A/N: I didn't get hardly any reviews guys! Did you not like the last chapter?
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summary: Gale watches Melody and a terrifying accident follows.

I am vaguely aware that it is morning as I lay in my bed losing the battle to open my eyes and begin the day. Peeta has already gone to the bakery; he wanted to get there so he could close early because Gale is coming tonight. He has to go to Thirteen for a business meeting and asked if he could spend the night here and of course we agreed. I hadn't seen him for over a year because at Melody's last birthday he had been away on some sort of secret mission. That could have been my life if I had wanted I suppose. I could have done the soldier thing, I was more than equipped to do the job, but I resented the idea of taking yet another life and taking orders for that matter so it was a life style that never would have worked out. No, I was much happier here at home in District Twelve with my amazing husband and beautiful daughter. Speaking of which, I could distinctly hear the sound of little feet pitter pattering down the hallway. I smiled to myself and knew that I was going to have to force my eyes to open soon because my day was about to begin. Sure enough not five seconds later my bedroom door opened and I felt something jump on top of me.

"Mommy! Mommy! Time get up!" I pretended to still be asleep trying to hide a smile.

"Mommy? Mommy you got get up!" Melody bent down to try and see my face and I made my move. I jumped up at her and mock attacked her, tickling her tummy and kissing her face.

"I'm gonna get you!" I said to her as she laughed.

"Mommy! Don't get me!" Melody laughed and I rolled over and pulled her close to me for a quick snuggle.

"Don't get you? Ok I won't. I'll just kiss you! Did you sleep good my little love?" I asked placing kisses on her head. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and smiled at me.

"Yes Mommy. Where Daddy?"

"Daddy went to work early because your Uncle Gale is coming to visit tonight." I tell her.

"Uncle Gale coming tonight?"

"Uh huh. Are you hungry?"

"Yes!"

"What would you like?" I ask trying to tame the ruffled mass of hair on her head.

"Cookies!" I eye her.

"Uh try again?" I say snorting back a laugh knowing where that response came from.

"Daddy give Meldy cookie for beckfast!" She says stubbornly.

"Oh really? Let Mommy catch Daddy doing that. Let's try this again, what would you like?

"Pancakes!"

"Ok, that I can do. Let's go ragamuffin! Mommy's got to straighten up this house it looks like a bomb went off." I say picking her up and carrying Melody to the kitchen. I set her down on the floor in the living room to play with her toys while I went to make us both some pancakes.

"Melody, time to eat baby loves." I call to her from the kitchen setting a book on her seat as she wasn't quite tall enough to reach the table on her own yet. When she doesn't come I call after her again. "Melody! I swear what are you doing now child?" I ask shaking my head and going into the living room to look for her. When I get to the living room I see that all her toys have been piled into her toy box in such a way that the lid would never close, though she tried, and things in the room straightened just off enough that would suggest a child tried to do it.

"I cleaned Mommy!" She tells me proud of her work. My heart melts and I bend down and hold my arms out to her.

"Oh baby girl! You did! Thank you very much! You did a great job! Mommy loves you so much!" I say picking her up and wrapping her in my arms. Sometimes I can't believe my baby girl is three years old now. I often find myself looking at her, especially when she does things like this and wondering where my baby went and longing to have those days back for a few moments.

"I love you too Mommy." She says kissing my cheek. Then she does things like that and I'm so glad to be her mom and get to watch her grow up that I can't wait to see what she does when she gets even older.

Once I get Melody down for her nap I go back and straighten up the living room and actually get the lid on her toy box and clean and manage to clean a few other things around the house before she wakes up. I take her outside after that to wait for Gale to arrive and get out some of the sidewalk chalk Peeta and I had gotten her the previous weekend. We drew pictures on the sidewalk outside our house and I spelled out our names and wrote "Mommy loves Melody" in big letters. Gale arrived shortly after four.

"Hey there Catnip!" He said walking up the street. I looked up and smiled at him, happy to see my old friend. "Hey there little Catnip! Man look how big you're getting!" He said to Melody who got shy and buried her head in my shoulder.

"Don't remind me! Hey!" I said bouncing her a little. "You're not shy, say hello." I tell her. She waves her little hand at Gale but keeps her head buried in my neck. Gale and I talk outside for awhile and Melody still clings to me.

"I'm sorry Gale she doesn't usually act like this." I wonder what has gotten into Melody, she was usually really friendly towards everyone just like Peeta, she had a way with Peeta. This was one area, where my daughter wasn't like me.

"It's ok, she probably doesn't remember me. Hey, is that chalk? Can I play?" Gale asked trying to talk to Melody. She thought about it for a minute then looked at me and I nodded my head and she got down and took some chalk to Gale to play with. Peeta got home about ten minutes later and Kathryn, who had warmed up just fine to Gale now ran down the ran down the sidewalk to meet him.

"Daddy!" She yelled holding her arms out to him.

"Stay on the sidewalk and don't run in the road!" Not that any carts or anything frequented this part of town but I was still a bit over protrective.

"Hi baby girl! Daddy missed you today!" Peeta said scooping her up and carrying her back over.

"Hey Gale! How's it going?" Peeta asked.

"Not bad man, yourself?"

"Oh you know, life's pretty perfect. Hi darling, how are you?" Peeta asked bending down to kiss me on the lips.

"Good," I say kissing him back. "Dinner is almost ready, I need to wash her hands she was playing with chalk."

"I'll do it." Peeta said kissing me again before taking Melody inside. "Daddy brought home fresh cookies!"

"Good! She should have breakfast for the week then." I say with mock seriousness and he turns his head and pretends like there is something pressing in the house he has to tend to knowing he's been caught.

"I'm not sleeping in and letting him get her breakfast anymore! He gives her cookies! What's wrong?" I ask Gale who has his head down.

"I don't know." He says.

"You don't know what's wrong?"

"No, I don't know what it's like to have a perfect life. He got the life I wanted." He said staring at the ground.

"Oh Gale, I thought we were over that, that you were good with this?" I ask him.

"I'm good with it because I have to be but I don't think I'll ever get over you or ever stop hating him a little bit for getting the life I always wanted. But you're happy Katniss, and if you are happy I'm happy because that is what I wanted more than anything, for you to be happy. So what's for dinner?"

The mood during dinner was a lot lighter than before. We all joked and updated each other on our lives. After dinner we played with Melody in the living room and somehow the topic of our love lives came up and Peeta and I mentioned how we hadn't been out for an evening alone together in we didn't know how long.

"That's just sad guys!" Gale said.

"Well, we can't exactly just go off and leave her! I mean we love Haymitch but a drunk doesn't make the best babysitter." I joke.

"Tell you what, I'll watch the stinker tonight and you guys go out and have a good time and enjoy yourselves and have some you time!"

"Oh no Gale we couldn't…"

"No I insist!"

After forty five minutes of me going over everything I thought Gale would possibly need to know about how to take care of Melody for an hour and a half I am finally walking out the door.

"Oh and if she needs…"

"Katniss, I think I got it!" Gale says to me.

"She's just really protective. I don't think we've ever left her with anybody before." Peeta says.

"Ok baby girl, Mommy and Daddy are going to go out for a little while and you are going to stay here with Uncle Gale and play. When Mommy get's home she'll read you a story and tuck you in ok?" I tell Melody still unsure of leaving her.

"Meldy go too." She said.

"No no, Melody stays here. Mommy will be back really soon." I could see the tears welling up in Melody's eyes and she started to whimper.

"You'll be just fine baby girl." Peeta said to her. "We'll be right back. You just stay here and have fun." As I go to walk out the door Melody is full on crying.

"No, Mommy….Mommy stay!" I want nothing more than to just stay right here with her but Gale scoops Melody, who is trying to cling to my up and she really starts crying and pushes us out the door.

"You guys go on, we'll be fine. They'll be back!" He tells her. I feel horrible as I walk down the street with Peeta.

"I feel like a horrible mother." I tell him.

"I know, that wasn't the prettiest thing in the world but it was going to have to happen sooner or later. She'll be fine darling. We could use the time to us anyway." He says kissing my neck and I know he is right, something in my stomach just doesn't feel right about leaving her but I try to push it aside and enjoy the rare private moment I have with Peeta.

Gale POV

"Mommy! Mommy!" Melody had been screaming for Katniss for the past ten minutes and I had no idea how to make her stop. "Hey, kiddo, Mommy is going to be back really soon. She just went out with your dad for a while. Maybe I don't want this." I say glad I didn't have to contend with a kid screaming my ear off every day. "I know! Let's go outside and play!" I take Melody outside and decide to take her into the woods. I figured that this was probably something Katniss did on a regular basis and that it might calm her. I notice that large portions of the old fence are missing and half chuckle to myself.

"Gale, is that you?" I hear a voice from behind me. It's a girl whom I had gone through school with and would have given much more thought had Katniss not been around. "Hey! How are you doing?" I asked the girl. I placed Melody down and she played in the meadow and seemed to calm down. I was still talking to the girl when I heard the kid say,

"Oh Gale! Bunny!" She was pointing into the woods and I saw the tail of a bunny rabbit. "Yeah, go get the bunny rabbit" I say to her and go back to talking with the girl. I wasn't even aware that Melody hadn't come back for about twenty minutes when my friend had to leave.

"Alright kid let's get you home. Melody? Melody!" I called after her but she didn't come. "Melody! Melody where are you?" I called again and again but she didn't come. I went into the woods and searched all around in the immediate area but the child was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh…shit." Was all I could get out before I headed back out of the woods to go and try and find some help. I ran back to Katniss's house and found Haymitch outside.

"Haymitch! Haymitch you got to help me! I was watching Melody and we were by the woods and she went in and I wasn't paying attention and now she's gone and I can't find her and Katniss is going to kill me…." I say not knowing what to do.

"Woah woah woah slow down! You lost her? How could you do that?"

"I don't know I was talking to this girl and…"

"Oh holy fucking hell you got to be kidding me! You lost her in the woods! Katniss never takes her into the woods!"

"I figured she did because…"

"Well you figured wrong! The only thing you figured right is Katniss is going to kill you, that is if I don't do it first! Come bring your worthless ass and let's go look for her!" Haymitch comes and helps me look for Melody but we are unsuccessful.

"How far could she actually have gone?" I ask now really panicking.

"Where did they go? We need to go and find them and tell them what's happened." Haymitch says. We head into town and find them soon enough. Katniss immediately notices something's wrong and jumps up.

"What's wrong? Is Melody alright? Wait where is...she?" Katniss asks looking confused at first. I didn't know how to say it and I froze up…

"Mr. Genius here had her out by the woods and got distracted by some girl and wasn't paying attention and she wanted off into the woods and now we can't find her." Haymitch said for me. Katniss's face turned from confusion to fear to rage all in about the course of two seconds and she was pounding on me with her fists the next.

"YOU DID WHAT?" She and Peeta screamed at me at the same time.

Katniss POV:

I knew something was wrong the moment I saw Gale and Haymitch coming towards me. I became horrified when I saw Melody wasn't with them. I became numb when Gale said he had lost her and she was somewhere in the woods. By herself. Lost. I started off beating him with my fists for a few seconds before making a be-line to the woods to try and find my daughter. Peeta caught my arm and suggested we go and get some help because it was getting dark and we needed as many eyes out there looking for Melody as we could. I somehow found it in me to agree to this and within ten minutes we had most of District Twelve out in the woods looking for her. I was out with Peeta, Haymitch, and Gale and calling my daughter's name repeatedly.

"Melody! Melody! Melody where are you? Melody please!" I screamed over and over again, each time getting no response only the far off echoes of similar calls from helpers or the occasional response from a mockingjay. It was pitch black within an hour and the group returned to the meadow to regroup. No one had found anything and I felt myself start to lose it.

"This isn't happening! This can't be happening! How could you do this Gale? How? I can't lose her! I can't! She's everything! I can't…" Just then I hear a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning, and the distant howl of a wild dog. I can't tell if what I feel on my face are raindrops or tears. Peeta pulls me into my arms but is for the first time in his life, lost for words. He is just as scared as I am and obviously just as mad at Gale because the next thing I know he is on top of him and pounding his face. It takes three men to pull Peeta off.

"Alright! Everyone just calm down!" Haymitch begins to speak to everyone and establishes another search plan and the people head out again, this time into pouring rain, pitch blackness, and the howls of dangers in the woods. I am told to stay here because in my hysterical state I'm no good helping anything. Peeta sits on the porch with me and holds me close to him.

"I can't lose her Peeta." I say.

"I know. It's going to be ok Katniss. We'll find her. She can't have wandered too far."

"I'm never going to forgive him Peeta! He takes everything I love away from me! God Peeta, she's so scared! I know she is! And she's probably cold and thirsty and wondering why I haven't come to find her! Oh God…" I bury my head in Peeta's shoulder and try to figure something out in my head. Of course I don't sleep at all that night nor does Peeta. Apparently someone phoned my mother last night and she had arrived by morning. It is still raining and I demand to be in the next search group. We head a different direction to start with and I again call out to Melody.

"Melody! Melody please answer me baby! If you can hear me answer Mommy! Melody!" About five mintues later I am about to just curl up on the forest floor and scream when I hear it. It is a little ways away but I hear it.

"Mommy!" My head shoots up and I take off in the direction of her voice.

"Melody?" I call out to her.

"Mommy! Mommy!" I see a drop off a little ways up ahead and stop and look down to see Melody laying at the bottom of it, her leg bent at a funny angle, covered in mud.

"MELODY!" I scream and jump down and immediately take her in my arms crying with relief.

"Mommy!" She starts crying hysterically and buries her head in my shoulder. I stay like this with her for a few moments. I know that the rest of the part has returned to the designated meeting spot and I need to get Melody home but I can't seem to move. I thought I had lost her.

"Melody Mommy is so sorry! Are you ok?"

"Mommy I so scared! Mommy my leg hurts! Mommy never leave again!"

"Never again baby! Mommy's never going to leave you ever again! It's ok, Mommy's going to make it all better!" I scooped her up in my arms walked back out to the meadow and everyone saw me and saw I had Melody in my arms and came running over. Peeta somehow ran faster than I would have thought possible and wrapped his arms around us.

"Oh Melody! Oh my baby! Are you ok?" He asked.

"Daddy I scared! Daddy it hurts!" I knew we needed to get her to the house so I could see what was wrong with her. I thanked everyone quickly and then headed for my house. I instruct Haymitch not to let anyone but my mother in and I set Melody down on the kitchen table.

"Show Mommy and Daddy where it hurts?" I say to her and she immediately points to her leg which even I can tell is broken. My heart breaks all over again. My baby has a broken leg and it's all my fault because I left her. I also see that she has cuts all over her that I need to clean so they don't get infected. My mother comes in and I move over to let her see.

"Oh dear, let Nana look at you Melody." My mother looks Melody over, Peeta holding one of her little hands and I holding the other.

"Well? How bad is it?" I ask my mother.

"Her leg is broken, it looks like a clean break though so it should heal quickly once I set it. She's got a couple of cuts but only one bad on her hand. It's going to need stitches and she's too little for me to put out." My mother looks at me and I know what that means. Too many times I had seen my mother have to heal people without any kind of medication to numb them and I had to hold in a sob. I couldn't let Melody see me scared right now. I had to be brave for her. My mom wrapped her arms around me and Peeta squeezed my hand.

"Let's get her cleaned up first." My mother said. We used wash clothes to clean the dirt off of Melody and we took extra care with her cuts. She immediately started crying again when the washcloth hit the first one.

"I know, I know, Mommy's sorry baby but she has to clean it!" If this was her reaction at cleaning I couldn't imagine what was going to happen soon. Once she was cleaned off, my mother, Peeta, and I carried her into the living room and I set her down on my lap.

"I'm going to set her leg first so she doesn't injure it more when I do the stitches." My mother said. Melody cried again when my mother did this but my mother assured me that it wasn't going to hurt her anymore than it already did to do this. Once her leg had been set she proceeded to wrap it in wet clothes she had dipped in a special solution and I could see it hardening around her leg.

"She's going to have to wear that for about six weeks. No walking on it either!" My mother said now preparing to deal with putting stitches in a three year old's hand. I kissed Melody's head.

"You did such a good job. Almost done. Nana just has to fix your hand now." Peeta stroked Melody's head and whispered in her ear.

"Ok guys you are going to want to hold her down the best you can, Peeta hold her arm out for me and don't let her jerk it back. You ready?" I nod bracing myself for what was about to come. My mother takes a new cloth and dips it in alcohol solution to sterilize the wound and counts to three before placing it on Melody's hand. The scream that follows is enough to make me hysterical again but I know I can't that I have to be strong for my daughter.

"MOMMY!" She wails.

"I know baby girl! I know! You are so brave! You are such a brave girl!" My mother then starts the process of stitching up her hand a new wave of screams and sobs follows. Peeta and I try and talk her through it and soothe her but it's not use. My mother works fast though and soon she is down and I am walking around the living room bouncing Melody in my arms and I did when she was an infant trying to soothe her. Haymitch comes in to find out how she's doing followed by Gale.

"She has a broken leg and needed stitches in her hand. She got lost and fell down that ditch and couldn't get back out. She was there all night all alone and scared and hurt and I wasn't there to protect her and…" I was sobbing again and Peeta wrapped his arms around me. I am aware that Haymitch punches Gale in the face before coming over to kiss Melody on the head and walking out.

"Katniss I…" I hear Gale start to say through an obvious broken nose.

"Leave Gale." I say. There is nothing left I have to say to him. He already took my sister away from me and he almost took my daughter too. I needed him gone.

"Katniss…"

"Gale. Get. Out. Now." I say through gritted teeth. He turns and walks out and I don't look back at him once. Peeta and I take Melody up stairs and place her in between us in bed. We both stroke her hair and I sing to her and my mother brings in some sleep syrup and with that she is finally able to drift off to sleep. I look down at my beautiful little girl, her leg in a plaster cast, her hand wrapped in bandage, stitches underneath, I think of her lost in the woods, falling down that ditch, hurt, unable to get up, cold, scared, calling for me…I lose it. Peeta strokes my cheek.

"She's fine Katniss. It's going to be alright."

"She's not fine Peeta! She's hurt and it's all my fault!"

"No it's not! It's Gale's fault because he didn't watch her. You found her! You saved her! Because of you she's going to be fine!"

"We could have lost her Peeta." I say pulling her closer to me.

"I know. I can't even think about that. But we didn't! She's here with us and she is going to be fine. So now we just need to get some sleep because we have to be there for her ok? You're fine Katniss. She's fine. We're fine." He says reassuring me.

I nod and lean my head against his. I kiss him and then we both kiss Melody on the head before settling down for the night.

A/N: I'm going to do another chapter which follows up to this story and the aftermath of it. I hope you liked it and review to let me know what you think! The more reviews the faster the next chapter comes!