A/N: Smut alert! My betas for this chapter, english5672, dandelionsunset and evilgrinstar, gave fantastic feedback and edits (I've never written smut before.) All three of them are authors here on site, so go show them some love!

Thanks to all of you for the reviews, follows and faves, I can't begin to tell you how motivating it is to get them. The response to the last chapter has been amazing. You all make me so glad to be here.

Chapter 19—elsewhere, in the woods

Madge woke up and got dressed as quietly as she could. Her father knew she was meeting Gale for a "walk" but she hadn't given him too many details. Full-time surveillance had conditioned all of them to speak in vague terms, so what would look like evasiveness from any other teenager was considered prudent in the Undersee home. For once, she was grateful.

Madge had put a lot of thought into the outfit she was going to wear to the woods today. For the last four years, she wore drab, baggy dresses everyday, all day. Initially, she wore them because the dresses acted as social camouflage. The plainness helped her blend into the background. As she hit puberty, however, the dresses had the added benefit of completely hiding her figure. In what Madge was sure could only have been some sort of cosmic joke, she had been blessed with a stunning, hourglass figure that she spent a lot of time and energy trying to hide.

Not today. Today, Madge wanted—and intended to have—Gale's undivided attention. Madge looked at herself in the full length mirror. She wore tight, low-cut jeans, and a form-fitting, long-sleeved, dark green shirt, untucked and scrunched up a little at her waist. Beat up sneakers and a ponytail completed her look. She wore no jewelry.

Everything she wore emphasized her curves. Having all of her hair out of her face revealed her delicate features. Satisfied with the results, she brushed her teeth, put on an old, shapeless canvas jacket that covered everything up down to her knees, and left the house.

She and Gale arrived at nearly the same time. He nodded in approval at her hair. "Good," he said, "it will keep the hair out of your eyes." She followed him to the edge of the Meadow and through a copse of trees. They walked to the fence. It wasn't on at the moment and Gale explained how to tell if it was. Then they shimmied underneath it.

He led her through the woods, stopping at one point to remove a bow and quiver from a hollow in a tree. He showed her the snare lines. There was a rabbit in one of them. Gale put the rabbit in his game bag and re-set the snare. As they walked, he pointed out game trails and showed her how to walk so she made less noise. She was impressed with how resourceful Gale and Katniss had been all these years, and told him so. He seemed surprised and a little pleased at her praise.

Finally, they arrived in a clearing that had a small rise at one end. "I'm going to teach you the basics by having you shoot into the side of that hill," he told her. "Once you've learned some control, we'll switch to smaller targets. Go ahead and take off your jacket and we'll get started."

This was it. Madge had to turn her back to hide the shaking in her hands as she shrugged off her jacket. She tossed it onto the ground, then turned to face Gale.

He was staring at her, open-mouthed. He looked her in the eye for a moment, then gently set the bow and quiver on the ground. His eyes narrowed. He almost looked angry. He placed his hands down low on his hips, his long fingers splayed and relaxed just over his front pockets. He made no attempt to hide the fact that he was inspecting her from head to toe. He also didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by the growing bulge in his pants.

Suddenly and without any warning, Gale strode over, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him. He ground his pelvis into hers, making certain that she felt his enormous erection pressing into her. Her heart started to race and she was suddenly, deeply, aroused.

"Are you playing a game with me, Madge?" he growled. "Is this some kind of Merchant girl power play, toying with the poor kid from the Seam?" He kept one hand in the middle of her lower back to keep his groin pressed into her.

Madge felt a flood of heat between her legs. "Not a game," she breathed. "I want to seduce you."

"Be careful what you wish for, little girl," Gale warned. Then he dipped his head to run his tongue around her earlobe.

She pushed one hand through his hair and yanked it hard enough to make him pull back and look at her. "Gale?" Madge took her other hand, placed it over his erection and gave it a squeeze. "The next time you call me 'little girl', I'll bring Katniss out here and seduce her, instead."

She didn't have time to appreciate the look on his face at that threat, because faster than Madge could process it, Gale's mouth was on hers. His hands were everywhere; sliding over her ass, tugging on her hair, under her shirt and on her breasts. Gale groaned when he realized she wasn't wearing a bra. He pulled away from their kiss long just long enough to pull them to the ground. She lay on her back and pulled him on top of her. Gale relentlessly pumped his hips into hers. She could feel her own wetness seeping though her panties.

He sat back on his knees, flung off his jacket and pulled off his shirt. She ran her hands across his smooth, muscular chest. "Fuck, you're gorgeous, Gale," Madge breathed.

"Say that again," he demanded, unzipping his pants.

"You're gorgeous, Gale."

"Not that."

She looked him in the eye. "Fuck," she whispered. He made a noise in the back of throat and pushed his pants down around his hips a bit, not exposing himself but giving them both easy access. He stripped off her shirt and pushed her back down onto her back. He knelt between her legs which were steepled on either side of him.

He gazed on her breasts for a moment. He slowly ran his hands up her sides until he was cupping her breasts, his thumbs brushing her nipples. "Why the act, Madge?" He leaned down and took a pink nipple in his mouth. "Why hide yourself?" She inhaled sharply and moaned in pleasure. She felt him smile against her skin.

"I see and hear more when people forget I'm there," she panted out. "Now quit dicking around and take off my pants."

"Don't tell me what to do," he said, as he took off her pants.

"Take off your pants, too," she ordered.

"Goddamnit, Madge," he said as he sat up just long enough to kick off his own pants, "stop telling me what to do."

"Shut up. I want to look at you." Madge sat up, knelt next to Gale and pushed him onto his back. She slid his boxers down and looked at all of him. It was the first time she'd ever seen a naked man and she was going to indulge her curiosity.

He was glorious. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, rock hard abs. She ran her fingers down the length of his erect cock, which really didn't look anything like the drawings they had in their biology books at school. He was long—longer than she'd expected—and thick. It jumped at her touch. She looked up at his face. He was still on his back but had propped himself up on his elbows, watching her. She continued to stroke him with her fingers while she watched him. His eyes were half-closed with lust and he was breathing hard. "You have the most beautiful cock," she said. Then, never breaking eye contact with him, she bent her head to the base of his shaft and slowly ran her tongue up his length.

Gale let his head fall backwards, then lay all the way down on his back. When she took the tip into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it, he wrapped her ponytail around one hand and guided her head with the other. She tried to take him in slowly, but he started to buck his hips. It made her gag and she had to pull away. "Sorry," he gasped. "I'll, uh, try not to do that again." She took him in her mouth again, this time holding on to the base of his cock to prevent him from going in too far. She moved her head up and down.

She heard him whisper her name. Hearing it made her even wetter than she was already, and she moaned in pleasure. He started bucking his hips again but this time, she was prepared for it. Gale was almost chanting her name, now, his voice ragged and hoarse. He came in her mouth, pulsing with a force that surprised her. She didn't expect there to be a taste but found she didn't mind it so much. She swallowed it all before releasing him.

Gale lay immobile for a moment, panting hard. He pulled her up to him and held her tight on his chest. Very gently, he rolled her onto her back. Propping himself over her using his elbows for leverage, he stared into her eyes for a long minute. Neither of them said anything. He rolled off to one side a little bit, then slid his hand down to her panties. He started circling her clit through the cotton. Her mouth went slack as she felt him add a little pressure.

"Say my name," he ordered, his voice quiet but insistent.

"Gale Hawthorne, take off my panties," was her reply.

His mouth quirked up a bit. He slid her panties down and pushed her thighs apart. His fingers found her clit again. Then one long finger dipped inside her. She found herself whimpering a little. He started kissing her neck. "You're so wet. Fuck, Madge, I'm getting hard again."

He took a nipple in his mouth and she felt another gush of warmth between her legs. "Harder," she pleaded, "suck them harder."

He took his mouth off of her breast and stopped moving his fingers. There was a glint in his eye. "Say please," he smirked.

She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled just hard enough to make his cock jump. "Fucking please."

He sucked her nipple so hard that she shouted out, "Oh!" in surprise. His erection was hot against her thigh. She knew she was getting close. She reached for his cock. He repositioned himself so that she could hold him. He was just as hard as he had been a few minutes earlier. She stroked him, and he increased the pressure as he slid one finger, then two, then three, in and out of her. She found herself whispering, "yes, yes, yes" as she bucked against his hand. She shouted his name once, then finally found her release. A moment later, he came again.

The whole thing from start to finish had taken maybe 10 minutes.

Gale was holding her again but she was beginning to shiver. The sun was barely up and it was too cold to be naked. She disentangled herself, sat up and started looking around for clothes. Gale joined her after a moment and they silently dressed, handing each other articles of clothing as they found them.

Once they were dressed, Gale did something she did not expect. He hugged her from behind, then pulled them down so that he was sitting on the ground and she was cradled on his lap. He hugged her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him. "What the fuck just happened, Madge?" he asked. His voice was quiet and hoarse.

She moved around so that they were facing each other. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulled the elastic out of her hair, and smoothed her hair back into a more presentable ponytail while she thought of the best way to answer his question.

She couldn't honestly say she was in love with Gale; it was too soon for that. She was open to the possibility, certainly, but there was much more at stake here than just a high school romance. She decided that full disclosure was best. Besides, they could speak freely here.

"You're the first guy I've ever kissed."

Gale's jaw dropped a little. "What? Seriously? So...all that other stuff?"

"First time," Madge admitted.

"How did you know how to..."

"Like I said, I see and hear more when people forget I'm there. Monday morning in the girls' locker room is when the girls at school talk about what they did at the Slag Heap, or what they saw somebody do, or what they want to do." These conversations were the primary reason Madge would never, ever, go to the Slag Heap.

"But you've never done any of it before?"

Madge shook her head. "No. I've never been much interested in boys. You, however, are not a boy. You're a man. You have been for a long time. I know you had hopes for you and Katniss, but right at this second, I'm really happy that it didn't work out." She ran her fingertips along his jaw. His gray eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"So that lecture you gave me about Katniss being like a kid sister—was that just so you could have me all to yourself?"

Madge laughed at this. "Please. Gale, if you jumped Katniss like you just did me, what would she do? Think about it for a moment. If you grabbed Katniss Everdeen around the waist and did the bump-and-grind with your massive erection, what do you think she would she do?"

Gale's eyes lit up. "You just said I'm 'massive.'"

"Well, I have nothing to compare it to, but you looked big to me. And you didn't answer the question. What would Katniss do?"

"Shoot me. Or worse, start crying."

Madge nodded. "Gale, if I really believed that you and Katniss had any sort of future, I wouldn't be here in your lap. However, I would still be asking you to teach me how to shoot. I'd just be struggling to keep my hands to myself."

"Were you planning to seduce me when you asked me to meet you?" Gale ran one of hands up her back and pulled her a little closer.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you're sexy, gorgeous and smart. Because everything about you turns me on. And your attitude towards the Capitol convinced me to take this risk."

Gale looked over at the bow and arrows. "So learning how to shoot wasn't just an excuse to get me out here?"

"Not entirely, no. If all I wanted to do was learn to shoot, I could have asked Katniss. But when it comes to the Capitol, you and I want the same thing. I don't want to just learn how to shoot. I want to do something. If there's a resistance out there, I want to find it. If there isn't, I want to start it. But whatever it is, I want to do it with you."

He stared at her for a long time, his expression unreadable. Madge's heart started to sink. Had she misread him? She really thought they were on the same page about the Capitol. But maybe he was the kind of guy who lost interest in a girl after he'd felt her up or something.

She sighed, trying to hide her disappointment. "Look, if you are no longer interested in teaching me, let me know now. For that matter, if you're no longer interested in fooling around, let me know now. Just...don't lie to me about it. And whatever you do, don't treat me like I'm a pity fuck or something, OK?"

Gale gently ran his knuckles over her cheek and whispered her full name, Madge Undersee. Madge found herself deeply moved by this unexpected gesture of tenderness. She looked down so he wouldn't see her blush. He took her face in both of his hands and tilted it up to meet his gaze. Usually, his eyes were hard, closed off. The look he was giving her now was soft and warm. "I don't pity you, Madge. I'll teach you. I still want to fool around with you. I just don't know what I am to you."

She kissed him. "We're lovers," she said. She watched his eyes smolder as the import of her words sunk in.

They stood up. Gale picked up the bow and arrows and said, "OK, let's start with your stance."

The lovers worked in the sun the rest of the morning, both of them happier than they had been in a very long time.