"Gale-" Katniss managed flying past the door shocking her mother and Prim who were cutting potatoes for a stew. Alarmed, Prim and Mrs. Everdeen continued to stare at Katniss. "Gale, hes- we have to –" Katniss began rambling while begging to clear the table in a frenzy of panic.
"What happened to Gale?" Mrs. Everdeen prodded jumping into action.
"Caught- a raccoon –" Katniss choked out, now realizing tears were streaming down her face, as panic settled in, "Whipped."
The last part caught her mother's full attention. Immediately, Mrs. Everdeen turned into her medical self and began instructing Prim about the house. Katniss, at a loss of what to do, sank against the wall praying that Gale would survive. Moments later, the men carrying Gale slammed the door open once again and shuffled the door supporting Gale into the kitchen.
"On the table," Mrs. Everdeen instructed, and carefully the crew slid Gale onto the table. In response, Gale groaned in pain. "Gale, Gale, can you hear me?" Another muffled groan in response.
"Good, stay with us, dear." Mrs. Everdeen continued, "I know this is painful, but I want you to concentrate on something else. Just stay with us, dear."
"Ka- niss-" Gale hissed.
"She's fine, she's here." Mrs. Everdeen assured while starting her first inspection on his back, and then turning to Prim retold her findings, "Nothing is deep enough to stitch, we can't do a snow coat, but let's see what we can do with cold cloths. We have to clean these all out before we can apply anything…" And the two women began dabbing at the wounds, and adding words of encouragement as yelps of pain escaped Gale.
"Stop- you're hurting him too much!" Katniss pleaded with her mother after Gale screamed, his voice rattling something in Katniss.
"I have to do this, Katniss," Her mother replied calmly, "If I don't they will get infected."
"Can't you give him anything for the pain?!" Katniss screamed back, "Please!"
Her mother sighed in frustration and pity for her daughter, "You know as well as I do that I don't have anything to give him- he's tough, he can handle this."
"You don't know that! You don't know how bad it hurts!"
"Thom," Mrs. Everdeen turned to Gale's best friend, quietly standing in the far corner, fear evident on his face, "Take Katniss outside, please."
"No, I won't leave him!" Katniss screeched as Thom nodded, beginning to pull Katniss away.
"They have to work on him to make him better," Thom reasoned as he began pulling her away. "Trust them."
"No- I can't leave." Katniss choked, new tears and delirium reaching her voice. Prim reached for the clear bottle of alcohol, the best source of antibacterial they had access to, and began pouring it over his back, her hand shaking as fresh screams of torture echoed around the house. Katniss could hear her strangled cries mix with his, but couldn't recognize her actions. Thom found it in himself to hoist Katniss to his chest and carried the thrashing Katniss out of the house. She continued to thrash against his chest, but he was relentless and held her closer to his chest until she began to calm.
"He's tough," She finally began to hear Thom mumble as she began to calm, "He's the toughest guy I know, and he'd do anything to stay here with you. He's going to pull out of this, you know he can."
"This is all my fault-"
"No, not at all. He didn't have that raccoon on him, they wanted to use him as an example. This is not your fault, this is the Capital."
"He's going to die," Katniss began sobbing into Thom's shoulder fresh, "He's going to die."
At some point, Gale's screams ceased, and Katniss' sobs subsided. Without another tear to shed, she, Thom and Rory sat stunned in their own minds on the porch waiting for news on Gale. Sometime during Katniss' delirium, Hazelle had rushed into the house to oversee her son's treatment, leaving Rory on the porch. Madge had found a seat taking over Thom's position of cradling Katniss, something Katniss had hardly registered.
"I've already seen it, I don't ever want to see that again." Rory had mumbled as he took his seat next to Katniss.
The house door squeaked open, and Prim, covered in Gale's blood and shaking considerably, joined the small group on the porch.
"He's going to be ok," She told the group quietly, starring at her blood-stained hands on her lap, "He's going to have a lot of trouble moving for a while, and he probably won't wake up for a while. But the longer he can sleep the better. With the morphing," Prim smiled softly to Madge, "we're hoping he will sleep the next few days during the worst of it. He will have to lay low for a few weeks and take time to recover. He's lucky you got to him so quickly, Katniss. He lost a lot of blood, but he could have blead out if you didn't get there when you did. He's lucky to have you."
Numbly, the group nodded to the news and then continued to get lost in their own thoughts.
"Can I go see him?" Katniss asked weakly after quite a bit of time had passed. Prim looked up from her hands and did her best to give an encouraging smile, but failed.
"Of course," Prim answered.
Inside the kitchen was a new space of emptiness. Hazelle had taken a seat by Gale's head, and was gently running her hand through his damp hair, whispering words of encouragement and love. Mrs. Everdeen was grinding fresh herbs to make into a coat for Gale's back. Gale, hardly breathing in the stillness of the kitchen looked like a giant covering the whole table, his feet dangling off the edge of the table. Once white cloths littered his back, now stained pink. Upon seeing Katniss, the two mothers offered encouraging smiles.
"He's going to be alright." Mrs. Everdeen smiled kindly. "I've seen worse."
Katniss didn't bother to remind her mother that death has seen this table more times than she wanted to think about. Hazelle seemed to read Katniss' thoughts, as she pushed another chair next to her for Katniss to take. Cradling Katniss under one arm, and continuing to comb her hand through Gale's hair, Hazelle offered comfort to the teen.
"Your mom's the best healer in the district, if anyone can take care of him, it's her and Prim." Hazelle told Katniss softly. "Gale's a stubborn man, he won't leave us. Not if he has any say in the matter."
"I should have gotten there sooner." Katniss stifled a sob.
"Oh, no sweetheart," Hazelle hugged Katniss tightly, "No, this isn't your fault, you did more than anyone could have."
"Katniss," Mrs. Everdeen pulled her daughter away enough to inspect her cheek. In all the distress, Katniss had forgotten that she had earned several slashes herself. "You saved his life. Now, let me see this."
As Mrs. Everdeen cleaned Katniss' wound, which stung considerably given the size of the cut, Hazelle continued staying at her post by Gale's side. Eventually it began to grow dark forcing Madge, Thom, Hazelle and Rory to leave for their homes with the promise of visiting the next day. Prim and Mrs. Everdeen reapplied Gale's dressing for the night before murmurs of 'good night' were made, and Katniss was left alone with a still sleeping Gale.
It was odd, but she felt as if she allowed herself to sleep, somehow she wouldn't be able to care for him. Not that she was doing anything for him now, but in her mind, this logic seemed sound. He slept mostly soundly through the night, only mumbling a bit in discomfort a few times. Sometime in the early hours of morning, something drew Katniss to place a soft kiss on Gale's chapped and unmoving ones. As she realized what she was going to do, she convinced herself she could kiss Gale now, and wouldn't have any consequences if he was asleep, and she could show him this act of love, an act she could keep to herself.
She kept her lips on his for several moments before pulling away and whispering, "I love you, Gale."
"I know." Gale whispered, a beaming smile stretching across his face despite the pain. He opened one eye gingerly to see Katniss, blushing furiously with her hand over her mouth. "You didn't really think I'd miss the first time you admitted you loved me."
"I-" Katniss mumbled while Gale chuckled, "You were sleeping."
"Kinda dirty of you," Gale chuckled, his labored breathing keeping him from speaking the sentence fully, "Spilling secrets while I'm asleep."
"How are you feeling?" Katniss asked timidly attempting to speak of anything but what she just admitted.
"Incredible." Gale flashed a cheeky grin.
"Seriously."
"I am serious." Gale reached slowly for her hand, which she gladly gave. "Come here," His simple command was granted as Katniss leaned in for yet another kiss. This time, he responded with soft and light movements, a tenderness Katniss hadn't experienced with him before.
"Best pain killers out there. I think they'll wear off soon though." Gale smiled to himself as they broke apart. Katniss rolled her eyes in response.
"Can I get you anything?"
"Na," Gale brushed her off, "I'll survive."
"You should try to drink some water while you're up." Katniss pushed remember her mother's instructions earlier that evening.
"If you're worried about me, you should see the other guy." Gale attempted to joke as he tried to push himself off the table. Pain seared through his body forcing him to fall back to the table. Hearing the hiss of pain, Katniss dropped the cup and rushed back to the patient.
"Why would you try to get up?" Katniss reprimanded checking the bandage only to see a few cuts that had to begun to clot reopening.
"Forgot." Gale groaned, his forehead pressed firmly against the table. Sighing, Katniss handed him the cup of water helping him sip the liquid before reclaiming her seat by his head. After the pain seemed to subside, Gale's boyish grin returned making Katniss raise a questioning eyebrow at him.
"You loveee me." He responded looping the 'e' around his mouth in a very childish manner.
"Yes, I do." Katniss nodded a small smile cracking over her features.
"I knew it." Gale settled before sleep overtook him once again.