2.

Despite his commendable – in his opinion – resolution, it still felt surreal to step into the small waiting room where Fulvia had taken the boy. They had both become fast friends apparently in the last few hours because there were no more tears nor desperate hugging of the stuffed sheep. The boy – Theo, he should start using the child's name at some point and there was no way he was going to call him by his full very Capitol name – was sprawled on his stomach and very busy drawing. His purple bag was open and some toys were spilling out of it : figurines, small cars… He could also glimpse some clothes.

"Daddy!" the boy exclaimed happily when he saw him.

Haymitch wasn't prepared to be attacked so it came as a bit of a surprise when Theo launched himself at him. He caught him, though. Reflex, mostly. Carrying a kid was awkward and it was so very obvious he didn't know what he was doing, Fulvia couldn't hide a smile.

"You have a very clever boy, Haymitch. Allow me to offer my congratulations." She ruffled the child's hair and then handed the victor a thin folder on her way to the door. "It was in his bag. It contains his birth certificate and legal papers. I think you will want to have a look."

He nodded, thanked her for her help and, once she was out, tried to figure out how you removed a child from your neck. He tried to let go of the kid but he just hang there, almost strangling him with his death grip, giggling all the while as if it was a game. Panic started to bubble in Haymitch's stomach. He wasn't equipped to deal with a child. He barely managed to deal with teenagers and Katniss and Peeta were both a handful.

"Okay, kid…" he grumbled. "Enough… hugging." If that was hugging… What did he know?

Theo giggled some more and then let go, landing on his feet before going back to sit on the ground. "Do you want to see my pictures, Daddy?"

What Haymitch wanted was to study the papers in the folder but the boy was looking at him with so much hope – and a bit of uncertainty, he couldn't help but notice, which made him wonder how much of his brave behavior was an act – that Haymitch found himself sitting cross-legged on the floor. He felt out of his depth and he figured it was better to follow the kid's lead.

Drawing, he decided, wasn't one of his son's stronger skills.

"That's you and that's me." Theo said helpfully, pointing to two stick figures on the right of the paper. "And that's Mommy." Mommy was wearing shocking pink and was completely on the left. He tried not to linger on the bright pink dress Effie had been wearing earlier. It was a coincidence, nothing more. Lots of women wore pink in the Capitol…

"And who are they?" he asked, putting his finger on a group of stick figures in the middle of the drawing, clearly separating Mommy from Theo and him.

The boy's face fell. "The bad men." He snatched the sheep from the floor and hugged it. "I wanted to draw Granny and Auntie with Mommy but… Are Granny and Auntie with Mommy?"

I have to protect my family. My mother and my sister, they… They will go after them if I leave with you, you know that. Effie's word echoed in his mind but he chased them away. It simply couldn't be.

"I don't know." he replied honestly. He didn't need to be a child expert to see it distressed the boy. "Do you want to play a game? I'm going to ask you stupid questions and you answer them anyway, okay?" Theo shrugged. Haymitch took that as a yes. "Who are the bad men?"

Grey eyes met grey eyes and Haymitch felt like he was being evaluated. The question was obviously deemed idiotic because Theo shrugged again. "The bad men. They want to hurt you and Mommy and Granny and Auntie so we can't say you are my daddy or Mommy is my mommy. It's a secret." He placed a finger against his lips and shush.

It was cute.

And Haymitch had absolutely not thought of anything or anybody as cute…

"But you know I am your…" He swallowed hard and tried to detach himself from the situation. He needed to resolve the mystery. He needed to be sure. It would probably be easier to open the damn folder and get the answers but he didn't think he was ready for that. It would be different if Effie was… It shouldn't, but it would be. Haymitch would protect the kid either way but it would be different if he was the child of a total stranger or of a woman he knew, respected and had been sort of friends with for years – not to mention the not-so-casual-sex part of their relationship. "You know who I am."

Theo nodded enthusiastically. "Mommy shows me when you're on TV and on pictures! I watch the questions with Auntie when it's Games time." Interviews was probably what he meant but Haymitch didn't interrupt. "Auntie says Mommy is too pretty and it's a shame. Granny watches too but she doesn't like you."

"I bet." Haymitch snorted. "So… You live with your Mommy or…"

"No, with Granny." Theo frowned. "You know."

It was a statement rather than a question and Haymitch almost threw the whole thing off and told him that, no, he didn't know, that he hadn't been aware he existed before Effie brought him to that alley and that he didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do with a kid. He didn't, though. It wasn't fair.

"Yeah." Haymitch rubbed his forehead, wondering why things always had to be so complicated. What divinity had he pissed off in a previous life to be stuck in that kind of troubles? "Stupid questions, remember? It's a game."

Theo tilted his head to the side, studying him. The stuffed toy was ruthlessly turned one way and then the other while the boy was thinking. "Like a test? To be sure you can take me on the super-secret adventure?"

"Sure…" A drink. What Haymitch wouldn't have given for a single glass of whiskey… "So, you live with Granny… How's that?"

The boy wrinkled his nose. "I like it better when Mommy is there but she can't come all the time." He looked down and pulled on a loose white thread hanging from the sheep's ear. "It's okay 'cause I'm a big boy." A bright smile lightened his face for no apparent reason all of a sudden and Haymitch briefly wondered if he shouldn't have the kid examined by a doctor. Surely, it wasn't normal… "I can come on the super-secret adventure! I can hide! I hide all the time when Granny invites friends. I'm the bestest at hiding!"

Haymitch overlooked the grammar problem for the moment. "Why do you hide?"

"'Cause I'm secret." Theo rolled his eyes. "You said I was a good boy! That I could keep secrets better than anyone in the whole world!"

The child was looking at him with so much faith and eagerness Haymitch felt his stomach churned. "You're a very good boy." he offered. That was the truth at least. He was sure most kids would have pitched a fit or would still be crying out for their mother. "You remember the last time I said that? When was it? Did Mommy told you for me?"

"Mommy said you said to tell me you loved me on the phone yesterday." Theo explained rummaging through his backpack. "I told her to say it back. She did, right?"

"Yes." Haymitch lied. He hated that, lying to a child. He had always refused to lie to his tributes all his years as a mentor and he had been lying too much to Katniss and Peeta lately. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

How long people had been lying to this kid?

He got the answer when Theo found a stack of envelopes in his bag and handed them over with one of his big, tooth-missing smile. "Do you have my pictures and my letters? Mommy says you keep them with you always."

Haymitch swore he could feel what was left of his heart breaking in his chest and that was quite a feat. "I had to leave them behind." He was angry again, more than angry in fact, but not against the kid and he did his best to keep his temper in check. He would screw up at some point and the child would hate him but it wouldn't happen yet if he had anything to say about it.

"Because of the bad men?" It was so innocent a question.

"Yeah, because of the bad men." he answered absentmindedly, already studying the stack of letters. They were obviously well-cherished and each one of them showed trace of having been folded time and time again, as if they had been read and re-read. The letters were a good imitation of what he could have said if he had been a less bitter man. The style, the vocabulary, the way the sentences were put together… The letters had obviously been written by someone who knew him well. The handwriting was painfully familiar too. He was too used to ignoring her schedule not to recognize Effie's handwriting.

It didn't prove anything though, apart from the fact that she had been keeping the boy secret from him for years.

"What else have you got in your bag?" he asked, giving the letters back. "Do you have a picture of Mommy?"

He could just have opened the damned folder…

Theo nodded and fished a necklace from under his shirt. No… Not a necklace, a locket. The same kind Effie had given Peeta, the very same he had spied around her neck from time to time when she wasn't required to wear extravagant jewels.

He could have killed for some liquor. He was stunned again, angry and confused. It took almost five minutes before the boy managed to pry the locket open but Haymitch knew well before he saw the two pictures in it. Haymitch's picture was from an official poster from a few years earlier. Effie's… Effie's was beautiful in its simplicity. No wig, no make-up, a simple blue dress that matched her eyes.

"Before there was me, here." Theo explained, pointing to the picture of Effie. "But Mommy changed it when she gave it to me. I have to be very, very careful because it's a grown-up locket but I can have it 'cause I'm a big boy and I'm going on a super-secret adventure with you!"

Haymitch bolted to his feet as much as a forty-one years old man with tremors in his hands and a bad case of nausea could. He turned his back on the kid and walked to the hovercraft window, focusing on the clouds outside.

Six years ago, Effie had been pregnant with their child and she hadn't told him. She had managed to hide her pregnancy from the public, probably with some help from her mother and her sister, she had given birth to their child and had kept him hidden from everyone including him so no one would ever find out who the father was. Effie wasn't stupid, she probably had understood what fate a child of his would meet. She could have lied about the father's identity, of course, but how long would it have taken Snow to figure everything out? Not very long.

Pieces of a puzzle he hadn't been aware of were starting to slide back together. They had been casually sleeping together for almost eight years. In the beginning, it had always been the result of particularly nasty fights until it had reached a point where Haymitch had started to get irrationally jealous each time she spent too much time with another man. He had never said anything out loud but she was jealous too and they had stopped sleeping around without any grand speeches or declarations of any sort.

The point was, that five years ago, she had been distant and he could remember spending most of the Games watching from afar while she flirted with every man that stroke her fancy. He could remember a huge fight where he had called her nasty names that she had hastily countered with some of her own… He hadn't touched another woman after that and he knew she had stopped having sex with anyone who wasn't him. However, the important part was that she had been distant, angrier with him than usual, constantly trying to push him away - because of the baby she couldn't tell him about.

Neither of them could publicly claim their child without the whole story coming out and that meant they would all have been in danger. She had chosen to keep the child hidden and she had lied to their son just like she had lied to him. She had made sure he knew who Haymitch was and how dangerous it was, she had invented letters and messages just so Theo would have a father, she had…

He was so furious he banged his fist against the wall. The pain brought him a short relief but the anger came back, the resentment too. He was so angry with Effie for putting him in that position, for not explaining…

Don't hate me too much, she had said. How not to hate her when she should have been on that hovercraft with them instead of wherever she was? It was the reason she hadn't told him she was the boy's mother. Had he known that, he would have never let her go. He would have never let the mother of his child in danger, her family be damned. He should have forced her to climb in that car… Then she would be the one hating him but at least she would still be there to do it.

They would find out about the boy, now. They would investigate Effie's life to make sure she had no connections to the rebels apart from him and they would find out about the boy and she would be branded a traitor and then… Then…

He banged his fist against the wall again. He was angry with Effie but he knew, deep down, that she had done the right thing by hiding the truth to him. He understood that. He truly did but still… He had a right to know. He had a right…

Everything was the "bad men"'s fault though. There wouldn't have been any need for secrecy if it hadn't been for Snow and his fucking Hunger Games…

"Daddy?" Theo's voice was unsure and upset. The boy tugged on the hem of his shirt and stumbled back when Haymitch turned too quickly. The sheep was back against his chest, like a shield. For a sickening second, he thought the boy would start crying in fear – something he instinctively knew would kill him – but the child only watched him with fretfulness. "I did the test wrong? You don't want me on the super-secret adventure?"

"No." Haymitch forced himself to sound calm. There was no point in getting angry right now when they was no other possible outlet to that anger than the child. Nothing would happen to this child if he had anything to say about it. It was Effie's kid, his kid. Their kid. He had a child with Effie Trinket. He felt the need to sit down suddenly so he did, right where he was, sliding against the wall until he was at eye level with his son. His son. It would take some getting used to. "You're coming on the super-secret adventure with me." Trust Effie to come up with ridiculous names.

The boy beamed but then he frowned and studied Haymitch with close attention before offering the stuffed animal. "You want to cuddle with Sheepy?" Ridiculous names, Haymitch thought. "You look sad. Sheepy makes the sad go away, Mommy says so."

"Everything your mother says isn't true, just so you know." he replied and regretted immediately after.

The boy didn't seem to take it too badly, though. He sat right next to Haymitch and snuggled up to his side with a carelessness that was too forced to be true. He tapped the head of the sheep against his tiny knee until Haymitch placed a tentative arm around his shoulder, then he stilled and finally relaxed against his father with a deep sigh. "Mommy says I have to stay with you a while and she can't visit because of the bad men."

"Yeah." He closed his eyes and tried his hardest not to let his imagination run rampant about Effie's fate. It had been hours since they had left the Capitol, everything could have happened. He'd need Plutarch to notify his contacts in the Capitol and to get her out if it wasn't already too late.

"How long is a while?" Theo asked softly.

"I don't know." With their kind of luck… Probably long.

"Can we phone Mommy sometimes?" the boy insisted. "Or write a letter like for you?"

"I'm not sure." Haymitch winced when the boy hugged his stuffed sheep a little closer with a disappointed "oh". He was already doing a poor job at parenting. Effie should have come. She really should have… "Can you bring me the folder?"

The boy was happy to go and get the folder for him. He stayed right next to Haymitch and peered over his shoulder. "What's that, Daddy?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Birth certificates." As Fulvia had promised, it was worth a look. There were two certificates, one was registered under Effie's sister name without any father mentioned, that one named the child as Timotheo Trinket; the second, the real one he supposed, named the mother as Effie Trinket and Haymitch Abernathy as the father, the child's name was Timotheo Abernathy. There was also a bunch of papers that were all very official looking that stipulated Haymitch got custody of her child if anything were to happen to her, the child medical history – nothing that was out of the ordinary – and, on the very last page, the last will and testament from Euphemia Trinket. He closed the folder as quickly as he could. "Boring grown-up things."

Theo wrinkled his nose in distaste and then sat down. "Are we pirates, now?"

"Pirates…" Haymitch repeated, not quite following. "Why?"

"We're going on an adventure." The kid was shaking his feet like it was all too exciting to be true. He would get bored before long, Haymitch thought. He doubted District Thirteen was really kid-friendly. "Pirates go on adventures, Daddy. Is there going to be dragons?"

"No, no dragons. Well… Depends on what you call a dragon, I guess." Haymitch snorted, thinking of what he had heard about Coin.

"Good." Theo nodded to himself.

"You don't like dragons?" Why was he asking stupid questions, again?

"Dragons eat sheep!" Theo exclaimed as if Haymitch should already have known that. "They would eat Sheepy and me too 'cause I'm not bigger than a sheep."

And now the boy was sulking. Wonderful.

"You don't like dragons but you like sheep." Haymitch summed up, wondering at what point it would be mandatory to mention he, personally, liked whiskey. "What's so special about sheep?"

"They live in District Ten." The sulk was gone, now Theo was practically bouncing in his hurry to tell him all about cattle. "One day Mommy is going to take me. Sheep make wool and it's all soft like my baby blanket. Mommy said I couldn't bring both my baby blanket and Sheepy because there wasn't enough room in my bag but I took Sheepy because I'm not a baby anymore and maybe one day he will make wool and I can have another blanket."

Haymitch couldn't help but smirk. "Aren't you a clever boy…"

The child nodded without any sort of humility. "Mommy says I am clever like you and Granny says you have two brains and you use the downstairs brain and never your head. Mommy is angry when Granny says that but Granny says Mommy has mush in the head when it's about you. I don't know what it means, they didn't want to explain." Well… Haymitch couldn't wait to meet Granny. That promised to be interesting. "But I can count to nineteen. Granny taught me. It's not hard, you just have to remember eleven and twelve." He said the two words slowly as if he wasn't quite sure but when Haymitch didn't venture a correction he went on. "And after that you just put teen after the number. What's after nineteen?"

"Twenty." Haymitch allowed himself a second of relief. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Maybe he just needed to find something to keep the kid occupied.

"And then eleven-twenty and twelve-twenty?" he asked curiously.

"No, just twenty-one and twenty-two." Haymitch corrected him.

Theo thought about that for a few seconds and then made a face. "That's dumb." He turned the sheep in his hands for a minute and Haymitch closed his eyes, mentally calculating how long it would be before they finally reached Thirteen and what he would need to do there. He would have brought the boy to the medical area for a DNA testing but that was before he knew Effie was the mother. Not only did he trust her word, but he would still be responsible for the child even if he wasn't the father. Effie entrusted his care to him and he couldn't just get rid of the boy, could he? Find someone to babysit the boy, that was what needed to be done. Fulvia perhaps, someone he knew and could trust. Then, he would need to check on Katniss and try to find out what had happened to Twelve… "Daddy?"

"Of all the things you could have taken after your mother, you had to be a chatterbox…" Haymitch sighed before opening his eyes to look at the boy. His son, it was still surreal.

"When the adventure's over…" The sheep's head would be severed before long if the kid continued to pull it like he was doing, so Haymitch placed his shaking hand on the kid's. Bad move. The boy started playing with his fingers instead. "You come to live with Mommy and me and Granny?"

Fortunately for him, he didn't have to answer that. The door slid open and closed behind Finnick who was in the middle of a rant. "… swear, Haymitch, I'm going to kill him if he doesn't get me to Four. I need to…" The young victor stopped talking with a frown when he caught sight of the boy. His sea-green eyes darted from the child to Haymitch. "Found a friend your age?"

Haymitch was about to reply that there was no way anybody would take him to Four and that he should sit down before he fainted when Theo hopped to his feet and slammed his hand repeatedly on Haymitch's shoulder. It took him a few seconds to realize the child was asking for his attention. His eyes were wide and shining, his mouth was open in disbelief and he looked like he would start jumping up and down soon. "It's Finnick Odair! It's Finnick Odair ! It's Finnick Odair!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Haymitch rolled his eyes with annoyance. "I know."

"But it's Finnick Odair!" Theo shrieked, bolting to his backpack and almost emptying the whole content before he found what he was looking for. A small figurine with a trident that he proudly showed Finnick. "You're the bestest victor! And the nicest! And the prettiest! Mommy says so and Auntie wants to marry you and Granny says Mommy should have shagged you instead but I don't know what that means. What does that mean?"

"Why, thank you." Haymitch grumbled. Theo didn't even spare him a glance. Apparently, the novelty of being with his father had worn off or didn't compete with the fact that the great Finnick Odair was standing right in front of him. He was bouncing on his feet.

"Who's your Mommy?" Finnick asked, confused and a bit overwhelmed by the child who was very much invading his personal space. "Fulvia?"

"Effie." Haymitch sighed, rubbing his eyes. It would be a very long story.

Finnick did a double take at that. "Trinket?"

"Yeah." he replied, lifting his eyebrows. "Also… My son." He wondered where the small pride perceptible in the words came from.

Finnick opened and closed his mouth. "Since when?"

"A few hours." Haymitch chuckled darkly.

"Good or bad?" Finnick asked, patting the boy's head before sitting down against the opposite wall.

"Still trying to figure it out." he snorted.

"Figure it out quicker, we will be there in ten minutes and I have a feeling Coin will have something to say about that." Finnick advised, taking the figurine from the boy for closer inspection. "I will sign that later if you want."

Theo was so happy by the prospect he came back to hit Haymitch's shoulder some more. "Finnick Odair is going to sign my toy!"

"You can call me Finnick, you know." Four's victor offered. "I'm friends with your parents."

Haymitch was suddenly afraid Theo's eyes would bulge out of his head. He grabbed the boy's hands before he could leave a bruise on his arm in his enthusiasm.

"Daddy is taking me on a super-secret adventure!" the boy told Finnick. "Are you coming with us?"

"Sure." Finnick grinned. "If the super-secret adventure is in Four."

Haymitch ignored his pointed glare. "You're in no state to go there. Nobody will let you go. It's too late, you know that."

"I'm not leaving her out there without a fight!" Finnick snapped and then burrowed his face in his hands. "I can't lose her… I can't…"

Theo escaped him before Haymitch could try to hold him back. He tapped Finnick on the shoulder politely. "You're sad? You want to hug Sheepy?"

Finnick looked dejected but forced a smile for the child's sake.

"Yeah, Finnick…" Haymitch snorted. "According to Effie, the sheep magically takes the sadness away. Why don't you try it?"

All he got in reply was a glare.