First: Yes, I will be updating "The Indigo Summer" eventually. I have not forgotten about it. Secondly, this story came to mind due to a dream I had about a different ship of mine. Personally I don't see Hayffie having this many kids, but it's fanfiction and I like babies. This will be an eleven chapter story in which I will post a chapter every day (or try to). A chapter will equal a month in Effie's pregnancy, the last chapter being the epilogue. So enough of my explaining, allow me to begin!
Preface:
Four heartbeats. He had to be dreaming. This couldn't possibly be reality, not in his lifetime. And yet, as he stared up at the back and white screen, he could clearly make out the four white blobs that each thrum came from. Effie's hand felt slick in his own, her words sounding distant as his gaze remained fixated on the display before them. Four heart beats. Not one. Four. After the Rebellion, after years of trying for just one, this happened.
Haymitch Abernathy had never considered fatherhood. Actually, to be quite frank, he never considered being in a relation-especially with the former escort, Effie Trinket. But things happened, as they always do, and after months of speaking, the occasional night spent together, she moved into his home. They weren't married, Haymitch never saw the need in asking, but when the former Capitolite proposed they conceive a child, he first laughed the idea off.
His own childhood had been far from anything luxurious. His father, a drunk as he now was, had left his mother and brother by Haymitch's fifth year of life. Of course, not much became easier after that. By sixteen, he had been entered into the Second Quarter Quell and won by a stroke of sheer luck. But as all fortune does, such faded and within two weeks of his victory, his family had been slaughtered right under his nose.
After that, he swore never to grow too close to someone again, fearing that if he did so, they would pay for his sins. And yet, once the war had ended, he inadvertently broke that rule with Effie. Now, as she stood before him, she had the audacity to ask if they could become parents. Already he had allowed his walls to fall and for her to enter his barriers, now she wanted to bring a kid into the mix? He couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it.
And yet, he did.
Baby A. Baby B. Baby C. And Baby D. Four heartbeats, four lives he would soon be responsible for. He felt Effie's grip tighten around his hand, the urge for something to drink burning in the back of his throat as he met her tearful gaze. She was overjoyed. Happy. And here he stood, never feeling so much fear in his life as he did now. Four kids. He had agreed to one and now, by chance, there would be four.
"Oh Haymitch," Effie swallowed, her voice thick. "Isn't this the most wonderful thing?"
"Mm," was the first sound he managed to utter. "Something else..."
Effie's words sounded muffled as she delightedly discussed details with the in town midwife, something briefly mentioned about having her move to a better facility in District Four as her pregnancy progressed. However Haymitch paid little attention, his eyes still fixed on the screen. Quadruplets. After forty six years of life, he could still be utterly surprised and astonished by something.
Four heartbeats.
Four lives.
A growing family.
Everything Haymitch Abernathy knew would be changing forever.
Chapters will be much longer. Let me know your thoughts. Name ideas? Gender ideas? Feedback is greatly loved and appreciated and will keep this story going.