Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Chapter 13

Haymitch arrived back at District 12 the next day and set off for Victor's Village. Try as he might to school his features, he couldn't help a small grin from gracing his face whenever he thought of Effie.

A few of the town's people had given him strange, confused looks when he walked past them, having never seen Haymitch in such a spirit before. He had nodded at them and continued walking, lowering his gaze to allow his hair to fall and hide his smile.

He pushed the door open and froze, staring at the sight before him. Having already seen Effie's clean organised apartment, he noted with startling realisation how different his house was compared to hers. There were dirty coffee mugs sitting precariously on stacks of newspapers discarded on his table. Some of the cushions that was supposed to be for his sofa were lying on the floor, and upon closer inspection, he had rolled up and stashed some soiled clothes under the sofa. Out of sight, out of mind.

Effie would have been appalled at the state of his house. He would have to at least clean up a little and attempt to make his house look slightly presentable before she arrives. Haymitch wasn't sure how long she would take to settle her affairs in the Capitol. She had promised that she would call beforehand.

He began to gather the coffee mugs and dirty laundry in his hand. When he walked into his kitchen, his face fell in dismay. His kitchen was in a much worse state than his sitting room. Stacks upon stacks of dirty dishes were piled high on the sink. He had never bothered to wash his plates after his meals and as a result he just kept piling it up, telling himself he would clean it later.

Once in a while, Greasy Sae would come around to help him clean his house but Haymitch managed to mess it up faster than she could clean them.

Haymitch discarded his dirty clothes in the laundry basket and stood before his kitchen sink. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and slowly began the dreaded task of washing his dishes. As he was drying the plates and utensils, Peeta walked into his kitchen, slightly out of breath.

"Ahh. You're back."

"Did you run all the way just to make that simple observation?"

"I heard people saying that they saw you alight from a train this morning. Care to tell me where you've been?"

"No," he said as he wiped his hands on a dry cloth and began putting the clean plates away.

"So, this..." he gestured towards the relatively clean kitchen. "You're washing and cleaning your dishes and your sitting room looks a bit neater, I notice. All this has nothing to do with your short getaway?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. "You know someone who will wash my laundry for a price?"

XxX

The first time his phone rang, he considered not answering it. It would discourage whoever who was attempting to reach him from ever calling him again at nine in the morning and that was just fine with him. As he covered his head with his pillow attempting to block the sound of his phone, the cloudy morning haze in his mind cleared and he realised that the only person who would even try to call him would be Effie.

He scrambled to his feet, tossing the sheets wrapped around his legs aside and ran down the stairs two at a time.

"Hello?" he answered panting slightly.

"Haymitch! Were you still asleep?"

He smiled hearing Effie's familiar soft chipper voice over the phone.

"Yeah, yeah I was but it doesn't matter now. Anything wrong?"

"Oh, no. I just... I just thought I'll call and see how you're doing."

Haymitch chuckled and leaned casually against the wall, the phone cradled between his ear and his shoulder.

"Fine. You quit your job yet?"

"I wanted to talk to you about it, actually."

"Yeah?"

"I tendered my resignation yesterday morning and ... Well, President Paylor accepted it but my last day will be in a month's time."

"Why?" he asked feeling slightly confused.

"Well, I had to give her one month's notice. I have to clear my work before someone else takes over. It's how things are done here in the Capitol and in the offices. You can't just quit immediately, Haymitch. It'll be irresponsible to just abandon everything."

Haymitch frowned, clearly unhappy with the news. He had never understood all these red tape barriers and bureaucratic paper work. During his time as a mentor, he had let Effie do the relevant paperwork required of him every time two of his tributes died.

"So I should be expecting your arrival in a month's time, then?"

"Yes, if all goes well. And one more thing, I'll be bringing Ms Nuggets along."

There was a slight pause before Haymitch spoke, "That grey ball of fur? Yeah, you bring it along, sweetheart, but I'm telling you if it tries to harm any of my geese then, I'm throwing it out."

"You can't do that! That's extremely rude, Haymitch. And unlike your noisy geese, my cat is an angel."

"Yeah, Eff, whatever," he hung up before Effie could squeeze in another protest.

They continued very much in the same fashion for that one month as Haymitch waited for her arrival. Effie would call him at night nearly every day after she returned home from work and Haymitch, never one to speak much, would listen to her as she regaled him with stories of the new employee whom she had to coach or whatever she thought was interesting enough to be shared with him.

"Listen, Mitch, President Paylor made me an offer."

"I don't like the sound of that," he mumbled as he lay in bed talking to her.

Effie laughed. "I imagine you wouldn't. But listen to it first, okay? She proposed that I come by the Capitol once in a while or whenever –"

"Whatever for? Is that woman in love with you or something?"

"Haymitch! You know there are meetings going on every now and then at the Cityhall to discuss the running and administration of Panem. She wants me to sit in on the meeting, assist her with it."

"I don't see the point, Eff. If she wants you to go to the Cityhall for those meetings then what's the point of hiring a new assistant?"

"Well, Plutarch and her thought-"

Haymitch made a noise of displeasure at the mere mention of Plutarch's name, something Effie caught but chose to ignore.

"As I was saying, they thought it'll be good for me to continue. I do want to help, Haymitch. I want to feel useful. I wasn't... I wasn't there when all of you were fighting for the Rebellion, I couldn't help back then, but I can now."

"Hey, hey, it wasn't your fault. You were captured, Eff. Nobody will hold it against you for not fighting."

"I know. I know that, but, Haymitch..." Haymitch heard her sniffle on the other line and he knew she must have flashbacks of the time she was imprisoned.

"I understand, Effie. If you want to do this, if you want to go back to the Capitol for these meetings whenever they need you, then you should. I... I want you to be happy, to do things that will make you happy. I ain't gonna hold you back, you know that."

"I just wanted to run it by you first. Thank you."

"You'll be here with me in Twelve the rest of the time. So go ahead, sweetheart, do what you think is good."

"Thank you, Haymitch." She paused. "I'll be there in another two weeks or so."

He grunted a reply. He swung his foot over the edge of the bed and rummaged through his drawer for his calendar. He circled the date Effie had estimated she would arrive and wrote down in bright red ink, a reminder for him to pick Effie up from the train station. Two weeks seemed like a long time.

A/N: Sorry about the length. It's quite short, I think. Bit of a filler chapter. The subsequent chapter will be a little more interesting, I hope. An idea sort of came to me a few days back & so, I'm gonna work with it.

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