Everthorne - short story collection

With him

Katniss mother pov
Katniss hasn't been home for very long. She just got back from the games less than a month ago. She isn't like her usual self, not that I really knew who she was.
Her and Gale walked quietly on their hunters feet through our front door. I was in the kitchen, but I don't think they noticed, or if they did, they didn't care. It was almost midnight, and they had been in the woods hunting since he sun rose. They had to be tired.
So they walked over to our quaint little couch in our livingroom, and sat down so close that there was no space in between them. Katniss closed her eyes, and breathed out a sigh of relief as she lay her head on gales shoulder, where it fit perfectly. And then, they talked. They talked and talked and talked and talked. All about all sorts of things, together on that little brown couch. Gale told her about everything that happened during the games here in twelve, since this was the first time that they had really been alone since she got back, because Gale now worked I the mines.
He told her how a wiping post was put up, and how greasy sae created a new product at the hob. She sat next to him with her head still on his shoulder, just listening, as if just his voice was enough to calm her forever. "And the second the siren sounded in the arena, I don't think I took my eyes off you on the tv in our kitchen." He said. Katniss looked at him with the utmost sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispered, obviously sensing how painful it had been for Gale. "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. I wanted to make sure that you were ok. I kept thinking what I would do without you. And the answer that came to my mind was, well, nothing. I couldn't imagine my life without you." He said. She lay her head back on his shoulder, and wrapped her arms around him. They fixed themselves together so that they fit perfectly. "And the one day, the one day I actually left the house, I went to our spot in the woods, right by the valley. And I sat down. But I was wrong. It felt to big without you there. I didn't know what to do. It was...just...." He said.
By now, I had put down my herbs and spices and carrots, and listened through the thin wall to hear their words. It was getting late to. But I herd nothing. The silence droned on, as they continued not to speak. Maybe Gale had left, and Katniss went to bed?
But as I crept quietly around the corner, I saw that both were still there, on the little brown couch, but they were asleep. Inoccently and peacefully just asleep. I marveled at how soundly Katniss slept. She was usually up most the night with nightmares, or didn't even bother sleeping at all.
And yet, there she sat, curled up in gales lap, his arms wrapped around her, almost protecting her, it seemed, from anything that might trouble her sleep. And that is how I knew she would be alright. That she would make it. That she would live.
With him....