Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Without even a second thought Gale shoves her against the wall. He rests himself on his arm above her, pinning her against the bricks. Gale lowers his face down to hers letting his voice drop as he speaks.
"I swear to fucking God, Undersee," he growls. Madge can see the fire in his eyes, the intense hatred he has for her burning deep within. "Say it again and I—"
"You'll what?" she laughs. Her voice doesn't waver. Gale doesn't scare her. His threats are empty. "Flee the District? You've already done that once, Gale, that's why you're here in 2." She lifts her hand to rest on his chest, pressing him only slightly so he doesn't come a step closer. "You're a coward," she spits out. "You're too afraid to talk to anyone, especially me. To form a real relationship with someone who cares. You're too scared to face the truth that your District, your real District, needs you so you hide out here like some sort of—"
Madge is cut off by the sudden flash of a camera.
Both Gale and Madge turn their heads to the photographer, confusion sweeping over their features. Before either of them can process what exactly has happened there's another flash, and then the man is gone. Madge's hand slip from Gale's chest as he steps away, his eyebrows knitted.
"What the hell was that?" she nearly barks. Gale spins away from her and drags his hand through her hair. "Gale?"
But just like the photographer disappeared, Gale has disappears moments later.
"Retired Mockingjay General Gale Hawthorne," his assistant's voice rings out, "in new secret steamy relationship with mysterious blonde." She waves the magazine in front of his face with a scowl. "When were you going to tell me?" she teases.
"That isn't funny," he snaps, snatching the tabloid from her and tossing it in the trash. Valeria's the worst kind of annoying, why he ever hired her he'll never know. She's young and inexperienced, hardly knows how to work a telephone. "Make it disappear," Gale orders her.
"I'll try, Gale," Valeria says, reaching into the trash to retrieve the article. "But they're offering money for the girl to come forward with information about you. And you know how that works out." Gale grunts and marches away from her, listening to the pages swoosh in the draft he creates as he goes toward the door. "Oh, what's the problem?" Valeria calls out, halting him in his departure. "Big deal, someone thinks you're in a relationship. The press has been following you for months! This happens at least once a week!"
"It's different this time," Gale grits out. "Because of her." Madge Undersee knows things about Gale that no one else needs to. She knows what he was like back in District 12. She knows how he grew up. How he lived before the war, before he got a title and some money. About his family. She knows how he thinks and it scares the living shit out of him. "If she says anything, I'm ruined."
And she will. She'll say something. She's Madge Undersee. The daughter of the mayor of District 12. She'll do anything to stay on top.
"Then go fix it," Valeria nearly orders.
"I'm not talking to her," Gale snaps. "I can't stand the bitch. Never could a day in my life. Why the hell are you smirking?"
"Because there's a fine line between love and hate, Gale." Valeria glances back down at the magazine in her hand and smiles again, waving it up for him. "This picture is hot. You look blazing." Gale growls at her and she only laughs. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you two were already having sex in the closet."
Gale lets out a deep breath to calm himself down and marches from his apartment.
"Undersee," Gale's voice booms and catches her off guard.
Madge spins around and cocks an eyebrow, her face slipping into a teasing smile. "Hi Honey," she calls out. People turn at her announcement and Gale's nostrils flare. He marches toward her and has to remind himself not to pin her against any walls this time. "Good news, dear," she whispers in fake astonishment, "we made the paper."
Gale growls as she laughs. "They find you yet?" he barks.
Her eyebrows furrow, "No. They're looking?" Gale throws a glance over his shoulder and motions for Madge to move out of the main room. She leads him to a vacant hallway and lets him pace. "What's going on?"
"They're looking for information on me," Gale tells her, dragging his hands through his hair. "Offering money to the girl in the picture, that'd be you, if you know something that they don't." He spins around to face her, extending his hand and pointing at her. "And you do."
"How low do you think I am?" Madge mutters, crossing her arms over her chest. "I wouldn't say anything to the press. They're lowlife scum, harassed me for about half my life back in 12. I know what it's like." Gale narrows his eyes at her and presses himself against the wall opposite to her. "You've got some problems, we all have problems. The only reason yours are more important is because you're too attractive for your own good. Gale, you were one of the top-ranking officers in the Mockingjay army and then you up and retired without an excuse. People are curious."
He eyes her once. The gentle curve of her hips, the flow of her golden hair. He hates her. He hates how well she knows him. "You know why, don't you?"
"Of course I do," she murmurs. And it isn't because he's a coward. He's not. "You see things." Gale flinches at her honesty but doesn't shoot her down. "I used to too, right after the bombing." Again he flinches. "But I stopped running and dealt with it and now here I am."
"Yeah," Gale mutters. If only he could be so strong. "Seeking me out to call me a coward in the dark of the night." Madge rolls her eyes as he paces over to her. "You'd be a coward too if you saw half the shit I have, Undersee."
"I'm not saying I wouldn't," she whispers back. Gale looks down at her, suddenly surprised at how close they are. "Listen, I won't tell the press anything. Okay?"
"You hate me," he breathes. He takes another step closer. "Why not give them all the dirt you can?"
"I don't hate you," she responds simply.
"You openly insulted me."
"I like getting you angry," she admits, her eyes lighting up momentarily. "Reminds me of old times. If you were really a coward you wouldn't have come all the way to my office to chew me out. You would've sent your lovely assistant." Gale rolls his eyes, leaning forward and resting his arm above her. "I do think 12 needs you though," Madge continues softly. "2 has enough military operates. They need someone to help take down the fence and do surveying out there. Someone who knows the place."
Gale studies her for a moment. "Why won't you do it?"
"I don't know the woods," Madge tells him. "Not like you do. It would take me years." Her hands rest against his chest, not exactly pushing him away but still stopping him from inching closer.
"I can't go back there," he grits out.
"Yes you can, you just don't want to." Gale drops down a bit and watches Madge's eyes drop down to his lips. He licks them just to spite her. He's tired of fleeing. "Don't make me call you a coward, Hawthorne," she breathes.
So he doesn't. He drops his mouth down to hers and captures her lips at once. Gale snakes his hand around her rear and hoists her up, listening to Madge sigh into his mouth. Her hands slide up into his hair and force him closer. The kiss is anything but innocent. Passionate and powerful, slamming Madge into the wall because he can't think straight and quickly forcing out an apology between their mouths.
"They went down here!" a voice cries out. Neither of them hears, or if they do they don't care much.
Gale groans into her mouth. If anyone's a coward it's her for not pushing him to this point sooner. He lifts a hand to cup her cheek and moans as she nibbles on his bottom lip. They don't even part when the camera starts to flash, don't look up once as the photographers yell out his name again and again.
His mother'll kill him when this article gets out.