A/N: *Shyly waves* Hi guys. So very sorry its been a while, I know a lot of you have been (not so quietly) waiting for me to post this part but apart from getting my laptop and external hard drive stolen I have no excuses. Hopefully this will make up for it.

Oh and for those interested I did go to the UK premiere of Mockingjay Part 2 (by which I mean, I stood in the crowd as the stars came down the red carpet). Yes I met everyone, got a tone of autographs, photos (no selfie's sadly) and best of all spoke to Jennifer, Liam and Josh and they all spoke back to me. For more info PM me.

Alright that's enough from me on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! All characters belong to Suzanne (probably has a thing for bakers) Collins and spelling and grammar errors are my own.

Answers

The adrenaline surging through my veins is so strong that I barely feel my hand sing with pain as it sharply makes contact with Gale's cheek. The loud smack echoes all around us, making a flock of nearby birds take flight in fear. Gale grunts in surprise as his face jerks to the side and when he turns back to me, I see his eyes have returned to their normal shade of slate as he leans back sighing dejectedly. "Take that as a 'no' then." he mutters, trying to inject a small amount of amusement as he lifts a hand to gingerly rub the angry red mark already beginning to bloom on his face exactly where my hand slapped him.

"You son of a… how could you… after all this time…" I gasp, sitting up. My voice growing strong as the feeling of utter betrayal, disappointment and fury fills my head. I slam my eyes shut, attempting to find an good enough insult to throw in his direction. Gale knows full well how I feel about having children and I can't believe he'd used that knowledge to stop me. "How dare you!" I yell, opening my eyes and jumping to my feet to slap him again much harder. "How fucking dare you ask me something like that! You know damn well how I feel about kids and that I don't… id never…" the anger in me is flowing so strongly that I can't seem to think straight as heart hammers in my ears. "I can't believe you'd do something like that!"

"Catnip" he says calmly but with a hint of determination.

"Don't you 'Catnip' me!" I bark, angrily shoving him off balance and sending him onto his backside. I notice his lack of clothing and remember that I am also wearing nothing except my t-shirt. Quickly, I slip on my underwear and trousers ignoring how hot my cheeks have grown. I hear Gale chuckle at my obvious embarrassment and after hurling a scowl at him, my brain give me an idea. I grab his boxer shorts he was just about to reach for and hurl them into the valley bellow. His chuckle stops all at once as I start to laugh mockingly at the expression of slack-jawed shock on his face. Feeling satisfied of my action, I quickly move to grab his other items of clothing thinking to throw them into the valley as well to join his underwear, effectively forcing him choose between either going to retrieval them or sneak through District 12 naked. I have a split second to imagine the look of shock on Hazelle's face but he leaps up and takes a firm hold of my wrist before I can reach the pile of his clothing.

"Katniss stop that!" he says sternly. I try to rip away from his grasp but he only tightens his grip and pulls me to look at him full in the face. "Katniss, wait, look I'm sorry, ok? I shouldn't have said that but I had to say something to stop you and it was the only thing that came to my mind."

"Let go of me!" I huff, trying to escape his grasp and run away from here. "You could have said you didn't want to get me pregnant or just pulled out before you finished or hell, I dunno, anything else!" I yell frustrated still trying to shove him back.

"Katniss!" he barks to stop me thrashing around, "Look I know your upset and your right I could have said that I didn't want to get you pregnant but I just wasn't thinking straight. And, as for 'pulling out,' well I somehow doubt id be able to or indeed want to." he says sternly but also with a tiny smile that only makes my blood boil hotter. I attempt to wrestle out of his grasp again but he's arms have slid around and are now locked around my torso. So, out of nowhere I do the only other thing my brain can think of and bite his bottom lip. Hard.

"Ah! What the fuck!" he gasps, finally releasing me as he jerks back and clamps a hand over his mouth. When he pulls it away, I see his fingers are red with blood. "You bit me?" He says looking at me with a mixture of shock and confusion before his eyes turn hard with anger. "You bit me!?" he snaps, "The hell is the matter with you, Katniss?"

"What's the matter with me!?" I shout right back at him, matching his intense anger with my own. "You're the one asking me completely out of the blue if I'm ready to be a mother, knowing full well how I feel about having kids. If you didn't see this reaction coming then you must be dumber then you look!"

"Name calling! Oh real mature, Katniss-"

His admonishment does nothing to quell my anger. "You've been planning this haven't you?" I accuse with furiously realization. His mouth goes slack then slams shut into a tight line.

"See!" I bark at his scowl, "You don't even deny it? How long have you been planning this? Since the harvest festival? New years? Or was it an even more recent decision!?" I say wildly as I wait for him to deny it. For him to sneer or yell but instead he just begins slipping on his clothes without saying a word. When he straightens up I see him looking at me with an expression of despair plastered on his face.

"I didn't want to believe this," He says shaking his head.

"What are you talking about now?" I ask.

"You!" he says irritably like a curse.

"What about me?" I shout just as frustrated.

"You know me better then anyone else in twelve. Yes, I do want kids someday but do you really think id ignore your choice and plan a way of tricking you into getting pregnant? He pauses waiting for me to say "Yes" but when I open my mouth nothing comes out. "See?" he says after a moment. "You know I wouldn't do something like that because I love and respect you and your choices but you seem to forget that."

"I do not!" I say stubbornly unwilling to give in to his accusations.

"No?" he asks crossing his arms over his chest.

"No!" I reply firmly crossing my arms over my own chest to glare at him.

"Then why did you try to pull me into you?" he asks arching an eyebrow.

'Damn it' I think, 'walk straight into that one'. I grudgingly admit to myself as he stands waiting for me to answer. "I… you…" I stumble trying to come up with an answer the will absolve my hasty actions without making me feel like it was all my fault. But I fail to come up with anything but the truth. "I lost my head, ok?" I say bitterly lowering my gaze to the dirt as Gale takes a step towards me. "But, you started it!" I say, eyes snapping back up as a new thought presents itself to me. "You were the one that got me all worked up. You knew id never done that before and knew id like how it felt and would want more afterwards didn't you!?" my voice is triumphant, full of confidence and self satisfaction knowing that I've managed to trap him this time.

"Guilty as charged on that one, Everdeen." he admits, lifting his palms up to me. "I did get you all worked up and I did know you'd want more, that's why I did it twice! Oh and just for the record, I'd of done that for you hundreds of times if you'd let me, even if I got a cramp in my tongue." he finishes with a sexy smirk.

Some part of my brain wants my body to squirm at the though of Gale's tongue sliding in and around my most sensitive parts, building a coil of sensation within my core until my body finally cried out in ecstasy. Before I realise it, I imagine riding the high then floating down in euphoria and then Gale would start the whole wonderful process over again. How many times could I have achieved bliss before I'd collapsed with exhaustion? How many more times could he have tighten that coil in my core until I gave in and demanded to joined our bodies together? Thankfully, I can swing my thoughts back to where they were before my imagination took over.

"It doesn't matter how many times you 'think' you could have done that the ending would have been the same no matter what." I say with a hint of finality.

"True, that's why I had to try and stop you," he nods.

"Well you didn't try very hard did you?" I say, my scowl returning. "This whole fight could have been avoided if you had just told me you didn't want to get me pregnant."

"I've already apologised and admitted that I should have explained myself better Katniss but you were so focused on what you wanted that you didn't give me a chance to come up with anything better." he says and just as I'm about to deny that, he lifts his voice over mine. "What was it you said? 'No more waiting, no more excuses, no more interruptions, I want you to make love to me right now!' I knew I had to say something quickly before you jumped me and I lost myself in the feeling, and like I said, it was the only thing that came to mind."

"Yes but…you…I…GRRRR!" I growl, hands clenched into fists as I wrack my brain for someway of proving that this was ultimately his fault, but I can't find anything to disprove his claim. "I just lost my head, OK!" I yell, repeating the only defence I can come up with.

"And so did I" he says in a long sigh, "Can we just agree that we both got carried away at the time and said things in the heat of the moment that we shouldn't have?" I manage un-clench my fists and nod feeling to tired to argue anymore. We're quiet for a few very long moments; the only sound I can hear is the dimming thud of my heartbeat in my ears then the wind whistling through the trees mixing with my heavy breathing.

"Do you still want to be with me?" he asks hollowly taking another careful step closer to me.

"Not right now I don't." I say stubbornly. Residual fire keeping me rooted to the spot and ignoring the new sensation of dropping in my chest. "I still can't believe you'd ask me if I was ready to be a mother."

"Urgh," he groans sounding just as tired as I feel and lets his arms hang loosely at his sides. "Look, I've already said that I'm really sorry about saying that," he says serious again. "But just take a moment and think about what would have happened if I hadn't stopped you." My hands clench again as the ramifications of his question now fills my head.

The birth rate in all of the Districts is something the Capitol takes a huge interest in. After all, it's their way of monitoring the amount of potential tributes for the Hunger Games. All births must be reported to the Justice building and any children found to be unregistered at reapings are taken from their parents to live in the community home while the parents are arrested. So, because of that any form of birth control is closely monitored and extremely expensive to come by. My annoyance dims ever so slightly as I recall the hideously high price a single birth control pill would cost and how neither Gale nor I would be willing to sacrifice the precious money or game we could collect for something like that. My arms fall loosely to my sides as I realize shamefully that my earlier accusation where wrong. That Gale hadn't planned for me to get pregnant.

A little more anger leaves me with every exhale until I seem to be able to think a lot more clearly. My shoulders sag and Gale slowly steps forward until he is standing right in front of me. His hand comes up to land gently on my shoulder and soothingly rubs my muscles. My head falls forward as a feeling of gratefulness for Gale's head remaining so level and stopping me when he did takes hold of me. The thought of what might of happened If he hadn't or if he was so overcome with desire that he was unable to stop himself (as I was) seeps into my thoughts. No, I won't think about that anymore, no matter how amazing I'm sure the feeling of our bodies being joined in such a way would be, nothing is worth the risk. Closing my eyes, I sigh heavily letting as much of the fire out of my lungs as I can with each exhale. Unsurprisingly, it takes a long time for my fists to finally un-clench and for my lungs to stop burning with anger but when I do, my eyes open and I'm looking straight at the marital of Gale's shirt. I must have been so wrapped up in possible implications that I hadn't even realise that he had come to embrace me.

The sun has moved and has already begun to dip as is quickly makes its descent, staining the sky a beautiful deep orange from around the mountain range. I look up and my eyes immediately find Gale's gazing at me unsure. His body is tensed in anticipation like he's preparing himself if I chose to strike him or knee him in the groin and send him crumpling back to the ground. Perhaps if I was as angry at him as I was before I would but the red mark on his face from my slap and the trickle of blood still dripping from his plump bottom lip makes me feel more guilty than satisfied at my earlier outburst. I'm still not happy with how he stopped me but I can accept that he did it for my sake. I wasn't myself when I tried to pull him into me, I lost my head and Gale reminded me of my choice and I repaid his respect with a slap across his face. The corner of my eyes sting as tears threaten to escape me but I hold them back as I gingerly lift my free hand to the angry red mark, he winces but doesn't pull away when my fingers brush across his cheek. "I'm so sorry," I whisper, much more softly then when I last spoke to him and look into his cautious eyes. I try to convey the sincerity of my apology hoping that our silent communication wont let me down now.

It doesn't, and I feel him relax as he slowly closes his eyes.

"Its ok, Katniss. I'm sorry too and you had every right-," he mutters when his eyes open but I cut him off with a fierce hug. His he hugs me back and we stay like this for a long time as our surroundings dim and fill with the echoing sounds of nocturnal creatures beginning to stir. "We should get back, Rooba's gonna close up shop soon." he murmurs and I hum in agreement and reluctantly release my hold on him. He reaches down and hands me back my jacket before slipping on his own. I take his game bag and look away reflexively as he heaves the deer carcass over his shoulder. My gaze sweeps out over the valley as the last few rays of daylight begin to vanish behind the mountain peeks.

"Ready to go?" Gale asks. I nod picking up his bow, quiver and take the lead back to the hollow log. As I wrap up our weapons, I remember the way I hastily threw his underwear into the valley and the impulsive idea about making him sneak back into the district naked. I mutter a quick apology for that one but he just shrugs. "It's ok, the squirrels can use it as a blanket or something," he suggests with wry grin.

By the time we've slipped back under the fence its dark enough for us the sneak quickly but silently in-between the Seam houses. We pause to check and make sure our path is clear of Peacekeepers at every available opportunity and slowly but surely we get closer to the Butchers. When we reach the outskirts of the Merchant Square, I hear the undeniable sound of heavy Peacekeeper boots growing closer to where Gale and I have paused behind an old abandoned building. Quickly, I shove Gale into a nearby alleyway and make him drop the Doe into a patch of shadows. He hears the footfalls a second later and positions us directed across from away from the alleyways entrance. I have a brief moment of wide-eyed panic when I see a hoof poking out of the shadows and nod the discovery to Gale. He spots it but at the sound of someone about to walk around the nearby corner and catches me off guard by lowers his lips to mine.

The surprised sound I make is muffled against his lips but he jerks away quickly before I can understand. We turn our heads in unison when we hear the crunch of gravel turn the corner mixed with a gasp of surprise and come face to face with none other than Darius.

"Woah! Oh its just you two," he says recognizing us then gives Gale a lingering look. I let out shudder as I see Darius' hand move away from the gun holster strapped to his thigh.

"Hey Darius," Gale sighs, sounding relived to see one of District twelve's more friendlier Peacekeepers.

"Jeez, you two almost gave me a damn heart attack there." He says lowering a gloved hand from his chest. "Lucky I'm not quite as trigger happy as some of my other colleagues, eh?" he says seriously but also with a hint of humour. I shudder, horrified of the thought of Gale being shot right in front of me. Gale recovers first as he chuckles shyly and takes a couple steps away from the alleyway entrance, effectively moving Darius's attention away from anything hidden in or around the shadowy ally.

"Sorry, bout that Darius," Gale says, scratching the back of his head in an attempt to act sheepish, "just didn't think anyone would be hanging around here at this time and all…" His voice trails away as Darius face comes to smirk at me.

"Well, well, well," Darius says, crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes dancing with amusement. "You surprise me, Everdeen. Him," he nods at Gale, "I expect this sort of behavior out of but certainly not you. Maybe I should escort you home, after all we don't want this scoundrel dishonouring your purity."

"Scoundrel?" Gale barks affronted.

"Purity?" I scoff too loudly, and see the young Peacekeeper's eye brows lift high as I silently scold myself, feeling my cheeks heat up and guess they must match the bright redness of Darius hair. He just laughs and shakes his head muttering something about 'Kids theses days' which I find pretty ironic given that he is only a few years older than Gale.

"You two just quit getting all kissy-kissy around dark corners, ok?" he nods then heads off in the opposite direction. Gale comes back over to pat my shoulder and we both let out a shaky sighs. Once we're sure no one else is around, Gale picks up the Doe and we dash from house to house until we finally make it to the butcher's back door.

Rooba's bony face appears in the door crack that widens when she see's us; I see her eyes immediately snap up the Doe on Gale's shoulders before looking at me. "Quite a catch you got there girl, don't think the boy is worth much but ill take the Doe off your hands." she jokes smirking at me.

"Aw come on Rooba. It took me years to ensnare him, surely that's worth an extra coin at least." I whine mockingly as I jerk my head to Gale, who is scanning the area behind us.

"Sorry girl but I'm not so easily swayed by pretty things." Rooba quips stepping back inside "Come on in." I hold the door open for Gale as he enters and lays the deer on the clean metal table Rooba is standing behind. She gives the carcass her expert inspection, poking and prodding different parts as she assesses its worth. "Left flank's a little bruised up," she mutters and Gale explains about having to drop it quickly to avoid being caught by Darius. She offers us her usual price and I look over at Gale who's already nodding, knowing that Rooba won't haggle and we wouldn't get anything better then her price even if we went to the hob. I agree along with him and Rooba starts' pulling out knifes of varying length. "Take me about a couple hours or so, why don't you two swing by tomorrow," she says sharpening a wicked looking knife. I'm about to leave when Gale puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me, looking up I see him squinting at the old butcher.

"Hey, Rooba," He says, his voice careful. "I know you're the best at cutting up dead animals and all, but Katniss and I are pretty good at slicing and dicing as well. So I was just wondering if we gave you a hand, maybe we could get a little extra for our work." I shake my head and let out an exasperated sigh when I realise what he trying to do and, knowing how pointless it is. Rooba doesn't haggle, she gives you a price and you take it or leave it, that it.

"Your lucky, you caught me in a good mood." she grins after a thoughtful pause, "Ok you two pull your weight and ill throw in some steaks." Gale smirks to himself and I shake my head at his expression. Rooba claps once, rubbing her bony hands together, "Alright you two, wash up, grab an apron and roll up your sleeves. Got work to do."

The whole process takes us about an hour and although I'm startled at first I soon relax and actually begin to enjoy myself as I work methodically to remove the hide. "You weren't lying Hawthorne; you two have some good knife skills." Rooba says, watching as my knife slides carefully between skin and muscles. I give her a smile and see Gale smirking from the other end of the carcass. Once the head, hooves, organs and hide are removed, the body is set on a hook and left in the cold room to dry out. Gale and I wipe down the table, the knifes we used and Rooba returns from the shop front with our money with promises of steaks tomorrow.

"Good job you two," Rooba says handing me my pile of the coins and we thank her for the money and make plans to pick up the meat tomorrow after school. We pocket our coins, pick up our game bag and let Rooba walk us to the front door then make our way across the Merchant Square carefully avoiding a pair of Peacekeepers on the other side of the square.

Though it's late, there are still a few people milling around the Hob still trying to trade for or sell different items, Gale mutters down his mental list Hazelle told him and I try to think what my own family needs. After twenty minuets, we've both made a good dent in our lists as we look for an old man who sells lumps of paraffin. Gale stops and I see his head snap to the side like a dog catching a scent. He steps over to an elderly women, who is packing glass jars into a cardboard box. He looks at one jar, examines its contents then looks at the women. "Is this the real?" he asks sounding hopeful and I stand next to him as he looking longing at the small jar of coffee powder. She nods, grinning at him and lifts the jars lid to allow him to take a deep inhale. His eyes drift close as his chest expands, taking in a lungful of the rich aroma and hums deeply, "haven't smelled coffee in months." he mumbles to no one in particular. I share an amused look with the women who's selling the dark brown powder as Gale takes another inhale. I can see the longing in his expression, if he could, he would hand over everything left in his bag just for this one tiny jar but I know he won't.

Gale never spends any money on himself, not even when it comes to luxury items like coffee or candy. It's understandable why he won't trade for it but it doesn't make the dejected look on his face any easier to see as he thanks the women for letting him smell it and walks away from her table. We move around the Hob a few more times until we've managed to get almost everything on our lists, only missing out on the odd rare item or two that we knew would be a long shot in the first place before pulling up two stools in front of Greasy Sea stall. We get two bowls of her hot soup, which turns out to be chicken and vegetable broth and sit silently as we eat.

"What happened to your face?" She asks Gale wiping down an empty bowl. I shift on my stool and nervously look at him as he lifts a hand and absentmindedly touches the mark where I slapped him before running his fingertips over the cut on his lip. His expression becomes unfathomable and just for a second I think he's about to refuses to answer but he surprises me by grinning wolfishly at me then Sae.

"Its nothing. I said something stupid and almost made Katniss miss her shot at a deer," he says flashing me a sorry expression. "So, she gave me a not so little tap to shut me up."

"Sounds like something you'd do," She chuckles. "So, you took down a deer huh?" She comments with a raised brow and I nod.

"Sure did, right in the eye as usual." Gale comments proudly, earning me an impressive nod from Sae that I respond with a shrug. He then retells the story of how hard it was carrying the carcass through the Seam, the near run in with Darius and how we helped Rooba with the butchering.

"Certainly does sound like you caught her in a good mood," Sae says with a bony grin. "Guess I'll head over tomorrow see if I can pick up some venison. That is, as long as her idiot apprentice doesn't screw up my order again!" she groans loudly.

"Good luck with that," I mutter dryly and we all chuckle.

Its late, by the time we leave the Hob and the merchant streets are almost compete deserted as Gale and I walk side by side back towards the Seam. I think longingly of my own house and envision cuddling up with Prim. I wonder what she and my mother have been up to while I've been hunting and can already see how her face will light up when I show her my half of the money I received from the deer and imagine her laugh when I confess about Gale and my run in with Darius. I've a strong feeling that Hazelle will have some stern words for Gale if he decides to tell her about the run in and guess that he will keep that information to himself.

"Katniss?" he asks softly when we reach our usual parting spot in the road. I turn and see him looking anxiously at me. "Did you mean what you said before?"

"I've said a lot today, Gale. Your gonna have to be a little more specific." I say suppressing a yawn as I close my eyes and stretching my arms above my head.

"About not wanting to be with me?" he answers attempting to keep the note of hollowness out of his voice as he lowers his eyes.

My arms fall back to my sides as I frown at him. Recalling when he asking if I still wanted to be with him and how I responded negatively at that moment. I recall the events since I said that to him and realise how strange Gale's behavior has been since then. How he didn't take my hand on the walk home and how the kiss in the ally felt wrong, too quick, not enough time for me to sink into it, like I was only doing it to fool Darius and how the smile he's given me at Sae's was apologetic maybe even pained. I cock my head to the side and I gaze at him as I remember how he hasn't called me 'Catnip' since after a slapped him.

"Have you been thinking about that since I said it?" I ask neutrally.

"That's not an answer,"

"No its not, but it's something I want to know" I say stubbornly and cross my arms over my chest when I see his shoulders sag.

"Katniss, please, I don't want to get into another argument with you." he sighs, now beginning to sound tired.

"Neither do it, so just answer me and I'll answer you." I say diplomatically.

"Yes" he admits sadly.

"I guess you need to work on reading me better." I say after a few seconds with a shake of my head and when I look up I see Gale gazing at me confused. "No Gale, I didn't mean it." I say taking a step forwards and place my hands on his chest. His shoulders slump as he sighs then his arms come up to embrace me, his eyes closes as his head tilts down to rest his forehead against mine.

"I thought you did." he whispers. His breath sweeping over my face. "I don't like it when we fight."

"Me neither," I admit closing me own eyes. "But don't most couples argue every now and again?"

I feel him shrug, "I guess but I just can't stand the thought of you being mad at me."

"I could never stay mad at you for looking out for me." I say opening my eyes and smile reassuringly at him. His expression morphs into one of relief and mine changes into one of mischief as a new thought presents itself. "Although if you did something that was truly stupid then maybe I would. I could easily outlast you when it comes to holding a grudge."

"No arguments here, Catnip." he says and although I'm thrilled to hear the sound of my nickname again, I still narrow my eyes at him. He just chuckles at my expression and plants a lingering kiss on my forehead. My eyes close again as I huff and decide to let his comment go.

We stand there for a few minutes just soaking in each other warmth until my yawn interrupts the silence then reluctantly we break apart to say our goodnight. Our lips join in a slow sweet kiss then I turn to trudge back to the welcoming lights of my home. After showing my mother the money from the deer, I make my way to my room and am under the covers, cuddling up with a dozing Prim in moments. She doesn't wake and I'm relieved, glad that I can fall asleep without having to answer any of her questions about my day. I sigh loudly as I relax and thoughts from today begin to swirl in my head. I feel my bodies urge to squirm as the memory of Gale's tongue sliding between my legs, sending a rush of heat throughout my body that lingers at the forefront of my mind. 'Damn you Gale' I think but still grin into the darkness as I finally drift of into unconsciousness.