A/N
Just wanted to say how extremely sorry I am for this long wait. And this chapter isn't long but I wrote it quickly so you guys would have something to read since its been so long. I've been super busy because dance competitions started and school couldn't be busier as well. Sorry again. Please enjoy :) xoxo❤️ _______________________________________________________________________________

About a month later, I tug the blankets as hard and far as possible, and then lay my entire body on the amount I collected. I sigh in the warmth I've provided, but as always, Gale tugs it right away from me. I groan and then elbow him as hard as I can in his back. He grunts and flips to face me. His eyes are squinted and he looks as weary as ever.

"You're hogging the blankets again," I complain, since this happens almost every night.

He outstretches his arms and pulls me in close to him, smashing my face into his bare chest. He pulls the blankets over the both of us and then cranes his neck to the side and presses his lips against my temple. He moves them all around my face and says,

"I'm sorry sweetheart."

I grab his earlobe, pull it teasingly, and then say,

"I don't think 'I'm sorry' is gonna cut it every time Hawthorne."

A smirk spreads across his face as he raises his eyebrows. He taps me on the nose with the tip of his finger and then uses that hand to squish my cheeks together like a chipmunk.

"Alright, then what will cut it?"

I bite my lip and tap my finger against my chin in thought saying,

"Hmm . . . how 'bout-"

Gale cuts me off by mashing his lips against mine. We kiss for a while to the steady sound of silence. His hand travels up my back to my head to grip a bundle of my hair in his hand. I pull away and take a deep breath.

"How about that? Will that cut it?" Gale asks.

In answer, I lean in again. I break the kiss later making him frown, but I remind him that he has to get up to get ready for work in just a couple of hours. And I have to get ready for the big week of babysitting ahead of me that begins today.

I forget why Annie asked me to babysit. I don't even think I heard over Gale expressing his excitement while she was still on the phone with me. But it doesn't matter all that much. I'm just happy I get a whole week with that munchkin, Finn. Except, there is one downfall.

He hasn't mentioned it yet, but if things go well like I imagine they will, I'm afraid Gale we'll use it as a reason to have a kid. I just try not to be concerned though. Instead, I've tried to allow some ecstasy to build inside me about the situation.

"I don't wanna sleep," Gale whines, and out sticks his lower lip like a young child not getting their way.

Just then Gale sits up on his knees on the bed.

"C'mon Catnip."

And just then I regret ever waking him over such a petty thing like blankets. Knowing how Gale is, he'll never return to his slumber after being disrupted from his sleep. Now, all of the sudden his eyes are as wide awake as ever and I'm dreading what he has planned in his wild mind.

He walks with the footsteps of a hunter to the window. I mumble things under my breath, knowing this isn't going to go too well as soon as he opens the window. Shirtless, in nothing but his boxers, he steps out onto the steep roof on the side of our house. It's slanted far, but not far enough for an idiot like Gale to slide off of immediately if they're careful. But if it we're up too me, I wouldn't chance it.

I regretfully stand up and make my way to the window. I can see Gale's silhouette waiting for me with an outstretched arm and a hand patiently waiting for mine. I grab it, not realizing how sweaty my palms are until he mentions it with a light chuckle.

"It's like climbing a tree," Gale exclaims. Although I disagree, I don't say. I focus only on my feet as I step out onto the roof which I find is much, much, much different than a tree. Tonight, I cannot afford clumsiness.

"I've got you," Gale reassures me. When both of my feet are on the roof, he grabs my frail and shaking frame and pulls it into his large sturdy one.

Gale lays me in front of him, holding my torso between his thighs and wrapping his arms around me until his hands connect at the front of my waist. I feel oddly secure laying like this with him and I allow my stiffened body to relax a bit.

"That's it," Gale says calmly, "just focus on the sky."

But I can't. I focus on my clothed torso, connected with his unclothed one. I focus on his stomach concealing killer abs against my petite back and it makes me feel safe. I'd feel safe jumping off a cliff as long as Gale held my hand the entire time.

"Don't you think this is too much romance for one night?" I ask, tilting my head up at him to meet his eyes. He laughs lightly and leans down to kiss my forehead.

"There's no such thing, my dear; besides, doesn't it feel good." I scoff at this, my cheeks turning rosy red.

"Almost too good." I smile and then mutter, "Way too good."

The faint sound of a knock at the door is the only thing that rattles us from the comfort of each other.

I make it downstairs first since Gale had to throw on pants and a shirt. My first thought was that it was Finn, but I told Annie to call me when their train had almost arrived so I could meet them there. So I ruled that out with that thought. But I couldn't imagine who else would be at my door this early: 4 a.m. And I wouldn't have ever guessed it'd be a hysterically crying, Peeta Mellark.

"Peeta," I sigh, dragging out his name in a voice dipped with concern.

I've barely held out my arms before he collapses into them. I can almost feel the cracked pieces of his heart slip through my fingertips with his continuous sobs. He's so upset, he's unable to catch a breath, so I calmly tell him to take deep breaths and remind him that I'm here and everything's going to be okay.

I hold his shaking body in my arms, not being at all delicate. Instead, I squeeze him as hard as possible to let him know that I'm not going anywhere. My fingers find his faintly familiar soft blond hair quickly and I run them through it with great diligence.

"It- it- it's o-over," he stutters before his voice crumbles into a thousand more cries.

"What is, Peeta?"

Over Peeta's shoulder, I see Gale come into view and shut the door, his eyebrows knitted together with mystification. Then, Peeta pulls away from me and discovers my grey eyes with his melancholy blue ones. Gale leans against the door, absorbing the situation with the same confused stare while I wonder what could've happened with Peeta. Empathy races through my veins, but like always, I have no idea what to do to comfort him.

"Uh . . . come, sit," I say awkwardly.

I place my hand on Peeta's back and guide him to the couch. In the corner of my eye I see Gale follow us and sit at the couch across from Peeta and I. Exasperation lays clear in his expression now. Gale sighs sadly and exclaims he needs to get ready for work even though he has much time before he actually needs to.

I bite my lip and watch Gale hurriedly scurry up the stairs. He looks back only once at me with an expression that's almost angry, and then his eyes flicker to Peeta and back to me again. Pretty much warning me not to dare make a move. I don't know if I should be angry he can't trust me, even though he has every right not to, but I don't have time to think about it right now. My intentions are comforting Peeta without the use of my lips.

"Calm down and tell me what's wrong," I say as sweetly as possible even though comforting isn't in my nature.

I awkwardly place my hand on his back and gently rub him like Gale sometimes does in my times like this. It doesn't feel right though. It feels weird and abnormal. Eventually Peeta is coughing and gagging and his hysterical crying is the cause of it.

"Peeta breathe!" I exclaim in a panicky voice. "Calm down, you're making yourself sick!"

Without a second thought, I scurry to the kitchen and fix him an ice cold glass of water. He sips on it slowly like I advise him to while I awkwardly continue to rub his back in hopes of soothing him.

When the glass is finished, I generously hand him a tissue to wipe his tears, and eventually, he calms down.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here and woke you up for such a petty reason like this, but . . ."

His voice trails off in a long, deep sigh.

"You didn't wake Gale or me up, I promise. And by how you're crying I'm sure this isn't petty."

He fumbles with his fingers, picking at his nails and chewing them nervously. I tenderly grab his wrist and pull his hand away slowly from his mouth. I look at him pleadingly, silently asking him to tell. My hand stays resting on his wrist to reassure him I'm here for him.

"Delly and I got into a huge fight and called things off."

Immediately I'm shocked. They were perfect for each other. But I'm more curious than I am aghast. I wonder automatically what had them up this early, but I wasn't sure if I should ask or just let him tell the story. However, as soon as he doesn't continue, I decide to ask anyways.

"A fight? This early?" I ask carefully, hoping he'll understand what I'm asking. I am heedful of the possibility of upsetting him more by bringing up the reasoning of the fight. So, I diligently think about every thing I say like a bird just lightly fluttering its wings before deciding if it can take flight.

"Yeah, I had a nightmare and woke her up," he explains. I don't know how to help Peeta without understanding the entire situation. But I'm not sure if consoling is what he wants or if he just wants me to take his mind off of this argument. I guess I'd given him a look that inquired I wanted him to continue though, because he does.

"Then we got into it almost immediately," he says. He shifts his eyes from looking at mine to looking at the floor. I know Peeta well, and I'm aware he's avoiding telling something about this situation. I know exactly what it is because I can't give him advice without it. He's not telling me the reason they argued.

"Well . . . why?" I ask more bluntly than I intended. He doesn't seem to get upset, only nervous. He bites his lip and glances at the hand I still have resting over his wrist. I can feel the movement of his leg wildly bouncing up and down, his heel tapping against the floor each time. He just stares at my hand atop of his as if scared to make eye contact with me. So, I assuringly squeeze his hand as a way of letting him know he can tell me whatever is bothering him.

But he can't.

I lift his chin with my free hand to bring his eyes to mine. However, he stubbornly turns away, refusing to look at me.

"I don't really wanna talk about it."

He stands on his feet rather awkwardly, running his fingers through his soft blond waves. I stare at him in mystification and suspicion. But I don't insist on an answer.

"You can stay, if that's what you need," I offer. He goes to reply, but he doesn't have a chance. From the top of the stares a loud, sturdy voice interjects.

"I don't think so. With Finn coming this is gonna be a busy house and we don't need another person to help fill it up more."

By the peeved look across Gale's face I can see why he's doing this immediately.

"I don't think it's a problem."

Gale shifts his glare from Peeta to me and then folds his arms over his chest.

"Yeah? Well I think it is."

I bite my lip. My fist clench at my sides. I'm immediately angry that Gale isn't going to let my friend have a place to stay. I wasn't about to stand for it either. However, when I try to object, Peeta intervenes.

"It's fine, Katniss," he reassures me. I know he can taste the rising, daring tension between Gale and I. So he places his hand on my shoulder to calm me gently. "I'll stay with Haymitch it'll be okay."

I don't know what to say to that so I let him leave and Gale and I watch in complete silence, frozen in place until the door shuts. As soon as we're sure Peeta is gone, like a bomb, Gale and I explode together. We let both our feelings go at the same time and scream an entire paragraph at each other that sounds like nothing but jumbled words. We end it at the same time and then just exchange surprised expressions over what just happened.

~

Gale is the first to apologize. After what happened I stormed off to the kitchen and Gale stormed off to our room to finish getting ready. But, before he left for work, he randomly took me in his arms and kissed me and apologized. I'd accepted it, but since I'm stubborn I hadn't said it in return. Usually I'll say I'm sorry later on when Gale isn't expecting it and he knows that by now.

When he's gone, I begin to get dressed and soon after I'm ready, Annie has notified me that her train has almost arrived at the train station where I'll pick up Finn. Since it isn't too far away, I can walk to the train station so soon enough I'm walking on the sidewalk kicking rocks, trying to contain my excitement inside.

I guess Peeta happened to notice me by looking out of Haymitch's window or something because I hear the loud crunching of leaves running in my direction and so I immediately know it's him. He doesn't say anything at all for a few moments. The only sound is birds chirping and Peeta's heavy breathing from running. That is until he finally greets me.

"Hey."

I look up at him and then head on once more at the view in front of me.

"Hi," I reply and purposefully separate myself from him a bit. I don't want people walking down the street to think we are anything more than friends just taking a walk together.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have came to you all hysterical like that or asked for a place to stay."

For a few seconds I don't reply. I let that sink in until something dawns on me,

"But you didn't ask, I offered," I reply. Peeta chuckles lightly.

"I know, I just didn't wanna admit you did something genuinely nice for a change."

I smirk at this. Any other person would get angry at a remark like this, but Peeta and I know each other too well. He knows I'm not particularly nice . . . and he also knows that I know that and will openly admit it. If it weren't for that I don't think he'd say such a thing.

"Should I say you're welcome or thank you or neither?" I ask. I look up to see Peeta already dazing at me. He smiles.

"I don't know," he shrugs, "how about both?" I think about this for at least a minute before replying.

"But what if I take that as more of an insult than a complement?" I ask. Peeta continues to stare at me, as if he's absorbing every detail of me.

"You haven't changed," Peeta grins. He laughs and turns his attention to the ground.

"Well back at you," I sneer jokingly.

"Is that good or bad?" he asks. I bite my lip and contemplate this a little.

"Both," I announce. Peeta nods. He looks at me evilly and says,

"I'd say it's bad you haven't changed, you're still stubborn as ever," he snorts.

"So? You're still loud when you walk," I tease. Peeta puts his hand over his heart and pretends to be deeply upset over my remark.

"Okay, I guess we're even."

We hold a long stare before breaking it and laughing at the ridiculous conversation we just shared.

"I'm gonna get going before I walk really far, I only came to apologize, see you later and have fun with Finn."

"Thanks I will and I hope things get better with you and Delly," I reply. With that, I give him a friendly wave goodbye then watch as he takes off in the opposite direction as me.

I think about what just happened. I try not to, but I can't help but notice how Peeta was just in a really good mood when not too long ago he was crying waterfalls. I try to convince myself that maybe him and Delly made up, but I would think he'd tell me in the conversation we just had. I then tell myself that maybe he's just hiding his emotions well, but I know Peeta and I know he's never been one to execute that very good. I then decide that he's just doing a good job of not thinking about her. I tell myself that's good for him and then drop the subject in my mind.

Not long after I'm arriving at the train station without a care in the world. After all, Peeta's life shouldn't have to be my priority.