"Catnip, I have a feeling we're getting ourselves into deep trouble," Gale frowns, still whispering. I roll my eyes and snort – like running away from district 12 wasn't dangerous! He looks at me for a moment, and I see a real flash of hurt in his eyes, but a second later, it disappears as though I imagined it.

I couldn't bear to pay any more attention to him, because I was acutely aware of his image in my mind anyway. Bending down to dip my scraped hands into the creek, I sigh, "What are we meant to do?" we ultimately ran away from the military unit, whatever they were, back at the tree. I wasn't about to chase them down like an idiot. Gale knew that too, he was smart, cunning like that. No, we couldn't go back; the risks were just too great.

"We can't go back to the site," Gale said, reading my exact thoughts. "We can't go back to district 12, not now, or ever." Chills overcome me at his words. "We have to leave the country altogether,"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I jump up suddenly, in shock, and grab onto Gale's shoulders, swaying. Gale loses his footing, and plummets into the brook. Water flies everywhere, and my head whips around from side to side in alarm. Even in the forest, making too much noise is dangerous.

Gale glowers up at me, soaking wet, with mud splattered across his sharp features. "What was that for?"

"Gale are you crazy?" I try my best not to shriek. "We can't leave Panem! There's nowhere to go!" I extend my hand to him, despite my obvious rage. Gale accepts it grudgingly, though he gets up without my help.

"There's the wilds, up north." He brushes his pants lightly with his palms, though there's no use – he's anything but dry.

The wilds were a no-man's land further north, further than what Panem extended to. They were strictly out of bounds, and no one from the districts has ever been there. I doubted very much that we would make it, district twelve was our little corner of Panem, I had no clue if it was close to a coast or in the centre of the land, or what lies beyond these woods we currently flee through. It is only not I realise how isolated the capitol has made the rest of the nation; we were completely at their mercy.

"We wouldn't make it," I shake my head at him. Gale nurses his wrist, the one he fell back on, and I feel a twinge of guilt, looking at him sopping wet, filthy, and scowling. "I'm sorry," we both know I'm not just talking about his fall.

"We could," he urges me, leaning down towards me. "We've come this far – we can make it further," I sense the urgency in his tone. He grabs me gently by the shoulders, his face level with mine, brows knitted into an almost familiar crease. "Please!"

I try and avert his all too intense gaze, but it is no use. "Please…" he whispers, and finally I give up.

"Fine," I shrug my shoulders, defeated. "But we need to clean you up first,"

The flow of the little brook was incredibly slow, a trickle of slightly murky water. I sling my pack over my back, and together, Gale and I set off in the direction of the current. It is early afternoon by the time we finish walking, but I am satisfied at the sight of a larger, rushing creek. The water is clear, with a beautiful transparency to match that of the lake closer to home, and rushes over smooth, clean pebbles on the bed. Gale scratches his trouser leg, which is caked in a thin layer of dried mud.

"Take off your pants," I say to him, regretting it almost immediately as the words left my lips.

Shocked, but also grinning, he raises his brows, "If you say so,"

"Don't be like that," I shake my head, laughing, "just do it," I turn my back as he obliges, peeling away each layer.

"And your shirt," this he also does willingly. Still averting my sight, I hear him splash into the water. "Are you decent?" I ask

"As decent as I'll get when I'm naked," Gale laughs, submerged in the deeper parts of the rushing water so all I could see of his bare flesh was his tanned torso.

I gather his clothes off of the sprawling grass and turn them the right side out. Back home, I was never the domestic soul of the family, who liked cooking and cleaning, that was always my mother or Prim, but now I set about my small mission of cleaning his garments one by one.

Finally, when I was happy of my efforts, I draped each garment over a few rocks in the sun. Gale watches me the entire time, occasionally making a comment or skimming a stone. I realise now that my attire is looking worse for wear as well.

"Shut your eyes, would you?" I order him. While Gale pretends to look in the opposite direction, I strip and repeat my previous process. I splash through the water towards the deepest, stillest depths of the creek.

With only my head out of the water, I call to Gale, "It's good, but cold!" he laughs back at me, sliding into the quiet water that I occupied. I could only make out the faint shape of his body in front of me.

"This is the first time we've swam together like this, isn't it?" he muses. "I would have remembered,"

I splash him, laughing off his comment, and swim away from him as he follows after me a lot slower than he was capable of. His boyish manner amuses me, though I do feel self-conscious and feel myself involuntarily blushing. "You're beautiful, Catnip," he sighs when we stop swimming after a few meters.

It's me who goes in for the kiss this time, and it is so different from the other sweet, tentative moments we've briefly shared since running away. Gale's large, calloused hands caress my small face, and then brush through my tangles of hair, holding my face to his. How could I have not felt this for him before? He is mine, I am his, and we belong to each other. After four years, I've finally figured it out, and it seems like Gale has known for a lot longer than I have what he wants.

When we finally break apart, we just stare at each other, long and hard, as though we're both searching for something in the features of the other being whose appearance is as familiar as our own. This new sensation I feel, the intense burning I feel inside my chest when I steal a glance at this boy, is possibly the most complex thing I have experienced, thrilling and wildly uncontrollable.

We stay in the water some more, before clambering out, newly cleaned, and wriggling into our dry clothes. I start a fire and create a decent shelter while Gale sets snares. We are so far from civilisation now that where we reside could be perfect for a semi-permanent settlement.

Gale, who is decent with a bow and arrow, returns to me with a surprise; a large groosling in his hand. The delectable fowl, which is cooked over the flame, sizzling and dripping with flavour, satisfies both of our hunger.

"Gale?" I ask in-between bites.

"Yes?" he replies, his mouth full.

"Can we stay here a few days, gather supplies and just rest? We've been travelling for days,"

He nods, swallowing, "Okay, I was actually thinking the same thing,"

Good, I think to myself, stretching out over my makeshift bedding. Gale lies down beside me, propping himself up on his elbow.

"Goodnight Catnip," he says tenderly, turning my face up to his.

"Goodnight Gale," I murmur, allowing him to kiss me once more.

A/N: Hey! Long time no see right? Sorry about that... don't worry any more, I'm going to continue writing this story, and I have so many ideas for coming chapters, I can't wait to get them all down! Thank you so much for sticking with 'Catnip' and please leave a review for me to read, I love getting feedback!