Hey, Everyone! I'm sure you are all dying to see what happens next! Well, here it is! Disclaimer: THG belongs to Suzzane Collins

Chapter Thirty-Six

Effie's POV

I wipe my eyes and compose myself before knocking on the Mellarks' front door. I didn't know where else to go. I didn't really have anywhere else to go in District 12.

"Effie, what's wrong?" Peeta asks, easily being able to see that I had been crying.

"H-Haymitch," I stutter, my breathing ragged and fresh tears springing into my eyes.

"Please come in," He says, holding his arm out to me. I nod and walk into the house. Peeta leads me to the couch in the living room where Katniss is already sitting.

"What happened?" She asks as soon as I sit down, scooting closer to me.

"H-Haymitch . . . Haymitch ca-called off th-the wed-wedding," I choke out through the fresh tears that are flowing down my cheeks.

"Oh, I'm sure he didn't really mean it. He's just upset with himself," Katniss says, trying to console me.

"He sounded pretty serious," I tell her, wiping my eyes again. My heart feels as if a part of it has been ripped out. There is this huge hole inside of me that aches for this man that I couldn't stand for so many years.

"Give him a day or two and I'm sure he'll be over begging for you to take him back," Peeta says, resting his hand on my shoulder soothingly.

"He said that he didn't deserve my love," I tell them, holding back my tears as I think of Haymitch's word.

"That's ridiculous." Katniss says.

"I told him that, but he wouldn't listen. He thinks that, by breaking his promise to be sober, that he's done some unforgivable thing. He wouldn't listen to me when I told him that we wouldn't stop loving him or that what he did wasn't that big of a mistake." I reply.

"He's just upset with himself for breaking his promise and hurting you." Peeta says as he sits down next to me.

"But I wasn't hurt until he said that we shouldn't get married." I tell him, slightly choking on my own words.

"Someone needs to go over there and pull him out of his self-loathing haze." Katniss says firmly. Peeta and I exchange glances. "I'm going over there," Katniss says as she stands up from the couch.

Katniss' POV

I leave the house and head over to Haymitch's house. I knock rather loudly on his front door and then just let myself in. Haymitch is turned around, looking at me with a confused expression on his face.

"We need to talk," I tell him firmly.

"I don't want to talk right now," He tells me, turning away from me.

"Fine," I say as I walk around the couch so that we are face to face. "I'll talk and you listen. Effie is over at my house completely distraught over you calling off the wedding. Now, I understand that you're upset about drinking and breaking your promise, but I think you've taken your self-loathing to the extreme. Effie loves you more than you could know and I know that you love her just as much. I've never seen you happier since you two have been in a relationship. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that you called off the wedding as a way to punish yourself."

"So what if I did? I don't deserve to be happy," Haymitch retorts.

"What makes you think that? You made one mistake! I think that you do deserve to be happy! You went through the Second Quarter Quell and then spent twenty five years watching tributes die right in front of your eyes! I think that, after all of that, you do deserve some happiness in your life!" I tell him.

"I'm just going to hurt her more," He says softly and I know who he's talking about.

"What makes you think that?" I ask, sitting down on the couch next to him.

"I hurt her tonight by being drunk. How do I know that I'm not going to start drinking again after we're married and just keep hurting her over and over again?" He asks.

"Haymitch, life is full of 'what-ifs'. We can't be sure about anything." I tell him. "How am I supposed to know that Peeta's not going to have a flashback and try to kill me?"

"I just couldn't bare it if I physically hurt her," He admits.

"So emotionally hurting her is okay?" I ask him.

"Of course not," He exclaims.

"Well, you did hurt her emotionally. She's in my living room crying her eyes out in Peeta's arms. She's completely torn apart. She loves you and she doesn't want this to be the end of your relationship together." I explain to him.

"She's really crying?" He asks as he swallows nervously.

"Yes," I confirm and Haymitch hangs his head in shame. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. I know for a fact that, if you went over there right now and pulled her into your arms and told her that you're sorry and that you didn't mean it, she would take you back in a heartbeat."

"You really think so?" He asks.

"I know so," I tell him.

Haymitch's POV

I nod and get up from the couch. Katniss follows me, knowing exactly what I am doing. I can't help but feel extremely nervous as I enter the Mellarks house without knocking.

"Haymitch," Peeta says in shock and Effie's head snaps up from his shoulder.

"Haymitch," She repeats, her eyes shining with tears. I walk over to her and Peeta moves away to give us some privacy.

"Effie, I'm so sorry," I tell her, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry I got drunk and I'm sorry that yelled at you and hurt your feelings."

"It's my fault. I said some awful, awful things to you today." She says as she cups my face in her hands.

"No, I should've dealt with it better than the way I did." I tell her. "And I most definitely should not have called off our wedding. I love you so, so, so, so, so, so much Effie Trinket."

"I love you, too, Haymitch Abernathy." She tells me and, what I hope are tears of happiness, flow from her eyes. I cup her face in my hands; wipe away her tears with my thumbs, and lean in to kiss her. She kisses me back and I know in my heart of hearts that this is where I am supposed to be.

EEEPPPP! This last scene totally made me wish I had a boyfriend like Haymitch 3. Hope you all loved it! Please review! I have become a review-aholic so I depend on your reviews!