Chapter 1: Suddenly
Eric Thomas Mellark had been brought home from the hospital only that day. It was his first night in his home in District 12. Naturally, the transition left him crying incessantly. Downstairs, the baby's grandfather-in-all-but-blood, Haymitch Abernathy, heard the wails and went up to the nursery to calm Eric so his parents would not have to. Holding the baby, the normally gruff former Hunger Games victor was overcome with love - a love he felt upon first holding the boy when he was born. Haymitch began to sing:
Suddenly you're here. Suddenly it starts. Can two anxious hearts beat as one?
Yesterday I was alone. Today you walk beside me. Something still unclear. Something not yet here has begun.
Suddenly the world seems a different place. Somehow full of grace, full of light.
How was I to know that so much hope was held inside me?
What is past is gone, Now we journey on through the night.
How was I to know at last
That happiness can come so fast?
Trusting me the way you do
I'm so afraid of failing you.
Just a child who cannot know that danger follows where I go.
There are shadows everywhere
And memories I cannot share.
Never more alone, never more apart. You have warmed my heart like the sun. You have brought the gift of life and love so long denied me.
Suddenly I see what I could not see.
Something suddenly has begun.
Haymitch placed Eric back in his crib, and cracked, "Don't tell your mama about that, lad. She's the best singer in this family anyway." And with that he went back to bed.
A/N: This is a song from the musical Les Miserables - a new one that was specifically written for Hugh Jackman in the 2012 film.