Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Gale had spent a lot of his time in the woods ever since Madge had told him what happened. What he let happen. What he never should have let happen. She was pregnant, for crying out loud. Sure, he wanted kids, but not when he was barely 19! He wasn't even sure it was Madge that he wanted them with.
"I thought you'd be out here," a soft spoken voice interrupted his inner rantings. "You always are when you want to think."
"Hey Madge," Gale had sighed as she came into view. "You know I don't like when you come in the woods."
"And you know I don't like when you just disappear on the world," she replied. He leaned forward on his knees as she settled down beside him. "Talk to me," she said. "You haven't talked to me about this and I need you to talk to me."
Gale's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced toward her but then he looked away quickly. "I don't know what to say," he admitted. It wasn't like he was just blowing her off, he honestly didn't know what to say.
"Well you have to have some sort of opinion on the matter," she shoots back. "Don't you?" Again, he sits quietly wondering where his feelings fall. "Gale!" she cried out. "Please, talk to me!" He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, looking toward her again. Her crystal blue eyes were filled with tears, her hair hung limply in a ponytail. "I'm scared and I need you to tell me what to do."
"Madge," he sighed again, leaning toward her as best he can. "I'm so sorry I did this to you," he said, shaking his head slowly. "If I could take it back I would."
"That's not helping," she snapped, blinking tears away. "You're going to leave me, aren't you?" She looked away from him and swallowed slowly. "Everyone's going to leave me. My father will disown me, you'll go get married to some beautiful girl from the Seam…"
"No," he said forcefully, reaching forward and pulling her chin so she looked at him. "That isn't going to happen. I'm not going anywhere, Madge." He glanced down at her stomach, the loose sweatshirt around it making her baby bump invisible to the world. "We're in this together."
"But you don't love me!" she wailed, her head finally collapsing into her hands. "God, I can see it on your face! The regret, how much of a mistake anything you had with me was. I can read you like a book, Gale!"
"That's not true," he said quickly. "You know that's not true. Madge I wouldn't have went that far with you if I didn't love you." He paused as she sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I love you. God, I love you." Her chin quivered as she looked up at him. "I'm just," he paused and took a deep breath. "I'm just scared too." Madge reached forward and cupped his cheek, pulling him closer. "I love you," he repeated quietly. "I do, I really do."
"Then what do we do?" she asked, her voice cracking. "If the peacekeepers find out they'll freak out. You saw how they were when Peeta announced Katniss was pregnant."
"We could run away," he suggested weakly.
"You, me, and a baby?" she laughed lightly, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to his lips. "Out of the question." He searched her eyes as if he could find an answer to give her. As if he could promise that she'd be safe.
"We'll figure something out," he told her. "Maybe it won't come down to anything drastic, I don't know." She kissed him again, and again, her sweet taste filling his mouth. With her in his arms he knew Madge was it, what he had been searching for. "I love you," he repeated. "Nothing bad's going to happen to you. I promise."