A/N: Hi, everybody, hope you are all gearing up for a great weekend! Thank you all SO MUCH for the reviews and feedback. Thanks also to readers dollyluvsya101 and The Quote Queen for the music recommendations in their reviews. If you have music suggestions, I'd love to hear them. (Be sure to let me know if you want Katniss and the boys to sing something for you.)

I have a fanfic rec: english5672's "Hot for Teacher." It is some sexy Everlark goodness.

This is a short chapter but I'll have the next one up in a day or two. My betas, dandelionsunset and evilgrinstar, deserve daily home deliveries of Mellark's finest baked goods (delivered by a hot baker boy) for all their help. Ladies, I could not do this without you.

Chapter 13—another apology

After apologizing to Katniss, Gale had gone home. His mother pounced on him the second he walked in, lecturing him about "how you've treated that poor girl."

Rory and Vick—the little shits—stood behind Hazelle, looking immensely pleased with themselves. Apparently, they had taken Gale's warning not to tell their mother anything as a green light to tell her everything. Once he was able to get a word in edgewise, he explained that he had already apologized to Katniss. Hazelle simmered down a little.

Dinner was a meager affair. He would hunt tomorrow, no way around it.

As he was leaving to go to the Undersee's, his mother intercepted him at the door. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked him.

"Mayor Undersee's."

"What for?"

Oh, here we go again, he thought. "I owe Madge Undersee an apology, too."

After enduring his mother's standard, "what-has-gotten-into-you-boy" and "respect-all-women" lectures, Gale finally escaped his house. As he walked to the Undersee's, he wondered how many more speeches from angry women he would have to endure before the end of the day.

He arrived on the Undersee's back porch just before 8:00. Before he could knock, however, Madge opened the door. "Hello, Gale. Katniss said you'd be stopping by." All of her assertiveness from earlier was gone. She looked and sounded like her usual, timid self. Gale wondered if this was because of the surveillance he now knew was there.

"Hi, Madge. Listen, I, uh, wanted to stop by and, um, apologize." Knowing his words were being recorded made him very self-conscious. He suddenly had some sympathy for Madge. He took a deep breath and plowed on. "I've been, um, thinking a lot about, uh, what you said earlier. And, um, you were right. About me, I mean. How I was, you know, acting."

Madge had a faintly amused look on her face. "Apology accepted, Gale. I appreciate you coming by to tell me that. Would you like to come in? You can hear the band rehearse. They're quite good."

Gale was still trying to sort through his feelings about Katniss. He didn't think that listening to her sing was going to help him much. Not tonight, anyway. "Thanks. But, um, no. I need to get back home."

"Are you sure? We're handing out cookies." Gale looked up at her sharply. Was she teasing him about what he'd said last night, when he'd called her cookies "handouts"? Her brown eyes were twinkling at him and she was grinning. She was teasing him. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her but he was struggling to keep a straight face. He finally quit trying to and just let himself smile at her.

"No, thanks, I'm good."

"All right. Well, will I see you tomorrow?" He knew she meant whether he and Katniss would be coming by tomorrow to trade for whatever they foraged or killed in the woods.

At that thought, Gale started to panic. Holy shit. We trade with the Mayor—right here on his porch-and the Capitol can hear it! Madge must have seen the anxiety on his face because she said in a calm voice, "Here. I'll walk you to the end of the drive." She stepped out of the house, hooked her arm in his and began a slow, casual stroll to the end of their property.

She was silent for a few moments but as they got further from the house, she leaned very close to him and spoke in a voice so soft, Gale had to lean over to hear it. He could feel her breath tickle his ear. "Nobody is all that fussed about the trading. I can explain more later. Actually, there's quite a bit I'd like to discuss with you but I need to get back inside for now. Can you meet me in the Meadow tomorrow afternoon around 4:00?" Gale nodded. He wondered if she knew her breast was pushing up against his arm. "Very well. I will see you then. Good night, Gale." She looked at him, her brown eyes holding his gaze for a long moment as she stepped away. Then she turned and walked towards the house, never once looking back at him.

Gale walked home in something of a daze. This had been one of the most emotionally exhausting days he'd had since his father died. He'd spend most of the day angry at Katniss. They had patched things up, but not before she pretty much killed any hope he had of being with her. It did seem as though their friendship was intact and he was genuinely grateful for that, but still—a man has his pride. Plus, he hadn't had time to process what Katniss' rejection meant for his plans to eventually escape District 12 and find the resistance. No matter what his relationship was with Katniss—or anyone else, for that matter—Gale still wanted out Twelve and he still wanted to fight the Capitol.

And Madge! For years, she'd spoken maybe five words to him. To him, she'd only ever been "Katniss' other friend." Honestly, she'd been "Katniss' homely, incredibly boring, other friend." Then today out of nowhere, she spent twenty minutes verbally eviscerating him about Katniss in the schoolyard. Plus, she dropped that bombshell about surveillance on him. "Don't discuss the Capitol again on my back porch," she said. Yet tonight she tells him, oh, you know, not to worry about trading contraband on that very same fucking porch.

Madge Undersee confused him. When she chewed him out, she'd never once yelled but her voice was strong, firm and direct. Twice in one day she'd leaned in to tell him something private and both times, there had been something almost sexual about it. He thought about the way her breast felt when she leaned into him a few minutes earlier. Was that deliberate? Was she hitting on him? There certainly wasn't anything shy about the way she'd looked at him before she went back inside her house. He was getting hard just remembering it.

Wait, what? He was getting a hard-on for Madge Undersee? That was...unexpected. He had never thought of Madge as being all that attractive. He pulled up her features in his mind's eye. He saw shiny blond hair that was kept in an old-fashioned style that covered her face a lot. She had merry, brown eyes that were always hidden behind her hair. Soft, pink lips that rarely smiled. Baggy, shapeless clothes covering a body he suddenly desired to see.

He couldn't figure her out. She wasn't like any other girl he'd ever met. He thought about what it would be like to live in a house that was under constant surveillance. He'd barely gotten a coherent sentence out once he was aware of the listening devices. Madge, however, acted like she always did—timid and quiet but certainly not nervous or afraid to talk. Even last night, when he was being kind of a dick to her, she'd been her usual self.

Hadn't she? Gale tried to remember what they had said to each other last night. He'd been all pissy about the Undersees having electricity. Madge had kind of glared at him and made some comment about how "local government had to be available to the Capitol 24/7." He'd made some snotty reply and she'd basically called him an idiot.

That's when it hit him. It was an act. "Quiet, timid, little Madge Undersee" was all just an act. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that she was hiding information about the Capitol. Or maybe from the Capitol. Possibly both. And now she wanted to discuss something with him tomorrow in the Meadow.

Before bed that night, he locked himself in the bathroom for a few minutes of privacy, just like he did every night. For the first night in many months, he didn't think of Katniss when grabbed his erection. Instead, he thought about blond hair, pink lips, brown eyes. Remembering how Madge's breast felt when she pressed up against his arm was enough to bring on his climax. He came hard and fast, much faster than usual.

He cleaned up, went to bed and hoped the next day was better.