A/N: Gale visits Peeta in the hospital. Hope you enjoy! Thanks to Vedastus for suggesting this, and to both Vedastus and Belle453 for the beta. :) Thanks for reading!

At the entrance to the hospital, Gale again hesitated before pulling open the door and stepping inside. He was stopped at the front desk by a nurse who curtly demanded, "Name?"

He sighed. "Gale Hawthorne. Just visiting"

"Who are you here to see?" she asked.

Shifting uncomfortably on his feet, Gale muttered, "Umm... Mellark. Peeta."

"Peeta Mellark?" The woman looked at him suspiciously. "Do you have someone to check you in?"

"Didn't know I'd need to."

After a pause, she sighed and said, "We'll have to check with his doctors."

"Yeah, you do that," Gale snapped.

"It will be a few minutes. You can have a seat," the woman replied, nodding toward two forlorn chairs along the wall.

Grumbling, Gale ignored the chairs and paced the tiny waiting area. He hadn't seen Peeta since the rescue, but he knew what had happened with Katniss. And he knew she'd seen him here in the hospital before she left for District 2. He still couldn't imagine Peeta turning so completely against her though. He may not have liked it, but he couldn't help knowing how the baker boy felt about her. Gale just needed to see for himself before this mission to District 2. Gale's thoughts were interrupted when he almost tripped over a pair of district 13's standard issue shoes that had stepped into his path.

Gale looked up into blue eyes and instinctively thought of town. That impulse remained though Gale had grown used to meeting the blue eyed gaze of Boggs and other district 13 soldiers. But in district 13 nobody's eyes were as deep blue as these.

The blonde teen looked at him cheerily. "Gale! Hi. It's nice to see you. Are you visiting someone?"

Gale frowned at her, but she seemed impervious to his glare, watching him inquiringly. Not many townies had survived to get to district 13. He hadn't seen much of them here; the girl in front of him was a little leaner than he remembered. Must be the rationed food; everyone was given just what they needed and no more here in the underground. She looked older, and stronger. Her curly hair was pulled back into a long blonde braid. He should have expected her to be here, with Peeta.

"See Peeta. If they'll let me," he answered, glancing toward the reception desk.

"What? Don't be silly. Of course you can see him."

Gale's eyes narrowed. "Says you?" It was just like an entitled townie to act like she could make her own rules. He felt uncomfortable reminding himself that she was talking about getting him in to see Peeta.

She laughed, surprising Gale. "You were on the rescue team. Why wouldn't you be able to see him?"

Before he could answer, she spun on her heel and stepped up to the desk. To the nurse at reception, she cheerily explained, "Hi Laila. I'm heading back to see Peeta. I'll take Gale here back with me."

Laila smiled back. "Okay hon. Thanks. Just sign him in for me too will you?" She handed the blonde a clipboard. The girl scribbled in the information, handed the pen to Gale for him to sign his name, and passed it back across the desk. Then she swung her backpack onto her shoulder and smiled at Gale brightly. "Follow me!"

As he followed her down the hall, Gale wondered how often she came to see Peeta. Most people wouldn't be on a first-name basis with the reception nurse unless they were coming every day, but Delly Cartwright was not most people. Delly Cartwright would make friends with a desk chair.

"Is your shoulder feeling better? I heard you were hurt in the rescue. You were so brave to volunteer. I would be too scared to break into a Capitol prison," Delly gushed.

"It's fine," Gale muttered.

"I can't imagine what it was like. What they've done to Peeta – it's terrible," she continued.

Gale sighed. Knowing he couldn't escape this conversation, he asked, "How is he?"

"Better. He's doing better. He's got such great doctors helping him." She sounded hesitant though, as if she was trying to convince herself it was true.

She stopped in front of a door and said, "here we are. Just don't get in the doctors' way and you'll be fine." Delly advised.

Gale followed her into a darkened room where two doctors sat facing the large glass panel that looked in on Peeta's hospital room. The doctors glanced up briefly from their clipboards, acknowledging the newcomers. One turned her attention back to the window, but the younger of the two gave Gale a quizzical glance before smiling at Delly. Gale could tell immediately the guy was interested in her.

"Hi Delly," he said.

"Hi Sheldon," she answered in the same friendly way she'd greeted Gale a few minutes before. "Sorry I'm late. This is Gale. He's Katniss' friend. It's okay if he watches, right?"

Gale wondered briefly if Delly was flirting to get him in here, or if he would have been let in anyway. He quickly decided he didn't care, and tried to tune out the couple as he turned his attention to the view through the window.

Peering through the glass into a brightly lit hospital room, he saw Peeta sitting upright in his hospital bed, hooked into some machine with a dozen different monitors, a tube sticking out of his arm and a pillow clenched in his hands. A restraint across his torso limited his movement. A doctor was taking notes from one of the monitors. Then an eerie static crackled through the air and a disembodied voice echoed through the room, "And can you tell me where we are?"

Peeta responded hostilely, "The same place I've been for weeks? Some hospital? I can tell you what you've told me, that we're in district 13. Which is supposed to be rubble. Since you don't let me out of this room, it's a little hard to say for sure. It might as well be a prison."

There's another long pause as the doctor records something off a monitor.

"Where do you think you are?" asked the voice in a neutral tone. This time Gale realized the voice was the doctor's. Peeta growled in anger and took several deep breaths, burying his face in the pillow.

"Geez, what is this?" Gale muttered.

"Reverse brainwashing," Sheldon said with a sigh.

"It's so hard on him," Delly mumbled sympathetically. "Oh I forgot! I got some dough from the kitchens. Can we try it?" She looked to her doctor friend expectantly.

Sheldon looked to the other doctor, who nodded agreement. Gale was surprised by the exchange; he didn't see what dough had to do with anything or why they would want it here, but he got the impression this was something everyone else in the room had already agreed on.

"Let's have it," Sheldon said. Delly pulled a jar from her bag and together they poured the bread dough out onto a plastic tray.

On the other side of the glass, Peeta gritted his teeth and said, "Fine. District 13. Delly says it's District 13. It's not the Capitol. It's not home."

Sheldon looked at Delly. "Do you want to take it in to him? It might work better if it comes from you."

She nodded, walked out into the hall and in a moment there was a knock on Peeta's door. Glaring, Peeta folded him arms in his lap as Delly walked in carrying the tray in front of him. "Hi Peeta. Hi Dr. Minos. Peeta, I brought you some bread dough from the kitchens here."

As she passed the tray over to Peeta, Gale wondered how Delly had gotten her hands on bread dough in the first place. He had to give her some credit - maybe she was more resourceful than he'd realized. Or maybe she'd just batted her eyelashes at some poor schmuck in the kitchens. He shook his head, reminding himself he wasn't here to figure out Delly Cartwright. He just wanted to see Peeta.

Peeta eyed the dough doubtfully as Delly explained, "It's not quite like home I think."

Peeta took the dough in his hand, tentatively testing its weight and stretching it for elasticity. "No, it's not," he answered quietly.

Delly turned to leave with a smile on her face. Her hand was on the door when Peeta said, "Wait. Delly – will you stay?"

"Of course. If it's okay with Dr. Minos," she said, taking her hand from the door and pulling out a stool to sit on.

"Right," said Dr. Minos. "Let me see, where were we … Oh yes. What can you tell me about Prim?"

Peeta tensed immediately, the dough squishing through his fingers as he clenched his fists.

"Take your time," the doctor told him.

"She came to see me. She has hair like Delly's," Peeta said, his eyes flickering to the blonde, who nodded encouragingly. He looked down to the dough in his hands, purposefully kneading it between his hands. "She was nice. She works in the hospital. She – she's from home. From district 12. She had a goat."

It all seemed off to Gale. Why were they asking about Prim? And why wouldn't Peeta mention Katniss? If someone asked Gale about Prim, the first thing he'd think was that she's Katniss' sister.

The doctor prodded, "And what else do you remember from district 12? What about your family?"

Peeta stared at the dough as he massaged it into different shapes. He stayed like that quietly for several minutes before saying quietly, "My family owned the bakery. I baked bread. And I frosted the cakes."

Peeta's face contorted as his hands worked the bread dough. "We worked in the bakery. We made bread. Like this, but with different grain. This dough needs to rise. It's not warm enough here. The dough needs heat to rise. My dad was the baker – " Peeta cut off, his jaw clenched. "Before the fire."

Again, the doctor prompted him. "What about the fire?"

Gale could see the tension the question brought. Peeta stared at the dough in his hands, tearing it to pieces as he said, "The fire. Fire burned the bread. District 12 burned and everybody died. It burned down. District 12. Everyone's dead -"

His eyes looked crazed and his voice grew louder and louder. "She killed them. The fire – burned the bread. The district died - " Peeta threw the pieces of dough from his hands and they sprayed across the floor as the doctor pressed a button on the machine. Delly fled to the corner of the room by the door as a guard rushed in. Before the door was even closed, Peeta was slumped back in his bed, asleep from the drugs.

The guard and the doctor fastened Peeta's arms with a second set of restraints as Delly scurried across the room, picking up pieces of the dough from where they lay. She gathered them onto the plastic tray and hurried from the room, pressing the bits of dough back into a ball as she waited impatiently for the door to open from the outside to let her out.

Delly came back into the dim observation room carrying the tray of dough in her hand, looking resigned but determined. Sheldon looked at her sympathetically. "That was good. He's going to have outbursts, we know that. Remember, we have to push him. Giving him something familiar to do with his hands - the dough was a good idea."

Gale was astounded. "You call that good?"

But Delly was nodding and even smiling, wetting the dough and returning it to its jar. "It helped him focus, right? Just a little?"

Gale stared into the room, now empty save for Peeta laying unconscious in his bed, and wondered how that could have been any kind of improvement. The way Plutarch had talked, Peeta would be back to his old self in no time, but that was obviously wrong.

It was all wrong. Peeta was supposed to be affable and gentle. Peeta was likable. Even Gale had had trouble holding a grudge against him in 12. The guy in the glass looked like Peeta. But Gale couldn't even recognize him.

Gale thought about Katniss and felt his heart wrench. If she'd seen him like this, he knew it would be haunting her. Her hard exterior crumbled when faced with pain much less than this. He thought of the quell. He could see Katniss' desperation when Peeta hit that forcefield. He thought of her kitchen, when he'd been hurt and she had kissed him. And he thought about that damned cave where she had nursed Peeta to health in their first games. Where she had been pretending and yet …

He looked at Peeta through the glass, a boy broken by the Capitol, and Gale hated him. And he knew, he could never compete with that pain. Whenever they were in pain, she was there. Until now. This time the pain was so unbearable she had fled to District 2.

She had fled to 2, but Peeta's pain wasn't going anywhere. And he knew it would haunt Katniss. She'd never be able to let go of this unless he recovered. He wondered what he would find when he saw her there. Tomorrow in District 2.

A/N: What do you think? Could Delly's bread dough be the first step (along with Prim's anti-hijacking) toward Peeta frosting cakes again?