Katniss's mother was backing out of the living room as Gale stepped through the front door of the Everdeen home.

"Hey, Mrs. E. Is Katniss ready?"

Lily Everdeen brought her fingers to her lips and pulled the double doors closed before waving him down the hall toward the kitchen.

"Tea?" she whispered.

Gale shook his head as he followed her down the corridor. "No thanks, Mrs. E.," he replied. He really wasn't interested in tea with Mrs. Everdeen on his one day off from the mines. It was bad enough that Katniss was making him spend the little bit of time they had left together before the Quarter Quell with her fiancé and her mentor, training for the Games. If he didn't want her to come home so damn much, he would have refused. But, Katniss needed someone to watch her back in the arena, and Peeta Mellark and Haymitch Abernathy would need some extra survival skills if one of them was to be her partner in there.

When he entered the kitchen, Mrs. Everdeen was putting the kettle on to boil and Prim was at the table. "Is Katniss ready?" he repeated. "She wanted me to show Mellark and Haymitch my peg snare this morning."

Katniss's mother reached for a mug from the cupboard and gave Gale a weary look.

"Katniss is asleep, Gale. She was up most of the night. Peeta just got her settled down a couple of hours ago."

Gale's insides recoiled at the mention of Mellark. He hoped it didn't show on his face. "Up all night?"

"I think last night was the worst I've ever seen it," Prim commented up as she picked at a raspberry muffin that looked suspiciously like something Mellark would make. Katniss probably picked him the berries.

Mrs. E. sighed as she poured the tea. "I just wish she'd take the sleep syrup when this happens."

Primrose bit into the muffin and then rolled her eyes in happiness. She swallowed. "So good. Well, I can't say that I blame her. She says the syrup just traps her in the nightmares. I can't imagine not being able to wake up from anything that terrified me that much."

Fierce, determined Catnip? Terrified of nightmares? Gale had difficulty putting the two images together.

Mrs. E. looked at him thoughtfully. "You didn't know."

Gale frowned. "She never mentioned it."

"She's had nightmares every night since she came home from the Games," revealed Prim calmly as she nonchalantly swiped her thumb across the plate to pick up the crumbs. This was clearly a way of life in the Everdeen house.

"Prim and I can usually settle her down in a few minutes, but last night was especially bad," Mrs. E. said in a way that reminded him of the way his mother used to talk about Posy when she was cutting teeth. "She was having night terrors and screaming for Peeta. I couldn't bring her out of it, so Prim went to get him." She crossed to the fridge. "I'm going to make some eggs for Prim and I, Gale. Do you want some?"

Gale couldn't remember the last time he'd had eggs. His mouth watered at the thought. "Sure, Mrs. E. Thank you."

She pointed to the little bathroom in the hallway between the kitchen and the living room. "The washroom is just through there, Gale, if you want to wash up. Quietly, please. They're still asleep."

Gale's hand was on the knob of the bathroom door when Katniss's mother's words finally sunk in. They were still asleep. They. Which meant that Mellark had stayed over. With Katniss. He peered over his shoulder until he could see through the French doors into the living room. He'd never thought to look in that room when he arrived. Sure enough, there was Katniss, his Catnip, sprawled across Mellark's chest, the fat rock he'd put on her finger glinting in the morning light. The smug bastard had one arm wrapped around her and the other in her hair at the crown of her head, as though he'd been stroking or massaging her head when they fell asleep. His lips were pressed to her forehead.

Tearing his eyes away, Gale let himself into the washroom and hurriedly turned on the tap. He splashed the cool water onto his face and stared at himself in the mirror. He felt like a man who'd been kicked in the gut. Or the balls. Both probably. It was bad enough to see them on screen. Seeing them together like that, when the cameras were nowhere to be found, was infinitely worse. He had suspected that something had shifted between the two of them during for the Victory Tour. Now he knew it for sure.

He switched off the tap a little more aggressively than he intended and dried his face and hands. One thing was certain. He wasn't going to sit here and eat breakfast while they were cuddled up in the next room.

Mrs. Everdeen was whisking the eggs in a bowl when he came back into the kitchen. "Sorry, Mrs. E., I think I'll have to pass after all. I just remembered that my mom wanted me to patch the roof today. Since Katniss isn't ready to start, I'll head home and do that for her now. I'll come back later."

Lily Everdeen's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, but she nodded and followed Gale out of the kitchen to the front door. Gale had just stepped outside when he heard her call his name softly. She gave him a look of resolve that he usually associated with Katniss, especially when she was delivering news he didn't want to hear.

"Gale, I know you had hopes for you and Katniss," she began and he looked away, embarrassed. "Gale." She waited until he looked at her again. "Maybe she would have come around to the idea in time, but she and Peeta-," Mrs. Everdeen swallowed.

"I know they're engaged, Mrs. E," he said in a desperate attempt to put the brakes on this painfully embarrassing conversation.

"It's not just that he's her fiancé," she insisted. "Though you would be wise to remember that, for everyone's sake. There's a bond between them, Gale. One you will never, ever be able to overcome. Even if Katniss does manage to survive the Quell, he's going to haunt her for the rest of her life. Are you sure you can live with that?"

Gale shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down the hill toward the rest of the district. "I'll see you later, Mrs. E."

All morning long, the hot summer sun bore down on Gale's back while he slapped tar on the rusted parts of his mother's tin roof. Beads of sweat rolled down his back and soaked his shirt. He was going to have a massive sunburn, he knew, but he didn't care. Focusing on not falling off the roof was a lot better than thinking about what Mrs. Everdeen said. And besides, when he was miles underground tomorrow, the tight, itchy skin that burned with every swing of his pick axe would remind him that there was something in the world other than that dank, dark mine. The sun was high in the sky when he heard the screen door close with a slap and Vick appeared with a jug of cold water in his hands.

"Ma says you've done enough for the day. She wants you to come down before you get heat stroke and fall off the roof," called his little brother from the ground. Vick peered up the ladder, shielding his eyes from the glare. Gale glanced around and frowned. It appeared that he'd gotten the worst of it, but they were going to need a new roof soon. And he had no idea how he'd pay for it.

He climbed down the ladder and accepted the jug from Vick. He gulped the icy water down greedily and then whipped off his soggy undershirt and poured the rest of the jug over his head.

"You should have let me and Rory help," Vick muttered, nudging the ladder with his toe, a frown on his freckled face.

Gale swept his wet hair back from his face. "Nah, it's faster to do it myself, and I don't have to worry about catching it from Ma if you guys fall off the roof." He tweaked his little brother's nose.

"Yeah, well, someday you're gonna get a girl and get married and have your own roof to fix. Then Rory and me will have to do it and we won't know how."

Gale didn't answer. He just ruffled Vick's hair and clapped him on the shoulder. "Maybe next time, OK? When it's not so hot."

He stowed the ladder out of sight behind the house. Rory and Vick didn't have to worry about him getting a girl. The only girl he wanted was Catnip. And he always figured that she'd come around to the idea eventually. The engagement had complicated things, but she'd said that it wasn't real between her and Mellark. It was just for the cameras. He'd believed her, until he'd seen them clinging together this morning and discovered she screams for him in the night.

Once he was cleaned up and had given his mother time to cluck over his sunburn and apply some salve to it, Gale headed back up to the Village for the snare lesson. He was almost to Katniss's house when Mellark's voice rumbled through the open living room window. Gale was standing on the front step when he heard Katniss's reply.

"The best I've had since the Victory Tour. Thanks for coming over."

"Well, I was awake anyway. Sleep is hard to come by these days," the boy wonder replied.

There was the sound of rustling on the couch as though they were stretching but making no attempt to actually sit up. Gale's hunter's instincts kicked in and he silently lowered himself to the step to listen.

"Prim said you were screaming for me?" Mellark asked. Gale couldn't tell if Mellark was happy or sad about that.

He heard more shifting on the couch. "I was running through the arena and I couldn't find you," said a voice that sounded like Katniss, but was more vulnerable than he'd ever heard. "I didn't know what happened to you. It was like when I came back from hunting and I found the nightlock berries, but you were nowhere to be seen. I was so scared, Peeta."

Gale heard a sniffle, and then Mellark was shushing her. "Katniss, we're going to stick together this time, no matter what happens. I'll be with you for as long as I can."

"No," Katniss insisted fiercely. "You can't go in there this time, Peeta." Mellark must have refused her because she started to sound panicked. "You can't. I need to know that you're out here. That you're safe. I can't do what I have to do if you're not safe."

"It's not up to you, Katniss." Mellark replied firmly. "Or Haymitch."

Gale didn't know whether to admire the guy or hate his stupid guts. He was obviously planning to volunteer if Haymitch's name got pulled out of the reaping ball so that he could be there to protect Katniss. Gale wondered whether he could do that, knowing he was going to his death. He didn't do it last year when Mellark's name got called and this whole thing started.

He heard some more movement that sounded like they were sitting up.

"At least we got some sleep," Mellark said. "And there was no Effie to cluck about how improper it is."

Gale's eyes went wide. They'd done this before? Well, that explained why they looked so cozy.

"My mother didn't argue?"

Her fiancé chuckled. "You didn't really give her a chance. The minute I touched your shoulder, you wrapped yourself around my neck. All but pulled me in the bed." Gale supposed Katniss was blushing. "So, I just picked you up. I told them I'd bring you down here and they should go to back to sleep."

"I don't remember any of that. I'm surprised she didn't set up watch in the arm chair," Katniss grumbled, which got a snort of mirth from Mellark.

"She was beat. You'd been screaming for a while by the time I got here."

"Do you suppose?" Katniss's voice trailed off meaningfully.

"No, Katniss. I'm pretty sure your mother is not going to allow us to do this every night. Even if it means that we all sleep better."

Damn right, thought Gale.

"We're engaged. There's nothing inappropriate about it if we're just sleeping. It's not really any different than you being in my room when I hurt my ankle."

Mellark was spending time in her room? Gale's chest tightened painfully. Ignorance truly is bliss, he decided.

"Katniss, you know that's not going to happen."

She sighed. "What if we had a toasting?"

Gale's heart stuttered in disbelief. She wouldn't. Would she?

"Katniss." Mellark sounded… annoyed?

"No. Think about it. Just a private toasting. We won't go to the Justice building. No one needs to know except our families, and then we can do whatever we want."

"And what about Gale? Are you going to tell him?"

Mellark was past annoyed, Gale realized. He was pissed. Gale held his breath and waited for Katniss's reply.

"Yes, I'd tell him," she said softly. "It wouldn't be fair… not to. Anyway, maybe that would be for the best."

Before he had time to think about what she meant by that particular line, Gale heard Mellark get up from the couch. He jumped down into the bushes near the steps and positioned himself so that he could peek through the window without being seen. Mellark came into view, pacing and running his fingers through his hair.

"I've got to hand it to you, Katniss. Nobody proposes worse than you do." Mellark sounded hurt and sad. Angry too. Gale couldn't say he blamed him. Mellark turned his back on her and threw his arms into the air. "Let's get married so that Snow doesn't kill our families. Let's have a toasting so I can get a decent night's sleep."

Katniss got up off the couch and put her hand on Mellark's shoulder. "Hey." When he wouldn't turn around she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry," she said into his back. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I feel safe with you. Look, forget that I ever said it. You should count yourself lucky that the wedding's been cancelled anyway. This only proves that I'd be a terrible wife."

Mellark turned around and wrapped Katniss in his arms. Her fingers locked behind his neck and the look on her face told him what would happen next. Gale had to look away. He'd almost puked every time he was forced to watch it on television. He knew he wasn't going to be able to handle it in person. When he heard the telltale female sigh, Gale climbed out of the shrubbery and started for home.

He was almost to Haymitch's house when Mellark's voice drifted into his ear on the breeze. "I'd have a toasting with you tomorrow if I thought that you meant it for real, Katniss."

Gale didn't wait to hear her answer. He hunched his shoulders and headed home.

I owe a huge thanks to my fangirl bestie peetabreadgirl for her beta skills, encouragement and general awesomeness to xerxia31 for giving this a pre-read and soothing my attack of nerves over whether I got this right.