Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.

Madge stands in the hallway of the Justice Building and wipes her sweaty hands on her poor excuse for a wedding dress. There are so many places she'd rather be than here. And the fact that this is her wedding, a day in which she should be celebrating, makes it so much worse.

She supposes it isn't her fault that her father arranged this marriage. Arranged marriages have been in Panem for as long as Madge can remember so that the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. But she hates it. She never asked for this.

And to get technical, nothing is set in stone. If she had found a husband on her own before today then this wouldn't be happening. Her father resorted to an arranged marriage because things were looking bleak for Madge, and someone had to uphold the powerful name of Undersee somehow, even if it becomes hyphenated.

The boy across from her is almost good looking. Not the type of boy she likes, though. He's small. Not very tall in the least, and his eyes are bright brown. His name is Ross. Ross something, she's not even sure what her last name is going to be. And frankly, she doesn't care. She'll never use it as her own.

The only thing Madge knows is that she's going to marry him, whether she loves him or not, because her daddy said so.

Their children are sure to have blonde hair, considering both of them have it, and they're sure to be as pale as snow. Probably with awful immune systems too, as people in town are always sick.

Again Madge wipes her hands on her dress. The lace is terrible at absorbing sweat so she's left with sticky hands. It didn't have to be this way. For a while she was sure it would never come down to this. Only months ago she had been so happy. So carefree with someone else.

She pushes the thoughts from her head. Her happy times with him only make right now ten times worse. No matter how much Madge wishes it were Gale Hawthorne standing across from her, the sad truth is that it isn't. And it can't be. And it won't ever be.

Ross shifts on his feet and tries to offer her a smile. Madge knows he doesn't want to be here either. Her father stands on one side while his on the other. This is almost like a business transaction. She's practically a sale. Might as well be.

Again her thoughts drift to Gale, the boy she had been seeing in secret for months. Boy, she almost laughs where she stands. Gale isn't a boy, he's a man. And that's exactly the reason why he broke it off. Boys have secret relationships, men don't. Boys mess around with girls from town for the hell of it, men don't.

He had always been so gentle with her, so kind. Not like the Gale Hawthorne she knew in her teenage years. The mines had changed him, he wasn't so tough anymore. She always thought it would make him more cruel, honestly, but it was quite the opposite. He was still the protective, determined guy who cared immensely for his family, but he wasn't openly rebellious or constantly degrading anyone for their status anymore.

She supposes it had to do a lot with his whipping, and maybe the fact that Katniss had won the Games.

But he was still Gale. Loud and proud, carefree and king of the world. In his eyes, anyway. Madge's too. She glances up toward the clock and sighs; it's about 6:30. Around this time Madge would usually be waiting in her backyard under her apple tree with her nose in a book. He'd come straight from work to get her, covered in coal dust and wearing a crooked smile, ready to tell her all about his day and the vulgar things Thom had told him.

The memory nearly makes her tear up.

"Miss Undersee," the official behind the podium turns to her. "Are you still with us?"

Madge blinks a few times before realizing he's addressing her. She might as well be paying attention, this is probably the last time she'll ever be called Undersee. "Yes," she nods. "My apologies."

"That's very alright." The official looks down in his packet and skims the words once, as though he hasn't married enough people to know how the procedure goes. "If there is anyone who objects to the marriage of Margaret Undersee and Ross Thurman, please speak now or forever hold your peace."

Madge glances over her shoulder at the empty room and nearly scowls. Who could possibly step forward to protest? To object? She turns back to the official and sighs, a little too loudly. She catches her father's disapproving gaze and straightens her posture, pretending to look interested again.

"If there are no objections then I suppose we should move forward. Mr. Thurman, if you—"

"Wait!" a voice from the back of the room cries suddenly. "Wait, Darius hang on a second!" Madge spins around and faces the boy, no, man, who's rushed in. Gale's covered in coal and panting as if he ran all the way here. "Stop the ceremony, stop… stop the ceremony."

"Mr. Hawthorne," the official Gale called Darius frowns. It's odd he knows Gale by name but then again Gale's probably sold him something from over the fence. "You've missed your chance to object, you—"

"No," Gale snaps, marching forward. "No, you've gotta let me talk." Darius looks at him sadly, obviously internally debating if he should allow him. "Please."

"Go on, then," he nods.

Mr. Undersee frowns and goes to object but Gale beats him to it. "Madge, you can't marry this guy." The blonde blinks and looks toward Ross, then back at Gale. "You can't, you just…" he rubs his hands over his face and smears the bit of coal that coats his features. "You don't love him. You can't marry someone you don't love, Madge, that's the worst thing anyone could ask for."

"Gale," she says softly.

"No, don't do that," he shakes his head. "Maybe you don't love me anymore, or maybe you never did but you don't love him. You can't do this to yourself!" She frowns and swats at her eyes. Now she's really on the verge of crying. "What I did was stupid, Madge, I know that now! Leaving you like that without even talking," he shakes his head. "You can hate me for all I care just don't… don't marry him. I'm begging you."

"Gale," she tries again. Still he stops her.

"Don't marry him," he pleads. "Please. Please don't marry him." Gale's voice breaks off as he drops his gaze to the floor. "Madge…"

"Is that all you have to say, Mr. Hawthorne?" Darius asks. His voice is soft and Gale eventually nods, running his hands over his face. "Then I gotta ask you to leave."

As Gale makes his way from the room Madge can't help but keep her eyes on the floor. He reaches the door to exit but suddenly stops, turning back around. "Do you remember that time in the meadow?" he asks. The room stays quiet as he watches her. "Over the summer. When the fireflies came out." The blonde keeps her lips tightly shut, desperately trying to fight off the tears now. "Madge, do you remember?"

"Yes," she chokes out. "I remember."

"You just… you just sat there with this look on your face," he continues, though with an obvious struggle. "Like you could spend the rest of your life there with me. Just watching fireflies. No cares in the world."

Madge bites down on her lip to keep it from quivering. Because she would've. She would've spent the rest of her life there with him. He had held her close, his chin resting on her shoulder as the insects lit up the sky. And Gale would whisper little things to her that would make her heartbeat increase. And he would rub his thumb in circles on her hip and kiss her neck.

"And I want that back," he stresses. "Madge, I miss you. I miss the sneaking around and the edge of excitement but mostly I just miss you. I miss when you would scold me for not tucking in my shirt and I miss when you would fall asleep on my chest and…" Gale trails off and sighs, considering Madge hasn't turned to look at him. "I miss you so much."

She can't keep herself from whimpering now, despite the disapproving gaze of her father and the confused look of the awkward man across from her. Gale waits another moment and she can feel his eyes on her. Pleading. Begging her to turn around.

"That's all I've got to say," Gale finally mutters before throwing his hands in the air and starting back toward the door. "That's all I've got." And with that, he paces from the room, letting the door slam shut behind him.

Gale keeps his eyes on the ground in front of him. How is it that a building can stay so white and clean in a coal district? He runs his fingers through his hair and slams his hands down on the cement next to him, wondering why he's still waiting around.

What's there to wait for now? She made her choice of not making a choice. There's nothing he can do about it.

Just as he's about to push himself from the steps and march toward home, he hears the doors swing open behind him. Gale glances once over his shoulder and then returns to staring at the ground in front of him. Madge quietly makes her way to the spot next to him, lowering herself gracefully to his side.

"My dad wants you arrested," she whispers carefully as though it's a secret. His lips almost tug upward but the sound of her voice makes his stomach ache. "He isn't very happy."

"I can't imagine why," Gale mutters back. "He got what he wanted. You married the prick."

"No I didn't," Madge responds. She holds up her left hand and shows it to him, void of a ring. He narrows his eyes at the sight to study it but she quickly pulls it into her lap. "I couldn't." Gale slowly turns to her, scooting over on the step just a tad to see if she'll move away. When she doesn't he closes the distance, their legs nearly touching. "I should've told my dad about us," she chokes out, not lifting her gaze to look at him. "Gale, I should've just told him."

"Madge,"

"I was so scared," she continues weakly. Madge drops her head into her hands and presses at her eyes. "I was scared of what he'd say and what he'd do that I just ignored it because I was so happy with you." Gale reaches up and pulls her hands from her eyes and Madge slowly turns to face him. "And I had never been happy like that before," she whispers. "I was scared and I still am."

Gale tries to smile. "You've got nothing to be scared of."

"I've ruined everything," Madge chokes. Gale shakes his head but Madge continues to nod, tears leaking down her cheeks. "I ruined what we had because I was too timid to say anything and I ruined my relationship with my father by lying to him and now I've ruined that pointless wedding because I'm such a baby and—"

"You didn't ruin anything, Madge," Gale tells her. "Look at me," he murmurs. Madge lifts her eyes, still teary and damp, to find his. He cups her cheek and pulls her closer. "You didn't ruin anything," he repeats before skimming his lips over hers. At their contact he can feel Madge shift, her hand slowly slipping up to his shirt to pull him closer. "Madge," he breathes against her, lowering his forehead to hers without breaking his hold.

"I love you," she says, her voice wavering slightly. "I do, I never stopped." He presses his lips against her again quickly, finally smiling. "I know I'm awful, Gale," Madge goes on. "I am, I'm so awful."

"Stop," he pleads.

"I'm spoiled and selfish and," Gale silences her by kissing her again, her warm lips melting against his. "You deserve so much better than me," she breathes.

"I don't want anyone else."

And Gale knows that interrupting her wedding was a stupid thing to do. He should've just sat back and let it happen. Let her go on with her life. It's not like he can offer her much. A house and some food. He has no money. He breaks the law on the daily basis. But he loves her.

And he smiles when she says, "Me neither." Because if she loves him back that's all that'll ever matter.

A/N: I was going to make this longer and whatnot but this is all I could ever get around to. I didn't think it was long enough to be it's own fic so I put it here. I hope you like it! The original request was to have Madge interrupt a wedding and you may end up getting to see Madge interrupting Gale's wedding in an upcoming one. x