Smurfstastegoodontoast - Haymitch is such a good father. I love how Effie is all, "Oh, she's a kid, they get hurt sometimes, she'll be fine." It's so un-Effie-like, yet it fits her character perfectly...if that makes sense. I'd love to see what happened when she told him she loved him. Could you do a one-shot about that?

Me – sounds fun! I'll try that :D

Sob Story

Timerange: Hunger Games

She pulled flowers out of the ground, every kind that she could find; but when Haymitch looked at the screen, he didn't see Rue and Katniss. He saw Maysilee and himself in the second quarter quell.

He downed a glass of whisky, wishing to dispel the images of his games. They were too similar; he couldn't deal with it without his best friend the bottle.

Effie glanced at him nervously "Haymitch…you shouldn't do that."

Haymitch was already on edge when she said that "Do what, Princess?"

"Well, you promised… that you would stay sober enough to help them… and it's not good for you." She said nervously, pretty sure that Haymitch would lash out at her.

Well, Effie was right "I don't care about my freaking health, Effie… and about that promise… I lie, sweetheart." He took another long swig of his drink, still seeing images of his quell.

Effie sighed "Well some people care about you, Haymitch, and…and you only care about yourself!" she curled up in a protective position with a pillow under her chin just in case he did something rash.

Haymitch narrowed his eyes bitterly "Name one"

"One what?" asked Effie, confused.

"One person who cares about me" he held his gaze for a moment.

Effie shook her head "Your family… and others…"

Haymitch took yet another swig, his words beginning to slur "I don't have a family, princess."

"Why? Did you push everyone away?" tears were starting to flow in her eyes. He didn't seem to realize that he still had her…

Haymitch laughed cruelly "I told you, I don't have a family to push away…"

"Well there are other people who care about you…" she stood up, and then sat down at another couch where Haymitch couldn't reach her.

"No, there aren't."

"well, I could be counted a friend, couldn't I?" asked Effie.

"No" Haymitch didn't want to get close to her, and this relationship was getting too close to a friendship. He didn't want to put her in danger.

Tears finally rolled out of Effie's eyes "But…I do care about you… so you can count me as someone who does… whether you care about me or not."

Haymitch didn't want to make her cry; he was rubbish with crying girls "you don't want me to be your… friend, believe me."

"Haymitch…"

"Yes?" he asked, his temper rising.

"give me that…" she grabbed the glass out of his hand, and before he could do anything about it in his condition, she sprinted to the kitchen and dumped it out. Now she was in trouble.

He followed after her with somewhat of a stumble and growled "Effie, give me that…"

Effie shook her head even if Haymitch couldn't see her "No! I care about your health!"

"Why?"

"Because…well…"

"well?" he growled.

"I love you, Haymitch… I love you…" She curled up on the floor and covered her mouth so that he couldn't hear the strange sobbing noise that was escaping from her.

Haymitch was dumbstruck. He sat back down on the couch and shouted "Yeah well, life aint a sob story, princess, get over it."

And he downed another glass as Katniss left Rue. And he knew that he couldn't let another person that he loved disappear "Wait, Effie?"

She wasn't there

"Effie…I don't want to love you… I don't, but I do, so… come back…" but she didn't answer.

She never would.

So he downed another glass of whisky "Just like Maysilee… left before I could tell you…."

A/N: hope it wasn't horrible :D I had to think really fast today, I only had about ten minutes to write today XD