A/N: I'm baaack! :D Sorry if it seemed like forever for me to update, I had an extremely busy week that included shopping, horseback riding, and tubing down a river for 3 hours while losing my raft, getting scuffed up by rocks, and being burnt to a fine crisp :P

Anyway, here's your chapter. I hope you like it, Rory makes another hilarious appearance in this one ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter 25: Tender Loving Care~

Gale sat down at one of the picnic tables inside the shelter, being more than happy to let Katniss and Sae 'help' him with his supposed injury.

"I'll go get you some ice," Sae said, turning to leave.

Katniss bolted up from her spot next to Gale. "Here, grandma, I'll go with you."

He was surprised.

Wow.

She had great reaction time.

He wondered just how fidgety she would be if he were actually in danger and not inside a shelter at a family reunion.

Unable to help himself, Gale curled in on himself and made an exaggerated moan of pain. Katniss immediately urged her grandmother to make haste, and she scampered off with Sae to go get some ice.

Seeing that they had gone, Gale sat back upright and tried to keep his body from shaking with the chuckles that so desperately wanted to escape his throat.

He began to imagine what his best friend would do if they were in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere, and he had been hurt. Seriously, that is. Like, what if they were in the middle of a huge forest, with no food or water, and he had been attacked by a bear? Or bobcat? ...Or a lion?

Just as his fantasy scenario was reaching its conclusion, Johanna, Prim, and Rory came to stand before him.

"...You okay?" Johanna asked guardedly, standing a considerable distance away from him.

Narrowing his eyes to slits, Gale doubled over in fake pain. If he was going to have to live with the humiliation of a water balloon to the groin, then she was sure as Hell going to feel bad about it.

He gave another painful groan, and Johanna finally broke.

"...Ugh, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to hit you with the freaking balloon!" She snapped, obviously unfamiliar with the word 'sorry'.

Gale looked up at her, giving her a look that said, 'really? That's your apology?'

She rolled her eyes in response. "I'll get you some ice..." she muttered, walking off.

Katniss and Sae had already gone to get him some ice, but he wasn't about to tell her that if it meant getting her off his back for a few minutes. Johanna disappeared, leaving him with Prim and Rory.

"Are you feeling any better?" Prim asked, eyes shining with genuine concern.

Fighting the urge to 'aww' at her sweetness, Gale settled for giving her a comforting smile. "Yeah, much better. Thanks for asking."

She smiled in response, going off to help Katniss and Sae find some ice.

That left Rory.

Gale dropped his smile, glaring at his little brother.

"Nice goin' there, genius." Rory taunted, making a dumb face.

He glared harder. "Thanks. I really 'appreciate' your concern for my well-being."

They stood in silence for a moment (well, Rory did. Gale was sitting) when his younger brother spoke again.

"Can I get you anything?"

Giving a look of surprise, Gale had a ready comeback waiting on his lips, but upon seeing his brother's masked concern for him he decided against it.

"Uh...yeah. Can you get me a drink?"

Rory nodded. "Cola or Pepsi?"

Gale thought for a moment. "...Cola."

"Regular or diet?"

"Regular."

"Bottle or can?"

"Uh...Bottle," He said strangely.

"One liter or 0.5?"

"You know what? Just get me a water."

"Normal or carbonated?"

"Normal!"

"Warm or cold?"

"Get out!"

"Now or later?"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"With a knife or gun?"

"GUN!"

"In the head or body?"

"SCREW THIS!"

Gale made a grab for him, but Rory had already ran off.

He sighed.

He should have just went with the comeback.

A/N: I've noticed that most of my chapters are an average of three pages long. Hmm.

Nothing much in this chapter, just a funny little filler I added for the sake of Gale and Rory's funny-ness. Lol.

Anyway, I'd like to give a personal thank you to the Guest readers Olivia and Sasha (I love that name!) for their wonderful reviews. I'm glad I made you laugh, Olivia, and thanks, Sasha! I think I WILL do a GalexJohanna story sometime after this! If you've got any ideas for a storyline feel free to drop a review with your thoughts, I'd LOVE to hear them! ;) Oh, and thanks a TON to Swan's Feather for your reviews. I enjoyed our PM brainstorming immensely ;)

The next chapter will contain the Everdeen family baseball game. I've decided to skip the tug-of-war scene, because Gale's injured now and...I just don't want to. Haha XD

Please leave a review, I would LOVE to read what you have to type! :3

'Til next time!