"And they lived happily ever after?" The little girl asked, nestled tightly against her mama's side.
"And they lived happily ever after," her mother confirmed. "Think you could sleep now, little one?"
The girl looked out the window at the subsiding storm and nodded. The older woman picked her up and carried her back to her bed, tucking her in and kissing her forehead. "Mama?"
"Yes, darling?"
The girl sat up and furrowed her brow. "Mama, I wish that story was real."
"Why's that?"
"Because those two sounded like they were very happy. And like they really loved each other. Like you and Papa."
Her mother sat next to her on the bed and brushed her daughter's hair from her face. "Sometimes stories are better when they influence us. The story of the Mockingjay helps us to remember and forgive people who may have hurt us. And sometimes, when we live those lessons, our lives become stories of their own."
"You're smart, Mama," the daughter smiled, slinking back under her covers.
Her mother waited until the girl fell asleep to leave, quietly closing the door behind her. She wandered back toward the living room and gasped when she saw a man sitting in a chair, flipping through one of the books from the bookshelf. "What are you doing here?"
He looked up at her and smiled his cocky grin. "Miss me, Sweetheart?"
"You're not welcome in this house. And I'm certainly not in the mood for any more of your deals, Haymitch."
Haymitch rolled his eyes and shut the book with a loud snap. "You think that's all I'm interested in? Please, Seam girl. I'm just checking in on you. Seeing how you and your Merchant boy are doing."
"You already know, don't you?" She challenged him, a grin crossing her features as well.
"You're a real piece of work. I told Annie she should be the one to come check in on you but nooo, it had it be me." He pointed his finger at her. "I'm still paying for you two 'star-crossed lovers' proving me wrong, you know." He stood and faced her, his customary smoke only coming off of him in small puffs. "No, Sweetheart, I'm just checking in on you. I can see this house is full of more love and devotion than any other I've encountered before. Hell, even Johanna and Finnick recognize it, and you know how little they care about you humans."
"Then you're not here to collect?"
He shook his head. "Not from this house. Not tonight, anyway. You and that boy have many years ahead of you, from what I can see. So, you know, try to stay alive so I don't have to come visit anytime soon, yeah?"
With a snap of his fingers, he was enveloped in smoke and disappeared from the house. She wrapped one of the blankets from the couch around her, erasing the chill that Haymitch still left in her bones and hustled off to her own bed, where her husband waited for her. She crawled into his arms and regaled in the warmth of his body. "Is the baby asleep?" She asked.
"He went down pretty quickly," he assured her. "I heard the story you told Peanut."
She looked up at him with a knowing smile. "I love that story."
"It's my favorite," he confirmed, kissing her. "Will you sing for me? Like you did then?"
She curled into his body and began to sing. "Down in the meadow, under a willow tree..."
AN: Annnnd that's it. I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks always go to Sunfish for pushing me to finish this and catching all my horrible errors!
