Hey everyone-this is my first Hunger Games fic. As I mentioned in the summary, Gale and the rest of District 12 is watching Katniss try and rescue Rue-the song, etc. I added a word for Katniss to say in the end, nothing story-changing, just for the sake of fiction. Give it a try and review? Tell me your opinion on whether or not I can write, write HG fics, what your favorite flavor of cheese is, anything.

District Twelve only has one building that you could call a restaurant, and even that was stretching it. The Forum is more a somewhat wind-proof building full of dirty miners, folks trying to pretend that there is more to life than survival, and the occasional group of school agers who meet and fill the hard wooden seats to talk. The only redeemable quality, aside from the fire that people joke is fueled by the dust off the miners' clothing, is the large television. It stays blank the majority of the year, until the time of the Games rolls around. Then they flicked it on for a few days to watch the interviews and introductions, and sometimes it would last more than a day into the competition. This was rare, as District Twelve candidates never lasted long, and not even the drunks liked watching the tributes get slaughtered.

Gale hasn't touched the squirrel morsel his mother brought for him. When she isn't looking, he slips it into his pocket. Plenty of younger siblings to feed, no point wasting it on him, and plenty of younger siblings that she could be looking after. But this was their tradition, during the Games. Usually Katniss would join them, if she wasn't busy. After work, they would all meet at the Forum, watch the poor children selected to die, and eat a rationed meal delivered by Hazel.

Katniss isn't at his side now. Instead, he smiles the first smile in weeks during what many would have dubbed the worst part of the 74th Hunger Games. The entire tavern has just watched that Prim girl-Rue, he had heard Katniss call her-get gutted by a Career. But she had yelled for Katniss, and now the camera caught her racing through the woods as if she had wings for feet, her bow already unslung and an arrow in hand…

It was moments like this, watching Katniss in action, which hurt Gale most. Who knew if she would ever run like that by his side again? His hands form fists at the thought of the only people who do know, the monsters running the operation.

But there she is, and then she leaps into the clearing, taking out the Career before her feet touch the ground, and this made Gale smile. He remembers all those days in the woods, he remembers watching her grow and improve and become the amazing huntress that the killing shot she had just performed required. She whips around, another arrow at the ready, yelling to the girl, asking if there are any more. But he had also talked to her, came to know her while walking under sun dappled trees, and he recognizes that expression as she cradles a dying Rue in her arms. He dimly notices his mother crying in the seat next to him. He only realizes he is on his feet when an old miner takes his shoulder in what is supposed to be a reassuring gesture.

He wants to call her name, wants to take her hand and brush her hair from her dirty, bloody face, as she speaks softly to Rue. He doesn't register her words, only her expression, only how he wishes he was the one being gutted instead of watching this.

Sing.

He recognizes the shock crossing her features. Sing? She thinks. What is this? Somewhere, Prim is probably crying and snuggling into Buttercup. Mrs. Everdeen is probably trying to be strong. And they are all watching their blessed tribute pull Rue to her chest, and then she is looking up, directly into the camera, although she doesn't know it. Her eyes, the eyes Gale knows better than his own, shine with tears. He doesn't expect her to speak, knowing how tight her throat must feel, but suddenly the gruff, grimy bar tender is waving down the drunks gambling away in the corner. They are the only people in the crowded restaurant that aren't trained on the screen.

"Quiet over there! There's an Everdeen singing here!"

And there was, Gale realizes. And it is beautiful.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow

Lay down your head, and close your eyes

And when they open, the sun will rise

Here it's safe, and here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet– –and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away

A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray

Forget your woes and let your troubles lay

And when again it's morning, they'll wash away

Here it's safe, and here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet–

– and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

Her voice is cracking by the end, her lyrical voice that carries through the speakers like the most melodious bird in the woods. Everyone, from the bar tender to the youngest child to Gale is singing along, but not too loudly to drown out Katniss.

Here is the place where I love you.

And then she's placing a ring of flowers around Rue's head, dusting off the girl's body and laying her out in a position that makes her appear to be sleeping, if not for the bloody stain on her chest. This Katniss lays more flowers on, and then she's getting to her feet and there's something in her shoulders, in her closed face, which makes Gale suddenly very alert. She is staring up and around, catching the eye of any camera trained on her, and as if by some fate, her furious, drowning eyes catch on the one that exists.

"Murderers." She spits, and then repeats it loudly, a yell that is cut off by a sudden view change to that red head sneaky girl. She is doing nothing interesting, just drinking from a lake, and the poorly planned layover proves that the Capitol is afraid of Katniss's words. They have accidentally screened a dangerous tribute-dangerous to the Capitol, that is-and even they don't know what her words will incite.

Mrs. Everdeen is probably crying. Insubordinate tributes don't live long in the Games, and this realization is colder to Gale than the wind rattling the door of the building. And yet… he finds he is grinning, despite the danger, despite the fear, despite the longing to have Katniss home and him somewhere far away.

"You go, Catnip." He croaks, and Katniss, away in the ring, doesn't know it, but she is again the object of a roomful of people giving her their blessing.