It was hard to keep busy in the few days before Gale woke up. I moved our little makeshift camp just a little farther down river, under a small cliff that allows plenty of room while shielding us from rain and sun. A couple times I ventured out and managed to shoot two squirrels and rabbits each in total. I also go out to look for the plant that I know can help heal his stings, but I can't find any. Besides that I don't leave his side. It feels like I'm tethered to him, scared to go to far incase he needs me.

On the evening of the third day he finally starts to stir. He lets out a groan, and instantly I'm right there next to him. "Gale," I say gently. He starts to react to the sound of my voice and he slowly opens his eyes.

"Hey Catnip," he whispers, and he gives me one of his signature cheeky grins.

I slowly run my hands through his hair, something I've been doing a lot since he's been unconscious. "You've been worrying me a lot these past couple days."

He scowls. "How long was I out?"

"Three days," I say gently. We're both talking quietly, and there's some sort of soft tension running through the air, but I can't tell exactly what it is.

"Three days!?" he gasps. He tries to sit up, but quickly goes back down with a gasp of pain.

"Be careful," I scold him. "You've been in the same position for nearly three days, you're bound to be sore. Here let me help you sit up."

Slowly, I help him move into a sitting position against the wall, steading him with one hand between his shoulders and one hand on his abdomen. As I move him, his shirt moves up just a little, and some of my skin comes in contact with his, and he lets out a small gasp. "Did I hurt you?" I ask.

"No," he breathes. "It's nothing... just a little sore that's all."

I move over to the small kitchen area I put together, where all our water and food is and a small fire I built. I grab a water jug and some cooked rabbit, and move back over to him. "You haven't had anything to eat or drink for three days. You need something."

Slowly his arm moves out to take the almost full jug from me, but his arm shake under the weight. "You're still not back to normal," I say. "Here I'll help."

I lift the bottle gently to his lips and give him a few sips before tearing off a chunk of rabbit meat and feeding it to him. Slowly he eats all the rabbit and drinks his fill. Slowly he seems like he's coming back to life, and he slowly starts to get up and stretch out his limbs. He walks out of our camp for a few minutes, and when he comes back he looks like the same old Gale.

"So," he asks as he sits and takes another sip of water. "How many are left?"

"Nine," I say. "Four have died since you've been asleep."

"That reminds me." He looks around. "How the hell did we get here."

"Well we got probably a mile down river before you passed out. Then I moved our stuff down here and had to float you down river," I explained. "How much do you remember anyway?"

He stops and thinks for a second. "I remember the Careers chasing and cornering us. Then you moved really fast and there was some kind of explosion and you pulled me into the water and then..." He gets this sick look on his face and covers his eyes with his hand. "What the fuck happened to me?" he asked hoarsely.

"I shot a tracker jacker nest." I say shyly. "The explosion was probably the buzzing they made. You got a sting on your neck." I gently grab his other hand and move it so he can feel the spot. "See?"

He moves his hand away and looks to where our hands are. "That explains it," he whispers. His eyes quickly look over me. "And you're ok?"

"I'm fine."

He nods. He looks at me for a second longer before moving his hand and cupping my bruised cheek. "What happened?"

"Oh, this?" I say nonchalantly. "It's nothing." I turn my head so I don't have to look him in the eye. I don't know how he'll react to finding out he hit me in the face. Normally I would think he would just be rational about it and understand, but right now I'm not so sure.

"Then why aren't you telling me," he says sternly. He gently grabs my chin and turns my head so I have to look at him. "What happened?"

"I-it was an accident," I choke out, my voice shaking from nerves. "When the venom f-first took effect you tried to run. I couldn't let that happen s-so I pinned you d-down. You were hallucinating." Every word feels like I have a mouth full of cotton. "You... you hit me."

It took him a second to process what I just said. Then his eyes went wide and he slowly let go of me and stares at his hand. "What..." I tried to reach out to touch him, but he flinches away from me. His body started shaking, and all at once I realized that we're probably being project all over Panem at this very moment. I knew Gale could never live with himself if the whole world saw him like this, so I reached over and grabbed him and pulled him close. He tried to pull away but I wasn't having it. I moved him so his face was buried in my neck and just held him. He wrapped his arms around me and after a few minutes he stopped shaking. "I'm so sorry Katniss," he whispered hoarsely.

"It's ok," I said gently. "You didn't even know it was me."

His arms tightened around me. "I don't like that."

I laugh half heartedly, "There wasn't anything you could do about it. You didn't even hit me as hard as you could."

He moves away from me, and he has a careful constructed face on right now, like he remembered we were being watched too. He looks at me for a second and I know he was grateful for letting him hide. He takes a deep breath, "So now what do we do?"

I'm just about to answer when I hear something land outside. I crawl out and see a small container attached to a white parachute. "A sponsor gift!" I exclaimed. "Haymitch hasn't forgotten about us!" I snatch it up and crawl back over to Gale. I open it and there's some sort of ointment.

"What is it?" Gale asks.

I think for a second before I realize. "It's for your stings," I explain. "The bastard must have seen you were in need, Gale." I dip my fingers in the jar and gently put some on Gale's sting. He lets out a sigh of relief.

"That feels so nice," he says. "I wonder if it's good for anything else?"

"I don't know," I say. "But let's hope we never have to find out."