The Bride Swap

Part 5 - The Outtake

This part takes place I had only intended for this story to last four parts but turns out there is a fifth part (The Wedding) and an outtake featuring Gadge. I realized I needed something between chapters 2 and 3 to explain the Gale's sudden change towards Madge.

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Gale was in a bleak mood when he returned to his home in the Seam. Katniss had disappeared to put her plan into action, the idea of which made him ache almost physically. He had resigned himself long ago to the fact that she loved the youngest son of the baker and that she would like carry that love for him inside of her, in one form or another, for the rest of her life.

However, despite this fact, he had always retained a secret hope that the affair would run its course and, because of different obstacles, finally come to an end. Then maybe, just maybe, Gale might have a chance with her.

But this latest development left him privy of all hope. If Katniss was willing to go to such great lengths to fool Mrs. Mellark, it meant that neither Katniss nor Peeta were going to allow social conventions to interfere with their relationship. Like her own mother before her, Katniss would have her way and what she wanted was Peeta. In his experience, when people fought so hard for something, they usually did not do so lightly. This left Gale with few hopes of ever getting Katniss' attention back, if he had ever had it to begin with.

His humor worsened as he neared the neighborhood where both he and Katniss had grown up. By the time he entered the small house and set his catch on the table, he was beyond being able to hold a conversation, except with his youngest sister, Posy, with whom he smiled and tried to attend to as gently as possible. But the constant feeling of misery that sat in his chest grew until he couldn't bear anyone's company any longer.

If Hazel, his widowed mother, noted his dour mood at all, she didn't remark on it. Gale dutifully helped wash his youngest siblings after dinner and got them off to bed with only the minimal interaction before hurrying off to his corner of the house - essentially a closet that had been converted into a tiny room for him. As he lay face down on the bed, his thoughts kept him alert, making it difficult to sleep. This obstacle between Katniss and Peeta would only serve to make them cling to each other even more than before. And Gale's only consolation prize was to spend the next however many months with a girl he could barely stand as he was forced to watch the person he cared for the most fall even more madly in love with someone else.

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It was a week before Gale was called to action, during which time he distracted himself with work in the mines, checking his snares and caring for his family. Katniss appeared at his door in the early hours before dawn, fresh and pretty as a bouquet of peonies, even with her usual scowl. She was full of uncharacteristic excitement.

"I spoke to Peeta." she said as they made their way out of the Seam and into the woods. "He's already taken Madge out in public a couple of times this week."

Gale nodded as he bent to check one of his snares, saying nothing in response.

Katniss, who was used to his silences, continued. "We were thinking that tomorrow, if you're free..."

"Yeah, I'm free. What's your idea?" he said abruptly.

She frowned but plowed on. "We were thinking of coming out to the cabin and doing some hiking, maybe have lunch..." Her voice trailed away when she observed his tense shoulders. "You haven't reconsidered, have you?"

Gale sighed heavily. He should reconsider. After all, it wasn't like he was going to enjoy himself and, much as he disliked Mrs. Mellark, he wasn't much for deception. But none of that was going to make Katniss want him more and if he couldn't have her happy with him, that at least she deserved to be happy with someone else. He knew no matter how much it pained him, her well-being would always trump his own.