Repetition

By: xXxDaughteroftheKingxXx

AN: Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!

All right, so who else went to see it on its opening weekend? I mean, what fan wouldn't? The movie was sheer awesomness, and I... wow, I was nearly speechless. And that doesn't happen very often.

So, in honor of the releasing of the Hunger Games(I know, I'm a little late), I wrote a story a few days ago. I had just reread Mockingjay, and I have to admit, while I love Peeta, part of me wants Gale and Katniss to end up together.

That being said, I was frustrated that their relationship was left up in the air. I decided to write a story, based off of assumptions on Fanfiction. You may have read the same, but I won't tell you what these are. Just read on, because they're farther into the story.

I'm not sure about this formatting. It just sounded... better with short, to the point sections. *shrugs* Trying new things.

I'll probably attempt more HG stories. Until then...

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own The Hunger Games.

He comes back to District 12.

Married. Happily, he says. With a son who is just a year older than her daughter.

She doesn't know whether or not she can forgive him yet; it still hurts to even look at him. Three words echo through her mind every time she even catches a glimpse of her once best friend.

He killed Prim.

"Hey, Catnip," he says, standing outside of her door, those grey eyes twinkling with a familiar fondness. She is stunned into silence for a moment, before reaching back and smacking him right across the face.

His cheek turns red, and there's a wry glimmer in his eyes. "I... deserved that," he admits. "Glad to see you're doing well."

She slams the door shut, and regrets it later.

He comes back a few days later, the swelling mostly diminished from her slap. This time, Peeta answers the door.

The awkwardness fills the house.

He is invited into the house because Peeta is too nice to say no, while she feel perfectly fine in throwing him out of their house. Peeta finishes dinner, and the four(five, including her six month old son) sit and eat.

She speaks to him very briefly, only to set a good example for her little three year old daughter, who has Gale wrapped around her chubby finger. Katniss smiles painfully at that; her daughter's relationship with Gale is too much like Prim's for anyone's good.

Peeta invites him back over, much to Katniss's dismay and pleasure.

A month passes by, and all she says to him is small talk. He and his family often visit their home, and Peeta seems to enjoy their company. She smiles and pretends she does too, but inwardly, she cannot stand it.

But even further within, happiness fills her for the first time since the war.

She comes to realizations that she should not hate Gale. She knows that she shouldn't be angry with him because it wasn't like he intentionally tried to murder her baby sister. If anything, she reasonably thinks that she could perhaps pin the blame to the Capitol and to Coin.

She vows to at least try and forgive him. For Prim.

(She can't bring herself to do it.)

She eventually comes around after much persuasion on Peeta's part, and her relationship with Gale begins to heal.

It's a difficult process, and she has to admit that she's still a little wary of his relationship with her daughter, but she is glad to have him in her life. Things were different without Gale.

Her life seems to get better. She has not only Peeta, but also Gale now, and her children. They live in a safer world. Prim's legacy lives on. All is right.

But nothing lasts forever.

As her relationship with Gale prospers, her relationship with Peeta begins to dwindle.

She finds herself once again uncertain of who she loves. It's crazy to think of, but she knows that she's never truly settled the score. Gale, by leaving, chose for her.

Peeta still loves her unconditionally. He notices her change, but chooses to ignore it, like usual. She is grateful for that; grateful for Peeta. He gives her the space that she needs—the time she needs to figure out who it is that she loves more

She comes to realizations later that this person is Gale.

She is married. He is married. They both have children. They both love their spouses, but it's clear that they love each other more.

She begins to see him. At first, it's just hunting, like old times, then it turns into stolen kisses. It doesn't get much further than that, but the things they do are enough to turn them into 'star-crossed lovers'.

Oh, the bitter irony.

Peeta pretends to not notice her absence, her drifting off whenever he tries to rekindle their fire. She hates that she is hurting him, but she doesn't stop.

She cannot stop.

Six months later, she decides to break it off with Gale.

She can't bear hurting Peeta anymore; after all, he's done so much for her. She knows in her heart that she loves Peeta, but she loves Gale more. Still, she has borne Peeta's children, and she will not abandon any of them.

It's hard news to break to Gale, but he understands, being in the same position.

So, they part ways again, but not entirely. Sometimes, she still catches his eye, noticing a longing in them. She yearns for just one more kiss—just one more spark to ignite their fire.

She needs that spark.

It's late at night, but she finds herself going to Gale's house.

His wife has gone to visit her family and taken their son with them. Peeta and the children are at home, sleeping soundly, and so she sneaks out of the house and runs to his, the longing becoming too unbearable for her.

He is there with open arms, ready to take her back in. She finds solace in his embrace. The world seems to be balanced again. All is right with the world.

She needs more.

She comes back again, determined to make this a night that she will never forget.

It begins like usual, hugging, then kissing, but never going much further than that. He knows his limits, and he follows them. She too knows her limits, knows the people she would hurt, but for tonight, she chooses to completely omit those things from her memory.

"Just one night," she whispers, kissing his neck urgently. "Please... all I need is one night."

It takes some convincing, but he agrees, and they both loose themselves that night.

She knows these signs. She had them before she had had her daughter, and before she'd had her son. These signs are the marks of pregnancy. She is carrying a child.

It is not Peeta's.

She makes sure to cover up the lies. Not a week after it happened, she plays Peeta like a fool, giving herself to him once again. He is more than glad to have the old her back, but she can't help but feel like a dirty, disgusting cheater.

When she realizes she is pregnant, she prays that it is Peeta's child. But, no matter how much she prays, a sinking feeling in her stomach tells her the odds won't be in her favor this time.

She is carrying Gale's child.

Nine months later, she gives birth to a healthy baby girl with black hair and gray eyes. She looks like her mother, which also helps to cover up the web of lies that she has formed. Everyone will presume that the girl got her genetics from her mother.

But Katniss knows better.

She sees Gale in the baby girl. She has his nose, his face structure, his lips. It's not entirely obvious, because Katniss and Gale luckily look very similar, but it's enough for Katniss to know. It's enough for her to know that she has been carrying Gale Hawthorne's daughter, and not Peeta Mellark's.

She wonders if she should tell either of them.

She decides to tell Gale.

She suggests that they go hunting a few months after her second daughter is born, and he gladly accepts. Both leave their kids to their respective spouses, and like old times, they hunt. Only this time, it is not for survival.

"I need to tell you something," she says when they break for lunch, and he looks at her.

He leans back casually and shrugs. "All right, then. What's up?"

She tells him everything, and by the time her story is over, his expression is unreadable. She can't help but wonder how he'll react, and she begins to regret ever telling him. But Gale is her daughter's father. He has the right to know.

(He tells her to let everyone believe that the girl is Peeta's daughter, and promises to stick around as 'Uncle Gale' and only Uncle Gale.)

The girl, named Adelina after Peeta's mother, grows up to be a beautiful young woman. She looks like a mirror image of her mother, with the few exceptions of traits that she received from her father.

She doesn't know the truth. No one knows the truth except for Katniss and Gale. No one is ever going to find out, because if they do, Katniss knows how badly it will tear both families apart. No, neither family deserves to be broken by a mistake.

They think that no one knows, but there is someone who does.

Half-sister. Those words echo through her mind as she stares at her mother in shock and awe. She can barely register what she has been told. Prim, her sweet little duck, was just her half-sister. Her mother had an affair with none other that Peeta's father.

Her husband shared a half-sister with her.

It made the entire situation with Gale and Adelina more awkward because there's a look in her mother's eyes that says, I know what you are hiding, Katniss. Guilt cuts through her heart, and she drops her head.

"Tell him," her mother advises, indicating Peeta. "Tell him because you might not always have him there. You never know, Katniss."

She knows that her mother is talking of her father.

The story spills out, and the entire time, she refuses to meet his eyes. Tears prick at her grey ones as she begs for his forgiveness, promising to always love him. Promising to leave, if he wanted her to.

He responds just like he always does. He tilts her head up and meets her eyes with pain-filled blue ones. She knows she has hurt him, still he smiles and tells her that they can work something out, like they always did. He promises that he still loves Adelina like his daughter, and he promises that he still loves her.

She knows that she doesn't deserve his love.

Their secret stays hidden from everyone but those four people for the rest of their lives. Adelina marries and tacks her last name—Mellark, not Hawthorne—onto her husband's last name, and she has two kids. They are both boys, and one looks like Gale, while the other looks like their father.

The spark between Katniss and Gale diminishes again after she tells Peeta of their affair. Peeta is still the same—still ever loving and caring. Gale reverts back to his life before the affair, and eventually is the same Gale as well.

But she, Katniss, is never the same. She knows that she will never, ever be worthy of either man's love—Peeta, because he loved her even though she cheated, and Gale, because he was willing to be parted from his daughter to save her marriage.

She wonders if it was ever this hard for her mother. It probably wasn't, considering she rarely saw Mr. Mellark, whereas Katniss saw Gale as often as possible. She wishes that she could isolate herself from him, but she can't. She can't do that to him again.

Katniss wonders what would have happened if Gale hadn't come back into her life. She probably would've saved herself a lot of trouble—no troubles with Peeta, no guilt... but also no Adelina. She wonders if the odds are once again playing against her because it's such a strange coincidence to have a mother who went through practically the same situation.

History often repeats itself, and when you're Katniss, the odds of things like such happening are never in your favor.