(fever)

She doesn't ask questions when Gale comes to her door with an unconscious three-year-old in his arms.

"My mother and Prim are out buying food, but we can put her here until they get back," she says, holding the door open and gesturing to the couch in front of the fireplace.

"Thank you," he replies, laying down Posy carefully on the cushions and draping a blanket over her little shoulders. He sits on the floor and leans against the armrest, looking up when Katniss walks in with a washcloth and a bowl of water. She soaks the towel, wrings it out, and lays it across the little girl's forehead.

"Do you know what's wrong?" she asks, settling three logs into the fireplace and starting a subtle flame among them.

"Mom thinks it's measles. Rory and Vick both caught it about this time last year," Gale replies, shrugging and glancing back at his sleeping sister. Katniss nods, sitting down next to him.

"My mother will have a fever reducer when she gets back. That should help for a while." They sit quietly, staring into the flames. She looks up when he wipes beads of sweat off of his forehead, pressing her hand to the skin when his is out of the way.

"Gale, you're sick too."

"Have Gale swallow two of these; dissolve one into a glass of water and have Posy drink it." Katniss follows her mother's instruction, tapping the edge of the pill bottle against her palm to draw out three of the little tablets. Prim follows her out of the kitchen with two glasses of water.

"Drink up," Katniss says, dumping two of the pills into Gale's hand after Prim hands him a glass. The blonde girl takes the last tablet from her sister and stirs it in with the second glass of water, swirling the liquid around until no grains of medicine remain.

"Katniss, I'm fine, I can go back home and-"

"Your fever is worse than Posy's; now shut up and lie back down." He obliges when she shoves at his shoulder, swallowing his medicine before settling into the worn cushions of the couch.

Her sister follows her out of the room, holding two empty glasses. Katniss fills a pot with cool water and retrieves a couple rags from the linens closet, bringing the supplies out into the main room and getting to work keeping the Hawthorne siblings' fevers at manageable levels.

"You don't have to be doing this," Gale says, speech slurred from exhaustion and the pain medication. Katniss's gray eyes meet his in a piercing stare.

"Yes, I do. You're my best friend. I'm not going to let you go home and come down with anything worse. Fevers are dangerous."