A/N – (I do not own The Hunger Games or the characters in anyway; all rights are reserved to Suzanne Collins.)
Mama
Effie sat down opposite her ten month old baby girl, placing a bib around her front. With her hair tied back messily and her fingers clutching a bowl and baby food, which to Haymitch, looked more like orange sick than carrot purée, Effie began scooping up the first spoon full. He was sure that if Maysilee didn't like it then it most definitely tasted like sick too.
"You're really going to feed her that?" Haymitch asked, disdain evident in his tone.
Effie huffed, looking over to her husband and smiling, although it appeared tired. "Haymitch, darling, I've also got some sliced apple for her," she replied, her smile widened and a small chuckle followed. Haymitch folded his arms and placed them on top of the table. Effie's eyes followed his action and immediately she took on her reprimanding tone, "What have I told you, Haymitch? No elbows on the dining table, it's bad manners."
Leaning back against the chair he was sat upon, Haymitch snorted, but not spitefully. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart, but I thought after living in District 12 for so long, your annoying" – Effie's eyes became slits and Haymitch continued hastily, recovering his words – "and so loveable traits, would have somewhat softened."
Rolling her eyes, Effie made an effort in trying to pretend the spoon was a train. "Here comes the train!" Effie cooed enthusiastically, her voice in that ridiculous but cute sing-song voice as she brought the green spoon closer to Maysilee's mouth.
Haymitch nearly choked on his own laughter as his daughter adamantly closed her mouth, shaking her head frantically, a thin line replacing her soft baby lips. "Looks like she gets her attitude from you," Haymitch joked, tears swimming in his eyes, "Especially her stubbornness."
Effie glowered at her husband, but tried again, this time as an aeroplane. "Here comes the aeroplane!" Effie exclaimed, again, in that cheery voice of hers, reserved only for her daughter. "We need to make sure it doesn't crash! Be a good girl for mamma and eat it!" The spoon once again got closer to her infant's mouth and this time her daughter welcomed the carrot purée, much to Effie's satisfaction.
"You were saying?" Effie said, watching as her daughter licked the orange gunk from around her small mouth.
Haymitch grunted, making sure to sound unimpressed. "I could do that easily," he stated, his voice confident, ready for Effie's response.
"You think so?" She said, cocking an eyebrow. "Well then, victor of the second quarter quell, I'd like to see you try."
The mention of his Hunger Games had caused him to become slightly irate with his wife, but even more so determined in proving himself right. Swapping seats with Effie, Haymitch took the green spoon from her, placing it down on the table beside him, swapping the disgusting baby food for the previous eight apple sliced now puréed down to resemble more of a blob of apple sauce than actual solids.
"She'll like these more," Haymitch muttered, although Effie was still unconvinced.
Sighing, she crossed her legs. "How did I ever not know?" she asked, her voice slightly patronising and tainted in sarcasm.
As Haymitch cleaned the orange tinted green spoon, he replaced the orange goo with the apple sauce type food. Oddly confident, he began the aeroplane journey again. "Here's comes the plane, Maysilee. Are you going to be a good girl for daddy and let him land safely?" He knew h sounded ridiculous, but hey, if it worked, he'd do anything.
But, unlike the hope he held at the start of this supposedly 'easy' task, Maysilee crushed it and like before, she automatically closed her mouth, her small curls bouncing from side to side as she refused.
"Easy?" Effie laughed, her reward the frustrated look on Haymitch's face. "Really, Haymitch, I beg to differ."
Muttering under his breath, he tried again, but Maysilee refused, her little hands banging on the tray in front of her as she exclaimed, "Mamma!" in a very impatient tone.
Effie stopped laughing and Haymitch nearly dropped the spoon. Did their daughter really just say her fist word? Effie, now crouching down next to Haymitch had never felt prouder than at that moment. Haymitch was completely and utterly spellbound.
"Mamma!" repeated the baby girl, her small fists bashing the tray again.
"Okay," Effie assured her daughter, taking the spoon from Haymitch's unprepared hand while scooting him off the kitchen chair. "Mamma's back."
The ten month old smiled gleefully as her 'mamma' took her place before her yet again. "Are you going to eat properly for me now?" Effie asked, although she knew there would be no response. Scooping the apple on to the spoon again, Effie brought it to her daughter's mouth where she took it quite happily.
"Fine," Haymitch grumbled, although he was still overjoyed with his daughter overcoming one of her biggest development milestone. "I guess you are better than I am."
Not missing a beat, Effie replied, "I always knew that."
Haymitch chuckled, running a hand through his hair. Yes, their Maysilee was definitely like her mother.
A/N – I wasn't planning on making this longer than a one-shot, but this may be around five chapters long because of one lovely review that asked to see more. I'm happy I did continue actually, because there are so many possibilities that this storyline offers.
Hayffie, FTW! *Cough... cough.*
Anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter, Please Review! (Sorry it's quite short!)
Thanks, Katie1995. :)
A/N(2) - Sorry if some of the information is incorrect, for example, Maysilee saying her first word. I did some research and it mostly consisted of people's children speaking their fist word at a year old/12 months old. I know it varies, but 'babbling' is also common at what I found while researching, to be '8-10 months old.' So, sorry if some of my writing is misguided or incorrect.
Katie1995. :)
