Not real.

Chapter Nineteen: Awake

*Katniss*
   I crash through the hospital doors and dash down the halls and stairways to get to his room. Then I quickly remember that he'll be in a different room, but which one? I hear Rory's voice from further down the hall and I follow it.
   I stop before I can get through the door. My heart pounds in my chest so loudly I bet everyone in the hospital can hear it. All of a sudden I can't breathe and not because I just sprinted almost two miles. What if he doesn't remember me? What if he's forgotten everything? What if he does remember me? Isn't that a good thing? But what if he doesn't want to move forward in our relationship?
   I shake these things out of my head and timidly step through the doorway. He's embracing Hazelle and then his brothers, he remembers them. He remembers. Tears spring to my eyes. He's okay. He's awake. I stand there shaking uncontrollably as he finishes giving a tearful Posy a hug.
   Then his stormy grey eyes meet mine. And it's as if time stops.
"Catnip?"  He whispers. One of those annoying choking sounds escapes my
lips.
"Gale." I manage to choke out through my tears. He smiles, tears in his own eyes.
"I love you too Catnip." After those five words I can't control myself and I race across the room and jump into his arms. He heard me. He hugs me so tightly I can't breathe but I don't care. I can feel the smirks going around the room from his brothers and Haymitch, but only Gale and I exist as of this moment.
   I can't even begin to explain how good it feels to have his arms around me again. Once my crying, and his, has ceased I pull away and my hands rest on either side of his neck, my thumbs on his jaw.
"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO NOT LEAVING ME YOU DIRTY DIRTY LIAR!?" I yell. He smiles broadly at me.
"Well next time I'll try and tell you first alright?" He says sarcastically.
"You better! Then I'll have time to prepare myself for missing you damn it."
"Oh so you missed me?" He smirks.
"Oh shut up." I tell him. And too make sure that no more words are spoken, I lean forward and connect my lips with his. One hand places itself upon my cheek as we both get lost in this moment. This one action says the only words he needs to hear.
It's you. I can't survive without you.
He smiles against our lips as we both get pulled back to reality by the whoops and laughter going on around us.
Rory and Vick are both exclaiming "finally" as Haymitch raises his flask to Gale. My mother, and Hazelle are smiling and Nadia smirks at me while Delly winks at me. And Posy is beside herself giggling.
   I blush and look down at my hands embarrassed. I can feel Gale's grin as he gets congratulations from around the room. I look at his eyes so full of light in this moment. He returns my gaze and brushes away the stray tears that haven't dried. I break apart from his arms, get up off his lap, and step down from his hospital bed.
   I thank my Mother and Nadia for everything and they both embrace me for a long time. Vick and Rory joke around with Gale about his "pretty, new girlfriend." And Haymitch just smiles at me. Posy curls up into Gale's side and tells him everything she told him while he was asleep. My heart melts at how close he is with his little sister. Eventually she falls asleep there as her family, Nadia, Delly, Haymitch, my mother, and I stay up late into the night talking.
Around 11:00 Hazelle says it's time for her and the kids to head back to my house where they'll be staying until Gale is permitted to leave. Haymitch says he'll walk them home and they all give hugs to me, Gale, and my mother and Nadia. Delly tells me she might as well go home too, she hugs me and winks at me before leaving. I roll my eyes. My mother and Nadia run a few more tests on Gale to make sure everything is working and will work properly from here on out. Thanks to Capitol medicine, they inform Gale and I that he is perfectly healthy and that everything ran very smoothly. Relief floods my mind as I hear those words.
Nadia and my mother both embrace me and I thank them once more before they both head home.
And then I'm left alone with Gale. The lights have long since dimmed and I sleepily crawl onto his hospital bed next to him. His arms instantly wrap around me tightly. And sigh happily.
He chuckles. "You happy?" He asks, kissing my forehead.
"Mhm." I mumble. "Gosh I missed you."
"I missed you too." He whispers into my hair, sending chills down my spine.
"Yeah?"
"Mhm. It was torture. I could hear everything that everyone was saying it just sounded dreamlike, and I couldn't control if I was going to wake up or move or do anything." He tells me quietly while he gingerly plays with my hair.
"Gale I was so afraid." I say barely audible. He places his fingers under my chin and forces me to look into his deep grey eyes.
"Of what?" He asks. Pleading me with his eyes to tell him.
"That you would never wake up, and if you did you wouldn't remember anything, or that nothing would change, or that I'd never hear your voice again, or see your eyes again, or hug you again. Or that I'd never be able to tell you anything again."
He listens to my every word without interruption. At the end he kisses my forehead before pulling me closer to him.
"I told you I'd never leave you. So you shouldn't have worried so much." I take a deep breath in. Taking in his familiar smell. Suddenly I remember my dream from last night.
"She forgives you." I say quickly.
"What?" Gale asks confused.
"Prim. She came to me in a dream and told me. She forgives you. She told me that you shouldn't blame yourself anymore and that she never blamed you." I look up at him from his chest. I can see tears in his eyes. I sit up on top of him so that I'm straddling him. I place a hand on either side of his face. I force him to look at me as my thumbs run over his defined jaw lines.
"She said that?" He asks and his hands gently rest on top of mine, keeping me there. I nod and he huffs out a breath of relief and drops his gaze from mine. Tears find their way down his face. When he returns my gaze again, his hands move to cup my face and he pulls me in. He kisses me softly for minute before breaking away and pressing his forehead to mine.
"I love you Catnip." He whispers. And this time I can't hold back and I press my lips to his once more.
"I love you too."