Epilogue

                                    

                                          
"Grandpa?" a little girl with two small pigtails hanging from her head says, pulling onto his pants. His wrinkled face turns up into a small smile as he gazes into his granddaughter's eyes.
                          
"Hello, Gail. Are you here for your bedtime story?" Gale asks as he sets her on his lap. The small girl smiles and nods eagerly.
                          
"Well, once upon a time..." Gale begins...
                          
Gale came to a conclusion that there are two kinds of love. The kind that can destroy you, a love that is not productive. The kind that is killing you slowly and there is not really a way back, only rear cases go back to normal.
                          
He knew the first time his daughter handed him his granddaughter that he loved people that way, the way that it killed him but it destroyed others as well. However that one single moment he gazed into baby Gail's eyes, it was like he was reborn. For once, he was overcome with such love that he wanted to scream out.
                          
For once he felt the kind of love that made you proud to be alive in that one, simple moment that it was so ordinary yet so beautiful.
                          
When his daughter was born he instantly fell in love with her, but not the same kind of love. Gale Hawthorn always loved Rose Hawthorn-Mellark but the first time he held her it was a way to show his past love that he had moved on. A way to prove himself that he was okay without Katniss Everdeen. 
                          
So the moment Gale held his granddaughter it was a true miracle for him.
                          
He never really let go of her and he was always there while she was growing up. He was there to witness her first steps and even though her first word was Dada it just made him love her even more.
                          
After the wedding, Gale returned to district twelve and lived in a house close to his daughter, her husband and their baby who no one knew existed until two months after the wedding.
                          
He tried fixing his relationship with everyone even though he believed it was a miracle that his own daughter had accepted him back into her life and opened her arms to him. The fact that Rye Mellark accepted Gale so easily made him feel even guiltier, but the way Peeta Mellark would look at him, like an old friend who -somehow- did something wrong but went back to the good way, made him feel so much worse.
                          
He brought so much pain to them and they still believed that there was something good in him.
                          
Katniss was another story. She had forgiven him, but made him pay for it.
                          
For years they would hunt together but she wouldn't talk to him which killed him from the inside out.
                          
"Come on sweetie" Rose said appearing in the living room of Gale's house.
                          
"A little more, mama" Gail begged but Rose had already lifted her up.
                          
"Remember tomorrow you will go with Auntie Willow and grandpa Mellark at the bakery" said Rose as they walked to the door. Gale watched them smiling tiredly, "Night dad" she called out before leaving.
                          
Gail was his little princess, his little angel.
                          
He couldn't describe how thankful he was that he came into his life and even though she carried the blue Mellark eyes.
                          
Gale closed his eyes and for a moment he thought of everything that had happened in his life. He didn't have the perfect life. Some of the bad moments were caused because of his attitude and some, were just fate.
                          
But if he ever learnt one thing in his life was that you have to move on and be a survivor and never let your promises die out.
                          
Gale closed his eyes and his last thoughts were of his granddaughter, a smile, the woods and a dead promise.
                          
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                          
This is the last chapter guys... wow, this is more emotional than what I thought.
                          
Last chapter I got some bad reviews according to my plot of making Gale the main and bad guy but this is not a story of hating Gale (even though to be honest with you, it started as a Gale-hate story but that was like two or three years ago and I didn't even thought of it being a story. It actually started as an one-shot)
                          
This story is about decisions and how they define someone as a person. Gale made some bad decisions out of anger and jealousy but these didn't held the people he loved the most to hate him.
                          
It's about forgiving and being forgiven.
                          
For the last time in this story...
                          
Peace out, thanks for reading and may the odds be in your favor
                          
~Girl in Darkness~