The following morning, Prim and Mrs. Everdeen found Katniss, soundly sleeping, her forehead lying on the table resting against Gale's cheek, their hands clutching under her jaw. Gale woke to the sound of floorboards creaking, his eyes spotting Prim's soft smile immediately.
"How are you feeling?" Mrs. Everdeen asked in a hushed voice as not to wake Katniss. It was silently decided to let the sleeping Katniss lie as long as possible.
"Been better." Gale cracked a good-natured smile. Mrs. Everdeen smiled knowingly as she began to peel the cloth away from his back. The fabric caught to Gale's skin in several places pulling the clotted skin with it.
"Sorry," Mrs. Everdeen apologized as the last piece pulled away.
"'S fine." Gale mumbled not trusting his voice fully.
"Well, it looks quite well this morning considering." Mrs. Everdeen offered scanning the torn back. "Prim, can you clean off his back again, and I'll make another dressing up. And Gale, please do your best not to move much for the next few days. It'll make the healing process much faster if you lay still. Let us know what we can bring for you, but please don't move much."
"You mean I'm not going to work today?" Gale joked lightly. Mrs. Everdeen offered him a smile before answering.
"I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to let you go to work anytime soon. I'm afraid you aren't going to be doing much of anything for a while."
The next few days moved slowly for the two households. To attempt to spare Vick and Posy from the punishment their brother endured, Rory and Hazelle traded off visiting Gale at the Everdeen's and continuing to care for the household. Mostly, this left Gale to his slumber, and the Everdeen's to move about their normal routine, while caring for his wounds periodically. The exception to this rule, however, was Katniss, who seemed to be unable to leave Gale's side outside of her school obligations. After the second day, Gale was able to freely move enough to be directed to the bed Katniss and Prim shared, something any other patient of Mrs. Everdeen's wouldn't have done, but something Gale would be ever so more grateful for.
Far too soon for any of their likings, Gale had pulled himself from the protection of the Everdeen's eyes, and was stiffly pulling a shirt over his bandages.
"… and make sure you don't strain anything, no lifting anything over 15 pounds. And make sure your back is clean before you apply the dressing, otherwise you're just blocking in dirt. Twice a day, ok? Not once, twice. That means two baths. And-"
"I got it, Mom." Gale sighed with a slight eye roll towards Prim, who stifled a giggle at Gale and her sister's exchange.
"Don't 'Mom' me," Katniss placed her hips haughtily, regaining his focus, which he returned with a weary eye.
"Ok," Gale conceded, "I'll do everything Prim and Mrs. Everdeen already instructed. Promise."
"I just know how you act with wounds, and I don't want them to heal wrong."
"I know, and I shouldn't have made a joke of it."
"Because then I'd have to train Rory to take your place, and lord knows how horrible that would be."
Gale let out a light chuckle as not to move his aching back too much, "Yes, because this would be keeping me from being your hunting partner."
"Dealing with you as a teenager once was hard enough. Just saying."
"As always, Catnip, I appreciate your concern." His eyes lingered on hers a bit longer than they should have, and their usual silent exchanged continued despite the other two Everdeens being in close proximity.
"Your mother mentioned we were invited over for dinner tonight," Mrs. Everdeen broke the two hunters apart abruptly. Both, slightly startled, looked over to the older woman who was preparing bags of tea for her patients. "We will plan to bring a few medications over tonight and some teas that you might find helpful during this process. But do plan to have a fresh bath before dinner, and if you or Hazelle need help re-dressing the wounds we can be there to help."
"Thank you, Mrs. Everdeen, and you too, Prim, I don't know how I'd be alive let alone standing without you."
Mrs. Everdeen waved off the young man easily, "A small sacrifice to make after the many you have made for us."
Katniss realized as Gale left their house with the ghost of a smile on his lips, and a slight limp to his stiff gait, that her mothers words held more weight than they might have originally meant to.
Dinner that evening was an exuberant affair. Posy and Vick, who know Gale was seriously injured, were bouncing through the small house with an absolute glee that their brother was once again returned invincible. That energy continued to Rory and Prim who seemed to recently grasp just how dangerously their elder siblings danced with death, and to the extent the cruel Capital would show their power. Though thrilled to see Gale alive, and moving, though stiffly, around the kitchen, now bubbled with a new anxiety and an overwhelming sense of relief. Mrs. Everdeen spent most of the evening quietly drifting thoughts in her mind, with occasional glances at Gale, or with watery eyes towards her eldest daughter, an unspoken whisper of gratitude to the eldest Hawthorne. Hazelle, occasionally dabbing at her eyes with the corner of her dress lapels, attempted to keep her youngest children contained, but the usual strictness in her voice was long gone. Katniss seemed to hold herself guard for her partner, especially when it came to Posy, who had decided long ago that his physical restrictions were meaningless. It wasn't until the last of the bowl was scrapped of stew that Rory managed to find it in himself to take a jab at his older brother.
Katniss realized quickly that the youngest Hawthorne siblings must have been slightly aware of Gale's condition as they moved with great gentleness around him and were careful not to touch him past Posy clinging to his leg occasionally. It also occurred to Katniss that Hazelle wouldn't want to share the exact nature of his injuries or why to his younger siblings, at least not yet. It shouldn't have been such a surprise, then, when Vick piped up at the end of dinner, curiosity forming into a nervous nibble on his inside cheek.
"Gale?" Vick asked quietly, causing everyone to end their discussions and look at the younger boy. Gale, as natural as ever, shifted slightly to look at his sibling with a softness Katniss knew he reserved only for his siblings and Prim. When it was apparent Gale had his attention, Vick continued, "Why are you hurt?"
Everything in the room stopped for a long moment as Gale attempted to regain the conversation.
"Posy, don't you think its time for a bath?" Hazelle interrupted the group, loudly scraping her chair against the wooden floor as she stood. Naturally, the child protested, but was quickly convinced when Prim stood and offered to braid her hair 'super special', to which quickly convinced the 5-year-old that whatever conversation was about to happen in the kitchen was far less important than the special treatment she was promised. Rory, being commandeered by Mrs. Everdeen to help her finish folding some laundry in Hazelle's room, something Katniss was positive she created just to have the chance to escape the room, followed the other three from the kitchen, leaving herself, Gale and Vick at the table. Katniss had made an effort to follow her mother, but was stopped by Gale's hand on her thigh and a side glance that asked 'stay'.
"It's bad, isn't it." Vick mumbled, his lip trembling slightly as if he wanted to cry, but was fighting the urge.
"Remember when we talked about the idea that sometimes things that happen here can't be repeated outside of this family?" Gale began and Katniss found herself fighting the urge to run from the room by twisting her hands in her lap, replaying the image of pulling Gale's limp and bloodied body from the square in her mind. "You cannot go around repeating anything I'm about to tell you, ok?"
Vick nodded, and Gale continued, "I did some things I shouldn't have done, and I got in a lot of trouble with the Peacekeepers."
Vick looked stunned for a moment before he connected the pieces and, looking horrified hissed, "They hurt you?"
"Vick," Gale warned, but Vick was hurriedly looking between his brother and Katniss.
"Because you hunt?" Vick asked, and to this, Gale nodded. "But you have to! We'd starve!"
"I know, buddy, this isn't easy things to hear, but-"
"But you didn't hurt anyone! Why would they hurt you if you didn't hurt anyone!"
"Vick," Gale tried again, and his hand snaked into Katniss wriggling ones. She momentarily wondered if he did that to stop her actions, or give himself stablility. "Everything Katniss and I did out there is illegal, and while we did it to keep everyone fed, we broke the law, and eventually we knew it would catch up with us somehow."
"But- but-" Vick stammered trying to put everything into his mind, "they didn't care before. You said they didn't care. That's why you sometimes took the best stuff to trade, isn't it?"
"Yes, that was true."
"So what changed?"
"I'm not sure, kiddo." Gale lied easily. Katniss almost looked shocked when she saw how open he was being while telling Vick an obvious lie. He knew exactly what changed, a revolution was stirring, and he was a known rebel. It suddenly dawned on Katniss that these 'lies' he would tell his family weren't the lies she had usually experienced from him, in trades, with friends, or Peacekeepers. These lies were to protect his family, and to Gale, that was the best protection he could shield Vick with.
"That not fair."
To this, Gale cracked an easy smile, "Nothings supposed to be fair. Now I need you to do a favor for me, can you do that, Vick?"
Vick nodded quickly, though Gale didn't need to ask a question like that. Vick was always eager to do a favor for Gale.
"I need you to keep this to yourself, ok? If your friends ask, tell them you don't know anything. If Posy asks, don't tell her anything. Things aren't what they used to be, and we cannot trust anyone, ok?" When Vick nodded his consent, Gale continued, "And while were talking about this, if anything happens, you can always trust Katniss and Mrs. Everdeen, and Thom, they're family, and they'll always look out for us, ok?"
Vick nodded again, and Gale softened considerably.
"Gale?"
"Yeah, bud?"
"Are you going to be ok?" The question was so soft and full of hope, both Katniss' and Gale's hearts broke slightly for the young Hawthorne. Gale scooted his chair back enough to allow Vick to walk into his arms, with a considerable help from Katniss' hidden foot, and Vick quickly launched himself into his brothers chest.
"Of course, kiddo," Gale whispered holding the back of Vicks head with one hand, and his other holding his youngest brother close to him. "I just needed a few days, but its nothing a few nights of good sleep can't fix."
It wasn't until Vick had left, slightly reluctantly, to his room when Katniss realized the emotional toll the past few days had been for her.
"Catnip?" Gale asked wrapping his hand back into hers. She lifted her eyes to catch his questioning ones, and when he was allowed the chance to read her emotions fully, she sighed, and placed her head onto his shoulder, a comfort she easily sought in their years together.
"You almost died." It wasn't an explanation, it was a blunt reality. Gale sighed before pressing a soft kiss into her hair.
"I know." Was the only thing he could respond with.
"I-" Katniss choked on a sob she hadn't realized was at her throat, and she quickly forced it back down, but the tears had already started to leak without her permission.
"Hey, hey," Gale stiffly opened his arm and allowed her to press her face into his shoulder, an offering Katniss accepted without hesitation. As her quiet sobs were stifled into his shirt, her fingers grasping desperately into his collar, Gale soothingly ran a hand from her shoulder to the base of her spine in some attempts to console.
"I love you, Catnip. I can't leave you, not now, not ever."