Hi there! Today's prompt is from Sizi, who requested via Direct Message on Twitter: "postscript I can give you a promt. I can ask you to write a story where Effie suffers from asthma and tries to hide it until she has an attack in front of the boys and Haymitch tries to take care of her." Here it is! I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games, its characters, its world, or any of its associates, because all that belongs to Suzanne Collins, and I am not Suzanne. I just like to play with her creations.

Effie's Attacks

"I don't know, Effie, I think your life would be easier if you'd let us take Elle off your hands for a few hours while you catch a nap," Peeta says, bouncing the baby girl on his lap.

"Support her head if you're to bounce her like that," Effie sighs, too used to telling him. "She's only seventeen weeks, she's not old enough to do it herself."

Peeta obediently cradles the little girl's head while Katniss watches with caution. She hasn't so much as held the baby yet, despite her husband's constant pleading for her to bond with the youngest of their team's members. "Okay, I've got her head," Peeta says, then studies Effie. "You and Haymitch haven't had a moment to yourselves in the last five months, you've had a constant flow of doctors, midwives, and technicians in here, and you've had Elle thrown in there, too. You deserve a rest."

"After Willow was born, we grabbed every chance at napping we could get our hands on," Katniss adds.

Effie refrains from pointing out that Willow is the only baby Katniss has ever cared for, and wouldn't know what to do with Elle because she's not hers. and Katniss has never even held her. "Mommy!" Willow screams, running into the kitchen.

"What is it?" Katniss asks, swinging Willow into her arms.

Haymitch comes barrelling in after her, all the doors slamming shut. "Haymitch, what on earth is going on?!" Effie demands, glaring at her husband.

"The geese escaped," Haymitch huffs, exhausted from running. "They tried to get the kid, she has their food, and we had to shut them out. I'll round them up in a bit."

Effie nods, then all the colour drains from her face. Nobody else seems to have noticed, as Willow whimpers "They're mean, Mommy..."

"They just wanted their food, Willow. Grandpa Haymitch wouldn't have let them hurt you," Katniss says.

"Damn right," Haymitch mutters. "Come here, Peanut."

He scoops Elle up from Peeta's lap and kisses her nose. "She's getting big," Peeta chuckles.

"Stuff it, boy, she's still a baby," Haymitch grumbles.

"Babies can be big," Katniss says, with a pointed glance down at Willow.

"How's my Peanut?" he asks, ignoring Katniss and Peeta, and getting a broad smile from his daughter. He smiles back at her, and immediately, everyone's brought up short by a quiet wheeze. "What was that?"

He turns to see Effie rummaging through the cupboards frantically. "Effie, what's wrong?" Peeta asks, too used to the Capitol woman's strange habits.

She doesn't say a word, just lets out another wheezing gasp. Haymitch walks over to her and asks "Princess, what's up? Can't you breathe?"

"No!" Effie wheezes. "Inhaler..."

"What's an inhaler?" Haymitch asks softly. "Make sense, sweetheart."

"Tea..." Effie gasps. "No... Inhaler... Tea..."

Katniss, having seen this before in her mother's kitchen, springs into action, dropping Willow on Peeta. "I'm going to look for her inhaler. Haymitch, sit her down, get her some tea," she orders.

Haymitch wraps his free arm around Effie and guides her to the kitchen table, sitting her down. To her credit, Effie sits as straight as she can without any prompting, and tries to breathe slowly. Haymitch lies their baby girl down in the bassinet, then looks to Peeta. "Will you make her some tea?" he asks, rubbing Effie's shoulders and upper back. Elle starts whimpering, not sure what's happening around her, and Effie startles. "It's okay, Effie, she's just confused, we'll sort her out in a minute."

She gives him a reproachful look, and he sighs, reluctantly letting go of her to pick Elle up. He gives her to Effie, who smiles and kisses the little girl's head, despite the light-headed feeling it gives her. She straightens up and tries to breathe, the sound strained and wheezy. Katniss runs back in with a blue inhaler and hands it to Effie. "Here you go, Effie," she gasps, breathless herself from running. "You know how to use it, yeah?"

Effie nods and slowly puffs on the inhaler, taking no chances with it. She times each puff on the inhaler herself, distracting herself from the pain by watching her baby, and slowly, she starts to breathe easily again. She accepts the tea from Peeta, slowly drinking it, not daring to speak yet. Her breathing eases back into its usual pattern, and Haymitch asks "Mind telling me what that was, Princess?"

"Um," Effie starts, blushing a little. "Well..."

She sips more tea, her eyes on Elle. She smiles a little at her, getting a bright smile in return, then Peeta says "In your own time, Effie."

She gives him a warm smile, then drops her gaze back to Elle. "Well, I'll admit that I haven't exactly been honest with you all," she says softly.

"Effie, what just happened?" Haymitch asks, his voice dangerously quiet.

"I told you after my first check up when I came here that I'm okay," Effie says. "I lied a little. I'm mostly okay, but I have a respiratory condition called asthma, which is marked by spasms of bronchi in the lungs. What you just witnessed and so helpfully aided was an asthma attack. It must have been either dust, or something from outside. Is it pollen season?"

"No," Katniss says. "Might have been the geese, their feathers are all over Willow."

Haymitch says "The geese are going if they're going to hurt Effie." He then glares at her and asks "Why didn't you tell me when you found out that you've got this?"

"Because I came to you full of problems that I couldn't handle, and this one I thought I could handle. I have handled it this far," she says, not wanting to look like she's intimidated.

"Effie, from what I just saw, this could kill you," Haymitch growls. "You should have said something. What if you'd had an attack like this, didn't have your inhaler, and you were all alone? What if Elle's got it? This could be dangerous to both you and her."

"If Elle has it, we would deal with it," Effie says. "I wouldn't let her hide it."

"You shouldn't hide it!" Haymitch bellows, upsetting Elle. The baby starts to whimper and Effie gives Haymitch a dark look before kissing their baby's nose. "Don't give me that look, Effie, this is serious!"

"He's right, Effie," Katniss says. "My mom had women come to see her, and most of them died in our kitchen because Mom couldn't fix this. You should have told us."

"They've both got points," Peeta tells her gently. "If Katniss hadn't understood the problem, you probably would have suffocated or something. You should have said something, we would have been able to help you faster."

Effie drops her gaze to the floor and shifts uncomfortably. "Did you all think that I would land you with a problem like this? I've already layered so many more of my own issues onto you all, why would I put this on you?" she asks.

"We're your family," Peeta says. "We're meant to help you with all of your problems, especially life-threatening ones."

"Not to mention how it could affect the baby," Katniss says. "It might be genetic, and she may have it."

"The doctors will tell us," Effie says quietly, her gaze fixed on the ground.

"You really should have told us," Haymitch tells her, much more calmly now that he's had time to relax a little.

"You know now," she replies quietly. "That's what counts. Now you know, and I have had Elle checked many times for asthma whenever I'm alone in the house with her. I take her to the clinic and have them run tests. She's clear. Now, can we discuss what the four of you want for dinner?"

Elle, truly her father's daughter, turns her face to her mother's chest. "Well, I guess we've figured out what Peanut wants," Peeta jokes.

"That's the Abernathy part of her," Effie hums, her voice softer than usual. "Now, for the ones of you old enough for solids, what do you want?"

Taking the chance to avoid Effie's tears, the three adults and little Willow jump in to suggest what they'd like to eat, and Effie quickly regrets asking.

A/N 2: Well, if you liked that, feel free to drop me a comment and let me know. If you have any prompts you'd like to see, I'm all ears. This was really fun for me to write, and I hope it wasn't too confusing. Much love and happiness to you all. Cat xxx