WTF IS GOING ON HERE? WHY IS GALE RUNNING AND WHERE TO? WHY IS DELLY CRAZY ENOUGH TO RUN AFTER HIM IN THE FREEZING RAIN WITH SHORT SHORTS? WHY WON'T MY CAPS LOCK BUTTON TURN OFF?! Oh hey, there it goes. Double update because these are both short chapters and I should've updated awhile ago. Extra love to those of you who actually read this A/N as well as the quote rather than just skipping to the chapter.

I will hold on hope

And I won't let you choke

On the loose aroung your neck

Mumford and Sons, The Cave

Chapter 13- The Hanging Tree

My sense of direction has always been bad, and when you throw worry and a thunderstorm in as well... I'm just lucky Gale's footprints are still fresh in the mud. I have to keep up though, the rain is coming down harder and the prints fade away faster. I put my hood up in attempt to warm up, and fail. My legs are freezing after about ten minutes. Another twenty later, and they're half-way numb. Everything looks so dark and the lighting flashes obscure my vision. My hands get cut a few times by bushes with thorns and trees with low branches. There are several creeks and small streams that I have to be careful not to fall into. I keep running though. He wouldn't just run out at eleven o'clock at night in a storm if he needed to go on a walk. It's probably almost midnight now. I finally come out of the woods and to a small clearing. The first thing I see is the hill, then the tree on top of it. I run to the top and it takes all of my energy. Gale's staring at something on the tree.

"Gale?" I say slightly louder than normal. He turns around so quickly water from his hair hits me in the face.

"Delly?" He shouts. "What the hell are doing out here?"

"I was worried about you." I shout back. Between the rain and thunder, we kind of have to. Gale looks shocked. "You just ran off, and this is terrible weather." I pause. "Why did you come here?" Gale clenches his jaw and turns to look at the tree again.

"There are rumors that some kid hung himself from this tree. Katniss and I came to check it out for ourselves." He says. "That was the day we carved our initials right here." Gale points to K.E+G.H in the wood. "It was the night before I left for the first time. I promised after everything was over, we'd get married. But then... We started growing apart. Her letters were less frequent and she talked about taking a break whenever I came home. But somehow I would keep us together by two threads. They kept splitting until there was barely anything left. This last year Katniss told me she met someone else. Finnick and Darius kept me from going AWOL. One day we were sent in to rescue a fourteen year old girl being held hostage by her 30 year old husband, he had a time bomb. I came up with this horrible death trap that would get the girl out and kill the guy, as well as a few of them men in the building with him. Things went wrong and then we were trapped inside too. Finnick found a way to get everyone out. Darius and I went back to get the girl. Only Darius never made it out. That was the day I got a letter from Katniss saying that she was engaged." Gale pauses. "I blamed myself for Darius' death, I still do. Katniss moved on, Finnick has Annie, and I have no one. I just-" I jump forward and wrap my arms around Gale, my eyes shut tightly.

"I'm so sorry." I say.

"Delly-" He starts. But I stop him.

"Nobody should have to go through that." I say. "You can get past it Gale. I can see you moving on every day. You're a lot stronger than you think. If you're going to sit around and wallow in self-pity, then you're dishonoring Darius. He was your friend and he would want you to move on."

He says nothing. I squeeze him tightly and he hugs me back. "You don't have to be afraid." I whisper. "You're not alone."

We pull away from each other and he looks down. "Jesus, you came out here in your shorts! Are you crazy?"

"I heard you leaving and I just ran after you." I explain.

"Aren't your legs cold?" Gale asks.

"Well, I can't exactly feel them..." I trail off.

"Oh my God." He mumbles. "We need to go home before you get frostbite."

"Okay." I say and Gale takes the lead. The way back is harder than the original journey. I have to hold Gale's hand so I don't fall behind.

"Are you okay back there?" He asks after we've been walking for about a half hour.

"Yeah." I say. The thunder has stopped and it's drizzling slightly softer than before.

"Dammit!" Gale shouts when a tree branch hits him in the head.

"Is it bleeding?" I ask when we come to a stop.

"Yeah." He says examining his hand after putting it to his forehead. Some of the blood drips down his face because of the rain. "Shit, my mom's gonna freak."

"I know first aid. I'll check it when we get back to the house." I say.

"Thanks." Gale says. We continue walking.

"So, why did you come out here tonight?" I ask. "If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm not really sure." He says. "I was talking to Finn today- he wants us to meet him and Annie for coffee on Friday. I brought up Darius and then I saw your second dress fitting on the calendar. It was like the real thing all over again. Too much happening at once and it seemed like no one cared."

"I see." I say. I let out a small yelp as I fall forward feeling a sharp pain in my right leg and suddenly the right side of me up to my hip is wet. Gale pulls me out of the creek and stops for a moment.

"Are you hurt?" He asks. "Are you okay Delly?"

"I fell in, that's all." I say. I look down at the cut on my leg. "I can fix this up when we get to the house." I begin walking and wince in pain. The dirt-filled water mingling with my blood doesn't feel the greatest.

"Can you walk?" Gale asks.

"Yeah, I think so." I say leaning mostly on my left leg, almost limping. Gale take my arm and puts it over his shoulder, his other hand grabs my hip. He's mostly carrying me, but I still take steps. We make it back to the house and Gale sets me in a chair and gets a first aid kit. He turns on one light, trying not to wake anyone up. I work on Gale first. The branch must've had thorns on it, or been pretty sharp from the look of the cut. It's just along the left side of his hairline and after cleaning it up, it doesn't look like it'll bleed much more.

"This might sting." I say putting antiseptic onto a cotton ball. I dab along the cut and Gale clenches his jaw closing his eyes tightly. I apply a thin bandage. "You're good."

"Thanks doc." He says smiling. Gale helps me clean the dirt and blood from my leg and I don't even have to bandage it. "C'mon. We need to change out of these clothes." He says afterwards.

"Yeah." I say automatically. I walk to my room and I'm about to shut the door when I catch a glimpse of Gale pulling a wet shirt over his head. Holy shit. I think to myself. I close the door before I can take a second glance. Inappropriate thoughts. Lots of them. I peel my shorts off and unzip my sweatshirt only to find the rain went straight to my tank top. All I can think of is Johanna and Cato talking about how Gale and I are set up just like a porn film. Right now, I wouldn't disagree with them. God Rue was right. He's hot. Gale is fucking sexy. Shut up and stop thinking that way! I slap myself and pull on sweatpants and a cami.

"Delly?" Gale asks softly at my door. I open it and find myself oddly close to his face. "I'm just going to put our wet clothes in the dryer."

"Yeah. Of course." I say picking mine off the floor and handing them to him. "Thanks."

"No problem." He says walking off. My hands are still freezing, although my legs are now tingling; so there must be some sort of blood flow going on. I wring out my wet hair and comb through it. I consider using a hair dryer, but figure that it would be too loud and wake up Posy. I sit on the couch in the living room because I'm not yet tired. I can hear Gale turning on the dryer and then walking to the bathroom. I peek my head around the corner and see him towelling off his hair. He stays in there for awhile and I stare into space thinking about everything that's happened tonight. My hands are barely lukewarm and the feeling has returned to my legs when I finally start feeling sleepy. I glance at the clock, 3:06 AM. I get up to go to my room and awkwardly run into Gale. We hug each other at the same time and stay like that for awhile. He pulls away.

"Thanks Delly. I didn't think anyone would go out there after me." He says holding my hands in his. They heat up as quickly as my face when I look down.

"It's no problem." I say. "Your hands are really warm." Did I seriously just say that?

"Yours are really cold." He says letting go.

"Thank-you. For telling me what happened. It means a lot to know that you trust me." I say. Gale grabs my chin, tilting it upward so I look him in the eye. How many times have we been through this? He moves both of his hands to my neck. Almost no space is between us. My mind is swimming in a thousand thoughts, all loosely linked together somehow. Porn. Car keys. The hanging tree. Gale shirtless. The book on LSD. His hands on me in the minivan. Aviator glasses. Empty bottles of red wine. Johanna smirking at me. Quit daydreaming. Focus on reality. What is reality? This is reality: The scent of Gale, earthy and warm. The softness of his shirt as I grip the fabric on his shoulder. I let go and recline, creating space between us and freeing my neck from the grip of his hands.

"Goodnight Gale." I say nodding slightly. I turn to my room and shut the door. It takes me two seconds to fall asleep.