid him when she saw him in the hallway, and turn a corner when she feels him watching her. She had no reason to talk to him ever again, and he didn't seem all to willing to talk to her either. She just wanted to let it go. Maybe she will in a month or so, after she feels she's figured out exactly what she would say to him.
And here she was, late afternoon on a Friday, just getting ready to wrap up her day's work. She was just finishing up another one of her monthly reports for the hospital when she feels a pair of arms snaking around her shoulders. It takes her by surprise but then she hears the laughter from behind her as she gasped. Without having to turn around, she knew it was Gale, her boyfriend, the word still sounded so strange on the tip of her tongue. She breathed a sigh of relieve, she had almost forgotten how skilled of a hunter he had been, and she silently curses his abilities to move without making a single sound.
"Hey," Gale greets her, still chuckling, turning her chair around slightly so he could place a kiss on to her lips which she quickly returns.
"What are you doing here?" she asks, still surprised to see him here. This was the first time Gale had come to the hospital since they started dating, and she was curious as to why.
"Are you not happy to see me?" he teases, gently taking one of her hand in his.
"Of course I am! I just didn't expect you is all," Madge replies.
"Well, it is a Friday," he starts placing kisses all over her again, starting from her cheeks, slowly moving towards her mouth, "I don't have work tomorrow, you don't have work tomorrow, I thought we'd do something fun."
Madge feels the fluttery feeling in her stomach, and usually she'd be appalled at herself for being such a teenager, but it's Gale Hawthorne she's kissing right now, and she's allowed to be happy. "What do you have in mind?" she asked between kisses, not actually caring about their plans because just being with him is enough for her.
"I was thinking dinner and I may or may not have a surprise after that." he replies, pulling away so he could look at her.
"Sounds like you already had this whole thing planned out, be a shame if I say no now huh?"
"Probably," he replies, pressing yet another kiss to her lips, "So, you in?"
She pretends to think about the offer for a while, but then grins,"Of course, just give me a little time so I can finish this up," she says gesturing to her monitor, "And then I'm all yours," she finishes with a wink.
Unfortunately things didn't exactly work the way Madge wanted, and as she started typing away again her attention kept being pulled in other directions. Gale had settled himself right behind her, leaning down so that one of his arms can hang loosely around her shoulders. He playfully twirled strands of her golden locks in his fingers, and Madge had to roll her eyes, so she can try to cover up the pounding in her heart and the blush that was obviously forming. Every once in a while, he would place a kiss on her cheek or neck, and Madge would just playfully swat him away, knowing that if he kept going, they were never going to get out of this place.
Finally, after almost an hour, the two managed to make their way out of the building. "That took longer than I imagined," Gale commented.
"Well, we would have been out their half an hour ago if you just kept your hands too yourself."
"Moody now are we today?" he laughs, holding his hands up beside head, as if defending himself. "You know you wouldn't want it another way."
Gale leads Madge across the parking field of the hospital, until they reach his car.
"Huh, fancy," Madge says jokingly, having never seen it before.
"Well, one of the benefits of working for the government," he says as they get in the car. Madge noticed before that he doesn't really talk about his job all that much, and she finds herself curious to know more. Maybe she'll ask later, she makes a mental note to herself.
"So are you gonna give me a hint about what your little surprise is?" she asks after they'd driven a few minutes in a comfortable silence.
"You'll see," he replies with a smirk, obviously enjoying the look of annoyance he gets in reply.
"What if I told you I hate surprises?"
"First of all, I have a feeling your gonna like this one, and secondly I think we both know that you like surprises Madge." he turns his head in her direction for just a second, giving her a smile. Gale was thinking back to their time back in District 12, the way she would smile so widely whenever he brought strawberries over to her house on a day other than Sunday just to treat her, and the way her eyes seemed to shine the first time he took her to the lake in the forest. He really wanted to see that kind of look on her face again.
"So you're just not going to tell me anything?" she asks again, and Gale laughs because he thinks it's the cutest thing.
"Nope."
They arrive soon enough to the little cafe near the edge of the town that Gale had made reservations for. It was nothing like the extravagant places downtown that he would sometimes go to with the guys he worked with, but he's always liked it here a lot more. He found this place a few weeks after he first moved to district 2. Something about the friendly atmosphere and the simple food, it had just immediately reminded him of home and his old favorite places down at the Hob in the midst of all the changes that he had been going through. Afterwards he found himself coming here at least once every two weeks or so, whenever he was feeling nostalgic, or just needed to get out of his new busy life.
He grabs Madge's hand and they walk in together, sitting down in a booth near the back. When he looks at her face he sees her looking everywhere, studying the whole place with wide smile on her face.
"Wow, you don't see a lot of places like this here," Madge tells him, "It's so relaxed and nice." she pauses for a bit and adds "so much better than the places Toni use to take me." The last part comes out more as a mutter to herself.
Although she says his name bitterly, Gale still frowns at the mention of his name, but he decides to let that one go, not wanting to ruin their night discussing him. "I found this a while after I came here, I don't know, it kinda reminded me of home y'know. Of the Hob, and how close and friendly everyone seemed to be." It felt weird telling Madge all this, and Gale was so relieved to see Madge smile so genuinely back at him.
"I feel the same way."
They spend the rest of dinner making small talk, enjoying each other's company without all the heavy things that's been haunting their lives all this time. When it came time for deserts Gale made sure to order a little bit of everything that had strawberries in them. When he sees Madge laughing from the corner of his eyes as he told the waiter the order, he smiles and tells the waiter that "strawberries are her favorite".
"Was that necessary?" Madge demands when the waiter disappears, real anger lacking in her voice.
"Oh but they are your favorites aren't they?"
"I might have liked the boy who brought me them even more." At this comment Gale couldn't help but lean over the table to give her a chaste kiss. Just when she started kissing him back, they were interrupted by the waiter, coming back to bring them their deserts. Gale silently curses under his breath, which makes laugh all over again when she hears.
The night was going perfectly, and now they were in the car again, driving towards that little "surprise" Gale had apparently planned. Since he's been stubborn all evening about letting her in on where they'd be going, she decides not to ask anymore. Instead she finds herself just watching him, she haven't really noticed the little things about him, and the way he's changed over the past two years. She'd noticed the scars before, but she didn't quite really notice just how many there were. He keeps his hair now a bit longer than he did when he was a teenager, she'd noticed that before too, but right now she lets her eye's trace over the way it's ruffled because he never bothers to do anything with it.
"Enjoying the view over there?" Gale suddenly says, pulling her away from her thoughts.
"Don't flatter yourself Hawthorne," she replies, quickly diverting her eyes elsewhere.
"Whatever you say Undersee."
Gale lifts a hand to casually turn on the radio, flipping through the stations before finally settling on one. Madge takes note of the folky rock music that played; she's never known what type of music Gale liked. Back in district 12, people didn't really have much time to listen to music, Madge had been one of the only people who were fortunate enough to learn an instrument. Sure, people sang every one in a while, but it was rare, and it was limited. Madge wonders what else Gale might have grown interest in, and just how much else she didn't know about him.
Four songs later, the lights of the city was slowly fading away, and soon they were pulling up to an empty parking lot, lit up by only a few dim street lights. Madge couldn't see much of anything in the darkness, but she trusted Gale enough to know that he wouldn't bring her anywhere dangerous.
"Planning on killing me here and hiding the body out here?" She meant it as a joke, but she regretted it as soon as it came out. She didn't want Gale to think that she's not uncomfortable with this, because she is, and she was relieved when she heard Gale laugh beside her.
As soon as she steps out of the car she realizes where they are. It was a park-like area, with a small trail lit up with lights that guided into a thicket of trees. Of course, with the amount of time the two had spent in the forest back in district 12, it was only natural that Gale would take her to a place like this. She could already hear the sounds of birds chirping in the night sky, and smell the scent of trees that she's always associated with the boy beside her.
She turns around and sees Gale watching her, judging her reactions. "I love it," she tells him simply, walking closer to him so she can take his hand.
Together they head down to the path, making their way into the small forest. There weren't any electric fences they had to crawl through, or peacekeepers to look out for, but nonetheless it felt like old times. They may have grown up a lot in the past two years since being teenagers, and the war had definitely changed them into new if not better people; but neither could deny that they missed this. The forest where they were able to be alone together, where they were able to drop their worries.
I will leave this chapter at that, sorry if this is really short again. This will continue into the next chapter. I'm kinda really bad at writing good fluff so sorry about that. This chapter was so hard to write, and I didn't have much time so I wrote it in chunks.
Tell me what you think
xo