So here it is! Another update! So, PEETA'S BACK! :D yay! Happiness and joy! Just so you know, Lots of this chapter is actual words from the book.

If I owned the Hunger Games, I would be one heck of a better writer then I am now. Unfortunately that is not so. All Characters and Quotes I may use from Mockingjay are Suzanne Collins'. But it's better that way ;).

The next day, I wake up smiling, something I haven't done much of since before the Quarter Quell. The first image in my mind is Peeta.

Peeta's alive. He's back.

My brain keeps up this whir of thoughts as I dress. As I walk towards the door, ready to visit Peeta, it hits me.

Gale.

Strangely, I feel like I have to talk to him about something. Well, not talk to him, I mean, I do have to thank him for saving Peeta. But what will I say? Peeta isn't a very stable subject to discuss with Gale.

What do I tell him?

I sigh. I should probably do it today.

I start feeling a little nervous. Maybe visiting Peeta will help calm me down. I make my way down to Peeta's room, but I am stopped by a doctor.

"No visitors at the moment please," She says, shooing me away.

Even though I'm disappointed, I don't even protest. I can already see that I won't be able to visit Peeta now. Besides, he's asleep. I'll visit him later. I go down to Special Defense, where Gale probably is. Best to get it over with now.

Gale had been released from the hospital this morning. I find him with Beetee in one of the research rooms. They're immersed, heads bent over a drawing, taking a measurement, Beetee occasionally stopping to speak into his earpiece. Versions of the picture litter the table and the floor. Tacked on cardboard walls and occupying several computer screens are other designs of some sort. In the rough lines of one, I recognize Gale's twitch-up snare.

"What are these?"I ask.

My voice turns their attention from the sheet. "Ah, Katniss, you've found us out," says Beetee cheerfully.

"What? Is this a secret?" I know Gale's been down here working with Beetee a lot, but I assumed they were messing around with bows and guns.

"Not really. But I've felt a little guilty about it. Stealing Gale away from you so much." I swallow, feeling a little uncomfortable. I've spent so much time being hospitalized, remade, or worrying about Peeta, so I can't say that Gale's absences have inconvenienced me.

Things haven't' been exactly harmonious between us, either. But I let Beetee think he owes me, so I just say,

"I hope you've been putting his time to good use.''

"Come and see," he says, waving me over to a computer screen.

I gasp. This is what they've been doing. Taking the fundamental ideas behind Gale's traps and adapting them into weapons against humans. Bombs mostly. It's less about the mechanics of the traps than the psychology behind them. Booby-trapping an area that provides something essential to survival. A water or food supply. Frightening prey so that a large number flee into a greater destruction.

Endangering offspring in order to draw in the actual desired target, the parent. Luring the victim into what appears to be a safe haven-where death awaits it. At some point, Gale and Beetee left the wilderness behind and focused on more human impulses. Like compassion. A bomb explodes. Time is allowed for people to rush to the aid of the wounded. Then a second, more powerful bomb kills them as well.

"That seems to be crossing some sort of line," I say. "So anything goes?" I look at them, horrified.

They both stare at me-Beetee with doubt, Gale with hostility. ''I guess there isn't a rule book for what might be unacceptable to a human being," Beetee says.

"Sure there is," says Gale. "Beetee and I are following the same rule book President Snow used when he messed Peeta up."

"What?" I say angrily. "Peeta wasn't messed up. He was tortured, Gale. And for information he didn't even know. He saved our lives."

"Whatever," Gale says, shrugging it off. "But the thing is Katniss, don't you think it's odd? That Snow do anything drastic to Peeta? I mean, he seems pretty normal, to me. So why wouldn't Snow try anything extreme? " He looks at me quizzically, waiting for an answer.

"Apparently he did inject him, but Peeta's body managed to reject it."

"Completely?" asks Gale. I don't like what he's saying. It indicates that Snow has something else to use on Peeta, something that will hurt his mind like he hurt his body. I push this out of my head and try to focus on their creation. It's cruel, but to the point.

I want to leave, run away. But that's childish. Besides, I can't seem to will myself to move. There's a long pause, then Beetee mutters into his earpiece, and the person in his ear starts yelling.

He sighs. "Well, I have business to attend to." He exits, arguing with the person in the earpiece.

Gale and I are alone. I resist the urge to bolt for the door. Gale looks the other way, awkwardly twiddling his thumbs, looking rather irritated. Mad, almost. I just stand there, my limbs numb and tongue frozen. I clear my throat and manage to get out, "How's your shoulder?"

On my way to see Peeta for the first time in months, I had seen him in a hospital room, get something removed there. "Better," he responds, just as awkwardly.

"Thanks for-for helping to save them," I say, carefully avoiding Peeta's name.

"Don't mention it." He says curtly.

"No, Gale, I want to-"

He cuts me off, looking at me sharply. "I said, don't mention it. "He looks the other way again, his eyebrows slightly narrowed.

I sigh. "Gale, that was amazing what you did for me, risking your life to save-" I hesitate. It seems best not to mention him so much.

"-Everybody," I finish lamely. He tenses, sensing a reference to Peeta.

"It made me so happy," I continue, and I reach out and touch his arm gingerly. "You're the best friend I ever had." I swallow hard.

He looks at me sadly. "But only a friend," he says, somewhat angrily.

"Gale, I-"

"Katniss, do you love him?" He cuts me off, his voice starting to shake. This surprises me. Do I really love Peeta?

"Well-I-I guess. I mean, I-I do, but-"

"I thought so."

"But...Gale, I love you too," I say. I am so bad with words.

"Yeah, but in a different way. You never will love me like you love him." The disgust in his voice is unmistakable.

"Gale-"

He cuts me off again, turning sharply, his eyes dark in anger and pain. "What do you feel, Katniss? When you kiss him?" he demands.

I don't know what to tell him. "I..." I trail off, at a loss for words. "I don't know," I say finally.

"And what do you feel when you kiss me?" he asks in a hoarse whisper.

I stop to think. How do I feel? "I don't know," I say again.

He looks at me, calculating, those grey eyes almost black. "Katniss, I don't get it. We've known each other since we were twelve, but you only met Peeta after the reaping. Why?" His eyes search mine for an answer.

I look at my shoes. What he says is true. Well, not completely. I never told him about the bread. Our one connection before the games.

"Gale..."

I want to say something, anything, but I honestly don't know what to tell him. How can I put it in words? The answer is simple: I can't.

I shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other, my eyes downcast, trying to think of something to say. Gale just stares me down coldly. He can only guess what I'm trying to say.

"I have a meeting with President Coin. See you later, Katniss." His tone make my blood run cold.

He walks stiffly out of the room, never looking back.

I sigh in frustration. Why me? I stalk away, cursing under my breath.

Did you like it? Am I on the right track? Please review! You are my motivation!