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

Gale blinked into the blinding light and groaned, reaching up with his hand to the back of his throbbing head. Everything was aching. He groaned again, shifting slightly, and found wires attached to his arm. Gale sat up in a rush as the world spun around him, forcing his eyes open.

"Gale, hey, it's okay."

The voice came from his left and he turned to find a beautiful girl sitting beside him. The way her golden hair was shining from the bright lights overhead made her look otherworldly. She reached out for him, her gentle hand on his wrist.

"W'happened?" Gale rasped. He opened and closed his mouth a few times trying to swallow but his mouth was too dry. "Who're…?"

"My names Madge," she said. The girl, Madge, reached for the side table to grab a cup of water. She handed it over to him carefully, watching him with a gentle and protective gaze he couldn't quite understand, considering he'd never seen the girl before in his life. "Do you know what happened? Do you remember?"

Gale drank greedily from the cup before lowering it and squinting at her. She didn't look like a doctor, or a nurse, though he was clearly in the hospital. "Not really," he admit. "It was raining," Gale said. "I was hurrying to get out of it." He shook his still throbbing head before passing the cup back to her.

"I don't know either," she admit. "I found you at the foot of the concrete stairs outside of the union building." Gale tried hard to remember. "I think you might've slipped or something, but you definitely hit your head." She reached for the side table again and handed over his wallet. "I got your information, called an ambulance."

Gale stared at her. "You came to the hospital with me?" he croaked. Gale glanced around the bright room. "You don't even know me."

"Well I felt a little weird just sending you away not knowing what happened," she said with a huff. Madge leaned back in her seat. "The doctor said you probably have a concussion. And I don't know how long you were in the rain before I found you, so you'll probably get a cold too." He nodded his head and sunk back down into the bed.

Gale heard a heart rate monitor beeping somewhere and felt his eyes throbbing. He turned to look at the girl again. "You didn't have to come with me," he said. He watched her mouth tug down into a frown before he added, "But thank you." The small smile that lifted was breathtaking. "Madge, you said?"

"Yeah."

"You go to Capitol too, I'm assuming?"

"You're strangely lucid for someone who just woke up from potentially being dead," she responded, still with a smile. "Yes, I go to Capitol. I'm a music major."

"What's your specialty?"

"Piano."

"Mm." He watched her for a moment. "You don't have to stay," Gale told her. "I think I'll be alright."

Madge smiled again a little hesitantly, a little nervously, and stood on her feet. "I'm really glad you're okay," she said softly. "I was really worried."

Gale didn't know this girl, but he did believe her. He gave his thanks another time and she smiled another time, soft and brilliant, before she left the room with a soft goodbye.

The nurse came in a few minutes later, pleased to see he was awake. "Feeling alright then?" she asked as she checked Gale's vitals. "Girlfriend had to go home?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your girlfriend," the nurse said, gesturing to the seat Madge had just left. "She was so worried, it was so so sweet. Wouldn't leave your side until we were sure you were okay."

Gale glanced back at the chair, ignoring the surprising warmth that spread through his chest.

"No, Ma," Gale said into the phone. A week had passed since his hospital visit and sometimes his head would still ache, but he was pretty sure that was more of a mental thing than a physical one. "I haven't found her."

Gale used to think he was good at Facebook stalking. He should've gotten Madge's last name. When Gale was lucid enough to call his mom back she asked about the girl immediately, her soft sweet voice, her kind words, and Gale realized he'd been an idiot. He just let her go!

The girl literally rode with him to the hospital and he just let her go.

"You're not looking hard enough then," his mother said into the other end. He rolled his eyes, but maybe he agreed. In what world did things like that happen? That someone, a complete stranger (beautiful and gentle), would wait with him in the hospital until he was okay? "This is love story material, Sweetheart," his mother crooned. "You find that girl or I'm driving to Capitol to find her myself!"

"Ma, it's not that–" Gale turned a corner, colliding with someone full on. "Easy," he rasped. The girl dropped her bag, sending books and pencils flying as Gale stumbled backwards. "Shit. Gotta go."

"Gale–"

"Ma, I gotta go," he grunted. After telling her he loved her he hung up and dropped to the floor to help her gather her things. "I'm so sorry," he murmured, focusing on scooping up her things. "I should definitely be watching where I'm–" Gale looked up and froze, just as the girl froze too. "It's you."

Madge.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times before it curved into a small smile. She laughed. "Hi," Madge said. "Sorry–I mean, no, it's okay, really." She stretched her hands out, pale and slim fingers (perfect for the piano) to grab the things he collected. "We should probably stop meeting with one of us on the ground," she told him.

A laugh escaped him and the smile Madge gave in response was amazing. They finished gathering her things and he stood before offering her his hand to help her up.

"How've you been?" Gale asked.

"Oh, wow," Madge said as she stood. Gale's eyebrows came together as she looked him up and down. "Sorry–I've been fine! It's just–you're, wow you're tall." Gale tried to fight the smile on his face but he couldn't. "I guess I didn't realize how tall when you were unconscious on the ground." He shook his head at her and licked his lips, wondering when luck had started working in his favor. "But what about?"

"I'm all clear," he said. They walked in the same direction and he tried to move slowly, wanting to drag this moment out. What were the odds? "I've been trying to find you, actually," he admitted.

"Oh?"

"To thank you," Gale said. "Again."

Madge waved her hand at him, still smiling sweetly. "Unnecessary. I'm just glad you're okay."

"And maybe to ask you to coffee," Gale added. He slowed to a stop and she turned to look at him. People walked past them in the busy hallway but they stayed frozen. "Not just as a thank you."

Her face turned pleasantly pink. "As a date?" she asked.

"Yeah," Gale confirmed. She pressed her lips together as the corners turned up, again in a smile. "I don't know just anyone who'd follow a stranger to the hospital to make sure they were okay." She ducked her head a little bit and Gale searched for the right words quickly. "If that makes you uncomfortable I understand, I just–I'd like to get to know you."

"Okay, sure," Madge said with a nod.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she echoed, still nodding. Her eyes were bright. Gale felt bright, too.

It was a typical coffee date, getting to know one another with awkward questions and silly soft laughs in one of the university's cafes. She was just as interested in him as he was in her, asking questions about his major and his family and his friends with full sincerity.

Eventually they threw away their empty paper coffee cups and went on a walk. Gale knew, deep down, where they were headed. Still when they reached the concrete stairs that Madge had found him at he felt his chest get tight.

Both of them were quiet for a moment before Madge turned to him. "I thought you were dead," she said quietly. Gale's nose wrinkled. "I'm glad you weren't. That would've been really scarring, finding a dead body."

The tension broke at that and Gale laughed, loving the way her face lit up. "I'm glad you're not ruined forever then," Gale said.

"Me too," she agreed. "Instead I got the chance to meet a wonderful boy." Gale shook his head at her as he licked his lips, glancing at the stairs again. "You could've sued the school you know," she told him.

Gale snorted. "They paid all my medical bills," he said. "And I don't think there's going to be any long-lasting trauma, so it's whatever. It was mostly just an inconvenience."

"Mostly?" Madge echoed.

"Mostly," Gale repeated. He extended his hand to her with a silent question in his eyes and she accepted. Gale pulled her in his direction and she came willingly. "I don't know if I would call it luck," Gale murmured. "Or a coincidence, but I hate the idea of fate."

"Why?" Madge asked, her voice also dropping low. "What's wrong with fate?"

"It'd leave me out of control," Gale said softly. "Everything would already be destined to happen. I don't want that I want to make my own decisions. But with this…" he trailed off. He didn't want to scare her away. "This feels like something more."

Madge licked her lips. "More than fate?" she asked with a smile.

"Maybe." It was too perfect. Too planned. Too lucky for him to meet this girl. "How do you feel?"

"I believe in fate," she told him. "I believe that everything happens for a reason."

Gale reached down to cup her cheek. "Everything?" he asked as he tipped her chin back.

"Everything," she exhaled.

Madge sighed into his mouth as he leaned down to kiss her, her own hands climbing up his shirt to keep him close. She kissed him the same way he kissed her: carefully. As though she was scared. As though the idea of fate, of something as brilliant and strange as this working out was terrifying. But her lips were just one of the many sweet things about her, the way she gasped as his other hand curled around her hip.

"Madge," Gale finally rasped, pulling away and pinning his forehead to hers. He wanted to taste her tongue, he wanted something more. She managed a crooked smile and Gale grinned, lifting his hand from her waist to cup her other cheek. "I had a good time today," he murmured.

"Me too."

"I don't want to go too fast," he added.

"Me neither," Madge agreed.

"But I want to do this again."

Madge laughed. "Me too," she said again. He tipped her chin back and kissed her another time, very quickly, before pulling back again.

"I should probably call my mom," he told her as he tangled their fingers together, walking away from the concrete steps together. "She's never going to believe me." Gale wasn't quite sure how the universe worked out, but at the moment listening to Madge's tinkling laugh, he didn't mind.