Who: Katniss and Gale What: Reunion Where: Gale’s house When: After his return Rating: PG Status: Complete
The last few weeks had been stressful. Katniss had barely eaten, hardly gone out and her sleeping pattern was all over the place. She was surprised she still had a job to be honest, because after the first week, she hadn’t been able to face going in. Mr Stark’s staff were compassionate, she could say that for definite. However, she had been talking to some of the others from the Dreams which had made her feel a bit better. They’d all taken Gale’s loss badly, some more than others but it had felt good to know they were there.
When Gale’s return text had come through, she hadn’t believed it. She thought that it was someone who had stolen his phone and was playing a prank on them, only her life would be so cruel. After showing it to Haymitch and talking it through with him had she been convinced that it was real.
Now, approaching his house, she felt anxious. She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop and until she saw him with her own eyes, she knew that wouldn’t go away. Running her hand through her hair, she took a deep breath and reached out to knock on the door.
Everything was shit, but the good thing about it (there was always a silver lining, right? Maybe) was that Gale was used to it by now. He’d been living away from his friends, his family in West Virginia thought he was dead too (it was a fear they’d always had - his life in the military was anything but stable and safe), and he hadn’t seen his dog in weeks either. Bella Nutella was especially clingy now that she had her beloved owner back, and Leliana had also picked the nugs up from the ranch she’d sent them to be cared for while she handled the loose ends.
That was why, when Katniss arrived, the sounds of snuffsnuff and weird human-like hands hitting the floors could be heard as they stampeded, on Gale’s heels, to see who was at the door. Or not literally see, because they were nearly blind, but they were curious little things as was Tella - who barked and raced about, nudging at Gale.
“Be right there,” he laughed a little, stepping over the zoo to answer. “Catnip - “ He smiled when he saw her, something genuine and real that reached the downtrodden look in stormy grey eyes, “...it’s so good to see you. Come inside.”
Katniss stared up at Gale’s face and at the sound of his voice, tears sprung to her eyes. “Gale…” her voice was choked and she stood frozen on the spot. It was real. He was alive. And yet she still couldn’t quite believe it. She took a shaky step forward and reached up to touch his face, the skin of his cheek soft under her fingertips. She let out a little sob as she smiled, her tears spilling down her cheeks before she practically threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged the life out of him.
A whoosh of air escaped Gale, both surprise and relief as he accepted the near-bone crushing hug from Katniss. And returned it - because nothing about this was fake, it was real, he felt everything through the connection that they had. Her pain and sorrow and depression, what she’d been through when he was gone - it got him choked up too, moisture pooling in his eyes; he willed himself not to cry.
“I’m so sorry, I never want...I never will have to do that again,” he said into her hair. “It’s over now, I promise. All that nasty stuff, it’s over.” He also realized that he needed to explain everything to her - he owed his best friend that much.
“Here, come sit. I’ll tell you what happened. Hopefully it will make more sense.” The nugs snuffsnuffed again, wandering about, those hairless pink pig-bunnies - but they were lazy things and wanted to get back to lying in the corner in a pile on top of each other, for a nap. Tella also settled, once Gale gave her a few scratches behind her ears.
Katniss let Gale’s warmth seep into her and for the first time in days she thought that things were going to be ok. When they pulled apart, she wiped her cheeks, laughing at little as Tella calmed down from Gale’s attention. “Sorry, didn’t know that was going to happen,” she told him, her voice still a little shaky as she followed him into the house. As she went to move, she heard odd sounds from around her feet and saw some naked animals snuffling around on the floor. “What the hell are they? You breeding your own game now?” she asked, weaving around the strange animals. They weren’t something she’d ever seen before, but maybe Gale had come back with some rare breed of pet or something.
“Nugs,” Gale chuckled - one even had a bow around its neck and that one was also the smallest, officially dubbed Boulette (or Dumpling in English, if you preferred). “They’re sort of a pig-bunny hybrid, from Leliana’s dream world. She had these three as pets over there, and they ended up here. As dream pets tend to do.” He didn’t have any (and he didn’t particularly want anything from the Capitol’s labs to show up, like jabberjays or other godawful muttations) but those who did, it was nice to see companions from that world.
Snuffsnuff, Boulette with the bow sniffed Katniss curiously, must have decided she was alright, then went back to bed. Because sleep was very important.
“Sit anywhere,” Gale offered. “Do you want anything? A drink, the hard stuff?” He wouldn’t have blamed her, honestly.
Katniss stopped at that, watching his back as he moved further into the house. She’d forgotten about Leliana in her relief at seeing Gale actually standing in front of her. The remembrance made her heart ache slightly. “Do you have any rum?” she asked, staring off into nothing as she did. Taking a breath, she ran her hand through her hair and followed him.
“Actually...yeah, I do.” He was pretty sure he did, anyway - in addition to a couple recalled whiskeys (he just couldn’t give up the fireball kind, not when it meant so much to him and Jack) and vodka, maybe some gin too. Oh, and beer, in the fridge. But rum it was - and sometimes you could drink it straight, sipping on it, only if it was some fancy, high-class shit. What Gale had? Not so much, however, he could whip them up something tasty.
Club soda, and a twist of lime, on the rocks - he mixed a couple drinks for them, and then brought Katniss her glass. “So do you want the whole story?” he asked, settling on the sofa. The nugs had retreated to their bed, and Tella was elsewhere too - she wouldn’t bother them, there was plenty for her to be occupied with. Toys, mostly. Or a nap of her own.
“Thanks,” Katniss smiled as she took the drink from him and settled beside him on the couch. Slipping her feet out of her shoes, she tucked her legs underneath her and turned to face him. “You mean there’s an abridged version?” she asked, watching as she caught a drip of liquid and slid a finger around the rim of her glass. She’d always felt comfortable around Gale and while she wanted to know what had happened to cause him to go to such lengths, there was a part of her that was angry. Beneath the sheer relief and joy of him actually being alive, she still needed to know why he would put them all through that.
“I’ll give you the whole version. I owe you that much,” Gale cracked a sad, wry smile - and he was just thankful that Katniss wanted to listen. That she wasn’t flinging her tiny self at him like a ninja, all in an attempt to kick his ass (and he was built like a brick shithouse, maybe, but damn - Katniss hit hard).
Alright, now where to begin. He cradled the glass in his hands, thinking. “I started working for Leliana - kind of like as her bodyguard, you know? She ran her own black ops network, lots of hush-hush type of shit, ‘if I tell you I have to kill you’ sort of stuff. In her dreams, she did something similar - only this type of work, it ended up ruining her. Just like how what happened in Panem ruined me. I ended up with nothing, and after the war I never...saw you again, and you were everything and it just hurt so much to face what I had become.”
He never even got to meet Katniss and Peeta’s children, didn’t know they had children - though he hoped Peeta would make good on his promise to paint a portrait of them, because Gale was curious. Anyway.
“I didn’t want that happening to either of us, so I began taking on more work for her - just so she wouldn’t have to do it. Only her second-in-command had it out for me, so she set me up one night. That’s why I had to fake my death, to make this traitor think she succeeded - and so Leliana could tie up the loose ends, and we’d all be safe. Finally. Once the dust settled.”
Katniss sat quietly and listened to Gale talk. His deep, rumbling voice reminding her that he was safe as it crossed the space between them. As he spoke she watched him and took a swig of her drink. “You’re not going to end up with nothing here Gale, I won’t let it happen,” she reached out, very seriously and placed her hand on his cheek. it was unlike her to make such a gesture, but there was a part of her still wanting reassurance that he was there in front of her. “But I can’t do that again, I can’t…” she sighed deeply and licked her lips. “I can’t get that news that you’re...gone. So if you need to do anything like that again, I want in. We can protect each other, we work better as a team,” she told him.
She was right. Gale knew that she was, and he nodded, a hand covering hers on his cheek - Katniss was warm and alive, here, and she would stick by him this time. That thought was a huge comfort to him, because - in both worlds - she was his best friend, the person he trusted with his life (literally) and trusted with the lives of his family. They’d been through hell together and maybe that’s why dreaming of losing her hurt so much - because it was like throwing away a piece of his own self.
“I promise you,” he said, and he sounded a little choked up - overcome with emotion, maybe, because all of it was a lot; he hadn’t had time to process it since being back from ‘the dead.’ “If anything happens in the future, we go through it together. We were always better in a pair.”
“I’m so glad you’re back,” Katniss smiled at him, thumb stroking his cheek as he covered her hand with his own. She could hear the emotion in his voice and it stirred something in her. Her voice was thick with emotion of her own when she spoke. “Come here,” she said quietly, putting her glass down beside her foot. Pulling him forward, she wrapped her arms tightly around him again, reinforcing her words and her belief that as long as they had each other’s backs they would be just fine.