Chapter 10
They politely asked him to leave, lest their patient woke up again and suffered another setback. He agitated her, they said. It was for the better if he saw her after she was conscious and aware of her surroundings.
He left and went to the Special Care Unit. The place ended up being where all of 13's medical advancements were made. They had Peeta three flights down, experimenting on him just like they were with Effie's baby boy.
Haymitch was permitted to see the boy through the protective glass. They had him on a box. He had been in there for five hours. "His vitals are steady, his condition improving by the hour."
"Why does he look like he is in pain?" He asked, the small baby had his eyes closed but his tiny face was scrunched up in distress.
The doctor did not look at his face. "He's in pain, isn't he?"
"If he can resist these treatments then he will live, it is but a small price to pay for a long life. He needs this." The man was convinced.
Haymitch balled his fists, another child suffering at his hands. It was too late for regrets now. All he could do was wait. He waited, he spent those remaining nineteen hours watching the crib and seeing the small baby thrive.
He couldn't keep his eyes open, he slept after the doctor told him they would move baby boy to a less aggressive treatment and the worse had passed. "A fighter that one. He needs an appropriate, strong name."
Haymitch nodded and found a bed somewhere close. His sleep came quickly and fortunately without many nightmares. The doctor yanked him awake; "what happened? You said he would be fine."
"His brother, they cannot keep him in the morgue any more. The district has strict protocols and wish to dispose of the body.
He read between the lines. "She's not awake yet."
"You'll have to make a decision, they will not wait much longer." The man added.
Haymitch left the room.
He went in the morgue. The workers had him swaddled in a various blue blankets. "I'm so sorry sir." A young man said and gave him this tiny bundle, not bigger than his two hands.
He nodded and cradled the little corpse. The baby needed a proper burial. He did not ask permission out of anyone and left 13's bases. He felt Katniss come his way. "I was looking for you." She said out of breath.
Haymitch held the bundle of clothes closer to his chest. The girl followed him like she was prone to do. He passed through checkpoints and security posts until he was out of 13 and into a Hovercraft. "Where are we going?" Katniss asked when they were seated in the hovercraft.
"To district 12." He said. No one questioned him once they were in the hangar. No one asked if he had permission. Plutarch must have said something or convinced President Coin to indulge him. The Capitol man used that word to keep him alive.
She nodded. They were quiet the whole ride and went into the Victor's Village. District 13 had started the burial of bodies where the Peacekeeper's office had been. The Victor's Village had its own cemetery. He did not know where to place the baby. He needed to dig a grave and mark his resting place.
Katniss surprised. "Let me hold him." She said quietly. Of course she knew, her little sister must have told her.
He nodded gruffly and worked silently for about an hour until, he deemed his work ready. The man gingerly grabbed the baby from Katniss's arms.
The idea of throwing dirt to his face was unconceivable to the man. The girl must have known because the next thing he knew she was speaking, "They have coffins. Gale told me district 13 is giving the option to the survivors to bury their loved ones."
He nodded once more. He sat down on a bench with the baby on his arms. He looked very different from his brother. The baby in 13 was doing a lot better and was growing at a neck breaking speed. This baby was small, pale, and dead. He would never open his eyes. He would never call Effie mom, laugh or cry.
Katniss arrived before he could feel the encompassing rage he felt all the time now. "It's not much but it's the best one I could find." They placed the baby inside the casket and placed him in the gravesite. Haymitch buried the little boy. It was cruel to leave the place without marking the baby's final resting place.
His feet led him to the Meadow. He picked daisies and forget-me-nots. The man went back to the gravesite and arranged the flowers to mark the resting place of the child.
"What was his name?" Katniss asked curiously.
"Marcus." Haymitch replied without hesitance. It seemed like a lifetime ago, that evening before the second quarter quell, when Effie and him were under the sheets and she told him as a girl she had her children's names picket out. "I like Marcus, Marius, Lucius, and Julius." She parroted for twenty minutes. He liked Marcus and Marius the best out of all those silly names she liked so much.
Haymitch remained quiet for a while. Katniss stayed quiet as well until the hovercraft pilot appeared nearby. The girl nudged his arm and Haymitch left the grave of his small son.
The trip to district 13 was silent. There was not any need for them to speak about anything. He went back to the facilities where Marius was. Haymitch looked at the blonde boy. One of the nurses asked him if he wanted to see baby boy.
"Not baby boy. His name is Marius Abernathy." Haymitch; the man put on blue scrubs, gloves, a mask and a cap in order to enter the room where Marius was. The baby was inside the incubator.
"You can speak and touch him. Doctor Blalock will be with you shortly. He has very good news for you." The young woman said and then left them alone.
Haymicth sat near the incubator and watched the baby. He looked bigger than a few hours ago. He was pink and looked healthier. The baby squirmed and opened his eyes. He started crying immediately. Haymitch heard shrill cries and smiled. That was good. Marius was crying, his lungs were developed, he wailed angrily and kicked his arms and legs.
The old victor noticed the baby was not hooked to any cables. He did not dare hold him yet. The nurse rushed in and fed him.
Haymitch went every day to see Marius for two weeks. He stopped by Effie's room but Blalock was hell bent into not letting him see her. Haymitch tried to sneak past the doors and threatened doctors and nurses to no result.
"You said she would be unconscious for a day. It's been a week." he raged.
The older man nodded, "she is awake but terribly confused and distressed. Ms. Trinket needs time to recover."
Haymitch and the Everdeen girls took turns asking questions here and there. Prim and Katniss liked Marius. Prim held him while Katniss smiled at him.
"He has your eyes." Katniss smiled at him. Haymitch held Marius ever since the nurse said he could. He touched his hands and nose each time. Marius was a good boy. He did not cry much.
Three weeks after Effie arrived he saw the doctor come in and open the incubator where Marius slept.
"Baby boy does not need to stay here any longer." The man said with a smile while he held the baby.
"Marius, his name is Marius Abernathy." Haymitch said while he saw the baby's blue eyes open and close.
The doctor nodded, "your mother is awake Marius and is asking for you."
Haymitch immediately spoke up, "I have to see her."
"She is not fit to see visitors Mr. Abernathy, not yet." Haymitch shook his head.
"I have to see her." He continued. Effie always wanted to see him. She always did. he was sure once Effie saw him and they spoke things would get resolved for the better. He would apologize until his voice was raw from begging her forgiveness.
"She was very agitated when she learned she was in district 13 and asked to see her baby. She is finally lucid." The doctor continued.
The blond man looked at the man and spoke once more, "please, let me see her. If she wants me out of the room I will leave. I swear. I will not stay near her if she gets upset. I will do as you say."
The doctor was reluctant and took a lot of convincing but eventually he managed to get inside the hospital room. They wheeled Marius's incubator where Effie was.
Haymitch saw her hair had grown and she now hat a cap of fuzzy blond hair. She looked afraid, and alert. The bruises on her arms had faded as had the black eye. She looked stronger, still thin but she did not have that sickly pallor or the frantic eyes that she had when he first saw her.
Effie looked at him for the first time. She shook her head, "I don't want to see you."
"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry." He started.
She trembled in front of him. "Go away. Go. Get away from us." She cried and looked at the nurse. The woman looked at his Effie with disgust however. "I don't want him here." She cried.
Haymitch watched as she became more agitated. He looked a little Marius inside his incubator. The nurse ignored her pleas and placed Marius by her side.
"You can pick him up if you want. I will come back in an hour." The woman said curtly.
Effie glanced at the baby. "He's so small." She caressed the glass.
Haymitch seized the moment; he walked slowly toward the baby. He picked me up. The man heard her cry and gasp. "Don't hurt him. Please, don't hurt him. Please. I'll do anything. Don't hurt him." She was almost hyperventilating. His brain told him to leave the room but he could not. He was not about to lose Effie. He needed to apologize to her. He would make it better. They had Marius to worry about. He could not afford to give her space. If he did she would be by herself in 13 with people hating her. The nurse was the first of many more people who would despise her on sight.
"Sweetheart, I would not hurt him." Haymitch sat down by her side. She was too weak to protest or move away from him.
"Do you want to hold him?" he asked her with a small smile.
Effie trembled and avoided his eyes. "Please." Haymitch put the baby on her arms. Effie drew a big breath and saw little Marius.
"Hey baby." She said and touched his cheek.
He opened his eyes and stared at her. "He has your eyes." She said and then looked at him. There was a moment when she saw him with love. Effie loved him, she had almost said so before the third Quarter Quell.
"We don't want anything from you. We don't want to be near you." Effie continued. "It's all your fault. My other baby is dead because of you. I will not let you hurt him. Oh you don't have a name yet."
Haymitch knew it was his fault. He felt angry but she would not take Marius away from him. Effie was not in the Capitol. She was in district 13 and this place was dangerous for her and Marius.
"His name is Marius Abernathy. You were not waking up and he needed a name so did Marcus." Haymitch said carefully.
Effie cried, "This is all your fault." She cried and held Marius to her chest. "My baby is gone because of you."
Haymitch nodded; it was his fault but it was her fault as well. She should have told him she was pregnant, "I thought you would be safer in the Capitol with your people."
"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" He asked a little angry with her. She never listened. Effie did as she liked and here were the consequences. There was a voice that blamed her for not making it to 13.
"I did not know." She said hollowly.
"Please go away. I don't want to see you. I want you to stay as far away from me and my son." Her voice was hard and determined. He would not stay away from her or Marius.
"Marius is mine too." Haymitch looked at her.
"He is not." Effie tried to say with a broken voice.
"He is mine Euphemia." The man said with a fierce voice. There was not even the slightest doubt in his mind that her children were his. "We will be fine without you." She said with a tired tone.
He shook his head, "The people here do not take to your kind easily. It will be best if you stay with me. What have the doctors said?"
"Nothing. No one speaks to me." She said quietly.
Haymitch nodded, "I will tell you everything."
Effie listened; she listened carefully. "It was a plan. Heavensbee approached me before the quarter quell. The night it was announced I received a package with information about the revolution. I made plans to go in the arena with Katniss and make sure she was alive. Most of the tributes were on board with our plan. Katniss did not know nor did Peeta or you for that matter."
Effie looked at him, "I begged you to tell me and you did not." She said with resentment."
"You were in danger. We all were. The less you and the children knew the better. I made arrangements for Peeta and you to be safe. Plutarch was supposed to pick you at the penthouse."
She remained silent. Marius was asleep once more. "We were rescued and Plutarch explained you and Peeta were captured. Katniss was to become the symbol of revolution and she did. I have planned to rescue you and the boy ever since I got to this damn district." He said honestly. "I thought you were dead. We were able to see footage of Peeta but you were missing. I thought you were dead."
Effie looked at him and replied, "I wish you were dead."
Haymitch felt pain in his chest but continued speaking, "Peeta, Annie and Joanna are here as well. Annie is fine, Joanna is sedated as is Peeta at the moment. He was hijacked and tortured but he is safe now." Haymitch felt the need to explain that the children were fine. "Katniss is safe too."
Effie nodded, "What happened to Marcus?" her voice trembled.
"He died a few hours after he was born. His body was not fully developed. The doctor put Marius in an aggressive treatment. He is a fighter. You always like Marius and Marcus…"
"I remember that day. It's all fuzzy sometimes but I remember that day." Effie said tiredly.
"Peeta is not well Haymitch. They made him watch." She said quietly.
Haymitch tensed, "Watch what Princess?" He was scared of her answer.
Effie did not reply, she looked at Marius and kissed his forehead. Haymitch asked her once more. "Watch what Princess? What did they do to you?"
She sobbed, heart wracking sobs that made him feel worse than when Maysilee died. Almost as bad as when Mathew and mother died. "They made him watch as they beat me. They made him beat me."
He wanted to vomit. "Princess, I am so sorry." His voice was low.
Effie did not look at him. "I don't want to see you again. I never want to see your face." She said with a hard voice. "Stay away from me and Marius." This time she looked into his eyes and there was a cold determination. The fierceness in her eyes told him that there was nothing more he could do for that day.