Katniss moved about the condo on Sunday, cleaning and packing for her trip to District Thirteen for the publishing conference.

Katniss glanced at her laptop bag, which seemed to taunt her with unread article submissions and a still unfinished outline and summary for her next book. I hate conference, she thought. So much wasted time. I have a lot of work to get done. I know it's my turn, but I really don't know why Clove or someone couldn't have taken my place.

Her thoughts about work drifted from the volume to a long buried memory of another publishing conference. She had met Finnick at a conference in District One.

He and some of his soldiers had been there for a bachelor party. Katniss smiled at the memory of Finnick rescuing her from the corny pickup lines of one of his men. They had stayed up all night talking in the lobby of the hotel, starting their tradition of staying awake all night and talking about anything and everything that popped in their heads.

I wonder where that kid Boggs is now, she thought. Hopefully he found a girl that that appreciates those lame pick up lines.

An urgent knock at the door interrupted her reminiscing. "Ugghhh," she groaned, heading toward the door. "If this is Jo come to share TMI about Blight, I will slam the door in her face. She knows I am leaving today."

"I'm busy, Jo, you know that I am leav-..." Her voice trailed off as she opened the door and found herself looking into Gale's gray eyes for the second time in the past 48 hours.

'Gale!" she cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?" he asked, pushing his way through the door before she could respond.

Katniss offered him a seat and some tea, then took the seat farthest from him. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she repeated her question. "What are you doing here, Gale?"

"I came to find you. I got the shock of my life the other night seeing you standing there in that club. When did you come back? Why didn't anyone tell me? Why are you leaving again?" he demanded, taking notice of the plane ticket and suitcase.

Katniss bristled at his use of the word "again." She sighed. "As though I am to blame for leaving the first time," she sneered.

Gale glared at her in response. "Don't be that way Katniss. I just asked a few questions."

"Fine. I have to go to Thirteen on a business trip. I'll be gone the whole week," she explained.

"Ok, ok. But why didn't anyone tell me you were back? Johanna, my mom, Peeta….nobody told me. And why couldn't I find you? I had to ask Flavius where you lived since there isn't any property deeded to Katniss Everdeen."

Katniss sighed again and mentally added killing Flavius to her growing to do list. "Jo is MY friend, not yours. She isn't going to tell you anything. Your mom probably didn't know. I don't keep people in Twelve updated on the life of the girl who broke the heart of golden Gale Hawthorne. And I just saw Peeta for the first time in years two days ago."

"Why didn't you tell-" Gale started, but Katniss cut him off.

"As for why you couldn't find my address, Everdeen is a pen name. It's how the publishing world knows me, so I keep it. My legal name is Katniss Odair," she explained.

"You're MARRIED?" he squeaked in disbelief.

"I was….I was married. Finnick died in the war. I am a widow," she admitted, willing herself not to cry in front of him.

Gale closed the space between them and grabbed her hand. "Catnip, I'm sorry. I didn't know. You should have come to me."

"I couldn't. I just couldn't. I wasn't strong enough to re-live that pain." I'm not so sure I'm strong enough now, she realized.

"It wouldn't have been like that and you know it. I still love you. I always will. Glimmer didn't change that. I will always care about you."

Katniss glared at him and yanked her hand away. "And how is the illustrious Glimmer?"

"My wife is fine. Her modeling career is really taking off. Don't change the subject, Katniss," he commanded.

Katniss jumped as her phone buzzed and a car horn beeped, signaling the arrival of the airport shuttle. "That's my ride to the airport. I need to go. You need to go." She directed him toward the door.

"Did you listen to what I said Katniss? I still love you and I mean that. You are back in my life for a reason. I want to see you again. I need to see you again. Please," he implored.

Katniss stood frozen, unsure of what to do until Gale drew her into his arms and kissed her, hesitantly at first. Too shocked to think, she began kissing him back, responding to the warm familiarity of his embrace.

The horn sounded again and brought Katniss back to reality. She shoved Gale away from her and opened the door. "You need to leave. NOW!"

"Fine. Promise me you will call me when you get back. We still have things to say," he said. "Promise me," he commanded, noticing her hesitation.

"I will," she promised, directing him out the open door. She signaled to the driver that she would be a minute and went back inside to grab her things. What did I just do, she wondered as she ran out to the waiting car.

****Break*******

Katniss stared out the window of the plane heading back to the Capitol, grateful to be on the way home.

The conference had been productive. A lot of people had come to her seminar on making the business section relevant to the average reader. She had also met a publisher from District Ten who was interested in her book if Capitol didn't want it.

It will be good to see Jo and the girls again and find out what I missed this week, Katniss thought, Effie and Plutarch will be happy with my report on the conference. I bet Haymitch will be upset that my outline isn't done. She could almost hear him saying "I can't make an offer on an idea."

Maybe the cabin will give me some inspiration and motivation to finish the outline and the summary, she hoped. The cabin had become her place of escape and she was looking forward to going there.

Katniss closed her eyes and focused on the details of the cabin. It was in the mountains, away from the bright lights and busy life of the Capitol. She had purchased it with some of the money from the sale of her first book and had decorated it in the oranges, reds, yellows and greens of autumn in Twelve.

Will Peeta like it? she wondered. There isn't much to it, not like the fancy ski cabins the girls like, but he might enjoy that part of it.

Katniss's mind drifted away to another cabin, in another place, half a lifetime ago-her parents' cabin on the outskirts of Twelve.

The summer after graduation had been a hard one. Her dad had not been gone all that long and her mom had remarried and began to raise a new family. Gale had stayed at college for the summer, so Katniss felt truly alone. The time until she left for college seemed interminable.

After one particularly bad argument with her mother, Katniss ran out crying, heading for the cabin. She missed her dad so much and she wanted to be with him. Her plan had been to go to the lake and let the water overtake her, joining her father in whatever the next life held.

I still don't know why Peeta followed me that day, she thought. He had jumped in the lake after her and pulled her to shore.

I don't know that I ever thanked him for that, she realized. Maybe I can find out what was on his mind that day this weekend, she thought as the plane began its descent into Snow International Airport. He seems pretty eager to talk.