A/N: Thanks to all of you for your faves, follows and your reviews! A couple of you asked me when Gale and Madge are having their meeting in the Meadow. That's next chapter, should be up in a few more days.

As always, thanks to my betas, dandelionsunset and evilgrinstar.

Chapter 14-the hunters

Katniss woke up extra early the following morning and headed for the woods. She was a little worried about how things would be between her and Gale since their talk yesterday. She was much more worried, though, about the lack of food in the house. She had skipped breakfast this morning to make sure there would be enough for Prim.

The sun was barely up when she found Gale at the snare line. She said good morning and he grinned up at her. "Hey, Catnip." She stood there uncomfortably for a moment before she began helping him reset the snares. The snares hadn't caught much, just a couple of small fowl. That meant today would be a hunting day. After they reset the snares, the two of them set their bows and started moving silently together.

It had taken them a couple of years of hunting to get a system down but the one they had worked. They walked in tandem, making sure they were facing the same direction. Katniss took everything on one side and Gale took anything on the other. That way, they wouldn't ever accidentally aim their fire at one another. They switched sides often, so that neither of them became too used to only shooting left or right.

They fell into their usual rhythm right away. Katniss was grateful to find that whatever awkwardness there may have been didn't follow them into the woods. A full hour went by, then another. While Katniss was the quieter of the two—she was so small and light that even animals didn't hear her until it was too late—Gale's soft tread was nearly indistinguishable from the light spring breeze. Despite their stealth, though, all they had to show for their efforts were a couple of squirrels. Katniss was beginning to fret about their food supply when they both heard it.

A gobble. Then another. She and Gale looked at each other, excitement on their faces. There was a flock of wild turkeys nearby. Turkeys weren't as fat in spring as they were in fall but they were easier to find. Mating season made the toms loud and promiscuous while they tried to mate with as many females as they could.

Gale and Katniss silently followed the sound and found themselves just outside a clearing. Sure enough, a large tom was gobbling and strutting around, trying to impress a harem of seven females. Gale pointed at the tom and then to Katniss, then to the largest female and to himself. Katniss nodded. They aimed their arrows, simultaneously inhaled and fired at the same time. Katniss' arrow hit the tom right through the eye. Gale's caught the female in the neck. Both shots killed the birds instantly and the rest of the flock scattered.

Gale whooped and Katniss gave a loud belly laugh. This was enough meat to keep their families fed for most of the week, with plenty left over to trade. They picked up the birds and retrieved their arrows, then headed to the stream to clean and gut their kills, and pluck the birds.

Something about their shared bounty washed away the weirdness of the day before. As they walked, they talked like they always had. Katniss kept some of the feathers for fletching. She would need to make more arrows soon. Gale teased her about her arrow-making skills. In fact, Katniss made better arrows than he did but her first attempt was a disaster. The arrow had curved so hard to the left that was more like a boomerang. Gale never missed an opportunity to remind her of it.

The friends talked about where they would trade at the Hob. Katniss wondered if she would have time tomorrow to go to the lake and get some katniss tubers. Roast turkey and mashed katniss with a dandelion salad would be the best meal she'd had in months.

On their way back to the fence, they stopped by the strawberry patch to check on the net that protected it. There wouldn't be any berries for several more weeks but Gale was satisfied that the net was secure. He stared at the patch for a moment and then asked a question that Katniss had not expected.

"What do you know about Madge?"

Katniss thought about it. "She's smart. She's very observant. She's not a coward." Katniss thought about her friend for another moment, before saying, "She doesn't talk about herself much. Why do you ask?"

Gale said, "When I stopped by her house last night to apologize, she asked me to meet her in the Meadow this afternoon."

"Really?" Katniss noticed that Gale was watching her to see how she would react. He wonders if I'm jealous, she thought. Was she? Katniss examined her feelings. She wasn't jealous but she was curious about it. She knew Madge wasn't nearly as timid as she let on but asking Gale to meet her in the meadow? "I wonder why?"

"What do you mean, 'you wonder why?' Just because you don't find me attractive doesn't mean other girls can't. Obviously, Madge is into me." Gale tried to look wounded as he said it but couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Katniss snorted, "Yeah, you could tell she was really into you by the way she chewed you out in front of Rory and Vick yesterday."

"Those little goat-fuckers. Do you know they told our mom about why Madge griped me out? I spent my whole evening listening to the Hazelle Hawthorne lecture series on dating. God, I hope I'm around when those two start to date," he chuckled.

They chatted amiably all the way back to the Everdeen's house. They divided up the giblets and most of the meat between the two families. Katniss insisted that the fowl from Gale's snares go to the Hawthornes. The back and legs of one turkey would be traded at the Hob, and the squirrels would go to Mr. Mellark.

Once they got to the Hob, they parted ways for a bit while Gale took the turkey to the Head Peacekeeper, Cray. Cray usually gave them the best price for turkey. Still, Katniss kept her distance. Cray wasn't a brutal man but he sure didn't have any qualms taking advantage of the poorest women in the District. He openly paid for sex, and Katniss couldn't imagine anybody sleeping with him for free. There was often a line of desperate souls outside his door at night.

The one and only time Katniss had traded with Cray, he thought she was there to trade sexual favors. She was maybe thirteen years old at the time. Cray had opened his door, taken one look at her and said, "Shit, girl, I don't care how hungry you are, I'm no pervert. I don't fuck kids." He started to shut the door in her face before Katniss recovered enough to blurt out that she was there to trade for game. She held up half of a turkey pullet she had shot that morning. Cray laughed his head off, then handed her some coins in exchange for the meat. "Come back in a few years if you ever get pretty," was his parting comment.

She never went back. She didn't care how good a price they got for their turkeys, it was too embarrassing to face him again. Once Gale heard what had happened—and after he got over his fit of laughter—he agreed to handle any negotiations with Cray.

Katniss browsed the stalls and chatted with Greasy Sae while she waited for Gale. When he returned, he and Katniss divided the coins between themselves and bought necessities at the Hob. They then headed to the bakery.

Mr. Mellark opened the back door and got right down to business. In addition to the squirrels, Gale and Katniss had a little extra coin. Katniss didn't want to be too profligate but she wasn't going to feel bad about buying an extra loaf of bread.

While she and Gale were bargaining with Mr. Mellark, she glanced into the kitchen. Katniss could see that Rye and Peeta were both hard at work. She caught Peeta's eye and he smiled at her before turning his attention to kneading the dough on the table in front of him.

Rye called out, "See you tonight, Everdeen!" He had a large bowl in his hands and was walking across the kitchen. He stopped and whispered something in Peeta's ear. Peeta turned pink and glanced at Katniss before using his shoulder to bump Rye away.

Gale watched the entire exchange with an amused look on his face. "Hey, Rye!"

Rye frowned at him. "Yeah?"

Gale pointed at Katniss. "Katniss shot herself a turkey this morning as big as your kid brother."

Rye broke into a grin and turned to face Peeta. "Is that so?" Peeta had gone from pink to red. "Well, thank god Everdeen can protect our baby boy Peeta here when he walks her home at night. She'll keep you safe and sound, won't she, Peet?" Rye was using that voice he used sometimes when he teased his little brother—talking to him like he was four years old. Rye and Gale were grinning from ear to ear and even Mr. Mellark looked pretty amused.

Katniss could tell that the only reason Peeta hadn't pressed his hands into his eyes was because they were wrist-deep in dough. She shot an apologetic look at Peeta and pulled a laughing Gale away from the bakery. "We have to go. Gale has to go home and get ready for his date." Gale stopped laughing and got a slightly surprised look on his face that said, Oh, right, I have a date.

"Have fun at the Slag Heap, Hawthorne!" shouted Rye as Mr. Mellark closed the door.

As they walked back to the Seam, Gale asked, "So. How much did you frighten Peeta last night?"

"I didn't frighten him!" Katniss protested. Then she thought for a moment. "Although he was worried I'd be mad at him for telling Rye about my singing."

"Am I the only person in Panem who hasn't heard you sing? When did Peeta Mellark hear you sing?" Gale looked a little put out.

"When we were five." That seemed to mollify him a little.

As they got close to home, Katniss advised, "Clean up for your date with Madge. She's my other best friend and if you go stink up the Meadow, she'll tell me tonight."

Gale grinned, "I never said it was a date."

"You never said it wasn't." They stopped outside her house and split the bread from Mr. Mellark. Katniss could smell roasted turkey and it made her mouth water. She was ready to go inside, take a bath and eat as much as she could hold, but before she walked in, she nudged Gale. "Hey. Are we OK, you and me?"

Gale nudged her back. Katniss could see that there was still a little sadness in his eyes but his smile was real. "Yeah. We're OK, Catnip."