A/N: welcome to my Hayffie fanfic! favourites and comments makes my day and make me update, so please give me some! :D also if you don't like it and say so I can improve! 3
Haymitch POV
"Thanks for accompanying me, Haymitch. It was really fun to hang out some." Katniss smiled at me. She'd been smiling a lot more since her baby girl, Primrose, was born, and her life finally had started to look what a normal should be like.
That didn't mean Katniss wasn't happy that Primrose was big enough that she could leave her alone to go hunt in the woods, though. She had told me how much she missed hunting and being useful under the second half if her pregnancy and the next year after that.
With her second baby on the way I hoped she was working out a strategy to cope when she would get too big and loud to be able to hunt again, because if she was planning to get as difficult and trying as last time, i was pretty sure most people would just wish for her terminate the pregnancy,
"No problem, Sweetheart. See you later!" I waved at her as she took off to the left down to Peeta's bakery, while I continued on my way home to the former Victors village, nowadays mostly called 'the village' for short.
Up ahead I could already see the metal gates, one of them standing open as always during daylight hours. The inhabitants of the village, an odd mix of us remaining victors from Twelve and survivors from district twelve, eleven and ten, only really closed it at times when it was considered necessary for safety, such as night time, or times when all inhabitants would be attending holiday celebrations in town.
Walking through the metal gate and continuing past the nowadays clean and beautiful giant stone Fontaine to my right, I slowly start to feel excited. I'd I left home a few hours before the sunrise to join Katniss on her hunting trip, and seeing as Effie had still been sleeping at the time, returning home now would be my my first chance to talk to her for the day.
Not to mention that I'm I'm bringing some wild game that I'd get to cook for her and the twins later.
The twins
Another reason for my excitement to finally be getting home, is that I looked forward to my Imy children welcoming me I. Of course, some part of my brain still can't help but register how insane it sounds for me to have children, but I also know for certain that I actually I do. I Know that I got two small twin girls named Maysilee and Trinity and I couldn't love anyone more.
They give me a precious feeling I never thought I'd ever get to experience in my entire life. At least not since the fifth Hunger Games, marked on the day by my sixteenth birthday as well.
"DADDY!" Two childish, girly voices calls out, and I look up from the ground only to see my two daughters running down the rode to me, the golden coloured hair they got from their mother flying in the air and still dressed in gray cardigans and heavens blue school uniforms.
I kneel down on the ground to be able to hug them, smiling as I feel their bodies colliding with mines in an attempted tackle hug. Just feeling my arms closing in around their tiny bodies, and enjoying the heat they radiated when I hugged them as well, was really all I ever needed to feel that everything was okay, if I ever doubted it. I don't think I have, not since the rebellion.
"Daddy, I need to tell you something." It's Maysilee that address I, and she looks at me with her serious face. In truth it make her face look like a party balloon but it has taught me when to listen to my for a six year old surprisingly mature daughter.
"yes sweetie?" i ask, using the kindest voice I have. It still sounds a bit gruff and grumpy, but she doesn't seem to notice.
"You can't be in the kitchen. Mommy is on the phone with a capital man, and we cannot bother her." She shakes her head side to side, indicating a 'no' in order to emphasis what she is saying. She obviously see it as an important mission to make sure no one get into the kitchen.
Saying something about that Peeta and Katniss nanny was going to let them play with Primrose, both girls soon run off down the rode on the right side, and with a queasy feeling in my stomach, I continue my walk home. Home to my beloved wife.
Who was currently on the phone with a capital man. The thought of Effie talking with someone from her old home isn't really that far fetched, but it seems strange. When she came out here to live with me, it was clear that she wished to distance herself from everything and everyone she used to be and know. But obviously she hadn't cut ties with everyone.
Approaching the house, I can clearly see Effies silhouette behind the curtains in the Kitchen window. One hand is pressed to her ear and I assume it must mean she's still on the phone with the mysterious man.
Sneaking closer to the kitchen window, I hide behind the rose bushes she planted next to the window because she thought the garden need some colour, fully and without shame intending to listen in on your wife's conversation.
"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Her voice rise and she sound mad, but then she sight. "I know I got to tell him, but I don't how… I mean, I'm not even sure I want this...and what if the girls find out then? If I decided to...they'd be devastated…"
After this Effie became quite, obviously listening to what the man on the other line was saying, and I took the time to think about what I heard. It had sounded so strange, what she had said to that man. It had sounded like...like...no. I quickly dismissed the thought. It had sounded some like my mom when I was small, when she was discussing divorcing my dad with her friends, but why the hell would Effie be discussing divorcing me with anyone? Why would she even want to divorce me?
I was more than well aware that our marriage wasn't a perfect, and many would probably consider two people like us having a family together, but it had worked out between us, both before and after Effie got pregnant in the first place, a little surprise all of it's own that I have to admit I was very sceptical at first...but Effie had wanted to keep the child so badly, I agreed. For her I'd do anything, and I had sort to assumed she felt the same.
"Arvid, listen to me! I hear what your saying, and...what?" Effie stopped midsentence, the man, Arvid, obviously saying something on the other end. "Oh god no! No. I wouldn't be calling you if he was home… but now that you mention it, he'll be coming back soon, so i better hang up. Yeah, love you to. bye dear!"
I heard the click sound followed by the phone being put back in it's holder on the wall ,and I know the mysterious conversation was over, meaning it was safe for me to 'return' home now.
Without hesitating I knocked on the window, smiling happily and pretending I just came back as she stared at me in shock. I could tell she was scared that I had heard, which made the funny feeling in my gut only get worse, but I decided I'd talk to her about it later, when the kids were all sleeping and we had the house to ourselves.
"Haymitch?" Effie called out in surprise, throwing the window open and reaching out to hug me. "When did you get home?"
"Just now, saw you in the kitchen and thought I'd surprise. Got some wild game, too." I reached out and answered the hug, momentarily pushing the thoughts of what I heard out of my head.
"Oooh, that's lovely! Come around to the kitchen, and you can show me it!" Effie smiled, giving a kiss on the cheek that was sure to leave a lipstick mark. though she had resigned to use a minimum of no adays, the lipstick had been one of those things she never really wanted to let go off, and he let her have it.
"Why don't I climb in through the window? promise i won't rip my pants on the rose bushes?" I smiled playfully, wincing as Effie hand hit me in the head, a surefire no in her world.
"Don't even think of it! You're gonna destroy my roses! Go around, mister!" She laughed, pointing around the corner of the house.
Will the mrs be waiting for me while I do?" I asked, arching a brow.
"Yes, now go!" She laughed, and as rounded the corner I suddenly felt as everything was very wrong. After all,if she really was happy with me, then why would she been talking about divorcing me with some capital man? A feeling of betrayal was starting to grow inside me, and it made me feel bad, feel disgusting and two-faced, because the last thing i ever wanted to do was to assume things about Effie.
I knew that if we always assumed things about eachother, then we could count on the relationship to end faster than anyone could blink.
As I stepped into the kitchen, i saw that Effie had sat back down by the kitchen table, and was now looking through some stacks of papers, all of which she quickly put away when she saw me enter.
"Hey, dear, how was the hunting trip with Katniss?" She asked, smiling a obviously strained smile.
"it was great. What were those papers? Bills?" I asked innocently, all too well knowing that was probably not it and feeling like today really wasn't my day.
"oh, no, it's just..uh...the kids evaluations from school! hehe…" She picked up a random paper and looked at it. "They say Trinity's falling behind in math...maybe we need to work on it with her at home?"
"That's on you, not me! You know I can't make sense of those darn numbers…" I sighed, scratching myself in the head. I had never really been good with math, or numbers, but the school's in twelve had never been that great, either. They were better now, but back in they days the children was not allowed any education after the age of twelve. apparently the state had seen it as wasted resources.
"Alright I'll do that. Who's cooking dinner tonight?" Effie asked, pretending to kepe reading the paper, though i knew she probably wasn't, because she wasn't acting the way she usually did when she was reading.
"Me" I answered. "Unless you suddenly want to pluck a bird."
Without even giving me as much as a second look, Effie got up and left the kitchen, grabbing all the papers and bringing them with her.
I slowly grabbed the bird, a million thoughts running through my head. I knew exactly what to do, since I had cooked these birds for Effie and the kids often enough that I could do it in my sleep. Because of this, I allowed myself time to reflect on everything i had experienced lately.
Could be Effie be intending to divorce me? An who had that man that she called been? Could it be...was Effie meaning to leave me for some capital man that she believed could make her happier than our little family did?
I wanted so badly to ask her, confront her and ask what the hell what was going on, demand she's honest with me.
I wanted to know if i didn't make her happy
If she wanted someone who could tell her exactly how much her loved her without being afraid that ghosts from the past would come and take her, someone who could be the Prince Charming she deserved.
A capital man
"Haymitch?"
Suddenly Effie's in the doorway, dressed in that beautiful, fluttery gray dress you bought for her birthday. You would have kissed her, because you loved her in that dress, hadn't it been for what was going on in my head.
"What are you doing here?" The words come off sounding much harder than i want them to, and I can see her backing off. I can see that i scarred her.
"Is dinner ready soon?" It's not what she want to say, but it's all she dare to say now, because I scared her. Sometimes I forget how skittish she became because of the rebellion.
"Yeah real soon. Can you set the table, hun?" I ask, pointing to the cabinet where we keep the plates.
"Sure thing darling." She says. "Sorry"
The mumbled apology just makes what she already did worse. It was the first time in a long while that she had called darling, and I was starting to feel increasingly worried about what was going on, because it was by now obvious that even Effie was aware of that i was onto her. The apology she added only served to show that she knew she shouldn't have been calling me darling, that she was nervous and it slipped out.
Proceeding with what she was doing and setting the table for the dinner, not making a single attempt to break the silence between us.
Normally Effie would be telling me all about what happened when she was gone, but considering the circumstances, all of it made worse by her little slip up, i was just thankful she was keeping quiet so I wouldn't risk snapping on her again.
Once dinner had been prepared, I went out on the front porch and called for the girls to come home from Peeta and Katniss home across the street, the two girls immediately running to get here at the prospect of dinner, starving after having spent all afternoon playing with Primrose and skipped their afternoon snack.
I had pretend that me and Effie refusing to talk would make the dinner extremely awkward and clumsy, but in the end it turned out it wouldn't. Trinity and Maysilee, eager to tell everything about what they learned in school and what they did with Primrose, had no trouble filling out the silence.
After we all finally finished the dinner the clock had gotten quite late, and I sent the girls to bed immediately, ordering them not to stay up and look in picture books, but go to sleep immediately. It wasn't as much that I was afraid they'd stay up all night, but that I was anxious and _ to be able to ask Effie about the phone call I had overheard earlier, and i didn't want to do it when the children was still awake.
After half an hour, Effie came out of their room, a smile on her face and two empty glasses of milk in her hands.
"They're asleep now. " She said happily, smiling.
"Fantastic." I smiled a bit sheepishly, feeling as if I was about to be interrogated, though it was obviously I that would be asking the questions. "Now, Effie I need to talk with you about something that I happened to overhear…" I quickly stopped talking as Effie gestured for me to do so, at the same time putting down both the glasses she was holding on the nearest table.
"Haymitch, please not today." She begged, her voice low and quivering as she refused to meet my eyes. "We can talk tomorrow."
"Promise me." I reacted quickly, grabbing her wrist before she could run away and not caring that she flinched. "Promise me, Effie!"
Now she met my eyes, a look of determination on her face. With one snap of her wrist, she got herself free from my loose grip and she nodded.
"Tomorrow." She said, before running off down the hall to our bedroom. I sighted, deciding that I'd sleep on the couch tonight, and the I could join her in bed again tomorrow.
I never liked comfortable beds anyway.
