I opened my eyes to find myself lying with my head on Haymitchs chest. We fell asleep after taking about why he saved me and how he had loved me from the first time he saw me, even if he wasn't very fond of my appearence, he still loved me as a person. I sat up carefully trying to keep the bed from shifting and smiled watching him sleep, quietly and peacefully. It felt like we were asleep for hours. I leaned down to kiss him softly and stood up walking out of his bedroom and down stairs to his kitchen. Surprisingly enough he had coffee. I poured a bit and took occasional sips while walking through his living room looking at the few pictures he did have. "Whatcha doin' sweetheart?" I jumped when I heard his voice from behind me at the staircase. I smiled and turned to face him. "Oh, I was just looking at a few things.." He nodded and walked into the kitchen, he didn't seem very amused to me looking at his pictures, but he didn't seem upset about it either. I walked into the kitchen behind him staying a decent amount of feet away. He took a glass down from the cabinet filling it with water and finished it in one large gulp and sat down at the table. I sat across from him, although it was quiet distracting, since he was only wearing his boxers. Wait, no. I shook my head getting the thought of me actually enjoying this view of Haymitch out of my mind. I may love him, or atleast feel that way now, but I can't already be thinking that way. I cleared my throat in a slight annoying manner as I would have done in the Capitol. He looked up at me like I had interrupted him of something. He raised a brow as if he was waiting to see if I were going to say something. "Maybe...you could put clothes on and we could..do something?" He groaned and pursed his lips together standing up nodding "Fine, fine." I grinned and kissed his cheek. "I am going to go over to my home and change my clothes, I will be right back." I smiled and kissed his cheek once more.

I came back to his house trying to open the front door, I pushed a little harder the second time but it didn't budge. I heard shouting on the inside, it was Haymitch and another man yelling back and forth to eachother. I couldn't see through any of the windows. I ran around to the back of his house and leaned against the other door, I could still hear the yelling. I pushed the door harder and it opened as I stumbled in from the amount of force applied. "What is go-" I stopped as I saw the man he was yeling with. It was the peacekeeper who had tortured me.
"Well, well. If it isn't Effie Trinket." I stood still as he came closer to me, Haymitch moving infront of me to block him from me. My fear was back right when I thought, 'maybe I could forget about it and be happy.' "You're not taking her, you bastard." Haymitch said firmly to him, he moved his hand back and grabbed mine, tightly. "Oh, but I need to finish my job. Finish what I started." I felt my hand grip Haymitchs hand tighter. He drew back his free hand and hit the peacekeeper knocking him to the floor. He looked back and me and nodded "Leave. Go. Now!" I stood still in fear and shook my head, the tears were building up inside of me with his words. "No." "Effie, listen to me, you need to go!" I shook my head again "No Haymitch! No!" He stared at me for a moment as he looked into my eyes pleadingly. "Not with out you." I whispered holding his hand tighter. He looked back at the peacekeeper who was still on the floor, then back to me. He gave a single nod and ran with me holding my hand still. I let him take the lead, he ran towards the old mayors house. Once we arrived at the mayors house he led me to the back, there was somewhat of a drainage sewer on the side of the house. "Go in there." He said looking at me." I looked at him with a bit of disgust on my face. "You're coming too, right?" He nodded letting go of my hand. I crouched down and slid down into the sewer , it was deep enough to where I wouldn't be seen by people around but I could see them clearly. After I was in for a minute Haymitch slid in quickly and grabbed my hand and started to run in the murky water. I was barely keeping up, if it weren't for him holding my hand I would have been atleast near the enterence. We went as far as we possibly could go, which was until we reached the downfall of the sewer. It looked like we were atleast two hundred feet high above the bottom of the downfall. Haymitch let go of my hand and kneeled down in the water, he took a rock he found near by and dropped it down to estimate the length. He stood back up and looked at me. "We are going to have to go down there, we can't stay here, where ever we come out at will have to be our best hope." I nodded taking his hand again, it made me feel much more comfortable with it there. "But how do we get down there?" He looked back down over the edge and sighed "Like if it were a water slide at an amusment park." It was a straight 90 degree drop, I wasn't comfortable with it, but Haymitch seemed to know what he was doing. He sat down at the edgem his legs hanging over against the wall that was behind the water. He motioned me to move to his lap, I placed my back against his chest while his arms wrapped firmly around me. He pushed us off of the wall using his legs. I closed my eyes tightly to avoid watching us go down. It didn't take long. We landed with a hard hit to the partially deep water, barely enough for my head to stick out. We walked up the rest of the way until we saw and exit. He held himself up with his hands and got out reaching his hands down to grab me. He pulled me up to the ground and hugged me tightly due to my shivering "I-I'm freezing" I shuttered. "I know." He whispered softly holding me tighter than before. Once I was warm enough to stop shivering he released me, once more, taking my hand. We walked around the area we had come out to. The sewer led out to a lake in the middle of a forest. Haymitch looked around before we decided on a place to settle for the rest of the day and that night. We were deep into the woods, but we could see what went in and came out of sewer. "Thank you." I whispered looking down. "For what?" He asked putting his arm around me noticing my shivering again. "For saving me, once more." I sighed and leaned against his chest. I felt his lips touch the top of my head. "Don't thank me for saving you, princess." Princess, my father called me princess when I was younger, but when it came from Haymitch it sounded right. I turned my head and leaned to kiss him but before I knew it, he alread had his hand on my cheek and the tips of his fingers barely on the back side of my neck pulling me closer into the kiss. I leaned more into it wrapping my arms around his neck as he kissed me. He lied me on my back and looked into my eys as he held him self up with one hand and hept his other on my waist. "Effie. I love you." He said it with the most affectionate voice I had ever heard come from him. I smiled and placed my hand up onto his cheek caressing it with my thumb, "I love you too, Haymitch." I moved my hand to the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss me again.
A few hours had gone by and all we had done was lie there either kissing, cuddling, both, or talking while cuddling, which I didn't mind at all. I moved my body so I was lying ontop of him, I placed my chin on his chest and smiled looking at him. "You know, I love your eyes." I smiled and kissed him once more. He laughed and tilted his head up to kiss me back "Well yours will always make me think of the ocean, some place you and I will be, together, just us." He smiled. I turned my head to the side and lied it down on his chest, my ear right of his heart. Each beat of his hear would make my ear drum tickle, but it was a wonderful sound. I felt his arms tighten around me and heard him exhale quiet loudly. "Haymitch.." I whispered "Hmm?" That sound made his chest vibrate cuasing me to smile. "Where will we be going tomorrow?" He began to stroke my hair soothingly and kissed my head "We can worry about that then, princess." I nodded and closed my eyes falling asleep against his chest. The sound of his heart beat in one ear, the sound of crickets and owls in the other. It wasn't how I would imagine my first night with a man I was in a relationship with, but it definately over topped the others.